This cumulative dissertation includes three papers and one teaching case study. Together, they focus on topics highlighting the distinctiveness of family firms and new ventures. While the first paper analyzes the academic debate over the familiness concept in family firm research, the second paper focuses on explaining the unique relational dynamics between family and non-family managers in top management teams. The third paper aims to derive design designs for family firm specific corporate accelerators. The teaching case study shows how a growing new venture may strike a balance between coping with increasing organizational complexity and maintaining its distinct entrepreneurial spirit.

Title: Electroweak symmetry breaking by dynamically generated masses of quarks and leptons Author: Adam Smetana Department: Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University Supervisor: Ing. Jiří Hošek, DrSc., Department of Theoretical Physics, Nuclear Physics Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Abstract: The aim of the thesis is to study models of the electroweak symmetry breaking caused by dynamically generated masses of quarks and lep- tons. (1) We perform the basic analysis whether the main underlying idea, that the masses of only known fermions can provide the elec- troweak symmetry breaking, is actually feasible. For that we elaborate a two-composite-Higgs-doublet model of the top-quark and neutrino condensation. The model suggests rather large number, O(100), of right-handed neutrinos. (2) We analyze the model of strong Yukawa dynamics where the dynamical fermion mass generation is provided by exchanges of new elementary massive complex doublet scalar fields. We focus on solving the coupled Schwinger-Dyson equations for fermion and scalar self-energies by means of approximative methods. We doc- ument that strongly hierarchical mass spectra can be reproduced. (3) We elaborate the flavor gauge model where the dynamical fermion mass...

The diploma thesis Europeanisation of Municipalities in the Czech Republic deals with the effects of membership in the European Union on the administrative structures of selected municipalities. This is a comparative case study of municipalities of various sizes and significance, namely the capital city of Prague, the statutory city of Pilsen and the city with extended powers Pisek. The aim of the thesis is to clarify which institutions in these municipalities manage the European agenda. The thesis follows three dimensions of the concept of Europeanisation (top-down; bottom-up and horizontal), which allows us to observe this issue from different angles. Research questions follow the logic of these three dimensions and the last research question focuses on comparing the Europeanisation of selected municipalities and identifying differences based on their size. The main source of the information was interviews with officials and politicians responsible for the European agenda in selected municipalities. The results of the work confirm the theoretical assumption that the size of municipalities has a significant impact on the management of the EU agenda. Financial and administrative capacities, the setting of European funds for the given city and the opinions of local political elites play the role...

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Entity augmentation is a query type in which, given a set of entities and a large corpus of possible data sources, the values of a missing attribute are to be retrieved. State of the art methods return a single result that, to cover all queried entities, is fused from a potentially large set of data sources. We argue that queries on large corpora of heterogeneous sources using information retrieval and automatic schema matching methods can not easily return a single result that the user can trust, especially if the result is composed from a large number of sources that user has to verify manually. We therefore propose to process these queries in a Top-k fashion, in which the system produces multiple minimal consistent solutions from which the user can choose to resolve the uncertainty of the data sources and methods used. In this paper, we introduce and formalize the problem of consistent, multi-solution set covering, and present algorithms based on a greedy and a genetic optimization approach. We then apply these algorithms to Web table-based entity augmentation. The publication further includes a Web table corpus with 100M tables, and a Web table retrieval and matching system in which these algorithms are implemented. Our experiments show that the consistency and minimality of the augmentation results can be improved using our set covering approach, without loss of precision or coverage and while producing multiple alternative query results.

Wahrnehmung ist kein vollständig durch sensorische Reize determinierter bottom-up Prozeß, sondern wird stark beeinflußt durch von diesen Reizen unabhängige top-down Prozesse wie etwa Aufmerksamkeit oder Erwartungen. Welche neuronalen Mechanismen liegen der Integration von bottom-up und top-down gerichteter Verarbeitung sensorischer Information zu Grunde? Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit wurde diese Frage an Hand von Simulationen eines neuronales Netzwerks zweier vereinfachter kortikaler Areale untersucht. Dieses Netzwerk berücksichtigt hierbei jüngste zellphysiologische Befunde über die stark asymmetrischen funktionellen Eigenschaften kortikaler Neurone. Das simulierte Netzwerk repliziert zentrale neurophysiologische Befunde: 1) Top-down Signale erhöhen die Feuerraten der Neurone sowohl in einem hierarchisch hohen als auch tiefen kortikalen Areal. 2) Durch selektive top-down Signale wird die Verarbeitung simultaner Reize zu Gunsten eines faszilitierten Reizes moduliert. 3) Durch die reziproke Netzwerkarchitektur kommt es zu einem bidirektionalen Informationsfluß zwischen Arealen. Diese kooperative Verarbeitung bedingt gemeinsam mit einer nichtlinearen somato-dendritischen Interaktion neuronale Salvenentladungen, die ein hohes Signal-Rausch-Verhältnis aufweisen. Das simulierte Netzwerk demonstriert, welche zentrale Rolle die komplexen nichtlinearen Eigenschaften kortikaler Neurone bei der Integration bottom-up und top-down gerichteter Verarbeitung sensorischer Information spielen. Im Mittelpunkt der im zweiten Abschnitt vorgestellten experimentellen Studie steht die hochfrequente Synchronisation neuronaler Aktivität. Das große neurowissenschaftliche Interesse an der zeitlichen Struktur neuronaler Aktivität liegt insbesondere in der kontrovers diskutierten Hypothese eines „Synchronisationscodes“ begründet, gemäß welcher Information nicht nur durch die Feuerraten kortikaler Neurone, sondern auch durch die Synchronisation der Aktionspotentiale einer Neuronenpopulation codiert wird. Finden sich solche Synchronisationsphänomene in wachen, sich unter möglichst natürlichen Bedingungen verhaltenden Tieren wieder? Sind diese Synchronisationen selektiv für Eigenschaften des Reizes? Gelingt es, an Hand eines objektiven Kriteriums ein funktionelles Frequenzband neuronaler Synchronisation zu definieren? Diese Fragestellungen wurden mittels chronischer extrazellulärer Ableitungen im primären visuellen Kortex wacher, sich verhaltender Katzen untersucht: 1) Visuelle Stimulation induziert einen breitbandigen hochfrequenten Anstieg neuronaler Synchronisation. 2) Diese Synchronisation ist selektiv für die Orientierung visueller Reize. 3) Durch Analyse dieser Stimulusselektivität kann ein funktionelles Band neuronaler Synchronisation von etwa 45 Hz bis 120 Hz definiert werden. Diese Untersuchungen an wachen, sich unter vergleichsweise natürlichen Bedingungen verhaltenden Tieren demonstrieren eine überraschend breite Frequenzverteilung neuronaler Synchronisation, die im hochfrequenten Bereich weit über die üblicherweise untersuchten Frequenzbänder hinausreicht. Diese Befunde sprechen gegen die Hypothese hochfrequenter kortikaler Synchronisation als einem schmalbandigen statischen Phänomen. / Sensory perception is not purely a bottom-up process determined only by sensory stimuli, but is strongly dependent on top-down factors such as attention or expectations.Which neuronal mechanisms underlie the integration of bottom-up and top-down directed processing of sensory information? In the first part of this study this question was addressed by numerical simulations of a neural network model of two simplified cortical areas. The simulated network takes into account recent findings concerning the pronounced functional asymmetry of cortical neurons.The network replicates several important neurophysiological findings: 1) Top-down signals enhance firing rates in hierarchically high and low cortical areas. 2) The processing of two competing stimuli is biased towards one stimulus by selective top-down signals. 3) The reciprocal network architecture results in a bidirectional flow of information. Together with the implemented non-linear somato-dendritic interaction this leads to neuronal bursting behaviour with a high signal to noise ratio. The simulated network demonstrates the critical role of the complex non-linear properties of cortical neurons for the integration of bottom-up and top-down directed sensory processing. The central question of the second part of this study is the functional role of high-frequency synchronization of neuronal activity. The strong interest in the temporal dynamics of neuronal activity is particularly due to the hypothesis of a “synchronization-code” according to which information is not solely encoded by firing rates but also by the synchronization of neuronal ensembles. Is such synchronization observed in awake animals behaving under natural conditions? Are these synchronizations stimulus selective? Is it possible to define a functional frequency band of synchronization based on an objective criterion? These questions were addressed by chronic extracellular recordings of neuronal activity in primary visual cortex of awake behaving cats: 1) Visual stimulation induces neuronal synchronization in a broad and high frequency range. 2) This synchronization is selective for the orientation of a visual stimulus. 3) By analyzing the stimulus selectivity of synchronization a functional band of neuronal synchronization can be defined from about 45 to 120 Hz. These results from animals behaving under natural conditions show a surprisingly broad spectral distribution of synchronization that extends well beyond typically investigated frequency ranges. These results cast doubt on the hypothesis of cortical high-frequency synchronizations as a spectrally sharp and static phenomenon.

Hochenergiephysikanalysen zielen darauf ab, das Standardmodell—die gemeinhin akzeptierte Theorie—zu testen. Für überzeugende Schlüsse, sind Analysemethoden nötig, welche einen eindeutigen Vergleich zwischen Daten und Theorie ermöglichen und zuverlässige Abschätzung der Unsicherheiten erlauben. Die Matrixelement-Methode (MEM) ist eine Maximum-Likelihood-Methode, welche speziell auf Signalsuche und Parameterschätzung an Beschleunigern zugeschnitten ist. Die MEM hat sich durch optimale Nutzung vorhandener Information und sauberer statistischer Interpretation der Ergebnisse als vorteilhaft erwiesen. Sie hat jedoch einen großen Nachteil: In der Originalformulierung ist die Berechnung der Likelihood intrinsisch auf die erste störungstheoretische Ordnung in der Kopplung limitiert. Höhere Ordnungskorrekturen verbessern die Genauigkeit theoretischer Vorhersagen und erlauben eindeutige feldtheoretische Interpretation der gewonnen Informationen. In dieser Arbeit wird erstmalig die MEM unter Einbezug der Korrekturen der nächstführenden Ordnung (NLO) der QCD-Kopplung durch Definition von Ereignisgewichten für die Berechnung der Likelihood präsentiert. Diese Gewichte ermöglichen auch die Erzeugung ungewichteter Ereignisse, welche dem in NLO-Genauigkeit berechneten Wirkungsquerschnitt folgen. Der Methode wird anhand von Top-Quark-Ereignissen veranschaulicht. Die Top-Quark-Masse wird aus den erzeugten Ereignissen mithilfe der MEM in NLO-Genauigkeit bestimmt. Die erhaltenen Schätzer stimmen mit den Eingabewerten aus der Ereigniserzeugung überein. Wiederholung der Massenbestimmung aus denselben Ereignissen, ohne NLO-Korrekturen in den Vorhersagen, führt zu verfälschten Schätzern. Diese Verschiebungen werden nicht durch abgeschätzte theoretische Unsicherheiten berücksichtigt, was die Abschätzung der theoretischen Unsicherheiten der Analyse in führender Ordnung unzuverlässig macht. Die Resultate unterstreichen die Wichtigkeit der Berücksichtigung von NLO-Korrekturen in der MEM. / Analyses in high energy physics aim to put the Standard Model—the commonly accepted theory—to test. For convincing conclusions, analysis methods are needed which offer an unambiguous comparison between data and theory while allowing reliable estimates of uncertainties. The Matrix Element Method (MEM) is a Maximum Likelihood method which is especially tailored for signal searches and parameter estimation at colliders. The MEM has proven to be beneficial due to optimal use of the available information and a clean statistical interpretation of the results. But it has a big drawback: In its original formulation, the likelihood calculation is intrinsically limited to the leading perturbative order in the coupling. Higher-order corrections improve the accuracy of theoretical predictions and allow for unambiguous field-theoretical interpretation of the extracted information. In this work, the MEM incorporating corrections of next-to-leading order (NLO) in QCD by defining event weights suited for the likelihood calculation is presented for the first time. These weights also enable the generation of unweighted events following the cross section calculated at NLO accuracy. The method is demonstrated for top-quark events. The top-quark mass is determined with the MEM at NLO accuracy from the generated events. The extracted estimators are in agreement with the input values from the event generation. Repeating the mass determinations from the same events, without NLO corrections in the predictions, results in biased estimators. These shifts may not be accounted for by estimated theoretical uncertainties rendering the estimation of the theoretical uncertainties unreliable in the leading-order analysis. The results emphasise the importance of the inclusion of NLO corrections into the MEM.

Das Top-Quark ist das schwerste bekannte Elementarteilchen. Im Standardmodell (SM) der Elementarteilchenphysik ist die Erzeugung in Paaren durch die starke Wechselwirkung der dominante Beitrag zu seiner Produktion. Top-Quarks können durch die schwache Wechselwirkung ebenfalls einzeln produziert werden. Die Einzelproduktion ist trotz ihres schwierigen experimentellen Nachweises wegen ihrer Komplementarität zur Paarproduktion interessant. So sind einzeln produzierte Top-Quarks stark polarisiert. Diese Polarisation führt wegen des Zerfalls von Top-Quarks vor ihrer Hadronisierung zu experimentell zugänglichen Auswirkungen auf die Zerfallsprodukte. Weiterhin erlaubt die Beteiligung von Bottom-Quarks im Anfangszustand die Untersuchung der zugehörigen Partonverteilungsfunktion. In dieser Arbeit werden für phänomenologische Vorhersagen Wirkungsquerschnitte für die Produktion einzelner Top-Quarks oder Top-Antiquarks in Assoziation mit zwei Jets im SM berechnet. Dabei werden die Korrekturen in der nächstführenden Ordnung der Quantenchromodynamik (QCD) berücksichtigt. Diese Korrekturen bilden den wichtigsten Beitrag jenseits der führenden Ordnung zur Verbesserung der theoretischen Vorhersage. Präzise theoretische Vorhersagen für Wirkungsquerschnitte sind für die Suche nach Physik jenseits des SM mit dem Large Hadron Collider am CERN unerlässlich. Im Unterschied zu den im Jahr 2002 veröffentlichten Korrekturen in der QCD zur Produktion einzelner Top-Quarks wurde ein zusätzliches Teilchen im Endzustand berücksichtigt. Als Folge treten neue partonische Anfangszustände und Beiträge mit Farbaustausch zwischen den Quark-Linien auf. Da Top-Quarks nach kurzer Zeit in ein W-Boson und ein Bottom-Quark zerfallen, muss zugleich eine konsistente Abgrenzung von der Produktion einzelner Top-Quarks in Assoziation mit einem W-Boson und von der Paarproduktion vorgenommen werden. / The top quark is the heaviest known elementary particle. In the standard model (SM) of elementary particle physics it is produced predominantly in pairs by the strong interaction. The weak interaction enables the production of single top-quarks as well. Despite its difficult experimental signature, the production of single top-quarks is interesting as it is complementary to the production of pairs. For instance single top-quarks are highly polarized. As top quarks decay before they hadronize, the polarization affects the decay products of the top quark in an experimentally accessible way. Furthermore, the participation of bottom-quarks in the initial state allows a study of the corresponding parton distribution functions. This thesis makes phenomenological predictions for the SM by calculating cross sections for the production of single top-quarks in association with two jets. Next-to-leading order corrections in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) are taken into account. These corrections are the most important contribution for precise predictions beyond the leading order calculation. Precise theoretical predictions for cross sections are mandatory for the search for new physics at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. In contrast to the QCD corrections for the production of single top-quarks published in 2002 an additional particle in the final state was taken into account. As a consequence, new partonic initial states and contributions with exchange of color charge between the quark lines occur. As top quarks decay rapidly into a W boson and a bottom quark, a consistent separation from the production of top quark pairs and from the production of single top-quarks in association with a W boson must be ensured.

Da Gama Textiles, based in the Eastern Cape has seen its sales of Jacquard products being affected in recent years by cheaper imported products. A study was required to enable its senior management to develop a branding strategy for its Jacquard products. In addition, senior managers required information about how to take advantage of the 2010 World Cup. Data collection was conducted in July to September 2009, using two population groups. The first one was bed and breakfast managers in KwaZulu-Natal, with the second one being top ten Jacquard customers by volume in South Africa. Results showed that awareness levels for Da Gama’s Jacquard products are low, although more than half of respondents would be willing to receive literature from Da Gama in the future relating to Jacquard products. Among the top ten customers, loyalty levels were found to be high, however customers were not satisfied with Da Gama’s price levels and felt that designs and delivery lead times could be improved. A suggested branding strategy was drafted, targeting both population groups. A strategy to build brand awareness and brand loyalty levels was suggested for bed and breakfast managers, while a strategy to improve brand loyalty levels was suggested for the top ten customers. / Business Administration / M. Tech. (Business Administration)

It is of paramount importance to our society that the environment, life style, science and amusement flourish together in a balanced way. Some trends in this direction are the increased utilization of renewable energy, like solar photovoltaics; better health care products, for example advanced biosensors; high definition TV or high resolution cameras; and novel scientific tools for better understanding of scientific observations. Advancement of micro and nanotechnologies has directly and positively impacted our stance in these application domains; one example is that of vertical periodic or aperiodic nano or micro pillar assemblies which have attracted significant research and industrial interest in recent years. In particular, Si pillars are very attractive due to the versatility of silicon. There are many potential applications of Si nanopillar/nanowire assemblies ranging from light emission, solar cells, antireflection, sensing and nonlinear optical effects. Compared to bulk, Si pillars or their assemblies have several unique properties, such as high surface to volume ratios, light localization, efficient light guiding, better light absorption, selective band of light propagation etc.      The focus of the thesis is on the fabrication of Si pillar assemblies and hierarchical ZnO nanowires on Si micro structures in top-down and bottom-up approaches and their optical properties and different applications. Here, we have investigated periodic and aperiodic Si nano and micro structure assemblies and their properties, such as light propagation, localization, and selective guiding and light-matter interaction. These properties are exploited in a few important optoelectronic/photonic applications, such as optical biosensors, broad-band anti-reflection, radial-junction solar cells, second harmonic generation and color filters.         We achieved a low average reflectivity of ~ 2.5 % with the periodic Si micropyramid-ZnO NWs hierarchical arrays. Tenfold enhancement in Raman intensity is also observed in these structures compared to planar Si. These Si microstructure-ZnO NW hierarchical structures can enhance the performance and versatility of photovoltaic devices and optical sensors. A convenient top-down fabrication of radial junction nanopillar solar cell using spin-on doping and rapid thermal annealing process is presented. Broad band suppressed reflection, on average 5%, in 300- 850 nm wavelength range and an un-optimized cell efficiency of 6.2 % are achieved. Our method can lead to a simple and low cost process for high efficiency radial junction nanopillar solar cell fabrication.            Silicon dioxide (SiO2) coated silicon nanopillar (NP) arrays are demonstrated for surface sensitive optical biosensing. Bovine serum albumin (BSA)/anti-BSA model system is used for biosensing trials by photo-spectrometry in reflection mode. Best sensitivity in terms of limit of detection of 5.2 ng/ml is determined for our nanopillar biosensor. These results are promising for surface sensitive biosensors and the technology allows integration in the CMOS platform.         Si pillar arrays used for surface second harmonic generation (SHG) experiments are shown to have a strong dependence of the SHG intensity on the pillar geometry. The surface SHG can be suitable for nonlinear silicon photonics, surface/interface studies and optical sensing.         Aperiodic Si nanopillar assemblies in PDMS matrix are demonstrated for efficient color filtering in transmission mode. These assemblies are designed using the ‘‘molecular dynamics-collision between hard sphere’’ algorithm. The designed structure is modeled in a 3D finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation tool for optimization of color filtering properties. Transverse localization effect of light in our nanopillar color filter structures is investigated theoretically and the results are very promising to achieve image sensors with high pixel densities (~1 µm) and low crosstalk. The developed color filter is applicable as a stand-alone filter for visible color in its present form and can be adapted for displays, imaging, smart windows and aesthetic applications. / <p>QC 20160407</p>