Master of Architecture / Department of Architecture / Richard L. Hoag / The years of World War II mark a time of significant sociological and cultural change. In the United States, new technologies were introduced, and family structure and family economics changed. These changes were reflected in the popular media, including housing design publications. This thesis examines the design of the American house from 1935 to 1955 as presented in House Beautiful, originally The House Beautiful and first published in 1896, and how it changed during this twenty-year period. Seven themes were used to organize and describe change during this period. These themes are: 1) family structure and economics, 2) technology, 3) construction, 4) automobile, 5) site and spatial relationships, 6) status, and 7) privacy. Changes in presentation of the house in House Beautiful are shown by comparing and contrasting feature house articles across the twenty-year study period. The focus audience of House Beautiful magazine was what the publishers of House Beautiful characterized as the average American, while in fact the designs were not for the masses. Rather, the magazine catered to the ideal image of the average American. Trends discussed in relation to changes in house design include the following: family stability and security, privacy, home-ownership, transportation, suburban development, the process of Americanization, quality of life, and household efficiency.

The three approaches followed herein aim to improve our understanding of the paleobiodiversity andevolution of Silurian radiolarians. The first approach provides an exhaustive taxonomic description ofan entirely new radiolarian fauna recovered from two sections of the Cape Phillips Formation in theCanadian Arctic which accumulated in two different paleoenvironmental settings. The samples are datedby graptolites of the Gorstian Lobograptus progenitor Zone. The obtained radiolarian fauna includes 28species, of which 3 are new, and exhibits some of the best preserved Silurian radiolarians known so far.The stratigraphic range of several species was also extended. Then, in a second approach, a CT-Scan3D reconstruction of a specimen of Gyrosphaera cavea was conducted in order to resolve significantinternal structure taxonomic issues. Higher level radiolarian classification is based on internal structures,and classical methods of observing these features repeatedly failed to uncover them. The 3D imagingrevealed a «double» coiling of the specimen that has proved useful in understanding how it grew.Eventually, the third approach is a completion of published taxonomic works in the Silurian with theaim of providing diversity trends through analyses of these radiolarian occurrences. A biotic crisis canbe observed in the Homerian, exhibiting both high extinction and low origination rates, and may belinked with enhanced marine productivity. / De tre projekten som utvecklas här har som mål att fokusera på trender inom evolutionen ochmångfalden av en grupp planktoniska mikroorganismer från Silur (från -443 till -419 Ma). I ett förstaprojekt beskrivs en helt ny fauna radiolarier som hittats i två lokaliteter på de kanadensiska arktiskaöarna, och som har deponerats i olika miljöförhållanden under Silur. Detta material daterades med hjälpav graptoliter, en grupp utdöda svalgsträngsdjur som är mycket användbara för paleozoiska dateringar,till en ålder överensstämmande med Gorstian (-427 till -425 Ma). Denna kanadensisk-arktiska fauna avradiolarier består av 28 arter (varav 3 är nya) och uppvisar några av de bäst bevarade fossilerna frånSilur överhuvudtaget. Den stratigrafiska bredden, vilket är livstiden, av flera arter har också förlängts.Därefter, i ett andra projekt, skapades en 3D-rekonstruktion av ett exemplar av Gyrosphaera cavea medhjälp av mikrotomografi för att observera och beskriva komplexa interna strukturer. Faktum är attklassificeringen av Radiolaria består till stor del av analysen och beskrivningen av dessa internastrukturer och många klassiska metoder som har använts för att observera dem, såsom med hjälp avsvepelektronmikroskop, har misslyckats konsekvent. 3D-avbildningen visade en komplex dubbelrullandeav strukturen i exemplaret, som har visat sig vara användbart i sökandet för att förstå dennesutveckling. Det tredje projektet är slutförandet av en samling av samtliga publicerade arbeten röranderadiolarier från Silur med syfte att klargöra trender inom diversitet för hela perioden genom analyser avförekomsten av dessa radiolarier. Ett utdöende kan observeras under Homerian (-430 till -427 Ma), somtroligen orsakades av frekventa utdöenden och en låg artbildningshastighet.

In this paper, I analyze Bitcoin price formation and adoption rates at a global and national level. In determining Bitcoin prices, I consider contemporaneous and lagged values of traditional determinants of currencies, such as inflation and industrial production, and digital currency specific factors, primarily public interest. Using monthly time-series data across five years (2011 – 2016), I find that global public interest in Bitcoin, measured by Google searches for the keyword ‘Bitcoin,’ has a positive and significant impact on Bitcoin prices. I extend the analysis to a country level by employing a proxy for adoption rates, represented by the number of local Bitcoin client downloads, which is a useful predictor of prices. I examine pooled data across 12 countries to show that searches for ‘Bitcoin’ can be used to predict adoption rates and, consequently, prices. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first academic article to study Bitcoin usage at a national level. I find that contemporaneous values of traditionally used macroeconomic determinants of currency prices, except inflation, do not have a significant impact on Bitcoin prices.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / The financial crisis of the last decade has resulted in a change in the way organisations do their reporting. The trend has been away from annual financial reports towards integrated reporting. Integrated reporting includes not only financial information but also information showing the effect the organisation has on the environment and the society in which it operates. The research conducted in this study aimed to determine the level to which organisations in the insurance industry disclosed information relating to strategy in their annual reports and their sustainability report. Five companies in the insurance industry were studied using their publicly available, sustainable and annual or integrated annual reports for the 2010 period. In order to measure the levels of strategy disclosure, three baselines were created and used in surveying the insurance companies. Baseline 1 was based on the GRI G3 reporting guidelines, baseline 2 on the strategic architecture of Ungerer, Pretorius and Herholdt (2011) and baseline 3 was based on the business model elements of Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010). The conclusions reached in the study were that the overall level of strategy disclosure within the insurance industry is 69 percent. The level of strategy disclosure for the individual baselines was 69 percent for baseline 1, 67 percent for baseline 2 and 70 percent for baseline 3.

Outsourcing has become a well known and commonly used strategy for Swedish companies, which involves buying a part or process from a subcontractor rather than performing it within the company. Common reasons why companies chose to outsource rather than to perform the activities themselves are cost- and competition related. Previous low labour- and facility costs in countries such as China and Estonia have been forces that have kept the outsourcing trend strong. In recent years you can see more Swedish companies bringing back previously subcontracted functions into the company, so called insourcing. This can partially be explained by changes in external market factors such as raising salaries in low-cost countries and increased automation.

<p>Purpose of this Master thesis is to analyze, understand and evaluate current financial crisis from the leadership perspective. In order to achieve this aim we made literature analysis, conducted interviews, analyzed failure case of Lehman Brothers and case of NYSE Euronext Lisbon. Furthermore, we created a questionnaire which was sent to the biggest companies in Europe. According to our investigation, we found out that the most suitable methodological view for our research is a combination of analytical and system views. Analysis of our findings shows that financial crisis was highly caused of the failure of leadership in the financial sector. We found out that leaders have to be aware of these main problems: nowadays word is extremely interconnected and one variable can affect the whole system, huge short-term returns cannot marginalize long-term foresight, risk has to be measured and estimated, leaders has to pay a lot of attention to their strategies, plan, rethink and if it is necessary reshape them. Moreover, leaders now face more and more challenges: they have to react at the moment, to deal with world full of paradoxes and to take actions in order to increase level of confidence which creates more and more instability and chaos in the society.</p>

Historical changes in hydroclimatic characteristics in four Lower Colorado River sub-basins are examined using the Mann-Kendall test for trends and Kendall's tau-b test for statistical association to better understand the processes taking place in these arid watersheds. During the historical record of 1906-2007, in general, temperatures have increased and streamflows have decreased while there has been no change in precipitation. Streamflow was found to have statistical association with annual maximum temperatures, El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Using this knowledge, two-year and five-year streamflow predictions are made using climate data to force a statistical model. We find no predictive skill at the two-year range but significant (alpha =.05) predictive skill in two of the basins at the five-year range. The dominant climate predictor for the Paria River Basin is ENSO and for the Little Colorado River Basin it is temperature.

A population based cross-sectional time series analysis was conducted using three Ontario administrative databases, to assess trends over time in the surgical management of kidney stone disease. All kidney stone treatments performed with extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL), ureteroscopy (URS) and percutaneous nephrolithotomy between July 1, 1991 and December 31, 2010, were included. Time series modeling with exponential smoothing and autoregressive integrated moving average models demonstrated a significant increase in the utilization of URS over time (23.69% to 59.98%, p<0.0001), with a reciprocal significant decrease in the utilization of SWL (68.77% to 33.36%, p<0.0001). As a result of this shift in treatment paradigm, time series modeling also demonstrated an associated significant decrease in the need for ancillary treatment over time (22.12% to 16.01%, p<0.0001) and a significant increase in the need for hospital readmission (8.01% to 10.85%, p<0.0001) or emergency room visit (7.58% to 9.95%, p=0.0024) within 7 days following treatment.

A population based cross-sectional time series analysis was conducted using three Ontario administrative databases, to assess trends over time in the surgical management of kidney stone disease. All kidney stone treatments performed with extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL), ureteroscopy (URS) and percutaneous nephrolithotomy between July 1, 1991 and December 31, 2010, were included. Time series modeling with exponential smoothing and autoregressive integrated moving average models demonstrated a significant increase in the utilization of URS over time (23.69% to 59.98%, p<0.0001), with a reciprocal significant decrease in the utilization of SWL (68.77% to 33.36%, p<0.0001). As a result of this shift in treatment paradigm, time series modeling also demonstrated an associated significant decrease in the need for ancillary treatment over time (22.12% to 16.01%, p<0.0001) and a significant increase in the need for hospital readmission (8.01% to 10.85%, p<0.0001) or emergency room visit (7.58% to 9.95%, p=0.0024) within 7 days following treatment.

Magistro kvalifikaciniame darbe analizuojama 1960 - 1970 metų mada Lietuvoje. Darbo tikslas išanalizavus septintojo dešimtmečio Vakarų Europos ir sovietinės mados tendencijas, naudojant lyginamosios analizės metodą, palyginti su Lietuvoje vyravusiomis ir nustatyti jų transformacijos priežastis. Atlikta mokslinės literatūros analizė ir empirinis tyrimas iš esmės patvirtino darbe iškeltą hipotezę - madų tendencijos Lietuvoje atsiliko (laiko atžvilgiu) nuo Vakarų Europos, jaučiamas šių madų tendencijų skirtumas, atkeliavusios iš Vakarų Europos madų tendencijos Lietuvoje transformavosi. / There is analysing 1960 - 1970 years Lithuanian fashion trends in this master qualification work. Aim of work is analysing seventh decade West Europe's and Soviet fashion ruling trends, using comparative analysis method, compared to Lithuanian and to set the causes of this transformation. An analysis of scientific literature and an empirical study in principle approved the hypothesis in this work that the fashion trends in Lithuania felt behind (by time) comparing to West Europe's, appreciable the difference between West Europe's and Soviet fashion trends and the trends which came from West to Lithuania transformed.