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Beginning in the 1990s, the United States and Japan began redefining their bilateral security alliance. This redefinition also prompted Japan to change its security policies. To what extent and in what ways have changes in the U.S.-Japan security alliance contributed to these changes? I argue that these changes are the result of negotiations of the Japan-U.S. Joint Declaration on Security Alliance for the 21st Century, signed on April 17, 1996, and the occurrence of an exogenous event. I also argue that the negotiated changes only progress to a certain point, at which time an exogenous event acts as a catalyst to continue change. I examine two cases of policy change associated with exogenous events (the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 North Korea Missile Crisis). Finally, I summarize my results that Japan was able to change its security policies through negotiations and through a series of systematic steps that follow a consistent trajectory of change; but exogenous events have continued the change that started as a result of the negotiations and the systematic steps. / Master of Arts

Le coût de fabrication des modules photovoltaïques est un point critique pour implanter l’énergie solaire dans le mix énergétique. L’un des moyens d’abaisser ce coût est la réduction de l’épaisseur de silicium utilisé pour la fabrication des cellules photovoltaïques. Il est techniquement possible de produire des cellules photovoltaïques en silicium cristallin d’une épaisseur de quelques dizaines de micromètres d’épaisseur seulement, bien que cela représente un défi à la fois pour le procédé de fabrication de telles cellules et pour leur optimisation. Celle-ci est différente des cellules d’épaisseur conventionnelle notamment par le besoin d’un piégeage optique et d’une passivation de surface de haut niveau. Cet aspect sera étudié au travers de deux structures : un réflecteur en face arrière de la cellule, et un procédé de texturisation innovant pour limiter la gravure du silicium de la cellule, déjà mince. Enfin, l’implantation du réflecteur dans des cellules photovoltaïques sera traitée. L’optimisation du réflecteur considéré pour des cellules minces en silicium cristallin a montré de très bonnes propriétés réfléchissantes et de passivation de surface, ainsi qu’une compatibilité avec l’ensemble des étapes du procédé de fabrication. Ensuite, la texturisation avancée développée dans ce travail a montré un gain potentiel important en photogénération pour des cellules de faible épaisseur. La caractérisation de ces structures a montré des performances optiques et électriques comparables à l’état-de-l’art. Enfin, la fabrication de cellules photovoltaïques d’épaisseur standard utilisant le procédé développé pour les cellules minces a montré le gain du réflecteur développé pour la face arrière par rapport à une structure classique de cellule. De plus, la réalisation de ces cellules avec le procédé destiné aux cellules minces a permis d’établir que les étapes non-standard du procédé sont compatibles avec l’obtention de cellules photovoltaïques performantes. / The cost of fabrication of photovoltaic modules is a critical figure for settling solar power into the energy mix. One way to lower this cost is to decrease silicon use in photovoltaic cells. It is technically possible to produce crystalline silicon solar cells only a few dozens of microns thick, although this represents a challenge both for their fabrication process and their optimization. This last one is different from cells of standard thickness, especially by the need of high level light trapping and surface passivation. Two structures will be studied in order to fulfill these aspects : a reflector on the rear side of the cell, and an innovative texturing process used to limit the etching of the already thin silicon absorber. Eventually, the implementation of the rear side reflector into photovoltaic cells will be discussed. The rear side reflector optimized for thin-film crystalline silicon solar cells has shown very good passivating and reflecting properties, as well as compatibility with the overall fabrication process. Moreover, the advanced texturation process developped in this work has shown a large potential gain in photogeneration for thin solar cells. These structures have been characterized and have shown a reflectivity and a passivation level coherent with the state-of-the-art. Finally, solar cells of standard thickness have been fabricated with the thin solar cells process, and have shown an improvement from the rear side reflector in comparison with a standard cell structure. Moreover, making these cells with the thin cells process has shown that the non-standard steps of this process are compatible with high-performance solar cells fabrication.

In this thesis Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells with different sodiumdoping of the CIGS absorber and varying Al2O3 rear surface passivationlayer thickness have been manufactured and electrically characterised. Baseline samples and samples without passivation were used asreferences for the passivated samples. For the passivated samplesbetween 1 and 7 nm of Al2O3 were deposited by ALD. The electricalcharacterisation included current-voltage (IV, JV), quantum efficiency (QE, EQE), capacitance-voltage (CV) and temperature dependent currentvoltage (IVT, JVT) measurements. The results show that it is indeed possible to use a tunnel current toconstruct an electrical contact, but that the electrical contact isvery sensitive to sodium doping. The samples with post-depositiontreatment and without Na start to block the tunnel current when thepassivation layer reaches a thickness of about 2 nm, while no blocking of the tunnel current could be observed for the samples with Na pre-deposition. The samples with pre-deposition treatment showed acontinued increase in efficiency all the way to a passivation layerthickness of about 7 nm. When trying to construct samples with eventhicker passivation layer the CIGS started to peel off. For thisreason the optimal thickness for the pre-deposition treated samplescould not be found. The samples with the highest efficiency was thesamples with pre-deposition treatment and thick passivation layer. Those samples showed an increase of 3 percent (absolute) compared tothe unpassivated sample with the same deposition treatment and 1.6 percent higher efficiency compared to the baseline sample. Concluding that tunnelling passivation layer is comparable to the passivationlayer with point contact methods.

Poucas regiões na cidade de São Paulo foram tão freqüentemente objeto de projetos como a Luz nas últimas décadas, e só este fato já é um indicador de sua importância no contexto metropolitano. Entretanto, mesmo contando com estudos específicos desde a década de 70, parece que a recuperação das partes degradadas do diversificado tecido urbano que a caracteriza começou a se concretizar só nos anos recentes, em vista do destaque dado aos projetos de reabilitação urbana no discurso do planejamento estratégico, num cenário de competitividade econômica mundial. Neste sentido, os projetos para a região na última década, seguem motivações que vão muito além do restauro e conservação de edifícios monumentais, tanto pela evolução do conceito de patrimônio histórico quanto pela importância da reintegração desta área à dinâmica produtiva da cidade. O Projeto de Revitalização do Conjunto Histórico da Luz, do Programa Monumenta, em vigência, faz parte de um programa nacional resultante do contrato de empréstimo entre o Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento BID e o Governo Federal. Ao longo da investigação verificou-se que esta instituição de fomento não se limita apenas ao financiamento, mas também direciona a formulação dos projetos com metodologias de intervenção específicas aplicadas a todos os países latino-americanos que recebem recursos para reabilitação de suas cidades. Isto se torna evidente na análise dos casos de Quito e São Paulo (Luz), sendo o primeiro, modelo para implementação do segundo. Os projetos apostam em intervenções pontuais, mas de grande impacto, capazes de desencadear um processo de valorização imobiliária que crie condições favoráveis para a participação da iniciativa privada, considerada imprescindível para a manutenção dos bens após a intervenção. Desta forma, os programas do BID reforçam e incentivam modelos de intervenção urbana onde as políticas públicas se mantêm indiferentes às demandas sociais e assumem como prioridade o favorecimento de interesses particulares, prática bastante conhecida ao longo da história da produção do espaço urbano da cidade de São Paulo. / Few stretches in the city of São Paulo were so frequently the object of projects as the Luz area in the last decades, and this is in itself an indicator of its importance in the metropolitan context. However, despite the specific studies since the 70\'s, the \"deteriorated\" patches within the diversified urban fabric that characterizes the territory, seem to be recovering only in recent years, in view of the prominence given to urban renovation projects by the speech for strategic planning in a global scenario prone towards economical competitiveness. In this sense, the projects for the area in the last decade, follow motivations that go way beyond the renovation and preservation of monumental buildings, resulting as much from the evolution of the historical patromony concept as from the importance of reintegrating the area to the city\'s productive dynamics. The Luz Historical Compound Renovation Project, in the Monumenta Program, now in force, is part of a national program resulting from a loan contract between the Inter-American Development Bank - IDB and the Federal Government. Throughout the investigation it was verified that this fomentation institution doesn\'t just limit itself to the financing, but it also directs the projects formulation, applying specific intervention methodologies in all Latin-American countries that receive resources for their cities rehabilitation. This becomes evident in Quito and São Paulo, while the first a \"model\" for the second. The projects bet on punctual, but high-impact, interventions, capable of unleashing a process of real-estate valorization that creates favorable conditions for the participation of private companies, considered indispensable for the asset maintenance after the intervention. Thus, the BID programs strengthen and motivate urban intervention models where public policies are indifferent to the social demands and assume as a priority the support of private interests, a known practice along the history of São Paulos urban space production.

Poucas regiões na cidade de São Paulo foram tão freqüentemente objeto de projetos como a Luz nas últimas décadas, e só este fato já é um indicador de sua importância no contexto metropolitano. Entretanto, mesmo contando com estudos específicos desde a década de 70, parece que a recuperação das partes degradadas do diversificado tecido urbano que a caracteriza começou a se concretizar só nos anos recentes, em vista do destaque dado aos projetos de reabilitação urbana no discurso do planejamento estratégico, num cenário de competitividade econômica mundial. Neste sentido, os projetos para a região na última década, seguem motivações que vão muito além do restauro e conservação de edifícios monumentais, tanto pela evolução do conceito de patrimônio histórico quanto pela importância da reintegração desta área à dinâmica produtiva da cidade. O Projeto de Revitalização do Conjunto Histórico da Luz, do Programa Monumenta, em vigência, faz parte de um programa nacional resultante do contrato de empréstimo entre o Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento BID e o Governo Federal. Ao longo da investigação verificou-se que esta instituição de fomento não se limita apenas ao financiamento, mas também direciona a formulação dos projetos com metodologias de intervenção específicas aplicadas a todos os países latino-americanos que recebem recursos para reabilitação de suas cidades. Isto se torna evidente na análise dos casos de Quito e São Paulo (Luz), sendo o primeiro, modelo para implementação do segundo. Os projetos apostam em intervenções pontuais, mas de grande impacto, capazes de desencadear um processo de valorização imobiliária que crie condições favoráveis para a participação da iniciativa privada, considerada imprescindível para a manutenção dos bens após a intervenção. Desta forma, os programas do BID reforçam e incentivam modelos de intervenção urbana onde as políticas públicas se mantêm indiferentes às demandas sociais e assumem como prioridade o favorecimento de interesses particulares, prática bastante conhecida ao longo da história da produção do espaço urbano da cidade de São Paulo. / Few stretches in the city of São Paulo were so frequently the object of projects as the Luz area in the last decades, and this is in itself an indicator of its importance in the metropolitan context. However, despite the specific studies since the 70\'s, the \"deteriorated\" patches within the diversified urban fabric that characterizes the territory, seem to be recovering only in recent years, in view of the prominence given to urban renovation projects by the speech for strategic planning in a global scenario prone towards economical competitiveness. In this sense, the projects for the area in the last decade, follow motivations that go way beyond the renovation and preservation of monumental buildings, resulting as much from the evolution of the historical patromony concept as from the importance of reintegrating the area to the city\'s productive dynamics. The Luz Historical Compound Renovation Project, in the Monumenta Program, now in force, is part of a national program resulting from a loan contract between the Inter-American Development Bank - IDB and the Federal Government. Throughout the investigation it was verified that this fomentation institution doesn\'t just limit itself to the financing, but it also directs the projects formulation, applying specific intervention methodologies in all Latin-American countries that receive resources for their cities rehabilitation. This becomes evident in Quito and São Paulo, while the first a \"model\" for the second. The projects bet on punctual, but high-impact, interventions, capable of unleashing a process of real-estate valorization that creates favorable conditions for the participation of private companies, considered indispensable for the asset maintenance after the intervention. Thus, the BID programs strengthen and motivate urban intervention models where public policies are indifferent to the social demands and assume as a priority the support of private interests, a known practice along the history of São Paulos urban space production.

Although public transit bus accounts for only a small percentage of the mode share for transportation in Florida, the annual passenger miles were over 1 billion with over 200 million passenger trips in 2005. These numbers warrant close attention to be paid to the safety of public transit vehicles. Despite the relatively low occurrence of fatalities and bus crashes, each crash of a high occupancy vehicle such as a public transit bus could expose more people to injury than a private automobile crash. Bus crashes also have a significant impact on the automobiles that are involved. Since a high percentage of bus crashes in Florida are caused by rear-end collisions with private automobiles, improving the signage and lighting that will allow buses to move back into traffic safely is very important for bus safety and operations. This paper uses bus operator surveys, crash data, and field studies to develop recommendations for lighting and signage on the back of the bus, roadway signs and revised Florida legislations. Improved signage and lighting will help the bus move back into traffic safely, decrease bus delay and improve bus operations however it must be accompanied by laws and law enforcement.