The dividend policy and the distribution of cash dividend can be of interest to the investors from many angles. Consequently, many theories have been built on the relevance of dividend policy and there are several theories proposing that dividends increase shareholder value. However, the most famous theory on dividend policy might be Miller and Modigliani's dividend irrelevance theory which implies that the dividend policy does not affect shareholder value. Although investors are concerned with shareholder value they are also concerned with achieving the highest possible return with the lowest volatility (risk). As many studies have focused on the dividend policy, especially dividend yield or the dividend payout ratio, and its relation with stock price movement we felt that there was a lack of information regarding the relation between return volatility and cash dividends. This resulted in the following research question: Does a change in cash dividend affect stock return volatility on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm? Answering this research question is the main purpose of the research. Additionally, the relationship between changes in cash dividend and return volatility will be compared in the different size segments that are to be found on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. The study is quantitative with a deductive approach where historical data ranging from 2006-2012 has been gathered. Two measures of return volatility has been used, beta and standard deviation of return. Statistical tests have been conducted in an approach to answer the research question, mainly correlation tests and logistic regression analysis. No correlation between changes in cash dividend and changes in beta, nor changes in standard deviation were found. The same results were found when examining small, mid and large cap individually. In the logistic regression analysis no evidence was found that changes in dividend could explain changes in return volatility. Contrary to changes in dividend, the results indicate that the size of the company can explain changes in return volatility. Specifically, large cap companies explain increases in return volatility better than companies in the small cap segment. Therefore, the research question is concluded with no, a change in cash dividend does not affect stock return volatility. The findings could also be argued to be in support of the dividend irrelevance theory. Furthermore, the conclusion implies that investors need not regard the dividend policy when diversifying their portfolios. Additionally, managers need not be worried that a change in dividend policy should affect return volatility.

Jämfört med andra branscher har fastighetsmarknaden låg avkastning på totala tillgångar, de utnyttjar istället en hävstångsstrategi för att skapa mer effektiv utväxling på eget kapital. Det finns många riskvariabler kopplat till fastighetsbranschen och flera sätt att differentiera sig från den osystematiska risken. De kommunala fastighetsbolagen har en finansieringskälla Kommuninvest, som enbart vänder sig till allmännyttiga bolag och inte privata aktörer. Syftet med uppsatsen är att historiskt analysera hur risk och avkastning genererats av kommunala och privata fastighetsbolag. Metoden är kvantitativ, kombinerat med en deduktiv metod och som har en förklarande ansats. Utifrån teori har vi formulerat tre hypoteser för att undersöka om vi kan finna indikatorer på hur kommunala och privata fastighetsbolag skiljer sig till från varandra. För att genomföra undersökningen har uppsatsen utgått från en kvantitativ metod och statistiska test har gjorts för att kunna analysera utfallen. Resultaten indikerar på att det finns en signifikant skillnad mellan kommunala och privata fastighetsbolag i två av hypoteserna. Hur undersökningen är genomförd beskrivs i den empiriska metoden. Från de resultat som blivit har det fastställts att det finns mer att undersöka och nya förslag på fortsatt forskning har utformats. / Compared to other industries, real estate markets have historically low return on total assets, instead they use a leverage strategy to create a more efficient ratio on return on equity. There are many risk variables associated with real estate and several ways for real estate firms to differentiate themselves from the unsystematic risk. The municipal property firms have a funding source Kommuninvest, only turning to public utilities and not private actors. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the historical risk and return generated by municipal and private property firms. The method is quantitative, combined with a deductive theory, which has an explanatory approach. Based on theory we have formulated three hypotheses to explore and see if we can find indicators of how differences between municipal and private property is. To conduct the survey, the thesis has a quantitative method and statistical tests to analyze the outcomes. The results indicate that there is a significant difference in two of the hypotheses between municipal and private property. How the survey is conducted is described in the empirical method. From the results determined, the intention shows that there is more to explore, and new suggestions for further research have been suggested.

The impact of the introduction of derivatives on the underlying stock is a debatable topic among the researchers. The issue is quite controversial as contradictory results have been obtained by researchers in various stock markets. The purpose of this study is to examine the volatility and the liquidity effect on the underlying stock after the introduction of index options. We have investigated volatility and liquidity effect by collecting sample data from the stock markets of India, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, only markets which are offering index options in Asia.   Applying the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model, we have examined the conditional volatility of intraday (high frequency) returns for each stock market, before and after the introduction of index options. We have also examined the liquidity effect through t-test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. We used t-test to determine the mean differences between the trading volume of pre-index and post-index options periods.    By comparing the estimated parameters and the coefficient of conditional volatility in pre and post period of index options introductions, we have examined that the derivatives trading dramatically increases the persistence of the conditional volatility for all the selected stock markets. We also observed mixed evidence in context to liquidity effect. In the stock exchanges of Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, we found that the respective markets become more liquid in the post index options periods in contrast to pre index options period. In these markets trading volume increased significantly after the introduction of index options.  On the other hand, India, Malaysia and Singapore stock markets show no liquidity effect in the post-index option period.   Finally, the empirical results of our study conclude that the introduction of index options on the selected Asian stock markets have increased in stock return volatility and liquidity on the underlying stocks.

This paper is a study on how U.S stock market reacts on sovereign credit rating announcements, and if there is a significant difference between low or high debt firms. We have used an event study based on historical stock prices from 30 companies, 15 with high debt and 15 with low debt. All companies are taken from the S&P`s 500 index which we also use as a market index. We use a regression model with 10 % significance level to see if there is a significant impact on high debt firms. Our result shows that the market will be affected by the downgrade. We also conclude that there was a significant negative impact on the high debt firms.

Bakgrund: Läkemedelsbranschen är idag en av de mest reglerade branscherna på marknaden. Forskning och utveckling har en stor betydelse för läkemedelsföretagen. För att lansera ett läkemedel krävs det att företagen genomför kliniska prövningar, deras utfall kan mycket väl avgöra företagens framtid. Problemformulering: hur stor inverkan har de olika faserna inom produktutvecklingen på aktiekurserna för företag i läkemedelsbranschen. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur marknaden reagerar när läkemedel som är under utveckling går in i de tre olika kliniska faserna.Metod: Studien baseras på kvantitativ data där ett bekvämlighetsval gjorts på sju stycken läkemedelsföretag. PR meddelanden där läkemedel i utveckling går in i fas-1, fas-2 och fas-3 kliniska prövningar har valts ut som enskilda händelsen i eventstudien som genomförts. Vi har studerat vad som händer 5 dagar före och 5 dagar efter att händelsen utspelar sig. Därefter har vi mätt marknadens reaktion genom beräkning av den anormala avkastningen. Slutsatser: Studien visar på att aktiemarknaden reagerar positivt på alla de tre kliniska faserna. Marknaden har en förmåga att övervärdera fas-1 studiers betydelse. Det finns tecken på att marknaden har svårt att värdera forskningen och utvecklingens riktiga värde. / Background: The pharmaceutical industry is a heavily regulated market. Costs for research and development are of utmost importance for the industry. To successfully launch a new drug requires clinical trials, and their outcomes could well determine the future of the company’s business. Problem formulation: how much influence do the various stages of product development have on the stock prices for companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Purpose: How does the market react when a drug under development undergoes the three different clinical phases. Method: The study is based on quantitative data. Seven pharmaceutical companies have been selected for this study. PR messages for when drugs in development go into phase-1, phase-2 and phase-3 clinical trials, have been selected as the event in focus for our study. We have studied what occurs five days before and five days after an event takes place. Next we measure the markets reaction by calculating the abnormal return. Conclusion: The study shows that the stock market reacts positively to all three clinical phases. The market has a way to overestimate phase-1 studies importance. There are signs that the market has difficulties evaluating R&Ds real value.

This thesis examines the energy return on investment (EROI) of a model 3 MW hybrid gas-geothermal plant on the Texas Gulf Coast. The model plant uses a design similar to the DOE Pleasant Bayou No. 2 test geothermal plant, and uses a gas engine to harness entrained methane and an Organic Rankine Cycle turbine to harness thermal energy from hot brines. The indirect energy cost was calculated using the Carnegie Mellon University Economic Input-Output Life Environmental Life Cycle Analysis (EIO-LCA) model. The EROI of the plant using the 1997 EIO-LCA energy data is 12.40, and the EROI of the plant using 2002 EIO-LCA energy data is 14.18. Sensitivity analysis was run to determine how the plant parameters affect the EROI. A literature review of the EROI of different power sources shows that the EROI of the hybrid geothermal plant is greater than the EROI of flash steam geothermal and solar, but is lower than the EROI of dry steam geothermal, wind power, nuclear, coal, gas, and hydroelectric plants. An analysis of the EROI to financial return on investment (FROI) shows that the FROI for a hybrid geothermal plant could be competitive with wind and solar as a viable renewable resource in the Texas electricity market. / text

The aspiration for producing algal biofuel is motivated by the desire to replace conventional petroleum fuels, produce fuels domestically, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although, in theory, algae have the potential to produce a large amount of petroleum fuel substitutes and capture carbon emissions, in practice, profitable algal biofuel production has proven quite challenging. This dissertation characterizes the production pathways for producing petroleum fuel substitutes from algae and evaluates constraints on algal biofuel production. Chapter 8 provides a summary of the entire dissertation. The first chapter provides a framework for reporting the production of renewable diesel from algae in a consistent way by using data that are specific and by presenting information with relevant metrics. The second chapter presents a review of analytical tools (i.e., microscopy, spectroscopy, and chromatography) that can be used to analyze the structure and composition of intermediate products in an algal biofuel production pathway. In chapters 3 through 6, the energy return on investment, water intensity, and financial return on investment are presented for three cases: 1) an Experimental Case in which data were measured during five batches of algal biocrude production with a combined processed volume of about 7600 L, 2) a hypothetical Reduced Case that assumes the same energy output as the Experimental Case, with reduced energy and material inputs, and 3) a Highly Productive Case that assumes higher energy outputs than the Experimental Case, with reduced energy and material inputs, similar to the Reduced Case. For all three cases, the second-order energy return on investment was determined to be significantly less than 1, which means that all three cases are energy negative. The water intensity (consumption and withdrawal) for all cases was determined to be much greater than that of conventional petroleum fuels and biofuels produced from non-irrigated crops. The financial return on investment was also found to be significantly less than 1 for all cases, indicating production would be unprofitable. Additionally, it was determined that large-scale algal biofuel production would be constrained by the availability of critical energy and material inputs (e.g., nitrogen and carbon dioxide). The final part of this dissertation presents a first-principles thermodynamic analysis that represents an initial attempt at characterizing the thermodynamic limits for algal biofuel production. In that analysis, the energy, entropy, and exergy is calculated for each intermediate product in the algal biofuel production pathway considered here. Based on the results presented in this body of work, game-changing technology and biotechnology developments are needed for sustainable and profitable algal biofuel production. / text

This thesis analyzes the presence and progression of the Flying African Myth in Canada— a myth which originally reflected the desires for escape and cross-Atlantic return shared by generations of Black slaves throughout the Americas. While related West African themes of spirit flight and human transformation do suggest a historic relationship, it was only in the New World that human powers of flight emerged. Thus, a new mythology sprung from the desires to transcend the bonds of slavery and return to an African home. However, despite being well documented as Pan-American, this myth has gone largely uninvestigated in its Canadian context thus far— an omission which follows an extensive pattern of Black cultural erasure in Canada as well as the exclusion of Canada in much Black diasporic scholarship. These absences lead to my exploration of the unique circumstances in Canada that continue to influence this myth, including the constant "struggle against erasure" and the “fragile coalition of identities” that constitute the Black diaspora in Canada, as well as federal legislation that protects the nation’s self-image as a multicultural “mosaic.” I argue not only that the myth exists more extensively in Canadian oral and written literatures than may be expected, but that the myth may be alternately interpreted as a method of preserving Canadian national roots as well as navigating Black diasporic routes. I suggest that these two opposing functions of the myth, to pronounce both fixity and fluidity, reflect the tendencies of critics George Elliott Clarke and Rinaldo Walcott to articulate differing approaches to Black identity and culture in Canada. This thesis also embraces the aims set forth in Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double-Consciousness, demonstrating how the image of human flight further challenges the oppressive ideologies of Western modernity as well as reimagines the possibilities and implications of the Black diaspora. Indeed, the myth has literally contributed to the formation of the Black diaspora in that it is a cultural artefact shared throughout the Americas and associated with the desire for African return. But the myth also offers a means by which to reconceptualise the structure of the Black diaspora. That is, as the medium of flight, the sky offers an alternative, though equally flexible and more ubiquitous, space for locating the Black diaspora beyond the Atlantic basin. Moreover, the notions of impossibility, immateriality, and imagination which are embraced by this myth circumvent Gilroy’s implicit affirmation of individualism, rationalism, physical mobility, as well as static and bounded geographic space— elements which compromise his productive critique of nationalisms, ethnic essentialisms, and particularly of modernity.

In the present PhD work, three sophisticated models based on the "Engineering" modeling approach have been utilized to conveniently describe and thoroughly analyze details of Lightning events at the CN Tower. Both the CN Tower and the Lightning Channel are represented by a number of connected in series Transmission Line sections in order to account for the variations in the shape of the tower and for plasma processes that take place within the Lightning Channel. A sum of two Heidler functions is used to describe the "uncontaminated" Return Stroke current, which is injected at the attachment point between the CN Tower and the Lightning Channel. Reflections and refractions at all points of mismatched impedances are considered until their contribution becomes less than 1% of the originally injected current wave. In the proposed models, the problem with the current discontinuity at the Lightning Channel front, commonly taken care of by introducing a "turn-on" term when computing radiation fields, is uniquely treated by introducing reflected and transmitted components. For the first time, variable speed of propagation of the Return Stroke current front has been considered and its influence upon the predicted current distributions along the whole Lightning Channel path and upon the radiated distant fields analyzed. Furthermore, as another novelty, computation of the electromagnetic field is accomplished in Cartesian Coordinates. This fact permits to relax the requirement on the verticality of the Lightning Channel, normally imposed in Cylindrical Coordinates. Therefore, it becomes possible to study without difficulty the influence of a slanted Lightning Channel upon the surrounding electromagnetic field. Since the proposed sophisticated Five-Section Model has the capability to represent very closely the structure of the CN Tower and to emulate faithfully the shape of, as well as physical processes within the Lightning Channel, it is believed to have the potential of truthfully reproducing observed fields. The developed modeling approach can be easily adapted to study the anticipated radiated fields at tall structures even before construction.

This master´s thesis asses the financial situation of the ralated company in the years 2002 to 2005 at the basis of sesecte methods of the financial anlaysis. It comprieses proposals of possible solutions of identified probléme which should result in the improvement of financial situation of the rirm in future years.