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Value pricing is now an accepted strategy for congestion and demand management in metropolitan areas. Along with alternate congestion management strategies, many transportation agencies have started looking at value pricing as a method to help financial shortfalls of new congestion management projects. Value pricing allows revenue collected from toll facilities to reduce operational concerns with underutilized High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) facilities and relieves environmental concerns by reducing travel demand. Recently, transportation agencies have become increasingly interested in a high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane value pricing system with time-dependent tolls or dynamic tolls that change by the congestion level. However, there is a lack of proper travel demand forecasting tools that can evaluate and determine the impacts of pricing on travelers' decision in relation to congestion. The current methods use aggregated and zonal based approaches that lack the capability of tracing individual travelers through the supply network in order to capture his/her travel decisions as it pertains to the estimated cost for toll usage. The conventional models do not consider individual traveler socio-economic characteristics, particularly the heterogeneous value of time (VOT). TRANSIMS (Transportation Analysis Simulation System) differs from current travel demand forecasting methods in its underlying concepts and structure. These differences include a consistent and continuous representation of time, a detailed representation of persons and households, time-dependent routing, and a person-based Microsimulator. The TRANSIMS Microsimulator is the only simulation tool that maintains the identity of the traveler throughout the simulation and is capable of accessing the database of each individual (e.g., income, age, trip purpose). It traces the movement of people as well as vehicles on a second-by-second basis. Although TRANSIMS environment has significantly improved over the past few years, there are still issues that need to be improved upon including: the pricing of a HOT lane with dynamic tolls and the rescheduling of activities (i.e., departure time choice model) in response to network conditions. The primary objectives of this study are to improve functions of TRANSIMS by modifying source codes in order to utilize non-linear, individual VOT function in route choice of a HOT lane value pricing system, to implement 15-min dynamic tolls that vary by level of service (i.e., volume/capacity ratio) in the HOT lane(s) and to develop departure time choice model. Testing the proposed methodologies using real-world data as case studies and evaluating the impacts of dynamic tolls and/or departure time choice model are other objectives of this study. The test site of the HOT lane system is a segment of I-5 northbound from Hwy 217 to I-405 near the central business district (CBD) in Portland metropolitan region, Oregon. The experimental analyses of the application of dynamic tolls and individual VOT demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed simulation methodology. The outputs from the microscopic analysis clearly indicate the effectiveness of the analysis in scrutinizing travelers' route choice behavior based on different socio-economic and travel characteristics when different toll rates are applied. The effects of individual VOT on route choice are consistent with intuition; that is, travelers with higher VOTs are more likely to choose the HOT lane(s). In addition, the impacts of various tolls on route choice are analyzed on the basis of socio-economic and trip characteristics of each traveler. In addition to the development of the dynamic value pricing along with individual VOT, the departure time choice model is also developed. The proposed method is a post-processing of route choice and represents a sequential decision making process of travelers who want to depart early or late based on congestion, individual attributes and activity characteristics. This paper presents the results of a departure time choice model and its impacts on a HOT lane system using Portland, Oregon as a case study. The results show that 13.9% of households did change their departure time because of congestion and/or tolls. / Ph. D.

Architecture is visuality. Its object is what Norman Bryson has referred to as a screen of signs. "Between subject and the world is inserted the entire sum of discourses which make up visuality, that cultural construct, and make visuality different from vision, the notion of unmediated visual experience. Between retina and the world is inserted a screen of signs, a screen consisting of all the multiple discourses on vision built into the social arena." (Norman Bryson, from Practice; Architecture, Technique, and Representation, by Stan Allen) Architecture and representation are integral to the screen. How do we make architecture? Is the act of making architecture a montage? Can architecture be made through montage? What is the role of montage in an architecture for life and death? The process of making architecture is not a prescribed methodology with a predetermined outcome. Architecture, crafted by the hand of the architect, is a divine act of assemblage of subconscious allegorical thought, image, and tectonics. Through this art of assemblage, an architecture is born capable of instigating a narrative of metaphor and memory. Metaphorical narrative has the innate ability of summoning memory, and is critical in an architecture for life and death. Architecture is the only total sensory means of narrative. / Master of Architecture

There has always been competition among hedge funds, mutual funds, and other types of investors to perform better than index, meaning, creating alpha. How can you create alpha? Are there any patterns to follow? Any trends? There are many questions one may ask in order to find patterns that are creating. The purpose of this study is to see how CEO departures affect equity value in the short- medium- and long term and its comparison to indices. This study has collected data from a majority of publicly traded Nordiccompanies with a market capitalisation of over 10 billion Swedish crowns. The collected data has been collected within the last 20 years (2003-2023) with market-adjusted return, market capitalisation, volume, and CEO tenure being the prominent variables analysed.As CEOs have the operative responsibility of a company, they thereby are at the top of the company and effectively guide the company towards its goals. The changes in CEOs could thereby be of interest to investors as there is potential for larger structural changes when a new CEO is appointed. Applying this to its equity value, there is potential formispricing. Using mainly Fama’s and Malkiel’s research on the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and Random Walk as the theoretical framework there are different ways in which equity price could move. EMH states that all markets are efficient by the equity representing all available information. Random Walk instead states that equity price moves randomly and cannot be predicted in accordance with historical movements. The empirical results showed that there were no statistically significant findings in our employed regression analysis. However, on average, the descriptive statistics show thatthe market-adjusted return for a company with a CEO departure is negative compared to its comparable index. The intraday MAR highly deviate from 1 day until 1 quarter and thereafter the deviation becomes less. The conclusion could be drawn that EMH might be contradicted in the short term but holds long term. It is also difficult to deny the theory of random walks in equities.

Cette recherche s’intéresse au concept de la GRH à la carte et à son influence sur l’intention de départ des salariés. Pour ce faire, nous avons dû définir les différentes composantes qui entourent notre concept principal, nous faisons référence aux espaces de choix relatifs à l’organisation et à l’aménagement du temps de travail, aux espaces de choix relatifs à la rémunération, à la formation, etc. Dans leur description, ces pratiques qu’on trouve au coeur du concept de la GRH à la carte nous permettent de prendre conscience que la gestion des ressources humaines connaît une nouvelle facette. Celle-ci s’explique principalement par le souci des entreprises d’aujourd’hui de se rapprocher des attentes de leurs salariés, en leur offrant un certain nombre d’espaces de choix dans leur emploi. Les gestionnaires des ressources humaines parlent alors de personnalisation des pratiques des RH, ce qui exige une certaine flexibilité de la part des organisations. Ainsi, l’élaboration de notre étude nous a permis de présenter un modèle théorique dont l’objectif est de tester l’influence de la flexibilité des différents espaces de choix de la GRH à la carte sur l’intention de départ souvent manifestée par les salariés. Les résultats obtenus à l’aide de l’analyse multivariée appliquée à des données d’une institution bancaire haïtienne mettent en évidence l’impact significatif de certaines pratiques et le rôle médiateur du sentiment d’autodétermination dans la décision des salariés. Mots clés : Intention de départ volontaire, flexibilité des pratiques de la GRH à la carte, sentiment d’auto-détermination / The employees’ intention to quit their jobs. To do this, we had to define various components that surround our main concept. We refer to areas of choice on the organization and the organization of working time, areas of choice on the remuneration, the training.... The description of these practices, which are found to be in the heart of the concept of «cafeteria HRM », enable us to realize that human resources management knows a new side, it is mainly explained by the fact that companies desire today to get closer to the expectations of their employees by offering them a number of areas of choice in their jobs. Managers in human resources try to customize practices, which requires flexibility on the part of organizations Thus, this study allowed us to present a theoretical model that aims to test the influence of the flexibility of choosing different areas of «cafeteria HRM » on the intention to quit among employees. Results obtained using data from a Haitian bank and multivariate analysis highlight the significant impact of some practices and the mediating role of sense of self-determination in the employees’ intention to quit their job. Keywords: Intention of voluntary departure, flexibility practices of «cafeteria HRM », a sense of self-determination

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Dans l'océan, les changements de température induisent des perturbations de la vitesse de propagation des ondes acoustiques. La tomographie acoustique océanique utilise les fluctuations de signaux acoustiques enregistrés pour cartographier ces perturbations de vitesse du son. Cette étude propose une méthode alternative utilisant la direction de propagation des ondes acoustiques (plutôt que les temps de propagation utilisés classiquement) pour imager un guide d'onde océanique peu profond (~100 m), petite échelle (1 à 10 km), avec une haute résolution spatiale (10 m horizontalement, 2 m en profondeur). Dans ce contexte, les ondes acoustiques basse fréquence (~1 kHz) à large bande spectrale (~1.5 kHz) se propagent selon des trajectoires multiples assimilables à des rayons géométriques épais spatialement. L'utilisation d'un couple d'antennes (émission/réception) et de la double formation de voies permet de séparer les signaux en provenance des différents trajets acoustiques et de mesurer leur : temps de propagation (TP), direction d'arrivée (DA) et direction de départ (DD). Dans l'hypothèse de faibles perturbations, les variations des TP, DA et DD sont reliées linéairement aux perturbations de la distribution de vitesse du son de manière analytique. Cette formulation, basée sur la physique de la diffraction de Born au 1er ordre, utilise des fonctions noyaux appelées : noyaux de sensibilité temps-angles (NSTA). Les méthodes classiques d'inversion permettent alors de retrouver les perturbations de vitesse à partir des variations de TP, DA et DD en utilisant les NSTA. Les méthodes développées ont été validées sur données simulées, puis appliquées à des données réelles d'expériences à échelle réduites réalisées dans la cuve ultrasonore de l'ISTerre, Grenoble. / In the ocean, temperature changes induce sound-speed perturbations. Ocean acoustic tomography uses the fluctuations of recorded acoustic signals, to map those sound-speed perturbations. To this end, sound-speed perturbations are classically related to the acoustic-wave travel-times measured on the records. This study suggests an alternative method to perform acoustic thermometry based on acoustic-wave propagation directions. It allows imaging a shallow-water waveguide (~100 m), at small scale (1 to 10 km), with high spatial resolution (10 m in range, 2 m in depth). In this context, wideband (~1.5 kHz) low frequency (~1 kHz) acoustic waves propagates along multiple paths similar to spatially « fat » geometrical rays. Using a pair of arrays (source/receiver) and the double-beamforming processing to separate acoustic signals coming from different paths and measure their: travel-time (TT), directions-of-arrival (DOA) and directions-of-departure (DOD). Under the hypothesis of small perturbations, TP, DOA and DOD variations are linearly related to sound-speed perturbations in an analytical way. This formulation based on Born's diffraction physics at the first order uses kernel functions called: the time-angle sensitivity kernels (T-A-SK). The T-A-SK model is then combined to classical inversion methods to retrieve sound-speed perturbations from TT, DOA and DOD variations. The methods developed here have been validated on simulated data, and applied on real small-scale data coming from the ultrasonic tank of the ISTerre, Grenoble.

The thesis is draft a multi-storey parking garage in the area of University Hospital in Brno Bohunice to insufficient capacity of the parking spaces. The aim of thesis is to create a sufficient number of parking spaces, which would solve the deficit of parking spaces and connecting the street Jihlavská. The parking garage is located on the south side of the University Hospital and ensures pedestrian connections to the hospital. The parking garage should serve for patient, visitors and hospital staff. This thesis takes into consideration the solution of terminal of public transport in Bohunice’s hospital and for patients and visitors to the hospital is also designed park.

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / Student dropout, certification and retention rate has played a pivotal role for academic institutions globally. There are various factors that affect student persistence which inevitably leads to a student’s failure to graduate. These factors may also result in voluntary withdrawal from institutions which could impact on the status and funding of tertiary institutions. To deal with such critical issues, there is a need to understand the reasons for the decline in student retention and the factors that influence goals and student departure. The aim of the current study was to explore the factors that may or may not contribute to persistence, which eventually has an influence on the retention rate. In the current qualitative study, Tinto’s longitudinal model was comprehensively explored. Therefore, the current study was located within Tinto’s longitudinal model of student departure. The researcher was prompted to explore the factors that influence student goals, institutional commitments, social and academic integration and persistence. The South African government expected that the role of the TVET colleges would become the cornerstone of the skills development landscape. According to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET, 2013b), it was estimated that the growth in the sector would escalate as follows: the projection of 345 000 students in 2010, 630 000 students in 2013. The total projection for 2030 was that 2.5 million students would be certified (DHET, 2013b). Unfortunately, the 2030 projection has been adversely affected by the poorly performing institution and the high dropout rate. (DHET, 2013b) Therefore, the setting for the research was a Technical Vocational College in Cape Town which offers the National Certificate Vocational NCV. The single institutional study linking academic integration, goal influencers, institutional commitments social and academic integration and persistence was based in a college in Cape Town. Thus the study has an overarching research question and three sub-questions. The college was selected conveniently and the researcher purposively selected the participants. A total of twenty participants (20) were interviewed after providing assent and consent. The qualitative design utilized in the current study allowed the researcher to identify themes. Therefore, thematic analysis was employed in the data analysis section. The researcher is currently an insider in this sector. The unique experience and academic background of the researcher has afforded the opportunity to ethically gain access to past results in the TVET, specifically, in a NCV programme at a Cape Town College.