Das Buch argumentiert, dass Descartes seine Metaphysik von Körpern durch ein zweistufiges Argument begründet hat: Ersteres (letztendlich auf der Theorie der Ideen beruhend) soll beweisen, dass Körper erweiterte Substanzen sind; Letzteres (das die gesamte Naturphilosophie von Descartes nutzt) sollte beweisen, dass Körper nichts anderes als erweiterte Substanzen sind. Das Buch zeigt, dass es für Descartes keine Argumente aus der „ersten Philosophie“ gibt, die beweisen könnten, dass Körper nichts als erweiterte Substanzen sind. Es zeigt, dass Descartes’ Argument, alle „realen Qualitäten“ und „wesentlichen Formen“ der Scholastiker zu eliminieren, letztendlich ein Argument für die beste Erklärung ist, die auf ontologischer Sparsamkeit beruht. Mit anderen Worten, ein Rasiermesser. Insbesondere war es die Visionstheorie, den Paradigmenfall für Descartes’ Ontologie materieller Substanzen zu liefern. Die Arbeit kam zu dem Schluss, dass – entgegen der Behauptung praktisch aller kartesischen Gelehrten – die These, dass Körper nichts als erweiterte Dinge sind, nicht der Ausgangspunkt von Descartes’ Physik ist, sondern ihre Krönung. / The work argues that Descartes established his metaphysics of bodies by means of a two-step argument: the former (ultimately grounded on the theory of ideas) being intended to prove that bodies are extended substances; the latter (which takes advantage of Descartes’ entire natural philosophy) aimed at proving that bodies are nothing but extended substances. It shows that for Descartes there are no arguments from ‘first philosophy’ that could prove that bodies are nothing but extended substances. The work shows that Descartes’ argument to eliminate all “real qualities” and “substantial forms” of the Scholastics is ultimately an argument to the best explanation driven by ontological parsimony. In other words, a razor. More in particular, it was the theory of vision to provide the paradigm case for Descartes’ ontology of material substances. The work concluded that, contrary to what claimed by virtually all Cartesian scholars, the thesis that bodies are nothing but extended things is not therefore the starting point of Descartes’ physics, but its crowning achievement.

The diploma thesis is focused on evaluation of the economic efficiency of investment projects of transport infrastructure in the Czech Republic. These projekcts are evaluated according to the methodological documents of the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic, the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure and thr Directorate of Roads and Motorways of the Czech Republic. The diploma thesis also deals with the comparison od individual methodological procedures and their influence on the resulting indicators of economic efficiency of transport infrastructure condtructions.

No description available.

Providing written feedback is a time-consuming part of an English teacher’s work life and there are many ways in which feedback can be provided. According to the Swedish National Agency of Education (2011), teachers must provide their students with feedback. Studies have been conducted investigating feedback provision and teachers’ feedback practices, but few studies have shed light on the students’ perception of feedback, especially in Swedish, and even Nordic, contexts. This study investigated students’ perception and use of teacher feedback on written assignments in an EFL (English as a foreign language) classroom in mid-Sweden. The study investigated both student perception of feedback, with specific focus on WCF (written corrective feedback), and students’ use of the feedback. The method used for data collection was a semi-structured internet survey containing 21 questions. The participants were 30 upper secondary school students. The results of the study showed that students mostly perceived feedback as important and useful, especially when it contained concrete tips and proposals for text improvement. They regarded CF and WCF as important as they wanted to become aware of what errors they made to avoid making those in future writing. Nevertheless, they reported that too extensive feedback (unfocused CF) was not preferred. Both positive and negative feedback were considered useful for future writing and a large majority read the feedback they received every time. Feedback provided together with a grade was also read by the students, as they wanted to have information about strengths and weaknesses in the text as well as motivation for the grade. To conclude, feedback was mostly perceived as important and useful, and the students used it to improve their writing.

Corporate Governance (CG) nowadays is on the agenda of most developed and developing countries, including Jordan, and is receiving considerable attention in the business world as well as in the area of academic research, which is an indication of its importance for business development and society as a whole. The knowledge base about CG in developing countries appears to be limited, but it is growing in size and importance. This study therefore aims to investigate current CG practices and barriers to the development of good CG practices in firms. In order to accomplish the research objectives, a mixed research methodology was adopted. The findings of the study contribute to knowledge by providing empirical data to test and extend the theory of CG. The results suggest that most big and old firms are applying best practice of good CG. Regarding factors inhibiting the practice of effective CG, the results indicate that weakness of the legal environment for firms and lack of knowledge of BODs about CG principles are the most important factors. The empirical results find that constitution, compliance and conscience will affect firm’s performance positively. Separation between the position of CEO and Chairman, the existence of independent NEDs, the use of board subcommittees and a strong disclosure regime also help firms to improve performance. On the basis of the empirical results, the study recommends that the government needs to reform the relevant legislation. These suggestions may strengthen the internal governance of firms, thereby increasing performance and maximise shareholders’ wealth.

No description available.

Le premier chapitre examine les caractéristiques statistiques à long terme des rendements financiers en France et aux USA. Les propriétés des différents actifs font apparaître qu’à long terme les actions procurent un risque sensiblement moins élevé. En outre, les propriétés de retour à la moyenne des actions justifient qu’elles soient utilisées dans une stratégie de cycle de vie comme « option par défaut » de plans d’épargne retraite. Le chapitre deux fournit une explication au débat sur l'hypothèse d’efficience des marchés. La cause du débat est souvent attribuée à la petite taille des échantillons et à la faible puissance des tests statistiques dédiés. Afin de contourner ce problème, nous utilisons l'approche développée par Campbell et Viceira (2005) qui utilisent une méthode VAR pour mettre en évidence l’existence de retour vers la moyenne dans le cours des actifs risqués.Le troisième chapitre évalue la vitesse de convergence des cours des actions. Un moyen classique pour caractériser la vitesse de retour vers la moyenne est la « demi-vie ». En comparant les indices boursiers de quatre pays développés (États-Unis, Royaume-Uni, France et Japon) sur la période 1950-2014, nous établissons une vitesse de convergence significative, avec une demi-vie entre 4,0 et 5,8 ans.Le dernier chapitre présente les résultats d'un modèle conçu pour étudier les interactions entre la démographie et les régimes de retraite. Afin d’étudier les risques inhérents à l’utilisation des revenus du capital pour financer les retraites, nous utilisons un « Trending OU process » au lieu d’un MBG classique pour modéliser les rendements. Pour un épargnant averse au risque le marché pourrait concurrencer les régimes par répartition. / Chapter one examines the long run statistical characteristics of financial returns in France and the USA for selected assets. This study clearly shows that the returns’ distributions diverge from the Gaussian strategy as regards longholding periods. Thereafter we analyze the consequences of the non-Gaussian nature of stock returns on default-option retirement plans.Chapter two provides a reasonable explanation to the strong debate on the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The cause of the debate is often attributed to small sample sizes in combination with statistical tests for mean reversion that lackpower. In order to bypass this problem, we use the approach developed by Campbell and Viceira (2005) who have settled a vectorial autoregressive methodology (VAR) to measure the mean reversion of asset returns.The third chapter evaluates the speed of convergence of stock prices. A convenient way to characterize the speed of mean reversion is the half-life. Comparing the stock indexes of four developed countries (US, UK, France and Japan) during the period 1950-2014, we establish significant mean reversion, with a half-life lying between 4,0 and 5,8 years.The final chapter provides some results from a model built in order to study the linked impacts of demography and economy on the French pension scheme. In order to reveal the risks that are contained in pension fund investment, we use a Trending Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process instead of the typical GBM for modeling stock returns. We find that funded scheme returns, net of management fees, are slightly lower thanthe PAYG internal rate of return.

Sverige har som mål att bli helt fossilfri till år 2045. Energymyndigheten har därför tagit fram ett förslag till Vätgasstrategi för att ställa om vätgasproduktionen till att vara helt fossilfri till 2045. Idag används ca 180 000 ton vätgas, vilket motsvarar ett energiinnehåll på ca 6 TWh. Termo-kemisk omvandling av fossila bränslen står för 67% av Sveriges vätgasproduktion, medan 30% är biprodukter från industriella processer och 3% produceras med elektrolysörer. Att ersätta all fossil vätgas med elektrolysör-baserad vätgas innebär en elförbrukning motsvarande 60-126 TWh/år, vilket är en ökning på 40-80% jämfört med de 159 TWh el producerade i Sverige 2020. Energimyndigheten bedömer att vätgas har en viktig roll i att lyckas göra Sverige fossilfritt, delvis genom att den ska kunna fungera som energibärare eller energilagring för att jämna ut variationer i produktion hos förnybara energikällor. Av den anledningen kommer antagligen behovet av vätgas öka, och därmed även energibehovet för att producera vätgas öka ännu mer än 60-126 TWh/år om den fossila vätgasen ska bli ersatt med endast elektrolysör-baserad vätgas. Med tanke på begränsningar i expansion av förnybar elproduktion, kommer behovet av vätgas antagligen inte kunna täckas av endast elektrolysör-baserad vätgas. Därför bör möjligheterna för att även satsa på bio-vätgas, där vätgas produceras av antingen bakterier eller genom refinery av biobaserade råvaror, undersökas. Detta examensarbete ska undersöka möjligheter för vätgasproduktion i Sverige och jämföra olika produktionteknikers förutsättningar. En hypotes är att en hållbar strategi är att kombinera elektrolysör-baserad vätgas med bio-vätgas för att få en diversifierad produktion. Att ha olika produktionsmetoder som komplementerar varandra ger en mer stabil och säker produktion, eftersom de kommer påverkas olika av förändringar i produktionsförutsättningar i samhället. Detta arbete söker svara på följande frågor: Vilka tekniker finns tillgängliga för industriell/kommersiell produktion, var borde R&D riktas för de tekniker som inte är redo för kommersiell produktion, vilket Carbon Footprint (CF) har de olika teknikerna, en uppskattad produktionskostnad för de olika teknikerna, och vilken tillgänglighet för de olika råvarorna finns i Sverige? / Sweden has a goal to be completely fossil-free by 2045. Accordingly, the government has published a suggested Hydrogen Strategy to have made all hydrogen production in Sweden fossil-free by 2045. The Swedish hydrogen use is 180,000 ton, equaling an energy content of 6 TWh/year. Thermo-chemical conversion of fossil fuels accounts for 67% of Swedens hydrogen production, while 30% is byproducts from industry and 3% is electrolysis production. To replace all fossil hydrogen with electrolysis production, would give an increase of electrical demand with 60-126 TWh/year, or 40-80% increase compared to the 159 TWh electricity produced during 2020 in Sweden. Furtherly, the Ministry of Energy deem hydrogen to be key in the general transformation of Sweden to become fossil-free, with one reason being that hydrogen can be used as energy carrier to even out the variations in electricity production that renewable energy has. The need of hydrogen will therefore most likely increase until 2045, thus the electric energy demand for hydrogen production will increase as well, if it would be replaced solely with production using electrolysis. Given the constraints to the capacity of electricity production from renewable sources alone in Sweden, the electricity demand for hydrogen cannot be met by the electricity production. Thus, the possible role of biohydrogen, where hydrogen is produced using biorefinery or microbial production, should be investigated. This master thesis project will investigate the feasibility of hydrogen production in Sweden and compare different options for hydrogen production. A hypothesis of the project is that the most sustainable strategy for hydrogen production in Sweden will be with a diversified portfolio of production designs. Both biohydrogen and electrolysis hydrogen from renewable energy will complement each other in the future. By doing so, the energy sector will be more sustainable and stable since the techniques do not react alike to change in production conditions. The report aims to answer: What techniques are available for industrial production, where should R&D be directed for techniques not ready for industry, what is the estimated carbon footprint (CF) of the industrially available techniques, what is the estimated production cost for each technique, what availability is there in Sweden for the feedstock needed for each technique?

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit Kants Projekt der transzendentalen Deduktion der reinen Verstandesbegriffe hinsichtlich ihrer Fragen, Annahmen, und Argumente. Anders als viele Interpreten schlage ich vor, dass Kants Fragestellung in der transzendentalen Deduktion im metaphysischen Sinne meta-semantisch ist. Indem er alle möglichen konkurrierenden Theorien ablehnt, zeigt Kant überzeugend die Notwendigkeit seiner kopernikanischen Lösung und die Plausibilität der Auffassung von „keiner notwendigen Verknüpfung ohne notwendige Instanziierung“. Ich werde argumentiert, dass Kant verschiedene Argumentationsansätze in der transzendentalen Deduktion entwickelt: das Argument aus der Erkenntnis, das Argument aus dem Selbstbewusstsein, das Argument aus dem Urteil und das Argument aus der Wahrnehmung, und dass sie alle in erster Linie nicht im Wesen anti-skeptisch, sondern erklärend sind. Diese von mir vorgeschlagene Interpretation von Kants transzendentaler Deduktion zeigt, wie ernst Kant seinen transzendentalen Weg für notwendig hält und warum Kants Ansatz vor allem als problemorientiert, nicht aber als gründungsmotiviert angesehen werden sollte. / This present work addresses Kant’s project of transcendental deduction of the pure concepts of understanding with regard to its question, assumptions, and arguments. Unlike many interpreters, I propose that Kant’s question in transcendental deduction is meta-semantic in the metaphysical sense. By rejecting all the possible rival theories, Kant convincingly shows the necessity of his Copernican solution and the plausibility of the view of “no necessary connection without necessary instantiation”. I argue that Kant develops different lines of arguments in transcendental deduction: the argument from cognition, the argument from self-consciousness, the argument from judgment and the argument from perception, and that all of them are primarily not anti-skeptical, but explanatory in character. This interpretation of Kant’s transcendental deduction reveals how seriously Kant takes his transcendental path to be necessary and why Kant’s approach should be viewed as problem-oriented, rather than foundation-motivated.

Energy resolution characteristics of silicon surface barrier detector signals amplified by different preamplifiers and spectroscopic amplifiers have been studied. The characterization has been done using alpha particles from an 241Am source and spontaneous fission fragments from two Cf sources. The alpha and spontaneous fission activities of the sources have been measured and the isotopic compositions, ages, and initial activities of the two Cf sources have been calculated using the results from the activity measurements. 82.3% and 82.5% of the spontaneous fission activity of the two sources is found to originate from 252Cf. Heavy ion detection properties of two Si detector setups have been determined by measuring spontaneous fission fragments from one of the Cf sources in coincidence. The mass distribution of fission fragments is derived from the pulse spectra of the coincidence measurements. The conditions for future time resolution measurements have been established. Inquiries on commercially available ultra-thin Si detectors have been made. The purpose is to upgrade detector telescopes to lower the energy threshold of ΔE-ΔE-E identification of particles from neutroninduced nuclear reactions. Three manufacturers of Si detectors with thickness 20-25 µm and active area around 450 mm2 have been listed together with properties of the three offered detectors.