This paper uses an event study in combination with Granger causality tests to analyze the effects of capital control liberalizations in China. The AH Premium between the Shenzhen and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges and the Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges in addition to the total returns of the Shanghai Composite are all used to measure the effect of each event. The results are most significant in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong AH premium, but the overall market reaction to each liberalization event was minimal. The Granger causality tests studied relationships between the Shanghai Composite, the S&P 500, the FTSE 100, the Hang Seng, and the All-Ordinaries Index. Results showed the strongest Granger causal relationships between Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Australia. Overall, the Granger causality results are inconsistent with the theory that increased currency liberalization in China causes increased integration with other major global markets.

Over the last few decades, organizations have become increasingly dependent on information technology for the support of their business processes. IT has brought many benefits to the operations of organizations, as well as new risks. Internal control systems implemented to mitigate business risks thus needed to be extended to include a new group of IT controls. One of the areas of business operations that has been strongly associated with IT since the beginning of its widespread use is accounting. This master's thesis examines the effect of IT controls on financial statements of an organization as well as an audit of these financial statements. Principal aim of this thesis is to identify a set of IT controls relevant for a statutory audit. Emphasis is placed on controls covering the areas of information security, computer operations and change management related to information systems. A secondary aim is an analysis of control weaknesses (their nature and frequency of occurence) noted in the presented set of IT controls in a sample of statutory audits conducted in the last four years. For the most common control weaknesses, risks as well as possible causes are discussed and recommendations for improvement are provided.

Diploma thesis aims to clarify necessity of the use of IS audit in the financial audit and to identify the main areas of IS audit, which are necessary to focused during the financial audit. IS Audit is a developing area, but it is not always taken as a natural part of the financial audit. The first part summarizes the theoretical knowledge of the financial audit and the audit of information systems. The second part describes the links between these two types of audit, the reasons why i tis necessary to involve the IS audit into the financial audit and the method of tis involving. In the end, there is an output of IS audit performed within the financial audit on the basis of the identified areas.

The thesis focuses on a characterization of an integrated method of enterprise management called GRC (Governance, Risk management & Compliance), a description of its components in a relation to the enterprise management and explores software tools dedicated to support this approach to the management. The thesis gives examples of some of the most significant frameworks for the management of GRC's components and illustrates a real life use of this method on an example of two Czech companies.

Cette thèse comporte trois chapitres traitant de la question de l’accumulation de réserves de change dans les pays émergents. Sous différents angles, théorique comme empirique, les trois travaux présentés analysent les motivations d’accumulation de réserves de change et testent l’utilité de ces avoirs en devises étrangères pendant la crise financière mondiale de 2009. Le chapitre 1 montre que l’accumulation de réserves résulte de l’interaction entre une forte croissance de la productivité et des frictions sur le marché financier. De plus, l’accumulation de réserves est d’autant plus efficace que les flux de capitaux privés sont contrôlés. Les gains du bien-être issus d’une utilisation combinée de réserves et de contrôles de capitaux diminuent avec le développement des marchés financiers. A l’aide d’une base de données comprenant 112 pays émergents et en voie de développement, le chapitre 2 examine la relation entre l’accumulation de réserves avant la crise de 2009 et la performance économique pendant la crise. Lorsque le ratio d’adéquation de réserves de change est calculé en point de pourcentage par rapport à la dette extérieure à court terme, la performance économique d’un pays pendant la crise est positivement corrélée avec les réserves de change d’avant la crise. Ce chapitre montre aussi les nouvelles tendances dans le comportement d’accumulation des réserves après la crise. Le chapitre 3 traite de la question des effets de bilan et le rôle des réserves change. Il montre qu’en accumulant des réserves de change, le gouvernement est en mesure stabiliser l’économie nationale, en recapitalisant le secteur privé avec ses devises ou en faisant une relance fiscale. / This thesis includes three essays on foreign reserves, crises and growth. Chapter 1 proposes a theoretical model to look at foreign reserve accumulation in fast-growing emerging economies. The demand for foreign reserves stems from the interaction between productivity growth and underdevelopment of the domestic financial market. During economic transition, foreign reserve accumulation is proved to be welfare improving as long as private capital flows are controlled. Chapter 2 is an empirical work on the role of foreign reserves during the global financial crisis. It is found that the level of reserves matters: countries with high reserves relative to short-term debt suffered less from the crisis, particularly if associated with a less open capital account. In the immediate aftermath of the crisis, countries that depleted foreign reserves during the crisis quickly rebuilt their stocks. This rapid rebuilding has, however, been followed by a deceleration in the pace of accumulation. Chapter 3 takes a political economy stance and shows how reserves can be used to stabilize the domestic economy when the private sector faces credit constraint and currency mismatch. It is argued that both a targeted lending in foreign currency or a fiscal spending financed by foreign reserves help remove the bad equilibrium. Nevertheless, these two policy tools differ in the mechanism through which they stabilize the domestic economy and in terms of the amount of foreign reserves needed.

Thesis (M.A.(Clinical Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015. / The effect of Cumulative Mild Head Injury (CMHI) in contact sports, such as rugby, is seen increasingly at school level where more and more injuries are reported. Research on CMHI in contact sport is needed specifically amongst previously disadvantaged groups where little or no research has taken place. The research is thus intended to seek a better understanding of CMHI in the contact sport of rugby specifically amongst amateur players. A quantitative research approach was utilised with a quasi-experimental research design. A sample of 18 student rugby players and 18 volleyball (non-contact sport) controls was used. In terms of mean performances the tests did not reveal a consistent pattern of deficits which is typically associated with the effects of Cumulative Mild Head Injuries. There were significant results however, in terms of variability that suggests potential deficits in attention among the rugby group. The results are therefore indicative of a poorer overall cognitive profile for the rugby playing group. It is concluded that the increased variability may be displayed in individuals who suffer CMHI at an earlier age.

<p>High precision magnetic levitation control methodologies during the manufacture of Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are designed, manipulated, and experimentally validated in this thesis. OLED displays have many advantages over conventional display technologies including thinner, lighter, lower power consumption, higher resolutions, and greater brightness. However, OLED displays require tighter environmental conditions of the manufacturing processes without the introduction of vibration and contamination. For this reason, magnetic levitation is used to transport the displays attached on the carrier during the manufacturing process. This thesis addresses several critical problems related to implement the levitation control performance of the carrier's motion during the manufacturing process. </p> <p>Attractive magnetic levitation requires measurement of the airgap between the carrier and the levitation electromagnets. An algorithm for modeling the gap sensor installation errors was developed and subsequently used for controller development. A levitation controller only was initiated as the stationary point for optimal state feedback controller-observer compensator developed in this study. This optimal state feedback controller-observer compensator allows the carrier to be passed from support fixtures without the introduction of vibration. This controller was designed, and its levitation control performance confirmed with both simulation and experimental validation. To implement the levitation control performance of the carrier's motion, a second order notch filter and a first order low pass filter are designed to minimize the mechanical resonance and noise from the gap sensor, respectively. To reduce the sudden change of the levitation forces owing to the discrete allocation of the levitation electromagnets, a section control algorithm is developed; the sum of the levitation forces is equal to the weight of the carrier and the sum of the moment along the propulsion axis is equal to zero. </p> <p>Using the developed control strategies, the peak to peak variation of the carrier’s motion at a standstill was 50 µm. This same motion at low-speed 30 mm/s was 250 µm. While at high speed 300 mm/s was 430 µm. The relative improvement in the levitation control performance of optimal state feedback controller-observer compensator over the levitation controller only was a peak to peak attenuation of 50 µm at low-speed and 270 µm at high-speed. Most significantly while using optimal state feedback controller-observer compensator could be passed from support fixture to support fixture, i.e., through the deadzone, without mechanical contact or other manufacturing processes, inhibiting vibration. </p> <p>Having comparative simulation and experimental validation, the proposed control strategies were validated to improve the levitation control performance of the carrier under uncertain disturbance and sensor installation error, and it is expected to manufacture OLED displays with high productivity and low defect rate.</p>

A method for tuning the spring rate and damping rate of a mountain bike suspension based on a data-driven procedure is presented. The design and development of a custom data acquisition system, known as the MTB~DAQ, capable of measuring acceleration data at the front and rear axles of a bike are discussed. These data are input into a model that is used to calculate the vertical acceleration and pitching angular acceleration response of the bike and rider. All geometric and dynamic properties of the bike and rider system are measured and built into the model. The model is tested and validated using image processing techniques. A genetic algorithm is implemented with the model and used to calculate the best spring rate and damping rate of the mountain bike suspension such that the vertical and pitching accelerations of the bike and rider are minimized for a given trail. Testing is done on a variety of different courses and the performance of the bike when tuned to the results of the genetic algorithm is discussed. While more fine tuning of the model is possible, the results show that the genetic algorithm and model accurately predict the best suspension settings for each course necessary to minimize the vertical and pitching accelerations of the bike and rider.

In this thesis, a passive exoskeleton spine was designed and evaluated by a series of biomechanics simulations. The design objectives were to reduce the human operator’s back muscle efforts and the intervertebral reaction torques during a full range sagittal plane spine flexion/extension. The biomechanics simulations were performed using the OpenSim modeling environment. To manipulate the simulations, a full body musculoskeletal model was created based on the OpenSim gait2354 and “lumbar spine” models. To support flexion and extension of the torso a “push-pull” strategy was proposed by applying external pushing and pulling forces on different locations on the torso. The external forces were optimized via simulations and then a physical exoskeleton prototype was built to evaluate the “push-pull” strategy in vivo. The prototype was tested on three different subjects where the sEMG and inertial data were collected to estimate the muscle force reduction and intervertebral torque reduction. The prototype assisted the users in sagittal plane flexion/extension and reduced the average muscle force and intervertebral reaction torque by an average of 371 N and 29 Nm, respectively.

The influence of symmetry breaking on the flow induced oscillations of bluff bodies in the steamwise direction is studied. First, a series of experiments is conducted on a one-degree-of-freedom circular cylinder allowed to exhibit pure translational motion in the streamwise direction over a range of reduced velocities, 1.4 < U* < 4.4, corresponding to a Reynolds number range of 970 < Re < 3370. Two distinct regions of displacements were observed in reduced velocity ranges of 1.6 < U* < 2.5 and 2.75 < U* < 3.85. Measured force coefficients in the drag and lift direction were examined, along with the wake visualization, through the range of reduced velocities, to infer the resulting wake modes. A new Alternating Symmetric (AS) mode was found. This transition from symmetric to AS shedding occurred near the end of the first region of response. Similar tests were run with a square prism in the parameter space of 2.4 < U* < 5.8 and 757 < Re < 1900 over angles of incidence of 0° ≤ α ≤ 45°. A distinct region of lock-in is observed for α = 0°, 2.5°, 5°, 7.5° over 3.2 < U* < 5.4 for α = 0°, and decreasing with increasing α. The wake structures were found to be roughly symmetric for α = 0°, but transitioned towards asymmetry with increasing α. For α = 0° and 2.5° a gradual increase in the asymmetry of the fluid forcing was observed with increasing U*, similar to the circular cylinder.