The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a crisis for the South African government, society and Church. About sixty percent of the HIV population are in Sub Saharan Africa with women being three times more likely to be infected with HIV than their male counterparts. Governmental, societal and Church responses seem to have had little effect in reducing the pandemic as can be seen from the rising prevalence rates. Responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic lack a gender focus. Some churches have not responded to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Other Church-based responses have been isolated and simplistic in that they have concentrated on one aspect of the HIV illness. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a growing crisis to which the Church should respond. The hermeneutical point of departure in this thesis is to express a preferential option for the poor by standing in solidarity with a group of women living on the margins of society. To this end the perspectives of black people, who are materially poor, HIV positive and part of support groups are articulated in the study. The research project suggests that the preferential option for the poor has the potential to contribute to the personal and social transformation of society. Focussing on the deep-seated longing many desire for fullness of life, this thesis explores and describes a gendered Christian response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic that could contribute to the full humanity of people. Full humanity is understood as transformation to wholeness and incorporates unity with God, others, creation and within oneself. A multifaceted, integrated and gendered response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic is suggested by way of a model of full humanity. The South African context of HIV/AIDS, patriarchy and poverty pose a challenge to the way that Christians develop their spirituality. This thesis aims to explore and describe aspects of a fully human spirituality emerging from the South African situation. The study suggests that a clearly integrative and holistic approach that embodies the gender perspective is necessary for churches to adopt in responding to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th.(Christian Spirituality)

Bart6k's own expanded tonal ("supradiatonic") pronouncements reveal that his music, notwithstanding tonally camouflaging surface details, clearly had a tonal foundation which in many respects is a reaction to the emerging atonalism of Schonberg. Analysis of three piano works (1908 - 1916) reveal that Bart6k's tonal language embraced intuitively the expanded tonal idiom. The harmonic resources Bart6k employed to obscure tonicisation embrace double-degree constructions, quartal formations, chords of addition and omission and other irregular constructions. Diatonic tonal pillars are evident in pedal points, tonic triads and dominant to tonic root movement. Through an application of the Riemann function theory expanded by Hartmann's supposition of fully-chromaticised scales tonal syntax (especially secondphase Strauss cadences or closes) becomes apparent within an expanded tonal product. The analyses conclude that Bart6k's inimitable "sound-world" is a twentieth-century manifestation of traditional tonality's primary tenets. / Musicology / M.Mus.

Parmi les architectures candidates pour les générations sub-22nm figurent les transistors sur silicium sur isolant (SOI). A cette échelle, les composants doivent intégrer des films isolants enterrés (BOX) et des canaux de conduction (Body) ultra-minces. A ceci s'ajoute l'utilisation d'empilements de grille avancés (diélectriques à haute permittivité / métal de grille) et une ingénierie de la contrainte mécanique avec l'utilisation d'alliages SiGe pour le canal des transistors de type P. La mise au point d'une telle technologie demande qu'on soit capable d'extraire de façon non destructive et avec précision la qualité du transport électronique et des interfaces, ainsi que les valeurs des paramètres physiques (dimensions et dopages), qui sont obtenues effectivement en fin de fabrication. Des techniques d'extraction de paramètres ont été développées au cours du temps. L'objectif de cette thèse est de reconsidérer et de faire évoluer ces techniques pour les adapter aux épaisseurs extrêmement réduites des composants étudiés. Elle combine mesures approfondies et modélisation en support. Parmi les résultats originaux obtenus au cours de cette thèse, citons notamment l'adaptation de la méthode split CV complète qui permet désormais d'extraire les paramètres caractérisant l'ensemble de l'empilement SOI, depuis le substrat et son dopage jusqu'à la grille, ainsi qu'une analyse extrêmement détaillée du transport grâce à des mesures en régime de couplage grille arrière à température variable ou l'exploitation de la magnétorésistance de canal depuis le régime linéaire jusqu'en saturation. Le mémoire se termine par une analyse détaillée du bruit basse fréquence. / Silicon on insulator (SOI) transistors are among the best candidates for sub-22nm technology nodes. At this scale, the devices integrate extremely thin buried oxide layers (BOX) and body. They also integrate advanced high-k dielectric / metal gate stacks and strain engineering is used to improve transport properties with, for instance, the use of SiGe alloys in the channel of p-type MOS transistors. The optimization of such a technology requires precise and non-destructive experimental techniques able to provide information about the quality of electron transport and interface quality, as well as about the real values of physical parameters (dimensions and doping level) at the end of the process. Techniques for parameter extraction from electrical characteristics have been developed over time. The aim of this thesis work is to reconsider these methods and to further develop them to account for the extremely small dimensions used for sub-22nm SOI generations. The work is based on extended characterization and modelling in support. Among the original results obtained during this thesis, special notice should be put on the adaptation of the complete split CV method which is now able to extract the characteristic parameters for the entire stack, from the substrate and its doping level to the gate stack, as well as an extremely detailed analysis of electron transport based on low temperature characterization in back-gate electrostatic coupling conditions or the exploitation of channel magnetoresistance from the linear regime of operation to saturation. Finally, a detailed analysis of low-frequency noise closes this study.

A produção de petróleo e gás em campos brasileiros é cada vez mais proveniente de regiões com águas profundas e situadas longe da costa, chegando a distâncias de mais de 100 km, como, por exemplo, na Bacia de Campos ou de Santos. Devido à falta de infra-estrutura e às características do petróleo desses campos, a cadeia de abastecimento e o sistema de exportação da produção possuem grande importância para a indústria offshore. Uma maneira usual para a exportação da produção é através de dutos submarinos, onde o óleo e/ou a gás flui das plataformas diretamente para o continente. Com esta infra-estrutura é possível a utilização de sistemas de produção sem capacidade de armazenamento e, conseqüentemente, torna-se desnecessário o uso de navios para o alívio da produção. No entanto, devido à qualidade do óleo e às distâncias entre os poços e a costa em alguns campos brasileiros, a utilização dos oleodutos mostra-se uma solução pouco viável. Por este motivo, é bastante comum o uso de FPSOs ou semi-submersíveis conectadas a sistemas auxiliares, como o FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading). Nas plataformas, outra característica importante e desejada é tornar viável o uso de um sistema de completação seca (árvore de Natal acima da linha dágua) com o objetivo de diminuir, significativamente, os custos operacionais envolvidos. Esse tipo de completação é utilizado, com excelência, por unidade do tipo TLWP ou Spar, devido ao baixo nível dos movimentos e acelerações observadas nestas plataformas. Entretanto, as condições ambientais severas amplificam as dificuldades para encontrar um sistema com grande capacidade de armazenamento e que permita o uso de completação seca. Neste contexto, pesquisadores e engenheiros estão sendo obrigados a desenvolver novos conceitos capazes de atender a essa demanda. Desta forma, uma nova solução, considerando um FPSO e uma TLWP operando a uma curta distância e trabalhando de forma acoplada com a conexão garantida por cabos sintéticos vem sendo estudada. Essencialmente, o grande atrativo deste conceito é o fato de que toda a produção e o armazenamento são concentrados no FPSO e a TLWP é responsável pela perfuração e extração dos hidrocarbonetos através de risers verticais. Assim o sistema trabalhando de forma conjunta possui capacidade de armazenamento e permite o uso da completação seca. Nesta dissertação, foi realizado um estudo sobre a evolução deste novo conceito, dividido em três fases. A primeira focada no dimensionamento do sistema de conexão e ancoragem das unidades e em uma investigação da interação hidrodinâmica entre as unidades de forma a mostrar a viabilidade do sistema. A segunda fase, focada na validação dos resultados por meio da comparação com os testes realizados no modelo em escala do NMRI (National Maritime Research Institute - Japão). Finalmente, a terceira fase, com foco no redimensionamento do sistema de amarração e no sistema de conexão, com base nos resultados obtidos na segunda fase. / The oil and gas production in Brazilian fields are commonly found in deep water and situated far away from the coast, reaching distances of more than 100 km as, for example, in the Campos Basin or Santos Basin. Due to the heavy oil and lack of pipeline infrastructure found in these fields, not only subsea equipments that must support high pressure but also logistics problems such as supply chain and production exportation system play an important role for the offshore industry. A usual way to export the production is to concentrate it in hubs of submarine pipelines which flows the oil or gas from the platforms to the continent. This infrastructure makes possible the use of no storage production systems and, consequently, releases the use of the shuttle tanks employment. However, due to the quality of the oil and the distances between the wells and the coast, some Brazilian fields do not allow the use of the pipelines to export their production. For this reason, is quite common to use FPSO and semi-submersible aided by auxiliary systems such as the FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading) units. Another important and desired characteristic of production platforms is to make it feasible to install a dry Christmas tree system aiming to decrease, significantly, operational costs involved. This feature is performed, with excellence, by TLWP and Spar units due to the low level of motions and accelerations observed in these platforms. Harsh environmental conditions can bring difficulties to find a solution of a system with both storage and dry tree system capability. In this context, researchers and engineers are being forced to develop new technological systems capable to support this demand. In this way, a new solution considering a FPSO and a TLWP coupled in a short distance by synthetic ropes has being studied. Essentially, the attractive feature of this concept is the fact that the production is performed by the FPSO whereas the TLWP is responsible to support the risers and drilling facilities turning the system coupled, equipped with a dry Christmas tree and with the possibility to storage the production. By now, the concept evolution has been divided in three phases. The first phase concerned about an advanced research focusing on the connection and mooring system development and the hydrodynamic interaction between the units and having in mind the verification of the concept feasibility. The second phase, concerned about the results validation by a comparison with scale model tests performed in the NMRI (National Maritime Research Institute Japan). Finally, the third phase, has the focus in the mooring and connection system resizing based on the results obtained on second phase.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / In this work we establish local regularity estimates for at solutions to non-convex fully nonlinear elliptic equations and we study cavitation type equations modeled within coef- icients bounded and measurable. / Neste trabalho estabelecemos estimativas de regularidade local para soluÃÃes "flat" de equaÃÃes elÃpticas totalmente nÃo-lineares nÃo-convexas e estudamos equations do tipo cavidade com coeficientes meramente mensurÃveis.

The aim of this study is to offer a new perspective on both interpersonal communication andcomputer-mediated communication (CMC), by means of conducting a pragma-linguisticanalysis and comparison of a semi-threaded discussion forum and a fully threaded discussionforum; analysing features such as linguistic markers, dialogic listening, politeness, cooperation,elaborate or laconic greetings, farewell expressions and other conversational rituals. Aqualitative study was conducted, employing two methods of gathering data: (a) participantobservation and (b) document and material analysis. The major question for discussion in thisstudy is whether there are any differences with respect to linguistic and non-linguistic featuresbetween the semi-threaded and fully threaded forums? The study concludes that there aredifferences in linguistic and non-linguistic features between semi-threaded and fully threadedforums, but these differences are minimal and can more likely be attributed to the forum subjectmatter and social context than to the forum structure itself.

The overall objective is to improve the one-dimensional numerical prediction of the fine and non-cohesive bed material load in alluvial rivers, especially during high intensity episodes during which sediment beds are strongly remobilized. For this reason, we attempt to reduce the major inaccuracy sources coming from the alluvial resistance and bed material load relations needed to close the mathematical system. Through a shared parameter called the control factor m, the interactions occurring in alluvial rivers are incorporated more deeply into the mathematical model and more particularly into the closure laws: bed material load (SVRD, Suction-Vortex Resuspension Dynamics) and the energy slope (Verbanck et al. 2007). The control factor m is assumedly related to the Rossiter resonance modes of the separated flow downstream the bed form crest. <p><p>To further improve the representation of the flow-sediment-morphology interactions, a fully coupled model approach has been naturally chosen. In this work the terminology fully coupled means that the three equations forming the system are solved synchronously and that the terms often neglected by more traditional decoupled models are kept. <p><p>The feasibility of the new closure methodology has been drawn up by reproducing numerically the silt-flushing experiment conducted by the Yellow River Conservancy Commission (Y.R.C.C.) in the Lower Yellow River (LYR) in Northern China. The objective of the silt flushing experiment is to reverse the aggradation trend of the Lower Yellow River which, in the last decades, has become a perched river. The numerical simulation specifically reproduces the silt-flush effects in a reach of LYR located in the meandering part of the river. This reach (around 100 km) is delimited by Aishan and Luokou hydrometric stations.<p><p>Since the SVRD formulation has been developed from flume observations, the law has first been confronted to river datasets. The confrontation has revealed that the SVRD law becomes less suitable for fine sediment fluxes (ratio of water depth over median particle size > 5000). Therefore, a modified equation SVRD-2 has been built to enlarge the validity range.<p><p>The suitability of the SVRD-2 equation to predict fine sediment fluxes has been tested on data available from several hydrometric stations located in the meandering reach of the LYR: historical observations and measures collected during the flushes. The SVRD-2 has also been compared with relations specifically calibrated for this configuration. The comparison has pointed out that the performance of the two formulas is similar, which is encouraging for the SVRD-2 approach as it has not been calibrated on those data. <p><p>The closed equation system has been written on its quasi-linear form and is solved by a Finite Volume Method combined with a linearized Riemann algorithm. The numerical model has been checked up on two test cases: deposition upstream of a dam and the aggradation experiment conducted by Soni 1975. <p><p>As it is not yet possible to predict dynamically the value of the control factor m, a possible solution would be to extract its value from the measured data at the inlet cross section. Unfortunately, the necessary data are not measured locally. Moreover, a uniform value of the control factor m may not suffice to reproduce the flow along the whole reach. Therefore, it has been proposed to work temporarily in the reverse way. <p><p>From the comparison between the numerical results and the experimental data, a time evolution of the control factor m has effectively been extracted and it has been shown that it varies along the reach. At Aishan, the evolution of the control factor m corresponds to the evolution expected from the data analysis previously conducted on other data sets: the value of the control factor m decreases during the flush as it tries to reach the optimal value m=1. The time evolution at Luokou behaves differently to the one at Aishan, but remains in agreement with m evolution patterns observed historically for the river section flowing round Jinan City walls. For Luokou, the highlighted differences may come from three dimensional effects coming from the meander bend upstream the station.<p><p>Generally, the results obtained for the hydraulics, the sediment transport and bed adaptation are encouraging but still need improvements and additional feeding from the experimental data. The results for the concentration and therefore the bed elevation are very sensitive to the value of the control factor m as it influences most of the terms of the bed material load equation (SVRD-2). <p><p>The major remaining difficulties are, firstly, to deal with the rapid transients for which the model is less suitable and, secondly, to improve the prediction of the value of control factor m. Before paying more attention into the transients, enhancements concerning the flow along the reach (initial condition and discharge rates during the first days of the flush) must be conducted in priority. Indeed as the prediction of the bed or the cross section evolutions depend directly on the quality of the prediction of the sediment concentration and the hydraulics, one should first improve these aspects. To perform this study, more information about the water levels or sediment concentrations is necessary at some intermediate stations. One solution is to lengthen the studied reach, upstream to Sunkou and downstream to Lijin, totaling a river length of 456 Km.<p><p>A more entire signal of the energy slopes and the associated bed configurations at different stations would enlighten how the control factor m evolves along the reach during the silt-flush events. <p><p> / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Daniel V. Swenson / The objective of the thesis is to provide a fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) tool, T2STR, which enables quantitative understanding and prediction of thermal as well as mechanical effects on flow in the porous media under multiphase conditions. This is achieved by incorporating a finite element based hydro-thermo-mechanical stress capability into the well-established IFDM (Integrated Finite Difference Method) based flow simulation code TOUGH2. TOUGH2 is a program for calculation of multi-phase, multi-component, non-isothermal flow in porous media. It implements several equation of state modules to represent different fluid mixtures. The dual mesh technique is natural for combining both discretization methods and is used innovatively and effectively. A generalized approach is developed to accommodate the switching of variables implemented in TOUGH2 to adapt the phase changes. The forward coupling is achieved by using the thermal, hydrostatic, and poroelastic effects in the stress calculations. The backward coupling includes the effect of strain on the fluid flow. T2STR also allows the user to study the variation in porosity, permeability and capillary pressure as function of mean effective stress in the porous media. Multiple materials can be used to model the reservoir in T2STR, parallel to the implementation in TOUGH2. T2STR is implemented to carry out as a fully coupled, one way coupled (only deformation as function of hydro-thermal effects), or original TOUGH2 implementation. It provides the ability to switch on and off the thermal and/or poroelastic effects. T2STR is developed to model the fractured porous media using discrete fractures. The modeling of fractured porous media is limited to a staggered coupling approach. The fluid parameters like permeability, porosity are modified based on the stresses and/or aperture changes due to deformation. A set of verification problems, used to validate the code and display the capabilities of the code, are discussed. A graphical user interface is designed to pre-process the necessary data. Macros are developed for excel and Tecplot to post-process the results for easy visualization.

Dans cette thèse, nous introduisons un nouveau modèle instationnaire de vagues valable de la zone de levée à la zone de jet de rive adapté à l'étude de la submersion. Le modèle est basé sur les équations de Serre Green-Naghdi (S-GN), dont l'application à la zone de surf reste un domaine de recherche ouvert. Nous proposons une nouvelle approche pour gérer le déferlement dans ce type de modèle, basée sur la représentation des fronts déferlés par des chocs. Cette approche a été utilisée avec succès pour les modèles basés sur les équations de Saint-Venant (SV) et permet une description simple et efficace du déferlement et des mouvements de la ligne d'eau. Dans ces travaux, nous cherchons à étendre le domaine de validité du modèle SV SURF-WB (Marche et al. 2007) vers la zone de levée en incluant les termes dispersifs propres aux équations de S-GN. Des basculements locaux vers les équations de SV au niveau des fronts permettent alors aux vagues de déferler et dissiper leur énergie. Le modèle obtenu, appelé SURF-GN, est validé à l'aide de données de laboratoire correspondant à différents types de vagues incidentes et de plages. Il est ensuite utilisé pour analyser la dynamique des fronts d'ondes longues de type tsunami en zone littorale. Nous montrons que SURF-GN peut décrire les différents types de fronts, d'ondulé non-déferlé à purement déferlé. Les conséquences de la transformation d'une onde de type tsunami en train d'ondulations lors de la propagation sur une plage sont ensuite considérées. Nous présentons finalement une étude de la célérité des vagues déferlées, basée sur les données de la campagne de mesure in-situ ECORS Truc-Vert 2008. L'influence des non-linéarités est en particulier quantifiée. / In this thesis, we introduce a new numerical model able to describe wave transformation from the shoaling to the swash zones, including overtopping. This model is based on Serre Green-Naghdi equations, which are the basic fully nonlinear Boussinesq-type equations. These equations can accurately describe wave dynamics prior to breaking, but their application to the surf zone usually requires the use of complex parameterizations. We propose a new approach to describe wave breaking in S-GN models, based on the representation of breaking wave fronts as shocks. This method has been successfully applied to the Nonlinear Shallow Water (NSW) equations, and allows for an easy treatment of wave breaking and shoreline motions. However, the NSW equations can only be applied after breaking. In this thesis, we aim at extending the validity domain of the NSW model SURF-WB (Marche et al. 2007) to the shoaling zone by adding the S-GN dispersive terms to the governing equations. Local switches to NSW equations are then performed in the vicinity of the breaking fronts, allowing for the waves to break and dissipate their energy. Extensive validations using laboratory data are presented. The new model, called SURF-GN, is then applied to study tsunami-like undular bore dynamics in the nearshore. The model ability to describe bore dynamics for a large range of Froude number is first demonstrated, and the effects of the bore transformation on wave run-up over a sloping beach are considered. We finally present an in-situ study of broken wave celerity, based on the ECORS-Truc Vert 2008 field experiment. In particular, we quantify the effects of non-linearities and evaluate the predictive ability of several non-linear celerity models.

The Chilean pension reform has been an experiment of great success. Futhermore, thanks to it the current pensions are much higher than they would have been under the old Pay-As-You-Go system. Considering this, I decided to analyze the possible applicability of the Chilean pension system in the Czech environment. In the present diploma thesis I do analyze the potential results (replacement ratio) of the introduction of a fully funded system in the Czech Republic, in comperison with the replacement ratio of the current Czech PAYG system and the modificated Czech PAYG system that would not genarate deficits (through the reduction of pensions) and keep the retirement age same for all variants for the reason of objective comparison. Later, I do analyze the impact to the state budget of the transition to a fully funded system and discuss the advantages of a such transition. The main conclusion of this diploma thesis justifies that the transition to a fully funded system in the Czech Republic is not recommendatory, due to the fact that it requires high state budget funding and there is a great unlikelihood of benefits for all income groups in general.