About 50-70 % of all change initiatives fail and one reason for this is soft barriers, which mainly depend on people. These barriers are challenging to manage because individuals react to change in different ways. Due to these difficulties, companies look for help from consultants, who are perceived to have wide knowledge about change. Hence, the authors have studied the change process and the soft barriers from an external change agent perspective by interviewing nine experienced consultants. The results indicate that no phase in the change process is prominently more problematic than another, instead each phase is the outcome of prior phases. If the critical barriers in each phase are considered the change can be successful. Several soft barriers to change have been identified; lack of goals and vision, no demand for measurements and follow-ups, and a too large and homogenous project group without relevant competence or a clear driver of the change. Additionally, the findings suggest that top management is specifically problematic due to that they are often not united, are impatient and struggle with power and politics. Thus, the study indicates that resistance often starts from the top, which affects the rest of the organization and the outcome of the change.

The Extradosed Prestressed Bridge represents a relatively new bridge type. The first of this type bridge was constructed in Japan in 1994, and Japan has since built at least 29 examples of this bridge type. Throughout the rest of the world, another 34 of this bridge type have been built, with most countries having only one, or at most a few, examples. A broader application of this bridge type has been hampered by lack of design information and in particular lack design criteria for the stay cables. The purpose of this dissertation is to progress the understanding and application of this bridge type by providing (1) a summary and discussion of extradosed bridges constructed worldwide, (2) an assessment and recommendations on proportioning parameters, characteristics and features of extradosed prestressed bridges, and (3) a contribution of a new design approach for the stay-cable design for extradosed prestressed bridges. Also presented is an application of the above to a real-world prototype design to assess and comment on the application of the recommended proportioning parameters, characteristics, features and the new approach to stay cable design criteria.

本研究旨在討論外債和人權之間的協同作用和緊張關係，藉由探討聯合世界銀行國際貨幣基金組織債務對低收入國家的償債能力，尤其著重尼加拉瓜的例子。筆者發現有效支持兩個變量理論的連結，另外，本研究強調了政治決策改變人權債務的結果。 文獻探討發現過往討論各國償債能力忽略了人權因素，如此會抑止：（一）完成其任務，指導已納入人權要素在其發展援助干預的多邊和雙邊貸款；（二）審議侵犯人權的行為，特別是公民權利和政治權利的破壞治理和機構質量的因素；和（三）解決其減少債務相關的風險政策的人權影響。 研究分析的結果發現高度的侵犯人權行為（特別是公民權利和政治權利），不僅導致政治不穩定，也破壞了宏觀經濟的穩定。 / The author's research studies the synergies and tensions between external debt and human rights. To do this, the study examines the joint world bank-international monetary fund Debt Sustainability Framework for Low Income Countries, whilst paying particular attention to Nicaragua’s case. The author finds support for the validity of theoretical arguments that link the two variables. Specifically, the investigation examines and specifies how political decisions as a result of changes in human rights impact debt sustainability as well as and how high debt affects respect of human rights. The review of the Debt Sustainability Framework revealed that the framework ignores human rights issues in its methodology, which inhibits the framework’s ability to: i) accomplish its mandate to provide guidance to multilateral and bilateral lenders that have incorporated human rights elements in their development aid interventions; ii) to consider human rights violations, especially civil and political rights as a factor that undermines the quality of governance and institutions; and iii) address human rights impacts of the policies which reduce debt related risks. The inclusive growth diagnostic conducted by Nicaragua provided an in-depth study of the growth drivers (repayment capacity) and factors that are hindering their growth. As a result of the analysis, it revealed that high human rights violations (specially civil and political rights) have not only led to political instability, but also undermined macroeconomic stability - upsetting macroeconomic stability and increasing indebtedness.

ITC/USA 2013 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Ninth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 21-24, 2013 / Bally's Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV / External stores separation campaign is very risky therefore its preparation presents a big technical challenge for the instrumentation group. Determination of store trajectory requires the integration of two hi-speed hi-resolution video cameras into FTI. Link bandwidth precludes the development of a real-time application to be used at the Ground Telemetry System (GTS) for separation validation. To improve efficiency IPEV, with FINEP funding, is developing a system where the separation trajectory is computed on-board and in real-time. Computed parameters are merged into FTI to be processed into GTS and compared to the estimated trajectory. The proposed architecture is presented and discussed.

Introduktion Den interna revisorn antas ha bättre insyn i företaget än den externa. Enligt agentteori maximerar internrevisorn sin egen nytta, vilket ifrågasätter dennes oberoende. Dagens forskning är delad i två perspektiv där den interna revisionen och de externa revisionskostnaderna har ett positivt eller negativt samband. Den rådande trenden med ökad intern revision och kontroll i samband med den nya kontext som skapats genom de under 2000-talet införda regelverken motiverar och aktualiserar studien. Syfte Syftet med denna studie är att förklara hur den interna revisionen påverkar kostnaden för den externa revisionen i svenska noterade bolag. Metod Studien har en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi och en deduktiv forskningsansats. Genom dokumentstudier har data för svenska noterade företag samlats in och med hjälp av en regressionsmodell analyserats. Operationalisering har skett i enlighet med tidigare forskning och internrevisionens förekomst har mätts med en dummyvariabel. Slutsats Studiens resultat visar att internrevisionens förekomst har ett starkt signifikant positivt samband med kostnaden för den externa revisionen. Studien finner att företag med internrevision får högre revisionskostnader, men att de bakomliggande orsakerna kan vara krav på ökade kontroller. Tidigare forskning bekräftar resonemanget och att efterfrågan på ökad kontroll leder till ökade investeringar i både den interna och externa revisionen. Studiens resultat implicerar att internrevisionen används av företagsledningen för att signalera förtroende till ägarna. / Introduction The internal auditor is assumed to have a greater insight in the firm than the external auditor. Agency theory tells us that the internal auditor maximizes his own utility, which questions his independence. The current research is divided into two perspectives where the internal audit and the cost of the external audit has a positive or a negative relationship. The prevailing trend of increased internal audit and control together with the new context created in the 21th century with introduced regulations motivates and actualizes this study. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain how the internal audit impacts the cost of the external audit in swedish listed firms. Method This study has a quantitative research strategy and a deductive research approach. Data from swedish listed firms has been collected through studies of documents and analyzed with a linear regression. Operationalization has been made in accordance with previous research and the presence of internal audit has been measured with a dummy variable. Conclusion The result of this study shows that the presence of internal audit has a strongly significant positive relationship with the cost of the external audit. The study finds that firms with internal audit increase their audit costs, but that underlying reasons might be demand for greater control. Previous research confirms the argument and that demand for greater control leads to greater investments in both internal and external audit. The result of this study implies that internal audit is used by management to signal trust to the shareholders.

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The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a multi-national company can adapt its business marketing strategy to emerging markets. The research approach of the thesis was a case study of CCI in Turkey and Kazakhstan to see how the company can adapt it international business marketing strategy to conditions of local market. The study was done by identifying of the current situation on the emerging markets and the company and by describing external environment and institutional factors within emerging markets. Analysis of current elements of international business marketing strategy and environmental factors that have affected it was done by applying theoretical framework to the case study. The last step was to give recomendations for the company to adapt or standart international business marketing strategy and importance of analyze external enviromental factors for the international business marketing strategy for the emerging markets. Data for the thesis was collected from primary sources through interviews and secondary data through company’s presentations and articles, internet sources. The study showed that CCI enters each new market with standard brand portfolio tries to make adaptations of promotion and communication strategies to conductions of local market and to get external fit which will bring competitive and societal advantages for CCI on those markets where company operates. We have identified number of external environmental factors in Kazakhstan that have a certain influence on CCI’s operations. Economical situation has largely affected CCI’s operations and activities in Kazakhstan. This factor directly affects consumption level and purchasing power and behavior of local consumers. The legislation has obviously affected the company as well, resulting in local production. Cultural issues are also influenced CCI operations in Kazakhstan. That expressed through difference in consumption preferences of local consumers, which were directed aside traditional drinks. In the end of the thesis some recommendations are given. Among the most important are – to balance between standart brand portfolio and adapt communication and distribution strategies accorging local enviromental factors; to identify which environmental factors can affect the company, which will require adjustments, and which can be influenced by the company; to effort developing personal relationship with customers, distributors, retailers in order to increase the competitive advantage and gain an increased loyalty among them.

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Analizuodama keturių Vilniaus pedagoginio universiteto Lituanistikos fakultetą baigusių ir pirmąsias kūrybos knygeles išleidusių poetų – Renatos Radavičiūtės, Donato Petrošiaus, Antano Šimkaus ir Agnės Žagrakalytės – kūrybos puslapius, autorė aiškinosi, kokį jų poezija pateikia santykį tarp miesto ir žmogaus. Padaryta išvada, jog šiame dialoge svarbiausią vaidmenį šiandien atlieka miestas. Jis jaunųjų kūryboje žymi ne tik erdvę, bet ir specifinį mąstymo, gyvenimo būdą. Autorė kalba apie išorinį ir vidinį miestą. Išoriniame mieste žmogus klajoja gatvėmis, važiuoja viešuoju transportu, kvėpuoja smogu ir jaučiasi praradęs savo individualumą, tapatybę, virsta didžiulio miesto kūno dalimi. Prabylama apie suvaržytą žmogaus laisvę, begalinį skubėjimą, kuris veda šiuolaikinį žmogų tikrųjų kultūrinių vertybių praradimo link. Sumenkęjęs motinos vaidmuo, kultūros krizė, sunki menininko padėtis visuomenėje, nemokėjimas mylėti, nusigręžimas nuo Dievo – tai vidinio, žmoguje apsigyvenusio miesto ženklai. Bet eilėraščiuose skambanti ironija yra nuoroda į sąmoningą žmogaus būseną. O mąstantis žmogus – laisva asmenybė. Tad autorė daro optimistinę išvadą ir tiki šviesesniu, kultūringesniu, sąmoningesniu rytojumi jaunųjų poezijoje. / Looking through the pages of creatyve works oh the four poets such as Renata Radavičiūtė, Donatas Petrošius, Antanas Šimkus, Agnė Žagrakalytė, who are Vilnius Pedagogical University, the Faculty of Lithuanian literature graduates and who published their first books, the author interprets the relationship between the town and the human. The conclusion is that nowadays the town plays the greatest role in this dialogue. It marks not only space, but also a specific way of thinking and life in the youth creation. The author speaks about external and internal town. In txe external town a person is wandering along the streets going by public transport, breathing smog and having lost his identity, becomes a part of the big town. The poets started to speak about restricted human freedom, endless hurrying, which leads a nowaday person towards the loss of real values (cultural, moral). Less maternal role, cultural crisis, difficult artist’s position in the society, inability to love, turning away from God are the marks of the internal town which has settled inthe person. However, the irony of the poems is the reference to a sensible human state. A thinking person is a free personality. Thus the author draws an optimistic conslusion and believes in brighter, more cultural and move sensible future.

The 5’ external transcribed spacer (5’ ETS) of pre-ribosomal RNA, although highly variable in size and sequence, has been shown to be critical for the initiation of rRNA processing. This study further examined the 5’ ETS in Schizosaccharomyces pombe with respect to structural elements that underlie rRNA maturation. Initially, the 5’ ETS/18S rRNA junction region was examined by mutational analyses to detect cis-acting elements critical to known cleavage sites. The results indicated that sequence/structure in the junction region does not direct or strongly influence cleavage at the 5’ end of 18S rRNA. Systematic mutations also were used to examine the significance of previously suggested putative ribosomal protein binding sites or U3 snoRNA binding sites as well as other stem-loop sequences of regions IV, V and VI in the 5’ ETS. The results indicated that the putative U3 snoRNA binding sites were less critical than previously anticipated but have identified elements in regions IV and V with significant influence on the production of mature ribosomal RNA. In vitro studies of interactions between these elements and the U3 snoRNA or cellular protein also were initiated. The results of electrophoretic mobility shift assays indicated a strong interaction between region IV and the U3 snoRNA, suggesting that region IV probably contributes to the function of an important structure in the nucleolar precursor particle, which together with region V and probably other hairpins, may act to organize a stable processing domain. In contrast to the previous studies, which suggested as many as six intermediate cleavage sites in the 5’ ETS of S. pombe, re-examination of termini using hybridization and ligation-mediated RT-PCR indicated only two major cleavage sites. In general the 5’ ETS sequence mutants did not seem to influence the rRNA processing profile significantly but could dramatically affect the quantity of the product, an observation that provided further evidence of quality control, which helps ensure that only functional RNA is incorporated into mature ribosomes. Taken together the results illustrated that various sequence/structural elements in the 5’ ETS could influence or be critical for the maturation of rRNA. The results also support the possibility that the precursor molecule is first organized into one or more processing domains that direct the actual maturation processes. / This study was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.