Masters Report A report submitted in ful llment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (50/50) in the Centre for Telecommunication Access and Services (CeTAS) School of Electrical and Information Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment February 2017 / Bounded distance decoding of Reed Solomon (RS) codes involves nding a unique codeword if there is at least one codeword within the given distance. A corrupted message having errors that is less than or equal to half the minimum distance cor- responds to a unique codeword, and therefore will decode errors correctly using the minimum distance decoder. However, increasing the decoding radius to be slightly higher than half of the minimum distance may result in multiple codewords within the Hamming sphere. The list decoding and syndrome extension methods provide a maximum error correcting capability whereby the radius of the Hamming ball can be extended for low rate RS codes. In this research, we study the probability of having unique codewords for (7; k) RS codes when the decoding radius is increased from the error correcting capability t to t + 1. Simulation results show a signi cant e ect of the code rates on the probability of having unique codewords. It also shows that the probability of having unique codeword for low rate codes is close to one. / MT2017

A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Centre for Telecommunication Access and Services, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / Reed-Solomon codes are very popular codes used in the field of forward error correction due to their correcting capabilities. Thus, a lot of research has been done dedicated to the development of decoding algorithms for this class of code. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]

The topological entropy of a continuous map quantifies the amount of chaos observed in the map. In this dissertation we present computational methods which enable us to compute topological entropy for given time series data generated from a continuous map with a transitive attractor. A triangulation is constructed in order to approximate the attractor and to construct a multivalued map that approximates the dynamics of the linear interpolant on the triangulation. The methods utilize simplicial homology and in particular the Lefschetz Fixed Point Theorem to establish the existence of periodic orbits for the linear interpolant. A semiconjugacy is formed with a subshift of nite type for which the entropy can be calculated and provides a lower bound for the entropy of the linear interpolant. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of possible applications of this analysis to experimental time series. / by Mark Wess. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This thesis explores the question of how the figure of Solomon is characterized in the Hebrew Bible. This question arises from the observation of divergent depictions of Solomon in the different books. In 1 Kings 1–11, Solomon is depicted in an ambivalent manner where his wisdom can be used positively for the benefit of all Israel and negatively through focusing on the royal court to the neglect of Israel at large. In contrast, Solomon is presented as a model king of cultic fidelity in 2 Chronicles 1–9 in spite of his failures in 1 Kings 1–11. In Proverbs, Solomon is remembered as the paragon of wisdom in Israel but is also presented in Ecclesiastes as a pessimistic king describing the limitations of his wisdom. Furthermore, Solomon is used as the picture of an ideal lover in the Song of Songs, but it is his romantic exploits that lead to him becoming an idolater turning away from YHWH. In light of these observations, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the characterization of Solomon in 1 Kings 1–11, 2 Chronicles 1–9, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. In order to examine this, a communicative theory of interpretation that benefits from a theory of characterization from narrative-criticism will be utilized. This hermeneutical tool will help establish the integrity of individual books as acts of communication and demonstrate how characterization is a literary technique utilized by authors to depict a character to be imagined by readers. The finding of this thesis is that Solomon’s characterization is well beyond a single attribute as a wise king or even a two-fold attribute as wise king and temple builder. Instead, he is a paradoxical and ambiguous figure that integrates positive and negative features emerging both from the individual accounts and from the relation of these accounts to one another. The accounts associated with describing Solomon’s reign or those books that have a poetic association share significant themes, but these themes are reframed and re-interpreted as a part of an enduring legacy. By re-evaluating the depiction of Solomon in individual parts or wholes of books, as well as considering the unique contributions of the individual accounts in relation to one another, this thesis demonstrates that the figure of Solomon generates ever fresh elaborations.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-05-25T12:10:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Elcio Kondo_.pdf: 2605139 bytes, checksum: bc6eb6e69a381723f69fbce90af22fab (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-25T12:10:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elcio Kondo_.pdf: 2605139 bytes, checksum: bc6eb6e69a381723f69fbce90af22fab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-01-11 / Nenhuma / Atualmente vários equipamentos eletrônicos são equipados com memórias NAND Flash para armazenar dados. Essas memórias são controladas através de um circuito integrado com um controlador de memória, que internamente possui um sistema para garantir a integridade das informações armazenadas, os quais são conhecidos por Error Correction Codes (ECC). Os ECCs são códigos capazes de detectar e corrigir erros através de bits redundantes adicionados à informação. Normalmente, os códigos ECC são implementados em hardware dentro do controlador de memória NAND Flash. Neste trabalho comparou-se alguns códigos de ECC utilizados pela indústria, para as comparações utilizou-se os códigos ECC: Hamming, BCH (Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem) e Reed- Solomon. Sistematicamente realizou-se comparações entre os ECCs selecionados e escolheu-se os dois mais apropriados (BCH e Hamming), os quais foram implementados em linguagem VHDL, o que possibilitou identificar o código com melhor vantagem econômica no uso em memórias NAND Flash. / Nowadays several electronic equipment are using NAND Flash memories to store data. These memories are controlled by an integrated circuit with an memory controller embedded that internally has a system to ensure the integrity of the stored information, that are known as Error Correction Codes (ECC). The ECCs are codes that can detect and correct errors by redundant bits added to information. Usually the ECC codes are implemented on NAND Flash memory controller as a hardware block. On this text ECC codes used by industry, the Hamming code, BCH (Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem) and Reed-solomon codes were compared.Systemically compare between selected ECCs were done and selected two codes (BCH and Hamming), which were described in VHDL language and allowed to identify the best code with better economical advantage for NAND Flash memories.

This thesis concentrates on the Kwara'ae people of a peri-urban settlement named Gilbert Camp. Originally from Malaita (hom), they migrate and settle in Honiara, capital city of Solomon Islands. They articulate their condition in relation to two sets of value oppositions. The first opposes hom as their primitive, isolated, and hopeless province of origin; and Honiara as the modern, all-promising, all-fulfilling arrival city. The second juxtaposes hom as the epitome of unity, cooperation, and sameness, where life is easy; and Honiara as the place where diversity, competition, and separation reign, and life is hard. The Kwara'ae people leave hom and settle in Honiara because they value what lacks in the former and can be found in the latter. But in Honiara they despise some of the things they must confront, and miss what they can have at hom but not in Honiara. For these reasons, they repeatedly declare, "Honiara is hard" (Honiara hemi had). However, rather than interpreting their statements about life in town as the symptom of a negative evaluation, I try to capture the extent to which the Kwara'ae people of Gilbert Camp value their urban life in a positive way. The starkest illustration of their commitment to town life is in their daily efforts to deal with the tensions over the meaning and use of their values in the urban context. I analyse these tensions, challenges, and negotiations in a series of ethnographically grounded case studies. In a peri-urban village of a shrinking Pacific economy where there is a general disproportion between income and mouths to feed, a tension between the priorities of kinship and the need to make ends meet is almost inevitable. Secondly, the confusion surrounding the issue of land causes tensions concerning how land must be dealt with. There is also a tension between customary and state law, and between historical and recent forms of Christianity. Kwara'ae people use their creativity and cultural knowledge to find viable solutions to these tensions, which I argue is an illustration of how much they try to live according to their values on the outskirts of Honiara. It follows that the statement "Honiara is hard" indicates the measure of their efforts, of how intensely they want to live in Honiara according to their values, rather than the measure of how much they want to go back hom. This interpretation has important implications for the anthropology of urban Melanesia. Previous urban ethnographies in Solomon Islands emphasised the reproduction of hom values, rather than the creation of a new hom through the manipulation of contemporary cultural logics. Although the former approach coheres with negative evaluations of the urban context, it does not account for why people leave a place where life is "easy", and settle in a place where it is "hard". In contrast, an approach emphasising the hom-making process inherent in daily value negotiations reveals the contingent, unpredictable, and contested construction of the sense of homeliness with which Kwara'ae people are turning Gilbert Camp into their new hom.

There is convergence at the international level that conserving biodiversity can contribute to poverty alleviation, but empirical evidence for this relationship is scarce. In this thesis I assess the relationship between poverty and biodiversity, within the context of land use change, using a case-study from the Solomon Islands. This interdisciplinary study is based on both social and ecological data, primarily collected through focus groups, household surveys and avian line transect surveys. Poor households in Kahua were characterised by fewer members of a working age and fewer male members. They were also found to own fewer assets, which were correlated to lower land tenure. Natural resources, including wild foods, were a crucial resource for the consumption and income for poor households, with evidence of wild foods buffering shortfalls in household consumption. The livelihoods of poor households were dependent on natural resources, whereas wealthier households relied on cash crops. The lower involvement of poor households in cash cropping suggests that the poor have less access to such income sources, possibly through a lack of initial land holding assets. Cash crop areas of monoculture cocoa were the most intensive land use in Kahua and were found to be a poor habitat for many bird species, including most endemics. Overall, the relationship between poverty and biodiversity was found to be complex, context dependent and influenced by various social and institutional factors. Household inequalities in access to land and resources indicate that a social-ecological trap may be occurring for poorer households in Kahua, possibly perpetuated by the livelihoods of wealthier households. More research is required in translating the concept of social-ecological traps into management actions, but this thesis concludes that this could be a useful concept for improving poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation initiatives.

The goal of agricultural training is the adoption and diffusion of introduced agriculture techniques. New subsistence agricultural techniques have been introduced mainly to the male population in many developing countries, even though most subsistence farmers are women. Therefore, an understanding of how new subsistence agricultural techniques can be introduced and adopted by women would be important to achieve. This study focuses on women's adoption of agricultural techniques. It takes place on the island of Malaita, in the Solomon Islands. The study looks at the adoption of agroforestry and several other subsistence techniques that were introduced under a joint program by Peace Corps and the Malaita Agriculture Division between 1983 and 1989. Two Peace Corps volunteers were posted in North Malaita at Malu'u from 1983 to 1986. The Malu'u volunteers lived in the village of Karu for two and one-half years while introducing and teaching new agricultural practices. Two other Peace Corps volunteers were posted at the Dala Agricultural Training Center from 1987 to 1989, and worked with the residents of the nearby village of Kakara. In 1991, a two-month survey was conducted in the areas where the Peace Corps volunteers were posted, as well as in an area that did not have any Peace Corps volunteers posted. The findings of this study indicate that adoption of new agroforestry techniques is based on several factors. Who introduced the technology, the farmer's wealth, and being able to obtain income from market vegetables and other identified factors improved a respondent's chances of adopting new agroforestry techniques.

Since the merging of special education and regular mainstream education into a unified system now known as inclusive education, this concept has kept many educators divided. However, it appears that inclusive education has now become the preferred option where children with special needs are given equal opportunity to learn with their peers in inclusive classrooms and an environment where they can freely interact with one another. While the seed of inclusive education had been sown and effectively implemented in most developed countries, it has yet to sprout in the Solomon Islands. It has been suggested that the success of inclusive education depends very much on teachers and their attitudes. Because of that, teachers need adequate training in inclusive education so that they can effectively implement inclusion in their classroom, thus highlighting pre-service training of teachers as an essential factor which may enhance inclusive education in the Solomon Islands. This study was based on an interpretive research paradigm. A qualitative research approach methodology was used. Teacher educators and pre-service teachers from a teacher training college were identified to be the focus of this study. It aimed to investigate their attitudes, knowledge and understanding on special and inclusive education and to find out if the current training is making adequate provision for these two approaches to occur. The primary source of data collection was the use of semi-structured interviews, done through face to face interview followed by a focus group interview. Interview questions were developed for both teacher educators and pre-service teachers. The focus group interview involved all participants. According to the literature, school organisation, leadership, pre-service training and staff development together with policy and funding are just some factors that can contribute to the success of inclusive education. The results suggested that teacher educators and pre-service teachers appeared to have limited knowledge and understanding on what constitutes special education and inclusive practices. There was also a lack of sound policy at the government level that would pave the way for inclusive education in the Solomon Islands. This situation had created a gap between inclusive education policy and practices in the country. Because of lack of policy at the nation level, it had also affected the way other institutions like the School of Education perceived inclusive education. This was evident in that, the notion of educating children with special needs in an inclusive classroom and environment was never introduced to pre-service teachers in the course of their pre-service training at the School of Education (SOE). That was the hallmark of this study. This study suggests that firstly, it is very important for teachers to understand the importance of teaching children with special needs in an inclusive environment. Secondly, this notion of teaching children with special needs in inclusive classroom should be introduced into the curriculum of pre-service training for beginning teachers. Thirdly, all stake holders need to have a change of mindset to create a positive attitude to special education and inclusive practices.

<p>Soldater och officerare blir i sin dagliga tjänsteutövning utsatt för press både psykiskt och fysiskt. Det finns en hel rad av faktorer som påverkar besluts- och grupprocesser och för att kunna förstå och identifiera risker i dessa processer måste det finnas en kunskap kring dessa. En företeelse vilken påverkar grupper och individer är konformiteten.</p><p> En faktor som skiljer soldater och officerare från många andra yrkesgrupper är den uniforma klädseln vilken många anser hör ihop med yrket.</p><p> Studien avser därför att undersöka hur den likformiga klädseln påverkar individens förmåga att tänka själv och dessutom handla utifrån den tanken. Utifrån detta syfte har en kärnfråga och tre delfrågor utkristalliserats. Delfrågornas syfte är att svara på kärnfrågan. Kärnfråga: Hur påverkar likformig klädsel den enskilda soldatens förmåga att stå emot konformitet?</p><p>Delfrågor:</p><p>-                  Har kläder någon betydelse i sociala sammanhang?</p><p>-                  Varför följer vissa gruppen och andra inte?</p><p>-                  Påverkas soldaten av likformig klädsel?</p><p>För att mäta hur den uniforma klädseln påverkar soldater, och därmed besvara frågorna, använder jag mig av Solomon Aschs konformitets experiment i en ny tappning. Baserat på resultatet från experimentet samt med stöd ur litteratur dras slutsatser om hur stor eller om det finns en påverkan på soldaters individualitet av den likformiga klädseln.</p><p>Jag kom i mitt arbete fram till att den likformiga klädseln ökar soldatens konformitet i en grupp. Den enskilda soldaten har lättare att falla för konformiteten när denne bär uniform klädsel i sitt tjänsteutövande. </p> / <p>Officers and soldiers are in their daily duty an object of both physical and psychological pressure. There are many factors that influence both the decision and group processes. To be able to understand and identify risks in these processes there has to be knowledge in this area. One phenomenon which influences groups and individuals is conformity.</p><p>One factor that divides the soldiers and officers from other categories of work is the uniform clothing which many think is intimately connected with that type of work.</p><p>That is why this study intends to examine how the uniform clothing influences the individuals’ ability to think for themselves and also act in that thought. On the basis of this, a core question and three part questions crystallized. The three questions are a help to answer the core problem. The core question: How does the uniform clothing influence the individual soldiers’ ability to resist conformity?</p><p>Part questions:</p><p>-        Does clothing have an importance in social contexts?</p><p>-        Why do some individuals follow the group and others not?</p><p>-        Is the soldier influenced by uniform clothing?</p><p>To measure how the uniform clothing influences soldiers, and thereby answer the questions, the writer used the conformity experiment by Solomon Asch slightly modified for his purposes. Based on the result from the experiment, as well as with support from literature, conclusions where drawn about how or if the soldiers’ individuality where influenced by the uniform clothing.</p><p>The conclusion was that the uniform clothing increases the soldiers’ conformity in a group. The individual soldier found it easier to adapt to the conformity when he/she wear uniform clothing during the exercise of his or her duties.</p>