yes / There is an increasing need for accurate models describing the electrical behaviour of individual biological cells exposed to electromagnetic fields. In this area of solving linear problem, the most frequently used technique for computing the EM field is the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method. When modelling objects that are small compared with the wavelength, for example biological cells at radio frequencies, the standard Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method requires extremely small time-step sizes, which may lead to excessive computation times. The problem can be overcome by implementing a quasi-static approximate version of FDTD, based on transferring the working frequency to a higher frequency and scaling back to the frequency of interest after the field has been computed. An approach to modeling and analysis of biological cells, incorporating the Hodgkin and Huxley membrane model, is presented here. Since the external medium of the biological cell is lossy material, a modified Berenger absorbing boundary condition is used to truncate the computation grid. Linear assemblages of cells are investigated and then Floquet periodic boundary conditions are imposed to imitate the effect of periodic replication of the assemblages. Thus, the analysis of a large structure of cells is made more computationally efficient than the modeling of the entire structure. The total fields of the simulated structures are shown to give reasonable and stable results at 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2450MHz. This method will facilitate deeper investigation of the phenomena in the interaction between EM fields and biological systems. Moreover, the nonlinear response of biological cell exposed to a 0.9GHz signal was discussed on observing the second harmonic at 1.8GHz. In this, an electrical circuit model has been proposed to calibrate the performance of nonlinear RF energy conversion inside a high quality factor resonant cavity with known nonlinear device. Meanwhile, the first and second harmonic responses of the cavity due to the loading of the cavity with the lossy material will also be demonstrated. The results from proposed mathematical model, give good indication of the input power required to detect the weakly effects of the second harmonic signal prior to perform the measurement. Hence, this proposed mathematical model will assist to determine how sensitivity of the second harmonic signal can be detected by placing the required specific input power.

This thesis investigates three different so-called “past tense forms” in Tulu, a Dravidian language spoken in the south-western Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala. Through fieldwork material collected by the author, this thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the usage and functions of the three forms in Tulu. It expands upon previous research, which has acknowledged the forms’ existence but not described their functions or provided examples of their usage. Previous research has also often referred to the forms with contradictory names; for example, one form has been called both “immediate past” by one source (Bhat, 1998:166) and “distant past” by another (Krishnamurti, 2003:334), with little explanation of the choice of these labels. In this thesis, they are called Past1, Past2 and Past3 as they all refer to events that have already happened, but the study shows that the distinction between them is one of aspect and validity of results and not of remoteness in tense. The investigation also shows that the three forms have differentiating and contrasting functions and can, in most cases, not be replaced by the others. Past1 is favoured to express perfectivity, event-focused actions, and consecutiveness. Past2 is used for continuous statives, states resulting from past events and events that have happened at least once, as well as introducing a new topic in a narrative. Past3 refers to both punctual or completed events and states that can hold for some time with other events happening in between, and it is commonly used to mark a situation or result not holding anymore. When events in the past are within the same scope, or an event is elaborated upon, the Past3 is also used, as well as when referring to events completed or started before a time reference in the past. The description of these forms' functions will fill a knowledge gap in the description of Tulu, providing a comprehensive understanding of the tense and aspect system in the language. Furthermore, the analysis and data can advance future Tulu and general typological studies about tense and aspect systems. Tulu has several unique features compared to other Dravidian languages. The so-called past tense forms have been claimed as one of them (Subrahmanyam, 1971; Krishnamurti, 2003). By describing them and including a brief comparison with other Dravidian languages, this thesis contributes to understanding the Dravidian language family. It provides material for the study of language change and the family's genealogy. In addition, the data released with the thesis includes sentences from Tulu and basic vocabulary lists from various Dravidian languages that can likewise be used in historical research of the family.

No description available.

Krossade drömmar där kris och sorg möts•En kvalitativ studie om vilket stöd föräldrar får vars barn hjärnskadats under förlossningenSitnik, Magdalena. Krossade drömmar där kris och sorg möts – en kvalitativ studie om vilket stöd föräldrar får vars barn hjärnskadats under förlossningen. Examensarbete i socialt arbete, 15 högskolepoäng. Malmö högskola: Fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle, institutionen för Hälsa och samhälle, 2016.Många föräldrar som väntar barn drömmer och skapar en mental bild av sitt ofödda barn. Alltså när det händer att ett barn hjärnskadas under förlossning kan föräldrar befinna sig i en kris och sorgesituation. Studien visar att det inte är så många barn som hjärnskadas i samband med förlossningen årligen i Sverige. Därför har syftet med min studie varit att utforska vilket stöd de föräldrar får vars barn hjärnskadats under förlossningen. Den här studien undersöker vilket stöd professionella på neonatalklinikerna upplever att dessa föräldrar är i behov av. Studien illustrerar även hur professionella tillgodoser dessa individers behov och hur föräldrarna bemöts av yrkesverksamma personer på neonatalklinikerna. Studiens resultat visar att kris och sorgeprocess liknar samt överlappar varandra. Både kris och sorg är inte tidsbunden och kan saktas när och även dra sig tillbaka i sina respektive stadier. Resultat visar även att professionella inom neonatalkliniker måste ha individuellt förhållningssätt gentemot sina klienter. Där de erbjuder både praktiskt såväl som sociopsykologiskt stöd och hjälp till föräldrar varvs barn hjärnskadades i samband med förlossning. De yrkesverksamma personerna tillgodoser dessa föräldrarnas behov genom att lyssna på deras individuella behov noggrann. Resultatet pekar även på vikten av samverkan mellan professioner och organisationer för att erbjuda bästa möjliga hjälp för dessa föräldrar. Nyckelord: drömbarn, föräldrar, funktionshindrad, hjärnskada under förlossning,kris, det ickeperfekta barnet, sorg. / SHATTERED DREAMS WHEN CRISIS AND SORROW MEET• A QUALITATIVE STUDY ABOUT WHAT SUPPORT PARENTS TO BRAIN DAMAGED CHILDREN DURING DELIVERY GETSitnik, Magdalena. Shattered dreams when crisis and sorrow meet - a qualitative study about what support parents to brain damaged children during delivery get with a focus on parents. Examination paper in social work, 15p. Malmö University: Faculty of health and society, Department of health and society, 2016.Many parents who are expecting a child dream and create a mental image of their unborn baby. So when the parents are told that their new born child has got brain damage during delivery, parents end up in a situation of crisis and sorrow. The study shows that there are not many children who are brain damage during delivery in Sweden on a yearly basis. Therefore, the purpose of the study has been to explore what support parents to brain damaged children during delivery get.This study explores what support professionals in neonatal clinics experience that parents whose children are brain injured during delivery are in need of. My study also illustrates how professionals meet these needs of individuals and how they treat and respond to those parents in neonatal clinics.Study results show that the crisis and the grief process are similarly and can merge into each other. Both the crisis and grief is not time-bound and can be slowed and also pull back in their respective stages. Results also show that professionals in neonatal clinics must have an individual approach towards their clients. They offer practical as well as socio-psychological support and assistance for these parents whose children are brain injured during delivery. The professionals meet the parents’ needs by listening to them carefully. The results also point out the importance of cooperation between professions and organizations to provide the best possible help for those parents. Keywords: brain damage during birth, disabled, crisis, dream child, grief, not perfect child, parents.

[pt] Este trabalho tem por objetivo descrever a aspectualidade do Pretérito Perfeito Composto do Indicativo (PPC) no português brasileiro, destacando a relevância desse tempo verbal para a área de Português como Segunda Língua para Estrangeiros (PL2E). A partir de um aparato teórico-metodológico funcionalista, desenvolve-se uma análise do comportamento semântico-pragmático e sintático de quarenta e duas predicações com essa perífrase verbal. Na conjugação de informações de natureza semântica, pragmática e sintática, verifica-se que um mesmo predicador, ao formar predicações com o PPC, pode agenciar aspectualidades distintas, graças à configuração semântica e inter-relação dos argumentos nucleares no contexto em que ocorrem. Além disso, constata-se a interferência dos argumentos não nucleares (satélites) na aspectualidade da predicação com o PPC. Desse modo, evidencia-se que tanto as informações semânticas inerentes ao lexema verbal (Aktionsart/Modo de Ação), como também ao aspecto gramatical (Aspekt/Aspecto), não são suficientes para a determinação da aspectualidade das predicações com o PPC: o uso de um predicador atélico com o PPC, por exemplo, não agencia uma aspectualidade única e exclusivamente durativa. Considerando-se estas e outras constatações, elabora-se um quadro esquemático para o tratamento da aspectualidade do PPC com base em um conjunto de parâmetros semântico-aspectuais. Consequentemente, este trabalho traz subsídios para os profissionais da área de PL2E que frequentemente lidam com o ensino desse tempo verbal a falantes não nativos de língua portuguesa. / [en] The object of the present work is to provide a description of the aspectuality of the Pretérito Perfeito Composto (PPC) in Brazilian Portuguese and highlight the importance of this verb tense in the field of Portuguese as a Second Language (PL2). On the basis of a functionalist theoretical and methodological apparatus, the semantic-pragmatic and syntactic behavior of forty-two predications with this verbal periphrasis is analyzed. Through the conjugation of semantic, pragmatic, and syntactic information, it is verified that a same verbal predicator, due to the configuration of its nuclear arguments and their relations in the context they occur, can promote distinct aspectualities. Moreover, the interference of non-nuclear arguments (satellites) in the aspectuality of the predications using the PPC is also noted. Consequently, it is observed that the semantic information inherent to a verbal lexeme (i.e. its Aktionsart/Mode of Action), as well as the information related to grammatical aspect (i.e. its Aspekt/Aspect) are not sufficient to determine the aspectuality of predications in the PPC: the use of an atelic predicator in the PPC, for instance, does not promote a solely and exclusively durative aspectuality. In the light of these findings, among others, a framework for the aspectuality of the PPC is designed, based on a set of semantic-aspectual parameters. Therefore, this present work offers some resources for professionals in the field of PL2, who frequently deal with the teaching of this verb tense to non-speakers of Portuguese.

Companies spend trillions of dollars on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) every year, and tens of thousands of new M&A deals are announced every year. However, despite the huge costs, only 10% to 30% of the M&As announced, get finalized (Christensen et al., 2011).There is extensive research conducted on why M&As fail, and their implications for the companies involved in the transaction. However, these large deals do not only impact the firms directly involved in the deal.  Microsoft, one of the world’s most influential companies, made on the 18th of January 2022 an acquisition announcement regarding its intent to acquire Activation Blizzard, one of the world’s largest game studios. The announcement made headlines all over the world and resulted in protests from competitors of the two companies. One of these competitors, Sony, experienced a 13% drop in stock price due to the acquisition announcement.  This thesis investigates the effect of acquisition announcements on the stock return of competitors to the target company. The study is examining the competitors stock return during the month leading up to the announcement, as well as the stock return during the month following the announcement. The authors have taken inspiration from a previous study “Acquisitions: A curse or blessing for direct competitors? The impact of target ownership structure” conducted by Mataigne et al. (2021).  By reviewing over 700 market reactions to acquisition announcements over a 10-year period, the authors were able to statistically test the differences in mean stock return. The authors were able to conclude that acquisition announcements have a negative impact on the stock return of competitors, and thereby answer the proposed research question: “What is the effect of acquisitions announcements on the stock returns of target company’s competitors in Sweden?”. Competitors to the target firm of an acquisition will experience the most significant change in their stock returns in the time period close to the announcement, after which the reaction will stabilize. The empirical findings of the study contribute to the field of knowledge using Behavioral Finance, the Efficient Market Hypothesis, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, the Stakeholder Theory, the Mitchell Model, and various market valuation methods.  Evidently, theories as part of the Behavioral Finance scope, such as the Efficient Market Hypothesis, provide support to the findings following the acquisition announcement. Theories such as the Stakeholder Theory and the Mitchell Model have helped identify competitors' stakeholder role to show how various events and organizations affect them as stakeholders in the market.  This study, which utilizes over 60.000 datapoints from daily price data for its analysis, takes a deductive approach within the positivist paradigm framework. The data is statistically tested using paired t-tests.

Much research has been done in the realm of quantum walks over networks of qubits. We primarily study a type of graph consisting of a path with two stars connected to the leaves which we call a Double Extended Star. We find that Pretty Good State Transfer can occur in many ways in a Double Extended Star and that Fractional Revival cannot occur in Double Extended Stars except when the length of the path within is one.

Storicamente, lo studio delle Nuove Tecnologie ha visto l’evoluzione di diverse discipline interessate alla valutazione delle stesse, in termini di sicurezza, usabilità, esperienza globale (dall’Ergonomia fino alla User Experience, passando per la cyberpsicologia). Tali discipline hanno identificato nei “bisogni degli utenti” la guida fondamentale di valutazione e design. Tuttavia, è mancata una contestualizzazione teorica del concetto di bisogno dell’utente. A tal proposito, questa tesi propone un modello teorico (PIM) basato sulla relazione tra tecnologie e intenzioni degli utenti. Queste ultime, sulla base della letteratura psicologica e filosofica, sono viste come l’antecedente mentale delle azioni, strutturate gerarchicamente. Sulla base del modello, vengono presentati tre esperimenti incentrati sull’interazione con le tecnologie e le intenzioni al livello motorio, prossimale e distale. I risultati del primo esperimento indicano che l’utilizzo di tecnologie interattive può modificare il contenuto rappresentazionale delle intenzioni motorie. Il secondo esperimento mostra che la presenza di intenzioni prossimali in utenti orienta la loro percezione di opportunità d’azione e la valutazione della tecnologia. Il terzo esperimento dimostra che la presenza di intenzioni distali negli utenti influenza la valutazione di usabilità di una tecnologia e le emozioni ad essa legate. La conclusione della tesi approfondisce l’importanza dell’analisi delle intenzioni nella valutazione delle tecnologie. / Historically, the study of New Technologies has seen the evolution of the various disciplines involved in technology evaluation, in terms of safety, usability, and the overall experience (from ergonomics to User Experience, and cyberpsychology). These disciplines have identified the "user needs" as the fundamental guideline for evaluation and design. However, a theoretical contextualization of the concept of user needs is still missing. This dissertation proposes a theoretical model (PIM) based on the relationship between technology and user intentions. Based on the psychological and philosophical literature, it defines intentions as the hierarchically-structured mental antecedents of actions. Starting from the model, three experiments are presented focusing on the interaction with the technologies and motor, proximal and distal intentions. The results of the first experiment indicate that the use of interactive technologies can modify the representational content of motor intentions. The second experiment shows that the presence of proximal intentions in users drives their perception of affordances in the technologies and their final evaluation. The third experiment shows that users’ distal intentions influence the evaluation of usability in the technology and the experience of usage-related emotions. The conclusion explores the importance of intention analysis in technology evaluation.

本論文藉由分析三十二位主修英語的研究生所寫的克漏字測驗以及引導寫作來探討其使用完成式的情形。文中的討論主要涵蓋了三個面向：語言形式和語意之間的連結，語法體(grammatical aspect)與情狀體(lexical aspect)之間的關聯，以及語法體與篇章組織(discourse organization)之間的關係。本篇研究發現，進階學習者能將完成式的語言形式正確使用，但是似乎仍未能達到高度的適當使用(appropriate use)。此外，研究發現學習者有使用完成式的動詞似乎偏向於其語意中帶有終點(endpoint)或結果狀態(result state)的類別，此項發現並支持之前文獻的研究結果。最後，結果亦顯示學習者在篇章中所使用的完成式似乎具有情景建立的功能(scene-setting function)，幫助他們在文章的開頭建立起背景。 / This study aims to explore the advanced learners’ use of the perfect aspect from the perspectives of form-meaning matching, lexical aspect influence and discourse organization influence. Thirty-two English-majored graduate students participated in the present study and they had to complete two tasks: a cloze test and a composition. With a careful examination over the collected data, these advanced learners’ use of the perfect aspect could be summarized as the following. First of all, they showed better formal accuracy than appropriate use of the perfect aspect. Although they presented more underuse in the task of cloze, they had more overuse in their compositions. Secondly, it was found that the perfect aspect was closely related to the verbs involving a semantic endpoint. These verbs, according to Vendler’s classification, are ACCOMPLISHMENTS and ACHIEVEMENTS. Finally, the learners in the present study showed a tendency of using the perfect aspect as the scene-setting function in the opening paragraph of their compositions.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Wide local area networks (WLAN) are increasingly important in meeting the needs of next generation broadband wireless communications systems for both commercial and military applications. Under IEEE 802.11a 5GHz WLAN standard, OFDM was chosen as the modulation scheme for transmission because of its well-known ability to avoid multi-path effects while achieving high data rates. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the performance of the IEEE 802.11a WLAN standard receiver over flat fading Nakagami channels in a worst case, pulse-noise jamming environment, for the different combinations of modulation type (binary and non-binary modulation) and code rate specified by the WLAN standard. Receiver performance with Viterbi soft decision decoding (SDD) will be analyzed for additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) alone and for AWGN plus pulse-noise jamming. Moreover, the performance of the IEEE 802.11a WLAN standard receiver will be examined both in the scenario where perfect side information is considered to be available (optimum receiver) and when it is not (sub-optimum receiver). In the sub-optimum receiver scenario, the receiver performance is examined both when noise-normalization is utilized and when it is not. The receiver performance is severely affected by the pulse-noise jamming environment, especially in the suboptimum receiver scenario. However, the sub-optimum receiver performance is significantly improved when noise-normalization is implemented. / Lieutenant, Hellenic Navy