Computational grids are distributed systems composed of heterogeneous computing resources which are distributed geographically and administratively. These highly scalable systems are designed to meet the large computational demands of many users from scientific and business orientations. This dissertation address problems related to the allocation of the computing resources which compose a grid. First, the design of a pan-Canadian grid is presented. The design exploits the maturing stability of grid deployment toolkits, and introduces novel services for efficiently allocating the grids resources. The challenges faced by this grid deployment motivate further exploration in optimizing grid resource allocations. The primary contribution of this dissertation is one such technique for allocating grid resources. By applying a utility model to the grid allocation options, it is possible to quantify the relative merits of the various possible scheduling decisions. Indeed, a number of utility heuristics are derived to provide quality-of-service policies on the grid; these implement scheduling policies which favour efficiency and also allow users to intervene with urgent tasks. Using this model, the allocation problem is then formulated as a knapsack problem. Formulation in this manner allows for rapid solution times and results in nearly optimal allocations. The combined utility/knapsack approach to grid resource allocation is first presented in the allocation of single resource type, processors. By evaluating the approach with novel utility heuristics using both random and real workloads, it is shown to result in efficient schedules which have characteristics that match the intended policies. Additionally, two design and analysis techniques are performed to optimize the design of the utility/knapsack scheduler; these techniques play a significant role in practical adoption of the approach. Next, the utility/knapsack approach is extended to the allocation of multiple resource types. This extension generalizes the grid allocation solution a wider variety of resources, including processors, disk storage, and network bandwidth. The general technique, when combined with new heuristics for the varied resource types, is shown to result in improved performance against reference strategies. This dissertation concludes with a novel application of the utility/knapsack approach to fault-tolerant task scheduling. Computational grids typically feature many techniques for providing fault tolerance to the grid tasks, including retrying failed tasks or replicating running tasks. By applying the utility/knapsack approach, the relative merits of these varied techniques can be quantified, and the overall number of failures can be decreased subject to resource cost considerations.

New Zealand is internationally renowned for having some of the finest and most challenging trout fishing in the world. However, due to continuing development and angling pressure many fishing sites are showing signs of environmental degradation and over fishing. This trend is almost certain to continue into the future given continued population and economic growth. Understanding the determinants of site choice, preference heterogeneity and anglers’ substitution patterns is fundamentally important to fishery managers who have the difficult task of maintaining quality angling experiences on a number of fishing sites, managing angling pressure and maintaining license sales. Recent advances in simulation techniques and computational power have improved the capability of discrete choice models to reveal preference heterogeneity and complex substitution patterns among individuals. This thesis applies and evaluates a number of state-of-the-art discrete choice models to study angler site choice in New Zealand. Recreation specialisation theory is integrated into the analysis to enhance the behavioural representation of the statistical models. A suite of models is presented throughout the empirical portion of this thesis. These models demonstrate different ways and degrees of explaining preference heterogeneity as well as identifying anglers’ substitution patterns. The results show that North Canterbury anglers’ preferences vary considerably. Resource disturbances such as riparian margin erosion, reduced water visibility and declines in catch rates can cause significant declines in angler use of affected sites, and at the same time non-proportional increases in the use of unaffected sites. Recreation specialisation is found to be closely related to the types of fishing site conditions, experiences and regulations preferred by anglers. Anglers’ preference intensities for fishing site attributes, such as catch rates, vary across different types of fishing sites. This location specific preference heterogeneity is found to be related to specialisation. Overall, the empirical findings indicate that conventional approaches to modelling angler site choice which do not incorporate a strong understanding of angler preference heterogeneity can lead to poorly representative models and suboptimal management and policy outcomes.

The purpose of this work is to summarize and explain the context around the licenses, license agreements and protection of intangible goods, with the main focus on industrial property, in particular, inventions, designs, utility models and trademarks. The first part is about clasiffication of intangible goods and characteristics of industrial property. Next part deals with the protection of intangible goods, particularly from the international point of view, i.e. international conventions and organizations. It also includes comparison of protection in the three major economic centers - Europe, USA and Japan. Next part deals with the license agreement. From the explanation of the concept of a license, through the reasons leading to such relations, to the procedure of negotiating about the license agreement and its content, including a model of patent licensing agreements.

The New Great Game is a geopolitical competition between regional stakeholders over energy resources in Central Asia. The author seeks to use the expected utility voting model based on Black's median voter theorem for forecasting the New Great Game in Central Asia. To judge the external validity of the voting model, the author uses data from the Correlates of War project data set, to formulate three distinct models based only on the numbers in 1992 and 1993. Capabilities and alliance data were used to develop balance of power positions and compare the outcome of 100 simulations to the actual outcome in 2000 based on Correlates of War project data. This allows us to judge whether the emergence of Russia's weak advantage as well as the continuation of the competition in the New Great Game as of 2000 could have been predicted based on what was known in 1992 and 1993. By using only one year's data to forecast the New Great Game, we are able to eliminate historical and researcher bias and judge the applicability of the model in global policy and strategic analysis.

The Atlanta Inspection and Maintenance program ultimately aims to reduce on-road vehicular emission, a major source of air pollution. The program enforces eligible vehicles to be inspected and repaired, if necessary, before the annual registration renewal. However, various factors can influence the program implementation with respect to the motorists, inspectors, and testing technology. This research explores some of these factors by using empirical data from the Continuous Atlanta Fleet Evaluation project, the inspection transaction records, the Atlanta Household Travel Survey, and the U.S. Census Bureau. The study discusses policy implications of findings from the three essays and offers related recommendations. The first essay examines whether the higher income of a vehicle owner decreases the odds of the vehicle failing the first inspection. Findings show that vehicles owned by low-income households are more likely to fail the first inspection of the annual test cycle. However, after controlling for the vehicle characteristics, the odds of failing the first inspection are similar across households. This suggests that the maintenance behaviors are approximately the same for high- and low-income households. The second essay explains the motorists' decisions in selecting their inspection stations using a random utility model. The study finds that motorists are likely to choose the inspection stations that are located near their houses, charge lower fees, and can serve a large number of customers. Motorists are less likely to choose the stations with a relatively high failure ratio especially in an area of low station density. Moreover, motorists do not travel an extra mile to the stations with lower failure ratio. Understanding choices of vehicle owners can shed some light on the performance of inspection stations. The third essay investigates the validity and reliability of the on-board diagnostic generation II (OBD II) test, a new testing technology required for 1966 and newer model year vehicles. The study compares the inspection results with the observed on-road emission using the remote sensing device (RSD) of the same vehicles. This research finds that the agreement between the RSD measurement and the OBD II test is lower for the relatively older or higher use vehicle fleets

K. Kaprová (2019): Revealed preferences for outdoor recreation in natural areas - Czech and European perspective Abstract of the Doctoral Dissertation The dissertation thesis focuses on the investigation and synthesis of recreation welfare benefits associated with natural areas in the Czech Republic and in Europe. The dissertation thesis consists of five case studies. These represent various geographic levels of analysis: the level of one single recreation locality, the national level that takes into account large natural recreation sites in the Czech Republic (including protected areas), and a synthesis of results of studies on the European level. The methodological approach is based on the theory of environmental economics and employs non-market valuation techniques based on methods of revealed preferences, namely the hedonic pricing method and two types of travel cost modelling. In Study I, we examine how the presence and characteristics of urban greenery affect property prices in Prague. The results confirm that proximity to greenery and its area are important determinants of housing prices in Prague, which means that residents realize the positive values provided by urban greenery, including recreational ecosystem service. Benefits to residents differ with the type of greenery. Urban forests have the...