In the past two decades the core aircraft technology is going through a drastic change. The traditional technologies that is almost half a century old, is going through a complete revamp. In the new “More Electric Aircraft” technology many mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic systems are being replaced by electrical and power electronic systems. Airbus-A380, Boeing B-787 are the pioneers in the family of these new breed of aircrafts. As the aircraft technology is moving towards “More Electric”, more and more electric motors and motor controllers are being used in new aircrafts. Number of electric motor drive systems has increased by about ten times in more electric aircrafts compared to traditional aircrafts. Weight of any electric component that goes into aircraft needs to be low to reduce the overall weight of aircraft so as to improve the fuel efficiency of the aircraft. Hence there is an increased need to reduce weight of motors and motor controllers in commercial aircraft. High speed ironless axial flux permanent magnet brushless dc motors are becoming popular in the new more-electric aircrafts because of their ability to meet the demand of light weight, high power density, high efficiency and high reliability. However, these motors come with very low inductance, which poses a big challenge to the motor controllers in controlling the ripple current in motor windings. Multilevel inverters can solve this problem. Three-level inverters are proposed in this thesis for driving axial flux BLDC motors in aircraft. Majority of the motors in new more electric aircrafts are in the power range of 2kW to 20kW, while a few motor applications being in the range of 100kW to 150kW. Motor controllers in these applications run from 270Vdc or 540Vdc bus which is the standard in new more electric aircraft architecture. Multilevel Inverter is popular in the industry for high power and high voltage applications, where high-voltage power switching devices like IGBT, GTO are popularly used. However multilevel inverters have not been tried in the low power range which is appropriate for aircraft applications. A detail analysis of practical feasibility of constructing three-level inverter in lower power and voltage level is presented in this thesis. Analysis is presented that verify the advantages of driving low voltage and low power (300Vdc to 600Vdc and less than 100kW) motors with multilevel inverters. Practical considerations for design of MOSFET based three-level inverter are investigated and topological modifications are suggested. The effect of clamping diodes in the diode clamped multilevel inverters play an important role in determining its efficiency. SiC diodes are proposed to be used as clamping diodes. Further, it is realised that power loss introduced by reverse recovery of MOSFET body diode prohibits use of MOSFET in hard switched inverter legs. Hence, a technique of avoiding the reverse recovery losses of MOSFET body diode in three-level NPC inverter is conceived. The use of proposed multilevel inverter topology enables operation at high switching frequency without sacrificing efficiency. High switching frequency of operation reduces the output filter requirement, which in turn helps reducing size of the inverter. In this research work elaborate trade-off analysis is done to quantify the suitability of multilevel inverters in the low power applications. For successful operation of three-level NPC inverter in aircraft electrical system, it is important for the DC bus structure in aircraft electric primary distribution system to be compatible to drive NPC inverters. Hence a detail study of AC to DC power conversion system as applied to commercial aircraft electrical system is done. Multi-pulse rectifiers using autotransformers are used in aircrafts. Investigation is done to improve these rectifiers for future aircrafts, such that they can support new technologies of future generation motor controllers. A new 24-pulse isolated transformer rectifier topology is proposed. From two 15º displaced 6-phase systems feeding two 12-pulse rectifiers that are series connected, a 24-pulse rectifier topology is obtained. Though, windings of each 12-pulse rectifiers are isolated from primary, the 6-phase generation is done without any isolation of the transformer windings. The new 24-pulse transformer topology has lower VA rating compared to standard 12-pulse rectifiers. Though the new 24-pulse transformer-rectifier solution is robust and simple, it adds to the weight of the overall system, as compared to the present architecture as the proposed topology uses isolated transformer. Non-isolated autotransformer cannot provide split voltage at the dc-link that creates a stable mid-point voltage as required by the three-level NPC inverter. Hence, a new front-end AC-DC power conversion system with switched capacitor is conceived that can support motor controllers driven by three-level inverters. Laboratory experimental results are presented to validate the new proposed topology. In this proposed topology, the inverter dc-link voltage is double the input dc-link voltage. An intense research work is performed to understand the operation of Trapezoidal Back EMF BLDC motor driven by three-Level NPC inverter. Operation of BLDC motor from three-Level inverter is primarily advantageous for low inductance motors, like ironless axial flux motors. For low inductance BLDC motor, very high switching frequency is required to limit the magnitude of ripple current in motor winding. Three-level inverters help limiting the magnitude of motor ripple current without increasing the switching frequency to very high value. Further, it is analysed that dc link mid-point current in three-level NPC inverter for driving trapezoidal BLDC motor has a zero average current with fundamental frequency same as switching frequency. Because of this, trapezoidal BLDC motors can easily be operated from three-level NPC inverter without any special attention given to mid-point voltage unbalance. One non-ideal condition arrives in practical implementation of the inverter that leads to non-zero average mid point current. Unequal gate drive dead time delays from one leg to other leg of inverter introduce dc-link mid-point voltage unbalance. For the motoring mode operation of trapezoidal BLDC motor drive, simple gate drive logic is researched that eliminates need of the gate drive dead-time, and hence solves the mid-point voltage unbalance issue. Simple closed loop control scheme for mid-point voltage balancing also is also proposed. This control scheme may be used in applications where very precise control of speed and torque ripple is warranted. All the investigations reported in this thesis are simulated extensively on MATHCAD and MATLAB platform using SIMULINK toolbox. A laboratory experimental set-up of three-Level inverter driving axial flux BLDC motor is built. The three-level inverter, operating from 300Vdc bus is built using 500V MOSFETs and 600V SiC diodes. All the control schemes are implemented digitally on digital signal processor TMS320F2812 DSP platform and GAL22V10B platforms. Experimental results are collected to validate the theoretical propositions made in the present research work. At the end, in chapter 5, some future works are proposed. A new external voltage balance circuit is proposed where the inverter dc-link voltage is same as the input dc-link voltage. This topology is based on the resonant converter principle and uses a lighter resonant inductor than prior arts available in literature. Detail simulation and experimentation of this topology may be carried out to validate the industrial benefits of this circuit. It is also thought that current source inverters may work as an alternative to voltage source inverters for driving BLDC motors. Current source inverters eliminate use of bulky DC-link capacitors. Long term reliability of current source inverters is higher than voltage source inverters due to the absence of possibility of shoot-through. Further, in voltage source inverters, the voltage at the motor terminal is limited by the source voltage (dc-link voltage). This issue is eliminated in current source inverters. An interface circuit is conceived to reduce the size of dc-link inductors in current source inverters, pending detail analysis and experimental verification. The interface circuit bases its fundamentals on the principles of operation of multilevel inverters for BLDC motors that is presented in this thesis.

Canada 150, or the sesquicentennial anniversary of Confederation, celebrates a nation-state that can be described as “settler colonial” in relation to Indigenous peoples. This thesis brings a Critical Religion and Critical Discourse Analysis methodology into conversation with Settler Colonial and Indigenous Studies to ask: how is Canadian settler colonial sovereignty enacted, and how do Indigenous peoples perform challenges to that sovereignty? The parliamentary mace and the eagle feather are conceptualized as emblematic and condensed metaphors, or metonyms, that assert and represent Canadian and Indigenous sovereignties. As a settler colonial sovereignty, established and naturalized partially through discourses on religion, Canadian sovereignty requires the displacement of Indigenous sovereignty. In events from 1990 to 2017, Indigenous people wielding eagle feathers disrupt Canadian governance and challenge the legitimacy of Canadian sovereignty. Indigenous sovereignty is (re)asserted as identity-based, oppositional, and spiritualized. Discourses on Indigenous sovereignty and spirituality provide categories and concepts through which Indigenous resistance occurs within Canada.

The aim of my thesis is proposal of the system for evaluation and selection of the supplier for company in automotive industry. The described topic is concerned in purchasing of production components, i.e. those components, parts, etc. which are intended for direct assembly into the final product of our company.

The aim of this master thesis is to analyse practical impacts of special rules for determination of applicable legislation in accordance with the Regulation No. 883/2004 and its implementing Regulation No. 987/2009. Further the thesis seeks to identify potential negative effects connected to application of the single insurance principle as well as deficiencies arising out of practical performance of European coordination and to discuss the eventual solutions to undesirable effects caused by weak sides of coordination regulations. The thesis is divided into four chapters: an introduction is followed by a chapter about general principles of European coordination of social security systems and about current developments in this field. The topic of a second part is an institute of posting according to Art. 12 of the Regulation No. 883/2004, a distinction here is made between employees and self-employed persons. This chapter further contains procedural rules and an overview of issued portable documents A1 (E 101 forms) during the years 2009 - 2011. Third chapter deals with pursuit of activities in two or more Member States in accordance to Art. 13 of the Regulation No. 883/2004. Special attention is paid to a fine line between posting and pursuit of activities. A problem with retroactive determination of applicable legislation is discussed in the last subchapter of the thesis. This problem is being recently solved by Czech institutions and employers. They are trying to find a solution preventing negative consequences of such a retroactive determination. Exception governed in Art. 16 of the Regulation No. 883/2004 is a subject of the fourth chapter. Situations where an exception is a possible and suitable solution are presented here as well as statistics about requests for exemption from Czech resp. foreign laws.

Esta tese se insere no campo da avaliação de política pública e com esse escopo faz a avaliação da implementação da política do governo federal denominada “Programa Mais Educação” que se propõe a ser um indutor da ampliação da jornada escolar na perspectiva da educação integral. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de caráter qualitativo que teve como objetivo geral avaliar processos de implementação e impactos do Programa na qualidade da educação e no financiamento do ensino fundamental em escolas da rede estadual de ensino do Rio Grande do Sul. Nos aspectos teóricos, o estudo apresenta um breve histórico da política pública enquanto campo de conhecimento e aspectos legais e conceituais de política pública e de avaliação de política. Como referencial metodológico foi utilizado o modelo analítico do ciclo de política de Stephen Ball e Richard Bowe, por ser uma abordagem que propicia a investigação das políticas como um processo contínuo, bem como pela sua preocupação com os efeitos das políticas. Quanto ao viés avaliativo, foram utilizadas, em especial, as orientações metodológicas de textos de Sonia Draibe e de Marta Arretche, em análises que contemplaram quatro dimensões e suas inter-relações: gestão; relação escola/comunidade; cognitiva/pedagógica; financeira. Como o Programa teve seu início em 2008, nas regiões metropolitanas, esse foi o critério de seleção das escolas para a realização da pesquisa empírica. Foram 49 escolas estaduais contempladas em 2008, localizadas nos municípios de Porto Alegre, Canoas, Gravataí e Viamão. Dessas 49 escolas foram selecionadas onze escolas como amostra para estudo mais aprofundado. No desenvolvimento da tese foi realizado um resgate sucinto das diferentes matrizes filosóficas, ideológicas e políticas do conceito de educação integral, especialmente nas vertentes libertária e liberal, que deram suporte à maioria das experiências de tempo integral que também são apresentadas. Também são caracterizados o Programa Mais Educação – seus objetivos, finalidades, marco teórico – e a política de financiamento da educação, cuja ênfase foi a insuficiência de recursos para cobrir as demandas educativas contemporâneas num contexto de garantia de direitos e o financiamento do Programa na sua relação com os demais recursos recebidos pelas escolas. Além do crescimento expressivo e acelerado do Programa, os achados do estudo indicam um alto grau de satisfação dos beneficiários e dos implementadores, que permite dizer que o Programa tem efetividade social e, de certa maneira, também, tem efetividade institucional, embora, para atingir os objetivos, num grau maior, precise de ajustes, pois ainda não ocorreram as mudanças curriculares que o Programa propõe. A implementação não vem seguindo as orientações dos documentos oficiais, mas alguns documentos apresentam falta de clareza. Os desencontros de finalidades e objetivos identificados se devem à ausência um currículo integral e integrado; à resistência dos docentes em relação aos oficineiros; ao viés reducionista atribuído ao Programa; à falta de regularidade do oferecimento das oficinas; à infrequência e à ausência de acompanhamento sistemático pela mantenedora e de proposta de formação continuada na perspectiva da educação integral para as escolas. / This thesis is in the field of public policies evaluation and, based on that, it evaluates the implementation of the federal government program called “More Education Program” (Programa Mais Educação), which intends to lead to an extension of the school day, on the integral education perspective. It is a qualitative research which has had, as its general goal, to evaluate the program implementation processes and its impact on the quality of education and on the funding of Elementary School, in public schools in Rio Grande do Sul. As for theoretical aspects, the study presents a brief background of the public policy, as a knowledge area and legal and conceptual issues of public policy and policy evaluation. The methodological reference was Stephen Ball and Richard Bowe´s Policy Cycle analytical model. The choice is justified for it is an approach that allows the investigation of policies as a continuous process, as well as its concerns about policies effects. Regarding the evaluative perspective, methodological orientations texts by Sonia Draibe and Marta Arretche have been used in analysis which covered four dimensions and their inter-relations: management; school/community relations; cognitive/pedagogical; financial. Once the Program started in 2008, in the metropolitan regions, those were the criteria for selecting the schools for the empirical research. Forty nine state schools in Porto Alegre, Canoas and Gravataí were accessed. Eleven, out of the forty nine schools, were selected as a sample for deeper studies. During the thesis development there was a brief recovery of the different philosophical, ideological and political matrices of integral education concept, especially in the libertarian and liberal aspects, which supported most of full time experiences, also presented. The Programa Mais Educação – its objectives, purposes, theoretical background is described, as well as the education funding policy, whose emphasis was the resources constraint to afford the contemporary educational demands in a way in which rights are guaranteed, and the Program funding towards other resources received by the schools. Besides the Program´s meaningful and fast growth, findings show a high degree of satisfaction among beneficiaries and implementers. This demonstrates the Program has social effectiveness and, in a way, institutional effectiveness, although, in order to achieve the goals, in a higher degree, it needs some adjustments, once the curricular changes proposed by the Program haven´t happened, yet. The implementation hasn´t been following official documents orientations but some of the documents are not clear enough. The discrepancy between the purposes and the identified goals are due to the lack of a full and integrated curriculum; the educational staff resistance to the workshops instructors; the reductionist characteristic attributed to the Program; the lack of regularity in the workshop offers; the infrequency and lack of systematic follow-up by the government and a proposal of continued education on schools integral education perspective.

Avanços na área da tecnologia de informação proporcionaram mudanças em diversas áreas da atividade humana. A comunicaço cientifica e uma destas áreas. Periódicos científicos, que tradicionalmente utilizam como meio de divulgação a mídia impressa, possuem agora como alternativa a midia eletrônica. Alguns periódicos científicos lançados no final do século XX estão disponíveis exclusivamente no formato eletrônico. Esta tese de Doutorado analisa de forma específica as dinâmicas de acesso e uso dos periódicos científicos eletônicos brasileiros na área da Ciência da Informação. Discutem-se diversos tópicos fundamentais para a compreensão deste assunto. O estudo do acesso dos usuários aos periódicos foi realizado através da análise dos arquivos de log de acesso gerados pelos servidores web onde estão hospedados os periódicos selecionados para a pesquisa. O estudo relacionado ao uso que os usuários fazem dos periódicos foi realizado através da análise de um questionário enviado para os docentes dos programas de pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação, credenciados pela Coordenação de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior CAPES, até a data de 30 de junho de 2001. A pesquisa identifica vários comportamentos dos usários quando do acesso aos periódicos científicos eletrônicos brasileiros, bem como algumas barreiras para uma utilização mais efetiva deste recurso. As conclusões da pesquisa sao relevantes para a elaboraço de novos periódicos cientificos eletrônicos. O prototipo de um sistema de informação eletrônico, voltado para o gerenciamento do processo de elaboração de um periódico científico eletrônico, e apresentado em sugestões para futuras pesquisas. Este protótipo materializa algumas das idéias discutidas ao longo do texto. / Electronic journals, Scientific Communication, Information Science, Information Technology

This Master's thesis is focusing on why the United States of America never ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is analysing the prevailing arguments which were used in 1982, which led to President Ronald Reagan never ratifying the Convention. As well as why the same thing happened in 1994 when the United Nations agreed on an Update to the Convention. Then the thesis is focusing on crucial parts of the Convention, which are part of the arguments for or against the ratification of the Convention, as well as those which have a great influence on the American approach to the high seas. Furthermore, this thesis is trying to offer a current insight into the problematic of why the United States still did not ratify the Convention, despite the fact that they used the Convention as an explanation why they patron the high seas as well as the right of innocent passage. At the same time, the findings are then looked at from the perspective of the South China Sea, which is a region the United States monitor. This last part is attempting to do several things. First, it is explaining the issue of the South China Sea and the interest of the United States in it. Then it is looking at the way by which the United States try to promote their interests in the region on how the fact them...

This diploma thesis deals with the rise of China in the context of its behavior in the South China Sea over the past decade. The significant economic growth of the People's Republic of China over the last few decades is expected to affect not only the regional balance of powers, but also its position within the international system. There is a wide-ranging debate in academia about how China will grow and how it will affect the international community. As a reaction, in order to explain its growth, China has introduced the concept of "peaceful development", according to which its growth should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat to the international community. An offensive realism approach was chosen for this work and the ideas of its main advocate John Mearsheimer will be applied to the specific behavior of China in the region. The role of the United States, which influences China's behavior, will also be discussed. The diploma thesis will further deal with the increased Chinese assertiveness in the area of South China Sea and the means it uses in it to enforce its claims. The basic aim of this work is to underscore the contrast between the declared official policy of China and its actual behavior.

This thesis project explores combining interactive technology and the natural world, through a more-than-human design approach. This project aims to step away from an industry-driven design by valuing plants as equal in the design process. Throughout this report, an overview of the relevant theory and examples are elaborated on. This overview has informed the project in two ways. It formed the foundation of a concept aiming to improve the user’s interconnectedness with nature and it formed the foundation of an evaluation tool developed for aiding designers in design for plants by addressing three design fields: Design for Care, Design for Cohabitation, and Design for Noticing. The concept and the evaluation tool have been developed in parallel and informed each other throughout the project. The final concept contributes to the discussion about addressing more-than-human actors in design. In this case by addressing plant blindness. The evaluation tool contributes to more-than-human design as a tool to evaluate ideas and projects. This project included an extensive analysis of a design collection, workshops regarding the materiality of living plants and assessment of the evaluation tool, an interdisciplinary design approach, and a prototyping phase during which assumptions regarding the concept were tested.

Future more electric aircraft (MEA) architectures require a new generation of power-by-wire actuators, e.g. Electro Hydrostatic Actuators (EHA). These units have to be capable of frontline operation of safety critical flight control surfaces over the entire aircraft life. Prove of robustness becomes a challenging objective. This paper illustrates the Liebherr-Aerospace EHA technology as well as methods for validation of robustness. It gives an insight regarding the design of a robust piston pump.