The increased demand for interoperability among Emergency Responders (ERs) and timely accessibility to a large amount of reliable, accurate, context and location aware, and privacy-preserved data (e.g., environmental data, health records, building plan, etc.), mandates the emergence of dedicated Public Safety Broadband Networks (PSBNs). However, realizing PSBNs and addressing such requirements encounters substantial challenges. For example, several security and privacy vulnerabilities have been detected in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) which is the leading enabler of PSBNs. Nonetheless, the more significant challenge lies under the corresponding data requirements. This is because data is unstructured, its volume is enormous, and it includes inaccurate, irrelevant, and context-free data. Moreover, the data sources are heterogeneous and may not be reachable in an emergency. Furthermore, the data contains personally identifiable information for which privacy and access authorization should be respected. In this thesis, we investigate and address the aforementioned challenges. Here, we propose an efficient and secure algorithm to mitigate the main security and privacy vulnerability of LTE. In addition, to provide context and location aware data availability during an emergency, we propose a secure data storage structure and privacy-preserving search scheme. Furthermore, we propose a location-aware data access model to filter irrelevant data with regards to an incident and prevent unauthorized data access. To envision our access model, we propose a location-aware fine grained access authorization scheme. Our security analysis shows that our search scheme is secure against a chosen keyword attack and the proposed authorization scheme is formally proven secure against a selective chosen ciphertext attack. Concerning performance efficiency, our search scheme requires minimal data search and retrieval delay and the proposed authorization scheme imposes constant communication and decryption computation overheads. Finally, we propose a context-aware framework, which fully complies with emergency response requirements, based on the concept of trust to filter-out inaccurate and irrelevant data. The integration of our contributions promises highly reliable, accurate, context and location aware, and privacy-preserved data availability and timely data accessibility.

This study is a result of a participation in the Minor Field Study program where we interviewed inhabitants in Mahé, Seychelles, about environmental awareness and information sources and/or channels. Seychelles has a distinguished environment to preserve and protect for the sake of both human and nature and public awareness plays an important part in upholding this. Our aim with this thesis is to study the inhabitants' self-assessed awareness and perceptions regarding availability of information on environmental issues in Seychelles. Furthermore we hope that a by-product of our study will be an addition to the ongoing discussion and knowledge development regarding the global environmental and climate issues. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted and T. D. Wilson's information behaviour model from 1996 was used as theoretical framework when analysing the material. The results show a varied range of self-assessed awareness and perceptions regarding environmental issues and the availability of relevant information and information sources and/or channels.

A gestão à vista possibilita a disponibilização da informação correta, no momento adequado e no formato mais conveniente. Apesar desta disponibilização de informação neste formato ter se mostrado tão importante no âmbito da gestão de operações, ainda não existe um Framework que especifique como conceber dispositivos visuais e como utilizá-los a fim de incorporá-los na rotina do dia-a-dia das empresas. Assim este estudo propõe um Framework de nove etapas para gerir dispositivos visuais, com aplicação em ambientes administrativos. O trabalho apresenta o Framework desenvolvido que é baseado nas quatro fases do ciclo PDCA e composto por nove etapas, as quais têm como principal objetivo garantir a concepção de dispositivos visuais que estejam alinhados com os objetivos operacionais da empresa e sejam eficazes na disponibilização e troca de informações no ambiente em que estão inseridos. A avaliação do Framework se deu em uma empresa do ramo da construção civil, especificamente em dois processos com viés administrativo. Com estas aplicações o Framework se mostrou eficaz para a concepção e operação de dispositivos visuais, sendo ele a principal contribuição teórica deste estudo. / Visual management facilitates information exchanging at the right time and in the most convenient format. Although this information availability has proved to be important in operations management, there is still no Framework that specifies how to design visual devices and how to use them in order to incorporate them into Companies day-to-day routine. Thus, this study proposes a nine-step Framework for managing visual devices, focusing on administrative environments. The study presents the developed Framework that is based on the PDCA cycle and consists of nine-steps, which have as main objective to guarantee the visual devices design aligned with the Company operational objectives and are effective in provide and exchange information in the environment in which they are inserted. The validation of this Framework occurred in a construction company, in two administrative processes particular. With these applications, the Framework proved to be effective for the design and operation of visual devices, being the Framework the main theoretical contribution of this study.

The future is uncertain. We therefore make predictions and forecasts of the future in order to be able to plan and react to future events. For this purpose, financial analysts are argued to have a responsibility towards investors and the market, in helping to keep the market efficient. Given that financial analysts act in a rational way we argue that analysts should strive to maximize forecast accuracy. The purpose of this study is to investigate how accurate financial analysts’ forecasts of Swedish firms’ future values are, and what information that analysts use that significantly affect the analysts’ forecast accuracy. To investigate this we first examine whether financial analysts contribute with value to investors by comparing their forecast precision against a simple time-series model. Our findings show that financial analysts produce significantly more accurate forecasts than a time-series model in the short term. Furthermore, given that rational analysts act in their own best interest while making accurate forecasts, we argue that analysts will incorporate and use the information that is available to them for the purpose of maximizing forecast accuracy. We investigate this by testing if the analysts’ forecast accuracy is affected by; the forecast horizon, the number of analysts following a firm, the firm size, the corporate visibility, the predictability of earnings, and trading volume. We find that the forecast accuracy is better when the amount of analysts following a firm is high, the firm size is larger, the forecasted company’s corporate visibility in the news is more frequent, and the predictability of earnings is higher. The trading volume does not have a significant effect on analysts’ forecast accuracy. To conclude, we question the value of financial analysts’ forecasts for longer forecast horizons.

A gestão à vista possibilita a disponibilização da informação correta, no momento adequado e no formato mais conveniente. Apesar desta disponibilização de informação neste formato ter se mostrado tão importante no âmbito da gestão de operações, ainda não existe um Framework que especifique como conceber dispositivos visuais e como utilizá-los a fim de incorporá-los na rotina do dia-a-dia das empresas. Assim este estudo propõe um Framework de nove etapas para gerir dispositivos visuais, com aplicação em ambientes administrativos. O trabalho apresenta o Framework desenvolvido que é baseado nas quatro fases do ciclo PDCA e composto por nove etapas, as quais têm como principal objetivo garantir a concepção de dispositivos visuais que estejam alinhados com os objetivos operacionais da empresa e sejam eficazes na disponibilização e troca de informações no ambiente em que estão inseridos. A avaliação do Framework se deu em uma empresa do ramo da construção civil, especificamente em dois processos com viés administrativo. Com estas aplicações o Framework se mostrou eficaz para a concepção e operação de dispositivos visuais, sendo ele a principal contribuição teórica deste estudo. / Visual management facilitates information exchanging at the right time and in the most convenient format. Although this information availability has proved to be important in operations management, there is still no Framework that specifies how to design visual devices and how to use them in order to incorporate them into Companies day-to-day routine. Thus, this study proposes a nine-step Framework for managing visual devices, focusing on administrative environments. The study presents the developed Framework that is based on the PDCA cycle and consists of nine-steps, which have as main objective to guarantee the visual devices design aligned with the Company operational objectives and are effective in provide and exchange information in the environment in which they are inserted. The validation of this Framework occurred in a construction company, in two administrative processes particular. With these applications, the Framework proved to be effective for the design and operation of visual devices, being the Framework the main theoretical contribution of this study.

A gestão à vista possibilita a disponibilização da informação correta, no momento adequado e no formato mais conveniente. Apesar desta disponibilização de informação neste formato ter se mostrado tão importante no âmbito da gestão de operações, ainda não existe um Framework que especifique como conceber dispositivos visuais e como utilizá-los a fim de incorporá-los na rotina do dia-a-dia das empresas. Assim este estudo propõe um Framework de nove etapas para gerir dispositivos visuais, com aplicação em ambientes administrativos. O trabalho apresenta o Framework desenvolvido que é baseado nas quatro fases do ciclo PDCA e composto por nove etapas, as quais têm como principal objetivo garantir a concepção de dispositivos visuais que estejam alinhados com os objetivos operacionais da empresa e sejam eficazes na disponibilização e troca de informações no ambiente em que estão inseridos. A avaliação do Framework se deu em uma empresa do ramo da construção civil, especificamente em dois processos com viés administrativo. Com estas aplicações o Framework se mostrou eficaz para a concepção e operação de dispositivos visuais, sendo ele a principal contribuição teórica deste estudo. / Visual management facilitates information exchanging at the right time and in the most convenient format. Although this information availability has proved to be important in operations management, there is still no Framework that specifies how to design visual devices and how to use them in order to incorporate them into Companies day-to-day routine. Thus, this study proposes a nine-step Framework for managing visual devices, focusing on administrative environments. The study presents the developed Framework that is based on the PDCA cycle and consists of nine-steps, which have as main objective to guarantee the visual devices design aligned with the Company operational objectives and are effective in provide and exchange information in the environment in which they are inserted. The validation of this Framework occurred in a construction company, in two administrative processes particular. With these applications, the Framework proved to be effective for the design and operation of visual devices, being the Framework the main theoretical contribution of this study.

Inventory management and production control problem of a dealer operating in a decentralized spare parts network is analyzed in this dissertation. Spare parts network is assumed to be formed of two dealers and the problem of a dealer is considered under the assumption that the other dealer has a known policy. These dealers collaborate through inventory and service pooling. Furthermore, the dealers collaborate through sharing information on the net inventory status. Upon demand arrival, a dealer may request a part from the other dealer, in which case a payment is made. Under this competitive and collaborative environment, the optimal operating policy of an individual dealer is characterized under full information. Through computational analysis, the conditions under which the dealer under consideration is most profitable are identified. Finally, by comparing dierent pooling strategies and several information availability levels, the benefit of information sharing is quantified.

Access to educational resources by teachers contributes to improve the quality ofteaching and learning at school. In order to inquiry to what extent teachers accessto these resources an exploratory study took place in eight public schools of Lima.School libraries and innovation classrooms were observed, a survey was applied toteachers; there were also focus groups with them and interviews to schools’ principals.Results reveal the scarce availability of resources that teachers have at schools,the precariousness of school libraries in collections, personnel and services, thepoor development of innovation classrooms, as well as the gap between the officialdiscourse and the practice in order to reach educational achievements / El acceso a los recursos educativos por los docentes contribuye a mejorar la calidad de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje en la escuela. Con el fin de conocer en qué medida los docentes acceden y usan tales recursos, se realizó un estudio exploratorio en ocho instituciones educativas estatales de Lima. Para ello, se observaron las bibliotecas escolares y las aulas de innovación, se aplicaron encuestas a los docentes, seorganizaron focus groups y se entrevistó a los directores. Los resultados revelan la poca disponibilidad de recursos educativos que tienen los docentes en la institución, la precariedad de las bibliotecas escolares en cuanto a colecciones, personal y servicios, el escaso desarrollo de las aulas de innovación, así como la distancia entre el discurso oficial y la práctica para alcanzar mayores logros en materia de enseñanza.

Digitalisation is one of the greatest transformations in modern times and has impacted organisations, industry structures and the society as a whole. It provides new opportunities for fashion firms to interact with different stakeholders and has altered the way firms operate in foreign markets. Based on in-depth interviews with managers of Swedish high-end fashion firms, the aim of the study was to explore what impact digitalisation has on managers’ perceived psychic distance in their international operations. In particular, how managers use digital technologies to obtain and interpret information about supply and demand conditions in foreign markets was examined. The empirical findings indicate that digital technologies are essential for firms today, as they have increased information availability, enhanced information usage and improved interactive communication. This, in turn, leads to a reduction of managers’ perceived psychic distance.

Efficient records management is a founding block for successful transparency and accountability initiatives. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) promotes transparency and accountable management of extractive resources by disclosing governments’ and extractive companies' value chain information in resource-rich countries. Without proper management of records, transparency and accountability in the extractive industry become difficult. This study sought to explore the integration of records management in the Tanzania Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TEITI) with the view to develop a framework for incorporating records management in such an initiative. This qualitative case study anchored on the interpretivism research paradigm used the researcher’s conceptual framework as a theoretical lens. The study sample was purposively selected from the public institutions involved in TEITI, namely, TEITI Committee and the Secretariat, Mining Commission, Records and Archives Management Department, Tanzania Revenue Authority, and Regional Mines Office Dodoma. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observation, and analysis of documents. The study established that Tanzania has a well-established archives and records management infrastructure. However, institutions involved in TEITI did not implement the infrastructure or developed in-house procedures to incorporate records management in the initiative. Also, the non involvement of various players of the extractive sector in TEITI resulting in silos approaches to the initiative was noted. In addition, the studied institutions do not plan for their records management activities, and the budgets to support records management activities are inadequate. Records management staff are also insufficient, and their competencies to manage records mining activities is limited. The study concludes that because of the failure to integrate records management in TEITI, the initiative will not succeed in releasing its goal of bringing about transparency and accountability in the extractive sector in Tanzania until deliberate efforts are taken to incorporate records management as a critical component of the initiative. The study proposes a framework upon which the TEITI Committee, institutions and governments can apply to integrate records management in the EITI. Overall, the study bridges the gap of a missed inclusion of records management in the EITI initiative by proposing a framework. A further study on the underlying factors deterring the integration of records management in the organisational business process of institutions involved in TEITI is proposed. / Information Science / Ph. D. (Information Science)