Både entreprenörskap och invandring har ökat kraftigt i Sverige, såväl som globalt. Idag finns det över en miljon bolag i Sverige där enmansföretag (74,8%) och mikroföretag (21,7%) utgör den största delen. Detta ger en klar syn över att det svenska näringslivet domineras främst av mindre företag. Bakom många av dessa mindre företag står individer med utländsk bakgrund. Under 2010 talades det om att var sjunde företag som startas i Sverige, drivs av en individ med rötter från en annan del av världen.En av de viktigaste drivkrafterna för ett lands ekonomiska tillväxt är företag, vilket är en stor anledning till att fokus ligger på hur dessa väljer att finansiera sin verksamhet. Problemet för många invandrarföretagare är svårigheten med att erhålla extern finansiering under företagets livscykel, vilket leder till att alternativa finansieringsmetoder används som bootstrapping. Bootstrapping betyder att ”ta sig själv i kragen” samt att se till att bli ”självförsörjande”. Forskare menar på att företagarens egenskaper också spelar en väsentlig roll vid val av finansiering.Syftet med denna uppsats är att utforska huruvida invandrarföretagarens användning av bootstrapping påverkas av företagarens egenskaper och företagets livscykel. En hermeneutisk forskningsfilosofi har använts tillsammans med en deduktiv ansats och en kvalitativ metod. Detta för att skapa en djupare förståelse för ett okänt område. Den kvalitativa undersökningen har genomförts med hjälp av åtta respondenter för att ge svar på studiens problemformulering och syfte.Uppsatsen indikerar på att invandrarföretagare främst använder sig av ägarfinansierad under introduktions- samt tillväxtfasen. Studien påvisar att fördröjande bootstrapping även är en vanlig metod som invandrarföretagare använder sig utav under tillväxtfasen. En annan metod som också är användbar men inte i lika stor utsträckning är relationsorienterad bootstrapping. De mest påverkande egenskaperna vid användning av bootstrapping är företagarens kontrollbehov över verksamheten samt riskbenägenhet mot externa finansiärer. / Both entrepreneurship and immigration has increased dramatically in Sweden, as well as globally. Today there are over a million companies in Sweden where one-person (74.8%) and micro enterprises (21.7%) represent the largest portion. This gives a clear view that the Swedish economy is dominated by small firms. Behind many of these smaller companies are individuals with a foreign background. In 2010 it was shown that every seventh company that was started in Sweden, operated by a person with roots from another part of the world.One of the main forces of a country's economic growth is the companies, which is a major reason that focus lies on how they choose to finance their business. The problem for many immigrant entrepreneurs is difficulty in obtaining external financing during its life-cycle, which leads to alternative financing methods used, named bootstrapping. Bootstrapping means to “lift oneself up” and make sure to become “self-sufficient”. Scientists believe that the entrepreneur's characteristics also play a significant role in the choice of financing.The purpose of this paper is to explore whether immigrant entrepreneur's use of bootstrapping is affected by the entrepreneur's characteristics and the company’s life cycle. A hermeneutic research philosophy has been used in conjunction with a deductive and a qualitative approach. The reason for using a qualitative approach is to create a deeper understanding of an unfamiliar area. The qualitative study has been performed with the help of eight respondents to answer the study's problem and purpose.The paper indicates that immigrant entrepreneurs mainly uses owner-financed in the introduction and growth phase. The study demonstrates that delaying bootstrapping is also a common method that immigrant entrepreneurs use during the growth phase. Another method that is also used but not as much as the other two methods is relationship oriented bootstrapping. The most influencing characteristics when using bootstrapping is the need of control over the business and risk aversion against external financiers.

Small and recently started-up organizations find it hard to acquire external capital from financial institutions, such as banks, venture capitalists and private investors. Information asymmetry is the main reason behind this financial gap, from both a demand-side and supply-side standpoint. However, small organizations and start-ups do not need financiers to launch themselves, and the solution to the financial shortages is not necessarily by financial means. By being creative, resources can be acquired through different means, known in research as financial bootstrapping. Previous studies have been focusing on bootstrapping application in companies, and have not included any kind of associations in their investigations. This thesis aims to enlighten the area of bootstrapping usage in associations while comparing similarities and differences with companies. The thesis will also provide a base of knowledge for the collaboration company Coompanion, who requested to increase their understanding within the area of financial bootstrapping. A survey was conducted and 44 responses were received with a mixture of companies and associations. The survey included questions regarding the organizational profile, personal profile and handling of finance. The interactive questionnaire was distributed to the managers by email and the data gathered from the respondents was inserted and analyzed using Excel, SPSS and Gretl. The results demonstrate that organizations prefer internally generated money as a first resort before using external finance, consequently following the theories of pecking order. Organizations that need more capital are inclined to use more bootstrapping techniques compared to organizations with no need for further capital. The survey indicates that some bootstrapping methods are more commonly used, such as: Same terms of payment to all customers, Best terms of payment from suppliers, Buy used equipment instead of new, Sell on credit to customers, Make customers pay through installments on ongoing work and Obtain some kind of subsidy.

[pt] Este trabalho se caracteriza como um estudo experimental, cujo foco é a delimitação da categoria adjetivo por crianças adquirindo o Português Brasileiro (PB) como língua materna. Adota-se uma perspectiva psicolingüística de aquisição da linguagem, aliada a uma concepção minimalista de língua (Chomsky, 1995-2001). Assume-se que a criança é sensível às propriedades fônicas de elementos de classes fechadas, como determinantes e afixos, conforme a hipótese do bootstrapping fonológico (Morgan & Demuth, 1996; Christophe et al., 1997). Considera-se que a representação da Categoria funcional D é fundamental na distinção entre nomes e adjetivos e que sufixos derivacionais contribuem para a representação do traço categorial desses últimos no léxico. Com base na hipótese do bootstrapping sintático (Gleitman, 1990), assume-se que a análise de adjetivos no contexto sintático de DPs ou de small clauses, aliada ao pressuposto de que DPs fazem referência a objetos/entidades, possibilita a representação de adjetivos como categoria que apresenta uma propriedade ou atributo de um referente. Avalia-se, ainda, o papel da ordem canônica, na distinção entre adjetivos e nomes, na ausência de informação de natureza morfológica. Neste trabalho, uma ampla revisão da literatura lingüística acerca da categoria adjetivo é apresentada de modo a que se identifique o que é demandado da criança na delimitação dessa categoria lexical, levando-se em conta propriedades do português. Foram conduzidos quatro experimentos: três com crianças, usando-se a técnica de seleção de objetos com pseudopalavras, e um com adultos falantes do PB. Para este último, foi concebida uma tarefa de atribuição de propriedades a objetos e pessoas a serem imaginadas a partir de pseudo-adjetivos denominais, de modo a avaliar em que medida as propriedades semânticas atribuídas a sufixos derivacionais formadores de adjetivos em análises lingüísticas correspondem ao conhecimento lingüístico intuitivo do falante da língua. Os dois primeiros experimentos foram conduzidos com crianças de 12-22 meses; o último, com crianças de 2-3 anos e 4-5 anos No Experimento 1, avalia-se o papel de determinantes e sufixos derivacionais, formadores de adjetivos, na delimitação desta categoria lexical em estruturas predicativas, independentemente das propriedades semânticas dos afixos. No Experimento 2, investiga-se o papel da ordem canônica aliada ao do sufixo derivacional como desencadeadores do processo de delimitação de nomes e adjetivos no âmbito do DP. No Experimento 3, explora-se o conhecimento por parte de falantes adultos do PB acerca dos traços semânticos dos afixos derivacionais -oso e -ento, formadores de adjetivos. No Experimento 4, verifica-se se os traços semânticos desses afixos são representados pela criança de modo a ser capaz de interpretá-los na interface semântica, à semelhança do que fazem os falantes adultos da língua. Os resultados dos experimentos aqui relatados são compatíveis com a hipótese de trabalho que orienta esta tese, qual seja, a de que a criança faz uso de informação sintática e morfológica na delimitação de adjetivos, e revelam que já aos dois anos de idade propriedades semânticas de sufixos formadores de adjetivos são representadas pela criança. Este trabalho contribui para uma teoria da aquisição da linguagem fundada no processamento de informação das interfaces da língua com sistemas perceptuais e conceptuais, na qual se enfatiza o papel de categorias funcionais e de elementos de classe fechada em geral (incluindo-se os afixos derivacionais) na identificação do que há de específico na língua. Este estudo também introduz uma metodologia experimental que permite complementar o resultado de análises lingüísticas pertinentes à morfologia no que concerne o conhecimento intuitivo do falante acerca dos traços semânticos de afixos. / [en] This dissertation presents an experimental study of the delimitation of adjectives as a lexical category in the acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese. It reconciles a psycholinguistic approach to language acquisition with a minimalist conception of language (Chomsky, 1995-2001). According to the phonological bootstrapping hypothesis (Morgan & Demuth, 1996; Christophe et al., 1997), it is assumed that infants are sensitive to closed class elements (as determiners and affixes) in the processing of the phonetic interface. The functional category D is considered to be fundamental to the distinction between nouns and adjectives, and derivational suffixes are viewed as contributing to the representation of the adjective as a categorical feature in the lexicon. According to the syntactic bootstrapping hypothesis (Gleitman, 1990), it is assumed that the parsing of adjectives in DP and small clause contexts, together with the assumption that DPs refer to objects/entities, allow the representation of the adjectives as words that present a property or an attribute of a given referent. And the role of the canonical word order in the distinction between nouns and adjectives, in the absence of specific morphological information, is evaluated. In this study, the linguistic literature on adjectives is extensively reviewed. This review contributes to the identification of the demands that the delimitation of adjectives present to children, taking into account the specific properties of Portuguese. Four experiments were conducted: three with children, making use of the object selection with pseudo-words paradigm, and one with adult speakers of BP. In the latter, a task was envisaged in which pseudo-adjectives were presented in order for the property of a hidden object/character to be guessed. The speaker’s intuitive knowledge of the meaning of derivational suffixes was expected to guide the accomplishment of this task. The two first experiments were conducted with 12- 22 month old children, and the last one, with 2-3 and 4-5 year olds. In Experiment 1, the role of determiners and derivational affixes (forming adjectives) in the parsing of adjectives in predicative structures was evaluated, independently of the semantic properties of those affixes. In Experiment 2, the role of the canonical word order within the DP and derivational affixes in the bootstrapping of the representation of adjectives in Portuguese was investigated. Experiment 3 explores the native speaker knowledge of the semantic features of the adjective forming derivational affixes -oso e -ento. In Experiment 4, children’s representation of these very features is assessed. The results of the experiments reported here are compatible with the working hypothesis, namely, that children make use of syntactic and morphological information in the delimitation of adjectives as a lexical category. They also reveal that the semantic properties of derivation affixes forming adjectives are already available by the age of two. This work contributes to a theory of language acquisition that explores early processing at the language interfaces with perceptual and conceptual systems, and in which the role of closed class elements (including derivational affixes) and functional categories is emphasized. It also introduces an experimental methodology that enables to access the adult speaker’s intuitive knowledge of derivational morphology.

Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to investigate various forms of bootstrapping methods amongst small business ventures and how they come about using the various forms. Furthermore, the thesis investigates the underlying motives as to why small business ventures adhere to certain forms of financial bootstrapping methods. The result of the research provides better understanding of small business ventures behaviors’ during various stages of their venture life cycle. Methodology: The method used in this study, is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative results are implied to better reflect the qualitative results which intend to strengthen the thesis validity. One of the limitation of the study that is solely focus on small business ventures that have used one or more bootstrapping techniques during the lifecycle of the small business venture. This study is consisted of semi structured interviews and surveys. The semi structured interviews consist of six interviews. Furthermore, surveys were sent out to 300 small business ventures. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical references used touch upon relevant theories regarding the financial gap that is created by the existing information asymmetry, the pecking order theory, financial bootstrapping as well as discussing the various phases of a small business ventures lifecycle. Lastly the thesis will discuss research that has been conducted in the area of small business ventures that have used financial bootstrapping as a method of gaining financial means. Result: The empirical findings of this thesis is in regard to the information gathered. This is closely related to the conducted semi-structured interviews as well as the survey poll conducted that received a total of 122 results of the 300 sent out to various people. Conclusion: The thesis can conclude that the choice of bootstrapping method is dependent on various aspects such as; the branch the venture is active in, current stage of a business ventures lifecycle. As well as certain aspects of a bootstrapping’s characteristic that makes it more desirable to use.

Ingeniero Civil en Computación / Un Boostrapping Database es un motor de base de datos colectivo que intenta dar solución al problema que enfrentan las comunidades en línea con respecto al control de la calidad del contenido y la colaboración de sus miembros; Repositorium es una implementación de Boostrapping Database que permite a cualquier usuario iniciar una comunidad para compartir documentos de texto, actualmente es utilizado en contextos académicos y se busca abrir la plataforma a nuevas aplicaciones que aprovechen la estrategia de participación propuesta; en particular se busca facilitar el desarrollo de aplicaciones móviles en torno a Repositorium. Por consiguiente, el objetivo de esta memoria es dotar a Repositorium de una interfaz que permita a cualquier desarrollador implementar una aplicación móvil utilizando los datos y el modelo de participación disponibles. Para lograr éste objetivo se diseñó, implementó y documentó una API web que establece un canal de comunicación claro y consistente entre las aplicaciones móviles y Repositorium. Para mostrar la eficacia de la API web construida se desarrolló una aplicación móvil que, utilizando la API, logró dar respuesta a los desafíos que presentaba una comunidad en línea y de paso mostró un ejemplo de uso en un contexto no académico. Además la herramienta fue presentada a los alumnos del Taller de Proyectos de Programación Android, quienes se mostraron abiertos a trabajar con ella. Como resultado hoy Repositorium provee las herramientas para que desarrolladores de aplicaciones móviles puedan hacer uso de los datos, el modelo de participación y la estrategia de control de calidad disponibles.

This thesis deals with an issue of claims reserving for non-life insurance. The issue is approached in a sense of analytical calculation and stochastic modelling. First, Chain-ladder, Bornhuetter-Ferguson, Benktander-Hovinen and Cape-Cod method are introduced. In following chapters, we try to find related stochastic underlying models including Generalized linear models and Mack's distribution-free approaches, we analyze second moments of claims estimates for each of the methods and examine alternative Merz-Wüthrich approach to reserve risk measurement. At the end, bootstrap algorithm and estimates are suggested and simulation results are compared with analytic ones.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Statistics / Suzanne Dubnicka / Christopher Vahl / Photoplethysmograph sensors use a light-based technology to sense the rate of blood flow as controlled by the heart’s pumping action. This allows for a graphical display of a patient’s pulse wave form and the description of its key features. A person’s pulse wave has been proposed as a tool in a wide variety of applications. For example, it could be used to diagnose the cause of coldness felt in the extremities or to measure stress levels while performing certain tasks. It could also be applied to quantify the risk of heart disease in the general population. In the present work, we explore its use for identity authentication. First, we visualize the pulse waves from individual patients using functional boxplots which assess the overall behavior and identify unusual observations. Functional boxplots are also shown to be helpful in preprocessing the data by shifting individual pulse waves to a proper starting point. We then employ functional analysis of variance (FANOVA) and permutation tests to demonstrate that the identities of a group of subjects could be differentiated and compared by their pulse wave forms. One of the primary tasks of the project is to confirm the identity of a person, i.e., we must decide if a given person is whom they claim to be. We used an equivalence test to determine whether the pulse wave of the person under verification and the actual person were close enough to be considered equivalent. A nonparametric bootstrap functional equivalence test was applied to evaluate equivalence by constructing point-wise confidence intervals for the metric of identity assurance. We also proposed new testing procedures, including the way of building the equivalence hypothesis and test statistics, determination of evaluation range and equivalence bands, to authenticate the identity.

<p>Denna studie behandlar ämnet finansiell bootstrapping av småföretag, vilket är ett ämne som fått en ökad betydelse de sista decennierna. Detta beror på att stor del av Sveriges näringsliv består av 99,3 procent småföretag, vilket indirekt innebär att dessa företag är viktiga för den svenska ekonomin. Finansiell bootstrapping inkluderar metoder för att minimera eller eliminera utflödet av finansiella medel och metoder för att öka hastigheten på inflödet av finansiella medel. Detta blir aktuellt då företagen behöver hitta alternativa finansieringsmöjligheter, vilket som sagt finansiell bootstrapping innebär.</p><p>Speciellt nystartade- och småföretag kan stöta på problem vid sina finansieringsbehov, då det i dessa sammanhang kan existera ett finansiellt gap. Finansiärers utbud av kapital respektive småföretagens efterfrågan på ytterligare pengar, synkar inte med varandra. Just dessa områden beskriver vi i den teoretiska referensramen. Denna är uppbyggd av teorier om företagens livscykel, för att beskriva att företag liksom produkter genomgår olika faser i sitt så kallade liv. I den teoretiska referensramen behandlar vi även hur kapitalstrukturen i små- och medelstora företag kan se ut, beroende på olika bakgrundsfaktorer, vilka kan ha inverkan på företagens val. Vidare har vi med ett avsnitt där den finansiella bootstrappingen beskrivs, där vi lyfter fram vilka olika grupper/metoder som finns samt hur användandet av dessa metoder kan påverka företaget. Dessa teorier har använts då vi velat besvara frågan om de olika stadierna i företagslivscykeln har inverkan på företagens val av boostrappingmetod.</p><p>Utgångspunkten i denna undersökning har varit en positivistisk kunskapssyn, då syftet har varit att undersöka förekomsten av olika bootstrappingmetoder bland mikro- och småföretag, samt att undersöka om dessa metoder används olika beroende på var företagen befinner sig i livscykeln.</p><p>Med ett betraktande perspektiv har vi använt oss av en kvantitativ enkätstudie av Sveriges småföretag, där vi med ett stickprov på 150 företag, försökt besvara vår ställda problemformulering. Vad vi kunnat se är att det främst är de relationsorienterade bootstrappingmetoderna som används, då det ligger nära till hands för företagen att använda dessa metoder. Detta beror på att det personliga nätverket används.</p>

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Denna studie behandlar ämnet finansiell bootstrapping av småföretag, vilket är ett ämne som fått en ökad betydelse de sista decennierna. Detta beror på att stor del av Sveriges näringsliv består av 99,3 procent småföretag, vilket indirekt innebär att dessa företag är viktiga för den svenska ekonomin. Finansiell bootstrapping inkluderar metoder för att minimera eller eliminera utflödet av finansiella medel och metoder för att öka hastigheten på inflödet av finansiella medel. Detta blir aktuellt då företagen behöver hitta alternativa finansieringsmöjligheter, vilket som sagt finansiell bootstrapping innebär. Speciellt nystartade- och småföretag kan stöta på problem vid sina finansieringsbehov, då det i dessa sammanhang kan existera ett finansiellt gap. Finansiärers utbud av kapital respektive småföretagens efterfrågan på ytterligare pengar, synkar inte med varandra. Just dessa områden beskriver vi i den teoretiska referensramen. Denna är uppbyggd av teorier om företagens livscykel, för att beskriva att företag liksom produkter genomgår olika faser i sitt så kallade liv. I den teoretiska referensramen behandlar vi även hur kapitalstrukturen i små- och medelstora företag kan se ut, beroende på olika bakgrundsfaktorer, vilka kan ha inverkan på företagens val. Vidare har vi med ett avsnitt där den finansiella bootstrappingen beskrivs, där vi lyfter fram vilka olika grupper/metoder som finns samt hur användandet av dessa metoder kan påverka företaget. Dessa teorier har använts då vi velat besvara frågan om de olika stadierna i företagslivscykeln har inverkan på företagens val av boostrappingmetod. Utgångspunkten i denna undersökning har varit en positivistisk kunskapssyn, då syftet har varit att undersöka förekomsten av olika bootstrappingmetoder bland mikro- och småföretag, samt att undersöka om dessa metoder används olika beroende på var företagen befinner sig i livscykeln. Med ett betraktande perspektiv har vi använt oss av en kvantitativ enkätstudie av Sveriges småföretag, där vi med ett stickprov på 150 företag, försökt besvara vår ställda problemformulering. Vad vi kunnat se är att det främst är de relationsorienterade bootstrappingmetoderna som används, då det ligger nära till hands för företagen att använda dessa metoder. Detta beror på att det personliga nätverket används.