To understand the factors that influence the spatio-temporal distribution of built space, and thus population in an urban area, play an extremely important role in our greater understanding of urban travel behaviour. Existing location of activity centres, especially home and work, strongly influences the short-term individual-level decisions such as mode of transportation, and long-term household-level decisions such as change in job and residential location. Conditions in the built space market also affect households’ and firms’ location and relocation decisions, and hence influence the general travel patterns in an urban area. This research addresses two very important, but at the same time, not very widely investigated dimensions that play a key role in the evolution of built space and population distribution: Markets and Decisions. A disequilibrium based microsimulation modelling framework is developed for the built space markets. This framework is then used to operationalize the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area’s owner-occupied housing market within Integrated Land Use Transportation and Environment (ILUTE) modelling system. Simulation results captured heterogeneity in the transaction prices, due to type of dwellings and different market conditions, in a very disaggregate fashion. On the decisions side, this research first developed a generic multidimensional modelling framework that captures the behaviour of builders in terms of the supply of new built space. The where, when, how much, and what type of supply decisions were incorporated within a single framework. This modelling framework was then applied to estimate a model for the supply of new office space in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Estimation results indicated a risk taker behaviour on the builders’ part, while market conditions and supply of resources (labour, construction cost etc.) were also found to be important factors in decision making. In addition to that, this research also developed a comprehensive hedonic analysis for the asking rent of office space in the Greater Toronto Area. The effects of accessibility, quality, location, and market conditions on rent were explored. Data indicated a high degree of spatial heterogeneity and clustering effects. Spatial analysis techniques were incorporated within the hedonic framework to capture these effects. Estimation results indicated that access to transport infrastructure, distance from CBD, and vacancy rate were significant in explaining the variation in the rent.

To understand the factors that influence the spatio-temporal distribution of built space, and thus population in an urban area, play an extremely important role in our greater understanding of urban travel behaviour. Existing location of activity centres, especially home and work, strongly influences the short-term individual-level decisions such as mode of transportation, and long-term household-level decisions such as change in job and residential location. Conditions in the built space market also affect households’ and firms’ location and relocation decisions, and hence influence the general travel patterns in an urban area. This research addresses two very important, but at the same time, not very widely investigated dimensions that play a key role in the evolution of built space and population distribution: Markets and Decisions. A disequilibrium based microsimulation modelling framework is developed for the built space markets. This framework is then used to operationalize the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area’s owner-occupied housing market within Integrated Land Use Transportation and Environment (ILUTE) modelling system. Simulation results captured heterogeneity in the transaction prices, due to type of dwellings and different market conditions, in a very disaggregate fashion. On the decisions side, this research first developed a generic multidimensional modelling framework that captures the behaviour of builders in terms of the supply of new built space. The where, when, how much, and what type of supply decisions were incorporated within a single framework. This modelling framework was then applied to estimate a model for the supply of new office space in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Estimation results indicated a risk taker behaviour on the builders’ part, while market conditions and supply of resources (labour, construction cost etc.) were also found to be important factors in decision making. In addition to that, this research also developed a comprehensive hedonic analysis for the asking rent of office space in the Greater Toronto Area. The effects of accessibility, quality, location, and market conditions on rent were explored. Data indicated a high degree of spatial heterogeneity and clustering effects. Spatial analysis techniques were incorporated within the hedonic framework to capture these effects. Estimation results indicated that access to transport infrastructure, distance from CBD, and vacancy rate were significant in explaining the variation in the rent.

The current study assessed the convergent validity of the Situational Assessment of Leadership – Student Assessment (SALSA©) and multi-source ratings in Division I intercollegiate athletic teams. Identified student-athlete team leaders were asked to complete the SALSA©, which assesses eight dimensions of leadership. By assessing the relationship between SALSA© scores and multi-source ratings (i.e., self, teammate, and coach), of the same eight leadership dimensions, a unique multi-dimensional perspective of leadership is revealed. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between overall SALSA© scores and overall self and coach performance ratings. Overall SALSA© scores also were significantly correlated with Overall Leadership Effectiveness peer-ratings. The dimension of Problem Solving/Innovation was significantly correlated with self-, peer-, and coach-ratings. Influencing Others and Communication SALSA© scores were significantly correlated with the self rating for their respective dimension. Self-ratings were significantly higher than any other source of rating. This study further validates the effectiveness of the SALSA© to identify and predict leadership behavior.

Firms must access capital to remain in business.  Small firms have greater difficulty accessing financial resources than have large firms because of their limited access to capital markets.  These difficulties are exacerbated by information asymmetries between a small firm’ s management and capital providers.  It has been theorized that many information asymmetries can be reduced through networks that link those in need of capital with those who can supply it. This research is about these relationships and their impact on the firms’ capital structure. This research has been limited to a sub-set of small firms, family firms.  I have collected data through a survey using a systematic sampling procedure. Both self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were utilized. The data analysis was based on the responses from two-hundred-and-fifty-six small manufacturing firms in Thailand. Seemingly unrelated regression (SUR), logistic regression, multiple discriminant analysis and Mann-Whitney U test were employed in the analysis. The hypothesis that firms apply a pecking order in their capital raising was confirmed although the generally accepted rationale based on poor access (and information asymmetries) was rejected.  Instead, at least for family firms, the desire to maintain family control had a significant impact on the use of retained earnings and owner’s savings. My results also indicated that while the depth of relationships had a positive effect on direct funding from family and friends, networks did not facilitate capital access from external providers of funds. Instead direct communications between owner-managers and their capital providers (particularly bank officials) mattered. A comparative analysisof small manufacturing firms in general and small family manufacturing firms revealed that there were differences between them in regard to their financial preferences, suggesting that family firms should be considered separately in small firm research. Further, the results of this research raise some questions about the appropriateness of applying theories directly from one research context to another without due consideration for  the impact of cultural influences. Through this research I have added evidence to the dialogue about small firms from a non-English speaking country by investigating the impact of networks on capital structure and the rationale behind family firm capital structure decisions.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird das Bildungsverhalten von türkischstämmigen Schülern, deutschstämmigen Aussiedlern aus der ehemaligen Sowjetunion und einheimischen Schülern ohne Migrationshintergrund am Übergang von der Grundschule in weiterführende Schulformen der Sekundarstufe I und am Übergang von Sekundarstufe I in schulische oder berufsbildende Ausbildungszweige dargestellt. Bisherige Forschungsergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass sich Migrantenkinder an beiden Etappen im Bildungssystem nachteilig platzieren. Ziel der Arbeit ist es daher zu erörtern, welche Gründe hierfür verantwortlich sind. Zur Erklärung der Disparitäten wird auf die Theorien von Becker (1975), Boudon (1974), Erikson & Jonsson (1996) sowie von Breen & Goldthorpe (1997) zurückgegriffen. Obwohl sie zahlreiche Gemeinsamkeiten vorweisen, unterscheiden sie sich in der Relevanz, die sie der sozialen Herkunft zur Erklärung von differierenden Positionierungen zuschreiben. Diese Unterschiede werden dargelegt und die Vorhersagegüte der jeweiligen Mechanismen zur Erklärung des Bildungsverhaltens aller drei Schülergruppen an beiden Bildungsübergängen mittels multivariater Analyseverfahren überprüft. Hierfür werden Daten der Längsschnittstudie „Kinder und Jugendliche aus Zuwandererfamilien im deutschen und israelischen Bildungssystem“ (BMBF 2006-2010) genutzt. Zentrales Ergebnis der Arbeit ist, dass das Übergangsverhalten von Migrantenkindern im Vergleich zu einheimischen Kindern kaum durch deren soziale Herkunft beeinflusst wird. Während sich am ersten Bildungsübergang noch leichte Einflüsse der Schichtzugehörigkeit auf das Übergangsverhalten zeigen, verschwinden diese am zweiten Bildungsübergang gänzlich. Das Übergangsverhalten in höhere Bildung wird hauptsächlich durch die schulischen Leistungen, hohe Erfolgserwartungen und hohe Bildungsaspirationen beeinflusst. Die ökonomischen Verhältnisse der Familien spielen an beiden Übergängen eine untergeordnete Rolle. Zur adäquaten Vorhersage des Verhaltens eignen sich die Statustheorien (Boudon 1974; Breen & Goldthorpe 1997) infolge dessen weniger, da der Nutzen von hoher Bildung für sie einzig durch Statussicherung entsteht. Demgegenüber können aus den theoretischen Modellen von Erikson & Jonsson (1996) und Becker (1975) Mechanismen abgeleitet werden, die das Verhalten besser vorhersagen. Ihren Ausführungen zufolge wird der Bildungsertrag durch zahlreiche Faktoren bestimmt und orientiert sich nicht ausschließlich am zukünftigen sozialen Status. Dies hat zur Folge, dass wichtige erklärende Einflussfaktoren, wie die subjektiven Erfolgserwartungen und die Bildungsaspirationen, in die Modelle und somit in die Erklärung des Verhaltens integriert werden können. Unter Berücksichtigung des allgemeinen wissenschaftlichen Fortschritts innerhalb der Bildungssoziologie wird daher geraten, den Theorien von Erikson & Jonsson (1996) sowie Becker (1975) mehr Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken.

La evolución del mercado y por ende de la demanda del sector de la construcción hace que hoy en día sea cada vez más necesario el desarrollo de un plano transversal de estudio que integre las diversas vertientes del proyecto en vistas a buscar una mayor competitividad. La nueva clave del éxito no será ya tan sólo la alta productividad, sino la gestión orientada a los requerimientos de cada cliente y la capacidad de adaptarse a una demanda y un entorno en cambio continuo y rápido. Dicho plano transversal está constituido por los aspectos de gestión del proyecto, en los que adquiere una singular importancia el problema de la toma de decisión, que constituye el objeto de esta tesis.A raíz de la revisión del desarrollo de dicho problema en el ámbito de la economía y la gestión empresarial se identifican dos paradigmas en su enfoque. El primero corresponde a una perspectiva positivista del problema, que hace hincapié en los aspectos cuantificables y objetivizables. Posteriormente, con base en los criticismos generados en torno a este primer enfoque surgió una visión posmoderna del mismo, basada en un enfoque social que desconfía de la racionalidad y articula su propuesta en el consenso entre las partes.En este contexto, la propuesta de esta tesis se fundamenta en lo que aquí se ha denominado "paradigma integrador", el cual parte del reconocimiento de las aportaciones de los dos enfoques anteriores siendo consciente a la vez de sus limitaciones. Por ello, aboga por una adopción ad hoc de los enfoques y herramientas asociadas a ambas perspectivas, según las características específicas del problema, abriendo las puertas a una posible combinación de ambas.Desde esta perspectiva integradora, en lo relativo a la vertiente metodológica se propone un instrumento de toma de decisiones al que se denomina IDS (Integrated Decision System), y que se articula en torno a dos conceptos que constituyen los ejes principales de la propuesta: el valor y el riesgo. Por otro lado, la razón de ser de la denominación de "sistema" corresponde a su concepción como conjunto de elementos: conceptos, formulaciones, métodos, metodologías y herramientas.La propuesta se define y describe con un carácter general, aplicable a cualquier ámbito de la gestión, si bien se adapta y particulariza el estudio para el campo específico de la gestión de proyectos constructivos. Posteriormente se explora su potencialidad a través del estudio de su aplicabilidad, en primer lugar en el ámbito de una técnica de gestión, la metodología del valor o Value Management, y posteriormente en el campo más general de la gestión de proyectos o Project Management. En el primer caso se realiza también un estudio para su aplicabilidad en el seno del sector de la construcción española. Finalmente se hace una ulterior investigación de la aplicabilidad del sistema propuesto en el ámbito de la gestión de organizaciones.

Background: Following the publication of Andrew Wakefield’s article claiming a link between Autism and the MMR vaccine in 1998, the U.K. and U.S. experienced a decline in vaccination rates. Combating the anti-vaccine messages highlighted by the media are the medical providers, who are consistently reported as an influential source of information for parental vaccine decision making. Despite efforts of the medical and public health community, some developed countries have seen a resurgence of vaccine preventable diseases. Purpose: This study seeks to examine parental vaccination concern in a private pediatric practice in metropolitan Atlanta. Methods: A questionnaire was created by the PI to assess parental vaccination concerns, including items to assess parental feelings toward the providers and nurses regarding preventative care. Data was analyzed in SPSS version 19.0. The study was approved by the IRB at Georgia State University. Results: A total of 283 participant responses were included in the sample. Overall vaccine adherence was 96.1% (272). However, a large minority of participants who were considered to have vaccine concerns were identified: 40.3% (114) of participants responded yes to at least one vaccine hesitation item. Conclusion: Vaccine adherence in a private pediatric practice remains high. However some parents continue to have vaccination concerns and may be at risk for deviating from the vaccine schedule. Using qualitative methods to obtain parental beliefs may provide a deeper understanding of parental decisions to aid in the development of public health education programs. The feasibility of collecting data at a private pediatric practice is discussed.

This report is the result of a master thesis with a focus on risk analysis of production location decisions. The project is a part of “PROLOC-manufacturing footprint during the product’s life cycle”. The main aim of this thesis is to point out how current applicable risk analysis techniques evaluate the risks involved in production location decisions and then underline the most important risks involved in production location decisions and elicit strengths and weaknesses of these methods.A systematic review of literature with a focus on journal papers of risk analysis and production fields is conducted by using the content analysis and coding technique. The current risk analysis techniques identified are failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), life cycle cost (LCC) analysis, and system based techniques like multiobjective analysis, decision tree analysis, and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). In addition two identified frameworks of foreign direct investment (FDI) and international production are the research fields that have contributed extensively in identifying various risks of production location decisions.Having reviewed the literature, it is realized that majority of companies take a short sighted vision in choosing production location and consider just cost based issues like cheaper raw material and low labour cost in some countries and simply ignore uncertainties that can be sources of political, economic, social, competitive, and seismic risks. Low cost countries are usually situated in politically instable areas that can cause long production halts or expropriation. Political risk is mainly identified in FDI literature and is usually triggered by a political turmoil, coup d’état, or revolution. On the other hand cheap labour does not necessarily mean decrease in costs and might bring about quality issues and damage company prestige among customers which results in time and monetary loss. Currency exchange and inflation in costs often causes the initial forecast and cost analysis go wrong. Supply risks are because of disruption of ties with raw material or part suppliers in home country and might result in risk of misuse by new suppliers or partners. Also the seismic risk is introduced as a separate category of risks of production location decisions which can be considered a matter of more investigation and requires further research.The study also presents a review of strengths and weaknesses of existing risk analysis techniques of production location decisions. The lack of consistency, vagueness of information, unfamiliarity with design to cost concept are among the major weaknesses of risk analysis techniques of production location decisions. The study concludes with the fact that just considering the cost oriented factors like cheap labour and raw material by production companies exposed them to various risk and might make the whole investment in vain. Suggestions for further study on techniques and risks of production location decisions are also proposed.

När en person drabbas av en kronisksjukdom förändras hela livssituationen för den drabbade och deras familj. Syftetmed denna studie var att beskriva makars upplevelser i samband med beslut ompartners flytt till särskilt boende för personer med demenssjukdom. Studienbaseras på tretton intervjuer som analyserades med manifest kvalitativinnehållsanalys. Resultatet strukturerades i sju underkategorier och fyrakategorier. Dessa beskriver hur anhöriga, oberoende av kön, upplevde att tabeslutet om att flytta sin make/maka till särskilt boende för personer meddemenssjukdom som känslomässigt påfrestande. Studien visade även på behovet avstöd vid beslutstagandet. Slutsatsen blir att sjuksköterskan och andraprofessioner behöver kunskap och utbildning för att kunna stödja makar vidbeslutstagandet. / When a person is suffering from achronic disease, often the whole life situation is changing for both the personand the family. The purpose of this study was to describe spouses experienceswhen their partner with dementia was placed in sheltered housing for peoplewith dementia. The study is based on thirteen interviews that were analyzed with amethod for manifest qualitative content analysis. The result was structured inseven subcategories and four categories. The results from the interviews showthat relatives of either sex experienced that to make the decision to move his/ her spouse for special housing for people with dementia were emotionally stressful.The study also showed the need for aid inthe decision-taking. The conclusion is that nurses andother professionals need knowledge and training to support the spouses in thedecision-taking

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