Title: Cosmic Ray Showers with Anomalous Longitudinal Profile Author: Jiří Blažek Department: Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University Supervisor: RNDr. Petr Trávníček, Ph.D., Institute of Physics ASCR Abstract: The aim of this work was to study high-energy cosmic ray showers with anomalous longitudinal profiles generated by Monte-Carlo simulation and subse- quently use the acquired analysis techniques on results from the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) in Argentina. Firstly, a short introduction of various de- scriptions of the extensive air showers was given. Then a systematic analysis was performed on approx. 7 × 105 simulated showers with three different tech- niques. A brief explanation of the functionality of the PAO was given, then the importance of monitoring the immediate state of the atmosphere using the Shoot- the-Shower program was elucidated and the FRAM telescope was described in detail. FRAM enabled an identification of showers with a clear atmospheric back- ground, this sample of showers was then analyzed and several interesting events warranting a further study were chosen. Keywords: Pierre Auger Observatory, Extensive Air Showers, Chemical Compo- sition, Anomalous Longitudinal Profile, Gaisser-Hillas Function

This diploma thesis deals with the evaluation of clinical manifestations in infants with allergic colitis and their overall nutritional status, anthropometry, blood count and antibodies against cow's milk proteins. Allergic colitis is one of the most common manifestations of infant allergy to cow`s milk protein with gastrointestinal involvement. The theoretical part summarizes the anthropometric evaluation of growth and development, infant nutrition, the most important laboratory indicators of nutritional status. The part is generally devoted to food allergies, mainly allergy to cow's milk protein. The practical part deals with the evaluation of a sample of examined patients in gastroenterology outpatient clinics and nutritional outpatient clinic of the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine of the 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General Hospital in Prague. The observed group of infants with allergic colitis includes infants exclusively breastfed, breastfed by a mother following a non-dairy diet, infants on an extensive hydrolyzate or on an amino acid formula. The main goal of the diploma thesis was to trace the most common clinical manifestations and whether there are any changes in their nutritional status during the disease and its treatment. A total of 45 randomly...

The availability of abundant renewable resources, lack of fossil fuels and difficult geographical terrain for grid line extensions contribute to the advantages of renewable based decentralized rural electrification in Ne-pal. Solar home system (SHS) and micro-hydro are the most commonly adopted off-grid renewable energy technologies in the country. This dis-sertation examines the market of renewable energy based rural electrifi-cation within prevailing policy and programmes framework. The study verifies whether the market has been able to serve the poor in Nepal. It also captures the perception of various stakeholders (e.g. private sup-ply/installation companies, NGOs, financial institutions and the donor‘s programme) regarding the business, financing issues and the role of gov-ernment policy on the market development. In addition, the study dis-cusses and analyses renewable based rural electrification supply models, the economics behind rural electrification, market drivers and market distribution in the rural areas of Nepal. The financial mix in the off-grid rural electrification is generally charac-terized by subsidy, equity and credit. The study shows that awareness about renewable energy technologies and willingness to pay for electricity access has increased considerably. However, there is a huge financial gap between the cost of electrification and affordability among the poor. The distribution analysis shows there is significant increment in the extensive growth but decrease in the intensive growth rate of rural electrification thus indicating market expansion with uneven penetration among the ru-ral people. Solar PV technology is still not in the reach of the economic poor. Access to credit and cumbersome subsidy delivery mechanisms have been perceived as the major factors affecting the expansion of rural electrification by the stakeholders, requiring innovation in the credit and subsidy delivery system so that a larger rural population can be given ac-cess to electrification. / QC 20110502

Students spend more time using English out-of-school compared to in school. Situated in previous research on Extramural English, this study will be drawing on interviews with a specially selected sample of upper secondary school students who engage in intense and personally meaningful interactions in English-mediated communities online. This qualitative research study seeks to answer how and where these students communicate. Furthermore, the students’ experiences of use of English in school and in online communities will be explored. Results are based on a thematic content analysis. Based on the result, students experience high confidence in their L2 English proficiency in online communities. However, some of the participants experience anxiety and worries when using English in school. Teachers need to be aware of their students’ Extramural English to understand challenges related to students’ in- and out-of-school L2 English experiences.

Software parallelization has gained increasing interest since the transistor manufacturing of smaller chips within an integrated circuit has begun to stagnate. This has led to the development of new processing units with an increasing number of cores. Parallelization is an optimization technique that allows the user to utilize parallel processes in order to streamline algorithm flows. This study examines the performance benefits that a passive bistatic radar system can obtain by parallelization and code refactorization. The study focuses mainly on investigating the use of parallel instructions within a shared memory model on a Central Processing Unit (CPU) with the use of an application programming interface, namely OpenMP. Quantitative data is collected to compare the runtime of the most central algorithm in the passive radar system, namely the Extensive Cancellation Algorithm (ECA). ECA can be used to suppress unwanted clutter in the surveillance signal, which purpose is to create clear target detections of airborne objects. The algorithm on the other hand is computationally demanding, which has led to the development of faster versions such as the Sliding ECA (ECA-S). Despite the ongoing development, the algorithm is still relatively computationally demanding which can lead to long execution times within the radar system. In this study, a MATLAB implementation of ECA-S is transformed to C in order to take advantage of the fast execution time of the procedural programming language. Parallelism is introduced within the converted algorithm by the use of Intel's thread methodology and then applied within two different operating systems. The study shows that a speedup can be obtained, in the programming language C, by a factor of 24 while still ensuring the correctness of the results. The results also showed that code refactorization of a MATLAB algorithm could result in 73% faster code and that C-MEX implementations are twice as slow as a C-implementation. Finally, the study pointed out that real-time can be achieved for a passive bistatic radar system with the use of the programming language C and by using parallel instructions within a shared memory model on a CPU. / Parallellisering av mjukvara har fått ett ökat intresse sedan transistortillverkningen av mindre chip inom en integrerade krets har börjat att stagnera. Detta har lett till utveckling av moderna processorer med ett ökande antal av kärnor. Parallellisering är en optimeringsteknik vilken tillåter användaren att utnyttja parallella processer till att effektivisera algoritmflöden. Denna studie undersöker de tidsmässiga fördelar ett passivt bistatiskt radarsystem kan erhålla genom att, bland annat tillämpa parallellisering och omformning. Studien fokuserar främst på att undersöka användandet av parallella trådar inom det delade minnesutrymmet på en centralprocessor (CPU), detta med hjälp av applikationsprogrammeringsgränssnittet OpenMP. Kvantitativa jämförelser tas fram med hjälp av en av de mest centrala algoritmerna inom det passiva radarsystemet, nämligen Extensive Cancellation Algorithm (ECA). ECA kan används till att undertrycka oönskat klotter i övervakningssignalen, vilket har till syfte att skapa klara måldetektioner av luftföremål. Algoritmen är däremot beräkningstung, vilket har medfört utveckling av snabbare versioner som exempelvis Sliding ECA (ECA-S). Trots utvecklingen är algoritmen fortfarande relativt beräkningstung och kan medföra en lång exekeveringstid inom hela radarsystemet. I denna studie transformeras en MATLAB-implementation av ECA-S till C för att kunna dra nytta av den snabba exekeveringstiden i det procedurella programmeringsspråket. Parallellism införs inom den transformerade algoritmen med hjälp av Intels trådmetodik och appliceras sedan inom två olika operativsystem. Studien visar på en tidsmässig optimering i C med upp till 24 gånger snabbare exekeveringstid och bibehållen noggrannhet. Resultaten visade även på att en enklare omformning av en MATLAB-algoritm kunde resultera till 73% snabbare kod och att en C-MEX-implementation är dubbelt så långsam i jämförelse med en C-implementering. Slutligen pekade studien på att realtid kan uppnås för ett passivt bistatiskt radarsystem vid användandet av programmeringsspråket C och med utnyttjandet av parallella instruktioner inom det delade minnet på en CPU.

This thesis is, to my knowledge, the first study utilising data from the Swedish population and housing censuses between 1960 and 1990 merged with other data from the same period in order to estimate extensive margin labour supply responses to changes in municipal tax rate changes. Given that women historically have not faced the same structural labour market preconditions as men, the empirical strategy is designed to allow for an analysis of gender-based heterogeneity in labour supply responses. Using a weighted fixed effects framework, estimates of the average over time between municipal effects of tax rate increases are presented. Using the preferred main model specification, the estimate for the average tax rate elasticity is -0.165 for men and 0.3513 for women. Additionally, an attempt is made to estimate an effect using a difference-in-difference framework, treating the overall largest municipal tax rate changes as a form of quasi-experimental treatment. The results of the main analysis indicate the presence of gender-based heterogeneity in extensive margin labour supply responses during 1960 to 1990 within the administrative region in question.

This study is a quasi-experimental, longitudinal investigation into the role that extensive reading and reading strategies play in the cultivation of reading self-efficacy. Conducted over the course of one academic year, how changes in reading self-efficacy translate into changes in reading comprehension was examined. In addition, the participants' perceptions of the utility of extensive reading and reading strategies, and how those perceptions related to reading self-efficacy were investigated. A final goal was to ascertain how retrospective ratings of reading self-efficacy influence current levels of the construct. The participants (N = 322) were first and second-year, non-English majors at a four-year, co-educational university in Osaka, Japan. The participants were divided into four groups: an intensive reading group (control group), an extensive reading group, a reading strategies group, and an extensive reading/reading strategies group. Data for the study were obtained from six major sources: a reading comprehension test, a reading strategy test, a reading self-efficacy questionnaire, a perceived utility of extensive reading questionnaire, a perceived utility of reading strategies questionnaire, and a sources of reading self-efficacy questionnaire. The questionnaires and tests were administered three times over the course of the academic year. Before conducting the quantitative analyses on the data gathered with the above instruments, the dichotomous test and questionnaire data were analyzed using the Rasch rating-scale model to confirm the validity and reliability of the instruments and to transform the raw scores into equal interval measures. By employing MANOVAs, ANOVAs, Latent Growth Curve Modeling, and Pearson correlation coefficients, the data were then analyzed to ascertain differences between groups and within groups for all tests and constructs measured. The results showed that the participants in the reading strategies and extensive reading/reading strategies groups gained significantly more in reading self-efficacy over the academic year than those in the extensive reading and intensive reading groups. In addition, all three experimental groups outperformed the intensive reading group in reading comprehension. Furthermore, results from the latent growth curve model showed that gains in reading self-efficacy were related positively to gains in reading comprehension. In a similar vein, the results showed that gains in reading strategy skill led to changes in reading self-efficacy, while reading amount was not significantly related to changes in reading self-efficacy. The results also suggested that those who more highly regard extensive reading as useful to improving reading comprehension exhibited higher levels of reading self-efficacy over the course of the study. On the contrary, there was no significant difference in levels of reading self-efficacy between those who highly rated reading strategies as useful and those who did not rate them as highly. Finally, Pearson correlation coefficients showed moderately strong relationships between junior high and high school (retrospective) levels of reading self-efficacy and university (current) levels. These results underscore the importance of self-efficacy in the learning process and how the cultivation of self-efficacy should be a goal of any educator or administrator in an EFL context. The findings also highlight the detrimental effects of teaching methodologies, such as grammar-translation, that deprive learners of the opportunity to develop their own cognitive abilities. With the introduction of reading strategy intervention and/or extensive reading practice, the participants in the experimental groups of this study were able to develop the skills needed to overcome comprehension breakdowns in the reading process, and this help them become more autonomous, empowered readers. / CITE/Language Arts

Tesis por compendio / [ES] Uno de los mayores retos en los que incurre la producción agrícola hoy en día reside en alimentar de forma sostenible a una población creciente a la vez que concentra sus esfuerzos en hacerlo con el menor impacto ecológico posible. El actual sistema agroalimentario no solo impacta negativamente desde la perspectiva de la emisión de gases invernadero, sino que también favorece otros ámbitos como la degradación de los productos naturales, la pérdida de la biodiversidad o los cambios en el uso del suelo. La evidencia de este proceso de deterioro a escala mundial requiere de la puesta en marcha de planes de acción basados tanto en la mitigación del cambio climático (mediante la reducción de los gases de efecto invernadero) como en la adaptación al mismo mediante buenas prácticas agrícolas que consigan reducir la vulnerabilidad de los cultivos. Los objetivos de esta tesis se enmarcan en las vías de actuación definidas como prioritarias por la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas "Transformar nuestro mundo: la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible". Más concretamente, en la mejora de la sostenibilidad del cultivo del almendro (Prunus dulcis Miller) prestando especial atención a la respuesta del sistema radical y su capacidad para mejorar la adaptación del cultivo a los nuevos escenarios derivados del proceso de cambio climático. En esta tesis se caracterizaron química y morfométricamente tres patrones de almendro. Se observaron diferencias significativas tanto en los sistemas radiculares como vegetativos de los mismos siendo el patrón GN el más vigoroso, el GF 677 el que presentó mayor número de raíces principales y el RP-R secundarias. Además, GN destacó por presentar mayor poder antioxidante y mayor contenido en fenoles, pudiendo estas propiedades influir en los mecanismos de defensa de la planta al inducir resistencia frente a determinados estreses. Los patrones se sometieron a diferentes medios de cultivo mediante el uso de dos sustratos. Las plantas cultivadas bajo fibra de coco presentaron un aumento masivo de raíces absorbentes y un engrosamiento del tronco mientras que las plantas cultivadas en la mezcla de turba y arena presentaron mayor longitud del sistema radical. Se estudió la respuesta de los patrones frente al aporte de bioestimulantes de raíz en vistas a contribuir a un manejo más racional y sostenible del cultivo. La fertilización mediante bioestimulantes tuvo un impacto significativo en el desarrollo de las plantas tanto a nivel aéreo como radicular y consiguió acortar los plazos de vivero, logrando plantas con mejor o más rápida capacidad de adaptación al campo. A grandes rasgos los mejores resultados se obtuvieron con el bioestimulante compuesto por materia orgánica, aminoácidos y extractos de algas. Adicionalmente y en respuesta a los retos medioambientales actuales se analizaron las propiedades energéticas del almendro y el posible uso de sus residuos como fuente de energía renovable atendiendo a diferentes factores que podrían influir sus propiedades energéticas como son la variedad, el patrón o el tipo de fertilización. Observamos que las variables que más influyeron en el poder calorífico del material fueron la variedad, el patrón y la interacción entre ambos. Siendo el cultivar Marcona y el patrón GF 305 los que presentaron mejores propiedades energéticas. / [CA] Un dels majors reptes en els quals incorre la producció agrícola hui dia resideix a alimentar de manera sostenible a una població creixent alhora que concentra els seus esforços a fer-ho amb el menor impacte ecològic possible. L'actual sistema agroalimentari no sols impacta negativament des de la perspectiva de l'emissió de gasos amb efecte d'hivernacle, sinó que també afavoreix altres àmbits com la degradació dels productes naturals, la pèrdua de la biodiversitat o els canvis en l'ús del sòl. L'evidència d'aquest procés de deterioració a escala mundial requereix de la posada en marxa de plans d'acció basats tant en la mitigació del canvi climàtic (mitjançant la reducció dels gasos d'efecte d'hivernacle) com en l'adaptació al mateix mitjançant bones pràctiques agrícoles que aconseguisquen reduir la vulnerabilitat dels cultius. Els objectius d'aquesta tesi s'emmarquen en les vies d'actuació definides com a prioritàries per l'Assemblea General de les Nacions Unides "Transformar el nostre món: l'Agenda 2030 per al Desenvolupament Sostenible". Més concretament, en la millora de la sostenibilitat del cultiu de l'ametler (Prunus dulcis Miller) prestant especial atenció a la resposta del sistema radical i la seua capacitat per a millorar l'adaptació del cultiu als nous escenaris derivats del procés de canvi climàtic. En aquesta tesi es van caracteritzar química i morfométricament tres patrons d'ametler. Es van observar diferències significatives tant en els sistemes radiculars com vegetatius dels mateixos sent el patró GN el més vigorós, el GF 677 el que va presentar major nombre d'arrels principals i el RP-R secundàries. A més, GN va destacar per presentar major poder antioxidant i major contingut en fenols, podent aquestes propietats influir en els mecanismes de defensa de la planta en induir resistència enfront de determinats estressos. Els patrons es van sotmetre a diferents mitjans de cultiu mitjançant l'ús de dos substrats. Les plantes cultivades sota fibra de coco van presentar un augment massiu d'arrels absorbents i un engruiximent del tronc mentre que les plantes cultivades en la mescla de torba i arena van presentar major longitud del sistema radical. Es va estudiar la resposta dels patrons enfront de l'aportació de bioestimulants d'arrel en vistes a contribuir a un maneig més racional i sostenible del cultiu. La fertilització mitjançant bioestimulants va tindre un impacte significatiu en el desenvolupament de les plantes tant a nivell aeri com radicular i va aconseguir acurtar els terminis de viver, aconseguint plantes amb millor o més ràpida capacitat d'adaptació al camp. A grans trets els millors resultats es van obtindre amb el bioestimulant compost per matèria orgànica, aminoàcids i extractes d'algues. Addicionalment i en resposta als reptes mediambientals actuals es van analitzar les propietats energètiques de l'ametler i el possible ús dels seus residus com a font d'energia renovable atenent a diferents factors que podrien influir en les seues propietats energètiques com són la varietat, el patró o el tipus de fertilització. Observem que les variables que més van influir en el poder calorífic del material van ser la varietat, el patró i la interacció entre tots dos. Sent el cultivar Marcona i el patró GF 305 els que van presentar millors propietats energètiques. / [EN] One of the greatest challenges that agricultural production is facing today lies in sustainably feeding a growing population while concentrating on doing so with the least possible ecological impact. The current agri-food system not only has a negative impact from the perspective of greenhouse gas emissions, but also favors other areas such as the degradation of natural products, the loss of biodiversity or the changes in land use. The evidence of this process of deterioration on a global scale requires the implementation of action plans based on both climate change mitigation (by reducing greenhouse gases) and climate adaptation through good agricultural practices that manage to reduce the vulnerability of crops. The objectives of this thesis are framed in the courses of action defined as priorities by the General Assembly of the United Nations "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". More specifically, in improving the sustainability of almond (Prunus dulcis Miller) cultivation, paying special attention to the response of the root system and its ability to improve the adaptation of the crop to the new scenarios derived from the process of climate change. In this thesis, three almond rootstocks were chemically and morphometrically characterized. Significant differences were observed both in their root and vegetative systems, with the GN rootstock being the most vigorous, the GF 677 the one with the highest number of main roots, and the RP-R the one showing more secondary roots. In addition, GN stood out for presenting greater antioxidant power and higher phenol content, these properties being able to influence the plant's defense mechanisms by inducing resistance to certain stresses. The rootstocks were subjected to different culture media by using two substrates. The plants grown under coconut fiber showed a massive increase in absorbent roots and a thickening of the trunk, while the plants grown in the mixture of peat and sand showed greater length of the root system. The response of rootstocks to the contribution of root biostimulants was studied to contribute to a more rational and sustainable management of the crop. Fertilization using biostimulants had a significant impact on the development of plants both at aerial and root levels and managed to shorten nursery periods, achieving plants with a better or faster capacity to adapt to the field. Broadly, the best results were obtained with the biostimulant composed of organic matter, amino acids and algae extracts. Additionally, and in response to current environmental challenges, the energy properties of the almond tree and the possible use of its residues as a source of renewable energy were analyzed considering different factors that could influence its energy properties, such as the variety, rootstock, or type of fertilization. We observed that the variables that most influenced the calorific power of the material were the variety, the rootstock and the interaction between both. The Marcona variety and the GF 305 rootstock were the ones that presented the best energy properties. / This work was funded by Project 20170734. Development of methods of quantification of riparian vegetation biomass for the management of channels of the Comunitat Valencianaect . Dirección General de Universidades. Generalitat Valenciana (Spain). / Mondragón Valero, A. (2022). Caracterización de materiales de almendro y mejora del desarrollo de planta joven [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/184486 / Compendio

Reading is considered to be a vital skill for academic success, yet it is seldom taught to or practised with students. Students begin to `read to learn' during primary and secondary schooling. However, at tertiary level the academic demands are much greater than before and involve more extensive reading of conceptually more complex texts. This study investigates the implementation of an intensive reading programme for post-matric English Second Language Science students, based on the assumption that reading improves reading. In addition, this study investigates the effect that reading ability has on academic performance in Science, which relies inter alia, on the ability to read, comprehend and interpret word problems. An intervention group and a control group were used to ascertain the effects of an intensive reading programme and the findings suggest that any reading (intensive or extensive) improves reading and language skills. This in turn impacts on academic performance in Science, if students have an ability in Science to begin with. / Linguistics / MA - SP APPLIED LINGUISTICS

本論文主旨在探討以廣泛閱讀方式將電子書運用於國中英語補救教學的課程，對於英語補救教學學生在辨認字義、閱讀理解與英語閱讀態度的影響。文中亦探討學生在實行課程當中所面臨的困難與挑戰，以及對此課程之看法。本研究以六位來自新北市八年級英語補救教學學生為研究對象，每週上課一次為期26週，課程分兩階段進行。第一階段為上學期16週，採學生個人閱讀方式；第二階段則為下學期10週，加入同儕閱讀夥伴方式閱讀。兩階段課程之前後，分別以英語測驗作為前後測。而在本研究開始前及結束後，均對學生進行閱讀態度的量測，使用工具為Yamashita (2013)的第二語言閱讀態度量表。在全部課程結束後，所有學生須填寫關於本課程的問卷。 研究結果顯示在第二階段加入閱讀夥伴後，學生在辨認字義上有顯著進步。在閱讀理解方面則成效不明顯。而且，此課程對於補救教學學生在英語閱讀態度有正面影響。根據研究結果，本研究建議國中英語教師可妥善安排閱讀夥伴，以電子書廣泛閱 讀方式融入補救教學來提升學生的認字能力與英語學習態度。此外，本研究亦提供教師教學現場以及未來研究方向之建議。 / This study aims to investigate how e-book extensive reading as a remedial program (EERRP) affects English remedial learners’ word recognition, reading comprehension, and reading attitudes towards English. It also attempts to explore the difficulties and challenges met by the remedial students and their responses to the EERRP. Six eighth-grade remedial students at a junior high school in New Taipei City were participants in this study. The 26-week program was divided into two stages with one class period every week. Stage 1 included individual reading for the first 16 weeks and Stage 2 included pair reading with reading partners for the remaining 10 weeks. The Test of English Word Recognition and Reading Comprehension was administered to the remedial students as pre-test and post-test in both stages. The degree of changes in reading attitude was assessed by using the reading attitude scale (Yamashita, 2013) before and after the EERRP. At the end of the program, a post-study questionnaire was administered to each of the participants. The results showed that there was a significant difference in word recognition skills after the inclusion of reading partners in Stage 2. The effect was not quite as good for reading comprehension. Moreover, it was found that the EERRP had positive effects on the attitudes of the struggling EFL readers towards reading English. Based upon the findings, it is suggested that junior high school English teachers can make good use of reading partners and employ the EERRP to facilitate the word recognition skills and enhance the attitudes towards learning of struggling students. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future studies are presented as well.