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This thesis contributes to enhance our knowledge on fertility decisions by addressing two major issues. First, it contributes to the understanding of the factors behind the differences in fertility levels among European countries by adopting a holistic perspective. Second, it adds to the fertility topic by examining the whole fertility decision-making process using a dyadic and a life-course perspective to address the ‘fertility gap’ that exists between desired family size and the actual number of children. In order to provide these contributions, this thesis is structured as follows. After a detailed review of the literature, major attention is dedicated to the analysis of the differences in terms of fertility levels between the European countries (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 investigates the fertility decision-making process exploiting the unique information of HILDA, which allows for a dyadic as well as longitudinal analysis of the overall process. The last chapter examines in-depth the transition to parenthood among couples of diverse ethnic origins in Australia.

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This research study acquired a consumer response centred approach to visual merchandising stimuli, in an attempt to holistically consider this area of the retail industry. Consumers‟ perceptions towards visual merchandising displays and the effect these displays have on consumer behaviour were exposed. The primary research question that pended from the preliminary literature was to determine the effect of visual merchandising displays on consumer perceptions. Explorative research was performed and qualitative data were collected by means of focus groups and naïve sketches. The data was analysed by means of a thematic analysis process. Perceptions of visual merchandising displays that were identified were subliminal in creating an interest and desire to further peruse the merchandise and aesthetically to beautify the store. Consumers expressed that the impact that visual merchandising displays had on their buying decisions depended on their personal preferences. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Une variété de modèles sur le processus de prise de décision dans divers contextes présume que les sujets accumulent les évidences sensorielles, échantillonnent et intègrent constamment les signaux pour et contre des hypothèses alternatives. L'intégration continue jusqu'à ce que les évidences en faveur de l'une des hypothèses dépassent un seuil de critère de décision (niveau de preuve exigé pour prendre une décision). De nouveaux modèles suggèrent que ce processus de décision est plutôt dynamique; les différents paramètres peuvent varier entre les essais et même pendant l’essai plutôt que d’être un processus statique avec des paramètres qui ne changent qu’entre les blocs d’essais. Ce projet de doctorat a pour but de démontrer que les décisions concernant les mouvements d’atteinte impliquent un mécanisme d’accumulation temporelle des informations sensorielles menant à un seuil de décision. Pour ce faire, nous avons élaboré un paradigme de prise de décision basée sur un stimulus ambigu afin de voir si les neurones du cortex moteur primaire (M1), prémoteur dorsal (PMd) et préfrontal (DLPFc) démontrent des corrélats neuronaux de ce processus d’accumulation temporelle. Nous avons tout d’abord testé différentes versions de la tâche avec l’aide de sujets humains afin de développer une tâche où l’on observe le comportement idéal des sujets pour nous permettre de vérifier l’hypothèse de travail. Les données comportementales chez l’humain et les singes des temps de réaction et du pourcentage d'erreurs montrent une augmentation systématique avec l'augmentation de l'ambigüité du stimulus. Ces résultats sont cohérents avec les prédictions des modèles de diffusion, tel que confirmé par une modélisation computationnelle des données. Nous avons, par la suite, enregistré des cellules dans M1, PMd et DLPFc de 2 singes pendant qu'ils s'exécutaient à la tâche. Les neurones de M1 ne semblent pas être influencés par l'ambiguïté des stimuli mais déchargent plutôt en corrélation avec le mouvement exécuté. Les neurones du PMd codent la direction du mouvement choisi par les singes, assez rapidement après la présentation du stimulus. De plus, l’activation de plusieurs cellules du PMd est plus lente lorsque l'ambiguïté du stimulus augmente et prend plus de temps à signaler la direction de mouvement. L’activité des neurones du PMd reflète le choix de l’animal, peu importe si c’est une bonne réponse ou une erreur. Ceci supporte un rôle du PMd dans la prise de décision concernant les mouvements d’atteinte. Finalement, nous avons débuté des enregistrements dans le cortex préfrontal et les résultats présentés sont préliminaires. Les neurones du DLPFc semblent beaucoup plus influencés par les combinaisons des facteurs de couleur et de position spatiale que les neurones du PMd. Notre conclusion est que le cortex PMd est impliqué dans l'évaluation des évidences pour ou contre la position spatiale de différentes cibles potentielles mais assez indépendamment de la couleur de celles-ci. Le cortex DLPFc serait plutôt responsable du traitement des informations pour la combinaison de la couleur et de la position des cibles spatiales et du stimulus ambigu nécessaire pour faire le lien entre le stimulus ambigu et la cible correspondante. / A variety of models of the decision-making process in many different contexts suggest that subjects sample, accumulate and integrate sensory evidence for and against different alternative choices, until one of those signals exceeds a decision criterion threshold. Early models assumed that this process is static and does not change during a trial or even between trials, but only between blocks of trials when task demands such as speed versus accuracy change. However, newer models suggest that the decision-making process is dynamic and factors that influence the evidence accumulation process might change both between trials in a block and even during a trial. This thesis project aims to demonstrate that decisions about reaching movements emerge from a mechanism of integration of sensory evidence to a decision criterion threshold. We developed a paradigm for decision-making about reach direction based on ambiguous sensory input to search for neural correlates of the decision-making process in primary motor cortex (M1), premotor cortex (PMd) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFc). We first tested several versions of the task with human subjects before developing a task (“Choose and Go”) that showed ideal behavior from the subjects to test our hypothesis. The task required subjects to choose between two color-coded targets in different spatial locations by deciding the predominant color of a central “decision cue” that contained different amounts of colored squares of the two target colors. The strength of the evidence was manipulated by varying the relative numbers of squares of the two colors. The response times and error rates both increased in parallel as the strength of the sensory evidence in the decision cue (its color bias) became increasingly weaker. Computational modelling showed that the choice behaviour of the subjects could be captured by different variants of the drift-diffusion model for accumulation of sensory evidence to a decision threshold. We then recorded cells from M1, PMd and DLPFc in 2 macaques while they performed the task. Behavioral data showed that response times and error rates increased with the amount of ambiguity of the decision cues. M1 cells discharged in correlation with movement onset and were not influenced by the ambiguity of the decision cues. In contrast, the discharge of PMd cells increased more slowly with increased ambiguity of the decision cues and took increasingly more time to signal the movement direction chosen by the monkeys. The changes in activity reflected the monkeys’ reach choices. These data support a role for PMd in the choice of reach direction. DLPFc data are preliminary but reveal a stronger effect of the color-location conjunction rule in the neuronal discharge than in PMd. Our conclusion is that PMd is involved in the evaluation of evidence for and against different alternatives and about target spatial location independent of the color of the targets. DLPFC neurons play a greater role in processing information about the color and location of the spatial targets and decision cue to resolve the color-location conjunction rule required to decide on the reach target direction.

This diploma deals with the use of decision analysis methods to solve the decision problem of selecting an information system for small business. The theoretical part explains the basic concepts, methods and procedures related to information systems and decision theory, the practical part use methods of the decision analysis and chose the best option and suggest the optimal decision.

Au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, les Coréens représentaient la première communauté étrangère au Japon. Beaucoup d’entre eux y subissait des discriminations et vivaient dans la précarité, voire dans l’indigence. Dans la deuxième moitié des années 1950, alors que les dirigeants nord-Coréens se proposaient de les accueillir, le rapatriement en Corée du Nord représenta pour nombre de ces Coréens l’espoir d’un avenir meilleur. De 1959 à 1984, plus de 93000 personnes – dont environs 2000 Japonaises mariées à des Coréens – gagnèrent le Nord du 38e parallèle. Toutefois, le gouvernement japonais, confronté dès 1974 aux demandes des familles de ces Japonaises, tenta d’obtenir des informations sur leur sort et leur retour au Japon. Le présent travail établit une cartographie des acteurs impliqués dans le processus décisionnel autour des rapatriements vers la Corée du Nord, mais également dans les négociations touchant à la question de ces femmes japonaises. Plus particulièrement, cette étude met en lumière le rôle d’ « acteurs subsidiaires » – notamment la Société de la Croix-Rouge du Japon et les parlementaires nationaux – intervenant là où les marges de manœuvre du gouvernement sont restreintes en l’absence de relations diplomatiques officielles entre le Japon et la Corée du Nord. Cette contrainte institutionnelle a eu pour conséquence l’investissement des champs d’action traditionnellement dévolus au Ministère des Affaires étrangères (négociation, protection de ses nationaux à l’étranger, renseignement) par ces « acteurs subsidiaires » dont l’analyse permet d’établir une image à la fois plus complète et moins stato-Centrée de la politique étrangère du Japon. / At the end of the Second World War, Koreans constituted the main foreign community in Japan. Many of them were subjected to discrimination, and lived precariously or even in abject poverty. From the latter half of the 1950s, when North Korean leaders were welcoming them and guaranteeing them decent living conditions, repatriation to North Korea represented hope for a better future for many of these Koreans. Between 1959 and 1984, more than 93,000 people – of whom 2,000 were Japanese women married to Koreans – arrived at the 38th Parallel North. Nevertheless, the Japanese government, confronted by requests from the families of these Japanese women from 1974, tried to obtain information on their whereabouts, and asked for their return to Japan. The present work establishes a mapping of the actors implicated in the decision-Making process concerning repatriation operations to North Korea, but also in the negotiations retated to the Japanese women. More specifically, this study highlights the role of the “subsidiary actors” – of which the Japanese Red Cross and national parliaments are the most prominent – those that intervened where the government’s margins for manoeuvring were narrow in the absence of official diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea. This institutional constraint led to an investment in fields of action that had traditionally been relegated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (negotiation, protection of nationals abroad, intelligence, etc.) by these “subsidiary actors”, and a subsequent analysis of these actors provided both a more complete and less state-Centred image of Japan’s foreign policy.

The dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of the issue of quality in simultaneous interpreting. The theoretical part explores general questions related to quality in interpreting, namely the inherent difficulties encountered in defining quality, the issue of subjectivity in the assessment of quality, the different perspectives on quality and the issues surrounding the various quality criteria as suggested by different authors. The work focuses on the cognitive processes involved in simultaneous interpreting; concepts of working memory and cognitive load are discussed as well as their connection to the concept of interpreting as a decision-making process and a strategic behaviour. Quality is therefore understood as the capacity to efficiently and effectively manage available cognitive resources and to choose appropriate strategies to solve a particular problem in a specific interpreting situation, while taking into account the overall working conditions and the individual predispositions of the interpreter. The empirical part includes an analysis of actual interpreting of technical (legal) speeches. The technical nature of the speeches and the resulting linguistic and conceptual difficulties of the input material is considered to be a factor that increases cognitive load. The aim is to...

La gestion du patrimoine est un concept récemment adopté par le secteur public qui consiste d'une manière générale à prendre les décisions, jugées optimales, concernant l'acquisition, la maintenance, le fonctionnement et la disposition des immobilisations. Pour pouvoir prendre ces décisions, plusieurs outils peuvent être retrouvés à l'exemple de la comptabilité des immobilisations. Ces outils forment le système de gestion du patrimoine ou la chaîne de gestion patrimoniale. C'est ce qui est affirmé dans la littérature. Notre étude est accès sur la manière dont ces décisions se prennent au niveau de deux communes malgaches : la commune suburbaine d'Ambohimanga Rova et la commune rurale de Mahabo. L'analyse de plusieurs décisions patrimoniales a permis de déduire par la suite la place potentielle des outils qui ne s'arrête pas seulement à l'aide à la décision mais peuvent constituer également des éléments de légitimation des décisions politiques. / The public asset management which recently adopted by public sector, consists in making decision, considered as optimal, about the acquisition, the maintenance, the operating and the disposition of fixed assets. To make those decisions, several management tools can be found like the fixed assets accounting. Those tools constitute the asset management system. It is what is marked on the research about the asset management. Our study is about the way in which those decisions are made on the level of two malagasy's municipalities: the suburban municipality of Ambohimanga Rova and the rural municipality of Mahabo. The analysis of several decisions implies the potential roles of those tools which does not stop only with the decision-making process but can also constitute elements of legitimation of political decisions.

Assim como outros investimentos em tecnologia da informação, os sistemas de Business Intelligence (BI) também têm sido questionados em relação aos benefícios e retornos obtidos depois de sua implantação. Isso porque o produto de BI é inteligência, ou, em outras palavras, algum tipo de informação processada, e o valor da informação é difícil de avaliar. A presente pesquisa pretende contribuir ao estudo desse problema de pesquisa, abordando o tema da avaliação dos sistemas de BI por meio do modelo de sucesso de sistemas de informação proposto por DeLone e McLean. Além das dimensões tradicionais inter-relacionadas do modelo: capacidade de BI, qualidade da informação, satisfação dos usuários e nível de uso, foi incluída a variável a abordagem de decisão, pois um dos principais objetivos dos sistemas de BI é processar dados advindos de diferentes fontes, para produzir informação que sirva como suporte para a tomada de decisão. Uma vez que a capacidade de BI e a qualidade da informação são constructos multidimensionais, uma das contribuições desta pesquisa foi realizar um levantamento na literatura sobre as dimensões que operacionalizam esse constructo e avaliá-las empiricamente. A capacidade de BI foi definida em termos de acessibilidade, capacidades analíticas, flexibilidade e integração, e qualidade da informação em termos de atualidade, completude, oportunidade e precisão. O problema de pesquisa foi abordado por meio da metodologia de survey, em que os respondentes foram convidados a participar da pesquisa via e-mail e o questionário foi disponibilizado em forma eletrônica através da ferramenta SurveyMonkey. No total, foram obtidas 483 repostas, das quais 246 foram válidas. Já que o modelo conceitual proposto inclui múltiplas relações de interdependência, a técnica estatística selecionada para analisar os dados foi a modelagem de equações estruturais. O software utilizado foi o SmartPLS que testa o modelo estrutural por meio do método de mínimos quadrados ordinários. Foi possível comprovar empiricamente todas as relações de causalidade propostas entre as dimensões de sucesso dos sistemas de BI, a exceção da relação de moderação da variável abordagem de decisão na relação de causalidade entre satisfação e nível de uso. Um teste subsequente permitiu observar que essa variável poderia ser preditora do nível de uso. Segundo os resultados, é possível afirmar que o sucesso de BI pode ser definido em termos da capacidade de BI, qualidade da informação, satisfação dos usuários e nível de uso. A operacionalização realizada dos constructos multidimensionais \"capacidade de BI\" e \"qualidade da informação\" poderia dar luzes sobre quais características devem ser priorizadas na implantação e/ou desenvolvimento dos sistemas de BI nas empresas. / As well as other investments in Information Technology (IT), Business Intelligence (BI) systems have also been questioned in relation to the benefits and returns obtained after its implementation. These questions arise because the BI product is intelligence, or, in other words, some kind of processed information and the value of information is difficult to assess. This research aims to contribute to this by addressing the issue of evaluation of BI systems through the information systems success model proposed by DeLone and McLean, beyond the traditional dimensions that are interrelated: BI capabilities, quality of information, user satisfaction, and level of use. The decision approach was included as a variable since a key objective of BI systems is to process data coming from different sources to produce information that serves as a basis for the decision-making process. Once the BI capability and information quality are multidimensional constructs, one of the contributions of this study was to review the literature available about the dimensions that operationalize this construct and evaluate them empirically. BI capability was defined in terms of accessibility, analytical capabilities, flexibility and integration, and the information quality in terms of opportunity, completeness, timeliness and accuracy. The research problem was addressed by the survey methodology: the respondents were invited to participate in the survey via email and the questionnaire was made available in electronic form through the SurveyMonckey tool. A number of 246 responses were usable out of the 483 total responses that were obtained. Since the proposed conceptual model includes multiple interdependencies, the statistical technique selected to analyze the data was the structural equation modeling. The software used was the SmartPLS, which tests the structural model using the ordinary least squares method. It was possible to prove empirically all the causal relationships proposed between success dimensions of BI systems, except for the moderation effect of making-decision approach variable on the relationship between satisfaction and usage level. A subsequent test allowed us to observe that this variable could be a predictor of the level of use. According to these results, we can say that the success of BI can be defined in terms of BI capability, the quality of information, user satisfaction and the level of use. The operationalization of the variables BI capability and information quality as a multidimensional construct could enlighten the decision about which features should be prioritized in implementing the development of BI systems in companies.