<p>The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent there is a discrepancy between the formal guiding documents and the employees experiences of the activity at Kronobergshäktet. Furthermore, is it possible that any discrepancy could be explained by institutional imbalance? My main theories are normative institutionalism and a modified type of institutional analysis. The model consists of three parts –values (a common value-system), rules and practice (the unpredictable reality) and it assumes a reciprocal relationship between them. In order to examine this I have used qualitative methods in form of interviews combined with an analysis of content. The normative institutionalism presupposes that the actors follow a logic of appropriateness in the interest of both the institution and the actor. According to the respondents, their performance is restrained by the influence from practice. I found that the respondents in their work can’t apply the common value-system in favour of the unpredictable practice. This means that the people detained do not receive the care they are entitled to in times of overcrowdment. Remarkable as it is, the respondents are well aware of what causes the problem; the overloaded custody and the influence from the unpredictable practice. The conclusion is that in times of overcrowded departments the custody is governed neither by rules or values but by practice.</p>

While there are efforts to establish a single international accounting standard, there are strong current and future needs to handle heterogeneous accounting methods and systems. We advocate a context-based approach to dealing with multiple accounting standards and equational ontological conflicts. In this paper we first define what we mean by equational ontological conflicts and then describe a new approach, using Constraint Logic Programming and abductive reasoning, to reconcile such conflicts among disparate information systems. In particular, we focus on the use of Constraint Handling Rules as a simultaneous symbolic equation solver, which is a powerful way to combine, invert and simplify multiple conversion functions that translate between different contexts. Finally, we demonstrate a sample application using our prototype implementation that demonstrates the viability of our approach. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Online auctions are arguably one of the most important and distinctly new applications of the internet. The predominant player in online auctions, eBay, has over 18.9 milllion users, and it was the host of over $5 billion worth of goods sold in the year 2000. Using methods from approximate dynamic programming and integer programming, we design algorithms for optimally bidding for a single item online auction, and simultaneous or overlapping multiple online auctions. We report computational evidence using data from eBay's web site from 1772 completed auctions for personal digital assistants and from 4208 completed auctions for stamp collections that show that (a) the optimal dynamic strategy outperforms simple but widely used static heuristic rules for a single auction, and (b) a new approach combining the value functions of single auctions found by dynamic programming using an integer programming framework produces high quality solutions fast and reliably. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

The percentage of shop fabrication, including pipe spool fabrication, has been increasing on industrial construction projects during the past years. Industrial fabrication has a great impact on construction projects due to the fact that the productivity is higher in a controlled environment than in the field, and therefore time and cost of construction projects are reduced by making use of industrial fabrication. Effective planning and scheduling of the industrial fabrication processes is important for the success of construction projects. This thesis focuses on developing a new framework for optimizing shop scheduling, particularly pipe spool fabrication shop scheduling. The proposed framework makes it possible to capture uncertainty of the pipe spool fabrication shop while accounting for linguistic vagueness of the decision makers preferences using simulation modeling and fuzzy set theory. The implementation of the proposed framework is discussed using a real case study of a pipe spool fabrication shop. In this thesis, first, a simulation based scheduling framework is presented based on the integration of relational database management system, product modeling, process modeling, and heuristic approaches. Next, a framework for optimization of the industrial shop scheduling with respect to multiple criteria is proposed. Fuzzy set theory is used to linguistically assess different levels of satisfaction for the selected criteria. Additionally, an executable scheduling toolkit is introduced as a decision support system for pipe spool fabrication shop. / Construction Engineering and Management

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Cambridge, 1994. / Title from Web site (viewed on Oct. 19, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

A global steady increase of energy consumption coupled with the decline of conventional oil resources points to a more aggressive exploitation of heavy oil. Heavy oil is a major source of energy in this century with a worldwide base reserve exceeding 2.5 trillion barrels. Management decisions and production strategies from thermal oil recovery processes are frequently based on reservoir simulation. A proper description of the physical properties, particularly oil viscosity, is essential in performing reliable modeling studies of fluid flow in the reservoir. We simulated cyclic steam injections on the highly viscous Hamaca oil, with a viscosity of over 10,000 cp at ambient temperature, and the production was drastically impacted by up to an order of magnitude when using improper mixing rules to describe the oil viscosity. This thesis demonstrates the importance of these mixing rules and alerts reservoir engineers to the significance of using different options simulators have built in their platforms to describe the viscosity of heavy oils. Log linear and power mixing rules do not provide enough flexibility to describe the viscosity of extra heavy oil with temperature. A recently implemented mixing rule in a commercial simulator has been studied providing satisfactory results. However, the methodology requires substantial interventions, and cannot be automatically updated. We provide guidelines to improve it and suggest more flexible mixing rules that could easily be implemented in commercial simulators. We also provide a methodology to determine the adequate time for each one of the periods in cyclic steam injection: injection, soaking and production. There is a lot of speculation in this matter and one of the objectives of this thesis is to better understand and provide guidelines to optimize oil production using proper lengths in each one of these periods. We have found that the production and injection periods should be similar in time length. Nevertheless, the production period should not be less than the injection period. On the other hand, the soaking period should be as short as possible because it is unproductive time in terms of field oil production for the well and therefore it translates into a negative cash flow for a company.

This thesis presents a comprehensive set of results, obtained through an innovative experimental methodology, that have important and extensive implications for the fields of integrative biology and complex systems. The main objective of the thesis is to study the inter-individual interactions involved during the initiation and coordination of movement in gregarious vertebrates, and in particular in the sheep Merinos d’Arles (Ovis aries). Key questions are, when an individual initiates a movement, what information is taken into account by conspecifics, how is this information spread across the group, and what mechanisms underlie the collective decision processes? To answer these questions, we created an experimental paradigm to trigger, in a standardized way, the movement of trained individuals that were then placed in a group of naïve conspecifics. Using two types of stimuli, a sound (public) and a vibration (private), we could evaluate the individual response of followers, and the effect of the behavioural state on this response. An additional set of experiments also provided recordings of spontaneous initiations of movement. Our results suggest that every individual in a group can initiate a collective movement. Our quantitative analysis then showed that, in Mérinos sheep, the individual decision to follow depends on a double mimetic effect; individuals take into account both the number of already departed individuals and the number of individuals which have not yet departed. A comparison between three experimental situations reveals that the decision rule is unique and that the behavioural state of potential followers only slightly affects the collective dynamics. Our approach, a combination of experimentation and modelling, provides original results that contribute to the understanding of individual and collective decision-making processes, and of the mechanisms involved during collective movement. The experimental paradigm that was proposed here, and the mathematical tools that were used, open interesting perspectives for new experimental studies and for the generalization of the behavioural rules exposed in this thesis.

Ill-posed sets of linear equations typically arise when discretizing certain types of integral transforms. A well known example is image reconstruction, which can be modelled using the Radon transform. After expanding the solution into a finite series of basis functions a large, sparse and ill-conditioned linear system arises. We consider the solution of such systems. In particular we study a new class of iteration methods named DROP (for Diagonal Relaxed Orthogonal Projections) constructed for solving both linear equations and linear inequalities. This class can also be viewed, when applied to linear equations, as a generalized Landweber iteration. The method is compared with other iteration methods using test data from a medical application and from electron microscopy. Our theoretical analysis include convergence proofs of the fully-simultaneous DROP algorithm for linear equations without consistency assumptions, and of block-iterative algorithms both for linear equations and linear inequalities, for the consistent case. When applying an iterative solver to an ill-posed set of linear equations the error typically initially decreases but after some iterations (depending on the amount of noise in the data, and the degree of ill-posedness) it starts to increase. This phenomena is called semi-convergence. It is therefore vital to find good stopping rules for the iteration. We describe a class of stopping rules for Landweber type iterations for solving linear inverse problems. The class includes, e.g., the well known discrepancy principle, and also the monotone error rule. We also unify the error analysis of these two methods. The stopping rules depend critically on a certain parameter whose value needs to be specified. A training procedure is therefore introduced for securing robustness. The advantages of using trained rules are demonstrated on examples taken from image reconstruction from projections. / Vi betraktar lösning av sådana linjära ekvationssystem som uppkommer vid diskretisering av inversa problem. Dessa problem karakteriseras av att den sökta informationen inte direkt kan mätas. Ett välkänt exempel utgör datortomografi. Där mäts hur mycket strålning som passerar genom ett föremål som belyses av en strålningskälla vilken intar olika vinklar i förhållande till objektet. Syftet är förstås att generera bilder av föremålets inre (i medicinska tillämpngar av det inre av kroppen). Vi studerar en klass av iterativa lösningsmetoder för lösning av ekvationssystemen. Metoderna tillämpas på testdata från bildrekonstruktion och jämförs med andra föreslagna iterationsmetoder. Vi gör även en konvergensanalys för olika val av metod-parametrar. När man använder en iterativ metod startar man med en begynnelse approximation som sedan gradvis förbättras. Emellertid är inversa problem känsliga även för relativt små fel i uppmätta data. Detta visar sig i att iterationerna först förbättras för att senare försämras. Detta fenomen, s.k. ’semi-convergence’ är väl känt och förklarat. Emellertid innebär detta att det är viktigt att konstruera goda stoppregler. Om man avbryter iterationen för tidigt fås dålig upplösning och om den avbryts för sent fås en oskarp och brusig bild. I avhandligen studeras en klass av stoppregler. Dessa analyseras teoretiskt och testas på mätdata. Speciellt föreslås en inlärningsförfarande där stoppregeln presenteras med data där det korrekra värdet på stopp-indexet är känt. Dessa data används för att bestämma en viktig parameter i regeln. Sedan används regeln för nya okända data. En sådan tränad stoppregel visar sig fungera väl på testdata från bildrekonstruktionsområdet.

Suffering from a terminal illness, or being chronically sick or severely disabled is not pleasant, which most of us will never experience life like this. However, there are people who are living in precisely that kind of constant, excruciating pain, agony and misery, 24 hours of the day, 365 days a year, stuck in a “living Hell” with no way of ending their enforced but unwanted torment – other than the highly controversial ‘therapy’ of euthanasia. Those of us who are relatively healthy have a choice in how and when we end our lives. We can decide to wait until our life ends naturally, or we can speed up the process by committing suicide in whatever manner we choose. But, because of their illness or disability, the patients discussed in this thesis are being denied that same choice – because they must ask for help to die, they have had their right to decide matters such as when, where and how to go, for themselves taken away from them by people who believe that they know better than the patient what is best for them. In Chapter 1, I will clarify some of the many, often contradicting, definitions and ideas associated with euthanasia. In Chapter 2, because death is a very personal subject and everyone has different reasons why they want to die, I have used extracts from two very personal letters explaining why they sought euthanasia. In Chapter 3, I will show how a patient considering euthanasia can use two Ends and Means arguments (Utilitarianism and Deontology) to decide if killing themselves would be the moral course of action to end their suffering. I will also discuss the morality of euthanasia eastern and western society. In Chapter 4, the discussion turns to who would be the best person to help the patient die. I will examine how euthanasia can comply with various professional and personal codes of conduct and discuss the ideal character of the would-be euthaniser. In Chapter 5 (the final chapter) I will conclude by using the information from the previous chapters to answer two important questions: 1. Whether it is ethical for a patient to even be thinking about euthanasia in the first place. 2. Who is (ethically) the best person to ask to kill the patient This thesis is not about whether or not euthanasia should be legalised (as I will explain – euthanasia is already going on, albeit illegally) but to discuss the morality of asking someone else to go against all matter of strictly enforced and deeply ingrained legal, moral and professional rules imposed by society in order to help the patient die.