Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Structural economic changes in many countries, together with unprecedented developments in the business environment, have significantly affected the value creation processes of firms and the way business is conducted. The traditional financial reporting model is inadequate as a consequence of these developments, and intellectual capital (IC) information has gained importance for investment decision making. Empirical capital markets research demonstrates the value-relevance and predictive ability of certain types of IC information. The use of IC information by capital market participants is a topic that has begun to gain attention from contemporary researchers, but for which scant empirical evidence exists. Much of the research in this area relies on the literature about the use of non-financial information (NFI), which is inadequate in its examination of certain types of IC information. Therefore, the main aim of this thesis is to examine the use and communication of IC information by sell-side analysts. Sell-side analysts are of particular interest because they are capital market intermediaries and sophisticated processors of corporate information. The reports they produce provide an opportunity to examine their use and communication of IC information. The specific objectives of this thesis are to examine: the extent and types of IC information used by sell-side analysts in initiating coverage reports produced by them; how IC information is used and communicated in these reports; and factors that may influence the use of IC information by sell-side analysts. In order to address these research objectives a content analysis of IC references in 64 initiating coverage reports written on an equivalent number of S&P/ASX 200/300 companies is performed. The content analysis identifies and measures IC references by topic, evidence (discursive, monetary, numerical, or visual), news-tenor (positive, neutral or negative) and time orientation (forward-looking, past-oriented or non-time-specific). The findings indicate that Australian sell-side analysts appreciate the importance of IC in firm valuation, and thus are not ambivalent about the use of IC information in general. However, the findings suggest that their communication of IC information is inconsistent and unsystematic, and inadequate in relation to certain types of IC. This highlights the need for undertaking work at a policy level to educate and train sell-side analysts to deal with IC information, and the development of better models and guidelines for analysing and communicating IC information. On how IC information is used, this thesis finds that sell-side analysts have varying uses of IC information. It was found that IC is predominantly communicated discursively, positively, and in a past-oriented manner; and in doing so IC is used as a tool to further the sell-side analysts’ agenda for the company analysed. Further, the results highlight that the type of investment recommendation in analyst reports impacts on the evidence, news tenor, and time-orientation of IC communicated. These findings alert future researchers to the wider role played by IC beyond its use in forecasts and valuations. Also, the findings indicate inter-sectoral differences in the use of IC information in analyst reports, highlighting the need to improve IC reporting practices of firms by including additional information on industry-specific IC value drivers. Further, it was found that sell-side analysts emphasise IC information in analyst reports for companies from high IC-intensive sectors compared to those from low IC-intensive sectors. Similarly, it was found that analyst reports on risky companies contain significantly more IC information than analyst reports on less risky companies. Contrary to expectations, the extent of IC information is not found to vary with firm size and firm profitability. Also, the results support that the extent of certain types of IC information differs between types of analysts’ investment recommendations. More generally, the findings of this thesis suggest that the corporate reporting process could be improved by including additional types of IC information and providing this information more effectively in a manner that enables users to visualise the interrelationships between resources (both tangible and intangible) and outcomes. This study calls for standards or guidelines for intellectual capital reporting (ICR) in Australia and the expansion of the role of auditing and assurance services to enhance reliability of firm provided IC information in a bid to improve the use of IC information in company analysis by sell-side analysts.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (doctoral)--Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [151]-164. Includes index).

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 1990. / Thesis Advisor(s): Henderson, David R. Second Reader: Matthews, Danny G. "June 1990." Description based on title page as viewed on October 16, 2009. DTIC Identifier(s): Taxes, South Korea, Economic Analysis, Theses. Author(s) subject terms: Supply-side Economics, Tax Rates, Tax Revenue. Includes bibliographical references (p. 61). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Rhode Island, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 215-236).

Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

abstract: Non-native saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) has invaded many riparian communities and is the third most abundant tree in Southwestern riparian areas. I evaluated lizard populations and microhabitat selection during 2009 and 2010 along the Virgin River in Nevada and Arizona to determine the impact of saltcedar. Along the riparian corridor, I observed common side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) within two vegetation types: monotypic non-native saltcedar stands or mixed stands of cottonwood (Populus fremontii), willow (Salix spp.), mesquite (Prosopis spp.) and saltcedar. I predicted that population parameters such as body condition, adult to hatchling ratio, abundance, and persistence would vary among vegetation types. Also, I predicted the presence of saltcedar influences how lizards utilize available habitat. Lizard population parameters were obtained from a mark-recapture study in which I captured 233 individual lizards. I examined habitat selection and habitat availability using visual encounter surveys (VES) for lizards and recorded 11 microhabitat variables where 16 lizards were found. I found no significant difference in population parameters between mixed and non-native saltcedar communities. However, population parameters were negatively correlated with canopy cover. I found that lizards selected habitat with low understory and canopy cover regardless of vegetation type. My results indicate that lizards utilize similar structural characteristics in both mixed and non-native vegetation. Understanding impacts of saltcedar on native fauna is important for managers who are tasked with control and management of this non-native species. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Applied Biological Sciences 2011

This work serves as a way of communicating the dark side of fashion to provoke change. Consumers is placed in the loop that consists of consumerism, fast fashion and advertising, and this work will try to expose that loop. This work aims to critique how fashion is consumed and sold through printing images from the dark side of fashion in combination with texts from advertisements to open up a conversation. The method to do this is by digital printing and transfer printing images from the dark side of the fashion industry on sustainable materials, combining the images with advertising texts. Through this the viewer is invited into conversation about the problems with subtle provocation by making the viewer emotionally involved.

Submitted by Morgana Andrade (morgana.andrade@ufes.br) on 2016-04-12T21:14:15Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) tese_6767_2011_Laise.pdf: 1611120 bytes, checksum: dc3f71b886d62aa108232580c6306fb6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Patricia Barros (patricia.barros@ufes.br) on 2016-04-13T15:49:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) tese_6767_2011_Laise.pdf: 1611120 bytes, checksum: dc3f71b886d62aa108232580c6306fb6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-13T15:49:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) tese_6767_2011_Laise.pdf: 1611120 bytes, checksum: dc3f71b886d62aa108232580c6306fb6 (MD5) / Introdução: Os problemas relacionados à interrupção e ao abandono do tratamento da tuberculose culminam em aumento da morbimortalidade. A ocorrência de reações adversas a medicamentos (RAM) é apontada como um dos principais fatores relacionados. Objetivo: Identificar evidência científica disponível sobre os fatores de risco associados às reações adversas decorrentes do uso de medicamentos antituberculose. Métodos: Trata-se de uma revisão sistemática em que se buscou estudos sobre fatores de risco associados às reações adversas aos medicamentos antituberculose nas bases Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), no período entre 1965 e 2013 e Literatura Científica e Técnica da América Latina e Caribe (LILACS), no período entre 1982 e 2013. Localizou-se 1389 artigos que passaram por uma triagem a partir da leitura dos títulos e resumos. A partir dessa análise, selecionou-se 85 estudos para serem lidos na íntegra. Ao final, 16 estudos foram incluídos na análise a partir dos critérios de elegibilidade adotados em cada etapa, que tiveram seus dados extraídos para os cálculos de Qui-quadrado, Mantel-haenszel, Odds ratio simples (OR) e combinada (ORc). Resultados: Os fatores de risco significantes para o desenvolvimento de RAM foram: idade (maior que 60 anos), esquemas de tratamento, alcoolismo, anemia, coinfecção pelo vírus da imunodeficiência humana ou vírus da hepatite, polimorfismo da N-acetiltransferase 2 (acetilador lento), além da deficiência de sódio, ferro e albumina. Enquanto as meta-análises evidenciaram que os fatores de proteção das RAM hepáticas são: sexo masculino (ORc=0,38; IC95%=0,20-0,72), idade >35 anos (ORc=0,38; IC95%=0,20-0,72), fenótipo acetilador rápido/intermediário da N-acetiltransferase 2 (ORc=0,41; IC95%=0,18-0,90). Conclusões: Há evidências para subsidiar o manejo de RAM antituberculose nos serviços de saúde pública. / Setting: The problems related to the interruption and the dropout of tuberculosis treatments lead to increased morbi-mortality. Drugs adverse effects are some of the main related reasons. Objective: To identify scientific evidence available about risk factors associated to adverse effects due to antituberculosis drugs usage. Design: A systematic review of studies about risk factors related to adverse effects of antituberculosis drugs selected in MEDLINE database from 1965 to 2013 and in LILACS database from 1982 to 2013. After screening papers by reading all titles and abstracts there were 1.389 approved papers. Based on this analysis, 85 papers were selected to be fully read. At the end, 16 papers were selected to be analyzed due to the eligibility criteria on each step, had their data extracted for calculation of Chi-square, Mantel-Haenszel, Odds ratio (OR) and combined Odds ratio (ORc). Results: Significant risk factors to the development of drugs adverse effects were: age over 60 years, treatment regimen, alcoholism, anemia, coinfection by human immunodeficiency or hepatitis viruses, phenotype slow acetylators of N-acetyltransferase 2 and the deficiency of sodium, iron and albumin. While, meta- analysis showed that protective factors of liver AED are: male (ORc = 0.38, 95%CI= 0.20 to 0.72), age > 35 years (ORc=0.38, CI95%=0.20 to 0.72), acetylator phenotype fast / intermediate of N-acetyltransferase 2 (ORc=0.41, 95% I= 0.18 to 0.90). Conclusion: There is evidence to support the management of antituberculosis AED in public health services.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Eugene Vasserman / Checking software integrity is a fundamental problem of system security. Many approaches have been proposed trying to enforce that a device runs the original code. Software-based methods such as hypervisors, separation kernels, and control flow integrity checking often rely on processors to provide some form of separation such as operation modes and memory protection. Hardware-based methods such as remote attestation, secure boot, and watchdog coprocessors rely on trusted hardware to execute attestation code such as verifying memory content and examining signatures appearing on buses. However, many embedded systems do not possess such sophisticated capabilities due to prohibitive hardware costs, unacceptably high power consumption, or the inability to update fielded components. Further, security assumption may become invalid as time goes by. For Systems-on-Chip (SoCs), in particular, internal activities cannot be observed directly, while in non-SoCs, sniffing bus traffic between constituent components may suffice for integrity checking. A promising approach to check software integrity for resource-constrained SoCs is through side-channels. Side-channels have been used mostly for attacks, such as eavesdropping from vibration of glass or plant leaves, fingerprinting machines from traffic patterns, or extracting secret key materials of cryptographic routines using power consumption measurements. In this work, side-channels are used to enhance rather than undercut security. First, we study the relationships between the internal states of a target device and side-channel information. We use the uncovered relationships to monitor the internal state of a running device and determine whether the internal state is an expected one. An unexpected state may be a sign of incorrect execution or malicious activity. To further explore the possibilities inherent in side-channel-based software integrity checking, we investigate various hardware platforms, representative of different degrees of knowledge of the hardware from the side-channel profiling point of view. In other words, side-channel information is extracted by black-, grey-, and white-box analysis. Each one involves unique challenges requiring different techniques to successfully derive “side-channel profiles”. We can use these profiles to detect unexpected states with extremely high probability, even when an adversary knows that their code may be subject to side-channel analysis, i.e., the methodology is robust to side-channel-aware adversaries. The research includes: (1) Constructing systematic approaches for black- and grey-box profiling of side channels (and comparing them to white-box analysis); (2) Designing custom measurement instrumentation; and (3) Developing techniques for monitoring and enforcing software integrity utilizing side-channel profiles. We introduce the term “side-channel programming” to refer to techniques we design in which developers explicitly utilize side-channel characteristics of existing hardware to optimize run-time software integrity checking, creating executable code which is more conducive to side-channel-based monitoring. Compared with other software integrity checking techniques, our approach has numerous benefits. Among them are that the measurement process is non-invasive, non-interruptive, and backward-compatible in that it does not require any hardware modification, meaning our approach works with processors that do not include security features. Our method can even be used to augment existing protection mechanism, as it works even when all security mechanisms internal to the device fail.