The final thesis deals with the issuance of Act No. 254/2020 Coll., On experts, expert offices and expert institutes. The aim is to analyze, describe and evaluate the impact of the law change on expert activities. The analysis took the form of a questionnaire survey addressing 1,002 experts. The evaluation of the results is processed using graphs, tables and free citations of experts. The thesis deals with the characteristics of individual provisions of the law, their negative effects and benefits. The output of the work is an analysis of the current situation. In the end, recommendations and proposals for measures are formulated.

De senaste 10 åren har utvecklingen av LED öppnat stora möjligheter för kreativa lösningar av belysning. Exempelvis kan färgglad och dynamisk fasadbelysning tillverkas. I denna studie undersöks det hur animerat ljus upplevs och hur det skapas en mjuk och sömlös effekt. Detta kan appliceras i flera olika scenarion av programmering av rörligt ljus. Animerat ljus (animering) genereras med LED-belysning och funktionen den har är att växla färg på pixlarna såsom video växlar bild. Studien fokuserar på animerat ljus interiört och exteriört i bilar. Denna studie har genomförts med stöd av Perceived Quality teamet på Volvo Cars AB och fokus har därigenom legat på interiör- och exteriör belysning i bilar. Forskningsmetoden för studien har varit experiment där deltagarna har observerat olika scenarion med animering på en LED-list. Deltagarna fick besvara en enkät och svara på hur de upplever animeringen. Studien visar på att faktorer som hastighet och storlek påverkar hur ljuset uppfattas. Tidigare nämnda faktorer är nödvändiga parametrar för att skapa en sömlös och mjuk animering. / In the last 10 years, the development of LED has opened up great opportunities for creative lighting solutions. This could be used for a colorful and dynamic facade lighting. In this study, it is investigated how animated light is experienced and how to achieve a soft and seamless effect. This can be applied in several different scenarios of programming moving light. Animated light (animation) is generated with LED lighting and to function it has to change the color or intensity of the pixels like a video changes image. The study conducted focused on animated interior and exterior lighting in cars. This study has been done with the support of the Perceived Quality team at Volvo Cars AB and the focus has therefore been on interior and exterior lighting in cars. The research method of the study has been experiments where the participants have observed different scenarios with animation on a LED strip. The participants had to respond on a survey how they experienced the animation. The study shows that factors such as speed and size will affect how light is perceived. Mentioned factors are necessary parameters to create a seamless and smooth animation, which is what the study showed.

Events such as forest fires or floods are a danger to our Earth’s environment and the people living in it. The sooner they can be detected, the less damage they can cause. An idea arises: use satellites to monitor the Earth and relay information to prevention and rescue organizations in a very short time, regardless of accessibility from ground. PandionAI is a Swedish start-up that aims to create a constellation of satellites that will carry built-in machine learning models that analyze the Earth images and detect early on such environmental catastrophes. The aim of this thesis is to design a constellation for such purpose. In parallel, a target list that includes potential places of interest for such events will be developed and the constellation performance will be evaluated with it by defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The target list has a dynamic nature as weather changes and climate evolves, so events of interest will be at different places in the globe as time passes. Because of this, four different target lists were developed, one per season. The events covered by the target lists are the environmental hazards: fires, floods, deforestation and CO2 footprint from factories. Constellation design is a highly complex problem due to its infinite possible solutions for a given purpose. Nevertheless, one can optimize for specific design parameters and assumptions. This thesis proposes a model in which for a given number of total satellites, multiple constellations are compared, and the search for the optimal design is performed given the defined KPIs. Constellations in the optimization process are designed applying the 2-D Lattice Flower Constellation method and adding the twin satellite concept. / Händelser som skogsbränder eller översvämningar är en fara för vår jords miljö och människorna som lever i den. Ju tidigare de kan upptäckas, desto mindre skada kan de orsaka. En idé uppstår: att använda satelliter för att övervaka jorden och vidarebefordra information till förebyggande och räddningsorganisationer på mycket kort tid, oavsett tillgänglighet från marken. PandionAI är en svensk start-up som vars mål är att skapa en konstellation av satelliter som ska bära inbyggda maskininlärningsmodeller som analyserar analyserar satelliters bilder bilder och tidigt upptäcker sådana miljökatastrofer. Syftet med denna uppsats är att utforma en konstellation för detta ändamål. Parallellt kommer en mållista som inkluderar potentiella platser av intresse för sådana händelser att utvecklas och konstellationens prestanda kommer att utvärderas med den genom att definiera Key Performance Indicator-parametrar (KPI). Mållistan har en dynamisk karaktär, eftersom väder och klimat varierar över året säsonger och händelser, så händelser av intresse kommer att finnas på olika platser i världen med tiden. På grund av detta utvecklades fyra olika mållistor, en per säsong. De händelser som omfattas av mållistorna är miljöriskerna: bränder, översvämningar, avskogning och CO2 fotavtryck från fabriker. Konstellationsdesign är ett mycket komplext problem på grund av dess oändliga många möjliga lösningar för ett givet syfte. Ändå kan man optimera för specifika designparametrar och antaganden. Denna studie syftar till att förslå en modell för ett totalt givet antal satelliter, där flera konstellationer jämförs och finna den optimala designen givet KPIerna. Konstellationer i optimeringsprocessen är designade med tillämpning av 2D Lattice Flower Constellation-metoden och användning av tvilling-satellit-konceptet till tvillingsatellitkonceptet.

in English with English title of the thesis: Language of SMS and French as a foreign language The central topic of the thesis is the language of short text messages (SMS) and/or the one of chat and their application in teaching of French as a foreign language (fr. abbreviation F.L.E., français langue étrangère). The aim is to answer the question so as to how to grasp linguo- didactically this modern sociolect of young users (not only) of French, typical of written communication via digital technologies, with the purpose of the purely practical use in the classes of French. Firstly, a linguistic description will be given in order to understand the mechanisms of the explored language code not only in French, but also partly in Czech and English, as well as the determination of the position of the SMS language as a socio-cultural phenomenon in the present-day French. The following research will be dealing with the identification and the analysis of the teaching activities using the SMS language found in approximately fifty text books of French intended for the learners of levels A1, A2, B1, B2. The next section offers the theoretical evaluation of the exploitability of the SMS language in the classes of French, having as a point of reference specialised works of didactics of foreign languages. The...

There has existed for many years a memory enhancement technique ("memory pegs") that although having dramatic demonstrable success in some individual cases has not been generally applied in education. The emergence of constructivist epistemology has emphasised the notion that learning occurs as a result of connecting new material with previously learnt concepts. There is, therefore, the implication that effective learning requires some previous knowledge upon which to attach new concepts - and thus realisation of the importance of learning with respect to acquiring factual information as a prerequisite to learning new processes and/or skills. This issue has focussed my attention on the need to ensure that the more physiological skills of accessing 'memory', both for learning and recall, are optimised for maximum learning. Further, there are some indications that the physiological skills of memory access (storage and retrieval) may respond favourably to training and 'exercise'. This study was designed to find out whether or not a repeated 'exercise' using a simple memory enhancement technique would lead to a determinable and statistically significant increase in overall performance in a range of cognitive skills (as indicated by science and mathematics examination results), whether learning such a technique would affect a student's attitudes towards science, whether there was a relationship between the amount of time spent practicing the technique and the degree of effect, and whether the memory technique did actually improve the ability to recall lists of objects.

歐盟廣泛地與世界各國簽訂優惠貿易協定，透過優惠貿易待遇的給予來促進與各國間政治與經貿的緊密連繫。而對於生產者而言，要適用這些貿易優惠的前提就是透過遵循歐盟優惠性原產地規則而使產品取得原產產品身分，無論是以完全取得或是經過充分作業或加工而產生實質轉型的方式。 本論文主要的研究目的，在於分析個別歐盟優惠貿易協定下關於累積規定、微量條款、出口退稅禁止等關鍵條文，與附錄清單就產品「實質轉型」標準規定的法律義涵，以及其隱含的政經意義；並就該意義進一步推衍出對於台灣的生產者，在眾多的歐盟優惠性協定法律架構下，存在個別規則適用難易程度具有差別且該差別將對生產成本有所影響之事實。而本論文另一重點則是就法規與生產稟賦搭配後得推衍出原則性之評估方法來評比出個別優惠性原產地規則在適用上之優劣順序，以協助台灣廠商未來考慮使用此項貿易優惠來進軍歐盟市場時，在國際投資之佈局上可以納入考量或作為參考，以選擇出最有利的受惠國或區域作為生產資源配置之基礎。 為使法律層面與實務上之運作加以結合，本論文進一步以台灣的成鞋廠商做為研究觀察之對象，檢視其是否會因為適用歐盟優惠性原產地規則而改變投資模式，另亦將與鞋廠商實際訪談所得之結論與推演出原則性評估方法加以比較，進一步檢討該評估方法之適用能力與情形，並提出應隨不同情況而加以修正相關假設之注意。 關鍵詞：歐盟優惠性原產地規則；原產地規則；原產產品；實質轉型；累積規定；微量條款；出口退稅禁止；附錄清單；生產稟賦；國際投資；成鞋。 / Europe Union (EU) broadly sign the preferential trade agreements with the other countries in the globe, and through the conferring of the preferential trade treatments, EU attempts to build up the tight political and economic bonds worldwide. The premise for producers who want to enjoy these trade preferences is to make sure that their product are qualified and recognized as “original product” in those beneficiary countries either by following the regulation of standard of “wholly obtained” or “sufficiently working or processing” stipulated in each preferential Rule of Origin (ROO). The main subject of this thesis is to analyze the legal meaning and the underlined policy purpose of the critical provisions in each EU preferential ROO, such as “cumulation”, “general tolerance rule”, “no-drawback rule”, and the standard of “sufficiently working or processing” of a product (substantial transformation) stipulated in the List Rules (in the Annex part) attached in each preferential trade agreement. And from those meaning Author reasons out the fact that the level of difficulty concerning applying and using these preferential ROO are different and the difference has its influence on cost of producing. Author also infers the basic method to assess the level of difficulty of these ROO while combining analyzing the ROO provisions and endowment in the beneficiary countries. This method is to assist those Taiwanese producers who have willing to use the EU preferential ROO to make their product qualified as “original product” with the minimized producing cost when entering into EU market, that is, to help producers cherry pick the beneficial countries (or area) for making investments distribution and deploying concerned producing resources and still have their the products entitled as “original product”. To combine the legal dimension and the producer’s operation in practice, Author further chooses Taiwanese footwear producers as observed subject of using the ROO and see if they would change their mode of investment thereafter. Author compares the conclusion derived from interviewing footwear producers with the basic assessment method, and further examines the applicability of the method and the potential correction of hypothesis under certained situations. Key words: EU preferential Rule of Origin, Rule of Origin, original product, substantial transformation, cumulation, general tolerance rule, no-drawback rule, List Rules, endowment, international investment, footwear.

中國13億人口的內需市場已為各產業的新興目標，尤其是在醫藥產業，中國政府於2009年宣布將投注8,500億人民幣改革中國整體醫藥建設，更為目前身處於台灣飽和市場的本土藥廠的發展契機，加上兩岸近期簽署的兩岸經濟合作架構協議(ECFA)，未來兩岸商業互動將更為頻繁。台商藥廠如何在這各界搶占的中國市場占有一席之地？掌握通路即掌握市場。 影響通路建構的因素分析，是企業市場營銷的首要步驟，公司對影響通路建構的因素越是瞭解，越是能掌握變動的市場，做出調整以因應環境的變化。本研究首先從中國醫藥品生產企業發展概況的分析，引導出跨國藥廠(歐美等國與台灣企業)進入中國市場常見的問題，並研究影響其通路建構須掌握的三大分析構面，包括醫療體制、藥品管理相關法令，以及流通企業等。 在醫療體制部分，中國的醫療市場主要集中在國有醫院(public hospitals)，但國有醫院的營銷環境複雜，受到許多來自政策、地方主義、關係資本等因素的影響，使得外來投資企業在經營中國國有醫院市場上，皆需要各方面相當的營銷資源才足以支撐。 在藥品相關法令部分，中國政府為了整頓醫藥市場混亂的景象以及減輕民眾的用藥負擔，於1998年起陸續頒布了許多藥品管理相關法令，包括國家基本藥品目錄、藥品價格管理制度，以及藥品集中招標採購制度等，這些法令雖然規範與體制化了中國醫藥市場，但也約束了醫藥通路終端市場的藥品採購，並使藥廠的通路建構彈性大幅受限。另外，雖然過去由於中國專利法發展遲滯，致使許多歐美企業無法在中國發揮藥品發明專利之市場壟斷的作用，但中國於2007年再次修定並頒布新實施的藥品註冊管理辦法，已將中國的藥品專利保護之法律與行政制度進行初步連結，未來兩者整合性的發展，將塑造出更有利於擁有強大技術與專利能量的藥廠生存的環境，此為台商不可忽視的重要課題。 在流通企業部分，中國流通企業不僅了解當地行規，通常又擅長多角化經營，掌握了大多的終端客戶，往往能夠提供藥廠代銷、物流、倉儲、收款等服務，故在流通企業在中國醫藥通路上扮演著不可或缺的角色，藥廠對流通企業的通路功能依賴性極大。 台商過去進入中國醫藥市場發展十幾年來的商業模式，是否還能足以因應未來更變化多端的市場環境？而後進中國市場的台灣藥廠又該採取怎樣的進軍策略？面對未來，台商更應「衡外情、量已力」，從各面向深入瞭解影響中國醫藥品通路建構的因素，除了鞏固既有醫藥市場與通路資源外，更應積極思考如何提高通路系統的附加價值，開創嶄新的獲利模式。本研究後續將針對前述三大影響因素，分章論述分析，最後歸納與整理影響因素對台灣藥廠所造成的困難，並提具因應上的建議，期能提供在中國發展醫藥品市場的台商企業作為未來發展策略的參考依據。 / China’s great market demand has become the new target for international enterprises, especially in pharmaceutical industry. China government announced the investment of 850 billion RMB to ameliorate the medical infrastructure in China, which indicates an opportunity for Taiwan pharmaceutical companies. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China will encourage a more enthusiastic interaction across the strait. Channel strategy will be the key to predominate the highly competent China market for Taiwan pharmaceutical companies. Analysis on channel construction will be the first step for industrial marketing strategy. The better a company understands the factors influential for channel construction, the better it can get control in the ever-changing market and adjust itself to cope with any alteration in the environment. This thesis will begin with an introduction on the development of pharmaceutical industry in China and thus induce some common issues with which international pharmaceutical companies are confronted in China market. It will analyze the channel construction from three important perspectives, healthcare system, pharmaceutical regulations, and logistics industry. Public hospitals play a major role in the healthcare system of China market. The marketing in public hospital involves complicated variables, including policy, local protectionism, and relationship capital. Non-local companies need every considerable resource to manage the marketing in public hospitals. In order to reform the healthcare market and lower the medical expense, China government announced several pharmaceutical regulations, including National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL), Medicine pricing policy, and Pharmaceutical Centralized Public Bidding Procurement process. On one hand, these regulations help to put the market into order; on the other hand, it sets restricts on the retail sales and the channeling flexibility of the pharmaceutical company. Due to the slow development of China patent law in the past, moreover, a lot of American or European pharmaceutical companies could not develop an exclusive market for their drug through patent system. New Provisions for Drug Registration revised and announced by China government in 2007 established an initial connection between legal and administrative system of drug patent protection. Such integrated development will form an environment more suitable for pharmaceutical companies which possess powerful technology and patents, a significant trend for Taiwan companies’ attentions. China logistics companies understand local law and regulation and are usually familiar with multi-business strategy. They control most of the retailers and can offer sales agency, logistics, storage, and agency receipt. Logistic industry plays an important role in China pharmaceutical channel and is indispensable to pharmaceutical companies. It will be questionable whether Taiwan companies’ old business model can be sufficient for the changing China pharmaceutical market in the future. The newcomers should ponder more on their strategy for the market as well. Taiwan companies need to take the external condition and their own strength into consideration, understanding every factor of China pharmaceutical channel construction. Besides strengthening the original market and channels, Taiwan companies should aggressively enhance the add-value of channel system and find out new profit model. This thesis will focus on and elaborate the three perspectives and analyze the difficulties they bring upon Taiwan pharmaceutical companies, proposing possible solutions and future strategy for those who aim to develop their pharmaceutical business in China.

The thesis deals with the construction design of reversible swirl turbine used in a tidal range power plant for bidirectional operation. The theoretical part provides an overview of state-of-the-art technologies in the usage of tidal energy, mostly by means of tidal range and stream tidal power plants. It also analyses respective designs of tidal turbines and their advantages and disadvantages. The practical part of the thesis demonstrates individual steps applied when examining loading forces and also shows the design method and strength inspection procedure of the turbine and its parts, especially of the impeller, gears, shafts and bearings. Lastly, the paper outlines the selection approach of the most appropriate water plant generator.

Document server is a web application controllable by way of web browser. It is meant to serve for the management of development documentation. The application is divided to the four basic parts: Requirements, Products, Tests and Test Run. The section Requirements serves for inserting requirements for products. Product is produced on the basis of these needs and registered in part Products. Test setting is created in the part Tests according to requirements from the part Requirements. Particular products are then tested. The part Test Run registers records of these tests. These are parts of the application: management of users, connecting supplements to records, printing and exportation of data to different formats, saving history of records, filtration and sorting of entries, etc. All the data is saved in the database MySQL. The application is written in scripting language PHP. Data is presented by template system Smarty. The output is in language XHTML. Cascading style CSS is used to formatting. This work describes development of the application. First it is dealing with the proposal of the database, connection and structure of particular tables. The function of the programme is explained in detail at the same time, which is essential for the correct proposal of the database. The application is based on the database. The selected structure of files and relations of scripts to library functions are shown. The template system and the interface for access of the programme to the database are explained. The most attention is paid to the description of solving important functions of the application, i.e. listing of records, their pagination, filtration, sorting and operation with them: saving, browsing, copying, confirmation and work with history, category and problems by upkeep of consistent tree and export of data to various formats. It is always outlined the problem, the idea of solving and the description of appropriate scripts. Samples of source code are also included for better understanding of complicated algorithms.

[ES] Esta tesis investiga las oportunidades, desafíos y limitaciones para la investigación en el campo de la ecología vegetal, en el contexto de los acantilados mediterráneos. En concreto, las especies casmofiticas, cuyos hábitats naturales se caracterizan por su acusada pendiente. Las laderas de las montañas de piedra caliza en la proximidad del mar, en la parte central y occidental del área mediterránea se consideran objetos de estudio. Los estudios se llevaron a cabo en los cinturones costeros de montaña de las costas del noroeste de Sicilia y la costa diánica en la Comunidad Valenciana. El primer capítulo, titulado "The complexity of environmental factors: cliff microclimate", investiga la variabilidad del microclima del acantilado en tres áreas diferentes en Sicilia y España, analizando las condiciones ambientales creadas por el acantilado en una escala muy estrecha. Se recopilaron seis conjuntos de datos independientes y comparables que recogen las principales variables meteorológicas a lo largo de un período total de 18 meses. La gama resultante de condiciones ambientales se compara por pares a lo largo de dos gradientes ambientales principales: la orientación del acantilado Norte/Sur y la proximidad al mar. Además, los rasgos foliares intraespecíficos se utilizan para estudiar la variación en la respuesta funcional de las plantas que viven en las orientaciónes opuestas en una misma área de investigación. La variación resultante se correlaciona con la influencia de las condiciones microclimáticas creadas por la pendiente y el aspecto en los rasgos de la planta antes mencionados. El segundo capítulo, titulado "Compositional data and analyses of areas and plant communities in the coastal cliffs of the Valencian Community (Spain)", presenta una ordenación de los sitios de estudio y de las especies vegetales que habitan en las zonas de acantilados del cinturón montañoso a lo largo de las costas de la región diánica en el este de España. El estudio reveló correlaciones significativas entre las unidades de vegetación y los sitios con referencia a la amplia orientación geográfica Norte/Sur. Sin embargo, fue poco informativo con respecto a revelar las principales diferencias observadas en la estructura del conjunto de plantas relacionadas con laa variaciones microtopográficas registradas en el conjunto de datos. En el tercer capítulo, titulado "UAV (drone) surveys for the study of plant- microtopography relationships and for the conservation of rare species", se describe la metodología propuesta para investigar entornos verticales poco accesibles. También se analizaron los desafíos y las oportunidades de la investigación ecológica vegetal en estas áreas tipicamente inaccesibles. Un primer conjunto de datos comprende un censo visual parcial y total de dos especies endémicas de acantilados estrechos en las áreas de estudio españolas e italianas. Mediante el uso de la fotogrametría aérea de corto alcance y el modelado 3D, fue posible estudiar los efectos de la micro topografía en la segregación de nichos, tanto a nivel de comunidad como de especie. Se utilizaron métodos de ordenación para correlacionar las especies endémicas seleccionadas y conjuntos de plantas con factores ambientales como el aspecto local y global, la pendiente y la distancia desde los bordes de los acantilados. En el cuarto capítulo, titulado "Distribution, ecology, conservation status and phylogeography of Pseudoscabiosa limonifolia, a paleo-endemic chasmophytic species from Sicily (Italy)", se analiza en detalle la estructura filogeográfica de una especie endémica de acantilados, Pseudoscabiosa limonifolia (Caprifoliaceae, subfamilia Dipsacaceae), también considerando las relaciones filogeográficas con sus taxones más próximos. Además, su distribución total se determinó mediante observaciones de campo, caracterizando su hábitat y evaluando su estado de conservación como Vulnerable de acuerdo con las / [CA] Aquesta tesi va investigar les oportunitats, reptes i limitacions per a la investigació en el camp de l'ecologia vegetal, en el context dels penya-segats mediterranis. En concret, les espècies casmofitiques, amb hàbitats naturals que es caracteritzen pel seu acusat pendent. Les vessants de les muntanyes de pedra calcària en la proximitat del mar, a la part central i occidental de l'àrea mediterrània són considerats objectes d'estudi. Els estudis es portaren a terme als cinturons costers de muntanya de les costes del nord de Sicília i la costa diànica a la Comunitat Valenciana. El primer capítol, titulat "The complexity of environmental factors: cliff microclimate", investiga la variabilitat del microclima del penya-segat en tres àrees diferents de Sicília i Espanya, analitzant les condicions ambientals creades pel penya-segat a una escala molt estreta. Es recopilen sis conjunts de dades independents i comparables que reconeixen les principals variables meteorològiques a llarg termini durant un període total de 18 mesos. Les dades resultants de les condicions ambientals es comparen per parells al llarg de dos gradients ambientals principals: l'orientació del penya-segat Nord/Sud i la proximitat a la mar. A més, els trests foliars intraespecífics s'utilitzen per estudiar la variació en la resposta funcional de les plantes que habiten orientacions oposades dins d'un àrea d' investigació. La variació resultant es correlaciona amb la influència de les condicions microclimàtiques creades pel vessant i els aspectos funcionals dels trets vegetals esmentats. El segon capítol, titulat "Compositional data and analyses of areas and plant communities in the coastal cliffs of the Valencian Community (Spain)", presenta una ordenació dels llocs d'estudi i de les espècies de plantes que habiten a les zones de penya- segats del cinturó de muntanya al llarg de les costes de la regió diànica de España. L'estudi va a revelar correlacions significatives entre les unitats de vegetació i els llocs amb referència a l'amplias orientació geogràfica Nord/Sud. No obstant aixó, va ser poc informatiu per poder revelar les diferències observades en l'estructura del conjunt de plantes relacionades amb les variacions microtopogràfiques registrades al conjunt de dades Al tercer capítol, titulat "UAV (drone) surveys for the study of plant-microtopography relationships and for the conservation of rare species", es descriu la metodologia proposada per a investigar entorns verticals poc accessibles. També es van analitzar els reptes i les oportunitats de la investigació ecològica vegetal en aquestes àrees normalment inaccesibles. Un primer conjunt de dades inclou el cens visual parcial i el total de dues espècies endèmiques de penya-segats a les àrees d'estudi espanyoles i italianes. Mitjançant la fotogrametria aèrea a curt abast i el modelat 3D, va ser possible estudiar els efectes de la microtopografia en la segregació de nínxols, tant a nivell comunitari com d'espècies. Es van utilitzar mètodes d'ordenació per a correlacionar les espècies endèmiques seleccionades i conjunts vegetals sencers amb factors ambientals com ara l'aspecte local i global, el pendent i la distància de les vores dels penya-segats. En el quart capítol, titulat "Distribution, ecology, conservation status and phylogeography of Pseudoscabiosa limonifolia, a paleo-endemic chasmophytic species from Sicily (Italy)", que s'analitza en detall l'estructura filogeográfica d'una espècie endèmica de penya-segats, Pseudoscabiosa limonifolia (Caprifoliaceae, subfamilia Dipsacaceae), considerant tambè les relacions filogeogràfiques amb els seus taxons més propers. A més, la seva distribució total es va determinar mitjançant observacions de camp, caracteritzant el seu hàbitat i avaluant el seu estat de conservació com a Vulnerable, d'acord amb les directrius de la llista roja de la UICN. / [EN] This thesis investigated opportunities, challenges and limitations for plant ecological research in the context of Mediterranean cliffs. In particular, chasmophytic species, whose natural habitats are very steep, limestone mountain slopes in the proximity of the sea, in the Central and Western part of the Mediterranean area are considered as study objects. Studies were carried out in the coastal mountain belts of both North-western Sicily and Dianic coasts in the Valencian Community (Spain). The first chapter, entitled "The complexity of environmental factors: cliff microclimate", investigates the variability of cliff microclimate in three different areas in Sicily and Spain, analysing the environmental conditions created by the cliff at very fine scale. Six independent and comparable datasets including the main meteorological variables were compiled in a total period of 18 months. The resulting spectra of environmental conditions are compared pairwise along two key environmental gradients: North/South cliff orientation and proximity to the sea. Intraspecific leaf traits are used in order to investigate variations in the functional response of plants living on opposite orientations. The resulting variation is then correlated with the influence of microclimatic conditions created by slope and functional aspects of the aforementioned plant traits. The second chapter, entitled "Compositional data and analyses of areas and plant communities in the coastal cliffs of the Valencian Community (Spain)", presents an ordination of the study sites and of the plant species inhabiting the cliff zones of the mountain belt along the coasts of the Dianic region in Eastern Spain. The study revealed significant correlations between the vegetation units and the sites with reference to the broad North/South geographical orientation. However, it was poorly informative in respect to reveal the major differences observed in the structure of the plant assemblage related to the micro- topographic variations recorded in the dataset. In the third chapter, entitled "UAV (drone) surveys for the study of plant- microtopography relationships and for the conservation of rare species", a proposed survey methodology for investigating inaccessible vertical environments is described. Challenges and opportunities of plant ecological research in these typically inaccessible areas were also analysed. A first set of data is comprised of partial and total visual census of two narrow endemic cliff species in the Spanish and Italian study areas. Through the use of aerial close- range photogrammetry and 3D modelling, it was possible to study the effects of micro-topography on niche segregation, both at community and species level. Ordination methods were used to correlate selected endemic species and entire plant assemblages to environmental factors such as local and global aspect, slope and distance from cliff edges. The fourth chapter, entitled "Distribution, ecology, conservation status and phylogeography of Pseudoscabiosa limonifolia, a paleo-endemic chasmophytic species from Sicily (Italy)", is addressed to analyse in details the phylogeographic structure of a cliff narrow endemic species, Pseudoscabiosa limonifolia (VAHL) DEVESA (Caprifoliaceae, subfamily Dipsacaceae), also taking in consideration its closest sister taxa. Furthermore, its total distribution was determined by field surveys, characterizing its habitat, and assessing its conservation status as Vulnerable according to IUCN red list guidelines. / De Simone, L. (2020). Ecological aspects of plants inhabiting Mediterranean cliffs. Challenges and prospects of life in vertical environments [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/159877 / TESIS