There is an ethical dilemma and a legal issue of earnings management and insider trading, and a risk of it affecting the accuracy of financial markets. The use of earnings management leads to an information asymmetry between the corporate management and the financial markets. This paper investigates how earnings management affects insider trading and whether insider trading is a good information source about earnings quality and future performance. Studying companies believed to have conducted earnings management on Nasdaq OMX Nordic Stock Exchange (Stockholm) from 2005 through 2014 indicates that: (1) insiders do not sell shares after managing earnings upwards; (2) the relationship between insider selling and future earnings performance is positive, contradicting agency theory and previous research; (3) the market’s reaction to the earnings announcement one year after suspected earnings management is positive for firms where insiders have sold shares, and vice versa. Taken together, our results are not in line with those of previous studies conducted on other markets. This is likely to depend on the unique Swedish setting with the existence of endowment insurances, where insiders can trade shares without having to disclose their transactions to the market. Because of this, we argue that insider trading is not an adequate signal about Swedish firms’ earnings quality and future performance. We therefor further emphasize the importance of a change in the Swedish legislation, in order to insure the accuracy of financial markets and to protect other investors.

Les nombreuses modifications de la structure du transistor bulk ont permis de poursuivre la miniaturisation jusqu'à sa limite aux nœuds 32/28nm. Les technologies actuelles répondent au besoin d'un meilleur contrôle électrostatique en s'ouvrant vers l'industrialisation de transistors complètement dépletés, avec les architectures sur film mince (FDSOI) ou non planaires (TriGate FinFET bulk). Dans ce dernier cas, le substrat bulk reste limitant pour des applications à basse consommation. La combinaison de la technologie SOI et d'une architecture non-planaire conduit aux transistors TriGate sur SOI (ou TGSOI). Nous verrons l'intérêt de ces dispositifs et démontrerons qu'ils sont compatibles avec les techniques de contrainte. On montrera en particulier les améliorations de mobilité et de courants obtenus sur ces dispositifs de largeur inférieure à 15nm. Des simulations montrent également qu'un dispositif TGSOI peut être compatible avec les techniques de modulation de VT. Enfin, nous démontrons la possibilité de fabriquer des dispositifs ultimes à nanofils empilés avec une grille enrobante par une technique innovante de lithographie tridimensionnelle. La conception, la caractérisation physique et les premiers résultats électriques obtenus seront présentés. Ces solutions peuvent répondre aux besoins des nœuds sub-10nm. / Changing the bulk transistor structure was sufficient so far to fulfill the scaling needs. The current technologies answer the needs of electrostatics control with the industrialization of fully depleted transistors, with thin-film (FDSOI) or non-planar (TriGate FinFet bulk) technologies. In the latter, bulk substrate is still an issue for low power applications. Combining SOI with multiple-gate structure gives rise to TriGate on SOI (or TGSOI). We will discuss the interest of such devices and will demonstrate their compatibility with strain techniques. We will focus on the mobility and current enhancement obtained on sub-15nm width devices. Simulations also demonstrate the compatibility of TGSOI with VT modulation technique. Finally, we demonstrate the fabrication through 3D lithography of ultimate stacked nanowires with a gate-all-around. The conception, physical characterization and first electrical results are presented.

abstract: Childhood obesity has been on the rise for the past decade, and it has been hypothesized that students' food choices may be influenced by easy access to food outlets near their schools that provide unhealthful options. But the results of recent studies on the relationship between the food environment around schools and student weight status are mixed and often contradictory. Most studies have used measures of weight and height that were self-reported by students, or have relied on data from a relatively small sample of students. I examine the association between weight status among school students and the food environment surrounding their schools using professionally-measured, student-level data across the full school-age spectrum. De-identified data were obtained for over 30,000 K-12 students in 79 public schools located in four New Jersey cities. Locations of alternative food-outlets (specifically, supermarkets, convenience stores, small grocery stores, and limited-service restaurants) were obtained from commercial sources and geocoded to develop proximity measures. A simplified social-ecological framework was used to conceptualize the multi-level the association between students' BMI and school proximity to food outlets and multivariate analyses were used to estimate this relationship controlling for student- and school-level factors. Over twenty percent of the students were obese, compared to the national average at 17% (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2012). On average, students had 2.6 convenience stores, 2.9 limited-service restaurants, and 0.1 supermarkets within a quarter mile of their school. This study suggests that easy access to small grocery stores (which this study uniquely examines as a separate food outlet category) that offer healthy choices including five types of fresh vegetable, five types of fresh fruits, low-fat dairy, and lean meats is associated with lower BMI z score and lower probability of being obese for middle and high school students. This suggests that improving access to such small food outlets may be a promising area for future investigation in obesity mitigation research. Also, this study separates students of pre-schools, kindergartens and elementary schools (neighborhood schools) from that of the middle and high schools (non-neighborhood) schools because the two groups of schools have different neighborhood characteristics, as well as open-school and bussing policies that result in different levels of exposure that students have to the food outlets around the schools. The result of this study suggests that the relationship between students' weight outcomes and food environment around schools is different in the two groups of schools. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Sustainability 2013

A presente dissertação investiga a adequação do método da Corrente Crítica para a programação dos projetos de parada de plataformas marítimas de exploração de petróleo, que envolvem processos de tomada de decisões em condições de risco. O método da Corrente Crítica (Critical Chain Project Management - CCPM), baseado na Teoria das Restrições (TOC), se propõe a oferecer instrumentos de controle mais precisos e focados que os tradicionalmente utilizados no método do Caminho Crítico (Critical Path Method - CPM), indicando em que momento agir, onde e como deve ser direcionada a ação. A hipótese subjacente à pesquisa é a de que a Corrente Crítica (CCPM) traduz, de forma mais adequada que o Caminho Crítico (CPM), a incerteza existente na parada de plataforma, permitindo a elaboração de um cronograma a um só tempo mais realista e mais desafiador, no sentido de atender metas de menor interrupção na produção. Com base nessa hipótese, as duas principais perguntas que nortearam toda a investigação foram: 1. O método da Corrente Crítica é adequado à programação da parada de plataformas marítimas de exploração de petróleo? 2. Que vantagens poderia trazer em comparação aos métodos tradicionais de programação de projetos em uso nas paradas de plataformas? Para responder a tais perguntas, além de revisar a bibliografia existente sobre o assunto, optou-se por coletar depoimentos de diversos especialistas do setor, por meio de três abordagens qualitativas: pesquisa-ação, entrevistas semi-estruturadas e grupo focal. A análise e interpretação dos dados revelaram que, devido aos seus instrumentos de controle de restrição de recursos serem mais afinados, o Método da Corrente Crítica (CCPM) é mais adequado ao problema da parada de plataformas marítimas - caracterizado pelo ambiente de alta limitação de recursos e por grande paralelismo de atividades. O presente estudo leva a concluir que a implantação do novo método, por oferecer aos gestores ferramentas mais precisas de controle, resulta em melhores chances de cumprimento do prazo dos projetos. / The present study discusses the adequacy of the Critical Chain Project Management Method (CCPM) - also known as the Critical Chain Method - for scheduling projects involving shutdowns on oil platforms, as such projects involve decision-making processes under risk conditions. The CCPM is based on the Theory of Constraints and aims at providing more precise and more clearly focused control instruments than those traditionally used in the Critical Path Method (CPM). The CCPM also indicates the best moments to act and where and how the action should be directed. The hypothesis underlying the research is that the CCPM portrays, more adequately than the CPM, the uncertainty that exists in a platform shutdown. This characteristic also makes it possible to draw up a schedule that is both more realistic and more challenging, as it addresses the goal of causing less interruption of production. On the basis of this hypothesis, the two main questions that oriented the entire investigation were: 1) Is the CCPM suitable for scheduling the shutdown of an offshore oil platform and, 2) What advantages might it have over the traditional scheduling methods in use on platform shutdown? To answer these questions the authors reviewed the existing bibliography on the topic and made direct on-site observations during an actual shutdown. In addition, interviews were held with a number of specialists in the area using qualitative approaches, namely, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and action research. The Data analysis revealed that the instruments used in the CCPM for controlling the constraints of resources are more refined, so the method has been proven to be more adequate than others for facing problems that come up in offshore platform shutdowns, which are characterized by strict constraints on resources and considerable parallelism of activities. The results have led to the conclusion that the implementation of the CCPM provides managers with more precise tools for control than the CPM, and may thus increase the chances for complying with the timeframes set down for projects.

The problems of lack of potable water, food and electrical power in and around the desert environment are analysed and their solutions based on the utilisation of indigenous renewable energy resources are evaluated in the current research. Self-contained, decentralised solar energy powered processes are devised in the research results as means to attain the objectives of supplying electrical power, potable water and food to the communities living in the deserts in environmentally sustainable manner. Needs analysis of desert community, a questionnaire survey, desert energy model utilisation scenarios, solar potential assessment and environmental emissions reduction strategy are used as means of analysis in the current research. A potential assessment of a desert site Islamkot, at Thar is carried out to demonstrate the capability of available solar potential to meet the energy needs of underground pumping, desalination of aquifer water potable water, cultivation of wheat, rice and pulses and domestic power consumption. The needs analysis estimates the amounts of electrical power needs of potable water desalination, agricultural commodities cultivation and electrical power needs per person per day, which can be scale up for any number of communities living in and around the deserts. The results reveals that indigenous solar potential capability can be used to produce the required amounts of electrical power to meet the water, wheat, rice, pulses, electrical power, drinking, non-drinking and cultivation water needs of the desert communities in environmentally sustainable manner. The research results are practicable and can be implemented to meet the energy needs of isolated communities living in and around the deserts in the long run. However, sustainable efforts would be required to encourage stakeholders to initiate a process of small, medium and large scale solar power utilization in and around the deserts.

abstract: The objective of this work is to design a novel method for imaging targets and scenes which are not directly visible to the observer. The unique scattering properties of terahertz (THz) waves can turn most building surfaces into mirrors, thus allowing someone to see around corners and various occlusions. In the visible regime, most surfaces are very rough compared to the wavelength. As a result, the spatial coherency of reflected signals is lost, and the geometry of the objects where the light bounced on cannot be retrieved. Interestingly, the roughness of most surfaces is comparable to the wavelengths at lower frequencies (100 GHz – 10 THz) without significantly disturbing the wavefront of the scattered signals, behaving approximately as mirrors. Additionally, this electrically small roughness is beneficial because it can be used by the THz imaging system to locate the pose (location and orientation) of the mirror surfaces, thus enabling the reconstruction of both line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) objects. Back-propagation imaging methods are modified to reconstruct the image of the 2-D scenario (range, cross-range). The reflected signal from the target is collected using a SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) set-up in a lab environment. This imaging technique is verified using both full-wave 3-D numerical analysis models and lab experiments. The novel imaging approach of non-line-of-sight-imaging could enable novel applications in rescue and surveillance missions, highly accurate localization methods, and improve channel estimation in mmWave and sub-mmWave wireless communication systems. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2019

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis evaluates the potential recovery of the runway throughput under Wake Turbulence Re-categorization (RECAT) Phase II and Time-based Separation (TBS) with a Runway Occupancy Time (ROT) constraint comparing with RECAT Phase I. This research uses aircraft performance parameters (runway occupancy time, approach speed, etc.) from the Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) data set. The analysis uses a modified version of the Quick Response Runway Capacity Model (RUNSIM). The main contributions of the study are: 1) identifying the technical buffer between in-trail arrivals and regenerate them in RUNSIM; 2) estimate the percentage of the arrival pairs that have wake mitigation separation times in excess of ROT; 3) developed an additional in-trail arrival separation rule based on ROT; 4) measure the risk of potential go-arounds with and without the additional 95 ROT separation rules. 5) generate a sample equivalent time-based RECAT II. The study results show that the distributions of technical buffers have significant differences for different in-trail groups and strong connectivity to airport elevations. This is critical to estimate runway capacities and safety issues especially when advanced wake mitigation separation rules are applied. Also, with decreasing of wake separations, ROT will become a limiting factor in runway throughput in the future. This study shows that by considering a 95 percentile ROT constrain, one single runway can still obtain 4 or 5 more arrivals per hour under RECAT II but keep the same level of potential go-arounds compared with current operation rules (RECAT I). TBS rules seem to benefit more under strong wind conditions compared to RECAT I, and RECAT II. TBS rules need to be tailored to every airport. / Master of Science / This thesis evaluates the potential recovery of the runway throughputs by re-defining the minimum distance or time separations between successive arrivals. The minimum separation criteria between in-trail arrivals is defined by Federal Aviation Administration to avoid the wake vortex influence produced by the leading aircraft. The main contribution of this thesis lies in estimation of throughput capacity with the reduced minimum separation between arrivals. The study results show that the distributions of buffers added to the minimum separations have significant differences for different in-trail groups and strong connectivity to airport elevations. This is critical to estimate runway capacities and safety issues especially when advanced wake mitigation separation rules are applied. Also, with decreasing of wake separations, runway occupancy time will become a limiting factor in runway throughput in the future. This study shows that by considering a 95 percentile ROT constrain, one single runway can still obtain 4 or 5 more arrivals per hour under reduced minimum separation but keep the same level of potential go-arounds compared with current operation rules.

Nesta dissertação, estuda-se a transição de esteira no escoamento ao redor de um aerofólio NACA 0012 com ângulos de ataque de zero dez e vinte graus. Dois casos são considerados: fólio isolado e fólio alinhado com um cilindro. Nas duas configurações, analisa-se a estabilidade linear em relação a perturbações tridimensionais. Tais perturbações foram estudadas usando a teoria de Floquet para um conjunto de números de Reynolds e ângulos de ataques. O escoamento base é calculado usando o método de elementos finitos espectrais para a discretização espacial. Dos resultados de estabilidade no caso do aerofólio isolado, pode-se observar dois picos de instabilidade com diferentes comprimentos de onda na envergadura. A simetria dos modos instáveis é também apresentada. Um dos modos instáveis presente na esteira do aerofólio isolado foi também observado no caso do cilindro alinhado com o fólio, enquanto o outro modo foi suprimido em tal geometria / Study of hydrodynamic stability of the flow around a cylinder aligned with on airfoil