One result of the search for inexpensive alternative sources of protein has been the rise in interest in aquaculture, the rearing of aquatic organisms under controlled conditions. In this dissertation we examine several management approaches to the efficient rearing of aquatic animals, using mathematical modeling to discover optimal production decisions. In addition we demonstrate the feasibility of simultaneous decision and performance control, providing empirical support for a theoretical extension of traditional variance analysis techniques. The results of three studies are included. In the first we model a situation in which the manager of an aquaculture system must decide when and how many animals to stock initially, how many animals to harvest each period, and when to restock an enclosure in order to maximize contribution. We consider both limited and unlimited growing seasons, solving mixed-integer and linear programs. We examine the effects of technological improvements on production strategies. Consistent improvement in contribution is noted, along with some variation in strategy. In the second study we introduce seasonal variation in revenues and lengthen the growing season. The resulting large-scale real-world mixed-integer problem necessitates the use of a heuristic and two strategies, selective expansion and sieve, in order to achieve a near-optimal solution within a reasonable length of time. In the third study we focus on the uncertainty inherent in the aquaculture environment. We provide empirical evidence of the feasibility of a performance evaluation system which gives explicit consideration to the effects of environmental uncertainty and incorporates intraperiod adaptive behavior on behalf of the individual responsible for implementation of model-specified activities. The system we describe may be used in the simultaneous evaluation of individual and model performances, thus clarifying responsibilities for variances and improving production control.

A strategic planning tool has been developed to help a firm in the North American newsprint industry decide whether to expand its capacity. This tool can also be used as an industry model, to forecast capacity decisions under various conditions. Key features of the model are the explicit consideration of the interdependence between firms and the recognition of the lumpiness of capacity expansion. Individual firms and groups of firms are modelled. All firms are assumed to determine their best capacity option taking into consideration the capacity decisions of other firms. The model uses an open loop Nash equilibrium concept to solve the capacity expansion problem. Firms also simultaneously determine their profit-maximizing production in each year, given their capacities. Demand functions for each year are specified, and demand scenarios may be subject to uncertainty. The model was applied to the newsprint industry for the 1979 to 1983 time period. The top five firms in the industry were modelled as individual firms. The next eight firms were modelled as two groups of four identical firms. The behaviour of the fringe (i.e., the remaining 20% of total industry capacity) was forecast exogenously. Historical firm and industry capacities, production levels and prices were compared to model simulations under three different assumptions for firm objectives: profit maximization, market share maximization subject to a profitability constraint, and maximization of expected utility assuming exponential utility functions for all firms (with different assumptions about attitudes of firms towards risk). The constrained market share maximization hypothesis best explained observed behaviour. Multiple equilibria were often computed and methods for addressing this problem were discussed. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to propose a consistent theory and a model based on it to estimate the uncertainty of project duration, cost, revenue, and net present value probabilistically. The model can be used to assist decision making on such strategic, feasibility analysis issues as contingency provision, reliability of an estimate for the "go-no go" decision, adopting phased or fast-track construction, etc. Project cost and revenue are evaluated in terms of current and discounted dollars, thereby emphasising the economic effect of time and inflation on net present value which is considered as the decision criterion. The model is derived mathematically by treating all the issues which effect the estimation of project cost, duration and revenue through the mechanism of linked work packages. Issues found to be significant in the evaluation of work package duration are: the scope of work, the productivity, and the labour usage. For work package cost they are: the duration and the starting time, unit rates for labour, equipment, and materials, labour and equipment usage, sub-contractor and indirect cost, inflation and interest rates. For revenue the issues are: the gross revenue, operating & maintenance cost, inflation rates, duration, and the starting time. Moments of work package cost, duration and revenue streams are first evaluated using subjective estimates of percentiles for the independent variables, deriving moment information from these estimates, and then processing this information using the expectation operator on the Taylor series expansion of the performance measure about the mean. These moments along with the Pearson family of distributions are used to quantify the uncertainty of project duration, cost, revenue, and net present value. The decision maker is provided with probabilistic estimates, of duration, cost and revenue at both the work package/revenue stream and project levels and of the net present value. A computer program is developed to implement the proposed theory and to organise and simplify the calculation process. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Newly listed firms have a short history of stock value, and may initially not rely on stock price information in incentive contracting as much as seasoned firms. In this thesis, I examine managerial incentive contracts in newly listed firms by comparing CEO compensation between IPO firms and seasoned firms. For IPOs listed on NYSE from 1993 to 2001, a matching sample of seasoned firms was obtained according to criteria in industry, size and book-to-market ratio. By examining the multi-dimensions of CEO incentives, including cash compensation, option grants, stock ownership, and dismissal for the first six years after listing, I document significant differences between IPOs and seasoned firms. I find that while the sensitivity of short-term incentive pay to shareholder return is lower in IPOs than in seasoned firms, long-term incentives from CEO stock ownership are significantly more important in newly listed firms. Moreover, although CEO turnover in an IPO firm is lower, it depends on both stock-price return and accounting performance. These IPO-seasoned differences diminish over time and disappear in three to five years. My findings suggest that to motivate the manager of a newly listed firm, the board avoids short-term uncertainty associated with new stocks while emphasizing the role of shareholder value in the long run. / published_or_final_version / Economics and Finance / Master / Master of Philosophy

This dissertation consists of three essays that explore economic issues on information security and risk management. In the first essay, we develop an economic mechanism which coordinates security strategies of Service Providers (SPs). SPs are best positioned to safeguard the Internet. However, they generally do not have incentives to take such a responsibility in the distributed computing environment. The proposed certification mechanism induces SPs to voluntarily accept the liability of Internet security. SPs who take the liability signal their capability in conducting secure computing and benefit from such recognition. We use a game-theoretic model to examine SPs' incentives and the social welfare. Our results show that the certification mechanism can generate a more secure Internet communication environment. The second essay studies the impact of cyberinsurance and alternative risk management solutions on firms' information security strategies. In the existing literature, cyberinsurance has been proposed as a solution to transfer information risks and reduce security spending. However, we show that cyberinsurance by itself is deficient in addressing the overinvestment issue. We find that the joint use of cyberinsurance and risk pooling arrangement optimizes firms' security investment. In the case with a large number of firms, we show that firms will invest at the socially optimal level. The third essay examines the information role of vendors' patching strategies. Patching after software release has become an important stage in the software development cycle. In the presence of quality uncertainty, we show that vendors can leverage the patch release times to signal the quality of their software products. We define a new belief profile and identify two types of separating equilibria in a dynamic setting.

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In essay I, I empirically examine theoretical inferences of real options models regarding the effects of business risk on the pricing of firms engaged in corporate control transactions. This study shows that the risk differential between the merging firms has a significant effect on the risk dynamic of bidding firms around control transactions and that the at-announcement risk dynamic is negatively related to that in the preannouncement period. In addition, the relative size of the target, the volatility of bidder cash flows, and the relative growth rate of the bidder have significant explanatory power in the cross-section of announcement returns to bidding firm shareholders as does the change in the cost of capital resulting from the transaction. Essay II provides an empirical analysis of a second set of real options models that theoretically examine the dynamics of financial risk around control transactions as well as the link between financial leverage and the probability of acquisition. In addition, I present a comparison of the financial risk dynamics of firms that choose an external growth strategy, through acquisition, and those that pursue an internal growth strategy through capital expenditures that are unrelated to acquisition. / by Jeffrey M. Coy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.