Abstract The quantitation of the variability in cardiovascular signals provides information about the autonomic neural regulation of the heart and the circulatory system. Several factors have an indirect effect on these signals as well as artifacts and several types of noise are contained in the recorded signal. The dynamics of RR and QT interval time series have also been analyzed in order to predict a risk of adverse cardiac events and to diagnose them. An ambulatory measurement setting is an important and demanding condition for the recording and analysis of these signals. Sophisticated and robust signal analysis schemes are thus increasingly needed. In this thesis, essential points related to ambulatory data acquisition and analysis of cardiovascular signals are discussed including the accuracy and reproducibility of the variability measurement. The origin of artifacts in RR interval time series is discussed, and consequently their effects and possible correction procedures are concidered. The time series including intervals differing from a normal sinus rhythm which sometimes carry important information, but may not be as such suitable for an analysis performed by all approaches. A significant variation in the results in either intra- or intersubject analysis is unavoidable and should be kept in mind when interpreting the results. In addition to heart rate variability (HRV) measurement using RR intervals, the dy- namics of ventricular repolarization duration (VRD) is considered using the invasively obtained action potential duration (APD) and different estimates for a QT interval taken from a surface electrocardiogram (ECG). Estimating the low quantity of the VRD vari- ability involves obviously potential errors and more strict requirements. In this study, the accuracy of VRD measurement was improved by a better time resolution obtained through interpolating the ECG. Furthermore, RTmax interval was chosen as the best QT interval estimate using simulated noise tests. A computer program was developed for the time interval measurement from ambulatory ECGs. This thesis reviews the most commonly used analysis methods for cardiovascular vari- ability signals including time and frequency domain approaches. The estimation of the power spectrum is presented on the approach using an autoregressive model (AR) of time series, and a method for estimating the powers and the spectra of components is also presented. Time-frequency and time-variant spectral analysis schemes with applica- tions to HRV analysis are presented. As a novel approach, wavelet and wavelet packet transforms and the theory of signal denoising with several principles for the threshold selection is examined. The wavelet packet based noise removal approach made use of an optimized signal decomposition scheme called best tree structure. Wavelet and wavelet packet transforms are further used to test their effciency in removing simulated noise from the ECG. The power spectrum analysis is examined by means of wavelet transforms, which are then applied to estimate the nonstationary RR interval variability. Chaotic modelling is discussed with important questions related to HRV analysis.ciency in removing simulated noise from the ECG. The power spectrum analysis is examined by means of wavelet transforms, which are then applied to estimate the nonstationary RR interval variability. Chaotic modelling is discussed with important questions related to HRV analysis.

This thesis consists of three empirical essays studying the capital market implications of the accounting for R&D costs. The first empirical study (Chapter 2) re-visits the debate over the positive R&D-returns relation. The second empirical study (Chapter 3) examines the risk relevance of current R&D accounting. The third empirical study (Chapter 4) explores the joint impact of R&D intensity and competition on the relative relevance of the idiosyncratic part of earnings. Prior research argues that the positive relation between current R&D activity and future returns is evidence of mispricing, a compensation for risk inherent in R&D or a transformation of the value/growth anomaly. The first empirical study contributes to this debate by taking into account the link between R&D activity, equity duration and systematic risk. This link motivates us to employ Campbell and Vuolteenaho (2004)'s intertemporal asset pricing model (ICAPM) which accommodates stochastic discount rates and investors' intertemporal preferences. The results support a risk based explanation; R&D intensive firms are exposed to higher discount rate risk. Hedge portfolio strategies show that the mispricing explanations is not economically significant. The second empirical study contributes to prior research on the value relevance of financial reporting information on R&D, by proposing an alternative approach which relies on a return variance decomposition model. We find that R&D intensity has a significant influence on market participants' revisions of expectations regarding future discount rates (or, discount rate news) and future cash flows (or, cash flow news), thereby driving returns variance. We extend this investigation to assess the risk relevance of this information by means of its influence on the sensitivity of cash flow and discount rate news to the market news. Our findings suggest R&D intensity is associated with significant variation in the sensitivity of cash flow news to the market news which implies that financial reporting information on R&D is risk relevant. Interestingly, we do not establish a similar pattern with respect to the sensitivity of discount news to the market news which may dismiss the impact of sentiment in stock returns of R&D intensive firms. The third empirical study examines the effect of financial reporting information on R&D to the value relevance of common and idiosyncratic earnings. More specifically, we investigate the value relevance of common and idiosyncratic earnings through an extension of the Vuolteenaho (2002) model which decomposes return variance into its discount rate, idiosyncratic and common cash flow news. We demonstrate that the relative importance of idiosyncratic over common cash flow news in explaining return variance increases with firm-level R&D intensity. Extending this analysis, we find that this relation varies with the level of R&D investment concentration in the industry. Those results indicate that the market perceives that more pronounced R&D activity leads to outcomes that enable the firm to differentiate itself from its rivals. However, our results also suggest that the market perceives that this relation depends upon the underlying economics of the industry where the firm operates.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-06-14T13:44:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Hans Robert Dalbello Braga.pdf: 1326586 bytes, checksum: 09b7a78b27fa340e699b2fd86688a90a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-14T13:44:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Hans Robert Dalbello Braga.pdf: 1326586 bytes, checksum: 09b7a78b27fa340e699b2fd86688a90a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-26 / The research Examines the fundamental right to reasonable duration of the criminal process under the Article 5, paragraph LXXVIII of the Federal Constitution, by the text of the Constitutional Amendment nº 45/2004, with the aim of (re) think their legal interpretation, of the punitive preintention prescription. The study covers the analysis of reasonable duration of the criminal process and its underlying approach to the institution of criminal prescription. To investigate the possibility of the fit of both theories between the two concepts. At first are considered the conceptions of time (absolute and relative) and their intimate relationships with the law, more specifically with the criminal procedural law, considering that all procedural acts are governed by lapse of time. In a second moment is directly addressed the fundamental right to duration of the criminal process and its current hermeneutics inaccuracy. Thus, it held a brief analysis of the doctrine of the fixed term and also the doctrine of non-term as well as the legal consequences and solutions proposed by the academy in the case of non-observance of reasonable time. The third moment it is analised the criminal prescription and the theories that give it grounds for the legitimacy, as well as the nefarious institution of criminal imprescriptibility. At the end it is examined the possibility of the punitive preintention to limitade the period of reasonable duration of the criminal process, taking into perspective the concepts of time previously developed. The research employed the deductive method and the research through the literature. / Examina-se o direito fundamental à razoável duração do processo penal previsto no artigo 5º, inciso LXXVIII da Constituição Federal, com a redação dada pela Emenda Constitucional nº 45/2004, com o escopo de (re)pensar sua interpretação jurídica, tendo em vista o instituto da prescrição da pretensão punitiva. O estudo percorre a análise da razoável duração do processo penal e sua latente aproximação com o instituto da prescrição penal. Para tanto investiga a possibilidade de adequação teórica entre os dois conceitos. Num primeiro momento são consideradas as concepções de tempo (absoluto e relativo) e, as suas intimas relações com o direito, mais especificamente com o direito processual penal, haja vista que todos os atos processuais são regidos pelo decurso do tempo. Num segundo momento é abordado diretamente o direito fundamental à razoável duração do processo penal e sua atual imprecisão hermenêutica. Assim, é realizada uma breve análise a respeito da doutrina do prazo fixo e, também da doutrina do não-prazo, bem como das soluções e consequências jurídicas propostas pela academia no caso de não observância do prazo razoável. Num terceiro momento é abordada a prescrição penal e as teorias que lhe fornecem fundamento de validade, assim como o famigerado instituto da imprescritibilidade penal. Ao final examina-se a possibilidade do prazo da prescrição da pretensão punitiva funcionar como limite para a duração razoável do processo penal, tendo em perspectiva as concepções de tempo desenvolvidas anteriormente. A pesquisa realizada utiliza-se do método dedutivo e como técnica de pesquisa a bibliográfica.

O presente trabalho investiga as transformações nas formas de prestação de trabalho e nos tempos de trabalho em razão do rearranjo das relações laborais e das novas tecnologias de comunicação e informação. O objetivo dessa dissertação é compreender se a reordenação do modelo de trabalho clássico e a proliferação das novas tecnologias de comunicação e informação compatibilizam-se com o regime de sobreaviso e se este serve como resposta aos novos problemas decorrentes da conexão e disponibilidade dos trabalhadores. Na primeira parte do trabalho é feita uma análise das formas de organização do trabalho que motivaram o desenvolvimento das normas de Direito do Trabalho que regulam o controle da jornada e do contexto fático que contribuiu para o surgimento das regras limitadoras da duração do trabalho. No segundo capítulo, analisa-se as transformações determinadas principalmente pelo modelo pós-industrial, marcado por um grande avanço das tecnologias da informação, que reformulou as características da duração do trabalho para o qual foi concebido o Direito do Trabalho tradicional. No terceiro capítulo aborda-se justamente os reflexos das transformações do mundo do trabalho especificamente sobre o modelo do sobreaviso, para verificar a compatibilidade das normas já existentes com os novos meios de prestação de trabalho. A abordagem do trabalho é marcada pelos métodos indutivo e dialético, e a técnica de pesquisa adotada é a documentação indireta, a partir de pesquisa documental e de pesquisa bibliográfica. Ao final, como resultado do estudo, compreende-se que o regime de sobreaviso não se revela adequado como única resposta aos problemas decorrentes das transformações dos modos de prestação de trabalho e dos tempos de trabalho, razão pela qual se faz necessário buscar alternativas para assegurar outras respostas a essas situações laborais. / This work investigates the transformations in work patterns and working times due to the rearrangement of labor relations and the new technologies of communication and information. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand whether the reorganization of the classic work model and the proliferation of new communication and information technologies are compatible with the 'oncall/ standby time" and whether it serves as an answer to the new problems arising from the connection and availability of workers. The first part of this paper analyzes the forms of labor organization that motivated the development of Labor Law rules that regulate the control of time and the context that contributed to the emergence of the regulations limiting the duration of work. In the second chapter, it is analyzed the transformations determined mainly by the post-industrial model, marked by a significant advance in information technology, which reformulated the characteristics of the duration of work for which the traditional Labor Law was conceived. In the third chapter, the consequences of the transformations of the labor world are explicitly approached on the model of "on call time/standby time," to check if the existing rules are compatible with the rearrangement of labor. This work approach is marked by the inductive and dialectical methods, and the research technique adopted is the indirect documentation, based on documentary research and bibliographic research. In the end, as a result of the study, it is understood that the "on call time/standby time" is not appropriate as the only answer to the problems arising from the changes of work and working hours, which is why it is necessary to seek alternatives to ensure other responses to these situations.

Au cours de dix dernières années la science aux attoseconde ou Physique au champ-fort a été l’objet d’un fort développement. La production d’impulsions laser énergétiques de courte durée à haute cadence et stabilisées en CEP constitue la première étape pour accéder aux dynamiques ultra-rapides caractérisant l’interaction de la matière avec une source de lumière cohérente, intense et ultra-rapide. Le travail de cette thèse consiste à améliorer globalement les performances d’un système laser Ti:Sa à haute cadence optimisé pour la génération des impulsions attoseconde. Nous avons développé une nouvelle configuration de cavité régénérative fonctionnant à 10 kHz qui permet une meilleure gestion des effets thermiques dans le cristal. En sortie de l’amplificateur les impulsions atteignent des valeurs de puissance de 5 W en bande étroite (35 fs), ou 2.7 W en bande spectrale large permettant une compression des impulsions proche de 17 fs. La CEP des impulsions en sortie d’amplificateur a été stabilisée ; le bruit résiduel mesuré tir-à-tir est de 210 mrad pendant trois heures.L’amplificateur peut supporter également le fonctionnement en mode accordable, en sélectionnant des spectres de 30 à 40 nm de largeur à mi-hauteur et en accordant leur longueur d’onde centrale dans une gamme de 80 nm autour de 800 nm. Nous avons conçu et mis en fonctionnement un amplificateur multi-passages non-cryogéné à imagerie par lentille thermique pour accroître la puissance des impulsions jusqu’à 10 W à une cadence de 1 kHz. Le régime de forte saturation d’amplificateur garantit une variation négligeable (±3% pic à pic) de la puissance des impulsions en sortie du module, face à une variation importante de la puissance en entrée (±25% pic à pic) sur la bande spectrale accordable. L’amplification peut encore être plus importante grâce à une ligne d’amplification à refroidissement cryogénique, qui permet d’atteindre des puissances au niveau TW, à la cadence de 1 kHz, tout en maintenant un régime de courte durée (17.5 fs) et stabilité en CEP (350 mrad de bruit résiduel tir-à-tir). Nous proposons aussi une étude des sources de bruit de CEP dans les modules hautement dispersifs: nous avons conçu une nouvelle approche numérique sur la base d’un logiciel de tracé de rayon commercial (Zemax) pour évaluer les variations de CEP dans les modules contenant réseaux de diffraction. / The last decade has seen a lot of progress in attosecond science or in strong field physics. Generating energetic, few-cycle laser pulses with stabilized Carrier-Envelope Phase at high repetition rate constitutes the first step to access the ultra-fast dynamics underlying the interaction of matter with intense, ultrashort coherent light source. The work of this thesis consists in globally improving the performances of a high repetition rate Ti:Sa laser system optimized for attosecond science. We present an original 10 kHz Ti:Sa CPA laser based on an newlydesigneddouble-crystal cavity for thermal lensing management. The amplifier delivers up to 5 W in narrow band mode (35 fs pulses), or 2.7 W in broad band mode, supporting 17 fs pulses after temporal compression. We demonstrate shot-to-shot CEP stabilization with a remaining noise of 210 mrad over three hours at the front-end output. In parallel to the short pulse duration operation mode, it is possible to use the front end in a wavelength tunability mode within a 80 nm range around 800 nm, with a resolution of 1 nm and 30 to 40 nm of bandwidth. We designed and demonstrated a complete water-cooled lens-less multipass amplifier using thermal lensing for modeadaptation boosting the pulse energy up to 10mJ at 1 kHz repetition rate (up to 10 W). The saturation regime of the amplifier ensures negligible variation (±3% peak to peak) of the output power for significant variation of the input power (±25% peak to peak) over the tunability range. The energy scalability of the front-end is demonstrated by coupling its output to cryogenically cooled amplifier, delivering 1 kHz, TW-class pulses at 17.5 fs and CEP stabilized with a residual noise of 350 mrad. A study of CEP noise sources in high dispersive module is also addressed, proposing a numerical approach based on a commercial ray-tracing software (Zemax) for predicting CEP fluctuation in grating based modules.

In this thesis, an examination of physical education programs at independently affiliated schools in and around Junction, Texas revealed needed areas of improvement after comparison with State of Texas standards.

Since the 1970s, a curious phenomenon has emerged, suggesting that resource rich countries are "cursed" by their resources. Over the last couple of decades, researchers have argued that rentier countries are more likely to have educational underachievement, the Dutch disease, corruption, slower democratization, and conflict. Although current research has proven helpful and productive, some aspects still remain contested in both theoretical and empirical terms. This dissertation aims to fill certain lacunae in this literature. My dissertation examines how ordinary citizens turn into dissidents and then to rebels in rentier states. I build and test an innovative theoretical argument, which focuses on individuals' daily lives, and explains how policies by rentier governments discourage merit-based employment. This, in turn, yields a high level of grievance among segments of the population. I also develop a comprehensive theory that combines macro-level and micro-level explanations of conflict onset in rentier states. Finally, I analyze an important, but previously neglected aspect of civil wars in rentier states: conflict outcomes. I suggest that the existence of abundant natural resources would have a significant impact on conflict outcomes. Accordingly, government victory would be more likely, and negotiated settlement would be less likely in rentier countries compared to non-rentier countries.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The current study was, in part, prompted by the high case fatality rates for severe acute malnutrition in two district hospitals in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. These case fatality rates were being attributed to Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection rather than to mismanagement by nurses involved in the hospital management of SAM cases. There were also some anecdotes from clinicians in the same hospitals that, depending on the clinical stage of HIV infection, the World Health Organisation's ten-step protocol may show no effect. This left some uncertainties as to whether these guidelines are suitably designed for use during the management of HIV positive children who are severely malnourished and at different HIV clinical stages. This study sought to reinforce the design of a longstanding facility-based intervention originally developed to improve the management of severe acute malnutrition in two district hospitals in South Africa. The aim was to design an improved intervention which was implemented and evaluated to determine its potential effect on treatment outcomes, specifically in the context of high HIV comorbidity. The study also sought to provide the context for the effectiveness of this intervention, in terms of its implementation fidelity and associated moderating factors. Lastly, the study evaluated the sustainability of the intervention after it was discontinued. Methods The current study reports on the development, implementation and evaluation of an intervention to improve the management of severe acute malnutrition in two district hospitals in the Eastern Cape Province. A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Method Design was used. During the study, the effect of HIV infection, disease stage and other clinical characteristics on the survival of children with severe acute malnutrition was assessed. The relationship between the rate of weight gain and duration of hospitalisation based on HIV status and disease stage were also examined. The data were collected prospectively during the study using retrospective record review of a total of 450 severely malnourished children who were admitted and treated at the two facilities from 2009 to 2013.A pre-tested 76- item patient evaluation form was used to collect data on patient characteristics on admission, treatment processes and outcomes. Data analysis was performed using STATA13.0 and involved simple descriptive computation of quantitative variables as well as non-parametric tests to compare groups between and within hospitals. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazard modelling were used to analyse time to event data. The study also assessed the impact of the intervention at time intervals on outcomes of interest. The analysis focused on modelling and plotting monthly mortality statistics collected over a period of 69 months. This was done to detect related trend and level changes before, immediately (after the first two months) and after (following the two months) the removal of the intervention. Lastly ethnographic and focus group enquiries were used to explain the quantitative results. Two focus group discussions were held in each hospital with clinicians and the management staff. This was done at the end of phase three. The focus group data were analysed using the framework analysis approach.

Si la philosophie d’Emmanuel Levinas fut souvent présentée comme une philosophie de l’éthique, et fut identifiée à des notions telles que le visage, autrui ou la responsabilité, cette thèse vise à démontrer que ces notions se comprennent à partir d'un primat accorde au temps, voire d’une métaphysique de la temporalité. Il s’agira d'établir que la philosophie levinassienne inaugure une nouvelle philosophie du temps que nous pouvons qualifier de « discontinuiste », s’opposant aux pensées de la continuité comme la philosophie bergsonienne de la durée et husserlienne du flux. La constitution de la subjectivité par émergence et distinction d’avec l'existence atemporelle, encore nommée « l'il y a », son rapport au monde comme sa rencontre avec autrui ne se comprennent qu’à l’aune de leur temporalisation. Toutefois, cette structuration temporelle du sujet et de l’altérité invite à dégager différents types de temporalité et à spécifier l’essentielle dialectique entre le temps et l’autre. / If Emmanuel Levinas' philosophy has often been introduced as a philosophy of ethics, determined by famous notions such as the face, the other or the responsibility, this thesis aims at demonstrating that these notions can be understood thanks to the primacy of time, and to a metaphysics of temporality. The goal lies in explaining how Levinas' philosophy ushers a philosophy of time that we can qualify as « discontinuist », opposed to Bergson's philosophy of duration and Husserl's theory of time flow. Subjectivity is processed through a distinction with the atemporal existence or the « there is », the connection to the world and relations to the others can be appreciated thanks to the notion of temporalisation.However this temporal structuration of the subject and the otherness encourages us to make several distinctions between different types of temporality and to consider the essential dialectic between time and the other.

This thesis presents an alternative approach for the Best Estimate of Liabilities (BEL) approximation in life insurance. The work summarizes the basic theoretical knowledge about reserving in life insurance and deterministic or stochastic projection of future cash flows which is a method commonly used to model the value of BEL. This thesis also presents the theory about durations. We use partial key rate durations to approximate the value of BEL. The proposed approach is tested on a real example life insurance product with profit share. The resulting approximations are close to real values and when partial durations obtained by deterministic calculations are used, the preparation of the approximation is not computationally demanding. 1