This research investigates financial, technical and attitudinal factors affectine the selection of coai as a space heating fuel in Local Authorities' non-domestic premises. Financial factors are explored by incorporating statistics of a sample of The City of Bradford Metropolitan Council's sites into a computer model that takes into account: the spread of capital costs of installing coal or other fuels. delivered fuel costs. maintenance and operating costs. and seasonal boiler efficiencies. The sensitivity of the mooei to changes in costs. boiler efficiencies. and financial selection criteria are investigated. Assuming a five year payback criterion and prices as found at the end of 1966, three percent of the space-heating ruel use or the Local Authority's premises is found to be viable for coal. The model is sensitive principally to changes in capital costs. and the availability of gas if a high cost for oit is assumed. Technical tactors are investigated by describing the properties or coal ana available comoustion equipment. Attitudes to the use of coal are researched by interviewing a sample of otticers and members in six Local Authorities in Yorksnire ana Humberside. Interviewees were particularly encouraged to describe their impressions and beliels. The scope of the study is expanded by the use of a postal survey of all United Kingdom Local Authorities. A variety or different topics are considered in the survey. These include the presence and content of fuel selection policies. the use and cost of fuels. financial criteria adopted in assessing projects, availability fr as supplies, and attitudes to the use of coal. The response rate to the questionnaire was over 40%. The study concludes with recommendations to The City or Braotora Metropolitan Council and British Coal.

This thesis investigates the influence of firms’ internal and external environmental factors upon their adoption of HRIS behaviour (i.e., the variation between adopters and non-adopters) and the level of implementation of HRIS applications and its effectiveness. An integrated conceptual framework was developed for the factors that determine the organisation’s adoption and the level of practice of HRIS applications. This framework integrates ideas and elements from the Diffusion of innovation Theory (DOI) and technology organization environment (TOE) model, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the IT studies in the area of HRM. Data were collected through structured-directed interviews with 236 respondents. The survey units were the shareholding companies in Jordan, and the key single respondents approach was employed. The findings of the study support that internal and external environmental factors are related not only to adoption of HRIS behaviour (i.e., the difference between adopters and non-adopters), but also to the level of implementing of HRIS applications. In comparison to each environmental dimension acting alone, the integration approach of the two internal and external dimensions gives better explanation not only of the prediction of the level of implementing of HRIS applications, but also of the prediction of adoption behaviour. Therefore, a better understanding of adoption of HRIS behaviour and the level of implementing of HRIS applications requires that firms’ environmental factors be viewed as whole (i.e., the interaction of the internal and external dimension) rather than being isolated fragments (i.e., only a single dimension). The current research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by enhancing current understanding of the organisational adoption of HRIS, which is an under-researched area in Jordan as a developing country. By employing analytical tools based on Rogers’s Innovation Diffusion Theory , UTAUT, TOE , and the findings of empirical studies of IT adoption, evidence confirms that the adoption of HRIS in the business organisations depends largely on interaction of internal and external environmental factors and the findings support the need for an integrated view of the adoption phenomenon. In that respect, this study also attempts to make an important theoretical contribution towards articulating differences in the determinants of adoption and the level of implementations of HRIS applications and its effectiveness.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The purpose of this thesis is to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis on proposals, submitted by vendors, for a telecommunication system. This thesis will be used as a guide in the decision-making process of choosing the most cost-effective system for the Bachelor Officers Quarters of the Naval Postgraduate School. In addition to cost-effectivness, this study includes a discussion of the analysis criteria, a review of the Statement of Work and an evaluation of the lease/purchase decision.

<p>The work aims to clarify what nautical officers onboard in today's merchant can do to help reduce bunker consumption during the voyage? The question we have asked ourselves during the autumn term in 2008 much was said about the premium bunker prices, and how the future could affect our daily lives as nautical officer. We felt here that the school had relatively little knowledge of the subject and therefore felt that it would be interesting to identify how it really looks like onboard the ships today. To collect information we contacted 7 Swedish companies that operate with different types of vessels, in order to get a broad picture of the whole industry. For shipping companies we asked questions about how actively they were working on the issue and what methods they used. We found that the owners worked with the issue but that it so far was a little on the go. All but one company in the survey provided the vessels are instructed to run bunker efficiently.</p> / <p>Arbetet syftar till att klarlägga vad nautikerna ombord i dagens handelsfartyg kan göra för att reducera bunkerförbrukningen under pågående sjöresa? Frågan ställde vi oss eftersom det under höstterminen 2008 talades mycket om de ”skyhöga” bunkerpriserna och hur de i framtiden skulle påverka vår vardag som nautiker. Vi kände att det på skolan fanns förhållandevis lite kunskap i ämnet och tyckte därför att det vore intressant att kartlägga hur det verkligen ser ut ombord i fartygen idag. Främst gällande direktiv till befälen rörande bunkerreducerande metoder.</p><p>För att få underlag för arbetet kontaktade vi 7 stycken svenska rederier som är verksamma med olika typer av fartyg, detta för att få en bred bild av hela sjöfartsbranschen. Till rederierna ställde vi frågor om de aktivt arbetade med frågan och i så fall vad de använde sig av för metoder. Vi kunde konstatera att redarna arbetade med frågan men att det än så länge låg lite i startgroparna. Alla utom ett rederi i undersökning gav fartygen instruktioner om att köra bunkereffektivt.</p>

The work aims to clarify what nautical officers onboard in today's merchant can do to help reduce bunker consumption during the voyage? The question we have asked ourselves during the autumn term in 2008 much was said about the premium bunker prices, and how the future could affect our daily lives as nautical officer. We felt here that the school had relatively little knowledge of the subject and therefore felt that it would be interesting to identify how it really looks like onboard the ships today. To collect information we contacted 7 Swedish companies that operate with different types of vessels, in order to get a broad picture of the whole industry. For shipping companies we asked questions about how actively they were working on the issue and what methods they used. We found that the owners worked with the issue but that it so far was a little on the go. All but one company in the survey provided the vessels are instructed to run bunker efficiently. / Arbetet syftar till att klarlägga vad nautikerna ombord i dagens handelsfartyg kan göra för att reducera bunkerförbrukningen under pågående sjöresa? Frågan ställde vi oss eftersom det under höstterminen 2008 talades mycket om de ”skyhöga” bunkerpriserna och hur de i framtiden skulle påverka vår vardag som nautiker. Vi kände att det på skolan fanns förhållandevis lite kunskap i ämnet och tyckte därför att det vore intressant att kartlägga hur det verkligen ser ut ombord i fartygen idag. Främst gällande direktiv till befälen rörande bunkerreducerande metoder. För att få underlag för arbetet kontaktade vi 7 stycken svenska rederier som är verksamma med olika typer av fartyg, detta för att få en bred bild av hela sjöfartsbranschen. Till rederierna ställde vi frågor om de aktivt arbetade med frågan och i så fall vad de använde sig av för metoder. Vi kunde konstatera att redarna arbetade med frågan men att det än så länge låg lite i startgroparna. Alla utom ett rederi i undersökning gav fartygen instruktioner om att köra bunkereffektivt.

Antalet flyktingar i Sverige ökar och därmed behovet av behandling. Multidisciplinär behandling används för flyktingar då de ofta lider av post-traumatiskt stress syndrom (PTSD), psykisk och somatisk komorbiditet, samt social problematik. Studiens syfte var att undersöka behandlingseffekter på PTSD-symtom och komorbida ångest- och depressionssymtom, samt undersöka prediktorer för utfall. Mätningar från 49 patienter på två specialistkliniker användes för att undersöka skillnader mellan före och efter behandling på skalorna PTSD Checklist-Civilian och Hopkins Symtom Checklist-25.Resultaten visade statistiskt signifikant effekt på både PTSD-symtom (p &lt; 0,001,d = 1,46) och komorbida symtom (p &lt; 0,001, d = 1,28). Prediktorer som hade samband med utfallet var ålder och nivå av PTSD-symtom innan behandling. Resultaten påvisar en begränsad kliniskt signifikant effekt av behandling och en modell för prediktion som förklarar en stor del av variansen (R 2 = 33 %). Stort bortfall mellan mätning före och efter behandling minskar generaliserbarheten.

acase@tulane.edu

Current economic evaluations do not explicitly acknowledge that there are multiple decision points throughout the lifecycle of new health technologies which, in the presence of uncertainty and irreversible consequences of those decisions, influence value. Real options analysis (ROA) has been proposed to overcome these limitations. However, applications to date all assumed that decisions influencing the arrival of information are made by the same actors making the decisions on adoption. The aim of this thesis is to explicitly incorporate into health technology assessment (HTA) the impact of uncertainty on decision making about new health technologies in the presence of irreversibilities. I present a series of analyses comparing “traditional” economic evaluation methods to applications of ROA using the case study of drug-eluting stents (DES). The conventional application of ROA allowed for flexibility in decisions incorporating all economic consequences of changing decisions. Over and above uncertainty surrounding the current estimate of value, three major components contributing to the economic value of the new technology were assumed to also change over time. This type of analysis can be used to determine the optimal initial decision allowing for changes in decisions and the optimal timing for review. However, it assumes that new information will always be revealed, regardless of the original decision on adoption. To reflect the combined impact of coverage, pricing and research decisions in HTA and therefore to make information arrival endogenous, a more complex approach is suggested: a Real Options Game (ROG) combining ROA with a game theoretical approach. In the ROG the HTA body and the manufacturer are assumed to play a sequential, incomplete information game, where the manufacturer has control over the arrival of information. The manufacturer decides whether to submit evidence, reduce price and conduct more research, while the HTA body decides on adoption. The DES analysis modelled a series of decision points between 2005 and 2010, with decisions not depending on hindsight, but allowing for predicted changes in value, incorporating a drift in information and responses by the other party. Payoffs were estimated for both players using a probabilistic Markov model. Optimal strategies incorporating the impact of earlier decisions on research were determined. HTA is a dynamic and interactive process, therefore results of the ROA analyses sometimes suggested a different course of action compared to traditional analyses. The best decision may depend on predictions of how other parties will react, as well as likely evolution of the evidence base and the costs of decision reversal.

This diploma thesis is dedicated to online and its use for communication planning. Its aim is to outline actual market, possibilities and to show how a non-standard client (in this case fashion brand Mango) could use on-line to meet its demand and targets. In theoretical part I analyse and describe all important characteristics for communication strategy creation on the local market. Based on understanding of client, its needs, targets, target group and competitors I suggest a possible on-line communication plan. The thesis is designated to all who are interested in advertising and on-line communication planning.

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