In this thesis we develop exact repair schemes capable of repairing or circumventing unavailable servers of a distributed network in the context of distributed storage and secure distributed matrix multiplication. We develop the (Λ, Γ, W, ⊙)-exact repair scheme framework for discussing both of these contexts and develop a multitude of explicit exact repair schemes utilizing decreasing monomial-Cartesian codes (DMC codes). Specifically, we construct novel DMC codes in the form of augmented Cartesian codes and rectangular monomial-Cartesian codes, as well as design exact repair schemes utilizing these constructions inspired by the schemes from Guruswami and Wootters [16] and Chen and Zhang [6]. In the context of distributed storage we demonstrate the existence of both high rate and low bandwidth systems based on these schemes, and we develop two methods to extend them to the l-erasure case. Additionally, we develop a family of hybrid schemes capable of attaining high rates, low bandwidths, and a balance in between which proves to be competitive compared to existing schemes. In the context of secure distributed matrix multiplication we develop similarly impactful schemes which have very competitive communication costs. We also construct an encoding algorithm based on multivariate interpolation and prove it is T-secure. / Doctor of Philosophy / Distributed networks may be thought of as networks of computers and/or servers which are capable of transmitting and receiving data from one another. For many applications it is possible for distributed networks to perform better than the sum of their constituent parts. In this thesis we will focus on the particular applications of distributed storage and secure distributed multiplication. A distributed storage system is a system that is capable of storing a single data file over every server in a distributed network. Distributed storage systems often come with exact repair schemes which are algorithms designed to reconstruct the data from a server in the network given the data from the other servers. In particular, if a server on the network ever fails or is otherwise unavailable an exact repair scheme can be used to repair the lost data from the server and maintain the original file. A distributed matrix multiplication scheme on the other hand is a process by which two matrices stored on a source server can be multiplied using a distributed network of helper servers. Again if a helper server becomes unavailable during this process we may use an exact repair scheme to circumvent this delay. The main goal of this thesis is to develop exact repair schemes for the distributed storage and secure distributed matrix multiplication contexts utilizing a mathematical object known as an evaluation code. We will develop several families of exact repair schemes which may be finely tuned to fit particular situations within these contexts, and we will compare these schemes to the existing schemes in the field.

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Rural areas in Sweden are often pointed out as key areas for development when it comes to industries such as forestry, agriculture, mining, energy, food security, tourism, leisure, and outdoor activities. However, these areas have seen a negative population trend for decades and, simultaneously, public service provision has declined. This development is not unique to Sweden and can be seen in rural areas across the world. Within scientific literature several approaches have been studied to find potential solutions and bring back prosperity to rural communities. Once such solution is Community Wealth Building (CWB), which is an economic framework designed to help circulate local resource within the local society. To date, CWB has primarily been implemented in urban contexts. This study has therefore investigated the potential for implementing the CWB framework in a rural context in Sweden, and what possibilities or barriers there are for such implementation. The study has been conducted as explorative case study in the municipality of Åre. Empirical data has been collected through a thematic analysis of municipal steering documents and through semi-structured interviews with actors from local public institutions, local third sector and local business. The findings suggest that there is potential to implement the CWB framework in a rural, Swedish context, taking into consideration the various possibilities and barriers that exist for doing so in practice.

4D-Flow MRI is a non-invasive imaging technique that can measure temporally resolved 3D images, capturing the flow/velocity in each pixel. The quality of the images and the temporal resolution largely depend on two factors. The acquisition protocol the MRI scanner uses and the reconstruction method used to go from signal to images. In MRI, the signal samples measured are the Fourier coefficients of the sought-after image, and reconstruction is an inverse problem, classically requiring sampling on at least Nyquist rate. Compressed sensing is a framework that allows for reconstruction from fewer samples than the Nyquist rate by incorporating other known information about the images. In this thesis, we evaluate the efficiency of Compressed Sensing for 4D-Flow MRI reconstruction for undersampled signals on synthetic data and compare it to classical reconstruction methods (Gridding and Viewshared Gridding). We specifically focus on the Locally Low Rank (LLR) regularization. The importance of initial-guess, or if it can be beneficial to estimate the temporal images by solving from the difference to the mean, is investigated. After calculating velocity profiles in vessels, we compare the reconstructed velocity profiles to the actual velocity profiles. We look at relative errors and pixel-wise maximum errors, as well as visual inspection. We introduce a velocity error metric aiming at capturing how accurate the reconstructed velocity profile is compared to our synthetic truth. We show that for good choices of regularization strength, the relative, maximum and velocity errors are significantly lower for the Compressed Sensing LLR method compared to the classical methods. We conclude that Compressed sensing with LLR regularization can significantly improve the reconstruction quality of 4D-Flow MRI data.

The climate crisis is a well-known problem in the world that has contributed to increased interest in locally produced products. However, according to previous research, the use of local meat in restaurants is not obvious due to problems with both price and deliveries. Despite the hospitality industry's impact on consumption trends, the lack of studies on chefs'perspective on locally produced food is limited. The purpose of the study is therefore to identify central factors that influence the decision-making process of chefs when purchasing locally produced meat in Skåne. To study the chefs, a qualitative method was used, semi-structured interviews in which four chefs participated. Interest in locally produced meat is great, but there are problems with a delivery guarantee and the cost. Important factors for the respondents were the quality that was linked to the sensory properties of taste and texture. To enable an increased use of locally produced meat, taxes and fees need to be reduced in order to be able to lower prices at all levels. Consumer awareness of the climate footprint has increased demand and thus demands that restaurants purchase locally produced meat. Increased delivery guarantee can be made possible by using wholesalers as intermediaries. The study therefore strives to contribute with knowledge and understanding of what is required in Skåne to increase the possibility of using local meat in restaurants.

The aim of this study was to explore consumers’ descriptions of sustainable food consumption. The concept of sustainability can be difficult to grasp, but is often defined in terms of three pillars; environment, society and economy. Prior research of sustainable food consumption have often focused on one of the pillars rather than all of them together in relation to consumers understandings of sustainable food consumption. Notwithstanding, previous research have mentioned that in order to fully comprehend sustainability it is essential to take all of the three pillars into consideration. Therefore, this study acknowledged this gap, as it focused on the three pillars of sustainability as a base, and further connected the three pillars to the four food concepts; organic, Fairtrade, sustainable diets and waste, in order to fully understand consumers descriptions of sustainable food consumption. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach, and the data was collected through semi-structured interviews with a sample of students and employees at Linnaeus University in Sweden. The interviewees gave varied and interesting answers, which later were analyzed in comparison to the theory on the subject. With the answers from the interviews it was concluded that environmental and social sustainability were prioritized to economic sustainability among participants. As the participants’ descriptions of sustainable food consumption was varied, and all of the four concepts in relation to three pillars were analyzed, a framework was developed in order to clarify how the consumers describe sustainable food consumption. The study also presents a number of implications for further research as well as managerial implications.  Keywords Sustainable food consumption, consumers description, three pillars of sustainability, economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, social sustainability, organic, Fairtrade, sustainable diets, vegetarian, locally produced, waste reduction, food waste

The objective of this doctoral thesis is to study three different innovative noise control techniques in ducts namely: acoustic metamaterials, porous absorbers and microperforates. There has been a lot of research done on all these three topics in the context of duct acoustics. This research will assess the potential of the acoustic metamaterial technique and compare to the use of conventional methods using microperforated plates and/or porous materials.  The objective of the metamaterials part is to develop a physical approach to model and synthesize bulk moduli and densities to feasibly control the wave propagation pattern, creating quiet zones in the targeted fluid domain. This is achieved using an array of locally resonant metallic patches. In addition to this, a novel thin slow sound material is also proposed in the acoustic metamaterial part of this thesis. This slow sound material is a quasi-labyrinthine structure flush mounted to a duct, comprising of coplanar quarter wavelength resonators that aims to slow the speed of sound at selective resonance frequencies. A good agreement between theoretical analysis and experimental measurements is demonstrated. The second technique is based on acoustic porous foam and it is about modeling and characterization of a novel porous metallic foam absorber inside ducts. This material proved to be a similar or better sound absorber compared to the conventional porous absorbers, but with robust and less degradable properties. Material characterization of this porous absorber from a simple transfer matrix measurement is proposed.The last part of this research is focused on impedance of perforates with grazing flow on both sides. Modeling of the double sided grazing flow impedance is done using a modified version of an inverse semi-analytical technique. A minimization scheme is used to find the liner impedance value in the complex plane to match the calculated sound field to the measured one at the microphone positions. / <p>QC 20160923</p>

Title: Changes of lengths of periods with characteristic air temperatures Author: Eva Černochová Department: Department of Meteorology and Environment Protection Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Jaroslava Kalvová, CSc. Supervisor's e-mail address: jaroslava.kalvova@mff.cuni.cz Abstract: Lengths of periods with characteristic air temperatures were derived using two different methods (linear interpolation, robust locally weighted regression) for 10 stations in the Czech Republic and for output data of regional climate models HIRHAM and RCAO in 4 grid points. Averages for a forty-year period (1961-2000) and for a thirty-year period (1961-1990) were computed as well as averages for every decade. Considerable attention was also paid to the analysis of methods used in the research. Most stations showed lengthening of growing season and summer during the twentieth century. Decennary average length of growing season and summer shortened in the years 1971-1980. The comparison of output data of regional climate models HIRHAM and RCAO and measured station data showed that the thirty-year average lengths of growing season and summer estimated by the two models were reasonably accurate approximately half of all cases. The models' estimates were not accurate at all concerning decennary averages. Keywords: robust locally...

Desenvolvemos novos resultados da teoria dos espaços FS e DFS (espaços de Fréchet-Schwartz e seus duais) e os empregamos ao estudo da seguinte questão: quando certas propriedades de regularidade de um operador diferencial parcial linear (entre fibrados vetoriais Gevrey sobre uma variedade Gevrey) implicam resolubilidade, no sentido de ultradistribuições, do operador transposto? Estudamos esta questão para uma classe de operadores abstratos que contém os operadores diferenciais parciais lineares com coeficientes Gevrey usuais, mas também certas classes de operadores pseudo-diferenciais em variedades compactas, além de certos tipos de operadores de ordem infinita. Neste contexto, obtemos uma nova demonstração de um resultado global em variedades compactas (em que hipoelipticidade Gevrey global de um operador implica resolubilidade global de seu transposto), assim como alguns resultados no caso não-compacto relacionados à propriedade de não-confinamento de singularidades. Na sequência apresentamos algumas aplicações concretas, em particular para operadores de Hörmander, operadores de força constante e sistemas localmente integráveis de campos vetoriais. Analisamos ainda algumas instâncias de uma conjectura levantada em um artigo recente de F. Malaspina e F. Nicola (2014), a qual afirma que, para certos complexos diferenciais naturalmente associados a estruturas localmente integráveis, resolubilidade local no sentido de ultradistribuições (perto de um ponto, em um grau fixado) implica resolubilidade local no sentido de distribuições. Estabelecemos a validade desta conjectura quando o fibrado estrutural cotangente é gerado pelo diferencial de uma única integral primeira. / We develop new techniques in the setting of FS and DFS spaces (Fréchet-Schwartz spaces and their strong duals) and apply them to the study of the following question: when regularity properties of a general linear differential operator (between Gevrey vector bundles over a Gevrey manifold) imply solvability of its transpose in the sense of ultradistributions? This question is studied for a class of abstract operators that encompasses the usual partial differential operators with Gevrey coefficients, but also some flavors of pseudodifferential operators on compact manifolds and some classes of operators with infinite order. In this setting, we obtain a new proof of a global result on compact manifolds (global Gevrey hypoellipticity of the operator implying global solvability of the transpose), as well as some results in the non-compact case by means of the so-called property of non-confinement of singularities. We then move to some concrete applications, especially for Hörmander operators, operators of constant strength and locally integrable systems of vector fields. We also analyze some instances of a conjecture stated in a recent paper of F. Malaspina and F. Nicola (2014), which asserts that, in differential complexes naturally arising from locally integrable structures, local solvability in the sense of ultradistributions (near a point, in some fixed degree) implies local solvability in the sense of distributions. We establish the validity of the conjecture when the cotangent structure bundle is spanned by the differential of a single first integral.

Desenvolvemos novos resultados da teoria dos espaços FS e DFS (espaços de Fréchet-Schwartz e seus duais) e os empregamos ao estudo da seguinte questão: quando certas propriedades de regularidade de um operador diferencial parcial linear (entre fibrados vetoriais Gevrey sobre uma variedade Gevrey) implicam resolubilidade, no sentido de ultradistribuições, do operador transposto? Estudamos esta questão para uma classe de operadores abstratos que contém os operadores diferenciais parciais lineares com coeficientes Gevrey usuais, mas também certas classes de operadores pseudo-diferenciais em variedades compactas, além de certos tipos de operadores de ordem infinita. Neste contexto, obtemos uma nova demonstração de um resultado global em variedades compactas (em que hipoelipticidade Gevrey global de um operador implica resolubilidade global de seu transposto), assim como alguns resultados no caso não-compacto relacionados à propriedade de não-confinamento de singularidades. Na sequência apresentamos algumas aplicações concretas, em particular para operadores de Hörmander, operadores de força constante e sistemas localmente integráveis de campos vetoriais. Analisamos ainda algumas instâncias de uma conjectura levantada em um artigo recente de F. Malaspina e F. Nicola (2014), a qual afirma que, para certos complexos diferenciais naturalmente associados a estruturas localmente integráveis, resolubilidade local no sentido de ultradistribuições (perto de um ponto, em um grau fixado) implica resolubilidade local no sentido de distribuições. Estabelecemos a validade desta conjectura quando o fibrado estrutural cotangente é gerado pelo diferencial de uma única integral primeira. / We develop new techniques in the setting of FS and DFS spaces (Fréchet-Schwartz spaces and their strong duals) and apply them to the study of the following question: when regularity properties of a general linear differential operator (between Gevrey vector bundles over a Gevrey manifold) imply solvability of its transpose in the sense of ultradistributions? This question is studied for a class of abstract operators that encompasses the usual partial differential operators with Gevrey coefficients, but also some flavors of pseudodifferential operators on compact manifolds and some classes of operators with infinite order. In this setting, we obtain a new proof of a global result on compact manifolds (global Gevrey hypoellipticity of the operator implying global solvability of the transpose), as well as some results in the non-compact case by means of the so-called property of non-confinement of singularities. We then move to some concrete applications, especially for Hörmander operators, operators of constant strength and locally integrable systems of vector fields. We also analyze some instances of a conjecture stated in a recent paper of F. Malaspina and F. Nicola (2014), which asserts that, in differential complexes naturally arising from locally integrable structures, local solvability in the sense of ultradistributions (near a point, in some fixed degree) implies local solvability in the sense of distributions. We establish the validity of the conjecture when the cotangent structure bundle is spanned by the differential of a single first integral.