本研究對1985/1至2016/10期間，37種貨幣的超額報酬與國家風險進行實證分析，以The PRS Group發佈的ICRG綜合風險評級做為國家風險的衡量指標。各國貨幣分別進行時間序列分析的結果顯示，單一國家的國家風險與該國貨幣的匯率走勢及超額報酬並不存在顯著的關聯。 投資組合分析的結果，對高國家風險貨幣與低國家風險貨幣分別執行利差交易，結果顯示兩者的超額報酬並沒有顯著差異。而動能策略在高國家風險貨幣則可以獲得顯著較高的超額報酬。 Fama-Macbeth二步驟迴歸分析結果顯示，高國家風險的投資組合確實擁有較高的因子負載量，然而國家風險因子的市場價格，也就是承受一單位 β_CRISK獲得的國家風險溢酬太低不顯著，因此國家風險無法幫助解釋貨幣報酬。 / We empirically investigate the relation between currency excess returns and country risk, as measured by the ICRG comprehensive risk rating issued by The PRS Group, of 37 currencies during 1985/1 to 2016/10. The result of the single currency time series analysis shows that there is no significant correlation between the country risk and the exchange rate movement, also the currency excess return. As a result of the portfolio analysis, there is no significant difference in excess returns when we execute carry trade respectively on high country risk currencies and low country risk currencies. While the momentum strategy in the high country risk currencies can generate significantly higher excess return. The results of the Fama-Macbeth two-step regression show that the high-risk portfolios do have a higher factor loading, whereas the country risk factor's market price, that is, the country risk premium received by a unit of β_CRISK, is too low. Therefore, country risk cannot help explain currency excess return.

Die Entwicklung liberalisierter Strommärkte bis hin zum Handel an Kassa- und Terminbörsen wird anhand der Beispiele der USA, Skandinaviens und Deutschlands dargestellt. Wesentliche Merkmale ausländischer Strommärkte lassen sich auf den seit 1998 liberalisierten deutschen Markt übertragen. Kern der Arbeit ist die Gestaltung eines Preisrisikomanagementkonzeptes für den Strommarkt. In diesem Zusammenhang wird der Cost-of-Carry-Ansatz zur Bewertung von Warentermingeschäften um eine Komponente des thermischen Wirkungsgrades von fossilen Kraftwerken ergänzt und somit eine Übertragbarkeit des Konzeptes auf den Strombereich vorgeschlagen. Da die Kenntnisse der Preisprozesse für das Risikomanagement im Strombereich unverzichtbar sind, wird eine Analyse der Spotpreise an der Leipziger Strombörse durchgeführt.

The increase in competition amongst companies that produce complex or large product portfolios has created a need to utilise modularity strategies not only to flexibly manage technical complexity in a costeffective manner but also for visual appearance. This research aims to understand how the visual appearance of products is affected by modular product development strategies. Specifically, the aim is to understand how such strategies induce constraints and generate possibilities for management of visual appearance in the design process. Five studies have been conducted during the course of this licentiate thesis. Two were conducted with professionals and students in design, while the remaining three are theoretical studies based on findings in the literature, theory building, and experimental research. The goal has been to investigate how designers work when they are put to the task of changing and developing the designs of complex products that are part of a portfolio. The challenge has been to study what suitable strategies exist that manage complex products and product brands, then investigate how these influence designers’ practices. The first study examined how coherence towards a product category influences the design of new products. The outcome of the study was a method to explore visual coherence and diversity in the appearance of a product category. The remaining four studies investigated how modularity, brand management and the redesign of product portfolios influence a design process. The second study described a design phenomenon known as aesthetic flexibility, which was further explored in studies three and five. The outcome from these studies was a proposal for four aesthetic flexibility strategies. The fourth study investigated in what way portfolio extension strategies found in brand management and design research are related, and how such strategies influence aesthetic flexibility. The results from study four were illustrated as a model. The main contribution of this work is the phenomenon of ‘aesthetic flexibility’, which helps understand the factors that influence designers when working with branded modular products. Understanding visual flexibility serves as a starting point in further investigations of how different development strategies affect the possibilities for visual product design. The findings of this work serve to illustrate and explain a complex and multi-facetted design phenomenon which many designers manage more or less intuitively today, thus advancing academics’, teachers’ and professional designers’ understanding of the field.

No description available.

Two studies were conducted to determine the effect of panelist participation frequency and specific aspects of questionnaire design on overall acceptance scoring in consumer central location tests. Regarding participation frequency, research subjects who participate frequently in some survey types are known to provide responses that differ from subjects who participate less frequently, known as panel conditioning. With respect to questionnaire design, overall acceptance (OA) question placement and usage of pre-evaluation instructions (PEI) in questionnaires for food sensory analysis may bias consumers' scores via carry-over effects. To investigate these concerns, data from consumer sensory panels previously conducted at a central location, spanning 11 years and covering a broad range of food product categories, was extracted, compiled, and analyzed. For the first study, data was analyzed to determine evidence of panel conditioning by measuring the effect of participation frequency on mean consumer OA scoring among frequent, moderate, and infrequent participants. Practical significance and occurrence of panel conditioning, defined as mean scoring differences of ≥ 0.50 on a discrete 9-point scale hedonic point, were examined. Results indicate that for overall acceptance, in general, mean scoring differences were not practically significant and did not signify occurrence of panel conditioning. For the second study, OA question placement was studied with categories designated as first (the first evaluation question following demographic questions), after non-gustation questions (immediately following questions that do not require panelists to taste the product), and later (following all other hedonic and just-about-right questions, but occasionally before ranking, open-ended comments, and/or intent to purchase questions). Additionally, each panel was categorized as having or not having PEI in the questionnaire; PEI are instructions that appear immediately before the first evaluation question and show panelists all attributes they will evaluate prior to receiving test samples. Post-panel surveys were administered regarding the self-reported effect of PEI on panelists' evaluation experience. OA scores were analyzed and compared (1) between OA question placement categories and (2) between panels with and without PEI. For most product categories, OA scores tended to be lower when asked later in the questionnaire, suggesting evidence of a carry-over effect. Usage of PEI increased OA scores by 0.10 of a 9-point hedonic scale point, which is not practically significant. Post-panel survey data showed that presence of PEI typically improved the panelists' experience. Using PEI does not appear to introduce a meaningful carry-over effect.

No description available.

No description available.

The risk management within a bank is an important part given its status as a pivotal component within the capital adequency framwork stipluated in the Basel Accords. To proficiently be assessing, monitoring and managing market risk that the bank undertakes is therefore a part of the daily activities at Swedbank. For the majority of the measures and models, the bank is employing a full revaluation approach, implying a revaluation of each position under diverse market conditions specified across various scenarios to estimate risk. Prior to this thesis, Swedbank has been missing the full revaluation approach for the product commodity futures in their portfolio. The commodity futures needs to be treated differently from other futures due to their underlying being a physical product being produced, stored and transported. To help Swedbank being able to calculate and measure a diversified set of risk measures for commodity futures with high accuracy and according to market practise and implement the valuation model with results closest to market practise into their risk system, various valuation models have been replicated and compared in Python. The focus has been on investigating different variations of a model derived from the theory of storage and no arbitrage (Cost of Carry model) as well as a more advanced model developed from a belief of mean reverting short-term prices and an uncertain long-term equilibrium price (Schwartz and Smith Two Factor model). These models were replicated on three different commodity types in Swedbanks portfolio, Wheat, Rapeseed and Gasoil, to determine which valuation model that could estimate prices closest to the real prices on the market. The findings revealed that one variation of the Cost of Carry model could be matched exactly to the mark-to-market price due to the real price being known. The Schwartz and Smith Two Factor model was clearly the second best model, estimating prices very well but not always exactly. The most suited model that could match the price exactly, was chosen to be implemented into the risk system of Swedbank and had identified risk factors as interest rate, exchange rate and underlying spot price. With VaR simulations shifting the chosen risk factors, it could be proved that the commodity futures are traded back-to-back since all positions were offsetting each other. Since Swedbank is an intermediary and the business is about providing access to the market for Swedbanks customers, the back-to-back trading was something that Swedbank assumed but earlier not could prove. Furthermore, the back testing revealed that the special characteristic convenience yield could potentially be considered a risk factor in the future and that it would be relevant if the business model of commodity futures at Swedbank would change. / Riskhanteringen inom en bank är en viktig del med tanke på dess roll som en avgörande komponent inom kapitaltäckningsramverket som föreskrivs i Basel-avtalen. Att noggrant bedöma, övervaka och hantera den marknadsrisk som banken åtar sig är därför en del av de dagliga aktiviteterna på Swedbank. För de flesta åtgärder och modeller använder banken en fullständig omvärderingsmetod, vilket innebär en omvärdering av varje position under olika marknadsförhållanden specificerade över olika scenarier för att uppskatta risken. Innan det här projektet har Swedbank saknat den fullständiga omvärderingsmetoden för produkten råvaruterminer i sin portfölj. Råvaruterminer måste behandlas annorlunda än andra terminer på grund av att deras underliggande är en fysisk produkt som produceras, lagras och transporteras. För att hjälpa Swedbank att kunna beräkna och mäta en diversifierad uppsättning riskmått för råvaruterminer med hög noggrannhet och enligt marknadspraxis samt implementera värderingsmodellen med resultat som ligger närmast marknadspraxis i deras risksystem har olika värderingsmodeller replikerats och jämförts i Python. Fokuset har legat på att undersöka olika variationer av en modell som härstammar från teorin om lagring och inget arbitrage (Cost of Carry-modell) samt en mer avancerad modell som utvecklats från en tro om ett genomsnittligt återgående kortsiktigt pris och ett osäkert långsiktigt jämviktspris (Schwartz och Smith Two Factor-modell). Dessa modeller replikerades för tre olika typer av råvaror i Swedbanks portfölj: Vete, Raps och Gasol, för att avgöra vilken värderingsmodell som kunde uppskatta priser närmast de verkliga priserna på marknaden. Resultaten visade att en variation av Cost of Carry-modellen kunde matchas exakt med marknadsvärdet eftersom det verkliga priset var känt. Schwartz och Smith Two Factor-modellen var tydligt den näst bästa modellen, vilket uppskattade priserna mycket bra men inte alltid exakt. Den mest lämpade modellen som kunde matcha priset exakt valdes för att implementeras i Swedbanks risksystem och hade identifierade riskfaktorer som ränta, växelkurs och underliggande spotpris. Genom VaR-simuleringar som skiftade de valda riskfaktorerna kunde det bevisas att råvaruterminerna handlas back-to-back eftersom alla positioner neutraliserade varandra. Eftersom Swedbank är en mellanhand och affärsmodellen handlar om att ge Swedbanks kunder tillgång till marknaden, var back-to-back-handel något som Swedbank antog men tidigare inte kunde bevisa.  Vidare visade backtestingen att den särskilda karaktären convenience yield eventuellt skulle kunna betraktas som en riskfaktor i framtiden och att detta skulle vara aktuellt om affärsmodellen för råvaruterminer på Swedbank skulle förändras.

La thèse aborde le droit européen de la télévision sous deux aspects : les régimes administratifs d’accès des émissions télévisées aux réseaux câblés et les droits intellectuels. En ce qui concerne l’accès des émissions aux réseaux câblés, la thèse met en avant le besoin de sauvegarder un service public de l’audiovisuel. Celui-ci est défini comme un ensemble des règles qui visent à la fois le paysage audiovisuel propre à chaque Etat membre (par exemple pluralisme) et le contenu des émissions proprement dit (émissions informatives, éducatives, épanouissement culturel etc.). Le droit communautaire primaire et dérivé, tel qu’interprété par la Cour de justice, fournit les moyens de conciliation entre, d’une part les intérêts généraux et, d’autre part, les exigences découlant de la libre prestation de services et de la libre concurrence. En ce qui concerne l’application des droits intellectuels, la thèse aborde la problématique liée à l’épuisement ou la subsistance de ceux-ci. Dans le cas de la câblodistribution, la Cour a affirmé la subsistance du droit. Cette position est corroboré par la nouvelle directive européenne sur le droit d’auteur et les droits voisins dans la société de l’information. La thèse appuie la position de subsistance en considérant qu’elle constitue une condition essentielle pour la juste récompense des auteurs. Enfin, la thèse aborde les questions plus spécifiques qui naissent à propos de la convergence technologique et juridique. Tout d’abord, il est avancé que le service public de l’audiovisuel n’est pas uniquement lié à des contraintes techniques, mais essentiellement à des objectifs qualitatifs (contenu des émissions). Ainsi, la thèse plaide en faveur de la pérpetuité du service public de l’audiovisuel dans l’ère du numérique. Par ailleurs, des questions plus spécifiques (comme l’accès à la boucle locale, l’interconnexion des réseaux et la numérisation des infrastructures) ont été examinées.

Kokzidiostatika werden in der Kleintiermast als Futtermittelzusatzstoffe zur Vorbeugung der Kokzidiose eingesetzt. Die Verwendung der Wirkstoffe ist in der Europäischen Union gesetzlich geregelt und unterliegt der amtlichen Lebens- und Futtermittelkontrolle. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden Methoden zur flüssigchromatographisch tandem-massen¬spektro¬metrischen (LC-MS/MS-) Bestimmung von Kokzidiostatika in Futtermitteln und in Ei entwickelt. Durch Bestandteile des Probenmaterials traten Störungen des Analytsignals auf. Die Untersuchung solcher Matrixeffekte ist in der pharmazeutischen und der Pestizidanalytik üblich. Zu Matrixeffekten bei der LC-MS/MS-Analytik in Futtermitteln gibt es kaum Daten. Ein Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit war daher die Untersuchung der Einflussfaktoren auf Matrixeffekte bei der Analyse von Kokzidiostatika. Aufgrund der gewonnenen Erkenntnisse wurde eine Methode zur Bestimmung von Verschleppungen von Kokzidiostatika in Futtermittel für Nichtzieltierarten entwickelt und validiert. Weitere LC-MS/MS-Methoden wurden zur Bestimmung Maduramicins in Futtermittel, Eiweiß und Eigelb optimiert. Diese wurden zur wurden zur Untersuchung des Übergangs des Kokzidiostatikums aus dem Futtermittel in das Ei benötigt. Dazu wurde eine Fütterungsstudie mit Legehennen durchgeführt. Futtermittel mit drei Konzentrationen von Maduramicin bis zum Höchstgehalt in Futtermittel für Nichtzieltierarten wurden hergestellt und je einer Gruppe von Legehennen verabreicht. Das aufgenommene Maduramicin ging ausschließlich ins Eigelb über, es ergab sich eine Carry-over-Rate von 8 %. Der für Eier festgelegte Höchstgehalt von 2 µg/kg wurde überschritten, obwohl die Konzentrationen Maduramicins in den verfütterten Futtermitteln unterhalb des Höchstgehaltes für Futtermittel lagen. Als Folge dieser Ergebnisse wurde der Maduramicin-Höchstgehalt in Ei auf 12 µg/kg angepasst. Der in Verordnung (EG) Nr. 124/2009 festgelegte Höchstgehalt wurde durch die Verordnung (EU) 610/2012 geändert. / Prevention of coccidosis by anticoccidial feed additives is of great economic importance in poultry farming. Application of these substances is regulated by European law and is a matter of official feed and food control requiring appropriate determination methods for coccidiostats. In this study, liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS-) methods for the quantification of coccidiostats in feed and eggs were developed. The influence of the sample material resulted in poor method performance. These matrix effects are intensively investigated in other analytical fields like drug or pesticide analysis. In contrast, there are limited data concerning matrix effects in LC-MS/MS analysis in feedingstuffs. This study therefore focussed on the systematic investigation of factors influencing matrix effects during analysis of coccidiostats. The findings were implemented in the development and validation of a method for the determination of cross-contamination levels of authorized coccidiostats in feed for non-target animals. This method was optimized for the determination of the anticoccidial feed additive maduramicin in feed, egg white, and egg yolk for a carry-over study. By means of the conducted feeding trial with laying hens the carry-over of maduramicin from feed into eggs was comprehensively characterized. Three feedingstuffs containing different levels of maduramicin up to the maximum tolerable level in non-target animal feed were prepared and fed to groups of ten laying hens. Maduramicin is exclusively transferred into egg yolk, and a carry-over rate into whole eggs of 8 % was calculated. Although the applied diets were in compliance with the maximum level in feed, resulting concentrations in whole eggs exceeded the maximum level in eggs. As a consequence of these findings, the maximum permitted level of maduramicin in eggs was adapted to 12 µg/kg. The maximum level assigned by Regulation (EC) No. 124/2009 was amended in Regulation (EU) 610/2012.