<p>The association of exchange rates with stock returns and performance in major trading markets is widely accepted. The world’s economy has seen unprecedented growth of interdependent; as such the magnitude of the effect of exchange rates on returns will be even stronger. Since the author perceives the importance of exchange rates on stock returns, the author found it interesting to study the effect of exchange rates on some stocks traded on the Stock exchange.</p><p>There has been a renewed interest to investigate the relationship between returns and exchange rates as such; the author has chosen to investigate the present study to focus in the United Kingdom with data from the London Stock exchange .The author carried out his research on 18 companies traded on the London Stock Exchange in the process, using linear regression analysis. Taking into account the fact that the magnitude of exchange rate movements on stock returns is governed by a series of factors, the author did set up a selection criteria which spread across a series of industries ranging from financial services, manufacturing, aviation, mining, tobacco, fashion and food processing. All selected companies are of the FTSE 100 companies.</p><p>The author produced results that to some degree are consistent with predictions in the theoretical framework. The author find significant exposure of stock returns to changes in exchange rates for some companies in the sample of FTSE 100 firms used in the study. The author equally finds out that particular currencies may be of more risk to certain companies than to others by introducing euro values in to his regression equation. This gives the compelling evidence that these companies rely heavily on external sales and revenue.</p><p>The author, further employed lagged values of exchange rates in to his regression and found significant evidence of the possibility of mispricing for certain stocks and the impact of the previous days trading figures on present stock prices. The author believes that the weak responds in certain cases was as a result of hedging strategies put in place by these companies and risk management strategies which tend to minimise the effect of exchange rates movements.</p>

The association of exchange rates with stock returns and performance in major trading markets is widely accepted. The world’s economy has seen unprecedented growth of interdependent; as such the magnitude of the effect of exchange rates on returns will be even stronger. Since the author perceives the importance of exchange rates on stock returns, the author found it interesting to study the effect of exchange rates on some stocks traded on the Stock exchange. There has been a renewed interest to investigate the relationship between returns and exchange rates as such; the author has chosen to investigate the present study to focus in the United Kingdom with data from the London Stock exchange .The author carried out his research on 18 companies traded on the London Stock Exchange in the process, using linear regression analysis. Taking into account the fact that the magnitude of exchange rate movements on stock returns is governed by a series of factors, the author did set up a selection criteria which spread across a series of industries ranging from financial services, manufacturing, aviation, mining, tobacco, fashion and food processing. All selected companies are of the FTSE 100 companies. The author produced results that to some degree are consistent with predictions in the theoretical framework. The author find significant exposure of stock returns to changes in exchange rates for some companies in the sample of FTSE 100 firms used in the study. The author equally finds out that particular currencies may be of more risk to certain companies than to others by introducing euro values in to his regression equation. This gives the compelling evidence that these companies rely heavily on external sales and revenue. The author, further employed lagged values of exchange rates in to his regression and found significant evidence of the possibility of mispricing for certain stocks and the impact of the previous days trading figures on present stock prices. The author believes that the weak responds in certain cases was as a result of hedging strategies put in place by these companies and risk management strategies which tend to minimise the effect of exchange rates movements.

The promise of telemedicine is great as observed in developed countries. However, its adoption in developing countries has been very slow. The Kenyan government approved telemedicine (use of ICT to overcome geographical barriers and increase access to health care services) as a strategic approach of improving healthcare delivery especially in the marginalised areas of the country. However, the adoption of telemedicine is further hindered in developing countries by the fact that the cost of implementing telemedicine technology is deemed high and the resources needed are scarce especially in the public sector. Extant literature on healthcare technological innovation indicates that organisation collaboration can expedite the adoption of telemedicine especially in developing countries. Since it is highlighted that empirical evidence on how organisation collaboration can facilitate telemedicine deployment in developing countries is still lacking, this research aims to develop a model to examine the potential of various organisation factors in facilitating telemedicine deployment in developing countries. This study employed a conceptual research framework to examine organisation factors that may influence organisation collaboration in facilitating telemedicine deployment in developing countries. A questionnaire survey was conducted in 50 private and public hospitals located in Eastern Kenya. 177 valid questionnaires were received and analysed using SPSS software (version 20). The findings of this research revealed that Kenyan hospitals collaborate with other organisations mainly to lessen budget restrained suffered during technological innovation process. Further, it was revealed that organisation affiliation might enhance their ability to adopt telemedicine. Organisation affiliation was observed to significantly influence organisation resources, organisation’s innovation acceptance, organisation’s innovative capacities, organisation agility and collaborative innovation aspects. In addition, all the organisational model factors were supported and explained 46.5% of the variance in collaborative innovation internal outcomes and 53.2% of the variance in collaborative innovation external outcomes. However, personnel innovation acceptance made no significant effect on collaborative innovation outcomes.

Background: The Active Commuting Route Environment Scale (ACRES) was developed to study active commuters’ perceptions of their route environments. The overall aims were to assess the measuring properties of the ACRES and study active bicycle commuters’ perceptions of their commuting route environments. Methods: Advertisement- and street-recruited bicycle commuters from Greater Stockholm, Sweden, responded to the ACRES. Expected differences between inner urban and suburban route environments were used to assess criterion-related validity, together with ratings from an assembled expert panel as well as existing objective measures. Reliability was assessed as test-retest reproducibility. Comparisons of ratings between advertisement- and street-recruited participants were used for assessments of representativity. Ratings of inner urban and suburban route environments were used to evaluate commuting route environment profiles. Simultaneous multiple linear regression analyses were used to assess the relation between the outcome variable: whether the route environment hinders or stimulates bicycle-commuting and environmental predictors, such as levels of exhaust fumes, speeds of traffic and greenery, in inner urban areas. Results: The ACRES was characterized by considerable criterion-related validity and reasonable test-retest reproducibility. There was a good correspondence between the advertisement- and street-recruited participants’ ratings. Distinct differences in commuting route environment profiles between the inner urban and suburban areas were noted. Suburban route environments were rated as safer and more stimulating for bicycle-commuting. Beautiful, green and safe route environments seem to be, independently of each other, stimulating factors for bicycle-commuting in inner urban areas. On the other hand, high levels of exhaust fumes and traffic congestion, as well as low ‘directness’ of the route, seem to be hindering factors. Conclusions: The ACRES is useful for assessing bicyclists’ perceptions of their route environments. A number of environmental factors related to the route appear to be stimulating or hindering for bicycle commuting. The overall results demonstrate a complex research area at the beginning of exploration. / BAKGRUND: Färdvägsmiljöer kan tänkas påverka människors fysiskt aktiva arbetspendling och därmed bidra till bättre folkhälsa. Studier av färdvägsmiljöer är därför önskvärda för att öka förståelsen kring möjliga samband mellan fysiskt aktiv arbetspendling och färdvägsmiljöer. En enkät, ”The Active Commuting Route Environment Scale” (ACRES), har därför skapats i syfte att studera fysiskt aktiva arbetspendlares upplevelser av sina färdvägsmiljöer. Huvudsyftet med denna avhandling var dels att studera enkätens psykometriska egenskaper i form av validitet och reliabilitet, dels att studera arbetspendlande cyklisters upplevelser av sina färdvägsmiljöer. METODER: Arbetspendlande cyklister från Stor-Stockholm rekryterades via tidningsannonsering och via direkt kontakt i anslutning till färdvägen. Deltagarna besvarade enkäten ACRES. Tillsammans med skattningar från en grupp av experter och redan existerande objektiva mått användes förväntade skillnader mellan färdvägsmiljöer i inner- och ytterstaden för att studera kriterierelaterad validitet. Reliabiliteten studerades som reproducerbarhet via upprepade mätningar (test-retest). Jämförelser mellan skattningar av deltagare rekryterade via annonsering och via direkt kontakt i färdvägsmiljöer användes för att studera representativitet. Skattningar av färdvägsmiljöer i inner- och ytterstaden användes vidare för att studera färdvägsmiljöprofiler. Multipel linjär regressionsanalys användes även för att studera sambandet mellan utfallsvariabeln huruvida färdvägsmiljön motverkar eller stimulerar arbetspendling med cykel och miljöprediktorer, såsom avgasnivåer, trafikens hastighet och grönska, i innerstadsmiljöer. RESULTAT: Enkäten ACRES visade god kriterierelaterad validitet och rimlig reproducerbarhet. Det var en god överrensstämmelse mellan skattningar av deltagare rekryterade via annonsering och via direkt kontakt. Färdvägsmiljöprofilerna visade tydliga skillnader mellan inner- och ytterstadsmiljöer. Ytterstadens färdvägsmiljöer skattades som tryggare och mer stimulerande för arbetspendling med cykel än innerstadens färdvägsmiljöer. Vidare verkar vackra, gröna och trygga färdvägsmiljöer, oberoende av varandra, vara stimulerade faktorer för arbetspendling med cykel i innerstadsmiljöer. Däremot verkar höga avgasnivåer, höga trängselnivåer och färdvägar som kräver många riktningsändringar vara motverkande faktorer. SLUTSATSER: Enkäten ACRES är ett användbart instrument vid mätningar av cyklisters upplevelser av sina färdvägsmiljöer. Ett antal faktorer relaterade till färdvägsmiljön verkar vara stimulerande respektive motverkande för arbetspendling med cykel. Generellt sett på visar resultaten ett relativt outforskat och komplext forskningsområde. / <p>Örebro universitet, Hälsoakademin</p> / FAAP

Diese Dissertation untersucht einen möglichen Zusammenhang zwischen dem beschriebenen klinischen Verlauf bei Patienten mit konstitutiv aktivierenden TSH-Rezeptormutationen und der gemessenen in vitro Aktivität. Konstitutiv aktivierende Mutationen finden sich als somatische Mutationen in autonomen Adenomen und als Keimbahnmutationen bei Patienten mit sporadischer bzw. familiärer nicht-autoimmuner Hyperthyreose. Die in vitro Aktivität der zu Grunde liegenden TSH-Rezeptormutationen wird mit Hilfe der Linearen Regressions-Analyse bestimmt. Dies ist ein Verfahren, welches die basale Produktion des second messenger cAMP (Cyclo-Adenosinmonophosphat) misst, unter Berücksichtigung der Expression des TSH-Rezeptors. Die Analyse der Krankheitsverläufe der sporadischen nicht-autoimmunen Hyperthyreose zeigt keinen eindeutigen Bezug zur gemessenen in vitro Aktivität. Es besteht jedoch eine höhere in vitro Aktivität bei Mutationen, die sowohl bei der nicht-autoimmunen sporadischen Hyperthyreose und in autonomen Adenomen zu finden sind, im Vergleich zu ausschließlich familiären Mutationen. Dies entspricht auch dem klinischen Eindruck. Für die wenigen bekannten Fälle der sporadischen nicht-autoimmunen Hyperthyreose wurden dramatische Verläufe mit häufigen Rückfällen unter medikamentöser Therapie und zahlreichen Komplikationen (z.B. mentale Retardierung, Kraniosynostose, zerebrale Ventrikulomegalie, beschleunigte Knochenreifung) beschrieben.

Background: The Active Commuting Route Environment Scale (ACRES) was developed to study active commuters’ perceptions of their route environments. The overall aims were to assess the measuring properties of the ACRES and study active bicycle commuters’ perceptions of their commuting route environments. Methods: Advertisement- and street-recruited bicycle commuters from Greater Stockholm, Sweden, responded to the ACRES. Expected differences between inner urban and suburban route environments were used to assess criterion-related validity, together with ratings from an assembled expert panel as well as existing objective measures. Reliability was assessed as test-retest reproducibility. Comparisons of ratings between advertisement- and street-recruited participants were used for assessments of representativity. Ratings of inner urban and suburban route environments were used to evaluate commuting route environment profiles. Simultaneous multiple linear regression analyses were used to assess the relation between the outcome variable: whether the route environment hinders or stimulates bicycle-commuting and environmental predictors, such as levels of exhaust fumes, speeds of traffic and greenery, in inner urban areas. Results: The ACRES was characterized by considerable criterion-related validity and reasonable test-retest reproducibility. There was a good correspondence between the advertisement- and street-recruited participants’ ratings. Distinct differences in commuting route environment profiles between the inner urban and suburban areas were noted. Suburban route environments were rated as safer and more stimulating for bicycle-commuting. Beautiful, green and safe route environments seem to be, independently of each other, stimulating factors for bicycle-commuting in inner urban areas. On the other hand, high levels of exhaust fumes and traffic congestion, as well as low ‘directness’ of the route, seem to be hindering factors. Conclusions: The ACRES is useful for assessing bicyclists’ perceptions of their route environments. A number of environmental factors related to the route appear to be stimulating or hindering for bicycle commuting. The overall results demonstrate a complex research area at the beginning of exploration. / BAKGRUND: Färdvägsmiljöer kan tänkas påverka människors fysiskt aktiva arbetspendling och därmed bidra till bättre folkhälsa. Studier av färdvägsmiljöer är därför önskvärda för att öka förståelsen kring möjliga samband mellan fysiskt aktiv arbetspendling och färdvägsmiljöer. En enkät, ”The Active Commuting Route Environment Scale” (ACRES), har därför skapats i syfte att studera fysiskt aktiva arbetspendlares upplevelser av sina färdvägsmiljöer. Huvudsyftet med denna avhandling var dels att studera enkätens psykometriska egenskaper i form av validitet och reliabilitet, dels att studera arbetspendlande cyklisters upplevelser av sina färdvägsmiljöer. METODER: Arbetspendlande cyklister från Stor-Stockholm rekryterades via tidningsannonsering och via direkt kontakt i anslutning till färdvägen. Deltagarna besvarade enkäten ACRES. Tillsammans med skattningar från en grupp av experter och redan existerande objektiva mått användes förväntade skillnader mellan färdvägsmiljöer i inner- och ytterstaden för att studera kriterierelaterad validitet. Reliabiliteten studerades som reproducerbarhet via upprepade mätningar (test-retest). Jämförelser mellan skattningar av deltagare rekryterade via annonsering och via direkt kontakt i färdvägsmiljöer användes för att studera representativitet. Skattningar av färdvägsmiljöer i inner- och ytterstaden användes vidare för att studera färdvägsmiljöprofiler. Multipel linjär regressionsanalys användes även för att studera sambandet mellan utfallsvariabeln huruvida färdvägsmiljön motverkar eller stimulerar arbetspendling med cykel och miljöprediktorer, såsom avgasnivåer, trafikens hastighet och grönska, i innerstadsmiljöer. RESULTAT: Enkäten ACRES visade god kriterierelaterad validitet och rimlig reproducerbarhet. Det var en god överrensstämmelse mellan skattningar av deltagare rekryterade via annonsering och via direkt kontakt. Färdvägsmiljöprofilerna visade tydliga skillnader mellan inner- och ytterstadsmiljöer. Ytterstadens färdvägsmiljöer skattades som tryggare och mer stimulerande för arbetspendling med cykel än innerstadens färdvägsmiljöer. Vidare verkar vackra, gröna och trygga färdvägsmiljöer, oberoende av varandra, vara stimulerade faktorer för arbetspendling med cykel i innerstadsmiljöer. Däremot verkar höga avgasnivåer, höga trängselnivåer och färdvägar som kräver många riktningsändringar vara motverkande faktorer. SLUTSATSER: Enkäten ACRES är ett användbart instrument vid mätningar av cyklisters upplevelser av sina färdvägsmiljöer. Ett antal faktorer relaterade till färdvägsmiljön verkar vara stimulerande respektive motverkande för arbetspendling med cykel. Generellt sett på visar resultaten ett relativt outforskat och komplext forskningsområde. / Faap-projektet "Fysiskt aktiv arbetspendling i Stor-Stockholm"

The aim of this academic paper is to analyse the possible presence of discrimination against women in the job market. The analysis attempts to endogenous the discrimation section within the model. That is the essential difference in regard to other papers on this topic as these ascribe the influence of discrimination to the unexplained gender wage gap. The basic thought of this model is the idea, that if dicrimination against women is present in the job market, then it must exhibit the signs of a normal good. An examined characterisitc is the correlation of the wage gap, taken as a good, and extra variables as pensions. Investigation of possible correlation is done according to the linear regression analysis. The regression results are not satisfactory over long time periods as there are many variables that affect the outcome that the model does not consider. More precise results were achieved by means of testing individual workplaces, where especially the regression conducted with available data from analytic management occupations suggests that discrimination against women may be present

Automated scoring of essays has been a research topic for some time in computational linguistics studies. Only recently have the particular challenges of automatic holistic scoring of ESL essays with their high grammatical, spelling and other error rates been a topic of research. This thesis evaluates the effectiveness of using statistical measures of linguistic maturity to predict holistic scores for ESL essays using several techniques. Selected linguistic attributes include parts of speech, part-of-speech patterns, vocabulary density, and sentence and essay lengths. Using customized algorithms based on multivariable regression analysis as well as memory-based machine learning, holistic scores were predicted on test essays within ±1.0 of the scoring level of human judges' scores successfully an average of 90% of the time. This level of prediction is an improvement over a 66% prediction level attained in a previous study using customized algorithms.

Knowledge of construction duration is pertinent to a number of project planning functions prior to detailed design development. Funding, financing, and resource allocation decisions take place early in project design development and are significantly influenced by the construction duration. Currently, there is not an understanding of the project factors having a statistically significant relationship with highway construction duration. Other industry sectors have successfully used statistical regression analysis to identify and model the project parameters related to construction duration. While the need is seen for such work in highway construction, there are very few studies which attempt to identify duration-influential parameters and their relationship with the highway construction duration. This research identifies the project factors, known early in design development, which influence highway construction duration. The factors identified are specific to their respective project types and are those factors which demonstrate a statistically-significant relationship with construction duration. This work also quantifies the relationship between the duration-influential factors and highway construction duration. The quantity, magnitude, and sign of the factor coefficient yields evidence regarding the importance of the project factor to highway construction duration. Finally, the research incorporates the duration-influential project factors and their relationship with highway construction duration into mathematical models which assist in the prediction of construction duration. Full and condensed models are presented for Full-Depth Section and Highway Improvement project types. This research uses statistical regression analysis to identify, quantify, and model these early-known, duration-influential project factors. The results of this research contribute to the body of knowledge of the sponsoring organization (Virginia Department of Transportation), the highway construction industry, and the general construction industry at large. / Ph. D.

Traffic fatalities accounted for 1.24 million lives lost in 2013 worldwide, and almost 33 thousand of those fatalities were in the U.S. in 2013. The southeastern region of the nation stands out for continuously having higher fatality rates per mile driven than the national average. If one can establish compelling relationships between various factors and fatality rates, then policies and investments can be targeted to increase the safety on the network by focusing on policies that mitigate those factors. In this research effort risk-taking characteristics are explored. These factors have not been as comprehensively reviewed as conventional factors such as vehicle and facility conditions associated with safety. The hypothesis assumes if a person exhibits risk-taking behavior, that risk-taking behavior is not limited to only one aspect of risk, but is likely to occur in multiple facets of the person's life. Some of the risk-taking characteristics explored include credit score, safety belt use, smoking and tobacco use, drug use, mental health, educational attainment, obesity, and overall general health characteristics. All risk-taking characteristics with the exception of mental health were found to have statistically significant correlations with fatality rates alone. However, when a regression model was formed to estimate fatality rates by risk-taking characteristics, only four risk-taking characteristics - credit score, educational attainment, overall poor health, and seat belt use were found to be statistically significant at an integrated level with other demographic characteristics such as unemployment levels and population born is state of residency. By identifying at-risk population segments, education, counseling, enforcement, or other strategies may be deployed to help improve travel safety.