This case study explores what differences exist between two online course models by investigating the results of a student end-of-course evaluation survey and teacher communication logs in two online high school courses. The two course models were designed with different types and levels of interaction, one with high levels of student content interaction, the second with high levels of student-content and student-teacher interaction. The majority of research on interaction in online learning has been conducted with adult learners at the university level. There is far less literature focusing on K-12 online learning while investigating interaction, student satisfaction, and teacher time investment. This case study addresses this gap by exploring the results of 764 student surveys and investigating the teacher time investments of four teachers. In this study the students' perception of their learning experience in both models met the online program's acceptable levels. In some dimensions of the course evaluation, the interactive course had a higher rating that was statistically significant. The teacher communication logs showed a higher teacher time investment in the more interactive courses, with the highest time investment coming from reaching out to inactive students. Due to the shortage of available literature in K-12 online settings regarding interaction, student satisfaction, and teacher time investment, the author recommends additional research in these areas. By continuing to research and understand better about K-12 online learners, this understanding could influence the development of course interaction standards, assist designers in building better courses, and ultimately lead to higher satisfaction for students.

Given its ever-increasing popularity, marketers are keen on exploring the benefits of using Twitter to create branded relationships with consumers. Central to the idea of consumer-brand relationships is the concept of commitment, which requires investment of direct resources, such as time, on the part of the consumer. The present research examines the relationship between time spent per login on Twitter and consumer-brand relationships through the constructs of brand relationship quality and brand attachment. Brand relationship quality is considered using four measures: enrichment, satisfaction, harmony, and trustworthiness. The concept of brand attachment is divided into measures of brand-self connection and brand prominence. Despite marketers’ efforts to keep consumers on Twitter for longer periods of time, results from this study were inconclusive, showing signs of little to no correlation between time and the tested variables. However, due to the limitations of this study, future research is necessary to improve the statistical quality of the findings. / text

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We consider the problem of capacity expansion in telecommunication networks under uncertain economic conditions with various market structures. We assume that the demands for network capacity have constant price-elasticity, and demand functions are parameterized by an economic condition that is modeled by a discrete time Markov process. We apply dynamic programming to obtain a state-dependent capacity expansion strategy that maximizes expected total discounted cash flow. We incorporate partial reversibility of investment by differentiating the purchasing cost and the salvage value of the capacity. This partial reversibility makes the value function non-differentiable and divides the solution space into BUY, KEEP, and SELL regions. By identifying certain structural properties of the optimal solution, we perform sensitivity analyses on the optimal investment decisions with respect to market parameters. Under the condition that the level of cost depreciation is larger than that of the downside movement of the economic condition in each time period, we are able to obtain an analytical expression for the optimal capacity level and reduce the multi-period investment decision problem into a single-period myopic problem. As a result, optimal capacity increment depends only on the current economic condition. We study this problem under both monopolistic and oligopolistic market structures. In particular, we investigate investment decisions by two firms in a duopoly setting with Cournot competition. We prove the existence and the uniqueness of the Cournot equilibrium strategies in the duopolistic capacity investment problem. In addition, we show how competition between firms affects total available capacity in the market, capacity price, consumer surplus, expected time to a certain level of price reduction, and expected time to the first investment. We perform an empirical analysis to test a theoretical prediction obtained from our model through linear regression utilizing historical market data. By examining several alternative indices as a proxy to the economic condition considered in our model, we show that the Civilian Employment is the best proxy to use in validating the linear relationship between telecommunications capacity expansion and the economic indicator.

This diploma thesis is focused on several variants of original outside swimming pool in the town of Zábřeh for various variants of reconstruction from the point of view of the use of swimming pool material used in the territory of the Czech Republic. In the theoretical part are described structural factors of swimming pools from various points of view, as well as economic and investment analyses and factors. The practical part of this diploma thesis is mainly aimed to compare the prices. The comparison is based on the budget of reconstructions and possible investment return.

<p>U okviru disertacije se ispituje uticaj akumulacije troškova u vremenu na izbor odgovarajućih mera za unapređenje i povećanje efikasnosti proizvodnih procesa. Ovaj uticaj je stavljen u kontekst lin proizvodnje i procesa mapiranja toka vrednosti, ali je ispitivan i uticaj izbora pravila raspoređivanja radnih naloga, odnosno terminskog planiranja na vremensko-troškovno ulaganje. Kao rezultat istraživanja i originalan naučni doprinos ove disertacije predloženi su koeficijenti ulaganja i efikasnosti mera unapređenja koji se koriste, na prvom mestu za izbor odgovarajuće mere unapređenja, a zatim i za definisanje prioriteta sprovođenja mera.</p> / <p>This dissertation examines the impact of the cost accumulation over the time on the selection of appropriate measures to improve and increase the efficiency of production processes. This effect has been put into the context of lean production and value stream mapping, but there is also examines the impact of job shop schenduling on cost-time investment. As a result of research and original scientific contribution of this thesis two coefficients are proposed: coefficient of investment and coefficient of measure efficiency that can be used in the first place for the selection of appropriate measure for the improvement, and then to define the priorities for implementing the improvement measures.</p>

[pt] Finanças Corporativas tem como objetivo encontrar a política de investimentos e financiamentos que maximize o valor para o acionista. Baseada no modelo estático de Modigliani e Miller, a literatura recente apresenta modelos dinâmicos que buscam maior aderência à realidade. No entanto, para obter uma metodologia de solução computacionalmente tratável, duas simplificações são usualmente adotadas: (i) agentes financeiros são neutros a risco; (ii) custo de financiamento são fixos e independentes da alavancagem da empresa. Neste trabalho, é proposto um modelo de programação dinâmica estocástica para a determinação da política ótima de investimentos e financiamentos considerando acionistas avessos a risco e empresas que enfrentam incerteza na receita e custos marginais de financiamentos não-decrescentes com o nível de alavancagem da empresa. O modelo proposto é resolvido de maneira eficiente utilizando o algoritmo de Programação Dinâmica Dual Estocástica. Ao final do trabalho, são realizados estudos empíricos e análises de sensibilidade para melhor compreensão das políticas de investimentos e financiamentos das corporações. / [en] Corporate Finance is the study of investment and financing policies in order to maximize shareholder value. Based on the static model of Modigliani and Miller, recent literature presents dynamic models that seek greater adherence to reality. However, to obtain a computationally treatable solution methodology, two simplifications are usually adopted: (i) financial agents are risk neutral; (ii) cost of financing is static and independent of the company s leverage. In this work, a dynamic stochastic programming model is proposed to determine the optimum investment and financing policy, considering risk-averse shareholders and companies that face uncertainty on income and non-decreasing marginal costs of financing. The proposed model is efficiently solved using the Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming algorithm. At the end of the study, empirical studies and sensitivity analyzes are carried out to the better understanding of corporate investment and financing policies.