Numerous studies have shown a discrepancy between how much an individual will accept to give up an object and how much an individual will pay to acquire the same good. This discrepancy is more commonly known as the endowment effect. Although scholars have generated a vast literature demonstrating the existence of the endowment effect, the underlying psychological mechanisms that account for this phenomenon remain a source of controversy. In the following dissertation, two different psychological processes are proposed to account for the WTP/WTA discrepancy: the use of a bargaining script and cognitive engagement through object interaction. Experiment 1 explores how the use of a bargaining schema affects buyers' and sellers' valuations of a mug. Experiment 2 examines the role object interaction plays in an individual's decisions about an object's value. Each of these studies presents new data that provide novel insights into the potential psychological processes that underlie the endowment effect. / text

Surfactant-polymer (SP) and alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding has gained little traction among different tertiary recovery strategies such as thermal and miscible gas flooding; however, many mature onshore reservoirs could be potential candidates. More than four decades of research has detailed technical challenges and successes through laboratory experimentation, chemical flood simulation, and some pilot projects, which have provided technical screening procedures to efficiently filter unfeasible projects. Therefore, technical understanding seems sufficient to advance projects through early development stages; however, a project value identification and realization process ultimately dictates project implementation in the oil and gas industry, with technical feasibility merely supporting overall valuation and project feasibility. A quick early screening methodology integrating important project valuation criteria can efficiently assess large numbers of projects. The relatively few studies detailing chemical flooding valuation from just an economic standpoint reflects the need for an integrated process-oriented framework for quick early screening valuation of chemical flooding opportunities. This study develops an integrated process-oriented framework for early screening and valuation, with an overall objective to quickly filter unfeasible projects based on valuation criteria, rather than technical feasibility alone. A reservoir-to-market model was developed, integrating information from laboratory experiments (phase behavior, core flood), field analogues (well performance and layout), facilities, rigs, costs, scheduling, and economics. Recently published ASP flood data of the central Xing2 area in Daqing, China was used for model inputs. A reservoir-to-market benchmark model for a typical mature onshore field was successfully built and tested, and could value projects using standard economic metrics (net present value, internal rate of return, value investment ratio, unit technical cost, and payback period). Model simplification was achieved through global sensitivity analysis. Using a mean-reversion oil price model, the oil price accounted for 98% of the total sensitivity. . Model efficiency was achieved through discretization of input parameter uncertainties, which sped the screening process. Decision-making between model alternatives given information and different states of nature was performed through decision-tree techniques based on overall project valuation. Overall, this study was novel and provided benefit as a robust, integrated process-oriented framework for chemical EOR project screening, valuation, and decision-making. / text

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Statistics and Actuarial Science / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

With the increasing call for accountability of significant marketing communication spending, quantifying and measuring the contribution of marketing communication to market performance is increasingly a requirement for sustainability in all management practices. In addition, the resource-based view (RBV) suggests that a firm's marketing communication creates intangible market-based assets and that these assets strengthen a firm's market and financial performance. Recent developments of the market-based assets theory focus on corporate reputation as an intangible market-based asset, suggesting that a favorable reputation is an intangible asset that increases a firm's performance. This study examined the effect of advertising and publicity on corporate reputation and market performance and hypothesized that a firm's advertising and publicity generated favorable corporate reputations and high levels of sales revenues in certain firms. Hypotheses were tested by a time-series analysis using the panel data of 18 companies over a 21-year period from 1985 to 2005. The results indicated that advertising and publicity have significant effects on corporate reputation for certain companies. Other variables, such as a firm's dividend yield to investors, market value, diversification, and profitability were significantly related to assessments of corporate reputation for certain companies, but the direction of the relationship varied from company to company. For example, as expected, low dividend yields induce high assessments of corporate reputation for certain companies. A firm's current market value also affects assessments of a firm's reputation. More diversified companies yield lower corporate reputations for certain companies. Regarding the relationship between marketing communication and sales revenues, advertising and publicity have significant effects on sales revenues for some companies. A firm's R&D expenditures, the focus of the firm, and firm size also showed a significant positive relevance to sales revenues for certain companies. / text

Let Y be a subvariety of an algebraic torus, Tevelv (24) defined and studied tropical compactifications as certain nice compactifications of Y. We give a criterion for certain compactification to be a schön compactification, and as a corollary, we show that any variety contains an open very affine schön variety. Using toric schemes defined over a discrete valuation ring, we generalize the theory of tropical compactification to the nonconstant coefficient case, i.e. for varieties defined over a discrete valuation ring. / text

Stochastic price models have proven material to decision making in the oil industry when accurate valuations are important, but little consideration is given to their impact on decisions based on relative project rankings. Traditional industry economic analysis methods do not usually consider uncertainty in oil price, although the real options literature has shown that this practice underestimates the value of projects that have flexibility. Monetary budget constraints are not always the limiting constraints in decision making; there may be other constraints that limit the number of projects a company can undertake. We consider building a portfolio of upstream petroleum development projects to determine the relevance of stochastic price models to a decision for which accurate valuations may not be important. The results provide guidelines to determine when a stochastic price model should be used in economic analysis of petroleum projects. / text

published_or_final_version / Statistics and Actuarial Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

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