The primary aim of the thesis is to explain informality with the help of labor market segmentation theory in the case of Turkey. In so doing, the informalization process in Turkey is discussed with reference to not only the definitional confusions in different conceptualizations of the informal sector in the literature, but also trade liberalization, privatization, subcontracting relationships and the notion of &ldquo / flexible firm&rdquo / , as well. In order to find an answer to the question of &ldquo / how the dimensions of informality fit into the perception about labor market segmentation theory&rdquo / , the field surveys conducted by different authors are analyzed. The findings of these field surveys confirm a possible explanation of informalization via labor market segmentation theory in Turkey.

<p>The aim of this paper is to investigate if a revaluation of the Chinese renminbi is in China’s interest and whether or not a renminbi revaluation can contribute to correct the US current account deficit. For that purpose, advantages and disadvantages of a revaluation for China are discussed. Furthermore, the fundamental causes of the US current account deficit are analysed to evaluate to what extent a renminbi revaluation can correct this imbalance. The discussion is based on previous research in this area. The main result is that a revaluation of the Chinese renminbi is primarily beneficial for China. Additionally it is found that the fundamental causes of the US current account deficit are domestic macroeconomic conditions and not China’s exchange rate policy. Nevertheless, a renminbi revaluation can help to support to correct the imbalance situation. As evidence is found that a revaluation is beneficial for China, it is further analysed how the revaluation should be practically obtained. The basic result is that the renminbi revaluation should be initiated by more exchange rate flexibility rather than by a one-step appreciation.</p>

This paper addresses the tension between benefits of centralized data control against the benefits of decentralized control at the level of the business unit. Centralized data control provides the benefit of uniform standards whereas business unit data control grants flexibility to react to rapidly changing environments. Many data standardization efforts fail because they do not fully take into account the value of flexibility and ownership incentives. We use a real options based framework and the theory of incomplete contracts to derive propositions about the optimal level of data standardization across the enterprise. Applications of the propositions are illustrated with case vignettes. The paper makes two main contributions. First, the approach defines formally how incentive structures influence ownership of the option value or value of flexibility, which is an intangible information asset. Second the derived propositions would help senior management to more precisely consider aligning incentives in data standardization exercises.

This work investigates the flexibility of manufacturing systems and the introduction of flexibility considerations into the change management of manufacturing systems. The change drivers that make flexibility important for manufacturing systems are analyzed and the definition and dimensions of flexibility as they have been approached in the literature are discussed. In order to measure flexibility, a Flexibility Evaluation Toolbox comprised of five individual measures is proposed in the thesis. The Flexibility Evaluation Toolbox enables the responsible engineer to select the most appropriate measure to be used in each case under study. Furthermore, each of the measures requires different data providing the opportunity to the engineer to use the Flexibility Evaluation Toolbox in a wide range of situations. A classification table of the five measures in relation to a set of usability criteria has been included. A methodology supporting the user to select the most appropriate measure according to the case under study and the user’s preferences is also provided. The Flexibility Evaluation Toolbox has been integrated in a software platform able to handle the required data, automate the calculations, provide quantitative results and eventually drive the change management directions. The software architecture and the individual modules of the software platform are described. The three basic modules of the platform are the Flexibility Evaluation Toolbox, the Data Collector and the Change Management Component. The solution proposed in this thesis can be used in small, medium or large enterprises and in different industrial sectors. This is demonstrated in the provided four case studies where flexibility evaluation has been used to support change management decisions in the commercial refrigerators sector in local and world-wide scale, the pharmaceutical/cosmetics sector and the mobile communications sector. / Στην παρούσα εργασία διερευνάται η ευελιξία στα συστήματα παραγωγής και o τρόπος εξέτασης της ευελιξίας κατά τη διαχείριση αλλαγών σε συστήματα παραγωγής. Αναλύονται οι λόγοι για τις απαιτούμενες αλλαγές που κάνουν την ευελιξία σημαντική για τα συστήματα παραγωγής και συζητούνται οι διάφορες παράμετροι της ευελιξίας, όπως παρουσιάζονται στην βιβλιογραφία. Στοχεύοντας στην μέτρηση της ευελιξίας, μια ‘εργαλειοθήκη’, αποτελούμενη από πέντε διαφορετικά ‘εργαλεία’ για την μέτρηση της ευελιξίας, προτείνεται στην εργασία. Η εργαλειοθήκη μέτρησης της ευελιξίας επιτρέπει στον ενδιαφερόμενο μηχανικό να επιλέξει το πιο κατάλληλο μέτρο για την κάθε κατάσταση που μελετάται. Επιπλέον, κάθε ένα από τα μέτρα χρησιμοποιεί διαφορετικές πληροφορίες για την αξιολόγηση δίνοντας την ευκαιρία στον μηχανικό να τα χρησιμοποιήσει σε πολλές διαφορετικές καταστάσεις. Παρέχεται ένας πίνακας ταξινόμησης των πέντε αυτών μέτρων σε σχέση με τις εφαρμογές και ιδιότητες τους, όπως και μία μεθοδολογία που μπορεί να ακολουθηθεί για την επιλογή του καταλληλότερου μέτρου. Στην εργασία προτείνεται επίσης και η ενσωμάτωση της εργαλειοθήκης των μέτρων αξιολόγησης της ευελιξίας σε μια πλατφόρμα λογισμικού η οποία είναι ικανή να διαχειριστεί τα απαιτούμενα δεδομένα, να αυτοματοποιήσει τους υπολογισμούς, να παράσχει αριθμητικά αποτελέσματα και τελικά να οδηγήσει προς την σωστή κατεύθυνση τις απαραίτητες αλλαγές. Αντίστοιχα, περιγράφονται η αρχιτεκτονική του λογισμικού και κάθε υποσύστημά της. Τα τρία κύρια υποσυστήματα της πλατφόρμας είναι η εργαλειοθήκη των μέτρων αξιολόγησης της ευελιξίας, ο συλλέκτης δεδομένων και ο διαχειριστής των αλλαγών. Η προτεινόμενη προσέγγιση μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί σε μικρές, μεσαίες και μεγάλες επιχειρήσεις που μπορεί να ανήκουν σε διαφορετικούς βιομηχανικούς τομείς. Αυτό αποδεικνύεται και από τις τέσσερις περιγραφόμενες περιπτώσεις πιλοτικής χρήσης, όπου η μέτρηση της ευελιξίας πραγματοποιείται ώστε να υποστηρίξει τη διαχείριση και να βοηθήσει την επιλογή των κατάλληλων αλλαγών στη βιομηχανία κατασκευής επαγγελματικών συστημάτων ψύξης σε τοπικό και διεθνές επίπεδο, στην φαρμακευτική βιομηχανία και στην βιομηχανία παραγωγής συσκευών κινητής τηλεφωνίας.

Background: With advances in medical treatments, the numbers of cancer survivors have grown considerably over recent years. Following completion of cancer treatment, patients can experience a range of physical and psychological difficulties, particularly around critical transition phases such as adjustment to survivorship. One of the most common difficulties cited by cancer survivors is that of fear of cancer recurrence (FOR). Existing treatments for improving psychological wellbeing in this population appear to offer limited efficacy, and there are very few interventions directly targeting FOR. Acceptance-based approaches, with an underlying aim of improving psychological flexibility, offer one novel alternative approach to addressing these difficulties. Methods: This thesis presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature in relation to the effectiveness of acceptance-based interventions for post treatment cancer survivors, with a particular focus on Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI). A cross sectional questionnaire study is then reported which explores the potential role of psychological flexibility in mediating the relationship between FOR and distress and quality of life (QoL)outcomes. Results: The findings of the review offer tentative support for the effectiveness of MBI in reducing stress and depressive symptoms, while less convincing results emerged for anxiety. Results from the empirical study suggest that while psychological flexibility does not appear to significantly mediate the impact of FOR on distress and QoL, value based living and cognitive fusion did emerge as significant mediating variables within these relationships. Conclusions: Findings suggest that acceptance-based approaches, may be of benefit in reducing the burden of distress and improving the lives of cancer survivors. Supporting cancer survivors to become less entangled with their thoughts and live in accordance with their values may be particularly beneficial. Further studies using larger samples and longitudinal designs are warranted.

This paper deals with the set of labour law relationships, which is collectively called atypical labour law relationships. At first, for the reasons of providing sufficient inside view regarding this problematic, which is connected to these relationships, the position of these relationships within the field of labour law itself is defined and necessary basic terms, which are essential for atypical labour law relationships, are presented and explained. Among these basic terms there is primarily listed definition of the term "dependent work", but the term "flexicurity" is described thereto as well. Given the fact that it is possible to apply different approaches to the definition of atypical labour law relationships, the explanation of ways how to define the set of atypical labour law relationships follows the explanation of basic terms. In the paper, there is applied the demarcation using the definition of typical labour law relationship in the way that all the labour law relationships that differ from the typical labour law relationship are labelled as atypical. In the following-up part of the paper there can be found the characterization of some of the atypical forms of labour law relationships, which make part of the defined set of relationships. The point of view of national legislation as well...

This thesis investigates how combined heat and power plants (CHP) produce electricity, with respect to several external factors including outdoor temperature and electricity prices. The purpose is to develop and evaluate a tool, with the aim to increase the understanding of CHP plants electricity production behaviour. This tool resulted in an optimisation model, developed in Python and using the CVXPY package. The objective of the model is to include a system of production units and optimise the production from these by minimising the production costs, while also considering technical constraints. Inspiration for the model was found from a literature review and from interviews with people working in the CHP sector, where the latter also provided historical production data used for validation. When comparing the modelled yearly electricity production with the historical data for the same year, it was found that the model deviated less than 10 percent for the two real district heating systems where the model was implemented. In conclusion, it is seen that the model behaves similar to the actual plants when looking at the electricity production; however, the behaviour of the model is slightly exaggerated with faster changes in the electricity production. Though, the results show that the developed model can be used to enhance the understanding of how CHP plants produce electricity.

There are modernizations or productive re-structuring processes in the Mexican industrial sector, with changes in labour relations and new profiles in labour force. The new industrial logic is underlined by the workers characteristics and labour market, that is, it appears linked to local specifications, some times important, such as the growing labour insertion of rural otomí women from the nearby municipios to the factories, mainly in the textile, food and export maquila sectors, that attend works with great flexibility. This condition forces us to reconsider the insertion of labour strategies of rural families in the State of Mexico. / En el sector industrial mexiquense se han instrumentado procesos de modernización o de reestructuración productiva con cambio en las relaciones laborales y nuevo perfil de la fuerza de trabajo. La nueva lógica industrial se ve matizada por características de los trabajadores y del mercado de trabajo, es decir, aparece vinculada a especificidades locales a veces importantes, como la creciente inserción laboral de la mano de obra femenina en la manufactura y la amplia flexibilización de las relaciones laborales. La presencia de mujeres en la industria se vincula al traslado al mundo productivo de mujeres de origen rural, otomí, de los municipios colindantes a las fábricas, principalmente a los sectores textil, alimentos y maquila de exportación, que deben hacer frente a trabajos con alto grado de flexibilidad, situación que obliga a reconsiderar las estrategias de inserción laboral de familias rurales del estado de México.

The primary goal of this study is to investigate the combination of concrete merged with textiles. Furthermore, it investigates exchanging the characteristics of these contrasting materials. Consequently, the work shows the reciprocal influence of both textile and concrete to each other. The resulting final collection presents six pieces with the main intention to present different expressions of flexibility. These appear through the interaction of textile and concrete, with the textile providing the flexibility. Depending on the precise characteristics of the used textiles, the flexibility can be shown through the tension in a fabric, the ability to be squeezed or the movement. A subsequent range of experiments investigates techniques, methods and material qualities to prove, that the required effects of the end result can be fulfilled. The crucial factors are the textile materials, the connection between concrete and textile and the treatment of the resulting surface or object. Depending on which way the crucial components are fused, a variety of expressions in the results can be accomplished. These can be described as rather organic through to geometric, and also depends whether the piece is in motion. The outcomes provide an overview of design possibilities, of incorporating such contrasting materials to create different properties and unexpected characteristics in each piece. Based on the final results, it can be concluded that the major objective, to explore design possibilities through a reciprocal interaction of textile and concrete, gives a strong and impressive expression. The approach of this relatively broad research is nevertheless important for the textile field. Therefore, it suggests further exploration, using the results as a foundation and narrow it down by focusing on specific factors.

Objectives: To explore how adjustment to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) can be understood using psychological (in)flexibility, the theoretical model underlying acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). The specific research questions are: (a) what are participant experiences of adjustment and coping in T2DM? and (b) how can participant experiences be understood in terms of the processes underlying the model of psychological (in)flexibility? Design: This interview study utilised a cross-case qualitative methodology. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 purposively recruited individuals with a diagnosis of T2DM. Interview transcripts were subjected to an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology. Results: Three primary themes were identified from the IPA: (a) ‘Eating myself into diabetes’: Managing the self in relation to perceived diabetes stigma; (b) My other illness is the real problem: diabetes minimised in the context of co-morbid diagnoses; and (c) Knowledge reduces attachment to the patient-role self-story. Conclusion The interpretation of the qualitative data generated suggests that adjustment to a diagnosis of T2DM is a complex process incorporating intra-individual and systemic factors. Whilst psychological flexibility may be a useful model for understanding and supporting adjustment, interventions are required that also address wider systemic issues such as the integration of care, health-related stigma and relationships with health professionals.