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Consistent with the well-documented relation between political orientation and psychological traits, hedge funds' political orientations are related to their portfolio decisions. Relative to politically conservative hedge funds, politically liberal hedge funds exhibit a preference for smaller stocks, less mature companies, volatile stocks, unprofitable companies, non-dividend paying companies, and lottery-type securities. Politically liberal hedge funds are also more likely to enter new positions or fully exit existing positions, and make larger adjustments to their U.S. equity market exposure. Our results suggest that psychological characteristics can influence the portfolio decisions of even those at the very top of the financial sophistication ladder.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Understanding the mechanisms of poor decision making and risk behavior in adolescence is an important goal. Two important features of adolescence relevant to these concerns are the saliency of social acceptance and increased frequency of making decisions in the company of peers. The current study examines individual differences in susceptibility to peer influence and the effect of positive and negative social contexts on adolescent decision making. Fifty-five adolescents (11.2-17.6 years of age) completed measures of social susceptibility and risk behavior and subsequently underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing a simulated driving game in three conditions: alone, while being watched by peers, and after an event of social exclusion. Individual differences in susceptibility to peers predicted a decrease in adaptive decision making following exclusion by peers. Adolescents with greater self-reported engagement in substance use, risky sexual behavior, and aggressive behavior performed worse on the game following social exclusion. Neuroimaging results showed relatively greater activation in the striatum during risky decisions (Go through a yellow light) in the peer condition compared to the social exclusion condition. Whole-brain and region of interest analyses revealed a significant decrease in striatal activity during Go decisions following social exclusion. Adolescents who were more susceptible to peer influence and engaged in more risk behavior evidenced the greatest decreases in striatal activity after social exclusion. Results suggest that susceptibility to peer influence interacts with the experience of social exclusion to produce maladaptive decision making in adolescents. More broadly, the results demonstrate that individual differences and social contexts are both important factors affecting adolescent decisions and that changes in momentary levels of social acceptance can influence the quality of adolescent decisions in social situations. These findings suggest that the explanatory power of existing models of adolescent decision making could be extended by exploring individual differences in decision making within and across social contexts, including peer influence and social exclusion, to provide a more comprehensive account of which adolescents are prone to making poor decisions and when.

This thesis develops a framework for making ecologically sustainable decisions. It is an integrative thesis that draws its data from the fundamental concepts underlying the disciplines of psyschology, linguistics and biology. Its orientation is essentially theoretical, but its application is practical. It is presented in three parts. Part 1 sets out the theoretical context and proposes a basis for understanding decision-making processes in an interactive, evolutionary context. This part focuses particularly on subjective factors that play a role when an organism is in the process of making a decision. Part 1 provides an underpinning for the core of the thesis. Part 2 forms this core. It considers the context in which decisions are made and overviews current decision-making frameworks that aim at ecologically sustainable outcomes. It proposes a process of metabolic mapping of materials and energy flows across integrated socio-political bioregions as a basis for decision-making. Part 3 considers the implications of the approach in terms of its utility, reliability and validity. This part also looks at the role of ethics in decision-making and outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the new approach. The principle rinding is that research and decision-making are fundamentally distinct, often confused concepts. An integrative approach to decision-making is required to counter the increasing fragmentation in research and professional and administrative specialisation. A research tool that bridges the plethora of theoretical orientations is proposed. This involves the use of a semantic metalanguage to capture meaning in a rigorous and verifiable way. Such a metalanguage gives us a means of understanding the subjective experience of organisms, and in particular, their subjective perception of reality which guides their decision-making. A second finding is that, unlike research, which necessarily involves a process of context reduction, sound decision-making necessarily involves a process of context augmentation. And finally it proposes a method of metabolic mapping on a bioregional basis operating under the principle of subsidiarity as the most appropriate route towards sustainable decision-making.

This descriptive phenomenology had two purposes: first, to explore the experience of making decisions for women with advanced cancer; and second, to explore the experience for significant others and health care team members as women made their decisions. A plethora of research exists on making decisions during the cancer experience, including research regarding: 1) decision-making styles; 2) factors or determinants which play a role in decision making; 3) information: needs, seeking behaviours, and utilization; and 4) decision support technologies. However, a gap exists in the literature regarding the experience of making decisions. Conversational interviews were conducted with five women and three relevant others for each woman: her primary nurse, her oncologist, and one significant other. Women were also provided with the opportunity to journal in a diary or email their memories of decisions and the surrounding experience. Van Manens (1990) phenomenology guided the analysis of data. For the women, analysis centered on the four existentials of lived time, lived other, lived space, and lived body, revealing four themes of the lived experience of making decisions: 1) control, 2) influence, 3) normalcy, and 4) vulnerability. Phenomenological analysis on data from the significant others revealed three themes: 1) what used to be, 2) power shift, and 3) life on hold. Themes for the health care teams experience as women made decisions were: 1) emotional detachment, 2) discomfort, and 3) acquiescing. Understanding the perspectives from these lived experiences will assist the health care team to support women, and their significant others, through the experience of making decisions.

Most persons with a dementia are cared for in the home by family members who experience a broad and considerable amount of stress and whose caregiving careers may include planning for or initiating moves to memory care units (MCUs). This study examines the decision-making processes of primary informal caregivers regarding their care recipients' moves to MCUs. Grounded theory methods were used to collect and analyze data in two long-term care (LTC) facilities varying in characteristics including capacity, state licensure, fees, and resident profiles. Specific aims are two-fold: 1) advance an understanding of how primary informal caregivers of persons with a dementia made decisions for formal memory care, and 2) identify the important factors related to the decision-making process.

This descriptive phenomenology had two purposes: first, to explore the experience of making decisions for women with advanced cancer; and second, to explore the experience for significant others and health care team members as women made their decisions. A plethora of research exists on making decisions during the cancer experience, including research regarding: 1) decision-making styles; 2) factors or determinants which play a role in decision making; 3) information: needs, seeking behaviours, and utilization; and 4) decision support technologies. However, a gap exists in the literature regarding the experience of making decisions. Conversational interviews were conducted with five women and three relevant others for each woman: her primary nurse, her oncologist, and one significant other. Women were also provided with the opportunity to journal in a diary or email their memories of decisions and the surrounding experience. Van Manens (1990) phenomenology guided the analysis of data. For the women, analysis centered on the four existentials of lived time, lived other, lived space, and lived body, revealing four themes of the lived experience of making decisions: 1) control, 2) influence, 3) normalcy, and 4) vulnerability. Phenomenological analysis on data from the significant others revealed three themes: 1) what used to be, 2) power shift, and 3) life on hold. Themes for the health care teams experience as women made decisions were: 1) emotional detachment, 2) discomfort, and 3) acquiescing. Understanding the perspectives from these lived experiences will assist the health care team to support women, and their significant others, through the experience of making decisions.

National economic development relies on long-term stable supply of electricity, and the stability of electricity supply absolutely relates to the quality of maintenance of power generation units. In the past, the electricity supply of Taiwan was exclusively dominated by the state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower). Following government de-regulation policy, the private IPP (Independent Power Plants) also have joined the grid of Taiwan's electricity supply that diversified electricity power supply. This study collects power generation equipment maintenance cost information bases on practical detail cost information and labor cost paid by employer that listed in law or regulation. The information of estimating contrast cost which cannot be easily quantified is collected by questionnaire of power plant and contractor personnel who response for estimating cost of power generation equipment maintenance in order to gather practical cost estimating rules. After summarizing and analyzing collected maintenance cost data, easily calculating cost estimating model for power generation equipment had been proposed. The model can be set as criteria for cost estimating and examine the maintenance contract price of contractor in view of contractor cost. Power generation industries had faced severe cost pressures due to the high rising fuel costs, but not readily reflect the cost of power generation to the electricity charges. In the condition of high price of fuel, the only way to save operational cost was to reduce expense of equipment maintenance and other operation costs. So, the power plants aim at lowing equipment maintenance costs to meet limited budget. Most power plants plan their equipment maintenance budget according to quotation of original equipment manufacturer or professional contractor. There are lacks of related cost information to examine whether the quotation is reasonable or not. The study showed that the scale of contractor companies, indirect cost apportionment can affect indirect costs of contract cost, thereby affecting the contract price. The estimated profit will vary with many factors case by case such as market competition level, technical difficulty, working season, and duration etc.