1 Title: Mining Physiological Data for Automated Educational Feedback Author: Bc. Kateřina Bašátková Department: Department of Physics Education Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Zdena Lustigová, CSc., Department of Physics Education Abstract: This thesis deals with mining physiological data for automated educational feedback. The first part summarizes former researches of physiological data and its assertation into human behaviour. Special attention is devoted especially to eye tracking and measuring heart rate during behavioral processes. The second part is dedicated to author's own research how blink rate and heart rate are influenced by the degree of cognitive load. The research was executed on six subjects. The obtained data confirm correlation of blink rate and heart rate with the difficulty of the task. Keywords: heart rate, heart rate variability, blink rate, cognitive load

The main aim of the study was to investigate change of programmes of study at University of the Western Cape (UWC). This involved examining the extent, nature and possible range of factors which shape change of programmes. The factors influencing choice to study at UWC and choice of programmes formed the background for understanding the link between choice and change of programmes. The study focused on first-time entering undergraduates in selected faculties: Arts, Economics and Management Sciences (EMS) and Community and Health Sciences (CHS). The progression “pathways” of these students were tracked from first year of enrolment in 2001 to 2004. The findings of the longitudinal data showed that the percentage of students who changed their programmes in the Faculty of Arts and in CHS was very minimal. In total 5% changed their programmes in CHS in three-year programmes while in four-year programmes only 2% changed their programmes. In the Faculty of Arts in three-year and four-year programmes change of programmes ranged from 6% to 10%. The significant change of programmes of study happened in EMS which also had the highest enrolments. In total 18% of the students changed their programmes. It appeared from the statistical data that failure and academic exclusion could be associated with change of programmes of study. Other factors such as financial problems, poor grouping of courses, exploring and changing to preferred programmes as well came out from the interviews as major influences of change of programmes.

Following the development of international trade, exchange rate uncertainty is a majorsource of risk for corporations involved in international activities. It has forcedmanagers and academics to pay more attention to the effect of exchange rate volatilityon firm value, particularly in developed countries. In the 1990s Asian financial crises,the stock return volatility of US multinational firms increases significantly with therapid expansion of Asian currency crises to world stock market. It led academics andinvestors to pay increasing attention to examine exchange rate exposure in Asia stockmarkets. Nowadays the value of U.S. dollar increased volatility against Asian countries’currency since U.S. financial crisis beginning in August 2007. From what we know, fewof researches report the impact of US financial crisis for Asia firms. This paper aims toexplore the relation between exchange rate movement and firm values in Asian markets. The main purpose of this paper is to examine whether a significant contemporaneousand lagged variability of Asian firms’ stock returns are affected by exchange ratemovement in Asian markets, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Taiwan, andMalaysia during the period from August 2005 to March 2010. Differences of capitalmaturity were compared with among these five Asian economies, covering bothdeveloped markets and emerging markets in Asia. This comparison makes sense tounderstand the efficient market hypothesis theory. In order to ensure our research’svalidity and reliability, sample firms are randomly chosen by the method of stratifiedsampling. The second step in this study is to examine the impact of firm-specific factorson sensitivity to exchange rate movement for those firms with a significant exchangerate exposure. The five firm specific factors are firm size, leverage situation, hedgingactivities, foreign involvement level, and industry classification. The main methods inthis quantitative research are simple and multiple linear regressions. The ordinary leastsquares method in SPSS program was used to estimate the parameters for eachindependent variable. Using a sample of 182 listed firms in these five sample markets, except China,exchange rate exposure of firms in other four Asian markets increases significantly insome sub-period during three sub-periods. After examining the sensitivity to weeklyexchange rate movement of local currency to US Dollar, it is noticeable for academicsthat there is no obvious difference between developed markets and emerging markets inAsia during the period of August 2005 to March 2010. Moreover, the relationshipbetween exchange rate and stock returns varied from markets with respect to exchangerate regimes and level of capital control. As to firm-specific factors, firm size wasnegatively related to exchange rate exposure and this effect was stronger in developedmarkets than other. Similar to previous studies, Asian markets also showed thatexchange rate exposure differed among industries. However, the effect on exchange rateexposure is not significant caused by leverage, foreign sales and hedging activityinvolvement. Suggestions and recommendations for further studies are provided in thelast part of this paper.

The understanding of central banking has evolved several times in the history. Different economic and political conditions shaped the structure of monetary policy and the stance of central banks. The Central Bank of Republic of Turkey (CBRT) also has experienced several reactionary policy shifts throughout its history. Nowadays, majority of central banks have started to follow financial stability programs after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09. The CBRT was one of the followers of financial stability targeting and has started to implement a new monetary policy structure after the Global Financial Crisis. The new monetary policy of the CBRT in which the financial stability was put nearby price stability came up with new challenges. Therefore in this thesis, we elaborate on the challenges of the CBRT and propose policy suggestions for the possible deficiencies of the new structure of the CBRT. We argue that the experiences of the CBRT in the inflation targeting period and the macroeconomic conditions of both during and post crisis period have shaped the new structure of the monetary policy, and the new policy mix of the CBRT may not be successful in all its targets at the same time because of the existence of &ldquo / macroeconomic quadrilemma&rdquo / tradeoffs as well as because of the ineffectiveness of the tool portfolio of the CBRT.

The main aim of the study was to investigate change of programmes of study at University of the Western Cape (UWC). This involved examining the extent, nature and possible range of factors which shape change of programmes. The factors influencing choice to study at UWC and choice of programmes formed the background for understanding the link between choice and change of programmes. The study focused on first-time entering undergraduates in selected faculties: Arts, Economics and Management Sciences (EMS) and Community and Health Sciences (CHS). The progression “pathways” of these students were tracked from first year of enrolment in 2001 to 2004. The findings of the longitudinal data showed that the percentage of students who changed their programmes in the Faculty of Arts and in CHS was very minimal. In total 5% changed their programmes in CHS in three-year programmes while in four-year programmes only 2% changed their programmes. In the Faculty of Arts in three-year and four-year programmes change of programmes ranged from 6% to 10%. The significant change of programmes of study happened in EMS which also had the highest enrolments. In total 18% of the students changed their programmes. It appeared from the statistical data that failure and academic exclusion could be associated with change of programmes of study. Other factors such as financial problems, poor grouping of courses, exploring and changing to preferred programmes as well came out from the interviews as major influences of change of programmes.

The globilisation phenomena is causing an increasing interaction between different markets and sectors. This has led to the evolution of derivative instruments from ”single asset” instruments to complex derivatives that have underlying assets from different markets, sectors and sub-sectors. These are the so-called hybrid products that have multi-assets as underlying instruments. This article focuses on interest rate hybrid products. In this article an analysis of the application of stochastic interest rate models and stochastic volatility models in pricing and hedging interest rate hybrid products will be explored.

During the last decade several Japanese life insurance companies failed mainly due to interest losses. In fact, interest rate risk dominates mortality risk for a portfolio of business in force. When the interest rates are modelled as random variables, the yields on bonds are the sum of expected short spot rates and a risk premium for random bond prices. However, in our study, we assume a risk-neutral environment, i.e. zero risk premiums. As tools to deal with stochastic interest rates, various interest rate term structure models are considered. The Vasicek model, the Heath-Jarrow-Morton (hereafter “HJM”) approach and Cairns’ model are explained in detail. The history and nature of the very low interest rate environment in Japan is described in line with the monetary policy framework of the central bank. An unusual interest rate movement in the very low interest rate environment is identified. A modified HJM approach and Cairns’ model are chosen in our study. Cairns’ model is used to graduate the initial yield curve. The HJM approach with a specific volatility function and modified to deal with very low interest rates is used for simulating subsequent developments of the initial yield curve. After the introduction of various concepts needed to investigate a life insurance policy portfolio, we prepare for simulation by collecting information and by fitting parameters to market observations. The Yen swap curve is chosen as a base yield curve. The simulation results show how much initial capital and/or margins are needed in order to avoid the ruin of a portfolio.

Magister Educationis - MEd / The main aim of the study was to investigate change of programmes of study at University of the Western Cape (UWC). This involved examining the extent, nature and possible range of factors which shape change of programmes. The factors influencing choice to study at UWC and choice of programmes formed the background for understanding the link between choice and change of programmes. The study focused on first-time entering undergraduates in selected faculties: Arts, Economics and Management Sciences (EMS) and Community and Health Sciences (CHS). The progression “pathways†of these students were tracked from first year of enrolment in 2001 to 2004. The findings of the longitudinal data showed that the percentage of students who changed their programmes in the Faculty of Arts and in CHS was very minimal. In total 5% changed their programmes in CHS in three-year programmes while in four-year programmes only 2% changed their programmes. In the Faculty of Arts in three-year and four-year programmes change of programmes ranged from 6% to 10%. The significant change of programmes of study happened in EMS which also had the highest enrolments. In total 18% of the students changed their programmes. It appeared from the statistical data that failure and academic exclusion could be associated with change of programmes of study. Other factors such as financial problems, poor grouping of courses, exploring and changing to preferred programmes as well came out from the interviews as major influences of change of programmes. / South Africa

HF communication has been used for more than a century and to this day still fulfils an important function in communications networks. In order to interface with modern communications protocols, solutions have to be designed to facilitate data communication over HF (High Frequency). STANAG 5066 is one such solution which provides an application independent ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) bearer service for client applications. A need exists within the STANAG 5066 specification for a DRC algorithm. The objective of such an algorithm is to select the optimum data rate and interleaver size, based upon current HF channel conditions, to maximise the data throughput over the HF link. In this dissertation previous implementations of DRC algorithms were studied and evaluated. In literature it was found that algorithm implementations used the FER and no channel information to make a data rate choice. This resulted in algorithms that tended to oscillate between data rate choices, and was very slow to react to changes in the HF channel. A new DRC algorithm was designed and simulated that uses the SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and the BER estimate to make a data rate choice. The DRC algorithm was implemented in a commercial STANAG 5066 system and tested using HF data modems and a simulated HF channel. The results of the implementation and testing show that the designed DRC algorithm gives a better performance, is quicker to adapt and is more robust than previous DRC algorithms. This is also the first DRC algorithm that has been designed to use channel information, such as the SNR and BER, to make a data rate choice. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

This thesis concerns with speculative carry trade strategy. Carry trade is based on breach of Uncovered Interest Parity. The theoretical part is focused on traditional fundamental analysis. This thesis deals with the identification of carry trade existence and capture their expressions in the financial markets, verification profitability and attractiveness of carry trade operations, analysis of conditions for carry trade on financial markets before and after global financial crisis 2008. Important part of the work was also description of the consequences of carry trade transactions and their effects on the exchange rate and financial situation