The Best MPhil Thesis in the Faculties of Dentistry, Engineering, Medicine and Science (University of Hong Kong), Li Ka Shing Prize,2009-2010 / published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

The global foreign exchange market is the largest financial market with turnover in this market often outstripping the GDP of countries in which they are located. The dynamics in the foreign exchange market, especially price dynamics, have huge implications for financial asset values, financial returns and volatility in the international financial system. It is therefore an important area of study. Exchange rates have often departed significantly from the level implied by fundamentals and exhibit excessive volatility. This reality creates a role for central bank intervention in this market to keep the rate in line with economic fundamentals and the overall policy mix, to stabilize market expectations and to calm disorderly markets. Studies that attempt to measure the effectiveness of intervention in the foreign exchange market in terms of exchange rate trends and volatility have had mixed results. This, in many cases, reflects the unavailability of data and the weaknesses in the empirical frameworks used to measure effectiveness. This thesis utilises the most recent data available and some of the latest methodological advances to measure the effectiveness of central bank intervention in the foreign exchange markets of a variety of countries. It therefore makes a contribution in the area of applied empirical methodologies for the measurement of the dynamics of intervention in the foreign exchange market. It demonstrates that by using high frequency data and more robust and appropriate empirical methodologies central bank intervention in the foreign exchange market can be effective. Moreover, a framework that takes account of the interactions between different central bank policy instruments and price dynamics, the reaction function of the central bank, different states of the market, liquidity in the market and the profitability of the central bank can improve the effectiveness of measuring the impact of central bank policy in the foreign exchange market and provide useful information to policy makers.

This thesis studies the indirect adaptive control for discrete linear time invariant systems. The adaptive control strategy is based on the linear quadratic regulator that places the closed loop poles such that an infinite stage quadratic cost function is minimized. The plant parameters are identified recursively using a projection algorithm. / First, we study the effect of the model over-parametrization. For this purpose, we introduce an algorithm to generate the controller parameters recursively. This asymptotic reformulation is shown to overcome situations in which the pole-zero cancellation is a limit point of the identification algorithm. We also show that the algorithm will generate a unique control sequence that converges asymptotically to the solution of the Diophantine (pole assignment) equation. / Next, we study the stability of the proposed adaptive scheme in both deterministic and stochastic cases. We show that the global stability of the resulting adaptive scheme is obtained with no implicit assumptions about parameter convergence or the nature of the external input. Then the global convergence of the adaptive algorithm is obtained if the external input is "persistently exciting". By convergence we mean that the adaptive control will converge to the optimal control of the system. / The performance of the adaptive algorithm in the presence of deterministic disturbances is also considered, where we show that the adaptive controller performs relatively well if the model order is high enough to include a description of the disturbances.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-108). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

by Michael Athans. / Bibliography: leaf [3]. / "August 1983." / Supported by the Office of Naval Research under Grant ONR/N00014-82-K-0582 NR 606-003 NASA Ames and Langley Research Centers under Grant NGL-22-009-124

CAPES / O objetivo desta dissertação é propor uma técnica para a síntese via realimentação de estados para sistemas lineares e invariantes no tempo, considerando que os estados realimentados são previamente quantizados. Para tanto, o erro de quantização é inicialmente modelado como um ruído externo. Assim, o problema de obter os ganhos de realimentação de estados, se torna um problema de projetar os ganhos que minimizem a norma H¥ do sistema controlado. Os ganhos de realimentação são calculados pela solução de um conjunto de condições descritas na forma de desigualdades matriciais lineares. A técnica é ilustrada pela aplicação da realimentação de estados quantizada em um servomecanismo. / The main objective of this dissertation is to propose a technique for synthesis by statefeedback for linear time-invariant systems, considering that the states are quantized before the feedback. To tackle such problem, the quantization error is initially modeled as an external noise. Therefore, the problem of getting the state-feedback gains, becomes a problem of designing the gains that minimize the H¥ norm of the system. The state-feedback gains are calculated by solving a set of conditions described in the form of linear matrix inequalities. The technique is illustrated by applying the of feedback of quantized states to a servo-mechanism.

CAPES / O objetivo desta dissertação é propor uma técnica para a síntese via realimentação de estados para sistemas lineares e invariantes no tempo, considerando que os estados realimentados são previamente quantizados. Para tanto, o erro de quantização é inicialmente modelado como um ruído externo. Assim, o problema de obter os ganhos de realimentação de estados, se torna um problema de projetar os ganhos que minimizem a norma H¥ do sistema controlado. Os ganhos de realimentação são calculados pela solução de um conjunto de condições descritas na forma de desigualdades matriciais lineares. A técnica é ilustrada pela aplicação da realimentação de estados quantizada em um servomecanismo. / The main objective of this dissertation is to propose a technique for synthesis by statefeedback for linear time-invariant systems, considering that the states are quantized before the feedback. To tackle such problem, the quantization error is initially modeled as an external noise. Therefore, the problem of getting the state-feedback gains, becomes a problem of designing the gains that minimize the H¥ norm of the system. The state-feedback gains are calculated by solving a set of conditions described in the form of linear matrix inequalities. The technique is illustrated by applying the of feedback of quantized states to a servo-mechanism.

Error-corecting codes are used during most of data transmissions these days. To save space, we would like to use codes which are able to correct enough errors without extending the message too much. The expander codes look promising - they are asymptotically optimal, however, in practice they are just too long. Better expander constructions could be achieved via randomness con- ductors. In this thesis, we explain what conductors are and which constructions are possible for them. In the end we will convert them to expanders and almost get expander codes which are short enough for practical use but nevertheless good. 1

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