Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'AGCOM'

La reconnaissance progressive aux collectivités territoriales de compétences spécifiques en matière de création et gestion de réseaux et services de communications électroniques évolue dans une double perspective.Prises dans leur rôle d'aménageur du territoire, les collectivités territoriales ont en charge la coordination d'activités en réseau qui peuvent revêtir la forme d'un service public local. Cette étude s'enrichit à la faveur de l'analyse des modalités de coopération entre les initiatives publiques et privées qui semblent être inspirées par une logique de subsidiarité fonctionnelle. Opérateurs économiques soumis aux règles de concurrence, les collectivités territoriales accèdent également au statut d'opérateur de communications électroniques, astreint à la régulation spécifique d'un secteur libéralisé. L'objet de la recherche vise in fine à esquisser la morphologie de l'initiative publique locale à la lumière des principaux modèles de régulationà l'oeuvre dans le cadre du développement des réseaux de nouvelle génération
Nowadays, more and more responsibility is being handed over to local authorities in the setting up and running of publicly-owned broadband networks. The way in which this growing responsibility is implemented has to be studied from the dual aspect of public and private intervention.For although, as planners of local development, local authorities are responsible for the coordination of public service broadband activities, they nevertheless call upon the expertise of private enterprise. This thesis analyses how cooperation between public and private sectors works and seems to be driven by a logic of functional subsidiarity. Local authorities, as economic operators subject to the competition rules of the Treaty, now acquire the status of telecommunications service provider and are thus governed by specificliberalised sector regulations. The purpose of the present work is to outline how public intiatives are shaped by the main regulatory models to which the deployment of next generation access networks is subject

L'obiettivo di questa tesi è cercare di esaminare l'evoluzione della Neutralità della Rete passando attraverso l'aspetto informatico e giuridico. Per l'aspetto informatico viene preso in considerazione il Best Effort e il principio dell'End-To-End. Dall'altro lato per l'aspetto giuridico vi è una panoramica sulle normative regolate da autorità come l'AGCOM, il BEREC e la FCC. Inoltre vengono prese in considerazione vicende italiane, europee e statunitensi che mostrano violazioni contro i principi neutrali. La parte finale è incentrata sul fatto di capire se vi possa essere una soluzione al problema della Neutralità della Rete.

Social networks are the latest mutation of the Internet. They have changed the online use of information and led to the “disintermediation” of cultural contents, thus causing a radical revolution of the Internet through a social participation in the web. This paper has attempted to analyze the relationship between copyright and social networks in Europe by investigating three different aspects connected to each other: (i) the applicability of exceptions and limitations to copyright in the social network environment; (ii) the regulation of hyperlinks to copyrighted contents; and (iii) the liability regime of internet service providers. This investigation is aimed at verifying if a balance exists among the following needs: (i) free access to information and culture in the Internet (particularly in the social networks environment); (ii) creation of new Internet services; and (iii) online protection of copyrighted works. With regard to exceptions and limitations to copyright and their applicability in the social network environment, the InfoSoc Directive introduced at Community level a “closed” system of exceptions and limitations. These exceptions appear to be obsolete and unable to adapt to innovations and new online uses. In particular this paper analyzes, through a broad examination of the EU case law, the only two exceptions which seem to have a limited online application: the quotation right and parody. In relation to hyperlinks, as far as copyright is concerned, linking may raise critical issues under different circumstances. Starting from the analysis of two recent decisions of the ECJ (Svensson and BestWater) this paper investigates how hyperlinks to copyrighted contents shall be considered and whether they may constitute copyright infringement (i.e., an unauthorized act of communication to the public). Finally, the third part of this paper will analyze the evolution of the EU case law about ISP liability regime, its applicability to social networks, and the relationship with exceptions and limitations, in order to understand whether European courts have reached a balanced application of these principles.

Master of Science
Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering
Naiqian Zhang
Mobile apps are useful tools for many different purposes. In agriculture, apps can be used to check the weather and markets, control irrigation, and monitor machine activity among other uses. This research project is a collaboration between Kansas State University and AGCO and includes the development of two apps, using MIT Application Inventor and Google App Engine. Kansas State University was responsible for developing the apps user interface and functionality while AGCO provide the data needs for the apps through Google App Engine. The first app is called Crop Maturity App and measures Growing Degree Days from a crops planting date. The second app is called Combine Efficiency App and determines the performance of a combine harvesting based on its speed. AGCO provided the server support for these apps from a weather service and their own combines that are connected. This project demonstrates the possibility of an open-source development environment with AGCO machine data.

Este trabalho visa apresentar um estudo acerca da análise da estrutura e da estratégia de uma empresa do setor agrícola: AGCO do Brasil. Para realizar este estudo de caso utilizouse os modelos de MINTZBERG e QUINN (2001), para a estrutura e MILES e SNOW (1978), para a estratégia. Buscou-se através desta pesquisa analisar a evolução da estrutura e da estratégia e como estas se relacionam, na AGCO do Brasil. Através das variáveis pesquisadas pôde-se constatar que a empresa apresenta uma estrutura do tipo divisional, o que é de certa forma coerente, conforme apresenta MINTZBERG e QUINN (2001), por se tratar de uma unidade dentro de um grupo. Quanto a estratégia constatou-se que a AGCO do Brasil apresenta uma postura analítica, com nuances defensivas e prospectoras em algumas variáveis, o que, segundo MILES e SNOW (1978), é característico de empresas que necessitam equilibrar flexibilidade e estabilidade. Observou-se também que a estrutura e a estratégia da empresa analisada, de maneira geral, apresentaram-se compatíveis, ou seja, mostraram-se concatenadas entre si. Para este fato MINTZBERG et al. (2000) relatam que a estrutura segue a estratégia assim como o pé esquerdo segue o direito.

A produção mais limpa é a aplicação contínua de uma estratégia ambiental preventiva e integrada nos processos produtivos, nos produtos e nos serviços, para reduzir os riscos relevantes aos seres humanos e ao meio ambiente. É um programa a ser aplicado em empresas, a fim de buscar soluções para os problemas ambientais, gerando também vantagens econômicas. Este estudo analisa os efeitos da implementação do programa de produção mais limpa na empresa AGCO do Brasil Comércio e Indústria Ltda, identificando os resultados concretos obtidos, em termos econômicos e na redução de impactos ambientais. A partir de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com colaboradores da AGCO e com os consultores que implementaram este programa em 1998, além da análise de documentos relativos à implementação da produção mais limpa e da seqüência dada pela empresa ao programa, verificou-se que a produção mais limpa gera vantagens econômicas, ambientais e de saúde e segurança ocupacional. Os resultados obtidos no estudo de caso também permitiram identificar as principais dificuldades e motivações para a manutenção do programa.

Today, there are no standardized ways to characterize SOA, many are talking about SOA and many say they are using SOA. One way that we have chosen to characterize this phenomenon is through an evaluation that will indicate whether SOA have been used in the development. Basedon a Service Oriented Architecture literature study, we have created an evaluation pattern resulting SOA principles of integration, architecture and services. This evaluation was applied to Logica's own integration system AgrCom through an empirical study to result in a response indicating whether AgrCom is SOA based. The results of the evaluation show that AgrCom is part of an SOA solution but not an SOA as a whole concept. The study shows that it takes morethan just systems in an activity to be referred to as the SOA-based, hence the architecture of anactivity must be taken into account.

The data protection authority, the antitrust authority, the bank of Italy, and the electricity, natural gas, electronic communications authorities are public bodies created by the law in order to protect constitutional rights and interests. According to the case-law of the Italian Courts, they are part of the executive branch, but not under the government supervision. There are doubts on the constitutionality of such authorities, since article 95 of the Italian constitution requires the executive branch being under the government supervision. Furthermore, the Italian constitutional Court has always denied that the independent authorities can stand before it, saying that their powers are based on the law and not on the Constitution. However, such authorities have been created in order to comply to the European Union law, and article 11 of the Constitution let the European Union law prevailing over the Italian law. First, this thesis argues that the legitimacy of the authorities is based on article 11 of the Constitution. Second, that the laws which created the authorities can derogate from article 95 of the Constitution if required by the European Union law. Finally, that the independent authorities may be part of a judgement before the Italian constitutional Court because their powers are based on article 11 of the Constitution. This implies that the European Union law modified the Italian form of government.

Esta pesquisa é um estudo de caso da AGCO que tem como objetivo geral identificar, caracterizar e analisar as transformações decorrentes do Programa MODERFROTA na indústria de máquinas agrícolas. Os objetivos específicos são identificar e analisar os impactos do Programa MODERFROTA nos agentes financeiros e rede de concessionárias Massey Ferguson. O trabalho justifica-se pela participação preponderante do Programa MODERFROTA, desde sua implementação no ano 2000, no financiamento de tratores e colheitadeiras produzidos pela AGCO. Para atingir os objetivos propostos, buscou-se fazer uma revisão na literatura, abrangendo desde o papel do Estado na agricultura brasileira dos anos 30 à formação dos complexos agroindustriais, popularmente conhecidos como agronegócios, bem como os instrumentos de política econômica para modernização da agricultura. Para atingir os objetivos específicos, foi realizada uma pesquisa survey junto a 223 gestores de concessionárias da rede Massey Ferguson que responderam a um questionário de quinze questões, sendo treze fechadas escalares e duas abertas, para identificar e analisar os impactos do Programa MODERFROTA na produção e comercialização de tratores e colheitadeiras. Também foram coletados dados secundários nos sites da Associação Nacional de Fabricantes (ANFAVEA), Banco Central do Brasil (BACEN), Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA), Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento (CONAB), Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) para compor informações que permitiram analisar quantitativamente e comparativamente seus impactos na indústria de máquinas agrícolas e AGCO. A partir da análise dos dados coletados, chegou-se a resultados que evidenciaram a intensificação nas relações entre os agentes financeiros, concessionárias e AGCO; oscilações na comercialização em função dos desembolsos de recursos do BNDES e aumentos significativos na produção e exportação de tratores e colheitadeiras.

L'elaborato si propone di studiare i flussi di risorse (intese quali materiali e persone) e i processi che nel complesso danno vita all'insieme di attività svolte nel magazzino oggetto di studio. Il lavoro prenderà avvio da un'attenta analisi dello stato as-is, procedendo poi all'individuazione dei punti critici che sono causa di malfunzionamenti del processo, per giungere infine alla proposta di soluzioni migliorative. Il business process reengineering (BPR) in questione verrà supportato da analisi di tipo quantitativo sulla scorta del metodo kaizen, nell'ottica del miglioramento continuo.

Ce travail de thèse a pour objectif d'étudier les rôles de la taille, de la composition et de la cinétique de croissance sur la morphologie, la structure, et l'état de mélange de l'argent et du cobalt dans des nanoparticules bimétalliques supportées AgCo. Dans ce but, des mesures in-situ et en temps réel par diffusion des rayons X aux petits et aux grands angles en géométrie d'incidence rasante, et en condition anomale, ont été effectuées au cours de la croissance des nanoparticules AgCo dans des conditions de dépôt simultané ou successif des métaux. Des recuits ont ensuite été réalisés afin d'étudier la stabilité des structures obtenues à température ambiante, et d'observer d'éventuelles transitions activées thermiquement. Pour l'ensemble des modes de dépôt, les nanoparticules (dans une gamme de taille comprise entre 2 et 7nm) présentent une configuration chimique ségrégée. Pour des dépôts successifs de Co puis d'Ag, les nanoparticules sont constituées d'un (ou plusieurs) domaine(s) d'Ag juxtaposé(s) à un domaine de Co, tandis que pour un dépôt d'Ag puis de Co les particules présentent une configuration de type coeur-coquille (Co-Ag). Pour les dépôts simultanés, la configuration cœur-coquille est obtenue à très faible composition en Ag (< ou =20%), au-delà la configuration multidomaines monométalliques est observée. Quelle que soit la configuration initiale, le recuit conduit à une séparation de phase des métaux sous forme de particules Janus et à des réorganisations structurales
The aim of this work is to study the role of size, composition and growth kinetic conditions on the morphology, the structure and the chemical configuration of AgCo bimetallic supported nanoparticles. Thus, in-situ and in real-time anomalous grazing incidence small and wide angle X-ray scattering measurements were performed during AgCo nanoparticles growth. Two types of growth conditions were studied : simultaneous or successive deposition of the two metals. Samples were also annealed to study the stability of the structures observed at room temperature, and to investigate if structural transitions occur due to thermal activation. For all kind of deposition modes, the nanoparticles (in a size range between 2 and 7 nm) exhibit a segregated chemical configuration. For the deposition of Co followed by Ag deposition, the nanoparticles are constituted of one (or several) Ag domain(s) juxtaposed with a Co domain, whereas for Ag deposition followed by Co deposition, the nanoparticles present a (Co-Ag) core-shell configuration. For simultaneous depositions and Ag poor compositions (< or =20%), the core-shell configuration is obtained. For richer compositions, the multidomain configuration is observed. Whatever the initial configuration, annealing leads to a phase separation of the two metals towards Janus particles and some structural reorganizations occur

Made available in DSpace on 2009-11-18T19:01:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pedro-Luis.pdf: 2860849 bytes, checksum: 6d01f155ab938f56929fc6fd911a28ad (MD5) Previous issue date: 2001
This dissertation enfoca the relationship between technological competences accumulation and the learning underlying processes. This relationship is examined in the company AGCO Comércio and Indústria Ltda, during the period of 1970 to 2000. It is of a company metal-mechanics, agricultural machines manufacturer. In other words, the dissertation examines the processes technological learning implications for aA technological competences accumulation in the company in study. The dissertation enfoca the competences accumulation for three technological functions: processes and organization, products and equipments. The learning processes are examined to the light of four characteristic: variety, intensity, operation and interaction, from the structure existing analysis use in the literature. Based on study of individual case, this study found that the technological competences ways to accumulation in the studied company are associates to the several processes used to acquire technological knowledge and converts him in organizacional. Ademais, the simple incidence of these processes in the company didn't guarantee in the company a positive implication for the technological competences accumulation. The company accumulated level middleman-superior technological competence (level 6) to accomplish production and function products function processes and organization activities, and intermediary level (level 5) to accomplish function equipments activities. In haves to characteristic key, the learning processes introduce an oscillation differentiated along time: the variety oscillated of moderated the several; the intensity of intermittent the continuous; the operation of bad the good; and the interaction of weak the strong. Through the existing structure use in the literature, however applied to a previous studies different industry, this dissertation suggests that must there be an organized , continuous effort and integrated for the knowledge generation and sowing in every company in order to the technological training accumulation be accelerated in the company.
Esta dissertação enfoca o relacionamento entre a acumulação de competências tecnológicas e os processos subjacentes de aprendizagem. Este relacionamento é examinado na empresa AGCO Comércio e Indústria Ltda, durante o período de 1970 a 2000. Trata-se de uma empresa metal-mecânica, fabricante de máquinas agrícolas. Em outras palavras, a dissertação examina as implicações dos processos de aprendizagem tecnológica para aa acumulação de competências tecnológicas na empresa em estudo. A dissertação enfoca a acumulação de competências para três funções tecnológicas: processos e organização, produtos e equipamentos. Os processos de aprendizagem são examinados à luz de quatro características: variedade, intensidade, funcionamento e interação, a partir do uso da estrutura de análise existente na literatura. Baseado em estudo de caso individual, este estudo encontrou que as maneiras de acumulação de competências tecnológicas na empresa estudada estão associadas aos diversos processos usados para adquirir conhecimento tecnológico e converte-lo em organizacional. Ademais, a simples incidência desses processos na empresa não garantiu na empresa uma implicação positiva para a acumulação de competências tecnológicas. A empresa acumulou competência tecnológica do nível intermediário-superior (nível 6) para realizar atividades da função processos e organização da produção e função produtos, e nível intermediário (nível 5) para realizar atividades da função equipamentos. Em termos de características chave, os processos de aprendizagem apresentam uma oscilação diferenciada ao longo do tempo: a variedade oscilou de moderada a diversa; a intensidade de intermitente a contínua; o funcionamento de ruim a bom; e a interação de fraca a forte. Através do uso da estrutura existente na literatura, porém aplicada a uma indústria diferente de estudos anteriores, esta dissertação sugere que deve existir um esforço organizado , contínuo e integrado para a geração e disseminação de conhecimento em toda a empresa a fim de que a acumulação de capacitação tecnológica seja acelerada na empresa.

A suplementação dietética com AGCM induz resistência à insulina, redução de peso ponderal e aumento da adiposidade em ratos Wistar. Adipócitos isolados apresentam reduzidas captação de glicose estimulada por insulina e atividade/fosforilação da proteína AMPK. A expressão protéica do IR no tecido hepático está aumentada em animais tratados com AGCM com redução do grau de fosforilação, enquanto que o grau de fosforilação da proteína AKT permaneceu semelhante entre os grupos. Ilhotas pancreáticas isoladas apresentam redução na secreção de insulina quando incubadas com altas concentrações de glicose, diminuição do conteúdo total de insulina, hipersensibilidade a leucina e/ou arginina e aumento do percentual de morte celular com diminuída expressão da proteína AKT_1 . Desta forma, utilização em longo prazo dessa estratégia nutricional pode interferir no crescimento normal do indivíduo, na sensibilidade à insulina e possívelmente, desenvolvimento e instalação do diabetes. _______________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT: The introduction of MCFA into diet induces insulin resistance, reduced body weight gain, and increased adiposity in Wistar rats. Isolated adipocytes have reduced insulin induced glucose uptake and phosphorylation/activation of AMPK protein. The insulin receptor protein expression is increased in liver of MCFA fed rats accompanied by reduced tyrosine phosphorylation, with similar AKT serine phosphorylation. Isolated pancreatic islets had reduced glucose stimulated insulin secretion due to high glucose exposure and reduced insulin content; higher insulin secretion induced by leucine and arginine, and increased apoptosis with reduced AKT protein level. In these regard, the chronic ingestion of MCFA may interfere with normal body growth, with the insulin sensitivity and may participate with the development of diabetes.

Pour l'elaboration de films granulaires co-ag, une solution electrolytique a ete developpee contenant a la fois des ions argent et cobalt. Sa mise au point a necessite une etude approfondie tant chimique qu'electrochimique. Les cinetiques de reduction electrochimiques de l'argent et du cobalt ont ete analysees grace a des mesures electrogravimetriques in-situ. Les recherches menees sur l'electrocristallisation du cobalt sur l'argent ont permis d'identifier une germination progressive tridimensionnelle du cobalt. L'analyse structurale par diffraction de rayons x des echantillons indique la forte texture des depots d'argent et de cobalt. Par ailleurs, des mesures de resonance magnetique nucleaire prouvent la presence des deux phases allotropiques du cobalt : cfc et hcp. Les mesures magnetiques ont mis en evidence le caractere superparamagnetique de nos echantillons a faible concentration en cobalt et un comportement ferromagnetique aux plus fortes concentrations. Des mesures de transport ont permis d'observer des courbes de magnetoresistance tres pointues avec des champs de saturation inferieurs a 10 koe et une sensibilite maximale de 2%koe a ete determinee. Enfin, les etapes de recuits effectuees sur l'alliage co 1 7ag 8 3 montrent une deterioration de la magnetoresistance a temperature de recuit croissante.

Interannual variation of Indian summer (June-September: JJAS) monsoon rainfall (ISMR) depends on its relative intensity during early (June-July: JJ; contribution 52%) and late (August-September: AS; contribution 49%) phases. Apart from variations in sea surface temperature (SST), the primary reasons behind the variability during JJ and AS can be very different due to change in climatic conditions on account of post-onset processes. Here, using a high resolution general circulation model with seasonally varying climatological SST, mechanisms those govern the intensity of rainfall during JJ and AS are investigated. There is no significant relation-ship between intensity of precipitation over Indian region in JJ and AS. Moreover, the factors determining early monsoon (JJ) precipitation are different than that for late monsoon (AS). In absence of interannual SST variation, pre-monsoon soil moisture do not play a significant role for the interannual variation of monsoon precipitation over India. A large scale oscillation of the ITCZ is noticed on interannual time scale spanning from around 60◦E to 150◦E that brings spatially coherent flood and drought over this region. Early monsoon precipitation has a larger dependency on spring snow depth over Eurasia and phase of the upper tropospheric Rossby wave in May. However, late monsoon precipitation over India is mainly governed by the intensity and time scale of the intraseasonally varying convective cloud bands. This study suggests that early monsoon (JJ) precipitation over Indian region is more correlated with pre-monsoon signatures of land-atmosphere parameters. However, in later parts after the onset (AS), the monsoon intensity is primarily driven by its internal dynamics and characteristics of intraseasonal oscillation.

In first part of the study we discuss impact of dynamical core in simulation of tropical rainfall. Over years many new dynamical cores have been developed for atmospheric models to increase efficiency and reduce numerical errors. CAM3.1 gives an opportunity to study the impact of the dynamical core on simulations with its three dynamical cores namely Eulerian spectral(EUL) , Semilagrangian dynamics(SLD) and Finite volume(FV) coupled to a single parametrization package. A past study has compared dynamical cores of CAM3 in terms on tracer transport and has showed advantages using FV in terms of tracer transport. In this study we compare the dynamical cores in climate simulations and at their optimal configuration, which is the intended use of the model. The model is forced with AMIP type SST and rainfall over seasonal, interannual scales is compared. The significant differences in simulation of seasonal mean exist over tropics and over monsoon regions with observations and among dynamical cores. The differences among EUL and SLD, which use spectral transform methods are lesser compared that of with FV clearly indicating role of numerics in differences. There exist major errors in simulation of seasonal cycle in all dynamical cores and errors in simulation of seasonal means over many regions are associated with errors in simulation of seasonal cycle such as over south china sea. Seasonal cycle in FV is weaker compared to SLD and EUL. The dynamical cores exhibit different interannual variability of rainfall over Indian monsoon region, the period of maximum power corresponding to a dynamical core differs substantially with another. From this study there seems no superiority associated with FV dynamical core over all climate scales as seen in tracer transport. The next part of the study deals with impact of diurnal ocean atmosphere coupling in an AGCM,CAM3.1. Due to relatively low magnitude of diurnal cycle of SST and lack of SST observations over diurnal scales current atmospheric models are forced with SSTs of periods grater than a day. CAM 3.1 standalone model is forced with monthly SSTs but the interpolation is linear to every time step between any two months and this linear interpolation implies a linear diurnal and intraseasonal variation of SST which is not true in nature. To test the sensitivity of CAM3.1 to coupling of SST on diurnal scales, we prescribed over tropics(20S20N) a diurnal cycle of SST over daily mean interpolated SST of different magnitudes and phase comparable to observations. This idea of using a diurnal cycle of SST retaining seasonal mean SST in an atmospheric model is novel and provides an interesting frame work to test sensitivity of model to interpolations used in coupling of boundary conditions. Our analysis shows a high impact of using diurnal cycle of SST on simulation of mean rainfall over tropics. The impact in a case where diurnal cycle of SST is fixed and retained to daily mean SST implies that changes associated with a coupled model are to some extent due to change in representation of diurnal cycle of SST. A decrease of excess rainfall over western coast of Bay of Bengal and an increase of rainfall over northern bay of Bengal in such case is similar to the improvement due to coupling atmospheric model to a slab ocean model. This also implies that problems with current AMIP models in simulation of seasonal mean Indian monsoon rainfall could be due to erroneous representation of diurnal cycle of SST in models over this region where the diurnal cycle of SST is high in observations. The high spatial variability of the impact in various cases over tropics implies that a similar spatial variation of diurnal cycle could be important for accurate simulation of rainfall over tropics. Preliminary analysis shows that impact on rainfall was due to changes in moisture convergence. We also hypothesized that diurnal cycle of SST could trigger convection over regions such as northern Bay of Bengal and rainfall convergence feedback sustains it. The impact was also found on simulation of internal interannual variability of rainfall

This thesis analyses the situation of violence perpetrated by the armed group popularly known as Boko Haram in North East Nigeria. This violence has persisted since 2009 resulting in the loss of about 30,000 lives, displacement of over 2.5 million and destruction of property worth millions of dollars. The complex nature of the violence has raised questions as to its classification. It has been framed as terrorism by Nigerian government actors (the Army and the Justice sector); and by the international community, media and NGOs it has been framed as an armed conflict because of the intensity of the violence and level of organisation of the armed group. Such issues around how the violence is framed have an impact on applicable laws, legal responsibilities and determines the applicability of transitional justice mechanisms. This PhD research will consider these conflicting categorisations and their implications. It will address the main research question of: To what extent may the Boko Haram violence be framed as an armed conflict? In order to address this main question, it will also shed some light on the following sub-questions of: a. Who are the key stakeholders in the framing of the violence? b. How has the Boko Haram violence been framed by different stakeholders? c. How does their differing framing of the violence impact on the domestic and international laws applicable to the violence? The research was conducted using two methodological approaches to address the research questions: (1) a doctrinal / positivist; and (2) constructivist approach. The doctrinal / positivist approach was used to analyse the black letter laws in the domestic criminal codes of Nigeria, and also in international treaties on International Humanitarian Law and terrorism; while the constructivist approach was used to analyse the perspectives of different actors and their contributions to framing of this conflict. This thesis found that despite the framing by Nigerian authorities of the insurgency as a domestic issue, the facts illustrate the existence of an armed conflict and violations of international humanitarian law relating to a non-international armed conflict. Furthermore, it showed that the framing by domestic authorities of the violence as a terrorism / law and order issue influenced the charges brought against ‘terrorists’ tried in Nigerian courts as well as the possible remedies for victims. The thesis found that, at present, Nigeria only implements transitional justice remedies in a piecemeal fashion, inhibiting proper reconciliation to take root. This PhD research argues that the crimes committed by Boko Haram should be treated, at least in part, as an armed conflict and violations of International Humanitarian Law that trigger transitional justice processes in Nigeria aimed at promoting remedies for victims and reconciliation in society. It applies a constructivist lens to the framing of the violence in Nigeria. This is an original approach that has previously not been used in analysing the violence. The use of this approach is important because it allows for the consideration of different framings of the violence, different applicable laws and provides insight into the reasoning of national authorities. The ultimate impact of this approach is on the victims as this would increase protections for civilians and widen the scope of remedies available to address harm done. This research contributes to existing literature on the relationship between terrorism and international humanitarian law by categorising state responses to the issue in two categories i.e. restrictivist and expansionist. This is integral to the thesis as the argument made is that the existence of terrorist acts or the designation of certain parties to the conflict as ‘terrorist’ does not necessarily alter the application of IHL. Another important contribution to knowledge that this thesis makes is that it provides an analysis, for the first time, of terrorism related judgments from Nigerian courts that have previously been unavailable in academic discourse or international fora. These judgments are key in illustrating the frame of terrorism adopted by the Nigerian justice sector and how fair labelling concerns of victims are not fully addressed. Connected to the above contribution is the development of a model indictment sheet for cases emanating from the conflict in Nigeria. Such indictment sheet has not been presented before and is intended to facilitate the domestic prosecution, by the Nigerian authorities, of the full spectrum of crimes committed in the conflict including terrorism offences. This will ultimately benefit the victims/survivors, to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable for harm done. Lastly it proposes transitional justice measures that can be used in Nigeria. This is important as it widens the scope of responses available to national authorities to achieve justice and accountability ideals for victims/survivors.

碩士
國立清華大學
材料科學工程學系
104
This thesis study about optoelectric properties and thermal stability of p-GaN reflective ohmic contacts Ti (2nm) / Ag (150nm), AgTi (2 at%), AgTi (4 at%), Co(2nm) / Ag (150nm), AgCo (2 at%), AgCo(5 at%) and AgNi(2 at%) seven specimens which are prepared by due electron guns evaporation.We discuss the effect, including light reflectivity, sheet resistance of the metal thin film, specific contact resistance and thermal stability, on the optoelectric properties of AgTi, AgCo and AgNi alloy reflective ohmic contacts, be influenced by different alloy composition, different annealing methods, including furnace annealing and rapid thermal annealing.The result show annealed AgCo(2 at%) and AgNi(2 at%) could suppress the agglomeration of Ag film. The specific contact resistance was 3.4 × 10-4 and 1.1 × 10-4 Ω-cm2 , reflectance was 94% and 92% at 460 nm, and sheet resistance of metal film was both 0.5 Ω/□ for annealed AgCo(2 at%) and AgNi(2 at%) at 500℃ in air ambient for 10 min. Both AgCo(2 at%) and AgNi(2 at%) reflective ohmic contacts showed good thermal stability.

Indian summer monsoon (ISM) is an important component of the tropical climate system, known for its regular seasonality and abundance of rainfall over the country. The droughts and floods associated with the year-to-year variation of the average seasonal rainfall have devastating effect on people, agriculture and economy of this region. The demand for prediction of seasonal monsoon rainfall, therefore, is overwhelming. A number of attempts to predict the seasonal mean monsoon have been made over a century, but neither dynamical nor empirical models provide skillful forecasts of the extremes of the monsoon such as the unprecedented drought of 2002. This study investigates the problems and prospects of extended range monsoon prediction. An evaluation of the potential predictability of the ISM with the aid of an ensemble of Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) simulations indicates that the interannual variability (IAV) of ISM is contributed equally by the slow boundary forcing (‘externally’ forced variability) and the inherent climate noise (‘internal’ variability) in the atmosphere. Success in predicting the ISM would depend on our ability to extract the predictable signal from a background of noise of comparable amplitude. This would be possible only if the ‘external’ variability is separable from the ‘internal’ variability. A serious effort has been made to understand and isolate the sea surface temperature (SST) forced component of ISM variability that is not strongly influenced by the ‘internal’ variability. In addition, we have investigated to unravel the mechanism of generation of ‘internal’ IAV so that the method of isolating it from forced variability may be found. Since the primary forcing mechanism of the monsoon is the large-scale meridional gradient of deep tropospheric heat sources, large-scale changes in tropospheric temperature (TT) due to the boundary forcing can induce interannual variations of the timing and duration of the monsoon season. The concept of interannually varying monsoon season is introduced here, with the onset and withdrawal of monsoon definitions based on the reversal of meridional gradient of TT between north and south. This large scale definition of the monsoon season is representative of the planetary scale influence of the El Ni˜no Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on monsoon through the modification of TT and the cross equatorial pressure gradient over the ISM region. A sig- nificant relationship between ENSO and monsoon, that has remained steady over the decades, is discovered by which an El Ni˜no (La Ni˜na) delays (advances) the onset, advances (delays) the withdrawal and suppresses (enhances) the strength of the monsoon. The integral effect of the meridional gradient of TT from the onset to withdrawal proves to be a useful index of seasonal monsoon which isolates the boundary forced signal from the influence of internal variations that has remained steady even in the recent decades. However, consistent with the estimates of potential predictability, the boundary forced variability isolated with the above definitions explains only about 50% of the total interannual variability of ISM. Detailed diagnostics of the onset and withdrawal processes are performed to understand how the ENSO forcing modifies the onset and withdrawal, and thus the seasonal mean monsoon. It is found that during an El Ni˜no, the onset is delayed due to the enhanced adiabatic subsidence that inhibits vertical mixing of sensible heating from the warm landmass during pre-monsoon months, and the withdrawal is advanced due to the horizontal advective cooling. This link between ENSO and monsoon is realized through the advective processes associated with the stationary waves in the upper troposphere set up by the tropical ENSO heating. The remaining 50% of the monsoon IAV is governed by internal processes. To unravel the mechanism of the generation of internal IAV, we perform another set of AGCM simulations, forced with climatological monthly mean SSTs, to extract the pure internal IAV. We find that the spatial structure of the intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) in these simulations has significant projection on the spatial structure of the seasonal mean and a common spatial mode governs both intraseasonal and interannual variability. Statistical average of ISO anomalies over the season (seasonal ISO bias) strengthens or weakens the seasonal mean. It is shown that interannual anomalies of seasonal mean are closely related to the seasonal mean of intraseasonal anomalies and explain about 50% of the IAV of the seasonal mean. The seasonal mean ISO bias arises partly due to the broadband nature of the ISO spectrum, allowing the intraseasonal time series to be aperiodic over the season and partly due to a non-linear process where the amplitude of ISO activity is proportional to the seasonal bias of ISO anomalies. The later relationship is a manifestation of the binomial character of the rainfall time series. The remaining part of IAV may arise due to the complex land-surface processes, scale interactions, etc. We also find that the ISOs over the ISM region are not significantly modulated by the Pacific and Indian Ocean SST variations. Thus, even with a perfect prediction of SST, only about 50% of the observed IAV of ISM could be predicted with the best model in forced mode. Even so, prediction of all India rainfall (AIR) representing the average conditions of the whole country and the season may not always serve the purposes of monsoon forecasting. One reason is the large inhomogeneities in the rainfall distribution during a normal seasonal monsoon. Agriculture and hydrological sector could benefit more if provided with regional scale forecasts of active/break spells 2-3 weeks ahead. Therefore, we advocate an alternative strategy to the seasonal prediction. Here, we present a method to estimate the potential predictability of active and break conditions from daily rainfall and circulation from observations for the recent 24 years. We discover that transitions from break to active conditions are much more chaotic than those from active to break, a fundamental property of the monsoon ISOs. The potential predictability limit of monsoon breaks (∼20 days) is significantly higher than that of the active conditions (∼10 days). An empirical real- time forecasting strategy to predict the sub-seasonal variations of monsoon up to 4 pentads (20 days) in advance is developed. The method is physically based, with the consideration that the large-scale spatial patterns and slow evolution of monsoon intraseasonal variations possess some similarity in their evolutions from one event to the other. This analog method is applied on NOAA outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) pentad mean data which is available on a near real time basis. The elimination of high frequency variability and the use of spatial and temporal analogs produces high and useful skill of predictions over the central and northern Indian region for a lead-time of 4-5 pentads. An important feature of this method is that, unlike other empirical methods to forecast monsoon ISOs, this uses minimal time filtering to avoid any possible end-point effects, and hence it has immense potential for real-time applications.