The aim of the thesis is to answer the questions regarding the subjects authorized to take a sound or audiovisual record, and to assess the legality of using such records as evidence in administrative proceedings. The thesis is formally divided into three chapters. The first one addresses the basic concepts emerging throughout the thesis, and the admissibility of other evidence not expressly mentioned by law. The second part of the thesis offers an insight to obtaining of sound and audiovisual records, and their further use as evidence pursuant to the basic human right documents. It describes and analyses the assessment of permissibility of such evidence that is applied by the European Court of Human Rights. The last chapter works with national legislation of both public and private law, and with the case law of domestic courts; from which it infers the subjects authorized to take these records, which may be used as evidence by an administrative authority. Based on the analysis of legislation and case-law, the thesis defines subjects authorized to obtain a sound or audiovisual record, and sets conditions for such obtaining. Simultaneously, it highlights the issues resulting from the current national legislation on obtaining sound or audiovisual records by selected public authorities, mostly...

Analog and digital structures can be written into thin surface layers of semiconductors by using focused ion beams of submicron dimensions. By inducing the phase transition from the crystalline (c) to the amorphous state (a) optical contrast is generated between areas of different exposure. The aim of this study was to investigate the properties of diamond as a high-density optical recording medium and to determine the corresponding irradiation parameters. To this end, single crystals of diamond were irradiated with self-ions of 75 key energy with fluences between F=0.3-l0xlO15 C/cm2 at about 100 K. The radiation damage, persisting after annealing treatments between 300-1700 K, was studied by Raman measurements, monitoring changes in the atomic bonding arrangements. Since the scattering cross-section of C sp2 bonds is 50x that of C sp3 bonds, this is an extremely sensitive technique in detecting changes in the initially purely sp3 state. The position and linewidth of the characteristic first-order phonon of crystalline diamond at 1332 cm-l reflect crystallinity and stress level, while bands between 1350-1700 cm-l indicate disorder. In utilizing the microscopic resolution of a Raman facility additional information was obtained on the spatial variation of the damage level. The optimum annealing temperature was found to be 1500 K. For F > 3xlO15C/cm2, the damage was irreversible, for F = 3xlO15C/cm2 the damage was only partly repaired after annealing at 1500 K and, for F < 3xlO15C/ cm2, the crystalline/amorphous contrast was reversible. For F < lxl015C/ cm2 Raman spectroscopy was not sensitive enough to detect the incurred damage. Infrared spectroscopy was used to classify the diamond samples according to type. / Dissertation (MSc (Chemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Chemistry / unrestricted

With new technology come new possibilities for the creation of artistic works. The invention of sound recording at end of the nineteenth century enabled musical performances to be “written” in the same manner as traditional, printed literature. The status of records as a form of writing and, moreover, as the material for further writing is demonstrated in the work of two hip hop artists, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, who assemble new, heteroglossic texts out of a wide array of sampled records. Two concerts, Product Placement (2004) and The Hard Sell (2008) – both of which have been memorialized on DVD – serve as fruitful examples of the potential for artistic production enabled by technology. Indeed, the genre of turntablism, which involves the live manipulation of vinyl records, requires the usage of technology in ways not intended by its original developers – a recurrent theme throughout the history of sound recording. By transforming the turntable from a passive playback device into an active compositional tool, turntablism collapses the distance between consumption and production and so turns the listener into a performer. Furthermore, the exclusive usage of 45 rpm records as the source texts for the two sets dramatizes theories of intertextuality while simultaneously tracing the constraints placed on such artistic piracy by the copyright regime. These texts entail more than just their cited musical content; they also involve visual components. These include not only the video imagery that accompanies and comments on the records being played, but also the physical performance of the DJs themselves and the spectacle of the attending crowds whose response to the music constitutes part of the text itself. Following a theoretical and historical background that will situate these works within the history of hip hop and literature in general, this study will explicate these two multimedia texts and reveal how they demonstrate a concern not only with the history of sound recording, but also such issues as the influence of technology on cultural production, the complication of authorship through intertextuality, and the relationship between culture and commerce. Above all, however, both the form and content of these two performances also serve to highlight the value of physical media as historical artifacts in the face of increasing challenges from incorporeal digital media.

Cette étude a pour champ l'inventaire des traductions d'œuvres de la littérature française vers le grec, et l'étude de leur présence dans les lettres grecques du début du XXe siècle à l'aube du XXIe siècle.Le constat, en premier lieu, que les traductions jouent un rôle primordial pour la réception en Grèce de la littérature en question et, en deuxième lieu, que leur inventaire sur la période considérée n'était pour l'instant que fragmentaire, nous a conduit à définir comme but de notre recherche le recensement exhaustif des œuvres françaises traduites et publiées en Grèce entre 1900 et 2010 et qui figurent dans les catégories de la prose, la poésie, le théâtre.Le traitement quantitatif et qualitatif de paramètres comme l'année d'édition, l'auteur traduit, l'œuvre traduite, le/la traducteur/-rice, la maison d'édition, ainsi que leur analyse conclusive qui sert de tentative d'interprétation, nous ont permis de dresser un panorama global de l'image de la littérature française traduite dans la langue grecque. / This study covers the Greek translations of French literature and their presence in the Greek literary world during the entire twentieth century and at the dawn of the twenty-first. The finding that translations play a crucial role in the absorption of this literature in Greece, and that, to date, their recording within the examined period is fragmented, set a research goal for the fullest possible, accurate and documented recording of any Greek translations of works of French literature (prose - plays - poetry), published in our country in the period from 1900 to 2010.The quantitative and qualitative processing of certain parameters, such as the year of publication of a translation, the translated author, the translator, the translated work and the publisher, as well as the relevant conclusions, intend to contribute to the presentation and overview of the overall image of this translation sector.

In this paper, we use the forward recursion BCJR algorithm to estimate the symmetric information rate for Two Dimensional Magnetic Recording (TDMR) channels. In particular, we consider a TDMR read/write channel whose all components, including recording medium, write and readback processes are modeled in software. Since the primary source of noise in TDMR arises from irregularities in the recording medium and leads to highly colored and data-dependent jitter, the pattern dependent noise predictive (PDNP) algorithm is implemented to improve the accuracy and performance of SIR estimation. Furthermore, we study the performance gain of using the PDNP algorithm in SIR estimation through simulations over the Voronoi based media model for different TDMR channel configurations.

Bit-Patterned Media (BPM) has been recognised as one of the candidate technologies to achieve an areal density beyond 1Tb/in2 by fabricating single-domain islands out of continuous magnetic media. Though much attention has been focused on the fabrication of BPM, existing lithography techniques demonstrate difficulties in producing uniform islands over large areas cost effectively; the resulting fabricated islands often vary in position and size. The primary purpose of the research documented in this thesis is to investigate the issue of island geometry variations on the data recovery process from a perpendicular patterned media with head and media configurations optimised to achieve an areal density of 1Tb/in2. In order to achieve the research aim, a read channel model has been implemented as a platform to evaluate the read channel performance numerically. It can be also altered to investigate new read channel designs. The simulated results demonstrate that island geometry variations have a detrimental effect on read channel performance. It has shown that a BPM system can be tolerant to island position variations, but more effort needs to be paid to the effect that island size variations have on the read channel performance. A new read channel design revolving around the design of a modified trellis has been proposed for use in the Viterbi detector in order to combat the effect of island geometry variations. The modified trellis for island position variations results in extra states and branches compared to the standard trellis, while the modified trellis for island size variations results in only extra branches. The novel read channel designs demonstrate an improved read channel performance in the presence of island geometry variations even with increasing amounts of island position and size variations. There are two ways to obtain the read channel performance in terms of the bit-error-rate (BER): a) by running a numerical Monte-Carlo simulation to count the number of bits in error at the output of the read channel model and b) using an analytical approach to calculate the BER by approximating the noise into a known distribution. It is shown that both ways demonstrate very similar results, which indicates as long as the distribution of the noise present in read channel model is predictable, the analytical approach can evaluate the BER performance more efficiently, especially when the BER is low. However, the Monte-Carlo simulation is still useful for understanding of the correlation of the errors. Novel trellis proposed in this work will contribute to the commercial development of BPM in two ways: a) to improve the data recovery process in BPM systems, b) to allow a tolerance of 10% size variations for the existing fabrication techniques.

The purpose of this study was to explore the question: does the use of a videotaped recording of a nursing student's performance of a psychomotor skill, with subsequent review by the student, enhance that student's performance? In order to answer this question, a quasi-experimental study was carried out. The psychomotor skill selected for testing was that of transferring a client from a bed to a wheelchair. Prior to the study, subjects had completed a learning module on the skill. Sixteen first year baccalaureate nursing students were randomly placed into an experimental or comparison group. Following this, the investigator taught the specified skill employing the teaching techniques of demonstration and discussion. A videotape was made of all subjects performing the skill to provide a data base and determine sample homogeneity. The two groups then received their respective feedback treatments. Eight students in the experimental group received a videotape of their performance, along with a performance check-list to assist them in the review of their videotapes. Eight students in the comparison group received teacher feedback during their skill performance. The teacher was guided by the same performance check-list used by the experimental group subjects. After a period of eleven or twelve days, depending on the group, the experimental and comparison groups returned for a final videotaped test performance. Seven subjects in each group completed the test performance. A questionnaire was completed by the fourteen subjects at this time. This was an attempt to gather data on selected characteristics of the learner, believed to affect psychomotor skill learning. Students did not view the data base or final test performance videotapes. One rater scored these performances using the performance check-list. The scores were compared to determine similarities and differences between the videotaped feedback and teacher feedback groups. The questionnaire responses were tabulated and interpreted within the analysis of the score results. When the gain scores between the data base and final test performances were compared, no significant differences were found between the experimental and comparison groups. Analysis of the data base mean scores revealed that no significant differences existed between the groups. This indicated sample homogeneity before the feedback treatments were given. Gain scores within each group did not show significant differences. With the lack of significant differences in the gain scores between groups, it was concluded that videotaped performance feedback was as effective as teacher feedback. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

Due to the accelerated growth in digital music distribution, it becomes easy to modify, intercept, and distribute material illegally. To overcome the urgent need for copyright protection against piracy, several audio watermarking schemes have been proposed and implemented. These digital audio watermarking schemes have the purpose of embedding inaudible information within the host file to cover copyright and authentication issues. This thesis proposes an audio watermarking model using MATLAB® and Simulink® software for 1K and 2K fast Fourier transform (FFT) lengths. The watermark insertion process is performed in the frequency domain to guarantee the imperceptibility of the watermark to the human auditory system. Additionally, the proposed audio watermarking model was implemented in a Cyclone® II FPGA device from Altera® using the Altera® DSP Builder tool and MATLAB/Simulink® software. To evaluate the performance of the proposed audio watermarking scheme, effectiveness and fidelity performance tests were conducted for the proposed software and hardware-in-the-loop based audio watermarking model.

Sound production is a widespread phenomenon in fishes; however, the importance of acoustic signals and their potential to influence reproduction has not been determined. This dissertation examines fish acoustic courtship signals to investigate whether sound has a role in reproductive success. The pre-spawning sounds of several fishes were recorded and analyzed. The male advertisement call of two species of Belizean toadfish, Sanopus astrifer and Batrachoides gilberti, were found to significantly differ. These data, coupled with data in the literature suggest an influence of habitat characteristics on the calling behavior of toadfishes. Additionally, acoustic playback experiments were employed to investigate the role of male courtship sounds in the Malawi cichlid species, Tramitichromis intermedius. Playback results indicated that male sounds may initiate egg-laying behavior in females, but may not be behaviorally relevant to conspecific males. A discussion of confounding factors in aquarium playback experiments is presented. Technical aspects of fish sound recording, playback, and analysis were also examined to provide information for future fish bioacoustics studies. It was determined that digital cameras are a useful method of recording fish sounds to describe metric characteristics; however, temporal parameters are more accurately captured by hydrophones, which are optimal for use in scientific description of fish sounds. Underwater speakers commonly used in fish playback experiments were tested for fidelity when producing a low-frequency pulsed fish sound. The Electro-Voice UW30 speaker was found to perform the best playback at low sound pressure levels (<120 dB re 1 μPa) and at short distances (< 15 cm). The Clark Synthesis AQ339 speaker performed the best playback at higher sound pressure levels (>120 dB re 1 μPa) and at greater distances than the UW30. Many fish sounds have been described in the literature; however, there is no standardization of sample size used in species descriptions. A method is presented that can be used to estimate the level of inclusiveness of sound variability in sound descriptions, and to approximate sufficient sample sizes of recordings. The courtship calls of Dascyllus albisella and Batrachoides gilberti were examined to illustrate this method and to provide a benchmark for future sound descriptions.

Three original software programs utilizing improvisation and live sampling are presented here, along with a discussion of aesthetic issues raised by each. They are entitled Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Musiker, Motet, and Gamepad Sampler. These programs vary in the degree of required interaction and in the kind of user control. They are each studies in imitative counterpoint through live sampling, with an approach seeking elegance before solutions. Because of the improvisational nature of these works, there is no standard musical score. Instead the complete Max/MSP source code and a sound recording of performances making use of these programs in varied situations are included. A discussion of issues raised by these works includes aesthetics, ontology, performance, and the role of the composer. Non-interactive indeterminate compositions are ontologically thin, because some composerly agency is required of the performer. An interactive work can be ontologically substantial if it makes distinct and significant contributions to performance, even though it may not make sound on its own. Although reproducibility reduces ontology and eliminates aura, live sampling within a performance can deepen the ontology of the performance by recontextualizing previous events, reframing the original event as the first reference to an abstract musical idea that lies outside the musical performance. Reproducibility also diminishes the aura or stage presence in live performance with computers. Complex feedback systems can be used to create computation instruments: musical instruments whose unique structure resonates in ways not explicit in their programs. As the human condition and the situation of the composer change, definitions of the composer and performer must be revised. Composition is shifting away from the creation of static artifacts toward the design of dynamic systems.