From Fluid Dynamics to Human Psychology.What Drives Financial Markets Towards Extreme Events

For decades researchers have been trying to build models that would help understand price performance in financial markets and, therefore, to be able to forecast future prices. However, any econometric approaches have notoriously failed in predicting extreme events in markets. At the end of 20th century, market specialists started to admit that the reasons for economy meltdowns may originate as much in rational actions of traders as in human psychology. The latter forces have been described as trading biases, also known as animal spirits. This study aims at expressing in mathematical form some of the basic trading biases as well as the idea of market momentum and, therefore, reconstructing the dynamics of prices in financial markets. It is proposed through a novel family of models originating in population and fluid dynamics, applied to an electricity spot price time series. The main goal of this work is to investigate via numerical solutions how well theequations succeed in reproducing the real market time series properties, especially those that seemingly contradict standard assumptions of neoclassical economic theory, in particular the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The results show that the proposed model is able to generate price realizations that closely reproduce the behaviour and statistics of the original electricity spot price. That is achieved in all price levels, from small and medium-range variations to price spikes. The latter were generated from price dynamics and market momentum, without superimposing jump processes in the model. In the light of the presented results, it seems that the latest assumptions about human psychology and market momentum ruling market dynamics may be true. Therefore, other commodity markets should be analyzed with this model as well.

Influenza in children – Diagnosis, treatment and prevention

Background: The burden of influenza on children is substantial. Although mortality rates are low, the incidence of influenza is highest in children, among whom also complications are frequent. A more accurate recognition of influenza in children could enable the rational use of antiviral drugs and help to avoid unnecessary courses of antibiotics. Limited data exists on the efficacy of oseltamivir treatment and the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) in children. Aims and methods: We sought for signs and symptoms that could help clinicians to diagnose influenza on clinical grounds in a case-control study in children <13 years of age. We further assessed the feasibility of different diagnostics methods during the early stage of the illness in children aged 1-3 years. The efficacy of early oseltamivir treatment (started <24h from the onset of symptoms) was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in children 1-3 years of age, and the effectiveness of TIV to prevent laboratory-confirmed influenza was determined in a prospective, observational cohort study conducted among children aged 9 months to 3 years of age. Results: Fever was the only symptom predicting influenza in children. The sensitivity of conventionally used laboratory methods to detect influenza during the first 24h of illness was 92%. The sensitivity of the influenza rapid test in the same setting was 90% for influenza A and 25% for influenza B. Early oseltamivir treatment shortened the duration of the illness in children with influenza A by 3.5-4.0 days, but no efficacy was observed against influenza B. The effectiveness of TIV was 84% against the wellmatched influenza A, while no effectiveness against the mismatched influenza B was observed. Conclusions: Laboratory diagnostics are needed for a reliable diagnosis of influenza in children and were found sensitive already during the early stage of the illness. Early oseltamivir treatment was highly effective against influenza A, but no efficacy was seen against influenza B. TIV is effective also in young children if a good match between the vaccine and circulating strain is achieved.

Sitouttamisretoriikka yritysviestinnässä

This study focuses on work commitment creation on rhetorical level, that is to say, the rhetorical and linguistic means that are used to construct or elicit worker commitment. The commitment of the worker is one of the most important objectives of all business communication. There is a strong demand for commitment, identification, or adherence to work in various walks of life, although the actual circumstances are often somewhat insecure and shortsighted. The analysis demonstrates that the actual object of commitment may vary from work itself or work organization to one’s career or professional development. The ideal pattern for commitment appears as comprehensive: it contains affective and rational as well as ideological dimensions. This thesis is a rhetorical discourse analysis, or rhetorical analysis with discourse-analytic influences. Primarily it is a rhetorical analysis in which discourses are observed mainly as tools of a rhetorician. The study also draws on various findings of sociology of work and organizational studies. Research material consists of magazines from three and web pages from six different companies. This study explores repeated discourses in commitment rhetoric, mainly through pointing core concepts and recurrent patterns of argumentation. In this analysis section, a semantic and concept-analytic approach is also employed. Companies talk about ideas, values, feelings and attitudes thus constructing a united and unanimous group and an ideal model of commitment. Probably the most important domain of commitment rhetoric is the construction of group and community. Collective identity is constructed through shared meanings, values and goals, and these rhetorical group constructs that can be used and modified in various ways. Every now and then business communication also focuses on the individual, employing different speakers, positions and discourses associated to them. Constructing and using these positions also paints the picture of an ideal worker and ideal work orientation. For example, the so called entrepreneurship model is frequently used here. Commitment talk and the rhetorical situation it constructs are full of tensions and contradictions; the presence of seemingly contradictory values, goals or identities is constant. This study demonstrates tensions like self-fulfilment and individuality versus conformity, and constant change and development versus dependable establishment, and analyses how they are used, processed and dealt with. An important dimension in commitment rhetoric is the way companies define themselves in respect of current social issues, and how they define themselves as responsible social actors, and how they, in this sense, seek to appear as attractive workplaces. This point of view gives rise to problematic questions as companies process the tensions between, for example, rhetoric and action, ethical ideals and business conditions and so on. For its part, the commitment talk also defines the meaning of waged work in human life. Changing society, changing working life, and changing business environments set new claims and standards for workers and contents of work. In this point of view this research contributes to the study of working life and takes part in current public discussion concerning the meaning, role and future of waged work.

Management zones in agriculture acording to the soil and landscape variables

The study of spatial variability of soil and plants attributes, or precision agriculture, a technique that aims the rational use of natural resources, is expanding commercially in Brazil. Nevertheless, there is a lack of mathematical analysis that supports the correlation of these independent variables and their interactions with the productivity, identifying scientific standards technologically applicable. The aim of this study was to identify patterns of soil variability according to the eleven physical and seven chemical indicators in an agricultural area. It was used two multivariate techniques: the hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and the principal component analysis (PCA). According to the HCA, the area was divided into five management zones: zone 1 with 2.87ha, zone 2 with 0.8ha, zone 3 with 1.84ha, zone 4 with 1.33ha and zone 5 with 2.76ha. By the PCA, it was identified the most important variables within each zone: V% for the zone 1, CTC in the zone 2, levels of H+Al in the zone 4 and sand content and altitude in the zone 5. The zone 3 was classified as an intermediate zone with characteristics of all others. According to the results it is concluded that it is possible to separate into groups (management zones) samples with the same patterns of variability by the multivariate statistical techniques.

Impact of the substitution of reference annual streamflow by monthly streamflow on the potential use of water resources

The consideration of the streamflow seasonality has a high potential to improve the water use. In order to give subsidies to the optimization of water use, it was evaluated the impact of the change of reference annual streamflow by the monthly streamflows in the potential water use throughout the hydrography of Paracatu sub-Basin. It was evaluated the impact on Q7,10 (lowest average streamflow during a 7-day period with an average recurrence of 10 years) and on Q95 (permanent flow present 95% of the time). The use of monthly streamflow to substitute the annual streamflow had a high potential of improvement of water resources use in the sub-Basin studied. The use of monthly Q 7,10 in substitution of annual Q 7,10 increases the potential water use that vary from about 10% in the months of lower water availability to values exceeding 200% in the months with higher availability of surface water resources. The use of monthly Q95 in substitution of the annual Q95 implies in changes oscillating from reduction of 37% in months of higher water restriction to values exceeding 100% in the months of higher availability, so the use of monthly Q95 instead of the annual Q95 enables the more rational and safe use of water resources.

Emancipating and developing learning activity: Systemic intervention and re-instrumentation in higher education.

The central theme of this thesis is the emancipation and further development of learning activity in higher education in the context of the ongoing digital transformation of our societies. It was developed in response to the highly problematic mainstream approach to digital re-instrumentation of teaching and studying practises in contemporary higher education. The mainstream approach is largely based on centralisation, standardisation, commoditisation, and commercialisation, while re-producing the general patterns of control, responsibility, and dependence that are characteristic for activity systems of schooling. Whereas much of educational research and development focuses on the optimisation and fine-tuning of schooling, the overall inquiry that is underlying this thesis has been carried out from an explicitly critical position and within a framework of action science. It thus conceptualises learning activity in higher education not only as an object of inquiry but also as an object to engage with and to intervene into from a perspective of intentional change. The knowledge-constituting interest of this type of inquiry can be tentatively described as a combination of heuristic-instrumental (guidelines for contextualised action and intervention), practical-phronetic (deliberation of value-rational aspects of means and ends), and developmental-emancipatory (deliberation of issues of power, self-determination, and growth) aspects. Its goal is the production of orientation knowledge for educational practise. The thesis provides an analysis, argumentation, and normative claim on why the development of learning activity should be turned into an object of individual|collective inquiry and intentional change in higher education, and why the current state of affairs in higher education actually impedes such a development. It argues for a decisive shift of attention to the intentional emancipation and further development of learning activity as an important cultural instrument for human (self-)production within the digital transformation. The thesis also attempts an in-depth exploration of what type of methodological rationale can actually be applied to an object of inquiry (developing learning activity) that is at the same time conceptualised as an object of intentional change within the ongoing digital transformation. The result of this retrospective reflection is the formulation of “optimally incomplete” guidelines for educational R&D practise that shares the practicalphronetic (value related) and developmental-emancipatory (power related) orientations that had been driving the overall inquiry. In addition, the thesis formulates the instrumental-heuristic knowledge claim that the conceptual instruments that were adapted and validated in the context of a series of intervention studies provide means to effectively intervene into existing practise in higher education to support the necessary development of (increasingly emancipated) networked learning activity. It suggests that digital networked instruments (tools and services) generally should be considered and treated as transient elements within critical systemic intervention research in higher education. It further argues for the predominant use of loosely-coupled, digital networked instruments that allow for individual|collective ownership, control, (co-)production, and re-use in other contexts and for other purposes. Since the range of digital instrumentation options is continuously expanding and currently shows no signs of an imminent slow-down or consolidation, individual and collective exploration and experimentation of this realm needs to be systematically incorporated into higher education practise.

Suomen Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmän evoluutio ilmasotateorian, kansallisten instituutioiden ja johtamisjärjestelmän ulkomaisen kehityksen näkökulmasta

Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmä on osa Ilmavoimien järjestelmäkokonaisuutta, jonka kaksi muuta osaa ovat taistelujärjestelmä ja tukeutumisjärjestelmä. Ilmavoimien materiaalista suorituskykyä rakennetaan tämän järjestelmäajattelun pohjalta. tässä tutkimuksessa Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmää tutkitaan kolmen kokonaisuuden, ilmavalvontajärjestelmän, ilmatilannekuvan muodostamisjärjestelmän ja tulenkäytön johtamisjärjestelmän, näkökulmasta. Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmän laajuuden vuoksi tutkimusaluetta on jouduttu rajaamaan. Tutkimus perustuu evoluutioparadigmaan, jonka mukaisesti kaikki olevainen on evolutionaarista. Mikään tässä ajassa oleva ilmiö ei ole historiaton. Jokaisella ilmiöllä on nykyisyytensä lisäksi historia ja tulevaisuus. Evoluutioparadigman avulla laajennetaan Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmän nykyisyyden ymmärtämistä kuvaamalla ja analysoimalla sen evoluutiota. Tutkimusaineistoa analysoidaan käyttäen hyväksi polkuriippuvuutta evolutionaarisena mallina. tätä mallia on käytetty uusinstitutionaalisessa ja evolutionaarisessa taloustieteessä ja taloushistoriassa tutkittaessa yritysten, toimialojen tai tuotteiden pysyvyyttä markkinoilla sekä erilaisten innovaatioiden vaikuttavuutta menestymiseen eri markkinatilanteissa. Tutkimusasetelman lähtökohtana on Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmäevoluution kuvaaminen kolmen tekijän tasapainoasetelman suhteen, joita ovat instituutiot, ilmasotateoria ja kansainvälinen ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmän kehitys. tutkimuksen tavoitteena on löytää institutionaalinen logiikka Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmän evoluutiolle sekä sen eri kehitysprosesseihin liittyvä mahdollinen polkuriippuvuuden logiikka. Tutkittavina instituutioina ovat kansallinen poliittinen päätöksenteko, joka ilmentyy erilaisina komiteamietintöjä, raportteina ja selontekoina. Sotilaallista instituutiota edustavat eri operatiiviset ohjeet, ohjesäännöt ja doktriinit, jotka ovat ohjanneet johtamisjärjestelmäkehitystä. Ilmasotateorian vaikuttavuuden analyysiä varten tutkimuskohteiksi on valittu seitsemän merkittävää ilmasotateoreetikkoa. Kenraalimajuri Giulio douhet, ilmamarsalkka Hugh Trenchard ja kenraalimajuri William Mitchell edustavat ilmasotateorian varhaista kautta. Kansallista ilmasotateorian kehitystä edustavat eversti Richard Lorentz ja kenraalimajuri Gustaf Erik Magnusson. Yhdysvaltalaiset everstit John Boyd ja John Warden III ovat uuden ajan ilmasotateoreetikkoja. Näiden henkilöiden tuottamien teorioiden avulla voidaan piirtää kuva muutoksesta, jota ilmasodankäynnin teoreetti- sessa ajattelussa on tapahtunut. Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmän evoluutiolle haetaan vertailua kehityksestä, jota on tapahtunut Yhdysvalloissa, Isossa-Britanniassa ja Saksassa. Ilmavoimat on saanut vaikutteita muistakin maista, mutta näiden maiden kehityksen avulla voidaan selittää Suomessa tapahtunutta kehitystä. Tutkimuksessa osoitetaan, että kansainvälisellä johtamisjärjestelmäevoluutiolla on ollut merkittävä vaikutus suomalaiseen kehitykseen. Tämä tutkimus laajentaa prosessuaalista tutkimusteoriaa ja polkuriippuvuusmallin käyttöä sotatieteelliseen tutkimuskenttään. tutkimus yhdistää toisiinsa aivan uudella tavalla sotilasorganisaation institutionaalisia tekijöitä pitkässä evoluutioketjussa. Tutkimus luo pohjaa prosessuaaliseen, havaintoihin perustuvaan evoluutioajatteluun, jossa eri tekijöiden selitysmalleja ja kausaalisuutta eri periodien aikana voidaan kuvata. Tutkimuksen tuloksena ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmäevoluutiossa paljastui merkittäviä piirteitä. Teknologia on ollut voimakas katalysaattori ilmapuolustuksen evoluutiossa. Uusien teknologisten innovaatioiden ilmestyminen taistelukentälle on muuttanut oleellisesti taistelun kuvaa. Sodankäynnin revoluutiosta huolimatta sodankäynnin tai operaatiotaidon ja taktiikan perusperiaatteissa ei ole tapahtunut perustavanlaatuista muutosta. Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmän kehitys on voimakkaasti linkittynyt ulkomaiseen johtamisjärjestelmäkehitykseen, jossa teknologiaimplementaatiot perustuvat usean eri ilmiön paljastumiseen ja hyväksikäyttöön. Sotilas- ja siviili-instituutiot ovat merkittävästi vaikuttaneet Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmän kansalliseen kehitykseen. Ne ovat antaneet poliittisen ohjauksen, taloudellisten resurssien ja strategis-operatiivisten käskyjen ja suunnitelmien avulla perusteet, joiden pohjalta johtamisjärjestelmää on kehitetty. Tutkimus osoittaa, että Suomen taloudellisten resurssien rajallisuus on ollut merkittävin institutionaalinen rajoite Ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmää kehitettäessä. Useat poliittiset ohjausasiakirjat ovat korostaneet, ettei Suomella pienenä kansakuntana ole taloudellisia resursseja seurata kansainvälistä sotilasteknologiakehitystä. Lisäksi ulko- ja turvallisuuspoliittinen liikkumavapaus on vaikuttanut kehittämismahdollisuuksiin. Ilmasotateorian evoluutio on luonut johtamisjärjestelmän kehitykselle välttämättömän konseptuaalisen viitekehyksen, jotta ilmasota on voitu viedä käytännön tasolle. Teoria, doktriini ja instituutiot toimivat vuorovaikutuksessa, jossa ne interaktiivisesti vaikuttavat toinen toisiinsa. Tutkimus paljasti kuusi merkittävää sokkia, jotka saivat aikaan radikaaleja muutoksia johtamisjärjestelmän evoluutiopolulla. tutkimuksen perusteella vaikuttavimmat muutoksia aiheuttavat sokit olivat radikaalit turvallisuuspoliittiset muutokset kuten sota ja voimakkaat kansantalouden muutokset kuten lama. Sokkeja aiheuttaneet kuusi ajankohtaa olivat: 1. Puolustusvoimien rakentamisen aloittaminen vapaussodan jälkeen 1918 2. Maailmanlaajuinen lama 1929–1933 ja eurooppalainen rauhanaate 1928–1933 3. Talvi- ja jatkosota 1939–1944 4. Uusi alku Pariisin rauhansopimuksen 1947 ja YYA-sopimuksen 1948 varjossa 5. Kylmän sodan päättyminen ja Suomen lama 1990–1993 6. Maailmanlaajuinen lama 2008- Tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan todeta, että Suomen ilmavoimien johtamisjärjestelmän kehittäminen on perustunut rationaalisiin päätöksiin, jotka ovat saaneet vaikutteita ulkomaisesta ilmasotateorian ja -doktriinien kehityksestä sekä kansainvälisestä johtamisjärjestelmäkehityksestä. Johtamisjärjestelmän evoluutioon on vaikuttanut globaali konvergenssi, johon on tehty kansallisen tason ratkaisuja järjestelmien adaptaation ja implementaation yhteydessä.

Biosynthesis of pyranonaphthoquinone polyketides:characterization of the alnumycin pathway

Alnumycin A is an aromatic pyranonaphthoquinone (PNQ) polyketide closely related to the model compound actinorhodin. While some PNQ polyketides are glycosylated, alnumycin A contains a unique sugar-like dioxane moiety. This unusual structural feature made alnumycin A an interesting research target, since no information was available about its biosynthesis. Thus, the main objective of the thesis work became to identify the steps and the enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of the dioxane moiety. Cloning, sequencing and heterologous expression of the complete alnumycin gene cluster from Streptomyces sp. CM020 enabled the inactivation of several alnumycin biosynthetic genes and preliminary identification of the gene products responsible for pyran ring formation, quinone formation and dioxane biosynthesis. The individual deletions of the genes resulted in the production of several novel metabolites, which in many cases turned out to be pathway intermediates and could be used for stepwise enzymatic reconstruction of the complete dioxane biosynthetic pathway in vitro. Furthermore, the in vitro reactions with purified alnumycin biosynthetic enzymes resulted in the production of other novel compounds, both pathway intermediates and side products. Identification and molecular level studies of the enzymes AlnA and AlnB catalyzing the first step of dioxane biosynthesis – an unusual C-ribosylation step – led to a mechanistic proposal for the C-ribosylation of the polyketide aglycone. The next step on the dioxane biosynthetic pathway was found to be the oxidative conversion of the attached ribose into a highly unusual dioxolane unit by Aln6 belonging to an uncharacterized protein family, which unexpectedly occurred without any apparent cofactors. Finally, the last step of the pathway was found to be catalyzed by the NADPH-dependent reductase Aln4, which is able to catalyze the conversion of the formed dioxolane into a dioxane moiety. The work presented here and the knowledge gained of the enzymes involved in dioxane biosynthesis enables their use in the rational design of novel compounds containing C–C bound ribose, dioxolane and dioxane moieties.

Theorizing Formal and Informal Feedback Practices in Management Accounting Through Three Dimensions

The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to widen and develop our theoretical frameworks for discussion and analyses of feedback practices in management accounting, particularly shedding light on its formal and informal aspects. The concept of feedback in management accounting has conventionally been analyzed within cybernetic control theory, in which feedback flows as a diagnostic or comparative loop between measurable outputs and pre-set goals (see e.g. Flamholtz et al. 1985; Flamholtz 1996, 1983), i.e. as a formal feedback loop. However, the everyday feedback practices in organizations are combinations of formal and informal elements. In addition to technique-driven feedback approaches (like budgets, measurement, and reward systems) we could also categorize social feedback practices that managers see relevant and effective in the pursuit of organizational control. While cybernetics or control theories successfully capture rational and measured aspects of organizational performance and offer a broad organizational context for the analysis, many individual and informal aspects remain vague and isolated. In order to discuss and make sense of the heterogeneous field of interpretations of formal and informal feedback, both in theory and practice, dichotomous approaches seem to be insufficient. Therefore, I suggest an analytical framework of formal and informal feedback with three dimensions (3D’s): source, time, and rule. Based on an abductive analysis of the theoretical and empirical findings from an interpretive case study around a business unit called Division Steelco, the 3Dframework and formal and informal feedback practices are further elaborated vis-á-vis the four thematic layers in the organizational control model by Flamholtz et al. (1985; Flamholtz 1996, 1983): core control system, organizational structure, organizational culture, and external environment. Various personal and cultural meanings given to the formal and informal feedback practices (“feedback as something”) create multidimensional interpretative contexts. Multidimensional frameworks aim to capture and better understand both the variety of interpretations and their implications to the functionality of feedback practices, important in interpretive research.

Varastonhallinnan ja tuotannonsuunnittelun kehittäminen paperitehdasympäristössä

Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena on kehittää erään paperitehtaan käyttöpääoman hallintaa tuotannonsuunnittelun ja varastonhallinnan keinoin. Tuotannonsuunnittelussa tutkitaan syklinpituuden vaikutusta lajinvaihtohylkyyn ja siitä aiheutuvan varastotason nousun hyötyjä ja haittoja. Tehtaan ylijäämätasot määritetään puolen vuoden aikajänteeltä ja pyritään löytämään kehitysehdotuksia niiden minimoimiseksi. Työssä keskitytään lisäksi satamasta palautettuihin rulliin ja haamurulliin. Työn aiheista tehdään nykytila-analyysit, joiden perusteella selvitetään kehityskohteet. Työssä hyödynnetään tehtaan omia tietojärjestelmiä osa-alueiden analysoimisessa. Analysoimisessa käytetään karkeasuunnitelmaa ja erilaisia raportteja varastoihin ja tuotantoon liittyen. Työn tulosten mukaan voidaan todeta, että syklinpituutta ei kannata varasto-ohjautuvalla tuotantomuodolla kasvattaa. Ylijäämiä syntyy paperiteollisuudessa vääjäämättä ja kyseisessä yrityksessä niiden hyödyntämisprosentit ovat varsin korkealla tasolla. Kokonaisuutena tehtaan käyttöpääoman hallinta on varsin hyvällä pohjalla eikä suuria toimintatapamuutoksia ole tarpeen tehdä. Satamapalautusongelman suuruudesta tehtaalla oli erilainen käsitys kuin asia todellisuudessaan oli. Työssä esitetään kehitysehdotuksia, joiden avulla ongelmaa voidaan edelleen pienentää ja saavuttaa konkreettisia säästöjä. Haamurullien määrä osoittautui minimaaliseksi.

The Anchoring Bias of Investors and the 52-Week High Momentum Strategy in the OMX Helsinki Stock Exchange: Psychological Approach to Market Efficiency

The behavioural finance literature expects systematic and significant deviations from efficiency to persist in securities markets due to behavioural and cognitive biases of investors. These behavioural models attempt to explain the coexistence of intermediate-term momentum and long-term reversals in stock returns based on the systematic violations of rational behaviour of investors. The study investigates the anchoring bias of investors and the profitability of the 52-week momentum strategy (GH henceforward). The relatively highly volatile OMX Helsinki stock exchange is a suitable market for examining the momentum effect, since international investors tend to realise their positions first from the furthest security markets by the time of market turbulence. Empirical data is collected from Thomson Reuters Datastream and the OMX Nordic website. The objective of the study is to provide a throughout research by formulating a self-financing GH momentum portfolio. First, the seasonality of the strategy is examined by taking the January effect into account and researching abnormal returns in long-term. The results indicate that the GH strategy is subject to significantly negative revenues in January, but the strategy is not prone to reversals in long-term. Then the predictive proxies of momentum returns are investigated in terms of acquisition prices and 52-week high statistics as anchors. The results show that the acquisition prices do not have explanatory power over the GH strategy’s abnormal returns. Finally, the efficacy of the GH strategy is examined after taking transaction costs into account, finding that the robust abnormal returns remain statistically significant despite the transaction costs. As a conclusion, the relative distance between a stock’s current price and its 52-week high statistic explains the profits of momentum investing to a high degree. The results indicate that intermediateterm momentum and long-term reversals are separate phenomena. This presents a challenge to current behavioural theories, which model these aspects of stock returns as subsequent components of how securities markets respond to relevant information.

Käyttövesivaraajan ekosuunnitteluvaatimusten merkityksen arvioiminen rakennusten energianhallinnassa

Työn lähtökohtana ovat veden lämmittimiä koskeva ekosuunnittelulainsäädäntö ja sen vaatiman testausjärjestelmän laatiminen. Työn tavoitteena on arvioida ekosuunnittelulainsäädännön vaikutusta varaajan toimintaan osana rakennusten energianhallintaa. Työssä laaditaan käyttövesivaraajalle tuoteryhmäkohtaisen ekosuunnittelulainsäädännön mukainen mittausjärjestelmä energiatehokkuuden, lämpimän veden saannon, vuosittaisen sähkönkulutuksen sekä energiamerkinnän määrittämiseksi. Lisäksi tarkastellaan ekosuunnittelulainsäädännön tarkoituksenmukaisuutta, selvitetään varaajan toimintaperiaatteet sekä keinoja käyttöveden tarvitseman energian vähentämiseksi. Testattu käyttövesivaraaja täyttää ekosuunnitteluvaatimukset. Lämmitysenergian vähentäminen käyttövesivaraajan toimintaa tehostamalla on kuitenkin vaikeaa. Hybridijärjestelmien hyödyntäminen sähkölämmityksen ohella muita energianlähteitä ja esim. käyttöveden lämmöntalteenottoa käyttäen on toimivin keino vähentää käyttöveden energiankulutusta sekä parantaa varaajan energiatehokkuutta. Lämpimän käyttöveden energiankulutuksen osuus rakennuksen energiankulutuksesta kasvaa lainsäädännön pakottamana rakennusten kokonaisenergiankäytön vähentyessä. Ekosuunnittelulainsäädännön suora merkitys rakennusten energianhallintaan on Suomessa vähäistä nykyisen energiatehokkuustason ollessa suhteellisen korkea, jolloin käyttöveden tarvitseman energian vähentämiskeinoina on hyödynnettävä vaihtoehtoisia ratkaisuja.

Synthesis, characterization and chemical sensor application of conducting polymers

Polymeric materials that conduct electricity are highly interesting for fundamental studies and beneficial for modern applications in e.g. solar cells, organic field effect transistors (OFETs) as well as in chemical and bio‐sensing. Therefore, it is important to characterize this class of materials with a wide variety of methods. This work summarizes the use of electrochemistry also in combination with spectroscopic methods in synthesis and characterization of electrically conducting polymers and other π‐conjugated systems. The materials studied in this work are intended for organic electronic devices and chemical sensors. Additionally, an important part of the presented work, concerns rational approaches to the development of water‐based inks containing conducting particles. Electrochemical synthesis and electroactivity of conducting polymers can be greatly enhanced in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) in comparison to conventional electrolytes. Therefore, poly(para‐phyenylene) (PPP) was electrochemically synthesized in the two representative RTILs: bmimPF6 and bmiTf2N (imidazolium and pyrrolidinium‐based salts, respectively). It was found that the electrochemical synthesis of PPP was significantly enhanced in bmimPF6. Additionally, the results from doping studies of PPP films indicate improved electroactivity in bmimPF6 during oxidation (p‐doping) and in bmiTf2N in the case of reduction (n‐doping). These findings were supported by in situ infrared spectroscopy studies. Conducting poly(benzimidazobenzophenanthroline) (BBL) is a material which can provide relatively high field‐effect mobility of charge carriers in OFET devices. The main disadvantage of this n‐type semiconductor is its limited processability. Therefore in this work BBL was functionalized with poly(ethylene oxide) PEO, varying the length of side chains enabling water dispersions of the studied polymer. It was found that functionalization did not distract the electrochemical activity of the BBL backbone while the processability was improved significantly in comparison to conventional BBL. Another objective was to study highly processable poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) water‐based inks for controlled patterning scaled‐down to nearly a nanodomain with the intention to fabricate various chemical sensors. Developed PEDOT:PSS inks greatly improved printing of nanoarrays and with further modification with quaternary ammonium cations enabled fabrication of PEDOT:PSS‐based chemical sensors for lead (II) ions with enhanced adhesion and stability in aqueous environments. This opens new possibilities for development of PEDOT:PSS films that can be used in bio‐related applications. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a broad group of π‐conjugated materials consisting of aromatic rings in the range from naphthalene to even hundred rings in one molecule. The research on this type of materials is intriguing, due to their interesting optical properties and resemblance of graphene. The objective was to use electrochemical synthesis to yield relatively large PAHs and fabricate electroactive films that could be used as template material in chemical sensors. Spectroscopic, electrochemical and electrical investigations evidence formation of highly stable films with fast redox response, consisting of molecules with 40 to 60 carbon atoms. Additionally, this approach in synthesis, starting from relatively small PAH molecules was successfully used in chemical sensor for lead (II).

Risk-return trade-off and autocorrelation

A trade-off between return and risk plays a central role in financial economics. The intertemporal capital asset pricing model (ICAPM) proposed by Merton (1973) provides a neoclassical theory for expected returns on risky assets. The model assumes that risk-averse investors (seeking to maximize their expected utility of lifetime consumption) demand compensation for bearing systematic market risk and the risk of unfavorable shifts in the investment opportunity set. Although the ICAPM postulates a positive relation between the conditional expected market return and its conditional variance, the empirical evidence on the sign of the risk-return trade-off is conflicting. In contrast, autocorrelation in stock returns is one of the most consistent and robust findings in empirical finance. While autocorrelation is often interpreted as a violation of market efficiency, it can also reflect factors such as market microstructure or time-varying risk premia. This doctoral thesis investigates a relation between the mixed risk-return trade-off results and autocorrelation in stock returns. The results suggest that, in the case of the US stock market, the relative contribution of the risk-return trade-off and autocorrelation in explaining the aggregate return fluctuates with volatility. This effect is then shown to be even more pronounced in the case of emerging stock markets. During high-volatility periods, expected returns can be described using rational (intertemporal) investors acting to maximize their expected utility. During lowvolatility periods, market-wide persistence in returns increases, leading to a failure of traditional equilibrium-model descriptions for expected returns. Consistent with this finding, traditional models yield conflicting evidence concerning the sign of the risk-return trade-off. The changing relevance of the risk-return trade-off and autocorrelation can be explained by heterogeneous agents or, more generally, by the inadequacy of the neoclassical view on asset pricing with unboundedly rational investors and perfect market efficiency. In the latter case, the empirical results imply that the neoclassical view is valid only under certain market conditions. This offers an economic explanation as to why it has been so difficult to detect a positive tradeoff between the conditional mean and variance of the aggregate stock return. The results highlight the importance, especially in the case of emerging stock markets, of noting both the risk-return trade-off and autocorrelation in applications that require estimates for expected returns.

Det planlagda och det som visar sig : klasslärarstuderandes syn på undervisning i teknisk slöjd

Sloyd as an activity concretizes man’s ability to, with the help of mind and body, reshape materials into objects and change her conditions for survival. The sloyd actor outside school works when the spirit moves her, while the pupil in school is expected to sloyd regardless of motivation. Subject teachers become experts on sloyd in educational settings, while the qualification requirements may set the class teachers’ voluntariness within parenthesis. All class teachers qualify to teach all core subjects of the national curriculum in Finland from preschool to grade six. The aim of the current thesis is to deepen the knowledge on how the science of sloyd education can support class teacher students’ future teaching in sloyd. In the empirical part of the study, Swedish-speaking Finnish class teacher students’ views on technical sloyd as one of their future subjects for teaching are examined. The class teacher’s qualifying skills in teaching technical sloyd are expected to take shape during only a few ECTS study points. The teacher students’ experience of the subject from the pupil’s perspective is supposed to move into a budding teacher subject. In a research-based teacher education, self-reflection and reflection as a dialogue are extended aided by research results. Intuitive thinking interplays with rational thinking during this time. The teacher student’s approach to make use of the autonomous free space in teaching is, in the current thesis, as considerations where the individual weighs the pros and cons in relation to various phenomena in sloyd and the school overall. The basis for an individual autonomy is shaped and is expected to interplay on the common arena of autonomy. In the exercise of their profession, the class teacher teaching sloyd is expected to oscillate between the sloyd educational practice and theory. The first step in this movement within the teacher education is the coverage of a selection of theories during the studies. The empirical part of the study is carried out at two separate occasions with directed open-ended interviews with fifteen class teacher students in the beginning and end of their first year of study. The data was analysed with a hermeneutic approach and a qualitatively oriented approach to content analysis. The results are mirrored against theory within the science of sloyd education. The results show that class teacher students have a versatile view of educational sloyd. The overall results overthrow parts of the researcher’s pre-understanding. The viewpoint of the students seems to broaden from a merely manual activity to seeing sloyd as an educational activity. In order for the results to gain significance in the teacher education of the future, a line of reasoning is conducted in order to recommend an extended dialogue and thirteen possible themes for enriching discussions are put forth as a result of the present study. The extended dialogue focuses on that teacher education should make conscious ventures to create opportunities for the students to take part in effective discussions on the subject of sloyd, complementing the existing dialogue between the teacher educator and the students. This thesis lends support to reflections on the following aspects of educational sloyd in these dialogues: the reasons for why the sloyd subject exists, the ambitions of the subject, the content and organization of the subject for students as well as for the teacher educators.