High performance grid computing is a key enabler of large scale collaborative computational science. With the promise of exascale computing, high performance grid systems are expected to incur electricity bills that grow super-linearly over time. In order to achieve cost effectiveness in these systems, it is essential for the scheduling algorithms to exploit electricity price variations, both in space and time, that are prevalent in the dynamic electricity price markets. Typically, a job submission in the batch queues used in these systems incurs a variable queue waiting time before the resources necessary for its execution become available. In variably-priced electricity markets, the electricity prices fluctuate over discrete intervals of time. Hence, the electricity prices incurred during a job execution will depend on the start and end time of the job. Our thesis consists of two parts. In the first part, we develop a method to predict the start and end time of a job at each system in the grid. In batch queue systems, similar jobs which arrive during similar system queue and processor states, experience similar queue waiting times. We have developed an adaptive algorithm for the prediction of queue waiting times on a parallel system based on spatial clustering of the history of job submissions at the system. We represent each job as a point in a feature space using the job characteristics, queue state and the state of the compute nodes at the time of job submission. For each incoming job, we use an adaptive distance function, which assigns a real valued distance to each history job submission based on its similarity to the incoming job. Using a spatial clustering algorithm and a simple empirical characterization of the system states, we identify an appropriate prediction model for the job from among standard deviation minimization method, ridge regression and k-weighted average. We have evaluated our adaptive prediction framework using historical production workload traces of many supercomputer systems with varying system and job characteristics, including two Top500 systems. Across workloads, our predictions result in up to 22% reduction in the average absolute error and up to 56% reduction in the percentage prediction errors over existing techniques. To predict the execution time of a job, we use a simple model based on the estimate of job runtime provided by the user at the time of job submission. In the second part of the thesis, we have developed a metascheduling algorithm that schedules jobs to the individual batch systems of a grid, to reduce both the electricity prices for the systems and response times for the users. We formulate the metascheduling problem as a Minimum Cost Maximum Flow problem and leverage execution period and electricity price predictions to accurately estimate the cost of job execution at a system. The network simplex algorithm is used to minimize the response time and electricity cost of job execution using an appropriate flow network. Using trace based simulation with real and synthetic workload traces, and real electricity price data sets, we demonstrate our approach on two currently operational grids, XSEDE and NorduGrid. Our experimental setup collectively constitute more than 433K processors spread across 58 compute systems in 17 geographically distributed locations. Experiments show that our approach simultaneously optimizes the total electricity cost and the average response time of the grid, without being unfair to users of the local batch systems. Considering that currently operational HPC systems budget millions of dollars for annual operational costs, our approach which can save $167K in annual electricity bills, compared to a baseline strategy, for one of the grids in our test suite with over 76000 cores, is very relevant for reducing grid operational costs in the coming years.

TechnillionJobs is a solution consists of a digital web application, mobile App and a start-up. The solution is intended for helping unemployed Iraqi graduates & students at the final stages of their university studies network with employers locally and internationally. TechnillionJobs can give a bigger opportunity to easier find jobs/build a professional career, and therefore can be a contributing solution in reducing unemployment among graduates in Iraq. The purpose of the project is mainly to investigate and identify the reasons behind unemployment amongst Iraqi graduates as well as present a solution to reduce this problem and its negative effects. Also, to explore potential target groups, their needs and requirements for the product. The primary target groups were categorized as unemployed Iraqi graduates who can provide their knowledge and skills online, innovative companies who put a huge emphasis on their R&D department and educational companies that provide online courses & lesson plans. Primarily, the project group wanted to develop a concept that would respond to the problem statement by “only” launching a web application which in later development phases expanded to even a mobile App and start-up to provide real time services and offer On-demand Contracts (Explained in The Final Product section of this report) as well. In order to do a solid research in the problem area and come up with possible solutions and perform analysis, different scientific frameworks, methodologies and project tools such as Design Thinking, Agile methodology, Gantt-chart, Surveys and mini-risk calculation were used to make sure that the project execution follows a scientific structure. An overall timeline from the start of the project to the end is presented as well. The group has carried out this project in an iterative way where the user has always been in focus during a long dynamic development process. The opportunities for further development are many and, in the future, the product will be a more complete tool for connecting graduates with employers. Future business plans and goals are clarified in the Discussion section of this report. / TechnillionJobs är en lösning som består av en digital webbapplikation, mobil App och ett start-up. Lösningen hjälper arbetslösa irakiska akademiker och studenter i slutskedet av sina universitets-/högskolestudier knyta kontakter med arbetsgivare lokalt och internationellt. Detta kan ge en större möjlighet till att enklare hitta jobb/ bygga en yrkeskarriär, och kan därför vara en bidragande lösning för att minska arbetslösheten bland akademiker i Irak.  Syftet med projektet är främst att undersöka och identifiera orsakerna bakom arbetslöshet bland irakiska akademiker samt att presentera en lösning för att minska detta problem och dess negativa effekter. Också, att utforska potentiella målgrupper, deras behov och krav på produkten. De primära målgrupperna kategoriserades som arbetslösa irakiska akademiker som kan förse med sina kunskaper och färdigheter online, innovativa företag som lägger stor vikt på sina FoU-avdelningar och utbildningsföretag som tillhandahåller onlinekurser och lektionsplaner. Projektgruppen ville främst utveckla ett koncept som skulle svara på problemformuleringen genom att "endast" bygga en webbapplikation som i senare utvecklingsfaser utvidgades till även en mobil App och ett start-up för att tillhandahålla tjänster i realtid och erbjuda On-demand kontrakt (förklaras under rubriken The Final Product i denna rapport).  För att göra en gedigen forskning inom problemområdet och komma på möjliga lösningar och utföra analyser, användes olika vetenskapliga metoder och projektverktyg som Design Thinking, Agil produktutveckling, Gantt-schema, enkäter och mini-risk-beräkning för att se till att projekt genomförandet följer en vetenskaplig struktur. En övergripande tidslinje från projektets början till slutet presenteras också. Gruppen har genomfört detta projekt på ett iterativt sätt där användaren alltid har varit i fokus under en lång dynamisk utvecklingsprocess. Möjligheterna för vidareutveckling är många och i framtiden tänkas produkten att bli ett mer komplett verktyg för att länka akademiker med arbetsgivare. Framtida affärsplaner och mål klargörs i Discussion avsnittet i denna rapport.

Välfärdsjobb är en relativt ny typ av insats som används i flera kommuner i Sverige. Den går ut på att personer som har levt länge med försörjningsstöd ska få en tidsbegränsad anställning med kollektivavtalsenlig lön för att komma närmare den reguljära arbetsmarknaden. Uppsala har börjat ge insatsen under hösten 2013 och där startade intresset för att genomföra en undersökning. Den har ett barnperspektiv för att belysa barns situation. För att besvara frågeställningarna har en kvalitativ innehållsanalys använts. Materialet har bestått av en utvärdering, en delrapport och en rad olika kommunala texter. De kodades och kategoriserades utifrån barndomssociologiska begrepp och Jahodas (1982) teori om arbetets latenta och manifesta effekter. Dessa delades upp i underrubriker som passade ihop med datamaterialet. Kommunerna som använts är Malmö, Sigtuna, Sundsvall, Uppsala, Botkyrka och Ludvika. De inkluderade kommunerna är positiva till resultaten av insatsen välfärdsjobb. Malmö har fortsatt använda sig av den sedan år 2005 och Sigtuna redovisar stora ekonomiska vinster av insatsen. Personerna som deltagit i insatsen berättar om hur de har fått bättre självförtroende, större nätverk och förbättrad ekonomi. Flera av deltagarna har efter insatsen fått en reguljär anställning. Vissa deltagare har dock framfört kritik för att arbetsuppgifterna känts enformiga och påhittade. Malmö hade problem att få in kvinnor i insatsen och att några inte förstod att insatsen var tillfällig. Barnen syns inte så mycket i kommunernas texter. Några kommuner prioriterar barnfamiljer medan till exempel Malmö enbart nämner barnen som blivande motiverade studenter. Kopplat till vad som framkommer i tidigare forskning skulle insatsen kunna vara bra även för barnen, de får till exempel bättre ekonomi och därmed möjlighet till fler aktiviteter. Om föräldrarna mår bättre gör barnen det också. En nackdel som kom fram var att insatsen är tillfällig då barnen känner en osäkerhet i vad som händer efter insatsen. Det framkommer skillnader i hur mammor, pappor, barn och familjer representeras i kommunernas material. För framtida forskning skulle det vara intressant att ha med barns perspektiv vid utvärdering av insatsen. Nyckelord: långvarigt försörjningsstöd, arbetslöshet, välfärdsjobb, barnperspektiv, arbetets effekter / ”Välfärdsjobb” is a relatively new kind of intervention that is used in some municipalities in Sweden. It means giving people that have been living a long time with welfare payments a fixed term employment contract. The participants get a salary and get closer to the regular labor market. Uppsala started a project called “Välfärdsjobb” autumn 2013 and that is where the interest for the subject came from. The study has a child perspective. A qualitative content analysis has been used to respond to the research questions. The data material consists of an evaluation, an interim report and different documents from the municipalities. The material was coded in relation to childhood sociology and Jahoda’s theory of latent and manifest effects of unemployment. The municipalities that have been used are Malmö, Sigtuna, Sundsvall, Uppsala, Botkyrka och Ludvika. The involved municipalities are positive to the intervention. Malmö has had it since 2005 and Sigtuna shows great economic savings. The persons participating in the intervention convey that they have gained better self-confidence, larger social networks and better economy. Several of the participants have a regular job after the intervention. The negative aspects of the intervention were that some of the participants have expressed that the work tasks felt repetitive and made up. Malmö failed to recruit women and some participants did not understand that the job was temporary. The children are not very visible in the data material. Some of the municipalities have families with children as a prioritized group, while Malmö just mentions children in terms of becoming motivated students. Looking at earlier research the intervention seems positive for children. They get a better economy and hence a wider array of activities are possible. Also, if the parents feel good, it affects the children positively. Something that could have a negative impact is that the intervention is temporary, since the children often feel worried about what will happen next. There are differences in how mothers, fathers, children and families are represented within the material from the municipalities. For future research it would be interesting to have a children’s perspective included in the evaluations of the interventions. Key words: long-time welfare payments, unemployment, workfare jobs, children’s perspective, effects of employment

United States legislations have allowed U.S. companies to integrate with the economies of other countries allowing U.S. companies to outsource manufacturing and services abroad and take advantage of lower input cost because of cheap and skilled labor - an opportunity cost choice. In the global economy employment in the United States seems to be influenced simultaneously by variables such as outsourcing, international trade, foreign direct investment (FDI) and immigration. The shift in our economic and labor structure due to outsourcing will impact many different groups of people, mainly the next generation entering the labor market. The goal of this thesis is to examine the effects of outsourcing, Foreign Direct Investment, and International Trade on the U.S. labor market. It reveals that as an effect of outsourcing jobs have shifted to the emerging markets for cost and capability sourcing, but in response to the uproar on U.S. jobs being lost as businesses move abroad there seems more of job complementarily than substitution between parent and foreign affiliates. Also, companies are integrating vertically and that outsourcing is integral to a company’s success in the global economy. Furthermore FDI in the U.S. is not growing as rapidly as it is in Asia and many other parts of the world, when FDI is shown to positively affect a country’s economy. The U.S. because of the imbalance in international trade runs a huge trade deficit, which again takes a toll on the U.S. economy and employment. As the U.S. parent companies account for large shares of the overall U.S. economy, and foreign affiliates are also significant contributors to the U.S. economy there should be legislations that support multinationals to remain competitive in the global market as they contribute to strengthen the U.S. economy.

Esta pesquisa investiga os determinantes e a evolução recente no Brasil do trabalho remunerado feminino exercido no próprio domicílio ou simplesmente trabalho domiciliar. Quase 10% da população feminina ocupada, aproximadamente 4,5 milhões de mulheres, tem esse tipo de ocupação. Constatando a inexistência de estudos sobre o tema com dados quantitativos abrangentes, a presente pesquisa utiliza informações da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostras Domiciliares (PNAD) de 1992 a 2005 para analisar como evoluiu a proporção de trabalhadoras domiciliares no total da população ocupada. As mais importantes hipóteses delineadas na literatura a partir de estudos de caso são discutidas pela confrontação com os dados. Sob a ótica da demanda por essa forma de trabalho, analisa-se os setores que mais fazem uso do trabalho domiciliar feminino e as mudanças nessa composição, bem como sua relação com as transformações no mundo do trabalho decorrentes da reestruturação empresarial. Quanto à oferta por trabalho domiciliar, investiga-se como atributos individuais e familiares afetam as chances da mulher estar nesse tipo de condição de ocupação. É debatido como as transformações na inserção produtiva feminina afetaram a importância relativa do trabalho domiciliar. Constrói-se um modelo Logit Multinomial no Stata a partir dos dados da PNAD para comparar como mudou no tempo o impacto de cada atributo sobre a probabilidade de que uma mulher seja trabalhadora domiciliar. / This research investigates the determinants and recent developments of female home-based work in Brazil. Almost 10% of the occupied female population, approximately 4.5 million women, has this kind of occupation. Noting the lack of studies on the topic with comprehensive quantitative data, the present research uses information from PNAD beginning on 1992 until 2005 to evaluate how the proportion of female home-based workers on occupied population evolved. The most important assumptions outlined in the literature from case studies are discussed by confrontation with the data. From the perspective of demand for this type of work, sectors that intensively use female home-based work are analyzed, as well as its relationship with the changes in the labor market resulting from firms restructuring. On the supply of home-based work, it is investigated how individual and family attributes affect the chances of a woman to be in this work condition. It is discussed how the changes on female\'s productive insertion affected the relative importance of home-based work. A Multinomial Logit model is built on Stata using the data from PNAD to compare how the impacts of each attribute on the probability of a woman being home-based worker changed over time.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-08-05T12:11:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Mauricio de Azevedo Couto.pdf: 4073011 bytes, checksum: d2fe862ab168083cb77c22266a4f9f0d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-05T12:11:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mauricio de Azevedo Couto.pdf: 4073011 bytes, checksum: d2fe862ab168083cb77c22266a4f9f0d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-14 / Aiming to analyze the relationship of the offer of vocational technical high school education and job market’s demand, a study about CEFET-MG’s case was performed. CEFET-MG is a federal institution of superior education, with the head office in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. The study’s problem appears from the job market’s requirements nowadays, so we discuss to what extent the vocational technical high school education build ethical and socially committed with current labor requirements citizens, in which requirement values and attitudes influence in a large scale the profile of the worker that the companies require. The objective was to analyze the relationship between the offer of vocational technical high school education from CEFET-MG and the workers’ profile required of job market, at the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. A bibliographical revision was performed of vocational technical high school education from CEFET-MG and the job market instead some semi structured interviews with course coordinators from CEFET – MG and with industries representatives of metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. To enrich the study was performed a field investigation in two schools and in one company in Lisbon’s metropolitan area, Portugal, to serve as a counterpoint to Brazilian’s reality. The analysis of the data shows that the institutional climate, the infrastructure, the scholar habitus are fundamental for a positive attitude of the students, contributing to the education glimpse of a better path, founded by the cultural dimension and social way of build cognitive, productive, personal and social knowledge networks. The testimony of the coordinators corroborate with the positioning of several authors that show the transformation of the job world and the way of production make the market require different workers than the ones required by the Fordist model of work organization. Currently, according to the authors, the worker has to know a lot more than just tighten screws, he must have a more expanded world vision / Com o intuito de analisar a relação de oferta de Educação Profissional Técnica de Nível Médio (EPTNM) e a demanda do mercado de trabalho, foi realizado um estudo do caso do CEFET-MG, que é uma Instituição Federal de Ensino Superior-IFES, com sede na Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte. O problema de estudo surge das exigências do mercado de trabalho nos dias atuais, discutimos em que medida a EPTNM forma cidadãos éticos e socialmente comprometidos com as exigências laborais atuais, nas quais valores e atitudes influenciam, o perfil do trabalhador que as empresas exigem. O objetivo foi analisar a relação da oferta de EPTNM do CEFET-MG e o perfil do trabalhador exigido pelo mercado de trabalho, na Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte. Foi realizada uma revisão bibliográfica da EPTNM e do mercado de trabalho e entrevistas semiestruturadas com coordenadores de cursos do CEFET-MG e com representantes de indústrias da Região Metropolitana de Minas Gerais. De modo a enriquecer o estudo, foram realizadas entrevistas com coordenadores de escola e em uma indústria de Lisboa, Portugal. A análise dos dados mostra que o clima institucional, a infraestrutura da escola, o habitus escolar são fundamentais para uma atitude positiva dos alunos, contribuindo, assim, para que a educação vislumbre um melhor caminho, pautado pela dimensão cultural e social de modo a constituir redes de conhecimentos cognitivos, produtivos, pessoais e sociais. Os depoimentos dos coordenadores corroboram com o posicionamento de diversos autores que apontam que as transformações do mundo do trabalho e do modo de produção fazem o mercado requerer profissionais diferentes dos exigidos pelo modelo fordista de organização do trabalho. Atualmente, segundo esses autores, o trabalhador tem que saber muito mais do que apertar parafusos, ele deve ter uma visão de mundo muito mais ampliada

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-09-18T12:29:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Amanda Moura da Silva dos Santos.pdf: 4842874 bytes, checksum: 23744ffdb2bf6401ae37d88f26b46616 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-18T12:29:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Amanda Moura da Silva dos Santos.pdf: 4842874 bytes, checksum: 23744ffdb2bf6401ae37d88f26b46616 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-05 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Steve Jobs’ speech, that marked the launch of products made by Apple, a technology company, was eagerly anticipated by the market, fans and media. All over the world, many people line up and even set up tents in front of Apple stores on the eve of product launches, and then come out holding their package as a trophy. But what explains Apple’s phenomenon? This study is based on the assumption that Jobs is considered a sort of modern times messiah, making Apple an extension of himself, and aims to understand, within an enunciative-discursive perspective, as developed by Dominique Maingueneau, how the messiah figure is personified in Jobs and unveils a “savior” myth established around him. This investigation is also founded on the hypothesis of sacralization of technology (Noble, 1997), which considers that, by promoting the encounter between the physical and the metaphysical, technology aims at transcendence and appropriates religious ideas. As such, this study is spread across different discursive fields, such as advertising, religion and the media, aiming to understand not only the intertextuality but also the discursive ethos and set design in the conjuncture of the public appearances of Apple’s co-founder. In addition, in order to understand how Steve Jobs’ discourse got acclaimed by the world, using the religious discourse to legitimize his own speech, the notion of constituent discourses is thus mobilized. Considering the evolution in the networks of discourse genres, especially after the emergence of the internet and the widespread dissemination of technology, the study also contemplates the notion of generic valence (Maingueneau, 2015), which allows us to reflect on how discourse genres and consequently the exercise of the discourse have been transforming over time. This reflection is essential, since the analysis of this research focuses on events that happened empirically and were reproduced on YouTube, an online video sharing platform. The results show how the pre-discursive ethos was constructed with an interaction between different genres, the discursive artifices used by the enunciator in the scenography of his presentations to challenge his co-exponents, as well as the links between what Jobs demonstrated and the contents circulating about him, raising expectations of his public appearances / Nas apresentações que marcavam o lançamento oficial dos produtos da Apple, empresa de tecnologia, o pronunciamento de Steve Jobs, cofundador e presidente da companhia, era ansiosamente aguardado por todo o mercado, por fãs e pela mídia. Ao redor do mundo, muitos fazem filas e até montam acampamentos em frente às lojas às vésperas do lançamento de algum produto e depois saem exibindo o pacote como um troféu. Mas o que explica esse fenômeno Apple? Esta pesquisa parte do pressuposto de que Jobs se consagrou como uma espécie de messias dos tempos modernos, tornando a Apple uma extensão de si, e objetiva compreender, na perspectiva enunciativo-discursiva, tal como desenvolvida por Dominique Maingueneau, como a figura de messias se personifica em Jobs e desvela uma mítica de “salvador” instaurada sobre ele. Esta investigação também parte da hipótese da sacralização da tecnologia (NOBLE, 1997), a qual considera que, promovendo o encontro entre o físico e o metafísico, a tecnologia visa à transcendência e se apropria de ideias religiosas. Assim, neste trabalho realiza-se um atravessamento por diferentes campos discursivos como o publicitário, o religioso e o midiático, com vistas a depreender não somente a intertextualidade como o ethos discursivo e a cenografia na conjuntura das aparições públicas do cofundador da Apple. Ademais, para compreender o modo como o discurso de Steve Jobs encenou sua consagração ao mundo, recorrendo ao discurso religioso para legitimar a própria fala, mobiliza-se a noção de discurso constituinte. Considerando a evolução nas redes dos gêneros do discurso, especialmente após o surgimento da internet e da ampla disseminação da tecnologia, a pesquisa também contempla a noção de valência genérica (MAINGUENEAU, 2015), que permite refletir sobre o modo como os gêneros do discurso e, consequentemente, o exercício do discurso vêm se transformando. Essa reflexão é essencial, uma vez que a análise desta pesquisa se concentra em eventos que aconteceram de modo empírico e que foram reproduzidos em um site de compartilhamento de vídeos, o YouTube. Os resultados mostram o modo como o ethos pré-discursivo se construiu por meio da interação entre diferentes gêneros, os artifícios discursivos utilizados pelo enunciador na cenografia de suas apresentações para interpelar seus coenunciadores, bem como o encadeamento que havia entre aquilo que Jobs demonstrava e os conteúdos que circulavam a seu respeito, suscitando expectativas em relação a suas aparições públicas

Next generation data centres are expected to support both advance resource reservation and on-demand access, but the system performance for such a computing environment has not been well-investigated. A reservation request is characterized by a start time, duration, and resource requirement. Discrete event simulation is used to study the performance characteristics of reservation systems. The basic strategy is to accept a request if resources are available and reject the request otherwise. The performance metrics considered are resource utilization and blocking probability. Results showing the impact of input parameters on these performance metrics are presented. It is found that the resource utilization is quite low. Two strategies that can be used to improve the performance for advance reservation are evaluated. The first strategy allows the start time to be delayed up to some maximum value, while the second allows the possibility of non-uniform resource allocation over the duration of the reservation. Simulation results showing the performance improvements of these two strategies are presented. Resources not used by advance reservation are used to support on-demand access. The performance metrics of interest is the mean response time. Simulation results showing the impact of resource availability and its variation over time on the mean response time are presented. These results provide valuable insights into the performance of systems with time-varying processing capacity. They can also be used to develop guidelines for the non-uniform resource allocation strategy for advance reservation in case the reserved resources are used for interactive access.

Next generation data centres are expected to support both advance resource reservation and on-demand access, but the system performance for such a computing environment has not been well-investigated. A reservation request is characterized by a start time, duration, and resource requirement. Discrete event simulation is used to study the performance characteristics of reservation systems. The basic strategy is to accept a request if resources are available and reject the request otherwise. The performance metrics considered are resource utilization and blocking probability. Results showing the impact of input parameters on these performance metrics are presented. It is found that the resource utilization is quite low. Two strategies that can be used to improve the performance for advance reservation are evaluated. The first strategy allows the start time to be delayed up to some maximum value, while the second allows the possibility of non-uniform resource allocation over the duration of the reservation. Simulation results showing the performance improvements of these two strategies are presented. Resources not used by advance reservation are used to support on-demand access. The performance metrics of interest is the mean response time. Simulation results showing the impact of resource availability and its variation over time on the mean response time are presented. These results provide valuable insights into the performance of systems with time-varying processing capacity. They can also be used to develop guidelines for the non-uniform resource allocation strategy for advance reservation in case the reserved resources are used for interactive access.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education