Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Includes abstract. Document formatted into pages: contains 29 p.

Thesis (M.S.)--California State University, Chico. / Includes abstract. "Located in the Chico Digital Repository." Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-51).

Thesis (M.A.)--California State University, Chico. / Includes abstract. "Located in the Chico Digital Repository." Includes bibliographical references (p. 40-44).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 226-230). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Due to the size of data needed, running software to analyze and tuning intraday trading strategies can take large amounts of time away from analysts, who would like to be able to evaluate strategies and optimize strategy parameters very quickly, ideally in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, Big Data technologies are evolving rapidly and can be leveraged for these purposes. These technologies include software systems for distributed computing, parallel hardware, and on demand computing resources in the cloud. This report presents a distributed software system for trading strategy analysis. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of Machine Learning techniques in decreasing parameter optimization workload. The results from tests run on two different commercial cloud service providers show linear scalability when analyzing intraday trading strategies. / text

This thesis makes progress towards the fundamental understanding of heterogeneous and dynamic information systems and the way that we store and process massive data-sets. Reliable large-scale data storage: Distributed storage systems for large clusters typically use replication to provide reliability. Recently, erasure codes have been used to reduce the large storage overhead of three-replicated systems. However, traditional erasure codes are associated with high repair cost that is often considered an unavoidable price to pay. In this thesis, we show how to overcome these limitations. We construct novel families of erasure codes that are optimal under various repair cost metrics, while achieving the best possible reliability. We show how these modern storage codes significantly outperform traditional erasure codes. Low-rank approximations for large-scale data processing: A central goal in data analytics is extracting useful and interpretable information from massive data-sets. A challenge that arises from the distributed and large-scale nature of the data at hand, is having algorithms that are good in theory but can also scale up gracefully to large problem sizes. Using ideas from prior work, we develop a scalable lowrank optimization framework with provable guarantees for problems like the densest k-subgraph (DkS) and sparse PCA. Our experimental findings indicate that this low-rank framework can outperform the state-of-the art, by offering higher quality and more interpretable solutions, and by scaling up to problem inputs with billions of entries. / text

Sectra has a customer database with approximately 1600 customers across the world. In this system there exists not only medical information but alsoinformation about the environment which the system runs in, usage  pattern and much more. This report is about storing data received from log les into a suitable database. Sectra wants to be able to analyze this information so that they can make strategic decisions and get a better understanding of their customers' needs. The tested databases are MongoDB, Cassandra, and MySQL. The results shows that MySQL  is not suitable for storing large amount of data with the current conguration. On the other hand, both MongoDB and Cassandra performed well with the growing amount of data.

It today's global world we live in the media have started to examine businesses more and more. In addition consumers are expecting more from products, because they are well informed. This means that companies need to market themselves effectively, to convince and get across their message to their customers. Marketing is an extensive process in which different factors must be taken into account. A company must know what the coustomer needs in order to get through to them. In addition for a company to ensure long-term survival in the market and be profitable, they must know their strategy. With the help of strategic planning, companies manages to achieve their overall goals. The purpose of this report is to examine how communication company Visit Sweden and how markets company Stockholm Visitors Board, within tourism, markets the Image of Sweden, to other countries. My intention is to get better insights on the strategies applied in marketing, what factors are being raised to support the growth in the travel and tourism industry in Sweden. And also what attracts a tourist to travel to large cities. The material of this report is based on interviews with Visit Sweden, Stockholm Visitors Board table and Foreign Office. The literary sources consist of scientific literature, articles, websites, surveys and reports. The report shows that for a company to market themselves in an effectives manner requires that they position and segment themselves. This is done to create a competitive product or brand. This report reveals that telecommunications company, Visit Sweden, markets itself on an international level, by its trademark "Sweden", whick is linked with nature. And Stockholm Visitors Board markets company itself through its brand name "Stockholm- The Capital of Scandinavia". The message that they are trying to send to turists is that Stcokholm is Scandinavia's capital, cultural center and economic center. They market Stockholm as a "modern" and trendy city with history of more than seven centuries. Reasons why Stockholm Visitors Board thinks that tourists choose to travel to Stockholm can be, to give them a big city and yet also a genuine nature. Both companies are working to increase growth in the travel and torusim industry. It has also become clear in this report that for the growth of the travel and tourism indurstry to continue requires that the region's geographical characteristic is being lifted. Visit Sweden claims that one appealing factors for Sweden is availability, because of the many direct air routes to Sweden. Other important factors are exports, accommodation and cuisine. Visit Sweden is working efficiently to attract more and more tourists. Thus, it is necessary that a region has a strong image and strong profile for the government to invest more. It turned out that the Ministry of Industry increased allocation by 50 million, which gave Visit Sweden the possibility to invest even more on international markets. This resulted in positive figures in 2009, which ended up at 12.9 million overnight visits from other countries.

Nitrogen fertilization has the potential to significantly affect yield, nutrient concentration and removal and overall stand longevity of C4 grasses grown for bioenergy production. While most studies report that these grasses need little to no fertilizer inputs to maximize yield, no specific recommendations have been given for fertilizer requirements across a wide range of C4 perennial grass species, cultivars, harvest timings and N application rates. Two field trials were established in the summer of 2008 in Ridgetown and Elora, Ontario to compare 4 Miscanthus (M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus crosses; Nagara-116 and Amuri-114, and Miscanthus x giganteus; M1 Select and Polish), 2 switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.; Cave-in-rock and Shelter) and 2 big bluestem varieties (Andropogon gerardii Vitman; Prairie view and Southlow), 4 nitrogen fertilization rates (0, 40, 80, and 160 kg N ha-1) and 2 harvest timings (fall vs. spring harvest). Plots were harvested in the fall of 2009 and spring and fall of 2010. Yield response to N fertilization varied by location, species and year. In general, increasing N fertilization rates generated an increased yield response in all tested species. Different rates of N fertilization resulted in variable responses to N, P and K tissue concentrations and removal in switchgrass and Miscanthus. Tissue N concentrations and removal both increased with added N fertilization at both locations. In most cases N removal was the highest at the highest N application rate. Nitrogen concentrations were highest in the leaves and seed heads across species, N rates and locations. P and K concentrations and removal with increasing N fertilization in the whole plant and in individual plant parts did not follow clear trends in either Miscanthus or switchgrass in both locations. Delaying harvest to spring reduced yield at both locations by 35-42% and 62-65% for Miscanthus and switchgrass, respectively. Yield losses by delaying harvesting to the spring were increased with higher rates of N fertilization. Delaying harvesting decreased N, P and K concentration and removal in most grasses and locations.

Academic libraries acquire access to many journal titles through “Big Deal” bundles. As serials prices continue to rise at unsustainable rates it will become increasingly necessary to consider breaking-up these packages and just subscribing to the most important titles individually. Recently, it appeared that the University Library, University of Saskatchewan would likely no longer be able to afford the American Chemical Society (ACS) bundle of 40+ titles, and tough decisions would need to be made. Usage data on each title were readily available – but is that enough evidence? Working under the common assumption that the primary users of this package are the Chemistry Department researchers, a citation analysis was conducted on what ACS journals these users recently published in and cited in their articles. In an effort to engage chemistry researchers and offer them a voice in the process, a survey of their opinions on each ACS title was also conducted. It was hoped that combining data from these three discrete sources: usage statistics, citation analyses, and user feedback, would enable us to arrive at the most conscientious, evidence-based decisions possible. This study took the novel approach of applying a citation analysis technique to usage data and survey responses. Although unconventional, this unique methodology proved useful in this situation. This presentation will describe the steps taken and discuss the benefits and challenges of this method so that librarians may consider whether this approach could be adapted to their own collections analysis needs. / Slides from presentation at the Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (C-EBLIP) Fall Symposium, October 15, 2014