Under de senaste 14 åren har den svenska kronan genomgått en period av depreciering mot många andra valutor. Detta väcker frågan om vad som ligger till grund för växelkursens rörelser. Denna studie ämnar därför undersöka om det öppna ränteparitetsvillkoret kan förklara relationen mellan förändringar i växelkurser och räntedifferenser på kort sikt. För att undersöka frågan har två regressionsmodeller konstruerats med räntedifferenser som förklarande variabel och fluktuationer i växelkursen som beroende variabel. Studien begränsas till att undersöka förhållandet mellan Sverige som inhemskt land och Euroområdet samt USA som utländska områden/länder. Eftersom euron och den amerikanska dollarn kategoriseras som “safe haven” valutor inkluderas safe haven teorin som en sekundär aspekt i analysen. Studien använder månadsvis data över perioden 1999-2022. Regressionsmodellernas resultat visar en korrelation som är något avvikande från det öppna ränteparitetsvillkoret. Regressionsmodellerna presenterar icke-signifikanta resultat och studiens slutsats är därmed att undersökningen inte presenterar tillräckligt med bevis för att säkerställa att den sanna relationen mellan räntedifferenser och förändringar i växelkursen skiljer sig signifikant från ränteparitetsvillkoret. / Over the past fourteen years the Swedish krona has undergone a period of depreciation against many other currencies. This raises the question of what factors drive the movements of the exchange rate. This study intends to examine if the open interest parity condition can explain the relationship between fluctuations in the exchange rate and the interest rate differentials in the short term. To examine the subject two regression models have been constructed with the interest rate differentials as the explanatory variable and fluctuations in the exchange rate as the dependent variable. The research is narrowed down to examine the relationship between Sweden as the domestic country and the euro area and USA as foreign areas/countries. As the euro and the american dollar are categorized as “safe haven” currencies the safe haven theory is also included as a secondary aspect of the analysis. The study utilizes monthly data over the period 1999-2022. The results of the regression models show a correlation that deviates somewhat from the open interest parity condition. The regression models present non-significant results and the study's conclusion is thus that the study does not present enough evidence to ensure that the true relationship between interest rate differentials and changes in the exchange rate differs significantly from the interest parity condition.

In a growing digital economy, where demands for network services and competition from various communication-over-the-network service providers intensify, telecommunication companies need to keep up in an ever-changing environment. As there is a need to reduce time-to-market for new network services, agility becomes restrained by having to operate within large legacy IT infrastructure environments. While agile methodologies in modern time have attained recognition in the field of software development for the way they help to manage changing customer demands and deliver early value incontinuous increments, it is yet uncertain how agile methodologies can best be adopted for IT infrastructure deliveries to achieve the same purpose. Hence, this study explores how legacy IT infrastructure can be transformed in an agile way into modernized infrastructure landscapes supporting the business with fast enough development, release and deployment of new network services in demand. More precisely, the study investigates how larger IT infrastructure transformation projects can be executed by the help of agile practices. In order to investigate this, the study carries out a case study at Telia Company, a large Nordic incumbent telecommunications company possessing a big legacy of IT infrastructure. The study conducts internal interviews with Telia employees as well as external interviews with agile experts. Also, benchmarking is conducted with a well-established Swedish bank to better understand the challenges and how agile practices can best be applied.The study concludes that agile practices influenced by agile frameworks Scrum and Kanban can advantageously be applied at team level for more agile execution. However, the surrounding organizational business landscape greatly sets the limits for agile deliveries, due to dependencies on cooperation from the business side in the execution phase and the need to be aligned with business needs and stakeholder requirements. Further, the study also shows that the application of agile practices at team level in combination with a close dialogue with stakeholders and a scaled agile approach requiring investing in automation, is the key for more agile infrastructure deliveries. In this way, aligned end-to-end delivery processescan be better developed and infrastructure needs better understood and implemented at the right time. As a contribution, the study proposes a model with inspiration from agile frameworks Scrum, Kanban and SAFe, for how this may work in practice. / I en växande digital ekonomi, kännetecknad av intensifierad efterfrågan på nätverkstjänster och konkurrens från diverse aktörer som erbjuder kommunikationstjänster över nätverket, behöver telekommunikationsföretag hålla uppe takten i den snabbföränderliga omgivningen. Samtidigt som det finns behov av att minska tid till marknad för nätverkstjänster, blir snabbheten återhållsam på grund av att man måste jobba i miljöer med stora IT infrastrukturs-arv. Agila metoder har i modern tid blivit erkända inom mjukvaruutveckling för hur de hjälper att hantera föränderliga kundbehov och kontinuerligt leverera tidigt värde inkrementellt. Dock råder det fortfarande ovisshet kring hur agila metoder kan tillämpas bäst inom IT infrastrukturs-leveranser för att uppnå samma ändamål. Följaktligen utforskar denna studie hur IT infrastrukturs-arv agilt kan bli transformerade till moderniserade infrastrukturs-landskap som stödjer verksamheten med tillräckligtsnabb utveckling, lansering och spridning av efterfrågade nätverkstjänster. Mer exakt undersökerstudien hur större IT infrastrukturs-projekt kan bli genomförda med hjälp av agila arbetssätt efter en initial projektplanering. För att undersöka detta genomförs en fallstudie på Telia Company, som är ett etablerat nordiskt telekommunikationsföretag och som har ett stort arv av IT-infrastruktur. Studien inkluderar interna intervjuer med Telia anställda såväl som externa intervjuer med agila experter. Även en benchmarkundersökning med en väletablerad svensk bank utförs för att bättre förstå utmaningarna och hur agila arbetssätt kan bli tillämpade på bästa sätt. Studien drar slutsatsen att agila arbetssätt med influens av de agila ramverken Scrum och Kanbanmed fördel kan bli tillämpade på team-nivå för mer agila verkställanden. Dock begränsas agila leveranser till stor del av det omgivande verksamhetslandskapet. Detta på grund av beroenden av samarbeten från verksamheten i olika utförande-moment och behovet av att vara sammanvävd med verksamhetsbehov och intressentkrav i leveranserna. Sammanfattningsvis menar studien att tillämpningen av agila arbetssätt på team-nivå i kombination med en nära dialog med intressenter samt ett initiativ för att skala agilt, är nyckeln för mer agila infrastrukturs-leveranser. För att uppnå detta, krävs även investering inom automation. På så vis kan end-to-end-strukturerade leveransprocesser bli bättre utvecklade och infrastrukturs-behov bättre förstådda och implementerade i rätt tid. Som ett bidrag föreslår studien en modell för hur detta kan fungera i praktiken, med inspiration från de agila ramverken Scrum, Kanban och SAFe.

Hanteringen av krav är en essentiell del för att lyckas leverera det som kunden efterfrågar hos ett system. Flertalet forskare pekar på att ett misslyckat IT-projekt grundar sig i felhantering av krav. Kringliggande faktorer som påverkar kravhanteringen har identifierats som kommunikation och dokumentation. Syftet är att undersöka de utmaningar och framgångsfaktorer som förekommer inom agil kravhantering, med avseende på arbetet enligt SAFe. För att kunna identifiera utmaningar och framgångsfaktorer tillämpas empirisk datainsamling, kompletterad med befintlig teori. Undersökningens metod har genomförts i enlighet med en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi, där fem semistrukturerade intervjuer har tillämpats vid den empiriska datainsamlingen. Den kvalitativa studien har använt sig av en abduktiv forskningsansats, detta i syfte att pendla mellan empiri och befintlig teori. Urvalet som har tillämpats i denna undersökning använder en konfidalitet och har tilldelats fiktiva namn, med anledning av att säkerställa trygghet hos respondenterna. Den insamlade empirin har analyserats och diskuterats utifrån befintlig teori som är relevant och stärker undersökningens trovärdighet. Utmaningar som vi har identifierat inom arbetet enligt SAFe är bland annat kopplat till prioritering och anpassning till organisationen. Resultatet påvisar även utmaningar gällande planeringen, med anledning av de långa cyklerna, likaså är anpassningen till den agila rytmen inom alla avdelningar hos organisationen en utmanande aspekt i arbetet. Våran undersökning har påvisat att SAFe har medfört gynnsamma fördelar med organisationens arbete, bland annat förbättrad transparens genom en ökad insikt i varandras arbeten. Likaså visar vår undersökning att den agila kravhanteringen har bidragit med gynnsamma fördelar i hur kraven hanteras, där sprintar och små leveranser är centralt inom arbetet. Beträffande empiri kontra befintlig teori, påvisas likheter och skillnader som bör betraktas, de utmaningar och framgångsfaktorer som förekommer inom empirin är omtalade i befintlig teori. Däremot presenterar befintlig teori endast generella aspekter som förekommer i det agila arbetet. Empirin bekräftar de utmaningar och framgångsfaktorer som omnämnas i befintlig teori, men är mer i linje med respondentorganisationens situation och verklighet. De slutsatser som vi har kommit fram till är att befintlig teori presenterar övergripande aspekter utan någon specifik anknytning till en organisations situation. Empirin visar att SAFe har anpassats för att möta respondentorganisationens behov, där teoretiska utmaningar och framgångsfaktorer har bekräftats och kompletterats. / The management of requirements is an essential part of successfully delivering what the customer demands from a system. The majority of researchers point out that a failed IT project is based on mishandling of requirements. Surrounding factors that affect requirements management have been identified as communication and documentation. The purpose is to investigate the challenges and success factors that occur within agile requirements management, with regard to the work according to SAFe. In order to identify challenges and success factors, empirical data collection is applied, supplemented with existing theory. The survey's method has been carried out in accordance with a qualitative research strategy, where five semi-structured interviews have been applied to the empirical data collection. The qualitative study has used an abductive research approach, with the aim of commuting between empiricism and existing theory. The sample that has been applied in this survey uses a confidentiality and has been assigned fictitious names, due to the safety of the respondents. The collected empirical evidence has been analyzed and discussed based on existing theory that is relevant and strengthened the credibility of the investigation. Challenges that we have identified within the work according to SAFe are, among other things, linked to prioritization and adaptation to the organization. The result also shows challenges regarding the planning, due to the long cycles, as well as the adaptation to the agile rhythm within all departments of the organization and challenging aspects in the work. Our investigation has shown that SAFe has brought favorable benefits to the organization's work, including improved transparency through and increased insight into each other's work. Likewise, our thesis shows that the agile requirements management has contributed with favorable advantages in how the requirements are handled, where sprints and small deliveries are central to the work. Regarding empiricism versus existing theory, similarities and differences that should be considered are demonstrated, the challenges and success factors that occur within empiricism are discussed in existing theory. In contrast, existing theory only presents general aspects that occur in agile work. The empirical evidence confirms the challenges and success factors mentioned in existing theory, but is more in line with the respondent organization's situation and reality. The conclusions we have reached are that existing theories present overall aspects without any specific connection to an organization's situation. The empirical evidence shows that SAFe has been adapted to meet the needs of the respondent organization, where theoretical challenges and success factors have been confirmed and supplemented.

[pt] Métodos não destrutivos desempenham um papel fundamental na análise de integridade de componentes civis e mecânicos. Este trabalho apresenta uma abordagem integrativa que pode ser aplicada em avaliações estruturais, envolvendo o estudo de ondas ultrassônicas guiadas com técnicas de aprendizado de máquina, juntamente com métodos alternativos para ampliar o conjunto de dados necessários para treinamento dos modelos de predição. É proposta uma metodologia para a estimativa de tensão em placas, incorporando dados sintéticos gerados por interpolação linear a partir de resultados experimentais. Paralelamente, utilizando o Semi-Analytical Finite Element Method (SAFE), foi examinada a propagação de ondas em guias cilíndricos, comparando resultados com simulações numéricas e posteriormente, aplicando o método SAFE para gerar curvas de dispersão que servem de dados para alimentar uma rede neural para predição de espessura nominal de dutos. Este estudo contribui para a eficiência e precisão das metodologias aplicadas em integridade estrutural, englobando abordagens de dados experimentais e simulados computacionalmente. / [en] Non-destructive methods play a fundamental role in analyzing theintegrity of civil and mechanical components. This work presents an integrative approach that can be applied in structural assessments, involving the study of ultrasonic waves guided with machine learning techniques,together with alternative methods to expand the data set necessary fortraining prediction models. A methodology for estimating stress in platesis proposed, incorporating synthetic data generated by linear interpolationfrom experimental results. In parallel, using the Semi-Analytical Finite Element Method (SAFE), we examined wave propagation in cylindrical guides,comparing results with numerical simulations and subsequently, applyingthe SAFE method to generate dispersion curves that serve as data to feeda neural network for predicting nominal pipeline thickness. This study contributes to the efficiency and precision of methodologies applied in structuralintegrity, encompassing experimental and computationally simulated dataapproaches.

Within this study, a psycho-educational strategy was designed to promote online safety practices for adolescents living in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. The study made use of a mixed method methodology, including both quantitative and qualitative research. This enabled access to 183 adolescents, as well as gaining more focused and specific insights from adolescent focus groups with a total of eight focus groups. This psycho-educational strategy was designed in the form of an interactive website. The website included information on safety practices pertaining to six areas of online safety. The information was provided in various formats, including videos, clips, slide shows and questionnaires. The six areas which were focused on included cyber bullying, pornography, social networking, online gaming, sharing of personal information and plagiarising and stealing of content. Adolescents were exposed to the website in order to test its usability and its effectiveness as a tool for education regarding online safety. From the literature and findings of the research, it is evident that there is a dire need for age-appropriate and relevant mechanisms to address online safety among adolescents. The present research revealed; through the remarks obtained from focus groups, that adolescents could benefit from the psycho-educational strategy as it created an awareness of the possible harms of the internet; awareness that was previously limited. Specific areas of concern included cyber bullying and the reality that they face regarding this hurtful activity. Adolescents further indicated that they lacked knowledge in areas concerning pornography, plagiarising and sharing of personal information. By creating an awareness regarding possible harms, adolescents are enabled to safeguard themselves from potential harm, and if education is used in future, it can play a preventative role in terms of the negative consequences of online activities. The research indicated that a psycho-educational perspective holds value when addressing online safety. Lastly, the internet as a form of psycho-education was successful as the adolescents accepted and related to this means of education. The psycho-educational strategy is an innovative tool that can be used by schools, parents and educators when engaging with adolescents about online safety. / PhD (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Within this study, a psycho-educational strategy was designed to promote online safety practices for adolescents living in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. The study made use of a mixed method methodology, including both quantitative and qualitative research. This enabled access to 183 adolescents, as well as gaining more focused and specific insights from adolescent focus groups with a total of eight focus groups. This psycho-educational strategy was designed in the form of an interactive website. The website included information on safety practices pertaining to six areas of online safety. The information was provided in various formats, including videos, clips, slide shows and questionnaires. The six areas which were focused on included cyber bullying, pornography, social networking, online gaming, sharing of personal information and plagiarising and stealing of content. Adolescents were exposed to the website in order to test its usability and its effectiveness as a tool for education regarding online safety. From the literature and findings of the research, it is evident that there is a dire need for age-appropriate and relevant mechanisms to address online safety among adolescents. The present research revealed; through the remarks obtained from focus groups, that adolescents could benefit from the psycho-educational strategy as it created an awareness of the possible harms of the internet; awareness that was previously limited. Specific areas of concern included cyber bullying and the reality that they face regarding this hurtful activity. Adolescents further indicated that they lacked knowledge in areas concerning pornography, plagiarising and sharing of personal information. By creating an awareness regarding possible harms, adolescents are enabled to safeguard themselves from potential harm, and if education is used in future, it can play a preventative role in terms of the negative consequences of online activities. The research indicated that a psycho-educational perspective holds value when addressing online safety. Lastly, the internet as a form of psycho-education was successful as the adolescents accepted and related to this means of education. The psycho-educational strategy is an innovative tool that can be used by schools, parents and educators when engaging with adolescents about online safety. / PhD (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Missile Flight Test Safety Managers (MFTSM) and other flight safety personnel at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) constantly monitor the realtime space position of missile and airborne target vehicles and the telemetered missile and target vehicle performance parameters during the test flight to determine if these are about to leave Range boundaries or if erratic vehicle performance might endanger Range personnel, Range support assets or the nearby civilian population. WSMR flight safety personnel rely on the vehicle telemetry system to observe the Flight Termination System (FTS) parameters. A realtime closed loop that involves the ground command-destruct transmitter, the vehicle command-destruct receiver (CDR), other FTS components, the missile S-band telemetry transmitter, and the ground telemetry acquisition/ demultiplex system is active when the vehicle is in flight. The FTS engineer relies upon telemetry to provide read-back status of the flight termination system aboard the vehicle. WSMR flight safety personnel use the telemetry system to assess realtime airborne vehicle systems performance and advise the MFTSM. The MFTSM uses this information, in conjunction with space position information provided by an Interactive Graphics Display System (IGDS), to make realtime destruct decisions about missiles and targets in flight. This paper will aid the missile or target developer in understanding the type of vehicle performance data and FTS parameters WSMR flight safety personnel are concerned with, in realtime missile test operations.

The objective of this thesis is to explore how a systems approach can be used to provide an insight into patient safety in NHS hospitals in England. Healthcare delivers considerable benefits yet there remains a relatively high rate of harm and death for patients through adverse events occurring during the process of treatment. The extant patient safety literature acknowledges the influence of organisational or system factors on patient safety. However, the literature is weak in explaining how system factors affect patient safety. To provide an insight into the interactions within healthcare systems, this research explores the characteristics of NHS hospitals, regarded as complex socio-technical systems, using concepts from resilience, systems, accident and social theory. A theoretical Safe Working Envelope (SWE) model (Rasmussen, 1997) is developed and contextualised for use in the NHS. The case study field work was carried out in two NHS hospitals during consecutive winter months at times of high demand for inpatient services. A third case study uses secondary data about patient safety failures in the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. The original SWE model has three failure boundaries. The model is developed by introducing an additional boundary to take account of Government targets. Social theory and system dynamics are used to include the dialectic feedback of social actors and the dynamics of workload. The model depicts the competing pressures, constraints and the workload associated with the need to meet the financial, target, staff workload and patient safety requirements. Three interacting construct sets are explored. These are the constraints within which the system operates, the pressures from the context, and the system dynamics of demand, capacity and decision making. Insights into system behaviours of the hospitals are derived from examining the construct set interactions. The proposition is made that there are five system behaviour archetypes which create the conditions that influence patient safety. The archetypes are derived from the system dynamics and in particular the relationship between reinforcing and balancing feedback loops. The five archetypes are safe practice, drift, tip, collapse and transition towards failure. As hospitals become overcrowded the complexity increases and the reinforcing feedback loops dominate the system and potentially increase the risk to patients. An element of risk arises from staff normalising to the drift in standards of care.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This final thesis analyzes the most represented complex software products for management of law offices on the Czech market. At the beginning of this paper are described specifics of law offices with their classification applicable for the Czech Republic and facts that distinguish the advocacy from other fields. The next part follows with characterization of particular law office, activities of this office and software products which are used there. Other part of this work is focused on a process analysis of the mentioned law office which is introduced by a theoretical base of process modeling. Defined key processes were modeled and then options for their software support were specified. Criteria for evaluating software products were identified based on the information obtained during the preparation phase. After selection of the three most represented products these products were described and evaluated. Other chapters of this work are focused on the software which is called Acta Safe and which was developed by AiP Safe, s.r.o. Strengths and weaknesses of this software were specified in comparison to selected products of competition and then modifications and improvements were proposed. At the end of this paper are presented results of the survey. This survey was attended by lawyers and articled clerks from various sized law offices. The aim of this questionnaire survey was to determine if there is a connection between focus of the law offices and the need of using a software solution for a law office. How such software is selected, what implementation of the software brings and why there are some law offices that do not use such software. Answers to these questions are provided at the end of this thesis.