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<p> This thesis is an initial attempt to shed light on mutual interaction between Coptic and Jewish traditions by demonstrating a Jewish impact on the early stage of the Alexandrian Church as seen in the Coptic Morning Service. It explores the possible influence of the Jewish liturgies and prayers including the writings of the late Second Temple era (200 BCE - 70 CE) on some of the origins of fundamental Coptic rituals. The Coptic Morning Service holds almost identical texts, order of prayers, and, many major Jewish thematic interrelations.</p> <p> This study argues for an important lacuna in the spirituality of the contemporary Coptic worshiper. The mystifications that surround many Coptic liturgical components prevent parishioners from praying with understanding (1 Cor. 14:15). The twenty-first century Copt needs a sort of "Halakah" guidance towards their worshipping practices.</p> <p> This thesis hopes to offer a potential reconstruction of the early history of the Alexandrian Church through liturgy that could open a new scholarly field of Judeo-Coptic studies.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The fundamental objective of conservation genetics is the identification of the basic units of conservation. Central to this objective is the reconstruction of the adaptive and evolutionary history of populations to evaluate their conservation status. Evolutionary history involves both microevolutionary and macroevolutionary processes and adaptive history is the evolution of specific characters to selective ecological processes in differential heterogeneous environments. Neutral DNA markers such as mitochondrial DNA, minisatellites and microsatellites are most often used for reconstructing history and identifying conservation units. This thesis examined three biological systems: 1) an African cichlid, 2) Canadian moose populations and 3) eastern North American wolves and coyotes to test two hypotheses. Firstly, neutral DNA markers can be used to accurately reconstruct the evolutionary history of populations. Secondly, neutral DNA markers are concordant with adaptive distinctiveness in reconstructing the adaptive history of populations. Few studies have examined these relationships. Lake Magadi tilapia showed discordant patterns between adaptive morphological, physiological and behavioural characters and genetic structure assessed with mitochondrial DNA. I propose this discordance has resulted from selection acting on mitochondrial DNA that has often been assumed to be "neutral". Neutral DNA markers accurately reflected the known history of the moose populations but discordant patterns were observed between neutral and functional loci indicating the former may not accurately reflect adaptive variation. DNA profiles of eastern wolves and coyotes showed a significant conflict in the interpretation of mtDNA and microsatellite data compared to previous genetic studies that examined wolf taxonomy. The data were consistent with the hypothesis of a North American-evolved wolf. Coyote-like mtDNA was not of coyote origin but represented divergent but related sequences of a North American wolf lineage independent of the gray wolf (C. lupus). Under this new model of eastern wolf evolution, we also identified the hybrid origin of eastern coyotes, contrary to previous interpretations, and genetically characterised different wolf "types" within Ontario. These findings could not reject the first hypothesis as neutral markers were used to reconstruct the histories of the three biological systems. However, the findings identified that it is important to ensure the neutrality of DNA markers and that samples are representative of the taxa under investigation. The findings in this thesis did not support the second hypothesis, as neutral DNA markers were not concordant with adaptive characters, i.e. morphology, physiology and functional genetic markers. / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine ongoing restructuring and its impacts on sparsely populated areas in Sweden and Finland. In the context of sparsely populated areas, the global processes have great local impact because of their poor capacity to adapt to rapid economic changes. The focus here is on tourism and forest-related employment, however amenity motives for mobility and migration are also considered in relation to restructuring. A major part of the information used in this thesis comes from a database collected and stored by Statistics Sweden.</p><p>Results show that employment in tourism in the Swedish mountain municipalities is largely seasonal in character. The seasonality of tourism has caused seasonal in-migration or long-distance commuting of young people, first and foremost to the southern mountain municipalities. The success of tourism as a regional development strategy is affected by the structure and characteristics of the local labour force. The importance of tourism for development also depends on other regional characteristics such as infrastructure, demographic composition, experience and education of the local labour force, as well as on attributes of the tourism industry. The assumed and almost automatic positive relationship between nature conservation and tourism is challenged. Tourism employment does not automatically follow from unemployment in forest sectors, accentuating differences in the characteristics of the labour force needed in tourism, forestry and related activities and the difficulty of enforcing restructuring and diversification towards tourism.</p><p>In the last article, analyses of the forest-related employment are in focus. It is concluded that there is no significant effect of climate change on employment. Instead other global, national and local processes and interrelationships, such as supply and demand and productivity increase, have a greater impact on employment. Forestry and related sectors have shifted towards a more capital intensive management, which means that the productivity rate of the each worker is so high that the increasing amount of harvestable forest due to climate change does not involve the employment of more people. The relative unimportance of forestry and forest-related employment in the research area has also been highlighted.</p><p>In conclusion, the economic restructuring processes in relation to tourism have been limited in a majority of the mountain municipalities. This is clearly demonstrated by the high level of seasonal labour mobility to some parts of the mountain area. However, there is evidence suggesting a positive relationship between seasonal tourism employment and permanent migration. To the north, there are fewer large resorts with high seasonal pressure than in the south. This means that tourism can be a way of maintaining work opportunities and sustaining local service. In the south and in the larger resorts, tourism might be a way to ensure more employment, albeit on a seasonal basis. Local diversity through place-dependent activities like tourism and resource-based recreation, as well as resource extraction, might offer opportunities for economic diversification. However, if the demographic structure is unbalanced there will be difficulties in pursuing economic restructuring and diversification. Add to this a peripheral location and there are many obstacles to increasing population, even temporarily. Thus, tourism development must be carefully considered on a local basis.</p>

The purpose of this thesis is to examine ongoing restructuring and its impacts on sparsely populated areas in Sweden and Finland. In the context of sparsely populated areas, the global processes have great local impact because of their poor capacity to adapt to rapid economic changes. The focus here is on tourism and forest-related employment, however amenity motives for mobility and migration are also considered in relation to restructuring. A major part of the information used in this thesis comes from a database collected and stored by Statistics Sweden. Results show that employment in tourism in the Swedish mountain municipalities is largely seasonal in character. The seasonality of tourism has caused seasonal in-migration or long-distance commuting of young people, first and foremost to the southern mountain municipalities. The success of tourism as a regional development strategy is affected by the structure and characteristics of the local labour force. The importance of tourism for development also depends on other regional characteristics such as infrastructure, demographic composition, experience and education of the local labour force, as well as on attributes of the tourism industry. The assumed and almost automatic positive relationship between nature conservation and tourism is challenged. Tourism employment does not automatically follow from unemployment in forest sectors, accentuating differences in the characteristics of the labour force needed in tourism, forestry and related activities and the difficulty of enforcing restructuring and diversification towards tourism. In the last article, analyses of the forest-related employment are in focus. It is concluded that there is no significant effect of climate change on employment. Instead other global, national and local processes and interrelationships, such as supply and demand and productivity increase, have a greater impact on employment. Forestry and related sectors have shifted towards a more capital intensive management, which means that the productivity rate of the each worker is so high that the increasing amount of harvestable forest due to climate change does not involve the employment of more people. The relative unimportance of forestry and forest-related employment in the research area has also been highlighted. In conclusion, the economic restructuring processes in relation to tourism have been limited in a majority of the mountain municipalities. This is clearly demonstrated by the high level of seasonal labour mobility to some parts of the mountain area. However, there is evidence suggesting a positive relationship between seasonal tourism employment and permanent migration. To the north, there are fewer large resorts with high seasonal pressure than in the south. This means that tourism can be a way of maintaining work opportunities and sustaining local service. In the south and in the larger resorts, tourism might be a way to ensure more employment, albeit on a seasonal basis. Local diversity through place-dependent activities like tourism and resource-based recreation, as well as resource extraction, might offer opportunities for economic diversification. However, if the demographic structure is unbalanced there will be difficulties in pursuing economic restructuring and diversification. Add to this a peripheral location and there are many obstacles to increasing population, even temporarily. Thus, tourism development must be carefully considered on a local basis.

Spinoffs are an increasing phenomenon on the Swedish stock market. In this report one can read about factors that trigger spinoffs as well as about the short and medium term risk and return that spinoffs yield. I have observed 17 pre-spinoff companies that become 34 post-spinoff companies which continued to be traded on the stock market. For the purpose of the investigation I use time-series regression, and my model is the sin-gle-factor market model. I use this model to estimate the beta and the firm specific factor. Supporting theories are: efficiency, portfolio theory, valuation method and asymmetry all those topics are central parts in a spinoff. From my research I can not prove that spinoffs increase shareholders wealth. That means that the new units created through a spinoff are not more worth than the old corporation as such the new units do not outperform the old conglomerate structures expected return. However, the new units beta is not equal the old conglomerate structures beta, and this may due to change in capital structure. The weighted beta increase in half of the times, as such, it suggests a higher level of debt financing. By comparing the spinoff company and the parent company in the post-spinoff scenario it can be concluded that the company who is performing the best is also the riskier alternative and the spinoff performs better than the parent company in eleven out of seventeen times. There is also a correlation between risk and return - when higher return is observed it also brings higher risk, and it holds true in all samples except one. Further, at group level the spinoff group performs better than the market return and the spinoff group performs on average better than the parent group. Thus, if an outside inves-tor is to invest in either a spinoff company or a parent company one should buy the spinoff company at preferred weight according to the investors risk preferences.

<p>Spinoffs are an increasing phenomenon on the Swedish stock market. In this report one can read about factors that trigger spinoffs as well as about the short and medium term risk and return that spinoffs yield. I have observed 17 pre-spinoff companies that become 34 post-spinoff companies which continued to be traded on the stock market.</p><p>For the purpose of the investigation I use time-series regression, and my model is the sin-gle-factor market model. I use this model to estimate the beta and the firm specific factor. Supporting theories are: efficiency, portfolio theory, valuation method and asymmetry all those topics are central parts in a spinoff.</p><p>From my research I can not prove that spinoffs increase shareholders wealth. That means that the new units created through a spinoff are not more worth than the old corporation as such the new units do not outperform the old conglomerate structures expected return. However, the new units beta is not equal the old conglomerate structures beta, and this may due to change in capital structure. The weighted beta increase in half of the times, as such, it suggests a higher level of debt financing.</p><p>By comparing the spinoff company and the parent company in the post-spinoff scenario it can be concluded that the company who is performing the best is also the riskier alternative and the spinoff performs better than the parent company in eleven out of seventeen times. There is also a correlation between risk and return - when higher return is observed it also brings higher risk, and it holds true in all samples except one.</p><p>Further, at group level the spinoff group performs better than the market return and the spinoff group performs on average better than the parent group. Thus, if an outside inves-tor is to invest in either a spinoff company or a parent company one should buy the spinoff company at preferred weight according to the investors risk preferences.</p>

Strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) analyses have been used effectively to reconstruct the origin of osteological remains that have not been exposed to increasing temperatures (Bentley, 2006; Juarez, 2008; Knudson et al., 2005). However, previous research has shown that no thermally induced changes occur to original strontium isotope values (87Sr/86Sr) of bone and teeth specimens that have been subjected to temperatures between 212 and 1832 degrees Fahrenheit (Beard and Johnson, 2000; Grupe and Hummel, 1991; Harbeck et al., 2011), though the published literature regarding strontium isotope ratio stability and survivorship in thermally altered bone and teeth is limited. This is surprising given the potential implications for geolocation inquiries of cremains (or severely burnt remains) in both forensic and archaeological contexts. This research will focus on the latter context by using strontium isotope analyses, via thermal ionization mass spectrometry, to reconstruct the origins of human remains from a unique late Woodland period (A.D. 600-850) archaeological burial site known as the Perrins Ledge crematory, located in the lower Illinois River valley. Strontium isotope signatures derived from the Perrins Ledge cremains will be compared with values obtained from osteological faunal remains from three contemporary neighboring sites (Carlin, Apple Creek, and Newbridge). It is expected that the Perrins Ledge values will mirror those derived from the neighboring contemporary habitation sites suggesting local groups used the crematorium.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo prospectivo referente ao desenvolvimento de um medidor eletromagnético inteligente de vazão, cuja finalidade é determinar a vazão de escoamento a partir da reconstrução do perfil de velocidade utilizando técnicas tomográficas. Em conseqüência disso, o medidor de vazão será capaz de corrigir a vazão dada, através da integração do perfil de velocidade correto reconstruído por tomografia. A técnica de reconstrução tomográfica utilizada é baseada na construção de um funcional de erro, gerado a partir da diferença entre voltagens simuladas numericamente para uma condição experimental, conhecidos os parâmetros determinantes da velocidade no interior da tubulação, e voltagens aproximadas simuladas numericamente para aproximações destes parâmetros. Neste trabalho, o modelo físico do medidor eletromagnético de vazão é baseado em um número de eletrodos colocados sobre as paredes do tubo sob uma estratégia de excitação específica, sem injeção de corrente, considerando o campo magnético uniforme. A partir da expansão do funcional de erro, sobre um conjunto de funções conhecidas, uma superfície de erro é gerada. As características da patologia desta superfície requerem outros tipos de técnicas de otimização. Técnicas tradicionais de otimização não são viáveis, pois o processo de busca pára no primeiro mínimo local encontrado. Essa convergência para mínimos locais é justificada devido à presença de regiões planas e vales apresentando vários mínimos locais circundando o ponto de mínimo global (ou ponto referente aos parâmetros ótimos da velocidade). Em vista da ocorrência deste fato, técnicas baseadas em algoritmos evolucionários são testadas e apresentadas para uma série de casos demonstrando a praticidade de nossa pesquisa. / This work presents a prospective study on the development of an intelligent electromagnetic flow meter intended to determine output based on the reconstruction of velocity profile using tomographic techniques. As a result, the flow meter will be able to correct the output measure through the integration of the right velocity profile produced by tomography. The tomographic reconstruction technique utilized is based on the definition of an error functional generated from the difference between voltages simulated numerically for a experimental condition, being known the parameters which define the velocity within the pipe and approximate voltages simulated numerically for approaches of these parameters. In this work the physical model of the electromagnetic flow meter is based on a number of electrodes flush mounted on pipe walls and under a specific strategy of excitement, without electrical current input and considering the magnetic field uniform. From the expansion of the error functional over a set of known functions an error surface is generated. The characteristics of the pathology of this surface require other types of optimization techniques. Traditional optimization techniques are not viable since the search stops at the first local minimum. This convergence to local minimums is justified due to the presence of flat regions and valleys presenting several local minimums around the global minimum point (or point relative to the optimum parameters of velocity). Due to this fact techniques based on evolutionary algorithms are tested and presented for a series of cases demonstrating the usefulness of our research.

Em 2009, N. Heninger e H. Shacham apresentaram um algoritmo de reconstrução que permite recuperar a chave secreta sk do criptossistema RSA básico em tempo polinomial tendo em forma aleatória 27 % dos seus bits. Sabemos que podemos obter uma versão com erros (bits modicados) da chave secreta RSA graças aos ataques cold boot. O algoritmo apresentado por Heninger-Shacham corrige esses erros fazendo uso das relações matemáticas que existe entre as chaves pública e secreta do criptossistema RSA básico. O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar esse algoritmo para implementar e analisar seu análogo para o criptossistema RSA multi-primo. Os resultados obtidos mostram que para reconstruir a chave secreta sk do criptossistema RSA u-primos é preciso ter uma fração de bits corretos maior a 2 - 2^((u+2)/(2u+1)), mostrando assim que a segurança oferecida pelo criptossistema RSA multi-primo (u>/ 3) é maior com relação ao criptossistema RSA básico (u = 2). / In 2009, N. Heninger and H. Shacham presented an algoritm for reconstructing the secret key sk of the basic RSA cryptosystem in polynomial time With a fraction of random bits greater or equal to 0.27 of its bits. We know that secret key with errors sk can be obtained from DRAM using cold-boot attacks. The Heninger and Shacham\'s algorithm xes these errors using the redundancy of secret and public key of basic RSA cryptosystem. In this work, the topic is to study this algoritm to implement and analyze its analogous for the multi-prime RSA cryptosystem. Our obtained results show the secret key sk of multi-prime RSA cryptosystem can be Reconstructed having a fraction equal or greater than 2 - 2^((u+2)/(2u+1)) of random bits. therefore the security of multi-prime RSA cryptosystem (u >/ 3) is greater than basic RSA cryptosystem (u = 2).