Bakgrund:  På senare år sparar nästan alla svenskar mer aktivt och den positiva utvecklingen på aktier har gjort att allt fler aktiesparare lockats in i aktiemarknaden. Detta har bidragit till att aktier blivit den främsta tillgången för sparare. Ägandet av aktier är förknippat med har medfört flertalet risker då det finns en risk att aktiekurserna kan falla. Flertalet investerare har en diffus uppfattning om vilka risker som tas. Identifierar aktiespararen riskerna med aktiesparandet så förbättras förutsättningarna för en bra avkastning. Människor föredrar att undvika risk olika och anledningen till varför människor utsätter sig för en risk är för att de vill bli framgångsrika genom att de vill få en bra avkastning. För att detta ska bli möjligt är det viktigt att aktiespararen hanterar riskerna förknippade med aktiehandeln vilket kan ske om att aktiespararna använder regler. Syfte:  Syftet med studien är att få en förståelse för hur aktiesparare i praktiken använder sig av handlingsreglerna för att förhålla sig till riskerna som är förknippade med aktiehandeln. Vi har också för avsikt att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan hur frekvent aktiespararna använder sig av handlingsreglerna beroende på deras riskbenägenhet, ålder och kön. Metod:  I studien har vi använt en kvantitativ forskningsansats med en deduktiv ansats som vetenskaplig metod. Empirisk data har insamlats genom enkätundersökningar. Slutsats:  Aktiespararna har ett förhållningssätt till samtliga handlingsregler för att förhålla sig till riskerna förknippade med aktiehandeln. Det finns inte ett samband att aggressiva aktiesparare använder handlingsreglerna mindre frekvent i förhållande till balanserade och försiktiga aktiesparare. Det finns inte ett samband att försiktiga aktiesparare använder handlingsreglerna mer frekvent i förhållande till aggressiva och balanserade aktiesparare. Det finns inte ett samband att aktiesparare i åldern 18-35 använder handlingsreglerna mindre frekvent i förhållande till aktiesparare i åldern 36-50 och 51+. Det finns ett samband att män använder handlingsreglerna mer frekvent i förhållande till kvinnor.

As a technique to solve new problems based on previous successful cases, CBR represents significant prospects for improving the accuracy and effectiveness of unstructured decision-making problems. Similar problems have similar solutions is the main assumption. Utility oriented similarity modeling is gradually becoming an important direction for Case-based reasoning research. In this thesis, we propose a new way to represent the utility of case by using fuzzy rules. Our method could be considered as a new way to estimate case utility based on fuzzy rule based reasoning. We use modified WANG’s algorithm to generate a fuzzy if-then rule from a case pair instead of a single case. The fuzzy if-then rules have been identified as a powerful means to capture domain information for case utility approximation than traditional similarity measures based on feature weighting. The reason why we choose the WANG algorithm as the foundation is that it is a simpler and faster algorithm to generate if-then rules from examples. The generated fuzzy rules are utilized as a case matching mechanism to estimate the utility of the cases for a given problem. The given problem will be formed with each case in the case library into pairs which are treated as the inputs of fuzzy rules to determine whether or to which extent a known case is useful to the problem. One case has an estimated utility score to the given problem to help our system to make decision. The experiments on several data sets have showed the superiority of our method over traditional schemes, as well as the feasibility of learning fuzzy if-then rules from a small number of cases while still having good performances.

A product pair is two products with similar functionality that satisfy the same high level need but are different by design. The goal of this research is to apply association rule-based learning to product pairs and develop universal design rules to be used during the conceptual design phase. The Apriori algorithm produced 1,023 association rules with input parameters of 70% minimum confidence and 0.5% minimum support levels. These rules were down-selected based on the prescribed rule format of: (Function, Typical User Activity) ? (Change, Universal User Activity). In other words, for a given product function and user activity, the rules suggest a design change and new user activity for a more universal product. This research presents 29 universal design rules to be used during the conceptual design stage. These universal design rules suggest a parametric, morphological, functional, or no design change is needed for a given user activity and product function. No design change rules confirm our intuition and also prevent inefficient design efforts. A parametric design change is suggested for actionfunction elements involving find hand use to manipulate a product. Morphological design changes are proposed to solve actionfunction elements in a slightly more complex manner without adding or subtracting overall functionality. For example, converting human energy to mechanical energy with the upper body opposed to the lower body or actuating fluid flow with motion sensors instead of manual knobs. The majority of the recommended functional changes involve automating a product to make it more universal which might not be apparently obvious to designers during conceptual design.

Scarce knowledge of Neotropical small mammal communities prevents experimental inquiry on the mechanisms structuring these communities. In this study, I examined patterns of local assembly of the small mammal communities on the eastern slopes of El Cielo Biosphere Reserve (ECBR) in Tamaulipas, Mexico, at two spatial scales. At the landscape level I tested patterns of species co-occurrences between four sites with a null model. At the local level I addressed floor microhabitat use, vertical structure use and temporal partitioning. I studied these niche axes at two adjoining forest types, Tropical Subdeciduous Forest (TSDF) and Cloud Forest (CF), that had different structural complexity. Total trapping effort consisted of 19,712 trapnights distributed over three years. In 1,365 capture events I recorded 789 individuals representing 14 species. Abundant species, mostly Peromyscus species that are of intermediate body size, co-occurred less often than expected by chance, whereas rare species, mainly Reithrodontomys species of small size, occurred at random over study sites. This pattern suggests that species interactions might be responsible for this non-random structure. Both the TSDF and CF had striking differences in both microhabitat use and temporal partitioning. In the TSDF common species (>8 individuals) organized along a microhabitat gradient from grassy/open areas to closed forest areas. Temporal partitioning for the whole community was less than expected by chance with use of an ad hoc null model. Species from ecotone/open areas avoided use of middle portions of the night whereas the single forest species concentrated activity in this period. So, it is plausible that predator avoidance strategies might have higher impact on temporal partitioning as compared to competitive interactions. In high contrast the CF community was codominated by two Peromyscus species that overlapped heavily in both their microhabitat use and diel activity patterns. Ecological separation of these two species probably occurs along a niche axis not considered in my study or might be facilitated by their body mass difference. Overall, I provide the first account of community patterns for small mammals at ECBR. These patterns can provide the basis for experimental manipulations to ascertain mechanisms responsible for structure at these communities.

<p>Metabolic syndrome is taking epidemic proportions, especially in developed countries. Each risk factor component of the syndrome independently increases the risk of developing coronary artery disease. The risk factors are obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, diabetes type 2, insulin resistance, and microalbuminuria. Nuclear receptors is a family of receptors that has recently received a lot of attention due to their possible involvement in metabolic syndrome. Putting the receptors into context with their co-factors and ligands may reveal therapeutic targets not found by studying the receptors alone. Therefore, in this thesis, interactions between genes in nuclear receptor pathways were analysed with the goal of investigating if these interactions can supply leads to biomarkers for metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome donor gene expression data from the BioExpressä, database was analysed with the APRIORI algorithm (Agrawal et al. 1993) for generating and mining association rules. No association rules were found to function as biomarkers for metabolic syndrome, but the resulting rules show that the data mining technique successfully found associations between genes in signaling pathways.</p>

Almost twenty years ago Texas implemented a functions-based approach (FBA) to teaching algebra. This approach emphasized the use of nearly all multiple representations, use of a graphing calculator to explore graphs, and modeling of linear and quadratic functions. This interpretation of FBA in conjunction with curriculum placing the teaching of simplifying expressions and solving equations close in sequence may contribute to student confounding of the rules for simplifying and solving. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to explore student rating of the usefulness of teacher-provided and function-based approach (FBA) strategies for simplifying expressions and solving equations in Algebra. The subjects of this study were two algebra teachers and their respective algebra students. The teachers, who taught both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2, were at a high school campus located in an urban district. A researcher created survey based on teacher-provided strategies used by participating teachers was administered to 100 students and 22 teachers. The teacher survey results were used as a professional basis for comparing students' results. Descriptive statistics were used to create graphical representations of students by course groups and identify students who confounded rules. Student FBA preferences and course groups were used to identify 18 student interviewees. Student and teacher interviews were used to corroborate survey results. Participating teachers identified and commented on areas of concern from the survey results. Both teachers approved of the low percentages of students rating FBA strategies as useful but were concerned about higher percentages of students (30% or greater) confounding rules or not realizing the usefulness of relevant sub-strategies. Neither teachers nor students were aware of benefits of graphing calculator use in simplifying. Students, regardless of course group or FBA preference, justified the use of teacher-provided strategies with symbolic manipulation and changed FBA ratings to less likely. There were few student references to equivalence and equality that were supported by FBA. These results are important for algebraic instruction in Texas. Texas has mandated use of graphing calculator on 8th grade Mathematics STAAR exam. Recognizing the benefits of a complete FBA along with effective use of graphing technology may prevent this type of confounding. / text

Contractarianism with a Human Face reinterprets the social contract, not as a model to generate a unique set of rules of justice, but as a dynamic process for making comparative institutional evaluations. An institutional reorientation allows contractarians to abandon the untenable assumption of a homogeneous model of agency (be it austere rational choice or Rawlsian reasonableness), replacing it with diverse agents living under institutions all can rationally endorse, and to which they have different reasons to comply. Contractarianism With a Human Face is a contractarian theory that differs from all other contractarian theories because it rejects the search for a unique answer to the question of what is justice. It does not flee from diversity, but instead finds new solutions to old problems through broadening the contractual model and the agents that make it up. This version of contractarianism has a human face in the sense that it starts from the diversity, disorder, and complexity of human life and seeks to find rules that we can all live under. Not by eliminating that diversity, but by embracing it. In so doing, however, it fundamentally changes the shape of contractarian theory. By rejecting the search for a unique "solution" to what rules of justice are justified, Contractarianism With a Human Face becomes a project of evaluating contingent and evolving institutions and constitutional rules. Rationality and justice are reconciled, at least partially, though human history.

Nowadays, nearly all of the commercial and government organizations are highly dependent on software systems. Due to the inherent dynamic nature of their business environment, software evolution is inevitable. The changes generated by business policies and operations are propagated onto software system. A large portion of total lifecycle cost is devoted to introduce new requirements, and remove or change existing requirements. However, the evolution of a successful software system is inevitable for the software to remain useful in its environment. Many research projects attempt to find a more applicable way for building a software system that is adaptive to changes. They strive to propose a software model, or architecture, that has the ability to minimize the effect of changes as well as providing requirements traceability in their model. Most of them utilize the benefit of object-oriented, distributed system, software architecture and component-based technologies. Our research attempts to address these issues in a slightly different way namely by considering business rules as volatile part of a software system. In this position paper, we introduce a software architecture which includes a link model that aims to reduce the effects of software changes by improving requirements traceability. When we have analyse this problem, we decide to make the program, which will have ability to resolve business rules isolation from all program code problem. The main purpose in this... [to full text]

The master work presents the modified Ross method-based model for business rules structuring during the information systems design as well as a software implementation of this model. The developed tool provides the designer with possibilities to create graphical business rules models, relating them with the specific elements of universe of discourse data model. The models are then processed and stored in a specialized repository. The presentation includes the overview of the model as well as the analysis of the specific features of the developed tool.

The research work is focused on analysis of possibilities of business rules formalization, storage in database tables, user friendliness improvement, and rules management. Business rules have been taken into investigation not long ago. Possibilities of using business rules in business software are still being defined. Formalization and usage of business rules in IT systems is very important, because rules are very often in any business, and any rule has a strong tendency to change over time. The changes of rules are caused by dynamic laws, competitors’ decisions, changing environment in the market, and many other factors. Business rules influence and guide the behavior of employees (influence on business), influence the information that is recorded in IT systems as well as restrict the modification of this information (influence on IT). The practical task of the work is to design and to develop a business rules management system for usage in SAP environment. The system should optimize the work of coders during the development and maintenance of additional functions for SAP R/3 ERP system.