Termination and cost analysis: Complexity and precision issues

The research in this thesis is related to static cost and termination analysis. Cost analysis aims at estimating the amount of resources that a given program consumes during the execution, and termination analysis aims at proving that the execution of a given program will eventually terminate. These analyses are strongly related, indeed cost analysis techniques heavily rely on techniques developed for termination analysis. Precision, scalability, and applicability are essential in static analysis in general. Precision is related to the quality of the inferred results, scalability to the size of programs that can be analyzed, and applicability to the class of programs that can be handled by the analysis (independently from precision and scalability issues). This thesis addresses these aspects in the context of cost and termination analysis, from both practical and theoretical perspectives. For cost analysis, we concentrate on the problem of solving cost relations (a form of recurrence relations) into closed-form upper and lower bounds, which is the heart of most modern cost analyzers, and also where most of the precision and applicability limitations can be found. We develop tools, and their underlying theoretical foundations, for solving cost relations that overcome the limitations of existing approaches, and demonstrate superiority in both precision and applicability. A unique feature of our techniques is the ability to smoothly handle both lower and upper bounds, by reversing the corresponding notions in the underlying theory. For termination analysis, we study the hardness of the problem of deciding termination for a speci�c form of simple loops that arise in the context of cost analysis. This study gives a better understanding of the (theoretical) limits of scalability and applicability for both termination and cost analysis.

A proposal for improving safety in construction projects by strengthening coordinators’ competencies in health and safety issues

The figure of the coordinator in health and safety issues in the construction sector first appeared in our legislation through the incorporation of the European Directives (in our case Royal Decree 1627/97 on the minimum health and safety regulations in construction works), and is viewed differently in different countries of the European Union regarding the way they are hired and their role in the construction industry. Coordinating health and safety issues is also a management process that requires certain competencies that are not only based on technical or professional training, but which, taking account of the work environment, require the use of strategies and tools that are related to experience and personal skills. Through a piece of research that took account of expert opinions in the matter, we have found which competencies need to be possessed by the health and safety coordinator in order to improve the safety in the works they are coordinating. The conclusions of the analyses performed using the appropriate statistical methods (comparing means and multivariate analysis techniques), will enable training programmes to be designed and ensure that the health and safety coordinators selected have the competencies required to carry out their duties.

A proposal for improving safety in construction projects by strengthening coordinators’ competencies in health and safety issues

The figure of the coordinator in health and safety issues in the construction sector first appeared in our legislation through the incorporation of the European Directives (in our case Royal Decree 1627/97 on the minimum health and safety regulations in construction works), and is viewed differently in different countries of the European Union regarding the way they are hired and their role in the construction industry. Coordinating health and safety issues is also a management process that requires certain competencies that are not only based on technical or professional training, but which, taking account of the work environment, require the use of strategies and tools that are related to experience and personal skills. Through a piece of research that took account of expert opinions in the matter, we have found which competencies need to be possessed by the health and safety coordinator in order to improve the safety in the works they are coordinating. The conclusions of the analyses performed using the appropriate statistical methods (comparing means and multivariate analysis techniques), will enable training programmes to be designed and ensure that the health and safety coordinators selected have the competencies required to carry out their duties.

Counting Highly Cited Papers for University Research Assessment: Conceptual and Technical Issues

A Kuhnian approach to research assessment requires us to consider that the important scientific breakthroughs that drive scientific progress are infrequent and that the progress of science does not depend on normal research. Consequently, indicators of research performance based on the total number of papers do not accurately measure scientific progress. Similarly, those universities with the best reputations in terms of scientific progress differ widely from other universities in terms of the scale of investments made in research and in the higher concentrations of outstanding scientists present, but less so in terms of the total number of papers or citations. This study argues that indicators for the 1% high-citation tail of the citation distribution reveal the contribution of universities to the progress of science and provide quantifiable justification for the large investments in research made by elite research universities. In this tail, which follows a power low, the number of the less frequent and highly cited important breakthroughs can be predicted from the frequencies of papers in the upper part of the tail. This study quantifies the false impression of excellence produced by multinational papers, and by other types of papers that do not contribute to the progress of science. Many of these papers are concentrated in and dominate lists of highly cited papers, especially in lower-ranked universities. The h-index obscures the differences between higher- and lower-ranked universities because the proportion of h-core papers in the 1% high-citation tail is not proportional to the value of the h-index.

Modelling wake effects in large wind farms in complex terrain: the problem, the methods and the issues

Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) methods are used in this paper to predict the power production from entire wind farms in complex terrain and to shed some light into the wake flow patterns. Two full three-dimensional Navier–Stokes solvers for incompressible fluid flow, employing k − ϵ and k − ω turbulence closures, are used. The wind turbines are modeled as momentum absorbers by means of their thrust coefficient through the actuator disk approach. Alternative methods for estimating the reference wind speed in the calculation of the thrust are tested. The work presented in this paper is part of the work being undertaken within the UpWind Integrated Project that aims to develop the design tools for next generation of large wind turbines. In this part of UpWind, the performance of wind farm and wake models is being examined in complex terrain environment where there are few pre-existing relevant measurements. The focus of the work being carried out is to evaluate the performance of CFD models in large wind farm applications in complex terrain and to examine the development of the wakes in a complex terrain environment.

Legal, Ethical and Cultural Issues U.S. companies face when moving operations to China.

Beyond free trade agreements governing cross-border commerce, the source of most global economic growth is attributed to business across interconnecting markets. Among the most attractive and complex markets, China stands out. Despite its appeal, American businesses are more likely to fail in China due to an overwhelming desire for an immediate return on investment while neglecting to consider or completely disregarding China's unique legal, ethical and cultural environment. This capstone project will give recommendations to help businesses succeed when entering China and avoid legal, ethical and cultural issues such as the ones that Google, Apple, and Yahoo experienced.

Overcoming performance and convergence issues of discrete transform based modeling of crosslinking classical and reversible deactivated radical polymerizations

Population balances of polymer species in terms 'of discrete transforms with respect to counts of groups lead to tractable first order partial differential equations when ali rate constants are independent of chain length and loop formation is negligible [l]. Average molecular weights in the absence ofgelation are long known to be readily found through integration of an initial value problem. The extension to size distribution prediction is also feasible, but its performance is often lower to the one provided by methods based upon real chain length domain [2]. Moreover, the absence ofagood starting procedure and a higher numerical sensitivity hás decisively impaired its application to non-linear reversibly deactivated polymerizations, namely NMRP [3].

Airport Security: Passenger's Perception and Design Issues

The main goal of this thesis is to report patterns of perceived safety in the context of airport infrastructure, taking the airport of Bologna as reference. Many personal and environmental attributes are investigated to paint the profile of the sensitive passenger and to understand why precise factors of the transit environment are so impactful on the individual. The main analyses are based on a 2014-2015 passengers’ survey, involving almost six thousand of incoming and outgoing passengers. Other reports are used to implement and support the resource. The analysis is carried out by using a combination of Chi-square tests and binary logistic regressions. Findings shows that passengers result to be particularly affected by the perception of airport’s environment (e.g., state and maintenance of facilities, clarity and efficacy of information system, functionality of elevators and escalators), but also by the way how the passenger reaches the airport and the quality of security checks. In relation to such results, several suggestions are provided for the improvement of passenger satisfaction with safety. The attention is then focused on security checkpoints and related operations, described on a theoretical and technical ground. We present an example of how to realize a proper model of the security checks area of Bologna’s airport, with the aim to assess present performances of the system and consequences of potential variations. After a brief introduction to Arena, a widespread simulation software, the existing model is described, pointing out flaws and limitations. Such model is finally updated and changed in order to make it more reliable and more representative of the reality. Different scenarios are tested and results are compared using graphs and tables.

School bus safety belts: their use, carryover effects and administrative issues. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Driver and Pedestrian Safety, Washington, D.C.

Sumerian mythology, a study of spiritual and literary achievement in the third millennium, B.C.

Frontispiece accompanied by leaf with descriptive letterpress.

Existence and therapy; an introduction to phenomenological psychology and existential analysis.

Bibliography: p. 362-366.

IVHS Institutional and Legal Issues Program. Review of the Travlink and Genesis operational tests. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C.

The effects of traffic radar guns on law enforcement officers : hearing before the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Consumer and Environmental Issues of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, second session, August 10, 1992.

Includes bibliographical references.