The Turkish accession to the European Union has been the most extended one that the Union has been dealing with so far. Turkey is now accepted as a candidate country but it is still in a problematic situation. Most of the EU’s member states do not share the Union’s belief that Turkey should become a full member of the Union, if they should even become a member at all. Europeanization constitutes a ground in this essay, and the “top-down” perspective within this process can give an explanation to why most EU member states have such a hesitance against Turkey.

The Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) is an international framework on sound chemicals management with the objective that “by the year 2020, chemicals are produced and used in ways that minimize significant adverse impacts on the environment and human health”. SAICM was adopted at the International Conference on Chemicals Management in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in February 2006. To prepare countries to be able to implement SAICM the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is currently running Pilot Projects in three developing countries and one county with economy in transition: Belarus, Pakistan, Tanzania and Panama. Between October and December 2007 we were doing a Minor Field Study in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, interviewing people involved in the implementation of their Pilot Project which is running from 2006-2009. Our paper consists of two parts, one descriptive and one analysing. In the first part we describe the initiation, the formulation, the implementation and the evaluation of SAICM and the Pilot Project in Tanzania and in the second part we analyse opportunities and hindrances for a successful implementation of the Pilot Project and SAICM in Tanzania. How is the UN governing the implementation, what resources of finances, knowledge, institutions and time does Tanzania have and how is the implementation influenced by different actors interests? We argue that the there is mixture of the top-down and the bottom-up models and that this mixture is fruitful, we argue that Tanzania has enough finances, knowledge and time to implement SAICM but lack institutions, and finally that the different interests are not too various to harm the process.

The dissertation thesis describes the methods of calculation of the VAT gap. VAT gap is the difference between the theoretical VAT liability in the whole economy and the accrued VAT receipts. It is expressed in relative terms to the theoretical VAT liability and it approximates the amount of the VAT evasion. The VAT gap in the Czech Republic in the years 2002 to 2010 ranges in average from 16 to 17 %. It is steadily increasing from 11 % to 26 % during the last 5 years of the relevant period. Furthermore, the thesis also analyses the determinants of the VAT gap in the EU member states in the years 2000 to 2006. The share of VAT on total tax revenues and the Tax quota were identified as main tax factors that reduce the VAT gap. On the other hand, the complexity of the VAT system, expressed by the number of VAT rates, the difference between them and the number of preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice, increases the VAT gap. Further significant factor influencing the VAT gap in the negative direction is the Corruption perception Index.

La spectrométrie de masse, initialement développée pour de petites molécules, a permis au cours de la dernière écoulée d’étudier en phase gazeuse des assemblages macro-moléculaires intacts, posant nombre de questions algorithmiques difficiles, dont trois sont étudiées dans cette thèse. La première contribution concerne la détermination de stoichiométrie (SD), et vise à trouver le nombre de copies de chaque constituant dans un assemblage. On étudie le cas où la masse cible se trouve dans un intervalle dont les bornes rendent compte des incertitudes des mesures des masses. Nous présentons un algorithme de taille mémoire constante (DIOPHANTINE), et un algorithme de complexité sensible à la sortie (DP++), plus performants que l’état de l’art, pour des masses en nombre entier ou flottant. La seconde contribution traite de l’inférence de connectivité à partir d’une liste d’oligomères dont la composition en termes de sous-unités est connue. On introduit le problème d’inférence de connectivité minimale (MCI) et présente deux algorithmes pour le résoudre. On montre aussi un accord excellent entre les contacts trouvés et ceux détermines expérimentalement. La troisième contribution aborde le problème d’inférence de connectivité de poids minimal, lorsque chaque contact potentiel a un poids reflétant sa probabilité d’occurrence. On présente en particulier un algorithme de bootstrap permettant de trouver un ensemble d’arêtes de sensitivité et spécificité meilleures que celles obtenues pour les solutions du problème MCI. / Mass spectrometry (MS), an analytical technique initially invented to deal with small molecules, has emerged over the past decade as a key approach in structural biology. The recent advances have made it possible to transfer large macromolecular assemblies into the vacuum without their dissociation, raising challenging algorithmic problems. This thesis makes contributions to three such problems. The first contribution deals with stoichiometry determination (SD), namely the problem of determining the number of copies of each subunit of an assembly, from mass measurements. We deal with the interval SD problem, where the target mass belongs to an interval accounting for mass measurement uncertainties. We present a constant memory space algorithm (DIOPHANTINE), and an output sensitive dynamic programming based algorithm (DP++), outperforming state-of-the-art methods both for integer type and float type problems. The second contribution deals with the inference of pairwise contacts between subunits, using a list of sub-complexes whose composition is known. We introduce the Minimum Connectivity Inference problem (MCI) and present two algorithms solving it. We also show an excellent agreement between the contacts reported by these algorithms and those determined experimentally. The third contribution deals with Minimum Weight Connectivity Inference (MWCI), a problem where weights on candidate edges are available, reflecting their likelihood. We present in particular a bootstrap algorithm allowing one to report a set of edges with improved sensitivity and specificity with respect to those obtaining upon solving MCI.

Parallel programming is prevalent in every field mainly to speed up computation. Advancements in multiprocessor technology fuel this trend toward parallel programming. However, modern compilers are still largely single threaded and do not take advantage of the machine resources available to them. There has been a lot of work done on compilers that add parallel constructs to the programs they are compiling, enabling programs to exploit parallelism at run time. Auto parallelization of loops by a compiler is one such example. Researchers have done very little work towards parallelizing the compilation process itself. The research done here focuses on parallel compilers that target computation speedup by parallelizing the process of program compilation during the lexical analysis and semantic analysis phase. Parallelization brings along with it issues like synchronization, concurrency and communication overhead. In the semantic analysis phase, these issues are of particular relevance during the construction of the symbol table. Research done on a concurrent compiler developed at the University of Toronto in 1991 proposed three techniques to address the generation of the symbol table [Seshadri91]. The goal here is to implement a parallel compiler using concepts from those techniques as references. The research done here will augment the work done formerly and measure the performance speedup obtained.

When integrating sustainability, companies are often overlooking the changes needed in their organisational culture. This hinders organisations’ core business to efficiently embed sustainability and dooms corporate sustainability initiatives to be superficial. A possible solution is for organisations to develop a sustainability- oriented organisational culture that engages employees with the sustainability change and that develops a leadership supportive of the engagement of their employees. As a result, this thesis aims at exploring how organisations can change their organisational culture in order to fully integrate sustainability by engaging employees and managers. Specifically, it studies how employee engagement can contribute to transforming organizational cultures to fully embed sustainability. Additionally, this paper analyses how managers can support employee engagement with sustainability. The thesis conducts a literature review to set the theoretical foundations; it further resorts to semi-structured interviews and document analysis conducted in a Swedish public company, which has begun to integrate sustainability into its culture. The study finds that organisations’ cultures are being changed at the artifact levels and, partially, at the values and beliefs level of their cultures. Additionally, the thesis establishes that organisations are failing to create the conditions for employee engagement. It finally shows that leadership in companies is not efficiently supporting the engagement of employees to integrate sustainability into their culture.

Climate change and exotic plant invasions are significant anthropogenic threats to desert community structure and resilience . In the Mojave Desert, the invasive grass red brome (Bromusrubens L) is increasing fire frequency and extent in response to climatic factors. The resilience of this ecosystem will be affected by how plant and animal communities respond to fire. To better understand these dynamics, we studied the environmental factors underlying changes in invasive grass fire regimes in the Mojave Desert and its structural and functional effects on plant and animal communities. Following fire, reestablishment of native vegetation can be preempted by repeated burning associated with the abundant exotic grass red brome. Red brome density is correlated with various climate and landscape variables, but to establish causality, we experimentally assessed germination and growth of red brome. Red brome responded positively to fall precipitation, finer-textured soils, fertile-islands soils, and soils from burned landscapes. Red brome germination is maximized in wet fall periods when adequate water and optimal temperatures overlap . To evaluate landscape responses of pre- and post-fire plant communities and the potential for repeated burning we analyzed vegetation greenness (NDVI) data from 1985-2011 in response to temperature and precipitation. Landscape analysis indicated that the dominance of exotic grasses increases on post-fire landscapes. Following wet fall and winter seasons, high red brome productivity increases fire potential. Without mitigation, the establishment of an invasive-plant-driven fire regime is likely and may drive state transitions from arid shrublands to arid annual grasslands. Potential revegetation of post-fire landscapes will depend at least in part upon the physiological response of surviving vegetation to post-fire landscapes. Plant physiological responses to post-fire landscapes were generally neutral or positive, suggesting that revegetation of post-fire landscapes is not precluded by resource loss associated with fire and may even be enhanced by post-fire conditions. This will likely translate to increased reproductive potential of surviving plants. Alterations to small mammal populations will likely play a role in the reestablishment of vegetation (both native and exotics) as small mammals have strong top-down effects in arid ecosystems. Diversity and species richness responded negatively to burned landscapes as Merriam's kangaroo rat (Dipodomys merriami) increased in abundance while other species practically disappeared from burned landscapes. Merriam's kangaroo rat affects propagule sources through direct consumption, and seed dispersal. Increases in abundance and dominance of Merriam's kangaroo rat will likely alter plant recruitment.

En el presente trabajo se realizó una evaluación de construcción de una edificación de oficinas en Lima mediante dos procesos constructivos, el tradicional con estabilización de muros anclados y cimentación de zapatas versus el Top Down con pantallas y pilotes. La misma que determinará cual es el proceso que brinda mejores resultados, evaluando las diferencias como propuesta técnica y económica. Para esta evaluación se desarrollan seis capítulos. En el capítulo número uno, se describe el plan de trabajo a seguir para llegar a los objetivos planteados. El segundo capítulo, abarca el marco teórico, en el cual se describen conceptos, procedimientos, metodología, beneficios, restricciones y aplicaciones de cada proceso en evaluación. En el tercer capítulo, se realiza un análisis descriptivo de las variables técnicas y económicas del proceso constructivo tradicional con muro anclados y cimentación tradicional versus el top down. En el cuarto capítulo, se presenta la propuesta de optimización aplicando la metodología top down para el proyecto en evaluación, en este capítulo se describe criterios de selección de proyecto, metodología, plazo y costos asociados. Además, se analiza el costo de alquiler del metro cuadrado de oficina en la zona del proyecto, para posteriormente considerar el retorno de inversión. En el quinto capítulo, se realiza un análisis descriptivo y comparativo entre las principales variables técnicas y económicas de los resultados de cada evaluación. Con ello se determina los beneficios y restricciones de cada proceso constructivo. Finalmente, en el capítulo seis se presenta conclusiones y recomendaciones según los objetivos planteados. / In the present work a construction an office building in Lima has been evaluated through two construction processes, starting with the traditional one that consist of the stabilization of anchored walls versus the Top Down constructive process with foundation piles, the same that will determine which system provides better results, as well as the evaluation of the incidences related to cost and time. For this evaluation six chapters have been developed. In the first chapter, we describe the work plan to follow in order to reach the objectives proposed. The second chapter covers the theoretical framework which consist of describing main concepts, advantages, procedures and applications of each process under evaluation. In the third chapter, a descriptive analysis of the technical and economic variables is developed according to the building process with traditional foundation and anchored walls versus the top-down. In the fourth chapter, the project under evaluation is presented based on the top-down methodology, taking into account the selection criteria, methodology, the time limit and the cost associated. In addition, the office renting cost is analyzed according the square meter of the project for a later consideration of the investment return. On the other hand, in the fifth chapter, a descriptive analysis of the results of each process is carried out and comparative result tables of the principal technical and economic variables, thereby determining the best construction alternative. Finally, in chapter six, conclusions and recommendations are presented according to the objectives set. / Tesis

Multygeneratic system is based on cooperation action of infinity count of context-free grammars. All this context free-grammars parallel and synchronous derivate individual sentential form. During generation came in each specific derivation step to checking of correction of each generated sentential forms. This checking can be made by different ways. Solution is then so-called multistring (vector of strings), so by the help of this is defined generated language.

This study aims to investigate how the choice of media form, i.e. printed format, audiobook or reading and audio combined, affect the ability of ESL students to achieve comprehension, and how different ways of asking questions can affect their comprehension ability. Lastly, the study aims to investigate the relationship between comprehension and students’ proficiency levels in their L2. To answer this question, 155 students were recruited and divided into three groups and assigned one type of media form. The quantitative data was collected through an online comprehension test and analysed. The results showed a significant difference between the media forms and revealed that printed reading was superior. However, a printed and audio combination was the most time efficient way for students to achieve comprehension, which indicates that the inclusion of audio does not impede student learning. Previous research in the same field shows that the results are inconclusive, but shares one common conclusion, that students enjoy the audio format. As a result, the educational system should make every effort to media choices for students to choose their preferred media, and more research in the field needs to be done, as students enjoyment leads to increased learning.