There is a constant trend in the European Union for heightened pride, desire of extended autonomy and even national independence of regions. The master thesis intends to investigate the relations of selected regions in the EU member states with the European policy level. The general research question to answer is "Which regions are more successful in representing their interests vis-à-vis the European policy level?" The investigation is undertaken in a form of a comparative case study combining qualitative and quantitative research; the examined regions are - following the research hypotheses and intention to provide a multi-perspective analysis of the problem - Scotland (United Kingdom), Hessen (Germany), Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (Italy) and Středočeský kraj (Czech Republic). Based on the comparative analysis the thesis concludes that "regions with wide scope of powers on the national level (usually coming from federal or regionalized member states) with strong economic background are generally more successful in representing their interests vis-à-vis the European policy level."

Der technologische Fortschritt gestattet die Implementierung zunehmend komplexerer Prozessorarchitekturen auf einem Schaltkreis. Ein Trend der letzten Jahre ist die Implementierung von mehr und mehr Verarbeitungseinheiten auf einem Chip. Daraus ergeben sich neue Herausforderungen für die Abbildung von Algorithmen auf solche Architekturen, denn alle Verarbeitungseinheiten sollen effizient bei der Ausführung des Algorithmus genutzt werden. Der Schwerpunkt der eingereichten Dissertation ist die Ausnutzung der Parallelität von Rechenfeldern mit Teilwortparallelität. Solche Architekturen erlauben Parallelverarbeitung auf mehreren Ebenen. Daher wurde eine Abbildungsstrategie, mit besonderem Schwerpunkt auf Teilwortparallelität entwickelt. Diese Abbildungsstrategie basiert auf den Methoden des Rechenfeldentwurfs. Rechenfelder sind regelmäßig angeordnete Prozessorelemente, die nur mit ihren Nachbarelementen kommunizieren. Die Datenein- und -ausgabe wird durch die Prozessorelemente am Rand des Rechenfeldes realisiert. Jedes Prozessorelement kann mehrere Funktionseinheiten besitzen, welche die Rechenoperationen des Algorithmus ausführen. Die Teilwortparallelität bezeichnet die Fähigkeit zur Teilung des Datenpfads der Funktionseinheit in mehrere schmale Datenpfade für die parallele Ausführung von Daten mit geringer Wortbreite. Die entwickelte Abbildungsstrategie unterteilt sich in zwei Schritte, die \"Vorverarbeitung\" und die \"Mehrstufige Modifizierte Copartitionierung\" (kurz: MMC). Die \"Vorverarbeitung\" verändert den Algorithmus in einer solchen Art, dass der veränderte Algorithmus schnell und effizient auf die Zielarchitektur abgebildet werden kann. Hierfür wurde ein Optimierungsproblem entwickelt, welches schrittweise die Parameter für die Transformation des Algorithmus bestimmt. Die \"Mehrstufige Modifizierte Copartitionierung\" wird für die schrittweise Anpassung des Algorithmus an die Zielarchitektur eingesetzt. Darüber hinaus ermöglicht die Abbildungsmethode die Ausnutzung der lokalen Register in den Prozessorelementen und die Anpassung des Algorithmus an die Speicherarchitektur, an die das Rechenfeld angebunden ist. Die erste Stufe der MMC dient der Transformation eines Algorithmus mit Einzeldatenoperationen in einen Algorithmus mit teilwortparallelen Operationen. Mit der zweiten Copartitionierungsstufe wird der Algorithmus an die lokalen Register und an das Rechenfeld angepasst. Weitere Copartitionierungsstufen können zur Anpassung des Algorithmus an die Speicherarchitektur verwendet werden. / The technological progress allows the implementation of complex processor architectures on a chip. One trend of the last years is the implemenation of more and more execution units on one chip. That implies new challenges for the mapping of algorithms on such architectures, because the execution units should be used efficiently during the execution of the algorithm. The focus of the submitted dissertation thesis is the utilization of the parallelism of processor arrays with subword parallelism. Such architectures allow parallel executions on different levels. Therefore an algorithm mapping strategy was developed, where the exploitation of the subword parallelism was in the focus. This algorithm mapping strategy is based on the methods of the processor array design. Processor arrays are regular arranged processor elements, which communicate with their neighbors elements only. The data in- and output will be realized by the processor elements on the border of the array. Each processor element can have several functional units, which execute the computational operations. Subword parallelism means the capability for splitting the data path of the functional units in several smaller chunks for the parallel execution of data with lower word width. The developed mapping strategy is subdivided in two steps, the \"Preprocessing\" and the \"Multi-Level Modified Copartitioning\" (kurz: MMC), whereat the MMC means the method of the step simultaneously. The \"Preprocessing\" alter the algorithm in such a kind, that the altered algorithm can be fast and efficient mapped on the target architecture. Therefore an optimization problem was developed, which determines gradual the parameter for the transformation of the algorithm. The \"Multi-Level Modified Copartitioning\" is used for mapping the algorithm gradual on the target architecture. Furthermore the mapping methodology allows the exploitation of the local registers in the processing elements and the adaptation of the algorithm on the memory architecture, where the processing array is connected on. The first level of the MMC is used for the transformation of an algorithm with operation based on single data to an algorithm with subword parallel operations. With the second level, the algorithm will be adapted to the local registers in the processing elements and to the processor array. Further copartition levels can be used for matching the algorithm to the memory architecture.

Research questions:  How can the Aspvik model be useful for the traditionally functioning water and sewage industry? What are the main challenges for regime actors to implement systems similar to those derived from the Aspvik model? Purpose: The purpose of the study is two-fold. Firstly, we intend to investigate system development and entrepreneurship from below in a local project in the water and sewage industry and its business model. Secondly, the study aims to provide an understanding of how the organization and the development process differ between the local Aspvik project and the existing regime within the water and sewage industry. Method: The study was of a qualitative nature based on an abductive approach. The theoretical framework was based on scientific articles and publications as well as books. The empirical data collection consisted of the collection of primary and secondary data, of which primary data was obtained through a total of 13 semi-structured interviews and secondary data via web pages, public print (laws and regulations) and other sources. A thematic analysis was performed based on the theoretical framework and the empirical data. Conclusion: The Aspvik model can generate usefulness as it contributes by providing a businesslike approach with transparency and visualization of what opportunities the industry actors have and what it may cost. With transparency, the current problems and bottlenecks in the industry became more evident. There are major environmental benefits in increasing the rate of development of the municipal water and sewage grid. It is mainly the Water Services Act, section 6 in particular, which is the main challenge for achieving a more efficient expansion of the water and sewage grid, both in terms of resources and time. It may require organizational change at the regime level, this in order to handle several projects simultaneously, or to provide increased support for private initiatives similar to the Aspvik project. / Problemställning: Hur kan Aspviksmodellen generera nytta för den traditionellt fungerande VA-branschen? Vilka är de huvudsakliga utmaningarna för regimaktörer att implementera system liknande det som härrör från Aspviksmodellen? Syfte: Studiens syfte är tvådelat. För det första ämnar vi undersöka systemuppbyggnad och entreprenörskap från grunden i ett lokalt VA- projekt och dess affärsmodell. För det andra syftar studien till att ge förståelse för hur organisationen och VA-utbyggnadsprocessen skiljer sig mellan det lokala VA-projektet och den befintliga regimen. Metod: Studien var av kvalitativ karaktär med utgångspunkt i en abduktiv ansats. Den teoretiska referensramen var baserad på vetenskapliga publikationer och böcker samt studentlitteratur. Den empiriska datainsamlingen utgjordes av insamling av primära och sekundära data, varav primärdata erhållits genom totalt 13 semistrukturerade intervjuer och sekundärdata via webbsidor, offentligt tryck (lagar och förordningar) och övriga källor. Utifrån den teoretiska referensramen och den empiriska data genomfördes en tematisk analys. Slutsats: Aspviksmodellen kan generera nytta då den bidrar med att tillhandahålla en affärsmässig strategi med ökad transparens och visualisering över vilka möjligheter branschaktörer har och vad det kan kosta. Med transparens blev rådande problem och flaskhalsar i branschen mer tydliga. Det finns stora miljömässiga fördelar med att öka utbyggnadstakten av det kommunala VA-nätet. Från regimens synvinkel är det huvudsakligen vattentjänstlagen i sig, 6 § i synnerhet som utgör en utmaning mot en effektivare utbyggnad av VA-nätet, både ekonomiskt och tidsmässigt. För att hantera det krävs någon organisatorisk förändring på regimnivå för att kunna hantera flera projekt samtidigt, alternativt att från regimens sida ge ett ökat stöd till privata initiativ i samma slag som Aspviksprojektet.

There is a growing demand for studies applying quantitative methods to large-scale data sets for the purpose of evaluating the effects of educational reforms (UVK, 2010). In this thesis the statistical method, Propensity Score Analysis (PSA), is presented and explored in the evaluating context of an extensive educational initiative within science and technology education; the Science and Technology for All-program (NTA). The research question put forward reads; under what conditions are PSA-analyses a useful method when measuring the effects from a school improvement initiative in S &amp; T? The study considers the use of PSA when looking for long-term effects that could be measured, what to take into consideration to be able to measure this, and how this could be done. The baseline references (outcome variables) used in order to measure/evaluate the long-term effects from the studied program is students’ achievements in the national test (score and grades) and their grades in year 9. Some findings revealed regarding the object of study (long-term effects from using NTA) are also presented. The PSA method is found to be a useful tool that makes it possible to create artificial control groups when experimental studies are impossible or inappropriate; which is often the case in school education research. The method opens up for making use of the rich source of registry data gathered by authorities. PSA proves reliable and relatively insensitive to the effects of covariates and heterogeneous effecter if the number of samples is large enough. The use of PSA (or other statistical methods) also makes it possible to measure outcomes several years after treatment. There are issues of concern when using PSA. One is the obvious demand for organized collection of measurement data. Another issue of concern is the choice of outcome variables. In this study the chosen outcome variables (pupils’ score and grading in national tests and grades in year 9) open up for discussions regarding aspects that might not be reflected/measured in national tests and/or teachers’ grading. Findings regarding the long-term effects from using NTA) show significantly positive effects in physics on test scores (average increase 16.5%) and test grades, but not in biology and chemistry. In this study no significant effects are found for course grades. PSA approach has proved to be a reliable method. There is however a limitation in terms of the method's ability to capture more subtle aspects of learning. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approach when studying long-term effects from educational intervention is therefore suggested. / <p>QC 20131120</p>

This article investigates the decision of consumers at bottle refund machines to either reclaim their bottle deposit or to donate the refund to a non-profit organization. The study documents the unique pre-intervention data on donating behaviour and introduces a field experiment to increase donation levels. The design comprised the strategic framing of the situation by highlighting different cues about the normative, descriptive and local expectations of charitable giving as well as cues about the warm glow of donating money. The experiment took place in 20 supermarkets in Germany and lasted for 12 months. By varying the experimental design and using different modelling approaches, the study arrives at the conclusion that individuals largely act consistent with the assumption having self-regarding preferences that are stable and difficult to change. Hence, our pre-test and postintervention data stand in sharp contrast to results from lab experiments.

This thesis is devoted to analyze the decentralization process in selected Central and Eastern European countries. Its aim is therefore to evaluate and compare the results of decentralization in selected countries in the context of European regional policy - the Europe of the regions. The basic hypothesis is that regional policy provides a sufficient incentive for the EU nation-states to launch decentralization and proceed into the establishment of regional levels of government in the form of new political entities that are institutionalized, have their own poltickou representation and play a key role in planing and implementation of the structural and cohesion funds. The hypothesis will be investigated using analysis and comparison of the results of decentralization in the five Central and Eastern European Countries: Estonia, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse Italian political parties, which are active in both state and regional governance level. The research is focused on the internal structure of political parties and tries to understand, how this structure is influenced by decentralization. The thesis is based on the theoretical framework of stratarchical organization of the political parties in multilevel political environment. The empirical part is dedicated to the test of the hypothesis claiming that the internal organization of Italian political parties is stratarchical. The research method is the analysis of formal profiles of selected political parties (Il Popolo della Libertá, Partito Democratico, Lega Nord and Unione di Centro). The topic is set into the time period 1993 - 2014. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The cumulative dissertation at hand addresses the question of how promising the successful implementation of the WFD is. Since research on implementation deficits has so far mainly considered national and sub-national levels, regional and local scales are taken centre stage within the dissertation. The Hase river catchment, which is located in one of Germany s most intensive livestock areas, serves as an example. The thesis shows that the procedural character of the WFD and regulative uncertainties give way to interpretation and action leeway, which will be pivotal to judgement on implementation success at lower levels. Moreover, the consistent operationalisation of nitrate limits in particular has led to major difficulties during implementation in Germany from which restraints can be expected for the preparation of river basin management plans and the program of measures. As to the regional level, implementation restraints also upraise due to socio-economic dependencies from agriculture and a high identification of the regional population with this economic sector have placed agriculture in a powerful position. In conclusion, one can state that various implementation restraints occur and the cause of these can be found at all scales European, sub-national and regional. The results of this dissertation concerning the multi-level system reveal that the relationship and interaction of the various scales will be given increased attention during the implementation process of European environmental policy. Besides the national and sub-national scale, the regional and local levels will be of equal importance. The question of suitable scales for implementation decisions and measures also offers pivotal approaches to undertake future research. Further research needs occur with new regional studies at national and international scales, with regard to the future of water protection in the course of the reform of German federalism and the current debate on climate change.

L’objectif de ce travail de Thèse est d’évaluer les capacités de composants numérique de type Système-sur-Puce (SoC en anglais) pour l’implantation de Simulateurs Temps Réel Embarqués (ERTS en anglais) de systèmes électromécaniques et d’électronique de puissance. En effet, l’utilisation de ces simulateurs n’est pas seulement limitée aux validations matériel dans la boucle (en anglais Hardware-in-the-Loop ou HIL) du système mais doivent également être embarqués avec le contrôleur afin d’assurer plusieurs fonctionnalités additionnelles comme l'observation, l'estimation, commande sans capteur (ou sensorless), le diagnostic ou la surveillance de la santé, commande tolérante aux défauts, etc.La réalisation de ces simulateurs doit néanmoins considérer plusieurs contraintes à plusieurs niveaux de développement : durant la modélisation de la partie du système à simuler en temps-réel, durant la réalisation numérique et enfin durant l’implantation sur le composant numérique utilisé. Ainsi, le travail réalisé durant cette Thèse s’est focalisé sur ce dernier niveau et l’objectif était d’évaluer les capacités temps/ressources des composants de type SoC pour l’implantation de modules ERTS. Ce type de plateformes intègrent dans un même composant de puissants processeurs, un circuit logique programmable (de type Field-Programmable Gate Array ou FPGA), et d’autres périphériques, ce qui offre plusieurs opportunités d’implantation.Afin de pallier les limitations liées au codage VHDL de la partie FPGA, il existe des outils High-Level Synthesis (HLS) qui permettent de programmer ces dispositifs en utilisant des langages à haut niveau d'abstraction comme C, C++ ou SystemC. De plus, en incluant des directives et contraintes au code source, ces outils peuvent produire des implémentations matérielles différentes (architecture totalement combinatoire, « pipeline », architecture parallélisées ou factorisées, arranger les données et leurs formats pour une meilleure utilisation des ressources de mémoire, etc.).Dans le but d’évaluer ces différentes implantations, deux cas d’études ont été choisis : le premier se compose d’un Générateur Asynchrone à Double Alimentation (GADA) et le second d’un Convertisseur Modulaire Multiniveau (ou Modular Multi-level Converter - MMC). Vu que la GADA a une dynamique basse/moyenne (dynamiques électriques et mécaniques), deux versions d’implantations ont été évaluées : (i) une implantation full-software en utilisant seulement les processeurs ARM; et (ii) une implantation full-hardware en utilisant l’outil HLS pour programmer la partie FPGA. Ces deux versions ont été évaluées avec différentes optimisations du compilateur et trois formats de données: 64/32-bit en virgule flottante, et 32-bit en virgule flottante. L’approche mixe software/hardware a également été évaluée à travers la caractérisation des transferts de données entre le processeur et l’IP ERTS implantée dans la partie FPGA. Quant au convertisseur MMC, sa complexité et sa forte dynamique (dynamique de commutation) impose une implantation exclusivement full-hardware. Celle-ci a également été réalisée à base d’outils HLS.Enfin pour la validation expérimentale de ce travail de Thèse, une maquette à base de convertisseur MMC a été construite dans le but de comparer des mesures du système réel avec les résultats fournis par l’IP ERTS. / This Doctoral Thesis is a detailed study of how suitable System-on-Chip (SoC) devices are for implementing Embedded Real-Time Simulators (ERTS) of electromechanical and power electronic systems. This emerging class of Real-Time Simulators (RTS) are not only expected for Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) validations of systems; but they also have to be embedded within the controller to play several roles like observers, parameter estimation, diagnostic, health monitoring, fault-tolerant and sensorless control, etc.The design of these Intellectual Properties (IP) must rigorously consider a set of constraints at different development stages: (i) during the modeling of the system to be real-time simulated; (ii) during the digital realization of the IP; and also (iii) during its final implementation in the digital platform. Thus, the conducted work of this Thesis focuses specially on this last stage and its aim is to evaluate the time/resource performances of recent SoC devices and study how suitable they are for implementing ERTSs. These kind of digital platforms combine powerful general purpose processors, a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and other peripherals which make them very convenient for controlling and monitoring a complete system.One of the limitations of these devices is that control engineers are not particularly familiarized with FPGA programming, which needs extensive expertise in order to code these highly sophisticated algorithms using Hardware Description Languages (HDL). Notwithstanding, there exist High-Level Synthesis (HLS) tools which allow to program these devices using more generic programming languages such as C, C++ or SystemC. Moreover, by inserting directives and constraints to the source code, these tools can produce different hardware implementations (e.g. full-combinatorial design, pipelined design, parallel or factorized design, partition or arrange data for a better utilisation of memory resources, etc.).This dissertation is based on the implementation of two representative applications that are well known in our laboratory: a Doubly-fed Induction Generator (DFIG) commonly used as wind turbines; and a Modular Multi-level Converter (MMC) that can be arranged in different configurations and utilized for many different energy conversion purposes. Since the DFIG has low/medium system dynamics (electrical and mechanical ones), both a full-software implementation using solely the ARM processor and a full-hardware implementation using HLS to program the FPGA will be evaluated with different design optimizations and data formats (64/32-bit floating-point and 32-bit fixed-point). Moreover, it will also be investigated whether a system of these characteristics is interesting to be run as a hardware accelerator. Different data transfer options between the Processor System (PS) and the Programmable Logic (PL) have been studied as well for this matter. Conversely, because of its harsh dynamics (switching dynamics), the MMC will be implemented only with a full-hardware approach using HLS tools, as well.For the experimental validation of this Thesis work, a complete MMC test bench has been built from scratch in order to compare the real-world results with its SoC ERTS implementation.

Forestry stands for 12% of the global greenhouse emissions which makes forestry an important policy area for sustainable development. On the 16th of July 2021, the EU’s new forest strategy was released. Since 2018 Sweden has its own forest program. Due to the new EU forest strategy receiving a lot of criticism, it is clear that the forest policy in EU and Sweden have different understandings on the forests' role for sustainable development. This thesis aims to explore how different understandings of a policy problem are expressed in a case of multi-level governance, which in this case is forest policy. To investigate this, we use the method of discourse analysis where the analytical tool applied is Carol Bacchi's “What’s the problem represented to be?”- framework. Our approach consists of four interrelated questions that are asked to the policy documents, which lead to an understanding of how problems are represented as well as which discursive effects these problematizations create. The study shows that the EU and Sweden's forest policies have different understandings on how the forest best should contribute to climate change. These differences create certain discursive effects where the Swedish forest policies to a larger extent benefit the forest industry and the EU forest policy to a larger extent sees the intrinsic value of nature as well as incorporates the indigenous perspective.