The 17;18O(p,α)14;15N nuclear reactions play an important role in several astrophysical scenarios, and in Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars in particular. These stars are the site of several mixing and recirculating processes that transport matter from their hot cores to their cooler surfaces, and vice versa. Some of these mixing processes are still not well understood. Constraining them would improve our knowledge of stars that are in, or will enter, the AGB phase, including our own Sun. An ideal way to trace these poorly understood mixing processes are provided by the rare, stable 17;18O isotopes. Their abundances are strongly sensitive to the 17;18O(p,α)14;15N reactions. At temperatures of astrophysical interest, the 17O(p,α)14N reaction is dominated by a narrow, isolated resonance at Eproton=70 keV. This resonance has been studied several times in the past, using both direct and indirect methods. However, the picture painted in the literature is still not completely satisfying. The situation is more complex for the 18O(p,α)15N, for which an interference pattern between at least three resonances dominates the reaction rate at the temperatures of interest. This thesis work concerns an experimental campaign aimed at measuring both reactions at energies of astrophysical interest. These challenging measurements were performed by exploiting the low radiation background at the underground LUNA accelerator in Gran Sasso Laboratories, Italy. The two reactions were investigated in direct kinematics. A proton beam was accelerated onto solid Ta2O5 targets and the alpha particles produced were detected at backward angles using an array of silicon detectors mounted in a purpose-built scattering chamber. Our results indicate that the 17O(p,α)14N reaction rate at temperatures of astrophysical interest is approximately a factor of two higher than previously reported, solving a long standing puzzle on the origin of some pre-solar grains. For the 18O(p,α)15N reaction, we find a reaction rate largely in agreement with previous investigations, but with a significantly reduced uncertainty which could help improve the accuracy of stellar models of a number of stellar sites.

This study explores the challenges perceived by senior officers in Western university branch campuses in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state and aims to provide insights into how leaders dealt with them. Thus, the study addresses four research questions. First, how campus senior officers perceive the challenges? Second, to what extent are these challenges a result of operating in a different cultural context? Third, how do senior officers deal with these challenges and maintain the quality of their home universities? Finally, how can the study findings be theorised to inform future policy and practice? As a form of transnational higher education, some of the GCC states have established branch campuses of leading Western universities to provide quality higher education to their citizens locally and build knowledge economies. Campus managers, usually from their home Western universities, face challenges related to the local cultural context. These challenges include the GCC state societal views of the campuses, the Western University approach to co-education, the GCC state development efforts to grow a Knowledge Economy through quality Western-style education, and national students’ academic preparation. This research was conducted as an exploratory qualitative multiple case study of five branch campuses. Data were collected through interviews with senior officers from the campuses and the host organization in the GCC state, and the five campuses' annual reports. Data were analysed through open and axial coding. Then thematic analysis was used to identify themes from the data. The study revealed that the major challenges for campus officers are recruiting academically strong students from the pool of citizens, and understanding the local culture and adjusting aspects of the curriculum to fit the local context especially for campuses that offer social sciences and arts programmes. Campus officers engaged in efforts to make school students more qualified for admission by the campuses, and some leaders made adjustments to the curriculum to better suit their students’ abilities.

Esta tese apresenta DCE, ou Execução Dinâmica Condicional, como uma alternativa para reduzir o custo da previsão incorreta de desvios. A idéia básica do modelo apresentado é buscar e executar todos os caminhos de desvios que obedecem à certas restrições no que diz respeito a complexidade e tamanho. Como resultado, tem-se um número menor de desvios sendo previstos e consequentemente um número menor de desvios previstos incorretamente. DCE busca todos os caminhos dos desvios selecionados evitando quebras no fluxo de busca quando estes desvios são buscados. Os caminhos buscados dos desvios selecionados são então executados mas somente o caminho correto é completado. Nesta tese nós propomos uma arquitetura para executar múltiplos caminhos dos desvios selecionados. A seleção dos desvios ocorre baseada no tamanho do desvio e em outras condições. A seleção de desvios simples e complexos permite a predicação dinâmica destes desvios sem a necessidade da existência de um conjunto específico de instruções nem otimizações especiais por parte do compilador. Além disso, é proposta também uma técnica para reduzir a sobrecarga gerada pela execução dos múltiplos caminhos dos desvios selecionados. O desempenho alcançado atinge níveis de até 12% quando um previsor de desvios Local é usado no DCE e um previsor Global é usado na máquina de referência. Quando ambas as máquinas empregam previsão Local, há um aumento de desempenho da ordem de 3-3.5%. / This thesis presents DCE, or Dynamic Conditional Execution, as an alternative to reduce the cost of mispredicted branches. The basic idea is to fetch all paths produced by a branch that obey certain restrictions regarding complexity and size. As a result, a smaller number of predictions is performed, and therefore, a lesser number of branches are mispredicted. DCE fetches through selected branches avoiding disruptions in the fetch flow when these branches are fetched. Both paths of selected branches are executed but only the correct path commits. In this thesis we propose an architecture to execute multiple paths of selected branches. Branches are selected based on the size and other conditions. Simple and complex branches can be dynamically predicated without requiring a special instruction set nor special compiler optimizations. Furthermore, a technique to reduce part of the overhead generated by the execution of multiple paths is proposed. The performance achieved reaches levels of up to 12% when comparing a Local predictor used in DCE against a Global predictor used in the reference machine. When both machines use a Local predictor, the speedup is increased by an average of 3-3.5%.

The subject of the thesis is the optimization of the branch network of Česká pošta company. Since 1th January 2013 the post market in the Czech Republic is fully liberalized, thus Česká pošta ensures the duties given by the post licence in a fully competitive environment without previous advantage of a postal reservation. For this reason in the thesis there are submitted possible solutions of ensuring the branches operation by the contractual relations with a suitable partner, which would mean observance of legal duties together with the ensuring of effective operations of the post offices.

O presente trabalho realiza o estudo e aplicação de um algoritmo de branch-and-price para a resolução de um problema de escalonamento de compressores. O problema é ligado à produção petrolífera, o qual consiste em definir um conjunto de compressores a serem ativados para fornecer gas de elevação a um conjunto de poços, atendendo toda demanda e minimizando os custos envolvidos. O problema é caracterizado por uma função objetivo não-convexa que é linearizada por partes de forma a ser formulada como um problema de programação inteira mista. A abordagem de geração de colunas é baseada na decomposição de Dantzig-Wolfe e apresenta melhores limitantes inferiores em relação à relaxação linear da formulação compacta. O branch-and-price é comparado ao solver CPLEX, sendo capaz de encontrar a solução ótima em menor tempo para um conjunto de instâncias, bem como melhores soluções factíveis para instâncias maiores em um período de tempo limitado. / This work presents the study and application of a branch-and-price algorithm for solving a compressor scheduling problem. The problem is related to oil production and consists of defining a set of compressors to be activated, supplying the gas-lift demand of a set of wells and minimizing the associated costs. The problem has a non-convex objective function, to which a piecewise-linear formulation has been proposed. This dissertation proposes a column generation approach based on the Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition, which achieves tighter lower bounds than the straightforward linear relaxation of the piecewise-linear formulation. The column generation was embedded in a branch-and-price algorithm and further compared with CPLEX, obtaining optimal solutions in lesser time for a set of instances. Further, the branch-and-price algorithm can find better feasible solutions for large instances under a limited processing time.

Olofsfors AB beställer idag stålplåtar, remsor och stänger av stålleveran- törer för sin produktion av skop- och vägstål samt skogsband. Stålremsorna för produktion av skop- och vägstål beställs i dimensioner som är redo att skä- ras endimensionellt och vidarebehandlas till skopstålsdetaljer i fabriken. För att effektivisera produktionen i form av ekonomibesparingar och minskning av spill har Olofsfors AB köpt en ny maskin som kan behandla större plåtar och skära ut mindre remsor från dessa och de kan således göra ekonomiska besparingar tack vare billigare inköp. Företaget vill hitta en metod som minimerar spill av material vilket ska leda till ekonomiska besparingar. Syftet med projektet är att utveckla ett program som Olofsfors AB kan använda sig av i den dagliga verksamheten för att optimera materialanvändningen. Problemet att skära ut mindre bitar ur ett större råmaterial är vanligt i industrier och kallas Cutting stock problem. Vi har använt oss av en redan utvecklad modell bestående av en modifierad branch & bound-algoritm för att hitta möjliga mönster som kan skäras ut ur råmaterialet, implementerat den i MATLAB® samt förbättrat den. Vidare har det använts fyra olika optimeringsmodeller vilka lett till olika heltalsprogram som samtliga lösts med den inbyggda MATLAB®-metoden intlinprog, vilken använder sig av branch & bound som lösningsmetod. Resultatet gav ett för användaren lättanvänt program som ger förslag på en optimal dimension bland en mängd möjliga dimensioner på ett råmate- rial, utifrån årsvolym och dimensioner för remsor eller stänger. Föreslagen dimension är den dimension som resulterar i så låg materialförbrukning som möjligt. Utöver detta kan Olofsfors AB använda detta program för att hitta vilka mönster som ska skäras ut givet efterfrågan, samt använda utdata från programmet för att reda ut kapacitetsgräns i restbitslager och finna vilka lagerartiklar som är särskilt lämpliga att producera från restbitar.

Virtualização permite o compartilhamento de uma rede física entre uma ou mais redes virtuais. O Problema de Mapeamento de Redes Virtuais é um dos principais desafios na virtualização de redes. Esse problema consiste em mapear uma rede virtual em uma rede física, respeitando restrições de capacidade. O presente trabalho mostra que encontrar uma solução factível para esse problema é NP-Difícil. Mesmo assim, muitas instâncias podem ser pode ser resolvidas na prática através da exploração de sua estrutura. Nós apresentamos um algoritmo de Branch & Price aplicado a instâncias de diferentes topologias e tamanhos. Os experimentos realizados sugerem que o algoritmo proposto é superior ao modelo de programação linear resolvido com CPLEX. / Virtualization allows one or more virtual networks to share physical infrastructures. The Virtual Network Embedding problem (VNEP) is one of the main challenges in the virtualization of physical networks. This problem consists in mapping a virtual network into a physical network while respecting capacity constraints. This work shows that finding a feasible solution for this problem is NP-Hard. However, many instances can be solved up to optimality in practice by exploiting the problem structure. We present a Branch & Price algorithm applied to instances of different topologies and sizes. The experimental results suggest that the proposed algorithm is superior to the Integer Linear Programming model solved by CPLEX.

This diploma thesis was composed as a part of the resolution of the student team research project GAJU 029/2011/S of the Grant Agency of the University of Southern Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice. The main goal of this thesis is an evaluation of the economic behavior of non-financial enterprises in the ownership of the government (NPVV) in the selected sector of the national economy. The theoretical part is dealing with a short description of these enterprises and with issues with their efficiency. This was analysed in separate studies. The practical part deals with a development of the individual types of the profitability (type of an income of the production) in the context of the national economy and industry type if the of selected national accounts during the 1999 - 2010 period. The conclusions of the individual chapters are interconnected at the end of this thesis. The method is to compare the conclusions from the industry subsectors with the conclusions from the national economy subsector. The conclusions are compared with the NPVV informations extracted from the related studies. The non-financial enterprises subsector indicator results are also evaluated in this thesis. The analysed branch was the ground and pipeline transportation branch due to substantial share of the public non-financial enterprises NPV (13.3 %) and the national private non-financial enterprises NPS (3.74 %) production in 2010 (these were the main subsectors of the researched non-financial enterprises). The production and the income have been approsimately developed at the same average as in the sector and the national economy also. Their output is comparable due to that. The comparation of the profitability by using the gross added value shows us that the NPV have better results. However the position of NPV and NPS switches and the differences become deepen when we use the net added value and other sources of income. There is even a regular negative profitability if we use the net disposable income of the NPV. There is an issue with the salary of the employees mainly in the NPV according to the research. But it is interesting that issues related to the financial crisis are not affecting the NPV as fast as the NPS. The NPS is affected by the problems almost immediately, however the NPV are affected with a delay and with a less intensity. The essential recommendation is to introduce a control of any commercial enterprises with any state partnership through the Highest inspecting office.

Por mais de uma década, discutiu-se nas ciências sociais comparadas a efetiva influência da atuação do Poder Judiciário na participação democrática dos cidadãos nas decisões e na conformação das políticas públicas. A esse fenômeno, que se denominou "judicialização da política", atribui-se toda a operacionalidade de uma constituição democrática, cidadã, aberta, capaz de concretizar os anseios de liberdade, às vezes apenas condizentes com valores de um liberalismo conservador. Nossa tese procura, com ajuda de pesquisa empírica, demonstrar a persistente influência dos ranços tradicionalistas de uma classe que, ao longo da curta vida emancipada de nosso país, construiu e permeou, com sua visão de mundo, as instituições políticas nacionais. A atuação corporativa e institucionalizada dessa classe de juristas adaptou-se bem às exigências da ampliação infraestrutural do Estado moderno e burocrático, em virtude de seu legado autoritário, e logrou restringir o alcance das liberdades e direitos civis de um Estado recém democratizado, apesar do discurso apologético às instituições da democracia participativa. É nesse contexto que tentamos narrar a evolução contínua e silenciosa da dejudicialização da política democrática de massas e a politização gradual da corporação dos juristas, que carregaram consigo as expectativas de ampliação da cidadania constitucional. / The effective influence of the Judiciary Branch on citizen participation in political decisions and policy making has been discussed in social sciences for more than a decade. To this phenomenon, entitled judicialization of politics, was attributed the operability of a democratic constitution, open and capable of achieving the aspirations of freedom, nonetheless only consistent with the values of a conservative liberalism. With the aid of empirical research, our thesis aims at demonstrating the persistent influence of traditionalist inheritance of a social class which, throughout the country short existence, constructed and permeated national political institutions with its worldview. The corporative and institutionalized behavior of this class of jurists from the highest court was well adapted with demands of the modern states institutions expansion, due to its authoritarian legacy and aimed at restricting the reach for freedom and for civil rights of a newly democratic country, despite the constant allusions to participatory democracy. In this context we will try to narrate the continuous and silent evolution of the desjudicialization of mass democratic politics and the gradual politization of jurists corporation, which carry alongside the expectations of an expansion of constitutional citizenship.

Esta tese apresenta DCE, ou Execução Dinâmica Condicional, como uma alternativa para reduzir o custo da previsão incorreta de desvios. A idéia básica do modelo apresentado é buscar e executar todos os caminhos de desvios que obedecem à certas restrições no que diz respeito a complexidade e tamanho. Como resultado, tem-se um número menor de desvios sendo previstos e consequentemente um número menor de desvios previstos incorretamente. DCE busca todos os caminhos dos desvios selecionados evitando quebras no fluxo de busca quando estes desvios são buscados. Os caminhos buscados dos desvios selecionados são então executados mas somente o caminho correto é completado. Nesta tese nós propomos uma arquitetura para executar múltiplos caminhos dos desvios selecionados. A seleção dos desvios ocorre baseada no tamanho do desvio e em outras condições. A seleção de desvios simples e complexos permite a predicação dinâmica destes desvios sem a necessidade da existência de um conjunto específico de instruções nem otimizações especiais por parte do compilador. Além disso, é proposta também uma técnica para reduzir a sobrecarga gerada pela execução dos múltiplos caminhos dos desvios selecionados. O desempenho alcançado atinge níveis de até 12% quando um previsor de desvios Local é usado no DCE e um previsor Global é usado na máquina de referência. Quando ambas as máquinas empregam previsão Local, há um aumento de desempenho da ordem de 3-3.5%. / This thesis presents DCE, or Dynamic Conditional Execution, as an alternative to reduce the cost of mispredicted branches. The basic idea is to fetch all paths produced by a branch that obey certain restrictions regarding complexity and size. As a result, a smaller number of predictions is performed, and therefore, a lesser number of branches are mispredicted. DCE fetches through selected branches avoiding disruptions in the fetch flow when these branches are fetched. Both paths of selected branches are executed but only the correct path commits. In this thesis we propose an architecture to execute multiple paths of selected branches. Branches are selected based on the size and other conditions. Simple and complex branches can be dynamically predicated without requiring a special instruction set nor special compiler optimizations. Furthermore, a technique to reduce part of the overhead generated by the execution of multiple paths is proposed. The performance achieved reaches levels of up to 12% when comparing a Local predictor used in DCE against a Global predictor used in the reference machine. When both machines use a Local predictor, the speedup is increased by an average of 3-3.5%.