Les décisions architecturales ont émergé comme un moyen important pour maintenir la qualité de l’architecture pendant sa évolution. L’une des décisions les plus importantes faite par architecte sont celles à propos des approches de conception, à savoir des patrons ou des styles architecturales. La structure de ce genre de décision donne la possibilité d’être contrôlée automatiquement. Dans la littérature, il existe quelques travaux sur la vérification automatique de la violation des décisions architecturales. Dans cette thèse, nous montrons que ces travaux ne permettent pas de détecter toutes les violations possibles. Pour les compléter, nous proposons une approche qui i) décrit les patrons architecturaux qui contiennent la définition de la décision architecturale, ii) intègre les décisions architecturales au modèle architectural et iii) automatise la vérification de la conformité de la décision architecturale. Notre approche est implémentée en utilisant EMF et ses technologies accompagnées. Nous avons montré la possibilité de formaliser tous les patrons structuraux. A travers de deux expérimentes, nous avons montré que les décisions architecturales sont bien expliquées et toutes les violations sont détectées. Les systèmes logiciels composables sont prouvés capable de supporter l’adaptation aux nouvelles exigences grâce à leur flexibilité. Une méthode typique pour composer ces systèmes est de sélectionner et combiner des patrons qui adressent aux exigences de qualité attendues. Plusieurs propositions ont montré l’intérêt de la composition de patron. En revanche, l’un des défauts de ces propositions est la vaporisation de l’information de composition qui conduit au problème de la traçabilité et la reconstructibilité des patrons. Cette thèse a pour but de réserver le statut première classe aux opérateurs de composition pour stocker l’information de composition. L’approche est implémentée dans un outil et une étude empirique a été aussi conduite pour souligner ses intérêts. / Architectural decisions have emerged as a means to maintain the quality of the architecture during its evolution. One of the most important decisions made by architects are those about the design approach such as the use of patterns or styles in the architecture. The structural nature of this type of decisions give them the potential to be controlled systematically. In the literature, there are some works on the automation of architectural decision violation checking. In this thesis we show that these works do not allow to detect all possible architectural decision violations.To solve this problem we propose an approach which: i) describes architectural patterns that hold the architectural decision definition, ii) integrates architectural decisions into an architectural model and, iii) automates the architectural decision conformance checking. The approach is implemented using Eclipse Modeling Framework and its accompanying technologies. Starting from well-known architectural patterns, we show that we can formalize all those related to the structural aspect. Through two experiments, we show that architectural decisions are well explained and all of their violations are detected. Composable software systems have been proved to support the adaptation to new requirements thanks to their flexibility. A typical method of composable software development is to select and combine a number of patterns that address the expected quality requirements. A lot of work have shown the interest of pattern composition. Nevertheless, one of the shortcomings of these work is the vaporization of composition information which leads to the problem of traceability and reconstructability of patterns. This thesis also proposes to give first- class status to pattern merging operators to facilitate the preservation of composition information. The approach is tool-supported and an empirical study has also been conducted to highlight its interests

Bien qu’en théorie étrangère à notre modèle juridique, la notion de précédent n’est plus un tabou pour lesacteurs juridictionnels qui osent enfin « parler » d’une pratique jusqu’alors restée officieuse, voire hérétique dans notre tradition juridique. Attentifs à la réception et au respect de leurs décisions, les juges suprêmes français ont relancé la réflexion autour du précédent. S’inscrivant dans un questionnement global sur la fonction de juger, le recours au précédent exprime une certaine représentation de l’art de juger. Dès lors, il convient de s’interroger sur les raisons qui conduisent les juges suprêmes français à y faire référence en dépit des interdits historiques et théoriques. Manifestation de la mémoire du juge, la référence au précédent est inhérente à la fonction de juger ce qui explique que le juge y ait recours. Ancré dans son passé et acteur de son temps, le juge peut alors affirmer son propre pouvoir et s’arracher à la représentation traditionnelle de son office. En convoquant son précédent, le juge convoque sa loi source de son propre pouvoir, lui permettant en retour de s’imposer comme un être conscient de lui-même et de son pouvoir normatif. / Although foreign to our legal model, the rule of precedent is no longer a taboo for judicial actors who finally dare to speak of a practice hitherto remained unofficial and even heretical in our legal tradition. Attentive to the reception and respect for their decisions, the French supreme judges have revived the debate around the precedent. As part of a global questioning of the judicial function, use of precedent expresses a certain representation of the art of judging. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the reasons that lead French supreme judges to refer to their precedent in spite of the historical and theoretical prohibited. Judge’s memory manifestation, the reference to the precedent is inherent in the judicial function which explains that the judge would resort. Rooted in its past and actor of his present, the judge can assert his own power and break away from the traditional representation of his office. By calling its precedent, the judge summoned the source of his power law, enabling it in turn to establish itself as a conscious being of himself and of its normative power.

Participation in decision-making and inclusion in the important matters of one’s life are upheld as measures of equality and indicators of the moral status of individuals in liberal democratic societies. To some extent, the status of children in western societies is a contested question, and hence, the nature of children’s contributions to decisions is a matter of debate. Evidence suggests that in spite of an apparent societal commitment to children’s participation in the important matters of their lives, children tend to be excluded from decisions in which they might reasonably be involved. This project investigated the participation of one group of children—chronically ill school-age children— in decisions related to their health care. Adopting interpretive description as methodology, data were collected and analyzed through interviews and participant observation with 31 chronically ill children (ages 7 to 12 years) and their parents, as well as through interviews with health care providers. In this study, children’s participation in health care decisions emerged as a complex activity, deeply embedded in relationship and history. Participation varied within two key domains: children’s opportunities and abilities to formulate and make known their intentions and desires in decisional contexts (the resonance of children’s voices); and the standing achieved by children’s views within decisional processes (the relevance of children’s voices). The interplay of adult authority and children’s agency at the nexus of the resonance and relevance of children’s voices created certain participatory spaces, depicted as moral and social realms variously characterized by children’s silence, children’s tangible expression, adult imposed authority, or adult assumed responsibility. The findings of this study demonstrate a need to re-think our concept of children’s participation, and point to the importance of developing a more relational and contextual understanding of how chronically ill children may contribute to important matters in their lives. The findings also support a view that nurses and other health care providers hold certain responsibilities to critically question the relationships and structures that comprise children’s health care encounters, toward a goal of creating conditions where possibilities for children’s participation are optimized. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

This thesis aims to identify main possible ways how to develop Mělník III coal power plant in the future. The other goal is to evaluate all of them using methods with flexibility and to recommend the most valuable one for the realization. The theoretical part of the thesis describes all key principles used during the valuation and the analytical part contains detailed situation analysis, valuation results and the sensitivity analysis with discussion of the results.

This study is concerned with understanding decision-making in relation to out-of-authority educational placements for pupils with an Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) in one Local Authority (LA). The aims of this research were twofold. The first was to explore what factors have the greatest impact on the decision to educate pupils with an ASC outside the local authority. The second was to explore the perceptions of key informants about the process for deciding those placements. The study involved examining 24 pupil cases where out-of-authority ASC placements had been agreed and interviews with case-informants contributing to those placement decisions in order to analyse their beliefs and understandings about the processes of decision-making. The literature review highlights the limited research with regard to decision-making about pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and draws examples from medical decision-making frameworks. Data analysis showed that two factors, complexity and range of pupil need and lack of LA provision to match the needs identified had the greatest influence on the decision to educate pupils outside the local authority. The response of the LA’s own schools, professionals and parents to those presenting needs as well as the consequent impact on the child/young person and others were recognised secondary factors. Case-informants offered a strong impression that for the majority of these pupils successful inclusion in their own LA would require increased and more integrated services in order to meet their identified needs. Data from the qualitative interviews provides a sense of the range of informants’ experiences relating to decision-making processes and the factors determining those perceptions. These related to whether the processes had been experienced as planned, were evidenced-based, child-focused and involved effective working with parents and other agencies. The findings, in part, reflect government concerns about the current statutory SEN framework and the case for change as made in the recent Green Paper (DfE, 2011). At a local level informants identified the need for a more explicit model of decision-making, ethically grounded with an emphasis for decision-making to be based on the holistic needs of the child and viewed that this would be better facilitated by having improved joint-working between services and stronger partnership engagement between the LA and parents/carers. Clinical professional-patient shared decision-making is discussed as a potential model which might be usefully applied to better understand and develop current SEN decision making.

In March 2011, the European Commission submitted a proposal for a Council Directive on an optional common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB). If this proposed CCCTB system comes into force, taxes calculated under the currently existing system of separate accounting might be replaced by a system of group consolidation and formulary apportionment. Then, multinational groups (MNGs) would face the decision as to whether to opt for the CCCTB system. Prior research focuses mainly on the differences in economic behaviour under both systems in general. By contrast, we study the conditions under which one or the other tax system is preferable from the perspective of an MNG, with a particular focus on loss-offsets. We identify four effects that determine the decision of an MNG: the tax-utilization of losses, the allocation of the tax base, the dividend and intragroup interest taxation. We find mixed results, e.g., that the CCCTB system proves advantageous for increasing loss/profit streams (e.g. from start-ups or R&D projects) of the individual group entities, whereas the system of separate accounting is beneficial for decreasing profit/loss streams (e.g. caused by a decrease in return from a mature product). The results of our analysis are helpful for MNGs facing the decision as to whether to opt for the CCCTB system and can also support legislators and politicians in the EU but also in other regions in their tax reform discussions. (authors' abstract)

Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka faktorer som kan få fastighetsbolag att avvika från sina fastställda investeringsstrategier och hur de resonerar vid inträde på ett nytt geografiskt område eller nytt fastighetssegment.Det är vanligt förekommande att fastighetsbolag har en fastställd och uttalad investeringsstrategi vid förvärv och avyttring av fastigheter. Tidigare forskning visar att det förekommer avvikelser från dessa och att det i vissa fall endast är vissa delar av strategin som verkligen verkställs. Det saknas dock förklaringar till vad som kan få bolagen att göra dessa avvikelser. Studiens bidrag är därför att ge exempel på dessa faktorer samt ge ökad förståelse för deras resonemang vid inträde på nytt geografiskt område eller nytt fastighetssegment.Den använda metoden för insamling av empirin är genom kvalitativa intervjuer av respondenter med kännedom om bolagens investeringsstrategier. Av de fem respondenterna i studien är två av bolagen börsnoterade, ett är kommunalt och två är privata. Gemensamt för alla bolagen är att de äger sina fastigheter och är verksamma endast i tillväxtorter. Tre givna frågor har följts upp av eventuella relevanta följdfrågor. Intervjumaterialet har spelats in och därefter transkriberats för att kunna analyseras utifrån den aktuella frågeställningen och studiens syfte samt för att göra kopplingar till för studien relevant teori.Resultatet av analysen har mynnat ut i att följande faktorer kan få fastighetsbolag att avvika från sina investeringsstrategier: lönsamhet, individuell kunskap hos anställda, politiska beslut, för höga byggpriser, hållbarhet och miljö samt goodwill. Endast ett av de studerade fastighetsbolagen har de facto avvikit från sin investeringsstrategi till följd av politiskt beslut från det kommunala bostadsbolagets styrelse tillika ägare. / The purpose of this study is to investigate what factors could cause real estate companies to deviate from its original real estate investment strategy and find out how they reason when entering a new geographic area or real estate segment.Real estate companies usually have an investment strategy on real estate purchase and divestiture. Previous research shows that deviations occur from these and in some cases only parts of the strategy is realized. However, there is no explanation on what cause these deviations. This study contributes therefore by exemplifying these factors to enhance understanding their reasoning when entering a new geographic area or a new segment.The method applied to gather empirical data is by using qualitative interview technique on respondents with knowledge about the companies’ investment strategies using semi-structured interviews. Out of the five respondents two are listed on the Swedish stock market, one is owned by a municipality and two are privately owned. They all have in common to be owners of their properties and act in areas of growth. Three given questions were added by follow-up questions. The collected data was recorded and thereafter transcribed to be able to analyze and look for connections in line with the purpose of the study and relevant theories set in mind.The results of the analysis emanated into the following factors that could cause real estate companies to deviate from their investment strategy: profitability, individual knowledge of the employees, political decisions, too high construction prices, sustainability, environment and goodwill. Only one of the real estate companies did in fact deviate from its investment strategy due to a political decision from the members of the board, moreover its owner.

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Immigrants are at elevated risk for not having their diabetes treatment appropriately intensified, likely resulting in poorly-controlled diabetes and increased morbidity and mortality. Immigrant status is a powerful sociodemographic cue, yet its influence on providers' diabetes treatment decisions remains unknown. The study objective was to determine the effect of patient immigrant status on provider decisions to (1) take no action, (2) add an oral hypoglycemic agent (OHA), (3) add/switch to insulin, or (4) refer the patient to an endocrinologist. Participants were 140 medical students/professionals ('providers'). Providers viewed profiles (videos+vignettes) for virtual patients different in immigrant status (born in Mexico or U.S.; other characteristics held constant). Analyses were completed at the group and individual levels. Group levels indicated providers were less likely to refer foreign-born patients to endocrinology than U.S.-born patients (p=0.03). No differences were detected for the other three treatment likelihood ratings. Individual results indicated that about half of provider decisions were influenced by patient immigrant status (i.e., Cohen's d≥0.50) across all four decisions. Effect size data show an almost even split between higher treatment ratings for foreign-born vs. U.S.-born patients for three decisions (take no action, add an OHA, add/switch to insulin), explaining why group-level differences for these ratings did not emerge. This study found that providers are less likely to refer foreign-born patients to endocrinology, potentially leading to therapeutic inertia. In addition, half of individual-level provider decisions were meaningfully influenced by patient immigrant status. However, traditional group-level analyses mask these important individual-level differences. These systematic differences in treatment based on non-relevant factors could lead to unintended adverse outcomes for the foreign-born population.

This thesis purpose was to examine to what extent and why loan officers’ judgment influence mortgage credit decisions. A mixed method was used to collect primary data from loan officers’ at a Swedish commercial bank. Quantitative data were collected from 39 loan officers answering an identical mortgage application, and qualitative data were collected from interviews held with five loan officers. The findings showed a considerable inconsistency among the loan officers' mortgage credit decisions and that judgment plays a vital role in the decision-making process. The credit amount granted ranged from SEK 4.25 million to 5.6 million, whereas the charged interest rate ranged from 40 to 51 basis points across four fixed interest periods. Overall, the findings can be understood by loan officers’ lacked explicit rules controlling the relationship between assessing data presented in the mortgage application and which credit decisions they should make. The theoretical contribution of the thesis is to enhance our understanding of how loan officers make credit decisions and the role of judgment in the process. The research findings imply that households should expect large variations in offered credit amounts and interest rates, depending on which loan officer managing their loan application.