Fund investments are very popular in Sweden. However, we have the impression that despite this popularity, the average fund investor in Sweden does not pay much attention to the importance and possible link of fund’s asset composition features (e.g. Asset class, Holdings, and Geo-exposure) to fund’s performance. Instead, S/he relies on factors such as fees, risk levels, historical performance, etc. in her/his investment decisions. Similarly, academic studies mainly focus on attributes such as funds fees, size, and manager’s skill to explain fund’s performance. Thus there are limited premier academic studies on the relationship between fund’s performance and its asset composition features. The main purpose of this study is to investigate possible causal relationship between the performances of funds with their assets composition features. We study the whole population of 346 Swedish listed mutual funds older than five years for the period 2009-2013. The results of the study provides the investors and analysts with additional decision-making and investment-analysis tools to assist them in making more informed judgment on funds and their expected returns. The results are also useful for fund managers to improve their strategies by refining the combinations of their funds’ asset composition attributes in order to improve the absolute risk-adjusted performance of their funds. Our research philosophy has been based on positivism and objectivism along with functionalist paradigm and we have applied deductive approach to test the theories. We have used quantitative method and collected the funds’ data from public business databases and chosen Jensen’s alpha and Treynor ratio as funds’ risk-adjusted performance measures. We performed Correlation tests and Regression with robust techniques on our data to answer the research question from three aspects, namely asset class (equity, bond, and mixed assets); geo-exposures (Sweden, Global, Europe, and Nordic) and Top-ten holdings’ measures (asset concentration and Treynor of each fund’s passive top-ten sub-portfolio). We conclude that correlations between funds’ risk-adjusted performance and assets composition features are likely to exist. Stronger correlations are observed between the explanatory measures and fund’s relative risk-adjusted performance (fund’s Treynor) as compared to fund’s absolute risk adjusted performance (fund’s Jensen’s alpha). Asset concentration in top-ten holdings and bond asset class are more likely to be in casual relationship with fund’s risk-adjusted performance, whereas Treynor ratio of top-ten holdings’ passive sub-portfolio as well as fund’s geo-exposure do not seem to have strong explanatory power for funds’ absolute performance.

Kumano bikuni (the Buddhist nuns of Kumano) are itinerant female religious performers who were particularly active between the 16th and 18th centuries in Japan. Travelling across the country, they promoted the syncretic belief of the Kumano mountains, popular pilgrimage sites that have attracted a variety of people regardless of class, gender, and religious affiliation. To raise funds for temples and shrines there, they performed etoki (literally, picture deciphering) that addressed the everyday concerns of the masses, and especially women. Conceptualizing Kumano bikuni as mediators who bridged the religious world and the masses, this thesis examines how Kumano bikuni reflected perspectives of the audience at etoki performance and responded to diverse interests of different groups. / Graduate / 0320 / 0332 / 0453 / chihiro_620@hotmail.com

The thesis examines American teen dramas on Australian television in the period 1992 to 2004. It explores the use of the genre by broadcasters and its uptake by teenagers in an environment where American popular culture has frequently been treated with suspicion and where there are perennial arguments about the Americanisation of youth and their vulnerability to cultural imperialism. The thesis argues concerns about Americanisation and cultural imperialism in relation to youth culture, young people and the media are misplaced. American teen dramas are investigated as an example of the ways imported programs are made to cohere with national logics within the Australian mediasphere (Hartley, 1996). Utilising Yuri Lotman's (1990) theory of cultural 'translation' this thesis argues teen drams are evidence of dynamic change within the system of television and that this change does not result in a system dominated by imported product, but rather a system that situates foreign programming amongst domestic frames of reference.

Orientador: Jose Roberto Zan / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T17:30:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pinto_JoaoPaulodoAmaral_M.pdf: 6828945 bytes, checksum: b0e6967a207bca86632cf629ed108239 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Esse trabalho é resultado de uma pesquisa sobre a obra musical do músico e compositor Tião Carreiro (José Dias Nunes, 1934-1993). O enfoque principal foi identificar os elementos constitutivos e as características do estilo desse artista como instrumentista de viola, instrumento reconhecido como o símbolo da chamada música caipira. Para tanto, foram analisados musicalmente os dois LPs instrumentais do violeiro gravados em 1976 e 1979. Além disso, foram abordados os aspetos históricos da viola caipira, do segmento instrumental sertanejo e da trajetória do artista no mercado fonográfico. A partir das análises musicais, foi identificado um conjunto de elementos e técnicas utilizados pelo músico para construir seus toques e solos. A pesquisa também relacionou e caracterizou musicalmente as matrizes e gêneros, caipiras ou não, utilizados pelo violeiro na gravação desses dois discos. Entre eles, destaca-se o pagode de viola, gênero criado no final dos anos cinqüenta a partir da combinação de algumas matrizes musicais e que, por ter se tornado a marca principal do violeiro, foi objeto de uma investigação mais aprofundada. / Abstract: This work is the result of a research on the musical work of the musician and composer Tião Carreiro (José Dias Nunes, 1934-1993). The main focus was to identify the constituent elements and the characteristics of the style of this artist as a viola (Brazilian ten-string guitar) instrumentalist, considering the viola a recognized instrument as the symbol of what is so called música caipira (typical rural music of the central-southern region of Brazil). For that, the two first instrumental LPS of the artist, recorded in 1976 and 1979, were musically analysed. Besides that, historical aspects of viola caipira, also from the instrumental sertanejo segment and the trajectory of the artist in the phonographic market were approached. From these musical analyses a group of elements and techniques used by the musician to build his touches and solos was identified. The research also related and musically characterized the origins and genders, caipira or not, used by the violeiro in the recordings of these two records. Among them, there is one in particular, the pagode de viola, gender created at the end of the fifties's, from the combination of some musical origins and that, for having become the main mark of the violeiro, was the subject of a deepened investigation. / Mestrado / Mestre em Música

The purpose of this study is to find and analyse conceptual metaphors in the lyrics, A Thousand Kissed Deep, Here It Is, and Boogie Street from the album Ten New Songs (2001) by Leonard Cohen using Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). In order to detected the conceptual metaphors, the source and target domains were identified. Conceptual metaphors were found by mapping source domains onto target domains and viewing the lexical expressions in the lyrics. The result and analysis of the findings in this study show that linguistic expressions of LOVE, LIFE and DEATH are conceptually present in the lyrics.

Road transport is most commonly used out of other modes in terms of freight and passenger transportation on local and regional levels. For European citizens it is a primary mean of their access to services, social activities and employment. The scope of road infrastructure differs in some regions. The major disparity appears when the East of Europe is compared with the West. Actions to link periphery with the core of Europe are being continuously performed, what in this case represents itself in constructing Pan-European Transport Corridors, which will contribute to the connection of the whole territory of Europe. The Via Baltica, chosen as a case for this thesis, is a route to connect Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas, Budzisko and Warsaw. It is the common initiative of Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. In addition, it is to be an express road and part of the I Pan-European Transport Corridor, which is going to connect Baltic countries with the West and South part of Europe. We focus on presenting how the Via Baltica is introduced in official documents and compare it with the process in practice. Our final goal is to assess the planning process of the Via Baltica route in Poland according to top down planning approaches and sustainability criteria. We are trying to find out what are the advantages and disadvantages of the ongoing process. After introducing results of the analysis made for the Via Baltica by Polish experts, we present how stakeholders and local authorities try to reinforce the process, regardless of environmental issues, to achieve economic and social profits. As the result we try find out how are the dimensions of sustainable development handled in the Via Baltica case in Poland. The conclusions are based on our findings concerning several conflicts which appeared during the planning process. They are also based on one-dimension as well as multi-criteria analyses. / angelikakowalczyk@o2.pl monika.m.kustra@gmail.com

This master's thesis aims to compare Horacio Quiroga's short story with a general theory of the short story and to juxtapose it with Quiroga's own Ten Rules for the Perfect Storyteller. The first theoretical part looks at the short story from the point of view of literary history with a special focus on the differences between a short story and a novel. It goes on to give a short overview of the literary development in Latin America, outlining specific features of the given area and their influence on Horacio Quiroga's works. A separate chapter covers the Hispanic - American fantasy short story, its general principles and some examples of Horacio Quiroga's works. In the next chapter the paper refers to Quiroga's essays concerning theories of the short story, particularly Ten Rules for the Perfect Storyteller, aiming to introduce the theoretical concept of Quiroga's art of storytelling. Ten Rules for the Perfect Storyteller provides the paper with the background to interpret a number of selected Quiroga's short stories as well as to compare the theories of the short story between Horacio Quiroga and Edgar Allan Poe. Having briefly outlined the context of Quiroga's complete work, the paper identifies the main recurring themes and touches upon Quiroga's character in his short stories set in the...

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Web Application Firewall (WAF) is used to protect the Web application (web app). One of the advantages of having WAF is, it can detect possible attacks even if there is no validation implemented on the web app. But how can WAF protect the web app if WAF itself is vulnerable? In general, four testing methods are used to test WAF such as fuzzing, payload execution, bypassing, and footprinting. There are several open-source WAF testing tools but it appears that it only offers one or two testing methods. That means a tester is required to have multiple tools and learn how each tool works to be able to test WAF using all testing methods. This project aims to solve this difficulty by developing a WAF testing tool called ProjectX that offers all testing methods. ProjectX has been tested on a testing environment and the results show that it fulfilled its requirements. Moreover, ProjectX is available on Github for any developer who want to improve or add more functionality to it.

Architectural study deals with the design of a new synagogue in Frýdku-Místku, located on the site of the original synagogue from 19th centruy, which was burnt by fanaticized Germans in 1939 and then demolished. Nowadays, it is an undeveloped area without any historical significant. There are other functions beside the building of synagogue – mikveh (ritual bath) and its access tunnel, the jewish community administration and kosher restaurant with two shops. The design concept works with the symbolish of the Star of David, triangles‘ intersection. The synagogue depicts the Mount Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were received.