Vijjādhammakāya: Presentation of the essential elements and core doctrines through the translation of its five primary texts

This dissertation aims to contribute significant knowledge in particular to the field of Buddhist Studies regarding ‘Vijjādhammakāya (abbr., Vd)’ taught by Sot Chanthasaro Bhikkhu (1884-1959 CE) in Thailand which had been thought to be lost some time 500 years after the Buddha passing. As its method of meditation teachings diverges from what is now considered orthodox Theravada teaching on meditation, it is sometimes considered as the esoteric meditation within the mainstream tradition. The core doctrines of Vd have not been subjected to academic study before. This therefore research focuses on presenting its core doctrines and other important elements utilizing the translation into English of its five primary pedagogical texts: the Path and Result (Thang Mak Phon), Manual of the Abbot (Khumue Somphan) and Extraordinary Path and Result Volume 1-3, complied during the lifetime of its founder. Due to the vast amount of material and limitation of space and time a systematic comparison of Vd doctrines with traditional Theravada Buddhism has been beyond the scope of this thesis. For the same reasons, the translation is presented in an English version only

Where do graduates Develop their Enterprise Skills? The Value of the Contribution of Higher Education Institutions’ Context

This study investigates the value of the contribution of HEIs’ context in developing graduates enterprise skills. HEIs are under pressure to develop more enterprising graduates, particularly with the increasing numbers of graduates seeking employment and the growing dissatisfaction of employers. This study explores where graduates develop enterprise skills through investigating the impact of HE and employment contexts on their development. The paper draws on a qualitative study in the social constructionist paradigm within the pharmacy context, where interviews were conducted with pharmacy academics and employers. Results show that ability to demonstrate skills in one context does not necessarily mean ability to demonstrate them in another since the development and demonstration of enterprise skills is impacted by the contexts in which they are developed and demonstrated. The study adds value by highlighting the significant role of both HE and employment contexts in developing enterprise skills, while emphasising that these skills become more transferable through exposure to more contexts

Think Tank Initiative - Second interim evaluation report - Executive summary

Executive summary has a link to the full report.In 2015, the Think Tank Initiative elected for an accompaniment approach as a means to assessing results and receive independent, timely and actionable feedback for Phase 2 of TTI programming (2015-2019). It contracted the work of Niras Indevelop which accompanied the Program from start to finish and provided in-depth reflections for the Program to act on along the way. This resulted in the commissioning of a series of evaluation reports. This report presents the findings of the second interim evaluation of the TTI program conducted in 2017

Examen externe de l'Initiative Think Tank : rapport provisoire d’évaluation

Version anglaise disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDILe premier rapport provisoire de l’évaluation de la phase deux de l’initiative Think tank (ITT) présente les résultats initiaux et les enseignements qui peuvent en être tirés seize mois après le lancement de l’évaluation. Le rapport représente une première étape importante dans l’évaluation : l’étude de la relation entre la prestation de soutien à l’ITT et le renforcement des think tanks, ainsi que la relation entre d’importants think tanks et des changements stratégiques sur le plan social et économique. Ce qui est important, c’est que cette évaluation devrait fournir des observations indépendantes, opportunes et exploitables qui faciliteront la gestion adaptative de l’ITT ainsi que des connaissances rigoureusement documentées et validées au sujet du programme. En ce début de phase formative, l’équipe a été encouragée à maximiser l’exploration des améliorations possibles et des propositions de correctifs à apporter au cours pour les dernières années du programme, avec d’autres évaluations sommatives très bien documentées à prévoir dans de prochains rapports. Le rapport sert également à établir les points de référence de la phase deux de l’évaluation, qui serviront à évaluer les nouvelles avancées d’ici 2019

High efficiency video coding processor with Residue Number System

Theoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 173-193.1. Introduction -- 2. Background and related work -- 3. VLSI architecture of full search variable-block-size motion estimation for HEVC video encoding -- 4. Fast sign-detection algorithm for residue number system moduli set -- 5. ASIC design in residue number system for calculating minimum sum of absolute differences -- 6. ASIC design of TZ search motion-estimation for HEVC with RSN -- 7. Residue number system hardware design of fast-search variable-motion-estimation accelerator for HEVC / H.265 -- 8. A novel angle-restricted test zone search algorithm for performance improvement of HEVC -- 9. An efficient ASIC design of variable length discrete cosine transform for HEVC -- Conclusions and future work.The recent demand for high density video, such as ultra high definition (UHD) as well as its distribution over wired and wireless networks, led to the proposal of the latest video encoding standard, high efficiency video coding (HEVC/H.265), by the joint collaborative team on video coding (JCT-VC). HEVC/H.265 achieves a significantly better compression than its predecessor, advanced video coding (AVC/H.264), by roughly 50% for an equivalent visual reproduction quality. How- ever, the improved compression efficiency comes with a drawback, the computational complexity. Since HEVC/H.265 encoding involves enormous computations, a hardware implementation of the encoder is necessary for real-time encoding, in particular for UHD video. The most computationally intensive task in video encoding is motion estimation, which comprises up to 80% of the total time for video encoding. There have been several suggestions for motion-estimation algorithms for reducing the complexity, but many proposed for AVC/H.264 are no longer suitable for HEVC/H.265 due to the underlying coding changes and other complications. Hence, this re- search offers different algorithms and architectures for motion estimation, pro- viding a trade-off between implementation cost and performance. Hardware design is proposed for a full-search motion-estimation algorithm which always comes up with the best results. The memory requirement is reduced to a large extent together with the data bandwidth demand. Another important aspect of real-time video compression, including motion estimation, is the delay of the arithmetic computations. Residue number systems have been used for decades for improving arithmetical operations performance. However, the non-positional nature of an RNS makes it difficult to do some mathematical operations such as sign detection, but it is a vital component for designing motion estimation and other elements of a video processor. The dissertation presents a fast algorithm and its architecture for sign detection, which decreases the area-delay product by 24% compared to designs in the literature. Since the full-search algorithm searches every possible location in a search area, the algorithm involves much computation, therefore fast-search methods are preferred for low-cost solutions. The test zone (TZ) search is a fast-search algorithm and is widely used for HEVC/H.265 as it provides near optimal performance. In this dissertation, a TZ-search hardware architecture is presented, which shows 51% less gate count than existing proposals in the literature and consider- ably fewer memory requirements than most. Further improvement is achieved by developing a fast-search algorithm appropriate for hardware designs, providing an area-efficient, real-time UHD video-encoding-capable design without degradation in quality from the TZ search in HEVC reference software. An angle-restricted test zone (ARTZ) search motion estimation is also proposed for software applications exploiting directional probabilities of the search, saving about 17% to 55% of time for motion estimation compared to the TZ search. The discrete cosine transform (DCT) is a standard method in several previous codecs and it is also a key factor for compression techniques in HEVC/H.265. A variable-length two-dimensional design is proposed for HEVC/H.265, where the architecture is optimised for the most likely block sizes in UHD video, thus eliminating unnecessary complexities found in many designs, and accomplishing more than 60% savings in hardware.1 online resource (xxxii, 193 pages) illustration

VLSI Architecture of Full‐Search Variable‐Block‐Size Motion Estimation for HEVC Video Encoding

Motion estimation (ME) is the most computationally intensive task in video encoding. This study proposes a full‐search variable‐block‐size ME for the high‐efficiency video coding or H.265 specification. The proposed method reduces memory requirements to a large extent by following a Morton order for data reading and a sum of absolute differences reuse strategy. The data bandwidth demand is also diminished by broadcasting data into multiple processing elements. This ME accelerator supports variable‐block‐size prediction blocks ranging from 8×4 to 64×64, and is reconfigurable in various search ranges for a trade‐off between performance and area. The proposed method for very‐large‐scale integration (VLSI) architecture is synthesized with 32 nm technology, and is capable of real‐time encoding of ultra‐high‐definition (4K‐UHD, at 30 Hz) video with a search range of 64 pixels in both horizontal and vertical directions, operating at a frequency of 282 MHz

Η Γνωμοδότηση του Διεθνούς Δικαστηρίου (ICJ) περί της, συμφώνου [ή μη] με το Διεθνές Δίκαιο, μονομερούς διακήρυξης ανεξαρτησίας του Κοσσόβου (22 Ιουλίου 2010): Νομική αποτίμηση και γεωπολιτική ανάλυση των εκτιμώμενων επιπτώσεων της προωθούμενης ανεξαρτητοποίησης, στο Γεωγραφικό Σύμπλοκο των Βαλκανίων και της Ανατολικής Μεσογείου

Στις 22 Ιουλίου 2010 το Διεθνές Δικαστήριο της Χάγης (ΔΔΧ) έκδωσε την Γνωμοδότησή του σχετικά με το ερώτημα: «Είναι η μονομερής ανακήρυξη ανεξαρτησίας από τους Προσωρινούς Θεσμούς Αυτοδιοίκησης (Provisional Institutions of Self-Government) του Κοσόβου, σύμφωνη με το διεθνές δίκαιο;» Το ερώτημα προς το Δικαστήριο τέθηκε με το ψήφισμα 63/3 της Γενικής Συνέλευσης των Ηνωμένων Εθνών στις 8 Οκτωβρίου 2008, κατόπιν αιτήματος της Σερβίας προς τη Γενική Συνέλευση, μετά τη μονομερή διακήρυξη ανεξαρτησίας του Κοσόβου, που έλαβε χώρα την 17 Φεβρουαρίου 2008. Σύμφωνα με την Απόφαση του ΔΔΧ, «Το Δικαστήριο, με ψήφους 10 προς 4. είναι της γνώμης ότι η ανακήρυξη της ανεξαρτησίας του Κοσόβου, πού υιοθετήθηκε στις 17 Φεβρουαρίου 2008, δεν παραβιάζει το Διεθνές Δίκαιο». Η εν λόγω Γνωμοδότηση του ΔΔΧ προκάλεσε επαμφοτερίζουσες αντιδράσεις στους κόλπους Κυβερνήσεων, διπλωματών, αναλυτών - και δη νομικών του Διεθνούς Δικαίου, ενώ ειδικό ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζουν οι εκτιμώμενες γεωπολιτικές επιπτώσεις της Απόφασης, τόσο στο ζήτημα της εξέλιξης της ανεξαρτητοποίησης του Κοσόβου και της διεθνούς αναγνωρίσεώς της από τη διεθνή κοινότητα, όσο επίσης και των γεωπολιτικών επιπτώσεων που αυτή θα έχει σε αντίστοιχες περιπτώσεις στην εγγύς περιοχή, ή και παγκοσμίως, όπου εμφανίζονται παρόμοιες περιπτώσεις περιοχών σε καθεστώς εν δυνάμει ή δυνάμενων να ανεξαρτητοποιηθούν. Η παρούσα μελέτη, χρησιμοποιώντας τη μεθοδολογία της Συστημικής Γεωπολιτικής Ανάλυσης, όπως αυτή περιγράφεται από τον Καθηγητή Ιωάννη Θ. Μάζη, εξετάζει την ανακατανομή της ισχύος που προκαλείται από το γεωπολιτικό παράγοντα της Απόφασης του ΔΔΧ, στο γεωγραφικό σύστημα των Βαλκανίων και της Ανατολικής Μεσογείου, με σκοπό να διαφανεί το κατά πόσο η Απόφαση αυτή ως Γεωπολιτικός Παράγοντας ενίσχυσε τη σταθερότητα του συστήματος, ή αν εν τέλει αποτέλεσε παράγοντα αποσταθεροποίησης της ευρύτερης περιοχής αλλά και παγκοσμίως. Στο παρόν πόνημα παρουσιάζεται αρχικά ένα σύντομο χρονολόγιο των γεγονότων από τους βομβαρδισμούς του ΝΑΤΟ μέχρι και το αίτημα της Σερβίας προς τα ΗΕ, όπου ζητήθηκε η Γνωμοδότηση του ΔΔΧ. Το κύριο μέρος, αποτελείται από την εισαγωγή και την περιγραφή της εφαρμοσθείσης μεθοδολογίας και ακολουθεί η Συστημική Γεωπολιτική Ανάλυση. Αρχικά, αναλύεται η επίδραση του Γεωπολιτικού Παράγοντα στα Υποσυστήματα Αλβανία – Κόσοβο – Κοιλάδα του Πρέσοβο, και Αλβανία – ΠΓΔΜ, στα οποία ο Γεωπολιτικός Παράγοντας σημειώνει μέση συνδετική ισχύ ως προς το κοινό αλβανικό στοιχείο. Εν συνεχεία αναλύονται οι τέσσερις Πυλώνες Ισχύος του Κοσόβου, οι οποίοι σύμφωνα με τη μεθοδολογία, αποτελούν το μέτρο της ισχύος ενός εθνοκρατικού δρώντα. Οι Πυλώνες αυτοί είναι η Οικονομία, η Άμυνα/Ασφάλεια, η Πολιτική και ο Πολιτισμός/Πληροφορία. Στη συνέχεια, παρουσιάζεται η νομική αποτίμηση της Απόφασης, καθώς και οι παράγοντες που εξέτασε το Δικαστήριο για να καταλήξει στην Απόφαση αυτή, καθώς και οι πιθανές προεκτάσεις της Απόφασης στα αποσχιστικά κινήματα της Ευρώπης. Τέλος, σύμφωνα με το Γεωπολιτικό υπόδειγμα ανακατανομής Ισχύος, γίνεται η σύνθεση των συνιστωσών ισχύος που αναλύθηκαν, ώστε να προκύψει το μέτρο της ανακατανομής ισχύος στο σύστημα που εξετάστηκε, εφόσον ληφθούν υπόψη όλα τα στοιχεία που έχουν μελετηθεί. Παράλληλα, εξόχως σημαντικά είναι τα συμπεράσματα της μελέτης για τη χώρα μας, ως μέρος του εξεταζόμενου συστήματος και με άμεσες επιπτώσεις, τόσο στο ζήτημα της παράνομης κατοχής της βόρειας Κύπρου, όσο και για τις μελλοντικές απειλές που δημιουργούνται με επίκεντρο την Δυτική Θράκη.On July 22, 2010 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rendered its decision about the question: “is the unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo in accordance with international law?” The question put to the Court, was adopted by the resolution 63/3 of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, on October 8 2008, when Serbia filled a request for an ICJ advisory opinion at the United Nations General Assembly, as a result of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, took place on February 17 2008. According to the ICJ’s decision, “The Court by a vote of 10-4 is of the opinion that the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law.” The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion evoked a lot of controversy among Governments, diplomats, analysts and international lawyers, whereas there was serious concerns with regard to its possible geopolitical effects about Kosovo’s independence and its international recognition from the UN Member States. Moreover, such reactions to the Opinion were based on concerns with regard to its possible impact as a precedent to latent or ongoing secession conflicts in other countries. The present study, using the methodology of Systematic Geopolitical Analysis, as it is described by the Professor Ioannis Mazis examines the power reallocation has been caused by the Geopolitical Factor of ICJ’s Advisory Opinion in the geographic area of Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The main objective of the study is to investigate the effects of the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion, as a Geopolitical Factor, in the geopolitical stability of the aforementioned area. Initially, it is presented the facts chronology in the period between NATO bombing in Serbia and Serbia’s request for an ICJ’s advisory opinion. The main part of the study consists in the Preface, the Methodology description, the Systematic Geopolitical Analysis, the Geopolitical Model of power reallocation and finally the conclusion. The Systematic Geopolitical Analysis, examines the impact of the ICJ’s decision in two geographical subsystems: Subsystem A, Albania – Kosovo - Presovo Valley and Subsystem B, Albania – Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia. The interconnection of the two Subsystems is the common factor of the Albanian population in the area. Continuously, follows an expand analysis of the four Pillars of power for Kosovo as an independent State. According to the methodology, the Pillars which introduce the power of a State are the Economy Pillar, the Defense/Security Pillar, the Policy Pillar and the Culture/Information Pillar. The paragraph continuous with the legal assessment of the Advisory Opinion and the factors were examined by the Court, in order to reach to the final conclusion and also discuss the potential consequences or a precedent-setting effect of the Opinion, that may make declarations of independence by other separatist enclaves in countries around the world. Finally, the Geopolitical Model of power reallocation paragraph, presents the geostrategic synthesis of all power components have been examined in the study. In addition, the conclusion are extremely interesting about the geostrategic aims of Greece, as a Balkan country, as regards the Cyprus issue and the sensitive area of Thrace

Fast sign-detection algorithm for residue number system moduli set {2ⁿ − 1, 2ⁿ , 2ⁿ⁺¹ − 1}

Sign detection is an essential part of many computer hardware designs, and is not a trivial task in residue number systems because it is a function of all the residues. This study proposes an algorithm for the residue number system with a three-moduli set {2ⁿ − 1, 2ⁿ , 2ⁿ⁺¹ − 1}} using New Chinese Remainder Theorem II. The unit is built with one n-bit carry-save adder and a 2n-bit parallel prefix carry-generation unit. In the best case the Synoposys 90 nm synthesis result shows a 24% reduction in the area-delay product than existing algorithms for the same moduli set.5 page(s