Syfte: Att skapa förståelse för hur situationen på en marknad kan påverka den finansiella stabiliteten. Med det som grund göra en samlad bedömning om vilka risker som finns på Sveriges bostadsmarknad för att utvärdera hur och om de kan påverka finansiell stabilitet idag. Metod: För att ge oss en ökad förståelse om hur finansiell instabilitet uppstår på en marknad har vi tagit hjälp av Hyman P. Minskys teoretiska modell “The Financial Instability Hypothesis”. Teorin har vi sedan applicerat på utvalda finansiella kriser för att studera vad som karaktäriserat dem i sin utformning. Vår forskning har bedrivits med kvalitativa intervjuer med olika organisationer som arbetar aktivt för att upprätthålla och se över den finansiella stabiliteten i Sverige. Slutsats: Vi har identifierat externa och interna faktorer som kan påverka finansiell stabilitet. Oro inom det europeiska bankväsendet utgör största hotet mot finansiell stabilitet idag. Problem kopplade till Sveriges bostadsmarknad utgör inget direkt hot mot finansiell stabilitet, dock visar marknaden tendenser på ineffektivitet. Lågt bostadsbyggande och allmänt lågt utbud matchar inte efterfrågan, detta driver upp priser men även skulder. Priser och skulder kan till stor del förklaras med logiskt ekonomiskt resonemang. / Purpose: To create an understanding of how the situation in a market may affect financial stability. With that as a foundation make an overall assessment of the risks that exist on the Swedish housing market to assess whether and how they can affect financial stability today. Method: In order to obtain increased understanding of how financial instability arises in a market we have used Hyman P. Minskys theoretical model “The Financial Instability Hypothesis”. We have then applied the theory on chosen financial crises in order to study what characterizes them. Our study has been conducted with the help of qualitative interviews with various organizations such as banks and authorities that work to maintain and inspect the financial stability in Sweden. Conclusion: We have identified external and internal factors that could affect financial stability. Concern related to the European banking sector form the greatest threat to financial stability today. Problems related to the Swedish Real Estate Market constitute no direct threat to financial stability, however market trends shows inefficiency. Low housing and low supply in general do not match demand, this drives up prices, but also debts. Prices and debts can largerly be explained by logical economic reasoning.

Utifrån the procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH) antas det deklarativa minnet vara intakt hos personer med dyslexi. Detta styrks av studier som visat att deklarativt minne är intakt eller förstärkt hos barn med SLI eller dyslexi då det undersökts med icke-språkliga minnestest. Personer med dyslexi som genomgår universitetsstudier antas kompensera för sina svårigheter på olika sätt, bland annat med det deklarativa minnet. I denna studie har deklarativt minne undersökts i form av visuellt igenkänningsminne efter oavsiktlig inkodning. Deltagarna utgjordes av 11 universitetsstuderande med dyslexi samt en kontrollgrupp på 26 universitetsstuderande utan dyslexi. Resultatet indikerade ett intakt deklarativt minne hos personer med dyslexi. En trend till att de även har ett förstärkt minne efter 24 timmar jämfört med kontrollgruppen kunde skönjas men var inte signifikant. Prediktionen att deklarativt minne används som kompensation i allmänhet samt för nedsatt läsförmåga kunde inte styrkas. Andra möjliga kompensatoriska strategier och förmågor än deklarativt minne diskuteras. / Based on the procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH) declarative memory is assumed to be intact in people with dyslexia. This is supported by studies showing that declarative memory is intact or enhanced in children with SLI or dyslexia when examined using non-verbal memory tests. People with dyslexia who undergo university studies are assumed to compensate for their difficulties in different ways, including with the use of declarative memory. This study examines the aspect of declarative memory that is visual recognition memory after incidental encoding. The participants were 11 university students with dyslexia and a control group of 26 university students without dyslexia. The results showed an intact declarative memory in people with dyslexia. A possible trend that they also have an enhanced memory after 24 hours compared with the control group could be seen but was not significant. The prediction that declarative memory is used as compensation in general and for impaired reading skills could not be substantiated. Other possible compensatory strategies and abilities besides declarative memory are discussed.

The aim of this thesis is to test two hypotheses. The first one is about the nature of comprehension impairment in Broca&#039 / s aphasia, namely the Trace Deletion Hypothesis (TDH), and the other is about the similarity between child and aphasic language, namely the Regression Hypothesis. According to TDH, agrammatic patients are impaired in comprehension of certain structures that are formed by movement transformation whereas they show normal comprehension in canonical structures. TDH proposes that patients use a default strategy, which assigns the first NP the agent role. As for the Regression hypothesis, children follow a hierarchy while acquiring a language, which is also followed by aphasic patients in the reversed order. That is, what is learnt last is lost first as a result of brain damage. In order to test these two hypotheses, we designed a psycholinguistic test in which the comprehension of Turkish relative clauses is tested via sentence-picture matching task. The same test is applied to children, agrammatic patients, and normal control subjects. We expected that Broca&#039 / s patients would be impaired in their comprehension of subject relative clauses in order for TDH to be confirmed and that children would also exhibit the same impairment as the agrammatic patients in order for the Regression Hypothesis to be supported. The results we obtained were not compatible with the TDH hypothesis in that the patients did not show comprehension deficit in subject relatives but they had problems in object relative clauses, which led us to conclude that TDH did not offer a cross-linguistic explanation for the nature of comprehension deficit in agrammatism and that even if the traces were deleted, the default strategy applied in each language was a parametric feature. We propose that Turkish patients assign the agent role to the first NP that is in the pre-verbal position, which is called the pre-verbal strategy. Also, we hypothesize that the difficulty the Turkish agrammatic patients present might be due to an impairment in another feature, which is agreement morphology rather than the deletion of traces. This study is compatible with the Regression Hypothesis in that both the patients and children exhibited similar impairment in the comprehension of object relative clauses.

This experimental study investigates the second language acquisition of the four Mandarin aspect markers -le, -guo, -zhe, and zai- by native Swedish university students enrolled in Chinese language courses in Sweden. The main points of inquiry are acquisition order, the Aspect Hypothesis, the Distributional Bias Hypothesis, and the Prototype Model. The study contains a cross-sectional study and a longitudinal study. Both written and spoken data are collected. The tasks in the cross-sectional study include film-retelling, picture-retelling, grammaticality judgment, fill-in-the-blank questions and comprehension. The longitudinal study includes written data produced by seven students in their tri-monthly journal. The study shows that perfective markers are produced before imperfective markers. The results of the experiments are consistent with the Aspect Hypothesis. The Distributional Bias Hypothesis can account for most of the Aspect Hypothesis but there are exceptions that indicate that other factors could also influence the acquisition process, such as L1 transfer. The Prototype Model cannot be conclusively proven. Apart from contributing to second-language acquisition theo-ries on cross-linguistic tense-aspect morphology, this study can provide empirical evidence with significant pedagogical implications for the second-language learning classroom.

Bakgrund Årsredovisningens berättande delar utgör numera majoriteten av årsredovisningen. De berättande delarna hjälper läsaren att tolka den finansiella informationen. Därmed är läsbarheten i de berättande delarna viktig för årsredovisningens användbarhet. Tidigare studier har kommit fram till att företag medvetet försämrar årsredovisningens läsbarhet för att dölja skadlig information och därigenom vilseleda läsaren. Syfte Studiens syfte är att förklara variation i läsbarhet mellan svenska börsnoterade företags årsredovisningar. Metod Denna kvantitativa studie tar sin utgångspunkt i ett eklektiskt och deduktivt angreppssätt där både läsbarhets- och redovisningsteorier ligger till grund för hypotesutvecklingen. Studien utgår från en tvärsnittsdesign där studiens empiriska material utgörs av sekundärdata som är hämtad från företags årsredovisningar. Variation i årsredovisningars läsbarhet analyseras med multipel linjär regression. Slutsats Studiens resultat visar att det finns ett starkt positivt samband mellan lönsamhet och läsbarhet och således har mindre lönsamma företag en lägre läsbarhet i sina årsredovisningar. Resultatet påvisar även att det förekommer svaga skillnader i årsredovisningars läsbarhet mellan olika branscher. Vidare indikerar analysen att större företag skriver längre texter och därigenom mer svårläst. / Introduction Nowdays the narrative parts are the majority of the annual report. The narrative parts help the reader to interpret the financial information. Thus, the readability is important for the usefulness of the annual report. Prior research has found that corporations strategically use the language as a tool to hide information and to obfuscate the reader. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain variation in readability between Swedish listed corporations’ annual reports. Method This quantitative study is based on an eclectical and deductive approach where both theories of readability and accounting theories have formulated the hypotheses. A cross-sectional design has been used and the study's empirical data consist of secondary data, derived from annual reports. Variation in annual reports readability has been analysed by multiple linear regression. Conclusion The result shows that there is a strong positive correlation between profitability and readability, thus less profitable corporations have lower readability in their annual reports. The result also shows that there are weak differences in the annual reports' readability between different industries. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that larger companies write longer texts and thus more difficult.

Submitted by Maria Suzana Diniz (msuzanad@hotmail.com) on 2015-11-23T13:49:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1959802 bytes, checksum: 7c4299f2c3d9d2dd07a9cea00ea75cd5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-23T13:49:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1959802 bytes, checksum: 7c4299f2c3d9d2dd07a9cea00ea75cd5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present dissertation has the objective of contributing to the learning improvement of children who are still undergoing their literacy studies. It is known that the early years of school life are the right time to prevent Functional Illiteracy. Children undergoing literacy studies do not learn to read and write by themselves, for they need a systematic and intense teaching-learning context along with the presence of a mediator who can provide them the necessary conditions to acquire such skills in the correct time; during their literacy studies. This dissertations proposes the execution of systematic activities aiming the development of the alphabetic writing in children of the 2nd year of elementary school who are still in the Pre-Syllabic level of writing. The activities performed were based in the studies of Lemle (1999) and Scliar-Cabral (2013), aiming the analysis of the improvement among the participating children by punctuating the improvements and difficulties along the process. To do so, writing tests were performed to analyze the improvement of the students, which could be divided into: (a) Initial Evaluation (Initial Diagnosis), to detect the subjects’ writing levels; (b) Execution of Practical Activities: initially aimed to literacy preparation, approaching the five problems described by Lemle (1999), followed by activities proposed by Scliar-Cabral (2013) and (c) a re-evaluation of the students’ writing levels (Final Diagnosis). The analysis of these activities application showed that they contributed to an improvement in the participants’ writing skills. Final Diagnosis pointed out that; out of 7 children who started in the Pre-Syllabic level, 2 advanced to the Alphabetic level, 2 to the Syllabic-Alphabetic level and 3 to the Syllabic level. These results show that when students are lead, through practical activities, to reflect over the Alphabetic Writing System, they improved their knowledge regarding this system e started to formulate hypothesis in the record of their writing. It is estimated that the objectives proposed for this research were achieved, for every participant presented some degree of improvement in their writing and started to create syllabic hypothesis over this system, the latter are responsible for the first tries of establishing relationships between the sonorous context and written language, period considered vital for the process of comprehension of the alphabetic writing. / A presente dissertação tem o objetivo de contribuir para melhoria da situação de aprendizagem entre crianças em fase de alfabetização. Entende-se que é nos anos iniciais da vida escolar que se pode começar a prevenção para o analfabetismo funcional. As crianças, em fase de alfabetização, não aprendem a ler e escrever sozinhas, pois necessitam de um contexto de ensino-aprendizagem sistemático e intensivo com a presença de um mediador que lhe dê as condições necessárias para essa aquisição acontecer no tempo certo, ou seja, na fase de alfabetização. Este trabalho propõe realizar atividades sistemáticas para o desenvolvimento da escrita alfabética com crianças do 2º ano do ensino fundamental que ainda se encontram no nível Pré-silábico de escrita. As atividades realizadas tiveram como aporte teórico Lemle (1999) e Scliar-Cabral (2013), objetivando a análise da evolução entre as crianças participantes, pontuando as evoluções e dificuldades frente ao processo. Para tanto, o presente trabalho tem o intuito de realizar testes de escrita a fim de acompanhar a evolução dos alunos e contou com os seguintes momentos-chave: (a) avaliação inicial (Diagnóstico inicial), para detectar os níveis de escrita dos sujeitos; (b) execução de atividades práticas: inicialmente, voltadas para preparação da alfabetização, abordando os cinco problemas descritos por Lemle (1999) e atividades propostas por Scliar-Cabral (2013) e (c) uma reavaliação dos níveis de escrita dos estudantes (Pós-testes). As análises da aplicação dessas atividades apontaram que as mesmas contribuíram para o desenvolvimento da escrita dos participantes. Segundo os diagnósticos finais, das 7 crianças que iniciaram em nível Pré-silábico, 2 avançaram para o nível Alfabético, 2 para o nível Silábico-alfabético e 3 para o Silábico. Esses resultados mostram que quando os alunos são levados, através de atividades práticas, a refletirem sobre o Sistema de Escrita Alfabética, apresentam uma evolução no entendimento desse sistema e passam a formular hipóteses no registro de sua escrita. Estima-se que os objetivos propostos pela pesquisa foram alcançados, tendo em vista que todos os participantes apresentaram desenvolvimento na sua escrita e chegaram a realizar hipóteses silábicas sobre esse sistema, sendo essas hipóteses responsáveis pelas primeiras tentativas de se estabelecer relações entre o contexto sonoro e a linguagem escrita, período considerado vital para o processo evolutivo de compreensão da escrita alfabética.

The aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a difference between Swedish learners of English in an at-home environment compared to Swedish learners of English who studied English abroad for a year, in their ability to distinguish between certain English phoneme. The method used to investigate was through a questionnaire where the informants had to identify words containing the sounds /z/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ and /w/. The results showed that the informants who had been abroad were more familiar with the sounds than the informants who had studied in a Swedish senior high school over the same period of time. It was found that the sound /z/ was the hardest sound to identify, followed by /ʒ/, for both groups of informants. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det är någon skillnad mellan svenska elever som lär sig engelska under ett år i klassrummet eller under ett år genom utbytesstudier, när det gäller deras förmåga att skilja mellan vissa engelska fonem. Metoden som användes var genom en enkät där informanterna fick identifiera ord som innehöll ljuden /z/, /θ/, /d/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ och /v/. Resultaten visade att informanterna som hade varit utomlands var mer bekanta med ljuden än informanterna som hade studerat vid ett svenskt gymnasium under samma tid. Det visade sig att ljudet /z/ var den svåraste ljudet att identifiera, följt av /ʒ/ för båda informantgrupperna.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the incentives regarding the education decisions, resulting from a minimum wage over the period 2005-2014. The question is investigated by comparing the changes in the wage dispersion and upper secondary graduation rate in 17 OECD countries. And then, by comparing the changes in the bites of the minimum wage and educational attainment for upper secondary students in 11 OECD countries, where minimum wages are regulated by law. The majority of previous research seem to point out a negative educational effect of minimum wages. However, this paper finds no evidence that increasing the minimum wage can decrease the high school graduation rate. A possible explanation is that the correlation between the higher employment prospect and educational attainment can create incentives for young individuals to undergo education. This study seems to be the first to investigate the educational effects of minimum wages using internationally comparative data.

L'objectif de cette thèse est de s'intéresser à l'impact de la dégradation du signal de parole sur le traitement et les représentations du langage. Le signal peut être dégradé de façon transitoire (i.e., parole dans le bruit, Axe 1) ou permanente (Axe 2). L'Axe 1 étudie l'impact de la présence de bruit sur le traitement sémantique au niveau du mot isolé et dans un contexte phrastique. Deux études ont permis de mettre en évidence que lorsque le signal de parole est masqué, le traitement sémantique est moins efficace, voire disparait. A la lumière de l'Effortfulness Hypothesis nous suggérons que le traitement sémantique n'est pas automatique mais dépendant de ressources cognitives. Lorsque le signal de parole est dégradé ces ressources cognitives sont allouées aux traitements linguistiques de bas niveau, les traitements de haut niveau comme le traitement sémantique sont donc moins efficaces. L'Axe 2 évalue les liens entre la dégradation permanente du signal de parole du fait d'un manque de maturité des traitements auditifs centraux ou à un Trouble du Traitement Auditif (TTA) et les représentations langagières. Deux études se sont intéressées au développement des traitements auditifs et à la présence de TTA au sein d'une population d'adultes dyslexiques. Les résultats ont mis en évidence que les traitements auditifs centraux continuent leur maturation durant l'adolescence. La dernière étude a permis de mettre en évidence chez la population dyslexique des difficultés dans les tests impliquant des traitements spectral et temporel. Ces compétences sont apparues liées au sein de cette population aux représentations phonologiques. L'ensemble des résultats suggèrent que la dégradation du signal de parole a différents effets sur le langage selon sa nature. Ainsi, lorsqu'elle est transitoire elle impacte sa compréhension en dépit d'une intelligibilité préservée. Une dégradation transitoire impacte la compréhension malgré l'intelligibilité, la dégradation permanente impacte les représentations différemment selon la population / This thesis aims at investigating the effect of speech degradation on language processing and representation. Speech signal can be degraded temporary (i.e., speech in noise) or continually, when central auditory processes are deficient. Experimental work was therefore based on two main axes. The first one got interested in the effect of noise on semantic processing, despite preserved intelligibility. Two studies showed that semantic processing is less efficient when speech is presented in noisy condition. In light of the Effortfulness Hypothesis, we suggest that semantic processing relies on cognitive resources. When signal is degraded these resources are reallocated to low level processes and therefore few are left available to perform higher level processes. Axe 2 aims at evaluating links between continuous speech degradation because of immaturity of central auditory processes or Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) and language representation. Two studies investigated the effect of auditory processing development on language on a children population (6-11 years old) and the effect of APD on language representation in an adult dyslexic population. Both populations were evaluated using the BECAC (Donnadieu et al. 2014). This battery aims at evaluating central auditory processes using non-verbal material so that auditory performances can be related to language competences. Results evidenced that central auditory processes mature until adulthood, and at some point in development (8-9 years old) are linked to language representation. Results of the last study showed that dyslexic adults are impaired in tests involving spectral and temporal processes; in addition these abilities are related with phonological awareness. Altogether, these results indicate that speech degradation has distinct effects on language depending on its nature. Therefore when temporary, speech degradation impacts its comprehension despite intelligibility. When continuous, speech degradation’s impact evolves during development and disappears in normal adults. However, it stays for dyslexics

This thesis is focused on testing the so-called unique items hypothesis on Czech language data. Supposed Czech unique items were chosen from lexical units, word-formation phenomena, syntactic structures and language use phenomena. Their frequency in a comparable monolingual corpus of contemporary Czech was established and the differences in frequency were statistically tested. This quantitative research was accompanied by a qualitative probe into the English source texts from which sentences containing selected unique items were translated using an aligned parallel corpus of English-Czech translations. The results reveal a general tendency of unique items to be underrepresented in translated language and a variety of source- language phenomena that underlie unique items usage in the target language.