The three chapters of this thesis investigate social aspects of judgment and decision making. Chapter One analyses the consequences of making decisions based on predictions of future well-being, and the conditions under which advice can improve these decisions. It shows that an interaction between errors in affective forecasts and the choice process leads to suboptimal decisions and disappointment, and establishes conditions under which advice reduces these effects. The second chapter investigates the boundaries of the result that eliciting more than one estimate from the same person and averaging these can lead to accuracy gains in judgment tasks. It reveals that the technique works only for specific kinds of questions, and people are reluctant to average their initial answers when asked for a final estimate. Finally, Chapter Three reviews experimental results regarding individual and small group behaviour in strategic decision tasks and provides a theoretical framework to analyse the observed differences. / Aquesta tesi investiga diferents aspectes socials de la presa de decisions. El primer capítol analitza les decisions preses en base a les prediccions del benestar futur, i en quines situacions els consells d’altres persones poden millorar aquestes decisions. Es mostra que una interacció entre el procés de l’elecció i les imperfeccions de les prediccions condueix a decisions subòptimes i a la decepció, i s’estableixen les condicions sota les quals els consells redueixen aquests efectes. El segon capítol investigaels casos en què les persones poden millorar les seves prediccions numèriques donant més d’una estimació i prenent-ne la mitjana. A base d’un experiment, es mostra que la tècnica funciona només amb determinats tipus de preguntes, i que les persones són averses a prendre mitjanes de les seves estimacions inicials quan es pregunta per una estimació final. L’últim capítol revisa els resultats experimentals referents a la presa de decisions estratègiques de la persona individual comparats amb els de la persona que forma part d’un grup reduït i proporciona un marc teòric en el que analitza les diferències que s’observen en el seu comportament

Studien omfattar 50 observationer av bolag inom First North och undersöker två hypoteser relaterade till demografisk mångfald inom ledningsgrupper och strategiska beslut. I studien förväntades demografisk mångfald ha en negativ påverkan på effektiva strategiska beslut och en positiv påverkan på strategiska beslut av kvalitet. Hypoteserna accepterades delvis och studien konstaterade att endast en del av de demografiska karaktärsdragen har en påverkan på strategiska beslut. / The study contains 50 observations of companies in First North and examine two hypothesises related to demographic diversity in top management teams and strategic decisions. The study expected demographic diversty as having a negative impact on effective strategic decisions and have a positive impact on quality of strategic decisions. The hypothesises showed partial support and found that only some of the demographic characteristics had an impact on strategic decisions.

A presente dissertação, concebida a partir do modelo teórico desenvolvido por Luigi Ferrajoli, questiona a previsão da conduta social e da personalidade, do artigo 59 do Código Penal Brasileiro, como critérios orientadores aos magistrados, para fixação da pena-base entre o mínimo e o máximo. A pesquisa abordou o conceito dessas circunstâncias judiciais tanto na Doutrina quanto na Jurisprudência, sendo que o resultado do estudo revelou a excessiva carga moral que ainda orienta sua análise. Aborda-se a falácia do mito da neutralidade judicial, uma vez que não é possível apartar os juízes de sua natural condição de seres humanos, e de seus contextos de vida. Trata da necessária tomada de consciência de que toda decisão está contaminada de subjetividade, por parte daqueles que pretendem exercer a judicatura. E apresenta o Autoconhecimento como única via capaz de controlar a subjetividade nas decisões judiciais, na medida em que a investigação interna acarretará humanização, o confronto com o lado sombrio, e reconhecimento da dualidade convivendo em todos os seres humanos, de modo a demonstrar que ninguém está acima do bem e do mal. A pesquisa ainda demonstrou a incoerência da necessidade de analisar circunstâncias significativamente pessoais e subjetivas dos réus, quando o ser humano cresceu, aprendendo desconsiderar e atropelar qualquer particularidade própria e de outros indivíduos. Para tanto, faz uma análise de digressão aos primeiros anos de vida e aos bancos escolares, em que plantadas as primeiras sementes de desconsideração, e de valorização do externo em detrimento do interno, almejando-se profissões de prestígio, em prejuízo da realização pessoal. Faz uma crítica ao Sistema Judicial Brasileiro, a fim de que assuma seu lado humano, colocando um desafio à Magistratura para buscar aqueles que realmente são vocacionados para a função, fornecendo sugestões de modificações na Formação Jurídica. / The instant research took into consideration the theoretical model developed by Luigi Ferrajoli, which questions the prediction of social conduct and personality, in Article 59 of the Brazilian Criminal Code, as guiding criteria for judges to determine standards of minimum and maximum sanctions. The research addressed the concept of such legal circumstances both in doctrine and in case law, and the result of the study revealed excessive moral burden that still guides the judges analysis. This research addresses the fallacy of the myth of judicial neutrality, since it is not possible to separate the judges from their natural condition of human beings and their life contexts. This separation requires awareness that every decision has a subjective component. And introduced the self-knowledge as the only way able to control subjectivity in judgments, as the internal investigation will result in humanization, the confrontation with the dark side, and recognition of duality in all living humans, in order to demonstrate that no one is above good and evil. The survey also showed the inconsistency of the need to analyze so personal and subjective circumstances of the defendant, when human beings were raised, learning to ignore its own and other individuals personal traits. To this end, an analysis of the early years as well as schooling system, where the first ideas of disregard, and enhancement of external rather than internal values arose, targeting prestigious positions, at the expense of personal fulfillment. This research criticizes the Brazilian Judicial System, so that it enhances its human side, posing a challenge to judges to seek those who are really devoted to the function, providing suggestions for changes in the Legal Training System.

Channel coding has been largely used for the purpose of improving error performance on a communications system. Typical methods based on added redundancy allow for error detection and correction, this improvement however comes at a cost of bandwidth. This thesis focuses on channel coding for the bandwidth-limited channel where no bandwidth expansion is allowed. We first discuss the idea of coding for the bandwidth-limited channel as seen from the signal space point of view where the purpose of coding is to maximize the Euclidian distance between constellation points without increasing the total signal power and under the condition that no extra bits can be added. We then see the problem from another angle and identify the tradeoffs related to bandwidth and error performance. This thesis intends to find a simple way of achieving an improvement in error performance for the bandwidth-limited channel without the use of lattice codes or trellis-coded modulation. The proposed system is based on convolutional coding followed by multilevel transmission. It achieved a coding gain of 2 dB on Eb/No or equivalently, a coding gain of approximately 2.7 dB on SNRnorm without increase in bandwidth. This coding gain is better than that obtained by a more sophisticated lattice code Gosset E8 at the same error rate.

<p>Turbo codes was first presented in 1993 by C. Berrou, A. Glavieux and P. Thitimajshima. Since then this class of error correcting codes has become one of the most popular, because of its good properties. The turbo codes are able to come very close to theoretical limit, the Shannon limit. Turbo codes are for example used in the third generation of mobile phone (3G) and in the standard IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX).</p><p>There are some drawbacks with the algorithm for decoding turbo codes. The deocoder uses a Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) algorithm, which is a complex algorith. Because of the use of many variables in the decoder the decoding circuit will consume a lot of power due to memory accesses and internal communication. One way in which this can be reduced is to make early decisions.</p><p>In this work I have focused on making early decision of the encoder states. One major part of the work was also to be sure that the expressions were written in a way that as few variables as possible are needed. A termination condition is also introduced. Simulations based on estimations of the number of memory accesses, shows that the number of memory accesses will significantly decrease.</p>

Turbo codes was first presented in 1993 by C. Berrou, A. Glavieux and P. Thitimajshima. Since then this class of error correcting codes has become one of the most popular, because of its good properties. The turbo codes are able to come very close to theoretical limit, the Shannon limit. Turbo codes are for example used in the third generation of mobile phone (3G) and in the standard IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX). There are some drawbacks with the algorithm for decoding turbo codes. The deocoder uses a Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) algorithm, which is a complex algorith. Because of the use of many variables in the decoder the decoding circuit will consume a lot of power due to memory accesses and internal communication. One way in which this can be reduced is to make early decisions. In this work I have focused on making early decision of the encoder states. One major part of the work was also to be sure that the expressions were written in a way that as few variables as possible are needed. A termination condition is also introduced. Simulations based on estimations of the number of memory accesses, shows that the number of memory accesses will significantly decrease.

A presente dissertação, concebida a partir do modelo teórico desenvolvido por Luigi Ferrajoli, questiona a previsão da conduta social e da personalidade, do artigo 59 do Código Penal Brasileiro, como critérios orientadores aos magistrados, para fixação da pena-base entre o mínimo e o máximo. A pesquisa abordou o conceito dessas circunstâncias judiciais tanto na Doutrina quanto na Jurisprudência, sendo que o resultado do estudo revelou a excessiva carga moral que ainda orienta sua análise. Aborda-se a falácia do mito da neutralidade judicial, uma vez que não é possível apartar os juízes de sua natural condição de seres humanos, e de seus contextos de vida. Trata da necessária tomada de consciência de que toda decisão está contaminada de subjetividade, por parte daqueles que pretendem exercer a judicatura. E apresenta o Autoconhecimento como única via capaz de controlar a subjetividade nas decisões judiciais, na medida em que a investigação interna acarretará humanização, o confronto com o lado sombrio, e reconhecimento da dualidade convivendo em todos os seres humanos, de modo a demonstrar que ninguém está acima do bem e do mal. A pesquisa ainda demonstrou a incoerência da necessidade de analisar circunstâncias significativamente pessoais e subjetivas dos réus, quando o ser humano cresceu, aprendendo desconsiderar e atropelar qualquer particularidade própria e de outros indivíduos. Para tanto, faz uma análise de digressão aos primeiros anos de vida e aos bancos escolares, em que plantadas as primeiras sementes de desconsideração, e de valorização do externo em detrimento do interno, almejando-se profissões de prestígio, em prejuízo da realização pessoal. Faz uma crítica ao Sistema Judicial Brasileiro, a fim de que assuma seu lado humano, colocando um desafio à Magistratura para buscar aqueles que realmente são vocacionados para a função, fornecendo sugestões de modificações na Formação Jurídica. / The instant research took into consideration the theoretical model developed by Luigi Ferrajoli, which questions the prediction of social conduct and personality, in Article 59 of the Brazilian Criminal Code, as guiding criteria for judges to determine standards of minimum and maximum sanctions. The research addressed the concept of such legal circumstances both in doctrine and in case law, and the result of the study revealed excessive moral burden that still guides the judges analysis. This research addresses the fallacy of the myth of judicial neutrality, since it is not possible to separate the judges from their natural condition of human beings and their life contexts. This separation requires awareness that every decision has a subjective component. And introduced the self-knowledge as the only way able to control subjectivity in judgments, as the internal investigation will result in humanization, the confrontation with the dark side, and recognition of duality in all living humans, in order to demonstrate that no one is above good and evil. The survey also showed the inconsistency of the need to analyze so personal and subjective circumstances of the defendant, when human beings were raised, learning to ignore its own and other individuals personal traits. To this end, an analysis of the early years as well as schooling system, where the first ideas of disregard, and enhancement of external rather than internal values arose, targeting prestigious positions, at the expense of personal fulfillment. This research criticizes the Brazilian Judicial System, so that it enhances its human side, posing a challenge to judges to seek those who are really devoted to the function, providing suggestions for changes in the Legal Training System.

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care that are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and harms of alternative care options. CPGs’ recommendations have traditionally focused on informing clinicians and patients on the best options, i.e., supporting decisions that occur at the clinical encounter level. Considering all their advantages (a systematic and comprehensive review of the evidence, a multidisciplinary team assessing the evidence and balancing benefits and harms, and the additional considerations such as patients’ preferences, implementability and feasibility of interventions and their costs) CPGs have also become powerful tools to inform decisions and activities outside the clinical encounter. This, because the clinical encounter cannot be completely separated from other decisions that indirectly affect that level, such as those related to quality improvement activities and economic decisions in healthcare. Moreover, activities that are not directly related to the clinical encounter can benefit from CPGs, like education and licensing activities and research prioritization processes, or judicial decisions. The role of CPGs in all these activities has been neglected in the literature. In this study, I performed a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature to summarize the different roles CPGs play outside the clinical encounter and to understand how, and under what conditions CPGs are used in these roles. I also conducted an international survey to describe how frequent these roles exist, from the CPGs developers' perspectives. Lastly, I conducted a multiple case study to understand how and under what conditions CPGs play one of the main roles outside the clinical encounter (drug funding decisions), in two different settings (Colombia and Canada/Ontario). Based on the results, I developed a framework to describe and categorize the roles of CPGs outside the clinical encounter and to determine how and under what conditions CPGs are used in these roles. I highlighted the key areas that require additional methodological research and categorize the roles in main, secondary and unanticipated roles. I also described how international developers reported that CPGs play these roles and how these roles are part of their CPGs final aims in the second study. Lastly, in the case study, I revealed that CPGs were instrumentally used to inform one of the main roles, drug funding decisions, in the Colombian case, and they had a minor conceptual use in the case of Canada/Ontario. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Bakgrund: Genom den kraftiga ökningen i användandet av tekniska och digitala betalmedel fanns ett behov av att se över de existerande regelverken. Den markanta största avsaknaden är regleringar kring egenupparbetade immateriella tillgångar och kryptovalutor vilket utgjorde grunden för denna studien.   Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva och analysera hur människor som arbetar med redovisning tar beslut kring redovisning av kryptovalutor utifrån existerande regelverk och praxis, för att vidare undersöka vilket behov det finns av utökade och mer detaljerade regleringar. Metod: Studien har en induktiv ansats och en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi med en experimentell forskningsdesign. Den empiriska datan har samlats in via semistrukturerade intervjuer med fokus på fyra caseuppgifter.     Slutsats: Studien påvisar en bristande kunskap i hur existerande regelverk ska appliceras på nya redovisningsproblem. Det konstateras att nuvarande regleringar och hjälpmedel inte är tillräckliga i sin utformning för att stötta deras användare. / Background: Due to the heavy increase in the use of technical and digital means of payment, there was a need to review the existing regulations. The significant biggest shortcoming is regulations regarding self-developed intangible assets and cryptocurrencies, which formed the basis for this study. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to describe and analyze how people who work with accounting make decisions about accounting for cryptocurrencies based on existing regulations and customs, to further investigate the need for extended and more detailed regulations. Method: The study has an inductive approach and a qualitative research strategy with an experimental research design. The empirical data has been collected via semi-structured interviews with a focus on four case data. Conclusion: The study demonstrates a lack of knowledge in how existing regulations should be applied to new accounting problems. It is noted that current regulations and aids are not sufficient in their design to support their users.

My dissertation scrutinizes the implications of a harmonized European corporate tax system for firms' and businesses' decision-making. Specifically, I examine the cross-border consolidation of profits and losses, the design of the apportionment formula applied to allocate the consolidated tax base to single group entities, and the locational investment decisions that are mainly driven by the consolidation of the tax base and its allocation to the group entities. All of my analyses are conducted using model-theoretical methods and simulations, a partial equilibrium business perspective is maintained throughout. (author's abstract)