Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / South Africa, like many other countries has a population of individuals who are practicing Muslims and simultaneously gay. The ability to integrate these two identities is hindered by the stigma and discrimination of traditional interpretations of religious texts, religious clergy, and the Muslim community’s response to homosexuality. In the present study, the experiences of gay Muslim men was investigated as a scarce body of literature is available that focuses on the experiences of these individuals. The focus of this research was fuelled partly by the belief that homosexuality is a reality within the Muslim community and that contemporary attitudes affect and marginalize individuals who are both gay and Muslim. A focus group was conducted with six individuals. The main aim of the study was to understand the personal disposition of men who are both Muslim and homosexual and to explore how attitudes of people impacts on their sense of ‘self’. The transcripts were analysed using thematic content analysis to determine the themes that emerged from the research material. The main findings of the study included that Muslim religious identity was a salient discourse that informed how they understood, made meaning of, and internalised their gay identity. The majority of the participants responded to measures of internalised homophobia, gay identity development, religious commitment,scriptural literalism, and post conventional religious reasoning. Themes and trends observed in the discussions indicated that levels of religious commitment did not predict positive adjustment; scriptural literalism was not related to internalised homophobia or sexual identity development; and high levels of post conventional religious reasoning signifies lower levels of internalised homophobia and higher levels of sexual identity integration.These findings provide a basis for future research that may lead to the development of interventions for gay individuals experiencing religious conflict.

<p> The study contains two discriminatory tasks which are attempted separately and simultaneoulsly. The subject is asked to judge the relative positions of successively presented points of light and/or to decide whether a test tone is added to continuous white noise during the interval between the two lights. It is noted that this design is similar to a retroactive interference paradigm. Analysis of the data shows that there is little interaction between decisions to each of the psychophysical tasks when they are attempted simultaneously. There also appears to be no significant change in sensitivity whether the tasks are attempted alone or together. It is suggested that-further experiments, involving different forms of visual memory, are needed.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Metamaterials are artificial materials and named by those who work in the microwave material area. According to existing documentation, the metamaterials have relative permittivity and/or relative permeability of values less than 1, including negative values. If the material has negative permittivity and permeability at the same time, the material is also referred to as simultaneously negative medium (DNG medium). Such medium has several features that any natural medium is not equipped with: negative refraction, backward phase, and evanescent wave amplification [5]. Though the medium does not exist in nature, it seems that it can be artificially made through synthesizing metallic insertions inside the natural dielectrics [2]. Due to its unique feature of negative refraction and this feature is not equipped with any reported natural medium, the concept of making perfect lenses with metamaterials has attracted attentions in recent years. However a number of questions need to be answered: How can we quantize the refractive index of the metamaterial given that the permittivity and permeability are known or vice versa; can the metamaterial be made isotropic medium under effects of different incident angles? The answer to the first question will help us to define the dimension of the lenses more efficiently; and the answer to the latter question will help determine if such medium is capable of being used to make lenses. Previous publications from others demonstrated the negative refraction phenomenon of metamaterials though this phenomenon is restricted to a very narrow band [4] [11]. The derivation of the negative refractive index through full-wave simulation and comparison with its value through calculating the simulated negative permittivity and permeability obtained from the simulated scattering matrix have not been reported. The work carried in this thesis fully explored the ways to address this and answer those questions mentioned in previous paragraph. To fully understand the negative refraction effect of metamaterial, the author built a mathematical geometric model to calculate refractive index for rectangular metamaterial slab. With this approach, the refractive index can be obtained provided that incident and peak-receive angle are known. In order to achieve a metamaterial with isotropy property, the author also presented three different types of metamaterial slabs: parallel-arranged, vertical-arranged and cross-arranged slab of capacitive-loaded-loops (CLL) in front of standing probes or posts, which are also called CLL-P slabs. The three arrangements are differentiated by the way unit cell is oriented. With the geometric model, the author obtained refractive indexes for three metamaterial slabs at different incident angles through numerical simulation. The refractive indexes have negative values at all circumstance, which shows the negative refraction phenomena unique to the metamaterial. Unlike the other two CLL-P slabs, the cross-arranged CLL-P slab has near constant refractive index and constant received amplitude regardless of incident angles. This result can be attributed to the symmetrical topology of unit cell in x-y plane. To better explain refractive effects occurred for those three CLL-P slabs, the author also employed a way to calculate the effective permittivity and permeability using scattering matrix. Based on effective permittivity and permeability obtained, the analytical values of refractive indexes have been calculated at resonance point. To check the refractive indexes calculated from two different methods: using Snell's Law based geometric approach and using permittivity/permeability obtained from scattering matrix, two results are compared against each other and agree well. Knowing effective permittivity and permeability is very useful for calculating other parameters of the CLL-P slab such as wave impedance and mismatch loss etc. With all the simulation for parallel-arranged, vertical-arranged, and cross-arranged CLL-P slabs, from simulation results, it is found that the cross-arranged slab has the property of isotropy at different incident angles since the coupling between incident magnetic field and CLL loop will maintain constant. As a validation process, the CLL-P simulation result in parallel waveguide is compared with prior simulation (HFSS) and measurements of refractive focusing of the same structure, and both simulation results agree with measurements. The full-wave simulation tools FEKO that employs the Method of Moments (MoM) is used in the two ways of estimating the negative refractive index of the medium. / Master of Science

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-04-24Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:25:06Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 machado_mag_dr_guara.pdf: 610414 bytes, checksum: a4882bb4bd510483bda7193169fa5824 (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Esta tese oferece algumas contribuições à área de monitoramento de processos multivariados. Com respeito ao monitoramento do vetor de médias, investigou-se o desempenho dos gráficos de 2 T baseados em componentes principais e também o desempenho dos gráficos de médias utilizados em conjunto, sendo que cada gráfico monitora a média de uma das características de qualidade. Com respeito ao monitoramento da matriz de covariâncias, foi proposta uma nova estatística baseada nas variâncias amostrais (estatística de VMAX). O gráfico de VMAX é mais eficiente do que o gráfico da variância amostral generalizada S , que é o gráfico usual para o monitoramento da matriz de covariâncias. Uma vantagem adicional dessa nova estatística é que o usuário já está bem familiarizado com o cálculo de variâncias amostrais; o mesmo não pode ser dito em relação à variância amostral generalizada S . O desempenho do gráfico de VMAX foi também avaliado quando se utiliza a amostragem dupla, quando se variam os parâmetros do gráfico de controle, quando se adota o esquema de EWMA e quando se aplicam regras especiais de decisão. Investigou-se também o desempenho dos gráficos de controle destinados ao monitoramento simultâneo do vetor de médias e da matriz de covariâncias. / This thesis offers some contributions to the field of monitoring multivariate processes. Regarding to the monitoring of the mean vector, we investigated the performance of the 2 T charts based on principal components and also the performance of the mean charts used simultaneously, where each chart is assigned to control one quality characteristic. Regarding to the monitoring of the covariance matrix, we propose a new statistic based on the sample variances (the VMAX statistic). The VMAX chart is more efficient than the generalized variance S chart, which is the usual chart for monitoring the covariance matrix. An additional advantage of this new statistic is that the user is already well familiar with the calculation of sample variances; we can’t say the same regarding to the generalized variance S statistic. We also studied the performance of the VMAX chart with double sampling, with adaptive schemes, with the EWMA procedure and also with special run rules. We also investigated the performance of the control charts designed for monitoring the mean vector and the covariance matrix simultaneously.

Resumo: Esta tese oferece algumas contribuições à área de monitoramento de processos multivariados. Com respeito ao monitoramento do vetor de médias, investigou-se o desempenho dos gráficos de 2 T baseados em componentes principais e também o desempenho dos gráficos de médias utilizados em conjunto, sendo que cada gráfico monitora a média de uma das características de qualidade. Com respeito ao monitoramento da matriz de covariâncias, foi proposta uma nova estatística baseada nas variâncias amostrais (estatística de VMAX). O gráfico de VMAX é mais eficiente do que o gráfico da variância amostral generalizada S , que é o gráfico usual para o monitoramento da matriz de covariâncias. Uma vantagem adicional dessa nova estatística é que o usuário já está bem familiarizado com o cálculo de variâncias amostrais; o mesmo não pode ser dito em relação à variância amostral generalizada S . O desempenho do gráfico de VMAX foi também avaliado quando se utiliza a amostragem dupla, quando se variam os parâmetros do gráfico de controle, quando se adota o esquema de EWMA e quando se aplicam regras especiais de decisão. Investigou-se também o desempenho dos gráficos de controle destinados ao monitoramento simultâneo do vetor de médias e da matriz de covariâncias. / Abstract: This thesis offers some contributions to the field of monitoring multivariate processes. Regarding to the monitoring of the mean vector, we investigated the performance of the 2 T charts based on principal components and also the performance of the mean charts used simultaneously, where each chart is assigned to control one quality characteristic. Regarding to the monitoring of the covariance matrix, we propose a new statistic based on the sample variances (the VMAX statistic). The VMAX chart is more efficient than the generalized variance S chart, which is the usual chart for monitoring the covariance matrix. An additional advantage of this new statistic is that the user is already well familiar with the calculation of sample variances; we can't say the same regarding to the generalized variance S statistic. We also studied the performance of the VMAX chart with double sampling, with adaptive schemes, with the EWMA procedure and also with special run rules. We also investigated the performance of the control charts designed for monitoring the mean vector and the covariance matrix simultaneously. / Orientador: Antonio Fernando Branco Costa / Coorientador: Fernando Augusto Silva Marins / Banca: Messias Borges Silva / Banca: Ubirajara Rocha Ferreira / Banca: Linda Lee Ho / Banca: Roberto da Costa Quinino / Doutor

<p>In the era of VLSI the technological advancements have lead us to integrate not only digital circuits of high device density but both digital and analog circuits on to the same chip. In recent years the number of devices on a chip has spectacularly increased, all</p><p>because of the downward scaling in sizes of the devices. But because of this dramatic scaling the devices have become more sensitive to the power-ground noise. Now in designing a mix signal system within single silicon die that has high speed digital circuits</p><p>along with high performance analog circuits the digital switching noise becomes a foremost concern for the correct functioning of the system.</p><p>The purpose of the thesis is to evaluate the reduction of Simultaneous Switching Noise in analog signal band with in the chip. The experiment is done by the use of DCVSL circuits combined with a novel method of implementation, instead of the common static circuits in the core design. These DCVSL circuits have the property to draw periodic currents from the power supply. So if the circuit draws equal amount of current at each clock cycle independent of the input fed to it, the generated noise’s frequency content, produced due to current spikes will then be shifted above the input clock frequency.</p><p>The idea is to reduce Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN) by half of the clock frequency in the frequency band. This frequency band often contains to the analog signal band of a digital-to-analog converter. To evaluate the method two pipelined adders have been implemented in 0.13 μm CMOS technology. The proposed method (test circuit) is</p><p>implemented using DCVSL techniques and the reference circuit using static CMOS logic. For testing of the design we generated the input data on-chip. The pseudo-random data is generated by implementing two different length PRBS. We have also implemented a ROM containing specific test patterns. In the end, we have achieved a 10 dB decrease of noise level at the substrate node on the chip.</p>

In the era of VLSI the technological advancements have lead us to integrate not only digital circuits of high device density but both digital and analog circuits on to the same chip. In recent years the number of devices on a chip has spectacularly increased, all because of the downward scaling in sizes of the devices. But because of this dramatic scaling the devices have become more sensitive to the power-ground noise. Now in designing a mix signal system within single silicon die that has high speed digital circuits along with high performance analog circuits the digital switching noise becomes a foremost concern for the correct functioning of the system. The purpose of the thesis is to evaluate the reduction of Simultaneous Switching Noise in analog signal band with in the chip. The experiment is done by the use of DCVSL circuits combined with a novel method of implementation, instead of the common static circuits in the core design. These DCVSL circuits have the property to draw periodic currents from the power supply. So if the circuit draws equal amount of current at each clock cycle independent of the input fed to it, the generated noise’s frequency content, produced due to current spikes will then be shifted above the input clock frequency. The idea is to reduce Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN) by half of the clock frequency in the frequency band. This frequency band often contains to the analog signal band of a digital-to-analog converter. To evaluate the method two pipelined adders have been implemented in 0.13 μm CMOS technology. The proposed method (test circuit) is implemented using DCVSL techniques and the reference circuit using static CMOS logic. For testing of the design we generated the input data on-chip. The pseudo-random data is generated by implementing two different length PRBS. We have also implemented a ROM containing specific test patterns. In the end, we have achieved a 10 dB decrease of noise level at the substrate node on the chip.

Airline disruption management traditionally seeks to address three problem dimensions – aircraft scheduling, crew scheduling, and passenger scheduling – in that order. However, current efforts have, at most, only addressed the first two con-currently and do not account for the propagative effects that uncertain scheduling outcomes in one dimension can have on another. Uncertainties in scheduling out-comes originate from random disruption events (like inclement weather and aircraft malfunction), the order in which they occur, and how they are resolved. As such, these uncertainties propagate through all problem dimensions of airline disruption management on day of operation. Existing approaches for airline operations recovery include human specialists who decide on the necessary corrective actions to airline schedule disruptions on the day of operation. However, human specialists are limited in their ability to process copious amounts of information, necessary to make robust decisions that simultaneously address all three problem dimensions in operations recovery. Therefore, there is a need to augment the decision-making capabilities of a human specialist with quantitative and qualitative tools that can rationalize complex interactions amongst the three dimensions in airline operations recovery, and provide objective insights to the specialists in the Airline Operations Control Center (AOCC).To this effect, this dissertation provides a discussion of an agnostic and systematic paradigm for enabling simultaneously-integrated recovery of all problem dimensions in airline disruption management, through an intelligent multi-agent system that employs principles from artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology.

<p>U okviru istraživanja na predmetnoj disertaciji prikazana je analiza stanja i pravci razvoja u oblasti simultanog projektovanja proizvoda i tehnoloških procesa. Detaljnije su opisane tehnike CAD/CAPP integracije na bazi tehnoloških tipskih formi i vještačke inteligencije. Na bazi ovih analiza razvijen je model simultanog projektovanja proizvoda i tehnoloških procesa. Na osnovu modela sistema, razvijen je programski sistem za simultano projektovanje proizvoda i tehnoloških procesa. Prikazani su rezultati primjene razvijenog sistema na primjeru hidraulične prese za ugaono savijanje lima, kao proizvoda, i hidrauličnog cilindra, kao dijela proizvoda. Disertacija obuhvata i moguće pravce budućeg istraživanja.</p> / <p>The research in this dissertation encompassed state-of-the-art and future development in the field of simultaneously product and process planning design. Technics of CAD/CAPP integration based at manufacturing features and artificial intelligence are described in detail. Based on this analysis it was developed a model of simultaneously product and process planning design. Based on this model, program system for simultaneously product and process planning design was developed. Case studies were presented at the example of hydraulics press brake for sheet metal bending, as products, and hydraulics cylinder, as part of the product. In dissertation it was also suggested directions of future investigation in this field.</p>

The purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties newly arrived students encounter when they learn English, both from the perspective of students and of teachers, and how these difficulties materialise in the classroom. The study was carried out through interviews with teachers and newly arrived immigrant students on the language introductory program at an upper secondary school. Interviews were used to investigate teachers' and students' experiences and attitudes. The results show that the most significant difficulties the students encounter occur in connection with listening comprehension, and these appear when the students are tested in hearing comprehension. Important factors that influence students’ listening skills are, among other things, that the students learn two languages simultaneously, and also that they have not developed strategies for listening comprehension. It also emerged that both teachers and students use tools such as pictures in order to facilitate learning. Students also use Google to translate, to some extent. When examining both teachers' and students' responses, it was revealed that they have a negative attitude to learning Swedish and English simultaneously.  This is explained by the fact that they lose focus, and everything becomes confusing. In conclusion, the result shows that there are no advantages to having newly arrived students learn two languages at the same time. According to the participating teachers, the students must be well-grounded in the Swedish language before they start with English.