Prediction of market switching and delisting events from OMX First North Nordic multilateral stock exchange

This thesis studies the predictability of market switching and delisting events from OMX First North Nordic multilateral stock exchange by using financial statement information and market information from 2007 to 2012. This study was conducted by using a three stage process. In first stage relevant theoretical framework and initial variable pool were constructed. Then, explanatory analysis of the initial variable pool was done in order to further limit and identify relevant variables. The explanatory analysis was conducted by using self-organizing map methodology. In the third stage, the predictive modeling was carried out with random forests and support vector machine methodologies. It was found that the explanatory analysis was able to identify relevant variables. The results indicate that the market switching and delisting events can be predicted in some extent. The empirical results also support the usability of financial statement and market information in the prediction of market switching and delisting events.

Myyntitiimin organisaatiokansalaisuus: taustatekijät ja korrelaatio taloudelliseen tulokseen : Case: Top-Sport Oy

Jatkuvassa muutoksessa olevan työelämän yksi suurimpia haasteita on työntekijöiden työssä jaksaminen ja työhyvinvointi. Vaikka haasteisiin onkin jo puututtu ja esimerkiksi työhyvinvointia mitataan monissa työpaikoissa, olosuhteiden parantaminen vielä asia erikseen. Osasyy siihen, että työhyvinvoinnin parantamiseen ei keskitytä tarpeeksi saattaa olla se, että työhyvinvoinnin merkitystä taloudellisen menestyksen kannalta ei ole pystytty tieteellisesti todistamaan. Tässä tutkielmassa tutkitaan myyntitiimien sisäisiä ominaisuuksia ja erityisesti myyntitiimien organisaatiokansalaisuutta, sen taustatekijöitä ja niiden lineaarista riippuvuussuhdetta myyntitiimin taloudelliseen tulokseen. Tutkielman päätarkoituksena on pyrkiä selvittämään löytyykö myyntitiimin taloudellisen tuloksen ja myyntitiimin organisaatiokansalaisuuden ja sen taustatekijöiden välillä suhdetta, mikä voisi selittää myyntitiimin työhyvinvoinnin ja taloudellisen tuloksen välistä mekaniikkaa. Pääongelma onkin, miten organisaatiokansalaisuus ja sen taustatekijät myyntitiimissä korreloivat tiimin taloudelliseen tuloksen kanssa? Tutkielman teoriaosuudessa keskitytään myyntitiimien teoriaan ja organisaatiokansalaisuuden teoriaan. Tiimien käyttö kaikissa organisaatioissa on yleistynyt valtavasti viime vuosikymmenien aikana. Tiimeistä on tullut organisaatioihin toimintatapa, jolla asiat saadaan toimimaan yksikön funktiosta tai toimialasta huolimatta. Tutkielman toinen teoria liittyy organisaatiokansalaisuuteen. Organisaatiokansalaisuus on johtamisen kirjallisuudesta löytyvä ilmiö, mikä merkitsee työntekijöiden sellaista vapaaehtoista käytöstä, minkä lopputulemana organisaatio menestyy paremmin. Tutkielmassa empiirisessä osassa keskitytään tutkimaan vapaa-ajan vaatteita ja välineitä myyvän Top-Sport Oy:n myyntitiimejä. Tutkimus on toteutettu laadullisena case-tutkimuksena. Tutkimukseen osallistuivat kaikki organisaation 24 myyntitiimiä. Aineisto kerättiin kyselylomakkeen avulla. Kyselylomakkeen sisältö johdettiin tutkielman teoreettisessa viitekehyksessä. Aineiston analysoimisessa käytettiin hyväksi taloustieteen kvantitatiivisia menetelmiä, jonka jälkeen tuloksia tulkittiin teoreettisen viitekehyksen ja tutkijan näkemyksen pohjalta. Tutkielman keskeisinä tuloksina löydettiin, että organisaatiokansalaisuus on positiivisesti korreloiva monien ilmiön taustatekijöiden kuten esimiestyytyväisyyden, ilmapiirin ja sitoutumisen kanssa. Toisaalta organisaatiokansalaisuuden löydettiin korreloivan negatiivisesti myyntitiimin jäsenten työsuhteen keston ja erityisesti myyntitiimin taloudellisen tuloksen kanssa. Johtopäätöksenä tutkielmasta voidaan sanoa, että yleisesti positiivisena ilmiönä pidettyä organisaatiokansalaisuutta tulisi alkaa tarkastella kriittisemmin, koska tutkielman tulosten mukaan organisaatiokansalaisuus ei ole yksiselitteisesti positiivinen ilmiö ainakaan myyntitiimin taloudelliseen tuloksen näkökulmasta.

Rare adverse events associated with oral poliovirus vaccine in Brazil

Oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) developed by A. Sabin has been effectively used to control poliomyelitis in Brazil, and the last case with the isolation of a wild poliovirus strain occurred in March 1989. Although the vaccine controlled the circulation of wild strains and poliomyelitis cases associated with these strains were not detected during the last eight years, rare cases classified as vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) have been detected. Molecular characterization studies of poliovirus strains isolated from VAPP cases and from healthy contacts have confirmed that the isolates are derived from the Sabin vaccine strains and also detected genomic modifications known or suspected to increase neurovirulence such as mutations and recombination. The molecular characterization of polioviruses isolated during the last eight years from paralysis cases classified as Guillain-Barré (GBS) syndrome and transverse myelitits (TM), and from facial paralysis (FP) cases also confirmed the vaccine origin of the strains and demonstrated mutations known to increase neurovirulence. Analysis of the epidemiologic data of these GBS, TM and FP cases demonstrated that in most of them the last OPV dose was given months or years before the onset of the disease and the isolation of the polioviruses. The temporal association between the isolation of these strains and the GBS, TM and FP suggested that the Sabin vaccine-derived poliovirus strains could also rarely trigger the diseases.

Comparison of AutoSetä and polysomnography for the detection of apnea-hypopnea events

The use of the flow vs time relationship obtained with the nasal prongs of the AutoSetä (AS) system (diagnosis mode) has been proposed to detect apneas and hypopneas in patients with reasonable nasal patency. Our aim was to compare the accuracy of AS to that of a computerized polysomnographic (PSG) system. The study was conducted on 56 individuals (45 men) with clinical characteristics of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Their mean (± SD) age was 44.6 ± 12 years and their body mass index was 31.3 ± 7 kg/m2. Data were submitted to parametric analysis to determine the agreement between methods and the intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated. The Student t-test and Bland and Altman plots were also used. Twelve patients had an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) <10 in bed and 20 had values >40. The mean (± SD) AHI PSG index of 37.6 (28.8) was significantly lower (P = 0.0003) than AHI AS (41.8 (25.3)), but there was a high intraclass correlation coefficient (0.93), with 0.016 variance. For a threshold of AHI of 20, AS showed 73.0% accuracy, 97% sensitivity and 60% specificity, with positive and negative predictive values of 78% and 93%, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity and negative predictive values increased in parallel to the increase in AHI threshold for detecting OSA. However, when the differences of AHI PSG-AS were plotted against their means, the limits of agreement between the methods (95% of the differences) were +13 and -22, showing the discrepancy between the AHI values obtained with PSG and AS. Finally, cubic regression analysis was used to better predict the result of AHI PSG as a function of the method proposed, i.e., AHI AS. We conclude that, despite these differences, AHI measured by AutoSetä can be useful for the assessment of patients with high pre-test clinical probability of OSA, for whom standard PSG is not possible as an initial step in diagnosis.

The Concept of Betterness and Sport Competitions

It is common that people disagree on a question which athlete or team was the best in a particular sport competition. This thesis attempts to clarify these disputes by analysing the concept of betterness in the context of sport competitions. Betterness can be interpersonal, intrapersonal or a combination of the two. I focus on interpersonal betterness, that is, on superiority. For example, interpersonal betterness may be contested in a football match between the national teams of Germany and Argentina. My aim is to provide a philosophical account of interpersonal betterness. The account has two functions: descriptive and normative. It describes the shapes and forms in which superiority is instantiated in sport competitions. It also provides a consistent and accurate way to discuss superiority. The thesis consists of two parts. In the first part, I introduce, elaborate and illustrate my account, which in turn consists of three elements: (1) relations of superiority, (2) standards for the relations of superiority and (3) types of competition. I also discuss my account’s relevance to issues of sport ethics through the example of gender equity and women’s ski jumping. I conclude that this account will not end the disputes over which team or athlete was better in a particular competition. Instead, it provides tools for a more consistent discussion of the disputed issues. The second part of the thesis includes five reprinted original articles. The account presented in the first part is based on these publications.

Engagement of multifocal neural circuits during recall of autobiographical happy events

Happy emotional states have not been extensively explored in functional magnetic resonance imaging studies using autobiographic recall paradigms. We investigated the brain circuitry engaged during induction of happiness by standardized script-driven autobiographical recall in 11 healthy subjects (6 males), aged 32.4 ± 7.2 years, without physical or psychiatric disorders, selected according to their ability to vividly recall personal experiences. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) changes were recorded during auditory presentation of personal scripts of happiness, neutral content and negative emotional content (irritability). The same uniform structure was used for the cueing narratives of both emotionally salient and neutral conditions, in order to decrease the variability of findings. In the happiness relative to the neutral condition, there was an increased BOLD signal in the left dorsal prefrontal cortex and anterior insula, thalamus bilaterally, left hypothalamus, left anterior cingulate gyrus, and midportions of the left middle temporal gyrus (P < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons). Relative to the irritability condition, the happiness condition showed increased activity in the left insula, thalamus and hypothalamus, and in anterior and midportions of the inferior and middle temporal gyri bilaterally (P < 0.05, corrected), varying in size between 13 and 64 voxels. Findings of happiness-related increased activity in prefrontal and subcortical regions extend the results of previous functional imaging studies of autobiographical recall. The BOLD signal changes identified reflect general aspects of emotional processing, emotional control, and the processing of sensory and bodily signals associated with internally generated feelings of happiness. These results reinforce the notion that happiness induction engages a wide network of brain regions.

Efeito da dieta, estatina e ácidos graxos ômega-3 sobre a pressão arterial e a lipidemia em humanos

As doenças cardiovasculares são responsáveis pela alta taxa de mortalidade nos países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento, assim, têm sido alvo de vários estudos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as concentrações de colesterol e suas frações, triglicérides e pressão arterial em humanos. O estudo foi dividido em três tratamentos - dieta (placebo), estatina e ácidos graxos ômega-3 com dieta de 1200 kcal por dia para todos os grupos com oito pacientes cada, e vários parâmetros foram avaliados no tempo zero e 30 dias. Conclui-se que para o tratamento dieta houve diminuição de peso, colesterol total, HDL-c, triglicérides, Pressão arterial sistólica (PAS), Pressão arterial diastólica (PAD) e aumento no LDL-c. No tratamento estatina, houve redução de peso, colesterol total, LDL-c, triglicérides, PAS, PAD e aumento do HDL-c. Já no tratamento com ômega-3, constatou-se a diminuição de peso, colesterol total, LDL-c, triglicérides; aumento de PAS e PAD e níveis de HDL-c iguais.

Detection of genetically modified maize events in Brazilian maize-derived food products

The Brazilian government has approved many transgenic maize lines for commercialization and has established a threshold of 1% for food labeling, which underscores need for monitoring programs. Thirty four samples including flours and different types of nacho chips were analyzed by conventional and real-time PCR in 2011 and 2012. The events MON810, Bt11, and TC1507 were detected in most of the samples, and NK603 was present only in the samples analyzed in 2012. The authorized lines GA21, T25, and the unauthorized Bt176 were not detected. All positive samples in the qualitative tests collected in 2011 showed a transgenic content higher than 1%, and none of them was correctly labeled. Regarding the samples collected in 2012, all positive samples were quantified higher than the threshold, and 47.0% were not correctly labeled. The overall results indicated that the major genetically modified organisms detected were MON810, TC1507, Bt11, and NK603 events. Some industries that had failed to label their products in 2011 started labeling them in 2012, demonstrating compliance with the current legislation observing the consumer rights. Although these results are encouraging, it has been clearly demonstrated the need for continuous monitoring programs to ensure consumers that food products are labeled properly.

Conflicting Memory in Estonia: How Do Estonian Russian-speakers Understand the Events of 1939-40?

This thesis studies the collective memory of the Russian-speaking minority living in Estonia. The minority is exposed to two national narratives regarding the incorporation of Estonia into the Soviet Union in 1940. According to the Estonian narrative, Estonia was occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union while the Soviet-Russian narrative sees the actions to have been legal and voluntary. This thesis firstly examines thoughts the existence of these two opposing narratives evoke among the Russian-speaking minority and secondly it explores whether the views of the minority compare with the two official yet divergent narratives. The study focuses on the second and third generation minority members. The topic belongs to the field of memory studies. The objective is to understand the views the Russian minority have towards the controversial events of the years 1939-40. To accomplish the objectives set, a web-based survey using open-ended and multiple-choice questions was conducted. The open-ended questions addressed the main research questions while the multiple-choice questions contributed to forming a more comprehensive understanding of the subject in question. In order to interpret the data, qualitative content analysis has been applied. Based on the findings, the Russian-speaking minority respondents’ understanding of the events of 1939-40 could be described as fragmented, inconsistent and including viewpoints that resulted from the merger of different storylines. There is no single cohesive or coherent narrative of the past amongst the minority. In addition to that, their views do not generally comply with the narrative of the Russian Federation as often referred to in literature, even though the minority respondents do not want to see the Soviet involvement as critically as the Estonian narrative does. Many respondents conceive the events of 1939-40 as ambiguous revealing the ability to be tolerant and receptive in their views regarding the past.

Increased profitability and efficiency by improving the Meetings & Events Category S2P-process – Case Company

The purpose of this research was to examine the most optimal way to arrange meetings and events management and source to pay –process in a global company. The research is a qualitative multi-method case study and is a commission from a global company. The theoretical framework of this research structures around two approaches. First approach focus on a purchasing strategy and management that shows the current role of procure-ment and introduce different ways to organize purchasing functions. Second approach focus on purchasing process management and improvement methods. Annual spend analyze, external and internal interviews and internal survey were done to gain compre-hensive knowledge about the current state of operations and possible solutions. Gathered data were then combined to theoretical framework in order to create optimal solution for the case company. Based on the research a source to pay –process and global policy for meeting and event category was created. The solution includes all relevant matters that are needed in order to secure efficient and profitable operations. The results show that optimal way to arrange meetings and events structures around standardized source to pay –processes, central-ized procurement, preferred supplier and clearly defined roles and responsibilities be-tween different stakeholders.

Triadic Perspective to Sport Sponsorship Relationships

Often the empirical studies about sport sponsorship co-operation have concentrated on the relationships between the sponsor and the sponsored target excluding the phenomenon sports manager, i.e. the intermediating actor from further examination. In this study the purpose was to contribute to the research gap in the current literature by thoroughly describing the roles and relationships in the sport sponsorship co-operation that includes an intermediating actor, that is a triad. The main objective was pursued to fulfill with the help of two sub-level research questions that were identified as ”What is the nature of the sport sponsorship triad?” and ”What is the role of the intermediating actor within the sport sponsorship triad?” First, the theorethical framework was constructed based on the existing literature of business relationship triads and sponsorship co-operation that were integrated in the synthesis of the theories the purpose of which was to produce a framework for empirical research. Then a qualitative research was conducted by using a single-case study approach. The data was collected through a semi-structured theme interview in person with the sports manager. Similar questionnaires were sent out to the sponsor and the athlete and answered in writing. After collecting the data, the actor roles’ and their relationships were examined individually, after which the analysis of the results was carried out and divided according to the research questions. The nature of the sport sponsorship triad was found to be a serial triad that could be likened to a system of two dyads connected by the intermediating actor. Each actor seemed to occupy a specific justifiable position within the co-operation, even though the relationships were found to be unbalanced in terms of resources, power/strength, interaction patterns and interconnectedness. The core role of the intermediating actor was found to be the role of a mediator, which was seen to increase the other parties’ dependence of the manager’s performance. Therefore, the role of the intermediating actor should be considered crucial for the very existence of the sport sponsorship co-operation, especially in cases where the nature of the triad is a serial triad.

The tree we heard fall : analyzing the societal processes following focusing events

Fokuserande händelser är plötsliga, ovanliga och för med sig negativa konsekvenser för ett stort antal människor. Det handlar om det vi i vardagligt tal kallar kriser och katastrofer. En intensiv medierapportering i kombination med oroade medborgare gör att kriser och katastrofer är viktiga samhällspåfrestningar som beslutsfattare måste hantera. Syftet med avhandlingen är att öka förståelsen för hur fokuserande händelser påverkar samhälleliga processer. Avhandlingens två övergripande forskningsfrågor tar fasta på jämförelsen av olika typer av fokuserande händelser. För det första, skillnader i hur naturkatastrofer och katastrofer som tillkommit genom mänskligt handlade påverkar samhället, och för det andra, hur händelser med olika stark fokuseringskraft påverkar samhället. Medborgarreaktioner studeras i en experimentell laboratoriestudie, den mediala rapporteringen analyseras genom kvantitativ innehållsanalys av texter och bilder, och på den parlamentariska arenan analyseras riksdagsdebatten genom kvantitativ innehållsanalys. De temaområden som identifieras i den teoretiska referensramen ligger till grund för analysen och tar fasta på de känslor som händelsen ger upphov till, hur händelsen kontextualiseras (framing), skuldbeläggning samt möjliga lösningar som förs fram. Resultatet från studierna visar att skillnader mellan olika typer av händelser syns tydligast hos medborgare, uttryckt genom starkare emotionella reaktioner för händelser med stark fokusering, och på den mediala arenan, genom mer utrymme för dessa händelser. Då kriser och katastrofer med olika stark fokuseringskraft når riksdagen får de däremot ett relativt likadant mottagande. I jämförelsen mellan naturkatastrofer och människoskapade händelser visar resultaten att naturkatastrofer ofta diskuteras som specifika händelser, medan människoskapade händelser placeras i en bredare samhällelig kontext och diskuteras under längre tid. Avhandlingen bidrar till diskussionen om hur våra känslor och vår kognition samspelar i krissituationer. De omedvetna signaler som vår kropp ger oss gällande hur vi ska reagera på en farlig situation kan påverka om vi är rädda, oroliga eller till och med positivt inställda. I ljuset av de tre studierna är det tydligt att de emotionella reaktionerna minskar ju högre upp i den politiska processen vi kommer. Trots att medborgare och medier reagerar starkt är de emotionella reaktionerna på den politiska arenan relativt milda och skuldbeläggningen näst intill icke-existerande.

Stade Élisabeth, 21-3-20, [football] association, équipe Fémina Sport : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

Référence bibliographique : Rol, 58569