Currently, our world is getting more and more connected: information flows are everywhere at anytime. We are only at the beginning of the communication era. However, few want to know how those data are delivered as long as they are well delivered. Which paths they take, using optical fibres or regular copper cables, such questions do not matter for end-customers. As a part of a telecommunication company, these questions do really matter. As networks become increasingly complex, it is significant to keep them under control and make them reliable to deliver high-quality services to users. One of our main problems is how to get a representation of this network. More precisely how to get a relevant image of elements that compose this huge web and what points are significant in order to increase the quality of offered services. This thesis will try to answer these questions.

Design of complex protein folds requires complete understanding of the stereochemical principles that govern polypeptide chain folding. Extensive studies on design and synthesis of specific secondary structures like β-helices, β -sheets and hairpins have taught us that the unnatural amino acid aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) can be successfully employed for helix nucleation and tight turns of appropriate stereochemistry are facilitated by the use of DPro-Xxx sequences. Availability of such rigid secondary structure scaffolds therefore permits the design of synthetic peptides that can be used as models for investigation of tertiary interactions, primarily that of aromatic residues. Chapter 1 summarizes the present knowledge of peptide design using non-protein amino acids. The chapter also details the unique features of aromatic amino acids, especially tryptophan, and their employment as secondary structure stabilizing elements. Chapters 2-7 contain detailed descriptions of the work carried out on design, synthesis, and structural characterization of designed peptides containing aromatic amino acids. In Chapter 2, the use of aromatic pairs in strand segments of peptide hairpins has been discussed with the results clearly indicating that aromatic interactions at the non-hydrogen bonding position of peptide hairpins contribute to structure stability. In Chapter 3, accommodation of the Leu-Trp-Val segment in helical scaffolds the role of Trp residues in crystallization has been discussed. Chapter 4 outlines the influence of a large number of Trp residues on the preferred backbone conformation, with the studies clearly indicating a preference for helical scaffolds in small peptides. The role of Trp residues at turn regions of peptide hairpins has been discussed in Chapter 5, using examples from both synthetic peptides and from natural peptides containing Pro-Trp segments. The studies suggest that the Pro-Trp segments serve as helix nucleators and disrupt formation of peptide hairpins. The results of this study have been further extended to Conus monile peptides, discussed in Chapter 6. The studies also suggest the role of an aromatic-Pro segment on the cis-trans isomerization of the Xxx-Pro tertiary amide unit. Chapter 7 discusses the contribution of a Cys-His vs Tyr-His pair on strand segment stability in diproline nucleated peptide hairpins. Chapter 8 summarizes the key findings of the work. Chapter 9 lists the references cited in the thesis and the Appendix chapter provides details of experimental techniques used in the study.β

The end-member types of shallow magmatic intrusions comprise cone sheets and dykes. These propagate from their source magma chamber towards the Earth’s surface. The propagation of magma within the shallow part of the volcano plumbing system produces surface deformation and seismicity, signs of volcanic unrest. Studying surface displacement using GPS and InSAR, geodetic modelling, fitting modelled data to real displacements, and inversion is regularly used to understand the processes in the subsurface. There is no possibility in nature to validate the assumptions of these models. However, using analogue modelling, it is possible to reproduce cone sheets and dykes in a controlled environment and study the associated surface deformation. This thesis tests the hypothesis that the two end-member types of magmatic sheet intrusions produce specific patterns of surface deformation. The analogue model surface is documented using two different monitoring setups: moiré monitoring and photogrammetry. The moiré method (dataset 1) consists of 43 experiments, 19 of which were dykes, 22 were cone sheets, and 2 were classified as hybrids. Photo- grammetry (dataset 2) was applied in 8 experiments, 3 of which produced cone sheets and 5 dykes. Dataset 1 successfully identified surface deformation patterns specific to the two intrusion types. Cone sheets develop in a gradual linear fashion, while the dykes exhibit a two-phase behaviour. The first phase shows little deformation until about halfway through the experiment duration when rapid deformation starts to occur. The point of maximum uplift, in both intrusion types, indicates the area of eruption from an early stage. Dataset 2 primarily evaluated the benefits of using the photogrammetric method. It successfully resolved horizontal components of displacement making it possible to study brittle defor- mation. As Dataset 2 consists of a limited amount of experiments, the results cannot be considered conclusive. However, they indicate that characteristic patterns of brittle deformation exist for the two types. Future improvements in this field include studying effects of topography and anisotropy on the surface deformation of the analogue models. Improvements in temporal and spatial resolution in the monitoring methods used to study surface displacement in nature is needed to perform analyses, similar to the ones presented here, on real surface deformation. The misfit of the surface deformation seen in numerical models compared to analogue models indicate that sheet intrusion propagation is not yet fully understood. / När magma rör sig från magmakammare mot jordytan i den ytliga delen av det underjordiska system av magma som finns under vulkaner, bildas ytdeformation. Genom att studera ytdeformationen med hjälp av GPS och InSAR samt numerisk modellering försöker forskare förstå dessa underjordiska processer för att förutspå framtida utbrott. Dessvärre finns ingen möjlighet att undersöka huruvida dessa numeriska modeller faktiskt överensstämmer med naturen. I gamla utdöda vulkaner som eroderats ner kan man se vulkanens inre där det finns stelnade, magmafyllda sprickor, så kallade gångar. Tyvärr ger detta dock ingen inblick i hur gångarnas bildning återspeglades i ytan. Detta kan man undersöka med hjälp av analoga modeller där det är möjligt att skapa likartade intrusioner i en kontrollerad labb-miljö och studera den tillhörande ytdeformationen. Denna avhandling undersöker hypotesen att de två huvudsakliga typerna av ytliga magmatiska gångar skapar specifika identifierbara mönster av ytdeformation. Detta testas genom att dokumentera den analoga modellens yta alltjämt som intrusionerna bildas med hjälp av två olika övervaknings- metoder. Den första metoden lyckades identifiera mönster som är specifika för de två olika typerna. Den högsta punkten på den deformerade ytan kan användas för att förutspå den plats där framtida utbrott kommer att ske i båda typerna. Den andra metoden lyckades urskilja dem horisontella komponenterna av förskjutning som gör det möjligt att studera den spröda deformation som utvecklas på ytan. Resultaten tyder på att karakteristiska mönster av spröd deformation existerar för de två typerna. För att förbättra de analoga modellerna måste man undersöka hur en mer topografiskt varierad yta påverkar den bildade deformation samt en skorpa som inte är helt homogen. Vid jämförelse mellan numeriska modeller och analoga modeller sågs en stor skillnad som tyder på att vi ännu inte förstår hur magma rör sig genom jordskorpan. Framtida användning av analyserna presenterade i denna avhandling kräver en förbättring av upplösningen på systemen som används till vulkanövervakning i naturen.

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Fretting, which can occur when two bodies in contact undergo a low amplitude relative slip, can drastically reduce the fatigue performance of a material. The extent of fretting damage is dependent on the material combination and is affected by many parameters, making it difficult to design against fretting. Some of these parameters include contact force, displacement amplitude, and contacting materials. This work develops a method for quantifying the extent of damage from fretting as a function of these parameters for a thin sheet of AISI 301 stainless steel in the full hard condition in contact with both ANSI A356 aluminum and AISI 52100 steel contacting bodies. Fretting experiments were conducted on a Phoenix Tribology DN55 Fretting Machine using a fixture which was developed for holding thin specimens. The displacement amplitude and normal force were systematically varied in order to cover a range that could typically be experienced during service. The tribological behavior was studied by analyzing friction force during cycling and inspecting the resulting surface characteristics. Fretting damaged specimens were cycled in tension in a servohydraulic test system to failure. The decrease in fatigue life caused by fretting damage was determined by comparing the stress-life (S-N) response of the fretted specimens to the S-N response of the virgin material, thus characterizing the severity of the fretting damage. The conditions that lead to the greatest reduction in life were identified in this way. Using the fracture mechanics based NASGRO model, an Equivalent Initial Flaw Size (EIFS) was used to quantify the level of fretting damage, thus separating the life of the component into crack nucleation and subsequent propagation. This method and data will allow engineers to design more robust components that resist fretting damage, thus increasing the safety and reliability of the system.

Information uncertainty is inherent in many real-world problems and adds a layer of complexity to modeling and visualization tasks. This often causes users to ignore uncertainty, especially when it comes to visualization, thereby discarding valuable knowledge. A coherent framework for the modeling and visualization of information uncertainty is needed to address this issue In this work, we have identified four major barriers to the uptake of uncertainty modeling and visualization. Firstly, there are numerous uncertainty modeling tech- niques and users are required to anticipate their uncertainty needs before building their data model. Secondly, parameters of uncertainty tend to be treated at the same level as variables making it easy to introduce avoidable errors. This causes the uncertainty technique to dictate the structure of the data model. Thirdly, propagation of uncertainty information must be manually managed. This requires user expertise, is error prone, and can be tedious. Finally, uncertainty visualization techniques tend to be developed for particular uncertainty types, making them largely incompatible with other forms of uncertainty information. This narrows the choice of visualization techniques and results in a tendency for ad hoc uncertainty visualization. The aim of this thesis is to present an integrated information uncertainty modeling and visualization environment that has the following main features: information and its uncertainty are encapsulated into atomic variables, the propagation of uncertainty is automated, and visual mappings are abstracted from the uncertainty information data type. Spreadsheets have previously been shown to be well suited as an approach to visu- alization. In this thesis, we devise a new paradigm extending the traditional spreadsheet to intrinsically support information uncertainty.Our approach is to design a framework that integrates uncertainty modeling tech- niques into a hierarchical order based on levels of detail. The uncertainty information is encapsulated and treated as a unit allowing users to think of their data model in terms of the variables instead of the uncertainty details. The system is intrinsically aware of the encapsulated uncertainty and is therefore able to automatically select appropriate uncertainty propagation methods. A user-objectives based approach to uncertainty visualization is developed to guide the visual mapping of abstracted uncertainty information. Two main abstractions of uncertainty information are explored for the purpose of visual mapping: the Unified Uncertainty Model and the Dual Uncertainty Model. The Unified Uncertainty Model provides a single view of uncertainty for visual mapping, whereas the Dual Uncertainty Model distinguishes between possibilistic and probabilistic views. Such abstractions provide a buffer between the visual mappings and the uncertainty type of the underly- ing data, enabling the user to change the uncertainty detail without causing the visual- ization to fail. Two main case studies are presented. The first case study covers exploratory and forecasting tasks in a business planning context. The second case study inves- tigates sensitivity analysis for financial decision support. Two minor case studies are also included: one to investigate the relevancy visualization objective applied to busi- ness process specifications, and the second to explore the extensibility of the system through General Purpose Graphics Processor Unit (GPGPU) use. A quantitative anal- ysis compares our approach to traditional analytical and numerical spreadsheet-based approaches. Two surveys were conducted to gain feedback on the from potential users. The significance of this work is that we reduce barriers to uncertainty modeling and visualization in three ways. Users do not need a mathematical understanding of the uncertainty modeling technique to use it; uncertainty information is easily added, changed, or removed at any stage of the process; and uncertainty visualizations can be built independently of the uncertainty modeling technique.

Thesis (Master').

The goal of my diploma thesisis to create a set of tasks for education at basic school. This thesis is especially focused on realization of tasks from practice.In theoretical part I deal with complex of inter-subject relations between described branches in this work, computer support, selection of 3D CAD programmes at basic school with regard to price availability and technical designing (drawing). The practical part is focused on working papers. This part allows the construction of product using the calculation of word task. This calculation makes theimage about that product easier and allows creation of model in the CAD programme and the final production. This thesis is checked up by pupils in ninth degree of basic school. The fundamental part of this work forms appendix of working papers, which are prepared for education. I consider the approachof solving the tasks for pupils at second degree of basic school to be innovative.

The aim of the thesis was to compare the teaching of financial literacy at the lower secondary schools and lower grammar school degree. Comparison has shown the inconsistency of financial literacy teaching and the need to address the situation. One of the suggestions for improving financial literacy education is the creation of a set of worksheets based on the framework educational programs for basic education according to standards of financial literacy for lower secondary schools and lower grammar school.

The Thesis "Experiments with simple aids in teaching physics at primary schools" sums up the issue of the use of the experiments in the environment at the elementary school. The focus is on the creation of the undemanding experiments and their downstream work sheets for teaching physics on the second stage. The aids used in experiments are integrated in the set - the case. The work is based on the experience from practical activities - integration of specific experiments in two selected subjects in teaching physics.