This thesis investigates the interactions of several characteristics of serial production lines that contribute to production line performance. A full factorial experimental design of computerized simulations is conducted with three levels of downtime, four levels of variability, three levels of line length, three levels of constraint location, three levels of work-in-process, and six levels of protective capacity. This study enlarges upon recent four-workstation investigations and extends the knowledge to longer production lines. Some generalizations for the amount and location of protective capacity are drawn from the results, as a guide for process improvements and new production line design. An approximating regression model is constructed for prediction of cycle time outcomes with various values of contributing factors.

No description available.

No description available.

Menopause, the cessation of reproductive capabilities before death, is a detrimental trait for female fitness, yet persists in all human populations. Numerous hypotheses have been published to describe how menopause has been maintained but failed to explain the origin and genetic basis of this trait. In 2013, Morton et al. proposed an influence of the mate choice behaviour, specifically a bias in mating ages that could allow for a trait, seemingly detrimental to fitness, to become neutrally fixed in a population. The goal of our research, presented herein, is to understand the role of the mating system, the sexual behaviour of a group, and especially mate choice, on the origin and evolution of menopause under a serial monogamy scenario. Analysis was conducted using an agent-based computational model that simulated populations. The populations were generated according to specified demographic parameters and reproduced according to a serial monogamy mating system. With the model, parameters were investigated including population lifespan, fecundity, pairing eligibility, age of loss of fecundity, and timing of decay in fecundity. Simulations revealed that, under certain restrictions, menopause can neutrally evolve. When mate choice was restricted to a particular age preference bias, menopause can appear with no diminishment of fitness. This novel mode for the origin of menopause is inferred to result from the accumulation of deleterious mutations in the female genome. By combining this ability of fertility-diminishing mutations to accumulate with research into the genetic basis of menopause, we provide a system for the evolution of menopause in a population of serial monogamy. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Despite decades of research into menopause, there remains no clear understanding of how this deleterious trait came to persist in the human population. It has been proposed that a bias in mate choice such that only younger females are chosen to mate can result in the accumulation of deleterious mutations, ultimately leading to menopause. We analyzed the evolution of menopause under a mating system of serial monogamy by a computational simulation. We came to three main conclusions. Firstly, under modern demographic parameters, menopause cannot evolve under serial monogamy. Secondly, in a population of shortened longevity, similar to chimpanzee, menopause neutrally appears at an age presently experienced by women. Finally, when mate choice is restricted such that only young females are eligible to mate within a system of serial monogamy, menopause can evolve. This means with the current mate choice shift towards older women, menopause can be postponed or even eliminated.

Statistically significant prediction of stock price changes requires security returns' correlation with, or dependence upon, some variable(s) across time. Since a security's past return is commonly employed in forecasting, and because the lack of lower-order correlation does not guarantee higher-order independence, nonlinear testing that focuses on higher-order moments of stock return distributions may reveal exploitable stock return dependencies. This dissertation fits AR models to TAQ data sampled at ten-minute intervals for 20 small-capitalization, 20 mid-capitalization, and 20 large-capitalization NYSE securities, for the years 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2001. The Hinich Patterson Bicovariance statistic (to reveal nonlinear and linear autocorrelation) is computed for each of the 1243 trading days for each of the 60 securities. This statistic is examined to see if it is more or less likely to occur in securities with differing market capitalization, at various calendar periods, in conjunction with trading volume, or instances of changing investor sentiment, as evidenced by the put-call ratio. There is a statistically significant difference in the level and incidence of nonlinear behavior for the different-sized portfolios. Large-cap stocks exhibit the highest level and greatest incidence of nonlinear behavior, followed by mid-cap stocks, and then small-cap stocks. These differences are most pronounced at the beginning of decade and remain significant throughout the decade. For all size portfolios, nonlinear correlation increases throughout the decade, while linear correlation decreases. Statistical significance between the nonlinear or the linear test statistics and trading volume occur on a year-by-year basis only for small-cap stocks. There is sporadic seasonality significance for all portfolios over the decade, but only the small-cap portfolio consistently exhibits a notable "December effect". The average nonlinear statistic for small-cap stocks is larger in December than for other months of the year. The fourth quarter of the year for small-cap stocks also exhibits significantly higher levels of nonlinearity. An OLS regression of the put/call ratio to proxy for investor sentiment against the H and C statistic was run from October 1995 through December 2001. There are instances of sporadic correlations among the different portfolios, indicating this relationship is more dynamic than previously imagined. / Ph. D.

Esta dissertação trata do estudo da percepção visual da cor existente nos elementos arquitetônicos da paisagem urbana, com o objetivo de verificar a quantidade e a qualidade cromática presente em edificações de uma determinada área de recorte, bem como verificar as possíveis relações dos atributos de cor deste levantamento. Pretende ainda apresentar as relações cromáticas que se estabelecem entre as unidades edificadas e seu entorno direto, percebidas por meio da visão serial. A metodologia adotada para a verificação dos dados cromáticos, em termos quantitativos e qualitativos da cor, é constituída de um levantamento in loco com a utilização de aparelho portátil para leitura de superfície, o qual, por sua vez, é vinculado a um sistema de notação cromática próprio denominado Natural Colour System (NCS). Já na aplicação da metodologia da visão serial foram utilizados os recursos da fotografia e do desenho com o objetivo de registrar a percepção cromática dos mesmos elementos arquitetônicos. Para escolher a área de estudo, fez-se um recorte em local específico no bairro da Vila Madalena, São Paulo, onde se buscou ruas compostas por edificações preferencialmente de ocupação residencial, com características específicas em termos de tipologia: com até dois pavimentos, ocupando lotes de mesmas dimensões, apresentando, de forma geral, homogeneidade na área. Dentro deste perfil, determinou-se um percurso para aplicar a metodologia da visão serial de Gordon Cullen, com o objetivo de estudo da percepção da cor na paisagem urbana, servindo-se da fotografia sequenciada como recurso para detectar os contrastes cromáticos. Nesse método foram feitos ajustes na frequência dos registros das imagens e houve ainda uma variação na perspectiva visual. O resultado da pesquisa é a apresentação de tabela com as cores existentes no local e a avaliação das metodologias para a percepção da cor na paisagem urbana. / The present thesis explores the visual perception of colors that exist in architectural elements of urban landscape, in order to examine color quantity and quality in buildings of a certain area as well as the possible relationships between the color attributes of this survey. It also aims to demonstrate the color relationships developed between the built units and their immediate surrounding perceived by serial vision. The methodology used to review the data about color quantity and quality was an on-site survey using a handheld device for scanning the surface, which is in turn linked to a specific color notation system called NCS. As for the serial vision methodology, photography and drawing were used in order to record color perception of the same architectural elements. The choice of the area to be studied was made by demarcating a specific location in the neighborhood of Vila Madalena, in the city of São Paulo. The target was to have streets with a greater amount of residential buildings and with specific features: up to 2 floors, occupying equal-sized plots of land and having a mostly homogeneous area. Within this profile, a pathway was defined in order to apply the serial vision methodology of Gordon Cullen, aiming to study color perception in urban landscape using sequences of images as a tool to capture color contrasts. In this method, the frequency of images recorded was adjusted, and there was a change in visual perspective. The result of the research is a table comprised of the prevailing colors in that area and the assessment of methodologies for color perception in urban landscape.

by Wan, Rosa. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-127). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Table of Contents --- p.v / Acknowledgments --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction: The Empire of the Serial Killers --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Stereotyping in Serial Killer Movies and Bestsellers --- p.26 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Inter-serial-textuality --- p.68 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Controversies --- p.103 / Conclusion --- p.113 / Works Cited --- p.118 / Appendix --- p.128

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-09-13T13:44:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thiara Ribeiro Santos.pdf: 5083039 bytes, checksum: a455035acf193849f87dc2fe74e782ca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-13T13:44:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thiara Ribeiro Santos.pdf: 5083039 bytes, checksum: a455035acf193849f87dc2fe74e782ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-28 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Fundação São Paulo - FUNDASP / This research investigates the narratives of television series about serial killers, focusing most attention on the North American show Dexter, broadcast from 2006 to 2013, while at the same time comparing the context of the series to others of the same genre. In order to learn how the fascination of crime is narrativized in this type of program, our aim was to identify the similarities and differences, compare the narratives, and the main conflicts of each series, the protagonism of the serial killer, the relations between the subject-characters and complex issues related to actions and characteristics of each serial killer and the development of the narrative itself – all focused on the protagonist’s compulsion to kill, while taking into consideration their permanent invisibility and the social ties between them and the other characters; thus we look back in time to delve into the discursive processes of old movies with the same theme in order to understand how the world of series was established. We start with the assumption that a transformation has been made to the narrative structure and character of the serial killers in audiovisual productions over recent decades. Under this context, there is a need to understand how audiovisual languages are used within series, how they intensify normal versus abnormal opposition, how the viewers’ complicity is summoned, and how violence and perversion become elements of the social structure and eventually even agents of the actions. In our view, questioning what retains the tension in the narrative of the Serial Killers TV series is one way of assessing our processes of true meaning and civil morality. This theory is based on knowledge of the areas of Audiovisual, Semiotics, Psychoanalysis, Sociology and Philosophy. For the audiovisual area, we benefitted from input from Neale, Arlindo Machado and Sonia Rodrigues who have studied narrative strategies in dramatic series; the studies relating to cinema were enhanced by contributions from Shaviro and Naremore and the studies of series consolidated by Douglas L. Howard; investigations made about cinema and representation by Ismail Xavier also strengthened the analyses of this thesis. The analysis of the generative route toward the meaning of narratives was bolstered by the discursive-semiotic contributions from Eric Landowski and Ana Claudia de Oliveira, and the tensive-semiotics contributions from Claude Zilberberg. With regard to psychoanalysis, particularly to focus on the Lacanian concept of perversion and neurosis, we use texts by Nasio, Žižek, Bond, Philippe Julien and Antonio Quinet, which assist us in explaining the universe of our subject, the serial killer. For the sociological and ethical discussions about abnormality and perversity we adopt the thoughts of Dany-Robert Dufour and Simpson / A pesquisa investiga o tema das narrativas de séries televisivas sobre serial killers, centrando sua atenção na série norte-americana Dexter, produzida no período de 2006 a 2013, sem deixar de examiná-la no contexto de outras séries do mesmo gênero. Para saber como o fascínio do crime é narrativizado neste tipo de série buscamos identificar suas semelhanças e diferenças, comparando as narrativas, os conflitos principais, o protagonismo do serial killer, as relações entre os sujeitos-personagens e questões complexas ligadas às ações e características de cada serial killer e ao desenvolvimento da narrativa em si – todas centradas na compulsão de matar do protagonista, considerando sua permanência na invisibilidade e os laços sociais entre ele e os demais personagens; para isto buscamos recuperar historicamente o processo de construção discursiva de filmes antigos com a mesma temática para compreendermos como se estabeleceu o universo das séries. Partimos do pressuposto de que existe uma transformação da estrutura narrativa e dos personagens serial killers nos audiovisuais das últimas décadas. Há, nesse contexto, uma necessidade de entender como as séries se utilizam das linguagens do audiovisual, como tensionam a oposição normal versus anormal, como se dá a convocação da cumplicidade do espectador e como a violência e a perversão se tornam elementos de estruturação da organização social e eventualmente efetivadoras da sanção. A nosso ver, questionar sobre o que mantém a tensão da narrativa das séries é um modo de avaliarmos nossos processos de significação e moralidade civil. A fundamentação teórica se baseia nos saberes das áreas de Audiovisual, Semiótica, Psicanálise, Sociologia e Filosofia. Para o audiovisual, utilizamos Neale, Arlindo Machado e Sonia Rodrigues em seus estudos sobre as estratégias narrativas em séries dramáticas; os estudos sobre cinema contaram com os aportes de Shaviro e Naremore e os estudos de série com Douglas L. Howard; as investigações sobre cinema de Ismail Xavier também fortalecem as análises desta tese. Na análise do percurso gerativo de sentido das narrativas se fazem necessários os aportes da semiótica discursiva de Eric Landowski e Ana Cláudia de Oliveira, mas nos utilizamos também da semiótica tensiva de Claude Zilberberg. Quanto à psicanálise, para abordar o conceito lacaniano de perversão e neurose, nos utilizamos dos textos de Nasio, Žižek, Bond, Philippe Julien e Antonio Quinet, que nos apoiam na explanação do universo do sujeito serial killer. Para as discussões sociológicas e éticas sobre anormalidade e perversidade adotamos os pensamentos de Dany-Robert Dufour e Simpson

No presente trabalho, analiso o comportamento funcional dos verbos vir e virar, no português brasileiro contemporâneo, desde a sua atuação em estruturas simples à formação de estruturas complexas. Desenvolvida sob o paradigma do funcionalismo lingüístico, esta dissertação baseiase em dados de língua falada, coletados a partir do banco de dados do projeto PEUL e NURC. A fim de sustentar a hipótese que permeia o objetivo deste trabalho, também foram coletados dados de língua escrita e falada através do mecanismo de busca Google e, também, do corpusdoportugues.org. A partir da amostra constituída, verifico a possibilidade de derivação de um uso a outro, os quais são organizados em padrões funcionais. Desta forma, são demonstrados casos em que, à medida que novas estruturas são colocadas em uso, os verbos, em análise, apresentam, gradativamente, um desgaste semântico, seguindo, assim, uma linha unidirecional de desenvolvimento. Em oposição aos estudos de gramaticalização que, segundo os autores, visam a um percurso unilinear quanto ao desenvolvimento de um léxico em que podemos reconhecer pontos e estabelecer derivações entre esses pontos, testo a validade da teoria multissitêmica, que nega o processo de derivação. As discussões tecidas culminam com a formulação de questionamento relativo à direção de mudança assumida pelos itens: vir e virar percorreriam um caminho unidirecional ou multidirecional de desenvolvimento? Apresento, então, evidências de que ao mesmo tempo em que há a derivação, apresentando, assim, um desgaste gradativo de desenvolvimento, há também a simultaneidade de processos. Ainda, com base nos dados expostos, observo o uso de uma estrutura que permanece fora do âmbito da literatura lingüística. Tratase das estruturas que apresentam seqüências verbais, aqui rotuladas de serialização verbal, em que o verbo que ocupa a primeira posição da sentença apresentase quase ou totalmente dessemantizado, podendo assumir uma categorização sintática de VERBOS QUASESERIAIS ou de VERBOS SERIAIS. / In the present work, I analyze the functional behavior of the verbs to come (VIR) and to turn (VIRAR), in the contemporary Brazilian Portuguese, from their performance in simple structures to the formation of complex structures. This dissertation is developed under the paradigm of the linguistic functionalism and it is based on data from spoken language, these were collected from the data base of PEUL and NURC projects. In order to support the hypothesis that permeates the aim of this work, there had been also collected from the written and spoken language through the mechanism of Google search and, also, corpusdoportugues.org. I verify the possibility of derivation between one use or another when facing the collected samples, which are organized in functional standards. In such a way, cases are demonstrated where to the measure that new structures are placed in use, the analyzed verbs present semantic erosion in a gradual way, thus following a unidirectional line of development. In opposition to the grammaticalization studies that, according to authors, they aim a unidirectional route about the development of a lexicon, that is a representation through a line, in which we can recognize points and establish derivations among these points, I test the validity of the multissistemic theory when denying the derivation process. The studies point to an unknown/incognito formation presents among the investigated theories in this work: would to come (VIR) and to turn (VIRAR) go through a unidirectional or multidirectional way of development? In accordance with the achieved occurrences/tokens, I notice that at the same time where it has the hypothesis of that a use has derived from another one, presenting, then, a development gradual erosion, there also. Still, based on the displayed data, I observe the use of a structure that remains outside of the scope of linguistic literature. These structures are formed from a minimum sequence of V1 and V2, in which V1 corresponds to one of the verbs to come (VIR) and to turn (VIRAR) and V2 is relatively free. In this work, these types of constructions are dealt with as a verbal case of 6 serialization, and V1 is presented almost or total dessemanticized, which assumes a syntactic categorization of ALMOSTSERIAIS VERBS or SERIAL VERBS.

Esta dissertação trata do estudo da percepção visual da cor existente nos elementos arquitetônicos da paisagem urbana, com o objetivo de verificar a quantidade e a qualidade cromática presente em edificações de uma determinada área de recorte, bem como verificar as possíveis relações dos atributos de cor deste levantamento. Pretende ainda apresentar as relações cromáticas que se estabelecem entre as unidades edificadas e seu entorno direto, percebidas por meio da visão serial. A metodologia adotada para a verificação dos dados cromáticos, em termos quantitativos e qualitativos da cor, é constituída de um levantamento in loco com a utilização de aparelho portátil para leitura de superfície, o qual, por sua vez, é vinculado a um sistema de notação cromática próprio denominado Natural Colour System (NCS). Já na aplicação da metodologia da visão serial foram utilizados os recursos da fotografia e do desenho com o objetivo de registrar a percepção cromática dos mesmos elementos arquitetônicos. Para escolher a área de estudo, fez-se um recorte em local específico no bairro da Vila Madalena, São Paulo, onde se buscou ruas compostas por edificações preferencialmente de ocupação residencial, com características específicas em termos de tipologia: com até dois pavimentos, ocupando lotes de mesmas dimensões, apresentando, de forma geral, homogeneidade na área. Dentro deste perfil, determinou-se um percurso para aplicar a metodologia da visão serial de Gordon Cullen, com o objetivo de estudo da percepção da cor na paisagem urbana, servindo-se da fotografia sequenciada como recurso para detectar os contrastes cromáticos. Nesse método foram feitos ajustes na frequência dos registros das imagens e houve ainda uma variação na perspectiva visual. O resultado da pesquisa é a apresentação de tabela com as cores existentes no local e a avaliação das metodologias para a percepção da cor na paisagem urbana. / The present thesis explores the visual perception of colors that exist in architectural elements of urban landscape, in order to examine color quantity and quality in buildings of a certain area as well as the possible relationships between the color attributes of this survey. It also aims to demonstrate the color relationships developed between the built units and their immediate surrounding perceived by serial vision. The methodology used to review the data about color quantity and quality was an on-site survey using a handheld device for scanning the surface, which is in turn linked to a specific color notation system called NCS. As for the serial vision methodology, photography and drawing were used in order to record color perception of the same architectural elements. The choice of the area to be studied was made by demarcating a specific location in the neighborhood of Vila Madalena, in the city of São Paulo. The target was to have streets with a greater amount of residential buildings and with specific features: up to 2 floors, occupying equal-sized plots of land and having a mostly homogeneous area. Within this profile, a pathway was defined in order to apply the serial vision methodology of Gordon Cullen, aiming to study color perception in urban landscape using sequences of images as a tool to capture color contrasts. In this method, the frequency of images recorded was adjusted, and there was a change in visual perspective. The result of the research is a table comprised of the prevailing colors in that area and the assessment of methodologies for color perception in urban landscape.