The goal of the PhD thesis is to investigate the role of behavioural economics considerations for the performance of conservation auctions. The findings of the three scientific articles suggest that behavioural economics considerations like social (distributional) preferences and reference-dependent preferences may affect the attractiveness and economic performance of conservation auctions, respectively. The results of the first and second articles are based on laboratory experiments conducted with university students, in Germany. The third article implements a field experiment to measure farmers’ preferences over Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) allocation mechanisms and the role of fairness therein, in the context of agrobiodiversity loss in Benin.

Improving the predictability of airline schedules in the National Airspace System (NAS) has been a constant endeavor, particularly as system delays grow with ever-increasing demand. Airline schedules need to be resistant to perturbations in the system including Ground Delay Programs (GDPs) and inclement weather. The strategic search heuristic proposed in this dissertation significantly improves airline schedule reliability by assigning airport departure and arrival slots to each flight in the schedule across a network of airports. This is performed using a multi-objective optimization approach that is primarily based on historical flight and taxi times but also includes certain airline, airport, and FAA priorities. The intent of this algorithm is to produce a more reliable, robust schedule that operates in today's environment as well as tomorrow's 4-Dimensional Trajectory Controlled system as described the FAA's Next Generation ATM system (NextGen). This novel airline schedule optimization approach is implemented using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm which is capable of incorporating limited airport capacities. The core of the fitness function is an extensive database of historic operating times for flight and ground operations collected over a two year period based on ASDI and BTS data. Empirical distributions based on this data reflect the probability that flights encounter various flight and taxi times. The fitness function also adds the ability to define priorities for certain flights based on aircraft size, flight time, and airline usage. The algorithm is applied to airline schedules for two primary US airports: Chicago O'Hare and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson. The effects of this multi-objective schedule optimization are evaluated in a variety of scenarios including periods of high, medium, and low demand. The schedules generated by the optimization algorithm were evaluated using a simple queuing simulation model implemented in AnyLogic. The scenarios were simulated in AnyLogic using two basic setups: (1) using modes of flight and taxi times that reflect highly predictable 4-Dimensional Trajectory Control operations and (2) using full distributions of flight and taxi times reflecting current day operations. The simulation analysis showed significant improvements in reliability as measured by the mean square difference (MSD) of filed versus simulated flight arrival and departure times. Arrivals showed the most consistent improvements of up to 80% in on-time performance (OTP). Departures showed reduced overall improvements, particularly when the optimization was performed without the consideration of airport capacity. The 4-Dimensional Trajectory Control environment more than doubled the on-time performance of departures over the current day, more chaotic scenarios. This research shows that airline schedule reliability can be significantly improved over a network of airports using historical flight and taxi time data. It also provides for a mechanism to prioritize flights based on various airline, airport, and ATC goals. The algorithm is shown to work in today's environment as well as tomorrow's NextGen 4-Dimensional Trajectory Control setup.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1984 P73 / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 T65 / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1965 B26 / Master of Science

Sustainable organisational performance imperatives that generate shareholder value are strategy, execution, culture, structure, talent, innovation, leadership and growth. These superannuated management practices are still valid. Today it is even more vital to contrive and rethink these imperatives to renew business excellence in an undefined market space, the circular economy, and to reverse engineer product offerings. At the root of performance remain team members, team leaders and managers with their neurological representations, states of consciousness, abstract levels of awareness and the higher levels of thought. These thoughts create their reality and the way they create meaning of and contributing to this world. It also provides choice and generates excellence, performance and the success of the organisation. The principal purpose of this research has been to develop an Integrated Meta-model of Team Excellence by aligning the life-cycle of an employee, management-leadership, team culture, diversity and climate in view of the pressures of the business environment in order to execute an excellent performance outcome at the operational level to provide customer service and drive shareholder value. The first objective of the research was to model team excellence to enable performance so that the current performance level in a team can be determined, developmental opportunities can be identified and excellent performance parameters can be deliberated on for emulation, recruitment team fit and placement. Two instruments were applied for profiling. The thinking preferences were profiled with the Inventory of Work and Attitude Motivation Instrument (iWAM®) and the Values System Questionnaire (VSQ®) was used to profile and analyse the complexity of value structures as drivers of organisational performance. Contrastive analyses were conducted for the managers, team leaders and teams with the conclusion that a manager, a team leader and team members can create the fundamental conditions for emotionally and socially intelligent ability and capacity to facilitate performance. The capacity to model thinking preferences of outliers and poor performers and engineer a contextual Model of Excellence for a specific team in a specific environment distinguishes the work of Merlevede in that it has at its core a more accurate approach to identify areas of development, selection, team fit, design of appropriate coaching and mentoring interventions to improve and sustain team performance. / PhD (Business Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Sustainable organisational performance imperatives that generate shareholder value are strategy, execution, culture, structure, talent, innovation, leadership and growth. These superannuated management practices are still valid. Today it is even more vital to contrive and rethink these imperatives to renew business excellence in an undefined market space, the circular economy, and to reverse engineer product offerings. At the root of performance remain team members, team leaders and managers with their neurological representations, states of consciousness, abstract levels of awareness and the higher levels of thought. These thoughts create their reality and the way they create meaning of and contributing to this world. It also provides choice and generates excellence, performance and the success of the organisation. The principal purpose of this research has been to develop an Integrated Meta-model of Team Excellence by aligning the life-cycle of an employee, management-leadership, team culture, diversity and climate in view of the pressures of the business environment in order to execute an excellent performance outcome at the operational level to provide customer service and drive shareholder value. The first objective of the research was to model team excellence to enable performance so that the current performance level in a team can be determined, developmental opportunities can be identified and excellent performance parameters can be deliberated on for emulation, recruitment team fit and placement. Two instruments were applied for profiling. The thinking preferences were profiled with the Inventory of Work and Attitude Motivation Instrument (iWAM®) and the Values System Questionnaire (VSQ®) was used to profile and analyse the complexity of value structures as drivers of organisational performance. Contrastive analyses were conducted for the managers, team leaders and teams with the conclusion that a manager, a team leader and team members can create the fundamental conditions for emotionally and socially intelligent ability and capacity to facilitate performance. The capacity to model thinking preferences of outliers and poor performers and engineer a contextual Model of Excellence for a specific team in a specific environment distinguishes the work of Merlevede in that it has at its core a more accurate approach to identify areas of development, selection, team fit, design of appropriate coaching and mentoring interventions to improve and sustain team performance. / PhD (Business Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Dissertation submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Business Administration, 2008. / The aim of the study was to identify causes of churning, to find ways of managing it and to diagnose customers‟ communication needs. Furthermore the research tested the impact of messaging services on customer retention and whether these services could compensate for the declining revenue or become new cash cows for service providers. The units of analyses were young people of ages ranging from 15 to 24. This group was chosen because it was found, during the study, that they used new services more often than any other age group. The initial plan, however, was to interview the entire population of cellphone users. Stratified random sampling was used to randomly select the units of analysis. Interviews were conducted at the homes of respondents, in the streets and at a shopping centre. Causes of customer churning were found to be billing by service providers that confused customers and „better phone deals offered by the competitors‟ resulting in some of the respondents switching providers. Other aspects about which respondents complained and which therefore could cause churning are „poor network quality‟, „confusing pricing structure‟ and „long waiting on customer care line‟. The respondents indicated that their communication needs could be satisfied by services that are easy to use, a helpful customer care agent and being able to retain a number when switching a service provider. Therefore churning could be managed by removing or reducing the causes of it and attracting the customers by meeting their communications needs, which are, improving customer care service and designing services that are easy to use. The research was inconclusive on the messaging services. Of the three new messaging services that were studied, only one was extremely popular, while the other two were hardly used. Instant messaging was the second most used service to voice and SMS and it was also ranked second, in order of importance. The other two messaging services, mobile email and MMS, received low rankings from the respondents. In addition more than a quarter (27%) of the respondents had never used mobile email. The implications of these findings are that service providers should improve their customer care service and design services that are easy to use.

Frågeställningar: Hur påverkas konsumtionen av digitala nyheter av individuella preferenser och ålder? Hur påverkas inställningen till digitala nyheter på olika utlämningsformer av individers preferenser och ålder? Syfte: Studiens syfte är att beskriva konsumtionen av digitala nyheter i olika åldersgrupper och att analysera konsumenters individuella preferenser gällande detta. Vidare är syftet att analysera de faktorer som påverkar konsumtionen av digitala nyheter. Ett delsyfte är även att beskriva och analysera olika åldersgruppers preferenser och inställning gällande olika utlämningsformer för digitala nyheter. Det slutliga syftet är att tillhandahålla rekommendationer till digitala nyhetsbyråer som de kan använda sig av för att tillmötesgå individers preferenser vid konsumtion av digitala nyheter. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en en induktiv ansats och en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi. Primärdata samlades genom intervjuer och fokusgrupper. Resultat och slutsatser: Utifrån studiens resultat drar vi slutsatsen att konsumtionen av digitala nyheter påverkas i större grad av individuella preferenser än ålder. Vidare identifierades påverkansfaktorer, där intresse påvisades vara en av de viktigaste. Respondenterna uppvisade en positiv inställning till mobila nyhetsapplikationer och sociala medier som utlämningsformer för digitala nyheter. Teoretiskt och praktiskt bidrag: Studien bidrar med åtta faktorer som påverkar konsumtionsmönstret av digitala nyheter. Vidare bidrar studien med en klargörelse av individuella preferenser gällande utlämningsformer för digitala nyheter. Studiens resultat kan sedan ligga till grund för hur digitala nyhetsbyråer kan tillmötesgå konsumenters preferenser.  Nyckelord: Konsumentbeteende, konsumtionsmönster, individuella preferenser, ålder, digitala nyheter / Research question: How is the consumption of digital news affected by individual preferences and age? How is the attitude towards digital news on different digital channels affected by individual preferences and age? Purpose: The purpose of the study is to describe the consumption of digital news in different age groups and to analyse consumers’ individual preferences regarding this. The purpose is furthermore to analyse factors influencing the consumption of digital news. It is also to describe and analyse different age groups preferences and attitudes towards news on different digital channels. The final purpose of the study is to provide digital news agencies with recommendations that they can use to meet individual preferences regarding the consumption of digital news. Method: The study is based on an inductive approach and a qualitative research method. The data has been collected through interviews and focus groups. Results and conclusions: Based on the study’s results we conclude that the consumption of digital news is affected to a greater extent by individual preferences than age. Furthermore factors that affect the consumption of news were identified, where interest was shown to be one of the most important factors. The respondents showed positive attitudes towards mobile news applications and social media as digital channels for news. Theoretical and practical contribution: The study contributes eight factors that affect the consumption of digital news. Furthermore the study clarifies different age groups attitudes towards news on different digital channels. The study’s results could form the basis for how digital news agencies can accommodate consumer preferences. Keywords: Consumer behaviour, Consumption pattern, individual preference, age, digital news

Thoroughbred racing is referred to as “the sport of Kings”, because historically it was a leisure activity of the upper-class. Thoroughbred breeding on the other hand has transformed from a hobby of the upper-class to a worldwide agricultural industry. With the deep involvement of the royal and rich in the Thoroughbred industry, the auction prices of horses are raised significantly at the top end of the market. Research in the biological sciences suggests there exits correlations between dam age, foal birthrank, and the racing performance of Thoroughbred horses. This study first investigates how the market values these biological factors and whether they are correlated with racehorses’ career earnings. We further test the impact of sire age as there is limited literature related to the subject. By using a Hedonic pricing model, results show that Thoroughbred buyers at Keeneland September Sale are willing to pay more for the yearlings at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd birthranks, yearlings out of younger mares age from 4 to 10, and yearlings by experienced sires age from 12 to 18. Results from multivariate regressions suggest negative correlations between foal birthrank, parent age and career earnings.