Scepticism, as depicted by Sextus Empiricus, presents itself as a philosophy whose ultimate justification rests on the conviction that truth is unattainable and that consequently the only chance left to man is that of suspending judgement (epoche). From epoche derives that state of mental quietitude (ataraxia) which alone allows man to lead a happy life. Thus, Scepticism is inevitably a polemic against all those philosophers who assert truth to be apprehensible and to whom Sextus refers by the term "Dogmatists". This study of Book VII of Against Mathematicians seeks to analyze the epistemological premises of Sextus' Scepticism as well as the Sextian arguments directed against the Dogmatists, and particularly those against the Stoics. Truth is unattainable because no such a thing as a criterion of truth exists. This is Sextus' conclusion to his criticism of the Dogmatists' doctrines. Although Sextus' Scepticism is shaped against the background of the doctrines he intends to combat, I intend to isolate his methodology as well as the the theoretical aspects of his philosophy from the polemical ones. Chapter II outlines Sextus' philosophical background as well as his skeptical terminology. Chapter III examines Sextus' methodology and explains why the criticism of the criterion of truth provides him with the necessary theoretical justification for his Scepticism. Sextus1 attack against the Dogmatists is preceded by a lengthy and fairly accurate account of his opponents' views. These views and particularly the Stoic doctrine of phantasia kataleptike are examined in Chapters IV and V. In Chapters VI to VIII, I examine Sextus' response to the Dogmatists. In Chapter VI I argue that Sextus1 criticism of man as criterion, and of the definition of man, are biased by his failure to understand some Dogmatic terms such as "universal concept" and "essence". Chapter VII investigates Sextus' criticism of senses and intellect as criteria of truth, and it is maintained that the arguments used by Sextus to deny the possibility of self-apprehension establish an epistemological principle whose value is dogmatically confined by Sextus to the particular instance he criticizes. Had Sextus been consistent in his use of such a principle, he ought to have declared himself a nihilist rather than a Sceptic. Chapter VIII deals with Sextus' criticism of the notion of phantasia and particularly with his attack against the Stoic doctrine of phantasia kataleptike as criterion of truth. Special attention is paid to the accusation of circular reasoning made by Sextus against the Stoic criterion and in the discussion in Chapter IX. There I argue that Sextus and with him most students of ancient philosophy, misrepresent the meaning of the Stoic doctrine because they identify the term to hyparchon (a key element in the Stoic definition of phantasia kataleptike) with the real (external) object. I oppose this view and offer a tentative re-interpretation of the Stoic criterion, which, if correct, may both free the Stoics from the Sextian accusation of circular reasoning and, at the same time, avoid some of the philological and philosophical difficulties involved in the Sextian and standard interpretation of the Stoic definition of phantasia kataleptike. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

Mosaic, activating mutations in PIK3CA, the gene encoding the catalytic p110α subunit of class IA phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), are the cause of rare, developmental growth disorders collectively known as PIK3CA-Related Overgrowth Spectrum (PROS). Given the pressing need for targeted therapy and evidence for tissue- and cell lineage-specific distribution of PIK3CA mutations in PROS, developmental models of this disease will be a key asset for preclinical drug testing and for a better understanding of PIK3CA activation in development. This PhD project addressed the lack of human, developmental PROS models by establishing isogenic series of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with endogenously expressed, activating PIK3CA mutations. This involved the optimisation of a CRISPR/Cas9 protocol for efficient knockin of different PIK3CA variants into human iPSCs. An isogenic iPSC series was established with cells expressing either wild-type PIK3CA or PIK3CA-H1047R, knocked into either one or both endogenous alleles. In parallel, mosaic patient- derived fibroblast cultures were reprogrammed to obtain isogenic wild-type and heterozygous iPSCs expressing PIK3CA-E418K. The models were used in comprehensive signalling studies, providing new insights into PI3K signalling in human iPSCs and how it is perturbed by genetic p110α activation. PIK3CA-E418K, a rare variant in both PROS and cancer, caused minimal pathway activation, in contrast to the highly recurrent variant PIK3CA-H1047R which induced strong PI3K signalling in both heterozygous and homozygous iPSCs according to a graded pattern. Studies of clinically relevant PI3K pathway inhibitors provided proof-of-concept that stem cell-based PROS models can be used for preclinical drug testing, and demonstrated that p110α is likely to be the main catalytic isoform mediating canonical PI3K signalling in human iPSCs. Differentiation assays revealed allele dose-dependent effects of PIK3CA-H1047R on stemness, with homozygous iPSCs exhibiting widespread transcriptome remodelling affect- ing genes implicated in cancer and development. Accordingly, these cells showed increased expression of pluripotency genes such as NANOG and NODAL, resulting in self-sustained "stemness" in embryoid body and teratoma assays. In comparison, heterozygous mutants behaved similar to wild-type controls under all differentiation paradigms. Furthermore, evidence was obtained that strong activation of PI3K signalling is fully compatible with definitive endoderm formation, arguing against cell-autonomous differentiation defects as the cause of endoderm sparing in PROS. In summary, these studies demonstrate the utility of human stem cell-based models of PROS for preclinical drug testing and for improved understanding of class IA PI3K signalling in human development. They are also likely to be useful in efforts to obtain a better understanding of PIK3CA-H1047R in human cancer.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T13:38:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 431557.pdf: 1366634 bytes, checksum: 0fddef8fa2c10ede196aebae3f228c5a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-01-06 / Este estudo apresenta uma an?lise do s?ndi em italiano em fronteira de palavras. Segundo Bisol (1996a, 1996b, 2003), o s?ndi ? um processo de ressilaba??o, que ocorre na juntura de dois itens lexicais, motivado pelo choque de n?cleos sil?bicos. Do apagamento de uma das s?labas resultam elementos flutuantes que, ao serem licenciados prosodicamente, geram fen?menos de s?ndi: degemina??o, elis?o e ditonga??o. Os aspectos a serem analisados s?o o papel do acento principal da frase fonol?gica e o papel da morfologia no processo. Em italiano, a ditonga??o, a elis?o e a degemina??o ocorrem livremente, quando duas vogais s?o ?tonas; no entanto, se a segunda vogal for portadora de acento principal, a elis?o e a degemina??o s?o bloqueadas. Frases bloqueadas, se reestruturadas pelo acr?scimo de uma palavra, sobre a qual recai o acento principal, ficam liberadas para a aplica??o da regra. No entanto, outro obst?culo existe no italiano, pois a primeira vogal da sequ?ncia VV pode ser morfema de plural, o qual tende a ser preservado. Esta pesquisa limita-se ao contexto de fronteira de palavras lexicais dentro da frase fonol?gica, considerando a sua poss?vel reestrutura??o. Em l?ngua italiana, os fen?menos de s?ndi foram objeto de estudos de Nespor (1987, 1990, 1993) e Nespor e Vogel (1982, 1986), na perspectiva da teoria pros?dica e de Garrapa (2006, 2007) na perspectiva da OT. No portugu?s brasileiro, os fen?menos de s?ndi foram estudados por Sousa da Silveira (1971), Bisol (1996a, 1996b, 2003), Tenani (2002), entre outros. Este trabalho fundamenta-se nos princ?pios da Teoria Pros?dica e da Teoria da Otimidade. A primeira define especificamente o dom?nio da frase fonologia e a segunda prov? um conjunto de restri??es, entre as quais, as de fidelidade que controlam a rela??o entre input e output e as de marca??o que se referem ? boa forma??o do output. Para dar conta desses resultados, valemo-nos da restri??o conjunta proposta por Bisol (2003) para o portugu?s brasileiro, respons?vel por controlar o s?ndi voc?lico em limite de palavras, em que V2 ? portadora de acento frasal e, para controlar o papel da morfologia dos plurais do italiano propomos uma hierarquia na qual a restri??o MaxMorphPl ocupa um lugar alto no ranqueamento. Argumentamos que a intera??o entre restri??es fonol?gicas e morfol?gicas ? respons?vel pelo mapeamento dos resultados no italiano.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T13:38:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 449942.pdf: 3141563 bytes, checksum: 32e925927a0cb937922c40707bf22335 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-25 / This study deals with the speech rate (SR) and the articulation rate (AR) in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) spontaneous speech obtained from unaware audio recordings (legally authorized telephone interceptions) and known ones (semistructured interview), situations commonly counterposed in the Forensic Phonetics area, specifically in Speaker Comparison (SC). The objective was to establish the speaker-discriminating power of SR and AR, contributing to the discussion about the effectiveness of their use as a comparative parameter in SC. In addition, the relationship between the rates and the independent variables of study (age, sex, formal education, temporal gap between the recordings, type of recording, length of speech stretch) was investigated. The SR and AR in the speech of seven subjects (five males and two females) was analyzed. The subjects live in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, have BP as their L1 and undefined dialects due to occasional detention(s). The recordings belong to the database of Instituto Geral de Per?cias, a state department of security. All subjects present a positive result for the SC. Measurement of the rates was carried out globally and locally. SRs calculation involved 539 turn talks, and ARs calculation involved 748 interpause stretches. Statistical analysis showed that there is no significant difference between the rate types (SR and AR) and between forms of measurement in SR. The AR was less variable than the SR, especially in the local measurement. As far as the speakerdiscriminating power of the rates, only the AR showed higher between-speaker variability than within-speaker variability, reaching a satisfactory intraclass correlation coefficient.The variability analysis by sex and type of recording was significant only for type of recording in SR. As a trend, it was observed that the subjects of both sexes decrease their rates when they are aware of the recording (reduction higher in males), and that in naturalistic speech (unaware recording) males predominantly presented the highest rates. Significant difference was found between the factors of the variable type of recording in SR and significant correlations between SR and length of speech stretch, and between AR and temporal gap. Based on the multiple local stretches, the significant predictors of SR and AR increase found in the analysis were sex (male factor), educational advancement, and higher temporal gaps. The significant predictors of decrease in SR and AR found in the analysis are advancing age and awareness of recording. It is possible to conclude that it is indicated to incorporate the AR local mean to the list of parameters used in the SC, provided there is a minimum temporal gap between contrasted recordings. Caution is recommended to minimize the impact of awareness of recording and of differences related to inherent speech style, as well as differences associated to educational advancement that might occur during the temporal gap between the confronted recordings / Este estudo tem por tema a taxa de elocu??o (TE) e de articula??o (TA) em fala espont?nea do portugu?s brasileiro (PB), angariada em grava??o desavisada (intercepta??es telef?nicas judicialmente autorizadas, realizadas sem a ci?ncia dos locutores) e avisada (entrevista semidirigida sabida e consentida), contraponto situacional comumente encontrado em Fon?tica Forense, especificamente na per?cia de Compara??o de Locutor (CL). Objetivou-se atrav?s dele estabelecer o potencial individualizante da TE e da TA, visando ? incorpora??o das taxas temporais ao conjunto de par?metros t?cnico-comparativos utilizados na per?cia de CL, assim como verificar a rela??o existente entre tais taxas e as vari?veis independentes idade, sexo, escolaridade, gap temporal (entre as grava??es desavisada e avisada), tipo de grava??o e tamanho do intervalo de fala. Investigou-se a TE e a TA na fala de sete sujeitos (cinco do sexo masculino e dois do sexo feminino), estabelecidos no Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil), com o PB como l?ngua materna e dialetos indefinidos devido ? ocasional(is) aprisionamento(s). Os sujeitos integram o banco de dados do Instituto Geral de Per?cias (IGP), ?rg?o da Secretaria de Seguran?a P?blica (SSP) do referido estado, nele figurando como alvo da per?cia de CL, com resultado positivo para o confronto de perfil de voz e fala ent?o efetuado. Mensurou-se os tempos de fala global e localmente, analisando-se 539 turnos de fala e 748 intervalos interpausais, considerados no c?lculo, respectivamente, das TEs e das TAs.Os resultados apontam a exist?ncia de diferen?a n?o significativa entre os tipos de taxa (mostrando-se a TA menos vari?vel do que a TE, especialmente na mensura??o local), mas diferen?a significativa entre as formas de mensura??o na TE. Quanto ao potencial individualizante das taxas, somente na TA a variabilidade intersujeitos foi superior ? intrassujeito, obtendo-se, nesse caso, um coeficiente de correla??o intraclasse indicativo de satisfat?rio poder discriminat?rio de falante. A an?lise da variabilidade por sexo e por tipo de grava??o apontou como significativo somente o tipo de grava??o na TE. Observou-se que os sujeitos de ambos os sexos tendem a diminuir as taxas quando t?m ci?ncia da grava??o (diminui??o maior no sexo masculino) e que na fala casual (grava??o desavisada) s?o prevalentemente os homens os falantes com as maiores taxas. Encontrou-se diferen?a significativa entre os fatores da vari?vel tipo de grava??o na TE e correla??o significativa entre a TE e a vari?vel tamanho do intervalo de fala e entre a TA e a vari?vel gap temporal. Considerando-se as 1.287 taxas locais, s?o significativos preditores do aumento da TE e da TA o fator masculino da vari?vel sexo e o avan?o na escolaridade e no gap temporal, enquanto que significativos preditores da diminui??o da TE e da TA o avan?o na idade e a ci?ncia de grava??o.Conclui-se pela indica??o da incorpora??o da TA local m?dia ao rol de par?metros t?cnico-comparativos utilizados na per?cia de CL, resguardada a m?xima contemporaneidade entre as grava??es confrontadas, e pela necessidade de ado??o de provid?ncias que visem minimizar o impacto da ci?ncia da grava??o e de diferen?as decorrentes tanto do estilo de fala pr?prio a cada um dos tipos de grava??o quanto de eventuais incrementos na escolariza??o, ocorridos no gap temporal existente entre os ?udios do cotejo

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T13:39:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 460302.pdf: 2447989 bytes, checksum: f05671046c37aab5207b00cdb7a06ddc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-13 / This study focuses on the process of elision of /a/, /e/ and /o/ at word boundaries in the speech of individuals from Porto Alegre-RS, Brazil and Porto, Portugal based on samples collected through personal experience interviews with 24 subjects from each of the places mentioned. The aim was not only to describe the process in both varieties but also to compare the results obtained with the same methodology. In order to do that, the analysis followed in light of Prosodic Phonology (NESPOR & VOGEL, 1986) and Variation Theory (LABOV, 1972) allowing the investigation of the action of prosodic aspects such as word boundaries, rhythm and speech rate, segmental aspects and social aspects like age and gender. Although the results of the statistical analysis run in Goldvarb have shown a higher frequency of elision in Porto compared to Porto Alegre- highlighting the epenthesis process that haven't been described as a systematic variable rule in Porto up to this moment - they indicated that the Phonetic Quality of the vowel in the Second Position, the Type of Sequence, Word Boundary and Word Stress Distance condition the elision process of vowels /a/, /e/ and /o/ in both varieties. Regarding the Phonetic Quality of the Second Position, we concluded that there is a dependency relation concerning the role of the stress of the target vowel and that, when unstressed, all vowels are favoring contexts for the application of elision. However, considering the variable Type of Sequence, the first position happened to be relevant. In this case, stressed function words as well as content words showed favoring behavior while clitics blocked the process. The statistical analysis revealed that the process is blocked in the context of intonational phrases. The discussion about the role of Prosodic Boundary was resumed taking the result of the acoustic analysis, which evidenced that the incidence of pause is the main cause of elision, regardless of the boundary in the context. Still considering the boundary, we also discussed the application of Prosodic Phonology (NESPOR & VOGEL, 1986) for classifying structures in spontaneous speech, once it was possible to find ruptures in all the boundaries tested. The result for the Word Stress Distance variable - the only one in which discrepancies between Porto Alegre and Porto were verified - led to the discussion on the rhythmic pattern of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and European Portuguese (EP). The evidences showed that the first one tends to a syllabic pattern, and the second one tends to a stress pattern. Speech rate, which was analyzed according to acoustic measures, also suggested a syllabic rhythm in the variety from Porto Alegre for pointing out the subjects lower average of syllables per second and a lower production of elision. However, a stress pattern was attributed to the variety from Porto due to the higher frequency of elision and higher average rate of speech. Testing Speech Rate also made it possible to establish the distinction between age groups concerning the application of elision in Porto. With regards to the linguistic unity of Brazilian and European varieties, it could be argued that there is one system only, as the phonological process in question demonstrated the same conditioning for both samples, highlighting rhythm, which has already been asserted in literature as responsible for the main differences between those varieties. / O presente estudo trata do fen?meno de elis?o das vogais /a/, /e/ e /o/ em fronteira vocabular na fala de Porto Alegre RS, no Brasil, e do Porto, em Portugal, a partir de amostras coletadas atrav?s de entrevistas de experi?ncia pessoal, com 24 informantes de cada uma das regi?es supracitadas. Objetivou-se, al?m de descrever os processos nas duas variedades da l?ngua portuguesa, comparar os resultados, obtidos a partir da mesma metodologia. Para tanto, a an?lise foi conduzida com o apoio te?rico da Fonologia Pros?dica (NESPOR e VOGEL, 1986) e da Teoria da Varia??o (LABOV, 1972, 1994, 2001), possibilitando a investiga??o acerca da atua??o de aspectos pros?dicos, como a fronteira pros?dica, o ritmo e a taxa de elocu??o, de aspectos segmentais e de aspectos sociais, como a faixa et?ria e o g?nero. Os resultados oferecidos pelo exame estat?stico, realizado atrav?s do programa Goldvarb, embora tenham revelado maior frequ?ncia de elis?o no Porto com rela??o ? frequ?ncia em Porto Alegre destacando-se o processo de ep?ntese, que at? o momento n?o havia sido descrito como regra de aplica??o sistem?tica na variedade do Porto apontaram as vari?veis Qualidade Fon?tica da Vogal em Segunda Posi??o, Tipo de Sequ?ncia, Fronteira Pros?dica e Dist?ncia entre os Acentos como condicionadoras aos processos de elis?o das vogais /a/, /e/ e /o/ em ambas as variedades. No que diz respeito ? Qualidade Fon?tica da Segunda Posi??o, concluiu-se que h? uma rela??o de depend?ncia com o papel do acento da vogal em quest?o e que, quando ?tonas, todas as vogais constituem contextos favorecedores ? aplica??o da elis?o. J? no que tange ? vari?vel Tipo de Sequ?ncia, tem-se como relevante a primeira posi??o, em que palavras funcionais acentuadas e palavras lexicais apresentaram comportamento favorecedor, e cl?ticos mostraram-se bloqueadores ao processo. A discuss?o sobre o papel da Fronteira Pros?dica, sobre a qual a an?lise estat?stica revelou bloqueio quando o contexto ocorre em fronteira de frase entonacional, foi retomada junto ao resultado da verifica??o ac?stica, na qual foi poss?vel constatar que, independente da fronteira em que est? o contexto, a incid?ncia de pausa ? a principal respons?vel pela n?o aplica??o da elis?o. Ainda com rela??o ? fronteira, discutiu-se a aplica??o da Fonologia Pros?dica (NESPOR e VOGEL, 1986) para a classifica??o de estruturas provenientes de fala espont?nea, visto que foi poss?vel constatar rupturas em todas as fronteiras atestadas. O resultado referente ? vari?vel Dist?ncia entre os Acentos, a ?nica em que se verificou resultado discordante entre as amostras de Porto Alegre e do Porto, encaminhou ? discuss?o sobre o padr?o r?tmico do portugu?s brasileiro (PB) e do portugu?s europeu (PE), oferecendo ind?cios de que o primeiro apresenta um ritmo com tend?ncia a sil?bico, enquanto o segundo apresenta um ritmo com tend?ncia a acentual. A Taxa de Elocu??o, vari?vel investigada a partir de verifica??o ac?stica, tamb?m ofereceu evid?ncias para o ritmo sil?bico na variedade de Porto Alegre, por apresentar uma m?dia mais baixa de s?labas por segundo entre seus falantes e a produ??o mais baixa de elis?o, ao passo que ? variedade do Porto foi atribu?do o padr?o acentual, associado ? maior frequ?ncia de elis?o e ? taxa de elocu??o m?dia mais elevada. A verifica??o da Taxa de Elocu??o permitiu, ainda, esclarecer a distin??o entre os comportamentos das faixas et?rias com rela??o ? aplica??o da elis?o no Porto. Sobre a quest?o da unidade lingu?stica entre as variedades brasileira e europeia da l?ngua, conclui-se que o estudo oferece ind?cios para argumentar em favor de um ?nico sistema, visto que o processo fonol?gico em estudo apresentou os mesmos condicionamentos para as amostras de Porto Alegre e do Porto, destacando-se o ritmo, assim como j? sacramentado pela literatura em Lingu?stica, como respons?vel pela principal distin??o entre as duas variedades.

Abstract There have been few studies on brand extensions in a Pakistan context. In this thesis, we study brand extensions in Pakistan from viewpoint of Brand Managers as their analysis coupled with their personal preferences can provide interesting insights for forming a successful brand extension strategy. Since T. Gamble first published an article about brand extensions (1967) there has been a growing interest for the topic. With the passage of time the inbuilt benefits of brand extensions in terms of cost and higher success rates were captured by companies in developing countries like Pakistan. In this thesis, we make theoretical arguments for, and show empirically that growth may not be the ultimate objective for companies in Pakistan. Instead, companies are compelled to follow the bandwagon so as to match competitors. It has been indicated that small firms might be in a better position to take advantage of below-the-line promotions in comparison to larger firms. Cannibalization of sales due to brand extensions was described to be non-existent in Pakistan until a company embarks on e-commerce initiative. Successful brand extensions, as defined by the brand managers are measured in terms of independent sales and market share captured by a brand stretch. Based on how the brand managers in this study perceived brand extensions, it could be a feasible marketing strategy in Pakistan. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to explore the use of brand extension strategies in the Pakistan context. We will try to achieve this purpose by answering the following questions. 1)      Why do companies in general and specially in Pakistan use brand extension?                                                                   2)      Do the general pros and cons of brand extension hold the same applicability in Pakistan? 3)      How brand managers in Pakistan describe a successful brand extension? Method A qualitative method was incorporated in order to achieve our exploratory purpose of the study. In total, we performed five interviews. Three extensive telephone interviews were carried out with brand managers representing three seasoned companies from the domain of healthcare (Z-Jans), retailing (Chen One) and dairy foods industries (Haleeb) for finding out brand managers viewpoint on brand extensions in Pakistan. These interviews were conducted via telephone and recorded for our thesis purposes. In addition, one of the authors visited Pakistan and conducted two face-to-face interviews with Lakson Group of Industries (media, fast food and consumer goods) and Servis Group which is operating in (Shoes, Pharmacies, Tires & Tube) businesses. Conclusion It is suggested that the concept of brand manager is in the rudimentary stages of development in Pakistan. One reason for this is that domestic companies are carrying out brand extensions under the heading of marketing managers compared with Multinationals (MNEs) whose brand extensions strategies are mostly prepared at their headquarters. It has also been indicated that small companies could benefit the most from brand extension in terms of attaining greater consumer trials, increased market share, and growth by competing in international markets as they can easily use a mixture of Below-the-line and Above-the-line promotions for their extensions. A good distribution channel coupled with a strong brand portfolio can facilitate success for brand extension as the companies can then negotiate with dealers and retailers from a position of strength. Due to the huge population in Pakistan companies might neglect the fact that their brand extensions can fail. Since, the population is very large it might be hard for small and medium sized companies to cover the whole country and to find out in reality if their brand extension was a success on a country wide basis.  It has also been concluded that majority of the consumers are photo-literate with no or very little formal education therefore they find difficult to assess brand extensions and to make educated brand buying decision in light of quality standards. The market as a whole is price sensitive (low prices) so brand extensions with good price and value for customer are more likely to perform well over Pakistan market.

<p>Abstract</p><p>There have been few studies on brand extensions in a Pakistan context. In this thesis, we study brand extensions in Pakistan from viewpoint of Brand Managers as their analysis coupled with their personal preferences can provide interesting insights for forming a successful brand extension strategy. Since T. Gamble first published an article about brand extensions (1967) there has been a growing interest for the topic. With the passage of time the inbuilt benefits of brand extensions in terms of cost and higher success rates were captured by companies in developing countries like Pakistan. In this thesis, we make theoretical arguments for, and show empirically that growth may not be the ultimate objective for companies in Pakistan. Instead, companies are compelled to follow the bandwagon so as to match competitors. It has been indicated that small firms might be in a better position to take advantage of below-the-line promotions in comparison to larger firms. Cannibalization of sales due to brand extensions was described to be non-existent in Pakistan until a company embarks on e-commerce initiative. Successful brand extensions, as defined by the brand managers are measured in terms of independent sales and market share captured by a brand stretch. Based on how the brand managers in this study perceived brand extensions, it could be a feasible marketing strategy in Pakistan.</p><p><strong>Purpose</strong></p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to explore the use of brand extension strategies in the Pakistan context. We will try to achieve this purpose by answering the following questions.</p><p>1)      Why do companies in general and specially in Pakistan use brand extension?                                                                   <strong></strong></p><p>2)      Do the general pros and cons of brand extension hold the same applicability in Pakistan?</p><p>3)      How brand managers in Pakistan describe a successful brand extension?<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Method</strong></p><p>A qualitative method was incorporated in order to achieve our exploratory purpose of the study. In total, we performed five interviews. Three extensive telephone interviews were carried out with brand managers representing three seasoned companies from the domain of healthcare (Z-Jans), retailing (Chen One) and dairy foods industries (Haleeb) for finding out brand managers viewpoint on brand extensions in Pakistan. These interviews were conducted via telephone and recorded for our thesis purposes. In addition, one of the authors visited Pakistan and conducted two face-to-face interviews with Lakson Group of Industries <em>(media, fast food and consumer goods)</em><em> </em>and Servis Group which is operating in <em>(Shoes, Pharmacies, Tires & Tube) </em>businesses<strong>.</strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p>It is suggested that the concept of brand manager is in the rudimentary stages of development in Pakistan. One reason for this is that domestic companies are carrying out brand extensions under the heading of marketing managers compared with Multinationals (MNEs) whose brand extensions strategies are mostly prepared at their headquarters. It has also been indicated that small companies could benefit the most from brand extension in terms of attaining greater consumer trials, increased market share, and growth by competing in international markets as they can easily use a mixture of Below-the-line and Above-the-line promotions for their extensions. A good distribution channel coupled with a strong brand portfolio can facilitate success for brand extension as the companies can then negotiate with dealers and retailers from a position of strength. Due to the huge population in Pakistan companies might neglect the fact that their brand extensions can fail. Since, the population is very large it might be hard for small and medium sized companies to cover the whole country and to find out in reality if their brand extension was a success on a country wide basis.  It has also been concluded that majority of the consumers are photo-literate with no or very little formal education therefore they find difficult to assess brand extensions and to make educated brand buying decision in light of quality standards. The market as a whole is price sensitive (low prices) so brand extensions with good price and value for customer are more likely to perform well over Pakistan market.</p>

Idag är energieffektivitet en viktig fråga, nya bostäder har höga krav på energieffektivitet och miljömedvetenhet, kraven är betydligt högre än för 40 år sedan. Många av de äldre flerbostadshusen bygger på en annan princip av ventilation än den som används i nya bostadsprojekt idag, denna typ kallas självdrag och systemet är inte energieffektivt. I nya flerbostadshus är däremot ventilationssystemet ofta av typen FTX och det är ett system som är mycket energieffektivt. Rapporten är en undersökning till hur modern ventilationsteknik kan användas i äldre typer av flerbostadshus, skapar ny teknik en reducerad kostnad i längden och kan den upplevda komforten förbättras med moderna system?Resultatet av ett ventilationsbyte från självdrag till FTX kommer att innebära en energibesparing i fastigheten om den optimeras efter FTX-systemet. Med filtrerade system blir även luftkvaliteten betydligt bättre än tidigare / Energy efficiency is an important question today. New buildings have high demands of energy efficiency and environmental awareness, the demands are signinficantly higher today than 40 years ago. Many older apartment complexes have another kind of ventilation than the kind that is used in new apartment complexes today, this old kind is called natural ventilation and the system is not energy efficient. The type of ventilation that is used in the new apartment complexes is often mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, which is energy efficient.This study is an investigation in how modern ventilation technology can be used in older apartment complexes, will new technology reduce the cost in the long-run, and can the experienced comfort be improved with modern systems?The result of a change in ventilation from natural ventilation to mechanical ventilation with heat recovery will result in energy savings if the building is optimized for the new system. The air quality in the building will improve with a filtered ventilation system.

BACKGROUND:Patients receiving complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies often report shifts in well-being that go beyond resolution of the original presenting symptoms. We undertook a research program to develop and evaluate a patient-centered outcome measure to assess the multidimensional impacts of CAM therapies, utilizing a novel mixed methods approach that relied upon techniques from the fields of anthropology and psychometrics. This tool would have broad applicability, both for CAM practitioners to measure shifts in patients' states following treatments, and conventional clinical trial researchers needing validated outcome measures. The US Food and Drug Administration has highlighted the importance of valid and reliable measurement of patient-reported outcomes in the evaluation of conventional medical products. Here we describe Phase I of our research program, the iterative process of content identification, item development and refinement, and response format selection. Cognitive interviews and psychometric evaluation are reported separately.METHODS:From a database of patient interviews (n = 177) from six diverse CAM studies, 150 interviews were identified for secondary analysis in which individuals spontaneously discussed unexpected changes associated with CAM. Using ATLAS.ti, we identified common themes and language to inform questionnaire item content and wording. Respondents' language was often richly textured, but item development required a stripping down of language to extract essential meaning and minimize potential comprehension barriers across populations. Through an evocative card sort interview process, we identified those items most widely applicable and covering standard psychometric domains. We developed, pilot-tested, and refined the format, yielding a questionnaire for cognitive interviews and psychometric evaluation.RESULTS:The resulting questionnaire contained 18 items, in visual analog scale format, in which each line was anchored by the positive and negative extremes relevant to the experiential domain. Because of frequent informant allusions to response set shifts from before to after CAM therapies, we chose a retrospective pretest format. Items cover physical, emotional, cognitive, social, spiritual, and whole person domains.CONCLUSIONS:This paper reports the success of a novel approach to the development of outcome instruments, in which items are extracted from patients' words instead of being distilled from pre-existing theory. The resulting instrument, focused on measuring shifts in patients' perceptions of health and well-being along pre-specified axes, is undergoing continued testing, and is available for use by cooperating investigators.

Thesis describes initial public offering on the stock markets. There are mentioned basic phases of this process. In this thesis is named pros & cons of this source of financing. Recommends also other ways how to gain capital for own company business acitivities. Thesis is interested about main conditions for successfull "going public". Initial Public Offering of bonds is described too. Practical part of this thesis is concern IPO in the Czech Republic -- historical data, IPO in the past on Prague Stock Exchange, commentary of well-known stock-market analysts, graphs of stock prices in comparison with the main stock index PX.