Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Cheap'

El presente proyecto es una aplicación móvil dirigida a afrontar el problema de desperdicio orgánico por parte de cafeterías y pastelerías. En base a la investigación realizada en Lima Norte al NSE “C”, se detectó que esos negocios desechaban excedentes de producción no vendidos y que habían clientes deseosos de adquirir estos platos o postres a un precio reducido. Así mismo, se identificó que los usuarios tienen cada vez menos tiempo para acudir físicamente al negocio ya que prefieren priorizar sus actividades diarias. Por ello, deciden hacer sus pedidos vía online o por medio de aplicaciones en sus celulares. Por último, bajo esta tendencia mundial detectada de descarga online de aplicaciones y el uso creciente de smartphones por parte del nivel socioeconómico “C” se decidió desarrollar Cheap App la cual mostrará los productos de todos las cafeterías y pastelerías afiliadas en un radio cercano a la ubicación del usuario con ofertas y descuentos mínimo de 30% del precio original. Para poner en marcha este proyecto se hizo un análisis de la industria: consumidor, competidores y otros factores externos. Además, se desarrollaron los siguientes planes: Plan Estratégico, Plan de Operaciones, Plan de Marketing, Plan de Recursos Humanos y Responsabilidad Social Empresarial y el Plan Financiero. Los cuales contienen las acciones necesarias para la viabilidad de este proyecto. Como resultado, luego de una inversión inicial de S/. 69,382 en el 2019 se tendrá una utilidad neta de S/.50,231 para el 2022 , S/.90,728 para el 2023 y S/.148,540 para el 2024.
This project is a mobile application aimed at addressing the problem of organic waste by coffee shops and patisseries. Based on the research carried out in North Lima to the NSE “C”, it was detected that these businesses discarded surpluses of unsold production and that there were customers eager to acquire these dishes or desserts at a reduced price. Likewise, it was identified that users have less and less time to physically go to the business since they prefer to prioritize their daily activities. Therefore, they decide to place their orders online or through applications on their cell phones. Finally, under this worldwide trend of online application downloading and the increasing use of smartphones by the socioeconomic level "C" it was decided to develop Cheap App which will show the products of all the coffee shops and patisseries affiliated in a radius close to the User location with offers and discounts minimum of 30% of the original price. To launch this project an analysis of the industry was made: consumer, competitors and other external factors. In addition, the following plans were developed: Strategic Plan, Operations Plan, Marketing Plan, Human Resources Plan and Corporate Social Responsibility and the Financial Plan. Which contain the necessary actions for the viability of this project. As a result, after an initial investment of S /. 69,382 in 2019 there will be a net profit of S / .50,231 for 2022, S / .90,728 for 2023 and S / .148,540 for 2024.
Trabajo de investigación

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är främst att se om respondenternas uppfattning av varumärket stämmer överens med den bild företaget försöker förmedla. Vi vill även öka förståelsen för hur företag inom klädbranschen kan agera för att stärka sin varumärkesidentitet.

Teori: Uppsatsens teoretiska underlag utgörs främst av varumärkes-pyramiden samt Kapferers Identitetsprisma samt annan teori som stödjer vår problemformulering och vårat syfte med uppsatsen.

Metod: Genom en kvalitativ intervju samt en kvantitativ enkät-undersökning så har vi samlat in den primärdata vi använt oss av. Sekundärdata är hämtad främst ifrån litteratur, artiklar samt olika Internetkällor. Vi har sedan analyserat det empiriska materialet och ställt det mot vår teoretiska referensram och dragit slutsatser därefter.

This thesis examines the concept of cheap and costly grace in Discipleship within the context of Bonhoeffer’s theological, and historical background. I shall argue that cheap grace is not grace but rather an ironic statement that Bonhoeffer created in reaction to Lutheran theologians who denied the role of works as a necessary response to faith. Bonhoeffer believed that these Lutherans centred their theology on traditions and Creeds, rather than accepting Christ’s call to discipleship, and neighbourly love. Costly grace, in contrast to cheap grasp is characterised by faith which is active in obedience to Christ. Bonhoeffer calls costly grace the call to discipleship, and expects Christians to accept the operational consequences of obedience. These consequences are suffering, persecution, and possibly even martyrdom. However, costly grace is not only a call to action. Costly grace is grace, which means that a Christian comes closer to God, and the truth of their existence through living a life of obedience and discipleship. However, Bonhoeffer’s theology of costly grace is not without criticism; and I will propose that Bonhoeffer’s treatise of ‘Costly Grace’ is lacking an adequate theology of the Holy Spirit, overly Christocentric, and can be accused of taking away the central Reformation tenet of grace as a gift. I will propose that all of these criticisms can be explained by Bonhoeffer’s life setting. For example, a lack of Pneumatology, and an overly represented Christology was a product of Bonhoeffer Lutheran background and the Christocentric theology of the day. Moreover, it can be argued that Bonhoeffer’s belief that faith must be expressed in concrete acts of obedience was a product of what Bonhoeffer perceived as the need of the church, at a time when Nationalism, and Germanism had overtaken Christian beliefs.

The three essays in this thesis are based on strategic communication associated with the Cheap Talk literature. The first essay is a discussion of strategic communication that arises in the classical resource allocation problem. The second essay focuses on Cheap Talk where the signals of the senders and the receiver are correlated. The third essay explores the theme where a sender while transmitting the information takes into account that the information may be leaked by the receiver to third party.
La tesi e’ un compendio di tre articoli tra loro indipendenti basati sulla comunicazione strategica associata alla letteratura su Cheap Talk. Il primo articolo discute la comunicazione strategica che si riscontra in un classico problema di allocazione delle risorse. Il secondo articolo si focalizza sul Cheap talk in cui i segnali del mittente e del ricevente sono correlati. Il terzo articolo analizza la tematica in cui il mittente, trasmettendo le informazioni, prende in considerazione il fatto che le informazioni possono essere filtrate al ricevente da una terza parte.

In functional languages intermediate data structures are often used as glue to connect separate parts of a program together. Deforestation is the process of automatically removing intermediate data structures. In this thesis we present and analyse a new approach to deforestation. This new approach is both practical and general. We analyse in detail the problem of list removal rather than the more general problem of arbitrary data structure removal. This more limited scope allows a complete evaluation of the pragmatic aspects of using our deforestation technology. We have implemented our list deforestation algorithm in the Glasgow Haskell compiler. Our implementation has allowed practical feedback. One important conclusion is that a new analysis is required to infer function arities and the linearity of lambda abstractions. This analysis renders the basic deforestation algorithm far more effective. We give a detailed assessment of our implementation of deforestation. We measure the effectiveness of our deforestation on a suite of real application programs. We also observe the costs of our deforestation algorithm.

This study examines the presentation of religion in the cheapest printed wares produced in London c.1550-1640: broadside ballads, woodcut pictures, text-dominated broadsides, and octavo chapbooks. During the first quarter of the seventeenth century, the trade in this 'cheap print' became increasingly specialized. The 'ballad partners' collected a stock of titles, increased the use of illustrations, and organized themselves for more efficient distribution. They published large folio woodcut pictures, and began to develop a new line of chapbooks. The thesis investigates, not only the spread of readership, but the interweaving of the printed word with existing cultural practices, both oral and visual. Part 1 deals with the broadside ballad as song, disseminated by a network of travelling performers and pedlars. Part 2 looks at the broadside picture as an image for the wall, placed against the background of domestic wall painting and painted cloth. Only in Part 3 do I follow the development of 'cheap print' intended primarily for reading, in particular the 24-page octavo format which became the standard 'small book' after the Restoration. I have dated the beginnings of this trade to the second decade of the seventeenth century, and have traced some three dozen extant 'penny merriments', 'miscellanies' and 'godlinesses' published before 1640. Just as 'cheap print' was shaped by existing non-literate traditions, Protestant ideas and images were modified by older beliefs. Reformers wrote hundreds of ballads in the first half of Elizabeth's reign, of which some fifty showed enduring commercial success. By comparing the original output of the Protestant publicists with this seventeenth-century 'stock', I show the partial success of the reformers' goals, as the doctrine of salvation by faith, Protestant martyrs, and Old Testament episodes infiltrated the ballads. In the woodcuts and other visual art, the gap between Protestant 'iconophobia' and the continued demand for religious pictures was bridged by 'stories' for walls, chosen from the lower rungs of the 'ladder of sanctity'. Texts themselves became a common form of decoration: broadside 'tables', bearing pithy aphorisms and excerpts from Scripture, sanctified the walls of the good householder. Finally, the octavo repentance tract replaced the broadside ballad as a medium for the evangelical message, but the moralistic 'penny miscellanies' reflected the conservative religion of many ordinary parishioners. The study of these cheap forms of print shows their manifold uses, during a period of transition to widespread literacy. At the same time, it reveals some aspects of the process by which a new, post-Reformation, religious culture was created.

COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
Este trabalho apresenta um modelo de conluio em leilões repetidos de primeiro preço estático, ou seja, um esquema de conluio que usa a mesma regra de conluio em toda a fase de cooperação, independente da história do superjogo. Neste ambiente, introduzimos um mecanismo de comunicação sem custo, por meio do qual os jogadores transmitem sua ordenação de preferências sobre os bens a serem leiloados no jogo estágio. A partir deste modelo, obtemos um aumento da receita esperada agregada por parte dos participantes do leilão frente a um modelo de conluio estático tácito. Além disso, o resultado de dominância do conluio dinâmico com comunicação - esquema no qual a regra de conluio depende de toda a história pública do superjogo - apresentado por Aoyagi (2002), frente a qualquer conluio estático não se verifica. Outro ponto a se destacar é que o refinamento do sistema de comunicação, por meio de um aumento do número de bens ordenados em cada mensagem, embora leve a um aumento da receita esperada, pode gerar uma elevação da taxa de paciência necessária para a manutenção do conluio.
This paper models a Static Collusion in repeated First Price Auctions, that is, a bid rotation scheme which uses the same instruction rule throughout the collusion phase independent of the history. In this environment, we allow that bidders send cheap talk messages to each other about their ranking of preferences over goods that will be auctioned during the stage game. We can show that the introduction of the cheap talk messages improves the bidder`s aggregated surplus compared to tacit static collusion models. Moreover, the dominance of dynamic bid rotation schemes, as showed by Aoyagi (2002), on static versions is not necessarily truth. Another remark is that refining the cheap talk mechanism, by the extension of ranking chain, although generates larger expected receipts, may increases the minimum necessary patience rate to sustain collusion.

The first part of the thesis studies the voting behaviour of careerist experts in a secret committee where voting profiles get `leaked' to the public with a given probability. For informative voting (where every expert votes according to his posterior probability) in equilibrium, the committee must use the unanimity voting rule along with an intermediate probability of transparency. No committee that enforces informative voting can maximise social welfare, that is, informative voting and welfare-maximisation are mutually exclusive properties. Either full transparency or complete secrecy is required in a committee under the unanimity voting rule to maximise welfare. For low priors, a fully transparent majoritarian committee is better for the society than any unanimous committee. In the second part of the thesis, the transmission of information is studied where an informed media, whose interests are partially in conflict with a finite group of rational voters, transmits news items in an attempt to manipulate democratic decisions. In a common-interest two-alternative voting model where due to reputation concerns the media can credibly commit to send any news reliably, we show that even if voters welcome the news when it arrives, media's presence can hurt their ex-ante welfare in both large and small constituencies.

This dissertation examines reputation, the belief of the decision maker about types of advisors, in incomplete information games with multiple advisors. The decision maker believes that an advisor can be one of two types – an advisor who is biased towards suggesting any particular advice (bad advisor) or an advisor who has the same preferences as the decision maker (good advisor). I explain why it is not always beneficial for the decision maker to seek advice from two advisors simultaneously compared to seeking advice from a single advisor. It is shown that a strong concern for one’s reputation not to be perceived as a bad advisor can make the good advisor sometimes give wrong advice. Also, if each type of advisor considers his future important, the decision maker is better off having a single advisor. Then I show that, when dealing with two advisors, it is better for the decision maker to seek advice simultaneously since the possibility of obtaining information is lower in sequential cheap talk. I also examine how an individual’s perception of what he thinks of himself (self-reputation) and what others think of him regarding his ability to resist temptation (perception of reputation) affect his actions. It is shown that higher self-reputation and higher perception of reputation help in making resolutions and keeping up with them both in the short and the long run. However, this result requires that individuals find it relatively easy to resist temptation. Also, even those who find it hard to resist temptation can sustain their resolution after telling friends about the resolution in the short run if they value the future more than the present.

Abstract

Title: Cheap Monday – A qualitative study of the consumers’ opinions of the brand (Cheap Monday – En kvalitativ studie av konsumenternas åsikter om märket)

Number of pages: 38 (40 including enclosures)

Author: Oskar Norlander

Tutor: Göran Svensson

Course: Media and Communication Studies C

Period: Autumn 2007

University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this essay is to examine from the customers’ perspective how the Swedish jeans-brand Cheap Monday in just three years time could become such a prominent brand on the Swedish market. An additional purpose is to examine whether there is some kind of brand community connected to the brand or not.

Material/Method: The main method used in this essay has been qualitative interviews with ten consumers of the brand. The answers from these interviews has then been analysed using two different theories, Keller’s Customer Based Brand Equity and Muniz and O’Guinnn’s Brand Community.

Main results: The main results of this essay is that Cheap Monday is a brand that has become successful due to people’s perception of who the users of the brand are. The consumers has already from the start gotten a good impression of the brand, since they’ve seen people who they liked, and people who they thought were cool and well dressed wearing Cheap Monday clothing. This is linked to the fact that Cheap Monday costs so much less than their competitors, since the “cool people” that use Cheap Monday clothing makes the low price acceptable and a good thing from the customers perspective, instead of it being a indicator that the brand is unfashionable and no good. It has also been proved that there is somewhat of a brand community connected to the brand, even though the respondents in this essay did not feel connected to this community. On the other hand, almost all of the respondents did think that other people who wear Cheap Monday in some way felt some kind of connection to each other, and most of them a reed on that the brand on its own more or less has originated a new style.

Keywords: Cheap Monday, CM, Brand Equity, Brand Community, consumer, associations, Keller, Muniz, O’Guinn

The instrumentation and the developments presented in this thesis aim to address the challenges associated with in-service non-destructive testing of aeroengine components, imposed by severe restrictions on component accessibility. In-service non-destructive testing (NDT) is essential to ensure early detection of service-induced damage and prevent catastrophic failures of such safety-critical aeroengine components as turbine/compressor blades and disks, increasing the safety of operations and dramatically reducing the cost of engine changes. The main concern during their inspection is detection of fatigue cracking, typically initiated on the surface of the part. The application of inspection techniques used during overhaul to on-wing testing is restricted both by the complex, spatially-confined access to the components and the inaccessibility of the high-stress concentration surfaces in the full engine assembly. Two routinely-used techniques providing a solution to these challenges are the use of endoscopes for access and surface acoustic waves to inspect parts of the assembly. CHOTs are optically-activated ultrasonic transducers located on the surface of a sample, that use laser illumination to remotely generate and detect ultrasound, providing a non-contact wireless alternative to conventional piezoelectric transducers (PZTs). The benefits of optical activation are paired with fibre-optic light delivery in an endoscopic pulser -- a simple portable ultrasonic inspection system with flexible instrumentation, beneficial for testing hard-to-reach components in locations with limited access or hazardous environments. This thesis presents the instrumentation of the endoscopic pulser and the development of the self-adhesive portable CHOTs (SA CHOTs) to complement its potential field application by enabling transducer delivery to components in-service and application to large and curved parts, previously limited by laboratory-based direct on-sample CHOT fabrication. The developed transducers overcome frequent barriers for industrial adaptation of fully-optical inspection systems presented by the sample surface conditions such as reflectivity and roughness. The NDT capabilities of the CHOTs endoscopic pulser are demonstrated by performing detection of machined slots on controlled aluminium samples and representative industrial parts using 4--5 MHz surface acoustic waves. System capabilities for active structural health monitoring (SHM) as well as inspection of samples in motion are demonstrated. Although in its present configuration the size of the endoscope exceeds practical access requirements, the potential of the system for further development and miniaturisation is discussed.

There is a dearth of research on the work of international volunteers in development even though they have been operating for over 50 years and it is a growing field of interest. This research investigates the current international development context and the characteristics, contributions and recognition of international volunteers who serve, through independent international volunteer cooperation organisations (IVCOs), for at least one year in development and sustainability work. International volunteers are an expression of civil society’s interest in international development providing a public face for development practices. International volunteers are not generally regarded as a significant part of aid from donor countries yet they address the Paris Declaration principles on development effectiveness like mutual accountability more successfully in many cases than conventional technical assistance. My research methods included reflection and analysis of my personal and professional experience; reviewing documentation and research literature; a six week email discussion hosted by United Nations Volunteers World Volunteer Web with participants in 100 countries; an email survey of 30 international volunteers across 16 countries; and interviewing 24 volunteers and 75 other stakeholders mainly in Central America and Cambodia. The email survey and interview results were organised and analysed using NVivo software. There is now mainstream consensus on major problems with conventional forms of development, particularly through technical assistance. Key elements of the international volunteer role and characteristics were found to be particularly conducive to improve on past practices and fit the new requirements of the current development context and its key links to sustainability. These include the importance of accompaniment and three way accountability (between local host, IVCO and volunteer); the relevance of living and working under local conditions and engaging with cross cultural issues; as well as important learning, liaison and bridging roles. Recognition of the volunteer contributions by Southern hosts and other development stakeholders was higher than even they expected with special recognition of complementary but distinct roles. However with this recognition comes the temptation to encourage volunteers and IVCOs to reproduce the existing roles and characteristics of other development practitioners. Philosophically and practically, international volunteers for development and sustainability fit well within a relational view of development. This relational view emphasises capacity development, reciprocal learning and an indirect approach to cultivate respect for local ownership, autonomy and accountability in development. The research concludes with four key recommendations for research and practice in the sector and a personal reflection. The recommendations encourage: 1.) IVCOs to compare international volunteer contributions against the Paris Principles and not dilute their approach to duplicate existing development practice; 2.) further research on international volunteer contributions to the Paris Principles and relational development by investigating the experience of IVCOs, volunteers and communities before, during and after assignments; 3.) further research comparing volunteer development experiences by duration, country, IVCO type, host category and sector; and 4.) organisational analysis of IVCOs compared to other development and volunteer organisations.

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This article studies a model where, as a consequence of private information, agents do not have incentive to invest in a desired joint project, or a public good, when they are unable to have prior discussion with their partners. As a result, the joint project is never undertaken and inefficiency is observed. Agastya, Menezes and Sengupta (2007) prove that with a prior stage of communication, with a binary message space, it is possible to have some efficiency gain since 'all ex-ante and interim efficient equilibria exhibit a simple structure'. We show that any finite message space does not provide efficiency gain on the simple structure discussed in that article. We use laboratory experiments to test these results. We find that people do contribute, even without communication, and that any kind of communication increases the probability of project implementation. We also observed that communication reduces the unproductive contribution, and that a large message space cannot provide efficiency gain relative to the binary one.

Given the appalling consequences of civil wars, why are the competing actors within a state unable to come to a settlement to avoid the costs of conflict? How might external parties affect the likelihood that a civil war begins? How do their actions affect the duration and outcome of civil conflicts that are already underway? This project draws on three main approaches--bargaining theory, signaling theory, and rational expectations--to examine how external actors might affect the onset, duration and outcome of civil wars. Signals from external actors are important because they represent a potential increase (or decrease) in fighting capabilities for the government or the opposition if a war were to begin. Costly signals should not affect the probability of civil war onset because they are readily observable ex ante, which allows the government and opposition to peacefully adjust their bargaining positions based on changes in relative capabilities. In contrast, cheap hostile signals make civil war more likely by increasing the risk that an opposition group overestimates its ability to stage a successful rebellion with external support. Cheap supportive signals work in the opposite manner because they represent increased fighting capabilities for the government. Furthermore, signals sent in the pre-war period have important implications for the duration and outcome of civil conflicts because competing intrastate actors develop expectations for future interventions prior to deciding to fight. Expected interventions should have little consequence for the duration and outcome of the conflict because they are endogenous to the pre-war bargaining positions. In contrast, unexpected interventions should drastically reduce the fighting time as one side finds itself far weaker than expected when the war began. This theory is tested by examining the likelihood of civil war onset, the duration and the outcome of all civil wars since 1945. Empirical tests provide strong support for each component of this theory. I conclude by offering specific advice to US policy-makers to prevent the outbreak of civil conflict in states most at-risk for civil war, and to help end those that are currently underway.

The subject of ordnance range remediation has received new emphasis in light of recent world events, particularly in the Middle East. The challenge of safely clearing ordnance fields of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) is a serious one, that points to the use of new small robotic machines that can perform the cleanup task without human hands. Strategies that combine the best use of a variety of both highly capable and less capable, but inexpensive robots hold great promise. The Navy's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technical Center has developed a "BUGS" Basic UXO Gathering System, in order to examine such strategies. In support of this effort, simulations are being conducted in order to examine the effects of navigation and control system characteristics on clearance for an inexpensive robotic vehicle in a typical BUGS clearance scenario, and to verify the clearance penalty inherent in a "pick up and carry away' operation.

The figure of the rogue, either as a trickster or a threat, gripped the early modern imagination. Through plays, pamphlets, proclamations and gossip about criminals, London dwellers were bombarded with information about rogues, all of which created the impression that London was swarming with such unsavoury characters. This thesis adopts an interdisciplinary approach to the study of pamphlets about rogues, combining the history of print culture and its methods with the social history of London and crime. This contrasts with previous treatments of this material: rogue literature has been used as background for the analysis of early modern plays, especially late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century ones, by literary scholars, and has usually been dismissed by historians as entirely fictional. My thesis focuses on cheap pamphlets about rogues from 1590 to 1670; this period saw a burst of publications about criminals, ranging from rogue discoveries to narratives of life and death and descriptions of prisons. Through these publications, the image of the rogue was modified, acquiring new connotations, such as the Cavalier, while at the same time retaining earlier ones, such as the trickster figure or the image of the prodigal son. These changes in the image of the rogue, while not challenging the consistency of his/her depiction, reflect the continuing importance of this figure in perceptions of crime. The majority of these texts was published in London, was London-centric in its contents, and was advertised as news about crime in the metropolis. Consequently, this thesis explores the complexity of rogue pamphlets’ interaction with the social world, their readers and perceptions about crime and morality. From the starting point of cheap print about roguery, this examination leads into broader discourses about deviance, urbanisation and the marketplace of print.

Over the last decades optical sensors assumed a major role in the analytical field. In particular, plasmonics, that is the branch of sensors that exploits the excitation of surface plasmons due to the collective oscillation of the electrons in the conduction band, allowed to achieve excellent results in terms of detection limits and accuracy. This kind of sensors exploits the interaction between the metal nanoparticles that possess plasmonic properties (Au, Ag, Cu) and an interacting molecules. In fact, under resonance conditions, a strong localized electric field is produced on the surface of the nanostructure, that, by the interaction with a molecule located at the interface, may amplify or attenuate its optical properties. In this thesis various methods of synthesis of substrates based on silver nanostructures, ordered or otherwise, as thin films for applications in Raman and UV-Visible (LSPR) sensors were explored. The samples were characterized in terms of chemical, physical and morphological properties and were systematically tested to assess their efficiency and quality. In the first part of the thesis, commercially available digital versatile discs (DVDs) were used to fabricate SERS easy&cheap substrates. DVDs contain a silver-coated spiral distribution of rectangular-shaped grooves (AgDVD): for the first time, they were used to produce surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates by electrochemical deposition of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs@AgDVD). The overall procedure only requires cheap and widely available materials and can be easily accomplished. Scanning electron microscopy images of AgNPs@AgDVD revealed that small Ag NPs (average diameter about 15 nm) are present within the valleys of AgDVD, whereas over the ridges, the Ag NPs are bigger, more densely packed and with a dendrite-like morphology somewhere. The SERS properties of these substrates were studied in terms of the enhancement factor (EF), point-to-point reproducibility and sample-to-sample repeatability. It turned out that high SERS EF and good reproducibility are both fulfilled. As for repeatability, remarkably better results than typical literature values were achieved. Such an easy&cheap preparation along with efficient SERS properties make DVD-derived SERS substrates very good candidates for the development of convenient and disposable sensing platforms. In the second part of the thesis, Ag nanostructures (Ag NSs) were grown by AC electrodeposition on Anodic Alumina Oxide (AAO) connected membranes acting as templates. Depending on the thickness of the template and on the voltage applied during the growth process, different Ag NSs with different optical properties were obtained. When ca 1 µm thick AAO membranes are used, the Ag NSs consist in Ag nanorods, at the bottom of the pores, and Ag nanotubes (Ag NTs) departing from the nanorods and filling the pores almost for the whole length. When ca 3 µm thick AAO membranes are used, the nanostructures are Ag spheroids, at the bottom of the pores, and Ag nanowires (Ag NWs) that do not reach the upper part of the alumina pores. The samples were characterized by Angle Resolved X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy measurements and UV-Vis and Raman Spectroscopies. In the case of µm thick AAO membranes, a simple NaOH etching procedure, followed by sonication in ethanol, allows one to obtain an exposed ordered array of Ag nanorods (Ag NRs), suitable for Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, while in the other case (3 µm thick AAO membranes) the sample can be used in Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance sensing. The AC electrodeposition procedure was extended to copper in order to obtain Cu NSs to be used as sacrificial anodes for the subsequent deposition of Ag. Also in this case the samples were chemically, physically and morphologically characterized and finally tested as sensors. Finally, SERS substrates were produced by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of Ag NPs. The Ag NPs colloidal suspension was prepared by simply using [Ag(NH3)2]+ as silver source and glucose as reducing agent. This simple “green synthesis” allows to obtain an Ag NPs suspension with a good dimensional monodispersion and good optical performances. The obtained Ag NPs are characterized by a negative z-potential and therefore suitable for EPD. The stability of the suspension, obtained by this simple way, is guaranteed by the “protection” of the adsorbed gluconic acid on the Ag NPs surface, that forms during the redox reaction between the [Ag(NH3)2]+ complex and glucose. Because of the gluconic acid protection the Ag NPs maintain their original dimension even after the EPD. Moreover, molecules that bind more strongly to Ag, like thiols or amines, can easily substitute the gluconic acid adsorbed on the Ag NPs surface (weak interaction). Such samples were characterized by XPS, SEM, UV-Vis and finally tested as SERS substrates
Nel corso degli ultimi decenni la sensoristica ottica ha assunto un ruolo di primaria importanza in campo analitico. In particolare, la plasmonica, ovvero quella branca della sensoristica che sfrutta l’eccitazione dei plasmoni di superficie, dovuta all’oscillazione collettiva degli elettroni in banda di conduzione, ha permesso di raggiungere risultati eccellenti in termini di limiti di rivelabilità e accuratezza. Questo tipo di sensoristica sfrutta l’interazione tra le nanoparticelle metalliche che godono di proprietà plasmoniche (Au, Ag, Cu) e le molecole interagenti. Infatti, in condizioni di risonanza, si sviluppa sulla superficie della nanostruttura un fortissimo campo elettrico localizzato che, interagendo con una molecola posizionata all’interfaccia, può amplificare o attenuare le sue proprietà ottiche. In questo tesi sono state esplorate diverse metodiche di sintesi di substrati basati su nanostrutture di argento, ordinate e non, su film sottile per applicazioni in Sensoristica Raman e UV-Visibile (LSPR). I campioni sono stati caratterizzati dal punto di vista chimico, fisico e morfologico e sono stati testati sistematicamente per valutarne l’efficienza e la qualità. Nella prima fase della tesi sono stati preparati dei campioni su substrati di basso costo e facilmente reperibili. A tale scopo sono stati utilizzati dei DVD scrivibili disponibili in commercio, che contengono una distribuzione a spirale di scanalature di forma rettangolare ricoperte da un film sottile di Ag (AgDVD): per la prima volta sono stati usati per produrre substrati per surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) tramite deposizione elettrochimica di nanoparticelle di Ag (AgNPs@AgDVD). La procedura generale richiede solo materiali economici, ampiamente disponibili e può essere facilmente realizzata. Le immagini effettuate tramite Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) mostrano che nelle valli dell’AgDVD sono presenti piccole nanoparticelle di Ag (Ag NPs, diametro medio di circa 15 nm), mentre sulle creste, le Ag NPs sono più grandi, più densamente impaccate e in alcune zone presentano una morfologia di tipo dendritico. Le proprietà SERS di questi substrati sono state studiate in termini di enhancement factor (EF), di ripetitibilità da punto a punto e di riproducibilità da campione a campione. Si è scoperto che i requisiti di alti SERS EF e di una buona riproducibilità sono entrambi soddisfatti. Per quanto riguarda la ripetibilità, sono stati raggiunti risultati di gran lunga migliori rispetto ai valori tipici riportati in letteratura. Tale preparazione easy&cheap con efficienti proprietà SERS rende i substrati SERS derivati dai DVD ottimi candidati per lo sviluppo di sensori convenienti e monouso. Nella seconda fase della tesi sono state cresciute nanostrutture di Ag (Ag NSs) mediante elettodeposizione in corrente alternata utilizzando come template delle membrane di allumina nanoporosa (AAO) direttamente connesse al substrato metallico. A seconda dello spessore del template e del voltaggio applicato durante il processo di crescita è possibile ottenere differenti Ag NSs con differenti proprietà ottiche. Quando si usano AAO da circa 1 µm di spessore, le nanostrutture che si formano sono nanobarre di Ag (Ag NRs), alla base dei pori, e nanotubi di Ag (Ag NTs) che partono dalle nanobarre e riempiono il poro in quasi tutta la sua lughezza. Quando si usano AAO da circa 3 µm di spessore, le nanostrutture che si formano sono sferoidi, alla base dei pori, e nanofili di Ag (Ag NWs) che non raggiungono la parte superiore dei pori dell’allumina. Nel caso delle AAO da circa 1 µm di spessore, un semplice trattamento di erosione in NaOH, seguito da sonicazione in etanolo, permette di ottenere una disposizione ordinata (array) di Ag NRs, adatta per il SERS, mentre nell’altro caso (per le AAO da 3 µm di spessore) i campioni possono essere utilizzati per misure di Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance sensing (LSPR). La procedura di elettrodeposizione in corrente alternata è stata estesa anche al rame al fine di ottenere Cu NSs da utilizzare come anodi sacrificali per la successiva deposizione di Ag. Anche in questo caso i campioni sono stati caratterizzati chimicamente, fisicamente e morfologicamente ed infine testati come sensori. Infine sono stati preparati dei substrati SERS tramite deposizione elettroforetica (EPD) di Ag NPs. La sospensione colloidale di Ag NPs è stata preparata utilizzando semplicemente [Ag(NH3)2]+ come precursore d'argento e glucosio come agente riducente. Questa semplice "sintesi verde" permette di ottenere una sospensione di Ag NPs con una buona monodispersione dimensionale e buone prestazioni ottiche. Le Ag NPs ottenute sono caratterizzate da un potenziale z negativo e quindi adatte per l’EPD. La stabilità della sospensione, ottenuta in questo modo semplice, è garantita dalla "protezione" offerta dall’acido gluconico adsorbito sulle Ag NPs, che si forma durante la reazione redox tra il complesso [Ag(NH3)2]+ e il glucosio. Grazie alla protezione offerta dall’acido gluconico le Ag NPs mantengono la loro dimensione originaria anche dopo l’EPD. Inoltre, le molecole che si legano più fortemente all’Ag, come tioli o ammine, possono facilmente sostituire l'acido gluconico adsorbito sulla superficie delle Ag NPs (interazione debole). Tali campioni sono stati caratterizzati tramite XPS, SEM, UV-Vis e infine sono stati testati come substrati SERS

Questa tesi esplora il ruolo delle informazioni private in diversi scenari nella letteratura di economia dell'informazione. Il primo capitolo considera un ambiente di contrattazione verticale dinamico in cui un produttore si occupa di un rivenditore esclusivo per due periodi. Nel modello, un produttore progetta un contratto a lungo termine con un rivenditore che è informato privatamente della domanda e affronta la concorrenza da un concorrente integrato in futuro. I nostri risultati mostrano che la trasparenza con un operatore integrato danneggia i consumatori. Quando il concorrente non è un'impresa integrata, allora è il grado di persistenza della domanda a determinare se la transparenza avvantaggia, o meno, i consumatori. Il secondo capitolo affronta un semplice problema di progettazione dei meccanismi che descrive il comportamento ottimale di un paese preso di mira da un gruppo terroristico straniero. Il paese è incerto sulla forza dei terroristi e potrebbe decidere di acquisire tali informazioni dalla comunità che ospita i terroristi. Evidenziamo un nuovo compromesso tra il rafforzamento del target e le misure militari preventive volte a sradicare il problema alla radice. In contrasto con la letteratura esistente, i nostri risultati mostrano che è ottimale per il paese acquisire informazioni solo quando queste norme sono sufficientemente forti e quando le sue precedenti informazioni sulla forza dei terroristi sono sufficientemente scarse. L'ultimo capitolo analizza un modello di cheap talk in cui un decisore disinformato cerca consigli da uno o due esperti parzialmente informati i cui pregiudizi sono sconosciuti al decisore. Il nostro risultato suggerisce che chi prende le decisioni può trarre beneficio consultando un singolo esperto piuttosto che due esperti con pregiudizi sconosciuti. Questo risultato suggerisce che ottenere un secondo parere potrebbe non essere sempre utile per il processo decisionale.
This dissertation explores the role of private information under different scenarios in the literature of information economics. The first chapter considers a dynamic vertical contracting environment in which a manufacturer deals with an exclusive retailer for two periods. In the model, a manufacturer designs a long-term contract with a retailer who is privately informed about demand and faces competition by an integrated entrant in the future. Contrary to what intuition suggests, our results show that transparency with an integrated entrant harms consumers. When the entrant is not an integrated firm, whether transparency benefits consumers depends on the degree of demand persistency. The second chapter deals with a simple mechanism design problem that describes the optimal behavior of a country targeted by a foreign terrorist group. The country is uncertain about the terrorists' strength and may decide to acquire such information from the community hosting the terrorists. We highlight a novel trade-off between target hardening and preemptive military measures aimed at eradicating the problem at its root. In contrast with the existing literature, our results show that it is optimal for the country to acquire information only when these norms are strong enough and when its prior information about the terrorists' strength is sufficiently poor. The last chapter analyzes the effect of uncertain biases on strategic information transmission. We consider a simple cheap talk model in which an uninformed decision maker seeks advice from one or two partially informed experts whose biases are unknown to the decision maker. We show that the decision maker may benefit from consulting a single expert rather than two experts with unknown biases. This result suggests that getting second opinion may not be always helpful for decision making.

Som en följd av globaliseringen, har antalet aktörer inom den textila sektorn ökat drastiskt. På så vis har konkurrensen mellan företag hårdnat och varumärket har utvecklats till ett viktigt konkurrensmedel. Nyetablerade företag har numera svårt att skapa en långvarig position på marknaden. Med detta som grund utvecklades uppsatsens syfte att studera hur nyetablerade företag arbetar för att bygga ett starkt varumärke och en varumärkesidentitet. Studien har utgått från en kvalitativ metod där två fallföretag studerats. För att utvinna relevant information har semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts.I den teoretiska referensramen beskrivs varumärkesplattformen av Frans Melin samt David Aakers modell för varumärkesidentitetens byggstenar. Dessutom behandlas Aakers fyra uppställda identitetsfällor. Våra fallföretag, Sail Racing och Cheap Monday, är båda nyetablerade på marknaden, därav lämpar de sig bra för vår studie. Intervjuer med fallföretagen har sammanställts i det empiriska kapitlet, för att tillsammans med teorin ligga till grund för analysen.I analysen jämförs företagens arbetssätt med teorins lagar och samband utvinns, det visade sig att Sail Racing följer många av våra behandlade teorier till punkt och pricka. Cheap Monday, däremot, går emot teorierna och bygger sitt varumärke fritt från lagar. Avslutningsvis mynnar uppsatsen ut i ett antal slutsatser som grundats i uppsatta frågeställningar. Sammantaget skiljer sig företagens syn på varumärket åt, då Sail Racing arbetar aktivt med sin identitet medan Cheap Monday har en mindre fokuserad syn på sina marknadsaktiviteter.
Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

This dissertation consists of three research papers on cheap talk game and satisficing behaviour. The first chapter examines the potential for communication via cheap talk between an expert and a decision maker whose type (preferences) is uncertain. The expert privately observes states for each type of the decision maker and wants to persuade the decision maker to choose an action in his favour by informing her of the states. The decision maker privately observes her type and chooses an action. An optimal action for the decision maker depends upon both her type and type-specific states. In equilibrium the expert can always inform the decision maker in the form of comparative statements and the decision maker also can partially reveal her type to the expert or public. The second and third chapters build a dynamic model of satisficing behaviour in which an agent’s “expected” payoff is explicitly introduced, where this expectation is adaptively formed. If the agent receives a payoff above her satisficing level she continues with the current action, updating her valuation of the action. If she receives a payoff below her satisficing level and her valuation falls below her satisficing level she updates both her action and satisficing level. In the second chapter, we find that in the long run, all players satisfice. In individual decision problems, satisficing behaviour results in cautious, maximin choice and in normal form games like the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Stag Hunt, they in the long run play either cooperative or defective outcomes conditional on past plays. In coordination games like the Battle of the Sexes, Choosing Sides and Common Interest, they in the long run coordinate on Pareto optimal outcomes. In the third chapter, we find that satisficing players in the long run play subgame dominant paths, which is a refinement of subgame perfection, and identify conditions with which they ‘always cooperate’ or ‘fairly coordinate’ in repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma and Battle of the Sexes games, respectively, and truthfully communicate in sender-receiver games. Proofs and simulations are provided in appendices.

This project revolves around creating a home automation system prototype with the main focus being the ability to lock/unlock a door through the internet. The system consists of a central device, a server and an Android application.The central device is a microprocessor, in this case, a Raspberry Pi that connects to the Internet and receives an order to control a motor which in turn turns the lock with the help of gears. The ability to rotate the motor in both directions is achieved by the use of an H-bridge. The server manages users and devices, and handles the communication between the application and the central device. Users and devices are stored in a database on the server. The application is a frontend which presents the user with a list of devices to interact with.The main prototype where the Raspberry Pi acted as a central device was abandoned due to time and resource constraints. It was instead used to control the motor directly. This brought up some problems concerning powering the device using batteries. The software of the prototype is mostly working but due to the same time limitations not all planned features could be implemented.

This thesis is concerned with the smallest and cheapest products of the Venetian presses in the sixteenth century. Pamphlets and printed fliers were the most accessible articles of printed matter to the wider public, and they are crucial to understanding how the technology of printing infiltrated the urban life of Venice in this period. To this end, Chapter One is concerned with the spaces of print dissemination in the city, mapping information about the locations of presses, bookshops, and stalls in the city. A particular focus is the street trade in cheap print, how this interacted with established shops and was drawn to particular times and spaces of public gathering. Chapters Two and Three consider the chief producers and disseminators of cheap print: printers and publishers, and vendors both established and itinerant. I examine the people who came to make up the printing industry in this developmental phase, and the role that the production of cheap print played in the process of establishing a successful business. A focus on performers who published or sold cheap print-enacting the oral dissemination of texts in tandem with their printed diffusion-suggests how broader publics, of every shade from illiterate to literate, were becoming acculturated to an expanding print culture. Chapter Four then concentrates on representative examples of printed pamphlets produced in Venice by itinerant publishers and performers in collaboration with members of the local printing industry, for example, tales of chivalry, poems about recent wars, charlatans' recipes, and prognostications. Finally, in Chapter Five I consider how cheap print dissemination fared in the intensifying climate of control and censorship of the Counter-Reformation era.

The theme of this thesis is the depletion of petroleum (crude oil and natural gas). Are there reasons to be concerned about an ‘end of cheap oil’ in the near future? There is a lively debate regarding this issue. The debate is sometimes described as a clash of ‘concerned’ natural scientists and ‘unconcerned’ economists. However, this clash is both harmful and unnecessary. The views of natural scientists and economists can and should be reconciled. At the micro-level, geological and physical factors (such as diminishing reservoir productivity) are parameters in the producer’s economic optimization problem. Bottom-up modeling therefore appears to hold more promise for forming a common understanding of depletion than prevailing top-down models, such as the controversial Hubbert model. The appended papers treat various aspects of petroleum depletion: critical examination of top-down scenarios (I); bottom-up economic and geologic modeling of regional production (II); review of published bottom-up models and sensitivity analysis (III); simulation of success rates and expectations in oil exploration (IV); bottom-up scenarios of future natural gas production in Norway (V) and Russia (VI); empirical analysis of production profiles of giant oil fields (VII). Bottom-up models have the potential to be accepted by scientists from different disciplines, and they enable interpretable sensitivity analyses. They are, however, not likely to reduce quantitative uncertainty in long-term scenarios. There is theoretical evidence of the possibility that petroleum scarcity occurs long before the recoverable resource is close to exhaustion. This result is a consequence of both geological and economical factors. Several arguments for an ‘unconcerned’ view are at best uncertain, and at worst relying on questionable assumptions (analyzing reserves rather than production flows, using irrelevant reserve definitions, using average cost instead of marginal cost). The considerable uncertainty regarding an issue of such importance is in itself a cause for concern.

This thesis is concerned with the manner in which labour has been employed in the British Columbia fishing industry, and with the more general historical development of a labour force which provides labour power at wages below full subsistence costs. The phrase "cheap labour" refers to this labour force. The thesis briefly traces the emergence of capitalism in feudal England and argues that labour power was priced in two ways. Organised male craft workers fought for the "family wage"; that is, for wages that would cover not only their own costs of production and reproduction, but also those of their dependents. This meant, however, that when women and children worked for wages, these were not designed to cover their subsistence requirements. They were employed as "cheap labour." With European colonisation, gender criteria were extended to incorporate racial criteria. It is argued that cheap labourers came to be distinguished by race and ethnicity, in addition to gender and age. The differentiation of labour based on biological criteria was adopted elsewhere, and the main body of the thesis is concerned with how this process occurred within British Columbia's fishing industry. The B.C. industry began with canners who had to recruit a new labour force in regions without large supplies of European workers. The thesis traces how canners employed native peoples and Chinese male labourers. The argument is advanced that these groups were paid wages below the costs of subsistence, and that the groups survived because they were embedded in pre-capitalist social relations. They subsisted through a combination of wage labour and unpaid work. The thesis examines Marx's labour theory of value for its utility in explaining the development of a "cheap labour force." Although the theory must be re-worked to incorporate two forms of labour power, it provides a more appropriate model than that of the dual labour market theories. The method of historical materialism, which Marx employed, can be used to re-work the labour theory of value. In particular, the method allows for an analysis of resistance by labourers (for example, through trade union organization, such as the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union). These theoretical applications are discussed in the thesis.
Arts, Faculty of
Anthropology, Department of
Graduate

Since the discovery of catalyst-transfer polymerization in 2004 there has been significant research into expanding the scope from Kumada couplings of poly-thiophenes mediated by nickel initiators. This thesis presents an investigation toward the synthesis of -conjugated polymers by the elusive pseudo-living polymerization of chloroarene monomers. Chapter 1 sets the scene with an in-depth review of chain-growth polymerizations mediated by palladium catalysts. In chapter 2, we report the first examples of exhaustive substitution of poly-chloroarenes in the presence of a deficit of nucleophile in the sp3-sp2 Negishi coupling mediated by PEPPSI-IPr. These experiments demonstrated intramolecular transfer of the active catalyst which is essential for catalyst-transfer polymerization. Chapter 3 describes the synthesis of the highly active PEPPSI-IPent precatalyst from cheap commercially available starting materials with minimal purification. Subsequently in chapter 4, it was demonstrated that PEPPSI-IPent undergoes exhaustive substitution of poly-chloroarenes in the presence of a deficit of nucleophile in sp2-sp2 Kumada, Negishi and Suzuki cross-couplings. In chapter 5, optimization of current Kumada polymerization of bromo phenylene-based monomer mediated by PEPPSI-IPr is described. Direct comparison of model reactions and Kumada polycondensation confirmed high selectivity for exhaustive substitution is required to achieve polycondensation in a chain-growth manner. Initial research into catalyst-transfer polycondensation of chloroarene monomers did not achieve polymerization in a chain-growth manner using modified conditions from bromoarene monomers.

With a background in ceramics and graphic designI have developed my thoughts about craft as a combination of verbal and nonverbal communication, but in textiles. With the written word as one of my main materials this project looks into class and material hierarchies filtered through autofictivestories from my life. This paper explores themes that impact my decisions in the making process, choosing materials, motifs, texts and words, politics and poetry. It deals with all the information I push into patchworking, shirring, tufting and sculpting textiles, with the goal to paint a picture of an often unwanted section of society. To discuss this I have chosen references dealing with sloppy craft, text based art, graffiti and craft traditions, in a mix with news articles and economy. Through all parts of the project I am on balancing line between chaos and perfection, truth and fiction.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb. 15, 2010 ). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. A. Cooper Drury. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Increased use of renewable energies that is taking place all over the world is having a very important impact on the photovoltaic solar energy industry. This means of obtaining electrical energy is one of the most promising ones nowadays, thanks to the fact that it is a technology of easy installation and maintenance. However, the number of hours that a photovoltaic system works at maximum power depends almost entirely on environmental conditions, mainly in terms of solar irradiance.Solar irradiance is a magnitude that measures the power released by sunlight per unit area; the higher it is, the more power the photovoltaic system will generate.Therefore, it is very important to measure this magnitude in order to obtain data that either can give information about which is the best place to install a photovoltaic system or expect the device performance.Unfortunately, sensors used nowadays to measure this magnitude are quite expensive. The most widely used are the so-called pyranometers, with an average cost of between 8000 SEK to 10000 SEK, and solar reference cells, which can be quite cheaper (1000 SEK), but also can be the most expensive devices on the market depending on the features they have (some reference cells cost 20000 SEK).In this thesis, a solar irradiance sensor based on the treatment of a current generated by a silicon photodiode has been designed, built and calibrated. The signal generated by the device is a voltage that has been obtained by means of a current-to-voltage converter amplifier stage. Once the construction of the circuit was completed, it was tested on the roof of Hall 45 located in the University of Gävle. The testing was carried out on 13, 14 and 15 May 2019, and it consisted in the comparison of the signal generated by the new device and the signals generated by a pyranometer and a solar cell.The result is a device priced at 200 SEK, which shows acceptable levels of accuracy during central daylight hours but shows a strong angular dependence on incident light during sunrise and sunset.

Den svenska detaljhandeln, och i synnerhet den svenska klädbranschen, är en av Sveriges viktigaste näringsgrenar. Hennes & Mauritz, ett av Sveriges största företag, genomförde våren 2008 sitt första företagsförvärv någonsin. Fabric Scandinavia, företaget bakom bland annat klädmärket Cheap Monday och butikskedjan Weekday köptes för 1 miljard kronor. Cheap Monday sticker ut i branschen som ett mycket framgångsrikt varumärke som marknadsfört sig själv utan att använda sig av traditionell marknadsföring. Med detta som bakgrund är uppsatsen syfte (1) att identifiera Cheap Mondays marknadsföringsstrategi och i synnerhet marknadsföringen av varumärket och (2) att undersöka samt utvärdera hur marknadsföringsstrategin och marknadsföringen av varumärket uppfattas och mottas av Cheap Mondays målgrupp. Genom att använda marknadsföringsmixen med en fördjupning inom varumärkeskännedom som instrument, undersöker denna uppsats hur Cheap Mondays marknadsföringsstrategi och dess varumärke fungerar och uppfattas av deras målgrupp. Resultaten från uppsatsens undersökning visar att marknadsföringsstrategier som inkluderar word-of-mouth och använder sig av butiker som kommunikationskanaler mellan producent och konsument fungerat och gjort Cheap Monday till ett mycket välkänt varumärke inom dess målgrupp.

There is strong empirical support for behavioral parent training (BPT) as an intervention for children with externalizing behavior problems (EBP). However, there is a lack of studies that have investigated the effectiveness of BPT in routine care. Furthermore, most families in need of service do not gain access to it. Another issue of concern is that a sizable portion of children who take part in BPT does not show clinical significant improvement. With regard to behavioral teacher training (BTT) for students with EBP, there is a paucity of intervention trials using randomized design. The training procedures have rarely been standardized, which have resulted in interventions that are dependent upon heavy involvement of external consultants. To improve the accessibility to service for students with EBP, intervention models that are feasible for typical school personnel need to be developed. Study I investigated the effects of BPT in routine care. The participants were randomized to BPT with full practitioner support (BPT-P), self-administered BPT with minimal practitioner support (BPT-S), or a waitlist control group (WL). The study showed that BPT implemented by briefly trained social service employees (BPT-P) resulted in at least as large effects as previous efficacy studies. PMT-S also showed significant effects compared to the WL, but was less effective than PMT-P. Improvements in child behaviors were mediated by improved parenting behaviors. Study II investigated the effects of an enhanced version of the BPT-program from study I. The program targeted families with risk factors for non-response that were referred to service within the social services. The results showed strong intervention effects on child EBP and parent anxiety/depression for enhanced BPT compared to regular BPT. Study III used a randomized design to evaluate the effects of a standardized and feasible BTT program. At both posttest and follow-up, significant effects favoring the BTT-group over the active control group were found on student EBP, teacher behavior management, and peer problems. The study also showed that the effect on student EBP was mediated by change in teacher behavior management.

Chapter 1: Intrafamily Bargaining and Love Popular culture and common wisdom testify that the way partners in a relationship feel for one another very much depends on how they treat each other. This paper posits the hypothesis that altruism or love in a relationship is endogenous to the actions of the partners and studies how this influences allocations and efficiency in a bargaining model of household decision-making. The main results are that agents treat their partner in a kinder way than without endogenously evolving love, this leads to more equitable allocations in household decision making and greater intertemporal efficiency. There are two mechanisms at work: agents treat their partner nicely to avoid retribution by a less loving partner in the future; and they treat the partner nicely so that the kind reciprocal behavior raises their own love towards the partner, which lets them enjoy higher utility. As to love, two interpretations emerge: love is a commitment device by which couples can implement Pareto superior allocations; and love is an investment good in the sense that costly nice behavior towards the partner today may ensure higher levels of trust and efficiency in the future. Chapter 2: Perception of Technology and Technological Progress under Extractive Institutions This paper explores the impact of different perceptions of the nature of technology - whether it may grow in an arithmetic or geometric fashion - on the choices of an elite that lives on extracting resources from the productive populace. We show that slow potential growth destroys the credibility of inclusive institutions that the elite may consider in order to foster growth whereas these can and will be implemented if populace and elite believe in fast growth. Belief in the potential of technological growth leads to growth-friendly policies under both extractive and inclusive institutions and, as history progresses, the true nature of technology reveals itself and this belief spreads. Chapter 3: A critical literature review of the Property Rights Theory of the Firm and the communication of Unprotected Information Assets This paper reviews the literature centred on the question of what kind of settings facilitate the transmission of unverifiable pieces of information that re- side with an agent whose incentives are not well aligned with an agent for whom this piece of information is useful. The question is framed within the Property Rights Theory of the Firm and its answers make extensive use of the modelling device of Cheap Talk. The main findings are that communication leads to costly distortions and the efforts to decrease bias and information loss may trigger major revisions to the structure of incentive systems and the allocation of decision-rights. The paper argues that the literature has so far failed to properly examine the question of property rights of information and is therefore focused on niche applications.

The thesis identifies goals of proportionate dispute resolution (PDR). The operation of the decision-making and dispute resolution processes relating to the provision of remedial help for children with special educational needs (SEN) is examined to assess attainment of these goals. A factual basis is established for the analysis by describing the relevant legislative provisions and what is known about their operation from existing empirical research. The exercise of discretion is examined. A theoretical framework is devised to enable consideration of the balance of trade-offs; collective goals and individual interests; and adequacy of redress. The SEN decision-making and appeals processes are analysed with reference to this framework. Parties to SEN disputes are parents and Local Education Authorities (LEAs). Attainment of PDR goals by the formal SEN dispute resolution mechanisms is assessed and the mechanisms compared. In 2002, obligations were imposed upon LEAs to provide informal disagreement resolution services in the form of conciliation and mediation. The strengths and weaknesses of these dispute resolution models are considered with reference to theoretical and empirical works. The effect of their introduction is then assessed with reference to the framework and attainment of PDR goals. None of the formal or informal dispute resolution mechanisms assure attainment of all of the PDR goals. Neither does the operation of the system as a whole. Analysis of the children's services complaints model using the framework reveals that this model assures attainment of all PDR goals and affords adequate redress. The model appears to resolve problems identified in the SEN dispute resolution process, and to be a promising candidate both for reform of that process and for a unified system of education and children's services complaints. The role of children in the process and possibilities for one-door access and a single system are considered.

コウモリは1送信2受信器のミニマルな超音波センシングデザインからは想像できない，高度な3次元飛行を実現させている．本論文では，①繰り返し同じ障害物環境下を飛行するコウモリの未知と既知の空間に対する音響センシング行動の違いを比較した．さらに，②未知環境飛行時に見られる特徴的な空間スキャニングの行動パターンをモデル化し，自律走行車を用いてコウモリの行動の有用性を実環境センシングのふるまいから定量的に評価した．
Bats possess a highly developed biosonar system that can be regarded as the minimum sensor requirement for three-dimensional spatial sensing. The present study 1) experimentally investigated changes in the pulse direction, pulse emission timing and flight path of CF-FM bats during an obstacle avoidance flight as the bats became familiar with the space around them and 2) expressed behavioral principles observed in the bats during flight, especially in an unfamiliar space, using an algorithm and then embedded the principles into an autonomous vehicle equipped with simple ultrasound sensors. The findings of this world-leading biomimetic research offer new possibilities for artificial-intelligence navigation systems.
博士(工学)
Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering
同志社大学
Doshisha University

This PhD in Creative Writing consists of three parts. The first part is a full-length novel, approximately 80K words, entitled Pure Mafia. It is a drama about child labour and the Pakistani “carpet mafia”. This is intertwined with the story of an unhappily married man undergoing a midlife crisis who has an affair with a younger woman; the latter is instrumental to the main plot about child labour. The book’s second main theme is British Pakistanis. An overarching theme is abuse and exploitation, both personal and global, but ultimately of redemption and renewal. The story is set in 2010/2011, mainly in London, England, with a middle section in Lahore, Pakistan. The second part is an academic thesis, approximately 20K words, entitled Cheap Labour = Child Labour, on the main theme of the novel, child labour. It attempts to show that child labour is an inevitable consequence of cheap labour generally, and that the only way to tackle child labour is to address cheap labour. The thesis has been consciously and deliberately written as an objective, third person, standalone document and for this reason does not mention the novel. It is partly designed to fulfil the general PhD criterion of demonstrating scholarship and research. The third part is a subjective, first person critical commentary, approximately 15K words, on the writing of the novel and the thesis, the connection between them, and the research context; it is entitled Pure Mafia: A critical commentary. It explains why the main thesis is on child labour, rather than on the creative process or an English Literature thesis; however, the commentary does include in some detail an insight into the creative process, as well as a discussion of influences and tradition of writing. The final section of the commentary summarises this entire PhD’s original contribution to knowledge.

Robotic vacuum cleaners are popular domestic robots that clean floors without human intervention. The purpose of this report is to study how cheap robotic vacuum cleaners’ navigation pattern can be improved. This is achieved by simulating two models of robotic vacuum cleaners, one “simple” and one “smart”, both relying on the knowledge that cheap sensors can provide about the surrounding environment. As the results show how the smart robot is better than the simple robot in all simulations in terms of floor coverage, the results are considered successful. The fact that the simulations are simplified versions of real-life robotic vacuum cleaners is discussed, and future work could consider examining more realistic simulations or experiment on real-life robotic vacuum cleaners.
Robotdammsugare är populära hushållsrobotar som städar golv utan människors inblandning. Syftet med den här rapporten är att undersöka hur billiga robotdammsugares navigeringsmönster kan förbättras. Detta görs genom att simulera två modeller av robotdammsugare, en "simpel" och en "smart", där båda förlitar sig på information som billiga sensorer kan ge om omgivningen. Resultaten anses vara lyckade då de visar hur den smarta roboten presterar bättre än den simpla roboten i alla simulationer. Faktumet att simulationerna är simplifierade versioner av verkliga robotdammsugare diskuteras och framtida forskning kan undersöka mer realistiska simulationer eller experimentera med riktiga robotdammsugare.