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Inflation targeting has become an increasingly popular regime among emerging markets. Focusing on the experience of inflation targeting adoption in the countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States, this thesis highlights the main features of the inflation targeting framework. A clear economic condition bringing these countries together is considered the dollarization issue which gains importance when designing the inflation targeting framework. The empirical study on the impact of inflation targeting in inflation, inflation volatility, output, output volatility and deposit dollarization shows clear benefits of inflation targeting in terms of inflation and inflation volatility, which are not achieved at the expense of output growth. Also, dollarization does not harm the positive impact of inflation targeting on inflation.

Implicit in the use of the target audience concept is the assumption that audiences are highly segmented. Yet media don't deliver the 'unique' audience they claim to. This research provides evidence that genuine audience niches are often hard to find, thus is expected to challenge entrenched assumptions about audience targeting.

Studying dynamical mechanisms of perturbation growth in tropical cyclones is important from a perspective of designing ensemble prediction system and adaptive observations for tropical cyclones. In this thesis, the role of perturbations in ensemble forecasting and adaptive observations for tropical cyclones is investigated, especially focusing on tropical cyclone tracks. For this purpose, ensemble initial perturbations from operational numerical weather prediction centers are first diagnosed, followed by a study in which the structure and location of singular vectors computed for tropical cyclone-like vortices in a nondivergent barotropic framework are investigated. The three most significant findings of this study are that 1) perturbations grow in the vicinity of tropical cyclones through both baroclinic and barotropic energy conversion as seen in mid-latitude dynamics, that 2) those energy conversions lead to the modification in tracks of tropical cyclones, and that 3) the structure and the location of growing perturbations are sensitive to initial temperature and wind profiles of the tropical cyclone vortex. The above results (1) and (2) determine a mechanism how the ensemble spread of tropical cyclone tracks evolves with time in ensemble prediction systems at operational numerical weather prediction centers. In addition, those results identify the reason why the ensemble spread differs from one ensemble prediction system to another. The result (3) gives an insight into understanding what sensitivity analysis guidance targeted for tropical cyclones represents and helps to optimize observation network for tropical cyclones.

The development of a self-contained, onboard, fully autonomous trajectory guidance tool for spacecraft is presented. To be considered completely autonomous requires the capability to both identify an appropriate startup solution, and then use that solution to target a set of user-defined path and endpoint constraints. To minimize the cost of flight software development and validation, both the generation of the startup solution and the targeting algorithm are designed to be as computationally efficient as possible. This study addresses both the determination of a startup arc and the subsequent targeting process. The first part of the investigation considers the targeting algorithm. Linear targeting through differential corrections is a well-known approach for identifying feasible solutions that meet specified mission and trajectory constraints. However, to date, these methods relied on the assumption that the associated control inputs were impulsive in nature. This research focuses on the theoretical development and numerical validation of a generalized linear targeting algorithm capable of accommodating finite periods of continuous control action for a wide range of applications. Examples are presented to illustrate the general concept and to contrast the performance of this new targeting process against more classical impulsive targeting methods. The second section of the study introduces a novel approach utilizing artificial potential function methods to identify suitable startup solutions. Although common in other types of path planning, these methods have not yet been used for orbital or interplanetary trajectory design, primarily due to their inherent suboptimality. However, results show that this issue can be addressed with relative ease by the targeting algorithm. / text

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This thesis presents the development of a novel, targeted, lipid-based, microbubble ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) for assessment of coronary heart disease (CHD) with high frequency intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). The targeting mechanisms assessed for microbubble attachment include a streptavidin-biotin mechanism, electrostatic mechanism and antibody targeting. The microbubble has been optimized for use with 40MHz IVUS through an investigation into the effect of various production methods on the echogenicity of the agent. Echogenicity has been assessed from quantification of the RF data and determination of the mean ultrasound backscatter. Agitation was found to be the optimal method of production resulting in a 3.94(±1.14)dB increase in the mean backscatter. The stability of the agent has also been assessed over time and optimal storage of the agent determined. A novel flow chamber has been developed for assessment of microbubble detachment under very high WSS. The flow chamber has been calibrated to 50Pa wall shear stress (WSS) using laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). Higher WSS was achieved through the use of higher viscosity fluids. The streptavidin-biotin bond has been assessed within the flow chamber and was found to be 75 times stronger than an electrostatic control. Antibody attachment to the microbubbles via a streptavidin-biotin bridge has been optimised with 91.20(±0.02)% of the microbubbles having antibodies attached. A flow system has also been developed for assessment of microbubble attachment to cells under very low WSS. Microbubbles have been successfully targeted to SK-Hep-1 cells using acoustic radiation force. In addition attachment of the microbubbles to SK-Hep-1 cells has been observed under 0.03Pa WSS in the Ibidi μ-slides.