<p>This thesis is funded by the IBM Center for Advanced Studies</p> / <p>A large number of scientific applications rely on the computing of logarithm. Thus, accelerating the speed of computing logarithms is significant and necessary. To this end, we present the realization of a pipelined Logarithm Computation Unit (LCU) in hardware that uses lookup table and interpolation techniques. The presented LCU supports single precision arithmetic with fixed accuracy and speed. We estimate that it can generate 2.9G single precision values per second under a 65nm fabrication process. In addition, the accuracy is at least 21 bits while lookup table size is about 7.776KB. To the best of our knowledge, our LCU achieves the fastest speed at its current accuracy and table size.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Over the past century, great strides have been made in the advancement of mine fire knowledge since the 1909 Cherry Mine Fire Disaster, one of the worst in U.S. history. However, fire hazards remain omnipresent in underground coal mines in the U.S. and around the world. A precise fire numerical analysis (simulation) before any fire events can give a broad view of the emergency scenarios, leading to improved emergency response, and better health and safety outcomes. However, the simulation cost of precise large complex dynamical systems such as fire in underground mines makes practical and even theoretical application challenging. This work details a novel methodology to reduce fire and airflow simulation costs in order to make simulation of complex systems around fire and mine ventilation systems viable. This study will examine the development of a Reduced Order Model (ROM) to predict the flow field of an underground mine geometry using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) to reduce the airflow simulation cost in a nonlinear model. ROM proves to be an effective tool for approximating several possible solutions near a known solution, resulting in significant time savings over calculating full solutions and suitable for ensemble calculations. In addition, a novel iterative methodology was developed based on the physics of the fluid structure, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) of the dynamical system, and the vortex dynamics to determine the interface boundary in multiscale (3D-1D) fire simulations of underground space environments. The proposed methodology was demonstrated to be a useful technique for the determination of near and far fire fields, and could be applied across a broad range of flow simulations and mine geometries. Moreover, this research develops a methodology to analyze the tenable limits in a methane fire event in an underground coal mine for bare-faced miners, mine rescue teams, and fire brigade teams in order to improve safety and training of personnel trained to fight fires. The outcomes of this research are specific to mining although the methods outlined might have broader impacts on the other fields such as tunneling and underground spaces technology, HVAC, and fire protection engineering industries. / Ph. D. / With the rapid advancement of technology, the mine fire knowledge has progressed significantly. Atmospheric monitoring and early sensing of heating has improved; the numerical analysis has been expedited with the usage of supercomputers, and more regulations and standards have been set to increase health and safety of miners. In spite of advancements in these areas, fire hazards remain a critical hazard in underground mines. Developing an emergency plan for the safe escape and for fighting the fire is one of the most important issues during a fire event in underground space environments such as mines. A precise fire numerical analysis (simulation) before any fire events can give a broad view of the emergency situation that leads to improving the health and safety issues in the mining industry. Unfortunately, the precise simulation of the large complex dynamical system such as a fire in underground spaces is costly. This work details a cutting edge approach to reduce the fire and airflow simulation costs in order to make simulation of complex systems around fire and mine ventilation systems viable. The main focus of this proposal is to develop novel methodologies to decrease the time of the fire and airflow simulations. The developed methodologies prove to be useful techniques for the reduction of fire simulation and airflow simulation costs. In addition, this study will examine the development of a comprehensive methodology to analyze the tenable limits in a fire event in an underground coal mine in order to improve safety and training of personnel trained to fight fires. These simulations, applied to training, will result in more efficient evacuations (e.g., the decision to leave can be made quickly and with less delay), as well as safe and effective firefighting under certain situations. The target of this research is specific to mining industry although the methods outlined might have broader impacts on the other fields such as tunneling and underground spaces technology, HVAC, and fire protection engineering industries. Therefore, this research may have an immense contribution on the improvement of health and safety associated with firefighting.

This thesis sets out to explore the lives of homosexuals in the AIDS epidemic in Sweden in Jonas Gardell´s trilogy Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar (Don´t Ever Dry Tears Without Gloves). How is queer space able to unfold in connection to concrete places? The thesis utilizes the perspective of queer theory, where the useful terms of queer space and heteronormativity are found.   The analysis is divided into two parts based on the important themes of life and death found in the trilogy. The metal ring at the central station called Bögringen (The Gay Ring) and other public places such as parks and streets make up the first part. It becomes evident that these spaces are vital to the very existence of the homosexual lives of the men in the book-series. In these places, they are able to create their own (queer) space, which exists in parallel to the heteronormative surroundings. The concrete spaces that become these queer spaces are nevertheless often challenged by their surroundings, both verbally and physically.   Funerals make up the second half of the analysis. Here, two opposite funerals are being looked closer at. These are the funerals of two of the most important men in the trilogy: Rasmus and Paul. In Rasmus´funeral, there is no room for anything (or anyone) that might be associated with homosexuality and AIDS – a queer lifestyle ­– at all, and the boyfriend and all the other friends of the deceased Rasmus are not welcome. Everything queer is banished. The other funeral, Paul´s funeral, celebrates everything that is different, and here, it is the heteronormative, conservative views and thoughts that are being pushed aside. This funeral brings hope (and power) to the queers.

Many companies have a large collection of different model variants and results. Hexagon's (formerly MSC Software) software Odyssee helps to find out what information is contained in this data. New calculations can sometimes be avoided because the results for new parameter combinations can be predicted from the existing calculations. This is particularly interesting for non-linear or large models with long run times. The software also helps when setting up new DOEs and offers a variety of options for statistical displays. In the lecture, the number-based and image-based methods are compared. / Viele Firmen können auf eine große Sammlung vorhandener Rechnungen für verschiedene Modellvarianten zurückgreifen. Die Software Odyssee von Hexagon (früher MSC Software) hilft herauszufinden, welche Informationen in diesen Daten stecken. Neue Rechnungen kann man sich teilweise ersparen, weil die Ergebnisse für neue Parameterkombinationen aus den vorhandenen Rechnungen vorhergesagt werden können. Dies ist besonders interessant für nichtlineare oder große Modelle mit langer Rechenzeit. Die Software hilft auch beim Aufsetzen neuer DOEs und bietet vielfältige Möglichkeiten für statistische Darstellungen. In dem Vortrag werden die zahlenbasierte und bildbasierte Methode gegenübergestellt.

Die Arbeit setzt sich mit dem neuen europäischen Anknüpfungskonzept für ausländisches Eingriffsrecht in der Rom I-VO auseinander. Im Fokus der Untersuchung steht die politisch motivierte und restriktiv ausgefallene Regelung des Art. 9 Abs. 3 Rom I-VO. Zudem widmet sich ein Teil der Untersuchung allgemein der hinter dem Eingriffsrecht – insbesondere dem Konzept des ausländischen Eingriffsrechts im IPR – stehenden Dogmatik, die aus einer dogmatisch-historischen Perspektive beleuchtet wird. Schwerpunktmäßig gilt es der Frage nachzugehen, welche Überlegungen hinter der neuen Kollisionsnorm stehen und ob die Sonderanknüpfung des Art. 9 Abs. 3 Rom I-VO einen dogmatisch geeigneten, mit der Zielsetzung der Rom I-VO vereinbaren rechtlichen Rahmen für die einheitliche kollisionsrechtliche Berufung der berücksichtigungswürdigen ausländischen Eingriffsnormen in den Mitgliedstaaten schafft. / The thesis examines the European concept of the newly defined connecting factor for foreign overriding mandatory rules in the Rome I Regulation. The central attention of the study is the analysis of the politically motivated and restrictive regulation of Art. 9 (3) of the Rome I Regulation. In addition, the first part of the study is dedicated to the examination of the general approach behind the application of foreign overriding mandatory rules in private international law from a dogmatic-historical perspective. The main focus of the thesis, however, is on the research of the considerations behind the new conflict of laws rule. The author specifically questions whether the new connecting factor defined in the Art. 9 (3) Rome I Regulation provides a worthy and sufficient legal framework for the application of foreign overriding mandatory rules.

The global mean temperature is predicted to increase by up to 5 °C during this century. For fish, being ectotherms, temperature is one of the most important environmental factors, influencing them in a number of different ways, including effects on physiological traits, timing of life history events and behavior. Atlantic salmon has been shown to grow faster after being incubated at warmer temperatures. One possible explanation for this could be that the increased incubation temperature causes decreased metabolic rates. The aim of this project was to examine whether this is true. Atlantic salmon eggs were incubated in three different temperature regimes: natural temperature conditions, heated water and a mixed temperature treatment, where eggs were incubated in increased temperature until the beginning of January and after that subjected to natural temperature conditions. Ventilation rate, a proxy for metabolism, was measured for fish from each treatment group, as well as fish length and weight. The results revealed significantly lower ventilation rates of the fish from the heated temperature treatment, but not of the fish from the mixed temperature treatment. This suggests that an increased incubation temperature causes lowered rates of metabolism in Atlantic salmon, and that the change occurs later than early January. Because of differences in size and life stage between fish from the different groups however, the results are uncertain and call for further investigations. A lowered metabolic rate will affect the fish’s behavior. A further development might therefore be to study fish survival in the wild in relation to a fish’s metabolic rate. / Jordens medeltemperatur beräknas öka med upp till 5 °C det här århundradet. För fiskar, som är ektotermer, är temperatur en av de viktigaste abiotiska faktorerna och påverkar dem på en mängd olika sätt, bland annat genom förändring av fysiologiska attribut, tidpunkter för steg i livscykeln och beteende. Lax har visats växa snabbare efter att ha blivit inkuberade i varmare vattentemperatur. En möjlig förklaring till det kan vara att en förhöjd inkuberingstemperatur orsakar en lägre metabolism. Det här projektet syftade till att undersöka om så är fallet. Ägg från lax inkuberades i tre olika temperaturförhållanden: naturliga temperaturförhållanden, förhöjd temperatur och en blandad temperaturbehandling, där ägg inkuberades i förhöjd temperatur till början av januari, varefter de utsattes för naturliga temperaturförhållanden. Gälslagsfrekvens, som fungerar som en indikator för metabolism, mättes på fisk från varje behandlingsgrupp, samt fiskarnas längd och vikt. Resultaten visade signifikant lägre gälslagsfrekvenser hos fiskarna från behandlingen med förhöjd temperatur, men inte hos fiskarna från behandlingen med blandad temperatur. Detta indikerar att en förhöjd inkuberingstemperatur orsakar en lägre metabolism hos lax, och att förändringen sker senare än tidiga januari. På grund av skillnader i storlek och livsstadier hos fiskarna från de olika grupperna är resultaten dock osäkra, vilket gör att ytterligare studier behövs. En lägre ämnesomsättning påverkar fiskars beteende. En uppföljning kan därför vara att studera fiskars överlevnad i det vilda i relation till deras metabolism.

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This thesis explores the question of intercultural personhood in two 'mainstream' Australian cases within interpersonal, intercultural relations in Australian contexts in the second half of the twentieth century. The problem is viewed through three disciplinary lenses: those of communication, psychology and sociology. A qualitative, interdisciplinary approach integrates these through an inductive biographical research design. Within cross-cultural communication studies, a host culture such as that of the Anglo-Australian majority is seen in a monolithic and static way to which Australians of other cultural backgrounds are seen to adapt. These studies give no place to the changes which members of the majority undergo. 'Intercultural personhood', a term coined by Kim (1988, 2001), describes the kinds of 'ethnic' individuals who through negotiating their identities within personal, social and mass communication contexts, both host and ethnic, move beyond the bounds of their own cultural heritage to embrace both their former cultural identity and the new 'host' (viz Australian) identity. In this thesis, the elements of cross-cultural adaptation theory and of 'intercultural personhood' are applied to the intercultural experience of 'mainstream' Australians. From preliminary memory work workshops and focus groups, the cases of two mainstream individuals who show some evidence of 'intercultural personhood' and make identity claims comparable with 'ethnic' adapters are then developed through biographical method. Their life accounts are drawn on for the exploration of issues of identity and personhood within interpersonal, intercultural relations. Major focus is given to the social psychology of Harre (1983, 1993, 1998), whose work provided both a conceptualisation and a methodological tool for the problem. In Harre's work, three dimensions of personhood, namely consciousness, agency and biography are identified together with the psycho-social processes through which an individual's identity and orientation to their culture is appropriated, transformed and publicised. This publication is then rejected or incorporated into the culture through processes of conventionalisation. These four psycho-social processes are explored in my study through an adaptation of assisted biography method (De Waele & Harre, 1979). The strength of the psycho-social approach of Harre lies in its ability to get below the surface behaviours to an analysis of the theory of self which individuals, as 'singular' beings, bring into play in their interactions within themselves and with one another. While this approach draws on social contexts to support the transformations, it is not designed to explicate to a sufficient degree the conditions under which such theories of self are activated and within which changes in identity occur and are maintained. For this reason it is essential to incorporate a sociological framework to understand the influence of the conditions within which such experiences are played out. Bourdieu's (1984, 1987) cultural, relational sociology is coupled with Harre's (1983, 1993, 1998) theory of personal and social being in that it brings together the individual and the society in a way which proves fruitful for ongoing analysis of the biographical data collected within the communication and psycho-social framework of the earlier research. Bourdieu's critique of a methodology based on biography points to the 'illusion' that is created through a biographical interview process. Taking this critique of biography into the study of interpersonal, intercultural relations meant a shift from the communication interactions and psycho-social analysis undertaken to an analysis of the various social constructions evident within the elements of the life account and a search for the cognitive imprint of social structures as durable dispositions within the persons. These dispositions are evident from within a social trajectory of the life and they are applied to the intercultural encounters recounted by the participants in their autobiographies. The addition of Bourdieu's (1984, 1987) sociology strengthens the ability to view the individual and the society through a single lens and to position the individual life course as secondary within a broader and primary analysis of social structure and social structuring as a means of interpreting lives. Its weakness lies in the degree of 'voluntariness' brought into effect as individuals both chart their course through life and are pushed and pulled by the various social forces at work within their trajectories. Within the scope of this thesis, these two approaches, that is, a psychological and a sociological one, are illustrated and incorporated into an interdisciplinary model for the study of interpersonal, intercultural relations. Further rigorous research to validate the components and the relationships of the model and to investigate these strengths and weaknesses more thoroughly is foreshadowed. This interdisciplinary model of interpersonal, intercultural relations is the major contribution of this work to the field of intercultural communication. Advances which are achieved through use of psychology, sociology and biographical research method as a tool through this study are also identified. The thesis concludes with a review of the contributions of the thesis and a discussion of the implications for future research on interpersonal, intercultural relations.

<p>När arbetstagare utstationeras till ett land annat än det ordinarie, är det inte alltid självklart vilket lands lag eller rättsystem som ska reglera anställningsavtalet. Då görs ett lagval, som innebär att utländsk lag kan tillämpas på vissa situationer i de nationella domstolarna. För utstationering inom EU regleras lagvalet av Utstationeringsdirektivet. Detta tillämpas dock under en begränsad tid, och sedan övergår avtalet till att regleras av Romkonventionen. Speciella lagvalsregler för individuella anställningsavtal återfinns i Romkonventionens art. 6. Förändringarna för individuella anställningsavtal i och med Rom I-förordningen ligger främst i att rättsakten blir direkt tillämplig, att EG-domstolen ges tolkningsmöjlighet samt att ordalydelsen moderniseras i art. 8. Att domstolen ges en exklusiv makt att lösa tolkningssvårigheter av lagvalsregler för individuella anställningsavtal innebär att det finns en avsikt att det som stadgas i Rom I-förordningen i framtiden ska utvecklas genom EG-domstolens praxis. Denna praxis kan förmodas att i framtiden skapa ett mer överskådligt rättsläge vid tillämpningen av förordningens art. 8.</p>

<p>The purpose with this study is to investigate the experiences some adult Romans have of co-operation between Romani parents and school. The study is based on interviews and has been inspired of critical ethnography and hermeneutic theories. What views have the Romani adults and parents on parental co-operation with school? Which strategy do they see as a practical way for improved parental co-operating with school? The study show that the Romani parents who participated in this study do want a very close co-operation and have used strategies of open communication and giving suggestion on how to co-operate with the schools. One of the informants has had the opportunity to give an in-dept interview and this gives an example of a more diversified picture of the Romani parental patterns in relation to school. The adult Ro-mani group that has been interviewed thinks that a close co-operation with school is very im-portant. One suggestion of improvement from the interviewers is teacher-assistans to improve the schools parental co-operation. There where also suggestions that educational efforts of the school is needed for all students and to include knowledge about who the Romani people are and about their history, culture and language. Some of the parents even showed examples of giving suggestions to teachers to increase the contact by writing in a dairy for each student. The parents in this study also reports of institutionalized antigypsyism and discrimination. In that view the in-dept interview gives an explanation to why the co-operation is believed to be so crucial. There is a fear that the public authorities in somewhat way would hurt the Romani children.</p>