This research is conducted to formulate a framework for project risk management by evaluating the current understanding and practices. It examines the risk management processes provided by the various standards, frameworks and guidelines available globally. The research argues that the existence of varying risk management standards, frameworks and guidelines is not an assurance that organisations will adopt their principles and processes. Furthermore, these documents do not provide sufficient information concerning the understanding of the concept of risk and uncertainty and their management. To accomplish this goal, it became necessary for the research to reach an understanding about the concepts and fundamental issues of risk and uncertainty management. This research also sought to know how organisations in different industries manage risks and uncertainties for their projects. This research was confined to the study of the understanding and practices of PRM by established or influential organisations in aerospace and aviation, oil, gas and petrochemical, power, telecommunication as well as construction industries with matching criteria. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using an ‘aide-memoire’ with managers involved in the management of project risks to document the current practices of risk management. Thematic analyses were used to compress and summarise the large amount of data into internally consistent understandings of risk and uncertainty. Based on the results, the research proposes a structure that explains the current understanding of the concepts of risk and uncertainty as well as an outline process framework for conducting risk management for industry use. Practically, risk and uncertainty are found to be interrelated whereby and they happen as an outcome of each other’s occurrence. The proposed framework consists of six major steps which incorporated the purposes and activities within, providing a better understanding of how risk can be managed. This research contributes theoretically, methodologically and practically to project risk management body of knowledge.

Landfill mining (LFM) is an alternative strategy to manage landfills that integrates remediation with secondary resource recovery. At present, LFM remains as an emerging concept with a few pilot-scale project implementations, which presents challenges when assessing its economic performance. These challenges include large knowledge deficits about the individual processes along the LFM process chain, lack of know-how in terms of project implementation and economic drivers, and limited applicability of results to specific case studies. Based on how these challenges were addressed, this thesis aims to analyze the usefulness and validity of different economic assessments of LFM towards the provision of better support for decision-making and in-depth learning for the development of cost-efficient projects. Different studies were analyzed including the previous studies through a systematic literature review and the factor-based method that is developed in this thesis. Four categories of economic assessment approaches were derived in terms of the study object that is about either an individual LFM project (case-study specific) or multiple LFM projects in a region (generic); and in terms of the extent of analysis that is about either the identification of the net economic potential (decision-oriented) or extended towards an in-depth learning of what builds up such result (learning-oriented). Across the different approaches, most of the previous studies have questionable usefulness and validity. The unaddressed parametric uncertainties exclude the influence of using inherently uncertain input data due to large knowledge deficits. While the narrowly accounted scenario uncertainties limits the fact that LFM can be done in various ways and settings in terms of site selection, project set-up and regulatory and market conditions. In essence, these uncertainties propagate from case-study specific to generic study object. From decision-oriented to learning-oriented studies, the identification of what builds up the result are unsystematically determined that raises issues on their subsequent recommendations for improvement based on superficially derived economic drivers. The factor-based method, with exploratory scenario development and global sensitivity analysis, is presented as an approach to performing generic and learning-oriented studies. As for general recommendations, applied research is needed to aid large knowledge deficits, methodological rigor is needed to account for uncertainties and systematically identify economic drivers, and learningoriented assessment is needed to facilitate future development of LFM. This thesis highlights the important role of economic assessments, which is not only limited for the assessment of economic potential but also for learning and guiding the development of emerging concepts such as LFM.

No description available.

Экономическая среда становится все более неопределенной. Особенно заметно это становится в условиях цифровизации, когда скорость взаимодействия с информацией значительно возросла. Чтобы сохранять и увеличивать свою конкурентоспособность компаниям приходится применять различные методы управления и модернизаций для достижения лидирующих позиций на рынке. В результате все больше компаний стремятся к цифровизации, которая позволяет оптимизировать процессы. Однако подобные изменения влекут за собой еще большую неопределенность. Поэтому компаниям становится особенно важно грамотно управлять и принимать решения в условиях неопределенности. Цель работы – разработка методических рекомендаций по управлению неопределенностью на современном этапе цифровизации экономики. Объектом исследования является совокупность подходов к управлению неопределенностью. Практическая значимость состоит в разработке алгоритма внедрения предложенных методических рекомендаций по управлению цифровой неопределенностью в деятельность компании. / The economic environment is becoming increasingly uncertain. This is especially noticeable in the conditions of digitalization, when the speed of interaction with information has increased significantly. In order to maintain and increase their competitiveness, companies have to apply various management methods and upgrades to achieve leading positions in the market. As a result, more and more companies are striving for digitalization, which allows optimizing processes. However, such changes entail even greater uncertainty. Therefore, it becomes especially important for companies to manage competently and make decisions in conditions of uncertainty. The purpose of the work is to develop methodological recommendations for managing uncertainty at the current stage of the economy digitalization. The object of the study is a set of approaches to uncertainty management. The practical significance lies in the development of an algorithm for implementing the proposed methodological recommendations for managing digital uncertainty in the company's activities.

No description available.

The Michelle P. Waiver (MPW) is the primary means of health insurance for more than 10,000 people in the state of Kentucky. The waiver is especially popular among families with young children with disabilities because it is robust in its benefit offerings and also one of the few Medicaid resources that does not include parental income as a qualifying factor in eligibility. Through the waiver, children receive a medical card as well as additional coverage for medical expenses that fall beyond the scope of traditional health insurance. For these young children to gain access to the comprehensive offerings of the MPW, their parents must apply for the waiver, negotiate the terms of service, and make critical health care decisions on their behalf, or at least until they reach adulthood—although this responsibility often extends throughout the child’s life. The present study builds upon recent research on parental uncertainty in caregiving for children with complex care needs. By combining two ecological approaches to health communication research, Brashers’s (2001) uncertainty management theory (UMT) and Ball-Rokeach, Kim, and Matai’s (2001) communication infrastructure theory (CIT), my aim in this dissertation was to explain how meso-level (e.g., community organization) interactions influenced parental caregivers’ experiences of uncertainty. I collected data through narrative interviews with 31 parents of children who are currently receiving services through the MPW and analyzed them using narrative thematic analysis. The analysis focused on the community-level communication that contributes to parent caregivers’ ability to successfully access and negotiate care within the MPW system. Findings show that parents experience unique personal, social, and medical uncertainties related to the MPW. In addition, the findings demonstrate that MPW-related uncertainty and decision making are managed with a variety of strategies aimed to decrease, increase, or maintain desired levels of uncertainty. Finally, findings showcase how one’s connectedness to community storytelling at the meso level, particularly within online communities and disability network communities supports their adaptive management of MPW-related uncertainty. This project contributes to the health communication literature theoretically by (a) expanding the conceptualization of the uncertainty in illness framework to include the means of health care (i.e., Medicaid) as a consequential element of an individual’s illness experience, (b) identifying two additional strategies of uncertainty management (i.e. advocacy and vigilance), and by (c) extending existing notions of residency, connectedness, and belongingness within the CIT framework to include membership in online and disability-specific networks. Practically, this project offers important insights that can guide future research exploring the role of meso-level communication in parent caregivers’ management of waiver-based care, such as in identifying the need for a systematic communication process that introduces potentially eligible families to the MPW.

This research project aims to develop a framework to manage uncertainty in cloud manufacturing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The framework includes a cloud manufacturing taxonomy; guidance to deal with uncertainty in cloud manufacturing, by providing a process to identify uncertainties; a detailed step-by-step approach to managing the uncertainties; a list of uncertainties; and response strategies to security and privacy uncertainties in cloud manufacturing. Additionally, an online assessment tool has been developed to implement the uncertainty management framework into a real life context. To fulfil the aim and objectives of the research, a comprehensive literature review was performed in order to understand the research aspects. Next, an uncertainty management technique was applied to identify, assess, and control uncertainties in cloud manufacturing. Two well-known approaches were used in the evaluation of the uncertainties in this research: Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique (SMART) to prioritise uncertainties; and a fuzzy rule-based system to quantify security and privacy uncertainties. Finally, the framework was embedded into an online assessment tool and validated through expert opinion and case studies. Results from this research are useful for both academia and industry in understanding aspects of cloud manufacturing. The main contribution is a framework that offers new insights for decisions makers on how to deal with uncertainty at adoption and implementation stages of cloud manufacturing. The research also introduced a novel cloud manufacturing taxonomy, a list of uncertainty factors, an assessment process to prioritise uncertainties and quantify security and privacy related uncertainties, and a knowledge base for providing recommendations and solutions.

This thesis presents System Identification based On-Line Health Monitoring to analyse the dynamic behaviour of the Switch-Mode Power Converter (SMPC), detect, and diagnose anomalies in passive electronic components. The anomaly detection in this research is determined by examining the change in passive component values due to degradation. Degradation, which is a long-term process, however, is characterised by inserting different component values in the power converter. The novel health-monitoring capability enables accurate detection of passive electronic components despite component variations and uncertainties and is valid for different topologies of the switch-mode power converter. The need for a novel on-line health-monitoring capability is driven by the need to improve unscheduled in-service, logistics, and engineering costs, including the requirement of Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) for electronic systems and components. The detection and diagnosis of degradations and failures within power converters is of great importance for aircraft electronic manufacturers, such as Thales, where component failures result in equipment downtime and large maintenance costs. The fact that existing techniques, including built-in-self test, use of dedicated sensors, physics-of-failure, and data-driven based health-monitoring, have yet to deliver extensive application in IVHM, provides the motivation for this research ... [cont.].

Tidiga skeden av byggprojekt är oftast väldigt komplexa, och många av projektens förutsättningar är osäkra. Då osäkerheter kan ses som brist på information och kunskap, innebär det att tidiga skeden innefattar många osäkerheter som kan generera både positiva och negativa utfall. Därav är det viktigt att både identifiera och hantera osäkerheter för att fatta beslut och skapa rätt förutsättningar för projekten. Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för osäkerheter och osäkerhetshantering i förvärvsprocessen vid bostadsutvecklingsprojekt, vilket görs genom att besvara frågeställningen: Hur kan ett ramverk utformas för att skapa trygga beslutsunderlag vid affärs- och projektutveckling under förvärvsprocessen för bostadsutvecklare med avseende på osäkerheter. För att uppnå studiens syfte har en fallstudie av ett svenskt bostadsutvecklingsföretag genomförts genom observationer och intervjuer vid fallföretaget. Studien har resulterat i ökad förståelse för identifiering av osäkerheter och vilka osäkerheter som bör tas i beaktning vid beslut om förvärv. De identifierade osäkerheterna kan delas in i sex huvudområden: Tid, Ekonomi, Projekt, Organisation, Myndigheter och Marknad. Studien har även resulterat i ett ramverk för att analysera och värdera osäkerheter samt visualisera dessa i förhållande till varandra. Studien bidrar på så sätt till teorin genom att studera förvärvsprocessen i bostadsutvecklingsprojekt samt presenterar ett strukturerat arbetssätt för att klassificera och analysera osäkerhet. Ramverket som denna studie resulterat i är främst av relevans för beslutsfattare i förvärvsprocessen och kan användas som underlag vid beslut om förvärv av nya projekt. / Early stages of construction projects are usually very complex, and many project conditions are uncertain. Uncertainties can be seen as lack of information and knowledge, which implies that many uncertainties are involved in early stages.  These can result in both positive and negative outcomes. Hence it is important to identify and manage uncertainties in order to make decisions and create proper project conditions. The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of uncertainties and uncertainty management in the acquisition process in real estate development, by answering the research question: How can a framework be designed to create a secure basis for decisions by business- and project development during the acquisition process for real estate development in terms of uncertainties? To manage this a case study of a Swedish real estate developer has been conducted, where observations and interviews were conducted at the case company. The result from this study is increased understanding about uncertainty identification but also knowledge about which uncertainties to take in to consideration when making decisions on acquisitions. The identified uncertainties were divided into six major areas: Time, Economy, Project, Organization, Government and Market. This study has also resulted in a framework for analyzing and evaluating uncertainties, which also visualize the uncertainties in relation to each other. The result from this study contributes to theory by studying the acquisition process in real estate development projects and presents a structured approach to classifying and analyzing uncertainties. The framework is mainly relevant for decision-makers within the acquisition process and can be used as the basis for decisions on acquisition of new projects.

No description available.