In this thesis I am going to investigate the trends within e-business, what it is that drive these trends and why these drivers are of such importance. I chose this subject since I have found it very interesting and useful in my career because of the importance it embraces in today’s business world. The aspect of e-commerce has changed a lot lately to in the beginning of the 1990s be about being present on the Internet with a web site, to being about transactions, meaning to buy or sell through digital media at the end of the 1990s, to today be about being used to make profitability – an era that can be called e-business, because it is now that e-business finally gets its big breakthrough and starts to be recognized as a necessity for companies to survive. As long as e-business has existed so have trends in the same matter. What will be the trends of e-business in the future? Impossible to say of course, but by taking today’s major trends into consideration, and to look at what drives these trends might have, will make it possible to get a glimpse of the future of this relatively new business phenomenon called e-business. To get the best result possible of my thesis I have made a wide literature study in the subject by reading and examine accurate literature and articles as well as carried out interviews with different IT-gurus and other persons that is thought to withhold a lot of information about my chosen subject. I have focused on two major trends being customer oriented trends and service digitization. Customer oriented trends are trends which have their focus towards customers such as customer service, offering more product choices and to have integrated solutions. Service digitization is the transformation of paper-based transactions into the new integrated multi-channel processes. The driver I have found of most significance and therefore focused on is customers. Customers are important as drivers since they have adopted a new role in the business process. Customers nowadays have found a way to let their voices to be heard. With the help of blogs, social networks and wikis over the Internet they can express their feelings and suggestions about products as well as companies and have so to say gained a more active role as customers to also taking part of the development. This voice of the customers is highly essential to listen to if you as a company want to survive in a business world where customers get more and more power. After finishing this study I came up with the importance of service, and especially customer service as well of personalization and customization (to personalize the shopping experience for the customer). Another important conclusion is the importance of customers, both as trends to focus on, as well as drivers behind these trends. ii Acknowledgements

The thesis deals with some interesting trends and legal provisions and their impact, which in the Czech Republic has recently occurred. The first part concerns the insurance market. Attention is paid to the development and changes in pricing policy of liability insurance and sustainability of the whole system. It additionally influence and activities of the Czech Insurers' Bureau and laws relating to it. The second part is devoted to vehicles debt financing. Here is the main point the so-called "discount on credit". Another trend in the financing vehicles is its loss and the decline of companies that specialize in these products. To debt financing is also applied several statutory changes that do not always work as intended. Error legislators or way as a endless struggle, with those who circumvent it? All work is handled from the perspective of the car dealer that provides insurance and loan products as his additional service.

The thesis deals with current trends in insurance. The aim of the thesis is to find and analyse the development trends, which has affected the insurance market the most in the last years. The first part is defined by the evolution of Czech insurance market in terms of premiums written. The next two chapters are devoted to trends in non-life and life insurance and trends in motor vehicle insurance. For non-life insurance, the development of catastrophic events, and as a result of the increasing importance of alternative instruments of risk. The chapter on trends in life insurance is about one-off and regular insurance policies, as well as the decision of the Court of Justice of the EU ban on sex discrimination in the calculation of insurance premiums and administration including creation of insurance for women only. The last chapter deals with the new Solvency II regulatory concept. Explaining his goals, three pillars, as well as the Lamfalussy legislative process, according to which it is created. In conclusion, there are also evaluated its effects.

The aim of this thesis work is to analyse the trends in heat use among Borlänge Energis district heating customer over the last 20 years. Several reports show that in general the buildings stock get more and more efficient, both in Sweden and other European countries, but will the same trend be seen among Borlänge Energis customer? Data of delivered heat to 324 customers, both single-family houses and multifamily houses, for the period of 1998-2018 is used in this study. The heating that is assumed for domestic hot water is calculated and the heat used for heating is temperature corrected so the heat needed for a normal year could be calculated. The investigated customers are divided into different groups representing various types of buildings with different building years. From this data it’s possible to see trends in heat usage in kWh/building, and year for various types of buildings over the period. Other studies on how trends for heating usage in buildings have report heating usage in kWh/(m2,year). It wasn’t possible in this work to get data of the size of each building, which means that it’s not possible to compare the result from this study with other studies. However, assuming that the building area have been the same and that no extensions of the buildings have been done during the period, the trend in changed heat use should be the same, unless the result is presented in kWh/m2, year and kWh/building, year. The overall results show that there is a reduction in energy use in the buildings in Borlänge during the period 1998-2018. The decrease in heat use are in the order of 0.3 – 0.4 %/year, with larger decrease in multi-family houses. This is considerably less than the decrease of heat use in the buildings stock of 0.9 – 1.2 %/year reported for the entire building stock in Sweden during approximately the same period.

Den här studien utvärderar potentialen i söktermsdata från Google som ledande indikator för priser på bostadsmarknaden i Stockholm. Det prediktiva innehållet i söktermsdata från Google Trends jämförs mot en mer klassisk prognosmodell byggd på makroekonomiska variabler. Genom att mäta avvikelsen i en pseudo-prognos redovisas respektive datakällas förmåga till riktiga prognoser. Den huvudsakliga slutsatsen är att det finns resultat som styrker tesen om prediktivt innehåll i Googledata, framförallt för prognoser med horisonter upp till sex månader. Genom att använda Googledata skapas prognoser som har en mindre avvikelse från den faktiska tidsserien är vad modellen byggd på makroekonomiska variabler kan leverera. Resultatet visar på användbarheten i söktermsdata från Google som ledande indikator för priser på bostadsmarknaden i Stockholm. / This study evaluates the potential in using Google search term data as a leading indicator of prices on the real estate market in Stockholm. The predictive content of the search term data from Google Trends is contrasted against a more classic forecasting model using macroeconomic variables. The ability of each data source to generate powerful forecasts is demonstrated by measuring the deviation in a pseudo-forecast. The main finding is that the results support the hypothesis on predictive content in Google data, mainly forecasts with up to six months’ horizon. By using Google data, forecasts can be made with less deviation from the actual time series than forecasts built on macroeconomic variables. The results point to the usability of search term data from Google as a leading indicator for prices on the real estate market in Stockholm.

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O objetivo geral deste trabalho foi avaliar aspectos fenotípicos e genéticos de características de crescimento, temperamento e repelência em bovinos da raça Nelore. As características analisadas neste trabalho foram peso ao nascer (PN, N=13.374), peso a desmama (PD, N=19.835), peso ao sobreano (P18M, N=15.291), ganho de peso da desmama ao sobreano (GP345, N=12.873), ganho de peso da desmama ao sobreano diferenciado (GP345DIF, N=12.873), temperamento (TEMP, N=13.253) e repelência (REP, N=1.859). O arquivo de pedigree foi constituído por 30.233 animais. Os componentes de variância, (co)variância, parâmetros genéticos, bem como as predições dos valores genéticos foram estimados por máxima verossimilhança restrita (REML). As estimativas de herdabilidade observadas para PN, PD, P198M, GP345, GP345DIF, TEMP e REP foram 0,22, 0,34, 0,34, 0,12, 0,12, 0,15 e 0,18, respectivamente. As estimativas de correlação genéticas verificadas foram 0,50 (PD e PN), 0,96 (PD e P18M), 0,49 (PD e GP345), 0,55 (PD e GP345DIF), 0,41 (PD e TEMP) e 0,20(PD e REP). As tendências fenotípicas para as características avaliadas foram todas negativas (P<0,01), a exceção de PD (P>0,05). As tendências genéticas para as características avaliadas foram todas positivas (P<0,01), a exceção de REP (P<0,01) que apresentou tendência negativa. As taxas de endogamia individual, paterna e materna apresentaram comportamento crescente (P<0,01) ao longo do período de estudo. Foram verificados efeitos significativos dos coeficientes de endogamia individuais sobre todas as características avaliadas, a exceção de TEMP. Os coeficientes de endogamia paternos influenciaram significativamente as características P18M, GP345 e GP345DIF. Por outro lado, a endogamia materna influenciou significativamente as características PD, GP345 e GP345DIF. / The general aim of this study was evaluated phenotypic and genetic aspects to growth traits, temperament and resistance in Nelore beef cattle. The traits analyzed in this study were birth weight (BW, N=13,374), weaning weight (WW, N=19,835), weight to over year (W18M, N=15,291), weight gain from weaning to over year (WG345, N=12,873), differentiated weight gain from weaning to over year (WG345DIF, N=12,873), temperament (TEMP, N=13,253) e resistance (RES, N=1,859). The pedigree information was composed by 30,233 animals. Variance and (co)variance components, genetic parameters, as well as predict breeding values were estimated using restricted maximum likelihood analyses (REML). Heritability estimates for BW, WW, W18M, WG345, WG345DIF, TEMP and RES were 0.22, 0.34, 0.34, 0.12, 0.12, 0.15 e 0.18, respectively. The genetics correlations verified were 0.50 (WW and BW), 0.96 (WW and W18M), 0.49 (WW and WG345), 0.55 (WW and WG345DIF), 0.41 (WW and TEMP) and 0.20 (WW and RES). All phenotypic trends to the evaluated traits were negatives (P<0.01), except for WW (P>0.05). All genetic trends to the evaluated traits were positives (P<0.01), except for RES (P<0.01) which presented negative trend. The individual, paternal and maternal inbreeding rates showed increasing behavior (P<0.01) along the study period. Were verified significant effects of individual inbreeding coefficients in all evaluated traits, except for TEMP. The paternal inbreeding coefficients affected significantly the W18M, WG345, WG345DIF traits. Even so, the maternal inbreeding coefficients affected significantly the WW, WG345, WG345DIF traits.

O objetivo geral deste trabalho foi avaliar aspectos fenotípicos e genéticos de características de crescimento, temperamento e repelência em bovinos da raça Nelore. As características analisadas neste trabalho foram peso ao nascer (PN, N=13.374), peso a desmama (PD, N=19.835), peso ao sobreano (P18M, N=15.291), ganho de peso da desmama ao sobreano (GP345, N=12.873), ganho de peso da desmama ao sobreano diferenciado (GP345DIF, N=12.873), temperamento (TEMP, N=13.253) e repelência (REP, N=1.859). O arquivo de pedigree foi constituído por 30.233 animais. Os componentes de variância, (co)variância, parâmetros genéticos, bem como as predições dos valores genéticos foram estimados por máxima verossimilhança restrita (REML). As estimativas de herdabilidade observadas para PN, PD, P198M, GP345, GP345DIF, TEMP e REP foram 0,22, 0,34, 0,34, 0,12, 0,12, 0,15 e 0,18, respectivamente. As estimativas de correlação genéticas verificadas foram 0,50 (PD e PN), 0,96 (PD e P18M), 0,49 (PD e GP345), 0,55 (PD e GP345DIF), 0,41 (PD e TEMP) e 0,20(PD e REP). As tendências fenotípicas para as características avaliadas foram todas negativas (P<0,01), a exceção de PD (P>0,05). As tendências genéticas para as características avaliadas foram todas positivas (P<0,01), a exceção de REP (P<0,01) que apresentou tendência negativa. As taxas de endogamia individual, paterna e materna apresentaram comportamento crescente (P<0,01) ao longo do período de estudo. Foram verificados efeitos significativos dos coeficientes de endogamia individuais sobre todas as características avaliadas, a exceção de TEMP. Os coeficientes de endogamia paternos influenciaram significativamente as características P18M, GP345 e GP345DIF. Por outro lado, a endogamia materna influenciou significativamente as características PD, GP345 e GP345DIF. / The general aim of this study was evaluated phenotypic and genetic aspects to growth traits, temperament and resistance in Nelore beef cattle. The traits analyzed in this study were birth weight (BW, N=13,374), weaning weight (WW, N=19,835), weight to over year (W18M, N=15,291), weight gain from weaning to over year (WG345, N=12,873), differentiated weight gain from weaning to over year (WG345DIF, N=12,873), temperament (TEMP, N=13,253) e resistance (RES, N=1,859). The pedigree information was composed by 30,233 animals. Variance and (co)variance components, genetic parameters, as well as predict breeding values were estimated using restricted maximum likelihood analyses (REML). Heritability estimates for BW, WW, W18M, WG345, WG345DIF, TEMP and RES were 0.22, 0.34, 0.34, 0.12, 0.12, 0.15 e 0.18, respectively. The genetics correlations verified were 0.50 (WW and BW), 0.96 (WW and W18M), 0.49 (WW and WG345), 0.55 (WW and WG345DIF), 0.41 (WW and TEMP) and 0.20 (WW and RES). All phenotypic trends to the evaluated traits were negatives (P<0.01), except for WW (P>0.05). All genetic trends to the evaluated traits were positives (P<0.01), except for RES (P<0.01) which presented negative trend. The individual, paternal and maternal inbreeding rates showed increasing behavior (P<0.01) along the study period. Were verified significant effects of individual inbreeding coefficients in all evaluated traits, except for TEMP. The paternal inbreeding coefficients affected significantly the W18M, WG345, WG345DIF traits. Even so, the maternal inbreeding coefficients affected significantly the WW, WG345, WG345DIF traits.

Previous healthcare-based studies have reported increasing herpes zoster (HZ) incidence over time; however, this could be an artifact of increased healthcare utilization. This study is a cross-sectional analysis of 15,103 respondents in the 2008 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to evaluate changes in HZ incidence from 1940 to 2008. Negative binomial regression is used to model the effect of calendar year, age of onset of HZ, gender and race/ethnicity on HZ incidence. A nonparametric method based on B-spline basis expansion is used to model the effect of calendar year to avoid imposing a predetermined functional form and produce flexible and accurate estimates. This study demonstrates increasing HZ incidence from 1940 to 2008 using self-reported HZ. Although the reason for this increase remains unknown, this study supports the assertion that this trend is real and not an artifact of increasing healthcare utilization for HZ over time.

Drawing from a cultural studies perspective, this dissertation examines digital, visual, and idiomatic expressions and platforms that both create and inform youth culture in Chile. In what ways have globalized media trends influenced cultural production, class-consciousness, and identity formation in Chilean youth culture, and how do these expressions mirror a global neoliberal agenda and shed light on a history of economic, political, and religious globalization in Chile? In order to answer these questions, this dissertation provides an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate changing media trends in Latin American youth culture. I argue that cultural influence of the United States and the rise of global neoliberalism have informed the production, reception, dissemination, and identity formation of this segment of Chilean society. This dissertation is organized into four chapters. Chapter 1 provides a historical contextualization of political and economic changes in Chile as well as the literature review and theoretical foundation for my analysis. Chapter 2 contends that the class-consciousness spectrum in Chilean television and film works as a reflection of consumption behavior and identity formation in youth that has been informed by a U.S. neoliberal agenda. Chapter 3 studies one particular young Chilean, Germán Garmendia, and his popular YouTube channel, "Hola Soy German," to argue that the spreadable and invisible factors that inform his global success as a grassroots, "latino" vlogger can be traced to U.S. digital commercialism. And lastly, Chapter 4 highlights digital texts of the student organization, "Chile Siempre," and their stylized performance of moral values through mediatized and digitalized spaces in order to reveal U.S. religious and cultural interventionism through evangelical missionaries in Chile. The triangulation and interdisciplinary approach of these texts expose a consistent history of political, economic, and religious transculturation and calls into question U.S. cultural influence in Chile that continues, while not overtly, to manifest in new media forms.