Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva och analysera kvinnors karriärväg till chefsposition. Studien fokuserade på vilken betydelse de strategiska studie- och yrkesvalen respektive tillfälligheterna har haft under karriärvägen. Sex kvinnor i chefsposition, som samtliga arbetade i en och samma Kommun i Mellansverige medverkade i studien. Analysen utgår från kvinnornas karriärval samt de två karriärvalsteorierna Careership theory och Planned Happenstance theory. Den teoretiska basen bestod av forskning kring kvinnors karriärval och hur strategi respektive tillfälligheter inverkade. Resultatet visade att det var en kombination av både strategiska val samt tillfälligheter som bidrog till att informanterna har nått en chefsposition. Det visade även på att det kan finnas omedvetna strategier samt att kvinnorna hade flera karaktärsdrag gemensamt. Informanterna uppvisade ett stort engagemang och intresse för sina respektive yrkesområden, samt talade om hur viktigt det är att våga gå sin egen väg och följa sitt hjärta. / The purpose of this study was to define and analyze women’s advancement to the executive post. The focus was in which significance the strategic study- and vocational choices and coincidences had, on the career path. The participants in the study were six women, who all worked in an executive post in the same municipality in the Midst of Sweden. The analysis is based on women's choice of career and the two career-choice theories Careership theory and Planned Happenstance theory. The theoretical base consisted of research on women's career choices and the impact of strategy and chance. The results showed combination of both strategic choices and coincidences that contributed the informants to gain their executive posts. It also showed that there may be unaware strategies, and that the women had many qualities in common. All participants showed a great engagement and interest in their professional fields, and emphasized the importance of follow your heart and dare to go your own way.

Quality of municipal water is sustained by addition of disinfectant, generally chlorine, to the water distribution network. Because of health problems, chlorine concentration in the network is limited between maximum and minimum limits. Cancerogenic disinfectant by-products start to occur at high concentrations so it is desired to have minimum amount of chlorine without violating the limit. In addition to the health issues, minimum injection amount is favorable concerning cost. Hence, an optimization model is necessary which covers all of these considerations. However, there are uncertain factors as chlorine is reactive and decays both over time and space. Thus, probabilistic approach is necessary to obtain reliable and realistic results from the model. In this study, a linear programming model is developed for the chance constrained optimization of the water distribution network. The objective is to obtain minimum amount of injection mass subjected to maintaining more uniformly distributed chlorine concentrations within the limits while considering the randomness of chlorine concentration by probability distributions. Network hydraulics and chlorine concentration computations are done by the network simulation software, EPANET.

Επιχειρείται καταγραφή των απόψεων διευθυντών Σχολείων Δεύτερης Ευκαιρίας (ΣΔΕ) σχετικά με το ρόλο τους στην αναπαραγωγή ή το μετασχηματισμό του διακηρυγμένου καινοτομικού χαρακτήρα των ΣΔΕ. Διερευνώνται οι σχέσεις τους με εκπαιδευτικούς, με συμβούλους του σχολείου, με τον φορέα υλοποίησης του προγράμματος, την τοπική κοινωνία, όπως και τα κίνητρά τους, οι υποστηρικτικοί παράγοντες στο έργο τους, τα θετικά και αρνητικά τους βιώματα, οι προτάσεις που έχουν να καταθέσουν. Χρησιμοποιείται η μέθοδος της εστιασμένης συνέντευξης. Το ερμηνευτικό πλαίσιο είναι η θεωρία της δομοποίησης του Giddens. Διαπιστώνεται κυρίως αναπαραγωγή του καινοτομικού χαρακτήρα των ΣΔΕ, με μερικές επιμέρους αποκλίσεις προς το τυπικό σχολείο της δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης. / This research focuses on the views of Second Chance Schools’ (SCS) headmasters, regarding their role in the reproduction or transformation of SCS’ declared innovative character. The axes of investigation revolve around relations with teachers, school’s counselors, the carrier of the program implementation, the local community, as well as the headmasters’ motives, supporting factors which contribute to their work, their positive and negative experiences and their suggested proposals. The research method of focused interview is employed. Giddens’ structuration theory forms the interpretative context . The conclusions indicate primarily a reproduction of SCS’ innovative character, with some minor deviations towards the system of secondary education’s typical school.

Στόχος της εργασίας που ακολουθεί είναι να διερευνήσει τα χαρακτηριστικά του δείγματος εκπαιδευομένων τριών Σχολείων Δεύτερης Ευκαιρίας (ΣΔΕ): της Πάτρας, του Πύργου και του Αγρινίου. Το θεωρητικό πλαίσιο της έρευνάς μας βασίζεται στη θεωρία του κεφαλαίου του Pierre Bourdieu. Η συλλογή των δεδομένων έγινε με τη χρήση ερωτηματολογίου και η επεξεργασία τους με ανάλυση περιεχομένου. Από τα στοιχεία που συλλέξαμε, μελετάμε και παραθέτουμε τα χαρακτηριστικά της ομάδας – στόχου, τις εκφάνσεις του κοινωνικού και πολιτισμικού της κεφαλαίου, καθώς και την επίδραση που έχουν οι διαμορφωμένες «έξεις» των εκπαιδευομένων πάνω στις προσδοκίες και τις απόψεις τους για τη φοίτηση τους στα ΣΔΕ. / The aim of the following report is to examine the characteristics of a sample of trainees in three Second Chance Schools (SCS): in Patras, Pyrgos and Agrinio. The theoretical context of our survey is based on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital. We gathered data through questionnaire and we processed them employing content analysis. Based on the gathered data, we study and array the characteristics of the target – group, the aspects of their social and cultural capital, as well as the effect of the trainees “habitus” on their expectations for and their opinions on their attendance of SCS.

This dissertation investigates rhetoric and prudence in Sophocles through close readings of Antigone, Ajax, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. Central to the project is a reconstruc-tion of a uniquely Sophoclean conception of prudence as “good sense”; good sense is distinguished from traditional conceptions of prudence as an inter-subjective capacity for good judgment that is born of experience and chance. The study finds that while good sense and persuasive rhetoric are occasionally paired, they are frequently divorced from one another. Thus, in place of heroic conflicts and tragic failings, these readings present an alternative tragic tension between the persuasive yet often solipsistic speech of heroes and protagonists and the good sense of marginalized characters. This project is situated within the “turn to rhetoric” in contemporary democratic theory; in this context, it presents Sophocles as a novel and under-theorized resource in three overarching ways. First, his dramas were performed in a democratic context and gave voice to perspectives otherwise marginalized within the polis; in this respect he offers more inclusive democratic resources than his Athenian contemporaries. Second, these plays offer sobering insight into the impact of contingency in shaping rhetorical contexts. They reveal that overconfidence in rhetorical technē underestimates the extent to which successful persuasion is often aligned with chance and social advantage. Third, he draws attention to pervasive structural inequalities that work against and silence good sense. In this final respect the plays themselves are considered as didactic resources that cultivate reflective judgments and good sense in the spectator and reader.

This dissertation investigates rhetoric and prudence in Sophocles through close readings of Antigone, Ajax, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. Central to the project is a reconstruc-tion of a uniquely Sophoclean conception of prudence as “good sense”; good sense is distinguished from traditional conceptions of prudence as an inter-subjective capacity for good judgment that is born of experience and chance. The study finds that while good sense and persuasive rhetoric are occasionally paired, they are frequently divorced from one another. Thus, in place of heroic conflicts and tragic failings, these readings present an alternative tragic tension between the persuasive yet often solipsistic speech of heroes and protagonists and the good sense of marginalized characters. This project is situated within the “turn to rhetoric” in contemporary democratic theory; in this context, it presents Sophocles as a novel and under-theorized resource in three overarching ways. First, his dramas were performed in a democratic context and gave voice to perspectives otherwise marginalized within the polis; in this respect he offers more inclusive democratic resources than his Athenian contemporaries. Second, these plays offer sobering insight into the impact of contingency in shaping rhetorical contexts. They reveal that overconfidence in rhetorical technē underestimates the extent to which successful persuasion is often aligned with chance and social advantage. Third, he draws attention to pervasive structural inequalities that work against and silence good sense. In this final respect the plays themselves are considered as didactic resources that cultivate reflective judgments and good sense in the spectator and reader.

Bakalauro darbe „Koziris“ sukurta drabužių kolekcija kortų simbolių motyvais, atspindinti azartinių žaidimų simboliką, formas ir spalvas. Darbe nagrinėjamas azartinių žaidimų poveikis žmonėms, aiškinamasi, kaip ši tematika reflektuojama įvairiuose meno kūriniuose, o taip pat ir pasaulio aprangos dizainerių kolekcijose. Bakalauro darbą sudaro dvi dalys: teorinis aprašas ir moteriškų drabužių kolekcija. Pirmame teorinio aprašo skyriuje analizuojama azartinių žaidimų istorija, jų kilmė, rūšys, taip pat apžvengiami garsiausi pasaulio kazino, jų etiketas ir aprangos nuostatai. Antrajame skyriuje aptariama informacija apie priklausomybę nuo azartinių žaidimų, jos priežastis ir formas bei visuomenės požiūrį į lošiančiuosius. Trečiajame skyriuje pateikiami įvairių menininkų kūrinių pavyzdžiai, taikomi meninėje ir daiktinėje aplinkoje, taip pat pateikiamos aprangos dizainerių kurtos kolekcijos, susijusios su azartinių žaidimų tematika. Detaliau analizuojamos dizainerių kurtos drabužių kolekcijos, kuriose naudojami tik kortų simboliai. Ketvirtajame - pagrindžiama kūrybinės darbo dalies koncepcija, pateikiami eskizai, projektai, technologiniai mėginiai, aprašomas drabužių kolekcijos kūrimo procesas – konstravimas, modeliavimas, siuvimas. Taip pat pateikiamos įvykdytų drabužių modelių fotografijos ir numatomo kolekcijos pristatymo planas. Penktajame skyriuje aptariamos sukurtos kolekcijos realizavimo galimybės, pateikiama kolekcijos sąmata. Ateityje kolekciją planuojama papildyti ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This bachelor work „trump“ show how can based on games of chance, their symbols, shapes and colors to create a collection. In this work i try to analyzed gambling effects on humans, how this theme is reflected in the various works of art and fashion designers clothes collections. Gambling history, their kinds, and the most famous casinos in the world are analyzed in the first chapter of this work. The second chapter informacion is about gambling addiction and its causes and forms. The third chapter analyzes various artists and examples of works of art, and fashion designers with their collections inspired by the games of chance, 3.3 section presents various collections of clothes based on cards symbols. Presentation of the collection based on play cards symbols given in the fourth chapter. There is also analysis of pecularities of form, texture, symbols and colors in order to interpret it in the clothes collection there is a well-founded idea. Sketches, projects and technological samples are presented. The process of creation of clothes ensemble ( construction, modeling, sewing) is also described. There are photos of accomplished models and the presentation is foreseen. Possibility of realization of created clothes collection is discussed in fifth chapter. It is planned to enrich this collection , present it to society and to take part with it in the fashion events in the future. Information which had been analyzed before to create a collection based on play cards symbols... [to full text]

Power systems are critical infrastructures for the society. They are therefore planned and operated to provide a reliable eletricity delivery. The set of tools and methods to do so are gathered under security management and are designed to ensure that all operating constraints are fulfilled at all times. During the past decade, raising awareness about issues such as climate change, depletion of fossil fuels and energy security has triggered large investments in wind power. The limited predictability of wind power, in the form of forecast errors, pose a number of challenges for integrating wind power in power systems. This limited predictability increases the uncertainty already existing in power systems in the form of random occurrences of contingencies and load forecast errors. It is widely acknowledged that this added uncertainty due to wind power and other variable renewable energy sources will require new tools for security management as the penetration levels of these energy sources become significant. In this thesis, a set of tools for security management under uncertainty is developed. The key novelty in the proposed tools is that they build upon probabilistic descriptions, in terms of distribution functions, of the uncertainty. By considering the distribution functions of the uncertainty, the proposed tools can consider all possible future operating conditions captured in the probabilistic forecasts, as well as the likeliness of these operating conditions. By contrast, today's tools are based on the deterministic N-1 criterion that only considers one future operating condition and disregards its likelihood. Given a list of contingencies selected by the system operator and probabilitistic forecasts for the load and wind power, an operating risk is defined in this thesis as the sum of the probabilities of the pre- and post-contingency violations of the operating constraints, weighted by the probability of occurrence of the contingencies. For security assessment, this thesis proposes efficient Monte-Carlo methods to estimate the operating risk. Importance sampling is used to substantially reduce the computational time. In addition, sample-free analytical approximations are developed to quickly estimate the operating risk. For security enhancement, the analytical approximations are further embedded in an optimization problem that aims at obtaining the cheapest generation re-dispatch that ensures that the operating risk remains below a certain threshold. The proposed tools build upon approximations, developed in this thesis, of the stable feasible domain where all operating constraints are fulfilled. / <p>QC 20150508</p>

An increased penetration of renewable energy into the electric power grid is desirable from an environmental standpoint as well as an economical one. However, renewable sources such as wind and solar energy are often variable and intermittent, and additionally, are non-dispatchable. Also, the locations with the highest amount of available wind or solar may be located in areas that are far from areas with high levels of demand, and these areas may be under the control of separate, individual entities. In this dissertation, a method that coordinates these areas, accounts for the variability and intermittency, reduces the impact of renewable energy forecast errors, and increases the overall social benefit in the system is developed. The approach for the purpose of integrating intermittent energy sources into the electric power grid is considered from both the planning and operations stages. In the planning stage, two-stage stochastic optimization is employed to find the optimal size and location for a storage device in a transmission system with the goal of reducing generation costs, increasing the penetration of wind energy, alleviating line congestions, and decreasing the impact of errors in wind forecasts. The size of this problem grows dramatically with respect to the number of variables and constraints considered. Thus, a scenario reduction approach is developed which makes this stochastic problem computationally feasible. This scenario reduction technique is derived from observations about the relationship between the variance of locational marginal prices corresponding to the power balance equations and the optimal storage size. Additionally, a probabilistic, or chance, constrained model predictive control (MPC) problem is formulated to take into account wind forecast errors in the optimal storage sizing problem. A probability distribution of wind forecast errors is formed and incorporated into the original storage sizing problem. An analytical form of this constraint is derived to directly solve the optimization problem without having to use Monte-Carlo simulations or other techniques that sample the probability distribution of forecast errors. In the operations stage, a MPC AC Optimal Power Flow problem is decomposed with respect to physical control areas. Each area performs an independent optimization and variable values on the border buses between areas are exchanged at each Newton-Raphson iteration. Two modifications to the Approximate Newton Directions (AND) method are presented and used to solve the distributed MPC optimization problem, both with the intention of improving the original AND method by improving upon the convergence rate. Methods are developed to account for numerical difficulties encountered by these formula- tions, specifically with regards to Jacobian singularities introduced due to the intertemporal constraints. Simulation results show convergence of the decomposed optimization problem to the centralized result, demonstrating the benefits of coordinating control areas in the IEEE 57- bus test system. The benefit of energy storage in MPC formulations is also demonstrated in the simulations, reducing the impact of the fluctuations in the power supply introduced by intermittent sources by coordinating resources across control areas. An overall reduction of generation costs and increase in renewable penetration in the system is observed, with promising results to effectively and efficiently integrate renewable resources into the electric power grid on a large scale.

This dissertation primarily proposes data-driven methods to handle uncertainty in problems related to Enterprise-wide Optimization (EWO). Datadriven methods are characterized by the direct use of data (historical and/or forecast) in the construction of models for the uncertain parameters that naturally arise from real-world applications. Such uncertainty models are then incorporated into the optimization model describing the operations of an enterprise. Before addressing uncertainty in EWO problems, Chapter 2 deals with the integration of deterministic planning and scheduling operations of a network of batch plants. The main contributions of this chapter include the modeling of sequence-dependent changeovers across time periods for a unitspecific general precedence scheduling formulation, the hybrid decomposition scheme using Bilevel and Temporal Lagrangean Decomposition approaches, and the solution of subproblems in parallel. Chapters 3 to 6 propose different data analytics techniques to account for stochasticity in EWO problems. Chapter 3 deals with scenario generation via statistical property matching in the context of stochastic programming. A distribution matching problem is proposed that addresses the under-specification shortcoming of the originally proposed moment matching method. Chapter 4 deals with data-driven individual and joint chance constraints with right-hand side uncertainty. The distributions are estimated with kernel smoothing and are considered to be in a confidence set, which is also considered to contain the true, unknown distributions. The chapter proposes the calculation of the size of the confidence set based on the standard errors estimated from the smoothing process. Chapter 5 proposes the use of quantile regression to model production variability in the context of Sales & Operations Planning. The approach relies on available historical data of actual vs. planned production rates from which the deviation from plan is defined and considered a random variable. Chapter 6 addresses the combined optimal procurement contract selection and pricing problems. Different price-response models, linear and nonlinear, are considered in the latter problem. Results show that setting selling prices in the presence of uncertainty leads to the use of different purchasing contracts.