Les processeurs multi-cœurs sont considérés de nos jours comme l'avenir des calculateurs et auront un impact important dans le calcul scientifique. Cette thèse présente une nouvelle approche de résolution des grands systèmes linéaires creux et denses, qui soit adaptée à l'exécution sur les futurs machines pétaflopiques et en particulier celles ayant un nombre important de cœurs. Compte tenu du coût croissant des communications comparé au temps dont les processeurs mettent pour effectuer les opérations arithmétiques, notre approche adopte le principe de minimisation des communications au prix de quelques calculs redondants et utilise plusieurs adaptations pour atteindre de meilleures performances sur les machines multi-cœurs. Nous décomposons le problème à résoudre en plusieurs phases qui sont ensuite mises en œuvre séparément. Dans la première partie, nous présentons un algorithme basé sur le partitionnement d'hypergraphe qui réduit considérablement le remplissage ("fill-in") induit lors de la factorisation LU des matrices creuses non symétriques. Dans la deuxième partie, nous présentons deux algorithmes de réduction de communication pour les factorisations LU et QR qui sont adaptés aux environnements multi-cœurs. La principale contribution de cette partie est de réorganiser les opérations de la factorisation de manière à réduire la sollicitation du bus tout en utilisant de façon optimale les ressources. Nous étendons ensuite ce travail aux clusters de processeurs multi-cœurs. Dans la troisième partie, nous présentons une nouvelle approche d'ordonnancement et d'optimisation. La localité des données et l'équilibrage des charges représentent un sérieux compromis pour le choix des méthodes d'ordonnancement. Sur les machines NUMA par exemple où la localité des données n'est pas une option, nous avons observé qu'en présence de perturbations systèmes (" OS noise"), les performances pouvaient rapidement se dégrader et devenir difficiles à prédire. Pour cela, nous présentons une approche combinant un ordonnancement statique et dynamique pour ordonnancer les tâches de nos algorithmes. Nos résultats obtenues sur plusieurs architectures montrent que tous nos algorithmes sont efficaces et conduisent à des gains de performances significatifs. Nous pouvons atteindre des améliorations de l'ordre de 30 à 110% par rapport aux correspondants de nos algorithmes dans les bibliothèques numériques bien connues de la littérature. / Multicore processors are considered to be nowadays the future of computing, and they will have an important impact in scientific computing. In this thesis, we study methods and algorithms for solving efficiently sparse and dense large linear systems on future petascale machines and in particular these having a significant number of cores. Due to the increasing communication cost compared to the time the processors take to perform arithmetic operations, our approach embrace the communication avoiding algorithm principle by doing some redundant computations and uses several adaptations to achieve better performance on multicore machines.We decompose the problem to solve into several phases that would be then designed or optimized separately. In the first part, we present an algorithm based on hypergraph partitioning and which considerably reduces the fill-in incurred in the LU factorization of sparse unsymmetric matrices. In the second part, we present two communication avoiding algorithms that are adapted to multicore environments. The main contribution of this part is to reorganize the computations such as to reduce bus contention and using efficiently resources. Then, we extend this work for clusters of multi-core processors. In the third part, we present a new scheduling and optimization approach. Data locality and load balancing are a serious trade-off in the choice of the scheduling strategy. On NUMA machines for example, where the data locality is not an option, we have observed that in the presence of noise, performance could quickly deteriorate and become difficult to predict. To overcome this bottleneck, we present an approach that combines a static and a dynamic scheduling approach to schedule the tasks of our algorithms.Our results obtained on several architectures show that all our algorithms are efficient and lead to significant performance gains. We can achieve from 30 up to 110% improvement over the corresponding routines of our algorithms in well known libraries.

Problem Formulation: The clothing industry is characterised by fierce competition and booming growth. Since the start of the century, clothing consumption has increased tremendously. While consumers are demanding more clothes at cheaper prices, interest for sustainable sourced clothes is also on the rise, especially amongst the younger population. Thus, engaging in CSR could offer potential brand advantages for companies competing in the clothing industry. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explain the relationship between consumers’ perceptions of the organisational actions that are perceived as “doing good”, “avoiding bad” and “doing bad”, and Consumer-Based Brand Equity. Methodology: This thesis adopts a quantitative research method with questionnaires distributed physically at universities and shared in student Facebook-groups. The data collected from the questionnaire consists of 205 valid answers from students at Swedish universities. Findings/Conclusions: The findings based on multiple regression analyses on the results of the distributed questionnaire suggest that organisational actions that are perceived as “avoiding bad” can positively affect Consumer-Based Brand Equity. Furthermore, the findings did not support that engagement in activities that are perceived as “doing bad” is detrimental to Consumer-Based Brand Equity, nor that philanthropic activities that are perceived as “doing good” positively affect Consumer-Based Brand Equity.

M.Sc.(Occupational Therapy), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / Title: The agreement found between the sensory profiles of children 3-10 years and their parents Author: Elsje Geyser Promoter: Denise Franszen School: Therapeutic Sciences Faculty: Health Sciences Degree: MSc.OT Key Concepts: Sensory modulation dysfunction, sensory processing disorder, high threshold, low threshold, sensory profile, low registration behaviour, sensory seeking behaviour, sensory sensitive behaviour, sensation avoiding behaviour. In order to treat a child with sensory modulation disorder (SMD), the impact of SMD on the child’s occupational sphere should be taken into account. This includes the effect of SMD in the parent on the child’s development and behaviour. This study determined the probability of agreement between the parent and child’s sensory profiles. A quantitative, cross sectional study design established the sensory profiles of 81 children and their parents. Results indicated a moderate probability that a child with SMD may have a parent with SMD. A moderate to high probability existed for a parent with SMD to have a child with SMD. This supports the supposition that there is a hereditary component to SMD, with learned sedentary behavioural patterns. The treatment implications include considering the parent’s reaction to their own sensory thresholds and the influence this has on the child’s treatment and learnt behaviour.

In this thesis we address several analytical and numerical problems related with the general relativistic study of black hole space-times and boson stars. We have developed a new centered finite volume method based on the flux splitting approach. The techniques for dealing with the singularity, steep gradients and apparent horizon location, are studied in the context of a single Schwarzschild black hole, in both spherically symmetric and full 3D simulations. We present an extended study of gauge instabilities related with a class of singularity avoiding slicing conditions and show that, contrary to previous claims, these instabilities are not generic for evolved gauge conditions. We developed an alternative to the current space coordinate conditions, based on a generalized Almost Killing Equation. We performed a general relativistic study regarding the long term stability of Mixed-State Boson Stars configurations and showed that they are suitable candidates for dark matter models. / En esta tesis abordamos varios problemas analíticos y numéricos relacionados con el estudio de agujeros negros relativistas y modelos de materia oscura. Hemos desarrollado un nuevo método de volúmenes finitos centrados basado en el enfoque de la división de flujo. Discutimos las técnicas para tratar con la singularidad, los gradientes abruptos y la localización del horizonte aparente en el contexto de un solo agujero negro de Schwarzschild, en simulaciones tanto con simetría esférica como completamente tridimensionales. Hemos extendido el estudio de una familia de condiciones de foliaciones evitadoras de singularidad y mostrado que ciertas inestabilidades no son genéricas para condiciones de gauge dinámicas. Desarrollamos una alternativa a las prescripciones actuales basada en una Almost Killing Equation generalizada. Hemos realizado también un estudio con respecto a la estabilidad a largo plazo de configuraciones de Mixed-State Boson Stars, el cual sugiere que estas podrían ser candidatas apropiadas para modelos de materia oscura.

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International students are becoming a more and more attractive group for tourism agencies, and for those responsible for regional development, some study is warranted to explore how one may effectively recognize their preferences, wants, needs, and constraints to draw their attention towards the destination or to experience tourism firm’s offerings specially in this research about their perception about risk, safety and security during their travelling. Perception of risk, safety and security of a tourist destination may create a broader platform of preferences, and associated constraints. Perceived risk is defined as a consumer’s perception of the overall negativity of a course of action based upon an assessment of the possible negative outcomes and the likelihood that those outcomes will occur. Tourism, exclusively international tourism, is highly delicate to safety and security issues. It is one of the enterprise most exposed to changes in the world stage that may produce alteration in tourist behavior. A clearer perceptive of the traveler’s decision-making process and the role of intervening variables are compulsory, notably respecting travel inhibitors, such as risk perception, to assist develop enhanced destination development or recovery strategies. Constructing conditions for tourists to feel safe before and during the trip may be demanding to the success of a destination competing internationally. The current study attempts to fill a gap by exploring risk perceptions of individual international students who engaged in tourism and try to explore the concerned safety measure among them. The findings revealed that the most common risk perception and endeavors were transportation, fraudulent behavior of locals towards tourists, losing valuables, health issues and sexual harassment. However, the international students with experience with travelling themselves gave the safety and security precautions needed to minimize these risks. The safety and security features involve avoiding informal sectors, taking care of personal belongings, being always cautious about the situation happening around, educating themselves about the destination they are visiting, proper health care and proper authority to report any mishaps. After this research it could be understood that international student tourist is concerned about their safety and they would improve the situation of risk they perceive if given the chance to.

I en konkurrenskraftig marknad söker sig multinationella företag till lågskatteländer för attmaximera vinsterna. Luckor i lagstiftningen samt utvecklingsländer som söker kapital harfrämjat att många multinationella företag bedriver strategier för att undvika eller undgåbeskattning. Dessa strategier är inget som företag väljer att presentera i deras årsredovisning.Det samma gäller de sociala konsekvenser som skatteplanering kan medföra. Det finns delademeningar huruvida företagens beskattning borde ses som en del av företagens ansvar. Syftetmed studien är därför att lyfta fram hur transparenta multinationella företag är i sinårsredovisning kring beskattning och internprissättning till följd av skärpta riktlinjer. Baseratpå rekommendationerna i BEPS action 13 vill vi skapa en medvetenhet i hur bristandetransparens av beskattning samt internprissättning hos multinationella företag kan ses som ettCSR-problem. Studien grundar sig i en tvärsnittsstudie med en kvalitativ ansats. Genom eninnehållsanalys har vi samlat in datamaterial i form av årsredovisningar från ett urval av sexmultinationella företag. Utifrån den teoretiska referensramen har empirin analyserats vilkethar gett en förståelse huruvida företagen är transparenta kring sin beskattning ochinternprissättning. Resultatet visade på att det fanns en variation huruvida företag ärtransparenta i sin årsredovisning, generellt sätt höll sig samtliga företag på en låg nivå avtransparens. Vi kan konstatera att samtliga företag uttryckte att beskattningen utsatteföretagen för en riskexponering. Ett flertal av företagen uttryckte vidtagna åtgärder i och medimplementeringen av BEPS action 13, ändå var det bara två företag som såg beskattningensom en del av CSR. / In a competitive market, multinational companies are using low-tax countries to maximizetheir profits. Gaps in the legislation and developing countries searching for capital are twofactors why many multinational companies are undertaking strategies to avoid taxation. Thesestrategies are not disclosed in their annual report. The same applies to the social consequencesthat tax planning can entail. There are divided opinions whether corporate taxation should beseen as part of the corporate responsibility. The purpose of the study is therefore to highlightwhether multinational companies are transparent in their annual report regarding taxation andtransfer pricing as a result of new guidelines. Based on the recommendations in BEPS action13, the study aims to raise awareness of how insufficient transparency of taxation as well astransfer pricing of multinational companies can be seen as a CSR problem. The study is basedon a cross-sectional method with a qualitative approach. Through a content analysis data wascollected in the form of annual reports on a selection of six multinational companies. Basedon the theoretical framework, the empirical study has been analysed in order to determinewhether the companies are transparent about taxation and transfer pricing. The result showedthat generally all companies held a low level of transparency within their annual reports.However, all companies expressed that the taxation exposed the companies to a risk. Amajority of the companies expressed taking action as a result of the implementation of BEPSaction 13. However, only two companies saw the taxation as part of CSR.This thesis will continue in Swedish.

„Avoiding Design“ bezeichnet nicht nur das Verhindern durch Design, sondern auch das Vermeiden von Design an sich – also das bewusste Nicht-Designen, um Produkte grundlegend an ihrer Entstehung zu hindern. Es schafft ein Bewusstsein dafür, dass ein gleicher oder größerer Nutzen für die Nachhaltigkeit erzeugt wird, wenn man etwas so belässt wie es ist oder etwas wegnimmt, anstatt etwas hinzuzufügen. Die Natur des Designs ist formgebend und in die Welt hinein entwerfend. Dass das Ergebnis des Designprozesses aber auch formnehmend oder verwerfend sein kann, wird kaum in Betracht gezogen. Anstatt bestehende Produkte nur einem nachhaltigen Redesign zu unterziehen oder völlig neue hinzuzufügen, müssen Designentscheidungen grundlegend hinterfragt und rückgängig gemacht werden, um die Anzahl von Produkten insgesamt zu reduzieren.

No description available.

Arbetet undersökte om det är möjligt att procedurellt generera giltiga och underhållande racerbanor för Formel 1 genom användandet av Voronoi diagram och self-avoiding random walk. En procedurell algoritm skapades och två enkäter konstruerades för att undersöka denna algoritms underhållningsvärde. Dessa enkäter distribuerades till kunniga individer inom racinggenren. Både algoritmen som helhet och dess dynamiska parametrar undersöktes. Det fastställdes att det är möjligt att procedurellt generera Formel 1 racerbanor som är underhållande med detta tillvägagångssätt. Vidare visar resultatet att en stor del av svarspersonerna finner artefaktens procedurella racerbanor underhållande, även i kontrast till riktiga racerbanor. Gynnsamma värden för artefaktens dynamiska parametrar i mån av ökad underhållning har också fastställts. En mer omfattande algoritm kan skapas utifrån detta arbete som tar hänsyn till exempelvis höjdskillnader och camber. Framtida arbeten kan då undersöka dessa delar av en racerbanas underhållningsvärde. Algoritmen kan även jämföras med andra procedurella metoder inom racing och andra spel. / <p>Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.</p>