Resilience is a phenomenon that results from strong and well-protected adaptation systems. It is not a one-dimensional quality that either one has or does not have but is instead the possession of many skills and resources at different times and to varying degrees. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of three resilient refugee children regarding what they felt contributed to their positive adaptation after facing adversity. This study examined how the participants understood the variables inherent in parenting and the new social milieu (e.g. friends, the mosque or church, community agencies supporting refugees, school and community involvement, involvement in sport) promoted their resilience. <p>Three nine to twelve year old refugee children identified as resilient by their teachers were each interviewed three times at their school. Data analysis consisted of developing qualitative themes and patterns from the interviews. These themes and patterns were categorized using the constant comparative method.<p>This study supports and extends the existing understanding of the factors that contribute to resilience in school-age children. The children in this study perceived their families, their friends, and their teachers as protective factors in their positive adjustment following adversity. The vital role of the community coordinator in their school as a person who could facilitate their involvement in school and community events became evident. In addition, this study highlights the role of sport as a contributing factor to resilience. Involvement in sports appears to serve as a buffer against the vulnerabilities of resettlement in a new country for some refugee children. Further research on the importance of sport for children with refugee status would be beneficial for expanding our understanding of resilience, and would have implications for school and community programming.<p>As Canadian society becomes increasingly diverse, the need to discover the processes contributing to resilience in individuals with a wide range of cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds takes on greater importance. It is hoped that discovering the factors that help refugee children to develop resilience will create a deeper understanding of the processes involved for other children.

Bakgrund och problem: Fondsparandet har under senaste 30 åren ökat kraftigt i Sverige, där befolkning såg en möjlighet till att säkra upp en framtid. Dagens situation angående information om fonderna ser ut på så vis att internet har möjliggjort tillgängligheten, vilket kan göra det svårt för spararen att välja bland urvalet av fonderna. Därmed kan valet hamna på att låta en förvaltare från en av storbankerna som Handelsbanken och Swedbank att sköta fonderna. Frågan som författarna ställer sig är från vilka av de utvalda förvaltarna Handelsbanken, Swedbank och andra fondbolag som fonderna är mest lönsamma att investera i? Syfte: Huvudsyftet med denna undersökning är att se vilka av fonderna ur de valda fondgrupperna som presterat främst under en femårsperiod och de som är bäst att investera i. Delsyftet är att undersöka om det föreligger något samband mellan risken och avkastningen för de utvalda fonderna. Metod: Studien är baserad på forskningsstrategin kvantitativ undersökning. Sekundärdata och hårddata är främst inhämtad från förvaltarnas årsberättelser och Morningstar. Urvalet är på 32 fonder och data förblir av historisk fakta från ett femårsperspektiv. Författarna tillämpar egna beräkningar av genomsnittlig aritmetisk avkastning, Sharpe-kvoten och standardavvikelse för fonderna.Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet av de undersökta kategorierna, det vill säga Sverige- Småbolag – Medelstora bolag och Storbolag, Asienfonder och Rysslandfonder visade på ett starkt samband vid en gemensam regression för samtliga 32 fonder. Där åskådliggjordes det att tre fonder gått betydligt bättre än förväntningarna och tre fonder som gått avsevärt sämre än väntat. Nästintill av de resterande fonder hade gått som förväntat. De enskilda regressionerna för varje kategori visade att tre av fem grupper hade ett starkt positivt samband. De andra kategorierna hade nollkorrelation, som påvisade att dessa aktiefonder inte hade någon samvariation.

Tester av CAPM och Beta av bland andra Eugene Fama och Kenneth French (1992) har visat att det inte existerar något samband mellan systematisk risk (beta) och avkastning för aktier på den amerikanska aktiemarknaden. Andra forskare hävdar att det kan finnas ett samband mellan beta och avkastning om den studerade tiden fokuserar på isolerade perioder med antingen positiva eller negativa marknader. Kritik har även riktats av bland annat Richard Roll för att olika index som approximation för aktiemarknaden vid beräkningen av beta kan generera helt skilda värden och således betyda att investerare kan ha olika förväntade avkastningar för samma aktie. I denna studie försöker författarna besvara frågan om det existerar ett signifikant samband mellan beta och avkastning på den svenska aktiemarknaden. I studien undersöks sambandet på en aggregerad nivå under den totala studieperioden mellan 2003-2011 och även under isolerade positiva samt negativa marknader under samma period. Författarna använder sig av två olika index som approximation för den svenska aktiemarknaden, OMX Stockholm PI och OMX Stockholm 30, vid beräkningen av beta. För att kunna undersöka sambandet delas aktierna in i portföljer där snittvärden på beta och avkastning beräknas och studeras sedan i regressionsberäkningar. Resultatet av studien visar att det existerar ett signifikant samband mellan risk, symboliserat av beta, och avkastning på den svenska aktiemarknaden vid positiva marknader under den studerade tidsperioden. På en aggregerad nivå och även vid negativa marknader visar resultatet inte på några signifikanta samband mellan risk, symboliserat av beta, och avkastning på den svenska aktiemarknaden. I studien framkommer även att kritiken från Richard Roll varit befogad då beta blev olika beroende på vilket index som användes som approximation för den totala marknaden. / Empirical tests of CAPM and Beta by Eugene Fama and Kenneth French (1992) and others have shown that a significant correlation doesn’t exist between systematic risk (beta) and yearly returns on common stocks traded in the American stock market. Other researchers have shown that a relationship between beta and returns might exist if the studied time period is focused on isolated positive or negative markets. Richard Roll has criticized beta for the fact that by using different indices, as an approximation for the total market in the beta calculation, investors can get completely different beta values and thereby have different expected returns for the same stock. In this research the writers are trying to answer the question if a significant relationship exists between systematic risk, symbolized by beta, and returns on the Swedish stock market. During 2003-2011 the risk-return relationship is being examined at an aggregated level, and in isolated positive and negative markets. The writers are using two different indices as approximations for the Swedish stock market, OMX Stockholm PI and OMX Stockholm 30, when calculating betas. To be able to study the relationship between beta and returns common stocks have been divided up into portfolios where average betas and average returns have been calculated in order to perform a linear regression analysis. The results show that a significant relationship exists between systematic risk, symbolized by beta, and returns on the Swedish stock market during positive markets between 2003 and 2011. At an aggregated level and during negative markets in the same time period the results show no significant relationship between systematic risk, symbolized by beta, and returns on the Swedish stock market. The research confirms the criticism from Richard Roll in that the beta values turned out different depending on which index was used as an approximation for the total market when calculating beta.

Natural gas and petroleum are non-renewable and scarce energy sources. Although, it is well known that hydrocarbon reserves are depleting through the years, oil and gas remain the principal source of energy upon which our society is strongly dependent. Hence, optimization and accurate planning of hydrocarbon production are the main keys to making it safer, more efficient, and cheaper. One of the tools commonly used to evaluate the optimization of oil/gas production system is the process simulation modeling. A hydrocarbon production system typically consists of at least one underground reservoir where several wells have been drilled into the hydrocarbon-bearing rock to form a fixed topology network. Wells are interconnected with manifolds to transport the gas or oil to a storage or sale location. The process simulation consists of calculating the total hydrocarbon production for the given production system. The pressure in the wellbore is the main variable in determining the hydrocarbon production process. When oil/gas is produced, the pressure decreases until production cannot be sustained. If the well is shut down, the pressure at the wellbore increases because of the natural gas flow coming from the reservoir. In addition, artificial lift techniques, such as water injection, gas lift and pump systems can be incorporated into the simulation program. The oil/gas production has been also modeled as a multi-period optimization case to incorporate the possibility of different demands, cost and overall time behavior. The current field optimization approaches take in account the availability in a general way, adding to the planning a lot of uncertainty. The proposed study includes a suitable analysis of the likelihood of equipment failure, which will predict the availability of the equipment in a certain period of time to perform a more accurate planning. In this work, we have integrated the availability analysis to the model described above. The availability of a system is analyzed by Monte Carlo simulation, which involves the modeling of the probabilities of failure, the type of failure, the time to repair associated with each failure, and time of occurrence for a field system. The availability model performed reduces significantly the uncertainties on a multi-period planning production of either oil or gas, predicting the probability of failure and the downtime related to the hydrocarbon production through its lifetime. In this study, the unavailability of the equipment was quantified, reporting a subsea equipment downtime of approximately 7%. As a result, new production planning is accomplished in the effective work period, which will be beneficial in financial risk decisions such as a government’s deliverability contracts.

Risk assessment procedures for mixtures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present a problem due to the lack of available potency and toxicity data on mixtures and individual compounds. This study examines the toxicity of parent compound PAHs and binary mixtures of PAHs in order to bridge the gap between component assessment and mixture assessment. Seven pure parent compound PAHs and four binary mixtures of PAHs were examined in the Salmonella/Microsome Mutagenicity Assay, a Gap Junction Intercellular Communication (GJIC) assay and the 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase assay (EROD). These assays were chosen for their ability to measure specific toxic endpoints related to the carcinogenic process (i.e. initiation, promotion, progression). Data from these assays was used in further studies to build Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSARs) to estimate toxic endpoints and to test the additive assumption in PAH mixtures. These QSAR models will allow for the development of bioassay based potential potencies (PPB) or toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) that are derived not only from bioassay data, but also from structure, activity, and physical/chemical properties. These models can be extended to any environmental media to evaluate risk to human health from exposures to PAHs.

This dissertation contains three essays on learning and risk aversion. In the first essay we consider how learning may lead to risk averse behavior. A learning rule is said to be risk averse if it is expected to add more probability to an action which provides, with certainty, the expected value of a distribution rather than when it provides a randomly drawn payoff from this distribution, for every distribution. We characterize risk averse learning rules. The result reveals that the analysis of risk averse learning is isomorphic to that of risk averse expected utility maximizers. A learning rule is said to be monotonically risk averse if it is expected to increase the probability of choosing the actions whose distribution second-order stochastically dominates all others in every environment. We characterize monotonically risk averse learning rules. In the second essay we analyze risk attitudes for learning within the mean-variance paradigm. A learning rule is variance-averse if the expected reduced distribution of payoffs in the next period has a smaller variance than that of the current reduced distribution, in every set where all the actions provide the same expected payoff. A learning rule is monotonically variance-averse if it is expected to add probability to the set of actions that have the smallest variance in the set, when all the actions have the same expected payoff. A learning rule is monotonically mean-variance-averse if it is expected to add probability to the set of actions that have the highest expected payoff and smallest variance whenever this set is not empty. We characterize monotonically variance-averse and monotonically mean-variance-averse learning rules. In the last essay we analyze the social learning process of a group of individuals. We say that a learning rule is first-order monotone if the number of individuals that play actions with first-order stochastic dominant payoff distributions is expected to increase. We characterize these learning rules.

Presented here are the results of a study of geological hazards conducted in Canyon Lake Gorge of Central Texas. Canyon Lake Gorge formed in 2002 when the emergency spillway of Canyon Lake was overtopped. Since that time, the gorge has been opened to public tours, and the organization governing the gorge has expressed concern regarding visitor safety. The surveys in this study gathered data through field observations and supplemented those data with non-destructive tests from an impact test hammer. The goal of this study was to gather original field data on potential hazards of the gorge with the hope that insight from these data could be used to enhance visitor safety in the gorge. The field observations made in this study identified the presence of undercut rock ledges that could present varying degrees of risk to visitors. Easily eroded clayey wackestone facilitated formation of these potential hazards. Lithologies such as packstone and grainstone serve to form ledges atop the wackestone. Preexisting fractures and joints in the ledge forming rock, which compound the danger of the unstable masses of undercut ledges, provide failure planes. This study identified current areas of unstable masses by location and differentiates the degree of risk present at each location, using simplified classes of low, medium, and high risk. Level of risk was determined primarily by the potential injuries incurred. Often, the height was dependent upon the thickness of an easily eroded wackestone bed that undercuts ledge forming rock. Canyon Lake Gorge is a young and dynamic geomorphological environment seeking equilibrium through gravity facilitated erosional events. In time, natural formation of riser beds will mitigate the potential hazards of some undercut ledges. Based on the potential hazards identified in Canyon Lake Gorge, four safety recommendations are proposed: - Visitors should always be guided by trained personnel. This practice is in place. - Visitors should be educated on the dangers of Canyon Lake Gorge before entering. - Unavoidable hazards should be evaluated for ways to mitigate risk. - The gorge should be continually monitored to insure safety of the visiting public.

One psychosocial variable, human mate selection, has been studied extensively within the field of evolutionary psychology. A question of interest is how sexual/reproductive decision-making (i.e., dating, marrying, and childbearing) might be influenced by an individual’s perception of his/her genetic risk and other psychosocial variables. There is a paucity of empirical studies within the literature exploring this specific relationship. This partially mixed, sequential mixed methods study addresses how individual perception of genetic risk (PGR) influences or predicts sexual/reproductive intentions and decision-making. A systematic review of the literature was conducted by searching for English language, peer-reviewed, empirical studies in Cambridge Scientific Abstracts databases (N=26). Next, students from three Southwestern universities were recruited for focus groups and responded to 15 open-ended questions (N=86). Transcripts were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using holistic-content analysis. Based on the literature review and qualitative findings, a 138-item, web-based instrument was designed and tested at two Southwestern universities (N=2,576). Survey data were analyzed using non-parametric univariate analyses and multiple regression. Approximately 50 demographic, individual/familial psychosocial and genetic testing-related factors influenced the relationship between PGR and sexual/reproductive decision-making in reviewed studies. Individual psychosocial factors (e.g., intention, attitudes) represented 65.8% of all findings. Participants in the qualitative phase exhibited moderate health literacy when interpreting and discussing genetic risk information. A number of factors including age, gender, religion, individual/family values, and exposure to genetic concepts/technology appeared to influence sexual/reproductive decision-making. Demographic, Health Belief Model (HBM) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) variables predicted the relationship between PGR and dating, marital, and childbearing intention in the quantitative phase. TPB variables were the strongest predictors of intention accounting for 33.1-38.7% of variance. Positive family norms were the single best predictor of dating and marital intention. Age was the best predictor of childbearing intention. Further research is needed to understand how young adults incorporate genetic risk perceptions into sexual/reproductive decision-making. Mixed methods and longitudinal study designs, and structural equation modeling are recommended for use in future studies. Study findings affirm a need for health educators to consider adopting genomic competencies; creating theory-based curricula/interventions; and forming partnerships with genetic specialists and local/regional health departments.

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