Semi-analytic models for the characterization of microstrips

This paper presents a study of English-Indonesian translation of the humorous utterances in Walt Disney’s Donald Duck comics. Twenty one Indonesian translated comics of the 2008 issues and their original English versions were used as the source of data. A total of 480 humorous English utterances were identified and verified by 4 native English speakers. These 480 English utterances and their translations were used as the data. Analyses of the collected data were then made to see the translation techniques used by the translator in translating the humorous utterances and to see the resulted pragmatic equivalence viewed from the equivalence of pragmatic force between the source text (ST) and target text (TT), involving implicture analysis of the utterances. The findings of the research reveal that 647 uses of translation techniques are made to translate the 480 utterances, as more than one techniques are used in some of the utterances. Seventeen out of 18 translation techniques proposed by Molina & Albir (2002) are chosen by the translator. It is also found out that the translator’s choice of translation techniques has resulted in 96.87% of the translated humorous utterances being equivalent in their pragmatic force, compared to the original English utterances. The use of such translation techniques as generalization, established equivalent, linguistic compression, amplification, literal translation, compensation, linguistic amplification, variation, particularization, borrowing, transposition, description, and calque has resulted in equivalent pragmatic force between ST and TT. Only minor portion (3.13%) of the translated text is not equivalent in its pragmatic force, and this is caused by the use of amplification, discursive creation, reduction, adaptation, and modulation techniques. The high rate of pragmatic equivalence shows the translator’s success in translating the text. Key words : implicature, pragmatic force, pragmatic equivalence, translation technique

In this thesis, we introduce and examine four new temporal logic formalisms that can be used as specification languages for the automated verification of the reliability of hardware and software designs with respect to a desired behavior. The work is organized in two parts. In the first one, we reason about two logics for computations, GCTL* and MCTL*, which are useful to describe a correct execution of monolithic closed systems. In the second one, instead, we focus on two logics for strategies, SL and mATL*, which are useful to formalize several interesting properties about interactive plays in multi-entities systems modeled as multi-agent games. In the “Logics for Computations” part, we first study the immersion of the idea of graded quantifications into the temporal-logic framework. In first order logic, existential and universal quantifiers express the concepts of the existence of at least one individual object satisfying a formula, or that all individual objects satisfy a formula. In other logics, these quantifiers have been generalized to express that, for a given non-negative integer n, at least n or all but n individuals satisfy a particular formula. Here, we consider GCTL, a temporal logic with graded path quantifiers, which allows to describe properties like “there exist at least n different classes of computational fluxes in which a system reaches a predetermined state”, where the classes over paths are computed by means of a predetermined equivalence relation. More precisely, we uniformly extend the classic concept of graded quantifiers from states to paths, through the use of a concept of path equivalence with respect to a given path formula. About this logic, in particular, we study the expressiveness and succinctness relationships with respect to GµCalculus and the complexity of the satisfiability problem, which results to be ExpTime-Complete. This research is partially based on the works [BMM09] “Graded Computation Tree Logic” and [BMM10] “Graded Computation Tree Logic with Binary Coding” published, respectively, in the proceedings of the “IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science, 2009” and “EACSL Annual Conference on Computer Science Logic, 2010”. Preliminary results can be also found in [Mog07]. Furthermore, we consider special quantifiers over substructures, which allow to select, using parametric criteria, small critical parts of a system to be successively verified. In literature, there are some attempts to define a logic that allows to modify the underlying structure under exam and then to verify on it some assigned property. However, as far as we know, none of them is able to select minimal submodels of a given property describing the criteria on which then execute the verification process. Here, we base our work on the search of a new operator that merges the concept of quantifiers on structures with that one derived by a generalization of the concept of pruning. The results of this work, is a class of three different extensions of CTL* with minimal model quantifiers, which we name MCTL*. Regarding these logics, we study several reductions among them, as well as the satisfiability problem that we prove to be highly undecidability, i.e., Σ_1^1-Hard, for two out of the three cases. This research is partially based on the work [MM09] “Branching-Time Temporal Logics with Minimal Model Quantifiers” published in the proceedings of the “International Conference on Developments in Language Theory, 2009”. In the “Logics for Strategies” part, we first study the problem of defining a new specification language through which it is possible to express several important properties of multi-entities systems that are neither expressible using classical monolithic temporal logics, such as CTL*, nor using two-agent-teams temporal logics, such as ATL*. In literature, we can found some proposal of logics that try to achieve this goal, but unfortunately, none of them succeeds completely on all the aspects. Among them, one of the most important attempts is CHP-SL, a logics in which one can use variables over strategies. However, this logic has a deep weakness, since it does not allow to describe games with more than two players and even two-players concurrent games. Here, we introduce SL, a logic with a syntax similar in some aspects to the first order logic, in which the strategies of the agent building the game are treated as first order objects on which we can quantify. This logic generalizes CHP-SL, by allowing the specification of the correct behavior of multi-agent concurrent games. In SL, for example, we are able to express very complex but useful Nash equilibria that are not expressible with CHP-SL. We enlighten that Nash equilibrium is one of the most important concepts in game theory. For the introduced logic, we solve two problems left open in the work on CHP-SL. Precisely, we show that the related model-checking problem is 2ExpTime-Complete, thus not harder of the same problem for several subsumed logics, while we prove that its satisfiability problem is highly undecidable, i.e., Σ_1^1-Hard. This research is partially based on the work [MMV10a] “Reasoning About Strategies” published in the proceedings of the “IARCS Annual Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science, 2010”. Finally, we consider the concept of relentful strategic reasoning, i.e., a formalism that expresses the ability of a strategy to be used not only to achieve a first given goal, but also to change its final goal in dependence of the history of the play. In the context of planning, memoryful quantification, i.e., quantification over computations that does not lose information about the past along the time, is one of the principal way to express the fact that a system is able to achieve a desired result, and shift to a different goal if some event happens. However, this kind of quantification was not considered before in the context of multi-agent planning. Here, we introduce mATL*, a fusion of the classic alternating temporal logic ATL* with memoryful quantification, with the aim of covering the previous idea. About this logics, we prove that, although it is equivalent to ATL*, it is exponentially more succinct. Nevertheless, we prove that both the model-checking and the satisfiability problems remain 2ExpTime-Complete, as for ATL*. This research is partially based on the work [MMV10b] “Relentful Strategic Reasoning in Alternating-Time Temporal Logic” published in the proceedings of the “International Conference on Logic for Programming Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning, 2010”.

This thesis analyzes the properties of heavily doped nanocrystalline titanium dioxide. Thin films were deposited by magnetron sputtering with either water vapor as reactive gas or a periodically interrupted oxygen supply. The samples were at the same time electrically conducting and transparent. They consisted of mixtures of rutile, anatase and amorphous phases. Titanium dioxide is chemically stable, hard, non-toxic, transparent, and inexpensive. Due to a high refractive index it is often found in optical applications as a thin film coating. For many purposes it is interesting to take advantage of a combination of good transparency and electrical conductivity. An even larger field of applications would open if the electric conductivity of TiO2 could be increased in a controlled manner. Conventional bulk doping is limited, however, by low solubility limits. Highly conducting nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films have been obtained recently by sputtering in presence of water vapor. The present project intends to elucidate the doping mechanisms at work in such films. In addition, an alternative process to achieve grain-boundary doping of TiO2 was explored. Spectrophotometry over a wide spectral range (0.05 to 5 eV) was the main tool in probing the mobile electrical charge carriers. The interpretation of these optical measurements required appropriate models. The models developed took many structural properties into account, such as thickness, surface roughness, density, anisotropy and crystalline phase composition. The phase and morphology of the films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and reflection, scanning probe microscopy, and electron microscopy. The chemical analyses included electron-probe microanalyses, Rutherford backscattering and elastic recoil detection analysis. The DC electrical properties were measured between room temperature and 250 °C. Most water-deposited samples showed semiconducting behavior with an activation energy of the order of 100 meV. The optical measurements revealed a broad absorption band around 1 eV. The absorption coefficient scaled with conductivity. It was successfully modelled as a Lorentzian. Similar absorption bands have been reported for reduced rutile and anatase single crystals. Water-deposited samples containing anatase exhibited a metallic behavior. In these samples the thermal activation energy was reduced to about 30 meV and the charge carriers displayed a high mobility (3 cm2V-1s-1). The infrared absorption band was about 10 times less important than in the samples devoid of anatase. Thin films of TiO2 intercalated with the equivalent of nanometer-thick layers of Ti were prepared. By changing the period in the oxygen supply the grain size, and thereby the film properties, could be modified. The films obtained in this way had many properties in common with water-deposited films. They showed the same absorption band in the infrared, had comparable charge carrier densities and were electrically conductive (102 to 104 Sm-1 at room temperature). To our knowledge, this was the first time that such high electrical conductivities were achieved by sputtering in an oxygen plasma.

Syntax and semantics are proposed for realtime (i.e., continuous-time) regular expressions, which extend and generalize existing SVA regular expressions. The extensions are motivated by practical needs for AMS circuit verification and were developed as part of the authors' contribution to analog assertions work in the Accellera committee standardizing Verilog-AMS. Given a suitable notion of sampling, we prove that the realtime semantics provided for the existing SVA clocked digital regular expressions is equivalent to the original discrete semantics. As a result, the existing digital operators can intermix freely with the new realtime operators, which is a major contribution of our framework. We also investigate the theoretical relationship between our framework and the timed regular expressions of Asarin, Caspi, and Maler. We provide a semantically faithful embedding of timed regular expressions into our realtime regular expressions, as well as a construction of timed automata recognizers for our realtime regular expressions. These constructions show that our realtime regular expressions are no less expressive than the timed regular expressions of [1] and no more expressive than the generalized timed regular expressions of [2]. The automata recognizers also provide the basis for an implementation strategy for our framework.

Certain algebraic invariants of the integral group ring ZG of a group G were introduced and investigated in relation to the problem of extending the Farrell-Tate cohomology, which is defined for the class of groups of finite virtual cohomological dimension. It turns out that the finiteness of these invariants of a group G implies the existence of a generalized Farrell-Tate cohomology for G which is computed via complete resolutions. In this article we present these algebraic invariants and their basic properties and discuss their relationship to the generalized Farrell-Tate cohomology. In addition we present the status of conjecture which claims that the finiteness of these invariants of a group G is equivalent to the existence of a finite dimensional model for EG, the classifying space for proper actions.

In the present paper we consider initial value problems for Hilfer fractional differential equations and for system of Hilfer fractional differential equations. By using equivalent integral equations and some fixed point theorems, we study the local existence of solutions. We extend these local existence results globally with the help of continuation theorems and generalized Gronwall inequality.

A sufficient condition of asymptotic stability is obtained for multivariable systems whose system matrices are of the block Schwartz form. By using this condition a method of stability analysis for multivariable systems is proposed. The system matrix of the control canonical form with square matrices as its elements is transformed to a matrix of the block Schwartz form by elementary equivalent transformations. Then a generalized Routh criterion for multivariable systems is obtained.

On characterizing and generalizing the optional [formula omitted]-stability property for pricing set

The spectral domain technique (SDT) is extended to take into account both finite thickness and conductivity of strips in planar monolithic integrated transmission lines. The proposed extension subdivides a strip into elementary thin strips, and preserves the efficiency and versatility of the classical SDT.

The goal of this PhD Thesis is the definition of new robust estimators, thereby extending the available theory and exploring new directions for applications in finance. The Thesis contains three papers, which analyse three different types of estimators: M-, Minimum Distance- and R-estimators. The focus is manly of their infinitesimal robustness, but global robustness properties are also considered. The first paper (“Higher-order infinitesimal robustness”) studies M-estimators and it is a joint work with Elvezio Ronchetti and Fabio Trojani. Using the higher-order von Mises expansion, we go beyond the Influence Function and we extend Hampel's paradigm of robust ness, introducing higher-order infinitesimally robust M-estimators. We show that a bounded estimating function having also bounded gradient with respect to the parameter ensures, at the same time, the stability of the: (i) second-order approximated bias (B-robustness); (ii) asymptotic variance (V-robustness) and (iii) saddle point density approximation. An application in finance (risk management) concludes the paper. The second paper (“On robust estimation via pseudo-additive information measures”) is jointly written with Davide Ferrari and it studies a new class of Minimum Divergence (in the following, MD) estimators. The theoretical contribution of the paper is to show that robustness is dual to information theory. Information theory plays a crucial role in statistical inference : Maximum Likelihood estimators are related to it through the minimization of Shannon entropy (namely, minimization of the Kullback-Leibler divergence). The fundamental axiom characterizing Shannon entropy is additivity. Relaxing this assumption, we obtain a generalized entropy (called q-entropy) which exploits the link between information theory and infinitesimal robustness. Minimizing the q-entropy, we define a new class of MD robust re-descending estimators, featuring B-, V-robustness and that have also good global robustness properties in terms of high-breakdown. The third paper (“Semi-parametric rank-based tests and estimators for Markov processes”) contains the preliminary results of a working paper that I have started in Princeton, working with Marc Hallin. The paper deals with R-estimators and rank-based tests. Precisely, combining the flexibility of the semi-parametric approach with the distribution-freeness of rank statistics, we define R-estimators and tests for stationary Markov processes. An application for inference and testing in stochastic volatility (SV) models concludes the paper.

Despite the high potential of geothermal reservoirs in Meshkinshahr, we only see the government entering the electricity extraction of geothermal energy because the cost of the Meshkinshahr geothermal electricity is higher than the balanced price of the electricity market and the private sector is disadvantaged for entering it. So, the government has adopted a feed in tariff policy for geothermal electricity to encourage private sector investors. This research is aimed at financial appraisal of Maskinshahr geothermal power plant with the assumption of feed in tariff by the government with Equivalent Uniform Annual Worth, Equivalent Uniform Annual Worth, and Equivalent Uniform Annual Cost methods. Equivalent Uniform Annual Benefit is obtained from feed in tariff of government and Equivalent Uniform Annual Cost is determined based on technical and economic components of the geothermal power plant and macroeconomic parameters. The results of the data analysis show that the construction of the geothermal power plant is fully justified with the 14% reduction rate, but if the investor's minimum expected rate exceeds 54%, the construction of the power plant has no economic justification. Also, if the construction of Meshkinshahr geothermal plant takes more than 13 years and 5 months like the government project, the generation of geothermal power is not cost-effective.

A theorem of Drinfel'd (Drinfel'd (1993)) classifies the Poisson homogeneous spaces of a Poisson Lie group (G,πG) via a special class of Lagrangian subalgebras of the Drinfel'd double of its Lie bialgebra. This result is extended in Liu et al. (1998) to a classification of the Poisson homogeneous spaces of a Poisson groupoid (G⇉P, πG) via a special class of Dirac structures in the Courant algebroid defined by the corresponding Lie bialgebroid. It is hence natural to ask what corresponds via these classifications, or extensions of them, to arbitrary Dirac structures in the Drinfel'd double or the Courant algebroid associated to a Poisson group(oid). We show in this thesis that there is a bigger class of Dirac structures that fits in this correspondence. They correspond naturally to Dirac homogeneous spaces of the Poisson group(oid). Dirac Lie groups and Dirac groupoids have been defined by Ortiz (2009) as a generalization of Poisson Lie groups, Poisson groupoids and presymplectic groupoids. We prove in an alternative manner the existence of a natural Lie bialgebra associated to a Dirac Lie group, and we find good candidates for the infinitesimal data of a Dirac groupoid; a square of morphisms of Lie algebroids associated to the multiplicative Dirac structure. These objects generalize simultaneously the Lie bialgebroid of Poisson groupoids and the IM-2-forms associated to presymplectic groupoids (Bursztyn et al. (2004)). We show also the existence of a Courant algebroid associated to these algebroids. This Courant algebroid structure is induced in a natural way by the ambient standard Courant algebroid TG ×G T*G and is isomorphic to the Courant algebroid AG ×P A*G in the Poisson case. We show that Dirac homogeneous spaces of Dirac Lie groups (respectively Dirac groupoids) correspond to certain classes of Dirac structures in the Drinfel'd double of the Lie bialgebra (respectively in the Courant algebroid). These results generalize the classification theorems in Drinfel'd (1993) and Liu et al. (1998). Along the way, we study involutive multiplicative foliations on Lie groupoids and show when and how there is a natural groupoid structure defined on the leaf spaces in the set of objects and the set of units of the Lie groupoid. This is a fact that is always true in the Lie group case, where a multiplicative foliation is automatically the left and right invariant image of an ideal in the Lie algebra, i.e., the leaves are the cosets of a normal subgroup of the Lie group.

According to prospects of international organisations like OECD and FAO, Ukraine will be one of the important suppliers of agricultural products on the world market in the coming decade. Thus, Ukrainian agricultural production and exports are important elements in sustaining global food security. However, the country threatens global food security as well as its own agricultural development when applying grain export restrictions, as happened several times in recent years. Therefore, any impediments to grain trade in the country should be carefully inspected. In this paper we analyse recent developments of Ukrainian agricultural policy influencing grain trade. We show that any export restriction brings large welfare losses compared to a free trade situation. We support our claim by a comparative analysis of the different export policies applied by the Ukrainian government on the domestic wheat market between 2006 and 2014. Additionally, we suggest and discuss alternative policy responses to realise the policy goal of domestic food security. As the policies applied, export tax, export quota and tax reimbursement, cannot be compared directly we quantify the tax equivalent of each trade policy measure. Under a set of specific assumptions the tax equivalent can be used to compare the effects of policies theoretically and empirically. Our findings go along with theory and show that export quotas in 2006 and in 2010 had a more restrictive effect on export than export taxes in 2011. Effects of non-reimbursement of VAT are very close to the effects of export tax in 2011 (at the level of 9%), mainly because most of the time these two measures were implemented simultaneously. We also calculated tariff equivalent of VAT non-reimbursement excluding the period of export taxes. Based on these results, the measure corresponds to a slight decline of the tariff equivalent in absolute terms. As an alternative policy option for the Ukrainian government to respond more efficiently to increasing world market prices in the future it is advised to use consumer-oriented measures for the most vulnerable groups of people instead of distorting market mechanisms.

Typed feature logics have been employed as description languages in modern type-oriented grammar theories like HPSG and have laid the theoretical foundations for many implemented systems. However, recursivity pose severe problems and have been addressed through specialized powerdomain constructions which depend on the particular view of the logician. In this paper, we argue that definite equivalences introduced by Smolka can serve as the formal basis for arbitrarily formalized typed feature structures and typed feature-based grammars/lexicons, as employed in, e.g., TFS or TDL. The idea here is that type definitions in such systems can be transformed into an equivalent definite program, whereas the meaning of the definite program then is identified with the denotation of the type system. Now, models of a definite program P can be characterized by the set of ground atoms which are logical consequences of the definite program. These models are ordered by subset inclusion and, for reasons that will become clear, we propose the greatest model as the intended interpretation of P, or equivalent, as the denotation of the associated type system. Our transformational approach has also a great impact on nonmonotonically defined types, since under this interpretation, we can view the type hierarchy as a pure transport medium, allowing us to get rid of the transitivity of type information (inheritance), and yielding a perfectly monotonic definite program.

The bacteria that often cause infectious diarrhea are Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae. Excessive and less rational use of antibiotics in diarrhea cases encourages the development of multi drug pathogen resistance. Propolis is one solution to overcome diarrheal infections. The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of the antibacterial effects of propolis extract on Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae bacteria in in vitro testing with various concentrations. Research in laboratory experiments in vitro. The sample in this study was the bacteria Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae with the stages of research starting from the extraction process carried out using a multilevel extraction method. The results showed that the smallest concentration of n-hexane fraction which still inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae bacteria was 250 µg / ml and this concentration was expressed as KHM value. The equality test of 250 µg / ml n-hexane propolis fraction was equivalent to 4.0 µg / ml ciprofloxacin to Escherichia coli and equivalent to 4.6 µg / ml ciprofloxacin against Shigella dysenteriae, while the equality test concentration of 250 µg / ml ethyl acetate propolis equivalent to 5.2 µg / ml of ciprofloxacin against Escherichia coli and equivalent to 4.5 µg / ml of ciprofloxacin against Shigella dysenteriae. The conclusion of this study is that n-hexane extract and ethyl acetate propolis have antibacterial effectiveness against Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae. The n-hexane and ethyl acetate propolis fractions have lower antibacterial activity compared to ciprofloxacin in inhibiting the growth of Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae. Antibacterial compounds contained in the n-hexane fraction and ethyl acetate propolis are flavonoids and phenol