published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

For the last four decades, Si CMOS technology has been advancing with Moore’s law prediction, working itself down to the sub-20 nm regime. However, fundamental problems and limitations arise with the down-scaling of transistors and thus new innovations needed to be discovered in order to further improve device performance without compromising power consumption and size. Thus, a lot of studies have focused on the development of new CMOS compatible architectures as well as the discovery of new high mobility channel materials that will allow further miniaturization of CMOS transistors and improvement of device performance. Pushing the limits even further, flexible and foldable electronics seem to be the new attractive topic. By being able to make our devices flexible through a CMOS compatible process, one will be able to integrate hundreds of billions of more transistors in a small volumetric space, allowing to increase the performance and speed of our electronics all together with making things thinner, lighter, smaller and even interactive with the human skin. Thus, in this thesis, we introduce for the first time a cost-effective CMOS compatible approach to make high-k/metal gate devices on flexible Germanium (Ge) and Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) platforms. In the first part, we will look at the various approaches in the literature that has been developed to get flexible platforms, as well as we will give a brief overview about epitaxial growth of Si1-xGex films. We will also examine the electrical properties of the Si1-xGex alloys up to Ge (x=1) and discuss how strain affects the band structure diagram, and thus the mobility of the material. We will also review the material growth properties as well as the state-of-the-art results on high mobility metal-oxide semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPs) using strained SiGe films. Then, we will introduce the flexible process that we have developed, based on a cost-effective “trench-protect-release-reuse” approach, utilizing the industry’s most used bulk Si (100) wafers, and discuss how it has been used for getting flexible and semi-transparent SiGe and Ge platforms. Finally, we examine the electrical characteristics of our materials through the fabrication of high-k/metal gate MOSCAPs with SiGe and Ge as channel material. We present their electrical performance on both non- flexible and flexible platform and discuss further improvement that has to be made in order to get better behaving devices for future MOSFET fabrication.

Στην παρούσα εργασία διερευνώνται διάφορες πτυχές της δια-γενεακής κινητικότητας της εκπαίδευσης σε 14 χώρες-μέλη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (ΕΕ-14). Για το σκοπό αυτό χρησιμοποιούνται ατομικά στοιχεία από την βάση δεδομένων European Social Survey (ESS) και ιδιαίτερη έμφαση αποδίδεται στο επίπεδο της εκπαίδευσης που έχει ολοκληρωθεί τόσο από τα άτομα που αποτελούν την μονάδα ανάλυσης όσο και για τους γονείς τους ανεξάρτητα από το εάν οι τελευταίοι καταγράφονται ή όχι στην χρησιμοποιούμενη βάση δεδομένων. Με βάση τα αποτελέσματα της ανάλυσης ο μηχανισμός μεταφοράς του εκπαιδευτικού επιπέδου από την μια γενιά στην επόμενη διαφέρει μεταξύ των εξεταζόμενων οικονομιών. Αυτές οι διαφορές συντελούν στη διεύρυνση των εκπαιδευτικών ανισοτήτων μεταξύ χωρών της ΕΕ-14 και στην υποβάθμιση της πρόσβασης σε ίσες ευκαιρίες για τους κατοίκους χωρών με χαμηλή κινητικότητα. Επίσης, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τις συνθήκες που επικρατούσαν στο νοικοκυριό όταν το άτομο βρισκόταν στην παιδική ηλικία, βρέθηκε ότι η συσχέτιση της εκπαίδευσης μεταξύ γενεών είναι μικρότερη. Τέλος, η εφαρμογή ανάλυσης με βάση την χρονική περίοδο γέννησης του ατόμου κατά χώρα μας έδωσε τη δυνατότητα να προσδιορίζουμε την κατεύθυνση της τάσης που διαμορφώνεται ως προς την διαχρονική εξέλιξη της δια-γενεακής κινητικότητας στην ΕΕ-14. Τα αποτελέσματα με σαφήνεια υποδεικνύον την ύπαρξη σημαντικής κινητικότητας κατά την περίοδο 1950-2007 γεγονός το όποιο φαίνεται να ακολουθεί τη γενικότερη οικονομική ανάπτυξη που παρατηρήθηκε στις χώρες της ΕΕ-14 τη συγκεκριμένη περίοδο. / In the present work are investigated various aspects of intergenerational mobility of education in 14 countries of European Union. For this aim are used individual elements from the base of data European Social Survey (ESS) and particular accent are attributed in the level of education that has been completed so much by the individuals that constitute the unit of analysis what for their parents independent from whether the last ones are recorded or no in the used base of data. With base the results of analysis the mechanism of transport of educational level from a generation in next differs between the examined economies. These differences contribute in the enlargement of educational inequalities between countries of OJ-14 and in the devalorisation of access in equal occasions for the residents of countries with low mobility. Also, taking into consideration the conditions that prevailed in the household when the individual found itself in the children's age, he was found that the cross-correlation of education between generations is smaller. Finally, the application of analysis with base the time period of birth of individual at country us gave the possibility of determining the direction of tendency that is shaped as for the diachronic development of intergenerational mobility. The results with clarity show the existence of important mobility at period 1950-2007 make that appears to follow the more general economic growth that was observed in the countries of European Union the particular period.

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Following decades of protectionism, in 1982 Mexico reacted to its foreign debt crisis by implementing extreme structural adjustment policies and it has continued a pattern of neoliberalism, increasingly opening its economy to international markets. The cumulative impacts of these policies have negatively affected the majority of the Mexican population, and researchers have documented the detrimental effects of neoliberal polices on working and middle classes in other contexts. Based on ethnographic research in Nogales, Sonora, this paper will describe a particular group of Mexicans who have nevertheless risen to middle class status throughout this time period. It will situate them within an industrializing border economy and will investigate some of the factors, both internal and external, that have contributed to their success in this endeavor. Finally, it will raise questions for future research, such as: Is this middle-class sustainable?

This research investigated the influence of television viewing on the social identity management or coping strategies endorsed by women. Three studies (N = 536) tested predictions formulated under the aegis of cultivation theory and social identity theory. Cultivation theory suggests that exposure to low-status mediated portrayals of female characters may lead to the internalization of low status in female heavy television viewers, possibly resulting in a negative ingroup or social identity. According to social identity theory, members of low-status groups may cope with negative social identity by adopting any of three identity management strategies: individual mobility (disassociating oneself from the ingroup), social creativity (changing the dimension of comparison with a high-status group or changing the comparison group altogether), and social competition (actively pursuing legal and/or civil means in order to obtain a higher status for the ingroup). By integrating the identity management strategies as outcome variables in a cultivation-led framework, the main predictions of this research were that television viewing would be directly related to strategies of mobility and creativity and inversely related to social competition. A model of television viewing's indirect effects on identity management via its influences on the sociostructural constructs (permeability, stability, and legitimacy) was also tested in this research. Finally, this research examined other theoretically important variables that were predicted to impact television's cultivation effects. These were (i) gender role attitudes, (ii) perceived ingroup vitality, (iii) ingroup identification, (iv) perceived ingroup efficacy, and (v) perceived realism of television programming. The findings from these three studies indicate that television viewing has both direct and indirect influences on identity management in women. Specifically, television viewing was significantly and positively related to individual mobility and significantly and inversely related to attitudes of social competition. As television viewing was not related to any of the sociostructural variables, the preliminary model testing television viewing's indirect effects on identity management was not successful. However, a revised model incorporating perceived status of women, and perceived ingroup vitality, was more successful and consistently explained the data across the three studies. In non-traditional women, television viewing and gender role attitudes interacted to predict heightened mobility and creativity scores, and dampened attitudes of social competition. Similar but weaker effects were observed for more traditional women. Perceived ingroup vitality, ingroup identification, perceived ingroup efficacy, and perceived realism of television did not moderate the relationship between television viewing and identity management. The findings from the dissertation expand and add to the growing body of work integrating media effects and intergroup communication theories. Specifically, it extends the work focusing on media's influences on low-status group members' identity cognitions.

This dissertation attempts in three essays to contribute to the growing body of research on the problems associated with sudden stops of capital inflows, known to have been at the heart of many recent emerging market crises. It does this by developing basic models that can incorporate sudden stops and hopefully make policy relevant recommendations. The first essay develops a simple three date representative agent model of a small open endowment economy without money. It allows sudden stops to occur at date two and asks whether individuals in such a shock-prone world are still better off borrowing than in autarky. Unambiguously, this chapter shows that individuals are better off borrowing than in autarky and provides a tractable core model on which the later chapters build. The second essay then includes a long-term borrowing option as well as country-specific risk premia based on an information asymmetry between domestic borrowers and international lenders. This allows analysis of optimal maturity choices in a meaningful way. The intent is to address questions in the literature concerning whether emerging economies could enhance welfare by imposing short-term capital controls to encourage the use of longer-maturing debt and thus avoid the sudden stop. The results imply that short-term capital controls would generally lower welfare, even when sudden stops are fully anticipated. Finally, the third essay extends the horizon of the model and includes a much wider range of maturities. This allows one to start making sense of maturity bunching (when a country's debt all matures around a given date) which is known to exacerbate sudden-stop related problems. The model shows that maturity bunching can occur endogenously when both risk premia and uncertainty over the duration of the sudden stop are present.

Rapid and continued social change is a predominant feature of modern Canadian society. Indeed, one of the outstanding characteristics of our society is its complex and diversified economic growth since the end of the Second World War. One of the consequences of this growth is the opening of new resources: oil, natural gas,and uranium. However, the development of these natural resources has affected older, more firmly established industries, such as coal mining.

This thesis examines how the village of Birzeit is made as place. The reader is taken on a tour designed to show some of the sights of Birzeit and three sets of practices that are key in forging Birzeit-as-place. The first set of practices cohere around homes: the dilapidated houses in the Old City, the modern Spanish Apartments, the frequently empty dwellings of diaspora and two destroyed homes. The second set of practices involves families: the negotiation of different distances by families stretched across continents, the extensive efforts of some families to live in close physical proximity that contrast with others who are witnessing the increasing nuclearization of family living space and attendant family practices. Thirdly, im/mobilities: the movements of disapora in the summer, students travelling to and from Birzeit University and immigrants who have migrated from the north and south of Palestine to work in and around Ramallah. In offering a passing glimpse at some of the dynamic relationships that cohere around and between these material and imaginative spatial practices, I hope to (re)present Palestine as a vibrant and dynamic place, shaded by social, political, economic and cultural differences that maybe similar to other parts of the world. In doing so my chronicle departs from accounts of Palestinian space that tend to prioritize the ongoing practices of Israeli Occupation and its effects. Nevertheless, Birzeit is coloured by such practices too, which penetrate and complicate practices of home, family and im/mobility. The tour stages a series of empirical stories and events that were drawn from the eleven months of fieldwork I conducted in Birzeit between June 2005 and October 2007, during which time I conducted participant observation, interviews and archival research. These stories are punctuated by a set of theoretical engagements. I choose to keep these moments separate to explore how theory and Birzeit as I experienced it might converse with one another. I hope that each will be an equal partner in the conversation, that each will complicate and extend the other, and that this conversation will also build a affirmative relation between this place and you.

SUMMARY The endurance and mobility of spinal muscles in 6-7 year old children The problem of the study: The health of a child depends not only on genetic factors, conditions of life, and nutrition but also on the health education in family, kindergarten and school, on the conditions of hygiene and lifestyle. The training of the posture occupies an important place in contemporary system of health education of preschool and junior school age children. The beginning of posture disorders has to be looked for not in schools. Optimal muscle activity determines the correctness of the posture. The correct posture is formed with the well-timed and adequate assessment of the condition of the muscles, determination of the muscles’ weakness or the reduction of endurance, and adequate training. The aim of the work: To assess the endurance and mobility of spinal muscles in 6-7 year old children. The objectives: 1. To assess the endurance of spinal, abdominal and lateral muscles in 6-7 year old children. 2. To assess the mobility of lateral waist muscles in 6-7 year old children. 3. To assess the endurance of abdominal, spinal, and lateral muscles and the lateral mobility of the spine in boys and girls. 4. To determine the correlative relationship between the endurance of spinal, abdominal and lateral waist muscles and the mobility of the waist. The hypothesis: We claim that the endurance of the flexion of the waist to the left and right sides and the endurance of abdominal... [to full text]