Quality improvement policies in a supply chain with Stackelberg games,”

We first analyze quality and price decisions in a supply chain with two Stackelberg games: Manufacturer's Stackelberg (MS) and Supplier's Stackelberg (SS). Then, we investigate how equilibrium solutions are influenced by proposed quality improvement policies: coordination and manufacturer's involvement. Also, we derive the conditions under which the policies can be implemented in both MS and SS strategies. Numerical experiments illustrate the problems and several related issues are discussed. The results suggest that proposed quality improvement policies can realize Pareto improvement for the supply chain performance

Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a subject garnering increasing attention in both academia and the industry today. The understanding is that AI-enhanced methods and techniques create a variety of opportunities related to improving basic and advanced business functions, including production processes, logistics, financial management and others. As this collection demonstrates, AI-enhanced tools and methods tend to offer more precise results in the fields of engineering, financial accounting, tourism, air-pollution management and many more. The objective of this collection is to bring these topics together to offer the reader a useful primer on how AI-enhanced tools and applications can be of use in today’s world. In the context of the frequently fearful, skeptical and emotion-laden debates on AI and its value added, this volume promotes a positive perspective on AI and its impact on society. AI is a part of a broader ecosystem of sophisticated tools, techniques and technologies, and therefore, it is not immune to developments in that ecosystem. It is thus imperative that inter- and multidisciplinary research on AI and its ecosystem is encouraged. This collection contributes to that

Gene expression programming for Efficient Time-series Financial Forecasting

Stock market prediction is of immense interest to trading companies and buyers due to high profit margins. The majority of successful buying or selling activities occur close to stock price turning trends. This makes the prediction of stock indices and analysis a crucial factor in the determination that whether the stocks will increase or decrease the next day. Additionally, precise prediction of the measure of increase or decrease of stock prices also plays an important role in buying/selling activities. This research presents two core aspects of stock-market prediction. Firstly, it presents a Networkbased Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) methodology to integrate the capabilities of neural networks with that of fuzzy logic. A specialised extension to this technique is known as the genetic programming (GP) and gene expression programming (GEP) to explore and investigate the outcome of the GEP criteria on the stock market price prediction. The research presented in this thesis aims at the modelling and prediction of short-tomedium term stock value fluctuations in the market via genetically tuned stock market parameters. The technique uses hierarchically defined GP and gene-expressionprogramming (GEP) techniques to tune algebraic functions representing the fittest equation for stock market activities. The technology achieves novelty by proposing a fractional adaptive mutation rate Elitism (GEP-FAMR) technique to initiate a balance between varied mutation rates between varied-fitness chromosomes thereby improving prediction accuracy and fitness improvement rate. The methodology is evaluated against five stock market companies with each having its own trading circumstances during the past 20+ years. The proposed GEP/GP methodologies were evaluated based on variable window/population sizes, selection methods, and Elitism, Rank and Roulette selection methods. The Elitism-based approach showed promising results with a low error-rate in the resultant pattern matching with an overall accuracy of 95.96% for short-term 5-day and 95.35% for medium-term 56-day trading periods. The contribution of this research to theory is that it presented a novel evolutionary methodology with modified selection operators for the prediction of stock exchange data via Gene expression programming. The methodology dynamically adapts the mutation rate of different fitness groups in each generation to ensure a diversification II balance between high and low fitness solutions. The GEP-FAMR approach was preferred to Neural and Fuzzy approaches because it can address well-reported problems of over-fitting, algorithmic black-boxing, and data-snooping issues via GP and GEP algorithmsSaudi Cultural Burea

An analysis of the government-industry relationship in the British pharmaceutical price regulation scheme.

This thesis examines the government-industry relationship in the regulation of pharmaceutical prices in the UK, through the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme (PPRS). It takes a broadly institutionalist approach to explaining and understanding the design and persistence of this idiosyncratic form of pharmaceutical cost control. Broad factors such as the global nature of the pharmaceutical industry and its industrial importance in the British economy, as well as the conception of the British state's role, the place of parliament in framing regulation and the organisation of the executive all play a part in underpinning the PPRS as a co-operative policy community between government and industry for the control of medicine costs to the NHS. Key to the dynamics of this sector of policy is the interplay between the industrial policy and health policy concerns of government, in a unique relationship in which government is both the primary sponsor and customer of the industry. The thesis develops a theoretical framework and five working hypotheses for the study of three cases of policy development in the PPRS during the 1990s. The empirical research is undertaken through interviews with key players across industry, government and parliament, as well as the analysis of government and industry documents and legislation

Battling the Dark Arts: Combating Stock Market Manipulation in Australia – From the Early Days of Share Trading to 1990

This thesis traces the historical roots of stock market manipulation in the domestic context, from the early days of share trading to 1990—the year of the first successful prosecution for market rigging in Australia. It will consider the role that governments and stock exchanges have played in combating this insidious activity, which has plagued domestic stock markets since share trading began on the streets of gold mining towns across the Australian colonies

TESTING THE INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS "LICENSES" IN MOTIVATING CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR

In this dissertation, I test a framework of corporate environmental compliance put forth by Gunningham, Kagan, and Thornton in their 2003 book called Shades of Green. However, this dissertation moves beyond a mere test of theory by integrating the corporate-level license framework with the individual-level Rational Choice Theory. In doing so, this integration portrays how individuals within corporations decide to comply or overcomply with environmental regulations while accounting for the organizational context. Specifically, external pressures from the legal, social, and economic domains as well as corporation-wide policies and culture impact individual-level cost-benefit analyses. In turn, these cost-benefit calculations impact the decisions made by corporate managers. I propose five hypotheses based on this integration and test them using an environmental vignette survey of individuals as well as meta-analytical data. The vignette survey provides a randomly-generated hypothetical scenario and asks respondents (here, environmentally-minded business people) to predict their likelihood of offending or overcomplying as the depicted manager in the scenario did. Results provide mixed support for the impact of the external license pressures and more support for the rational choice theory measures. I also compare similarities and differences between the offending and overcompliance models. I conducted a test of the robustness of hypothesis 1 results using meta-analysis of studies collected through 2006. These studies use actual firm-level behaviors as their outcomes and therefore overcame some of the limitations of the vignette study. I found additional support for the relationship between external pressures and offending, although more analysis is needed to assess how effects differ by study methodologies and samples. Overall, this integrated theory is worthy of further empirical testing and has important implications for both theories of corporate crime as well as prevention and control policies. Future research should examine the interactions between factors affecting the corporation, those affecting the individuals in charge of the corporation, and interactions between these factors and levels. The theory proffered here provides a clear, comprehensive, yet fairly parsimonious foundation for doing so

Master of Science

thesisThe evolution of the Utah Energy Research Triangle began August 2009 with Governor Gary Herbert's inauguration. On January 26, 2010 Governor Herbert delivered his first State of the State Address and announced the ""most impactful economic initiative ever taken in our state...the Utah Energy Initiative."" Even before this speech, actions were underway as the Governor assembled 16 energy professionals who forged Utah's 10-Year Strategic Energy Plan (Plan) released March 2011. The priorities in the Plan included: (1) establishing the Office of Energy Development in 2011; (2) launching the annual Governor's Energy Development Summits beginning in 2012; and (3) executing the first cycle of the Utah Energy Research Triangle in 2013 through 2015. Other objectives would be achieved as the Plan unfolded but those lower priorities are beyond the scope of this case study. This study will review the three priorities noted and focus on the execution of the Energy Research Triangle as a nexus of applied research and public policy. The Plan's vision was to ""align the State's main research universities...into a powerful energy research and development triangle...through increased collaboration."" In March 2014, execution of the first cycle of the Energy Research Triangle resulted in seven new research efforts across three research university campuses in Utah - Brigham Young University (BYU), Utah State University (USU), and the University of Utah (UofU). These research programs included eighteen researchers tackling principle energy issues: air quality, hydrocarbon transportation, and safety. Seven other researchers were awarded Governor's Energy Leadership Scholarships with requirements to address topics including efficient solar power, cold-weather battery performance, and molten salt energy storage. Final results will be known in June 2015, but collaboration on energy issues is active and ongoing. Together the three research teams are successfully reaching out to industry and federal agencies to expand their capability to address Utah energy issues. This case study provides a road map and lessons learned for developing a meaningful grass roots research program with modest resources. Public policy is notorious for cycling through good ideas. This study provides guidance to solve local issues using the collaborative capabilities of our universities

Dr James Stewart : Irish doctor and philanthropist on the Ballarat goldfields

This thesis is the first in-depth biography of Dr James Stewart (1829-1906), an Ulster Presbyterian doctor who spent his prime years in Victoria between 1852 and 1869. It answers the question of who James Stewart was and why such an important actor in the history of Ballarat and colonial Victoria has been almost completely ignored by the historical record. The thesis explores the themes of identity and class by revealing the elements that shaped who Stewart was as well as his contributions to Ballarat and the colony through his medical work, civic duty, philanthropy and capitalist investment. Beginning with his early life in rural Ulster and medical education in Dublin, insight is provided into his emigration as a ship’s surgeon to the Ballarat goldfields in the context of the Irish diaspora. New light is thrown on the formative experience of ships’ surgeons and their role in the development of colonial medicine and civic duty; medical care available on the goldfields and during the events of the Eureka Stockade; and the professionalisation of medicine in colonial Victoria. In pursuing the biographical method advocated by Robert Rotberg, in the absence of personal records, it makes extensive use of newspapers and the archives of the institutions to which he contributed significantly. Interpretative and speculative methods are employed to carefully analyse his detailed will and obituaries. This study finds that Stewart’s flexible identity facilitated his involvement with a variety of community, class and social groups. Examination of his religious influences provides new understanding of Ulster Presbyterians and the Anglo-Irish in Victoria and challenges Patrick O’Farrell’s claim that the Anglo-Irish in Australia were right-wing conservatives. A major contributor to the development of Ballarat, a visionary and generous benefactor, James Stewart’s legacy continues to have an impact more than a century after his death.Doctor of Philosoph

Of railways, wine and flowers : A biography of George William Knight

This thesis examines misunderstandings surrounding class and reveals Knight to have been a member of the petty bourgeoisie - aspirational, yet understanding and empathetic towards working people. Knight was an erudite, respectable gentleman, an intellectual, a man of culture, committed to liberal values and the code of the gentleman, and a defender of the oppressed. Highlighted in this study are the high tides, low ebbs and pivotal turning points that beset Knight's life. A noted writer and raconteur, he was an influential figure in Bendigo and the colony. Covering more than ninety years, Knight's story encompasses London 1832-56, early colonial Victoria to 1923, and shines a light on one of the many oft-forgotten people who helped to build the colony.Doctor of Philosoph

The Right to Privacy and Data Protection in Times of Armed Conflict

Contemporary warfare yields a profound impact on the rights to privacy and data protection. Technological advances in the fields of electronic surveillance, predictive algorithms, big data analytics, user-generated evidence, artificial intelligence, cloud storage, facial recognition, and cryptography are redefining the scope, nature, and contours of military operations. Yet, international humanitarian law offers very few, if any, lex specialis rules for the lawful processing, analysis, dissemination, and retention of personal information. This edited anthology offers a pioneering account of the current and potential future application of digital rights in armed conflict. In Part I Mary Ellen O’Connell, Tal Mimran and Yuval Shany, Laurie Blank and Eric Talbot Jensen, Jacqueline Van De Velde, Omar Yousef Shehabi and Emily Crawford explore how various IHL regimes, ranging from the rules regarding the protection of property to these regulating the treatment of POWs, protect the rights to digital privacy and data protection. Part II, which contains contributions by Leah West, Eliza Watt and Tara Davenport, and concentrates on the extent to which specific technological tools and solutions, such as facial recognition, drone surveillance and underwater cables. Part III of this collection examines the obligations of militaries and humanitarian organizations when it comes to the protection of digital rights. Tim Cochrane focuses on military data subject access rights, Deborah Housen-Couriel explores data protection in multinational military operations, and Asaf Lubin expounds the role of ICRC as a data controller in the context of humanitarian action. In Part IV Kristina Hellwig, Yaël Ronen and Amir Cahane focus on digital rights in the post bellum phase. This part takes a closer look at the role of the right to privacy in the investigation and prosecution of international crimes, the ‘right to be forgotten’ in cases concerning information about international crimes and the protection of the digital identities of individuals caught up in humanitarian disasters.https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facbooks/1297/thumbnail.jp