O objetivo deste estudo é, por meio de uma pesquisa quantitativa, investigar que modo verbal seleccionar após verbos semi-factivos no português europeu. O objetivo é encontrar os fatores determinantes para esta escolha. O corpus, por meio do qual este estudo foi feito, é constituído por trechos jornalísticos do jornal português Público, do qual foram recolhidas frases regidas por verbos semi-factivos, quer em afirmação, quer em negação. A hipótese prevê que o emprego do indicativo em afirmativo esteja perto de 100 % e perto de 50 % respetivamente entre o indicativo e o conjuntivo em negação. Quer dizer, a hipótese prevê que o conjuntivo ocorre na primeira pessoa do singular e plural em negação, mas não na terceira pessoa do singular e plural em negação. O resultado obtido pela busca quantitativa está de acordo com a hipótese: 94 % do indicativo e 6 % do conjuntivo em afirmativo, 56,7 % do indicativo e 43,3 % do conjuntivo em negação. A conclusão é que o modo verbal frequentemente segue a atitude epistémica mostrada pelo enunciador da frase e que a negação afeta a pressuposição quando o conceptualizador primário coincide com o sujeito da oração principal.

Accurate short term load forecasting plays a very important role in power system management. As electrical load data is highly non-linear in nature, in the proposed approach, we first separate out the linear and the non-linear parts, and then forecast the load using the non-linear part only. The Semiparametric spectral estimation method is used to decompose a load data signal into a harmonic linear signal model and a nonlinear trend. A support vector machine is then used to predict the non-linear trend. The final predicted signal is then found by adding the support vector machine predicted trend and the linear signal part. With careful determination of the linear component, the performance of the proposed method seems to be more robust than using only the raw load data, and in many cases the predicted signal of the proposed method is more accurate when we have only a small training set.

Many of the European butterfly species have declined rapidly over the past decades. The cause is thought to be habitat loss due to factors such as increased tree cover, afforestation and intensified agriculture. I analyzed nation-wide data on butterfly occurrences in Sweden, to explore whether occurrences of individual species, grassland dependent species, grassland specialists, red-listed species, and moths, have increased or declined over a period of five years. I found that four species had significantly declined and eight had increased. The results were in accordance with other finds from Sweden, as well as from the UK, regarding the declining species. In contrast, the results regarding the increasing species only partly confirmed previous studies. I also found that grassland specialists and red-listed species had increased, possibly reflecting the fact that Sweden has a relatively large amount of boreal landscapes containing patches of clear-cuts and semi-natural grasslands.

The growing numbers of U.S. Latino Protestant converts from Catholicism has attracted scholarly attention in the last decade, however; none have examined the influence of social context through the lens of the semi-involuntary thesis to understand Latino conversion. Using data from a national sample of 4,016 Latinos surveyed across the country in 2006 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, this study tests, along with demographic factors, social factors important to the semi-involuntary thesis such as (a) national origin status, (b) census region, (c) Latino geographical concentration, (d) linguistic status, and (e) identity salience in explaining Latino conversion to Protestantism. / text

Automated human activity recognition has attracted increasing attention in the past decade. However, the application of machine learning and probabilistic methods for activity recognition problems has been studied only in the past couple of years. For the first time, this thesis explores the application of semi-supervised and active learning in activity recognition. We present a new and efficient semi-supervised training method for parameter estimation and feature selection in conditional random fields (CRFs),a probabilistic graphical model. In real-world applications such as activity recognition, unlabeled sensor traces are relatively easy to obtain whereas labeled examples are expensive and tedious to collect. Furthermore, the ability to automatically select a small subset of discriminatory features from a large pool can be advantageous in terms of computational speed as well as accuracy. We introduce the semi-supervised virtual evidence boosting (sVEB)algorithm for training CRFs — a semi-supervised extension to the recently developed virtual evidence boosting (VEB) method for feature selection and parameter learning. sVEB takes advantage of the unlabeled data via mini-mum entropy regularization. The objective function combines the unlabeled conditional entropy with labeled conditional pseudo-likelihood. The sVEB algorithm reduces the overall system cost as well as the human labeling cost required during training, which are both important considerations in building real world inference systems. Moreover, we propose an active learning algorithm for training CRFs is based on virtual evidence boosting and uses entropy measures. Active virtual evidence boosting (aVEB) queries the user for most informative examples, efficiently builds up labeled training examples and incorporates unlabeled data as in sVEB. aVEB not only reduces computational complexity of training CRFs as in sVEB, but also outputs more accurate classification results for the same fraction of labeled data. Ina set of experiments we illustrate that our algorithms, sVEB and aVEB, benefit from both the use of unlabeled data and automatic feature selection, and outperform other semi-supervised and active training approaches. The proposed methods could also be extended and employed for other classification problems in relational data.

In the past few decades, several researchers have studied the effects of ASR induced expansion in concrete. Several models have been proposed to model the effects of ASR in concrete. While most of these models focus on plain concrete, there is limited amount of research to model the influence of ASR expansion in reinforced concrete. Additionally, the existing models are complex and difficult to implement for practicing engineers. In this study the shortcomings with the existing models are addressed. A minimalist semi-empirical model is developed to represent the degradation of reinforced concrete due to ASR expansion. The model is validated using historical experimental data. Only two key parameters are needed to represent the expansive behavior, specifically, the maximum unreinforced concrete strain due to ASR expansion and the rise time. Mechanical properties of the reinforced concrete are also needed. From the predicted expansions, it is then shown that it is possible to model the number and spacing of cracks of a partly restrained reinforced concrete beam affected by ASR gels. The model is validated with recent experimental results on large scale reinforced concrete specimens. Predictions agree well with the observed number of cracks.

<p>Communication tools such as text-based instant messaging, voice and video relay services, real-time video chat and mobile SMS and MMS have successfully been used among Deaf people. Several years of field research with a local Deaf community revealed that disadvantaged South African Deaf&nbsp / people preferred to communicate with both Deaf and hearing peers in South African Sign Language as opposed to text. Synchronous video chat and video&nbsp / relay services provided such opportunities. Both types of services are commonly available in developed regions, but not in developing countries like South&nbsp / Africa. This thesis reports on a workaround approach to design and develop an asynchronous video communication tool that adapted synchronous video&nbsp / &nbsp / codecs to store-and-forward video delivery. This novel asynchronous video tool provided high quality South African Sign Language video chat at the&nbsp / expense of some additional latency. Synchronous video codec adaptation consisted of comparing codecs, and choosing one to optimise in order to&nbsp / minimise latency and preserve video quality. Traditional quality of service metrics only addressed real-time video quality and related services. There was no&nbsp / uch standard for asynchronous video communication. Therefore, we also enhanced traditional objective video quality metrics with subjective&nbsp / assessment metrics conducted with the local Deaf community.</p>

Motivated by various higher dimensional theories in high-energy-physics and cosmology, we consider the local and global isometric embeddings of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds into manifolds of higher dimensions. We provide the necessary background in general relativity, topology and differential geometry, and present the technique for local isometric embeddings. Since an understanding of the local results is key to the development of global embeddings, we review some local existence theorems for general pseudo-Riemannian embedding spaces. In order to gain insight we recapitulate the formalism required to embed static spherically symmetric space-times into fivedimensional Einstein spaces, and explicitly treat some special cases, obtaining local and isometric embeddings for the Reissner-Nordstr¨om space-time, as well as the null geometry of the global monopole metric. We also comment on existence theorems for Euclidean embedding spaces. In a recent result, it is claimed (Katzourakis 2005a) that any analytic n-dimensional space M may be globally embedded into an Einstein space M × F (F an analytic real-valued one-dimensional field). As a corollary, it is claimed that all product spaces are Einsteinian. We demonstrate that this construction for the embedding space is in fact limited to particular types of embedded spaces. We analyze this particular construction for global embeddings into Einstein spaces, uncovering a crucial misunderstanding with regard to the form of the local embedding. We elucidate the impact of this misapprehension on the subsequent proof, and amend the given construction so that it applies to all embedded spaces as well as to embedding spaces of arbitrary curvature. This study is presented as new theorems. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2007.

This thesis explores semi-active structural control methods for mitigating damage during seismic events. Semi-active devices offer the adaptability of active devices in conjunction with low power requirements and thus the reliability of passive devices. A number of structural applications utilising semi-active resetable devices in structural control are described and analysed. A distinguishing feature of this research is the novel design of a large-scale resetable device developed, manufactured and extensively tested. This design dramatically extends the capabilities of resetable devices by readily manipulating the device response to the structural demands and specific structural control requirements. In particular, the unique ability to use these devices to reshape or sculpt structural hysteretic behaviour offers significant new opportunities in semi-active structural control. The results indicate improvements in structural performance during seismic events is gained by approaches to structural control and enhanced damping methods that challenge conventional methods. Using an array of performance metrics the overall structural performance is examined without the typically narrow focus found in other studies. Suites of earthquake ground motion records are utilised to avoid bias to any particular type of motion and statistical analysis of the performance over these suites indicates the overall efficacy of the resetable devices in each case considered. A model that accurately captures all the device dynamics is developed, which can be used for a variety of device types and designs. In addition, the testing capabilities of structural control methods is enhanced by the development of a high speed, real-time hybrid test procedure providing a link between pure simulation and full-scale testing to increase confidence before investing in large experiments. Finally, the resetable devices are extended to improve the response force to size ratio, which additionally increases the force-displacement manipulation ability. Large-scale shake table experiments validate the findings of the analytical results. Very close correlation between analytical and experimental results including overall trends and numerical values verifies the analytical methods used and increases confidence in continuing research in this area. Furthermore, these large-scale experiments confirm the efficacy and accuracy of the the device model developed, leading to highly accurate quantitative prediction of the overall structural system response. Overall, this research presents a methodology for designing, testing and applying resetable devices in structural control. The devices developed in this research and the extensive modelling and testing dramatically extend the understanding and scope of these devices. Guidelines developed for these large-scale resetable device designs including a validated dynamic model brings the application of resetable devices closer to real structural control applications.

This thesis investigates the possibility of controlling the response of a general multi-degree of freedom structure to a relatively distant blast load using passive and semi-active devices. A relatively distant blast is one that applies significant momentum to the structure, but does not destroy the face of the structure. Three multi-storey structures, and one single-storey structure, are modelled using non-linear finite elements with structural columns discretised into multiple elements to accurately capture the effects of higher order modes that are typically excited in such blast load responses. The single-storey model structure is subjected to blast loads of varying duration, magnitude and shape, and the critical aspects of the response are investigated over a range of structural periods in the form of blast load response spectra. The optimal device arrangements are found to be those that reduce the first peak of the structural displacement and thus also reduce the subsequent free vibration of the structure. For a given blast load, various passive and semi-active devices, as well as device architectures, are investigated. The optimal device architecture was found to be one that spanned approximately two-thirds the height of the structure. Depending on what damage parameters are considered critical for a given structure, different devices and arrangements are appropriate. The main factors in choosing a semi-active device and its control architecture, or arrangement, are the tradeoffs between permanent deflection, free vibration, base shear and device capacity limitations. Overall, the results present a first analysis on the effectiveness of semi-active devices and the unique force-displacement properties they offer for mitigating non-catastrophic blast loads.