In biology and bioinformatics, a variety of data share a common property that challenges numerous cutting-edge research studies: heterogeneities at the individual level with respect to more than one factor. Examples of such heterogeneities include but are not limited to: 1) unequal susceptibility of different patients, and 2) large diversity in gene length, GC content, etc., along with the resulting gene characteristics. For many biological data analysis studies, the critical first step is usually to infer null probability distribution of observed data with the heterogeneities in multiple (confounding) factors taken into account, so that we can further investigate the impact of other factor(s) of interest. Obviously, the heterogeneities heavily influence the potential conclusions that we may draw from statistical analyses of the data. However, modeling such heterogeneities has been challenging, not only due to the inapplicable explicit modeling of all factors with heterogeneous effects on the data, but also because of the non-independence of many factors from one another. Existing methods, either partially/fully neglected the heterogeneity issue at all, or took care of each factor's heterogeneity in isolation. Evidences have shown the insufficiency of such strategies and the errors they may produce in downstream analyses. The emergence of large-scale data sets provides the opportunity to directly and comprehensively learn the heterogeneity from the data without explicitly modeling the mechanisms behind or exerting strong assumptions. The data, as often stored or organized as multidimensional contingency tensors, lead to a natural perspective of modeling heterogeneity with each impact factor of interest being one dimension. The heterogeneity in each factor's impact on the variable of interest can be captured by the marginal property of the data tensor with respect to the corresponding dimension. For instance, in a single-cell sequencing dataset, which can be organized as a matrix with each row representing a gene and each column representing a cell, the heterogeneity caused by both the gene and cell factors can be modeled. In this dissertation, we develop a novel model, Conditional Multifactorial Contingency (CMC), that models the intertwined heterogeneities in all dimensions of the data tensor and infers the probability distribution of each entry of the data tensor jointly conditioned on these heterogeneities. In the proposed CMC model, the problem is formulated as a maximum entropy problem of the contingency tensor's probability distribution subject to the marginal constraints, under the assumption that the individuals within each dimension are independent. The marginal constraints are applied to the expected value instead of observed trial outcomes, which plays a key role in avoiding the innumerable combinations of trial outcomes and leading to an elegant expression form of the entry's probability distribution. The model is first developed for 3D binary data matrix, then extended to multidimensional data tensors and integer data tensors. Furthermore, missing values are taken into account and CMC is extended to be compatible with data with missing values. Being empowered by CMC, we conducted four case studies for real-world bioinformatics research problems: (1) driving transcription factor (TF) identification; (2) scRNA-seq data normalization; (3) cancer-associated gene identification; (4) cell similarity quantification. For each of these case studies, we proposed a whole analysis framework and specific adaptation design for CMC. For the driving-TF identification, compared with traditional methods, we considered the variations in the gene's binding affinity in addition to the typically considered variations in TF's binding affinity. The driving TFs were identified by comparing the observed binding state and the estimated binding probability conditioned on TF/gene binding affinities. For the scRNA-seq data normalization, besides gene factor and cell factor, we figured out one more factor impacting the read counts, cDNA length, and applied CMC to comprehensively analyze the three factors. For cancer-associated gene identification, the CMC model is applied to systematically model the patient, gene, and mutation type factors in the mutation count data. As for the last application, to the best of our knowledge, our solution is the first proposed cell-to-cell-type similarity quantification method, thanks to the availability of CMC to systematically model and remove the impact of cell and gene factors. We studied the theoretical properties of the proposed model and validated the effectiveness and efficiency of our method through experiments. The uniqueness of the probability solution and the convergence of the algorithm was proved. In the endeavor to identify true driving TFs, CMC significantly boosted the best record of success rate, which was proved using data with ground truth. Besides, in an exploratory study without ground truth, in addition to the previously known TFs, Olig1 (ranks 2nd), Olig2 (ranks 3rd), and Sox10 (ranks 4th), we successfully identified Ppp1r14b (ranks 1st) and Zfp36l1 (ranks 6th) that function in oligodendrocyte lineage development, which was validated via biological knock-out experiments and, has led to genuine biological discoveries. In the scRNA-seq data normalization, experimental results show that, by taking the cell, gene, and cDNA-length factors into account, the normalized data achieves lower variances for housekeeping genes than the peer methods. Besides, the data normalized by the CMC model leads to better accuracy of downstream DEG detection than that normalized by peer normalization methods. In cancer-associated gene identification, the CMC model is able to eliminate most of the likely artefactual findings resulted by considering the hidden factors separately. In the cell similarity quantification, CMC based model enables the identification of cell types by establishing between-species cell similarity quantification, regardless of contamination in scRNA-seq data. / Doctor of Philosophy / Biological data are complicated and typically influenced by numerous factors, including characteristics of biological subjects, physical or chemical properties of molecules, artifacts created by experimental operations, and so on. The information of real interest in a biology/bioinformatics study can be buried in all sorts of irrelevant factors and their impacts on the data. Consider a simple example where a study is conducted to figure out if an association exists between a specific gene and a cancer. Although this gene shows obviously different frequencies of mutation in two groups of people, patients and the normal, we cannot safely confirm the association from this observation. Such differential mutation levels can also be a result of the diversity among all these people in how easily this gene is mutated in a person (related to many characteristics of this person besides "cancer/not"). We call this diversity "heterogeneity", and it actually can be seen everywhere, in people, in genes, in cells, and in cell types, etc. One needs to take good care of such heterogeneities so as to draw firm statistical hence scientific conclusions. However, handling the heterogeneities is far from trivial. On the one hand, it is generally impossible to fully understand the mechanisms behind those diversities, let alone to explicitly and rigorously formulate them. One the other hand, it is not rare that multiple factors intertwine with one another, in which case all these factors must be considered systematically in order to model the data precisely. Existing methods, either partially/fully neglected the heterogeneity issue at all, or took care of each factor's heterogeneity in isolation. Evidences have shown the insufficiency of such strategies and the errors they may produce in downstream analyses. As the exact mechanisms behind heterogeneities are usually not available, we aim to learn and infer the heterogeneities' effects on data from data itself. A large group of biological data can be stored or organized as multidimensional contingency tensors, with each impact factor of interest being one dimension. The heterogeneity in each factor's impact on the variable of interest can be captured by the marginal property of the data tensor with respect to the corresponding dimension, for example, the row sum and the column sum in a 2D tensor. In this dissertation, under the assumption that the individuals of each dimension are independent, we proposed a novel model, Conditional Multifactorial Contingency (CMC), that models the intertwined heterogeneities in all dimensions of the data tensor and infers the probability distribution of each entry of the data tensor jointly conditioned on these heterogeneities. The eventual and most comprehensive version of CMC can work on multidimensional binary or integer data tensors, even in cases where some values in the tensor are missing. CMC was initiated from elegant and simple statistical principles, derived through rigorous theoretical proofs, but ended up as a powerful tool being widely applicable to real-world biology/bioinformatics studies. Being empowered by CMC, we conducted four case studies for real-world bioinformatics research problems: (1) driving transcription factor (TF) identification; (2) scRNA-seq data normalization; (3) cancer-associated gene identification; (4) cell similarity quantification. For each of these case studies, we proposed a whole analysis framework and specific adaptation design for CMC. In each of them, our method based on CMC outperformed existing methods and provided inspiring clues for biological discoveries, which have been validated by biological experiments.

Data mining techniques, such as clustering, have become a mainstay in many applications such as bioinformatics, geographic information systems, and marketing. Over the last decade, due to new demands posed by these applications, clustering techniques have been significantly adapted and extended. One such extension is the idea of finding clusters in a dataset that preserve information about some auxiliary variable. These approaches tend to guide the clustering algorithms that are traditionally unsupervised learning techniques with the background knowledge of the auxiliary variable. The auxiliary information could be some prior class label attached to the data samples or it could be the relations between data samples across different datasets. In this dissertation, we consider the latter problem of simultaneously clustering several vector valued datasets by taking into account the relationships between the data samples. We formulate objective functions that can be used to find clusters that are local in each individual dataset and at the same time maximally similar or dissimilar with respect to clusters across datasets. We introduce diverse applications of these clustering algorithms: (1) time series segmentation (2) reconstructing temporal models from time series segmentations (3) simultaneously clustering several datasets according to database schemas using a multi-criteria optimization and (4) clustering datasets with many-many relationships between data samples. For each of the above, we demonstrate applications, including modeling the yeast cell cycle and the yeast metabolic cycle, understanding the temporal relationships between yeast biological processes, and cross-genomic studies involving multiple organisms and multiple stresses. The key contribution is to structure the design of complex clustering algorithms over a database schema in terms of clustering algorithms over the underlying entity sets. / Ph. D.

Yes / Governments in Australia place great emphasis on the development and expansion of their rail networks to improve productivity and service the increasing needs and demands from businesses and commuters. A case study approach is used to analyze the cost performance of 16 rail projects constructed by a contractor between 2011 and 2014, which ranged from AU$3.4 to AU$353 million. Findings indicate that scope changes during construction were the key contributors that lead to the amendment of each project’s original contractual value. As a result, there is a need for public and private sector asset owners to establish a cost contingency using a probabilistic rather than a deterministic approach to accommodate the potential for scope changes during construction. To improve cost certainty during the construction of rail projects, it is suggested that use of collaborative forms of procurement juxtaposed with the use of Building Information Modelling and Systems Information Modelling are implemented. The utilization of such technological and process innovations can provide public and private sector asset owners charged with delivering and maintaining their rail networks with confidence projects can be delivered within budget and are resilient to unexpected events and adaptable to changing needs, uses or capacities. / The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Australian Research Council (DP160102882).

Kandidatuppsats, Civilekonomprogrammet, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet i Växjö, 2FE24E   Titel: Belöningssystem ur olika perspektiv Författare: Mattias Brandt, Oliver Carlsson och Rasmus Lennartsson Examinator: Elin Funck Handledare: Anders Jerreling   Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: Den privata tjänstesektorn står för över halva Sveriges BNP och med en nedåtgående rörelsemarginal för denna bransch utgör ekonomistyrning en viktig funktion. Inom ekonomistyrning ingår flertalet olika styrmedel där belöningssystem utgör en del av företagens styrmix. Belöningssystem finns till för att styra och påverka anställda mot företagets övergripande mål och strategi. För att företag ska kunna styra i rätt riktning krävs det att de vet hur deras anställda motiveras vilket i sin tur leder till att de måste förstå hur deras medarbetare påverkas av olika slags incitament.   Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att beskriva och förklara hur säljare inom den privata tjänstesektorn styrs genom belöningssystem och hur detta uppfattas av de operativa säljarna. Detta för att utreda om det finns en överensstämmelse med vad som motiverar säljarna och vad dem belönas för. Vidare skall detta bidra med hur säljare motiveras genom sammansättning av monetära och icke-monetära belöningar.   Metod: Uppsatsen är strukturerad kring en kvalitativ metod. En komparativ studie med fallstudieinslag har genomförts där insamling av data skett genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuerna genomfördes på två försäljningsföretag inom den privata tjänstesektor som tillhandahåller finansiella tjänster.   Slutsats: Försäljningsföretagen har syften som baseras i att styra säljare till ökat värde av organisationen genom försäljning. Grunderna utgår ifrån finansiella mål och mätningar sker i form av antal försäljningar och volym på premien eller lånet. Det existerar i vissa fall även icke-finansiella mål till viss grad hos företagen. Formen av belöningar kommer främst i monetär form men är även till viss del kombinerat med icke-monetära belöningar. Det visar sig att de icke-monetära belöningarna såsom tävlingar, erkännande och beröm anses mer värdefulla av de anställda vid förändring av företagets storlek och miljö. Det visar sig att den personliga styrningen försvinner samtidigt med den icke-monetära delen av det formella belöningssystemet. Mottagarna upplever belöningarna på olika sätt beroende på om de drivs av yttre eller inre motivation. Det existerar många risker inom belöningssystem varav ett stort är att kombinationen av finansiella mål och icke-monetära belöningar inte alltid motsvarar den prestation som krävs för belöning. Nyckelord: Belöningssystem, contingency theory, tjänstesektor, motivation, belöningar / Bachelor thesis, Program of Master of Science in Business and Economics, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University in Växjö, 2FE24E   Title: Reward system from different perspectives Authors: Mattias Brandt, Oliver Carlsson och Rasmus Lennartsson Examiner: Elin Funck Advisor: Anders Jerreling   Background and problem discussion: The private sales area are accountable for more than half of Sweden's GDP, and with a downward operating margin this industry constitutes financial control an important function. Within financial management, a number of different instruments are included in which reward systems form part of the corporate governance mix. Reward systems exist to control and influence employees towards the company's overall goals and strategy. In order for companies to manage in the right direction, they need to know how their employees are motivated, which in turn leads them to understand how their employees are influenced by different incentives.   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and explain how salesmen in the private sales area are controlled by reward systems and how these are perceived by the operating salesmen. The study is made to see if there is conformity between what motivates salesmen and what they are rewarded for. This shall further on contribute to how salesmen are motivated through financial and non-financial rewards.     Method: This bachelor thesis is structured around a qualitative method. A comparative case study where data has been collected through semi structured interviews. These interviews were made on two sales companies in the private service area who offer financial services.   Conclusion: The sales companies have objectives based on directing salesmen to increased value of the organization through sales. Fundamentals are based on financial targets and measurements are made on number of sales and volume of the premium or loan. In some cases, non-financial targets also exist to a certain extent among the companies. The form of rewards comes primarily in financial terms but is also partly combined with non-financial rewards. It turns out that the non-financial rewards such as competitions, recognition and praise are considered more valuable by the employees when changing the size and the environment of the company. It turns out that personal governance disappears simultaneously with the non-financial part of the formal reward system. The recipients experience the rewards in different ways depending on whether they are driven by external or internal motivation. There are many risks in reward systems, one of which is that the combination of financial goals and non-financial rewards doesn’t always correspond to the performance required for reward. Keywords: Reward system, contingency theory, private service sector, motivation, rewards

Bakgrund: Nya utmaningar i samhällets näringsliv har ökat kontrollbehovet och därmed bidragit till den interna kontrollens aktualitet samt att COSO:s ramverk fått en allt större betydelse. Medelstora företag har kopplats ihop med svaga förutsättningar i arbetet mot en väl utformad och använd intern kontroll. Avsaknaden av en god intern kontroll har därmed inneburit svårigheter att undvika negativa konsekvenser. Samtidigt är företagens situation avgörande, men hur situationsanpassa har visat sig problematiskt. Syfte: Genom att undersöka användandet av COSO:s ramverk till hög respektive låg grad ämnar studien förklara hur medelstora företag i Sverige utformar sin interna kontroll. Vidare syftar studien till att kartlägga och förklara om organisatoriska faktorer kan medföra skillnad i den interna kontrollens utformning. Metod: Studien utgår ifrån en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi med en tvärsnittsdesign. En survey har genomförts av respondenter i ledande positioner på medelstora företag i fem olika branscher. Den insamlade datan har sedan genomgått ett antal statistiska analyser för att få en tydligare bild om hur och varför medelstora företag utformar sin interna kontroll på olika sätt. En del i de statistiska analyserna utgör hypotesprövning. Slutsats: Det som COSO:s ramverk ämnar att förmedla är till hög grad omedvetet använt av medelstora företag. Bristfälliga komponenter i kombination med bristfällig samverkan kan förklara varför nämnda företag antas ha svårigheter i arbetet mot en väl utformad och använd intern kontroll. Ett antal organisatoriska faktorer påverkar användandet av den interna kontrollens komponenter. Mer avgörande är däremot kunskap och medvetenhet till den nuvarande goda interna kontrollen som faktiskt finns. / Background: Challenges in business environment have increased the need and relevance of internal control, the framework created by COSO has also got attention. Medium-sized companies have been connected to weak conditions in their work towards a well designed and used internal control. Without a well designed and used internal control it is hard to avoid negative consequences. At the same time the companies situation is crucial, adaption to the specific situation has been problematic. Purpose: By investigating if COSO's framework is used to a high respectively low degree the thesis intends to explain how medium-sized companies in Sweden design their internal control. Furthermore, the thesis aims to explain whether organizational factors can cause differences in the design of internal control. Method: The thesis is based on a quantitative research strategy with a cross-sectional design. Individuals in leading positions in medium-sized companies in five different industries have participated in a survey. The data has been used in statistical analyzes to understand how and why medium-sized companies design their internal control in different ways. Some of the statistical analyzes was used to prove hypothesis. Conclusion: The information COSO's framework aims to communicate is higly unconsciously used by medium-sized companies. Defective components and their collaboration can explain why medium-sized companies have been connected with difficulties in their work towards a well designed and used internal control. Some organizational factors affects the use of the components in internal control. However, more decisive is knowledge and awareness of the internal control that actually exists.

Draudimo teisinius santykius pakankamai išsamiai reglamentuoja Lietuvos Respublikos teisės aktai, tačiau įgyvendinant draudiko ir draudėjo teises bei pareigas kyla nemažai problemų. Magistro baigiamajame darbe atskleidžiama, kaip draudiko teisė atsisakyti mokėti draudimo išmoką yra apibrėžiama draudimo sutartyje, kokie draudimo sutarties elementai yra reikšmingi šios teisės įgyvendinimui. Apibendrinus draudiko teisės atsisakyti mokėti draudimo išmoką sampratą yra išskiriami trys pagrindiniai atvejai, kuomet draudikas, vadovaudamasis teisės aktų reglamentuojamomis taisyklėmis ir patikrinęs visą su draudiminiu įvykiu susijusią informaciją, gali įgyvendinti teisę atsisakyti mokėti draudimo išmoką: draudėjas padarė draudimo sutarties pažeidimą, draudžiamasis įvykis atsitinka dėl draudėjo tyčios ar didelio neatsargumo, įvykis yra nedraudžiamasis. Atsižvelgiant į šiuos atvejus, analizuojant doktriną ir Lietuvos teismų praktiką yra atskleidžiamos ir moksliškai bei teisiškai išanalizuojamos problemos, su kuriomis susiduria draudikai, įgyvendindami teisę atsisakyti mokėti draudimo išmoką. Magistro baigiamajame darbe kritiškai vertinama Lietuvos teismų praktika, kuri draudiko teisės atsisakyti mokėti draudimo išmoką įgyvendinimo klausimais yra nevienareikšmė ir diskutuotina. Taigi pasitelkiant analitinį, lyginamąjį, sisteminį ir aprašomasis tyrimo metodus, išanalizavus magistro baigiamajame darbe iškeltą problemą, pabaigoje pateikiamos išvados ir pasiūlymai. / Insurance legal relationships seems to be detail regulated by the Republic of Lithuania law, however enforcement of the insurer and the policyholder rights and obligations raises a number of problems. The Master's thesis reveals how the insurer right to pay the insurance premium is defined in the insurance contract, which insurance contract important elements are for this right enforcement. Summarizing the conception of insurer's right to refuse to pay the insurance premium there are extracted three main cases in which the insurer, in accordance with laws and regulations governed by verifying all the insured event related information, may enforce his right to refuse to pay insurance premium: the policyholder has breached the insurance contract, prohibition event occurs on the insured's intent or gross negligence, the event is non contingency. In light of these cases, analysis of the doctrine and practice of the Lithuanian courts there are disclosed and scientifically and legally analyzed problems which face insurers enforcing the right to refuse to pay the insurance premium. The Master's thesis criticizes the Lithuanian judicial practice which is ambiguous and debatable according to the insurer's right to refuse to pay insurance premium. Therefore through an analytical, comparative, systematic and descriptive research methods, analysis of the master's thesis raised issue, master's thesis ends with conclusions and recommendations.

Enligt teorin kan ett väl implementerat styrsystem anses vara en självklarhet för företag som verkar på dagens allt mer konkurrensutsatta marknad. Vidare har det samtidigt visat sig att styrsystem i många mindre företag sällan är till större nytta och att dessa företag således inte har ett formellt implementerat styrsystem. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur mindre företag på grund av deras förutsättningar, använder mekanistisk och organisk styrning. Vidare syftar även studien att klargöra i vilken utsträckning som styrsystemet stämmer överens med deras förutsättningar. Den teoretiska referensramen består av två huvudsakliga teorier, contingency theory samt mekanistisk och organisk styrning. Genom att göra en fallstudie på ett mindre plåtföretag i tillverkningsindustrin, syftar denna studie att få en djupare förståelse för ett företags styrning och hur styrningen påverkas av företagets förutsättningar. De slutsatser som kan dras utifrån studien är att ett mindre företags förhållanden kan anses påverka företages styrning samt att situationsvariablerna speglar vilket styrsystem de använder. Fortsättningsvis kan däremot andra faktorer än de som undersökts i denna studie haft en påverkan på styrningen. Tilläggningsvis kan även de situationsvariabler som undersökts haft olika stor påverkan på styrningen. Ytterligare slutsatser är att mindre företag sällan är medvetna om att de format deras styrning efter deras förhållanden och att deras styrsystem snarare vuxit fram i takt med att deras förutsättningar har förändrats. / According to the theory, a well-implemented control system can be regarded as mandatory for companies that operate in today's increasingly competitive market. At the same time, it has also been found that smaller companies rarely benefit from management control systems (MCS), thus these companies do not have a formally implemented MCS. The purpose of this study is to investigate how smaller companies, due to their prerequisites, use mechanistic and organic MCS. Furthermore, the study aims to clarify the extent to which the MCS is in line with the contingencies. The theoretical framework consists of two main theories, contingency theory and mechanistic and organic MCS. By doing a case study on a small industrial company with support of interviews, this study aims at gaining a deeper understanding of a company's MCS and how it is affected by the contingencies of the company. The conclusions that can be drawn from the study are that the circumstances of a smaller company can be regarded as influencing companies' MCS. Additionally, the contingencies are also considered to reflect the MCS they use, although these contingencies might not be exhaustive and there might be other factors that can affect the MCS. Further conclusions are that smaller companies rarely consciously form their MCS according to their circumstances and it is more likely that they grow in line with the changes of the conditions.

Orientador: Carlos Alberto de Castro Junior / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T06:07:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dester_Mauricio_M.pdf: 1510731 bytes, checksum: 2d78f28f0e947ab2f8b733433312aa84 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: O objetivo deste trabalho é propor um método que permita, de forma rápida e segura, estabelecer uma lista de contingências ordenada por severidade considerando a óptica da estabilidade de tensão. Em linhas gerais, o procedimento consiste em obter o estado da rede após a simulação de uma determinada contingência e calcular o índice de performance correspondente à mesma. Estes passos devem ser repetidos para todos os ramos da rede. Ao final tem-se um índice associado a cada contingência. Para a obtenção da lista ordenada por severidade, classificam-se as contingências considerando como fator de ordenação o valor do índice de performance calculado para cada uma delas. De posse desta lista, pode-se lançar mão de ferramentas que permitam uma análise mais detalhada para o grupo contingências com maior severidade e a tomada de ações no sentido de minimizar as conseqüências causadas por estas contingências. Este método pode ser utilizado como suporte à operação em tempo real, pois permite a seleção das contingências mais severas, de forma rápida, para então posteriormente realizar uma análise mais detalhada das mesmas. Não há, portanto, a necessidade da análise detalhada de todas as contingências da rede, o que permite uma economia de tempo, esforço humano e computacional, recursos estes de fundamental importância considerando a operação em tempo real / Abstract: The aim of this work is to propose a fast and reliable method to rank a list of contingencies ordered by severity under the voltage stability point of view. The basic steps of the method consist of computing the system's post-contingency state and computing the respective performance index. These steps must be repeted for contingencies associated to all system branches. So an ordered contingency list is built considering the performance index of each contingency as a merit factor. With this list it is possible to pick the most severe contingencies and submit them to conventional tools that allow a more complete analysis and appropriate decisions to avoid operating system in insecure conditions if one of the severe contingencies occurs. It is possible to use this method as a real time tool due to its efficiency. Little computational effort is made to get the ordered contingency list and it is possible to focus the human and computational effort on the most severe contingencies. The real time operation requires efficient decision-making procedures and this method brings up the possibility of saving time since it is no longer necessary to analize all system contingencies to find out the most severe one. It suffices to analize the top-ranked contingencies captured by the proposed method / Mestrado / Energia Eletrica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka de anpassningar som småföretag inom detaljhandeln i Visby innerstad gjort för att överleva de ekonomiska kriserna som pågått sedan 2019. Studien har för avsikt att undersöka vilka marknadsanpassningar småföretagen genomfört. För att komma närmare studiens frågeställning har vi använt oss av contingency theory, en teori som förespråkar anpassning för företag när det sker förändringar i omvärlden. Tidigare studier har visat att anpassning är en viktig strategi för ett företags framgång. Modellen vi har använt oss av för att undersöka småföretagens anpassningar är marknadsföringsmixen, produkt, påverkan, pris, plats och personal. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta småföretag i Visby innerstad. Vi har under studiens gång sett att det skett anpassningar i alla fem element. Under pandemin gjorde man anpassningar i elementen produkt, personal, påverkan och plats. Under pågående lågkonjunktur har anpassningarna skett framförallt i pris och produkt. Butikerna har fått högre omkostnader eftersom el, hyra och leveranser har blivit dyrare men många har ändå valt att inte höja sina priser även om det finns behov för det, detta val beror främst på att de känner en risk att förlora kunder. Vi ser också att marknadsföringen har blivit än viktigare för samtliga butiker. Tidigare studier har visat att företag som lägger pengar på reklam och marknadsföring under ekonomiska kriser är de företag som det gått bäst för. / The purpose of the study is to gain an understanding of how small businesses in Visby inner city have adapted in the economic crisis that has been going on since 2019 to preserve their profitability. The study intends to investigate which adaptations the owners of companies have been considered important for their survival. To get closer to the study´s question, we have used contingency theory, a theory that advocates adaptations for companies when there are changes in the outside world. The study consists of a qualitative study where the empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews with eight owners of small businesses, which we then analyzed using the marketing mix.   In the result, we have seen that there have been adjustments in all five elements, mainly during the pandemic where adaptations were in the elements product, people, promotion and place. During the ongoing recession, adjustments have taken place primarily in price and place. The results show that small businesses in Visby's inner city have a customer base that is loyal and cyclical strong, which contributes to the profitability of small companies during times of crisis.

OPSOMMING Gebeurlikhede kan omskryf word as onsekere omstandighede van positiewe of negatiewe aard wat, onafhanklik van die verweerder se optrede en indien dit sou realiseer, waarskynlik 'n persoon se gesondheid, inkomste, verdienvermoë, lewenskwaliteit, lewensverwagting of onderhoudsafhanklikheid in die toekoms kan beïnvloed of in die verlede kon beïnvloed het en wat gevolglik op billike en realistiese wyse in ag geneem moet word ter bepaling van die skadevergoedingsbedrag. Die skadevergoedingsbedrag kan vanweë gebeurlikhede verminder of vermeerder word waar die eiser wel met `n oorwig van waarskynlikheid die volle omvang van die skade bewys het, maar die hof nie kon oortuig dat geen ander oorsaak die skade waarskynlik ook sou kon veroorsaak nie (sg "gebeurlikheids-aanpassings"). In gevalle waar die eiser nie die volle omvang van die skade op `n oorwig van waarskynlikheid kon bewys nie, kan die hof nogtans `n verminderde bedrag toeken op grond van die gebeurlikheid dat die skade wel waarskynlik in die toekoms kan realiseer (sg "gebeurlikheidstoekennings"). Die eiser moet getuienis voorlê van gebeurlikhede wat die skadevergoedingsbedrag sal verhoog, en die verweerder van gebeurlikhede wat die skadevergoedingsbedrag sal verlaag. Die waarskynlikheid dat die gebeurlikheid sal realiseer, moet deur die hof aan die hand van objektiewe maatstawwe en op grond van feitelike bewerings en logiese afleidings uit deskundige en ander getuienis in die vorm van `n waarskynlikheidsgraad van tussen vyf persent en tagtig persent uitgedruk word. Hipotetiese kousaliteit word deur die hof aangewend om gebeurlikhede op `n billike wyse in ag te neem en verwys na die kousale ketting van hipotetiese feite wat waarskynlik sou gerealiseer het indien die skadestigtende gebeurtenis nie plaasgevind het nie. Gebeurlikhede kan in twee kategorieë geklassifiseer word: Algemene gebeurlikhede wat gewoonlik in enige stadium by alle persone kan voorkom (bv vroeë dood, siekte ens) en spesifieke gebeurlikhede wat gewoonlik op spesifieke tydstippe by spesifieke individue kan voorkom (bv hertroue, egskeiding ens). Terwyl die hof geregtelik kennis behoort te kan neem van die invloed van algemene gebeurlikhede, behoort die hof hoofsaaklik op grond van ondersteunende getuienis van die invloed van spesifieke gebeurlikhede oortuig te word. Algemene gebeurlikheidsaanpassings is gewoonlik relatief laag (gemiddeld tien persent), terwyl gebeurlikheidsaanpassings vir spesifieke gebeurlikhede fluktueer (gewoonlik tussen vyf persent en vyftig persent), afhangende van die getuienis en omstandighede van die eiser. Gebeurlikheidstoekennings is gewoonlik laer as vyftig persent. SUMMARY Contingencies can be described as uncertain circumstances of a positive or negative nature which, independent of the defendant's conduct and if it should realise, would probably influence a person's health, income, earning capacity, quality of life, life expectancy or dependency on support in future or could have done so in the past, and which must consequently be taken into account in a fair and realistic manner in the quantification of damages. Contingencies can be used to increase or reduce damages in circumstances where the plaintiff succeeded in proving the full loss on a preponderance of probability, but could not convince the court that there was no probability that any other cause could also have given rise to the loss (so-called "contingency adjustments"). In circumstances where the plaintiff could not prove the full loss on a preponderance of probability, the court can nevertheless award a reduced amount on the basis of the contingency that loss could probably realise in future (so-called "contingency allowances"). The plaintiff must adduce evidence of contingencies that can increase damages, and the defendant of contingencies that can reduce damages. The degree of probability that the contingency will realise, must be expressed by the court as a percentage of between five percent and eighty percent, in view of objective measures and on the basis of factual allegations and logical deductions derived from expert and other evidence. Hypothetical causation assists the court in taking account of contingencies in a fair manner and refers to the causal link of hypothetical events which would probably have realised if the damage-causing event did not occur. Contingencies can be classified into two categories: General contingencies that usually can be present in the lives of all people at any point in time (eg early death, sickness, etc) and specific contingencies that usually are present in the lives of specific individuals at specific times (eg remarriage, divorce, etc). While the court should be able to take legal notice of the influence of general contingencies, the court should be convinced of the influence of specific contingencies primarily on the basis of supporting evidence. General contingency adjustments are usually relatively low (on average ten per cent), while contingency adjustments for specific contingencies fluctuate (usually between five per cent and fifty per cent), depending on the evidence and circumstances of the plaintiff. Contingency allowances are usually lower than fifty per cent. / Jurisprudence / LL.D