A clear understanding of interactions between the arid Southwestern environment and that area's prehistoric inhabitants has been a goal of Southwestern archaeology. This research has reconstructed annual corn and dry bean crop yields for southwestern Colorado from A.D. 650 to 1968, as well as the amounts of those foods available for each of those years. Colorado's five southwestern county dry farming corn and dry bean crop records were combined to create two regional crop series. Modern technology's increasing influence was recognized as being present in the two series. This influence was felt to parallel Colorado's statewide fertilizer consumption and was removed using a multiple regression procedure. Two modern technology free regional crop series resulted. These two series, along with the original two historic crop series were calibrated against five Four Corners tree-ring chronologies from four localities. Both Douglas-fir and pinyon were employed in the calibration. The calibration process used multiple regression so that each series' current annual crop yield could be predicted using one or more of 25 separate dendrochronological predictors. The regression equation deemed most suitable for predicting each of the four crop series was utilized to reconstruct annual crop yield estimates for the A.D. 652-1968 period. Normal verification was impossible since additional independent crop data were lacking. The reconstructed crop yield series were evaluated statistically. Portions of them were compared against historically recorded events. These two types of testing suggested that the retrodictions were probably valid. The crop yield reconstructions provided the basic data for four sets of storage simulations that attempted to determine corn and dry bean availability for each year from A.D. 652 to 1968, given certain assumptions about the levels of storage technology available to the Anasazi of southwestern Colorado. A. E. Douglass' A.D. 1276-1299 "Great Drought" appears to be confirmed. A number of additional famines or food crises have also been recognized. In addition, periods when food was super abundant have been identified. It now appears that much of the Four Corners large public construction projects were undertaken during and perhaps because of these periods of excess surplus.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Tese de Mestrado Integrado. Engenharia Mecânica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2013

<p>Nosokomiala infektioner förekommer världen över och är en stor orsak till sjukdomar och dödlighet. Även i Sverige är nosokomiala infektioner ett problem, både på sjukhus och i andra vårdformer. Basala hygienrutiner är den viktigaste åtgärden för att förebygga uppkomst av infektionssjukdomar.  Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka och jämföra hemtjänstens undersköterskor och vårdbiträden, gällande deras kunskaper och följsamhet till basala hygienrutiner, samt deras kunskaper angående den vanligaste smittvägen inom vården. Datainsamlingen gjordes med en enkät som innehöll 22 frågor. Fyra hemtjänstgrupper ingick i studien, där totalt 66 vårdbiträden och 30 undersköterskor inkluderades. Resultatet visade att följsamheten till handtvätt och handdesinfektion efter ett omvårdnadstillfälle var hög, dock var följsamheten till handdesinfektion före ett omvårdnadstillfälle mindre bra. Följsamheten till handskar vid personlig hygien var mycket god, resultatet visade dock att de flesta endast använde plastförkläde/skyddsrock ibland. Många av respondenterna i båda undersökningsgrupperna kände inte till vilka områden som ingår i begreppet basala hygienrutiner, däremot kände många till den vanligaste smittvägen inom vården. Endast en statistisk signifikant skillnad kunde påvisas mellan undersköterskor och vårdbiträden. Slutsatsen var att begreppet basala hygienrutiner måste tydliggöras och att mer information behövs om vid vilka tillfällen händerna ska tvättas eller desinficeras. Ytterligare information behövs även om varför och vid vilka tillfällen plastförkläde eller skyddsrock ska användas.<strong></strong></p><p> </p> / <p>Nosocomial infections is a big cause of disease and mortality worldwide. In Sweden nosocomial infections also is a big problem, both in hospitals and other care facilities. Hygiene guidelines is the most important measure to prevent infection diseases. The aim of this study was to measure and compare licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants in homemaker services, concerning their knowledge and compliance to hygiene guidelines and their knowledge about the most common way of spread of infection in healthcare. The data collection was conducted with a questionnaire including 22 questions. Four groups in homemaker services were included in the study, totally 66 nursing assistants and 30 licensed practical nurses. The result showed that the compliance to hand washing and hand disinfection after a  care opportunity was high, however the result showed that hand disinfection before a  care opportunity was less good. The compliance of using gloves was very good in personal hygiene opportunities. The result also showed that most of the respondents only used aprons occasionally. Many of the respondents didn’t know which areas are included in hygiene guidelines, however many had knowledge about the most common way of spread of infection in healthcare. Only one statistical significant distinction was established between nursing assistants and licensed practical nurses. The conclusion showed that hygiene guidelines must be elucidate and that more information is needed about when hands should be washed or disinfected. Further information is also needed about why and in which occasions aprons should be used.</p><p> </p>

Rapporten handlar om programmet Game Maker som prototypverktyg, och vänder sig till personer och företag som skulle kunna vara intresserade av detta. Syftet med arbetet var att skapa ett spel i Game Maker, "Ittle Dew", samt skriva om Game Makers egenskaper och egenheter. Spelet färdigställdes i tid, och rapporten tar även upp en mängd designfrågor som dök upp under skapandet av detta. Med hjälp av två brev från personer med erfarenhet av Game Maker som prototypverktyg och för skapandet av färdiga spel, och diskussion av dessa brev, hävdar jag till sist att programmet väl duger för prototyper, så länge användaren känner till de begränsningar som rapporten tar upp.

The overall purpose of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of the internationalization readiness process of firms, by identifying and describing and its components. In order to reach the purpose of this thesis a case study of four Swedish SMEs has been conducted, namely: MaxiGrip AB, Playsay AB, Flano Design AB and KOTP. Face-to-face interviews were carried out with the main decision makers within the firms. The theoretical framework involves a description of different internationalization theories, such as the transaction cost approach, the traditional “stage” model, the network approach and the international entrepreneurship approach. Based on these four internationalization theories has the traditional “stage” model been chosen to function as a theoretical foundation for the analysis. In the analysis the theoretical framework is related to the results of the empirical study. The barriers faced by firms prior to internationalization are discussed and analysed, as well as theimportance of each barrier, resulting in internal barriers being regarded of greater importance. The decision maker’s role and influence during the process is described as highly influential. The key success factors enabling the internationalization readiness process of firms are identified and discussed, namely: vision and international outlook of decision makers, having a unique offering, the availability of time and vast industry knowledge. It is concluded that a firm is able to achieve internationalization readiness by fulfilling a certain criteria, which has been the result of the combination of both theory and empirical data. Resulting in the decision maker being at the center of the process. While, the internal stimuli of industry knowledge and product uniqueness are the two main influencers combined with time  and commitment. At last, both theoretical and managerial implications are presented, ending this paper with the limitations and suggestions for further research.

Nosokomiala infektioner förekommer världen över och är en stor orsak till sjukdomar och dödlighet. Även i Sverige är nosokomiala infektioner ett problem, både på sjukhus och i andra vårdformer. Basala hygienrutiner är den viktigaste åtgärden för att förebygga uppkomst av infektionssjukdomar.  Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka och jämföra hemtjänstens undersköterskor och vårdbiträden, gällande deras kunskaper och följsamhet till basala hygienrutiner, samt deras kunskaper angående den vanligaste smittvägen inom vården. Datainsamlingen gjordes med en enkät som innehöll 22 frågor. Fyra hemtjänstgrupper ingick i studien, där totalt 66 vårdbiträden och 30 undersköterskor inkluderades. Resultatet visade att följsamheten till handtvätt och handdesinfektion efter ett omvårdnadstillfälle var hög, dock var följsamheten till handdesinfektion före ett omvårdnadstillfälle mindre bra. Följsamheten till handskar vid personlig hygien var mycket god, resultatet visade dock att de flesta endast använde plastförkläde/skyddsrock ibland. Många av respondenterna i båda undersökningsgrupperna kände inte till vilka områden som ingår i begreppet basala hygienrutiner, däremot kände många till den vanligaste smittvägen inom vården. Endast en statistisk signifikant skillnad kunde påvisas mellan undersköterskor och vårdbiträden. Slutsatsen var att begreppet basala hygienrutiner måste tydliggöras och att mer information behövs om vid vilka tillfällen händerna ska tvättas eller desinficeras. Ytterligare information behövs även om varför och vid vilka tillfällen plastförkläde eller skyddsrock ska användas. / Nosocomial infections is a big cause of disease and mortality worldwide. In Sweden nosocomial infections also is a big problem, both in hospitals and other care facilities. Hygiene guidelines is the most important measure to prevent infection diseases. The aim of this study was to measure and compare licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants in homemaker services, concerning their knowledge and compliance to hygiene guidelines and their knowledge about the most common way of spread of infection in healthcare. The data collection was conducted with a questionnaire including 22 questions. Four groups in homemaker services were included in the study, totally 66 nursing assistants and 30 licensed practical nurses. The result showed that the compliance to hand washing and hand disinfection after a  care opportunity was high, however the result showed that hand disinfection before a  care opportunity was less good. The compliance of using gloves was very good in personal hygiene opportunities. The result also showed that most of the respondents only used aprons occasionally. Many of the respondents didn’t know which areas are included in hygiene guidelines, however many had knowledge about the most common way of spread of infection in healthcare. Only one statistical significant distinction was established between nursing assistants and licensed practical nurses. The conclusion showed that hygiene guidelines must be elucidate and that more information is needed about when hands should be washed or disinfected. Further information is also needed about why and in which occasions aprons should be used.

Volatility is an important measure of stock market performance. Competing securities market makers keep abreast of the pace of volatility change by adjusting the bid-ask spreads and bid/ask quotes properly and efficiently. For intradaily high frequency transaction data, the observed volatility of stock returns can be decomposed into the sum of the two components - the realized volatility and the volatility due to microstructure noise. The quote adjustments of the market makers comprise part of the microstructure noise. In this study, we define the ratio of the realized integrated volatility to the observed squared returns as the proportion of realized integrated volatility (PIV). Time series models with generalized error distributed innovations are fitted to the PIV data based on 70-minute returns of NYSE tick-to-tick transaction data. Both retrospective and dynamic online control charts of the PIV data are established based on the fitted time series models. The McNemar test supports that the dynamic online control charts have the same power of detecting out of control events as the retrospective control charts. The Wilcoxon signedrank test is adopted to test the differences between the changes of the market maker volatility and the realized volatility for in-control and out-of-control periods, respectively. The results reveals that the points above the upper control limit are related to the situation when the market makers can not keep up with the realized integrated volatility, whereas the points below the lower control limit indicate excessive reaction of the the market makers.

We study the intraday behavior of bid-ask spreads for actively traded TAIEX option in Taiwan. A study of quality of price quotation offered by market makers is important because the market makers have the responsibilities to keep trading costs low and promote price discovery. Due to the observed wider price quotation from market makers, we find that market makers offer inefficient price quotations to fulfill their obligations under requirement of market making. Moreover, ways of quotation market makers choose, indeed, affect the price quotation of market makers. We also find foreign institutional investors (QFIIs) and market makers bear lower execution cost when they deal on TAIEX option market. Overall, despite the large trading volume and increasing liquidity in TAIEX option, our results suggest that market makers do not play an important role to the market liquidity of TAIEX option market as we thought previously. / We study the intraday behavior of bid-ask spreads for actively traded TAIEX option in Taiwan. A study of quality of price quotation offered by market makers is important because the market makers have the responsibilities to keep trading costs low and promote price discovery. Due to the observed wider price quotation from market makers, we find that market makers offer inefficient price quotations to fulfill their obligations under requirement of market making. Moreover, ways of quotation market makers choose, indeed, affect the price quotation of market makers. We also find foreign institutional investors (QFIIs) and market makers bear lower execution cost when they deal on TAIEX option market. Overall, despite the large trading volume and increasing liquidity in TAIEX option, our results suggest that market makers do not play an important role to the market liquidity of TAIEX option market as we thought previously.

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