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Abstract Background: Tencent, as a listed company with strong comprehensive ability and also an early launch of equity incentive plan, is quite representative in its implementation of equity incentive plan.  Purpose: Tencent's equity incentive plan is the subject of this study, and a combination of theory and case studies is used to analyze Tencent's own development status and the current status of its equity incentive plan, and to further study the company's growth capability. Method: Qualitative analysis was conducted from both financial and non-financial indicators. In the study of financial indicators, Tencent's data from 2009-2019 was analyzed and verified that the degree of equity incentive has a significant correlation with the financial performance of the enterprise, and then specific indicators under the operating capacity, profitability, solvency and growth capacity of the enterprise were analyzed and the conclusion that equity incentive has a positive impact on the expected growth of the enterprise was drawn. Conclusion: Tencent's equity incentive has a positive effect on the future development of the company. The human resource department of the company can design a better incentive plan and more reasonable evaluation index to promote the effectiveness of the equity incentive policy of the company.

Thesis advisor: Michael Grubb / The contract renewal incentive effect is an economic topic that has been controversial in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This study investigates whether or not the performance and effort of NBA players tend to increase in contract years and decrease afterward. With the most recent data set, this paper evaluates performance and effort variables, conducts multiple linear regressions, and presents discussions related to the real world. The results conclude that based on the reality-based metric, performance decreases by approximately 1.3 points and 0.7 points in contract years and post-contract years, respectively, while effort persists at the same level. From the perspective of basketball fans, this surprising finding provides a reference when understanding the world of basketball. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Economics.

Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive substance in the world, and most caffeine consumption in coffee and energy drinks is intended to produce a psychoactive effect. However, caffeine is not a primary reinforcer in preclinical paradigms – non-human species do not reliably take the drug to produce a psychoactive effect. However, caffeine is a ‘reinforcement enhancer’ in preclinical models; the effects of caffeine increase the motivation to obtain other non-drug reinforcers. The overall goal of this project was to determine if these reinforcement enhancing effects of caffeine could promote caffeine self-administration and to subsequently investigate the behavioral and neurochemical underpinnings of this effect. We hypothesized reliable caffeine self-administration would occur by adventitious pairing of caffeine with saccharin, a primary reinforcer. Second, we hypothesized that caffeine enhances reinforcement by increasing the salience of incentive stimuli, which are stimuli that come to evoke approach behaviors through associative learning (e.g., Pavlovian conditioning). Finally, incentive salience is moderated by dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), an area highly involved in reward-learning and substance dependence. Therefore, we hypothesized that if caffeine enhanced control of approach behavior by incentives, then it would increase the ability of incentive stimuli to evoke dopamine in the NAc. These studies show that intravenous delivery of caffeine with oral saccharin increases operant relative to control groups responding for intravenous caffeine or oral saccharin. The effect was also dose-dependent, confirming that the psychoactive effects of caffeine increased behavior. We also extended this effect to an oral model of caffeine self-administration, which included a simple sweetener (saccharin) or a complex oral vehicle (saccharin with decaffeinated coffee) to mask the bitter taste of caffeine. Presenting caffeine with oral saccharin promoted self-administration, relative to saccharin alone and did not depend on the nature of the complexity of the vehicle. Caffeine also dose-dependently increased approach to an incentive stimulus and this effect was associated with increased extracellular dopamine in the NAc. These findings suggest caffeine enhances incentive motivation and that this effect may result from increases in CS-evoked striatal dopamine.

Work zones associated with highway construction projects create localized bottlenecks where the average traffic speed is reduced and queues are formed, thus causing increased costs as a result of the additional time and fuel needed to traverse the work zone. These user costs can be estimated and applied as a form of incentive to the contractor to complete the work sooner, thus allowing traffic to return to the free-flow speed. Methods to determine user costs are explored through a literature search, questionnaire survey, and interviews with employees of the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). Based on the research and interviews, a program named DUCK was developed to estimate the costs attributed to the reduction of speed through a work zone. A plan using DUCK and another program, DelayE, is recommended to UDOT, along with a description of these computer programs and how they estimate user costs.

Thesis advisor: Mark Kazarosian / In November of 2020, the Life Works Here Initiative was launched in Northwest Arkansas targeting the relocation of highly educated remote workers - especially in the sectors of tech and STEAM, science, technology, engineering, the arts and math - to find young talent to pipeline for the future and fill demand gaps in high-tech, high-wage industries and jobs. This paper will investigate characteristics that may have impacted an individual's descision to move into Arkansas following the implementation of the Life Works Here initiative using panel data on migration decision. I found that the characteristic of being a female on average decreases the probability of migrating to Arkansas by -.0001739 percentage points, relative to males, ceteris paribus. I also found that older aged individuals initially increase in the probability of moving into Arkansas until 41.732 years of age, where they will then decrease the probability of relocating to Arkansas. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Economics.

This research delves into the intricate dynamics of customer incentivization in company outreach, exploring the impact of incentives on consumer behavior. The study reveals a compelling connection between consumer opinions on monetary incentives and their actual responsiveness, emphasizing the need for strategic incentive-based programs. Theoretical frameworks, including regression analysis and Spearman's rank coefficient, are introduced for statistical analysis. Hypotheses posit a correlation between incentives and customer response, and the superior influence of altruistic motivations. The study employs a cross-sectional design utilizing Amazon MTurk workers,  Results indicate positive responses to company outreach, supporting the positive impact of incentives. Altruistic motivations significantly correlate with consistent engagement, but so does extrinsic motivations.

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