This paper deals with the new phenomenon of international relations - the foreign relations of subnational units. It describes it in the framework of new regionalism and in the concept of paradiplomacy. It analyses the main channels of regional representation at the level of European Union: the Committee of Regions, the European Commission, the Council of ministers, the European parliament, regional representation offices and transnational associations. At the end, the paper focuses on examples of Flandern, Baden-Würtemberg, Burgundy, Voivodship of Opole and Central Bohemian region.

The main topic of this thesis is the perspective of young people within political party structures. The author bases her research on the assumption that, in the Czech Republic, the younger generation of party members is not sufficiently represented within political parties, and that political parties do not create ballot papers that fairly represent the young candidates. However, the author also assumes that Czech political parties are aware of the under-representation of young politicians within their structures, and consistently try to work with this. The objective of this dissertation is, therefore, to more explicitly explain whether and if so then how Czech political parties officially define the position of young people within the inner structures of the parties, how large the representation of young people is on ballot papers for representative bodies, and to demonstrate how Czech political parties generally approach this issue.The author defines the young political generation as people over 18 but under 35 years old. The research section of this thesis is based on an analysis of official regulations of chosen political parties. An analysis of the ballot papers of the same political parties for the 2013 Chamber of Deputies election and for the 2012 regional representative bodies election was also carried out.The approach of political parties to their youngest members is based on a survey carried out by the author.

<p>Aluminum alloys have broad applications in aerospace, automotive, and defense industries as structural material due to the low density, high-specific strength, good castability and formability. However, aluminum alloys commonly suffer from problems such as low yield strength, low stiffness, and poor wear and tear resistance, and therefore are restricted to certain advanced industrial applications. To overcome the problems, one promising method is the fabrication of aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) by introducing ceramic reinforcements (fibers, whiskers or particles) in the metal matrix. AMCs typically possess advanced properties than the matrix alloys such as high specific modulus, strength, wear resistance, thermal stability, while remain the low density. Among the AMCs, particulate reinforced aluminum matrix composites (PRAMCs) are advantageous for their isotropic properties, ease of fabrication, and low costs. Particularly, the PRAMCs with in-situ particulate reinforcements have received great interest recent years. The in-situ fabricated particles are synthesized in an aluminum matrix via chemical reactions. They are more stable and finer in size, and have a more uniform distribution in the aluminum matrix and stronger interface bonding with aluminum matrix, compared to the ex-situ particulate reinforcements. As a consequence, the in-situ PRAMCs have superior strength and mechanical properties as advanced engineering materials for a broad range of industrial applications.</p> <p>This dissertation focuses on the investigation of high strength aluminum matrix composites reinforced with in-situ particulates. The first chapter provides a brief introduction for the studied materials in the dissertation, including the background, the scope, the significance and the research questions of the study. The second chapter presents the literature review on the basic knowledge, the fabrication methods, the mechanical properties of in-situ PRAMCs. The strengthening mechanisms and strategies of in-situ PRAMCs are summarized. Besides, the micromechanical simulation is introduced as a complementary methodology for the investigation of the microstructure-properties relationship of the in-situ PRAMCs. The third chapter shows the framework and methodology of this dissertation, including material preparation and material characterization methods, phase diagram method and finite element modelling. </p> <p>In Chapter 4, the microstructures and mechanical properties of in-situ Al₃Ti particulate reinforced A356 composites are investigated. The microstructure and mechanical properties of in-situ 5 vol. % Al₃Ti/A356 composites are studied either taking account of the effects of T6 heat treatment and strontium (Sr) addition or not. Chapter 5 studies the evolution of intermetallic phases in the Al-Si-Ti alloy during solution treatment, based on the work of Chapter 4. The as-cast Al-Si-Ti alloy is solution treated at 540 °C for different periods between 0 to 72 h to understand the evolution of intermetallic phases. In Chapter 6, a three-dimensional (3D) micromechanical simulation is conducted to study the effects of particle size, fraction and distribution on the mechanical behavior of the in-situ Al₃Ti/A356 composite. The mechanical behavior of the in-situ Al₃Ti/A356 composite is studied by three-dimensional (3D) micromechanical simulation with microstructure-based Representative Volume Element (RVE) models. The effects of hot rolling and heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an in-situ TiB₂/Al2618 composite with minor Sc addition are investigated in Chapter 7. TiB₂/Al2618 composites ingots were fabricated <i>in-situ</i> via salt-melt reactions and subjected to hot rolling. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the TiB₂/Al2618 composite are investigated by considering the effects of particle volume fraction, hot rolling thickness reduction, and heat treatment. </p>

La creciente popularidad y las capacidades mejoradas de los asistentes personales inteligentes, como Google Assistant, Siri y Alexa, han permitido su aplicación en numerosos campos, algunos de los cuales son: servicio al cliente, banca y turismo. No obstante, la aplicación de estos asistentes para la capacitación y el aprendizaje de trabajadores profesionales ha sido limitada y no ha sido bien investigada.   El presente documento validará la propuesta de una solución para la capacitación continua y el aprendizaje de los visitadores médicos sobre la información de los medicamentos mediante el uso de un agente de conversación basado en la voz. Esto permitirá que los representantes de ventas farmacéuticas puedan preguntar al agente acerca de las propiedades de los medicamentos y realizar exámenes frecuentes sobre la información disponible para verificar su conocimiento. Esta validación se realizará a través del seguimiento y aplicación de una metodología de investigación centrada en las soluciones y arquitecturas existentes que brinden una base para iniciar el desarrollo del proyecto. / The increasing popularity and enhanced capabilities of intelligent personal assistants, such as Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa, have allowed them to disrupt in many fields, some of which are: customer service, banking, and tourism. Notwithstanding, the application of intelligent personal assistants for training and learning of professional workers has been limited and not well researched. This document will validate the proposal of a solution for the continuous training and learning of the medical visitors on the information of the medications using a voice-based conversation agent. This will allow pharmaceutical sales representatives to ask the agent about the properties of the drugs and conduct frequent reviews of the information available to verify their knowledge. This validation will be carried out through the monitoring and application of a research methodology focused on the existing solutions and architectures that provide a basis to start the development of the project. / Trabajo de investigación

Democratic representation is crucial in a representative democracy. To elect representatives there are several different electoral systems. In the United Kingdom a majority system, the First past the post system, is used. This study aims to investigate how the First past the post system affects the democratic representation in the British parliament. Specifically, its focus is on how the democratic representation of the British political parties is affected.  This research is carried out by conducting a case study with the British parliament and the First past the post system as the studied case. The study is done by using textual analysis as the chosen method, where various texts are used as material to be able to reach a result.  The results showed several aspects of the First past the post system that affected the democratic representation regarding political parties. It suggested that theories such as Duverger’s law are applicable to the party representation in the British parliament, indicating that the First past the post system favours a two-party system where the representation of the other parties is flawed resulting in negatively skewed democratic representation.

The subject of the thesis "Rationalization of Construction price statistics" is to outline the issue of reporting of construction activities in the Czech Republic and try to be as simple as possible for statistical purposes, if possible. From a theoretical approach for construction work price indices and their stats go over to the practical part calculation of indices. Available data from the Czech Statistical Office on price indices of building work in recent years converted in terms of weights of permanent representatives from the perspective of individual statements. The goal is, to find a satisfying combination of representatives of both methodological procedures and exclude them from the forms for reporting. This should be saved in time statistical survey of individual respondents and abridged interpretation of outputs of the Czech Statistical Office.

The presented work analyses the methodology and approach of the legislation. It presents in the press presented results of numerical modelling of the impact of vehicles crashed into barriers that are being solved in the Czech Republic and worldwide. It presents a recommendation of a methodology for assessing crash barriers. The methodology follows the basic principles used in the TP 101 and EN 1991-1-1. The kinetic energy of the vehicle at the moment of impact is replaced with substitute static force, whose effects are comparable with those of a vehicle collision. The supporting structure of crash barriers is implemented in compliance with means of statics. The calculation includes the vehicle deformation, which represents the real distribution of the energy absorbed by the deformation of the vehicle and the energy that crash barriers need to absorb. The proposed methods allow to take into account non-linear behaviour of the structure both in terms of geometry and in terms of material nonlinearity. The work also deals with the interpretation of various types of support structures in the computational model. A specific case is used for a demonstration of a way of modelling the elastic supporting column of crash barriers in the soil, or modelling the friction of a loose concrete block over the surface. To ensure the proper position of interconnected loose blocks corresponding to the reality, a method of modelling the place of a possible contact of the breakthrough is drafted. A significant contribution to the more accurate calculation is achieved by sequential increase of the load on the construction by using load increment and measurement of energy increases absorbed by the deformation in each step. The presented methodology is an effective tool to assess crash barriers. For the application of this tool, using common resources and facilities available to almost every designer dealing with statics of structures is sufficient. In conclusion, the knowledge obtained fr

Independent manufacturers' representatives (IMRs) are companies that sell products on behalf of manufacturers (principals), typically on a commission basis. IMRs offer principals specialized knowledge about product areas or markets, and they can function as attractive supplements or replacements for in-house sales units. The literature on IMRs' allocation of resources to their principals and the downstream impact on performance is underexplored. A paucity of published research exists using actual IMR sales and commission data, likely because this data is difficult to collect due to its sensitive nature. This dissertation fills this gap by exploring the influence of principals' use of sales controls, how these controls impact the psychological climate that arises between IMRs and their principals, and the downstream impact on IMRs' allocation of sales resources and the sales volumes actually produced. Furthermore, this dissertation answers the call for research on the impact of principal's use of house territories and house accounts, through the lens of the IMR. The dissertation features three essays. The purposes are: to identify gaps in existing IMR research in order to provide directions for future research in this domain; to explore the influence of the principal's sales controls on the psychological climate between the principal and IMR and the downstream impact on IMR allocation of sales resources and sales performance; and to develop theoretical and practical insights about the impact of principals' use of house accounts, i.e. customers served by an in-house sales organization, inside or outside IMRs' territories.

Since the percentage of single adults is steadily increasing, the reasons for this development have become a matter of growing interest. Hereby, an individual’s attachment style may have a connection to the partnership status. In the following analysis, attachment style, gender, age, education, and income were compared in regard to the partnership status. Furthermore, an analysis of variance was computed to compare the attachment style within different groups. In 2012, a sample of 1,676 representative participants was used. The participants were aged 18 to 60 (M = 41.0, SD = 12.3); 54% of the sample were female, and 40% were single. Attachment-related attitudes were assessed with the German version of the adult attachment scale (AAS). Single adult males did not show a more anxious attachment style than single adult females or females in relationships. Younger, i.e., 18 to 30 years old, paired individuals showed greater attachment anxiety than single individuals, whereby single individuals between the ages of 31 to 45 showed greater attachment anxiety than individuals in relationships. In addition, single individuals more frequently had obtained their high school diploma in contrast to individuals in relationships. Concerning attachment style, the individuals who had not completed their high school diploma showed less faith in others independent of singlehood or being in a relationship. Concerning age, older single individuals, i.e., 46 to 60 years, felt less comfortable in respect to closeness and showed less faith in others compared to paired individuals. Logistic regression showed that individuals were not single if they did not mind depending on others, showed high attachment anxiety, were older, and had lower education. An income below € 2000/month was linked to a nearly 13-fold increase of likelihood of being single. In sum, the attachment style had a differential age-dependent association to singlehood versus being in a relationship. Education played also a role, exclusively concerning faith in others.

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