1,953 research outputs found
On the Computation of 16-QAM and 64-QAM Performance in Rayleigh-Fading Channels
No full textSUMMARY Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) schemes are attractive in terms of bandwidth efficiency and offer a number of subchannels with different integrities via both Gaussian and Rayleigh-fading channels, Specifically, the 16-QAM phasor constellation has two, while the 64-QAM possesses three such subchannels, which become dramatically different via Rayleigh-fading channels. The analytically derived bit error rate (BER) formulae yield virtually identical curves with simulation results, exhibiting adequate BERs for the highest integrity subchannels of both 16-QAM and 64-QAM to be further reduced by forward error correction coding (FEC). However, the BERs of the lower integrity subchannels require fading compensation to reduce their values for FEC techniques to become effective. This property creates ground for a variety of carefully matched, embedded mobile transmission schemes of different complexities. The practical implementation of such an embedded scheme is demonstrated by a low-cost, low-complexity and low consumption 50 kBd mobile video telephone scheme offering adequate speech and image quality for channel SNRs in excess of about 20 dB via Rayleigh-fading channels. key words: QAM theory; modulation for microcellular fading channels
Fortune and desire in Guillaume de Machaut
No full textThere is a pervasive tendency, in Machaut scholarship, to read his poetry as having
value only insofar as it speaks to our postmodern age: either it is fragmented and
riven with ambiguities, or it celebrates eroticism and the things of this world for their
own sake; in any case, it resists religious and moral orthodoxy. Such readings, while
often valuable in themselves, fail to take sufficient account of the influence which
Boethian and Neoplatonic ideas had upon Machaut, and thus misunderstand his work
on a fundamental level. By paying attention to the Boethian content in the narrative
dits, and by analysing Machaut's verse more thoroughly than has been done before,
my thesis demonstrates not only this author's moral orthodoxy, but also his extremely
sophisticated didactic methods. I begin with the Confort d'ami, Machaut's most
overtly moral work. The Confort engages with the supposed 'worldly' perspective of
its imprisoned addressee, adapting biblical and classical exempla in order to coax
Charles of Navarre towards a deeper understanding of worldly fortune. In Chapter 2 I
show how, in the Prologue and the Dit du vergier, the ambiguity so beloved of critics
can serve as a moral commentary on the carnality and self-absorption of the erotic
and artistic points of view. Having established, in the preceding chapters, that this
author's approach to his subject is ambiguous and critical, in Chapter 3 I explore the
extremes of his pessimism, and show how his love poetry can incorporate
sophisticated philosophical ideas, through my analysis of the Jugement du roy de
Behaigne. The thesis culminates in a detailed reading of the Remede de Fortune.
Through his deliberately idealised statements about education, through his application
of these views to the art of courtly love, through his composition (and setting to
music) of a sequence of virtuoso lyrics, and through his explicit invocations of and
borrowings from Boethius, Machaut develops an empathic but ultimately, as I argue,
deeply sceptical vision of earthly love
Governance, Incentives and Elections as Determinants of Economic Performance, Aid and Investment Flows
No full textScholars have focused their efforts to explain poor growth and development in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, using arguments based on quality of institutions and geography and the structure and process of resource allocation and endowment. This paper presents a different argument based on an incentive compatibility and asymmetric information framework. We characterize the decision-making problem in government and public sector as being fraught with mis-information about the true state of economic performance. Misinformation can also result in a legal liability which may depend on probability of losing elections, income, and attitude to risk. The agency conflicts between the elected politicians and career-bureaucrats contribute to the mis-information problem, resulting in poor policy choices that may lead to poor economic performance. The role of international financial aid flows is examined and the paper argues that such aid flows may only serve to subsidize the inefficiencies of political leaders and reduce the economic gap created by poor policy choices. More financial aid flows may not be a panacea for poor economic growth and its insurance characteristics may cause recipient governments to choose even riskier policies. We also examine why Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows to poor regions, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, are low. We show that the risky policy choices create conditions that increase the value of the option-to-wait on investment decisions, thus reducing the flow of FDI. We undertake empirical analysis on some African Countries and show that the quality of governance influences GDP growth, Employment Creation, and Poverty Reduction in Africa.Governance, Incentives, Asymmetric Information, Elections, Economic Performance, Aid Flows, Insurance, Moral Hazard, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Option-to-Wait, Real Options
Fortune Teller’s scroll
No full textHand-drawn manuscript scrollDimension: 10 x 100 in.Date: ca.19th-centuryThis scroll has many diagrams and charts, including two with movable wheels, used to tell a person’s fortune
Frequency, factors and costs associated with injection site infections: findings from a national multi-site survey of injecting drug users in England.
No full textBACKGROUND: Injection site infections among injecting drug users (IDUs) have been associated with serious morbidity and health service costs in North America. This study explores the frequency, factors and costs associated with injection site infections among IDUs in England. METHODS: Unlinked-anonymous survey during 2003/05 recruiting IDUs from community settings at seven locations across England. Self-reported injecting practice, symptoms of injection site infections (abscess or open wound) and health service utilisation data were collected using a questionnaire, participants also provided dried blood spot samples (tested for markers blood borne virus infections). Cost estimates were obtained by combining questionnaire data with information from national databases and the scientific literature. RESULTS: 36% of the 1,058 participants reported an injection site infection in the last year. Those reporting an injection site infection were more likely to be female and aged over 24, and to have: injected into legs, groin, and hands in last year; injected on 14 or more days during the last four weeks; cleaned needles/syringes for reuse; injected crack-cocaine; antibodies to hepatitis C; and previously received prescribed substitute drug. Two-thirds of those with an injection site infection reported seeking medical advice; half attended an emergency department and three-quarters of these reported hospital admission. Simple conservative estimates of associated healthcare costs range from pound 15.5 million per year to as high as pound 30 million; though if less conservative unit costs assumptions are made the total may be much higher (pound 47 million). The vast majority of these costs are due to hospital admissions and the uncertainty is due to little data on length of hospital stays. CONCLUSION: Symptoms of injection site infections are common among IDUs in England. The potential costs to the health service are substantial, but these costs need more accurate determination. Better-targeted interventions to support safer injection need to be developed and evaluated. The validity of self-reported symptoms, and the relationship between symptoms, infection severity, and health seeking behaviour require further research
Salmon for the Future: A Bio-Physical Inventory Report of Fortune Creek
No full textWildland RecreationThe Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans had no formal data on the bio-physical properties of Fortune Creek, or recommendations for managing it as a salmonid spawning channel. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current salmonid production in Fortune Creek and recommend changes to improve the stream as a salmonid spawning and rearing channel
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: An Alternative Perspective
No full textThe Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) has emerged as one of the dominant ideas in business. Cognizant of the overwhelming attention BOP has attracted and its potential impact on the billions of the poor and on managerial practices, the author analyzes the different aspects of BOP approach on how large corporations can serve low income customers profitably. An attempt is made to provide an alternate perspective on the BOP concept. I argue for the facilitation of selective consumption by the poor by avoiding their undesirable inclusion (marketing products that are not likely to enhance their wellbeing or products that are likely to be abused by them) and exclusion (not offering products that are likely to enhances their wellbeing) in target market selection decisions by the private sector organizations. A framework is presented for assessing the appropriateness of large corporations’ participation in BOP markets. I also emphasize the need to strengthen the role of the poor as a producer for rapid poverty alleviation.
Atheist: or, The second part of the Souldiers fortune
No full textOtway, Thomas (1652-1685) London: Printed for R. Bentley and J. Tonson, 1684 University of Utah copy bound with the author\u27s The Souldiers Fortune. London, 168
The madman's fortune
No full textThe Madman’s Fortune is a novel about the thin line between fiction and real life, desire and delusion, and translation and creation. Set in New York City, a man unravels when his husband disappears and leaves him with an enigmatic younger man as a houseguest. The protagonist, a former window dresser and househusband whose knowledge of Portuguese is questionable, begins to translate into English a story about a lonely museum director who becomes enraptured with a British expatriate. The amateur translator soon loses the distinction between the story he’s translating and his own life.M.F.A.Includes bibliographical reference
A Critical Ethnography of Pupil Resistance to Authority: How Pupil and Teacher Identities Create Spaces of Resistance in the Contemporary School
No full textThis thesis employs a critical ethnographic method to examine how high ability pupils in a comprehensive school in an area of relative social deprivation express resistance to authority. The identities which teachers adopt in response to pupil resistance are also critically examined. The focus of the study is a group of nine high ability pupils. Data was collected through observing these pupils in forty-three lessons and conducting eleven group pupil interviews. Sixteen members of school staff were also interviewed. The research was conduced over a three month period (May to July) in the summer term of 2009.
Building upon neo-Marxist resistance theory the aim is to inject a degree of construct validity into the concept of pupil resistance. By avoiding the tendency to romanticise pupils’ often petulant and nihilistic behaviour the aim is to revitalise resistance theory by providing a more valid account of how and why pupils resist school authority. The aim is also to critically evaluate how pedagogic practice responds to pupil resistance and to assess the potential for pupil resistance to develop into a wider Marxist transformative agenda.
It is argued that certain high ability working class pupils express a form of constructive resistance. This behaviour challenges the social classifications of schooling through constructively questioning the equity and competence of pedagogic authority. It is argued that constructive forms of resistance reflect the ability of pupils to critically assess their social environment and resist perceived injustice. It is also argued that pupils who express constructive forms of resistance have the potential to question the social classifications of wider capitalist society.
The critical element of this thesis argues that current pedagogic practice is inadequate in engaging with pupil resistance; teachers adopt identities which seek to suppress pupils’ critical awareness. It is further argued that for constructive forms of resistance to develop wider meaning teachers must critically engage with pupils’ cultural expression through developing critical forms of pedagogy which reference pupils’ cultural heritage
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