This study extended previous research by applying Higgins (2007) theory of Regulatory Fit to the context of performance feedback. Participants worked on an in-basket task in two 30 minute segments. Following the first 30 minutes segment, they were given recommendations for improving their performance framed in a manner that either did or did not fit their motivational orientation. Hypotheses predicted that compared to instances of non-fit, conditions of regulatory fit between recommendation frame (Eager vs. Vigilant) and motivational orientation (Promotion vs. Prevention) would have a significantly greater, positive impact on the following three outcomes: 1) Variety and Frequency of Feedback Use, 2) Feedback Recall, and 3) Attitudes Following Feedback. Overall results supported this assertion. Participants in condition of regulatory fit engaged in a significantly greater variety of behaviors and did so more frequently than those assigned to non-fit conditions. And while the effect of regulatory fit on feedback recall was not significant, it did approach significance (p = .07) and produced a pattern of results consistent with the predictions of regulatory fit. Counter to previous research, regulatory fit did not have significant impact on Attitudes Following Feedback in the current study. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Ph. D.

Yes / Disaster management aims to mitigate the potential damage from the disasters, ensure immediate and suitable assistance to the victims, and attain effective and rapid recovery. These objectives require a planned and effective rescue operation post such disasters. Different types of information about the impact of the disaster are, hence, required for planning an effective and immediate relief operation. The IoT technology available today is quite mature and has the potential to be very useful in disaster situations. This paper analyzes the requirements for planning rescue operation for such natural disasters and proposes an IoT based solution to cater the identified requirements. The proposed solution is further validated using the task-technology fit (TTF) approach for analyzing the significance of the adoption of IoT technology for disaster management. Results from the exploratory study established the core dimensions of the task requirements and the TTF constructs. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis using PLS path modelling, further, suggest that both task requirements and IoT technology have significant impact on the IoT TTF in the disaster management scenario. This paper makes significant contributions in the development of appropriate constructs for modeling TTF for IoT Technology in the context of disaster management.

The External Enablers framework was developed to provide structure and terminology for the analysis of entrepreneurial opportunities. External Enablers (EEs) refer to changes in the environment such as regulatory changes, demographic shifts, or new technologies that enable an individual to create and develop ventures (Davidsson, 2015; Davidsson et al., 2020; Kimjeon & Davidsson, 2021). The framework aims to explain the cause-effect relationships between environmental changes and benefits that ventures experience, via EE mechanisms. EE mechanisms connect to responses in entrepreneurs through relational qualities called opacity and agency intensity. However, recent studies have found that entrepreneurs may ignore significant external changes in the environment, regardless of opacity and agency intensity considerations. Consequently, something else might explain agents’ engagement in venture creation. Another shortcoming of the framework is that it has yet to integrate the possibility that EEs might trigger consecutive EEs, in addition to agents acting on them through, for example, cascading effects. This thesis explores entrepreneurial action and its interplay with external enablers. We investigate why certain individuals act entrepreneurially upon multiple EEs. Previous research has stated that entrepreneurs may ignore opacity and agency intensity considerations. Hence, opacity and agency intensity may not be enough to explain why agents act on EEs. We conducted a qualitative multicase study, to identify patterns and relationships for theory building adhering to grounded theory traditions. Four cases from the Swedish wine industry were chosen, two “pioneers” (that is, early entrants in the wine industry in Sweden) and two “followers” (that is, later entrants). The industry serves as an appropriate empirical setting due to its novelty, where the environment changed rapidly, enabling a new industry to emerge from the 90s. Archival material and semi-structured interviews were combined, where a total of 21 interviews were conducted with vineyard founders, owners, and one expert. The findings show that the pioneers faced high opacity and agency intensity. Therefore, we introduce a third relational quality called Enthusiasm Fit. A high enthusiasm fit helps the pioneers “see through” a high opacity and overcome agency intensity, resulting in acting upon multiple and consecutive EEs. We also found that pioneers contribute to creating other EEs, resulting in cascading effects, where one EE generates reactions in another. Moreover, the followers don’t require a high enthusiasm fit but need the cascading effects produced by pioneers, to lower opacity and agency intensity considerations.

The concept of measurement invariance is essential in ensuring psychological and educational tests are interpreted consistently across diverse groups. This dissertation investigated the practical challenges associated with measurement invariance, specifically on how measurement invariance delta fit indexes are affected by non-normal data. Non-normal data distributions are common in real-world scenarios, yet many statistical methods and measurement invariance delta fit indexes are based on the assumption of normally distributed data. This raises concerns about the accuracy and reliability of conclusions drawn from such analyses. The primary objective of this research is to examine how commonly used delta fit indexes of measurement invariance respond under conditions of non-normality. The present research was built upon Cao and Liang (2022a)’s study to test the sensitivities of a series of delta fit indexes, and further scrutinizes the role of non-normal data distributions. A series of simulation studies was conducted, where data sets with varying degrees of skewness and kurtosis were generated. These data sets were then examined by multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) using the Satorra-Bentler scaled chi-square difference test, a method specifically designed to adjust for non-normality. The performance of delta fit indexes such as the Delta Comparative Fit Index (∆CFI), Delta Standardized Root Mean Square residual (∆SRMR) and Delta Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (∆RMSEA) were assessed. These findings have significant implications for professionals and scholars in psychology and education. They provide constructive information related to key aspects of research and practice in these fields related to measurement, contributing to the broader discussion on measurement invariance by highlighting challenges and offering solutions for assessing model fit in non-normal data scenarios.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att genom en flerfallsstudie analysera och söka förståelse för sambanden mellan prissättningsstrategier och prissättningsmetoder som tillämpas hos företag som riktar sin verksamhet främst mot andra företag, B2B. Analysen av empirin sker med hjälp av redan existerande teorier om prisstrategier och prissättningsmetoder. Trots studiens fokus på ett visst företag inom en viss bransch är ändå förhoppningen att studiens slutsatser ska kunna vara av intresse för B2B-företag med samma kostnadsstrukturer. Metod: Ramen för studien utgörs av en deduktiv ansats med kvalitativ undersökningsdesign. Företagen i studien har studerats genom en flerfallsstudie med semistrukturerade intervjuer som metod för att insamla data. Teoretisk referensram: Uppsatsens teoretiska del innefattar teorier från företagsekonomisk forskning som förklarar vanliga prisstrategier, prissättningsmetoder och dess funktioner. Begreppen Price Waterfall och Strategic Fit har behandlats för att i analysen kunna se hur väl företagens övriga aktiviteter integrerar med prissättningsprocessen. Slutsats: Målet med denna studie är att besvara frågeställningen: Vilka samband finns det mellan prissättningsstrategier och prissättningsmetoder inom B2B-fötetag? Resultatet visar att det finns tydliga samband på flera områden. Det finns flera slutsatser att dra av denna studie, men den viktigaste slutsatsen är: För att vinstmaximera sina prisstrategier måste man hitta samband med flera olika prissättningsmetoder och arbeta med dessa på ett aktivt sätt i hela organisationen / Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and seek knowledge about the connection between pricing strategy and pricing methods in B2B companies. The analysis was conducted with help from already exciting theory about pricing strategy and pricing methods. Even though the study is conducted on a small amount of companies in a special branch, the ambition is that this thesis could be of interest for B2B-companies with the same structures of cost. Method: The thesis uses a deductive and qualitative approach. The data is collected from a case study conducted through semi-structured interviews. Theoretical framework: The base of the theoretical approach is a number of theories from business and specialist literature that have explained common pricing strategy and pricing methods. The concept of Price Waterfall and Strategic Fit is used to analyze how the companies’ activities integrate with the pricing process. Conclusion: The purpose of this study is to answer the question: What is the relationship between pricing strategies and pricing practices in B2B companies? The result shows that there are clear links in several areas. There are several conclusions to draw from this study, but the main conclusion is that to maximize profits the pricing strategies must be associated with several different pricing methods and work with them in an active way in the whole organization

The global loss of biodiversity calls for robust large-scale diversity assessment. Biological diversity is a multi-faceted concept; defined as the “variety of life”, answering questions such as “How much is there?” or more precisely “Have we succeeded in reducing the rate of its decline?” is not straightforward. While various aspects of biodiversity give rise to numerous ways of quantification, we focus on temporal (and spatial) trends and their changes in species diversity. Traditional diversity indices summarise information contained in the species abundance distribution, i.e. each species' proportional contribution to total abundance. Estimated from data, these indices can be biased if variation in detection probability is ignored. We discuss differences between diversity indices and demonstrate possible adjustments for detectability. Additionally, most indices focus on the most abundant species in ecological communities. We introduce a new set of diversity measures, based on a family of goodness-of-fit statistics. A function of a free parameter, this family allows us to vary the sensitivity of these measures to dominance and rarity of species. Their performance is studied by assessing temporal trends in diversity for five communities of British breeding birds based on 14 years of survey data, where they are applied alongside the current headline index, a geometric mean of relative abundances. Revealing the contributions of both rare and common species to biodiversity trends, these "goodness-of-fit" measures provide novel insights into how ecological communities change over time. Biodiversity is not only subject to temporal changes, but it also varies across space. We take first steps towards estimating spatial diversity trends. Finally, processes maintaining biodiversity act locally, at specific spatial scales. Contrary to abundance-based summary statistics, spatial characteristics of ecological communities may distinguish these processes. We suggest a generalisation to a spatial summary, the cross-pair overlap distribution, to render it more flexible to spatial scale.

Under de senaste åren har användning av digitala artefakter ökat vilket gett mindre plats till papper. Tidigare forskning illustrerar att läsning via papper är populärast utan någon indikation på att det faktiskt är bättre vad gäller inlärning. Syftet med arbetet är därför att se om det finns någon skillnad och likhet mellan bruksanvisningar på papper (fysiskt) eller skärm (digitalt). Studien grundar sig i teorin Cognitive fit theory förkortat CFT. Teorin har således modifierats till en egen modell där undersökning av valet mellan papper och skärm gjorts genom användarupplevelsen i inlärning (E-learning), tidigare erfarenheter, motivation och känslor. Dessa begrepp har uppkommit från CFT samt tidigare forskning och de har följaktligen följt med under hela processen. En till faktor som grundat sig i tidigare forskning och CFT är projektets frågeställning. Frågeställningen har undersökts och besvarats med hjälp av metoder såsom användartest, där användarna fått bygga ihop två ​LEGO-modeller av samma svårighetsgrad på de olika plattformarna skärm och papper. Användartestet kombinerades med Emotiv headset, som hjälpte till med mätning av hjärnans känslosystem. Rapporten visar även på projektets intervjuer, där deltagarna hade möjlighet att delge sina tankar om testet. Det slutgiltiga resultatet visade på att vissa stora faktorer spelar roll i valet mellan skärm och papper. Bland annat begrepp som erfarenhet, motivation och känslor samt jämförelser och likheter mellan de två plattformarna. Hälften av deltagarna ansåg att en fysisk bruksanvisning är ledande medan andra hälften ansåg den digitala bruksanvisningen som vanligast i och med tutorials och dylikt. Användartesterna gick som beräknat, en del motstridiga känslor uppkom dessvärre vilket kunde skapa större distraktioner hos deltagarna. En större omfattning om detta sker i rapportens olika kapitel. / In recent years, the use of digital artifacts has increased, giving less space to paper. Previous research illustrates that reading through paper is most popular without any indication that it is actually better with regard to learning. The purpose of the work is therefore to see if there is a difference and similarity between instructions on paper (physical) or screen (digital). The study is based on the theory Cognitive Fit theory shortened CFT. The theory has then been modified to an own model, where the choice between paper and screen has been made through the user experience in learning (E-learning), past experiences, motivation and emotions. These concepts have arisen from CFT as well as previous research and have consequently followed throughout the process. One factor to be found in earlier research and CFT is the issue of the project. The questionnaire has been investigated and answered using methods such as usability testing, where users were able to build two​ LEGO-models ​of the same difficulty on the various platforms screen and paper. The usability testing was combined with Emotiv headset, which helped to measure the brain's emotional system. Finally, interviews were conducted in order to be able to share the participants thoughts about the test. The final result showed that some major factors play a part in the choice between screen and paper. Among other things, concepts like experience, motivation and feelings, as well as comparisons and similarities between the two platforms. Half of the participants felt that a physical instruction manual was most common, while the other half considered the digital user manual as common with tutorials and so on. The user tests went as expected, some contradictory feelings emerged unfortunately which could create greater distractions among the participants. A greater extent about this is done in the various sections of the report.

Le présent travail aborde le thème de la complexité sémantique dans le langage naturel, et il propose une hypothèse basée sur certaines caractéristiques des phrases du langage naturel qui déterminent la difficulté pour l'interpretation humaine.Nous visons à introduire un cadre théorique général de la complexité sémantique de la phrase, dans lequel la difficulté d'élaboration est liée à l'interaction entre deux composants: la Mémoire, qui est responsable du rangement des représentations d'événements extraites par des corpus, et l'Unification, qui est responsable de la combinaison de ces unités dans des structures plus complexes. Nous proposons que la complexité sémantique depend de la difficulté de construire une représentation sémantique de l'événement ou de la situation exprimée par une phrase, qui peut être récupérée directement de la mémoire sémantique ou construit dynamiquement en satisfaisant les contraintes contenus dans les constructions.Pour tester nos intuitions, nous avons construit un Distributional Semantic Model pour calculer le coût de composition de l'unification des phrases. Les tests sur des bases de données psycholinguistiques ont révélé que le modèle est capable d'expliquer des phénomènes sémantiques comme la mise à jour context-sensitive des attentes sur les arguments et les métonymies logiques. / The present work deals with the problem of the semantic complexity in natural language, proposing an hypothesis based on some features of natural language sentences that determine their difficulty for human understanding. We aim at introducing a general framework for semantic complexity, in which the processing difficulty depends on the interaction between two components: a Memory component, which is responsible for the storage of corpus-extracted event representations, and a Unification component, which is responsible for combining the units stored in Memory into more complex structures. We propose that semantic complexity depends on the difficulty of building a semantic representation of the event or the situation conveyed by a sentence, that can be either retrieved directly from the semantic memory or built dynamically by solving the constraints included in the stored representations.In order to test our intuitions, we built a Distributional Semantic Model to compute a compositional cost for the sentence unification process. Our tests on several psycholinguistic datasets showed that our model is able to account for semantic phenomena such as the context-sensitive update of argument expectations and of logical metonymies.

The doctoral thesis deals with an analysis of thermoplastics pipes in a soil environment, in particularly, pipes performed by using trenchless technologies. In the doctoral thesis, experiments of polyethylene pipes loaded by external hydrostatic pressure were performed. The aim of the experiments was to determine a behaviour and load-bearing capacity of the polyethylene pipes loaded by external hydrostatic pressure. For the experiments, a steel pressure chamber was designed and produced which allowed loading and observing a pipe during its loss of the stability. Mechanical properties of the pipe material were determined based on the tensile and bending tests. The series of detailed numerical analyses of the pipe experiments were performed. Various material models which take into account elastic, plastic and viscous behaviour of thermoplastic materials were used. In addition, series of standardized calculations of polyethylene pipes installed using trenchless technologies were performed. The aim was to create new design diagrams for practical assessment of these pipes placed in the partially deteriorated old pipes. In the case of the deteriorated old pipe, a numerical model for determination of design coefficients was created. These design coefficients were verified with standard values. Then, the results of the numerical model were compared with the results of the more complex numerical model which better take into account pipe-soil interaction of various soil types.

L'autorégulation est une ressource essentielle pour ne pas succomber à la tentation de consommer des aliments fortement caloriques. Elle demande de la volonté et de contrôler ses émotions et sensations. Cependant, nous évoluons dans un environnement valorisant le plaisir alimentaire où les informations de santé sont mal prises en compte, entrainant des difficultés d'autorégulation. Ces difficultés se retrouvent notamment chez les personnes en surpoids et/ou au régime. Nous avons émis l'hypothèse que valoriser le goût des aliments sains pourrait aider ces personnes à s'autoréguler et nous avons conduit deux expériences pour la tester. Dans la première, les messages basés sur le plaisir de consommer des fruits et légumes se sont avérés plus persuasifs pour ces individus. De la même manière, dans la seconde étude lors de la prise de décision simuler le plaisir procuré par ces aliments augmente davantage le choix d'aliments sains pour ces individus. Par le recours à la neuro-imagerie fonctionnelle, nous montrons également des différences significatives d'activité cérébrale entre ces individus au moment du choix d'aliments sains dans cette condition. Il apparaît plus impulsif chez les sujets les plus sensibles à la récompense, se rapprochant du choix d'aliments fortement caloriques. Au contraire, il apparaît plus réfléchi chez les sujets ayant un IMC élevé, facilitant ainsi l'autorégulation. Au niveau théorique, cette recherche met en avant le rôle positif des émotions et sensations liées au plaisir dans l'autorégulation. Au niveau managérial, elle suggère l'importance d'adapter les stratégies de promotion des aliments sains au public ciblé. / Self-regulation is an essential resource for not succumbing to (junk) food. It requires willpower and control of emotions and sensations. However, individuals operate in an environment enhancing food pleasure where health informations are few and poorly considered, causing difficulties in self-regulation. These difficulties are found especially in overweight people and/or dieter. We hypothesized that value the taste of healthy foods could help people to self-regulate and we conducted two experiments to test it. In the first study, messages highlighting the pleasure of eating fruits and vegetables are more persuasive to subjects taking risks to health. Similarly, in the second study in decision making, focusing on the tatste of these foods increases more healthy food choices for these subjects. By using neuroimaging, we have shown brain activity distinctions between these subjects when choosing healthy food in this condition. Choosing healthy food is more impulsive for the most sensitive to reward subjects, approaching the choice of junk foods. Instead, it appears more reflective for subjects with a high BMI and choosing more junk foods, facilitating self-regulation. At the theoretical level this research highlights the positive role of emotions and sensations related to pleasure in self-regulation. At the managerial level, it suggests the importance of adapting strategies to the target audience in order to efficiently healthy food consumption.