This study examines the efficacy of presenting footnotes information in alternative display formats on investors’ judgments and decisions. Non-professional investors play a significant role in the capital markets yet they do not always attend to information contained in footnote disclosures. As a result, nonprofessional investors systematically misprice firms and misallocate resources. Recognizing that increased mandatory and voluntary disclosures create additional challenges for non-professional investors, both the FASB and SEC have actively sought ways to increase the effectiveness of disclosures. I hypothesize that high display proximity, low signal-to-noise presentation formats can increase investors’ attention to and processing of footnote disclosures and hence performance on an investing task. Further I hypothesize that low display proximity, low signal-to-noise presentation formats can improve investor performance on a recognition task. Lastly, I hypothesize that non-professional investors viewing high display proximity, low signal-to-noise footnote disclosures will rate usability higher than nonprofessional investors viewing footnote disclosures in the other three display formats. Amazon Mechanical Turk workers are used as participants in a 2 x 2 between-participants experiment using two task types: an integrative (investing) task and a non-integrative (recognition) task. I manipulate display proximity (inline or side-by-side) and signal-to-noise ratio (footnotes presented simultaneously or individually). Contrary to my hypotheses, I find that low signal-to-noise ratio increases non-professional investors’ performance on both the integrative (investing) and non-integrative (recognition) tasks. Further, although task performance increased under the low signal-to-noise presentation format, participants did not evaluate either signal-to-noise presentation format easier to use or more useful. Instead, participants found the high display proximity (side-by-side) presentation format easier to use, although it did not yield performance increases.

Purpose: A central ambition and purpose of the the thesis is to shed light on the social capital within the cluster and how it contributes to the creation of networks, in what turned out to be intertwined relationships between micro-foundations and social structures. Methodology/approach: This research paper used qualitative research methods, more specifically 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted and one mini focus group. The thesis had an abductive approach. Findings: Consistent throughout the process of the thesis, there has been a clear connection between social capital and how this affects and contributes to the creation of networks. The micro-foundations such as trust, network, communication, collaboration, and cooperation are thus intertwined with the social structures of the cluster and its development. Thus, the findings of this paper can be of interest for creating a common understanding and providing key insights to several other clusters. Research Delimitations / limitations: Regarding Delimitations, the researchers did choose to limit the study to ICS. The Narrative review was however not been delimited, as the authors studied other cases in clustering. Regarding limitations, there was a certain level of limited access to the respondents, as the researchers tried to reach out to plenty of members, however, there was a low level of response at first. This did however not affect the outcome. Practical implications: Reviewing the literature has led to the conclusion that there is room for improvement regarding social capital in clusters and its effect on networking. Thus, this paper provides implications for clusters all over the world that struggle with the social capital. Originality: The originality of this paper is that it researched an aspect of clustering that is well under-researched in order to shed light on and provide a comprehensive understanding of the social capital and its effect on networking. Thus, the outcome of this paper provides cluster guidance as to the unique value proposition. / Syfte: Mikrofundamenten och sociala strukturer är sammanflätade, är syftet med avhandlingen att belysa det sociala kapitalet inom klustret och hur det bidrar till att skapa nätverk. Metod/tillvägagångssätt: Denna forskningsartikel använde kvalitativa forskningsmetoder, närmare bestämt genomfördes 10 semistrukturerade intervjuer och en minifokusgrupp. Avhandlingen hade ett abduktivt förhållningssätt. Resultat: Genomgående under examensarbetets gång har det funnits ett tydligt samband mellan socialt kapital och hur detta påverkar och bidrar till att skapa nätverk. Mikrogrunderna som tillit, nätverk, kommunikation, samarbete och samarbete är alltså sammanflätade med klustrets sociala strukturer och dess utveckling. Resultaten av denna artikel kan därför vara av intresse för att skapa en gemensam förståelse och ge viktiga insikter till flera andra kluster. Forskningsavgränsningar/begränsningar: När det gäller avgränsningar valde forskarna att begränsa studien till ICS. Den narrativa recensionen var dock inte avgränsad, eftersom författarna studerade andra fall i klustring. När det gäller begränsningar fanns det en viss nivå av begränsad tillgång till respondenterna, eftersom forskarna försökte nå ut till många medlemmar, dock var det låg respons till en början. Detta påverkade dock inte resultatet. Praktiska implikationer: Genomgång av litteraturen har lett till slutsatsen att det finns utrymme för förbättringar när det gäller socialt kapital i kluster och dess effekt på nätverkande. Sålunda ger detta dokument konsekvenser för kluster över hela världen som kämpar med det sociala kapitalet. Originalitet: Denna artikel syftade till att belysa en mindre forskad aspekt av klustring som ämnade delge en heltäckande förståelse för socialt kapitalet och dess effekt på nätverkande. Resultatet av detta dokument också kan funka som vägledning i linje med frågan och de de valda vinklarna.

For the last couple of decades consumer decision-making has been of increasing interest for retail as well as for consumer behaviour research. Food shopping constitutes a unique type of shopping behaviour. In comparison to other types of shopping, food is essential to life, and not often are there as many choices to be made in a short period of time as when shopping groceries. The purpose of this dissertation was to advance the knowledge of what influences consumers’ choices of grocery stores. More specifically, the main focus has been on how different situations (e.g., type of shopping) influence choices of grocery stores. Five papers, which build on three surveys on how consumers choose grocery stores in Sweden, are included in this dissertation. In the first paper a comprehensive set of ten aggregated attributes that determine store choices were developed. The second paper brought forward five consumer segments (Planning Suburbans, Social Shoppers, Pedestrians, City Dwellers, and Flexibles) based on where and how they shop. In the third paper it was shown that accessibility attributes (e.g., accessibility by car, availability) and attractiveness attributes (e.g., price, service) have different impacts on satisfaction, depending on consumer characteristics and shopping behaviour in supermarkets compared to convenience stores. In the fourth paper the result showed that satisfaction is affected by type of grocery shopping (major versus fill-in shopping) in conjunction with time pressure and which store attributes that are important for satisfaction. It was also shown that the effect of time pressure and type of shopping on satisfaction varied in different consumer segments. In the final paper it was shown that a store has to be more attractive in terms of attributes for a consumer to switch from the grocery store they usually patronage, even if the new store is situated right beside or closer than the consumer’s regular grocery store. The view of a “good location” is further developed in this dissertation, arguing that consumers’ mental distance to a store – their cognitive proximity – is much more important than the physical place of the store. In sum, this dissertation revealed that the situation is more important than previous research has shown. Depending on the situation, consumers will face different outcomes (different stores) and value different store attributes. Hence, stores need to manage different store attributes depending on which consumer groups the stores want to attract and what situation the consumers are facing. Therefore, consumers’ choices of grocery stores are situation-based choices. / I ett par decennier har intresset för konsumenters beslutsfattande ökat för både detaljhandeln och forskningen kring konsumentbeteende. Matinköp utgör en unik typ av köp-beteende då det i jämförelse med andra typer av handlande är livsnödvändiga samt att det sällan finns så många val som ska göras under kort tid som vid matinköp. Syftet med denna avhandling är att främja kunskap om vad som påverkar konsumenternas val av livsmedelsbutik. Mer specifikt har fokus varit på hur olika situationer (t.ex. typ av handlande) påverkar valet av butik. Fem artiklar, som bygger på tre olika undersökningar om hur konsumenter väljer livsmedelsbutiker i Sverige ingår i denna avhandling. I den första artikeln utvecklades en omfattande uppsättning av tio aggregerade attribut (baserade på 34 attribut) som bestämmer konsumenters val av livsmedelsbutiker. I den andra artikeln presenterades fem konsumentsegment (Planerande förortsbor, Sociala shoppare, Fotgängare, Stadsbor och Flexibla) som baserades på var och hur de handlar. Den tredje artikeln visade att tillgänglighetsattribut (t.ex. tillgängligheten med bil och öppettider) och attraktivitetsattribut (t.ex. pris och service) har olika effekter på konsumenters nöjdhet. Denna nöjdhet varierade även beroende på konsumentens bakgrundsfaktorer samt huruvida konsumenten handlade i stormarknader eller i närbutiker. I den fjärde artikeln visade resultaten att nöjdhet påverkas av typ av matinköp (storhandlande kontra kompletteringshandlande) i samband med tidspress och de attribut som är viktiga för konsumenternas nöjdhet med butiken. Det visade sig även att effekterna av tidspress och typ av handlande på konsumenternas nöjdhet med butiker varierade i olika konsumentgrupper. Det femte konferenspapperet visade att en butik måste vara mer attraktiv när det gäller attribut för att konsumenter skall byta från den livsmedelsbutik som de brukar handla i, även om den nya butiken skulle öppna precis bredvid eller närmre än den vanliga livsmedelsbutiken. Synen på vad som är ett ”bra läge” utvecklas därför ytterligare i denna avhandling, med argumentet att konsumenternas mentala avstånd till en butik - deras kognitiva närhet - är mycket viktigare än den fysiska platsen för butiken. Sammanfattningsvis visade denna avhandling att effekten av olika situationer är viktigare än vad tidigare forskning har visat. Beroende på situation kommer konsumenter att möta olika utfall (välja olika butiker) och de kommer även att värdera olika butikers attribut olika. Således behöver butiken hantera olika butiksattribut beroende på vilken konsumentgrupp butiken vill attrahera och vilken situation de konsumenterna står inför. Därför kan val av livsmedelsbutiker ses som situationsbaserade val.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / Combating harsh and unpredictable channel environments is a part of the design of any in-situ communication system (i.e. rover to lander, rover to orbiter, etc.). Channel characteristics can range from simple additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels to more bursty fading channels found in rover to orbiter links (i.e. canyon scenarios and typical orbiter passes around mountain ranges). A combination of forward error correction and automatic repeat request (ARQ) schemes are commonly used to provide a more robust communications link. ARQ enhances the communication link particularly for bursty fading channels. Go-Back-N is a commonly used ARQ scheme and is an option in the newly developed Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Proximity-1 Link protocol [7], a data link layer protocol targeted specifically for in-situ applications. Optimization of frame sizes and retransmission persistence of the ARQ scheme require a good analytical model of how the scheme performs over various channel conditions. In this paper, an analytical framework for modeling the COP-1 protocol is presented for both AWGN channels along with bursty fading channels. A Gilbert-Elliot two-state Markov model is used to model a bursty fading channel.

Semiconductor scaling has been largely driven by advancements in lithographic technologies. However, the lack of a viable next generation lithography solution since the 180nm node has driven the industry to printing sub-wavelength features. This has led to rising manufacturing costs and diminishing chip yield. In traditional methodologies, manufacturing and design are relatively insulated, with a layout being the only means of communicating design intent to the foundry. In this dissertation, we describe several techniques which utilize electrical information to improve properties of manufactured structures. We aim to show that a bi-directional flow of information between design and manufacturing is key to increasing chip yield. In particular, we target the mask data preparation flow of lithography. We develop an electrically-driven optical proximity correction (ED-OPC) tool that performs electrical matching as opposed to geometric matching in order to achieve lower post-lithography delay error. We then demonstrate how to harness ED-OPC to compensate electrical variability arising from non-lithographic sources as well. We then describe a technique to manufacture circuits with less timing violations across the process window by using design-aware shape tolerances generated from timing information. Finally, we observe that local wiring has low impact on design properties and use this information to modify target wire shapes themselves in order to improve their manufacturability in the presence of process variations. / text

The aim of this study is to propose an alternative approach in prognostics for airborne avionics system in order to enhance maintenance process and aircraft availability. The objectives are to analyse the dependency of avionic systems for fault propagation behaviour degradation, research and develop methods to predict the remaining useful life of avionics Line Replaceable Units (LRU), research and develop methods to evaluate and predict the degradation performances of avionic systems, and lastly to develop software simulation systems to evaluate methods developed. One of the many stakeholders in the aircraft lifecycle includes the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) industry. The predictable logistics process to some degree as an outcome of IVHM gives benefit to the MRO industry. In this thesis, a new integrated numerical methodology called ‘System Level Airborne Avionic Prognostics’ or SLAAP is developed; looking at a top level solution in prognostics. Overall, this research consists of two main elements. One is to thoroughly understand and analyse data that could be utilised. Secondly, is to apply the developed methodology using the enhanced prognostic methodology. Readily available fault tree data is used to analyse the dependencies of each component within the LRUs, and performance were simulated using the linear Markov Model to estimate the time to failure. A hybrid approach prognostics model is then integrated with the prognostics measures that include environmental factors that contribute to the failure of a system, such as temperature. This research attempts to use data that is closest to the data available in the maintenance repair and overhaul industry. Based on a case study on Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS), the prognostics methodology developed showed a sufficiently close approximation to the Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) data supplied by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). This validation gives confidence that the proposed methodology will achieve its objectives and it should be further developed for use in the systems design process.

Prior studies suggest that proximity to nuclear power plants do not affect concerns regarding perceived risks of nuclear power. This thesis applies and compare Swedish plant Ringhals with prior studies but with the added intent of addressing the relationship between plant and population. The host community Bua is positive towards Ringhals and the changes it has brought. To some degree more so than results of prior studies with a higher than national average percent of study respondents being in favor of nuclear power. When Ringhals was established, Bua was small and had little power to impact the decision. Today, the population is bigger and have a better chance to affect future pathways for their community. While positive towards nuclear power the population expresses concerns over possible future changes. A large scale change like the construction of a power plant is less likely to happen again.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Although the interior operators correspond to a special class of neighbourhood operators, the closure operators are not nicely related to the latter. We introduce and study the notion of topogenous orders on a category which provides a basis for categorical study of topology. We show that they are equivalent to the categorical neighbourhood operators and house the closure and interior operators. The natural notion of strict morphism with respect to a topogenous order is shown to capture the known ones in the settings of closure, interior and neighbourhood operators.

O presente estudo discute os laços entre o tratar e o educar na obra freudiana. A partir da constatação de certa confusão entre tratar e educar, verificada por meio das publicações a respeito do assunto, bem como pelas queixas daqueles que se ocupam do tratamento e da educação, partimos do questionamento sobre a existência da proximidade entre essas duas posições e propusemos uma discussão que, por esse viés, pudesse ajudar a desfazer a mencionada confusão. A escolha por esse percurso revelase interessante porque as produções que discutem o assunto parecem sublinhar a diferença em detrimento da proximidade entre tratar e educar. Caracterizamos a proximidade em termos de tipos de laços diferentemente qualificados: um laço inicial denominado simbiótico, em que o educar é tomado pelo tratar, em termos de um fim instrumental, e essa relação, do ponto de vista do tratar, fica caracterizada pela complementaridade o tratamento analítico é definido a partir de expressões próprias ao campo do educar e o caráter profilático que por um longo período definiu o tratamento é atribuído à educação; o outro laço é definido a partir da distinção entre tratar e educar. Num percurso genealógico pelos textos freudianos, foi possível acompanhar a construção do tratar e o interesse específico de Freud pelo educar, bem como as conseqüências das mudanças que esse processo implica. A mudança de um tipo de laço para outro não se dá de uma só vez, e é resultado das reformulações na concepção do tratamento frente aos impasses que Freud vai encontrando. Nesta pesquisa, que aborda o tratar e o educar como práticas distintas, discutimos a questão da aplicação da psicanálise à educação e a forma rigorosa e cuidadosa como Freud aborda o assunto, questionando não só a possibilidade de uma intersecção entre psicanálise e educação, mas também o modo como tal relação poderia se dar. A partir desse ponto, foi possível dialogar com os textos que tomam tal intersecção predominantemente do ponto de vista da diferença, mas buscando fomentar, seguindo o próprio trajeto freudiano, outros modos de discutir o assunto, considerando a proximidade entre tratar e educar. Encerramos este estudo com a discussão da proximidade a partir da atribuição do estatuto de impossível, tanto para a psicanálise como para a educação. / This study discusses the laces between treating and educating in Freuds work. From the verification of some confusion between treating and educating, checked over the publications about the subject, as well as the reports of the ones who are in charge of treatment and education, a question on the existence of proximity between these two positions is begun and it is proposed a discussion that by this way could help to undo the mentioned confusion. The choice of this trajectory appears to be interesting for the productions that debate the theme seem to emphasize the difference to the detriment of the proximity between treating and educating. The proximity is characterized in terms of laces differently categorized: an initial lace called symbiotic in which educating is taken by treating for an instrumental purpose, and this relation, from the point of view of treating, is characterized for the complementarity the analytical treatment is defined according to peculiar expressions of educating area and the prophylactic character which defined the treatment for a long period is attributed to education; the other lace is described from the distinction between treating and educating. Through a genealogical course of Freuds texts, it was possible to follow the construction of treating and the specific interest of Freud in educating, as well as the consequences of the rearrangements that this process involves. The change from one type of lace to another does not happen at once, it is the result of re-formulations in the concept of treatment before the impasses Freud was facing. In this research, which approaches treating and educating like distinguished practices, it is discussed the matter of the application of psychoanalysis to education and the rigorous and careful manner that Freud deals with the subject, questioning not only the possibility of an intersection between psychoanalysis and education, but also the way this relationship could happen. From then on, it was possible to discuss with the texts that take predominantly that intersection from the point of view of difference, but trying to stimulate, according to Freuds own trajectory, other means of debating the subject, considering the proximity between treating and educating. This paper ends with the discussion of proximity considering the attribution of the characteristic of impossible for psychoanalysis and as well to education.

The problem this thesis addresses is unhealthier diets consumed in high income countries that contribute to rising obesity rates. This problem is most evident amongst those in lower socio-economic positions (SEPs) who benefit less from traditional information-based interventions, possibly due to lower cognitive resource for self-control. Conversely, altering environmental cues appears to change behaviour with less conscious deliberation. This thesis aims to investigate whether interventions targeting the “proximity effect” i.e. the farther away the food, the lower the chance it is selected, consistently affects food selection in general populations in ways that could be used to improve diets without relying on cognitive resource. Three laboratory-based experiments were conducted. Study 1 investigated the proximity effect in a general population sample, including those from lower SEPs. Fewer participants selected an unhealthier food when it was far (53.8%) compared with near (63.3%), an effect which increased in size when participants who moved the bowl were excluded (39.3% vs 63.9%). Study 2 extended Study 1 using a statistically more powerful design in which participants were also randomised to a cognitive load intervention, assessing whether the proximity effect was similar regardless of differences in manipulated cognitive resource. Fewer participants selected an unhealthier food when it was far (57.7%) compared with near (70.7%) an effect not moderated by cognitive resource. Study 3 built on Studies 1 and 2, (in which only one unhealthier food was available), to assess the proximity effect when both healthier and unhealthier foods were available. The selection of healthier food was not significantly affected by its proximity (OR=0.61, 95% CI[0.28,1.32]) and that of competing unhealthier foods (OR=1.54, 95% CI[0.52,4.55]). By contrast, the selection of unhealthier food was influenced by its proximity (OR=0.39, 95% CI[0.18,0.82]) and that of competing healthier foods, although not significantly (OR=2.83, 95% CI[0.98,8.33]). These differing effects require further testing and replication to determine their reliability. The thesis concludes by discussing how the findings of these studies can inform development of interventions capitalising on the “proximity effect” to improve diets for all SEPs, the research needed to address key remaining uncertainties, and the implications of such interventions for addressing the rise in obesity.