This thesis examines the influence of financial reporting on present and potencial investors and creditors, in the context of the comparison of requirements and accounting policies applied by national regulations and U. S. GAAP. The comparison is done in the framework of the conversion of financial statements which is essensial for Czech companies simultaneously following different accounting principles. The theoretical part is devoted to examining the influence and role of financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting regulations and U. S. accounting standards, with a more detailed analysis of selected accounting areas of. Attention is also paid to the conversion process, possibilities of its implementation as well as limitations and problems associated with it. Based on the teoretical part the analysis of the conversion process is done on the example of a particular company.

Essay 1: Estimation of DSGE Models with Uninformative Priors DSGE models are typically estimated using Bayesian methods, but because prior information may be lacking, a number of papers have developed methods for estimation with less informative priors (diffuse priors). This paper takes this development one step further and suggests a method that allows full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation of a medium-sized DSGE model. FIML estimation is equivalent to placing uninformative priors on all parameters. Inference is performed using stochastic simulation techniques. The results reveal that all parameters are identifiable and several parameter estimates differ from previous estimates that were based on more informative priors. These differences are analyzed. Essay 2: A DSGE Model with Labor Hoarding Applied to the US Labor Market In the US, some relatively stable patterns can be observed with respect to employment, production and productivity. An increase in production is followed by an increase in employment with lags of one or two quarters. Productivity leads both production and employment, especially employment. I show that it is possible to replicate this empirical pattern in a model with only one demand-side shock and labor hoarding. I assume that firms have organizational capital that depreciates if workers are utilized to a high degree in current production. When demand increases, firms can increase utilization, but over time, they have to hire more workers and reduce utilization to restore organizational capital. The risk shock turns out to be very dominant and explains virtually all of the dynamics. Essay 3: Demand Shocks and Labor Hoarding: Matching Micro Data In Swedish firm-level data, output is more volatile than employment, and in response to demand shocks, employment follows output with a one- to two-year lag. To explain these observations, we use a model with labor hoarding in which firms can change production by changing the utilization rate of their employees. Matching the impulse response functions, we find that labor hoarding in combination with increasing returns to scale in production and a very high price stickiness can explain the empirical pattern very well. Increasing returns to scale implies a larger percentage change in output than in employment. Price stickiness amplifies volatility in output because the price has a dampening effect on demand changes. Both of these explain the delayed reaction in employment in response to output changes.

Den amerikanska armén har under lång tid haft doktriner som behandlat strid i bebyggelse medolika typer av motståndare, från sovjetiska divisioner som anfaller in i Västtyskland tillupprorsbekämpning i Mellanöstern och Afrika. Uppsatsen handlar om hur den amerikanska taktiskasynen på strid i bebyggelse har utvecklats från 1979 till 2003.Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att skapa en större förståelse för den taktiska utvecklingen somskett kopplat mot de grundläggande förmågorna verkan, skydd & rörlighet.En kvalitativ textanalys har använts som metod för att analysera de aktuella doktrinerna. Teorinutgår ifrån Doktrin för markoperationer och i synnerhet ifrån de grundläggande förmågorna verkan,skydd & rörlighet.Resultatet visar att användningen av dessa förmågor utvecklas med hänsyn till förväntadmotståndare och civilbefolkning. Utvecklingen av verkan går mot mer kvalitativa medel ochmetoder, motståndarens rörlighet har förändrats och så har också hans vilja att strida i bebyggelse.Användningen av assymmetriska metoder för att uppnå skydd är en ny metod som uppkommit.Värdering av den terrängen är däremot något som inte har förändrats.

Literature emerging from borderland, transnational or diaspora contexts doesn’t always fit the mould of the dominant national culture where the author resides. Usually this literature is published in the language of the larger society, but sometimes authors prefer to use the language variety in which they write as one of many tools to resist assimilation and highlight their independent or hybrid identity; such is the case with Matilda Koén-Sarano's Judeo-Spanish folktales and Susana Chávez-Silverman’s Spanglish crónicas. When this is the case, translation from these varieties must be done in a way that preserves the resistance to assimilation in a different linguistic context. In this thesis I begin by defining Judeo-Spanish and Spanglish as language varieties, consider who uses them, who writes in them, and the political or personal motivations of the authors. I then problematize the broad issue of translating texts written in nonstandard language varieties. I consider power in translation generally and into English more specifically. I nuance the binary between rejecting translation completely, and embracing it wholeheartedly as essential. In the final two chapters I turn my attention to specific challenges that presented themselves in translations from Judeo-Spanish and Spanglish and explain how these challenges informed my approaches and strategies. No single translation approach or strategy emerges as a monolithic solution to all problems. Nevertheless, my original contribution to knowledge lies in the nuanced discussion and creative application of varying degrees of ethnolects (or literary dialects), writing based in phonetics, and intralinguistic translation that are explained and that are evidenced in the original translations found in the appendices.

abstract: The 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade was a significant event in the story of fetal personhood—the story of whether embryos and fetuses are legal persons. Roe legalized abortion care in the United States (US). However, the story of fetal personhood began long before the 1970s. People have been talking about embryos, fetuses, and their status in science, the law, and society for centuries. I studied the history of fetal personhood in the United States, tracing its origins from Ancient Rome and Medieval England to its first appearance in a US courtroom in 1884 and then to the Supreme Court’s decision in 1973. But this isn’t a history of events—of names and dates and typical details. This is a history of words. In the twenty-first century, words used to discuss embryos and fetuses are split. Some people use humanizing language like “unborn children” and “human life.” Others use technical words like “embryos” and “fetuses.” I studied what words people used historically. I charted how words moved from science to the public to the law, and how they impacted court rulings on fetal personhood. The use of certain words nudged courts to grant additional rights to embryos and fetuses. In the 1960s, writers began describing the science of development, using words like “unborn child” and humanizing descriptions to make embryos and fetuses seem like people already born. That helped build an idea of embryos and fetuses as having “life” before birth. When people began asking courts to legalize abortion care in the 1970s, attorneys on the opposite side argued that embryos and fetuses were “human life,” and that that “life” began at conception. In those cases, “life” was biologically defined as when sperm fertilized egg, but it was on that biological definition “life” that judges improperly rested their legal rulings that embryos and fetuses were “potential human life” states had a duty to protect. It wasn’t legal personhood, but it was a legal status that let states pass laws restricting abortion care and punishing pregnant people for their behavior, trends that threaten people’s lives and autonomy in the twenty-first century. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biology 2020

abstract: Exchange is fundamental to the establishment and maintenance of social institutions and political economies in all scales of societies. While today people rapidly exchange goods and information over great distances, in the past, long-distance exchange necessitated the mobilization of vast networks of interaction with substantial transport costs. Objects traded over long distances were often valuable and challenging to obtain, granting them multifaceted significance that is difficult to understand using traditional archaeological approaches. This research examines human interactions with scarlet macaws (Ara macao) in the United States (U.S.) Southwest and Mexican Northwest (SW/NW) between 900 and 1450 CE. This period saw large-scale cultural change in the form of migrations, rapid population aggregation, and an expansion of long-distance exchange relations in regional centers at Pueblo Bonito (900-1150 CE) in northwestern New Mexico, Wupatki (1085-1220 CE) in north-central Arizona, and Paquimé (1200-1450 CE) in northern Chihuahua. Despite the distant natural habitat of scarlet macaws, their importation, exchange, and sacrifice appear to have played integral roles in the process of placemaking at these three regional centers. Here, I use an Archaeology of the Human Experience approach and combine radiogenic strontium isotope analysis with detailed contextual analyses using a Material Histories theoretical framework to (1) discern whether macaws discovered in the SW/NW were imported or raised locally, (2) characterize the acquisition, treatment and deposition of macaws at Pueblo Bonito, Wupatki, and Paquimé, and (3) identify patterns of continuity or change in acquisition and deposition of macaws over time and across space in the SW/NW. Findings from radiogenic strontium isotope analysis indicate that scarlet macaws from all case studies were primarily raised locally in the SW/NW, though at Paquimé, macaws were procured from sites in the Casas Grandes region and extra-regionally. Variation in the treatment and deposition of scarlet macaws suggests that despite their prevalence, macaws were interpreted and interacted with in distinctly local ways. Examination of the human experience of transporting and raising macaws reveals previously unconsidered challenges for keeping macaws. Overall, variation in the acquisition and deposition of scarlet macaws indicates changing strategies for placemaking in the SW/NW between 900 and 1450 CE. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2020

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent and costly chronic diseases in the United States (US). The healthcare and drug cost of diabetes has risen steadily and the increase in patients’ out-of-pocket drug expenditures are associated with a reduction in treatment adherence. The objectives of this study were to assess trends in insulin products prices in the period January 1983-July 2019, and to compare the price, acquisition costs and reimbursement amount of insulins available in the US. DATA AND METHODS: Data of insulin products marketed in the US during the period January 1983-July 2019 was derived from the FDA databases, the RedBook online, Medicaid.gov, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Prices were adjusted using the consumer price index (CPI). The compounded average group rate (CAGR) was calculated for each insulin product. Data was analyzed by summary descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Human insulins had a CPI-adjusted AWP CAGR ranging 4.89%-8.89% from the first AWP effective date to July 2019 and insulin analogues had a CPI-adjusted AWP CAGR ranging 9.5%- 9.75%. The 2 follow-on (biosimilar) insulins; long-acting insulin glargine and rapid-acting insulin lispro experienced a negative adjusted CAGR (-1.20%, -33.70%, respectively). Insulin acquisition cost and reimbursement amounts showed a large variation when compared with the average wholesale (AWP) prices. The wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) was typically set at 83.33% of the AWP. Community pharmacies acquired insulins and analogues at a median of 80.27% of the AWP. Significant reductions in AWP were observed for Medicare Part D (78.80% of the AWP), and Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) /Big4 (25.89%). CONCLUSION: Manufacturer prices of insulins and analogues increased significantly during the period of 1983- July 2019. There are significant differences in the manufacturer prices, pharmacy acquisition costs and reimbursement rates of insulins and analogues.

This dissertation examines media narratives of Chien-Ming Wang, Yani Tseng, and Jeremy Lin as the entry point for interrogating the construction of transnational Taiwanese identity through modern sports. On the one hand, the (re-)articulation of Taiwanese nationalism has been reproduced and driven through the sporting success of these sporting figures. On the other hand, their national identities, their physical movements across national borders, and their sporting performances—mainly on American soil—also trouble the orthodox notion of nation and nationalism. Through examining media texts published in the United State and Taiwan, I argue that a fluid and flexible transnational Taiwanese identity has emerged. Although global capitalism and transnational corporations have been the leading forces of such media discourses, nation and nationalism still largely regulate and define the ways in which meanings are produced and consumed in these localities. More importantly, I contend that the power imbalance—politically, economically, and culturally—between America and Asia should be critically foregrounded in this conjuncture. In sum, the United States' intervention in Asia during the Cold War era and Taiwan's special status in this historical period still have a lasting effect in contemporary Taiwanese societies. The “light of Taiwan” discourses revolving around Wang, Tseng, and Lin could be understood as a continuation of U.S. cultural imperialism and hegemony since the end of the World War II. Meanwhile, transnational capital and a relatively new Taiwanese nationalism also played prominent roles in these nationalistic celebrations in contemporary Taiwan.

During his presidential campaign and throughout his presidency Donald Trump’s dealings with illegal immigration have sparked global controversy. The election of Donald Trump has thus insinuated a debate within the academic field of International Relations and a reoccurring concept within said debate is populism. This thesis includes itself into said debate through considering the empirical case study of the Trump administration’s securitization of illegal immigration. More specifically, it investigates how Trump’s securitizing speech acts fuel populism in the US which challenges discourses of open borders and subsequently affects US-Mexico relations. The thesis analyzes polls to captivate the US’ general population as an audience and applies discourse analysis on speeches held by Donald Trump to grasp how the Trump administration’s securitization of illegal immigration fueled populism in the US. It studies the negative effects of the securitization on US-Mexico relations by examining the reactions of Mexican presidents, members of the Mexican Foreign Relations Department and members of the Mexican senate. It is found that Trump’s rhetoric employed throughout the securitization of illegal immigration fueled authoritarian populism and xenophobic populism in the US which captivates the negative sentiments of the predominantly conservative Republican voters towards illegal immigration. The employed rhetoric subsequently challenged discourses of open borders. The effects of said challenges had negative implications on US-Mexico relations as the investigations of the reactions of the Mexican presidents, the members of the Mexican Foreign Relations Department and the members of the Mexican senate have shown.

Background: Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. More and more people have suffered from diabetes and its serious complications including heart disease, blindness, etc. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reported that nearly 25% of veterans, enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA),have diabetes, which is much higher than the general population. Objective: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. veterans using the up-to-date National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data since VHA has a relatively low coverage (less than 30% of veterans each year were enrolled). Methods: Five biennial cross sectional surveys (NHANES) from 2005-2014 were used in this study. Total 2,940 veterans were included to estimate the prevalence of diabetes. Total diabetes was defined as any participant who had at least one of four conditions: (1) a hemoglobin A1c at least 6.5%, (2) fasting plasma glucose (FPG) at least 126mg/dL, (3)a 2-hour plasma glucose (PG) at least 200mg/dL, (4) diagnosed with diabetes by a doctor or other health professional. Results: The overall prevalence of total diabetes(including diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes), undiagnosed diabetes and obesity were 20.54%, 3.37% and 40.68%, respectively. The family poverty level and education were significantly associated with the presence of diabetes with p=0.005 and 0.03,respectively. Highest prevalence diabetes and obesity existed in veterans aged 65yrs and over and 45-64yrs, respectively. The overall prevalence trend of diabetes significantly increased from 15.52% (95%CI: 12.36-18.68%) in 2005-2006 to 20.54% (95%CI:15.92-25.17%) (p=0.04 for trend test) and prevalence significantly increased in male veterans (p=0.04) and those who did not finish high school education (p=0.04) and who had college education (p=0.03). Conclusion: In 2013-2014, the estimated prevalence of diabetes was 20.54% among U.S. veterans, with higher prevalence among participants who were 65 years old or older, and had low socioeconomic status (including less education and poverty status).