Den här studien handlar om hur svenska officerare fattar sina beslut i dynamiska situationer, det vill säga situationer som bland annat präglas av stress, oklarheter och tidspress. Även frågor kring vad som bygger förmågan till att fatta dylika beslut och hur till exempel gruppen och ledarskapet påverkar beslutsfattandet studeras. Det tycks finnas motsättningar gällande frågan om beslut fattas på ett rationellt och analytiskt sätt eller om det sker på ett intuitivt vis. Syftet med uppsatsen är att studera hur svenska officerare fattar beslut i dynamiska situationer och vad det kan innebära för deras utbildning och utveckling. Frågan studeras genom sammanlagt femton intervjuer med erfarna svenska officerare och officerskadetter och i studien har en tematisk analys med en induktiv ansats använts. Studiens resultat tyder på att det militära beslutsfattandet i dynamiska situationer kan förklaras med två teman: a) individuella och b) strukturella faktorer. Individuella faktorer handlar bland annat om intuitivt beslutsfattande, ledarskap och gruppdynamik medan strukturella faktorer avser erfarenhet och utbildning. Resultaten bekräftar teorier om att det intuitiva beslutsfattandet förutsätter att officeren är erfaren och har en hög nivå av expertis. En expertis och erfarenhet som genom år av träning har skapat en minnesbank som medger igenkänning eller mönsterförståelse i många militära dynamiska situationer. Med resultaten i åtanke diskuteras slutligen huruvida den inslagna vägen för att forma morgondagens officerare och högre officerare är den mest produktiva.

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This study examines various approaches used by companies providingsoftware-as-a-service (SaaS) in a business-to-business (B2B) environment to find a pricing strategy. To be able to meet competition in a global market, a good pricing strategy is vital. Pricing is an important part of marketing, which must be congruent with the company's overall objectives. Strategic pricing is made up of different factors represented in the strategic pricing pyramid, which is based on a value-based approach. It is paramount to know your customers and their preferences when designing a pricing strategy and selecting pricing models, price metrics, market segmentation, bundling, and price levels. After having estimated how much value a product or service creates for a customer, this must be communicated to potential customers in order to convince them to purchase your offering. Choosing the right pricing strategy is not a onetime occurrence, but an on-going process. In this qualitative study, three case studies are performed to tie theory to real world practise.

本研究係以或有事項的會計及審計處理為主要研究範圍，針對目前一般公認會計準則或有事項的權威規定先作初步探討，再經由文獻回顧了解本課題處理上的困難所在，並藉由實證研究以確認在國外所遭遇的困難是否也存在於國內，最後，依據研究結果做出結論及建議。 我國一般公認會計準則公報第九號中，將或有事項依其發生的可能性區分為（１）很有可能；（２）有可能；（３）極少可能等三大類而有不同的處理方式；但是經由學者的研究指出，以這三個詞語來劃分發生可能性的結果，在各相關團體間由於解釋並不一致，很可能造成財務報表缺乏比較性的缺憾，因此主脹改採百分比方式來作為劃分標準，以期更趨明確客觀。本文即針對目前或有事項劃分方式就相關團體作共識性實證研究，並對同一組群團體在不同期間所作的決策來觀察是否具有穩定性。 此外，本文探討的範圍還包括了不確定狀態下的風險及決策模式等相關主題，期能對於或有事項的處理提供更明確詳實的輪廓，以供財務報表的編製者及審核者作為參考；並提醒財務報表的使用者，或有事項的處理在先天上即具有其不確定性質存在，因此使用者尤其應熟悉財務會計準則公報的規定及會計師的查核意見，據以合理闡釋財務報表所提供的資訊，進而作出最理想的決策。

L'objectif de cette thèse est d'identifier les déterminants de l'adoption des cultures pérennes énergétiques par les agriculteurs en se concentrant sur les questions de risque et de temps. L'analyse s'appuie sur le cas du miscanthus (Miscanthus giganteus) et du panic érigé (Panicum virgatum) en France, mais est potentiellement généralisable à d'autres cultures pérennes. Lesdécisions publiques et privées pertinentes pour encourager le développement de ces cultures sontdiscutées. Dans le premier article, nous évaluons l'impact du risque et du temps sur la surface optimale de miscanthus et de panic érigé dans une exploitation de grandes cultures de la région Centre. Nous dépassons le calcul usuel de la valeur actuelle nette en tenant compte explicitement de l'aversion au risque et aux fluctuations intertemporelles à travers les cadres de l'utilité espérée et de l'utilité actualisée. Nos résultats montrent que les deux plantes pérennes sont en moyenne moins rentables que la rotation traditionnelle colza/blé/orge. Cependant, elles peuvent être très compétitives comme cultures de diversification lorsque des contrats de production adaptés sont proposés aux agriculteurs. Les deuxième, troisième et quatrième articles exploitent les données d'une enquête et d'une expérience réalisées auprès de 111 agriculteurs de Bourgogne ayant fait face au choix de cultiver ou non du miscanthus. Le deuxième article décrit la production de miscanthus en Bourgogne. Nous montrons d'une part que le miscanthus est implanté majoritairement sur des parcelles marginales peu rentables pour des usages traditionnels. Nous montrons d'autre part que, même en présence de contrats à long terme, les agriculteurs perçoivent le miscanthus comme globalement moins risqué que le blé, mais restent préoccupés par des risques spécifiques à issues peu probables mais extrêmement défavorables. Dans le troisième article, nous estimons les préférences des agriculteurs par rapport au risque à partir des données expérimentales. Nous appliquons une méthode d'estimation structurelle à un modèle de décision conforme à la théorie des perspectives. Nous passons ensuite en revue un certain nombre d'implications de ce cadre théorique pour les économistes agricoles. Nos estimations indiquent que la théorie des perspectives explique mieux nos données que la théorie standard de l'utilité espérée. Les agriculteurs sont en effet averses à la perte et déforment les probabilités de manière à donner un poids important aux événements extrêmes. Dans le quatrième article, nous examinons la relation entre l'adoption du miscanthus et les caractéristiques des agriculteurs et des exploitations, en particulier les préférences individuelles par rapport au risque et au temps. Ces dernières sont représentées par des mesures expérimentales obtenues dans le cadre de la théorie des perspectives et de l'actualisation hyperbolique respectivement. Nos résultats suggèrent que la probabilité d'adoption du miscanthus dépend du degré d'aversion à la perte des agriculteurs et de l'ampleur avec laquelle ils déforment les probabilités. Cependant, l'impact de ces deux facteurs varie avec le type de parcelle considéré et le point de référence des agriculteurs. Par ailleurs, la probabilité d'adoption est d'autant plus forte que la proportion sur l'exploitation de terres peu rentables est élevée, et que ces terres ne sont pas déjà valorisées par une activité d'élevage. / The objective of the thesis was to identify the determinants of the adoption of perennial energy crops by farmers, focusing on risk and time issues. The analysis is based on the case of miscanthus (Miscanthus giganteus) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) in France, but it is potentially generalizable to other perennial crops. Public and private decisions relevant for enhancing the development of those crops are discussed. In the first essay, I examine the impact of risk and time on the optimal area of miscanthus and switchgrass in a typical grain farm of the Centre region. I go beyond the usual net present value calculation by taking into account aversion to risk and intertemporal fluctuations through the expected utility and discounted utility frameworks. I find that the two perennial crops result to be, on average, less profitable than the usual rape/wheat/barley rotation. Nevertheless, they can be highly competitive as diversification crops when appropriate contracts are offered tofarmers. The second, third and fourth essays use the data from a survey and a field experiment that I conducted on 111 French farmers from Bourgogne who had faced the choice of whether to grow miscanthus. In the second essay, I describe miscanthus production in Bourgogne. On the one hand, I show that miscanthus is mostly grown on marginal plots where traditional land uses are unprofitable. On the other hand, I show that farmers perceive miscanthus as globally less risky than wheat,but some specific, unlikely and extremely unfavorable outcomes remain cause of concern. In the third essay, I estimate farmers' risk preferences from the experimental dataset. I apply a structural estimation method to a prospect theory decision model. Then, I review some of the implications of this theoretical framework for agricultural economists. Our estimations show that prospect theory explains our data more fully than the standard expected utility theory. Indeed, farmers are loss averse and distort probabilities so as to overweight extreme events. In the fourth essay, I investigate the relationship between miscanthus adoption and the characteristics of farmers and farms, in particular farmers' individual risk and time preferences. The latter are experimental measures obtained in the prospect theory and hyberbolic discounting frameworks respectively. Our results suggest that adoption probability depends on farmers' degree of loss aversion and probability weighting. However, the impact of these two factors varies with land type and farmers' reference point. In addition, the proportion of low-profitability land on the farm increases adoption probability, while the presence of cattle has the opposite effect.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Ted C. Schroeder / During the last 20 years important changes have taken place in the Uruguayan beef chain. Production of grain finished cattle has become a common practice, supply agreements between packers and groups of farmers have increased and packers have begun to own feedyards. Consequently, the number of cattle pre-committed for procurement by a packer has increased significantly. Three sourcing methods are commonly used by packers to ensure captive supply of grain finished fed cattle: marketing agreements, custom feeding and owning a feedyard. The objective of this thesis is to determine the method or combination of methods that result in improved Uruguayan packer profitability through enhanced packer plant management and utilization. To achieve this objective, a quantitative and qualitative analysis using the different sourcing methods was carried out. The analysis looked to identify the drivers that determine why packers resort to one method of procurement rather than other, or a combination of them; and to determine the methods that result in better packer economic results and plant management. The results show that there is no difference between using marketing agreements and custom feedyards, and that resorting to owned feedyards entails higher costs, using current values for feedyard feed and yardage and 2005-2009 average cattle prices. When different scenarios are assessed, custom feeding emerges as the most cost effective option, followed by marketing agreements. However, when qualitative analysis is included, some doubts arise regarding the quantitative advantage of custom feedyards over the alternatives, and a combination of marketing agreements and owned feedyards may be the best option.

Technology that is widely discussed in the business community today is cloud computing and cloud-based systems, as a cloud-based CRM-system. Considering that large companies, such as Google, Netflix and Microsoft, use this type of technology, it is important to ask whether such systems add something to the business or whether it is just an IT trend. The purpose of this study is therefore to create a decision model that will determine whether the company will implement a cloud-based system or maintain it in on-premises. The decision model should shed light on various criteria for cloud-based solutions. The study will be designed with the help of the TOE framework (technology, organization and environment). The aim of the study is to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the consequences and benefits of cloud-based systems? (2) what are the differences between the criteria in the literature compare to what you  practice? (3) Are there differences in the views of the supplier and the customer around this area? The result is based on qualitative interviews with people from the supplier and the customer. The interviews also represent the TOE framework. In addition, an interview with an external expert has been carried out in order to evaluate and support the results of the conducted interviews. The survey has resulted in a decision model with three alternatives and eleven criterias. The analysis shows that there is a difference in what the literature emphasizes compared to what you actually are doing.  The views between the supplier and the customer are also different. Where the customer does not want to lose control and experience a lock-in effect. On the other hand, the supplier wants to deliver the latest technology and give new challenges to their employees. The study can be concluded as follows: the main reason for not implementing the cloud-based system for the customer is; deposit, cost and loss of control. The main reason for implementing the cloud-based system for the vendor is; consultant development, functionality and availability. / Teknologi er altomfattende og oppslukende. Teknologiutvikling aksele-rerer raskere hver eneste dag, og kan raskt bidra til å skape et skille mellom de aktører som følger utviklingen og de som uteblir fra utvik-lingen.  Tilfører cloudbaserte og cloud computing nytte til bedriften eller er det kun en IT-trend? Hensikten med dette studiet er derfor å skape en beslutningsmodell som skal avgjøre om bedriften skal implementere et cloudbasert system eller bevare de systemer de har i dag i et  on-premises miljø. Beslutningsmodellen skal belyse ulike kriterier innen cloudbaserte løsninger. Studien skal utformes med hjelp av TOE-rammeverket (teknologi, organisasjon og miljø). Målet med studien er å besvare følgende forskningsspørsmål: (1) hvilke konsekvenser og nytteverdier medfører cloudbaserte systemer? (2) hvilke forskjeller er det mellom kriteriene i litteraturen og det som utføres i praksis? (3) finns det forskjeller på synspunktene til leverandøren og kunden rundt dette fagområdet? Resultatet bygger på kvalitative intervjuer med personer fra leverandøren av tjenesten og kunden. I tillegg har det blitt gjennom-ført et intervju med en ekstern ekspert, for å evaluere og støtte opp under resultatet fra gjennomførte  intervjuer. Undersøkelsen har resul-tert i en beslutningsmodell med to alternativ og elleve kriterier. Analy-sen viser at det er forskjeller  på hvilke kriterier litteraturen vektlegger sammenlignet med de kriterier som benyttes i praksis. Det er også forskjeller mellom de synspunkter som mellom leverandøren utrykker sammenlignet med og kundens synspunkter. Kunden ønsker ikke  å miste kontrollen og opplever en innlåsingseffekt. Leverandøren derimot ønsker å levere den nyeste teknologien samt bidra til økt stimulering gjennom effektivisering av arbeidsprosesser og rutiner. Dette bidrar til å stimulere og utfordre den enkelte ansatte.  Studien kan konkluderes på følgende måte: hovedårsaken for å ikke implementere cloudbaserte system for kunden er; innlåsing, investering og driftskostnad og risiko for tap av kontroll. Hovedårsaken  for å implementere et cloudbaserte system for leverandøren er; organisasjonens mulighet til å jobbe med nyeste teknologi stimulerer til økt konsulent utvikling, funksjonalitet og tilgjengelighet.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-06-13T13:42:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Elionai de Souza Magalhães_.pdf: 2039789 bytes, checksum: 5d3f44b9164f4c68bcb09e63c3a2dda0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-13T13:42:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elionai de Souza Magalhães_.pdf: 2039789 bytes, checksum: 5d3f44b9164f4c68bcb09e63c3a2dda0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-04 / IFAM - Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Amazonas / A responsabilidade de tomar decisões em si não é fácil, e quando está relacionada à gestão de recursos na área pública é uma tarefa ainda mais difícil, pois está ligada a um alto nível de complexidade. Neste trabalho, é apresentado um modelo computacional baseado em análise de decisão multicritério para a priorização da alocação de recursos financeiros para as comunidades ribeirinhas da região de Coari, Amazonas. Com o surgimento da Pesquisa Operacional, foi possível o desenvolvimento de métodos que auxiliam os tomadores de decisão no que se refere à avaliação e escolha em ambientes que envolvem multicritérios. É o caso da gestão pública, cuja decisão sobre a alocação de recursos passa pela análise de diversos critérios. As técnicas de decisão multicritério, aliadas às novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação, possibilitam novas formas de conhecimento e maior qualidade em diversos serviços. O emprego destas tecnologias no desenvolvimento de ferramentas de auxílio à decisão para a alocação de recursos é de grande utilidade, tendo em vista a automação no processo de análise e rapidez na obtenção dos resultados, possibilitando agilidade na tomada de decisão. Neste trabalho, é desenvolvido um modelo computacional baseado na técnica de Auxílio à Decisão Multicritério para ajudar na alocação de recursos públicos em comunidades ribeirinhas do Amazonas. O modelo emprega a técnica TOPSIS de análise multicritério com o intuito de obter um ranking das comunidades, para assim indicar aquela com maior grau de prioridade para receber a alocação de recursos públicos. Os experimentos foram realizados assumindo um conjunto de seis critérios empregados na ordenação de oito regiões de comunidades ribeirinhas. No estudo realizado, a lista de priorização indicou a região de comunidades do Baixo Solimões como a prioritária para a alocação de recursos públicos e a robustez da priorização obtida na aplicação efetuada foi avaliada através da realização de uma análise de sensibilidade. / The responsibility of making decisions itself is not easy, and when it is related to the management of resources in the public sector is an even more difficult task, because it is linked to a high level of complexity. In this paper, we present a computational model based on multi-criteria decision analysis to prioritize the allocation of financial resources to the coastal communities of Coari region of Amazonas. With the emergence of Operational Research, development methods was possible that assist decision makers with regard to the evaluation and choice in environments that involve advanced. This is the case of public administration, whose decision on the allocation of resources involves the analysis of various criteria. The techniques of multi-criteria decision, combined with the new technologies of information and communication, enable new forms of knowledge and higher quality in different services. The use of these technologies in the development of the decision support tools for the allocation of resources is useful in view of automation in the process of analysis and speed in obtaining results, enabling agility in decision making. In this work, we developed a computational model based on the technique of Aid to Decision Multicriteria to assist in the allocation of public resources in riverine communities of Amazonas. The model uses the TOPSIS technique of multi-criteria analysis in order to obtain a ranking of the communities, so as to indicate that more priority to receive the allocation of public resources. The experiments were performed assuming a set of six criteria used in the ordination of eight regions of riverside communities. In the study, the list of priority indicated the region of the Lower Solimões communities as a priority for the allocation of public resources and the robustness of the obtained priority in the application made was assessed by performing a sensitivity analysis.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 104 pages. / Thesis (M.S.I.E.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Medical decision problems are extremely complex owing to their dynamic nature, large number of variable factors, and the associated uncertainty. Decision support technology entered the medical field long after other areas such as the airline industry and the manufacturing industry. Yet, it is rapidly becoming an indispensable tool in medical decision making problems including the class of sequential decision problems. In these problems, physicians decide on a treatment plan that optimizes a benefit measure such as the treatment cost, and the quality of life of the patient. The last decade saw the emergence of many decision support applications in medicine. However, the existing models have limited applications to decision problems with very few states and actions. An urgent need is being felt by the medical research community to expand the applications to more complex dynamic problems with large state and action spaces. / ABSTRACT: This thesis proposes a methodology which models the class of sequential medical decision problems as a Markov decision process, and solves the model using a simulation based reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm. Such a methodology is capable of obtaining near optimal treatment strategies for problems with large state and action spaces. This methodology overcomes, to a large extent, the computational complexity of the value-iteration and policy-iteration algorithms of dynamic programming. An average reward reinforcement-learning algorithm is developed. The algorithm is applied on a sample problem of treating hereditary spherocytosis. The application demonstrates the ability of the proposed methodology to obtain effective treatment strategies for sequential medical decision problems. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Disertacijoje tiriamas sprendimų modelių kūrimas verslo taisyklių ir procesų modelių pagalba bei šių modelių transformacijos į programų sistemų komponentus realizuojančius automatizuotus sprendimus informacinėje sistemoje. Analitinėje disertacijos dalyje apžvelgiami sprendimu modeliai ir metodai skirti intelektualizuotų informacinių sistemų kūrimui. Tolimesniuose skyriuose pateikiamas, remiantis analizės rezultatais, sukurtas modelių karkasas ir jo pagrindu sukurtas metodas skirtas sprendimų modelių automatizavimui. Baigiamajame disertacijos skyriuje aprašomi eksperimentai, kuriuose atliekamos sprendimų modelių transformacijos. Galiausiai pateikiami eksperimentų rezultatai ir galutinės išvados. / In the presented thesis we offer modernisation of information system development methods used for implementation of automated information-, rule-, knowledge- and model-based decision processes assisted by early separation and development of a business logic model and implementation of decision-making and knowledge discovery process models with further support to business people with suitable interfaces for modification of decision-making processes without involvement of software developers in later exploitation stages. In the analytical part of the dissertation, decision models and methods of intellectualised information systems are analysed. According to the results obtained during the analysis, investigation on the proposed framework and a decision model based method for decision-making process automation is carried out. In the final chapter several experiments are described in order to evaluate the proposed method, and the general conclusions complete the research.