This dissertation examines how managers make cost decisions under significant economic events. The economic events of interests are the economic crisis from 2008 to 2010 and corporate loan financing. The economic crisis caused many firms to experience sales declines and created tremendous pessimism about prospects of sales rebounding in the future. I find that not all firms were affected equally. Sales-down firms exhibit anti-sticky cost behavior during this period; that is, costs are cut back more steeply as sales fall than they increase as sales rise. Such a behavior during the economic crisis is exactly the opposite of the average sticky cost behavior during normal economic periods documented in prior accounting research. This, in turn, implies that net income and cash flows from operations (as percentage of sales) may increase, rather than decrease for sales-down firms during an economic downturn. In the second study, I use a difference-in-difference research design to examine whether and how managers engage in cost management before and after loan financing. I find that managers significantly cut back operating expenses prior to loan financing. However, cost reduction is asymmetric with respect to the direction of sales changes. Compared with firms experiencing sales increases, firms experiencing sales declines reduce costs to a greater extent prior to financing and also exhibit a reversion in the cost level after financing. The reversion in cost level is negatively related to the percentage of financial covenants that are based on earnings. I do not find consistent evidence supporting that managers engage in accrual management, overproduction or asset sales. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary

Este trabalho buscou verificar se as tecnologias da informação e comunicação podem ser utilizadas como meios potencialmente significativos para se efetivar a aprendizagem significativa de conceitos introdutórios de Física sobre ondas sonoras. Para alcançar este objetivo foi elaborado um material educacional, sob a forma de um ambiente virtual, em que os conceitos físicos a serem aprendidos foram problematizados na forma de desafios. Estes desafios foram desenvolvidos tendo como base a teoria da aprendizagem significativa de Ausubel. A metodologia que orientou a realização desta pesquisa foi o delineamento experimental com grupo de controle e só pós-teste. A pesquisa foi realizada com alunos do ensino médio de uma escola pública estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul, localizada na cidade de Campo Grande. Os dados obtidos foram analisados segundo a teoria da aprendizagem significativa e a epistemologia de Bachelard. As análises revelaram a existência de obstáculos epistemológicos que prejudicaram a aprendizagem de alguns dos conceitos físicos problematizados nos desafios. Além dos aspectos cognitivos, observou-se que o ambiente virtual e a forma de utilização adotada favoreceram a motivação e a satisfação dos alunos para aprender Física e também atenderam às expectativas deles. A pesquisa permitiu verificar que as tecnologias da informação e comunicação são recursos educacionais que facilitam a aprendizagem significativa de conceitos introdutórios sobre ondas sonoras. A partir destes resultados não se pretende, entretanto, advogar a favor do computador como uma estratégia ou mesmo um recurso que possa substituir as aulas expositivas e presenciais. O que se pretende é: evidenciar que o computador - quando devidamente utilizado, pode favorecer a construção do conhecimento pelo aluno; e que, desta maneira deve ser considerado como mais um recurso a ser utilizado pelo professor para favorecer a aprendizagem de seus alunos. This work tried to verify if the information and communication technologies can be used like potential and significant ways to accomplish learning physics basic concepts about sound waves. To get to this objective, I had developed an educational material on form of a virtual environment, in which physics concepts to be learnt were showed like gages. These gages were developed using Ausubel's significant learning theory. The methodology which oriented the realization of this research was the experimental delineation, with control group and post test. This research was realized with medium-level students from a public school of Campo Grande, in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The data that has been got were analised according as the significant learning theory and Bachelard's epistemology. The analysis showed the existence of epistemology obstacles, which damaged the learning of some physics concepts showed in the gages. Beyond the cognition aspects, the motivation and satisfaction were analysed, and the results sugested that the virtual environment and the way of use adopted helped the student's motivation and answered their expectatives. This research showed that information and communication technologies are educational resources which help people to learn basic concepts of sound waves. Although the good results, nobody pretends to defend the computer as a strategy or a resource that can substitute the expository and presential lessons. The objective is to evidence that the computer - when correctly used, can help the knowledge construction by the student; and in this way it has to be considered as an one more resource to be used by teachers to help the learning of their students. / This work tried to verify if the information and communication technologies can be used like potential and significant ways to accomplish learning physics basic concepts about sound waves.

Study of the genetic relationships and evolutionary histories of pupfish populations (Cyprinodontidae: Cyprinodon spp.) from the remnant aquatic habitats of Death Valley was approached by exploring the genetic structure and divergence within and among populations using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers. The findings of these studies illustrate the influences of population size and isolation time in the divergence of small, fragmented populations largely via genetic drift. The information revealed in this study has implications for assessing priorities in the conservation of the unique evolutionary heritage among populations of the Death Valley pupfishes. A new retrotransposable element family was identified and characterized. This family of genetic elements was uncovered during a search of the pupfish genome for transposable elements to be used as molecular markers for population analyses. The description of this element family, named "Swimmer 1" (SW1), provides new insights into the evolution of long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) in vertebrates. Therefore, a full characterization of the SW1 element family was undertaken in the Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) as well as in the pupfish genome. The Japanese medaka is a model organism widely used for genetic and developmental biology studies. / Ph. D.

The current study sought to examine client outcome data for clients seen for outpatient psychotherapy services by graduate-level student therapists in doctoral psychology training clinics in order to better understand the change process occurring in such settings and to examine whether services being offered are meaningful for clients. One hundred ninety-nine clients seen by graduate-level therapists at a training clinic setting were assessed on a session-by-session basis using the Outcome Questionnaire-45 in order to identify the percentage of clients who met criteria for clinically significant change, reliable improvement, no change, or deterioration in outcomes across the course of treatment. Approximately 28% of clients seen for treatment met criteria for clinically significant change at the termination of treatment and 23% reliably improved. Survival analysis indicated that the median time required to attain clinically significant change was six sessions. Current findings are compared to earlier investigations in both training and nontraining settings. The implications of these findings for education and training, client care and clinical services, and policy are discussed.

This research study addressed the need for an evaluation of the effectiveness of teacher-written supplemental reading lesson plans for elementary students with significant disabilities. The participating elementary school implemented the supplemental kinesthetic-based reading program in the 2010-2011 school year in order to improve the reading test scores of these disabled students. The theories of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences and Maria Montessori's individualized learning process guided this research. The research question focused on exploring the effectiveness of the lesson plans. Participants included 6 students and their parents, 3 teachers, and 1 principal. Closed- and open-ended survey responses were collected from each participant, and 3 classroom observations were completed. Through descriptive analysis of student assessment scores and closed-ended stakeholder survey questions, and inductive analysis of an open-ended stakeholder questionnaire and classroom observations, these themes emerged: (a) positive effects on lessons, (b) opportunities for refining the collaborative process, and (c) negative effects of collaboration. After further analysis and review of related literature, the program evaluation recommendations of this study included: (a) improving the content of each lesson through the use of lesson study and (b) developing long-term professional development in which teams of teachers collaboratively plan, research, and study their lesson delivery as a way to determine how students learn best. The evaluation and recommendations emerging from this study could lead to positive social change by emphasizing that it is vital for teachers of exceptional students to tailor their instructional delivery strategies to meet the specific reading instructional needs of children with significant disabilities.

This research study addressed the need for an evaluation of the effectiveness of teacher-written supplemental reading lesson plans for elementary students with significant disabilities. The participating elementary school implemented the supplemental kinesthetic-based reading program in the 2010â??2011 school year in order to improve the reading test scores of these disabled students. The theories of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences and Maria Montessori's individualized learning process guided this research. The research question focused on exploring the effectiveness of the lesson plans. Participants included 6 students and their parents, 3 teachers, and 1 principal. Closed- and open-ended survey responses were collected from each participant, and 3 classroom observations were completed. Through descriptive analysis of student assessment scores and closed-ended stakeholder survey questions, and inductive analysis of an open-ended stakeholder questionnaire and classroom observations, these themes emerged: (a) positive effects on lessons, (b) opportunities for refining the collaborative process, and (c) negative effects of collaboration. After further analysis and review of related literature, the program evaluation recommendations of this study included: (a) improving the content of each lesson through the use of lesson study and (b) developing long-term professional development in which teams of teachers collaboratively plan, research, and study their lesson delivery as a way to determine how students learn best. The evaluation and recommendations emerging from this study could lead to positive social change by emphasizing that it is vital for teachers of exceptional students to tailor their instructional delivery strategies to meet the specific reading instructional needs of children with significant disabilities.

Published Article / The aim of the study on which this article is based was to reflect on the learning experiences of students during integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) training in an undergraduate programme. IMCI is a set of guidelines that was established by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for cost-effective quality care for children younger than five to prevent diseases and death (WHO, 2004). Skilled primary healthcare workers are required to provide quality care at first contact with these children. The IMCI package was presented as an integral part of the second-year module that focuses on primary healthcare. In order to improve the quality of health services and refocus the health system on primary health-care (South Africa Department of Health, 2010), students have to demonstrate that they have achieved competence. According to Killen (2000:188), competence is a holistic term and focuses on knowledge, skills and values instead of competencies, which refer to specific capabilities. Primary health-care workers who act competently will integrate foundational IMCI knowledge with skills and values as well as with the ability to verify their decisions (Killen, 2000:188). Aqualitative, exploratory and descriptive research design was used to investigate the IMCI learning experiences. Such experiences are one of the indications whether training has been successful and how it can be improved (Suski, 2004:222). Data was collected by means of nominal-group technique (NGT) interviews with second-year nursing students of the training school who complied with the criteria for inclusion. NGT interviews were used effectively to evaluate clinical interaction, education and training.The findings reflected the different emotions experienced during teaching and learning as having been positive, negative or neutral. The consideration of negative emotions will assist with the improvement of IMCI teaching and learning, but all these findings can be useful for other higher-education institutions that present or plan to present IMCI training.

Currently, there are 49 indigenous oil companies (INOCs) and 28 marginal fields operators as well as 24 multi-national oil companies (MNOCs) operating in Nigeria. This study on Nigerian INOCs has found them to have inadequate state-of-the-art upstream information systems (IS) for their operations. Prior literature also indicates inadequate research on IS with respect to the INOCs. The sector has been essential to Nigeria due to its contribution of approximately 90% of the export revenues. In addition, at least 89% of the country’s oil is produced by MNOCs while indigenous ones produce a maximum of 11%. This is as a result of many factors, including the upstream IS used by the INOCs. The main objective of the study investigated the significant barriers that limit the adoption of the state-of-the-art upstream IS by the Nigerian INOCs. Furthermore, the relevant literature reveals that the MNOCs have developed and sustained their technological expertise in using the state-of-the-art IS for all of their activities. The developed research questions of the study have been answered by the suitable parts of the research. Data were collected through the interviewing of 6 chosen stakeholders as well as the administration of 200 questionnaires to the relevant stakeholders, and finally, 140 valid questionnaires were retrieved. As a result of the significant differences which existed between the chosen groups of the stakeholders, follow-up interviews were conducted in which 12 stakeholders participated. 6 of them were the same stakeholders interviewed during the first interviews conducted prior to questionnaire-survey. A mixed-method approach was selected and was also triangulated. The study has also used objective statistical tools based on SPSS to critically discover the major obstacles that limit the adoption of the state-of-the-art IS. The study also discovered that the opinions which emerged from the research participants indicated that, cost of some state-of-the-art ICT resources, technical skill, managerial attitude, government policies, government incentives, corruption and insecurity were significant barriers that limit the adoption of state-of-the-art IS by Nigerian INOCs. The study concludes by suggesting the need to invest in sufficient resources, hold meetings between various stakeholders, develop skills in terms of quality and quantity, provide sufficient technical training, reformulate government policy towards the adoption of state-of-the-art IS, provide government incentives to adopt state-of-the-art IS, establish anti-corruption units and improve the safety of the oil workers.

Η ανάπτυξη του διαδικτύου τα τελευταία χρόνια έχει φέρει αλλαγές στο μέγεθος και την ποιότητα του διαθέσιμου περιεχομένου. Οι χρήστες κυριολεκτικά κατακλύζονται από πληροφορία η οποία μπορεί να έχει διάφορες μορφές όπως κείμενο, ήχο, εικόνα, βίντεο. Η μεγάλη εξάπλωση του διαδικτύου, η εύκολη αναζήτηση σε μεγάλο όγκο πληροφορίας καθώς και η παρουσίαση του περιεχομένου με φιλικό τρόπο προς το χρήστη συνέβαλε στην ολοένα αυξανόμενη ανάγκη για προμήθεια εικόνων, βίντεο και μουσικής. Η ψηφιοποίηση του μεγαλύτερου όγκου περιεχομένου που διαχειρίζονται οι χρήστες τόσο στην προσωπική όσο και στην επαγγελματική ζωή τους οδήγησε στην ανάπτυξη νέων τεχνικών στεγανογραφίας για την ανταλλαγή κρυφής πληροφορίας, έννοια η οποία είναι ευρέως γνωστή από την αρχαιότητα. Η παρούσα μεταπτυχιακή εργασία υλοποιεί δύο από τους πιο δημοφιλείς αλγορίθμους στεγανογράφησης τον (Least Significant Bit) και τον LBP (Local Binary Pattern). Το σύστημα που αναπτύχθηκε είναι διαθέσιμο στο διαδίκτυο και μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί από οποιοδήποτε χρήστη επιθυμεί να αποκρύψει πληροφορία (κείμενο ή εικόνα) μέσα σε μια εικόνα. Το σύστημα υλοποιεί όλο τον κύκλο της στεγανογράφησης δίνοντας τη δυνατότητα στο χρήστη όχι μόνο να κάνει απόκρυψη της πληροφορίας που επιθυμεί αλλά και την αντίστροφη διαδικασία δηλαδή την ανάκτηση της κρυμμένης πληροφορίας. Η διαδικασία είναι απλή και απαιτεί από τον αποστολέα (αυτός που κρύβει το μήνυμα) το ανέβασμα της εικόνας στο σύστημα, την εισαγωγή ενός μυστικού κλειδιού το οποίο πρέπει να είναι γνωστό για την ανάκτηση του μηνύματος, και φυσικά το μήνυμα, δηλαδή η προς απόκρυψη πληροφορία. Στη συνέχεια ο παραλήπτης για να ανακτήσει το μήνυμα θα πρέπει να ανεβάσει στο σύστημα τη στεγανογραφημένη εικόνα καθώς και το μυστικό κλειδί που έχει συμφωνήσει με τον αποστολέα. Τέλος, με κάποια σενάρια χρήσης, πραγματοποιούνται μετρήσεις, οι οποίες δείχνουν την απόδοση κάθε αλγορίθμου και γίνονται οι αντίστοιχες συγκρίσεις. Το σύστημα που υλοποιήθηκε στην παρούσα εργασία μπορεί να συμπεριλάβει και άλλες μεθόδους στεγανογράφησης καθώς επίσης και με την επέκταση του αλγορίθμου LBP ώστε να χρησιμοποιεί και τις τρεις χρωματικές συνιστώσες για την απόκρυψη της πληροφορίας.. Επίσης, θα είχε ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον η παροχή της συγκεκριμένης διαδικασίας σαν ηλεκτρονική υπηρεσία (web service) ώστε να είναι εφικτό να χρησιμοποιηθεί ανεξάρτητα και να μπορεί να εισαχθεί ως αυτόνομο κομμάτι λογισμικού σε κάθε πλατφόρμα που υποστηρίζει web services. / The development of the internet in recent years has brought changes in the size and quality of the available content. Users literally flooded with information which may have various forms like text, audio, image, and video. The wide spread of the internet, the ease of search in a large amount of information and the presentation of the available content in a friendly way resulted in the need for more images, videos and music. With the digitization of the available content new steganography techniques were necessary so that users can exchange secret information. In the current thesis two of the most popular steganography algorithms are implemented: the LSB (Least Significant Bit) and the LBP (Local Binary Pattern). The system is publicly available and can be used by any user who wishes to hide information (text or image) within an image. The system provides functionalities so that user can hide information within an image and recover the hidden information. The sender (the person who wishes to hide a message) has to provide the following information in the system: upload the image, provide the secret key needed to retrieve the message, and upload the message. The receiver has to upload the image containing the message and the secret key needed to recover the message. Anumber of usage scenarios are implemented to measure the performance of the algorithms and make comparisons. The implemented system can easily include more steganografy methods and also the extension of the LBP algorithm so that the three color components are used to hide the information. It would be interested to provide the current process as an e-service (web service) that it is feasible to be used independently and can be introduced as a standalone piece of software in any platform that supports web services.

<p>The aim of the paper is to explore the dominating perception of the Other after the conflict regarding the Danish Mohammed caricatures. How Swedish newspapers have portrayed Arabs, which role they have been given in society and what problems they are struggling with is going to be the focus of this thesis.</p><p>As methodological approach I chose discourse analysis, since it presents a view where language defines and structures our understanding of reality. Through the study of various Swedish newspaper articles, this essay tries to illustrate the implicit yet existent negative image of the Arabs as a group and potential alternative ways of understanding the Other.</p><p>The perception of Arabs is a product of a necessary imaginary foe, a mirror image of the bad and strange in contrast to the idyllic and safe Swedish nationality. The rhetoric’s of the discourse are therefore constructed between a politics of acknowledgement and a will to culturally dominate the Other. To challenge this view the citizens of a nation must accept it as nothing more than an imaginary design.</p>