Codirection: Dr. Gonzalo Lizarralde / Les projets d’aménagement souffrent de problèmes de performance et de décalages significatifs entre ce qui est planifié et est effectivement réalisé. L’objectif principal de la thèse est d’examiner le phénomène permettant au projet d’aménagement de s’organiser et de se réaliser. L’hypothèse générale avance que :  Les projets influencent, transforment et créent les organisations qui les réalisent, selon un processus dynamique et récursif de structuration et d’organisation. Ce processus d’« organisation active » génère des transformations – organisationnelles et processuelles – liées à la nature même du projet. Pour vérifier cette hypothèse générale, une grille des ontologies a été élaborée, sur la base de quatre champs de connaissances, soit : (a) l’organisation et ses structures ; (b) le projet et ses processus ; (c) l’artefact et sa conception et ; (d) la dynamique des acteurs. La mise en relation de ces champs de connaissances fait appel à l’approche systémique à l’intérieur du cadre paradigmatique de la complexité. La méthodologie se déploie en trois volets, répartis sur les cinq articles de la thèse : l’article no1 présente une exploration théorique de la problématique ; les articles no2, 3 et 4 déploient des études de cas et des case survey ; l’article no5 propose une étude de cas longitudinale, s’échelonnant sur trois ans, visant l’élaboration de la cartographie des processus décisionnels. Les cinq articles de la thèse explorent les enjeux suivant : (no1) l’approche par le design et la dynamique des acteurs ; (no2) l’informalité des communications et de la coordination ; (no3) les facteurs de contingences qui influencent la « structuration » de la multiorganisation temporaire – MOT;  (no4) les typologies de la MOT, et ; (no5) l’itérativité des processus décisionnels et leurs influences sur les structures organisationnelles. Sept résultats permettent de valider les sous-hypothèses : qu’un processus d’« organisation active » génère des transformations – organisationnelles et processuelles – liées à la nature même du projet. Aussi, le projet d’aménagement : (1) est réalisé autant par des approches de gestion traditionnellement formelles et linéaires que par des processus de conception – qui sont, eux, non linéaires et auto-organisants, articulés à partir d’approches systémiques ; (2) amène à repenser ses propres processus de réalisation, et ; (3) constitue un facteur de contingence et influence la structure de la MOT créée pour développer le projet lui-même. La thèse révèle la diversité et la complexité des processus et des configurations organisationnelles, contribuant à produire une représentation multidimensionnelle de la conduite effective du projet. Trois contributions importantes, ouvrant la voie à de nouvelles recherches, découlent de ces conclusions, soit : (1) la construction du cadre des ontologies du projet et son articulation par les outils de la systémique ; (2) l’existence des constellations interorganisationnelles et des typologies de la MOT, et ; (3) l’énoncé du concept du « projet organisant » voulant que le projet « s’organise et organise » les processus et les organisations, par le jeu multiple des acteurs. / Construction projects are often affected by lower levels of performance and significant gaps between what is planned and what is actually realized. This thesis aims to examine the phenomenon that allows the built environment project to organize itself and carry out its objectives. The hypothesis states that: projects influence, transform and create the organizations that conduct them, following a dynamic and iterative process, referred to as «self- organizing » and «  structuring ». This « active organizing » process generates transformations – organizational and structural – conditioned by the very nature of the project itself. To validate this hypothesis, an ontological frame, based on four categories of analysis has been devised, including: (a) organization and structures; (b) the project and its processes; (c) the artefact and its design, and; (d) actors’ dynamic. These fields are put in relations using systemic principles and tools within the paradigmatic frame of complexity. The methodology includes three steps, deployed along five articles : article no1 presents the research problem and theoretical framework; articles no2, 3 and 4 use case studies and case surveys for the study of various aspects of the organizational structures; article no5 presents a longitudinal case study, spanning three years, which examined decision processes. The five articles explore the following topics: (no1) the design thinking approach to projects and actors’ dynamic behavior ; (no2) the informality of communications and coordination ; (no3) contingency factors that influence the « structuring » of the temporary multiorganization – TMO;  (no4) the typologies of the TMO, and ; (no5) the study of iterative processes and their influence on organizational structures. Seven results validate sub-hypotheses that state that: a process of «self-organization » generates transformations – organizational and processual – linked to the specific nature of the project. Therefore, the project : (1) is conducted by both formalized and often linear management approaches as well as  iterative design process, the former being non-linear and self-organizing and responding to systemic principles ; (2) contributes to create its own processes of development, and ; (3) constitutes a contingency factor that influences the structuring of the TMO that is created to conduct the project itself. This analysis reveals the diversity and complexity of organizational processes and structures, producing a multidimensional representation of project behaviour. Three important contributions are drawn from these conclusions : (1) the frame of ontologies of the project and its underlying systemic functioning ; (2) the existence of inter-organizational work constellations and a typology of six TMO configurations, and ; (3) the statement of the « organizing  project » that, through the « self-organization » approach, « organizes » itself and the processes and organization that are created to conduct it, through actors’ multiple roles.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze a buyer decision process of consumers in choice of mobile phone operator with a focus on individual. The diploma thesis is divided in six parts. The first and second parts focus on theory of marketing of services with an emphasis on services of mobile operators followed by consumer behavior. Next part covers problems of mobile phone operator's market. Next key part is buyer decision process of consumers in choice of mobile phone operator based on secondary (agency) data and based on results from analysis of a questionnaire. A summary of acquired results is compared to all phases of buyer decision process in sixth part. Comparing of results for picked customer segment with actual offer of mobile operators in Czech Republic is at the end of this thesis.

Under de senaste åren har det blivit allt vanligare för konsumenter att använda sig av sociala medier, främst inom turismindustrin. Det är vanligt för konsumenter att idag stöta på nya destinationer och att viljan av att resa uppstår genom sociala medier. Denna studie handlar om att få en djupare förståelse av hur destinationsmarknadsföring tolkas av konsumenter. För att uppnå syfte har dessa två frågeställningar formulerats, Hur möts konsumenterna av destinationsmarknadsföring på sociala medier? och Vilket inflytande påstår konsumenterna att destinationsmarknadsföring inom sociala medier har på deras köpbeslut av destination?. Den empiriska materialinsamlingen har tagits fram genom att genomföra 20 kvalitativa intervjuer på konsumenter. Valet av att genomföra intervjuerna på konsumenter var för att få konsumenternas perspektiv av det valda forskningsområdet. För att analysera den empiriska materialinsamlingen har studien utgått ifrån fem teorier, Social media marketing, Konsumentens beslutsprocess, WOM och eWOM, Personliga egenskapers påverkan på konsumenternas köpbeteende och Push- och Pull faktorer. Studien har kommit fram till att konsumenter ofta möts av destinationsmarknadsföring i sin vardag på sociala medier. Samt att mötet även har ett stort inflytande på konsumenternas köpbeslut, då viljan av att resa uppkommer och beslutet av destination tas. / Over recent years it has become increasingly common for the general populous to use social media, especially for companies and consumers in the tourism industry. This affects the way potential consumers learn about new destinations and also influences their opinions on said places. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how destination marketing is interpreted by consumers. In order to achieve this, two questions needed to be answered: How do consumers come across destination marketing on social media? and In what way do consumers feel destination marketing impacts their purchasing decisions? Interviews were conducted with 20 consumers to obtain qualitative data in order to gain an insight on the consumers perspective. Empirical data was analyzed using five different theories: Social Media Marketing, The Buyer Decision Process, WOM and eWOM, Personal Characteristics Affecting Consumers Behavior and Push- and Pull Factors. This study shows that consumers encounter destination marketing on social media often and also that destination marketing has a significant influence on consumers purchasing decisions as it encourages travel and allows selection of destination.

L’occupation de l’Indochine française par le Japon entre juin 1940 et juillet 1941 constitue un événement-clé de l’histoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Désirant sortir de son isolement diplomatique et du bourbier du conflit chinois, le Japon profite de la victoire allemande en juin 1940 pour occuper le nord de l’Indochine, arrimer la colonie française à son économie, imposer sa médiation dans le conflit franco-thaïlandais, puis occuper le sud de l’Indochine avant de se lancerdans ce la Guerre du Pacifique. Pourtant, son ennemi désigné est, traditionnellement, l’URSS. Les raisons de cet hybris sont à chercher dans sa volonté de détruire le statu quo imposé par les puissances occidentales en Asie orientale, ainsi que dans une crise interne insoluble qui le font choisir le camp des pays totalitaires. L’occupation du sud de l’Indochine en juillet 1941 est un point de non-retour. Cette crise où l’Indochine française a joué un rôle central, permet à l’historien de découvrir le mécanisme du processus de décision dans le Japon d’avant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Les groupes dirigeants japonais ne connaissent pas de lutte entre des faucons et des colombes, mais la rivalité permanente de factions qui cherchent prendre la tête du mouvement expansionniste. Car si l’expansion fait consensus, la décision, tant de la direction que des moyens, est l’objet d’âpres luttes. C’est cependant à l’occasion de l’occupation de l’Indochine et à mesure que la Guerre du Pacifique se rapproche, qu’une synthèse se fait en haut de l’État par la constitution d’un groupe dirigeant composé de militaires et de bureaucrates favorisant une évolution totalitaire du régime, couplée à la construction d’un empire en Asie et dans le Pacifique. / The occupation of French Indochina by Japan from June 1940 to July 1941 constitutes a key event for World War II history. Eager to escape its diplomatic isolation and the quagmire of the war in China, Japan takes advantage of German victory in June 1940 to occupy Northern Indochina, to tie up the French colony to its economy, to impose its mediation in the French-Thai conflict, occupy the Southern part of Indochina and, then, to launch the Pacific War. However, its traditional foe was the USSR. The reasons of this hubris lie in its desire to destroy the status quo enforced by western powers in Eastern Asia, as well as in an insoluble internal crisis that made Japan choose the side of totalitarian countries. The occupation of Southern Indochina in 1941 is a point of no return. This crisis where French Indochina played a crucial part allows the historian to uncover the mechanism of the decision-making process in Japan before the Second World War. Japanese leading groups do not operate on a partition between hawks and doves, but on the constant rivalry of factions who would try to take the lead of the movement for expansion. If expansion is the object of a consensus among leaders, the decision of its direction and means is the causes of fierce conflicts. However, the occupation of Indochina and the approach of the Pacific War lead to a synthesis at the top of the State, by the composition of a leading group made of military and bureaucrats who promote the totalitarian evolution of the regime coupled with the building of an empire in Asia and in the Pacific.

La raréfaction des sources de production conventionnelles et leurs émissions nocives ont favorisé l’essor notable de la production renouvelable, plus durable et mieux répartie géographiquement. Toutefois, son intégration au système électrique est problématique. En effet, la production renouvelable est peu prédictible et issue de sources majoritairement incontrôlables, ce qui compromet la stabilité du réseau, la viabilité économique des producteurs et rend nécessaire la définition de solutions adaptées pour leur participation au marché de l’électricité. Dans ce contexte, le projet scientifique Winpower propose de relier par un réseau à courant continu les ressources de plusieurs acteurs possédant respectivement des fermes éoliennes offshore (acteurs EnR) et des centrales de stockage de masse (acteurs CSM). Cette configuration impose aux acteurs d’assurer conjointement la gestion du réseau électrique.Nous supposons que les acteurs participent au marché comme une entité unique : cette hypothèse permet aux acteurs EnR de tirer profit de la flexibilité des ressources contrôlables pour minimiser le risque de pénalités sur le marché de l’électricité, aux acteurs CSM de valoriser leurs ressources auprès des acteurs EnR et/ou auprès du marché et à la coalition de faciliter la gestion des déséquilibres sur le réseau électrique, en agrégeant les ressources disponibles. Dans ce cadre, notre travail s’attaque à la problématique de la participation au marché EPEX SPOT Day-Ahead de la coalition comme une centrale électrique virtuelle ou CVPP (Cooperative Virtual Power Plant). Nous proposons une architecture de pilotage multi-acteurs basée sur les systèmes multi-agents (SMA) : elle permet d’allier les objectifs et contraintes locaux des acteurs et les objectifs globaux de la coalition.Nous formalisons alors l’agrégation et la planification de l’utilisation des ressources comme un processus décisionnel de Markov (MDP), un modèle formel adapté à la décision séquentielle en environnement incertain, pour déterminer la séquence d’actions sur les ressources contrôlables qui maximise l’espérance des revenus effectifs de la coalition. Toutefois, au moment de la planification des ressources de la coalition, l’état de la production renouvelable n’est pas connue et le MDP n’est pas résoluble en l’état : on parle de MDP partiellement observable (POMDP). Nous décomposons le POMDP en un MDP classique et un état d’information (la distribution de probabilités des erreurs de prévision de la production renouvelable) ; en extrayant cet état d’information de l’expression du POMDP, nous obtenons un MDP à état d’information (IS-MDP), pour la résolution duquel nous proposons une adaptation d’un algorithme de résolution classique des MDP, le Backwards Induction.Nous décrivons alors un cadre de simulation commun pour comparer dans les mêmes conditions nos propositions et quelques autres stratégies de participation au marché dont l’état de l’art dans la gestion des ressources renouvelables et contrôlables. Les résultats obtenus confortent l’hypothèse de la minimisation du risque associé à la production renouvelable, grâce à l’agrégation des ressources et confirment l’intérêt de la coopération des acteurs EnR et CSM dans leur participation au marché de l’électricité. Enfin, l’architecture proposée offre la possibilité de distribuer le processus de décision optimale entre les différents acteurs de la coalition : nous proposons quelques pistes de solution dans cette direction. / Renewable Energy Sources (RES) has grown remarkably in last few decades. Compared to conventional energy sources, renewable generation is more available, sustainable and environment-friendly - for example, there is no greenhouse gases emission during the energy generation. However, while electrical network stability requires production and consumption equality and the electricity market constrains producers to contract future production a priori and respect their furniture commitments or pay substantial penalties, RES are mainly uncontrollable and their behavior is difficult to forecast accurately. De facto, they jeopardize the stability of the physical network and renewable producers competitiveness in the market. The Winpower project aims to design realistic, robust and stable control strategies for offshore networks connecting to the main electricity system renewable sources and controllable storage devices owned by different autonomous actors. Each actor must embed its own local physical device control strategy but a global network management mechanism, jointly decided between connected actors, should be designed as well.We assume a market participation of the actors as an unique entity (the coalition of actors connected by the Winpower network) allowing the coalition to facilitate the network management through resources aggregation, renewable producers to take advantage of controllable sources flexibility to handle market penalties risks, as well as storage devices owners to leverage their resources on the market and/or with the management of renewable imbalances. This work tackles the market participation of the coalition as a Cooperative Virtual Power Plant. For this purpose, we describe a multi-agent architecture trough the definition of intelligent agents managing and operating actors resources and the description of these agents interactions; it allows the alliance of local constraints and objectives and the global network management objective.We formalize the aggregation and planning of resources utilization as a Markov Decision Process (MDP), a formal model suited for sequential decision making in uncertain environments. Its aim is to define the sequence of actions which maximize expected actual incomes of the market participation, while decisions over controllable resources have uncertain outcomes. However, market participation decision is prior to the actual operation when renewable generation still is uncertain. Thus, the Markov Decision Process is intractable as its state in each decision time-slot is not fully observable. To solve such a Partially Observable MDP (POMDP), we decompose it into a classical MDP and an information state (a probability distribution over renewable generation errors). The Information State MDP (IS-MDP) obtained is solved with an adaptation of the Backwards Induction, a classical MDP resolution algorithm.Then, we describe a common simulation framework to compare our proposed methodology to some other strategies, including the state of the art in renewable generation market participation. Simulations results validate the resources aggregation strategy and confirm that cooperation is beneficial to renewable producers and storage devices owners when they participate in electricity market. The proposed architecture is designed to allow the distribution of the decision making between the coalition’s actors, through the implementation of a suitable coordination mechanism. We propose some distribution methodologies, to this end.

The debate in the media on a new Swedish sex education movie sparked our interest in this study. The twenty-eight minutes long movie “Sex on the map” is the first of it’s kind in twenty-five years. It is also part of a bigger sex educational project that contains, apart from the movie, a book about sex education, a documentary and a teachers guide. The project is a co-production between the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company (UR) and the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU). We were interested in how teachers received information about the project, and what their attitudes were towards it. In the starting phase of the launching of the project, UR and RFSU sent out a promotional box to all Swedish high school headmasters. This was a way to inform schools about the new educational material. Our finding’s showed that most of the respondents did not obtain the box. They recognized parts of the project but had not formed any attitudes towards it. Despite this, the teachers were positive and thought the material could be a great tool to develop and modernize Swedish sex education.

Les projets d’aménagement souffrent de problèmes de performance et de décalages significatifs entre ce qui est planifié et est effectivement réalisé. L’objectif principal de la thèse est d’examiner le phénomène permettant au projet d’aménagement de s’organiser et de se réaliser. L’hypothèse générale avance que :  Les projets influencent, transforment et créent les organisations qui les réalisent, selon un processus dynamique et récursif de structuration et d’organisation. Ce processus d’« organisation active » génère des transformations – organisationnelles et processuelles – liées à la nature même du projet. Pour vérifier cette hypothèse générale, une grille des ontologies a été élaborée, sur la base de quatre champs de connaissances, soit : (a) l’organisation et ses structures ; (b) le projet et ses processus ; (c) l’artefact et sa conception et ; (d) la dynamique des acteurs. La mise en relation de ces champs de connaissances fait appel à l’approche systémique à l’intérieur du cadre paradigmatique de la complexité. La méthodologie se déploie en trois volets, répartis sur les cinq articles de la thèse : l’article no1 présente une exploration théorique de la problématique ; les articles no2, 3 et 4 déploient des études de cas et des case survey ; l’article no5 propose une étude de cas longitudinale, s’échelonnant sur trois ans, visant l’élaboration de la cartographie des processus décisionnels. Les cinq articles de la thèse explorent les enjeux suivant : (no1) l’approche par le design et la dynamique des acteurs ; (no2) l’informalité des communications et de la coordination ; (no3) les facteurs de contingences qui influencent la « structuration » de la multiorganisation temporaire – MOT;  (no4) les typologies de la MOT, et ; (no5) l’itérativité des processus décisionnels et leurs influences sur les structures organisationnelles. Sept résultats permettent de valider les sous-hypothèses : qu’un processus d’« organisation active » génère des transformations – organisationnelles et processuelles – liées à la nature même du projet. Aussi, le projet d’aménagement : (1) est réalisé autant par des approches de gestion traditionnellement formelles et linéaires que par des processus de conception – qui sont, eux, non linéaires et auto-organisants, articulés à partir d’approches systémiques ; (2) amène à repenser ses propres processus de réalisation, et ; (3) constitue un facteur de contingence et influence la structure de la MOT créée pour développer le projet lui-même. La thèse révèle la diversité et la complexité des processus et des configurations organisationnelles, contribuant à produire une représentation multidimensionnelle de la conduite effective du projet. Trois contributions importantes, ouvrant la voie à de nouvelles recherches, découlent de ces conclusions, soit : (1) la construction du cadre des ontologies du projet et son articulation par les outils de la systémique ; (2) l’existence des constellations interorganisationnelles et des typologies de la MOT, et ; (3) l’énoncé du concept du « projet organisant » voulant que le projet « s’organise et organise » les processus et les organisations, par le jeu multiple des acteurs. / Construction projects are often affected by lower levels of performance and significant gaps between what is planned and what is actually realized. This thesis aims to examine the phenomenon that allows the built environment project to organize itself and carry out its objectives. The hypothesis states that: projects influence, transform and create the organizations that conduct them, following a dynamic and iterative process, referred to as «self- organizing » and «  structuring ». This « active organizing » process generates transformations – organizational and structural – conditioned by the very nature of the project itself. To validate this hypothesis, an ontological frame, based on four categories of analysis has been devised, including: (a) organization and structures; (b) the project and its processes; (c) the artefact and its design, and; (d) actors’ dynamic. These fields are put in relations using systemic principles and tools within the paradigmatic frame of complexity. The methodology includes three steps, deployed along five articles : article no1 presents the research problem and theoretical framework; articles no2, 3 and 4 use case studies and case surveys for the study of various aspects of the organizational structures; article no5 presents a longitudinal case study, spanning three years, which examined decision processes. The five articles explore the following topics: (no1) the design thinking approach to projects and actors’ dynamic behavior ; (no2) the informality of communications and coordination ; (no3) contingency factors that influence the « structuring » of the temporary multiorganization – TMO;  (no4) the typologies of the TMO, and ; (no5) the study of iterative processes and their influence on organizational structures. Seven results validate sub-hypotheses that state that: a process of «self-organization » generates transformations – organizational and processual – linked to the specific nature of the project. Therefore, the project : (1) is conducted by both formalized and often linear management approaches as well as  iterative design process, the former being non-linear and self-organizing and responding to systemic principles ; (2) contributes to create its own processes of development, and ; (3) constitutes a contingency factor that influences the structuring of the TMO that is created to conduct the project itself. This analysis reveals the diversity and complexity of organizational processes and structures, producing a multidimensional representation of project behaviour. Three important contributions are drawn from these conclusions : (1) the frame of ontologies of the project and its underlying systemic functioning ; (2) the existence of inter-organizational work constellations and a typology of six TMO configurations, and ; (3) the statement of the « organizing  project » that, through the « self-organization » approach, « organizes » itself and the processes and organization that are created to conduct it, through actors’ multiple roles. / Codirection: Dr. Gonzalo Lizarralde

The overall purpose of this thesis is to gain further knowledge of how the Swedish local government level is affected by requirements to use public procurement through competitive tendering and, more specifically, understand the actions taken by included actors when public procurement is required in implementation of public transport goals. Through case study method, an in specific process tracing, various implementation processes have been examined. One studied process complied with the procurement regulations, while the others included elements that circumvented them. In each process, the actions taken by involved actors have been the focus. The findings are presented in four papers. An overall conclusion is that, when public procurement is required in implementation at the local government level, several actors need to interact. These actors may use procurement to expand, maintain, or restrain their discretion towards others actors. In addition, various control mechanisms, such as e.g. monitoring, are used to restrain an actor’s discretion when the actor is circumventing procurement legislation. / Det övergripande syftet med denna avhandling är att öka kunskapen om hur den lokala nivån i Sverige är påverkad av kravet på att använda offentlig upphandling, och mer specifikt att förstå de handlingar som olika aktörer vidtar vid implementering av kollektivtrafik mål, då konkurrensutsatt upphandling är ett krav. Genom fallstudie metod har olika implementeringsprocesser undersökts. I en process har upphandlingsreglerna följts, medan i de andra har upphandlingslagen kringgåtts. Resultaten har analyserats utifrån principal-agent teori och presenteras i form av fyra artiklar. I studien konstateras det att flera aktörer är beroende av varandra i implementeringen. Aktörerna kan använda upphandling för att både behålla och expandera sitt handlingsutrymme gentemot andra aktörer, men upphandling kan även vara begränsande. I studien diskuteras även olika kontrollmekanismer som användas då aktörer kringgår upphandlingslagstiftningen.

This research project focuses on conversions from Islam to Christianity in the Sudan. It first gives a biblical and theological understanding of conversion and then introduces the sociological and psychological understanding of such a change in religious affiliation. It discusses conversion as a spiritual decision process and develops a spiritual decision matrix for evaluating conversion processes of Muslims. The heart of the study is an analysis of the conversion processes of six converts with a Northern Sudanese background from different Muslim tribes. The interviews that were conducted with these converts are analysed in terms of five parameters: reasons for conversion; factors that led to conversion; stages in the conversion processes; problems encountered during the conversion processes; and results of the conversion. These parameters are compared with existing data from six studies of Muslims in other geographical areas who also converted to the Christian faith. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

Problems involving optimal sequential making in uncertain dynamic systems arise in domains such as engineering, science and economics. Such problems can often be cast in the framework of Markov Decision Process (MDP). Solving an MDP requires computing the optimal value function and the optimal policy. The idea of dynamic programming (DP) and the Bellman equation (BE) are at the heart of solution methods. The three important exact DP methods are value iteration, policy iteration and linear programming. The exact DP methods compute the optimal value function and the optimal policy. However, the exact DP methods are inadequate in practice because the state space is often large and in practice, one might have to resort to approximate methods that compute sub-optimal policies. Further, in certain cases, the system observations are known only in the form of noisy samples and we need to design algorithms that learn from these samples. In this thesis we study interesting theoretical questions pertaining to approximate and learning algorithms, and also present an interesting application of MDPs in the domain of crowd sourcing. Approximate Dynamic Programming (ADP) methods handle the issue of large state space by computing an approximate value function and/or a sub-optimal policy. In this thesis, we are concerned with conditions that result in provably good policies. Motivated by the limitations of the PBE in the conventional linear algebra, we study the PBE in the (min, +) linear algebra. It is a well known fact that deterministic optimal control problems with cost/reward criterion are (min, +)/(max, +) linear and ADP methods have been developed for such systems in literature. However, it is straightforward to show that infinite horizon discounted reward/cost MDPs are neither (min, +) nor (max, +) linear. We develop novel ADP schemes namely the Approximate Q Iteration (AQI) and Variational Approximate Q Iteration (VAQI), where the approximate solution is a (min, +) linear combination of a set of basis functions whose span constitutes a subsemimodule. We show that the new ADP methods are convergent and we present a bound on the performance of the sub-optimal policy. The Approximate Linear Program (ALP) makes use of linear function approximation (LFA) and offers theoretical performance guarantees. Nevertheless, the ALP is difficult to solve due to the presence of a large number of constraints and in practice, a reduced linear program (RLP) is solved instead. The RLP has a tractable number of constraints sampled from the original constraints of the ALP. Though the RLP is known to perform well in experiments, theoretical guarantees are available only for a specific RLP obtained under idealized assumptions. In this thesis, we generalize the RLP to define a generalized reduced linear program (GRLP) which has a tractable number of constraints that are obtained as positive linear combinations of the original constraints of the ALP. The main contribution here is the novel theoretical framework developed to obtain error bounds for any given GRLP. Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms can be viewed as sample trajectory based solution methods for solving MDPs. Typically, RL algorithms that make use of stochastic approximation (SA) are iterative schemes taking small steps towards the desired value at each iteration. Actor-Critic algorithms form an important sub-class of RL algorithms, wherein, the critic is responsible for policy evaluation and the actor is responsible for policy improvement. The actor and critic iterations have deferent step-size schedules, in particular, the step-sizes used by the actor updates have to be generally much smaller than those used by the critic updates. Such SA schemes that use deferent step-size schedules for deferent sets of iterates are known as multitimescale stochastic approximation schemes. One of the most important conditions required to ensure the convergence of the iterates of a multi-timescale SA scheme is that the iterates need to be stable, i.e., they should be uniformly bounded almost surely. However, the conditions that imply the stability of the iterates in a multi-timescale SA scheme have not been well established. In this thesis, we provide veritable conditions that imply stability of two timescale stochastic approximation schemes. As an example, we also demonstrate that the stability of a widely used actor-critic RL algorithm follows from our analysis. Crowd sourcing (crowd) is a new mode of organizing work in multiple groups of smaller chunks of tasks and outsourcing them to a distributed and large group of people in the form of an open call. Recently, crowd sourcing has become a major pool for human intelligence tasks (HITs) such as image labeling, form digitization, natural language processing, machine translation evaluation and user surveys. Large organizations/requesters are increasingly interested in crowd sourcing the HITs generated out of their internal requirements. Task starvation leads to huge variation in the completion times of the tasks posted on to the crowd. This is an issue for frequent requesters desiring predictability in the completion times of tasks specified in terms of percentage of tasks completed within a stipulated amount of time. An important task attribute that affects the completion time of a task is its price. However, a pricing policy that does not take the dynamics of the crowd into account might fail to achieve the desired predictability in completion times. Here, we make use of the MDP framework to compute a pricing policy that achieves predictable completion times in simulations as well as real world experiments.