My thesis is concerned to old age pension scheme issue in the Czech republic conditions. There is an analyse of PAYG and funded system from individual point of view. The aim of this work is to construct a model which would be able to inform individuals about the effectiveness of each current pension pillar. Model of comparison defined pension age break-even point, which represent age when the total amount of contributions payd are equal to retired pay received. By using original model, it is possible to find minimum desired value of returns from private pension funds.

As the microelectronics industry pushes microfabrication processes further, the lab-on-a-chip field has continued to piggy-back off the industry's fabrication capabilities with the goal of producing total chemical and biological systems on small chip-size platforms. One important function of such systems is the ability to perform single molecule detection. There are currently many methods being researched for performing single molecule detection, both macro and micro in scale. This dissertation focuses on an optofluidic, lab-on-a-chip platform called the ARROW biosensor, which possesses several advantages over macro-scale single molecule detection platforms. These advantages include an amplification-free detection scheme, cheap parallel fabrication techniques, rapid single molecule detection results, and extremely low volume sample probing, which leads to ultra-sensitive detection. The ARROW biosensor was conceived in the early 2000s; however, since then it has undergone many design changes to improve and add new functionality to the lab-on-a-chip; however, water absorption in the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon dioxide has been a problem that has plagued the biosensor platform for some time. Moisture uptake in the oxide layer of the ARROWs leads to loss of waveguiding confinement and drastically decreases the overall sensitivity of the ARROW biosensors. New ARROW designs were investigated to alleviate the negative water absorption effects in the ARROWs. The new waveguide designs were tested for resiliency to water absorption and the buried ARROW (bARROW) design was determined to be the most successful at preventing negative water absorption effects from occurring in the PECVD oxide waveguides. The bARROWs were integrated into the full biosensor platforms and used to demonstrate high sensitivity single molecule detection without any signs of water absorption affecting the bARROWs' waveguiding capabilities. The bARROW biosensors are not only water resistant, they also proved to be the most sensitive biosensors yet fabricated with average signal-to-noise ratios around 80% higher than any previously fabricated ARROW biosensors.

No description available.

This thesis examines the cultural, geographical, and material influences on vernacular architecture by evaluating the works of one pioneer stone mason during the early development of western South Dakota between 1879 and 1911. The focus on the life of one man reveals the settlement and the commerical development of the city of Belle Fourche. His story illustrates how influences affected decisions that people like him made about their work. This thesis contributes to what little has been written about the architecture of the area.The thesis reviews the history and development of an area north of the Black Hills of South Dakota, the various stone working methods found in John Scotney's work, and the(including a commercial block and a residence on the National Register of Historic Places). John Scotney's work is unique in its use and treatment of indigenous sandstone, and, his designs are, for the time, simple, and well crafted. / Department of Architecture

Zugl.: Konstanz, Univ., Diss., 2007

This master´s thesis deals with the personality and works of the 20th century American composer Aaron Copland. In its first part it brings his biography together with a summary of his most important pieces. The second part of the thesis focuses on Copland?s Duo for Flute and Piano written in 1971. Besides the information about the historic context of the piece and its characteristic it contains an interpretative analysis and a parsing of the Duo?s recordings.

An examination of the influences on twentieth-century wind music would be incomplete without the consideration of composer, organist, pianist, conductor, teacher, and critic Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). Students from the United States began studying with Boulanger between World War I and World War II, and continued to travel to study with her for over fifty years. The respect awarded this legendary French woman was gained as a result of her effectiveness as a teacher, her influence on the development of each student's unique compositional style, and her guidance of an emerging American musical style. The correlation between the teacher's lessons and the compositional output of her students must be explored. Boulanger did not compose specifically for winds, and she did not encourage her students to compose for the wind symphony. However, this document will outline the influence that this powerful pedagogue exerted over the creation of repertoire by her students by providing insight into the pedagogical style and philosophical foundations of Boulanger as reflected in the literature and by the writings, comments, and compositions of three successful students who composed literature for the wind symphony: Aaron Copland (1900-1990), Leslie Bassett (b. 1923), and Donald Grantham (b. 1947). Three significant works for winds will be considered including Copland's Emblems, Bassett's Lullaby for Kirsten, and Grantham's Variations on an American Cavalry Song.

This dissertation explores the creative process in large-scale jazz ensemble works that are programmatic in depicting geographical locations. This is achieved through analyses of Gil Evans's Sketches of Spain, Chuck Owen's River Runs: A Concerto for Jazz Guitar, Saxophone, & Orchestra, and Aaron Hedenstrom's Sketches of Minnesota. Each work is examined using five analytical categories: orchestration, large-scale form, harmonic/melodic development, programmatic framework, and use of featured soloists. The analyses draw from musical scores, interviews, biographies, recordings, and articles to reveal more about each composer's artistic intentions. This study contributes to the broader knowledge of large-ensemble jazz works and programmatic jazz works. This research meets the need for more critical analyses of important jazz ensemble works relevant to composers, arrangers, and scholars.

What do we require from the labor market in order for it to contribute to a free life? And will the labor market of the future live up to what we expect from it? This study examines how a political philosophy of Hegelian inspiration helps us understand the conditions by which the labor market could be capable of providing for what Axel Honneth refers to as ’social freedom’. An analysis by French jurist Alain Supiot is presented as an informative example of this theoretical framework. Supiot develops a sophisticated critique of the deficiencies of the contemporary labor market, while simultaneously pointing at some professions whose function testify of the possibility of the labor market of generating social freedom under proper conditions. As such, I show that a critical framework of Hegelian inspiration is immensely potent as to its capacity of understanding what we require from the labor market at this time of history. Immensely potent, but perhaps insufficient. Indeed, by introducing the research of Aaron Benanav pertaining to the development of the global labor market, this study corroborates the critique of Honneth and Supiot—a critical framework already introduced by Karen Ng and Timo Jütten—concerning the possibilities of the labor market of providing social freedom at any significant scale and thus hints at the probable necessity of overcoming capitalism during the time to come.

No description available.