Third-party authentication services are becoming more common since it eases the login procedure by not forcing users to create a new login for every website thatuses authentication. Even though it simplifies the login procedure the users still have to be conscious about what data is being shared between the identity provider (IDP) and the relying party (RP). This thesis presents a tool for collecting data about third-party authentication that outperforms previously made tools with regards to accuracy, precision and recall. The developed tool was used to collect information about third-party authentication on a set of websites. The collected data revealed that third-party login services offered by Facebook and Google are most common and that Twitters login service is significantly less common. Twitter's login service shares the most data about the users to the RPs and often gives the RPs permissions to perform write actions on the users Twitter account.  In addition to our large-scale automatic data collection, three manual data collections were performed and compared to previously made manual data collections from a nine-year period. The longitudinal comparison showed that over the nine-year period the login services offered by Facebook and Google have been dominant.It is clear that less information about the users are being shared today compared to earlier years for Apple, Facebook and Google. The Twitter login service is the only IDP that have not changed their permission policies. This could be the reason why the usage of the Twitter login service on websites have decreased.  The results presented in this thesis helps provide a better understanding of what personal information is exchanged by IDPs which can guide users to make well educated decisions on the web.

This thesis employs the globalization and integration-demarcation cleavage theory formulated by Huttar [2014] and Kriesi [2012], conception of populism formulated by Mudde [2017] and draws on Gramscian conception of civil society and hegemony. Aim of this thesis is to build a model of causal influence of globalization on cleavage and on populism, as was suggested by Hutter [2014]. After building this model, the aim is to explore how this theoretical relationship hold's over the 30 years since 90's, when the connection between globalization and new sociocultural cleavage had been theoretically suggested. For this model I am using KOF Globalization Index, European Values Survey datasets and Authoritarian Populism Index constructed and published by Timbro in years 1990, 1999, 2008 and 2017. This model is built on a dataset containing 38 countries on European continent or being a candidate country for EU. I am elaborating Hutter's theoretical suggestion and framing it in Gramscian conception of civil society. This allows me to suggest that populists are using organic crisis in a society to attract people who feel disjointed from current hegemonical elite and to create counterhegemony. The theory is, that globalization increases the tension between winners and losers of globalization sides of cleavage...

Study of the critical factors for TQM implementation throughout the years, and longitudinal analysis of secondary quality winners of prestigious awards such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), is important. The longitudinal analysis in this research will enable verification that there are generic critical factors (CFs) for TQM implementation and generic critical areas of measurement (CAM) that if implemented fully and successfully will deliver excellence. Also, it will enable verification that these generic CFs help to ensure sustainable performance and this could help in answering how excellent organisations sustain their performance constantly. By studying what excellent organisations measure and what they place emphasis on throughout the year, the study will document measurements that have been used to sustain excellence and will consider empirically how these have led to tangible results over a period of twenty years; the study will examine MBNQA winners from 1988 until 2008. Finally, an excellence maturity assessment tool ¿assessment software¿ was developed as result of examining winning case studies over a long period of time, lists of critical factors of implementation (CFI) and critical areas of measurement (CAM) were extracted and used accompanied by the EFQM Excellence Model, and Zairi¿s two model ¿Index of Excellence¿ and ¿Ladder of Excellence¿. This formed the basis of the assessment tool developed; companies through this will be able to understand their level of excellence implementation and their position compared to world class organisations. / Government of Saudi Arabia represented by the Ministry of Higher Education

A Growth Curve Model (GCM) is a multivariate linear model used for analyzing longitudinal data with short to moderate time series. It is a special case of Generalized Multivariate Analysis of Variance (GMANOVA) models. Analysis using the GCM involves comparison of mean growths among different groups. The classical GCM, however, possesses some limitations including distributional assumptions, assumption of identical degree of polynomials for all groups and it requires larger sample size than the number of time points. In this thesis, we relax some of the assumptions of the traditional GCM and develop appropriate inferential tools for its analysis, with the aim of reducing bias, improving precision and to gain increased power as well as overcome limitations of high-dimensionality. Existing methods for estimating the parameters of the GCM assume that the underlying distribution for the error terms is multivariate normal. In practical problems, however, we often come across skewed data and hence estimation techniques developed under the normality assumption may not be optimal. Simulation studies conducted in this thesis, in fact, show that existing methods are sensitive to the presence of skewness in the data, where estimators are associated with increased bias and mean square error (MSE), when the normality assumption is violated. Methods appropriate for skewed distributions are, therefore, required. In this thesis, we relax the distributional assumption of the GCM and provide estimators for the mean and covariance matrices of the GCM under multivariate skew normal (MSN) distribution. An estimator for the additional skewness parameter of the MSN distribution is also provided. The estimators are derived using the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm and extensive simulations are performed to examine the performance of the estimators. Comparisons with existing estimators show that our estimators perform better than existing estimators, when the underlying distribution is multivariate skew normal. Illustration using real data set is also provided, wherein Triglyceride levels from the Framingham Heart Study is modelled over time. The GCM assumes equal degree of polynomial for each group. Therefore, when groups means follow different shapes of polynomials, the GCM fails to accommodate this difference in one model. We consider an extension of the GCM, wherein mean responses from different groups can have different shapes, represented by polynomials of different degree. Such a model is referred to as Extended Growth Curve Model (EGCM). We extend our work on GCM to EGCM, and develop estimators for the mean and covariance matrices under MSN errors. We adopted the Restricted Expectation Maximization (REM) algorithm, which is based on the multivariate Newton-Raphson (NR) method and Lagrangian optimization. However, the multivariate NR method and hence, the existing REM algorithm are applicable to vector parameters and the parameters of interest in this study are matrices. We, therefore, extended the NR approach to matrix parameters, which consequently allowed us to extend the REM algorithm to matrix parameters. The performance of the proposed estimators were examined using extensive simulations and a motivating real data example was provided to illustrate the application of the proposed estimators. Finally, this thesis deals with high-dimensional application of GCM. Existing methods for a GCM are developed under the assumption of ‘small p large n’ (n >> p) and are not appropriate for analyzing high-dimensional longitudinal data, due to singularity of the sample covariance matrix. In a previous work, we used Moore-Penrose generalized inverse to overcome this challenge. However, the method has some limitations around near singularity, when p~n. In this thesis, a Bayesian framework was used to derive a test for testing the linear hypothesis on the mean parameter of the GCM, which is applicable in high-dimensional situations. Extensive simulations are performed to investigate the performance of the test statistic and establish optimality characteristics. Results show that this test performs well, under different conditions, including the near singularity zone. Sensitivity of the test to mis-specification of the parameters of the prior distribution are also examined empirically. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed method in practical situations. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

自2005年起政府投入經費執行「創造偏鄉數位機會推動計畫」，由教育部協調統合各部會資源，共同推動縮減城鄉數位落差，於台灣地區300偏遠鄉鎮設立168個數位機會中心（Digital Opportunity Center, DOC），協助民眾增進資訊應用能力，以期有效縮減城鄉間的數位落差。政府投入大量資源，建構良好的軟硬體設施，提供偏遠地區居民一個好的上網環境，乃為降低偏鄉地區數位落差的不公平現象，提供偏鄉地區民眾在資訊經濟時代能夠有取得資訊的公平機會。 本研究乃透過台閩地區數位落差調查2004年到2006年的數據資料，了解台灣地區各鄉鎮之數位表現在各個面向上是否有提升，更進一步探究，政府偏鄉數位落差政策實施的區域，其數位表現分數之起伏；其次，政府根據2002年之調查界定政策實施的區域，至今數位能力較低之鄉鎮地區是否已有變化？有哪些鄉鎮並未被列入政策實施之重點區域，但卻為數位能力落後之鄉鎮？ 本研究所使用的方法為次級資料分析法，資料來源為行政院研究考核委員會於九十三至九十五年，委託學術團體、民間單位進行之三次台閩地區數位落差調查。研究發現，偏鄉地區民眾數位能力低於非偏鄉地區民眾，近年來偏鄉民眾之數位能力雖有進步，但是進步幅度仍小於非偏鄉地區民眾。 在設置數位機會點鄉鎮，其數位表現分數雖低於未設置數位機會點鄉鎮，但設置數位機會點鄉鎮民眾之數位能力確實有進步，且進步幅度大於未設置數位機會點鄉鎮之民眾。數位機會中心點之政策內容，乃為加強民眾在資訊近用上之取得與資訊素養能力之提升，研究發現，民眾網路取得機會增加，但是電腦設備的近用性仍然不足，在資訊素養的提升上是有幫助的，而民眾在工作應用、生活應用與資訊蒐集上之提升，乃政策預期以外之收穫。最後，偏遠程度的確是判斷該地區之數位能力一項重要的依據，然而僅以偏遠程度來判斷該鄉鎮之數位能力，卻是不太精確的，因此在數位落差嚴重鄉鎮之界定上，應以數位落差指標取代地理偏遠指標進行界定，將能夠更精確的界定出數位落差嚴重的鄉鎮，並與數位落差政策作連結。 / In the digital era, computers and networks are important tools to broadcast information among people. People who live in urban areas have deeply felt the convenience that information can rapidly bring about. People in rural areas can not enjoy such benefit since. However, there has been the digital divide due to difficulties to access to resources, inadequacy in computer equipment, non-popularity of network use, and poor ability to use information technology. In order to reduce the gap of digital divide between urban and rural areas, Ministry of Education has implemented the 4-year project for Shortening Digital Divide between Urban and Rural Areas by setting up digital opportunity centers (DOCs). It is estimated that 300 DOCs will be set up in 168 rural areas nation-wide. The Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) conducts the digital divide survey every year since 2001. It aims to evaluate the status of information infrastructure implementation and the results of digital divide reduction. The Digital Performance Score for the individual called Digital Score that was derived from the cross indicator weighting analysis by AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) was helpful in comparing the digital ability among different groups such as people in rural and urban areas. There are three research questions in the thesis. First of all, I use the secondary data, the digital divide survey from 2004 to 2006, to realize the current situation of digital divide in Taiwan. The results reveal that, during 2004-2006 the Digital Score of people in urban is higher than in rural area. People in urban areas made greater progress compared with those in rural area during the three years. People in rural areas still can not catch up with the people in urban. Secondly, to evaluate the performance of DOCs in rural areas, I have chosen 27 rural towns where there are DOCs during 2005. After comparing the towns with DOCs and those without DOCs, the results show that the towns with DOCs have greater improvement for Digital Score. The third research question to assess the categorization of rural areas is appropriate to compartmentalize the Digital Divide areas. A previous study “Strategic Formulation for Public Information Centers in Rural Areas” published in 2002 by the RDEC, has categorized towns in Taiwan into rural and urban areas by geographic and demographics indicators, such as population density and the convenience of traffic. The study uses the secondary data of 2005 to redefine Digital Divide areas by cluster analysis and find that Digital Divide areas are different from rural areas. To categorize digital divide areas, using digital divide indicators is more appropriate than geographic and demographics indicators.

La dérégulation du compartiment de cellules B est une conséquence importante de l’infection par le virus de l’immunodéficience humaine (VIH-1). On observe notamment une diminution des nombres de lymphocytes B sanguins ainsi qu’une variation des fréquences relatives des différentes populations de lymphocytes B chez les individus infectés par rapport aux contrôles sains. Notre laboratoire a précédemment démontré l’implication des cellules dendritiques dans la dérégulation des lymphocytes B via la roduction excessive de BLyS/BAFF, un stimulateur des cellules B. De plus, lors l’études menées chez la souris transgénique présentant une maladie semblable au SIDA, et chez la souris BLyS/BAFF transgénique, l’infection au VIH-1 fut associée à une expansion de la zone marginale (MZ) de la rate. De façon intéressante, nous observons chez les contrôleurs élites une diminution de la population B ‘mature’ de la MZ. Il s’agit du seul changement important chez les contrôleurs élites et reflète possiblement un recrutement de ces cellules vers la périphérie ainsi qu’une implication dans des mécanismes de contrôle de l’infection. Pour tenter d’expliquer et de mieux comprendre ces variations dans les fréquences des populations B, nous avons analysé les axes chimiotactiques CXCL13-CXCR5, CXCL12-CXCR4/CXCR7, CCL20-CCR6 et CCL25-CCR9. L’étude longitudinale de cohortes de patients avec différents types de progression clinique ou de contrôle de l’infection démontre une modulation des niveaux plasmatiques de la majorité des chimiokines analysées chez les progresseurs rapides et classiques. Au contraire, les contrôleurs élites conservent des niveaux normaux de chimiokines, démontrant leur capacité à maintenir l’homéostasie. La migration des populations de cellules B semble être modulée selon la progression ou le contrôle de l’infection. Les contrôleurs élites présentent une diminution de la population B ‘mature’ de la MZ et une augmentation de la fréquence d’expression du récepteur CXCR7 associé à la MZ chez la souris, suggérant un rôle important des cellules de la MZ dans le contrôle de l’infection au VIH-1. De façon générale, les résultats dans cette étude viennent enrichir nos connaissances du compartiment de cellules B dans le contexte de l’infection au VIH-1 et pourront contribuer à élaborer des stratégies préventives et thérapeutiques contre ce virus. / Deregulation of the B-cell compartment is an important consequence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infection. We observe a decrease in blood B lymphocyte numbers accompanied by variations in the relative frequency of B cell populations in infected individuals when compared to healthy controls. Our lab has previously exposed the implication of dendritic cells in B-cell deregulation via excessive production of B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS/BAFF). Additionally, the study of BLYS/BAFF-transgenic mice as well as mice exhibiting an AIDS-like disease revealed an expansion of the marginal zone (MZ) of the spleen. Interestingly, we found reduced relative frequencies of mature MZ-like B cells in the blood of elite controllers while rapid and classic HIV progressors had increased ‘precursor’ MZ-like cells. This variation in elite controllers is the only one observed for all population analyzed and could be the reflection of active recruitment of these cells to the periphery to help control infection. To try and understand these variations in B-cell frequencies we have analyzed the Btropic chemotaxis axes CXCL13-CXCR5, CXCL12-CXCR4/CXCR7, CCL20-CCR6 and CCL24-CCR9. The longitudinal study of patients with varying degrees of disease progression and control shows a modulation of the levels of most chemokines in the blood of rapid and classic progessors. Meanwhile, elite controllers maintain normal levels of these chemokines, demonstrating their ability to preserve homeostasis. Our results suggest that the type of disease progression impacts B-cell migration, resulting in modified B-cell population frequencies. The decrease in mature MZ-like B-cells and the increased frequency of cells expressing CXCR7, a receptor associated to the MZ in mice, in elite controllers suggest an important role for the MZ in controlling HIV-1 infection. Overall, our results provide more information about the B-cell compartment in the context of HIV-1 infection and can contribute to the elaboration of preventive and therapeutic strategies for HIV-1.

Mit der wachsenden Verbreitung empirischer Schulleistungsleistungen im Large-Scale Assessment gehen eine Reihe methodischer Herausforderungen einher. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht, welche Konsequenzen Modellverletzungen in eindimensionalen Item-Response-Modellen (besonders im Rasch-Modell) besitzen. Insbesondere liegt der Fokus auf vier methodischen Herausforderungen von Modellverletzungen. Erstens, implizieren Positions- und Kontexteffekte, dass gegenüber einem eindimensionalen IRT-Modell Itemschwierigkeiten nicht unabhängig von der Position im Testheft und der Zusammenstellung des Testheftes ausgeprägt sind und Schülerfähigkeiten im Verlauf eines Tests variieren können. Zweitens, verursacht die Vorlage von Items innerhalb von Testlets lokale Abhängigkeiten, wobei unklar ist, ob und wie diese in der Skalierung berücksichtigt werden sollen. Drittens, können Itemschwierigkeiten aufgrund verschiedener Lerngelegenheiten zwischen Schulklassen variieren. Viertens, sind insbesondere in low stakes Tests nicht bearbeitete Items vorzufinden. In der Arbeit wird argumentiert, dass trotz Modellverletzungen nicht zwingend von verzerrten Schätzungen von Itemschwierigkeiten, Personenfähigkeiten und Reliabilitäten ausgegangen werden muss. Außerdem wird hervorgehoben, dass man psychometrisch häufig nicht entscheiden kann und entscheiden sollte, welches IRT-Modell vorzuziehen ist. Dies trifft auch auf die Fragestellung zu, wie nicht bearbeitete Items zu bewerten sind. Ausschließlich Validitätsüberlegungen können dafür Hinweise geben. Modellverletzungen in IRT-Modellen lassen sich konzeptuell plausibel in den Ansatz des Domain Samplings (Item Sampling; Generalisierbarkeitstheorie) einordnen. In dieser Arbeit wird gezeigt, dass die statistische Unsicherheit in der Modellierung von Kompetenzen nicht nur von der Stichprobe der Personen, sondern auch von der Stichprobe der Items und der Wahl statistischer Modelle verursacht wird. / Several methodological challenges emerge in large-scale student assessment studies like PISA and TIMSS. Item response models (IRT models) are essential for scaling student abilities within these studies. This thesis investigates the consequences of several model violations in unidimensional IRT models (especially in the Rasch model). In particular, this thesis focuses on the following four methodological challenges of model violations. First, position effects and contextual effects imply (in comparison to unidimensional IRT models) that item difficulties depend on the item position in a test booklet as well as on the composition of a test booklet. Furthermore, student abilities are allowed to vary among test positions. Second, the administration of items within testlets causes local dependencies, but it is unclear whether and how these dependencies should be taken into account for the scaling of student abilities. Third, item difficulties can vary among different school classes due to different opportunities to learn. Fourth, the amount of omitted items is in general non-negligible in low stakes tests. In this thesis it is argued that estimates of item difficulties, student abilities and reliabilities can be unbiased despite model violations. Furthermore, it is argued that the choice of an IRT model cannot and should not be made (solely) from a psychometric perspective. This also holds true for the problem of how to score omitted items. Only validity considerations provide reasons for choosing an adequate scoring procedure. Model violations in IRT models can be conceptually classified within the approach of domain sampling (item sampling; generalizability theory). In this approach, the existence of latent variables need not be posed. It is argued that statistical uncertainty in modelling competencies does not only depend on the sampling of persons, but also on the sampling of items and on the choice of statistical models.

En la primera parte de esta tesis se profundiza en el estudio de los factores e interrelaciones que influyen en las actitudes de los residentes y se plantean propuestas genéricas para la adecuada gestión de los destinos turísticos. Los destinos turísticos evolucionan y en destinos maduros es necesario conocer su pasado para comprender mejor su presente. Ibiza es un destino maduro y, por tanto, es necesario un estudio previo de su evolución para una mejor comprensión de los resultados del estudio empírico. La descripción de la historia del turismo en Ibiza, apoyado en el uso del modelo de Ciclo de Vida del Destino Turístico, constituye la segunda parte de la tesis. Finalmente, se realiza un estudio empírico en la tercera parte de la tesis. Mediante el uso de diversos tipos de análisis se revisa si es de aplicación la teoría al caso concreto de Ibiza.

[pt] Tendo em vista que decorridos quase cem anos do seu nascimento, após vários ciclos de crescimento e contração, a indústria aérea ainda se mostra frágil, apresentando vários casos de recuperação judicial e falências, pesquisa-se sobre o declínio organizacional, afim de identificar, quais fatores, elementos, aspectos organizacionais e ambientais, escolhas e ações gerenciais, stakeholders envolvidos, e seus respectivos graus de envolvimento, que possam influenciar na dinâmica de sucesso e fracasso organizacional. Para tanto é necessário identificar padrões longitudinais de comportamento organizacional, propor visualizações da informação que gerem insights inovadores sobre stakeholders do setor, e entender os desafios e pressões específicos da indústria. Utilizando uma perspectiva histórica, a presente pesquisa realiza um estudo de caso comparativo longitudinal sobre as companhias aéreas Delta Airlines e Eastern Airlines, duas empresas atuantes desde os primórdios da indústria aérea norte americana, que, no entanto, acabaram tendo diferentes destino nos anos 1990. Diante disso, verifica-se que apesar das características empreendedoras e suas iniciativas de expansão e crescimento, o grau de endividamento (alavancagem), a gestão de folga organizacional, a capacidade no gerenciamento de conflitos e a aptidão de adaptação em um ambiente dinâmico de negócios, podem ter sido as causas do declínio e posterior dissolução da Eastern e da sobrevivência continuada da Delta. / [en] In view of that almost a hundred years after its birth, after several cycles of growth and contraction, the airline industry is still fragile, presenting several cases of judicial recovery and bankruptcies, it is verified the importance of research on the organizational decline, in order to identify, which one s factors, elements, organizational and environmental aspects, managerial choices and actions, stakeholders involved, and their respective degrees of involvement, which could influence the dynamics of organizational success and failure. Therefore, it is necessary to identify longitudinal patterns of organizational behavior, propose visualizations of the information that generate innovative insights about stakeholders in the sector, and understand the specific challenges and pressures of the industry. Using a historical perspective, this research carries out a comparative longitudinal case study on the airlines Delta Airlines and Eastern Airlines, two companies operating since the beginning of the North American airline industry, which, however, ended up having different destinations in the 1990s. Therefore, it appears that despite the entrepreneurial characteristics and their expansion and growth initiatives, the degree of indebtedness (leverage), the management of organizational slack, the capacity in conflict management, and the ability to adapt in a dynamic business environment, may have been the causes of Eastern s decline and subsequent dissolution and Delta s continued survival.

<p>Breeding for improved animal welfare is paramount for increasing the long-term sustainability of the animal food industry. In this context, the main objectives of this dissertation were to understand the genetic and genomic background of welfare indicators in livestock and evaluate the feasibility of single-step Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (ssGBLUP) for performing genomic selection in beef cattle. This dissertation includes five studies. First, we aimed to test and identify an optimal ssGBLUP scenario for crossbreeding schemes. We simulated multiple populations differing based on the genetic background of the trait, and then we tested alternative models, such as multiple-trait weighted ssGBLUP. Even though more elaborated scenarios were evaluated, a single-trait ssGBLUP approach was recommended when genetic correlation across populations were higher than 0.70. The goal of the second study was to identify genomic regions controlling behavior traits that are conserved across livestock species. We systematically reviewed genomic regions associated with behavioral indicators in beef and dairy cattle, pigs, and sheep. The genomic regions identified in this study were located in genes previously reported controlling human behavioral, neural, and mental disorders. In the third study we used a large dataset (675,678 records) from North American Angus cattle to investigate the genetic background of temperament, a behavioral indicator, recorded on one-year-old calves, and provide the models and protocols for implementing genomic selection. We reported a heritability estimate equal to 0.38 for yearling temperament, and it was, in general, genetically favorably correlated with other productivity and fertility traits. Candidate genomic regions controlling yearling temperament were also identified. The fourth study was based on temperament recorded on North American Angus cows from 2 to 15 years of age (797,187 records). The goal was to understand the genetic and genomic background of temperament across the animal’s lifetime. By fitting a random regression model, we observed that temperament is highly genetically correlated across time. However, animals have differential learning and behavioral plasticity (LBP; changes of the phenotype overtime), although the LBP heritability is low. In our last study we evaluated foot scores (foot angle, FA; and claw set, CS) in American (US) and Australian (AU) Angus cattle aiming to assess the genetic and genomic background of foot scores and investigate the feasibility of performing an across-country genomic evaluation (~1.15 million animals genotyped). Foot scores are heritable (heritability from 0.22 to 0.27), and genotype-by-environment interaction was observed between US and AU Angus populations (genetic correlation equal to 0.61 for FA and 0.76 for CS). An across-country genomic prediction outperformed within-country evaluations in terms of predictivity ability (bias, dispersion, and validation accuracy) and theoretical accuracies. We have also identified genes associated with FA and CS previously reported in human’s bone structure and repair mechanism. In conclusion, this dissertation presents a comprehensive genetic and genomic characterization of welfare indicators (temperament and foot scores) in (inter)national livestock populations. </p>