Dans les trente prochaines années la génération du baby boom va atteindre le troisième âge et participer au vieillissement de la société. Cette population aura un besoin massif d’aide et de soins dont il n’est pas garanti que l’on puisse les assurer. Les nouvelles technologies adressées aux personnes âgées peuvent aider à résoudre ce problème mais pour cela il est indispensable que les aînés les acceptent. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’offrir un moyen de mesurer l’acceptation de ces technologies et de prédire leur utilisation. L’analyse de la documentation scientifique a permis d’identifier un modèle ayant les qualités requises pour cela, le modèle d’acceptation technologique proposé par Davis en 1989 (Technology Acceptance Model, TAM). Ce modèle se révèle parcimonieux et bien documenté mais il n’existait qu’en langue anglaise. D’autre part, la documentation scientifique montrait que la technologie la plus répandue parmi la population âgée et dépendante était la téléalarme. Ainsi, il a été décidé de traduire en français, adapter et valider un questionnaire issu du TAM pour prédire l’utilisation de la téléalarme par les personnes âgées dépendantes. Quatre études ont donc été menées, la première a consisté en une série d’entretiens, la deuxième en un questionnaire papier, et les deux dernières en un questionnaire par téléphone. Ce travail a abouti à l’obtention d’un instrument à dix items dont les qualités psychométriques se sont révélées acceptables. Le TAM fonctionne de la manière attendue il est donc possible de prédire l’utilisation de la téléalarme. Cependant deux limites doivent nuancer ces résultats, la première est que les études réalisées sont transversales ce qui empêche de parler de validité prédictive, la seconde et la modeste variance expliquée du questionnaire en français comparativement aux résultats publiés. En conclusion, le modèle doit s’enrichir de concepts spécifique à la population âgée afin d’affiner ses prédictions. / In the next thirty years the baby boomers are going to reach the third age and participate in the ageing of the whole French society. But no one can guarantee that their massive need of assistance and care will be provided. Information and communication technologies have the potential to help the elderly but only if they accept it. The aim of this thesis is to build a tool to assess the acceptance of these technologies and to predict their use. The scientific literature analysis revealed that the technology acceptance model proposed by Davis in 1989 had all the required qualities to build this tool. This model shows itself parsimonius and well documented but only existed in English. According to the literature the most widespread technology among the dependent elderly was the warning alarm. Thus, it was decided to translate into French, to adapt and to validate a questionnaire stemming from the technology acceptance model to predict the use of the warning alarm by dependent elderly. Four studies were thus led, the first consisted in a series of qualitative interviews, the second used a paper a pencil questionnaire, and both last ones in a phone questionnaire. This work ended in a ten items instrument with acceptable psychometric properties. The technology acceptance model works as expected and thus it is possible to predict the use of the remote alarm by dependent elderly. However, two shortcomings have to qualify these results, first the studies presented are cross-sectional which prevents from testing predictive validity, second the amount of explained variance by the questionnaire in French is limited compared with the published results. Finally, the model need to incorporate elderly specific constructs in order to make more accurate predictions.

The objective of this study was to determine the patterns of regulatory noncompliance, as identified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and their effects on meta-analyses. In order to achieve these objective, three studies were undertaken: analysis of citations issued by FDA Investigators at the conclusion of an inspection; analysis of regulatory actions taken by the FDA towards clinical researchers based on the observations cited by FDA Investigators; and sensitivity analysis of meta-analyses based on the Agency’s determination of research misconduct, primarily the falsification of data. FDA Investigator citations were analyzed using Chi-Square analysis based on geographic location of the inspection, type of inspection, and type of violation. Temporal changes in the number of inspections and the violations cited were analyzed using bivariate Poisson regression models. Bonferroni correction was employed for temporal changes across the time period analyzed. Regulatory actions taken by the agency were analyzed via Chi-Square or Fisher’s exact test based on changes identified in previous publications, temporal changes, and differences between regulatory action types. Sensitivity analysis of meta-analyses identified through a systematic review were assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively for the effects of including publications of apixaban trials with significant FDA regulatory action, i.e. the comparison of odds ratio point estimate, upper and lower 95% confidence interval, both before and after consideration of falsified data. Under the FDA’s Bioresearch Monitoring program from 2007-2015, the number of inspections increased, but the rate of citation issuance per inspection decreased. One third of the violations were related to adherence to investigational procedures followed by informed consent violations and violations involving study records. During this same time period, 194 clinical researchers received a regulatory action based on FDA’s review of inspection results. Since 2007, rates of significant deviations had decreased. Lack of researcher supervision and submission of false information were cited more frequently for disqualification proceedings. A systematic review found 99 statistical analyses from 22 different meta-analyses available for sensitivity analyses. Nearly one-third resulted in a change in the conclusions reported in the originally published statistical analyses. In approximately the last decade, the number of violations cited during inspections under the Bioresearch Monitoring program has decreased; however, significant improvements can continue to be made regarding adherence to study procedures, the consenting of human subjects, and creation of adequate and accurate study documentation. Disqualification of clinical researchers is more likely to occur when researchers fail to supervise a clinical trial or false information is submitted to the FDA. Falsified data can make its way into the exploding field of meta-analyses, a study method that provides a concise and compelling method for the dissemination of medical intervention knowledge; however, this method can be highly unstable and can provide biased results. A robust sensitivity analysis that considers data quality from available sources can help ensure calculations of the best estimates.

2007年8月美國爆發次貸危機(Subprime Crisis)，如此新型態的金融危機是否可由金融危機預警系統預測？是本文所欲探討的目標。本文採用訊號方法、固定效果下的Panel Logit Model和CART(Classification and Regression Tree)三種計量方法建構危機預警模型。最後利用美國2006年至2008年資料，驗證本文所建構之預警模型是否能夠有效預測次貸危機的發生。 / “Could banking early warning systems help to predict Sub-prime crisis?” That is the main issue that we want to discuss. We combine three kinds of early warning systems models – Signal Approach, fixed effect panel logit model, and CART approach – to create a new banking early warning system(EWS). We will use the US 2006-2008 data to examine whether this new EWS could predict the Sub-prime crisis correctly.

本篇論文研究主要針對香菸警示圖文相關政策做消費者廣告效果的衡量，主因為世界反菸相關運動及政策近幾年不斷的在興起，而台灣在政策上雖然也有相同的聲音出現，但在相關研究上卻寥寥可數，並無足夠實證證據去推動相關法案的運行，且在警示圖文的面積及廣告訴求上，台灣目前所推行的警示圖文相對世界而言，不僅單調且在與消費者的溝通效果上也不如預期，因此引發本研究之動機，警示圖文面積對消費者的影響為何?而是否在不同的廣告訴求下，會使警示圖文面積的放大對消費者的影響有加成效果，而面對香菸消費者對香菸的不同涉入程度，警示圖文面積是否仍然有效? 本研究先利用現行實施的警示圖文政策中，面積佔比最大及最小的警示圖文做為本次研究實驗的基準，並取兩者中位數定義為面積佔比中，主要衡量警示圖文面積的改變與廣告效果的關係，並根據文獻推論這三個層次的廣告效果會受到消費者對涉入程度以及警示圖文之廣告訴求的干擾。 理論架構以3*2的實驗設計，利用不同廣告訴求之警示圖文，採用實際菸盒大小比例，設計包含了大、中及小三種層次的警示圖文，研究樣本為有抽菸習慣的人，並將對香菸的涉入程度做為組內設計，隨機抽樣180人進行實驗後填答問卷，以隨機分配的方式至六組，有效問卷為177份，先利用敘述性統計及因素分析檢驗樣本及問卷，再利用變異數分析進行後續的統計分析。 經實證研究後發現以下結果，(一)單純香菸警示圖文面積佔比的改變，對消費者的廣告效果並無顯著的影響，且台灣現行警示圖文已失去該有的警示效果，(二)考慮干擾效果之後可以發現，不同的廣告訴求確實會對香菸警示圖文面積佔比的廣告效果，對態度上有顯著的影響，對理性訴求來說，警示圖文的放大仍然會有影響力，但總體效果並不如感性訴求的警示圖文(三)不同涉入程度水準，也會對香菸警示圖文面積佔比的廣告效果，對購買意願有顯著的影響，對涉入程度較低的香菸使用者而言，警示圖文確實能造成其未來對香菸購買行為的改變，而對香菸涉入程度高的消費者而言，警示圖文可產生的廣告效果並不會對其行為有太大影響。 / The anti-smoking campaign and relative policies is growing around the world in these years. However, there were not much related researches in Taiwan. In addition, our anti-smoking policy really fallen behind which compared to other developed countries. It’s became the motivation of this study. This thesis focuses on cigarette warning label issues, and measure advertising effectiveness of warning label area. In addition, it also considers the disturbance variables, including involvement and advertising appeals. This study conducted experiment method. According to literature review, the Independent variable based on current world warning label policy, we define three levels of different warning label area. This study take the smoker in Taiwan as research objects in order to distribute 180 questionnaires, 177 of which are retrieved and the valid ratio is 98%. As the result of experiment, we found that the advertising effectiveness of cigarette warning area wasn’t distinct, but that would be affected by involvement and advertising appeals. The result of research supported part of fundamental hypothesis. The effectiveness of attitude could be higher when the warning label was emotional appeals. The smoker with lower involvement would have higher effectiveness of purchase intension. Beside of that, this study also found that the current cigarette warning label isn’t work anymore.

<p><strong>Syfte:            </strong></p><p>Denna studie har som syfte att utvärdera påföljdssystemets betydelse för den enskilde fastighetsmäklarens handlande. Vi ska även försöka utveckla det nuvarande påföljdssystemet för att skapa en mer rättvis bedömning av varje enskild fastighetsmäklares handlande.</p><p><strong>Metod:          </strong></p><p>För att kunna uträtta vår studie har vi analyserat Fastighetsmäklarnämndens årsböcker år 2007 – 2009 samt utfört intervjuer med personer inom branschen. Utifrån detta har vi erhålligt vår empiriska data. Dessutom har vi förstärkt vår analysering genom att jämföra systemet med advokatsamfundets påföljdssystem samt använt oss av väsentlig litteratur och lagstiftning.</p><p><strong>Resultat & slutsats:           </strong></p><p>Våra slutsatser visar att branschen är i behov av en nyutveckling av sitt påföljdssystem för fastighetsmäklarna. Detta för att både avskräcka samt inför allmänheten verka som moralbildande men främst för att ge fastighetsmäklaren en rättvis bedömning när denne döms. Vi tycker det är viktigt att de disciplinära påföljderna avspeglar brottets art då fastighetsmäklarna hängs ut allt oftare i bland annat media.  </p><p><strong>Vidare forskning:             </strong></p><p>Då tidigare forskning kring påföljdssystem är begränsat finns ett vidare behov av studier i ämnet. Det finns många inriktningar och frågeställningar som vi tror ej ännu har granskats.</p><p>Vi skulle tycka det vore intressant om lagförslaget går igenom till årsskiftet 2011 att man analyserar vilka typ av fall som kommer att hamna under erinran respektive varning samt vilka kriterier som ställs för respektive disciplinär påföljd.</p> / <p><strong>Aim: </strong></p><p>Our aim is to analyze the Swedish penalties and their consequences on real estate agents. The focus of this essay is to discuss how the current system could be changed so that a more fair assessment of each real estate agents conduct could be given.</p><p><strong>Method:       </strong></p><p>The empirical data was based on interviews with various people in the industry, such as Information officers, consumers, and estate agents themselves. We have also analyzed the Estate Agents Board’s yearbooks from 2007 to 2009. Furthermore, we have enhanced our analysis by comparing the system of estate agent penalties to the lawyers system of penalties. We have also used essential literature and legislation for example Estate Agents Act.</p><p><strong>Result & Conclusions:      </strong></p><p>Our conclusions of this essay show that the industry is in need of a development of the current system for real estate agents. This is to discourage and also act as a moral formation to the public. Mainly it’s about giving the estate agents a fair assessment when they are being convicted. We think the most important reason why the penalties should reflect the crime is because that is good justice. Estate agents nowadays have more coverage in the media and therefore we think it is extremely important that the persons whom sees this understand what lies behind the notification.</p><p><strong>Suggestions for future research: </strong></p><p>We can see that previous research about the system of penalties is limited and we truly think the industry is in need of continued studies about this subject. There are still many questions and directions about this that have not been reviewed before. This essay could be complemented in further studies if the measure will be adopted in 2011. Then it would be interesting if you analyze which case will get an admonitory remark or otherwise a warning and which criteria are required for each penalty.</p>

Syfte:            Denna studie har som syfte att utvärdera påföljdssystemets betydelse för den enskilde fastighetsmäklarens handlande. Vi ska även försöka utveckla det nuvarande påföljdssystemet för att skapa en mer rättvis bedömning av varje enskild fastighetsmäklares handlande. Metod:          För att kunna uträtta vår studie har vi analyserat Fastighetsmäklarnämndens årsböcker år 2007 – 2009 samt utfört intervjuer med personer inom branschen. Utifrån detta har vi erhålligt vår empiriska data. Dessutom har vi förstärkt vår analysering genom att jämföra systemet med advokatsamfundets påföljdssystem samt använt oss av väsentlig litteratur och lagstiftning. Resultat &amp; slutsats:           Våra slutsatser visar att branschen är i behov av en nyutveckling av sitt påföljdssystem för fastighetsmäklarna. Detta för att både avskräcka samt inför allmänheten verka som moralbildande men främst för att ge fastighetsmäklaren en rättvis bedömning när denne döms. Vi tycker det är viktigt att de disciplinära påföljderna avspeglar brottets art då fastighetsmäklarna hängs ut allt oftare i bland annat media.   Vidare forskning:             Då tidigare forskning kring påföljdssystem är begränsat finns ett vidare behov av studier i ämnet. Det finns många inriktningar och frågeställningar som vi tror ej ännu har granskats. Vi skulle tycka det vore intressant om lagförslaget går igenom till årsskiftet 2011 att man analyserar vilka typ av fall som kommer att hamna under erinran respektive varning samt vilka kriterier som ställs för respektive disciplinär påföljd. / Aim: Our aim is to analyze the Swedish penalties and their consequences on real estate agents. The focus of this essay is to discuss how the current system could be changed so that a more fair assessment of each real estate agents conduct could be given. Method:       The empirical data was based on interviews with various people in the industry, such as Information officers, consumers, and estate agents themselves. We have also analyzed the Estate Agents Board’s yearbooks from 2007 to 2009. Furthermore, we have enhanced our analysis by comparing the system of estate agent penalties to the lawyers system of penalties. We have also used essential literature and legislation for example Estate Agents Act. Result &amp; Conclusions:      Our conclusions of this essay show that the industry is in need of a development of the current system for real estate agents. This is to discourage and also act as a moral formation to the public. Mainly it’s about giving the estate agents a fair assessment when they are being convicted. We think the most important reason why the penalties should reflect the crime is because that is good justice. Estate agents nowadays have more coverage in the media and therefore we think it is extremely important that the persons whom sees this understand what lies behind the notification. Suggestions for future research: We can see that previous research about the system of penalties is limited and we truly think the industry is in need of continued studies about this subject. There are still many questions and directions about this that have not been reviewed before. This essay could be complemented in further studies if the measure will be adopted in 2011. Then it would be interesting if you analyze which case will get an admonitory remark or otherwise a warning and which criteria are required for each penalty.

This is a study of how expository information is presented in the metatext (title, subtitle, prefaces, dedications, the dramatis personae, announcements of act and scene, stage directions etc.) and the dialogue in seven one-act plays by August Strindberg: The Stronger (1889), Pariah (1889), Simoom (1889), Debit and Credit (1892), The First Warning (1892), Facing Death (1892), and Motherly Love (1892). Exposition in this study is defined as a semiotic temporal-structural element that: (1) is not restricted to any specific part of the drama; (2) is present in both the metatext and the dialogue; (3) transfers information about the prescenic time/action (time/action preceding the scenic time/action), interscenic time/action (scenic and non-scenic time/action between scenes), simultaneous scenic time/action (non-scenic time/action that takes place simultaneously with the scenic time/action, and postscenic time/action (time/action that follows the scenic time/action). The study shows that the expository information is presented gradually in the dramas, in both metatext and dialogue, and in all the four categories of time/action presented above. One important result is that the seven one-act plays, despite their naturalistic qualities, also contain components pointing towards Strindberg’s more expressionistic drama. It is possible to talk about a naturalistic or an expressionistic period in Strindberg’s authorship. It is, however, impossible to regard Strindberg as a naturalist or an expressionist in a stricter sense. Strindberg’s drama is too complex and rich to be placed in a certain theoretic doctrine. It is clear from the dissertation that the study of expository information is useful in dramaturgic analyses, and generates various discussions about for example themes, motives, and metaphors. A complete analysis of the exposition, therefore, must also consider elements such as language and imagery.

This Master’s Thesis is an evaluation of the software Xilinx System Generator (XSG) and blockset for Matlab. XSG is a module to simulink developed by Xilinx in order to generate VHDL code directly from functions implemented in Matlab. The evaluation was made at Saab Avionics AB in Järfälla, north of Stockholm. In order to investigate the performance of this new module XSG to simulink, a model of a frequency estimator often used in digital radar receivers were implemented in Matlab using XSG. Engineers working at SAAB Avionics implemented the same application directly in VHDL, without using Matlab and the XSG. After generating code the results were synthesised, analysed and compared. The frequency estimator basically contains an FFT, a windowing function and a sorting algorithm used to enable analyse of two real signals simultaneously. There were however problems during generation of the VHDL code and the model had to be broken into smaller parts containing only a 16-point FFT. The results of comparison in this report are based on models containing only this 16-point FFT and they show a small advantage for the System Generator according to the resource usage report generated during synthesis. Designing models for generation using Xilinx Blockset can create a lot of wiring between components. The reason for this is that the System Generator and Xilinx Blockset today is a new tool, not completely developed. There are many components found in simulink, Matlab that could not be found in Xilinx Blockset, this is however being improved. Another problem is long time for simulation and errors during generation. My opinion is that when used for smaller systems and with further development the System Generator can be a useful facility in designing digital electronics.

This research augments current Multiple Objective Evolutionary Algorithms with methods that dramatically reduce the time required to evolve toward a region of interest in objective space. Multiple Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) are superior to other optimization techniques when the search space is of high dimension and contains many local minima and maxima. Likewise, MOEAs are most interesting when applied to non-intuitive complex systems. But, these systems are often computationally expensive to calculate. When these systems require independent computations to evaluate each objective, the computational expense grows with each additional objective. This method has developed methods that reduces the time required for evolution by reducing the number of objective evaluations, while still evolving solutions that are Pareto optimal. To date, all other Multiple Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) require the evaluation of all objectives before a fitness value can be assigned to an individual. The original contributions of this thesis are: 1. Development of a hierarchical search space description that allows association of crossover and mutation settings with elements of the genotypic description. 2. Development of a method for parallel evaluation of individuals that removes the need for delays for synchronization. 3. Dynamical evolution of thresholds for objectives to allow partial evaluation of objectives for individuals. 4. Dynamic objective orderings to minimize the time required for unnecessary objective evaluations. 5. Application of MOEAs to the computationally expensive flare pattern design domain. 6. Application of MOEAs to the optimization of fielded missile warning receiver algorithms. 7. Development of a new method of using MOEAs for automatic design of pattern recognition systems.

In this thesis we empirically examine whether the Turkish stock market is driven by rational bubbles over the period between March 1990 and February 2012. The bubble periods are estimated using a recently developed right-tailed unit root test, the generalized sup augmented Dickey-Fuller test of Phillips, Shi and Yu (2011a). Applying their bubble detection and location strategies to weekly price dividend ratio series, we find strong evidence for the existence of rational bubbles in the Turkish stock market benchmark indices as well as sector indices. Our located bubble periods may give early warning signals of the subsequent Turkish financial crisis.