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Approximate Dynamic Programming based on High Dimensional Model Representation
Pištěk, Miroslav
In this article, an efficient algorithm for an optimal decision strategy approximation is introduced. The proposed approximation of the Bellman equation is based on HDMR technique. This non-parametric function approximation is used not only to reduce memory demands necessary to store Bellman function, but also to allow its fast approximate minimization. On that account, a clear connection between HDMR minimization and discrete optimization is newly established. In each time step of the backward evaluation of the Bellman function, we relax the parameterized discrete minimization subproblem to obtain parameterized trust region problem. We observe that the involved matrix is the same for all parameters owning to the structure of HDMR approximation. We find eigenvalue decomposition of this matrix to solve all trust region problems effectively.
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Integrated Education of a Pupil with Special educational needs - Case Study
Habartová, Iva ; Mrkosová, Eva (advisor) ; Ptáčková, Klára (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to analyse the current situation in integrated educating of a pupil with special educational needs, or more specifically, of a child with high functioning autism combined with practical deafness. Through analysis of specialised literature, the theoretical part defines the expression integration; other definitions include hearing disability and autism as the causes limiting the pupil's inclusion in educating in a mainstream elementary school. The practical part of the thesis includes a case study - description of the pupil's case. Experience is described from the current integrated education in a special elementary school where the pupil is educated according to the Framework Educational Program for Elementary Schools, with the prospective of upcoming re-integration into the mainstream elementary school, or, as the case may be, depending on the parents' decision, his integration in an elementary school for hearing impaired children. In drawing up the case study, the following methods were applied: observation and analysis of the pupil's educational products.
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Migration to selected EU countries: Labor market integration
Kaclíková, Roberta ; Šaroch, Stanislav (advisor) ; Němcová, Ingeborg (referee)
The aim of this master thesis is to analyse the labor market of European Union and its certain countries in relation to the immigration with the backgound of various social welfare models. The paper is analysing the topic of labor market of European Union, integration of immigrants on this market, with focus on economies and labour markets of Sweden, United Kingdom and Germany as countries with high level of immigration that are representing three different social welfare models, such as Nordic model, Liberal model and Conservative model. The main objective of this thesis is the analysis of labor markets in selected countries of the European Union in relation to immigration and their subsequent comparison using the background of different social welfare models. The result is the evaluation of effectivness of the various social models based on statistical data, acquired knowledge and performed comparisons. The thesis is divided into four chapters and contains 13 tables and 8 charts.
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Products with Protected Designations of the European Union and Their Position in Regional Tourism
Licková, Kamila ; Kalábová, Markéta (advisor) ; Abrhám, Josef (referee)
The master thesis deals with products with protected designations of the European Union. The main objective of the master thesis is to evaluate the importance of the chosen product with protected designation of the EU in regional tourism and analyse the perception of the product by a producer and by tourists. The sub-objective is the description of the European system of food labelling. The thesis is divided into five main chapters. The first part explains basic concepts which are related to the thesis. The second chapter introduces the best known food quality labels. Greater attention is devoted to the description of the food protection system of the EU. The third chapter deals with the characteristics of the chosen region Beskydy-Wallachia. The second part of this chapter is focused on the chosen protected product Štramberské uši. The forth chapter includes a structured interview with the chosen producer of Štramberské uši and a survey research, which was conducted in two phases. The last chapter contains the evaluation of the implemented survey. The main finding of this thesis is the fact that a relatively high percentage of respondents know the product Štramberské uši. An interesting finding is the fact that only a small portion of them know that the product Štramberské uši is the holder of the protected designation of the European Union. The chosen producer of Štramberské uši sees the main benefit of the label in greater publicity. Among problems he ranks the enforceability of the label and lack of general promotion of Štramberské uši.
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Information systems security penetration testing
Klíma, Tomáš ; Doucek, Petr (advisor) ; Čermák, Igor (referee) ; Čapek, Jan (referee) ; Štubňa, Ivan (referee)
The aim of this dissertation thesis is to develop new methodology of information systems penetration testing based on analysis of current methodologies and the role of penetration tests in context of IS/IT governance. Integral part of this aim is evaluation of the methodology. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the presentation of history and current state of research in selected area, definiton of basic terms and introduction of role of the penetration tests. This part is followed by the review of relevant sources and comparative study of current methodologies with a goal to identify their weaknesses. Results from this study are further used as a basis for new methodology development. Classification of IS penetration tests types and testing scenarios are also included. The second part includes design of new methodology, at first its history, structure and principles are presented, then its framework is decribed in high level of detail. In the third part the reader can find (theoretical and practical) validation. The biggest scientific contribution is the methodology itself focused on managment of penetration tests (which is the area currently not sufficiently descibed). Secondary contribution is the extensive review and the comparative analysis of current methodologies. Contribution to the economic and technical (practical) application we can mainly see in the development of new methodology which enables companies to improve management of penetration tests (especially planning, operational management and implementation of countermeasures).
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Use of Interest Rate Models for Interest Rate Risk Management in the Czech Financial Market Environment
Cíchová Králová, Dana ; Arlt, Josef (advisor) ; Cipra, Tomáš (referee) ; Witzany, Jiří (referee)
The main goal of this thesis is to suggest an appropriate approach to interest rate risk modeling in the Czech financial market environment in various situations. Three distinct periods are analyzed. These periods, which are the period before the global financial crisis, period during the financial crisis and in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and calming subsequent debt crisis in the eurozone, are characterized by different evaluation of liquidity and credit risk, different relationship between financial variables and market participants and different degree of market regulations. Within this goal, an application of the BGM model in the Czech financial market environment is crucial. Use of the BGM model for the purpose of predicting a dynamics of a yield curve is not very common. This is firstly due to the fact that primary use of this model is a valuation of interest rate derivatives while ensuring the absence of arbitrage and secondly its application is relatively difficult. Nevertheless, I apply the BGM model to obtain predictions of the probability distributions of interest rates in the Czech and eurozone market environment, because its complexity, direct modeling of a yield curve based on market rates and especially a possibility of parameter estimation based on current swaptions volatilities quotations may lead to a significant improvement of predictions. This improvement was also confirmed in this thesis. Use of swaptions volatilities market quotations is especially useful in the period of unprecedented mone- tary easing and increased number of central banks and other regulators interventions into financial markets that occur after the financial crisis, because it reflects current market expectations which also include future interventions. As a consequence of underdevelopment of the Czech financial market there are no market quotations of Czech koruna denominated swaptions volatilities. I suggest their approximations based on quotations of euro denominated swaptions volatilities and also using volatilities of koruna and euro forward rates. Use of this approach ensures that predictions of the Czech yield curve dynamics contain current market expectations. To my knowledge, any other author has not presented similar application of the BGM model in the Czech financial market environment. In this thesis I further predict a Czech and Euro area money market yield curve dynamics using the CIR and the GP models as representatives of various types of interest rates models to compare these predictions with BGM predictions. I suggest a comprehensive system of three criteria, based on comparison of predicti- ons with reality, to describe a predictive power of selected models and an appropria- teness of their use in the Czech market environment during different situations in the market. This analysis shows that predictions of the Czech money market yield curve dynamics based on the BGM model demonstrate high predictive power and the best 8 quality in comparison with other models. GP model also produces relatively good qua- lity predictions. Conversely, predictions based on the CIR model as a representative of short rate model family completely failed when describing reality. In a situation when the economy allows negative rates and there is simultaneously a significant likelihood of their implementation, I recommend to obtain predictions of Czech money market yield curve dynamics using GP model which allows existence of negative interest rates. This analysis also contains a statistical test for validating the predictive power of each model and information on other tests. Berkowitz test rejects a hypothesis of accurate predictions for each model. However, this fact is common in real data testing even when using relatively good model. This fact is especially caused by difficult fulfilment of test conditions in real world. To my knowledge, such an analysis of the predictive power of selected interest rate models moreover in the Czech financial market environment has not been published yet. The last goal of this thesis is to suggest an appropriate approach to obtaining pre- dictions of Czech government bonds risk premium dynamics. I define this risk premium as a difference between government bond yields and fixed rate of CZK IRS with the same length. I apply the GP model to describe the dynamics of this indicator of the Czech Republic credit risk. In order to obtain a time series of the risk premium which are necessary for estimation of GP model parameters I firstly estimate yield curves of Czech government bonds using Svensson model for each trading day since 2005. Resulting si- mulations of risk premium show that the GP model predicts the real development of risk premiums of all maturities relatively well. Hence, the proposed approach is suitable for modeling of Czech Republic credit risk based on the use of information extracted from financial markets. I have not registered proposed approach to risk premium modeling moreover in the Czech financial market environment in other publications.
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Marketing strategy adaptation of Chipotle in Czech markets
Hofmannová, Veronika ; Král, Petr (advisor) ; Janecký, Vlastimil (referee)
This Diploma thesis deals with chain of fast food restaurants named Chipotle, which is predominantly known in the United States of America, and its potential entry into the Czech market. The thesis analyzes the marketing strategy of the company and applies its adaptation for the Czech market. The competitive advantage of the company is using local organic raw ingredients of high quality; therefore, the thesis examines the Czech people´s interest in Mexican cuisine as well as issues of sustainable development. The aim of the thesis is to analyze the marketing strategy of the chain of restaurants with Mexican fast food and subsequently to apply the adaptation of the marketing mix to the conditions at the Czech market.
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Micro-electromembrane extraction across multiple aqueous and organic phases for selective pretreatment of raw biological samples
Kubáň, Pavel ; Boček, Petr ; Seip, K. F. ; Gjelstad, A. ; Pedersen-Bjergaard, S.
Micro-electromembrane extraction (μ-EME) across multiple aqueous and organic\nsolutions was developed for selective extractions of various analytes from untreated\nbiological samples. The novel approach requires μL volumes of samples and organic\nsolvents, which form consecutive immiscible plugs in a transparent polymeric capillary\nand the extraction process is accelerated by application of d.c. voltage. Number of the\nplugs, their composition, volume and sequence in the extraction capillary can be chosen\nspecifically for each particular application and high variability and selectivity of the\nextraction process can be achieved. In this contribution, we demonstrate suitability of\na five-phase μ-EME system for simultaneous extractions of cations and anions from\nurine and for selective extractions of basic analytes based on their acid-base strength\nfrom plasma.
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Nutrition and other factors, which have influence on the formation and prevention of colorectal cancer
BENEŠOVÁ, Lucie
The full title of my bachelor thesis is Nutrition and Other Factors Influencing the Development and Prevention of Colorectal Cancer. In the theory section of the paper I have concentrated on clarifying the term "colorectal cancer", its epidemiology, and furthermore, on diet and other risk factors concerning the development and prevention of this disease. In this theory section I have included information about screening tests for occult bleeding. I have addressed the key objectives in the practical section of the thesis. I had set two key objectives. The first was to research how well respondents were informed concerning diets beneficial in the prevention of colorectal cancer, and the second objective concentrated on assessing the respondents' behaviour in relation to the information they had acquired. The research questions were formulated thus: "How well are people informed about diets aimed at preventing colorectal cancer?" and "Do people behave according to information thus gained?" The qualitative research method a semi-structured interview was used for the research section. Ten male respondents over the age of 45 took part in the interview. Five of these males were Dr Ilona Paseková's outpatients all with a genetic disposition to colorectal cancer, with most experiencing problems related to this disease. The other five respondents were without any predispositions. After receiving answers to the questions posed to the respondents, I wanted to compare both groups in order to ascertain whether those with a genetic predisposition showed a greater interest in this disease. Furthermore, I wanted to find out whether those respondents were actively seeking information concerning the prevention or treatment of colorectal and anal cancer. All those interviewed were very open and willing to answer questions. Collection of data was carried out from January 2014 to March 2014. The conclusions of this thesis show that public awareness of colorectal cancer and its prevention is inadequate. Public awareness of diets beneficial in the prevention of colorectal cancer is markedly poor, even among high-risk respondents. Having observed this lack of awareness, I proceeded to question respondents as to their dietary and lifestyle habits. Furthermore, the respondents were asked if they were aware that colorectal cancer screening was available in the Czech Republic. The results showed that some respondents, however unaware of diets beneficial in the prevention of colorectal cancer, follow a healthy diet, thus fulfilling dieticians' recommendations concerning the prevention of this disease. When asked about preventive foods, respondents most often mentioned brassicas broccoli and cabbage, etc. Conversely, the most often mentioned foods said to increase the risk of disease were smoked meat and red meat. One respondent mentioned the preventive affects of shark cartilage. I was very surprised by this assertion and subsequently searched the internet for information relating to shark cartilage. To my surprise, I found that the respondent was indeed not mistaken, and that statements to that effect can be found on websites promoting dietary supplements containing shark cartilage extract. According to these sources sharks do not suffer from cancer and therefore, their cartilage is closely studied and dietary supplements containing its extracts are produced. Furthermore, I intended to compare two groups of respondents those with genetic dispositions and those without. After carrying out the respective interviews, their comparison appeared to be futile. In both groups I identified respondents who followed a healthy diet and lifestyle as well as those who did not. I found that there is no relation between high-risk habits and predisposition to colorectal cancer. Whether a respondent with such a predisposition decided to follow a healthy diet or change his dietary habits and lifestyle or not was purely a question of his personal preferences.
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