Esta tesis consiste en cuatro trabajos independientes. En amplios términos los dos temas generales que trata se pueden clasificar como fusiones horizontales y comparaciones de los parámetros del mercado del equilibrio entre competencia en precios y cantidades. En el articulo, "Fusiones con funciones de oferta", analizo los efectos de una fusión en una industria que produce un bien homogéneo cuando las empresas compiten eligien funciones de oferta. Las empresas eligen las funciones que relacionan su oferta con el precio de mercado. La competencia a la Cournot donde las empresas eligen a las cantidades, y la competencia a la Bertrand donde las empresas eligen los precios son casos especiales de la competencia en funciones de oferta. Considero una industria con un nivel fijo de capital. El capital una empresa define su tecnología de producción. Una fusión crea no solamente una empresa más grande, pero también una con una estructura más eficiente del coste que cualesquiera de sus componentes. Se muestra que cualquier fusión hace que todas las empresas que bajen su producción. La disminución de la producción por las empresas no participantes hace cualquier fusión rentable. Cualquier fusión en una industria con el capital social igualmente distribuido conduce a una pérdida del bienestar. Finalmente, una fusión es más probable que aumente el bienestar si aumenta la "simetría" en la industria. En mi trabajo "Fusiones bajo la incertidumbre", considero las decisiones de fusionar de empresas que producen bienes diferenciados en un mercado con choques idiosincrásicos de la demanda. Las empresas toman sus decisiones de fusionar antes de que choques afecten a la industria. Todas las empresas comparten la misma información sobre las condiciones de mercado en cualquier momento. En particular, después de un choque, todas las empresas saben todos los parámetros relevantes del mercado. Así, una fusión no produce ninguna ventaja informativa. Exploro el modelo bajo dos modos de competencia. Comparando los incentivos para fusionar con los incentivos en el caso de un mercado determinista, encuentro que la característica incierta en el modelo aumentan la rentabilidad de una fusión bajo competencia de precio, mientras que con competencia en cantidades, su efecto sobre la rentabilidad de la fusión es ambiguo. Sin embargo, si hay incentivos a fusionar en el caso determinista, después de la incertidumbre, aumenta la rentabilidad de la fusión. En mi trabajo "Comparando los precios de Bertrand y de Cournot: Un caso de substitutos y de complementos " confirma la sabiduría común según la cual la competencia del precio es más competitiva que la competencia de la cantidad. Resultados anteriores que apoyan esta visión en mercados de productos substitutos o en mercados de productos complementarios. Considero el caso cuando los complementos y los substitutos coexisten en un mercado de productos diferenciado. El artículo "Innovación en un modelo asimétrico: Comparando los equilibrios de Cournot y de Bertrand ". Este artículo compara los resultados y la eficiencia dinámica de los equilibrios de Cournot y de Bertrand en un duopolio diferenciado, donde solamente una empresa puede reducir el coste marginal antes de la competencia en el mercado de producto. Demostramos que, con alta sustitución y costes bajos de innovación: - los niveles de I&D pueden ser más altos bajo competencia de precio si la difusión es baja; - la producción, el exceso del consumidor y el bienestar total pueden ser más grandes bajo Cournot si la difusión es alta. Un nuevo resultado de este artículo es que con la innovación de proceso, los consumidores y los productores pueden encontrarse en mejor situación bajo competencia de cantidad. Proporcionamos ejemplos numéricos bien definidos que demuestran que estos resultados no dependen de la asimetría del modelo. / This dissertation consists of four pieces of independent work. In broad terms two general themes that it addresses can be classified as horizontal mergers and comparison of equilibrium market parameters in Cournot and Bertrand competition.In my paper, "Mergers with supply functions", I analyze the equilibrium effects of a merger in a homogenous good industry when firms compete by choosing supply schedules. Firms choose functions that relate their supply to the market price. Cournot competition where firms commit to quantities, and Bertrand competition where firms commit to prices are special cases of supply function competition - they exogenously impose horizontal and vertical supply schedules on the firms. I consider an industry with a fixed capital stock. A merger creates not only a larger firm, but also one with more efficient cost structure than any of its constituents. I find that any merger results in all firms lowering supply. The decrease in supply by non-participating firms makes any merger profitable. This differs from the effects of mergers under Cournot competition where the non-participating firms expand their supply, reducing the profitability of a merger. Any merger in an industry with equally distributed capital stock leads to a welfare loss. Finally, a merger is more likely to be welfare enhancing if it increases the "symmetry" in the industry.In my paper, titled "Mergers under uncertainty", I consider the merger decisions of firms producing differentiated products in a market with idiosyncratic demand shocks. Firms make their merger decisions taking into account that future shocks will hit the industry. All firms share the same information about the market conditions at any time. In particular, after the arrival of a shock all firms know all the relevant market parameters. Thus, a merger does not produce any informational advantage. I explore the model under two competition modes. By comparing the incentives for merger with the incentives in a benchmark case of a deterministic market, I find that the uncertain feature in the model increases the attractiveness of a merger under price competition, while with Cournot competition its effect on merger profitability is ambiguous. However, if there are incentives to merge in the deterministic case, then uncertainty increases the profitability of the merger. .In my short paper, "Comparing Bertrand and Cournot prices: A case of substitutes and complements", I reasses the common wisdom according to which price competition is more competitive than quantity competition. Previous results supporting this view deal with either substitute products markets or symmetric complement products markets. I consider the case when complements and substitutes co-exist in a differentiated products market. I introduce a set of symmetry criteria for this market, and show that when they are fulfilled, there exists a symmetric Bertrand equilibrium with a lower price than the price resulting from any symmetric Cournot equilibrium.The last piece of work in the thesis, "Innovation in an Asymmetric Setting: Comparing Cournot and Bertrand Equilibria", is a joint work with Ioana Chioveanu. This paper compares the outcomes and the dynamic efficiency of Cournot and Bertrand equilibria in a differentiated duopoly with substitute goods, where only one firm can reduce marginal cost before product market competition. We show that, with high substitutability and low innovation costs: -R&D levels can be higher under price competition if spillovers are low;-output, consumer surplus and total welfare can be larger under Cournot if spillovers are high.A new result of this article is that with process innovation, both consumers and producers can be better off under quantity competition. We provide well-defined numeric examples showing that these findings do not depend on the asymmetry of the model. The fact that innovation levels may be higher in Bertrand competition is consistent with the findings of Bester and Petrakis (1993). We identify a parameter equivalence that extends all their results from process to product innovation: In particular, incentives to improve quality may be larger under price competition, if substitutability is high.

Background: An estimated 50,000 adults in the United States (U.S.) die each year from one of 10 vaccine preventable diseases. For those who survive vaccine preventable infections, health care costs and loss of income become more significant. While children in the U.S. aged 0-2 exhibit vaccine prevalence rates of almost 90%, some adult vaccine prevalence rates in the U.S. population are reported to be nearly 30-40% less than the goals set forth by Healthy People 2010. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between socio-demographic characteristics of U.S. adults and adult vaccination prevalence for pneumococcal, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, tetanus, and pertussis. Methods: Data from the 2008 National Health Interview Survey were assessed examining various health indicators and characteristics of non-institutionalized adults and children. The sample was restricted to adults ≥18 years of age. Odds ratios were calculated and multivariate logistic regression was also conducted. P-values of Results: There were 21781 total observations; 19.3% received the pneumococcal vaccine, 9.4% received the hepatitis A vaccine, 27.2% received the hepatitis B vaccine, 55.1% received the tetanus vaccine, and 15.2% received the pertussis vaccine. Of the socio-demographic characteristics examined, age, health insurance, marital status, and education were significant for either all five or at least four of the vaccines included in this study. As one might expect those who reported health insurance and those who had a higher level of education usually had a higher likelihood of vaccine receipt as compared to those without health insurance and those with less than a high school education. Age associations varied due to age-related recommendations for certain vaccines such as pneumococcal (recommended for adults ≥65). Compared to the married population (referent), marital status results varied, but for reasons unclear. Whites, the referent group, were the most likely to be vaccinated as compared to Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians. Hispanics/Latinos typically had the lowest likelihood of vaccination in this examination. Conclusions: This study further explores the impact of socio-demographic disparities on vaccination status and adds new information to the literature regarding adult vaccination rates for preventable diseases. While research exists related to strengthening interventions such as patient reminder systems, those who do not see the same health care providers on a regular basis remain at risk for lower vaccination prevalence. It is important to better understand the role of social determinants of health, specifically in terms of vaccinations. Future research is needed to further characterize the association of socio-demographic factors with receipt of optional vaccines in adults.

Le traitement des tumeurs cérébrales représente un défi d'envergure, puisqu'elles sont isolées du reste du corps par la barrière hémato-encéphalique. Il est donc impératif d'accroître nos connaissances sur les cellules composant ces tumeurs. L'une des hypothèses émergentes concerne la présence d'une sous-population spécifique de cellules au sein de la tumeur, les cellules souches cancéreuses (CSC), impliquées dans l'initiation et la récurrence des cancers. Les marqueurs de surfaces des CSC varient largement selon le tissu d'intérêt, mais il semble que CD133, une glycoprotéine membranaire, soit une signature commune à plusieurs CSC. S'il est courant de traiter le cancer en ciblant les cellules cancéreuses elles-mêmes, cibler le microenvironnement dans lequel évolue la tumeur est une avenue thérapeutique prometteuse. En effet, les cellules endothéliales (CE) au sein d'une tumeur sont connues pour avoir des propriétés différentes des CE normales. Ces cellules endothéliales tumorales (CET) peuvent donc constituer une cible supplémentaire pour inhiber sélectivement la croissance tumorale. À l'aide d'une lignée de médulloblastome (DAOY), nous avons identifié et évalué de nouvelles caractéristiques cellulaires et moléculaires impliquées dans la régulation du phénotype invasif associé à la formation de structures comparables aux neurosphères formées par les CSC CD133(+). De plus, nous avons apporté de nouvelles informations concernant les propriétés chimiopréventives du sulforaphane (SFN), un composé naturel retrouvé principalement dans le brocoli, en ciblant spécifiquement les CET cérébrales possiblement impliquées dans la cooption vasculaire. En utilisant la technologie de l'ARN interférant, nous avons montré que MMP-9 et MT1-MMP, deux métalloprotéinases matricielles importantes pour l'invasion cellulaire, les métastases et la résistance à la radiation, avaient un rôle crucial dans la formation par les DAOY de structures apparentées aux neurosphères CD133(+). De plus, nous avons mis en évidence une inhibition presque complète (> 90 %) de la migration des HBMEC (human brain microvascular endothelial cell) activées par un carcinogène, le phorbol 12-myristate 13-acétate (PMA). Ainsi, nos résultats suggèrent que les molécules présentes dans notre diète pourraient cibler les CET cérébrales composant la masse tumorale. En somme, nous proposons que MMP-9 constitue une cible de choix pour le traitement du cancer, que ce soit au niveau du compartiment tumoral ou vasculaire. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Cellule souche cancéreuse (CSC), Cellule endothéliale tumorale (CET), Sulforaphane (SFN), Métalloprotéinase matricielle-9 (MMP-9), Tumeur cérébrale.

Les politiques permettent de définir les règles de la sécurité et de la gestion des différents composants du système. Cela implique l'emploi d'un langage pour exprimer les règles d'affaires et les règles non fonctionnelles, et de donner aux utilisateurs la possibilité de tester et de corriger les politiques. Plusieurs langages tels que XACML, Rei ou PONDER, sont utilisés pour exprimer les politiques par rapport aux objectifs du système d'information. Ces langages peuvent définir plusieurs règles et politiques, mais la plupart de ces langages ne donnent pas de mécanisme pour tester et vérifier la présence des conflits et de l'incohérence entre les politiques du système. Ce mémoire vise la vérification des politiques de contrôle d'accès. Notre approche consiste à traduire les politiques XACML sous forme d'un ensemble de machines abstraites de la méthode B. Nous exprimons aussi les propriétés à vérifier par des formules logiques. L'approche offre aux utilisateurs des moyens pour vérifier les politiques afin de s'assurer que les règles expriment bien les objectifs régissant le comportement et les interactions des systèmes gérés. Dans la première phase, les composantes des politiques XACML ont été exprimées avec des expressions formelles basées sur la logique du premier ordre. Par la suite, les outils développés pour la méthode B, comme le langage Event-B sous la plate forme Rodin, ont été utilisés pour vérifier les règles des politiques par rapport à un ensemble de propriétés que nous avons définies. Notre approche est plus flexible et permet aux utilisateurs de tester et de vérifier les règles avant l'implémentation de ces politiques. Une telle vérification est fondée sur les preuves avec logique du premier ordre, où des propriétés importantes de la politique peuvent être énoncées et prouvées. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Politique, XACML, Méthode formelle, Event-B, Vérification.

For modelling curves, B-splines [3] are among the most versatile control schemes. However, scaling this technique to surface patches has proven to be a non-trivial endeavor. While a suitable scheme exists for rectangular patches in the form of tensor product B-splines, techniques involving the triangular domain are much less spectacular. The current cutting edge in triangular B-splines [2] is the DMS-spline. While the resulting surfaces possess high degrees of continuity, the control scheme is awkward and the evaluation is computationally expensive. A more fundamental problem is the construction bears little resemblance to the construction used for the B-Spline. This deficiency leads to the central idea of the thesis; what happens if the simple blending functions found at the heart of the B-Spline construction are used over higher dimension domains? In this thesis I develop a geometric generalization of B-Spline curves over the triangular domain. This construction mimics the control point blending that occurs with uniform B-Splines. The construction preserves the simple control scheme and evaluation of B-Splines, without the immense computational requirements of DMS-splines. The result is a new patch control scheme, the G-Patch, possessing <i>C</i>0 continuity between adjacent patches.

Examensarbetet som utförts vid Jönköpings tekniska högskola har syftet att konstruera en audioförstärkare. Målet var att åstadkomma goda prestanda på den valda audioförskartypen. Den utvalda varianten utvärderas med avseende på dess prestanda. Audioförstärkaren bör ha följande egenskaper: En kanal med en uteffekt på minst 40W samt ett frekvensområde på 20Hz till 20KHz, utan att använda sig av integrerade komponenter. Temat för rapporten bygger på analysering av konstruktionskretsen och en detaljerad beskrivning av ingående delar samt jämförelse med andra kopplingar med liknande funktion. Metoderna som har använts för att komma fram till resultatet är följande: Litteraturstudier av bl.a. [1],[3] och [6]. Den andra metoden var att testa konstruktionskretsscheman genom att koppla upp det på ett kopplingsdäck. Det som utfördes vid slutfasen var konstruktionen m h a CIRCAD och diverse simuleringar m h a Multisim. Efter genomgången av de olika momenten som arbetet medförde, gav insikten att det krävs mycket kunskap för att ha förståelse om hur en audioförstärkare fungerar. Denna studie gav inblick på de mest relevanta huvuddelarna som krävs för att kunna konstruera en audioförstärkare med önskade prestanda. / The thesis work performed at the School of Engineering at Jönköping University has the purpose to design an audio amplifier. The goal was to achieve great performance on the chosen audio amplify type. The chosen type is evaluated with respect to performance. The amplifier should be able to fulfil the following requirements: A one channel output being able to deliver at least 40W and a frequency range between 20Hz to 20 kHz without containing any integrated circuits. The theme in this report will be based on analysing the circuit used for the construction and describing the different surrounding parts in detail and compare it with other circuits with similar functionality. The methods applied before reaching the results are as follows: Literature studies, which among other literatures are [1], [3] and [6]. The other method was to ensure the function of the constructed circuit by connecting it on a breadboard for test verification. The performed tasks at the final phase were construction with the help of CIRCAD and various simulations with the help of Multisim, which has been utilized for developing the audio amplifier. After the exposition of the different moments, which the task has brought, it has given an insight that a huge demands of knowledge is required to have an understanding of how audio amplifier works. This study has given an insight on the main parts required to be able to construct an audio amplifier with the desired performance.

For modelling curves, B-splines [3] are among the most versatile control schemes. However, scaling this technique to surface patches has proven to be a non-trivial endeavor. While a suitable scheme exists for rectangular patches in the form of tensor product B-splines, techniques involving the triangular domain are much less spectacular. The current cutting edge in triangular B-splines [2] is the DMS-spline. While the resulting surfaces possess high degrees of continuity, the control scheme is awkward and the evaluation is computationally expensive. A more fundamental problem is the construction bears little resemblance to the construction used for the B-Spline. This deficiency leads to the central idea of the thesis; what happens if the simple blending functions found at the heart of the B-Spline construction are used over higher dimension domains? In this thesis I develop a geometric generalization of B-Spline curves over the triangular domain. This construction mimics the control point blending that occurs with uniform B-Splines. The construction preserves the simple control scheme and evaluation of B-Splines, without the immense computational requirements of DMS-splines. The result is a new patch control scheme, the G-Patch, possessing <i>C</i>0 continuity between adjacent patches.

Our laboratory previously found that protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) existing prior to brain ischemia impaired functional outcome measured in an open field test, and one-third of animals showed a marked increase in reactive gliosis. It was hypothesized that PEM worsened stroke outcome by increasing inflammation via increased activation of the transcription factor, nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB). Mongolian gerbils (11-12 wk old) were randomly assigned to a control diet (12.5% protein) or a protein-deficient diet (2%) for 28 days. The control group on average gained 4.9g and the PEM group lost 7.4g. PEM gerbils had significantly decreased food intake (P<0.001; unpaired t-test). Animals were then subjected to global ischemia or sham surgery, resulting in four experimental groups. Global ischemia was achieved by a 5 min bilateral common carotid artery occlusion with tympanic temperature regulated at 36.5 ± 0.2C. PEM independently increased hippocampal NFκB activation by three times higher than control diet animals at 6hr after surgery (p=0.014; 2-factor ANOVA) detected by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). There was no significant effect of ischemia on NFκB activation and there was no interaction of diet and ischemia. Serum glucose and serum cortisol were also measured since both variables can be affected by PEM and can influence stroke outcome, but there was no significant effect of diet or ischemia. Because of the increased NFκB activation observed in PEM-Sham animals, a second experiment investigated if PEM also increased NFκB activation in the absence of surgery. Gerbils of the same age were randomly assigned to either control diet or PEM for 28 days but did not receive any surgery. PEM consistently increased NFκB activation. Since PEM exists in 16% of elderly stroke patients at admission, the data suggest that PEM may worsen stroke outcome through increased activation of NFκB. Because increased NFκB activation was also observed in PEM independent of ischemia, the data also have implications for the inflammatory response of protein-energy malnourished elderly in general.

No description available.

Detta examensarbete undersöker hur lärare på ett yrkesförberedande – och ett studieförberedande program strukturerar sin undervisning av litteraturhistoria i kursen Svenska B på gymnasiet samt hur de läroböcker som används på respektive program är uppbyggda och vad de innehåller. Metoden som används är textanalys av kursupplägg och läroböcker. Resultatet visar på att det finns skillnader mellan de två programmen både vad gäller kursupplägg och läroböcker. Läroböckerna skiljer sig åt genom att den som används på det yrkesförberedande är enklare uppbyggd och tillgängligare för en elev än vad den svårare och faktamättade läroboken som det studieinriktade programmet använder. Slutsatsen vi drar är att man på det yrkesförberedande programmet läser färre epoker under längre tid än på det studieinriktade programmet där man läser fler epoker under kortare tid.