Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-116).

Project (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes final project proposal. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-137, 45-49).

Project (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005. / Includes abstract and vita. "April, 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-137).

Pain has a significant burden on individuals and society; however challenges remain in the measurement of pain-related utility. Research was conducted to design a measurement framework for valuing pain states, for use in policy making. Within the theoretical framework of utility theory, the bio-psychosocial model of pain was used to select co-variates impacting the pain-utility relationship. The applicability of two utility theories (prospect theory and hedonist theory) to pain was evaluated, with EQ-5D-5L and utility values for scenarios of different pain intensities elicited using time-trade-off (TTO) and willingness-to-pay (WTP). Prospect theory was tested using the pain-utility relationship in 600 members of the general population (‘genpop’) by examining the presence of a reference point and the relationship between pain decreases/increases (gains/losses) and utility. Hedonist theory was tested through examination of predicted, experienced and remembered utilities, and ‘peak-end’ effects, principally using data from 56 university athletes experiencing training pain. Pain intensity had the greatest influence on EQ-5D values, with present and worst pain showing additive effects. Duration of the pain episode, general health, mood, age and gender also had significant impacts. In addition to pain intensity, TTO ‘genpop’ models included age, income, experienced pain and general health; WTP ‘genpop’ models included residual pain, age and income. The TTO and WTP models did not fit the athletes’ data well and alternative models were developed. The data did not confirm prospect theory: a reference point could not be identified (‘genpop’ and athletes) and the shape of the utility curve contradicted theory (athletes). Results for hedonist theory were inconclusive: predicted utility was consistently higher than experienced utility in athletes but the relationship depended on pain levels in ‘genpop’; remembered and experienced utility differed despite being consistent for pain levels; peak-end effects were not found. Further research in controlled environments is recommended for further theory testing.

abstract: This thesis presents a model for the buying behavior of consumers in a technology market. In this model, a potential consumer is not perfectly rational, but exhibits bounded rationality following the axioms of prospect theory: reference dependence, diminishing returns and loss sensitivity. To evaluate the products on different criteria, the analytic hierarchy process is used, which allows for relative comparisons. The analytic hierarchy process proposes that when making a choice between several alternatives, one should measure the products by comparing them relative to each other. This allows the user to put numbers to subjective criteria. Additionally, evidence suggests that a consumer will often consider not only their own evaluation of a product, but also the choices of other consumers. Thus, the model in this paper applies prospect theory to products with multiple attributes using word of mouth as a criteria in the evaluation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Applied Mathematics 2014

Risk is something intrinsic to business, and something firms are exposed to on a daily basis. This means that there exists a great deal of pressure on the Top Management of a firm to successfully navigate the different risks to which they are exposed. The CEO holds a unique position in the firm, as she is ultimately responsible for deciding which strategies to employ in order to properly respond to these risks. But what influenced the CEO when making such decisions? The Upper Echelon Theory suggests that decisions made by the Top Management Team of a firm are influenced by their values and their cognitive base, which is formed throughout their upbringing. Researchers on Upper Echelon Theory suggest that these two abstract constructs can be difficult to measure and analyse, and should therefore be approximated using specific and observable characteristics of the Top Management Team. In our study, this theory has applied to Swedish CEOs as they are the ultimate decision-maker in a firm. The specific characteristics observed and analysed in our investigation into the relationship between the CEO and risk are; gender, age, nationality, and tenure. Thus, the purpose of this study is formulated as follows: “The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between CEO characteristics, specifically age, gender, tenure, and nationality, and firm risk-taking, as measured by the leverage ratio, stock return volatility, cash holdings, and R&D expenditure, on the Swedish market. As a sub-purpose, we intend to investigate whether there is a nonlinear relationship between CEO tenure and risk-taking.” By collecting data from the databases, Thomson Reuters Eikon and Amadeus, a dataset of 284 firms and their CEOs was collected and used in the cross-sectional analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis was employed to determine the relationships between the previously mentioned CEO characteristics and the proxies for firm risk-taking. The majority of the relationships found were of a non-significant nature, indicating that the relationship between Swedish CEO characteristics and the strategies they employ when running their firms is weak and differs from relationships found in earlier studies, using data from different markets. The significant relationships found were between cash holdings and age, long tenures and leverage ratio, and short tenures and stock return volatility. This indicates that older CEOs are more risk-averse, while longer seated CEOs maintain less debt, and shorter seated CEOs are perceived as more risky by the market. However, as these results only entail 15% of our observed results, none of the hypotheses constructed for this study were verified. Therefore, our conclusion is that the previously observed relationships between the characteristics of CEOs and their risk-taking is not present within our sample of firms listed on the Swedish market. Some tendencies that align with previous results have been found but are not generalisable and as a result, we cannot recommend that private actors act on these results.

As descobertas relacionadas à neurociência e aos métodos de coleta e análise de dados neurofisiológicos têm fomentado discussões sobre a aplicação desses aspectos em outras campos do conhecimento, dentre eles, o da comunicação. Este estudo tem como objetivo identificar e aferir processos neurais associados à avaliação emocional positiva e negativa de campanhas de segurança no trânsito, de modo a relacioná-los aos apontamentos trazidos pela Prospect Theory (ou Teoria Prospectiva), de que as pessoas tendem a responder de modo diferente ao se alterar apenas a forma de apresentação de um mesmo problema. Tal fato é especialmente importante na comunicação de riscos, em que são frequentemente utilizadas abordagens emocionais negativas como forma de discurso persuasivo. Deste modo, fez-se uma aplicação desses pressupostos ao campo da comunicação, sendo elaboradas duas campanhas experimentais de segurança no trânsito: uma contendo uma perspectiva emocional negativa e outra contendo uma perspectiva emocional positiva. Essas campanhas foram apresentadas em laboratório a 24 voluntários, os quais tiveram sua atividade cortical aferida pelo eletroencefalograma (EEG) e analisada do ponto de vista quantitativo e qualitativo, a fim de verificar uma assimetria frontal hemisférica de ondas alfa e teta nas duas condições, sugerida pela literatura como sendo atrelada a processos emocionais positivos e negativos. Como principais resultados, destacam-se a ocorrência de processos assimétricos significativos tanto na comparação entre as condições (i) neutra e negativa como nas condições (ii) neutra e positiva e (iii) positiva versus negativa, resultados que variaram conforme método de análise empregado. Em termos conclusivos, nota-se a verificação dos processos assimétricos previstos na literatura, porém, com grande variabilidade de amplitude e ocorrência no tempo entre os indivíduos, indicando que a metodologia de coleta com o EEG pode constituir uma forma complementar, e não isolada, de investigação dos processos comunicacionais em relação aos métodos tradicionais de pesquisa qualitativa e quantitativa empregados no campo da comunicação. / The findings related to neuroscience and methods of collection and analysis of neurophysiological data have encouraged discussions on the implementation of those aspects in other fields of knowledge, including communication. This study aims to identify and assess neural processes associated with positive and negative emotional evaluation of traffic safety campaigns, in order to relate them to the Prospect Theory considerations, that people tend to respond differently by changing only the presentation of the same problem. This fact is especially important in the risk communication scenario, which often uses the negative approach as a form of persuasive discourse. Thus, there was an application of these assumptions to the field of communication: two traffic safety campaigns were made: one containing a negative emotional perspective and another containing a positive emotional outlook. These campaigns were presented to 24 subjects in the laboratory, which had their cortical activity measured by electroencephalography (EEG) and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, in order to verify a frontal asymmetry of alpha and theta bands in both conditions, suggested by the literature as being linked to positive and negative emotional processes. The main results highlight the occurrence of significant asymmetric activation both in the comparison between (i) neutral and negative conditions as (ii) neutral and positive conditions and (iii) positive versus negative, results that varied according to method of analysis employed. In conclusive terms, there was a verification of asymmetric process verified in the literature, however, with notable variability in amplitude and occurrence in time between individuals, indicating that the methodology of EEG can complement, not in an isolated form, investigations of communication processes in relation to traditional methods of qualitative and quantitative research in the communication field.

O efeito disposição, originalmente proposto por Shefrin e Statman (1985), preconiza que os investidores tendem a vender ações com lucro em um curto período de tempo e manter ações com prejuízo por um longo período de tempo. A despeito da ampla gama de evidências sobre o assunto, as razões que levariam os investidores a manifestar esse viés comportamental ainda é motivo de uma controvérsia importante entre motivações racionais e comportamentais. Neste trabalho, o objetivo foi testar duas motivações comportamentais concorrentes para explicar o efeito disposição: a teoria perspectiva e o viés da reversão à média. Para cumprir esse objetivo, foi feita uma análise das transações mensais de compra e venda de uma amostra de 51 fundos de investimento em ações brasileiros, no período de 2002 a 2008. A análise envolveu a estimação de dois modelos de regressão de variável dependente qualitativa. O primeiro consistiu em um modelo logit binário cujo propósito foi determinar a probabilidade de um gestor realizar um ganho ou uma perda de capital em razão de variáveis de retorno das ações. O segundo foi um modelo logit ordenado cujo objetivo foi verificar a existência de uma relação entre as variáveis de retorno e o volume monetário vendido das ações. Em ambos os modelos, os parâmetros estimados para as variáveis de retorno das ações foram interpretados como um coeficiente de disposição, sendo que a proposição desse coeficiente consistiu na principal contribuição da pesquisa. Os resultados dos modelos estimados trouxeram evidências de que a teoria perspectiva parece permear o processo decisório dos gestores dos fundos analisados. Já no caso da hipótese de que o efeito disposição é decorrente do viés da reversão à média, não foi possível corroborá-la com base nos resultados aqui relatados. / The disposition effect, originally proposed by Shefrin and Statman (1985), predicts that investors tend to sell winning stocks too soon and ride losing stocks too long. Despite the wide range of research evidence about this issue, the reasons that lead investors to act this way is still subject to much controversy between rational and behavioral explanations. In this thesis, the main goal was to test two competing behavioral motivations to justify the disposition effect: prospect theory and mean reversion bias. To achieve this goal, an analysis of monthly transactions for a sample of 51 Brazilian stock funds from 2002 to 2008 was conducted. The analysis involved the estimation of two regression models with qualitative dependent variable. The first one consisted of a binary logit model whose purpose was to set the probability of a manager to realize a capital gain or loss as a function of the stock return. The second one was an ordered logit model whose objective was to verify the existence of a relationship between stock returns and the monetary volume sold. In both models, the estimated parameters for the stock return variables were interpreted as a disposition coefficient and the proposition of this coefficient was the main contribution of the research. The results of the estimated models brought evidence that prospect theory seems to guide the decision making process of the managers of the analyzed funds. The hypothesis that the disposition effect is due to mean reversion bias could not be confirmed based on the results reported here.

Abstract This thesis investigates a set of equity market phenomena associated with investors' trading activity, using a comprehensive Finnish Central Securities Depository (FCSD) database that records practically all trades by Finnish investors. This database enables us to classify a large number of heterogeneous investors using both economic and institutional characteristics. The first essay classifies investors by trading activity. It analyzes trading styles of active and passive investors during the boom in technology stocks 1997–2000. We find that the herding tendency of active investors grew monotonically, year by year. Particularly large active investors used momentum and growth strategies. Moreover, buy pressures of active investors were positively related to contemporaneous daily returns. Passive investors, on the other hand, herd very strongly and their trading exhibited a contrarian style throughout the sample period. The second essay focuses on the relation between day trading of individual investors and intraday stock price volatility. I find a strong positive relation between the individual investors' day trades and volatility for actively day traded stocks. This finding suggests that day trading tends to increase volatility and/or day traders tend to become more active on the days of high volatility. The third essay tests the theoretical proposition of Amihud and Mendelson (1986) that investors hold assets with higher bid-ask spreads for longer periods. We measure holding periods of individual investors directly and find that they are positively related to spreads. The models control for a variety of other stock characteristics (e.g. value vs. growth orientation) and investors' attributes (e.g. gender) affecting holding periods. The fourth essay studies how both individual and institutional investors with different levels of capital gains and losses react to earnings announcements. I find that both sign and magnitude of capital gains affect individual investors' abnormal trading volumes. Individual investors are less prone to sell when they are carrying loses rather than gains. Furthermore, they react less to earnings announcements when capital gains or losses are large (over 20%). Taken together these findings provide support for prospect theory. Institutional investors appear to be less affected by psychological factors underlying prospect theory.

The use of ICT in government institutions of the Republic of Liberia has been around for decades though very few institutions implemented it most especially in the old fashion EDP- Electronic Data Processing systems where large departments were created for centralized data processing tasks. The Old fashion EDP proof very costly, less effective, difficult to manage which provides the basis of establishing a more effective, user friendly, collaborative oriented systems in the form of Electronic government. Though in most other government institutions there is less usage or appreciation of the roles ICT in government. Liberia, just emerging from a long 14 years of civil crisis which destroyed its entire human and technical infrastructure, lacks behind most of the African countries and the world at large in the wagon of implementing ICT and its related research With the continuous and ever important requirement for transparency and accountability in the public sector services, With ICT been a tool to assist efficiency and accountability in the public sector, the government of Liberia has embarked on the implementation of ICT projects in governance, though there is limited research work so far done in use of ICT in governance in Liberia. There has been very little known research in ICT or e-government with specific focus on Liberia, with one limited research done by UN in 2010. Though there are records of research on E-government of developing countries including Kenya, Ghana and post war Rwanda, etc. There are lessons learnt from these research works that will be of good input for the Liberia case as per similarities in challenges and obstacles of implementing e-government developing countries. This thesis research is in support of identifying obstacles, challenges, and benefits of transforming the public sector by introducing ICT. There are few known ICT projects in government including the Finance Ministry‘s IFMIS and ASYCUDA projects, the CSA Biometric systems which were evaluated, partly to ascertain government readiness for e-government. The investigation included some key government ministries. The research results using international approved methodologies identified the e-readiness level of the government of Liberia, with given challenges, obstacles and benefits. The findings of the research show that Liberia can successfully implement e-government if the identified obstacles are removed or minimized. / ICT and e-Government are closely linked, the subject of this thesis. ICT is a broad terminology encompassing all that include communication devices such as radio, television, satellite systems, cellular phones, computer equipment and accessories, network equipment and software etc. ICT is a useful tool that enables public agencies to change from routine-based, command-and- control organizations that are inwardly focused on administration to knowledge-based, networked, learning organizations that are externally focused on service (OECD 2005). / C/O UNDP Liberia Mamba Point Monrovia, Liberia West Africa Cell +231-886581242