Finite-difference models have been used for nearly 40 years to solve electromagnetic problems of heterogeneous nature. Further, these techniques are well known for being computationally expensive, as well as subject to various numerical artifacts. However, little is yet understood about the errors arising in the simulation of wideband sources with the finitedifference time-domain (FDTD) method. Within this context, the focus of this thesis is on two different problems. On the one hand, the speed and accuracy of current FDTD implementations is analysed and increased. On the other hand, the distortion of numerical pulses is characterised and mitigation techniques proposed. In addition, recent developments in general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) have unveiled new methods for the efficient implementation of FDTD algorithms. Therefore, this thesis proposes specific GPU-based guidelines for the implementation of the standard FDTD. Then, metaheuristics are used for the calibration of a FDTD-based narrowband simulator. Regarding the simulation of wideband sources, this thesis uses first Lagrange multipliers to characterise the extrema of the numerical group velocity. Then, the spread of numerical Gaussian pulses is characterised analytically in terms of the FDTD grid parameters. The usefulness of the proposed solutions to the previously described problems is illustrated in this thesis using coverage and wideband predictions in large-scale scenarios. In particular, the indoor-to-outdoor radio channel in residential areas is studied. Furthermore, coverage and wideband measurements have also been used to validate the predictions. As a result of all the above, this thesis introduces first an efficient and accurate FDTD simulator. Then, it characterises analytically the propagation of numerical pulses. Finally, the narrowband and wideband indoorto-outdoor channels are modeled using the developed techniques.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the concept of collective behavior from different theoretical perspectives and the policy implications they imply for the Turkish Riot Police Units. The civil disturbances in the 1960s have clearly illustrated range of problems in the domain of crowd control. This work will start with the general characteristics and the classification of collective behavior. Second, two main perspectives on collective behavior, which are the structuralist and the interactionist perspectives, will be examined respectively. The question will be asked whether these two perspectives efficiently and effectively explain the crowds and the crowd control. Finally, the other factors in crowd control will be explored, and recommendations concerning the handling of crowds in a more peaceful manner will be made.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1995 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / GPS user equipment has matured and is now available to support the use of live players in integrated ranges and simulations. P-code GPS provides true WGS-84 based coordinate information anywhere in the world at any time and to accuracies at the 5 ft (1s) level (demonstrated in high dynamic aircraft using differential P-code GPS). C/A code GPS shows lower accuracy and is especially vulnerable to multipath degradation over water. In supporting networked ranges with simulations, GPS is directly applicable to the dead reckoning requirements of the Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) community. DIS dead reckoning provides the capability of much reduced data rates in recovering TSPI information from platforms. The on-board state vector for an integrated GPS/Inertial Reference Unit provides accurate position, velocity and acceleration as well as attitude and attitude rate information so that dead reckoning thresholds can be both position and attitude driven. A simplified analysis is presented in the paper to derive dead reckoning update rates from the G loading levels of various player dynamics. Also, information is provided which results in word length requirements for GPS-based state vector information for transmission over minimum word length DIS Field Instrumentation Protocol Data Units (PDUs, which are the data block formats). The coordinate frame problem in use of GPS-based state vector information from fixed ranges is also addressed, showing that the use of a local geodetic frame is preferable to the use of an earth centered earth fixed frame, in that it is more efficient of network PDU word length.

Background: Hospitals face an increasing pressure towards efficiency and cost reduction while ensuring patient safety. This warrants a closer examination of the trade-off between production and protection posited in the literature for a high-risk hospital setting (intensive care). Purposes: Based on extant literature and concepts on both safety management and organizational/safety culture, this study investigates to which extent production pressure (i.e., increased staff workload and capacity utilization) and safety culture (consisting of safety climate among staff and safety tools implemented by management) influence the occurrence of medical errors and if/how safety climate and safety tools interact. Methodology / Approach: A prospective, observational, 48-hour cross-sectional study was conducted in 57 intensive care units. The dependent variable is the incidence of errors affecting those 378 patients treated throughout the entire observation period. Capacity utilization and workload were measured by indicators such as unit occupancy, nurse-/physician-to-patient ratios, levels of care, or NEMS scores. The safety tools considered include Critical Incidence Reporting Systems, audits, training, mission statements, SOPs/checklists and the use of barcodes. Safety climate was assessed using a psychometrically validated four-dimensional questionnaire. Linear regression was employed to identify the effects of the predictor variables on error rate, as well as interaction effects between safety tools and safety climate. Findings: Higher workload has a detrimental effect on safety while safety climate - unlike the examined safety tools - has a virtually equal opposite effect. Correlations between safety tools and safety climate as well as their interaction effects on error rate are mostly nonsignificant. Practice Implications: Increased workload and capacity utilization increase the occurrence of medical error; an effect that can be offset by a positive safety climate but not by formally implemented safety procedures and policies. (authors' abstract)

Introducción: La escala de PRISM es un predictor de mortalidad pediátrico que considera el riesgo de morir a partir del grado de afectación de 14 parámetros fisiológicos. Éste ha sido aplicado en diferentes partes del mundo, mostrando algunas discrepancias en su poder predictivo. Objetivos: Evaluar el rendimiento del escore PRISM como predictor de mortalidad de los pacientes hospitalizados en la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos Pediátricos (UCIP) del Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño (INSN) en Lima, Perú. Material y Método: Se analizó la base de datos de pacientes ingresados a la UCIP-INSN durante el año 2012. Se calculó la curva ROC como medida de capacidad discriminativa. La calibración fue evaluada con la prueba de Hosmer y Lemeshow. También se calculó la tasa de mortalidad estandarizada (TME). Resultados: De un total de 388 casos el 17,3% fallecieron. Según escore de PRISM, el 91,1% tuvo un “bajo riesgo”, el 7,1% un “moderado riesgo” y el 1,8% “alto riesgo”. Se encontró asociación entre las categorías del PRISM y mortalidad (p<0,001). La curva ROC para PRISM fue 0,73 (IC95%: 0,66-0,80), la TME fue 1,01 y la calibración fue buena (p=0,65). Conclusiones: El escore PRISM muestra un rendimiento adecuado como predictor de mortalidad.

Big data has received a momentum from both academia and industry. The MapReduce model has emerged into a major computing model in support of big data analytics. Hadoop, which is an open source implementation of the MapReduce model, has been widely taken up by the community. Cloud service providers such as Amazon EC2 cloud have now supported Hadoop user applications. However, a key challenge is that the cloud service providers do not a have resource provisioning mechanism to satisfy user jobs with deadline requirements. Currently, it is solely the user responsibility to estimate the require amount of resources for their job running in a public cloud. This thesis presents a Hadoop performance model that accurately estimates the execution duration of a job and further provisions the required amount of resources for a job to be completed within a deadline. The proposed model employs Locally Weighted Linear Regression (LWLR) model to estimate execution time of a job and Lagrange Multiplier technique for resource provisioning to satisfy user job with a given deadline. The performance of the propose model is extensively evaluated in both in-house Hadoop cluster and Amazon EC2 Cloud. Experimental results show that the proposed model is highly accurate in job execution estimation and jobs are completed within the required deadlines following on the resource provisioning scheme of the proposed model. In addition, the Hadoop framework has over 190 configuration parameters and some of them have significant effects on the performance of a Hadoop job. Manually setting the optimum values for these parameters is a challenging task and also a time consuming process. This thesis presents optimization works that enhances the performance of Hadoop by automatically tuning its parameter values. It employs Gene Expression Programming (GEP) technique to build an objective function that represents the performance of a job and the correlation among the configuration parameters. For the purpose of optimization, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is employed to find automatically an optimal or a near optimal configuration settings. The performance of the proposed work is intensively evaluated on a Hadoop cluster and the experimental results show that the proposed work enhances the performance of Hadoop significantly compared with the default settings.

The diploma thesis deals with the design and preparation of a new educational material focused on the theme of "Quantities and calculations in chemistry" as expressed in RVP-G (Framework educational programme for secondary general education). The form of the presentation of the educational material was designed in context of motivation of students. Hence, the specific presentation was chosen - the website supplemented with pictures, videos and flash animations. As the connecting component and motivation element, the magician Chemulín solving chemical and other related (common life) problems of citizens of fairytale village was chosen. The main goal of this approach is better motivation of students to learn and process information. The thesis also include the circumscription of concepts of the theme "Quantities and calculations in chemistry" as specified by the RVP-G and other curricular documents in the Czech Republic. With due regard for these documents, the qualitative evaluation of the selected educational materials both in the Czech and English languages related to the mentioned theme was accomplished. The findings of the qualitative evaluation showed the insufficiency and incompleteness of the majority of the selected sources, mainly with regard to Framework Educational Programme for secondary...

The governing bodies of the association of owners of (residential) units and their decision/making This thesis deals with the governing bodies of the asscociation of owners of (residential) units, their position in Czech legal order and their decision-making. Thesis is focused on the performance of decision making in practise and problems which are associated with it. It focuses primarily on the enactment of Act No. 72/1994 Coll., Act on ownership of (residential) units, including government regulation No. 371/2004 Coll., where are defined standard Articles of owners of (residential) units, which focuses on the problematic provisions or lack of legislation. The thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter is introductory, there are defined goals of the work, postition of ownership of units in the Czech legal system, its historical development and definition of key terms. The second chapter describes the association of owners of (residential) units as a legal person, its origin, the rights and obligations standing in the legal system, including membership, which takes a closer view of the conditions, rights and obligations of individual members, and way of termination of membership. The third chapter describes the governing bodies of the association of owners of (residential) units. This...

The thesis called Public law aspects of municipal property management deals with the topic of property management of the territorial self-governing units. The basic units are municipalities and the higher-level territorial administrative units are regions. Municipalities and regions have a legal personality and are public corporations which may have their own property and manage their own budget. Management and disposal of the self-governing units own property and it is one of the fundamental aspects of local government in the Czech Republic. The aim of this thesis is to provide an analysis of the main public law aspects disposition of the property of self-governing units. The thesis is composed of the three sections. The first two sections are focused on the general terms and principles, without which it would be impossible to comprehend more details the disposal of municipal property itself which is discussed in the third section. The first section describes the definition of territorial self-governing units, especially its position as a subject of property rights. There is also described the definition of property and division of property according to the different criteria. The second section deals with the management of municipal property. There are described basic obligations of the...

This Diploma Dissertation deals with the education of volleyball at the secondary school. In the theoretical part it is concentrated on playing activities of an individual, game combinations and game systems. As the content of the practical part there is a questionnaire, which maps the range, the content and the forms of teaching volleyball at the secondary school. The next part of this work is the experiment, which is focused on creating of the model programme and its inclusion to the teaching of volleyball at the higher secondary school. Its aim is to improve the playing activities of the individual and through this the improvement of the whole game.