Yes / This paper investigates the mean-variance relation during different time periods within trading days. We reveal that there is a positive mean-variance relation when the stock market is closed (i.e., overnight), but the positive relation is distorted when the market is open (i.e., intraday). The evidence offers a new explanation for the weak risk-return tradeoff in stock markets.

Doctor of Philosphy (PhD) / This thesis describes the work carried out during four treks, each over 10-11 days, from 1400m to 5000m in the Nepal Himalaya and further work performed during several two-night sojourns at the Barcroft Laboratory at 3800m on White Mountain in California, USA. Nineteen volunteers were studied during the treks in Nepal and seven volunteers were studied at White Mountain. All subjects were normal, healthy individuals who had not travelled to altitudes higher than 1000m in the previous twelve months. The aims of this research were to examine the effects on sleep, and the ventilatory patterns during sleep, of incremental increases in altitude by employing portable polysomnography to measure and record physiological signals. A further aim of this research was to examine the relationship between the ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia, measured at sea level, and the development of periodic breathing during sleep at high altitude. In the final part of this thesis the possibility of preventing and treating Acute Mountain Sickness with non-invasive positive pressure ventilation while sleeping at high altitude was tested. Chapter 1 describes the background information on sleep, and breathing during sleep, at high altitudes. Most of these studies were performed in hypobaric chambers to simulate various high altitudes. One study measured sleep at high altitude after trekking, but there are no studies which systematically measure sleep and breathing throughout the whole trek. Breathing during sleep at high altitude and the physiological elements of the control of breathing (under normal/sea level conditions and under the hypobaric, hypoxic conditions present at high altitude) are described in this Chapter. The occurrence of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) in subjects who travel form near sea level to altitudes above 3000m is common but its pathophysiology not well understood. The background research into AMS and its treatment and prevention are also covered in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 describes the equipment and methods used in this research, including the polysomnographic equipment used to record sleep and breathing at sea level and the high altitude locations, the portable blood gas analyser used in Nepal and the equipment and methodology used to measure each individual’s ventilatory response to hypoxia and hypercapnia at sea level before ascent to the high altitude locations. Chapter 3 reports the findings on the changes to sleep at high altitude, with particular focus on changes in the amounts of total sleep, the duration of each sleep stage and its percentage of total sleep, and the number and causes of arousals from sleep that occurred during sleep at increasing altitudes. The lightest stage of sleep, Stage 1 non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, was increased, as expected with increases in altitude, while the deeper stages of sleep (Stages 3 and 4 NREM sleep, also called slow wave sleep), were decreased. The increase in Stage 1 NREM in this research is in agreement with all previous findings. However, slow wave sleep, although decreased, was present in most of our subjects at all altitudes in Nepal; this finding is in contrast to most previous work, which has found a very marked reduction, even absence, of slow wave sleep at high altitude. Surprisingly, unlike experimental animal studies of chronic hypoxia, REM sleep was well maintained at all altitudes. Stage 2 NREM and REM sleep, total sleep time, sleep efficiency and spontaneous arousals were maintained at near sea level values. The total arousal index was increased with increasing altitude and this was due to the increasing severity of periodic breathing as altitude increased. An interesting finding of this research was that fewer than half the periodic breathing apneas and hypopneas resulted in arousal from sleep. There was a minor degree of upper airway obstruction in some subjects at sea level but this was almost resolved by 3500m. Chapter 4 reports the findings on the effects on breathing during sleep of the progressive increase of altitude, in particular the occurrence of periodic breathing. This Chapter also reports the results of changes to arterial blood gases as subjects ascended to higher altitudes. As expected, arterial blood gases were markedly altered at even the lowest altitude in Nepal (1400m) and this change became more pronounced at each new, higher altitude. Most subjects developed periodic breathing at high altitude but there was a wide variability between subjects as well as variability in the degree of periodic breathing that individual subjects developed at different altitudes. Some subjects developed periodic breathing at even the lowest altitude and this increased with increasing altitude; other subjects developed periodic breathing at one or two altitudes, while four subjects did not develop periodic breathing at any altitude. Ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia, measured at sea level before departure to high altitude, was not significantly related to the development of periodic breathing when the group was analysed as a whole. However, when the subjects were grouped according to the steepness of their ventilatory response slopes, there was a pattern of higher amounts of periodic breathing in subjects with steeper ventilatory responses. Chapter 5 reports the findings of an experimental study carried out in the University of California, San Diego, Barcroft Laboratory on White Mountain in California. Seven subjects drove from sea level to 3800m in one day and stayed at this altitude for two nights. On one of the nights the subjects slept using a non-invasive positive pressure device via a face mask and this was found to significantly improve the sleeping oxyhemoglobin saturation. The use of the device was also found to eliminate the symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness, as measured by the Lake Louise scoring system. This finding appears to confirm the hypothesis that lower oxygen saturation, particularly during sleep, is strongly correlated to the development of Acute Mountain Sickness and may represent a new treatment and prevention strategy for this very common high altitude disorder.

Abstract The research is mainly to study the marketing strategy of the experience museum activity of which as the subject is the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium overnight tour. The main purpose is to research the Museum customer satisfaction reports during 2003-2007 summer periods, analyze its relevance with the turnover and explore the relationship between the marketing factors combination of ¡§products, prices, channels, promotion¡¨, and the achievements of the museum overnight tour. This research organizes the annual summertime questionnaire statistics from year 2003 to 2007, and meantime interviews with the 6 managers in charge of the activity planning, decision-making, and implementation respectively. The study is summarized as follows: 1.The questionnaire statistics indicate that the overall customer satisfaction goes in sequence "personnel services" > "activity-related process" > " hardware facility." 2. "The difference of the experience activities", "needs for the spirit satisfaction", "high customer satisfaction" and " the collaboration within the organization" are viewed as growth factors. "The effect by integrated economic environment", "old product" "the increase of the external competitors" are as recession factors. 3. From the aspect of the product, the software services (personnel services) have high satisfaction far greater than the hardware services. Even though the lack of decent hardware, the high satisfaction with the software services relatively provides the participants the profound experience, 4. In terms of the ¡§price¡¨, the museum overnight tour package can be categorized as ¡§on the basis of patronization and users relationship oriented." High price rationality is in accordance with the continuous increasing number of participants. 5. Marketing ¡§channels¡¨: High satisfaction with the application process, and personnel services can illustrate the key successful factor that the Museum itself plays in. It also goes with the increasing number of participants. 6. In view of "promotion", the results of the questionnaire and interviews both specify that "people (friends and relatives introduction)" is the most powerful experience media followed by the Internet, the electronic media, newspapers and magazines, and broadcasting.

Doctor of Philosphy (PhD) / This thesis describes the work carried out during four treks, each over 10-11 days, from 1400m to 5000m in the Nepal Himalaya and further work performed during several two-night sojourns at the Barcroft Laboratory at 3800m on White Mountain in California, USA. Nineteen volunteers were studied during the treks in Nepal and seven volunteers were studied at White Mountain. All subjects were normal, healthy individuals who had not travelled to altitudes higher than 1000m in the previous twelve months. The aims of this research were to examine the effects on sleep, and the ventilatory patterns during sleep, of incremental increases in altitude by employing portable polysomnography to measure and record physiological signals. A further aim of this research was to examine the relationship between the ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia, measured at sea level, and the development of periodic breathing during sleep at high altitude. In the final part of this thesis the possibility of preventing and treating Acute Mountain Sickness with non-invasive positive pressure ventilation while sleeping at high altitude was tested. Chapter 1 describes the background information on sleep, and breathing during sleep, at high altitudes. Most of these studies were performed in hypobaric chambers to simulate various high altitudes. One study measured sleep at high altitude after trekking, but there are no studies which systematically measure sleep and breathing throughout the whole trek. Breathing during sleep at high altitude and the physiological elements of the control of breathing (under normal/sea level conditions and under the hypobaric, hypoxic conditions present at high altitude) are described in this Chapter. The occurrence of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) in subjects who travel form near sea level to altitudes above 3000m is common but its pathophysiology not well understood. The background research into AMS and its treatment and prevention are also covered in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 describes the equipment and methods used in this research, including the polysomnographic equipment used to record sleep and breathing at sea level and the high altitude locations, the portable blood gas analyser used in Nepal and the equipment and methodology used to measure each individual’s ventilatory response to hypoxia and hypercapnia at sea level before ascent to the high altitude locations. Chapter 3 reports the findings on the changes to sleep at high altitude, with particular focus on changes in the amounts of total sleep, the duration of each sleep stage and its percentage of total sleep, and the number and causes of arousals from sleep that occurred during sleep at increasing altitudes. The lightest stage of sleep, Stage 1 non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, was increased, as expected with increases in altitude, while the deeper stages of sleep (Stages 3 and 4 NREM sleep, also called slow wave sleep), were decreased. The increase in Stage 1 NREM in this research is in agreement with all previous findings. However, slow wave sleep, although decreased, was present in most of our subjects at all altitudes in Nepal; this finding is in contrast to most previous work, which has found a very marked reduction, even absence, of slow wave sleep at high altitude. Surprisingly, unlike experimental animal studies of chronic hypoxia, REM sleep was well maintained at all altitudes. Stage 2 NREM and REM sleep, total sleep time, sleep efficiency and spontaneous arousals were maintained at near sea level values. The total arousal index was increased with increasing altitude and this was due to the increasing severity of periodic breathing as altitude increased. An interesting finding of this research was that fewer than half the periodic breathing apneas and hypopneas resulted in arousal from sleep. There was a minor degree of upper airway obstruction in some subjects at sea level but this was almost resolved by 3500m. Chapter 4 reports the findings on the effects on breathing during sleep of the progressive increase of altitude, in particular the occurrence of periodic breathing. This Chapter also reports the results of changes to arterial blood gases as subjects ascended to higher altitudes. As expected, arterial blood gases were markedly altered at even the lowest altitude in Nepal (1400m) and this change became more pronounced at each new, higher altitude. Most subjects developed periodic breathing at high altitude but there was a wide variability between subjects as well as variability in the degree of periodic breathing that individual subjects developed at different altitudes. Some subjects developed periodic breathing at even the lowest altitude and this increased with increasing altitude; other subjects developed periodic breathing at one or two altitudes, while four subjects did not develop periodic breathing at any altitude. Ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia, measured at sea level before departure to high altitude, was not significantly related to the development of periodic breathing when the group was analysed as a whole. However, when the subjects were grouped according to the steepness of their ventilatory response slopes, there was a pattern of higher amounts of periodic breathing in subjects with steeper ventilatory responses. Chapter 5 reports the findings of an experimental study carried out in the University of California, San Diego, Barcroft Laboratory on White Mountain in California. Seven subjects drove from sea level to 3800m in one day and stayed at this altitude for two nights. On one of the nights the subjects slept using a non-invasive positive pressure device via a face mask and this was found to significantly improve the sleeping oxyhemoglobin saturation. The use of the device was also found to eliminate the symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness, as measured by the Lake Louise scoring system. This finding appears to confirm the hypothesis that lower oxygen saturation, particularly during sleep, is strongly correlated to the development of Acute Mountain Sickness and may represent a new treatment and prevention strategy for this very common high altitude disorder.

This thesis elaborates on the relationship between work and time and how it relates to quality architecture. Quality is a degree of excellence. The project proposed is aimed at promoting quality in the built environment through workmanship. Pretoria, in the Tswane Metropolitan area, is in Gauteng, the province responsible for most trade in South Africa. Hatfield in Pretoria is home to many students of various institutions, including the University of Pretoria. Many workers live in Pretoria and commutes daily between Pretoria and Johannesburg. The world is characterized by ever-changing aspects today, and especially in South Africa uncertainty prevails. Fluctuations in the economy have resulted in a feeling of insecurity. An unemployment rate of approximately 40% has caused many South Africans to become temporary, and often migrant, workers. This uncertainty also reflects in the built environment, where buildings have become "temporary", displaying a lack of workmanship in the planning and construction. The project discussed in this thesis is a result of intensive planning on the site, in collaboration with the proposed Hatfield Gautrans Station by Bernard Roccon (thesis proposal for MArch(Prof) degree, 2003), implemented to provide an efficient public transport link between Pretoria and Johannesburg. The functions of the project; a stable centre acting as a datum point and haven for temporary workers, is a result of this planning process. This thesis aims at re-establishing a trust in the built environment through quality architecture, by promoting work and workmanship. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Architecture / unrestricted

Those who practice poor meal timing habits such as irregular day-to-day eating, eating late at night, and have a short overnight fast are more at risk for weight gain, reduced weight loss with weight loss attempts, and increased risk for developing and/or worsening health conditions such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease and/or risk factors for said conditions. Recent studies have identified possible factors that influence meal timing, one of which is hunger. Hunger is defined as a physiologic need to eat, and can be triggered by a rise in the hormone ghrelin. Hunger in general, or greater hunger at certain times of day, may lead to poor meal timing and/or difficulty adhering to meal timing recommendations made in behavioral interventions. The goal of our study was to determine if the overall hunger level and time of onset of greatest hunger were associated with poor meal timing cross-sectionally and lower adherence to meal timing recommendations. The meal timing behaviors we examined were eating late at night, having a longer overnight fast, and an earlier ingestive period midpoint based on published evidence suggesting these are important for weight control. We hypothesized that a greater overall hunger level and later onset of greatest hunger would be inversely associated with poor meal timing cross-sectionally and a lower adherence to potential meal timing recommendations to be applied to future interventions. Our cross-sectional study was a secondary analysis of data from a previous study on diet and energy regulation in 116 healthy adults (mean BMI 24.3 kg/m2; SD 3.8, mean age 29.4 years; SD 11.9). Both continuous and categorical meal timing outcomes were examined. The continuous outcomes were eating late at night (defined as eating past 20:00 h), length of overnight fast (defined as the length of time between the last meal consumed before bedtime and first eating occasion after waking), and timing of the largest meal, which we measured using the midpoint of the ingestive period. Categorical outcomes, which had cutoff values determined based on evidence from published research, were: not eating after 20:00, achieving an overnight fast of ≥13 hours, and having the midpoint of the ingestive period before 15:00. Associations of hunger variables with continuous meal timing outcomes were examined in three separate models using analysis of covariance, with hunger variables as the independent variables and the meal timing patterns as the dependent variables. Associations of hunger variables with categorical (bivariate) outcomes had the same independent variables but were examined with logistic regression analysis. Covariates included in both continuous and categorical models were age, sex, race, physical activity level, weighted average bedtime on weekdays and weekends, dietary restraint score, dietary disinhibition score, sleep duration, and sleep quality. After inclusion of all covariates, a higher hunger score was associated with having an overnight fast lasting ≥13 hours (p=0.026), suggesting that participants were able to achieve a longer overnight fast despite being hungrier. There was no significant association between hunger variables and eating late at night or midpoint of ingestive period (p>0.05), although the p-value was marginally non-significant with eating late at night (p=0.080). Time of greatest hunger was not associated with any of the meal timing variables (p>0.05). As previous studies have shown that a longer overnight fast improves weight loss, a possible application of our findings, namely the length of overnight fast, is for individuals who aim to achieve an overnight fast of ≥13 hours to lose weight by consuming a greater proportion energy in the morning/afternoon as opposed to dinner/later at night.. This suggestion is based on previous studies showing eating a larger breakfast decreases feelings of hunger at night. Additionally, including more protein and fiber in the diet can increase satiety at any time of day. Future studies are needed to examine relationships between hunger score and a longer overnight fast, in larger, more diverse populations and with randomized controlled designs, as our study was cross-sectional and was unable to determine causality.

This thesis studies realized volatility (RV), implied volatility (IV) and their applications in stochastic volatility models. The first essay uses both daytime and overnight high-frequency price data for equity index futures to estimate the RV of the S\&P500 and NASDAQ 100 indexes. Empirical results reveal strong inter-correlation between the regular-trading-time and after-hour RVs, as well as a significant predictive power of overnight RV on daytime RV and vice versa. We propose a new day-night realized stochastic volatility (DN-SV-RV) model, where the daytime and overnight returns are jointly modeled with their RVs, and their latent volatilities are correlated. The newly proposed DN-SV-RV model has the best out-of-sample return distribution forecasts among the models considered. The second essay extends the realized stochastic volatility model by jointly estimating return, RV and IV. We examine how RV and IV enhance the estimation of the latent volatility process for both the S\&P500 index and individual stocks. The third essay re-examines asymmetric stochastic volatility (ASV) models with different return-volatility correlation structures given RV and IV. We show by simulation that estimating the ASV models with return series alone may infer erroneous estimations of the correlation coefficients. The incorporation of volatility measures helps identify the true return-volatility correlation within the ASV framework. Empirical evidence on global equity market indices verifies that ASV models with additional volatility measures not only obtain significantly different estimations of the correlations compared to the benchmark ASV models, but also improve out-of-sample return forecasts. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Trombocytopeni behandlas primärt med trombocyttransfusion. Trombocytkoncentraten kan erhållas genom poolning av lättcellskikt framställda ur helblodsenheter från flera blodgivare. Helblodsenheterna kyls vanligen ner på en CompoCool®-platta för att snabbt komma ner till rumstemperatur och kan då prepareras redan efter 2 h. Detta brukar vara logistiskt fördelaktigt och gynnar erytrocyterna som framställs ur samma helblodsenheter. Det går även att låta helblodsenheterna kylas ner i rumstemperatur vilket å andra sidan sägs ge ett högre trombocytutbyte då studier visat att trombocyter är känsliga för kyla. Syftet med examensarbetet var att framställa och jämföra kvaliteten på trombocytkoncentrat där helblodsenheten hade kylts ner på CompoCool®-platta respektive kylts ner i rumstemperatur. Hypotesen var att trombocytutbytet skulle bli högre vid nedkylning av helblodsenheten i rumstemperatur än vid nedkylning på CompoCool®-platta. Framställningen av trombocytkoncentraten gjordes genom poolning av 5 st lättcellskikt och en påse trombocytsuspensionsmedium efterföljt av centrifugering och separation i en automatisk blodkomponents separator. Kvalitén utvärderades med avseende på trombocytkoncentration, leukocytkoncentration, swirling samt bakterieodling. Samtliga resultat för kvalitetskontrollerna låg inom de rekommenderade gränsvärdena. Det beräknade t-testet för trombocytkoncentrationen var högre än det kritiska t-värdet vilket innebar att det var en signifikant skillnad mellan de olika nedkylningsmetoderna. Genom användning av de erhållna resultaten kunde hypotesen bekräftas och slutsatsen dras att trombocytutbytet är signifikant högre då helblodsenheten kyls ner i rumstemperatur jämfört med CompoCool®-platta.

In this thesis, I study the transmission of monetary policy through the term structure of interest rates. This is an important topic because, with short-term nominal interest rates in many advanced economies close to their effective lower bound since 2008-2009, central banks have used `unconventional' monetary policies, such as large-scale asset purchases and forward guidance, to stimulate macroeconomic activity by, inter alia, placing downward pressure on longer-term interest rates. I focus on the mechanisms through which monetary policy influences bond yields, domestically and globally, with reference to a canonical decomposition of longer-term interest rates into expectations of future short-term interest rates, and term premia. After an introduction in chapter 1, chapter 2 appraises the use of overnight indexed swap (OIS) rates as measures of expected future monetary policy. Unlike federal funds futures (FFFs), which have regularly been used to construct measures of US interest rate expectations, OIS rates are available in many countries. I find that US OIS rates provide measures of interest rate expectations that are as good as those from FFFs, and that US, UK, Eurozone and Japanese OIS rates up to a 2-year horizon tend to accurately measure interest rate expectations, providing comparable cross-country measures of monetary policy expectations. In chapter 3, I propose a novel method for estimating interest rate expectations and term premia at short and long-term horizons: a no-arbitrage Gaussian affine dynamic term structure model (GADTSM) augmented with OIS rates. Using 3 to 24-month OIS rates, the OIS-augmented model generates estimates of the expected path of short-term interest rates out to a 10-year horizon that closely correspond to those implied by FFFs rates and survey expectations, outperforming existing GADTSMs. I study the transmission of US unconventional monetary policies in chapter 4. Using the OIS-augmented GADTSM, I carry out an event study to demonstrate that US unconventional monetary policy announcements between November 2008 and April 2013 did significantly reduce US longer-term interest rates by affecting expectations and term premia. As a result of these declines, unconventional monetary policies aided US real economic outcomes. Using a structural vector autoregression, I show that changes in interest rate expectations, linked to monetary policy signalling, had more expansionary effects on US real economic outcomes than changes in term premia, associated with portfolio rebalancing. Chapter 5 assesses the international transmission of monetary policy through the term structure of interest rates between advanced economies. I present a micro-founded, two-country model with endogenous portfolio choice amongst country-specific short and long-term bonds, and equity. Within the model, US monetary policy has sizeable effects on longer-term interest rates in other advanced economies, which are similar to empirical estimates. Using the OIS-augmented GADTSM in an event study, I show that US monetary policy has led to changes in interest rate expectations in other advanced economies that amplify global spillovers, which have been partly mitigated by changes in term premia through portfolio rebalancing.

Submitted by Anderson Ricardo Ubinha de Sá (anderson.ubinha@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-09-05T21:29:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Final - Anderson Ricardo Ubinha de Sá vf.pdf: 6749863 bytes, checksum: bd865f83f290dfc8a997497024fa3e32 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2016-09-06T17:20:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Final - Anderson Ricardo Ubinha de Sá vf.pdf: 6749863 bytes, checksum: bd865f83f290dfc8a997497024fa3e32 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-06T17:23:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Final - Anderson Ricardo Ubinha de Sá vf.pdf: 6749863 bytes, checksum: bd865f83f290dfc8a997497024fa3e32 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-12 / O objetivo deste trabalho é comparar as metodologias anterior e atual da taxa DI-Cetip e indicar as suscetibilidades de cada procedimento. Por meio da geração de operações com taxas e volumes coerentes com o histórico, foi possível comparar ambas as metodologias e outras possíveis seis propostas apresentadas, além de identificar as magnitudes das diferenças dos resultados das apurações. São sugeridas melhorias a serem implementadas, como o delay na divulgação das informações, a exclusão total de outliers, a redução dos pesos das taxas extremas de forma simétrica, além de uma alternativa semelhante à taxa LIBOR, que mitigaria algumas das questões apontadas e seria mais adequada devido à redução drástica de negócios válidos para o cálculo. / The objective of this study is to compare the previous and current methodologies of DI-Cetip rate and indicate the susceptibilities of each procedure. By generating trades with rates and volumes according history, it was possible to compare both methodologies and other possible six proposals and identify the magnitudes of the differences in calculations. Improvements are suggested to be implemented, such as the delay in the disclosure of information, the total exclusion of outliers, reducing the weights of the extreme rates symmetrically, and an alternative like LIBOR, which would mitigate some of the issues raised and would be appropriate due to the drastic reduction of valid trades for the calculation.