This master thesis focuses on a comparison of two contract law institutes -- consideration and cause. While the former is an Anglo-American legal concept, the later is of civil law origin. The goals of this comparative study are as follows: 1. to analyze consideration and cause with the emphasis on the problematic aspects; 2. to compare the institutes with regard to their function in contracts formation; 3. to assess their reasonableness and consider alternative solutions which could better comply with the requirements of modern contract law. The structure of the paper corresponds to the above-mentioned aims.

Cette étude porte, dans la première section, sur l’identification des sources auxquelles Leibniz se réfère pour établir le principe de raison. Cinq traditions principales apparaissent : la tradition de la « Regula Platonis », celle de la « topica aristotelica », celle des Stoïciens « de Fato » et du « milieu de Chrysippe », celle des Chrétiens à travers la « formule johannique » et celle des Modernes que Leibniz a croisée dans sa formation universitaire et scientifique. Dans la seconde section, nous étudions les cinq phases d’évolution des formulations du principe de raison : la phase 1 (1663-1677) où Leibniz détermine les domaines de la raison suffisante ; la phase 2 (1678-1685) où il constitue les principes des vérités ; la phase 3 (1686-1696) où il invente le « principe de la raison à rendre » ; la phase 4 (1697-1706) où il invente le « principe de la raison suffisante » et la phase 5 (1707-1716) où le principe de raison devient un principe de défense de la cause de Dieu et de la métaphysique. / In its first section, this study aims at identifying the sources which Leibniz refers to in order to establish the principle of reason. Five main traditions come out: first the tradition of the “Regula Platonis”, then the one of the “topica aristotelica”, that of the Stoics “de Fato” and of the “Chrysippus milieu”, also the Christian one through the “Johanical formulation”, and finally that of the Moderns that Leibniz encountered during his academic and scientific education. In the second section, we have studied the evolutions of the formulations of the principle of reason. Five phases can be distinguished : phase 1 (1663-1677) in which Leibniz defines the fields of the sufficient reason ; phase 2 (1678-1685) in which he establishes the principles of the truths ; phase 3 (1686-1696) in which he coins the « principium reddendae rationis » ; phase 4 (1697-1706) in which he coins the « principle of the sufficient reason » and phase 5 (1707-1716) in which the principle of reason becomes a principle of defence of the “causa dei” and of metaphysics.

The overuse of agrochemicals by arable crop farmers in Guyana is of increasing concern. But the literature reveals a paucity of information concerning the reasons for farmers‟ persistence of this inappropriate practice. No previous study has been conducted using a structured format to reveal the scope or reasons for farmers‟ sustained overuse of these chemicals. This research adopted an original structured-type approach, suitable for unearthing and explaining the reasons for this phenomenon. The study was theoretically and analytically guided by the theory of practices and critical realist theory respectively, to identify the prevalence, intensity and significant factors of farmer‟s pesticide and fertiliser overuse, but more importantly to elucidate reasons for overuse and formulate relevant recommendations. This investigation utilised a mixed methods strategy of complementary quantitative and qualitative techniques; comprising analysis of data from 229 farm unit surveys and 38 farmer and 19 key informant interviews, respectively. Quantitative analysis, conducted via SPSS software using tables and regression, revealed widespread prevalence of both pesticide and fertiliser overuse among farmers. The overuse consisted of high frequencies and concentrations of the chemicals. The study notes the factors which were significantly associated with overuse including farmers‟ age, education level, area cultivated, land tenure status and the „source-type‟ of information they accessed. However, qualitative analysis, utilising a grounded-theory approach with the aid of NVivo software, demonstrated that unlike the suggestions by other studies, the reasons for farmers‟ overuse were not the single factors which showed statistical significance for overuse practices. On the contrary, this study revealed original findings, which indicated that the reasons for farmers‟ overuse practices were embedded within an intricate network of contingent, support and contextual factors. These explained both the instigation and continuance of agrochemical overuse by farmers. Overall the findings emphasise the need for policy redress, especially regarding the mandate and conduct of farmer-training regarding chemical use, and the regulatory enforcement of appropriate agrochemical use. Understanding the reasons for farmers‟ inappropriate practices revealed new insight into the interpretation of these practices; as consequences of policy deficiency instead of farmer delinquency. Thus, the implications provided to address this problem of farmers‟ agrochemical overuse presented a new orientation to the type of suggestions previously suggested in other studies. The proposals indicated by this study for a targeted resolution of overuse in arable farmers of Guyana are more policy-oriented than farmer-targeted, since this study revealed that farmers‟ overuse behaviour is largely a response to policy-influenced support and contextual factors.

çExtreme temperatures and high component rotational speeds within a gas turbine engine and design constraints limit engineers' ability to design all engine components to last for the expected service life of the engine. Under the United States Navy's current life management philosophy where life-limited engine parts are retired at their B. 1 life, over $210 million (1995 dollars) worth of parts will be replaced with new parts before system retirement in 2010.</p> <p> Using the systems engineering process, the retirement for cause methodology is adapted for use with and application to the Navy's F11O-GE- 400 engine. A preliminary retirement for cause system design is established, and all life-limited parts are evaluated for participation in the system. A life-cycle cost savings of $270 million is calculated for the four parts selected for management via the established retirement for cause system. Further, this life-cycle cost savings can be achieved with a maximum up-front investment of $4.57 million over two years. Methods for decreasing the upfront investment costs are discussed.</p> <p> The retirement for cause system defined herein is a feasible and cost effective alternative to the Navy's current life management system for the selected F110-GE-400 engine parts. Flight safety and readiness are shown not to be degraded with implementation of the retirement for cause system. Limitations of this study consists primarily of data non-availability.</p> / Master of Science

This diploma thesis focuses on problematic about optimizing of service center and provides a base for creation of program for simulation and optimization. This diploma thesis also deals with hierarchical breakdown and logical structures of processes. Also there are quality determining methods and methods for visualization of processes.

Ett hållbart agerande har gått från att vara en trend till att bli ett måste för välfärden av framtida generationer. EU har genom sina hållbarhetsmål försökt påverka länder att bli mer klimatsmarta, vilket både företag och konsumenter är eniga om är ett orosmoment som måste förbättras. Den största konsumentgruppen i Sverige är millennials och de har ett attityd- beteende gap gentemot hållbar konsumtion. De tycker det är viktigt att konsumera hållbart men agerar inte enlighet med detta. Genom cause related marketing (CRM), kan företag influera konsumenter att stödja ett gott syfte genom konsumtion samtidigt som de själva tjänar på det. Att arbeta mot ett specifikt syfte är en trend som lär hålla i sig men det är viktigt att företag tänker igenom sin kampanj innan de marknadsför den. Tidigare studier på CRM har nämligen visat att millennials kan vara kritiska mot denna typ av marknadsföringsstrategi, men om företagen använder det på rätt sätt så kan det vara gynnsamt för både konsumenter, företag och syfte. Våra fokusområden i denna studie är hållbar konsumtion, millennials och CRM, vilka vi valt att kombinera till en frågeställningen som lyder: Hur motiveras millennials till hållbar konsumtion genom CRM? Studien syftar till att skapa en djupare förståelse för millennials motiv för hållbar konsumtion och hur CRM kan uppmuntra detta. Studien har utgått från tidigare forskning inom de två ämnesområdena hållbar konsumtion och CRM, för att sedan knytas samman genom konsumenters bakomliggande motiv. Detta sammanställdes i en teoretisk modell för hur CRM spelar in på hållbar konsumtion. Studien har en kvalitativ karaktär där åtta semi-strukturerade djupintervjuer genomfördes i kombination med projektiva tekniker. Respondenterna valdes ut genom ett bekvämlighetsurval, och den insamlade datan transkriberades för att senare kodas. En tematisk analys har genomförts för att analysera empirin, och resulterade i fyra globala teman: hållbara influenser, uppmuntran, insikt och autencitet. Resultatet visar att det framförallt är genom egoistiska motiv som millennials motiveras till hållbar konsumtion. De altruistiska motiven har också en betydande roll, men av en indirekt karaktär, medan egoistiska motiv har en direkt påverkan på köpintentionen. Dock måste millennials vara mottagliga för CRM för att överväga att köpa produkter från en CRM kampanj. Vi vill även poängtera vikten av en väl utformad kampanj, då detta kan väga upp för andra bristande faktorer. CRM har således potential att minska attityd-beteende gapet och motivera millennials till hållbar konsumtion. Slutligen diskuteras teoretiskt bidrag, praktiska rekommendationer till företag, direktioner för fortsatt forskning samt samhälleliga och etiska implikationer.

Background: Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a method of investigating adverse events (AEs). The purpose of RCA is to improve quality of care and patient safety through a retrospective, structured investigative process of an incident, resulting in recommendations to prevent the recurrence of medical errors. Aim: The aim of the study was to develop and validate a prototype questionnaire to establish whether the RCA model and processes employed at the research setting were perceived by the users to be acceptable, thorough and credible in terms of internationally established criteria. Methods: This is a validation study comprising four phases to meet the study objectives: 1) the development of a prototype questionnaire guided by a literature review; 2) assessing the validity of the content of the questionnaire by and numerical evaluation of the face validity thereof; 3) assessing the qualitative face validity cognitive interviews; and 4) reliability by test-retest. Results: Content validity assessment in Phase 2 resulted in removal of 1/36 (2.77%) question items and amendment of 7/36 (19.44%), resulting in 35 for the revised questionnaire. Analysis of data from the cognitive interviews resulted in amendment of 20/35 (57.14%) question items but no removal. Reliability of the final questionnaire achieved the predetermined ≥0.7 level of agreement. Conclusion: The questionnaire achieved a high content validity index and face validity was enhanced by cognitive interviews by providing qualitative data. The inter-rater coefficient indicated a high level of reliability. The tool was designed for a local private healthcare sector and this may limit its use.

Digitalisation driven by competition and performance has lead to a situation where most aspects of organisations business is digitised and vulnerable to cybersecurity incidents. Even though this discrepancy is being adressed incidents continue to happen. To be able to protect the organisation from cyber incidents an assessment of the security of information systems is needed. However cybersecurity incidents has been the subject of little research and the limited research there is often focuses on single causes, resulting in reduced accuracy of assessments. Therefore the question remains how different causes of incidents has affected organisations. To answer the question a systematic literature review and a taxonomy of four mutually exclusive cybersecurity incident causes are used. The result shows that 31 papers in the last five years contained relevant data, indicating that cause of incidents has not been the subject of much systematic research. Furthermore, the result shows that malicious actions were covered in 27 of the papers and human errors in 22 while system failures were only covered in seven and natural phenomena in zero. Through this the need for research on causes and effect of cybersecurity incidents is highlighted. Looking at the effect of the incidents there is a great spectra of results and the covered papers cannot be used to formulate a consensus. This seems to be an effect of the papers having different focus, suggesting a need for studies that include all possible causes as well as a common taxonomy to be used in multiple studies.

Several authors have determined concepts related to the inclusion of social problems in advertising. One of them is brand-cause fit, which refers to the condition in which a brand and a social problem—with which the target audience feels identified—are conceptually united in a single communication proposal. The purpose of this study was to analyze how university students perceive the brand-cause fit as a communication strategy in Sprite's “You Are Not Alone” campaign. A qualitative methodology was adopted and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 university students of which 12 belonged to the LGBT community and 12 were heterosexual. The participants positively perceived the brand-cause fit used as an advertising strategy in Sprite's campaign. Not only do they value the fact that brands include social issues and problems in their communication, but they also claim that it is the brands’ responsibility to do so. / Revisión por pares

To enhance their organizational performance, banks can benefit from the experiences of manufacturing firms and gainfully employ quality and process improvement philosophies with proven track records in manufacturing industries. This article presents a framework, which integrates root cause analysis with benchmarking, process reengineering and continuous improvement. A case study is employed to illustrate the application of the framework and to demonstrate how it can benefit a bank in lowering costs, enhancing productivity, responding to customer demands, reducing complaints and improving customer satisfaction.