This licentiate thesis presents a new way of understanding Electric Power. The new perspective on Electric Power highlights the similarities between our banking system and our power system. The two different systems share a common abstraction. In the case of the banking system this abstraction is fully accepted. In the case of the power system this abstraction is not yet fully accepted. This thesis aims to clarify this abstraction and show the parallelism between the two systems and the two abstractions. This thesis examines what the Product Electricity really is. What is it, in reality, we sign a power contract to buy and pay for, and how is this product transferred to us? This new understanding challenges the old, physical understanding of Electric Power. Understanding the similarity between our banking system and our power system becomes important when we examine our Power Markets, and it becomes absolutely vital to understand for those investing in new power generation. In no way does this new understanding of Electric Power question or challenge the physics behind power generation and power transfer. Maxwell’s equations holds true. The laws of Ohm and Kirchhoff are still the laws by which the electrical and power system engineers must abide. But when it comes to the Product Electricity, the product traded on our Power Markets, the product that we sign power contracts to buy and pay for, there is a major difference. The new understanding challenges the old quite dramatically. It does in fact show that the old, physical perspective on the Product Electricity is flawed and has been a misconception for over a century. My primary goal in this thesis is to thoroughly explain the new perspective and by so doing clarify and dissolve the old misconception of what the Product Electricity actually is. The scientific theory of the Greenhouse Effect now has over 195 years of published peer-reviewed science.[[i]] The threat of accelerating Climate Change is a scientifically solid fact. The Paris agreement must be met. My second goal with this thesis is to make credible that an electrification of our society is a possible and viable option. The possibility of a swift energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable electricity is made more likely, and more viable, thanks to the new understanding of what Electric Power really is, because now we have the de facto choice of not consuming any fossil power. © Per Ribbing, April 2019 [i] Joseph Fourier, Remarques générales sur les températures du globe terrestre et des espaces planétaires”, Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 27, 1824, p. 136-167

Longitudinal growth patterns are routinely seen in medical studies where developments of individuals on one or more outcome variables are followed over a period of time. Many current methods for modeling growth presuppose a parametric relationship between the outcome and time (e.g., linear, quadratic); however, these relationships may not accurately capture growth over time. Functional mixed effects (FME) models provide flexibility in handling longitudinal data with nonparametric temporal trends because they allow the data to determine the shape of the curve. Although FME methods are well-developed for continuous, normally distributed outcome measures, nonparametric methods for handling categorical outcomes are limited. In this thesis, we propose a Bayesian hierarchical FME model to account for growth curves with non-Gaussian outcomes. In particular, we extend traditional FME models which assume normally distributed outcomes by modeling the probabilities associated with the binomially distributed outcomes and adding an additional level to the hierarchical model to correctly specify the outcomes as binomially distributed. We then extend the proposed binomial FME model to the multinomial setting where the outcomes consist of more than two nominal categories. Current modeling approaches include modeling each category of a multinomial outcome separately via linear and nonlinear mixed effects models; yet, these approaches ignore the inherent correlation among the categories of the outcome. Our model captures this correlation through a sequence of conditional binomial FME models which results in one model simultaneously estimating probabilities in all categories. Lastly, we extend our binomial FME model to address a common medical situation where multiple outcomes are measured on subjects over time and investigators are interested in simultaneously assessing the impact of all outcomes. We account for the relationship between outcomes by altering the correlation structure in the hierarchical model and simultaneously estimating the outcome curves. Our methods are assessed via simulation studies and real data analyses where we investigate the ability of the models to accurately predict the underlying growth trajectory of individuals and populations. Our applications include analyses of speech development data in adults and children with cochlear implants and analyses on eye-tracking data used to assess word processing in cochlear implant patients.

Jobs are available for university graduates with entrepreneurship skills, but unemployment in Morocco persists because of the dissociation between university entrepreneurship graduate skills and professional market demand. While university graduates have achieved academic standards, they have lacked the entrepreneurial attributes to be employable. The purpose of this case study was to explore the use of entrepreneurship learning initiatives at Université Internationale de Casablanca (UIC), a private for-profit university, to promote students' employability. The constructivism and learning paradigm frameworks served as the theoretical foundations of this project study. The research questions addressed the effectiveness of entrepreneurship learning strategies in the promotion of students' employment and self-employment and what challenged their implementation at UIC. Data were collected from 11 individual interviews with students, academic leaders, and business professionals and from accreditation application documents. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and hand analyzed for the discovery of thematic codes. Results indicated that the implementation of a capstone project model could cultivate entrepreneurial student experience. It was recommended that comprehensive business plan capstone projects presented the opportunity of integrating experiential learning activities and assessment tools to develop the entrepreneurial mindset of undergraduate students and increase their affective attachment to the course and the university. Implications for social positive change included the use of entrepreneurship learning to foster internal collaboration among faculty, promote university external partnerships, and create an experiential learning environment that motivates students to learn and achieve professional immersion.

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Few studies exist about the experiences of men who are victims of female-perpetrated IPV and there are not many studies about these men's experiences in seeking and receiving psychological help. Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Peck's gender role strain paradigm guided this study to understand victimology and perceptions of gender roles. Research questions attempted to understand the lived experiences of male IPV victims of female-perpetrated IPV, accessing supportive and psychological services, and their experiences of these services. Seven male individuals were recruited through flyers in community centers, law enforcement agencies, and social media sites; 5 participants were interviewed via Skype and 2 responded via e-mail. Data from interviews were analyzed and coded following an interpretative phenomenological method. Five themes were identified from 2 research questions including: male victimization is seen as less severe than female victimization, family is not easy to talk to about experience, therapy and hospitalization were used, law enforcement officers are biased, and mental health workers are routine. Findings were evaluated with existing literature and suggestions are made for help-seeking option accessibility for male victims. This study promotes social change by discussing how supporting survivors may decrease negative gender roles and social norms while promoting the betterment of professionals who work with male victims. Victim-centered services, patient-centered approaches, and treatment and support for survivors of IPV will help to improve awareness about male victims in society while offering insight to decrease negative stigma.

Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) use has grown enormously on Utah’s public lands and is one of the most contentious and difficult issues for federal, state, and local land management agencies to address and provide for. Despite OHV use’s meteoric rise in popularity and its ongoing public conflicts, little is known about OHV recreationists. This thesis develops a typology that identifies within-activity differences related to recreation specialization; it also determines differences in OHV owners’ environmental attitudes and motivations. Findings show Utah’s owners comprise a range of use along the recreation specialization continuum. Results also indicate that an OHV owners’ specialization level is not a significant determinant of either their environmental attitude or four out of the seven given motivations for participation in the activity. Specialization is, however, directly correlated to three specific motivation domains: achievement/stimulation, independence, and meeting new people. Overall, the recreation specialization framework, broadly interpreted, was successfully utilized to develop a typology of use which can inform resource management decisions.

While Erikson's psychosocial theory continues to dominate theoretical explanations of adolescent identity development. Marcia's ego identity status paradigm has become the primary basis to empirically measure such notions. Though Marcia's paradigm has its roots in psychosocial theory. questions have surfaced regarding the communality of Marcia's and Erikson's notions on identity. Issues of scope. connectedness. definition. terminology. and measurement have marked a potential divergence among the two approaches-views which until recently seemed almost unified. This study addressed the relationship between Erikson's psychosocial theory and Marcia's ego identity status paradigm. By administering identity and psychosocial stage-specific measures to a sample of college-age adolescents. an assessment of the empirical relationship between the two theories has been established. A general pattern was found that the highest levels of psychosocial trust. autonomy. initiative. and industry were reported by the achieved respondents, followed by the foreclosed, moratorium, and diffused respondents, respectively. Discriminant analysis also identified specific psychosocial differences between statuses. The achieved respondents reported higher levels of trust. autonomy, initiative. and industry than moratoriums: significantly higher levels of autonomy and industry than the foreclosed: and significantly higher levels of trust and initiative. and significantly lower levels of guilt when compared to diffused respondents. Moratoriums reported significantly higher levels of emotional autonomy and significantly lower levels of trust and initiative than foreclosed respondents. Moratoriums did report significantly higher initiative and lower guilt than the diffused. Foreclosed respondents reported significantly higher initiative and lower autonomy than diffused persons. These results provide significant-albeit initial----quantitative evidence that Marcia's ego identity status paradigm corresponds both specifically and broadly to Erikson's theory of identity development.

None available

Large accounting firms have been structuring their audit divisions along industry lines for some years. Industry specialisation is seen as a means of differentiation between otherwise similar accounting firms. At the individual level industry specialists are identified as being so designated within their firm. They spend a substantial amount of their time auditing clients in that industry. The purpose of this study is to determine what industry specialist auditors do that is different and similar when working on industry-based tasks, one of which they specialise in. Behavioural decision theory is used to investigate the differences and similarities in the decision-making processes of industry specialist and other auditors. It is known that industry specialists perform better on tasks set in their industry. The purpose of this study is to learn why. To that end, the pre-information search, information search and decision processing phases of the decision-making process are examined. It is expected that industry specialists are more efficient and effective at each stage of the decision-making process when completing a case set in the industry they specialise in. Two controlled experiments were conducted in the offices of each of the Big 4 international accounting firms. Participants included manufacturing and superannuation industry specialists from each firm. Each participant was invited to take part in both experiments, which were conducted consecutively via the internet. The first experiment comprised two cases, one set in each industry setting (manufacturing and superannuation). Participants completed both cases. The purpose of the first experiment was to conduct a within-subject examination unveiling similarities and differences between industry specialists and other auditors during the pre-information search, information search and decision processing phases of the decision-making process. Their performance on each case was also monitored and measured. Significant results were found for information search and performance. Moderate results were found for one proxy each of the pre-information search and the decision processing phases. The relationship between efficiency at each stage of the decision-making process and performance was also measured. A significant relationship was found for the pre-information search and decision processing phases. The second experiment comprised two strategic business risk tasks set in each industry setting (manufacturing and superannuation). Participants completed both sets of tasks. The purpose of the second experiment was to examine effectiveness during the pre-information search (listing key strategic business risks), information search (listing key inputs) and decision processing (listing key processes) phases of the decision-making process and their ability to identify and list key outputs (accounts and assertions) for an identified risk (technological change for the manufacturing industry task and solvency due to insufficient funding for the superannuation industry task) within each industry setting. The results were very significant overall. Industry specialist auditors were able list more key strategic business risks, inputs, processes and outputs when the task was set in the industry in which they specialise. The relationship between effectiveness at each stage of the decision-making process and performance was also measured. A significant relationship was found between effectiveness in listing key inputs and effectiveness in listing key outputs (accounts).

Tribal traditions and practices are integral to iwi identity. From the past to the present, the biggest impact on iwi identity was colonisation and subsequent urbanisation. Urbanisation changed the foundation of identity largely due to the demographic rural-urban shift, effectively creating a distance physically and spiritually for Māori between their place of residence and their traditional tribal turangawaewae. Today a larger proportion of tribal members reside in the main urban centres of New Zealand and Australia. This phenomenon provides an ideal opportunity to explore how iwi identity is maintained in an urban setting – away from the traditional sites of cultural practice. The study, which focuses on Ngāti Awa members residing in Auckland, provided evidence that the foundation of an iwi identity is still heavily reliant on strong iwi-based whānau. The corollary is that, strengthening the tribal knowledge base of whānau residing in urban centres may require new or increased active participation in the customs and practices of their iwi. Regrettably, only three of the ten research participants had an in-depth knowledge of their whakapapa, histories and traditions. However, all the participants indicated the need to become more pro-active in creating and expanding on their knowledge base of iwitanga (including te reo). There was also acknowledgement that urban-based iwi marae and whānau wānanga can provide individuals with the opportunities to learn more about their iwi traditions (and thereby reinforce their sense of tribal identity). Encouragingly, each participant confirmed that identifying as Ngāti Awa was important to them, largely due to the sense of belonging and identity. The study concluded that the sustainability of iwi is reliant on iwi members supporting their iwi regardless of the location of their upbringing.

The concept of strategic entrepreneurship has received increased attention over the past ten years. Viewed as the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategy, this field of research is populated by conceptual studies which focus mainly on the nature and perceived benefits of strategic entrepreneurship. Similarly, the study of entrepreneurship in a public sector context has gained increasing support in recent years, but also remains underexplored. To address these gaps, this thesis considers: What are the underlying elements and financial implications of strategic entrepreneurship in New Zealand’s state-owned enterprises [SOEs]? New Zealand’s SOE sector, comprising 17 government-owned, commercially focused organisations, is considered to be a prime subject for this research. Well known for their implementation of new public management [NPM], many New Zealand SOEs have also been publicly recognised as both innovative and entrepreneurial. The research question is addressed by first developing a preliminary framework of strategic entrepreneurship from literature on entrepreneurship and strategy. This framework is then examined in the context of case studies on activity which is entrepreneurial and/or strategic within 12 of the 17 SOEs operating in New Zealand as at 2006. Transcripts from a series of interviews, and publicly available documents are analysed thematically. SOEs’ financial statements over a five year period are also analysed. The thesis contributes in two broad areas. First, much-needed empirical support is lent to the concept of strategic entrepreneurship. Key elements of strategic entrepreneurship identified include opportunity identification, innovation, acceptance of risk, flexibility, vision, growth, and leveraging from core skills and resources such that existing knowledge and skills are transferred and applied to create new products, services, and markets. Important supporting elements identified include an open, flexible, and progressive culture, operational excellence, and cost minimisation. The nature of each of these elements is also investigated. A detailed understanding of the relationship between strategic entrepreneurship and wealth creation reveals various internal and external factors which may influence the nature and strength of the relationship. These factors include changes within the organisation, as well as changes in the economic and political environment, and are important influences on the resulting returns realised. Second, this thesis offers valuable evidence in support of emerging change in the public sector towards the adoption of strategic entrepreneurship. Support for the value of NPM is provided, with clear evidence of financial returns from New Zealand’s SOE sector. Further, a key finding is the structured and systematic approach to entrepreneurial activity within the context of NPM in several New Zealand SOEs. Such behaviour is referred to in this thesis as new public entrepreneurship. This form of activity offers the potential for competitive advantage and financial gain traditionally associated with entrepreneurial activity, but also limits the respective risks through its structured, systematic approach.