La gestión de los recursos es un proceso complejo que requiere un análisis multidisciplinar amplio. Ello supone no sólo preservar los recursos, sino también procurar una actividad sostenible para el sector económico que los explota. Es necesario analizar los factores socioeconómicos e institucionales que afectan al desarrollo del sector pesquero, que permitan determinar los niveles sostenibles de producción, renta y empleo regionales; así como garantizar una aplicación equitativa tanto de ayudas como de medidas restrictivas, que impidan un reparto y desarrollo desigual de las flotas de las regiones y países afectados. De acuerdo con lo indicado anteriormente, son numerosas las publicaciones que avalan de forma incuestionable la transcendencia del sector pesquero en la actividad económica regional, aunque de forma cualitativa. Sin embargo, desde el punto de vista cuantitativo son escasos los trabajos publicados que evalúen la magnitud de dichas trascendencia en cuanto a los impactos socioeconómicos que dicha actividad pudiera originar en la economía regional. Asimismo no se conocen modelos que expliquen el comportamiento de la actividad pesquera aplicable a todas las regiones y tampoco indicadores con lo que evaluar las diferencias, tecnológicas y productivas, que pudieran darse con otros sectores pesqueros. Por todo ello, el objetivo del presente trabajo es formalizar una metodología para el análisis económico del sector pesquero y, empíricamente, determinar para Cantabria modelos que expliquen el comportamiento de la flota extractiva, multiplicadores que midan su impacto socioeconómico en la economía regional e indicadores de desigualdad que evalúen sus diferencias con otros sectores pesqueros.

Downloading software from a server usually takes a noticeable amount of time, that is, noticeable to the user who wants to run the program. However, this issue can be mitigated by the use of streaming software. Software steaming is a means by which software can begin execution even while transmission of the full software program may still be in progress. Therefore, the application load time (i.e., the amount of time from when an application is selected for download to when the application can be executed) observed by the user can be significantly reduced. Moreover, unneeded software components might not be downloaded to the device, lowering memory and bandwidth usages. As a result, resource utilization such as memory and bandwidth usage may also be more efficient. Using our streaming method, an embedded device can support a wide range of applications which can be run on demand. Software streaming also enables small memory footprint devices to run applications larger than the physical memory by using our memory management technique. In this dissertation, we present a streaming method we call block streaming to transmit stream-enabled applications, including stream-enabled file I/O. We implemented a tool to partition software into blocks which can be transmitted (streamed) to the embedded device. Our streaming method was implemented and simulated on an MBX860 board and on a hardware/software co-simulation platform in which we used the PowerPC architecture. We show a robotics application that, with our software streaming method, is able to meet its deadline. The application load time for this application also improves by a factor of more than 10X when compared to downloading the entire application before running it. The experimental results also show that our implementation improves file I/O operation latency; in our examples, the performance improves up to 55.83X when compared with direct download. Finally, we show a stream-enabled game application combined with stream-enabled file I/O for which the user can start playing the game 3.18X more quickly than using only the stream-enabled game program file alone.

Disruptions to the freight transportation system are costly due to freight's critical relationship to economic productivity. This research will analyze the current methods of estimating the economic impacts of disruptions to the freight transportation system. A review of existing literature will be conducted with the intent of finding methods that address different types of disruptions and impacts. Due to varying economic scopes and disruptions studied, the results will likely indicate a broad range of methodologies and trends. The results will be used to better understand the different approaches taken when quantifying the economic impacts of disruptions and therefore enable more informed policy, regulation and investment.

Cluster computer systems assembled from commodity off-the-shelf components have emerged as a viable and cost-effective alternative to high-end custom parallel computer systems.In this thesis, we investigate how scalable performance can be achieved for database systems on clusters. In this context we specfically considered database query processing for evaluation of botlenecks and suggest optimization techniques for obtaining scalable application performance. First we systematically demonstrated that in a large cluster with high disk bandwidth, the processing capability and the I/O bus bandwidth are the two major performance bottlenecks in database systems. To identify and assess bottlenecks, we developed a Petri net model of parallel query execution on a cluster. Once identified and assessed,we address the above two performance bottlenecks by offoading certain application related tasks to the processor in the network interface card. Offoading application tasks to the processor in the network interface cards shifts the bottleneck from cluster processor to I/O bus. Further, we propose a hardware scheme,network attached disk ,and a software scheme to achieve a balanced utilization of re-sources like host processor, I/O bus, and processor in the network interface card. The proposed schemes result in a speedup of upto 1.47 compared to the base scheme, and ensures scalable performance upto 64 processors. Encouraged by the benefits of offloading application tasks to network processors, we explore the possibilities of performing the bloom filter operations in network processors. We combine offloading bloom filter operations with the proposed hardware schemes to achieve upto 50% reduction in execution time. The later part of the thesis provides introductory experiments conducted in Community At-mospheric Model(CAM), a large scale parallel application used for global weather and climate prediction. CAM is a communication intensive application that involves collective communication of large messages. In our limited experiment, we identified CAM to see the effect of compression techniques and offloading techniques (as formulated for database) on the performance of communication intensive applications. Due to time constraint, we considered only the possibility of compression technique for improving the application performance. However, offloading technique could be taken as a full-fledged research problem for further investigation In our experiment, we found compression of messages reduces the message latencies, and hence improves the execution time and scalability of the application. Without using compression techniques, performance measured on 64 processor cluster resulted in a speed up of only 15.6. While lossless compression retains the accuracy and correctness of the program, it does not result in high compression. We therefore propose lossy compression technique which can achieve a higher compression, yet retain the accuracy and numerical stability of the application while achieving a scalable performance. This leads to speedup of 31.7 on 64 processors compared to a speedup of 15.6 without message compression. We establish that the accuracy within prescribed limit of variation and numerical stability of CAM is retained under lossy compression.

Festivals have become a global phenomenon and now serve as a platform to promote the leisure and tourism industry within a nation. These events have an undisputed economic effect – not only on the hosting community – but also on the global community. Despite the encouraging community support and the socio-economic impact and spin-offs that are generated by means of such events, the financing of art festivals remains an intricate issue. The fact remains that not all festivals are financially self-sustainable and so require extensive sponsorship in order to ensure the continuation of the event. Limited government funding available due to budget constraints curbs the financial support forthcoming from municipalities and so forces event organisers to seek alternative funding to ensure the survival and feasibility of events. This responsibility places an additional burden on event organisers and so necessitates the use of assessment tools in order to convince private and public institutions or individuals to invest in such events through sponsorships. During an extensive literature study, it became apparent that the need exists to re-assess fully the economic impact analysis of events. The literature revealed that varying models are used to conduct economic impact analyses. In order to establish a concise framework within which to conduct an economic assessment, it was decided to select only the most-used models – Computable General Equilibrium (CGE), Input-Output (I-O) and Social Accounting Matrix (SAM). The dilemma facing tourism economists is to determine which economic assessment approach is most effective as every methodology has its own advantages and disadvantages. In addition, the type and size of an event also plays a fundamental role when selecting an appropriate measuring tool. This research was further motivated because of the existing gap that exists in the South African context for no study has yet been conducted where the various models that assess economic impact have been applied to the collated data of the same event. This study thus aims to provide an overview and a comparison of competing and supplementing methodologies for modelling the regional economic dynamics and the impacts of events. It further investigates the manner in which regional CGE, I-O and SAM based (multiplier) models operate towards capturing the region-specific, inter-regional and multi-regional production, consumption and factor market patterns as result of expenditures incurred during events. An analysis of the virtues and the limitations of these economic assessment methodologies suggests that it may be the considerations such as the data collection/compilation, expected output, research objectives and costs involved that ultimately determine the choice of a specific modelling framework. While addressing the problem stated above, this study produced the following three articles that are now embodied in the work: * Article 1 - “Critical assessment of economic impact analyses of the ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts Festival”, and * Article 2 - “Critical assessment of economic impact analyses of the Aardklop National Arts Festival”. Article 2 investigated and compared the economic assessment results when applying specific constructed models, being the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) for the appropriate provinces, to the available data obtained from previous surveys conducted at the 2010 ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and from the Aardklop National Arts Festival. The two articles indicated that when different models of assessment are applied to the same data set of an event, the economic impact results might differ significantly. This may serve as a warning to economic assessors, academics and researchers that economic impact results can be misleading and therefore the application thereof should be handled with the utmost care in order to avoid misinterpretations and misconceptions. * Article 3, “Assessing the economic impact of the Aardklop National Arts Festival: a feast of models to opt for – or not?” In this article, data from a visitor and business survey conducted at the 2010 Aardklop National Arts Festival was used in the analyses made by applying SAM, CGE and I-O regional models constructed for South Africa’s Northwest Province. Results from these analyses were then compared in order to give researchers and practitioners a better insight and clarity regarding which approach works best for the economic assessment of an arts festival. This article highlighted the fact that the measured economic impact results differ when various models that are applied to the same event. It also became evident that the most conservative economic impact was measured by an I-O model, followed with a higher SAM measurement, while CGE revealed the highest economic assessment. The most significant contribution of this study is embedded in the fact that within the South African context – and even globally – it is the first study of its kind that aimed to determine the economic impact by means of applying more than one assessment model to the data set of a single event. Further, this study provides guidelines for event organisers, academics and economic advisors to follow in conjunction with the existing body of knowledge and practical implementation structures when assessing the economic impact of events. / Thesis (PhD (Tourism Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Festivals have become a global phenomenon and now serve as a platform to promote the leisure and tourism industry within a nation. These events have an undisputed economic effect – not only on the hosting community – but also on the global community. Despite the encouraging community support and the socio-economic impact and spin-offs that are generated by means of such events, the financing of art festivals remains an intricate issue. The fact remains that not all festivals are financially self-sustainable and so require extensive sponsorship in order to ensure the continuation of the event. Limited government funding available due to budget constraints curbs the financial support forthcoming from municipalities and so forces event organisers to seek alternative funding to ensure the survival and feasibility of events. This responsibility places an additional burden on event organisers and so necessitates the use of assessment tools in order to convince private and public institutions or individuals to invest in such events through sponsorships. During an extensive literature study, it became apparent that the need exists to re-assess fully the economic impact analysis of events. The literature revealed that varying models are used to conduct economic impact analyses. In order to establish a concise framework within which to conduct an economic assessment, it was decided to select only the most-used models – Computable General Equilibrium (CGE), Input-Output (I-O) and Social Accounting Matrix (SAM). The dilemma facing tourism economists is to determine which economic assessment approach is most effective as every methodology has its own advantages and disadvantages. In addition, the type and size of an event also plays a fundamental role when selecting an appropriate measuring tool. This research was further motivated because of the existing gap that exists in the South African context for no study has yet been conducted where the various models that assess economic impact have been applied to the collated data of the same event. This study thus aims to provide an overview and a comparison of competing and supplementing methodologies for modelling the regional economic dynamics and the impacts of events. It further investigates the manner in which regional CGE, I-O and SAM based (multiplier) models operate towards capturing the region-specific, inter-regional and multi-regional production, consumption and factor market patterns as result of expenditures incurred during events. An analysis of the virtues and the limitations of these economic assessment methodologies suggests that it may be the considerations such as the data collection/compilation, expected output, research objectives and costs involved that ultimately determine the choice of a specific modelling framework. While addressing the problem stated above, this study produced the following three articles that are now embodied in the work: * Article 1 - “Critical assessment of economic impact analyses of the ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts Festival”, and * Article 2 - “Critical assessment of economic impact analyses of the Aardklop National Arts Festival”. Article 2 investigated and compared the economic assessment results when applying specific constructed models, being the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) for the appropriate provinces, to the available data obtained from previous surveys conducted at the 2010 ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and from the Aardklop National Arts Festival. The two articles indicated that when different models of assessment are applied to the same data set of an event, the economic impact results might differ significantly. This may serve as a warning to economic assessors, academics and researchers that economic impact results can be misleading and therefore the application thereof should be handled with the utmost care in order to avoid misinterpretations and misconceptions. * Article 3, “Assessing the economic impact of the Aardklop National Arts Festival: a feast of models to opt for – or not?” In this article, data from a visitor and business survey conducted at the 2010 Aardklop National Arts Festival was used in the analyses made by applying SAM, CGE and I-O regional models constructed for South Africa’s Northwest Province. Results from these analyses were then compared in order to give researchers and practitioners a better insight and clarity regarding which approach works best for the economic assessment of an arts festival. This article highlighted the fact that the measured economic impact results differ when various models that are applied to the same event. It also became evident that the most conservative economic impact was measured by an I-O model, followed with a higher SAM measurement, while CGE revealed the highest economic assessment. The most significant contribution of this study is embedded in the fact that within the South African context – and even globally – it is the first study of its kind that aimed to determine the economic impact by means of applying more than one assessment model to the data set of a single event. Further, this study provides guidelines for event organisers, academics and economic advisors to follow in conjunction with the existing body of knowledge and practical implementation structures when assessing the economic impact of events. / Thesis (PhD (Tourism Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

No description available.

This dissertation studies three classes of estimators for the asymptotic variance parameter of a stationary stochastic process. All estimators are based on the concept of data "re-use" and all transform the output process into functions of an approximate Brownian motion process. The first class of estimators consists folded standardized time series area and Cramér-von Mises (CvM) estimators. Detailed expressions are obtained for their expectation at folding levels 0 and 1; those expressions explain the puzzling increase in small-sample bias as the folding level increases. In addition, we use batching and linear combinations of estimators from different levels to produce estimators with significantly smaller variance. Finally, we obtain very accurate approximations of the limiting distributions of batched folded estimators. These approximations are used to compute confidence intervals for the mean and variance parameter of the underlying stochastic process. The second class --- folded overlapping area estimators --- are computed by averaging folded versions of the standardized time series corresponding to overlapping batches. We establish the limiting distributions of the proposed estimators as the sample size tends to infinity. We obtain statistical properties of these estimators such as bias and variance. Further, we find approximate confidence intervals for the mean and variance parameter of the process by approximating the theoretical distributions of the proposed estimators. In addition, we develop algorithms to compute these estimators with only order-of-sample-size work. The third class --- reflected area and CvM estimators --- are computed from reflections of the original sample path. We obtain the expected values and variance of individual estimators. We show that it is possible to obtain linear combinations of reflected estimators with smaller variance than the variance of each constituent estimator, often at no cost in bias. A quadratic optimization problem is solved to find an optimal linear combination of estimators that minimizes the variance of the linearly combined estimator. For all classes of estimators, we provide Monte Carlo examples to show that the estimators perform as well in practice as advertised by the theory.

Thesis (M. Eng. Sc.)--University of Adelaide, 1987. / Typescript. Includes a copy of a paper presented at TADSEM '85 --Australian Seminar on Devices for Expressive Communication and Environmental Control, co-authored by the author. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [115-121]).

Univ., Diss.--Osnabrück, 2002. / INFORGE = Interindustry Forecasting Germany.