The past decades have seen the state of the art in aerospace system design progress from a scope of simple optimization to one including robustness, with the objective of permitting a single system to perform well even in off-nominal future environments. Integrating flexibility, or the capability to easily modify a system after it has been fielded in response to changing environments, into system design represents a further step forward. One challenge in accomplishing this rests in that the decision-maker must consider not only the present system design decision, but also sequential future design and operation decisions. Despite extensive interest in the topic, the state of the art in designing flexibility into aerospace systems, and particularly space systems, tends to be limited to analyses that are qualitative, deterministic, single-objective, and/or limited to consider a single future time period. To address these gaps, this thesis develops a stochastic, multi-objective, and multi-period framework for integrating flexibility into space system design decisions. Central to the framework are five steps. First, system configuration options are identified and costs of switching from one configuration to another are compiled into a cost transition matrix. Second, probabilities that demand on the system will transition from one mission to another are compiled into a mission demand Markov chain. Third, one performance matrix for each design objective is populated to describe how well the identified system configurations perform in each of the identified mission demand environments. The fourth step employs multi-period decision analysis techniques, including Markov decision processes (MDPs) from the field of operations research, to find efficient paths and policies a decision-maker may follow. The final step examines the implications of these paths and policies for the primary goal of informing initial system selection. Overall, this thesis unifies state-centric concepts of flexibility from economics and engineering literature with sequential decision-making techniques from operations research. The end objective of this thesis' framework and its supporting analytic and computational tools is to enable selection of the next-generation space systems today, tailored to decision-maker budget and performance preferences, that will be best able to adapt and perform in a future of changing environments and requirements. Following extensive theoretical development, the framework and its steps are applied to space system planning problems of (1) DARPA-motivated multiple- or distributed-payload satellite selection and (2) NASA human space exploration architecture selection.

This work presents mainly two contributions to Description Logics (DLs) research by means of Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) methods: supporting bottom-up construction of DL knowledge bases, and completing DL knowledge bases. Its contribution to FCA research is on the computational complexity of computing generators of closed sets.

The problems, associated with sensitivity of quantitative multiattribute decision-making methods to the initial data and the reliability of the decision obtained by using these methods, are considered in the presented dissertaition. The methods discussed are applied to solving decision-making problems, consisting in the selection of one alternative out of the available several options, when a decision-making person seeks to achieve a number of aims, rather than a single aim, and the alternatives are evaluated based on a set of attribute, which may be conflicting. The research object is sensitivity of the popular quantitative multiattribute decision-making methods: TOPSIS, SAW and COPRAS to the initial data errors. The initial data inaccuracy may be caused by the errors made by a person, entering the data. The estimates of the alternatives may have some errors, which are not taken into account, when the considered methods are used with these data. The analysis of the related works has shown that there are methods for evaluating sensitivity with respect to one attribute, based on varying the significance values, such as the method of the most critical criterion (Triantaphyllou 2000) and to many attributes - Tornado diagram. However, these methods do not show either the errors of solution results or the reliability level of the result obtained. The main aim of the dissertation is the evaluation of the stochastic nature of multiattribute decision-making methods, based on... [to full text] / Disertacijoje nagrinėjamas kiekybinių daugiatikslių sprendimo priėmimo metodų jautrumas ir juos taikant gautų sprendimų patikimumas. Daugiatiksliai sprendimo priėmimo metodai taikomi sprendimo priėmimo uždaviniuose, renkantis vieną alternatyvą iš keleto galimų, kai sprendimą priimantis asmuo siekia ne vieno, o kelių tikslų, o alternatyvos vertinamos pagal daugelį efektyvumo rodiklių, kurie gali būti tarpusavyje prieštaraujantys (pvz. kainos ir naudos rodikliai). Pagrindinis tyrimo objektas yra metodų TOPSIS, SAW ir COPRAS jautrumas pradinių duomenų netikslumams. Duomenų netikslumai galimi dėl pradinių duomenų reikšmes nustatančio asmens padarytų klaidų. Tokiu atveju, kai taikant minėtus metodus, alternatyvų vertinimui naudojami pradiniais duomenys turintys tam tikras paklaidas, alternatyvų vertinimai gali būti su paklaidomis, kurios, taikant šiuos metodus, nebėra vertinamos. Išanalizavus susijusius darbus, nustatyta, jog yra metodų, skirtų vertinti sprendimo jautrumą vieno rodiklio atžvilgiu, keičiant reikšmingumo reikšmes, tai - kritiškiausio kriterijaus metodas (Triantaphyllou 2000) ir daugelio rodiklių atžvilgiu - Tornado diagrama. Tačiau šie metodai nepateikia nei sprendimo rezultatų paklaidų, nei rezultato patikimumo laipsnio. Pagrindinis disertacijos tikslas – įvertinti daugiatikslių, kiekybiniais matavimais pagrįstų sprendimo priėmimo metodų stochastiką. Sukurtų metodų taikymo sritis – sprendimo paramos sistemų projektavimas, sprendimų patikimumo ir sprendimų priėmimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

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Le Problème de Tournées de Véhicules (PTV) est une clé importante pour gérér efficacement des systèmes logistiques, ce qui peut entraîner une amélioration du niveau de satisfaction de la clientèle. Ceci est fait en servant plus de clients dans un temps plus court. En terme général, il implique la planification des tournées d'une flotte de véhicules de capacité donnée basée à un ou plusieurs dépôts. Le but est de livrer ou collecter une certain quantité de marchandises à un ensemble des clients géographiquement dispersés, tout en respectant les contraintes de capacité des véhicules. Le PTV, comme classe de problèmes d'optimisation discrète et de grande complexité, a été étudié par de nombreux au cours des dernières décennies. Étant donné son importance pratique, des chercheurs dans les domaines de l'informatique, de la recherche opérationnelle et du génie industrielle ont mis au point des algorithmes très efficaces, de nature exacte ou heuristique, pour faire face aux différents types du PTV. Toutefois, les approches proposées pour le PTV ont souvent été accusées d'être trop concentrées sur des versions simplistes des problèmes de tournées de véhicules rencontrés dans des applications réelles. Par conséquent, les chercheurs sont récemment tournés vers des variantes du PTV qui auparavant étaient considérées trop difficiles à résoudre. Ces variantes incluent les attributs et les contraintes complexes observés dans les cas réels et fournissent des solutions qui sont exécutables dans la pratique. Ces extensions du PTV s'appellent Problème de Tournées de Véhicules Multi-Attributs (PTVMA). Le but principal de cette thèse est d'étudier les différents aspects pratiques de trois types de problèmes de tournées de véhicules multi-attributs qui seront modélisés dans celle-ci. En plus, puisque pour le PTV, comme pour la plupart des problèmes NP-complets, il est difficile de résoudre des instances de grande taille de façon optimale et dans un temps d'exécution raisonnable, nous nous tournons vers des méthodes approcheés à base d’heuristiques. / The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is an important key to efficient logistics system management, which can result in higher level of customer satisfaction because more customers can be served in a shorter time. In broad terms, it deals with designing optimal delivery or collection routes from one or several depot(s) to a number of geographically scattered customers subject to side constraints. The VRP is a discrete optimization and computationally hard problem and has been extensively studied by researchers and practitioners during the past decades. Being complex problems with numerous and relevant potential applications, researchers from the fields of computer science, operations research and industrial engineering have developed very efficient algorithms, both of exact and heuristic nature, to deal with different types of VRPs. However, VRP research has often been criticized for being too focused on oversimplified versions of the routing problems encountered in real-life applications. Consequently, researchers have recently turned to variants of the VRP which before were considered too difficult to solve. These variants include those attributes and constraints observed in real-life planning and lead to solutions that are executable in practice. These extended problems are called Multi-Attribute Vehicle Routing Problems (MAVRPs). The main purpose of this thesis is to study different practical aspects of three multi-attribute vehicle routing problems which will be modeled in it. Besides that, since the VRP has been proved to be NP-hard in the strong sense such that it is impossible to optimally solve the large-sized problems in a reasonable computational time by means of traditional optimization approaches, novel heuristics will be designed to efficiently tackle the created models.

企業的採購活動必須考慮產業及市場的因素，並以企業的策略目標作為指導原則，尋找最佳的供應商與產品或服務。多屬性決策分析技術是企業常用於選擇最佳方案的工具，尤其是SMART簡易多屬性評等技術是最早發展也最常被應用的量化分析工具。但是多屬性的決策分析工具皆是以傳統數學模型發展出來的量化分析工具，對於半結構或多元性的方案選擇，缺乏具有系統性且客觀的評估屬性建立方法，並且欠缺值化屬性的權重設定依據。 策略行銷分析4C理論的四項成本變數，可以作為SMART簡易多屬性評等技術的根本目標，並且可以各項成本變數的因子作為建立評估屬性的根據；4C理論同時也提供了影響各項成本的因素，可以作為權重設定的參考。 本研究嘗試結合策略行銷分析4C理論與SMART簡易多屬性評等技術，以建立4C-SMART企業採購決策分析模型。並且透過兩個簡單但實際的案例演練，以4C-SMART模型產生量化的數據結果，作為採購決策者的分析依據，來推導並且證實4C-SMART應用於企業採購實務的可能性。 / The factors of industry and market are usually taken into account in corporate purchasing activities. Purchasing tends to find the best suppliers as well as best products and services under the guidelines of corporate strategic objectives. Multiple Attribute Decision Analysis, MADA, is the most common tool to select the best solution among options. Simple Multi-Attribute Ranking Technique, SMART, is the earliest developed quantitative tool of MADA and has been widely adopted by corporate purchasing. However, MADA tools are constructed on the basis of traditional mathematic models. When coping with semi-structural and diversified options, the MADA tools lack of systematic and objective methods of constructing attributes and do not provide criteria for setting weights against qualitative attributes. The four cost variables in Strategic Marketing Analysis, also known as 4C theory, can be used for setting the fundamental objectives of SMART model. 4C theory also provides factors under the four cost variables as criteria for setting attributes. The factors which influence the variation of the four costs can be adopted as criteria for setting weights. This research tried to integrate 4C theory and SMART technique to create a 4C-SMART purchasing analysis model. Through the practices of two simple but practical cases, the model helped to generate quantitative results as evidences for purchasing decision maker’s analysis and deduced the possibility of applying the model in practical corporate purchasing.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009 Sammanfattning jämte 6 uppsatser

Nyhetsmedia har en stor påverkan på samhället, det är till dem vi med största sannolikhet vänder oss till när en stor händelse drabbar oss. Under de senaste åren har nyhetsmedia fått motstå kritik för hur de särbehandlar olika fall och händelser beroende på vem gärningsmannen är. Vi ville utforska om det faktiskt stämde att vita gärningsmän blir klassificerade som psykisk sjuka, när icke-vita gärningsmän blir beskrivna som terrorister. Genom att fokusera på representation, gestaltningsteorin och attributdagordningen utfördes en multimodal analys på Aftonbladets och Dagens Nyheters rapportering kring händelsen i Trollhättan respektive Drottninggatan. Målet var att se om det fanns några tendenser för särbehandling vid rapporteringen och porträtteringen av gärningsmän och deras dåd. Studien gav inte några definitiva resultat, däremot lade vi bland annat märke till att det fanns nyanser i artiklarna som kunde peka på särbehandling. Vi märkte bland annat att porträtteringen av gärningsmännen skilde sig drastiskt, när Rakhmat Akilov beskrivs som den invandrade brutala gärningsmannen med IS-sympatier, gestaltas Anton Lundin Pettersson som den tillbakadragne, svenska killen som tyckte om hårdrock OCH Nazityskland. / The influence news media has on society is huge, we most certainly turn to the news media whenever a big event affects us. For the last couple of years critique has been directed towards the news media concerning the coverage of crime and how some cases get special treatment depending on who the perpetrator is. We wanted to investigate if it actually is true that white criminals get described as ‘mentally ill’, while non white criminals are categorized as ‘terrorists’. By focusing on representation, the Attribute framing theory and the Framing theory, we did a multimodal analysis on the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet's and Dagens Nyheter’s coverage of the events in Trollhättan and at Drottninggatan. Our goal was to distinguish if there actually are any tendencies for special treatment while covering a case and portraying a perpetrator within the news media. With this study, we weren’t able to come to any conclusions, but the study did show that there were some nuances which pointed towards special treatment in the news articles. For instance we discovered that there were some differences in the portraying of the perpetrators; while Rakhmat Akilov was described as the immigrating veil criminal who shared sympathies with ISIS, Anton Lundin Pettersson was portrayed as the shy guy from Sweden who was passionate about metal AND Nazi Germany.

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The Philosophers such as ibn-Sina had maintained that time and space were co-eternal with Allah, emanating by necessity from His Attributes, and not being the results of a deliberate act of creation. This must be the case, for otherwise nothing would have been present to induce Him to create the world after a period of non-existence. Al-Ghazali's refutation of this is that Allah had decreed in pre-eternity that the world would materialize at a future, predetermined date, selecting an instance for its birth from a myriad like-instances by exercising His Free Will and manifesting therewith a cause with a delayed effect. The Philosophers' explanation of local phenomena as resulting from the perpetual motion of the spheres is flawed, since perpetual celestial motions would result in perpetual, not transient phenomena. Time, the measure of motion, does not extend beyond the physical realm. Time, and hence motion, is finite. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M.A. (Ancient Languages & Cultures)