Problem: Interim and annual reports are some of the most crucial sources of information regarding companies’ performances. Interested parties such as analysts and investors assess this information and compare it with expectations. Analysts’ expectations of companies’ interim reports are of great importance when analysing the future development of share movement. Possible deviations between analysts’ expectations and actual presented results from the individual companies might change the perceptions of specific future stock prices. Furthermore business sectors have different characteristics and might respond differently to unexpected earnings news. Over- and underperformance of the presented results in relation to analysts’ expectations could create specific stock price movements over a forthcoming period depending on the nature of the report. The authors label this phenomenon as persistent trends. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to establish whether persistency and trends could be observed in the future development of companies’ stock prices with regard to analysts’ expectations and the true result presented by the companies. Method: With a quantitative approach the authors conducted an event study aiming to fulfill the purpose of this thesis. The study consisted of all fourth quarter reports presented 2001 throughout 2004 by the companies presently listed on the Most traded section of the Stockholm stock exchange A-list. The authors defined the nature of the studied reports as positive or negative depending on whether the pre-tax earning exceeded or were lower than the analysts’ expectations. Furthermore the authors constructed a mathematical formula which distinguished if the possible deviation of actual results compared to expectations was significant. The share price performance for two months subsequent to the earnings announcement was recorded and compared with the OMXS30 development for the equivalent time, thereby the authors gathered empirical evidence to fulfill the purpose. Furthermore the data was also divided into business subcategories to provide answers to whether there was uniform response to unexpected earnings information among business sectors. Results: The authors presented empirically founded evidence for the existence of persistent trends following the presentation of both positive and negative reports. The authors also rejected the presence of a uniform response to deviating earnings information in the business sectors.

Maintenance has evolved over centuries and has played significant role for growth of organizations. Maintenance history is differentiated by three generations, the development of maintenance considered from being “necessary evil” to “profit contributor”. Many literatures have discussed maintenance for optimization and increasing profitability but little on the factors which influence on the future of maintenance. Maintenance should be considered as a “competitive factor” in the future. Many trends have evolved in production and every trend had a major contribution towards production development. The successful implementation of the trends is considered to be a major challenge. Little literatures have talked on the emerging trends and challenges in production. The thesis reviews the historical development of maintenance over generations and presents the key factors which play a major role during the fourth generation, and also identifies the emerging trends and challenges to be faced by production. The literature review, interviews and surveys were used in this thesis. Academic researchers and industrial experts from both maintenance and production department answered the interview and survey questions for this research. The key factors for the proposal of fourth generation of maintenance and the emerging trends and challenges to be faced by production are presented. The result from the research questions and the empirical findings are summarized in a framework that will enable readers to know the historical development of maintenance, the key factors to be considered for the fourth generation of maintenance and the emerging trends and challenges to be faced by production in future. In addition, the thesis also discusses the impact of information technology on the future of maintenance and the effect of sustainability in the future of production.

<p>Problem: Interim and annual reports are some of the most crucial sources of information regarding companies’ performances. Interested parties such as analysts and investors assess this information and compare it with expectations. Analysts’ expectations of companies’ interim reports are of great importance when analysing the future development of share movement. Possible deviations between analysts’ expectations and actual presented results from the individual companies might change the perceptions of specific future stock prices. Furthermore business sectors have different characteristics and might respond differently to unexpected earnings news. Over- and underperformance of the presented results in relation to analysts’ expectations could create specific stock price movements over a forthcoming period depending on the nature of the report. The authors label this phenomenon as persistent trends.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to establish whether persistency and trends could be observed in the future development of companies’ stock prices with regard to analysts’ expectations and the true result presented by the companies.</p><p>Method: With a quantitative approach the authors conducted an event study aiming to fulfill the purpose of this thesis. The study consisted of all fourth quarter reports presented 2001 throughout 2004 by the companies presently listed on the Most traded section of the Stockholm stock exchange A-list. The authors defined the nature of the studied reports as positive or negative depending on whether the pre-tax earning exceeded or were lower than the analysts’ expectations. Furthermore the authors constructed a mathematical formula which distinguished if the possible deviation of actual results compared to expectations was significant. The share price performance for two months subsequent to the earnings announcement was recorded and compared with the OMXS30 development for the equivalent time, thereby the authors gathered empirical evidence to fulfill the purpose. Furthermore the data was also divided into business subcategories to provide answers to whether there was uniform response to unexpected earnings information among business sectors.</p><p>Results: The authors presented empirically founded evidence for the existence of persistent trends following the presentation of both positive and negative reports. The authors also rejected the presence of a uniform response to deviating earnings information in the business sectors.</p>

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-03, Section: B, page: 1619. Advisers: Steven H. Kelder; Ross Shegog. Includes bibliographical references.

A Rolling Dynamic Deflectometer (RDD) is a nondestructive testing device for determining continuous deflection profiles of pavements. Theses deflection profiles can be used more effectively when combined with other data such as pavement thickness, variability in moisture and other subsurface conditions, void detection and pavement right-of-way conditions. Therefore, a new, multi-function pavement testing device has been developed by a joint effort between the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Center for Transportation Research (CTR) at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M University. This new device is called the Total Pavement Acceptance Device (TPAD). The objective of TPAD testing is to nondestructively and nonintrusively investigate the structural adequacy of the total pavement system. The multiple functions of the TPAD presently include the following measurement capabilities: (1) rolling dynamic deflectometer (RDD), (2) ground penetrating radar (GPR), (3) global positioning (GPS), (4) pavement surface temperature, (5) digital video imaging of pavement and right-of-way conditions and (6) longitudinal survey offsets from known points through distance measurement (DMI). The TPAD is currently designed to perform continuous measurements at speeds around 2 to 3 mph. The effort in this dissertation is directed at: (1) developing the fourth-generation rolling sensors for faster testing speeds with the TPAD, (2) developing the Jointed Concrete Pavement (JCP) testbed with known and well-documented conditions (3) developing and evaluating the TPAD mobile platform, (4) evaluating the performance of the fourth-generation rolling sensors and refining a field calibration procedure and (5) studying the influence of the longitudinal and transverse joints in Jointed Concrete Pavement on TPAD deflection profile measurements. The first part involved the study of previous research and preliminary testing using the second-generation rolling sensor. Key benefits of the fourth-generation rolling sensor are: (1) reduced rolling noise during the testing, (2) higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and (3) better tracking of the sensor. The second part of this work involved the development of the JCP testbed at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Flight Services Facility (FSF) adjacent to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA). The JCP testbed was developed to establish a pavement facility with known and well-documented conditions for use in future research dealing with rigid pavement testing. The third part of this work involved the acceptance testing of the TPAD mobile platform for the RDD deflection measurements. The mobile platform was the one of the key components to develop the new moving pavement testing device. The TPAD mobile platform was developed by modifying a small, off-road vibroseies built by Industrial Vehicle International, Inc. (IVI). Acceptance testing of each of the following components was performed: (1) automated speed control, (2) static loading system and (3) dynamic loading system. The fourth part of this work involved the TPAD deflection measurements at the testbed at the TxDOT FSF. The deflection profiles using the fourth-generation rolling sensors and TPAD were performed at the established testbed. During the performance evaluation testing, the new sensor positioning, towing and raising/lowering system was developed and installed in the TPAD. The fifth part of this study involved the deflection measurement using the TPAD-RDD system on the jointed concrete pavement. This study includes the repeatability of the TPAD deflection measurements, the influence of the proximity to the longitudinal and transverse joints in JCP on TPAD deflection measurements, deflection measurements under different pavement surface temperature, the characteristic of the TPAD-RDD deflections and the comparison between the Falling Weight Deflectometer and TPAD deflection measurement testing. / text

This dissertation investigates Chinese women's rhetorical practices in the early twentieth century. Tracing the formation and development of a new rhetoric in China, I examine women's writings that were denigrated in the May Fourth period. I argue that as an important part of the new rhetoric, women's texts explored women's issues and created the modern self in the May Fourth period by critiquing a patriarchal tradition that excluded women's experiences from its articulation.I begin by challenging the assumptions that rhetoric is a Western male phenomenon. Situating my study in the area of comparative rhetoric, I critique the previous scholarship in the field and delineate the research methodologies used in this dissertation. In Chapter 2 I locate women's rhetorical practices within the specific social and historical contexts of the May Fourth period. I contend that the May Fourth women's literary texts are rhetorical, considering the different conception of rhetoric in the Chinese rhetorical tradition as well as the social impact these texts created at that historical juncture. In Chapter 3 I extrapolate Lu Yin's feminist rhetorical theory and practice from her sanwen (essays) and fiction. I argue that by emphasizing tongqing (sympathy) in her literary theory, Lu Yin's discourse offers an example of how gendered and culturally specific rhetorical concepts and strategies influence the reader and exert social changes. Chapter 4 provides a case study of Bing Xin, another well-known woman writer in the May Fourth period. I argue that by advocating a "philosophy of love" throughout her lyrical essays and fiction, Bing Xin injected a distinctive female voice in the male-dominated discourse in which women and children were either belittled or silenced. Bing Xin's view of writing as expressing the writer's individuality as well as her unique feminine prose style transformed this classical genre into a more vigorous rhetorical form. Using my case studies as reference, I conclude by drawing out the implications of Chinese women's rhetorical experiences for the studies of rhetoric and comparative rhetoric. I show how such a cross-cultural study of particular rhetorics can help further our exploration of human rhetorical practices in general.

Ce mémoire de maîtrise a pour objet une recherche de leptons lourds de quatrième génération avec les données prises par le détecteur ATLAS au LHC dans les collisions pp à $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV et avec une luminosité intégrée de 1.02 fb$^{-1}$. Le processus étudié est la production au singulet de leptons lourds neutres de quatrième génération (N) par la voie du courant chargé suivi de la désintégration du celui-ci en un électron et un boson W : $ pp \to W \to N e \to e W e \to e e \nu_{\ell} \ell $ ($\ell$ = $e$ ou $\mu$), et dépend d'un paramètre de mélange $\xi^{2}$ avec un lepton léger. L'analyse passe par plusieurs étapes, soit l'utilisation de FeynRules pour construire le modèle pour ensuite générer des événements par MadGraph 5.1.2.4. Comme hypothèse de référence, on a choisi une masse de 100 GeV pour le lepton lourd neutre et $\xi_{Ne}^2$ = 0.19, donnant une section efficace de 0.312 pb pour une énergie au centre de masse de 7 TeV. Puisque la génération du signal s'est faite de manière privée à Montréal et non par la collaboration ATLAS, les résultats ne peuvent pas être reconnus officiellement. Sur la base de la simulation, avec des données correspondant à 1 fb$^{-1}$, la limite supérieure attendue à un niveau de confiance de $95\%$ sur la section efficace du signal est de 0.145 pb avec 0.294 pb pour un écart type($\sigma$) et 0.519 pb pour 2$\sigma$. La limite supérieure attendue à un niveau de confiance de $95\%$ sur $\xi_{Ne}^{2}$ de 0.09 pour une masse de 100 GeV. / This M.Sc. thesis describes a search for fourth generation heavy leptons using data from the ATLAS detector at LHC. The total integrated luminosity is 1.02 fb$^{-1}$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV. This analysis study the single production of fourth generation neutral heavy lepton (N) via the charged channel and where W decays leptonically : $ pp \to W \to N e \to e W e \to e e \nu_{\ell} \ell $ ($\ell$ = $e$ ou $\mu$), which depends on the mixing element between the heavy lepton and the light lepton. The model of fourth generation leptons is constructed using FeynRules while the production of events is done by MadGraph 5.1.2.4. As point of reference, we chose a mass of 100 GeV for the fourth generation neutral heavy lepton (N) with $\xi_{Ne}^{2} = 0.19$, which produce a cross section of 0.312 pb. The generation of the signal was done privately in Montreal and not by the ATLAS collaboration. Therefore the results cannot be considered official. With the simulation, the expected superior limit at $95\%$ C.L. on the cross section is 0.145 pb with 0.294 pb for $\sigma$ and 0.519 pb for 2$\sigma$. The expected superior limit at $95\%$ C.L. on $\xi_{Ne}^{2}$ is 0.09.

Chacune des éditions de la Critique de la raison pure contient une preuve de la réalité du monde externe : la première se trouve dans le « quatrième paralogisme » et la deuxième dans la « Réfutation de l’idéalisme ». Ce travail examine l’évolution du premier argument vers le deuxième, en rendant compte de deux critiques importantes de la première édition qui ont influencé le second travail de Kant. La deuxième partie de ce travail se concentre sur des problèmes propres à la Réfutation, où sont traités des sujets particulièrement problématiques, tel que la structure de la conscience empirique déterminée, le rôle du permanent dans l’établissement de l’objectivité, ainsi qu’un argument secondaire présenté dans les notes de bas de page du texte principal et de la préface. / Each edition of the Critique of Pure Reason contains a proof for the reality of the external world: the first is located in the “Fourth Paralogism”, the second, in the “Refutation of Idealism.” This work examines the evolution from the first argument to the second, taking into account two significant criticisms of the first edition which influenced Kant’s second attempt. The latter half of this work treats topics particular to the Refutation only, focusing again on the issues which were stumbling blocks, namely the structure of determined empirical consciousness, the role of the permanent in establishing objectivity, as well as a secondary argument found in the footnotes of the main text and preface.

The annual Sigmon Farm Tour was started in 1992 as an agricultural education program where students could experience being on a farm with the goal of increasing the agricultural literacy levels of the participants. Every year the entire 4th grade student population of Rockcastle County spends the day touring the farm and participating in experiential mini lessons given by the cooperating farm service and health agencies. The program has continued for 20+ years without an evaluation as to whether it is achieving its objectives. This evaluation will also exhibit the programs strengths and weakness so it can continue to improve. This study utilized the pretest, posttest and delayed posttest to ascertain the agricultural literacy level of the student before the fieldtrip, after participating in the field trip and again 90 days later.

Reading difficulties is the most common learning difficulty in the western world and it is common that people with reading disabilities also exhibit arithmetic difficulties. Different theories about the cause of the relationship exists, one theory describes the importance of good phonological ability in reading as well as in arithmetic, while another theory describes the importance of a reliable number system and that only a subgroup of students with reading disabilities also have difficulties with arithmetic. The purpose of this study is to investigate how students with reading difficulties (RD), without any known mathematical difficulties, perform on mathematical tasks relative to a control group. The study was theoretically grounded on the Triple code model (Dehaene, 1992), which is a model for numerical information processing that describes how various numerical and arithmetic tasks are processed through three distinct representation systems in the brain, a verbal and a visual representation system and a quantity system. Reading skills, phonological skills, arithmetic skills and number processing skills were examined in 61 students through a variety of tests. After examination of reading ability, the participants were split into two groups, students with RD and a control group. Statistical comparisons were calculated by one-way analysis of variance between the two groups on each task, and for some tasks one-way analysis of covariance were used. The results provided partial support for the present hypotheses. The main findings showed that students with RD have difficulties within the verbal and visual representation system but exhibit an intact quantity system. Within the verbal representation system, students with RD performed significantly worse in retrieval of arithmetic facts (addition, subtraction and multiplication), they retrieved fewer established answers from long-term memory on all of the three arithmetic operations compared to the control group. The students with RD also made more errors regarding subtraction and multiplication and within the visual representation system they had significantly fewer answers that were correct on written arithmetic calculation and was significantly slower in symbolic number comparison, compared with the control group. It is discussed whether a connection difficulty, namely difficulties in linking a particular symbol with a semantic content, is the cause of the exhibited arithmetic difficulties in students with RD. / Lässvårigheter är den vanligaste inlärningssvårigheten i västvärlden och det är vanligt att personer med lässvårigheter även uppvisar aritmetiska svårigheter. Skilda teorier kring orsaken till sambandet finns och en teori beskriver vikten av god fonologisk förmåga vid läsning såväl som vid räkning. En annan teori beskriver vikten av ett tillförlitligt antalsystem och att endast en undergrupp av elever med lässvårigheter också har svårigheter med aritmetik. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka hur elever med lässvårigheter (LS) utan kända matematiksvårigheter presterar på matematiska uppgifter i förhållande till en kontrollgrupp. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt är Trippel-kod-modellen (Dehaene, 1992), vilket är en modell för numerisk informationsbearbetning som beskriver hur olika numeriska och aritmetiska uppgifter antas bearbetas genom tre representationssystem i hjärnan, det vill säga verbalt och visuellt representationssystem samt kvantitetssystem. Läsfärdighet, fonologisk förmåga, aritmetisk färdighet samt antalsuppfattning undersöktes hos 61 elever genom ett flertal test. Efter undersökning av läsfärdighet delades deltagarna upp i två grupper, elever med LS och en kontrollgrupp. Statistiska jämförelser beräknades genom envägs variansanalys mellan grupperna på respektive uppgift och för vissa uppgifter beräknades även envägs kovariansanalys. Resultatet gav delvis stöd för de uppsatta hypoteserna då huvudfyndet visade att elever med LS har svårigheter inom både verbalt och visuellt representationssystem men uppvisar ett intakt kvantitetssystem. Inom verbalt representationssystem presterade eleverna med LS signifikant sämre än kontrollgruppen på uppgiften framplockning av aritmetiska talfakta inom addition, subtraktion och multiplikation då de hade färre svar att plocka fram från minnet på alla tre räknesätt. Eleverna med LS hade också fler fel gällande subtraktion och multiplikation. Inom visuellt representationssystem uppvisade de signifikant färre rätt på skriftlig aritmetisk kalkylering samt var signifikant långsammare gällande symbolisk antalsuppfattning jämfört med kontrollgruppen. Utifrån resultaten diskuteras huruvida en kopplingsproblematik, det vill säga svårigheter att koppla en bestämd symbol med ett semantiskt innehåll, ligger till grund för de uppvisade aritmetiska svårigheterna hos elever med LS.