El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Currently, it is common for the risks in construction projects to generate significant budgetary deviations due to their null or insufficient identification and quantification. In relation to this point, and with the focus on improving the competitiveness of construction companies when developing and complying with their budgets, it is essential to have an accurate methodology for estimating the contingency associated with risks from an early stage. This allows the contingency amount not to be exceeded, resulting in better reliability and adjustment of the budget assigned for the project, and therefore guaranteeing the expected profitability. This objective can be achieved using applications such as the Monte Carlo method, since through the probabilistic simulations that can be developed through it, it is possible to precisely establish the value of the contingency associated with project risks in study. It is recommended to carry out these evaluations and analyzes before the project starts. In this sense, this research focuses on establishing a sequential methodology that serves as an application tool for any type of construction project, ensuring the optimization of the budget by minimizing the risks associated with the project.

Titel: Styrelsers syn på implementering av lagar i bolagsstyrningen Kurs: Management and Control Författare: Veronica Gisle och Asha Khan Handledare: Josef Pallas Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka vilka styrinstrument som styrelser använder vid implementeringen av lagdirektiv i bolagsstyrningen. Metod: Uppsatsens metod är uppbyggd på ett abduktivt tillvägagångssätt. Teori: Den teoretiska referensramen består av teorier som grundar sig i vetenskaplig forskning om styrelsens huvudsakliga uppgifter, contingency teori, granskare samt ett flertal styrinstrument. Empiri: Materialet är insamlat under åtta djupintervjuer med styrelseledamöter. Slutsats: De tre huvudsakliga styrinstrument som styrelsen använder sig av är relationen till VD:n, åtgärdsplaner och styrelseutskott. De styrinstrument som är mest effektiva beror på lagens innebörd och bolagets verksamhet.

This M.F.A. thesis paper and drawing installation deal with the physical relationship of the body to itself, and with the neurological wiring connecting the parts to each other and to the whole. In my drawing 10 Months/ 9 x 20 Feet, I work on a scale several times that of my own body. Issues explored include contingency, relationships, accumulation, parameters, play, record, time, duration, proprioception, metonymy, fragmentation, space, scale, sight, process, and drawing. Over ten months, I produced a single drawing measuring twenty feet across and nine feet tall. My body’s repetitive contorting in order to trace itself, in order to literally circumnavigate a moving form, can be seen as a means of familiarizing myself in a tactile sense with the physical relationship of myself to myself.

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The current study applies a newly proposed mechanical combination method along with four traditional mechanical combination methods to assessment center scoring. These comparisons were made for two job levels (Fire Lieutenant and Fire Captain). The study further assesses the level of adverse impact for the various methods at three cut-off scores. Results indicated that the new contingency-based scoring method was successfully implemented in the assessment center. Results were mixed regarding whether the contingencies developed for the two job levels were different. Further, results indicated that although the various combination methods were highly correlated as expected, there were clear distinctions in the decisions made based on the different combination methods. Specifically, the various combination methods resulted in different candidates comprising the qualifying cut-off ranks. Finally, results showed that the contingency-based method had less adverse impact overall when compared to the other four methods. Future research is proposed in addition to a discussion of the limitations of the study. The main limitation was a lack of criterion data.

<p>One of the most central and current debates among those studying human contingency learning (HCL) concerns whether it is best understood as the result of associative learning, a product of higher-order cognitive processes, or some combination thereof. Though the field appears to be moving toward the latter accounts, much of the evidence being generated to evaluate and select among them comes from tasks that typically present only information about the few variables involved in the contingency(s), in the exact same manner on every trial. While effective for examining how the statistical properties of experience affect learning, these procedures do not capture some of the conditions of everyday cognition and are apt to be less effective for engaging non-associative and top-down influences on performance.</p> <p>The current work introduces a task that involves learning contingencies in others' behavior from descriptions that require the learner to determine the focus of learning, and to deal with both variability in manifestation of the objects of learning and extraneous information. Across several experiments, performance reflects phenomena, including ΔP, outcome density and blocking effects, which have been well established in HCL and are consistent with associative accounts. At the same time, the findings also suggest that (a) domain-specific theories affect the weighting of evidence in contingency perception and the discoverability of contingencies, and (b) outcome predictions, a typical measure in HCL, are influenced by specific instance memory in addition to abstract contingency knowledge. These findings are difficult to reconcile with the data-driven nature of associative views, and join a growing number of demonstrations suggesting that a viable account of HCL must involve higher-order cognitive processes or top-down influences on performance.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Matching relations identified by Herrnstein (1961) demonstrate behavior rates as a function of the ratio of reinforcement rates for alternative behaviors. The mathematical relationship identified by Herrnstein and modified by Baum (1974) was later applied to foraging animals, given the option of two patches (Kennedy & Gray, 1993). This application lead to the demonstration that animals (Baum & Kraft, 1998) and humans (Kraft & Baum, 2001) will engage in emergent group behavior that is distinct from individual matching relations. To more completely understand group matching in humans, group relations beyond foraging must be investigated. This study expands on the findings of Kraft and Baum (2001) and subsequent studies by introducing a group contingency for point earnings. Using an ABAB/BABA experimental design, interdependent group contingency was compared to individual contingency in two experimental sessions with different sets of participants. To better understand individual performance in matching rations, a temporal discounting measure was administered to participants (Beck & Triplett, 2009). Scores were transformed into area-under-the-curve values and correlated with total points earned. Participants were divided into teams based on their scores on a measure of temporal discounting with which they earned points during the group contingency conditions. An effect for group contingency was found for Experiment 2 but not Experiment 1. Order effects apparent in the data from both experiments are attributed to the BABA design used in Experiment 2. Results across the two experiments show a relationship between temporal discounting scores and total points earned for participants with valid temporal discounting scores (n = 13). Future research should expand upon these findings in applied contexts. / Educational Psychology