Research suggests that olfactory perception of patients with schizophrenia differs from healthy people. In the context of previously conducted research, the present thesis addresses the differences in the abilities of identification and discrimination of odours and assessment of perceived odour qualities (pleasantness, familiarity, intensity, edibility) between patients with schizophrenia or acute and transient psychotic disorders and healthy volunteers, taking into account gender differences; in addition, the differences in the relationship between identification of odours and evaluation of the perceived qualities of odours between patients and healthy persons were explored as well as relationship between the severity of negative symptoms and olfactory perception. In line with other studies, deficits were found in patients in identification and discrimination of odours and in the assessment of odour familiarity compared to healthy subjects, with no gender differences. There were no differences in the relationship between the identification of odours and assessment of the perceived qualities of odours between patients and volunteers, and association of olfactory abilities and the assessment of perceived qualities of odours with the severity of negative symptoms was found only for identification of...

El objetivo principal de la investigación ha sido la observación de las formas y los mecanismos de transmisión utilizados por los manuales para representar del tiempo histórico. Para ello, se han seleccionado ocho libros de Ciencias Sociales de Primero y Segundo de la ESO y se han estudiado, mediante un modelo de análisis específico, los conceptos desarrollados en los contenidos y los recursos, su grado de dificultad y la proporcionalidad entre ambos grupos. También se ha comprobado la existencia de posibles estrategias previas para enseñar la temporalidad histórica y los mecanismos de adaptación a la edad y el nivel de los alumnos. Por último, la investigación propone algunas recomendaciones para mejorar los aspectos didácticos de la temporalidad en los libros de texto. / The main aim of the research was to observe which transfer processes and means are used by handbooks to represent historical time. To do so, eight Social Sciences text books of first and second of ESO were selected, then the authors studied, following a specific model of analysis, the concepts developed in the contents and resources, their degree of difficulty and the rate between both groups. They also checked to teach historical temporality and the processes to adapt to the age and level of the pupils. Finally, the research paper suggests recommendations to improve the educational aspects of temporality in text books.

La quantitat de demandes ateses d'alumnes que mostren comportaments agressius a l'escola fa palès que actualment el problema de la violència en els centres educatius suscita molta polèmica. Podem trobar que en l'última dècada s'han dut a terme molts estudis per tal d'esbrinar els tipus de comportament agressiu que es donen a l'escola, la quantitat d'agressions que hi tenen lloc i les causes de l'agressivitat. De tota manera, malgrat aquesta sèrie d'estudis, el problema de la violència en els centres d'Educació Secundària Obligatòria sembla no eradicar-se. Aquesta realitat em va portar a pensar que devia estar passant alguna cosa perquè els comportaments agressius dins els centres educatius anessin creixent. És a dir, que l'augment d'aquests comportaments disruptius pot estar relacionat amb el fet que aquesta mena de conductes siguin reforçades per les mateixes mesures adoptades per encarar aquesta problemàtica. Aquesta tesi doctoral pretén trobar resposta a aquest conflicte, partint de l'observació de quina és la realitat d'un institut concret i realitzant una intervenció a nivell emocional en els joves que estiguin etiquetats de conflictius al seu centre escolar, des d'un model de Diagnòstic-intervenció concret, el model Humanista-Estratègic.A partir d'aquesta experiència, s'ha elaborat una proposta amb l'objectiu de millorar l'atenció psicopedagògica que reben aquests estudiants. L'objectiu general, per tant, és aportar noves vies d'intervenció, i alhora millorar la qualitat de vida d'aquests nois i noies, que en definitiva és l'objectiu principal i últim de qualsevol psicopedagog.En el primer capítol exposo la Base teòrica del Model de Diagnòstic-Intervenció Humanista-Estratègic, de la qual parteixo per explicar els comportaments agressius en els alumnes. També explico la concepció que adopten altres models respecte de l'agressivitat humana; i finalment exposo els objectius. En el segon capítol descric la metodologia emprada en la recerca per tal d'assolir els objectius plantejats. El capítol tercer correspon a la presentació dels resultats. A la primera part presento els resultats obtinguts en l'estudi de casos, i a la segona els resultats de la valoració que fan diferents professionals del món de l'educació de l'atenció que es dóna en l'Educació Secundària Obligatòria als nois i noies que presenten problemes d'agressivitat. En el capítol quart duc a terme la discussió centrada en els resultats obtinguts i en la comparació amb els resultats de les investigacions exposades en el primer capítol. També hi aporto una proposta de millora per a l'atenció i la prevenció de l'agressivitat dins els centres educatius. En el capítol cinquè presento les conclusions de la nostra recerca.

Employee share options and Black Economic Empowerment deals are financial instruments found in the South African market. Employee share options (ESOs) are issued as a form of non-cash compensation to the employees of the company in addition to their salaries or bonuses. Its value is linked to the share price and since there is no downside risk for the employee his share option is similar to owning a call option on the stock of his employer. Black economic empowerment (BEE) deals in this report refer to those types of transactions structured by listed South African companies to facilitate the transfer of a portion of their ordinary issued share capital to South African individuals or groups who qualify under the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003 (“the Act”). This Act requires a minimum percentage of the company to be black-owned in order to address the disproportionate distribution of wealth amongst racial groups in South Africa due to the legacy of Apartheid. These transactions are usually structured in such a way to allow the BEE partner to participate in the upside of the share price beyond a certain level but not in the downside which replicates a call option on the share price of the issuing company. The cost of both ESOs and BEE deals has to be accounted for on the balance sheet of the issuing company at its fair-value. Neither of these instruments can be traded and their extended option lifetimes are features that distinguish these deals significantly from regular traded options for which liquid markets exist. This makes pricing them a non-trivial exercise. A number of types of mathematical models have been developed to take the unique structure features into account to price them as accurately as possible. Research by Huddart&Lang (1995&1996) has shown that option holders often exercise their vested options long before the maturity of the transactions but are unable to quantify a measure that can be used. The wide variety of factors influencing option holders (recent stock price movements, market-to-strike ratio, proximity of vesting dates, time to maturity, share price volatility and wealth of option holder) as well as little exercise data publicly available prevents the options from being priced in a consistent manner. Various assumptions regarding the exercise behaviour of option holders are used that are not based on empirical observations even though the option prices are sensitive to this input. This dissertation provides an overview of the models, inputs and exercise behaviour assumptions that are recognized in pricing both ESOs and BEE deals under IFRS 2 in South Africa. This puts the reader in a position to evaluate all pricing aspects of these deals. Furthermore, their structuring are also analysed in order to identify the general issues related to them. A number of methods to manage the pricing issue surrounding exercise behaviour on ESOs have been considered for the South African market. The ESO Upper Bound-methodology showed that for each strike there is a threshold at which exercise will occur and the employee can invest the after-tax proceeds in a diversified portfolio with a higher expected return than that of the single equity option. This approach reduces the standard Black-Scholes option value without relying on assumptions about the employee’s exercise behaviour and is a viable alternative for the South African market. The derived option value represents the cost of the option. Seven large listed companies’ BEE transactions are dissected and compared against one another using the fair-value of the transaction as a percentage of the market capitalization of the company. The author shows how this measure is a more equitable way of assigning BEE credits to companies than the current practice which is shareholding-based. The current approach does not reward the effort (read cost) that a company has undertaken to transfer shares to black South Africans but only focuses on the amount that is finally owned by the BEE participants. This leaves the transaction vulnerable to a volatile share price and leads to transactions with extended lock-in periods that do not provide much economic benefit to the BEE participants for many years. Other inefficiencies in the type of BEE transactions that have emerged in reaction to the BEE codes that have been published by the South African government are also considered. Finally the funding model that is often used to facilitate these deals is assessed and the risks involved for the funder (bank) is reflected on. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Mathematics and Applied Mathematics / unrestricted

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本研究以企業現金持有之理論結合經理人股票選擇權是否使經理人有不同的投資決策。並提出在超額現金情境之下，經理人具有股票選擇權的風險誘因將會傾向透過執行併購的方式，增加非系統性風險的投資，並貢獻長遠的經濟利潤。本研究蒐集於 1992 年至 2014 年的 S&P1500 企業，根據是否具有超額現金將公司進行分組，並對選擇權誘因進行回歸分析。實證結果顯示具中有風險誘因的經理人在具有超額現金的公司中會有顯著更高的傾向執行併購，尤其當公司同時是屬於舊產業。此外當排除全額股票支付的併購與公開上市的被併公司後，投資人會給予顯著的正面反應。 / This study combines the cash holdings theory and executive stock options (ESOs), and investigates whether excess cash holdings could enlarge the risk incentive effect of ESOs on idiosyncratic-risk investments with positive NPV via mergers and acquisitions (M&As). By examining the Standard and Poor indexed 1500 firms from 1992 to 2014, we find that CEO with ESOs in cash-rich firm is significantly more likely to make M&As especially when the cash-rich firm is in old economy. In addition, investors give positive reaction when CEO with ESOs in cash-rich firm acquires a non-public target and doesn’t adopt the all-stock payment.

L'hydrogène moléculaire diffus et froid peut être l'un des candidats ultimes à la composante baryonique cachée de la Voie Lactée. Nous décrivons une nouvelle voie de recherche de matière transparente dans le disque et le halo galactiques, qui exploite les effets de diffraction et de réfraction de la lumière des étoiles d'arrière-plan. En simulant le retard de phase induit par un milieu turbulent, nous avons calculé la figure d'éclairement sur la terre d'une source étendue pour une bande passante donnée. Nous montrons que dans les cas favorables, la luminosité apparente d'une étoile d'arrière-plan peut être soumise à des fluctuations stochastiques de l'ordre de quelques pour cent sur une échelle de temps caractéristique de quelques minutes. Nous avons recherché de tels effets de scintillation, induits par du gaz moléculaire de nébuleuses visibles (sombres), ainsi que par d'hypothétiques (invisibles) clumpuscules d'hydrogène moléculaire froid du halo, pendant deux nuits avec le détecteur infra-rouge SOFI au foyer du télescope NTT de l'ESO. Parmi les quelques milliers d'étoiles surveillées, nous avons détecté un objet dont les variations sont compatibles avec un fort effet de scintillation à travers une structure turbulente de la nébuleuse B68. Comme par ailleurs aucun effet de scintillation n'a été trouvé vers le Petit Nuage de Magellan, nous sommes en mesure d'établir des limites supérieures sur la contribution des clumpuscules de gaz à la masse du halo galactique. Nous montrons qu'une surveillance à cadence élevée dans la bande visible avec un télescope de diamètre supérieur à quatre mètres équipé d'une caméra à lecture rapide devrait permettre, avec une exposition de quelque millions (d'heures x étoiles), de quantifier ou de borner d'une façon très significative la contribution du gaz moléculaire turbulent au halo Galactique. / Cool molecular hydrogen H2 may be the ultimate possible constituent to the Milky-Way missing baryon. We describe a new way to search for such transparent matter in the Galactic disc and halo, through the diffractive and refractive effects on the light of background stars. By simulating the phase delay induced by a turbulent medium, we computed the corresponding illumination pattern on the earth for an extended source and a given passband. We show that in favorable cases, the light of a background star can be subjected to stochastic fluctuations of the order of a few percent at a characteristic time scale of a few minutes. We have searched for scintillation induced by molecular gas in visible dark nebulae as well as by hypothetical halo clumpuscules of cool molecular hydrogen (H2_He) during two nights, using the NTT telescope and the IR SOFI detector. Amongst a few thousands of monitored stars, we found one light-curve that is compatible with a strong scintillation effect through a turbulent structure in the B68 nebula. Because no candidate were found toward the SMC, we are able to establish upper limits on the contribution of gas clumpuscules to the Galactic halo mass. We show that the short time-scale monitoring of a few 10^6 star _ hour in the visible band with a >4 m telescope and a fast readout camera should allow one to interestingly quantify or constrain the contribution of turbulent molecular gas to the Galactic halo.

Cool molecular hydrogen H2 may be the ultimate possible constituent to the Milky-Way missing baryon. We describe a new way to search for such transparent matter in the Galactic disc and halo, through the diffractive and refractive effects on the light of background stars. By simulating the phase delay induced by a turbulent medium, we computed the corresponding illumination pattern on the earth for an extended source and a given passband. We show that in favorable cases, the light of a background star can be subjected to stochastic fluctuations of the order of a few percent at a characteristic time scale of a few minutes. We have searched for scintillation induced by molecular gas in visible dark nebulae as well as by hypothetical halo clumpuscules of cool molecular hydrogen (H2_He) during two nights, using the NTT telescope and the IR SOFI detector. Amongst a few thousands of monitored stars, we found one light-curve that is compatible with a strong scintillation effect through a turbulent structure in the B68 nebula. Because no candidate were found toward the SMC, we are able to establish upper limits on the contribution of gas clumpuscules to the Galactic halo mass. We show that the short time-scale monitoring of a few 10^6 star _ hour in the visible band with a >4 m telescope and a fast readout camera should allow one to interestingly quantify or constrain the contribution of turbulent molecular gas to the Galactic halo.

This report describes simulations of observations with the near-infrared high-resolution spectrometer SIMPLE that is proposed to the ESO telescope E-ELT. We simulate M4 and G2 stars with transiting Earth-like planets and the goal is to distinguish spectral features originating from the atmosphere of the exoplanet. Noise levels of different magnitudes are added to the simulations and the minimal signal-to-noise required for detection of the atmosphere is estimated. Our conclusion is that detection of atmospheric features looks promising using this setup.

Regeneration, a spontaneous response of bones in response to injuries, infections and fractures, is severely compromised in certain clinical circumstances. Unfortunately, several shortcomings are associated with the current treatment of bone grafting method such as donor shortage and immune response for allografts and donor morbidity for autografts. Thus, the development of clinical alternates is essential. One promising adjunct method is bone tissue engineering that includes the implantation of a scaffold containing the cells with the supplementation of suitable growth factors. Among the various classes of materials, biodegradable polymers are commonly preferred because their use does not necessitate a secondary surgery for their removal after the intended use. Commercially available polymers such as poly (lactic- co- glycolic acid) and polycaprolactone are expensive and degrade slowly. This motivates the development of novel synthetic biodegradable polymers that are affordable and can be tuned to tailor for specific biomedical applications. The primary aim of this thesis is to synthesize effective biodegradable polymers for drug delivery and bone tissue engineering. The properties of these polymers such as modulus, hydrophobicity and crosslinking etc. were tailored based on the variations in chemical bonds, chain lengths and the molar stoichiometric ratios of the monomers for specific clinical applications. Based on the above variations, degradation and release kinetics were tuned. The cytocompatibilty properties for these polymers were studied and suitable mineralization studies were conducted to determine their potential for bone regeneration.