It is well known that the efficiency of a photovoltaic (PV) module is strongly impacted by its temperature such that higher temperatures lead to lower energy conversion efficiencies. An accurate measurement of the temperature de-rating effect, therefore, is vital to the correct interpretation of PV module performance under varied environmental conditions. The current work investigates and compares methods for performing measurements of module temperature both in the lab and in field-test environments. A comparison of several temperature measurement devices was made in order to establish the ideal sensor configuration for quantifying module operating temperature. Sensors were also placed in various locations along a string of up to eight photovoltaic modules to examine the variance in operating temperature with position in the string and within a larger array of strings.

The goal of this master thesis is to extend HelenOS operating system with the support for ccNUMA hardware. The text of the thesis contains a brief introduction to ccNUMA hardware, an overview of NUMA features and relevant features of HelenOS (memory management, scheduling, etc.). The thesis analyses various design decisions of the implementation of NUMA support -- introducing the hardware topology into the kernel data structures, propagating this information to user space, thread affinity to cores and nodes, memory allocation policies, load balancing, etc. The thesis also contains a prototype implementation of ccNUMA support in HelenOS for the AMD64 platform and a brief evaluation and comparison with ccNUMA support in other monolithic and microkernel-based operating systems.

Both uppermost open source compilers, GCC and LLVM, are mature enough to link-time optimize large applications. In case of large applications, we must take into account, except standard speed efficiency and memory consumption, different aspects. We focus on size of the code, cold start-up time, etc. Developers of applications often come up with ad-hoc solutions such as Elfhack utility, start-up of an application via a pre-loading utility and dlopen; prelinking and variety of different tools that reorder functions to fit the order of execution. The goal of the thesis is to analyse all existing techniques of optimization, evaluate their efficiency and design new solutions based on the link-time optimization platform. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

M.Cur. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The activated sludge process is one of the most commonly employed domestic and industrial waste treatment process. Different types of mathematical models have been proposed for design and operation of this process, most of which do not consider the relationship between the sludge settling characteristics and the aeration unit performance. This project studies the validity of a model developed by La Motta (2004b) which links the operating parameters of an activated sludge system and the classical limiting flux sludge settling theory. Favorable results were obtained demonstrating that the model predicts very similar values of the parameters of the system in comparison with the parameters observed in an activated sludge pilot plant that is located within installations of the Marrero Wastewater Treatment Plant, New Orleans, Louisiana. This research also demonstrated that the model is a helpful tool for the design and operation of an activated sludge system.

The thesis examine strategic shifts in big trading company. The company trades with steel. The strategic shifts are analysed and evaluated. The recommendations are made on the basis of analysis. The thesis is devided in two parts. First part is theoretical, second part is practical. The base of theoretical part is aimed at the theory of strategy and strategic operating. Practical part introduces the company and describes the shifts. In conclusion is the evaluation and the recommendations.

A hipótese aqui construída é que a partir da noção de gambiarra, pode-se entender a gambiarração como um modo do corpo operar dispositivos para a composição em dança. Deste modo, se faz relevante pensar acerca das práticas cotidianas, vistas em Michel de Certeau como produções poéticas que desencadeiam formulações acerca das relações imanentes à produção de gambiarras, assim como possibilitam perceber uma potência para a criação de procedimentos e ações voltados à composição artística. No âmbito das composições coreográficas, o método de Composição em Tempo Real, em desenvolvimento pelo coreógrafo português João Fiadeiro desde o início da década de 1990, e o Modo Operativo AND, estruturado pela antropóloga Fernanda Eugénio, foram os responsáveis por partilharem sentidos que compõem com o tema gambiarra, contribuindo para a pesquisa em seu desdobramento teórico-prático. Assim, a noção de gambiarração surge como um estado-ação do e no corpo, percepções que são também modos de fazer ou de ser que operam à semelhança das gambiarras, a partir do improviso, da capacidade de agenciar ações em tempo real, de lidar com acidentes, com a instabilidade e precariedade e com a suficiência daquilo que há em determinada circunstância compositiva. Identificamos no pensamento de Baruch Spinoza e Gilles Deleuze (e Félix Guattari) modos de perceber afetos, corpo, experiência e composição, que fortalecem essa proposição artística. / The hypothesis here constructed is that from the notion of gambiarra, gambiarração can be understood as a way for the body to operate devices for dance composition. In this way, it becomes relevant to think about the daily practices, seen in Michel de Certeau as poetic productions that trigger formulations about the immanent relations to the production of gambiarras, as well as make possible to perceive a power for the creation of procedures and actions directed to the artistic composition. Within the framework of choreographic compositions, the Real Time Composition method, developed by the portuguese choreographer João Fiadeiro since the beginning of the 1990s, and the AND Operational Mode, structured by the anthropologist Fernanda Eugénio, were responsible for sharing senses that compose with The subject gambiarra, contributing to the research in its theoretical-practical unfolding. Thus, the notion of gambiarração appears as a state of action of and in the body, perceptions that are also ways of doing or of being that operate in the likeness of gambiarras, from the improvisation, the ability to act actions in real time, to deal With accidents, with instability and precariousness and with the sufficiency of what there is in a certain compositional circumstance. We have identified in the thinking of Baruch Spinoza and Gilles Deleuze (and Félix Guattari) ways of perceiving affection, body, experience and composition, which strengthen this artistic proposition.

This dissertation investigates the association of operating leverage with stock returns, the value premium, and the profitability premium. Results in the first essay support the hypothesis that operating leverage is related to stock returns and the value premium across the sampled countries. Results are robust to cross-country differences, typical controls, multiple definitions of operating and financial leverage, and while controlling for the endogeneity of operating and financial leverage. This suggests that the rational explanation for the presence of the value premium lies in the underlying risk exposure of fixed asset risk of operating leverage which is expressed through the value premium. Results further support the hypothesis of strengthening labor protection increasing operating leverage. In turn, increased labor protection marginally negatively associated with the value premium, suggesting that labor protection reduces the value premium through financial leverage. However, because operating and financial leverage are oppositely affected by employment protection, the joint effect of this association may be cumulatively washed out in estimating value premium with employment protection legislation. Results in the second essay further support the hypothesis that operating leverage is related to stock returns and additionally support the hypothesis of operating leverage being associated to the profitability premium. The profit premium tends to be insignificant when generated within operating leverage portfolios, and the profit premium only tends to be significantly positive in the higher operating leverage portfolios. Furthermore, once operating leverage and profitability are orthogonalized from one another, the estimated coefficient of profitability is reduced by a magnitude of roughly 10. These results provide evidence in support of the profit premium being based on the riskiness of the firm through operating leverage, and therefore the profit premium is a rationally priced risk factor in stock returns. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries