In this thesis, I demonstrate how the numerous forms of oppression are grounded in a hierarchical and binary thinking that permeates racism and sexism and that is present throughout the feminist movement. It is this biased thinking that creates further divide among diverse social groups resulting in a foundation for justifying oppressive practices. I argue that the human rights framework is the best by which to defeat this problematic thinking, fostering a collectivity among disparate people and establishing a more appropriate footing upon which to face the problems of feminism. In the end, I claim that there must be a global commitment to end oppression that begins with educating people as to the unjustified harm created by biased and binary thinking and to the effectiveness of a human rights approach in eliminating any validation of oppression.

This is a spectroscopic and photometric study of suspected close binary systems among the massive stars. The stars studied here include stars with temperatures ranging from 45,000 Kelvin (K) to 15,000 K, corresponding to spectral types ranging from O3 V to B5 III, masses between 47 Solar Masses and 5 Solar Masses, and absolute V magnitudes from -6.28 to -2.0. I categorize 30 targets according to my spectroscopic observations into groups with no radial velocity variability, single-lined, and double-lined variability. My analysis of the 18 constant velocity stars results in estimates of stellar effective temperature, Teff, gravity, log g, projected rotational velocity, v sin i, and spectral classification. Analyzing single-lined systems, I find the same stellar parameters for five more systems, and also present the first orbits for these systems. I also explore the probable characteristics of the unseen companions in these systems. Three double-lined systems, two eclipsing and one with an ellipsoidal variation in the light curve, are fully analyzed, and I present important astrophysical parameters for each of these systems, including stellar masses, radii, ages, and distances to each system. The masses are accurate to 4.3% and 3.6% for the primary and secondary for LH 54-425, 2.1% and 1.6% for HI Mon, and 1.1% and 0.6% for HD 42401. Two more double-lined systems are studied, and preliminary results are presented. Photometric observations are analyzed for 56 targets from the All Sky Automated Survey in order to facilitate spectroscopic observations at key points in the binary orbit where spectral features of both components will be well separated. New spectroscopic observations of these eclipsing binaries with my computed ephemerides will allow us to obtain double-lined orbital elements and determine their masses, radii, ages, and distances. These computed parameters will then allow for comparison with theoretical stellar models, and a better understanding of the evolution of massive stars.

The behavioral properties shown by people when they make selections between different choices will be studied. Based on empirical and logical data a mathematical axiomatic model is built. D. Luce is a major contributor in this area. This thesis is based on his works and those of his many co-authors. Three approaches will be considered that lead to the rank-dependent utility representation of binary gambles composed only of gains (losses) relative to a status quo. The proofs involve the theory of functional equations which is a very powerful tool giving the precise numerical representations.

Dynamic binary translation allows us to analyze a program during execution without the need for a compiler or the program's source code. In this work, we present two applications of dynamic binary translation: tracematches and unread memory detection. Libraries are ubiquitous in modern software development. Each library requires that its clients follow certain conventions, depending on the domain of the library. Tracematches are a particularly expressive notation for specifying library usage conventions, but have only been implemented on top of Java. In this work, we leverage dynamic binary translation to enable the use of tracematches on executables, particularly for compiled C/C++ programs. The presence of memory that is never read, or memory writes that are never read during execution is wasteful, and may be also be indicative of bugs. In addition to tracematches, we present an unread memory detector. We built this detector using dynamic binary translation. We have implemented a tool which monitors tracematches on top of the Pin framework along with unread memory. We describe the operation of our tool using a series of motivating examples and then present our overall monitoring approach. Finally, we include benchmarks showing the overhead of our tool on 4 open source projects and report qualitative results.

Since William Gibson includes a Rastafarian Enclave and a theological compass in <i>Neuromancer</i>, this can be used to examine the troublesome natures of the two Artificial Intelligences, Wintermute and Neuromancer. The Rastafarian's beliefs and interpretations of Babylon and Zion, the oppressors and the liberated, add political significance to the Tessier-Ashpool's and their enslaved Artificial Intelligences. Since the Artificial Intelligences are both created of Babylon the Tessier-Ashpools and also wanting to be free of them, they are something outside of both. In the Artificial Intelligences, then, Gibson collapses the straightforward dichotomy of Babylon and Zion.

In this thesis I have searched for and analyzed possible mechanisms of domination and strategies for resistance in the novel La isla bajo el mar by Isabel Allende. This was done with a post-colonial and feminist perspective, focusing on the structural divisions that can be found within these frameworks and using binary oppositions to identify different unequal power relations. These oppositions showed me the unjust structures that are being present in the novel, and made it easier to identify the mechanisms used to oppress certain groups of people. After identifying the mechanisms of oppression, I could also point out the strategies of resistance used by Teté, the main character, and oppressed groups together to resist this domination and the power of the norms in society.

The essay is about the unnamed husband in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea. About how he is depicted as the European "Other" and made into a feminized and zombified weak character from a Caribbean/feminist perspective...

In recent years, the development of power line communication and relational application is gradually attracted much attention. The use of power line system is able to achieve home network automation, automatic meter reading, and demand supply management, so it can be a great help for the current emphasis on energy conservation ideas. Therefore, many international organizations and national programs involve in researches. The signal is vulnerable to the environment causing data error in the power line transmission, so that we reduce the use of power line communication. For making great application of power line system, the main purpose of the thesis is to study that ensure the data accuracy, integrity and security through power line transmission. Therefore, we designed the digital chip for power line communication. We achieve the signal transmission with the half-duplex ability through power line by digital chip designing and solve error problems about transmitting data. By designing the modules of digital circuit, the chip can encrypt/decrypt data, correct error-bits of data, detect accuracy of data, process control signals, and modulate/demodulate signals. The purpose is for increasing data accuracy in PLC transmission. The chip design adopts TSMC 0.18£gm process as full digital circuits and applies to the energy meter management.

This thesis proposes a new variable-order prediction method to predict the Shannon expansion order during the BDD tree generator. Combining this method with the original minimum width method, we can generator a better BDD tree to be used in our pass-transistor logic synthesizer. Also we propose two partitioning methods to reduce the length of the critical paths. The first method can effectively reduce the critical path delay at the cost of much higher area cost. The second method explores the common factors in the Boolean functions to reduce the critical path delay with reasonably increased area cost. Furthermore, we discuss the methods of inserting regenerating inverters/buffers along the path in BDD tree by selecting inverter cells and MUX cells of proper driving strength to optimize the area/cost/power performance. Finally, the automatic layout generation is considered to produce the physical layout more efficiently compared with that using commericial automatic place-and-route tools.

Zeolites are crystalline, hydrated aluminosilicate minerals that are characterized by their ability to exchange some of their constituent cations with cations in aqueous solutions, without a major change in their crystalline structure. Clinoptilolite is the most abundant ype of zeolite and it has received extensive attention due to its favorable selectivity for mmonium and certain heavy metal cations. The aim of this study is to investigate the binary and ternary (multicomponent) ion xchange behavior of sodium form of G&ouml / rdes type clinoptilolite for ammonium,cadmium and sodium ions. For this purpose, NH4 +-Na+,Cd2+-Na+ binary systems and NH4 +-Cd2+-Na+ multicomponent system were investigated both in batch and column systems at 0.1 and 0.01 constant total normality respectively and at 250C constant temperature. As a result of binary and ternary experiments, clinoptilolite&rsquo / s affinity for both ions but greater affinity to NH4+ ion than Cd2+ ion was observed and the selectivity sequence of G&ouml / rdes clinoptilolite was determined as NH4+&gt / Cd2+&gt / Na+ in binary and multicomponent batch and column operations. Additionally, total ion exchange capacities and maximum exchange levels of G&ouml / rdes clinoptilolite for both ions were determined in batch systems whereas breakthrough capacities and column efficiencies (for three different flow rates) were determined in column systems. Finally, it was concluded that the increase of the flow rate reduced the breakthrough capacities and column efficiencies of G&ouml / rdes clinoptilolite for ammonium and cadmium ions in multicomponent column systems involving more than one cation.