In semiarid and arid Tunisia, water quality and agricultural practices are the major contributing factors to the degradation of soil resources threatening the sustainability of irrigation systems and agricultural productivity. Nowadays, about 50% of the total irrigated areas in Tunisia are considered at high risk for salinization. The aim of this thesis was to study soil management and salinity re

A comparison of the sequence of the subunit of human alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M; 1451 amino acid residues) with that of murine complement component pro-C3 (1639 amino acid residues) reveals eight extended regions of sequence similarity. These regions contain between 19% and 31% identically placed residues and account for 75% and 67%, respectively, of the polypeptide chains of alpha 2M and pro

The high computational complexity of acoustic echo cancellation algorithms requires application specific implementations to sustain real time signal processing with affordable power consumption. This is especially true for systems where a delayless approach is considered important, e.g. wireless communication systems. The proposed paper presents architectural considerations to reach a feasible har

The importance of prioritising requirements is widely recognised. A number of different techniques for prioritising requirements have been proposed, some based on an ordinal scale, others on a ratio scale. Different scales provide different levels of information, e.g. the ratio scale is richer than the ordinal scale. This paper aims to investigate the difference in information and aim to find ways

The main goal of this paper is to establish general constitutive relations for the electromagnetic fields E,D,B and H in a time domain setting. The four basic assumptions of the medium are linearity, invariance to time translations, causality and continuity. These four assumptions imply that the constitutive relations are convolutions of Riemann-Stieltjes type. A review of the classifi- cation of

This thesis includes one introductory chapter and three independent papers. The first paper adds to the broad literature regarding the effect of alcohol consumption on educational attainment. Given that no consensus exists in the literature regarding this paper adds to the literature by analyzing the effect of alcohol consumption on educational attainment using a life cycle approach. In addition

Malignant glioma and glioblastoma multiforme form the largest group of highly malignant brain tumours, for which there is yet no definitive cure. Different approaches to treatment have been tried, in vain or with minimal benefit for the patient. In addition to surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, immunotherapy aiming at evoking an inflammatory reaction against the tumour itself has been tried. Imm

Effects of an in-car speed limiter were investigated in three European countries, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden representing different regions and driving cultures. The study was carried out in urban and surrounding areas. Most of the European speed limit categories, ranging from 30 km/h to 120 km/h were included. The effects of the limiter were greatest in free driving conditions outside plat