Yes

I examine whether religiosity is positively associated with the valuation multiples investors assign to fair valued items that are prone to managerial bias. Using a sample of U.S. banking firms, I find that the value relevance of net assets that are hard to verify is higher for firms located in more religious areas than for those located in less religious areas. Moreover, I hypothesize and find that audit quality and firm information environment quality moderate the positive association between religiosity and value relevance. I perform several robustness checks. First, I rule out several alternative explanations to my results. Second, I address the concern that my results suffer from an omitted correlated variable problem. Third, I show that my results hold for firms located in Urban as well as Rural areas. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2013-11-28 11:01:35.578

Renneboog et al (2008) argue that it remains to be seen whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be priced. In light of this, this thesis tests the performance and market valuation of CSR indicators by using a comprehensive set of KLD indicators. Chapter Three of this thesis examines the effect of CSR on financial performance by incorporating CSR into the investment process. As no clear break point is found for the normalised KLD score, the net KLD score is used as an alternative portfolio metric. In addition, most KLD indicators are found to have insignificant alphas for the high-scoring, low-scoring, and long-short portfolios—meaning that investors do not earn abnormal returns through a long-short strategy. Moreover, insignificant alphas are recorded for most of the indicators under the best-in-class approach—meaning that the application of industry classification does not affect results. Finally, both the conditional Ferson and Schadt (1996) model and conditional three-factor model are used as robustness checks, with most indicators having insignificant alphas for these conditional models. As such, the results imply that there is neither outperformance nor underperformance when using portfolios formed with CSR scores; however, there are significant differences in factor loadings between high-scoring and low-scoring CSR portfolios. Chapter Four uses a framework consistent with the Peasnell (1982) and Ohlson (1995) model to examine whether CSR is reflected in share prices. The CSR indicator is treated as the “other information” variable, and the association between CSR and market price is estimated by controlling for book value of equity, net income and dividends. Although the market is found to value different KLD indicators differently, most of the indicators are found to have positive impact on market value (except for corporate governance and human rights). R&D and advertising expenditure are both added to the valuation model for robustness checking purposes. Some of the CSR indicators—and especially for the case of environment—are not valued during the earlier stages, but become increasingly valued over time. The ten industries are also found to have varying effects on market valuation. In summary, high-scoring CSR firms display higher valuations than low-scoring CSR firms, and thus it can be concluded that a socially responsible agenda does not conflict with maximising shareholder value. Since most of the CSR indicators in Chapter Four lead to positive market price valuations, Chapter Five aims to disaggregate the value effect into the separate components of ROE ratio, the implied cost of capital (ICC) and growth rate. Three different methodologies are used to test the relationship between CSR, ICC and the long-run growth rate. The relationship between CSR and growth rate is positive with all of the methodologies. However, the different methodologies return differing results for the relationship between CSR and ICC, which may be due to the different assumptions made by each approach. Furthermore, it suggests that long-run growth rate differences in general may be more important than ICC differences. Finally, most KLD indicators are found to have significantly higher P/V and ROE1 ratios for the high-scoring CSR portfolios than for the low-scoring CSR portfolios.

The tabloidization of the news is a term used more and more frequently when discussing the general decline of standards in media. And also when talking about the focus on the entertaining side of events or focus on rather simple topics in the news. The goal of the diploma thesis "Tabloidization of Czech television news in the context of its official changes" is to critically reflect the news produced by the Czech television considering the tabloidisation. It is particularly focused on the official changes from the years 2007 and 2012 and it compares the periods before and after the changes to determine what kind of effect they had on the tabloidization indicating elements. These elements are defined in the theoretical part of the diploma thesis which is mainly based on the foreign literature and which is looking closer on the different definitions of tabloidization and methods that are being used when trying to uncover the tabloidization in media content. Then, the essence of public service media is introduced, followed as well by the presentation of the Czech television as an institution. Also, the possible effects of tabloidization on the audience are discussed, considering its influence on the society as a whole. The attention is being paid to particular research questions and variables in the...

M.Ed. (Didactics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

O objetivo deste projeto de Mestrado foi o estudo, a análise e o desenvolvimento de técnicas de Realimentação de Relevância (RR) para melhorar a respostas de consultas por similaridade que empregam técnicas de recuperação de imagens por conteúdo (do inglês content-based image retrieval - CBIR). A motivação para o desenvolvimento deste projeto veio do iRIS (internet Retrieval of Images System), que é um protótipo de servidor Web para o processamento de consultas por similaridade, em construção no GBdI (Grupo de Bases de Dados e Imagens) do ICMC-USP. O iRIS pode ser integrado a PACS (Picture and Archiving and Communication System) permitindo que estes possam recuperar imagens por semelhança. A principal restrição do uso de sistemas que incorporam CBIR é a descontinuidade semântica (semantic gap), que credita-se principalmente à utilização de características de baixo nível para descrever as imagens. As características mais utilizadas são baseadas em cor, textura e forma, e geralmente não conseguem mapear o que o usuário deseja/esperar recuperar, gerando um descontentamento do usuário em relação ao sistema. Entretanto, se sistema permitir a iteração do usuário na classificação do conjunto resposta e usar estas informações no processo de refinamento, as consultas podem ser re-processadas e os resultados tendem a atender a expectativa do usuário. Esse é o propósito das técnicas de realimentação de relevância. Este projeto desenvolveu duas técnicas de realimentação de relevância (RR): o RF Projection e o RF Multiple Point Projection. O ganho com a aplicação dessas técnicas foi expressivo, alcançando 29% a mais de precisão sobre a consulta original já na primeira iteração e 42% após 5 iterações. Os experimentos realizados com usuários mostraram que em média são executadas 3 iterações para chegar a um resultado satisfatório. Pelos resultados apresentados nos experimentos, podemos afirmar que RR é uma poderosa ferramenta para impulsionar o uso dos sistemas CBIR e aprimorar as consultas por similaridade. / This Master project aimed at studying, analyzing and developing relevance feedback (RF) techniques to enhance similarity queries that employ the content-based image retrieval (CBIR) approach. The motivation to develop this project came from the iRIS (internet Retrieval of Images System), which is a Web server prototype to process similarity queries. The iRIS can be integrated to a PACS (Picture and Archiving and Communication System) adding the functionality of retrieval images comparing their inherent alikeliness. The main reservation about using CBIR techniques is the semantic gap, because the general use of low level features to describe the images. The low level features, such as color, texture and shape, mostly cannot bridge the gap between what the users expect/want to what they get, generating disappointment and refusal of employing the system. However, if the user is allowed to interact with the system, classifying the query results and using such information on refinement steps, the queries can be reprocessed and the results tend to comply with the users’ expectation. This is just the core of the relevance feedback techniques. Looking at this scenario, this project developed two relevance feedback (RF) techniques: the RF Projection and the RF Multiple Point Projection. The improvements on the similarity queries were expressive going to up 29% with only one interaction, and to 42% on the fifth interaction, when compared to the original query. Experiments performed with users, have shown us that in average they run 3 iterations before get satisfactory results. By the results given by the experiment, one can claim that RF is a powerful approach to improve the use of CBIR systems and enhance similarity queries.

Master of Music / Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance / Ruth Gurgel / This lesson plan was based on my music education philosophy including the aspects of experience, socialization, application, and relevance. Students used aural skills while sight reading new music and singing dominant to tonic chords during warm up exercises. They created movement emphasizing different musical concepts and analyzed new music. I have grown exponentially as a teacher since I started the Masters’ program at Kansas State University. The two major developments in my teaching have been the paradigm switch from product to process and the cultivation of an environment where students take ownership of learning. My students have become independent musicians due to practicing aural skills, learning music theory, and activating higher-order thinking.

O objetivo deste projeto de Mestrado foi o estudo, a análise e o desenvolvimento de técnicas de Realimentação de Relevância (RR) para melhorar a respostas de consultas por similaridade que empregam técnicas de recuperação de imagens por conteúdo (do inglês content-based image retrieval - CBIR). A motivação para o desenvolvimento deste projeto veio do iRIS (internet Retrieval of Images System), que é um protótipo de servidor Web para o processamento de consultas por similaridade, em construção no GBdI (Grupo de Bases de Dados e Imagens) do ICMC-USP. O iRIS pode ser integrado a PACS (Picture and Archiving and Communication System) permitindo que estes possam recuperar imagens por semelhança. A principal restrição do uso de sistemas que incorporam CBIR é a descontinuidade semântica (semantic gap), que credita-se principalmente à utilização de características de baixo nível para descrever as imagens. As características mais utilizadas são baseadas em cor, textura e forma, e geralmente não conseguem mapear o que o usuário deseja/esperar recuperar, gerando um descontentamento do usuário em relação ao sistema. Entretanto, se sistema permitir a iteração do usuário na classificação do conjunto resposta e usar estas informações no processo de refinamento, as consultas podem ser re-processadas e os resultados tendem a atender a expectativa do usuário. Esse é o propósito das técnicas de realimentação de relevância. Este projeto desenvolveu duas técnicas de realimentação de relevância (RR): o RF Projection e o RF Multiple Point Projection. O ganho com a aplicação dessas técnicas foi expressivo, alcançando 29% a mais de precisão sobre a consulta original já na primeira iteração e 42% após 5 iterações. Os experimentos realizados com usuários mostraram que em média são executadas 3 iterações para chegar a um resultado satisfatório. Pelos resultados apresentados nos experimentos, podemos afirmar que RR é uma poderosa ferramenta para impulsionar o uso dos sistemas CBIR e aprimorar as consultas por similaridade. / This Master project aimed at studying, analyzing and developing relevance feedback (RF) techniques to enhance similarity queries that employ the content-based image retrieval (CBIR) approach. The motivation to develop this project came from the iRIS (internet Retrieval of Images System), which is a Web server prototype to process similarity queries. The iRIS can be integrated to a PACS (Picture and Archiving and Communication System) adding the functionality of retrieval images comparing their inherent alikeliness. The main reservation about using CBIR techniques is the semantic gap, because the general use of low level features to describe the images. The low level features, such as color, texture and shape, mostly cannot bridge the gap between what the users expect/want to what they get, generating disappointment and refusal of employing the system. However, if the user is allowed to interact with the system, classifying the query results and using such information on refinement steps, the queries can be reprocessed and the results tend to comply with the users’ expectation. This is just the core of the relevance feedback techniques. Looking at this scenario, this project developed two relevance feedback (RF) techniques: the RF Projection and the RF Multiple Point Projection. The improvements on the similarity queries were expressive going to up 29% with only one interaction, and to 42% on the fifth interaction, when compared to the original query. Experiments performed with users, have shown us that in average they run 3 iterations before get satisfactory results. By the results given by the experiment, one can claim that RF is a powerful approach to improve the use of CBIR systems and enhance similarity queries.

For operational and planning purposes it is important to observe, predict and monitor the traffic performance of congested urban road links and networks. This monitoring effort describes the traffic conditions in road networks using congestion performance measures. The objective of this research is to analyse and evaluate methods for measuring congestion and congestion performance measures for monitoring purposes. For this objective, a selection of the required aspects of the performance measures in the literature is considered. The aspects to be considered can be classified into two categories: A first group relates to the statistical aspects of these indicators, i.e. reliability. The second relates to their ability to capture the impacts of congestion, i.e .relevance. The reliability and relevance of the congestion performance measures are evaluated. A recommendation of the most suitable indicator is provided at the end of the study. / QC 20110912

Abstract Problem background and problem discussion: The increased demands on companies and their ability to operate sustainably has made corporate social responsibility (CSR) a very hot topic in modern society. The academic debate has yet to put a definite answer on whether the engagement in CSR activities has a positive effect on a company financially. Previous research on stock listed in Sweden indicate that there is a positive relationship between environmental performance and that there is an asymmetry in how it is valued across company sizes. However, there has not yet been any research made into what impact size has on the value relevance of social CSR ratings. This will be tested by drawing from resource-based theory and legitimacy theory. Research question: How is the value relevance of social ratings affected by accounting for company size? Purpose: The purpose is to examine what effect the inclusion of corporation size has on the value relevance of social CSR ratings. Theory: The study primarily utilizes Stakeholder theory, the resource-based theory and legitimacy theory. Method: This is a quantitative study in a panel data setting with a deductive research approach. The practical method is a regression analysis that assesses the value relevance of CSR measures at the OMX Stockholm for the years of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013. The study encompasses 349 Small-, medium- and large-sized companies and has a total of 1429 observations, which have been subject to statistical significance tests. Results and analysis: The results show that social, environmental and overall CSR ratings are value relevant and associated with lower market values. There also seems to be little impact on results by including company size as a variable. Furthermore the results of this study differ from previous research, implying that results are very sensitive to changes in the regression model. Conclusion: The results of the study lead us to believe that size has little impact on how value relevant social ratings are. This implies that regardless theory such as the resource-based and legitimacy theory these cannot be supported in practice among Swedish firms listed at OMX Stockholm. Furthermore, our method gives different results with regard to previous research done on the Swedish market and indicates that there is a negative relationship between CSR ratings and market value.