According to the Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, “productivity isn’t everything, but in the long-run it is almost everything”. It is unfortunate that the productivity in the construction industry has lagged behind the manufacturing industry for the last several decades. The research presented in this thesis aims to improve productivity in the infrastructure sector of the construction industry by developing and validating Best Productivity Practices Implementation Index (BPPII) for Infrastructure projects. The BPPII Infrastructure is a check list of practices that are considered to have a positive influence on labour productivity at the project level for infrastructure projects. These practices have been identified through a literature review and consultation with industry experts, and have been anecdotally proven to positively affect productivity. These practices have been grouped together into a formalized set of BPPII’s categories, sections, and elements. Each practice and its planning and implementation levels have been completely defined. Each practice in the index has been assigned a relative weight based on its importance in affecting labour productivity. In total, there are 61 elements, 20 sections, and 6 categories. The six categories of the BPPII Infrastructure are: (1) Materials Management; (2) Construction Machinery and Equipment Logistics; (3) Execution Approach; (4) Human Resources Management; (5) Construction Methods; and (6) Health and Safety. The productivity factor defined as a ratio of estimated productivity and actual productivity was used as a metric to collect information about labour productivity. Data were collected for infrastructure projects on the planning and implementation level of practices, on the productivity factor, and on project schedule performance. The research hypothesis tested was that projects that have a high level of implementation of best practices as defined by the BPPII Infrastructure will have a better productivity performance than projects which have a low level of implementation of best practices. The regression analysis confirms that the BPPII score has a strong positive relationship with the productivity factor. ANOVA tests confirm that there is statistically significant difference between the productivity of projects that have a high level of implementation of practices and those that have a low level of implementation. Also, it was found that projects that have a high score on the index perform better in terms of project schedule performance than projects which have a low score on the BPPII Infrastructure.

Sverige ratificerade FN: s konvention om barnets rättigheter i juni 1990 och blev därmed bundet att respektera principerna och bestämmelserna i konventionen. I december 2010 godkände riksdagen den av regeringen föreslagna strategi som ska stärka barnets rättigheter i Sverige och som därmed ersätter den strategi som gällt sedan 1999. Strategin innehåller ett antal principer som bland annat syftar till att ett barnperspektiv ska införlivas i alla beslut och åtgärder som rör barn. Att ha ett barnperspektiv i sin yrkesutövning innebär bland annat att ha barnet i fokus samt att ta reda på hur barnet uppfattar sin situation. Därtill handlar det även om att göra barnkonsekvensanalyser vid beslut som rör barn. I strategin omnämns förutom kommuner och landsting också riksdag, regering och statliga myndigheter som viktiga för genomförandet av konventionen. Socialtjänsten är dessutom den myndighet som ytterst ska bevaka barnets rättigheter genom att utifrån lagstiftning agera till ett barns skydd. Tidigare forskning visar att risken för social och ekonomisk marginalisering ökar avsevärt när människor vräks och att det inte tas någon särskild hänsyn till barn vid vräkningar, vidare talas det inte alls om de barn som riskerar att vara med om att deras hem säljs vid en exekutiv auktion. En vräkning påverkar barnets hela livssituation och kan innebära att barnet måste bryta upp från sitt liv så som det känner det. Innan en vräkning verkställs föreligger en vräkningsprocess där flera aktörer är inblandade, vilka enligt ovan nämnda resonemang är ålagda att ha ett barnperspektiv i sitt yrkesutövande. Vi anser därför att det är viktigt att öka kunskap om hur dessa myndigheter har implementerat barnperspektivet i sitt arbete med vräkningshotade barnfamiljer. Vårt resultat visar att implementeringen av ett barnperspektiv inom socialtjänst, hyresnämnd och kronofogdemyndighet gällande vräkningshotade barnfamiljer av olika anledningar inte har fungerat, något som kan finna sin förklaring i de lagar och riktlinjer som dessa myndigheter främst har att förhålla sig till. Något som också försvårar praktiken är begreppets komplexa och ibland svårtydda innebörd. Vidare pekar resultatet också på att det finns motstridiga intressen gällande vems intressen man främst ska företräda.

In many of the disputes concerning custody, residence and visitation determined by the court, some form of violence has been performed. The consequence of a child who has witnessed violence in their homes is a problem that is sometimes overlooked. It is not unusual that the violence will continue even after a separation. The law shows that the child´s need of both parents is to be met. This has according to previous studies resulted in the fact that courts do not always see visitation with a violent parent as a risk for the child. This is the reason why we wanted to investigate this further. The aim of our study was to examine and describe how courts argue for decisions regarding a child's contact with a parent who is suspected of having used violence in the family, based on current laws. The method of the study was document analysis and the material consisted of ten Swedish court cases from the years 2010 and 2011. The starting point of the analysis was the sociology of childhood together with the concepts “child’s perspective” and “the perspective of the child”. The court cases were analyzed on basis of the law, our analytical framework and previous research. Our study shows that the court considers it important for the child with a near and well contact with both parents. The results also show that the will of the child not seems as important to take into account as the child’s best interests or the risk that the child gets hurt.

An increasingly globalized market is leading to hard competition among manufacturing companies, which means that they are forced to become more customer focused to survive in the market. A Customer Relationship Management system is a system that will be of assistance to help companies succeed in building long term relationships with their customers. Best of Breed and ERP-based are two types of CRM systems. The study has focused on analyzing and examine the need for CRM systems at manufacturing companies. Our question formulation has been: • What need do businesses want to satisfy with a Best of Breed-based and ERP-based CRM system?• Are there any differences in the use of Best of Breed-based and ERP-based CRM system? In this study, we have chosen to carry out interviews and quantitative surveys with manufacturing companies to get their view of CRM-systems. We also chose to conduct detailed interviews with system vendors in two different perspectives to see how they perceive the need for companies to use CRM systems. The study shows that over half of the interviewed companies use a CRM system today, and between them it is an almost even distribution between those who use an ERP-based and a Best of Breed CRM system. Companies that use an ERP-based CRM system believe that integration is the main criterion for the selection of CRM, while those with Best of Breed believe that the functionality and usability of the system is the most important. The main use for the system is management of contact information and sales support. According to the system vendors, it is important for their customers that the CRM system supports the sales, market and customer service process. It is also equally important that it provides good functionality and is user friendly. A company that have used both types of CRM systems mentioned that the advantage they see with an ERP-based CRM is primarily the degree of integration with the company's other systems, and that you only need to enter information into a system at one time.Just over forty percent of the interviewed companies that currently not use a CRM system are planning to make an investment in the next four of five years.

Course: Business Administration, Master Thesis, Second Level, 30 Credits. Authors: Sara Frännlid and Helena Ramstedt Tutor: Jim Andersén Title: Internet, relationships and loyalty – Best praCtice foR the bankMarket Purpose: The study aims to explain how banks use electronic customer relationship management, eCRM, to create loyal customers. A figure will be created, which will enlighten the factors a bank should focus on when enhancing customer loyalty through the internet. Through interviews with two successful banks is it possible to study how a bank can successfully create loyal customers. Methodology: A qualitative method in terms of semi-structured interviews is used. The empirical results were then analyzed with the theory in order to contribute with a new figure. Theoretical perspective: The theory describes how a bank can create a loyal customer over the Internet. The theory has its output in customer relationship management and how these strategies can be applied to the Internet. Empirical foundation: A study has been made of how two successful banks create loyal customers over the Internet, previous studies in this subject is also used. Conclusion: The primary contribution of this study is a figure, the figure shows which factors are important when a bank wants to create loyal customers over the internet. These factors are: technology, commitment and communication. The bank needs to be imbued with good service to obtain customer loyalty and trust. New in this context is that the study has demonstrated the vital role technology plays on the internet. Keywords: eCRM, loyalty, e-banking, relationship, trust, satisfied customer, Sweden, best practice.

Addressing climate change is a major undertaking. Agricultural soil has the potential to assist in decreasing the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere by storing CO2 in the soil. Carbon offset markets have been suggested as a cost effective means of reducing GHG emissions. Farmers can increase their soil sink potential by applying Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) that enhance carbon sequestration through improvements to soil, nutrient and livestock management practices (Fulton et. al., 2005). Whether or not a market for carbon offsets will emerge depends on a number of factors which mainly are related to the profitability of the BMPs and the costs of implementing a carbon contract. Provided that a market for carbon offsets emerges, the effectiveness of the market depends, in part, on the degree to which buyers and sellers in the market comply with the terms of the contracts they sign. The resource costs associated with monitoring and verification may result in incomplete monitoring. As long as monitoring is not perfect, non-compliance will be an issue. <p>The analysis that will be performed in this thesis introduces non-compliance in the economic analysis of carbon-offset market. The purpose of this work is to examine the overall cost effectiveness of the carbon-offset market when introducing non-compliance. <p>Firstly the theoretical model investigates the incentives for different farmers to participate in the carbon offsets market as well as incentives for engaging in cheating. The model recognizes farmers heterogeneity with respect to cost differences and examines the economic determinants of farmers non-compliance as well as the consequences of non-compliance on the performance of the carbon-offset market. Results support the standard finding that the extent of producers non-compliance decreases with an increase in the audit probability and/or an increase in the penalty per unit of non-compliance. In addition, the number of producers participating in the carbon offsets market is shown to increase with an increase in the carbon-offset price.<p> The analysis then introduces intermediaries in the market that will take care of trading carbon offsets as well as monitoring producers. The traders role in this study is played by an IOF (investor owned-firm) or a PA (producers association). Within the IOF, the analysis focuses on the monopoly and oligopoly structures. The key role of the traders is to guarantee, based on the amount of monitoring that is undertaken, that the emitters purchase only carbon offsets that actually correspond to sequestered carbon. The analysis then examines three cases for the group that monitors farmers compliance a group owned by for-profit traders, a government-run agency and a group owned by the PA trader. This part of the thesis examines what impact the involvement of the traders in the carbon-offset market has on non-compliance, as well as how the structure of the monitoring group affects non-compliance and the amount of carbon offsets traded in the market. The results of the analysis show that the monitoring groups always undertake sufficient monitoring to ensure that full compliance is achieved thus, while non-compliance is possible, it does not occur in equilibrium. The finding suggests that the formation of a government monitoring agency can potentially increase traded output and lower the price paid by emitters, still these changes are likely to be small, particularly when the trading sector is monopolistic. The overall analysis in this chapter shows that the optimal amount of enforcement, and as a result the cost effectiveness of a carbon-offset market, depends on the nature of the organization that undertakes the enforcement. <p>The next consideration of the thesis is the heterogeneity attributed to the timing of sequestration by different farmers. The analysis focuses on the carbon offsets pooling by considering two structures for the aggregator: a for-profit aggregator and a producers association. Pooling resources enables the farmers to benefit from economies of scale. The pricing schedule used by the aggregator is a two-part tariff. The two-part tariff is used as a way of providing an incentive for the farmers sequestering large amounts of carbon to participate in the pool. The study considers two alternatives for the coefficients that might be used to decide on the amount of carbon offsets to which each farmer will be entitled: default coefficient and custom coefficients. Each situation is modeled in a principal agent framework. <p>The analysis examines how the aggregator will target the monitoring service for different group of farmers. The investigation reveals that, under different scenarios, a PA or a FPA (for-profit aggregator) might lead to the formation of a heterogeneous pool or a homogeneous pool of each type. <p>The last issue investigated in this dissertation is the coexistence of a FPA and a PA in the default coefficient case. The analysis show that both aggregator structures can exist together in the market in the same time if the savings in the monitoring costs made possible by the PA are smaller than the cost of organizing the pool. If this condition is not satisfied the FPA cannot survive in the market and the producers association will dominate. <p>In addition to providing a better understanding of how the carbon-offset market may perform when introducing non-compliance, the results of this study can assist in assessing the cost effectiveness of the carbon-offset market when enforcement is undertaken by different organizations. Furthermore, the last consideration of the pooling option might help in selecting which type of pool a heterogeneous or a homogeneous one might perform better under different alternatives.

Det övergripande syftet med denna uppsats är att utifrån ett rättsociologiskt perspektiv undersöka huruvida begreppet barnets bästa förverkligas i domstolars beslut samt familjerätters yttrande gällande vårdnadstvister. Uppsatsen söker vidare förklara lagrummets gränser avseende vårdnadstvister då domstolar och familjerätter samarbetar under speciella omständigheter. Åtta stickprovsutvalda rättsfall, med bifogat yttrande från socialnämnd, utgör grunden för studien. Den empiriska delen bygger inledningsvis på en delanalys i form av meningskoncentrering, för att övergå till att inringa särdrag i analyserad text med utgångspunkt i om och huruvida barnet har fått komma till tals. Barnets bästa tycks beaktas så långt det är möjligt i vårdnadstvister men begreppets innebörd har en tendens att tolkas av vuxna, vilket kan leda till att det definieras ur ett vuxenperspektiv istället för ett barnperspektiv. De professionella aktörerna har makt medan barnet har inskränkt handlingsförmåga i rätten, det råder en hierarki i vårdnadstvister. Barnets röst kan vara svår att urskilja då föräldrarnas konflikt har en tendens att dra allt fokus till sig.

This dissertation makes contributions in topics related to mechanism design and learn-ing in game theoretic environments through three essays. The rst essay deals withthe question of mechanism design in the principal-agent model. The main contribu-tion of this essay is in extending the work by Piketty (1993). It prescribes a mechanismin incomplete informational settings where the principal is able to implement rst-best contracts while extracting the entire surplus. Importantly, the mechanism issuch that the desired outcome can be uniquely obtained when agents play the actionthat survives iterative elimination of dominated strategies. Furthermore, given themechanism, the desired outcome is shown to be a truth-revealing Nash equilibriumwhich is also Pareto-ecient. It is shown that the proposed mechanism also has thefeature that none of the agents prefer any of the other possible Nash Equilibria tothe status quo. It thus gives insights into possible mechanisms in nite agent settingsthat could improve upon the traditional second-best results.In the second essay, a model of sophisticated learning is developed where itassumes that a fraction of the population is sophisticated while the rest are adaptive learners. Sophisticated learners in the model try to maximize their cumulative payoin the entire length of the repeated game and are aware of the way adaptive learnerslearn. Sophisticated learning contrasts other models of learning which typically tendto maximize the payo for the next period by extrapolating the history of play.The sophisticated learning model is estimated on data of experiments on repeatedcoordination games where it provides evidence of such learning behavior.The third essay deals with the optimal pricing policy for a rm in an oligopolythat is uncertain about the demand it faces. The demand facing the oligopoly, whichcan be learned through their pricing policy, changes over time in a Markovian fashion.It also deduces the conditions in which learning (experimentation) is not achievableand outlines the dierent learning policies that are possible in other settings. Themodel combines the monopoly learning literature with that of the literature on pric-ing behavior of rms over business cycles. The model has interesting insights onthe pricing behavior over business cycles. It predicts that prices jump as the beliefof a possible future boom rises over a certain threshold. The model also predictscompetition to be quite vigorous following a boom while rms are predicted not toexperiment with their (pricing) policies for many periods following a bust.

Urban development will continue to increase in Texas because of population growth and urban sprawl. Despite the desire for urbanization and expansion of the economy, this growth increases the amount of construction, which, if not properly managed, can increase non-point source pollution and threaten surface water quality. Therefore, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has approved and promoted the use of compost as a stormwater best management practice (BMP) during highway construction. The objectives of this study were to construct and calibrate an indoor rainfall simulator and to determine the effectiveness of using compost rather than conventional hydroseeding or topsoil to reduce erosion from disturbed soils. Runoff rates, interrill erosion, and interrill erodibility were determined and compared across five compost treatments following TxDOT specifications for compost applied as an erosion control and two control treatments of topsoil (TS) and hydroseeding (HS) applied at 5 cm depth. The simulator produced 89% uniformity using ten Veejet 80100 nozzles at a target rate of 100 mm h-1. The surface runoff was collected after 5 minutes of rainfall (first flush) and during the last 30 minutes of rainfall (steady-state). The first flush mean runoff for GUC-5 treatment was significantly higher than all other treatments. All other treatments; 50% woodchips and 50% compost blend (ECC-1.3, ECC-5), and hydroseeding (HS) had significantly lower runoff and erosion rates compared to topsoil (TS) and compost manufactured topsoil (CMT) at first flush and steady-state. Furthermore, there were no performance differences between 1.3 cm and 5 cm compost applications at first flush or steady-state. The results of this project indicate that particle size, soil moisture capabilities, and time at which rainfall is applied affect surface runoff. TxDOT specification of using ECC at 5 cm depth on a max of 3:1 slope should be reconsidered. An ECC application depth of 1.3 cm was effective in reducing first flush runoff and interrill erosion rates.

Multiple objectives are often used by agencies trying to manage pavement networks. Often alternative investment strategies can accomplish the agencies’ target objectives. If the goal is to achieve the target objectives at the minimum cost, an approach is needed to assist agencies in identifying investment strategies capable of meeting the targets while minimizing costs. The approach used by the agency should not be limited to an analytical method to mathematically solve the funding allocation problem. Finding mechanisms to ensure the sustainability and efficiency of the investment strategy over time is a great challenge that needs to be addressed by the approach. The challenge is even greater for local agencies where resources are usually limited. This research develops a multi-objective strategic management approach oriented to improving decisions for pavement management practices in local agencies. In this approach, target objectives are tied to key pavement network parameters in the management process. A methodology to identify the best combination of projects to meet target objectives at the minimum cost while maximizing treatment effectiveness is provided as a result of the research. Concepts from the pavement management program (PMP) of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) of the San Francisco Bay Area were used as a basis for developing the methodology. Four pavement network parameters are considered for setting the target objectives over the agency’s planning horizon: the average network pavement condition index (PCI), average network remaining life, percent of the pavement network in good condition, and percent of the pavement network in poor and very poor condition. Results from a case study show that funding allocation methods influence the allocation of preservation and rehabilitation funds among pavement network groups, affecting budget estimates and future condition of the pavement network. It is also concluded that the use of mechanisms that facilitate data integration and the flow of knowledge across management levels can contribute to making better informed decisions. Hence, the adoption of the multi-objective strategic pavement management approach developed in this dissertation should lead to identifying more efficient investment strategies for achieving the pavement network state desired by a local agency at a minimum cost.