The current economic strategy of the European Union - the Europe 2020 Strategy - has defined five measurable Headline Targets to enhance economic growth and allowed the Member States to set their own national numerical values for these targets. This thesis analyses quality of this target setting process. First, it tries to figure out whether the targets have been set better than in the preceding Lisbon Strategy. Second, it examines whether the National Targets have been defined clearly and unequivocally. Third and the most important, based on original empirical analysis, the thesis evaluates whether the National Targets have been determined reasonably with respect to general capacities of individual European economies. The main results reveal that some learning from the Lisbon Strategy has been made, but the quality of the National Targets is insufficient and should be increased. JEL Classification E61, F55, O52 Keywords Europe 2020, strategy, European Union, national targets, empirical analysis, MULTIMOORA, Ratio System of MOORA, Reference point of MOORA, Full Multiplicative Form, Lisbon Strategy Author's e-mail PavlaBrizova@seznam.cz Supervisor's e-mail katerina.smidkova@cnb.cz

<p>The Ph.D. thesis addresses a comprehensive study of the bee colony<br />optimization meta-heuristic method (BCO). Theoretical analysis of the<br />method is conducted with the tools of probability theory. Necessary and<br />sufficient conditions are presented that establish convergence of the BCO<br />method towards an optimal solution. Three parallelization strategies and five<br />corresponding implementations are proposed for BCO for distributed-memory<br />systems. The influence of method&rsquo;s parameters on the performance of the<br />BCO algorithm for two combinatorial optimization problems is analyzed<br />through the experimental study.</p> / <p>Докторска дисертације се бави испитивањем метахеуристичке методе<br />оптимизације колонијом пчела. Извршена је теоријска анализа<br />асимптотске конвергенције методе посматрањем конвергенције низа<br />случајних променљивих. Установљени су довољни и потребни услови<br />за које метода конвергира ка оптималном решењу. Предложене су три<br />стратегије паралелизације и пет одговарајућих имплементација конст-<br />руктивне варијанте методе за рачунаре са дистрибуираном меморијом.<br />Извршено је експериментално испитивање утицаја параметара методе<br />на њене перформансе за два различита комбинаторна проблема:<br />проблем распоређивања и проблем задовољивости.</p> / <p>Doktorska disertacije se bavi ispitivanjem metaheurističke metode<br />optimizacije kolonijom pčela. Izvršena je teorijska analiza<br />asimptotske konvergencije metode posmatranjem konvergencije niza<br />slučajnih promenljivih. Ustanovljeni su dovoljni i potrebni uslovi<br />za koje metoda konvergira ka optimalnom rešenju. Predložene su tri<br />strategije paralelizacije i pet odgovarajućih implementacija konst-<br />ruktivne varijante metode za računare sa distribuiranom memorijom.<br />Izvršeno je eksperimentalno ispitivanje uticaja parametara metode<br />na njene performanse za dva različita kombinatorna problema:<br />problem raspoređivanja i problem zadovoljivosti.</p>

Σκοπός αυτής της εργασίας είναι να διερευνήσει τον αντίκτυπο των διατροφικών σκανδάλων στην συμπεριφορά του καταναλωτή αλλά και τους τρόπους με τους οποίους μπορούν να αντιμετωπιστούν αυτές οι κρίσεις στον κλάδο των τροφίμων, τόσο από τις επιχειρήσεις όσο και από τους κρατικούς φορείς. Για να επιτευχθεί αυτό, πραγματοποιήθηκε αρχικά μια βιβλιογραφική ανασκόπηση πάνω σε μελέτες και έρευνες που έχουν πραγματοποιηθεί σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο, και έπειτα διενεργήθηκε μια εμπειρική ανάλυση στην Ελλάδα για να προσδιοριστούν ειδικότερα οι επιπτώσεις που επέφεραν αυτές οι διατροφικές κρίσεις στην συμπεριφορά του Έλληνα καταναλωτή. Για την διεξαγωγή της έρευνας, χρησιμοποιήθηκε τυχαίο δείγμα 176 Ελλήνων καταναλωτών κυρίως από τη Δυτική Ελλάδα, και για τη συλλογή των απαραίτητων δεδομένων τους δόθηκε ερωτηματολόγιο με κλειστού, κυρίως, τύπου ερωτήσεις. Η επεξεργασία και ανάλυσή τους, πραγματοποιήθηκε με τη χρήση ενός στατιστικού εργαλείου, ενώ για την εξαγωγή των συμπερασμάτων, χρησιμοποιήθηκαν μέθοδοι περιγραφικής ανάλυσης και έλεγχοι υποθέσεων. Ειδικότερα, ο στόχος αυτής της εμπειρικής ανάλυσης, είναι να προσδιορίσει τα κριτήρια τα οποία λαμβάνει περισσότερο υπόψη του ο Έλληνας καταναλωτής κατά την αγορά τροφίμων, το βαθμό που είναι ενημερωμένος για τα διάφορα διατροφικά σκάνδαλα που έχουν προκύψει παγκοσμίως, αλλά και τη συμπεριφορά και αντίδρασή του απέναντι σε αυτά. Ακόμη, εξετάσθηκε ο βαθμός εμπιστοσύνης του απέναντι σε διάφορες πηγές πληροφόρησης, όσον αφορά την ασφάλεια των τροφίμων, ο βαθμός ικανοποίησής του από τα μέτρα που έχουν ληφθεί από τις επιχειρήσεις και τους κρατικούς φορείς για την αντιμετώπιση αυτών των διατροφικών σκανδάλων, αλλά και τα μέτρα τα οποία πιστεύουν οι ίδιοι οι καταναλωτές ότι θα πρέπει να ληφθούν για να αισθάνονται μεγαλύτερη ασφάλεια και εμπιστοσύνη για τα τρόφιμα που καταναλώνουν. Τα συμπεράσματα αυτής της διπλωματικής εργασίας αποσκοπούν, στο να αποτελέσουν ένα χρήσιμο εργαλείο τόσο για τις επιχειρήσεις όσο και για τους κρατικούς φορείς, για την εις βάθος κατανόηση της συμπεριφοράς του καταναλωτή όσον αφορά τις κρίσεις που έχουν κατά καιρούς πλήξει τον κλάδο των τροφίμων, αλλά και να αποτυπώσουν τους προβληματισμούς και τις ανησυχίες των Ελλήνων καταναλωτών σε θέματα που αφορούν την ασφάλεια και την ποιότητα των τροφίμων που καταναλώνει. / --

Questo studio vuole illustrare le possibilità di sviluppo dell’industria del venture capital nei mercati emergenti. Il venture capital rappresenta un’alternativa importante per le imprese emergenti dei paesi in via di sviluppo, contribuendo a rafforzare uno sviluppo integrato di tutto il sistema finanziario e dei suoi attori principali quali le istituzioni bancarie tradizionali, i fondi d’investimento ed il mercato dei capitali. L’obiettivo principale del progetto consiste nell’identificare gli attori principali, e gli investimenti target, così come le esperienze più significative, analizzando i fattori critici e mettendo a fuco azioni e programmi utili per attirare investitori di venture capital, accrescere la conoscenza di questi strumenti e superare i maggiori ostacoli al fine di massimizzare l’impatto che l’industria del venture capital può avere nel rafforzare la crescita industriale a livello paese. Il lavoro comprende alcune analisi empiriche nell’ambito dell’area arabo-mediterranea, svolte con l’obiettivo di facilitare partnership ed accrescere investimenti tra i paesi scelti ed i paesi europei. Commenti, spunti e proposte presentate nella parte finale del lavoro sono il frutto di un attento studio degli attori e fattori chiave che contraddistinguono le operazioni di venture capital. Le proposte ed i programmi suggeriti cercano di rispondere alle esigenze e necessità individuate nel corso delle analisi empiriche che sono state svolte trascorrendo lunghi periodi a contatto con gli imprenditori, investitori e funzionari locali. Le analisi empiriche sullo sviluppo dell’industria del venture capital a livello paese sono state svolte in: Giordania, Palestina, Egitto, Israele e Tunisia. / This research aims to verify development of venture capital in emerging markets. Venture capital represents an important alternative to emerging businesses in developing countries by increasing the strength of the entire financial system and its key players, from traditional banking institutions and investment funds, to stock market capital. The project’s main goal is to identify key actors, investment targets, and experiences as well as aiming at analyzing critical factors and conceptualizing related actions pertinent to becoming more competitive in attracting venture capital investors, developing know-how, overcoming barriers, and maximizing the impact venture capital industry may have on industrial growth. The project is focused on the Arab-Mediterranean region seeking to foster partnership and facilitate investment among European and Arab-Mediterranean countries. The comments, ideas, and proposals presented in the final part of the work come from a careful study of the key issues and players exemplified by the operation of venture capital. The findings are also the result of observations made at the end of country-level empirical analyses where much time has been spent in contact with entrepreneurs, investors, and local officials. Country Empirical Analyses on Venture Capital industry development are being carried out in Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Tunis and Israel.

This thesis concerns measuring, understanding and modelling Internet traffic. We first study the origins of the statistical properties of Internet traffic, in particular its scaling behaviour, and propose a constructive model of packet traffic with physically motivated parameters. We base our analysis on a large amount of empirical data measured on different networks, and use a so called semi-experimental approach to isolate certain features of traffic we seek to model. These results lead to the choice of a particular Poisson cluster process, known as Bartlett-Lewis point process, for a new packet traffic model. This model has a small number of parameters with simple networking meaning, and is mathematically tractable. It allows us to gain valuable insight on the underlying mechanisms creating the observed statistics. / In practice, Internet traffic measurements are limited by the very large amount of data generated by high bandwidth links. This leads us to also investigate traffic sampling strategies and their respective inversion methods. We argue that the packet sampling mechanism currently implemented in Internet routers is not practical when one wants to infer the statistics of the full traffic from partial measurements. We advocate the use of flow sampling for many purposes. We show that such sampling strategy is much easier to invert and can give reasonable estimates of higher order traffic statistics such as distribution of number of packets per flow and spectral density of the packet arrival process. This inversion technique can also be used to fit the Bartlett-Lewis point process model from sampled traffic. / We complete our understanding of Internet traffic by focusing on the small scale behaviour of packet traffic. To do so, we use data from a fully instrumented Tier-1 router and measure the delays experienced by all the packets crossing it. We present a simple router model capable of simply reproducing the measured packet delays, and propose a scheme to export router performance information based on busy periods statistics. We conclude this thesis by showing how the Bartlett-Lewis point process can model the splitting and merging of packet streams in a router.

In this dissertation, research was undertaken to trace the development of technical, . education in Zimbabwe and evaluate its role in community upliftment. The colonial era ( 1890-1979) and the post-colonial era ( 1980-2000) were examined in this connection. This involved, inter alia, analysing findings and recommendations of commissions of inquiry, and provisions of national development plans. Empirical analysis of the status and role of technical education in community upliftment was also undertaken. Finally, on the basis of the historical data, findings and conclusions regarding the history of technical education, as well as its role in community upliftment in Zimbabwe were made. As a way forward, some recommendations were made which would, if implemented, enhance the role of technical education in the individual's attainment of meaningful adulthood and improvement of society's quality of life. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)

La musique arabo-andalouse a fait l’objet d’une littérature abondante dès la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle : dans un premier temps, à travers un regard orientaliste nourri par un esprit de curiosité en quête d’exotisme, puis à travers des essais de transcription et des travaux musicologiques axés sur l’étude et la classification des corpus. Fruit d’une longue gestation commune, les répertoires arabo-andalous sont soumis à des fluctuations d’origine aussi bien exogène qu’endogène. Malheureusement, l’approche comparative des variantes maghrébines et l’analyse approfondie des échelles musicales restent peu explorées. Cette thèse propose une étude analytique et comparative de trois ţubūˁ maghrébins à échelles homologues : l’Asbaˁayn tunisien, le Zidāne algérien et le Hijāz al-Kabīr marocain. L’identification des comportements mélodiques inhérents aux trois corpus est réalisée par la combinaison de plusieurs démarches analytiques. Le traitement statistique des mélodies (occurrences et durées des hauteurs, finales internes, degrés fondamentaux…) sera suivi par une analyse paradigmatique basée sur le repérage des schémas conclusifs. Une étude empirique, s’appuyant sur l’interprétation de mesures fréquentielles, permettra la comparaison des rapports d’intervalles et des amplitudes de fluctuation des différentes hauteurs de notes. Notre première partie sera fondée sur une approche diachronique démontrant d’un côté le caractère dynamique des répertoires étudiés et justifiant d’autre part certaines divergences et convergences déduites des différentes analyses. / The Arab-Andalusian music has been the object of an abundant literature from the second half of the 19th century: at first, through an Orientalist perspective fed by a spirit of curiosity in search of exoticism, then through transcription attempts and musicological research focused on the study and the classification of the corpuses. Fruit of a long common gestation, the Arab-Andalusian repertoires are influenced by exogenous and endogenous fluctuations. Unfortunately, the comparative approach of the variants from the Maghreb and the thorough analysis of musical scales remain little explored. This thesis proposes an analytical and comparative study of three North African ţubū, with equivalent scales: Tunisian Aşbaˁayn, Algerian Zīdāne and the Moroccan Hijāz al-Kabīr. The identification of melodic behaviors inherent to the three corpuses is reached by the combination of several analytical approaches. The statistical processing of melodies (occurrences, notes duration, internal finales, and fundamental degrees) will be followed by a paradigmatic analysis based on conclusive patterns. An empirical study, based on the interpretation of frequency measurements, will allow us to compare intervals ratios and the variation margin of note pitches. The first part deals with a diachronic approach demonstrating, on the one hand, the dynamic character of the studied directories and on the other side, justifying certain differences and convergences deduced from the various analysis.

Cette recherche explore l’impact de l’apparition des milliardaires et de l’abondance pétrolière sur la trajectoire du développement de la Russie, du Kazakhstan, et de l’Azerbaïdjan. L’accumulation très contentieuse de patrimoines extraordinaires se déroule en parallèle avec la récession économique et la transformation des anciens propriétaires des biens d’état en main-d’œuvre mal payée, avec des milliers de manifestants dans les rues de la Russie en 2017, qui 100 ans après la Révolution de 1917, posent les mêmes questions : ‘qui est propriétaire de quoi ?’ et ‘quel est le niveau d’efficacité ?’. Afin d’apporter des ‘données concrètes’ au débat, l’étude : premièrement, analyse le processus de l’émergence des milliardaires, avec concentration sur la légitimité et l’équité sociale ; et deuxièmement, évalue leur performance comparative. En analysant la période de 9 ans de 2007 à 2015, il considère 300 entités juridiques, composées de 3 groupes d’entreprises : 100 de milliardaires, 100 du gouvernement, et 100 d’entrepreneurs. Afin de recueillir les différences de performance, l’étude utilise 25 mesures financières, dans 2 catégories - 5 paramètres de comptabilité et 20 ratios financiers. Simultanément, le paradoxe de sous-performance économique de ces 3 pays pétroliers du Continent Eurasiatique est examiné. Dans le but de surmonter les difficultés de la route axée sur les ressources naturelles, l’étude suggère : 1. un nouveau cadre analytique : un algorithme diagnostic et un modèle de processus ; 2. le modèle de croissance, incluant le pétrole et les institutions ; 3. le modèle empirique, exposant les liens des éléments d’analyse avec la dynamique macroéconomique. / Present research is an inquiry into implications of emergence of billionaires and petroleum-abundance on development trajectory of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. Highly-controversial accumulation of massive fortunes is going in parallel with economic downturn and transformation of collective owners of state assets into low-paid labor-force, with thousands of street-protesters in Russia in 2017, who 100 years after 1917 Revolution raise the same questions: ‘who owns what?’ and ‘how efficiently?’ In order to contribute ‘hard data’ to debate, current investigation: first, explores a process of formation of billionaires, focusing on legitimacy and social fairness; and second, evaluates their comparative performance. Analyzing 9-year 2007-15 timespan, it considers 300 legal entities, comprised by 3 groups of companies: 100 of billionaires, 100 of government, and 100 of entrepreneurs. To elicit performance differences this study refers to 25 financial metrics, composed by 2 categories – 5 core accounting parameters and 20 financial ratios. Alongside, a paradox of economic underperformance of these 3 petronations of Eurasian Continent is explored. To overcome adversities of resource-based path, the study suggests: 1. novel analytical framework: diagnosis algorithm and process model; 2. growth model’s setup, embracing petronational and institutional dimensions; and 3. empirical model, exposing links of analysis’ elements with macroeconomic dynamics.

No description available.

本研究以整體性的方式來分析目前國內在董監事及重要職員責任保險的市場發展情況。分別就目前的環境與法令制度、董監事及重要職員責任保險之供給情形、以及董監事及重要職員責任保險之需求等三方面，做進一步的分析探討。透過整合性的分析可以瞭解國內企業對於董監事及重要職員責任保險的真正需求，同時將分析的結果提供作為參考的依據。 本文首先歸納摘要環境與法令制度，其次針對董監事及重要職員責任保險之供給面進行實際訪談；而在董監事及重要職員責任保險需求方面，則建立三項實證分析模型。模型一是以購買D&O保險之保險金額為依變數與自變數之間的關係;模型二是以購買D&O保險之保險費為依變數與自變數之間的關係，來探討董監事及重要職員責任保險之需求情形。模型三是以D&O保險之保險費除以保險金額，即保險費率為依變數與自變數間的關係。自變數方面則分成三大類，分別為公司特色、代理問題、以及財務結構等三項進行迴歸分析。 結果顯示國內D&O保險需求的最主要影響因素為股東總數與內部董事持股數兩項顯著變數。在保險費率釐訂方面，影響費率的主要因素為資本額(Capital)與董監事報酬(D&O payments)兩項變數。透過實證分析結果可知董監事及重要職員責任保險除了供給與需求兩方面外，也必須有環境因素與法令規定等因素的考量，彼此間環環相扣下，才能詳盡地瞭解國內董監事及重要職員責任保險。