This thesis concerns the mathematical modeling of transportation systems for improved decision support and analysis of transportation-related problems. The main purpose of this thesis is to develop and evaluate models and methods that exploit link flows. Link flows are straightforward to obtain by measurements or estimation methods and are commonly used to describe the traffic state. The models and methods used in this thesis apply mathematical optimization techniques, computer simulations, and probabilistic methods to gain insights into the transportation network under study and provide benefits for both traffic managers and road users.  First, we present an optimization model for allocating charging stations in a transportation network to serve owners of electric vehicles. The model utilizes a probabilistic route selection process to detect locations through which vehicles may pass. It also considers the limited driving range of electric vehicles. The iterative solution procedure finds the minimal number of minimal charging stations and their locations, which provides a lower bound of charging stations to cover each of the considered routes. Second, we present a case study, in which we argue that stationary and mobile measurement devices possess complementary characteristics. In that study, we investigate how speed cameras and probe vehicles can be used in conjunction with each other for the collection of detailed traffic data. The results show that the share of successfully observed and identified vehicles can be significantly improved by using both stationary and mobile measurement devices. Third, we present a simulation model with the intent of finding the most probable underlying routes based on hourly link flows. The model utilizes Dijkstra's algorithm to find the shortest paths and uses a straightforward statistical test procedure to find the most significant routes in the network based on replicated movements of trucks. Finally, we investigate the possibility to study how the traffic flow in one location reflects the flows in the surrounding area. The statistical basis of the proposed model is built upon measured link flows to study the dispersion of aggregate traffic flows in nodes. By considering the alternative ways vehicles can travel between locations, the model is able to determine the expected link flow that originates from a node in a nearby region. The results of the thesis show that the link flows, which are basic descriptors of the road segments in a transportation network, can be used to study a broad range of problems in transportation.

The main aim of the thesis is to optimize the management of the production process with the focus on the material flows in the manufacturing company Jung in Brno. The thesis takes into consideration the analysis of the current state of the company. In addition, the thesis describes the production programs and processes with the focus on the material flow and material stocks. The work also aims to identify and minimize bottlenecks in the production process. Apart from the main directions along which the material goes, the process of supply, removal from storage and efficiency of working with material during production is analyzed. The findings of the thesis of the work are suggestions that would make the operational business management effective, reduce production costs and increase the dynamics of the transformation process of production.

L'objectif de ces travaux est de déterminer l'atténuation des effets d'une explosion sous-marine par un rideau de bulles. Dans ce cadre, une modélisation de la propagation d'un chocdans les liquides à bulles a été développée, basée sur une technique de transition d'échelles.Cette méthode permet la formulation de modèles continus de liquides aérés, dont la mise enoeuvre est aisée et rapide. Nous avons d'abord développé une modélisation pour des liquidesdiphasiques au sein desquels les bulles sont régulièrement réparties dans l'espace, avant deproposer une extension de ce modèle au cas des liquides à bulles présentant des hétérogénéitésde porosité sous la forme d'amas sphériques de bulles. Un modèle de fragmentation des bulleslors du passage du choc a également été développé, basé sur une analyse linéaire de stabilitédes bulles. L'étude a permis d'établir un critère prédictif de fission et de déterminer le nombrede fragments associés. L'ensemble des modélisations proposées a fait l'objet de comparaisonsavec des résultats expérimentaux issus de la littérature. La concordance entre résultats d'essaiset résultats issus de la modélisation démontre les capacités prédictives de l'approche proposée.Cette modélisation a enfin été appliquée au cas de rideaux de bulles soumis à une explosionsous-marine. Une étude de sensibilité sur les paramètres physiques du rideau a été menée, eta permis de confirmer les tendances expérimentales : sous certaines conditions, la dispositiond'un rideau de bulles sous l'eau permet de diminuer de façon très conséquente l'énergie duchoc transmis en aval du rideau. / The present work deals with the modelling of shock wave propagation in bubbly liquids, inorder to assess the damping of underwater explosion by bubble curtains. The modelling is basedon a scale transition technique, which allows to formulate efficient continuum models of bubblyliquids. A modelling of homogeneous bubbly liquids has first been proposed, then extended tothe case of liquids with spherical bubble clusters. A modelling of bubble fragmentation duringshock propagation has also been developed, based on a stability analysis of the bubbles. Thisstudy enables us to establish a criterion for bubble fission and to determine the numberof fragments. The accuracy of the proposed models has been assessed through comparisonwith experimental data of the literature. The agreement between numerical and experimentalresults proves the predictive capabilities of the whole approach. The modelling has then beenapplied to the mitigation of UNDEX-induced shock wave by bubble curtain. A sensitive studyabout physical parameters of the curtain has been performed, and confirms the experimentaltendencies : the use of a bubble curtain can dissipate a significant part of the shock energy.

Résumé indisponible. / The VIPAFLEET project aims at developing a framework to manage a fleet of IndividualPublic Autonomous Vehicles (VIPA). We consider a fleet of cars distributed at specifiedstations in an industrial area to supply internal transportation, where the cars can beused in different modes of circulation (tram mode, elevator mode, taxi mode). The goalis to develop and implement suitable algorithms for each mode in order to satisfy all therequests either under an economic point aspect or under a quality of service aspect, thisby varying the studied objective functions.We model the underlying online transportation system as a discrete event basedsystem and propose a corresponding fleet management framework, to handle modes,demands and commands. We consider three modes of circulation, tram, elevator andtaxi mode. We propose for each mode appropriate online algorithms and evaluate theirperformance, both in terms of competitive analysis and practical behavior by computationalresults. We treat in this work, the pickup and delivery problem related to theTram mode and the Elevator mode the pickup and delivery problem with time windowsrelated to the taxi mode by means of flows in time-expanded networks.

The purpose of this thesis is to solve unsteady two-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations for a moving mesh using implicit explicit (IMEX) Runge- Kutta scheme. The moving mesh is implemented in the equations using Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulation. The inviscid part of the equation is explicitly solved using second-order Godunov method, whereas the viscous part is calculated implicitly. We simulate subsonic compressible flow over static NACA-0012 airfoil at different angle of attacks. Finally, the moving mesh is examined via oscillating the airfoil between angle of attack = 0 and = 20 harmonically. It is observed that the numerical solution matches the experimental and numerical results in the literature to within 20%.

Orientador: João Guilerme de Camargo Ferraz Machado / Resumo: A pecuária de corte se destaca como atividade do agronegócio em um cenário competitivo com escala produtiva ascendente e expressiva na participação nas exportações e formação das riquezas geradas. O processo da rastreabilidade destaca-se por garantir a eficiência e diminuição dos custos dos processos produtivos, dinamizar as estruturas organizacionais dos estabelecimentos produtores, bem como promover acesso a mercados exigentes demandantes de segurança e qualidade dos alimentos; além de agir como “ponte” suprindo o mercado consumidor de informações acerca de todo processo produtivo, armazenamento e distribuição da carne bovina. Nesse aspecto o Sistema Brasileiro de Identificação Individual de Bovinos e Búfalos (SISBOV), contribui potencialmente como ferramenta de controle de gestão e manejo de animais, além de possibilitar o acesso dos estabelecimentos rurais a denomina “Lista Trace” que por meio de auditoria de certificadoras de protocolos de adesão ao sistema, ficam aptas a exportação a mercados exigentes de segurança e qualidade como a União Europeia. Destaca-se ainda a informação e os fluxos informacionais formais gerados tanto no processo em si da rastreabilidade como da adesão ao sistema, atuando como ativos nas organizações, sendo considerados como recursos estratégicos nas tomadas de decisões, ressaltando que os fluxos informacionais tácitos como relevantes na construção das ações organizacionais. Nesse contexto busca se responder se a gestão da informação e os fluxo... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Beef cattle stands out as an agribusiness activity in a competitive scenario with an upward and significant production scale in participation in exports and formation of the wealth generated. The traceability process stands out for ensuring efficiency and lowering the costs of production processes, streamlining the organizational structures of producing establishments, as well as promoting access to demanding markets that demand food safety and quality; in addition to acting as a “bridge” supplying the consumer market with information about the entire production process, storage and distribution of beef. In this respect, the Brazilian System for the Individual Identification of Bovines and Buffaloes (SISBOV), potentially contributes as a tool for animal management and management control, in addition to allowing access by rural establishments to the so-called “Lista Trace” which, through the audit of certifiers protocols for joining the system, they are suitable for export to demanding safety and quality markets such as the European Union. Also noteworthy is the information and formal information flows generated both in the process itself of traceability and adherence to the system, acting as assets in organizations, being considered as strategic resources in decision making, emphasizing that tacit information flows as relevant in construction of organizational actions. In this context, it seeks to answer whether information management and informational flows are considered in... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

In the first essay, I examine stock market implications of state-to-state migration flows that are known to provide the basis for social and business networks. I observe sizeable and robust excess return comovement between migration-flow receiving and sending states at both the individual stock and the state portfolio levels. Although I find that migration flows are associated with firms’ business activities, this comovement is not fully explained by economic fundamentals and decreases substantially when firms relocate to other states. In line with the view that migration networks form the basis for a common investor base for receiving and sending states stocks, I find that a) receiving states account for a significant portion of sending states stocks’ trading volume, and b) migration comovement is strongly correlated with the percent of local population born in migration states and more prevalent in states where retail investors display “old home” bias in addition to local bias. Moreover, consistent with the view that migration comovement may be rooted in sentiment shared by a common investor base, I find that it coexists with mispricing, measured by stock return reversals. In the second essay, I test whether takeover targets are more likely to be connected to bidders via domestic migration network by relating acquisitions with the availability of social and business networks formed via interstate migration flows. I find that targets are more likely to be from the migration sending states when migration networks are sturdier. Additionally, I find that targets are more likely to be from migration sending states with stronger migration network a) when acquirer and targets are in different industries, b) when migration network involves non-neighboring states, and c) when targets are small. The results are consistent with the notion that information advantage is at least a partial explanation of firms’ propensity to choose targets from migration sending states, especially when information asymmetry about target is more pronounced. Moreover, I find that takeover premium is smaller and acquirer announcement returns are higher when migration sending states targets are small with low institutional ownership, which substantiate the view that migration networks present enhanced accessibility of soft information to acquirers and that the effect of such information advantage is valuable when there is substantial degree of information asymmetry regarding targets.

This PhD thesis is a multi-sited ethnographical study (Marcus 1995) of globalized world through focusing on the social life (Appadurai 1986) of one of the well-known Vedic mantras (the Gayatri Mantra) as a globalized phenomenon and a commodity. Chanting of mantras (Hindu sacred chants in Vedic Sanskrit; pronunciation, intonation and rhythm of which is prohibited to change in the Brahmanic discourse) which had been a local cultural practice, has become a globally known phenomenon. During the globalizing process of their cultural transmission from India to the West and later to the Czech Republic, the mantras have gained new sound forms, new social and cultural contexts, new functions and new meanings. Contemporary cultural productions of mantras are a thick example how the present inter-continental connectedness works in everyday life, music and in the relationship to the Sacred. Selected places on this trajectory will be sites of the fieldwork. The project will research, how the transmission process happens, what music forms it takes, and what meanings are attached to them by their agents.

The thesis deals with the global information flows and its aim is to find factors which influence them. Firstly, the visibility of the country in international news is explored, i.e. which countries are dominantly represented in the international news. Secondly, the exposure of the country towards international news is observed, i.e how countries vary in the openness towards the international news. The thesis also seek to reveal factors which have an impact on the visibility of the country and on the exposure. The thesis consists of a recherche part with the theory of globalization and a quantitative analysis based on the dataset from 2014-2017. The thesis concludes that countries are represented unevenly with few dominant countries (the most dominant country is China, followed by USA and Ukraine) in the international news and that the most exposed countries have been found small developing countries (Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, etc.) from South America. Regarding the factors of visibility of the country, the highest impact has the size of population,and also GNI and the presence of violent correlated. On the contrary, all factors impacting the exposure of the country were found statistically insignificant.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The Saldania Belt in southern Africa, a product of the Pan-African Saldanian Orogeny, forms part of a system of Neoproterozoic mobile belts that border and weld older cratons on the African continent. It is a low-grade orogenic belt situated along the southwestern margin of the Kalahari Craton and is composed of several inliers of greenschist facies metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks (Malmesbury Group), unroofed in megaanticlinal hinges of the Permo-Triassic Cape Fold Belt. The Malmesbury Group rocks were syn- and post-tectonically intruded in a pervasive transpressive regime between 555 Ma and 515 Ma by Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian S-, I- and A-type granites, monzodiorites, gabbros and quartz syenites, which collectively constitute the rocks of the Cape Granite Suite (CGS). Along the south-western coastline of South Africa, the Saldanha Bay Volcanic Complex (which forms part of the CGS) is divided into two eruption centres both of which have been identified as “intra-caldera pyroclastic ignimbrites”. The Postberg eruption centre is situated to the south of the Saldanha Bay entrance and the Saldanha eruption centre is situated to the north of the entrance. Both eruption centres display distinct geochemical signatures, the most apparent being the greater TiO2 concentrations (> 0.25 wt. %) of the Saldanha centre ignimbrites when compared to its Postberg centre counterparts. The Postberg eruption centre consists of S-type rhyolitic ignimbrites which are subdivided into the two geochemically distinct Plankiesbaai and Tsaarsbank Ignimbrites. Small amounts of the Jacobs Bay and Saldanha Ignimbrites (less felsic tephra from the Saldanha eruption centre) are also present in the Postberg eruption centre. A robust geochemical analysis of both the Plankiesbaai and Tsaarsbank magma groups display high SiO2 content (>76 wt. %), a lack of variation in TiO2 and Zr, high Al2O3 and ASI (aluminium saturation index) values (> 1.0 and generally >1.1 which, on average, is higher than the Saldanha eruption centre ignimbrites), low CaO and Na2O, and a highly ferroan character. The Plankiesbaai ignimbrite also display lower #Mg concentration compared to the Tsaarsbank ignimbrite. Typical geochemical trends in the Postberg eruption centre include the lack of variation in Zr content, higher Rb content and lower Sr, Ba, V and Zn concentrations when compared to the tephra of the Saldanha eruption centre found in the Postberg area.