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<p>A great variety of algebraic problems can be solved using Groebner bases, and computational commutative algebra is the branch of mathematics that focuses mainly on such problems. In this thesis we employ Buchberger's algorithm for finding Groebner bases by tailoring specialized instances of Buchberger's algorithm via code generation. We introduce a framework for meta programming and code generation in the F# programming language that removes the abstraction overhead of generic programs and produces type-safe and syntactically valid specialized instances of generic programs. Then, we discuss the concept of modularizing and decomposing the architecture of software products through a multistage design process and define what specialization of software means in the context of producing special instances. We provide a domain-specific language for the design of flexible, customizable, multistage programs. Finally, we utilize the aforementioned techniques and framework to produce a highly parametrized, abstract and generative program that finds Groebner bases based on Buchberger's original algorithm, which, given all the proper definitions and features of a specific problem in computational algebra, produces a specialized instance of a solver for this problem that can be shown to be correct and perform within the desired time complexity.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Dear visitor, reader, artist, researcher, and human being,  As I am writing this letter, allowing it to perform the role of an abstract, I am just about to graduate the Masters program in Choreography at Stockholm University of the Arts. This MA has for me, among many other things foremost been a commitment and engagement in a two-year-long collective project and research on the never-ending wonder and question of what dance and choreography can be and can do. Throughout these two years, my research has been weaving itself from behind the back and backspaces, into the deepest vulnerability and out through the relationality. From there it has weaved further out and found its way to memories and ghosts, that most often have appeared in the middle of everything and everywhere. This research made me dance every day, at home, in the streets, in the studio, on travels, behind others, in front of myself, and in the felt sense of the present moment on our planet. This research also made me make 20+ casts of human backs, write more than 100 letters, take photos, and videos, create a part of a collective ZINE, use my voice (often for others), and engage with Swedish society and its history of individualism and my experience of loneliness. I practiced with my back as my front and I engaged with my own paradox; how could a research based on relationality, backspaces, and vulnerability take shape within a solo? Would it be possible to create a solo that is also a group piece?  On May 4th and 5th 2024, the dance performance All those things left behind, for now, was performed at MDT Moderna Dansteatern in Stockholm, Sweden, as a result of this research. A solo performance in which I aimed for a dance where several bodies would take place in my body. As if my body could be shaped by other bodies in the moment of dancing. I made a solo that takes a step back and shifts its focus from forward-oriented to backward-oriented. A solo in which grief is taking place, honoring lost loved ones, as well as forgotten futures. A vulnerable solo? A solo that deals with the present moment and the fact that everything is and will always be in the process of change. A solo that delves into all of this through dancing. Because I believe in dancing. And so the letters, a format I have been engaging with as a writing practice from within my dancing practice. There are a lot of strong correlations between these two practices. They're both relational. They hold movements; close small ones as well as bigger stretches overseas. They hold time, meaning a present, past, and future. They deal with a sender and a receiver. They involve, presuppose, and evoke a relation, conjure up the other, and guide us into conversation. Just like dancing. To write, send, and receive letters is for me procedures of intimate acts, acts of care, and a wish to share. Just like dancing. The letters can hold fantasies, facts, friction, fiction, fantoms, and fantastic movements. Again, just like dancing. I find that fascinating.  I collected 50 letters, written between August 2022 and May 2024. They perform the role of an essay and documentation of my Master’s degree project. The letters are written mainly from me, but also from other beings and things, performed by me. They are addressed to living and non-living beings and bodies of materials, written from different places and dance spaces on our earth. And from times of study, movement, crisis, war, grief, labor, hope, despair, love, and joy. What’s public here on Diva is a smaller collection, which was part of the collective Zine that I and my classmates did. If you are interested in reading and viewing more, you are more than welcome to contact me.  All the best, Matilda Bilberg

The changing topology of a network is driven by the need to maintain or optimize network function. As this function is often related to moving quantities such as traffic, information, etc., efficiently through the network, the structure of the network and the dynamics on the network directly depend on the other. To model this interplay of network structure and dynamics we use the dynamics on the network, or the dynamical processes the network models, to influence the dynamics of the network structure, i.e., to determine where and when to modify the network structure. We model the dynamics on the network using Jackson network dynamics and the dynamics of the network structure using minimal specialization, a variant of the more general network growth model known as specialization. The resulting model, which we refer to as the integrated specialization model, coevolves both the structure and the dynamics of the network. We show this model produces networks with real-world properties, such as right-skewed degree distributions, sparsity, the small-world property, and non-trivial equitable partitions. Additionally, when compared to other growth models, the integrated specialization model creates networks with small diameter, minimizing distances across the network. Along with producing these structural features, this model also sequentially removes the network's largest bottlenecks. The result are networks that have both dynamic and structural features that allow quantities to more efficiently move through the network.

In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission is required to propose and adopt clawback rules. After a financial statement restatement, a clawback is utilized to recover incentive compensation that was previously paid out to a manager based on the misstatement. My study investigates financial reporting executives' (FREs) decision-making after the external auditors have proposed a restatement that will lead to a clawback. I performed a web-based experiment that was electronically distributed to sixty FRE participants (i.e., CFOs, controllers, and treasurers) and manipulated executive compensation structure (i.e., a higher percentage of total compensation based on incentives or a lower percentage of total compensation based on incentives) and auditor industry specialization (i.e., industry-specialist or non-industry specialist) in a clawback environment. I hypothesized that higher incentives or the presence of a non-specialist auditor would cause FREs to be less likely to agree with an auditor's proposed restatement, more likely to involve the external auditor's national office, and more likely to request termination of the external auditors. Further, I posited that the two factors would interact for each of the three dependent variables. As predicted, my results reveal that FREs are less likely to agree with the restatement due to loss aversion when a higher proportion of their pay is incentive-based; however, auditor specialization does act to mitigate the influence of loss aversion by increasing their likelihood to accept the restatement. Additionally, I find that FREs are highly likely to request the involvement of the national office and very unlikely to request termination of the auditors across all conditions. In consideration of the upcoming clawback rules, this is a timely study that makes important contributions. First, I find an unintended negative consequence of clawback regulation, as my results indicate that clawbacks may exacerbate aggressive financial reporting decisions by FREs during a restatement negotiation. Further, I find that specialist auditors can act as effective monitors of FREs' behaviors in a clawback environment. Last, my results provide evidence for firms regarding the influence of executive compensation structures on FREs' decision-making in a clawback setting. / Ph. D.

Racket is a modern, general-purpose programming language with a language-oriented focus. To date, Racket has found notable uses in research and education, among other applications. To expand the reach of the language, there has been a desire to develop an efficient platform for running Racket in a web-based environment. WebAssembly (Wasm) is a binary executable format for a stack-based virtual machine designed to provide a fast, efficient, and secure execution environment for code on the web. Wasm is primarily intended to be a compiler target for higher-level languages. Providing Wasm support for the Racket project may be a promising way to bring Racket to the browser. To this end, we present an incremental approach to the development of a Racket- to-Wasm compiler. We make use of an existing backend for Racket that targets a portable bytecode known as PB, along with the associated PB interpreter. We per- form an ahead-of-time static translation of sections of PB into native Wasm, linking the chunks back to the interpreter before execution. By replacing portions of PB with native Wasm, we can eliminate some portion of interpretation overhead and move closer to native Wasm support for Chez Scheme (Racket’s Backend). Due to the use of an existing backend and interpreter, our approach already supports nearly all features of the Racket language – including delimited continuations, tail-calling behavior, and garbage collection – and excluding threading and FFI support for the time being. We perform benchmarks against a baseline to validate our approach, to promising results.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Jason Bergtold / Company managers continually face challenges in the market, such as increased demand for their services and variability in the types of service requested. In addition, managers may face internal challenges during periods adjustment such as moving the company forward through a hiring freeze. In these situations, a manager must be able to allocate their scarce resources in a way to continue to perform. For employees, this could mean specializing in tasks or increasing crosstraining to improve work schedule flexibility. The objective of this research is to determine the optimal allocation of employees to tasks, given resource constraints and the need for staff flexibility, to satisfy alternative management strategies. The setting is the service industry, in particular a laboratory setting providing testing and consulting services. An optimization model was developed to incorporate key aspects of a company’s operation, and determine labor allocation among tasks, and for how many hours, to satisfy the manager’s objective. The model estimates the optimal allocation of labor and how much production and net revenues would be generated, with more specialized employees. A sensitivity analysis was employed to determine the impact of cross-training current staff. Results indicate that cross-training affords flexibility; however, the impact on overall production varies depending on the employee trained. The highest benefit is derived from training a lower-producing employee into a high value task at a high productivity rate. Specialization can help to improve productivity in net returns for higher valued tasks, but may limit flexibility, as employees cannot switch between tasks as readily.

Major changes in organizational structural paradigms have been occurring. Recent journal articles propose that the older philosophies of expanding organizations and increasing internal specialization are no longer viable means to enhance competitiveness as espoused in earlier journal articles. Downsizing, rightsizing, and business process reengineering have all been used as methods of accomplishing organizational work force reduction (OWFR) and enhancing organizational posture. It has been established that as organizations grow, specialization increases. Causes for OWFR have not been established nor have effects upon structure been studied. Previous structural factor studies have focused upon organizations engaged in end-game strategies done during periods of internal and economic growth. This study evaluates the impacts of OWFR and its relationship to the structural factor of specialization during a non-munificent economic period. Three independent variables, dis-integration, change in the number of employees, and change in technology, were used as measures to determine whether specialization decreased when organizations downsized. The dependent variable, specialization, was obtained through a pre-tested questionnaire. The three independent variables were obtained using the Compustat data base as a secondary source of information. The Compustat data was verified using data from Compact Disclosure. Questionnaires were mailed to fifty-one fully integrated oil companies. Forty were returned after three mailings yielding a response rate of seventy-eight percent. The unit of analysis for the data collected was the firm. The data were analyzed using multiple regression to determine the strength of the relationship between the variables. Results indicate a significant relationship between two of the independent variables and the dependent variable: dis-integration and specialization and change in the number of employees and specialization. Findings were insignificant for the third independent variable and the dependent variable: change in technology and specialization. Analysis of the quantitative results and the qualitative responses of the participants show that dis-integration and a change in the number of employees are both useful for measuring structural change for organizations engaged in organizational work force reduction.

The twisted-wing parasites (Strepsiptera) are an endoparasitic order of insects with cosmopolitan distribution, which are sister group of Coleoptera. There are about 600 known species up to date. Strepsiptera parasitize seven insect orders (Thysanura, Orthoptera, Blattodea, Mantodea, Hemiptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera). The family Xenidae is one of the most derived groups of Strepsiptera. Its representatives parasitize aculeate Hymenoptera of three families (Vespidae, Sphecidae, Crabronidae). In comparison to the basal groups, there are well-known hosts for genera of the family Xenidae. Therefore, this group is suitable object for study of the evolution of host specialization. Phylogeny of the family Xenidae was constructed on the basis of molecular analysis of three genes. Moreover, the mapping of ancestral host major groups and biogeographic areas was performed using two methods (parsimony, maximum likelihood). According to the results, the family Xenidae is monophyletic group with Old World origin. There were a several independent switches to the same host groups. This significantly changes the existing ideas about evolution of host specialization and requires a taxonomic revision. Within the family Xenidae, there were several cases of dispersal between the Old World and the New World. Furthermore,...

BACKGROUND: Academic training of social work students is fundamental to the development of quality workforce. Social workers have worked with drug users and their families since the formation of social work field. Due the diversity of target groups and a number of services in which social workers can act, many of them are employed in services for drug users. Education and training of social work students does not focus enough on the field of addictology. AIMS: To provide a systematic overview of the results of published research studies, dealing with university education of social workers in the field of substance abuse in Europe and the USA. To find out how the training of social workers in the field of substance abuse is organized. METHODS: The resulting product is a systematic review of scientific articles. Articles have been searched in national databases according to the specific criteria, keywords and their combinations. The target group consists of studies dealing with the university education of social workers in the field of substance abuse. The tool for managing reference (EndNote) was used for data analysis and data processing. To clarify and categorize data, PRISMA flow diagram was used. From a total of 552 studies found, 19 articles were included into the analysis as eligible. Then...