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In the modern, sophisticated world, connectivity has become a part of everyday routine: answering the phone call through the car or sending emergency calls by smartwatch to the nearest hospital. The ICT industry is the one that enables this connectivity by developing such technologies as 3G, 4G, 5G and WI-FI that can connect the phone with a smartwatch, car, house or speaker. At the same time, the interconnection of a significant number of devices creates licensing issues, and one of them is discussed in this thesis. The two long-established industries: ICT and automotive, are in licensing contradiction due to the different licensing practices. One such case is the dispute between ICT producer Nokia and car manufacturer Daimler. Nokia obtains a patent essential to the 4G standard that shall be licensed on the FRAND terms. The merits of the case- are to who shall the owner of the ICT patent provide license: to all implementers or just to one; whether it has the right to choose its licensees. To figure out the answers, I examined the contractual obligations of Nokia to the ETSI (FRAND commitment), its compliance with Article 102 of the TFEU (abuse of dominant position) and whether the patent exhaustion prohibits some licensing practices.

Our motivation for this research is the interest we have for positive influences of green areas on people's well-being and social improvement. We see nature, the ecosystems and its services, integrated with humans as a whole, making our lives physically and mentally more sustainable. Therefore the purpose of this study is to investigate the social benefits of selected ecosystem services in sub-urban parks in Malmö City, and to explore how the respected services can be enhanced with a greater connectivity of the parks. A survey and interviews were used to collect information about people's preferences and values about nature parks and their opinion on possible connectivity of three sub-urban parks in Malmö, Sweden. The results show that people are overall positive with the recreational and aesthetic values of parks but show less appreciation for the parks as pure nature represents. Connectivity is not clearly understood by the participants but seems to be positively accepted. To give an idea on how Malmö could improve urban biodiversity and facilitate enjoyable nature experiences we give some practical suggestions for a green corridor.

Fostering innovation, managing the innovation process, and promoting entrepreneurial activities have long been identified as critical elements of successful economic and social systems. By their very nature, both innovation and entrepreneurship relate to the creation of novelty and the introduction of change, i.e., dynamics. This means that despite the considerable progress that has been made in our understanding of both the theoretical characteristics as well as practical applications of innovation and entrepreneurship, many aspects of these analyses require constant updating. Further, the evidence increasingly suggests that many relevant aspects are not only context specific but also undergoing significant structural change. These include the micro and macro stimuli of innovation and entrepreneurship processes, the factors that contribute to start-up and innovative firm performance, as well as the broader effects of innovation and entrepreneurship on economies and societies. This dissertation explores how innovation and entrepreneurial processes and outcomes vary across linguistic, geographic, regulatory and technological contexts. The empirical evidence regarding all of these aspects remains mixed and ambiguous, indicating a need for more nuanced conceptualizing. The relevance of contextual idiosyncrasies to innovation and entrepreneurial processes of these aspects remains understudied, presenting an opportunity to extend theory and make a valuable contribution. In the first chapter of this dissertation, I introduce the groundwork for the dissertation, and review the conceptual foundations of each of the three dissertation studies. I also summarize the findings and insights, braiding them together to show how my findings reinforce each other, forming an organic whole. Each subsequent chapter addresses different aspects of innovation and entrepreneurial processes mentioned above. In the second chapter, I evaluate how linguistic variability relates to cross-national innovation processes and outcomes. In the third chapter, I assess how different forms of connectivity across geographic space among innovators contribute to the development of regional innovation systems across Italy’s core and peripheral areas. In the fourth and final chapter, I evaluate the relevance of regulation and technological change to the entrepreneurial process in a specific context within the financial services industry. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

[pt] A parentalidade atualmente inclui o desafio de mediar o encontro dos adolescentes com os dispositivos eletrônicos. Esse estudo tem como objetivo investigar a prática da parentalidade diante da conectividade digital permanente e intensa gerada pelos avanços tecnológicos na contemporaneidade. De modo a alcançar o objetivo proposto, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa na qual foram entrevistadas, em 2023, oito mulheres mães, residentes do Rio de Janeiro (RJ), com pelo menos um filho com idade entre 14 e 16 anos. Foi utilizado o método de análise do discurso desenvolvido por Braun e Clarke (2006). A partir da análise das falas das participantes emergiram quatro categorias de análise: mediação parental no uso da tecnologia; desafios nos cuidados relacionados ao uso dos dispositivos eletrônicos; o papel do smartphone na vida do adolescente:uso excessivo; e conectividade digital na dinâmica familiar. Os resultados apontam para o monitoramento das redes sociais e o diálogo como as principais estratégias utilizadas pelas mães entrevistadas para mediar o encontro dos filhos com os dispositivos eletrônicos, bem como para o uso excessivo dos dispositivos eletrônicos pelos adolescentes. Conclui-se que o maior desafio da parentalidade com relação à mediação do uso dos dispositivos eletrônicos por adolescentes é controlar o conteúdo acessado e o tempo de tela sem invadir a privacidade. Além disso, os smartphones desempenham um papel de relevância significativa nas vidas dos adolescentes e no contexto familiar, influenciando os padrões de comunicação e interação social e, em alguns casos, quando usados de modo excessivo, suscitam desafios à saúde mental. / [en] The current landscape of parenthood encompasses the challenge of navigating adolescents engagement with electronic devices. This study aims to investigate parental practices in the face of continuous and intense digital connectivity stemming from technological advancements in contemporary society. To achieve the stated objective, a qualitative research was conducted in 2023, involving interviews with eight mothers residing in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), each having at least one child aged between 14 and 16 years. The discourse analysis method developed by Braun and Clarke (2006) was employed. From the analysis of the participants statements, four categories of analysis emerged: parental mediation in technology usage, challenges in caregiving related to electronic device use, the role of smartphones in adolescents lives: excessive usage, and digital connectivity in family dynamics. The findings highlight social media monitoring and dialogue as the primary strategies employed by the interviewed mothers to navigate their children s engagement with electronic devices, as well as addressing the issue of excessive device usage by adolescents.It is concluded that the major challenge in parenthood concerning the mediation of adolescents electronic device usage lies in managing accessed content and screen time without infringing on privacy. Additionally, smartphones play a significantly relevant role in the lives of adolescents and within the family context, influencing communication and social interaction patterns. In some instances, when used excessively, smartphones pose challenges to mental health.

For the last century, automobiles and the roads they require have been a dominant force shaping the modern American landscape. An unrivaled interstate highway system connects major metropolitan areas and is the basis of our transportation infrastructure. Unfortunately, many roadways were not planned or designed with wildlife in mind. As long linear features in the landscape, interstates can function as landscape barriers and cause significant impacts to adjacent wildlife populations. While an aggressive transportation system is being carried out, researchers have only marginally demonstrated the relationships between roadways and wildlife. In such cases, twinned interstate roadways have proven to be the greatest obstacle for wildlife resources. By incorporating ecological design theory into highway planning and design, the transportation community has an opportunity to reassess the short comings of existing highway infrastructure and improve functions of wildlife passage and landscape connectivity. Through system level approaches and analysis applied within an eco-region context, practical solutions can be developed. The following document provides a process for landscape level analysis, wildlife passage structure design and implementation for future planned interstates projects. As a collaborative effort among professionals, we can work towards improving interstate highway systems and retain the relationships occurring within the landscape. The following I-81 design and planning project offers an exceptional opportunity to reassess the inadequacies of the existing interstate infrastructure in terms of landscape connectivity, wildlife resources and public safety, and demonstrate how system level design approaches can give our roadways new shape and form. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Mountaintop removal and valley fill (MTRVF) mining has become a widespread means of coal extraction in the central Appalachians. During MTRVF several hundred meters of overburden are removed to access coal seams, and excess rubble is dumped into adjoining valleys and streams. Filling valleys eliminates stream headwaters and may result in loss of stream ecosystem functions, which are dependent on temporal and lateral connectivity in river networks. To determine the affect of MTRVF on stream ecosystem function, leaf breakdown, which is an ecosystem level attribute of forested streams, was measured in five streams draining MTRVF sites and five reference streams in central West Virginia. Leaf packs of white oak and red maple were installed in these streams in December 2007, leaves were collected in January, February, March, April, and June of 2008, and leaves were washed and processed in the lab. Leaf breakdown rates were significantly slower in filled streams. MTRVF streams were marked by high sediment levels, elevated base flow, elevated conductivity and pH, and a lower density and richness of shredding macroinvertebrates than reference sites, suggesting that slower leaf decay was the result of the combined set of altered conditions in MTRVF streams. Additionally, MTRVF streams showed no species-level difference between red maple and white oak breakdown rates, indicating that MTRVF inhibits control of ecosystem function exerted by leaf species characteristics. / Master of Science

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that is caused by exposure to traumatic or stressful events in life. 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has been shown to be an effective agent in drug-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. In this systematic review, we aim to evaluate the effect MDMA has on functional connectivity in healthy individuals and individuals with PTSD and investigate the potential mechanisms via which MDMA exerts its effects in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD patients. A total of 134 articles from Web of Science and Medline EBSCO were screened and 5 articles relevant for the systematic review were identified. After MDMA administration, an increase and decrease in functional connectivity in multiple brain areas and networks was observed, such as the thalamus, visual cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex, default mode network, cerebellar network, sensorimotor network, salience network, and executive network. Notably, MDMA increased amygdala-hippocampal functional connectivity which may link to improved emotion regulation and fear extinction in patients receiving MDMA-assisted therapy. The findings evidence the complex effects of MDMA on brain connectivity and highlight the need for further research in this area, although MDMA-assisted therapy does prove to be a promising alternative for treating PTSD.

We will study various quantities related to connectivity of a graph. To this end, we look at Nordhaus-Gaddum type problems, which are problems where the same quantity is studied for a graph $G$ and its complement $G^c$ at the same time. For a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with normalized Laplacian eigenvalues $0 = \lambda_1(G) \leq \lambda_2(G) \leq \cdots \leq \lambda_n(G)$ and graph complement $G^c$, we prove that \begin{equation*} \max\{\lambda_2(G),\lambda_2(G^c)\}\geq \frac{2}{n^2}. \end{equation*} We do this by way of lower bounding $\max\{i(G), i(G^c)\}$ and $\max\{h(G), h(G^c)\}$ where $i(G)$ and $h(G)$ denote the isoperimetric number and Cheeger constant of $G$, respectively. We also discuss some related Nordhaus-Gaddum questions.