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Ne couvrant que 8% de l’océan mondial mais offrant 85% des ressources marines exploitées, les systèmes côtiers sont d’importantes plaques tournantes d’échanges de matières et d’énergie, jouant un rôle capital dans les cycles biogéochimiques. De plus, ces milieux sont marqués par une forte hétérogénéité spatio-temporelle des facteurs environnementaux, contribuant ainsi à leur complexité. Au cours des dernières décennies, les changements globaux s'exerçant sur ces systèmes sont devenus si intenses, que la mise en place de réseaux d'observation à long-terme est devenue cruciale afin d'extraire les grandes tendances et de prédire les changements potentiels. La question de l'identification de la réponse spécifique de ces zones d'interfaces littorales reste cependant posée. En France, le suivi des paramètres physiques et chimiques des eaux côtières est assuré depuis 1997 par le programme SOMLIT (Service d’Observation en Milieu LIToral). L'objectif de cette thèse est de donc caractériser l'évolution physico-chimique, à l'échelle décennale, des systèmes côtiers français et d'estimer les parts respectives de la variabilité naturelle et de l'influence anthropique. Dans un premier temps, l'analyse de ces séries chronologiques montre que les systèmes côtiers français présentent une variabilité temporelle importante, liée en partie aux fluctuations hydro-climatiques à méso-échelle, mais également à des échelles plus régionales. Dans un deuxième temps, le développement d'une nouvelle procédure multivariée non paramétrique, aboutissant à la construction d'états de référence relatifs et à la détection rapide des changements, permet de quantifier le phénomène de fertilisation en nutriments. Il est montré que la fertilisation peut être fortement influencée par le forçage climatique. Dans un troisième temps, après soustraction de la part de variabilité climatique naturelle, des indicateurs de fertilisation anthropique sont proposés, permettant la quantification de l'impact des activités humaines sur les systèmes côtiers français. Ce travail propose une nouvelle approche qui permet de détecter dès que les données deviennent accessibles les perturbations potentielles dans tous types de systèmes, avec plus particulièrement pour objectif de répondre aux attentes, scientifiques et sociétales, d'une gestion adaptée des milieux côtiers. / Covering only 8% of the World Ocean but with 85% of exploited marine resources, coastal systems are important areas for the exchange of materials and energy, playing a crucial role in biogeochemical cycles. Moreover, these environments are marked by strong spatial and temporal heterogeneity of environmental factors, contributing to their complexity. In recent decades, global change exerted on these systems has become so intense that the implementation of long-term monitoring programmes has become essential to extract major trends and predict potential changes. However, the identification of the specific response of these coastal systems remains posed. In France, monitoring of physical and chemical parameters of coastal waters is provided since 1997 by the programme SOMLIT (Service d'Observation en Milieu LITtoral). The aim of this PhD Thesis is therefore to characterize year-to-year variability in physic-chemical properties of the surface layer, at a decadal scale, of the French coastal systems, and to evaluate the respective influence of natural and anthropogenic variability. Firstly, the analysis of these time series shows that the French coastal systems exhibit significant temporal variability, due to hydro-climatic fluctuations at meso and regional scales. Secondly, the development of a new nonparametric multivariate procedure, resulting in the constitution of relative reference states for the rapid detection of changes, allows quantifying the fertilization in nutrient concentrations. Moreover, it is shown that fertilization can be strongly influenced by climate forcing. Thirdly, after the removal of natural climate variability, indicators of human fertilisation are proposed, allowing the quantification of the impact of human activities on French coastal systems. This study proposes a new approach to detect as soon as data become available, potential alterations in all types of systems, with the aim of meeting the scientific and societal assumptions and allowing the adaptive management of coastal environments.

Il est nécessaire qu'une signature électronique garde ses propriétés de sécurité durant sa période archivage légale. La première partie de ce mémoire adresse cette problématique en formalisant la validation de signature à long terme. On utilise notre modèle pour définir la sémantique d'une règle de résolution de litige et pour formaliser plusieurs notions tels que la preuve de jugement, son expiration et son renouvellement. La révocation est l'un des principaux aspects formalisés par le modèle. La gestion de la révocation est particulièrement critique pour une Autorité de Certification. Dans un premier temps, on investigue différent niveaux de compromission et de révocations. Ensuite, on adresse la sécurité de l'application de signature de certificats. On propose une solution qui permet au module cryptographique de l'AC de déléguer les vérifications sur les requêtes de signature de certificats, à un environnement moins sécurisé mais avec une puissance de calcul plus importante. / Nowadays digital signature schemes and infrastructures have time limitations. This situation is disturbing considering that there are many cases, such as government records, where the signatures are required to be kept valid for a long period of time. In this thesis, we address this issue by modeling signature validation in the scope of a dispute between a verifier and a signer. The model is accompanied with a formal calculus to formalize several important concepts in the scope of long-term validation, such as judgment proof, proof expiration and renewal. Certificate revocation is one of the main issues considered by the model. Revocation is particularly critical for a Certification Authority (CA). We investigate this issue in the scope of the revocation settings allowed in X.509 and we show that some settings permit efficient countermeasures to prevent the revocation of the CA. For the same objective, we investigate approaches allowing to combine hardware protection with fine-tuned control on the usage of the CA's key. We propose a general solution which allows the execution of the of CA's certification policies at a processor which runs in an insecure environment under the control of the CA's secure module.

M.Ing. / The increase of interest in the development of radio communications, both terrestrial and satellite is reaching far and beyond the most optimistic expectations. There has been an accelerated emergence of newer technologies, all claiming highly coveted radio frequency spectrum resources. With the push for the development of location based services, utilizing satellite com- communications for military purposes and later for civilian use; there has been a parallel development in terrestrial communications technology making it possible to implement cost efficient reliable user systems for voice and data services ...

Short-termism and myopia on the part of corporate managers, analysts, and investors have created a business environment driven by the excessive focus on short-term results and the need to meet earnings targets at the expense of long-term value creation. These are accompanied by numerous consequences, including the potential for short-term-oriented firms, particularly in the U.S., to lag behind global long-term-oriented firms, as well as the potential for short-term mindsets in the corporate world to catalyze financial crises. In this paper, I demonstrate that the market generally assigns higher values to long-term firms rather than short-term ones. This is evidenced by the fact that firms characterized to be long-term according to various financial metrics have higher valuation multiples than their short-term counterparts. The results suggest that the market has a degree of sophistication that rewards investments for the future rather than earnings management and present gratification, and that the corporate world should therefore increasingly develop a long-term mentality.

The Triratna/FWBO Buddhist movement has been associated with younger people and a lifestyle in which single sex residential communities and work projects (TBRLs) have been prominent. There is now a trend towards a wider range of lifestyles including fewer people living communally. Demographic changes include 50+ average age for ordained members and some people developing Long-Term Care (LTC) needs, with limited family and financial support. This raises questions as to the extent to which ‘Buddhist identity’ can be supported in LTC situations, with informal care, mainstream LTC services and possible care-based TBRLs all relevant.Data-gathering was initially on the basis of a general investigation of LTC issues in Triratna/FWBO using an eclectic, primarily qualitative design which had features of both a case study and a cross-sectional survey. 17 interviews included participants with current LTC needs, others asked to anticipate future care preferences, and people with relevant expertise. A questionnaire was formulated to explore attitudes to possible care-based TBRLs, with 107 participants and numerous additional comments. There was a strong consensus that Buddhist-based LTC services would, for example, provide better vegetarian diets and have an understanding of Buddhist names taken at ordination. These features were included in a conceptualisation of Buddhist identity which contrasted ‘Buddhist’ and ‘Non-Buddhist’ life, and noted ‘Dreams’ and ‘Nightmares’ as to LTC. Effective basic care was seen as essential to the general level of well-being needed for Buddhist practice, whilst a higher level of support might facilitate access to Buddhist ‘life goods’, and assist people in self-verifying themselves as committed Buddhists through ongoing practice. Informal support from fellow Buddhists was available in many contexts, but not at levels of intensity and duration characteristic of some family-based care, and it was seen as modulated by perceptions of burden, ‘busy-ness’ and other factors. There was a ‘legacy of suspicion’ of mainstream LTC, mainly focussed on residential care, with acknowledgement of some good/respectful carers and care services. TBRLs in LTC were generally welcomed, being seen as suitably altruistic work which might feature an atmosphere of ‘mutuality’ between staff and clients who were Buddhist or of Buddhist sympathy. Comparative material was used here from Methodist, Jewish and Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) communities in LTC contexts, with the last of these conceptualised as comparable to the Western Buddhist community as a currently emerging identity in terms of later life services. Practicality and feasibility were discussed with reference to existing TBRLs, and experience of paid-for care input between Buddhists. The latter appeared supportive of Buddhist identity and readily linked to the personalisation agenda in social care. Buddhist-friendly services were seen as a possible context for generativity, and the concept of ‘a natural part of life’ was explored in terms of the emergence of LTC in the Triratna/FWBO movement, and of Buddhism as a gradually more familiar identity which might be encountered in the sphere of LTC.

This thesis is aimed to empirically investigate the performance impact of frequent acquisitions as an aggressive merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy for an acquiring firm. In literature related to the study of M&A, a common question is whether acquisitions improve the performance of acquirers. Neither theoretical nor empirical studies have a clear view on the performance effect of M&A. Some argue positively and some are opposite. Although existing research are mixed for their arguments, a takeover is commonly perceived as a shock to the firm with a constant effect on changing business performance. This static perception of M&A creates a difficulty in explaining why firms acquire others when the performance effect is negative. To address the issue, this thesis examines the M&A effect dynamically with taking into account the role of merger frequency in affecting performance. On the basis of a large sample that consists of about 14,000 acquisitions from more than 100 countries over last 12 years, the thesis finds that the investors perceive a lower value if the acquiring firm is involved in frequent mergers. This is because more mergers are expected to attract considerable amount of management attention away from profitable activities in order to digest the challenges of new business integration at least in the short run. This “digesting constraint” argument is evident by our estimations. Firm becomes less profitable in the short run after a merger shock, and this adverse effect can be more severe if the firm is involved in more frequent mergers. Evidence of the thesis further show that, the effect of merger shocks is not static and persistent, and it changes with time. The shock affects adversely profitability in the short run, usually lasting a couple of years, and then the negative effect on performance could be turned either oppositely if the firm digests the shock successfully, or otherwise, continuously but diminishing over time if the digestion takes longer such as for frequent acquisition. This finding implies that the pace of firm resilience to a merger shock can be affected by its merger strategies. The pace can be slow if the firm pursues frequent mergers aggressively. The performance effect of a merger shock is dynamic and changes with time. The dynamic view for merger shocks from this study opens a new vision for literature in merger studies. Overall the market expectation to a merger effect on changing firm performance is quite consistently related to what has actually happened to the firm after the merger shock.

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will monitor ground beetle populations across a network of broadly distributed sites because beetles are prevalent in food webs, are sensitive to abiotic factors, and have an established role as indicator species of habitat and climatic shifts. We describe the design of ground beetle population sampling in the context of NEON's long-term, continentalscale monitoring program, emphasizing the sampling design, priorities, and collection methods. Freely available NEON ground beetle data and associated field and laboratory samples will increase scientific understanding of how biological communities are responding to land-use and climate change.

This thesis focuses on sustainable funding of long-term care for ageing population in the Czech Republic. In Europe the population is constantly ageing and the health-care especially the long-term care is a constantly growing burden for the fiscal policy. The current status of funding of the long- term care in the Czech Republic is unsustainable. We work with predictions about the evolution of number of citizens in the Czech Republic in the middle-run perspective. Then we discuss long-term care systems across the European Union and OECD members. Further we propose a model based on German long-term care system and provide a framework for structural change of long-term care funding that would lead to sustainability of the system. We also discuss some amendments that should lead to higher efficiency of the system and less the burden.

Title: One-sided strain as a risk factor of muscles imbalances in an ice-hockey training of children. Objectives: The objectives of this diploma thesis is a contribution to the solution of one-sided strain problems of older primary-school-aged juniors and its influence on ontogenesis of somatic parameters of children that train ice hockey. Methods: The thesis considered theoretical ways that described a long term influence of ice hockey training on ontogenesis of players, related risks of muscles imbalances origin and possibilities how to compensate these muscles imbalances. A sample of 200 probands specialised in ice hockey training was selected for testing and a control sample of 200 probands without any sport specialisation composed of 50 probands of a birth year 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002 respectively - primary-school-aged juniors. Six different exercises were selected for testing according to the inquiry methodology of Dostálová (2006) and Horkel (2001). Four out of those exercises tested muscles shortening and two exercises tested muscles debilitation. Results: The measured data were statistically assessed by two-sample t-test with equal variance. A long term influence of ice hockey training was confirmed. A significant muscle shortening of musculus iliopsoas of right lower extremity was...