Technology has become an integral part in the realm of education. The flipped classroom is a recent teaching method where students can watch instructional online videos outside the classroom that actively engage them in their learning process. Although this trend has gained momentum in many disciples and there are many studies available, research behind language acquisition through the flipped classroom model is limited. Still it is implemented by many teachers in the upper secondary school in Sweden. The aim of this study is to investigate the benefits and drawbacks of the flipped classroom in the EFL context and to see if the Flipped Classroom enhances interactive skil ls in students’ language learning. Peer reviewed research articles were used and data has been collected through research behind the Flipped Classroom. The perceptions behind it were divided. Some teachers and students experienced the Flipped Classroom as something positive with regard to availability of material, the promotion of active learning for students and enhancement in language interaction. Along with these, criticism made on this teaching method is that creating material to be available online was time consuming and that perceived an increase in the homework load. As regards oral interaction, both teachers and students felt that it did enhance skills in speaking since preparation before class lead to qualitative time for interaction with the teacher during class, something that was very limited before implementing the flipped classroom model. This review suggests that there is a demand for further studies in the area of English language teaching and English language acquisition in the Swedish context of upper secondary education.

Abstract In this thesis, bandwidth (BW) enhanced antennas for mobile terminals and multilayer ceramic packages are presented. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part, electrically frequency-tunable mobile terminal antennas have been studied. The first three antennas presented were of a dual-band planar inverted-F type (PIFA) and were tuned to operate in frequency bands appropriate to the GSM850 (824–894 MHz), GSM900 (880–960 MHz), GSM1800 (1710–1880 MHz), GSM1900 (1850–1990 MHz) and UMTS (1920–2170 MHz) cellular telecommunication standards with RF PIN diode switches. The first antenna utilized a frequency-tuning method developed in this thesis. The method was based on an integration of the tuning circuitry into the antenna. The tuning of the second antenna was based on a switchable parasitic antenna element. By combining the two frequency-tuning approaches, a third PIFA could be switched to operate in eight frequency bands. The planar monopole antennas researched were varactor-tunable for digital television signal reception (470–702 MHz) and RF PIN diode switchable dual-band antenna for operation at four cellular bands. The key advantage of the former antenna was a compact size (0.7 cm3), while for the latter one, a tuning circuit was implemented without using separate DC wiring for controlling the switch component. The second part of the thesis is devoted to multilayer ceramic package integrated microwave antennas. In the beginning, the use of a laser micro-machined embedded air cavity was proposed to enable antenna size to impedance bandwidth (BW) trade-off for a microwave microstrip in a multilayer monolithic ceramic media. It was shown that the BW of a 10 GHz antenna fabricated on a low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrate could be doubled with this technique. Next, the implementation of a compact surface mountable LTCC antenna package operating near 10 GHz was described. The package was composed of a BW optimized stacked patch microstrip antenna and a wide-band vertical ball grid array (BGA)-via interconnection. Along with the electrical performance optimization, an accurate circuit model describing the antenna structure was presented. Finally, the use of low-sintering temperature non-linear dielectric Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) thick films was demonstrated in a folded slot antenna operating at 3 GHz and frequency-tuned with an integrated BST varactor.

Subtropical mode water is a voluminous body of water in the ocean whose main feature is the homogeneity in both vertical structure and horizontal extension. The subtropical mode water (STMW) of the southwest Atlantic is formed between the months of July and October near the Brazil-Malvinas confluence and along the Brazil Current recirculation gyre. The formation region extends on the order of 3000 km zonally, from 20°W to 50°W, and 1000 km meridionally, from 30°S to 40°S, and it is typically about 170 m thick. In situ data from pressure-equipped inverted echo sounders (PIES) installed in the western portion of the basin, along 34.5°S, are available from 2009 to the present. These data after processed and calibrated can provide an unprecedented description of the STMW involving processes since its formation at the surface until the final stage of its residence in the interior of the ocean. Temperature and salinity data estimated by the PIES are based on empirical look-up tables that relate the acoustic travel time with the baroclinic structure of the ocean. This technique is known as the Gravest Empirical Mode (GEM), and here it is used to detect profiles containing homogeneous segments of temperature and salinity that characterize the mode water. The GEM method was seasonally corrected to reconstruct surface variability necessary for STMW formation. The interannual covariance between STMW layer thickness and the Brazil Current was calculated, but no significant correlation at that time scale was observed. The mode water layer detected was about 220 m ± 55 m thick on all sites, agreeing with previous studies. / A água modal subtropical é um grande volume de água no oceano cuja característica principal é a homogeneidade nas estruturas vertical e horizontal. A água modal subtropical do sudoeste do Atlântico é formada entre os meses de julho e outubro perto da confluência Brasil-Malvinas e ao longo da recirculação da Corrente do Brasil. A região de formação se estende na ordem de 3000 km zonalmente, de 20°W a 50°W e 1000 km meridionalmente, de 30°S a 40°S, e tipicamente tem cerca de 170 m de espessura. Dados in situ de ecossondas invertidas com sensor de pressão (PIES) instaladas na porção ocidental da bacia, ao longo de 34,5°S, estão disponíveis a partir de 2009 até o presente. Estes dados após o processamento e calibração podem fornecer uma descrição sem precedentes da Água Modal Subtropical do Atlântico Sul envolvendo processos desde sua formação na superfície até o estágio final de sua permanência no interior do oceano. Os dados de temperatura e salinidade estimados pelos PIES são baseados em tabelas de referência (look-up tables) que relacionam o tempo de retorno do sinal acústico com a estrutura baroclínica do oceano. Esta técnica é conhecida como o Gravest Empirical Mode (GEM),e aqui é usado para detectar perfis contendo segmentos homogêneos de temperatura e salinidade que caracterizam a água modal. Foi aplicada uma correção sazonal ao método GEM para reconstruir a variabilidade da superfície necessária para a formação STMW. A covariância interanual entre a espessura da camada STMW e a corrente do Brasil foi calculada, mas não foi observada correlação significativa naquela escala de tempo. A camada de água em modo detectada foi de cerca de 220 m ± 55 m de espessura em todos os sites, concordando com estudos prévios.

This thesis presents the design, construction, and control of a two-wheeled inverted pendulum (TWIP) robotic walker prototype for assisting mobility-impaired users with balance and fall prevention. A conceptual model of the robotic walker is developed and used to illustrate the purpose of this study. A linearized mathematical model of the two-wheeled system is derived using Newtonian mechanics. A control strategy consisting of a decoupled LQR controller and three state variable controllers is developed to stabilize the platform and regulate its behavior with robust disturbance rejection performance. Simulation results reveal that the LQR controller is capable of stabilizing the platform and rejecting external disturbances while the state variable controllers simultaneously regulate the system’s position with smooth and minimum jerk control. A prototype for the two-wheeled system is fabricated and assembled followed by the implementation and tuning of the control algorithms responsible for stabilizing the prototype and regulating its position with optimal performance. Several experiments are conducted, confirming the ability of the decoupled LQR controller to robustly balance the platform while the state variable controllers regulate the platform’s position with smooth and minimum jerk control.

No description available.

Nowadays water in Brno is mostly packaged in plastic bottles. Is there any opportunity to give the habitant of Brno reminiscence of 19th century urban atmosphere, so-called "Little Venice"? The river as live element brings movement to the static topography. Today its feature in cities is certanly required as a city-forming maker, the basic topographical landmark. A suitable factor in creating boundaries. Boundary that divides, combines, defines, orients. It divides the dense building structure of the city and delivers the necessary cleanup, space for relaxing and meeting. After a thorough analysis of Brno streams were defined areas of interest. It has become the resolution of the diploma thesis, which should be a starting guide for restoration and interconnection of watercourses to everyday life of citizens in the city of Brno. Best idea became a resumption of the creek Ponávka. The project aims to return not only Ponávka itself from Brno's underground, but also a return to medieval ideals due to a water feature on the city streets.

This work describes an electrically small antennas used for mobile devices in the ISM band. The aim of this work is to select an antenna for a universal transmitter/receiver working in the 868 MHz band. The work contains description of the universal transmitter/receiver, and a list of suitable antennas. Tolerance analysis is performed by numerical model. The proposed antenna is manufactured and measured.

Lecture methods in higher education continue to be the most often used form of lesson delivery, although they seem to be less effective in promoting adult students' learning and engagement. Many higher education instructors have incorporated inverted classroom (IC) methods to increase student engagement and learning. The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to gain an understanding of college instructors' decision-making processes and experiences transitioning from lecture-based instruction to IC and the factors attributed to that transition. Knowles's andragogy theory, Kolb's experiential learning theory, and Rogers's diffusion of innovations provided the conceptual framework for the study. Eight college-level instructors from the Flipped Learning Community were interviewed twice to collect data, which were analyzed using first and second cycle coding. Themes included student focus, support, change agent, and need to dialogue. Results may provide administrators with information to promote instructors' transition from lecture-based methods to IC. Results also indicated that IC was an effective social change strategy for boosting student retention, student engagement, and instructor satisfaction.

La méthode des éléments finis inversés est une méthode sans troncature qui a été introduite pour résoudre des équations aux dérivées partielles en domaines non bornés. L’objective de cette thèse est d’analyser, d’adapter puis d’implémenter cette méthode pour résoudre quelques problèmes issus de la physique, notamment lorsque le domaine géométrique est l’espace R3 tout entier. Dans un premier temps, nous présentons de manière détaillée les aspects et les principes fondamentaux de la méthode. Ensuite, nous adapterons la méthode à des problèmes de type div-rot et de potentiels vecteurs posés dans R3. Après avoir analysé la convergence de la méthode, on montrera quelques résultats numériques obtenus avec un code tridimensionnel. On s’intéresse ensuite au problème de calcul de l’énergie magnétostatique dans des problèmes de micromagnétisme, où on développe avec succès une approche numérique utilisant les éléments finis inversés. Dans la dernière partie, on adapte la méthode à un problème provenant de la chimie quantique (modèle de continuum polarisable) pour lequel on prouve qu’elle donne des résultats numériques très prometteurs. La thèse comporte beaucoup de résultats numériques issus de codes tridimensionnels écrits ou co-écrits, notamment lorsque le domaine est l’espace tout entier. Elle comporte aussi des résultats théoriques liés à l’utilisation des espaces de Sobolev à poids comme cadre fonctionnel. On apporte en particulier une preuve constructive de quelques inégalités de type div-rot dans des domaines non bornés. / Inverted finite element method (IFEM) is a non runcature method which was introduced for solving partial differential equations in unbounded domains. The objective of this thesis is to analyze, to adapt and to implement IFEM for solving several problems arising in physics, especially when the domain is the whole space R3. We first give a presentation in which we detail the principles and the main features of the method. Then, we adapt IFEM for solving some div-curl systems and vector potential problems in the whole space. In a second part, we successfully develop an IFEM based approach for computing the stray-field energy in micromagnetism. In the last part, we are interested in the study of the polarizable continuum model arising in quantum chemistry. The manuscript contains a large number of numerical results obtained with some 3D codes, especially when the domain is the whole space R3. It also contains some theoretical results in relation with weighted Sobolev spaces. We give in particular a constructive proof of some div-curl inequalities in unbounded domains.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / SETMAR is a chimeric protein that originates from the fusion of a SET domain to the mariner Hsmar1 transposase. This fusion event occurred approximately 50 million years ago, after the split of an anthropoid primate ancestor from the prosimians. Thus, SETMAR is only expressed in anthropoid primates, such as humans, apes, and New World monkeys. Evolutionary sequence analyses have revealed that the DNA-binding domain, one of the two functional domains in the Hsmar1 transposase, has been subjected to a strong purifying selection. Consistent with these analyses, SETMAR retains robust binding specificity to its ancestral terminal inverted repeat (TIR) DNA. In the human genome, this TIR sequence is dispersed in over 1500 perfect or nearly perfect sites. Given that many DNA-binding domains of transcriptional regulators are derived from transposases, we hypothesized that SETMAR may play a role in gene regulation. In this thesis, we determined the crystal structures of the DNA-binding domain bound to both its ancestral TIR DNA and a variant TIR DNA sequence at 2.37 and 3.07 Å, respectively. Overall, the DNA-binding domain contains two helix-turn-helix (HTH) motifs linked by two AT-hook motifs and dimerizes through its HTH1 motif. In both complexes, minor groove interactions with the AT-hook motifs are similar, and major groove interactions with HTH1 involve a single residue. However, four residues from HTH2 participate in nucleobase-specific interactions with the TIR and only two with the variant DNA sequence. Despite these differences in nucleobase-specific interactions, the DNA-binding affinities of SETMAR to TIR or variant TIR differ by less than two-fold. From cell-based studies, we found that SETMAR represses firefly luciferase gene expression while the DNA-binding deficient mutant does not. A chromatin immunoprecipitation assay further confirms that SETMAR binds the TIR sequence in cells. Collectively, our studies suggest that SETMAR functions in gene regulation.