Tesi sul tema "Flexibility"

Mathematicians, mathematics researchers and educators are now arguing that an essential aim of mathematics education should be to equip students so they can adapt to new mathematical situations and use mathematics to solve authentic problems that arise in day-to-day life. This, mathematical flexibility – defined here as adaptation when dealing with number, magnitude or form – is important to mathematics researchers and educators, but the classroom context may not always promote flexibility. Building across converging lines of cognitive, social-psychological, and neuro-biological research, this study investigated whether mathematical flexibility might be profitably understood as a network of functional components. This study was designed to: 1) investigate the functional components of mathematical flexibility and contrast them with functional components of mathematical competence; and 2) evaluate the effectiveness of a network approach for understanding the relationship between environmental and individual components of mathematical flexibility. Results indicated that flexibility appeared to be associated with network activity which co-activated two or more other networks, while competence appeared to be characterized by a series of network activations which occurred individually and in sequence. Further, results suggested that the case study approach used here to identify network activity could reveal meaningful dynamics in network activity, and these dynamics could be related to flexible or competent performance. Implications for researchers and practitioners are identified in the discussion. However, because this study was constrained by the ways in which flexibility was conceptualized and features of the methodology, limitations and directions for future research are also suggested.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att skapa en ökad förståelse för de konsekvenser som interna respektive externa ansatser till bemanningsflexibilitet och därtill hörande HRM-metoder får för verksamheten avseende flexibilitet, kostnad, kvalitet och leverans. Syftet är vidare att pröva teorin om bemanningsflexibilitet, HRM-metoder och dess effekter på verksamheten mot studiens empiriska material. Metod: Uppsatsens undersökning har genomförts med ett kvalitativt angreppssätt och grundar sig på en litteraturstudie samt egna primärkällor. Primärkällorna består av intervjuer med tre företag i e-handelsbranschen, en verksamhet där flexibilitet är av stor vikt. Slutsatser: Extern respektive intern flexibilitet fanns vara kopplade till skilda sätt att hantera personalresursen, vilket ledde till olika konsekvenser. Enligt resultatet av undersökningen påvisas extern flexibilitet vara förknippat med hårdare HRM-metoder och vissa negativa konsekvenser av detta, som t ex lägre motivation och lojalitet samt hög personalomsättning. Trots detta var den externa flexibiliteten i fokus hos samtliga företag i studien. Undersökningen tyder dock inte på att detta inverkade negativt på objektiva prestationsmått som produktivitet och kundnöjdhet.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create a greater understanding of the impact that internal and external approaches to staffing flexibility and associated HRM practices have on organizational performance measures like cost, quality, delivery and flexibility. A further aim is to test the theory of staffing flexibility, HRM practices and its effects on operations on the study's empirical material. Method: The study was conducted with a qualitative approach and is based on a literature review together with primary sources. The primary sources consist of interviews with three companies in the e-commerce industry. Conclusions: External and internal flexibility was linked to different ways of manageing staff resources, leading to different consequences. According to the results of the survey external flexibility is associated with tougher HRM practices and certain negative consequences of this, such as lower motivation and loyalty and high employee turnover. Despite this the focus on external flexibility was prominent in all companies in the study. The study does not indicate tough that this had a negative impact on objective performance measures such as productivity and customer satisfaction.

The thesis deals with flexible forms of employment which are used in practice most. First it puts the concept of flexibilisation into context. The thesis defines the basic concepts and classification in connection with flexibility. Then it explains steps which led to the development of flexibility in the Czech Republic. The thesis has two main aims. The first aim is to evaluate the functioning of chosen flexible forms of employment in practice and to reveal their strengths and weaknesses by way of examples from practice. The second aim of the thesis lies in judging the impact of flexibilisation on individual classes of society and in drawing conclusion whether the flexibilisation is a positive or negative phenomenon for given groups in society.

Fundamental economic and social changes have strongly influenced the conditions under which companies have to operate during the last couple of years. The dynamics of the business environment, which are among other things increasingly forced by the globalization of markets, development of new technologies and subsequently growing competitive pressure, requires that companies adapt to their environment not only reactive, but rather act proactively to exist on the market permanently. This means, that in companies radical change processes are not even uncommon in addition to permanent changes. Regarding the success of any change process it is of vital importance that the concerned employees and departments are involved in the success of the project and cooperate closely. For this reason trust is becoming more and more important in business environment, especially against the backdrop of economic crisis, of mergers, outsourcing, short-time work and job loss. The setup and permanent care of a trustworthy corporate culture, the content of which includes the constructive handling through management of the anxieties and emotions of the employees concerning upcoming changes, finally provides the basis for successful cooperation. Currently there is no scientific consensus about what trust is, how it can be measured, evaluated and influenced. These issues are now being investigated by empirical studies. Thus, the meaning of "professional" trust was determined by means of a quantitative questionnaire. One aim of the empirical study was to investigate the existence of trust-promoting and trust-inhibitory factors in companies and to generate rankings regarding their importance for the employees. The perceptions should be the basis to build and maintain a reliable culture of trust in companies, especially during the implementation of change processes.

Diplomová práce je zeměřena na vyhodnocení projektu se zahrnutím flexibility rozhodování prostřednictvím reálných opcí. Teoretická část shrnuje poznatky z reálných a finančních opcí a dále popisuje implementaci reálně opčního přístupu do investičního rozhodování. Aplikační část vyhodnocuje skutečný investiční projekt podle uvedené metodiky.

Diplomová práce se zabývá vlivem zahrnutí flexibility rozhodování do hodnoty investičních projektů. Popisuje reálně opční metodu hodnocení investic. Práce nejprve shrnuje teoretické poznatky finančních a reálných opcí, poté se zaměřuje na způsoby implementace metody reálných opcí do firemního rozhodování. Aplikační část je zaměřena na vyčíslení hodnoty opce čekání na základě rozdílných hodnot NPV včetně postupu, kterým je mozné určit hodnotu flexibility již v předinvestiční fázi.

Primárním cílem diplomové práce bylo analyzovat a posoudit strategické investiční rozhodování firmy Lázně Poděbrady a.s. aplikací reálně opční metodologie. Samotné aplikaci reálných opcí na konkrétní investiční projekt předcházela v teoreticko-metodologické části důkladná analýza a syntéza odborné literatury, ale i hledání metodologie, která by mohla být na daný projekt aplikována. Oblastem aplikace reálných opcí, které jsou v praxi často označovány za nejkomplikovanější, jsem věnovala zvýšenou pozornost. Velký důraz jsem dala zejména na analýzu nejistot obsažených v projektu, identifikaci relevantních opcí a zjištění adekvátní míry volatility. Pečlivě stanovené vstupní opční parametry by měly být garancí správných opčních hodnot. Aplikací citlivostní analýzy opcí jsem se snažila upřesnit interpretaci zjištěných výsledků a závěrečných doporučení pro společnost.

We study the benefits of resource flexibility, considering two different flexibility structures. First, we want to understand the impact of the firm's pricing strategy on its resource investment decision, considering a partially flexible resource. Secondly, we study the benefits of a flexible resource strategic approach, considering a resource flexibility structure that has not been studied in the previous literature. First, we study the capacity investment decision faced by a firm that offers two products/services and that is a price-setter for both products/services. The products offered by the firm are of varying levels (complexities), such that the resources that can be used to produce the higher level product can also be used to produce the lower level one. Although the firm needs to make its capacity investment decision under high demand uncertainty, it can utilize this limited (downward) resource flexibility, in addition to pricing, to more effectively match its supply with demand. Sample applications include a service company, whose technicians are of different capabilities, such that a higher level technician can perform all tasks performed by a lower level technician; a firm that owns a main plant, satisfying both end-product and intermediate-product demand, and a subsidiary, satisfying the intermediate-product demand only. We formulate this decision problem as a two-stage stochastic programming problem with recourse, and characterize the structural properties of the firm's optimal resource investment strategy when resource flexibility and pricing flexibility are considered in the investment decision. We show that the firm's optimal resource investment strategy follows a threshold policy. This structure allows us to understand the impact of coordinated decision-making, when the resource flexibility is taken into account in the investment decision, on the firm's optimal investment strategy, and establish the conditions under which the firm invests in the flexible resource. We also study the impact of demand correlation on the firm's optimal resource investment strategy, and show that it may be optimal for the firm to invest in both flexible and dedicated resources when product demand patterns are perfectly positively correlated. Our results offer managerial principles and insights on the firm's optimal resource investment strategy as well as extend the newsvendor problem with pricing, by allowing for multiple resources (suppliers), multiple products, and resource pooling. Secondly, we study the benefits of a delayed decision making strategy under demand uncertainty, considering a system that satisfies two demand streams with two capacitated and flexible resources. Resource flexibility allows the firm to delay its resource allocation decision to a time when partial information on demands is obtained and demand uncertainty is reduced. We characterize the structure of the firm's optimal delayed resource allocation strategy. This characterization allows us to study how the revenue benefits of the delayed resource allocation strategy depend on demand and capacity parameters, and the length of the selling season. Our study shows that the revenue benefits of this strategy can be significant, especially when demand rates of the different types are close, while resource capacities are much different. Based on our analysis, we provide guidelines on the utilization of such strategies. Finally, we incorporate the uncertainty in demand parameters into our models and study the effectiveness of several delayed capacity allocation mechanisms that utilize the resource flexibility. In particular, we consider that demand forecasts are uncertain at the start of the selling season and are updated using a Bayesian framework as early demand figures are observed. We propose several heuristic capacity allocation policies that are easy to implement as well as a heuristic procedure that relies on a stochastic dynamic programming formulation and perform a numerical study. Our study determines the conditions under which each policy is effective.
Ph. D.

The flexl.bility to change product and processes quickly and economically represents a significant competitive advantage to manufacturing organisations. The rapid rise in global sourcing, has resulted in manufacturers having to offer greater levels of customisation, thus a wider product range is essential to an organisation's competitiveness. The rate at which new products are introduced to the market has also increased, with greatly reduced development times being essential to a new product's market success. Hence there is a strong need to have a flexible manufacturing system such that new products may be introduced rapidly. These drivers have made the need for flexibility within manufacturing systems of great importance. However, there are many types of flexibility and to ensure that organisations correctly target these types of flexibility there is a need to measure fleXlbility, because, measuring fleXlDility allows manufacturers to identify systems which will improve their performance. This research, therefore, has focused on the development measures for two types of flexibility ie. mix fleXlDility and product flexibility. These represent the ability to change between the manufacture of current products i. e. mix flexibility and the ability to introduce new products i.e. product fleXlDility. In order to develop effective measures for these types of fleXlbility a conceptual model has been developed, which represents the current and potential future product range of manufacturing systems. The methodology developed for measuring mix and product flexibility has been successfully applied in two companies. These companies represent diverse manufacturing environments. One operates in high volume chemical manufacture and the other in low to medium volume furniture manufacture. Through applying this methodology in these two companies it has been demonstrated that the methodology is generic and can be used in a wide range of companIes.

With the ongoing expansion of information technology, new fields of application requiring data management emerge virtually every day. In our knowledge culture increasing amounts of data and work force organized in more creativity-oriented ways also radically change traditional fields of application and question established assumptions about data management. For instance, investigative analytics and agile software development move towards a very agile and flexible handling of data. As the primary facilitators of data management, database systems have to reflect and support these developments. However, traditional database management technology, in particular relational database systems, is built on assumptions of relatively stable application domains. The need to model all data up front in a prescriptive database schema earned relational database management systems the reputation among developers of being inflexible, dated, and cumbersome to work with. Nevertheless, relational systems still dominate the database market. They are a proven, standardized, and interoperable technology, well-known in IT departments with a work force of experienced and trained developers and administrators. This thesis aims at resolving the growing contradiction between the popularity and omnipresence of relational systems in companies and their increasingly bad reputation among developers. It adapts relational database technology towards more agility and flexibility. We envision a descriptive schema-comes-second relational database system, which is entity-oriented instead of schema-oriented; descriptive rather than prescriptive. The thesis provides four main contributions: (1)~a flexible relational data model, which frees relational data management from having a prescriptive schema; (2)~autonomous physical entity domains, which partition self-descriptive data according to their schema properties for better query performance; (3)~a freely adjustable storage engine, which allows adapting the physical data layout used to properties of the data and of the workload; and (4)~a self-managed indexing infrastructure, which autonomously collects and adapts index information under the presence of dynamic workloads and evolving schemas. The flexible relational data model is the thesis\' central contribution. It describes the functional appearance of the descriptive schema-comes-second relational database system. The other three contributions improve components in the architecture of database management systems to increase the query performance and the manageability of descriptive schema-comes-second relational database systems. We are confident that these four contributions can help paving the way to a more flexible future for relational database management technology.

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2014.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 106-110).
This thesis documents the potential value of using flexible design to implement Major League Ballparks (MLBP). Credible evidence suggests that most ballparks were designed to fixed specifications that do not facilitate improvements after the park opens. By contrast, flexible designs include options such as increasing seating capacity, adding luxury boxes, installing a retractable roof, or even converting spaces to accommodate alternative uses. The analysis estimated the economic value of flexible MLBP by comparing fixed and flexible designs. Fixed designs were based on deterministic forecasts of future conditions and largely ignore the uncertainties that affect the economic value of ballparks. Flexible designs recognize the great uncertainties concerning future attendance, concessions spend, weather, and inflation rate. Flexible designs both anticipate and plan for these uncertainties. The economic evaluations used 30-year Net Present Value Monte Carlo simulations of possible futures. They used historical data available at the time of design to estimate the distribution of uncertainties. For the flexible designs, the analysis evaluated the options and determined key parameters such as strike point, base level, and option level. The analysis is based on actual ballpark cases. These include two completed ballparks -- for a small market (Minnesota Twins) and a large one (New York Yankees). For these ballparks, the analysis compared the actual ballpark with a flexible design. Additionally the value of amenities such as multi-use spaces, museums, and other features are explored. The results show that flexible design can significantly improve the long-term financial prospects of ballparks. It can lower initial investments and thus the Value at Risk (VAR). It can also increase the potential to cash in on favorable circumstances, that is, to increase the Value to Gain (VAG). While the specifics of each flexible design differ the overall conclusion is similar: Projects that embrace flexible design expect to achieve better long-term financial results.
by Kyle T. Ressler.
S.M. in Engineering and Management

Flexibilidad de suministro es definida como la habilidad de la función de compras de responder a tiempo y coste aceptables a necesidades cambiantes, con relación a volumen, composición y fechas de entrega de los materiales comprados. El primer artículo de esta tesis es un estudio de varios casos que tiene por objetivo analizar por qué las empresas necesitan flexibilidad de suministro y cómo la consiguen (fuentes de flexibilidad). En el segundo artículo se explora cómo las empresas combinan diferentes fuentes de flexibilidad. El análisis cluster sugiere tres estrategias (tres combinaciones de fuentes): "integrada", "internacional" y "doméstica". Finalmente, en el tercer artículo, se realiza un análisis de la efectividad de cada una de las fuentes para conseguir diferentes dimensiones de flexibilidad de suministro. Los resultados del análisis de regresión muestran una relación compleja, la cual depende de qué fuente de suministro y qué dimensión de flexibilidad se considere.

Over the last few years, the cost of energy from renewable resources, such as sunlight and wind, has declined resulting in an increasing use of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). As a result, the energy produced by RES is fed into the power grid while their share is expected to significantly increase in the future. However, RES are characterized by power fluctuations and their integration into the power grid might lead to power quality issues, e.g., imbalances. At the same time, new energy hungry devices such as heat-pumps and Electric Vehicles (EVs) become more and more popular. As a result, their demand in power, especially during peak-times, might lead to electrical grid overloads and congestions. In order to confront the new challenges, the power grid is transformed into the so-called Smart Grid. Major role in Smart Grid plays the Demand Response (DR) concept. According to DR, Smart Grid better matches energy demand and sup- ply by using energy flexibility. Energy flexibility exists in many individual prosumers (producers and/or consumers). For instance, an owner of an EV plugs-in his EV for more time than it is actually needed. Thus, the EV charging can be timely shifted. The load demanded for charging could be moved to time periods when production from wind turbines is high or away from peak-hours. Thus, RES share is increased and/or the electrical grid operation is improved. The Ph.D. project is sponsored by the Danish TotalFlex project (http://totalflex.dk). Main goal of the TotalFlex project is to design and establish a flexibility market framework where flexibility from individual prosumers, e.g., household devices, can be traded among different market actors such as Balance Responsible Parties (BRPs) and distribution system operators. In order for that to be achieved, the TotalFlex project utilizes the flex-offer concept. Based on the flex-offer concept, flexibility from individual prosumers is captured and represented by a generic model. However, the flexible loads from individual prosumers capture very small energy amounts and thus cannot be directly traded in the market. Therefore, aggregation becomes essential. The Ph.D. project focuses on developing aggregation techniques for energy flexibilities that will provide the opportunity to individual prosumers to participate in such a flexibility market. First, the thesis introduces several flexibility measurements in order to quantify the flexibility captured by the flex-offer model and compare flex- offers among each other, both on an individual and on an aggregated level. Flexibility is both the input and the output of the aggregation techniques. Aggregation techniques aggregate energy flexibility to achieve their goals and, at the same time, they try to retain as much flexibility as possible to be traded in the market. Thus, second, the thesis describes base-line flex-offer aggregation techniques and presents balance aggregation techniques that focus on balancing out energy supply and demand. Third, since there are cases where electrical grid congestions occur, the thesis presents two constraint-based aggregation techniques. The techniques efficiently aggregate large amounts of flex-offers taking into account physical constraints of the electrical grid. The produced aggregated flex-offers are still flexible and when scheduled, a normal grid operation is achieved. Finally, the thesis examines the financial benefits of the aggregation techniques. It introduces flex-offer aggregation techniques that take into account real market technical requirements. As a result, individual small flexible loads can be indirectly traded in the energy market through aggregation. The proposed aggregation techniques for energy flexibilities can con- tribute to the use of flexibility in the Smart Grid in both current and future market frameworks. The designed techniques can improve the services offered to the prosumers and avoid the very costly upgrades of the distribution network.
Gennem de senere år er prisen faldet på energi fra vedvarende energikilder såsom sollys og vind, hvilket har medført et stigende forbrug af vedvarende energi. Dette har resulteret i, at energi, der produceret af vedvarende energi, sendes ud i elnettet og andelen forventes at stige markant i fremtiden. Vedvarende energi er imidlertid karakteriseret af effektsvingninger, og integrationen i elnettet kan føre til kvalitetsproblemer med strømmen som for eksempel uligevægt. Samtidig bliver enheder, der sluger vedvarende energi såsom varmepumper og elektriske køretøjer, mere og mere populære. Dette resulterer i, at efterspørgslen på energi, især i spidsbelastede situationer, kan medføre overbelastning og trængsel på elnettet. For at konfrontere de nye udfordringer bliver elnettet ændret til et såkaldt Smart Grid. Konceptet om udbud og efterspørgsel Demand Response (DR) spiller her en meget stor rolle. Ifølge DR, imødegår Smart Grid bedre udbud og efterspørgsel af energi ved at bruge fleksibel energi. Fleksibel energi eksisterer i mange individuelle producenter og/eller forbrugere. For eksempel tilslutter en ejer af et elektrisk køretøj sit køretøj i mere tid end det rent faktisk er nødvendigt. På denne måde kan tidspunktet for opladningen ændres rettidigt. Belastningen, der kræves for opladning, kunne flyttes til perioder, hvor produktion fra vindmøller er høj eller væk fra de spidsbelastede tidspunkter. Således øges vedvarende energi’ andel og/eller elnettets drift er forbedret. Dette Ph.D. projekt er sponsoreret af det danske TotalFlex projekt (http://totalflex.dk). TotalFlex’ formål er at designe og etablere et fleksibelt elmarkedsystem, hvor fleksibilitet fra individuelle producent og/ eller forbruger f.eks. husholdningsenheder kan blive udvekslet mellem forskellige markedsaktører såsom balanceansvarlige parter og eldistributionsnettets operatører. For at opnå dette, udnytter TotalFlex flex-offer konceptet. Baseret på konceptet om flex-offer, bliver fleksibilitet fra individuelle prosumers fanget og repræsenteret i en generisk model. Fleksible belastninger fra de individuelle prosumers fanger imidlertid kun meget små energimængder og kan ikke udveksles direkte på markedet. Derfor bliver aggregering essentielt. Ph.D. projektet fokuserer på at udvikle aggregering-steknikker for energifleksibilitet, der kan give individuelle prosumers mulighed for at deltage i et sådant fleksibilitetsmarked. Først vil afhandligen introducere adskillige fleksibilitetsmålinger for at kvantificere fleksibiliteten, der fanges af flex-offer modellen og sammenligne flex-offer med hinanden både på et individuelt og et aggregeret niveau. Input og output af aggregeringsteknikker er fleksibilitet. Aggregeringsteknikker samler energifleksibilitet for at opnå dets mål og forsøger på samme tid at beholde så meget fleksibilitet som muligt til at blive udvekslet på markedet. Herpå forsøger afhandligen for det andet at beskrive basis flexoffer aggregeringsteknikker og præsenterer balance-aggregeringsteknikker, der fokuserer på at afbalancere energiudbud og -efterspørgsel. Siden der er situationer, hvor overbelastninger af elnettet forekommer, præsenterer afhandlingen for det tredje, to begrænsningsbaserede aggregeringsteknikker. Teknikkerne samler effektivt store mængder af flex-offers og tager samtidig hensyn til fysiske begrænsninger i elnettet. De producerede, samlede flexoffers er stadig fleksible og efter det er planlagt, opnås et normaltfungerende net. Til slut vil afhandlingen undersøge de økonomiske fordele ved aggregeringsteknikkerne. Den introducerer flex-offer aggregeringsteknikkerne, der tager højde for de reelle, tekniske krav, der er på markedet. Resultatet kan være, at individuelle små fleksible belastninger indirekte kan udveksles på energimarkedet gennem aggregering. De foreslåede aggregeringsteknikker til energi-fleksibilitet kan bidrage til brug af fleksibilitet i Smart Grid i både nuværende og fremtidige markedsrammer. De designede teknikker kan forbedre de tilbudte ydelser til prosumers og undgå de meget dyre opgraderinger af distributionsnetværk
Durante los últimos años, la bajada en el precio de la energía procedente de fuentes renovables, tales como luz solar y eólica, ha resultado en un aumento del uso de este tipo de recursos de Energía Renovables (ER). Como consecuencia de este aumento, la energía producida a través de ER es inyectada en la red eléctrica y se espera que la proporción de energía suministrada a la red crezca significativamente en los próximos años. Sin embargo, las ER se caracterizan por ser muy fluctuantes y su integración en la red eléctrica podría acarrear problemas de calidad, como por ejemplo desequilibrios energéticos. Al mismo tiempo, nuevos dispositivos de alto consumo de energía, como bombas de calor y vehículos eléctricos, son cada vez mas populares y la alta demanda de estos, especialmente en horas puntas, puede crear sobrecargas y congestiones en la red. Para afrontar estos restos, la red eléctrica se transforma en la llamada Red Inteligente, dónde el concepto de respuesta a la demanda juega un papel. Esta thesis de doctorado está patrocinada por el proyecto danés TotalFlex (http://totalflex.dk). El objetivo principal de este proyecto es diseñar y establecer el marco de flexibilidad de mercado, dónde la flexibilidad de productores/consumidores, por ejemplo los dispositivos del hogar, pueda ser comercializada entre los diferentes actores del mercado como las comercializadoras de electricidad y los operadores de sistemas de distribución. Para lograr este propósito, el proyecto TotalFlex utiliza el concepto flex-offer flexibilidad en la oferta. Basado en el concepto flex-offer, la flexibilidad de consumidores y productores individuales es capturada y representada a través de un modelo genérico. Sin embargo, las cargas flexibles de estos individuos producen pequeñas cantidades de energía y, por lo tanto, no pueden ser directamente negociadas en el mercado. Esto significa que la agregación de esta energía es esencial. Este Ph.D está enfocado desarrollo de técnicas de agrega para que permitirán a productores y consumidores individuales participar en dicha. En primer lugar, esta tesis introduce medidas de flexibilidad con la finalidad de cuantificar la flexibilidad calculada por el modelo flex-offer y comparar las diferentes ofertas entre ellas, tanto a nivel individual como agregado. Flexibilidad es tanto la entrada como la salida de las técnicas de agregado, las cuáles agregan flexibilidad energética para lograr sus objetivos y, al mismo tiempo, retener la máxima flexibilidad para comerciarla en el mercado. En segundo lugar, la tesis describe la base de las tecnicas de agregado flex-offer y presenta técnicas de que se enfocan en un balance entre la oferta y la demanda energética. Tercero, dado que existen casos dónde se producen congestiones en la red eléctrica, la tesis presenta tecnicas de agregado basadas en restricciones. Dichas técnicas agregan grandes cantidades de flex-offers considerando restricciones físicas de la red eléctrica. Las flexoffers agregadas que se producen son aún flexibles y, cuando se programan, se logra una operación normal de red. Por último, en la tesis se examina los beneficios económicos de las técnicas agregadas, introduciendo técnicas de agregado flex-offer que tienen en cuenta los requisitos técnicos del mercado real. Como resultado, las pequeñas cargas individuales y flexibles pueden ser indirectamente negociadas en el mercado energético a través de la agregación. Las técnicas de agregado propuestas para favorecer la flexibildad energética puede contribuir al uso de flexibilidad en la red inteligente tanto en el presente como en el futuro. Mejorar los servicios ofrecidos a consumidores y productores así como evitar las costosas actualizaciones de la red de distribución.

Large complex construction projects such as building an interstate highway, a dam, a chemical plant, an off-shore oil rig and a waste-to-energy plant often include unpredictable geological conditions, labor supplies, material deliveries, and weather that cause uncertainty. Effective and efficient acquisition and construction require the proactive management of these and other uncertainties to meet performance, schedule, and cost targets. Flexibility in the form of real options can be an effective tool for managing uncertainty and thereby adding value to construction projects. But flexibility can be expensive to obtain, maintain, and implement. Real options theory suggests a general approach and has developed precise valuation models. But these models of simplified real options (compared to managerial practice) have failed to significantly improve practice, partially because of a lack of knowledge of real options use by practicing managers. In contrast, the majority of managerial real options applications are identified, designed, valued, and implemented tacitly by construction managers. Understanding current practice and its similarities and differences with theory is critical for developing operational real options theories that can improve construction practice. Few descriptions of managerial real options practice exist as a basis for improvement. To address this need the current research has experiment subjects manage a simple but uncertain installation project with managerial flexibility. Subjects repeatedly value an option to avoid a slow and expensive system integration failure. Real options theory is used to explain their behaviors by customizing the model of uncertainty to reflect themanagement context. To further analyze managerial real options practice, a system dynamics simulation model of the experimental installation project is developed. Policies for using flexibility to manage uncertainty that are applied by subjects are modeled and performances are simulated across a range of uncertain conditions to evaluate and compare policy effectiveness. All 21 subjects that participated in the research perceived flexibility as an effective tool in managing uncertain projects. But they are not aware of the factors that impact flexibility value. They correctly identified the relationship of some factors with flexibility value but not all of them and not the magnitude of impaction. Further research and development needs for expanding real options theory into the operational management of construction are discussed based on experiment and simulation results.

The present thesis investigates adjective ordering across languages, with an emphasis on Greek and Cypriot Maronite Arabic (CMA). Cross-linguistically, attributive adjectives are argued to be ordered according to their semantic class (Hetzron 1978; Dixon 1982; Cinque 1994, 2010, among others). Given that the orders attested cross-linguistically are very similar, it is claimed that all orders have the same underlying order, which is imposed by syntax as in Cinque 2010. If adjective ordering restrictions are indeed syntactic, the question that arises is how to account for violations of the order. I defend the view that the order can be affected by various factors. Following Sproat and Shih (1991) and Cinque (2010), I assume that there is an indirect vs. direct distinction in adjectival modification, and I claim that Greek polydefinites are an instance of the former, whereby the adjective merges inside a Reduced Relative Clause – a PredP as in Bhatt 2000. The additional definite article is not a true article, but the realisation of Pred0. Moreover, I argue that adjective ordering phenomena give us an insight into whether adjectives modify the noun as heads or phrases. The claim is that both are necessary; adjectives that are structurally closer to the noun combine with it as heads, while structurally higher adjectives, e.g. adjectives with complements or adjectives that have a predicative source, are phrasal-modifiers. The ability of adjectives to have access to both types of modification also leads to apparent violations of the order. Finally, I discuss new data from CMA, which allows both prenominal and postnominal adjectives. Adjectives borrowed from Greek are found in either position, while native Arabic adjectives are strongly preferred postnominally. I argue that adjective ordering and placement is inflexible in CMA, and that the facts follow by the need of phrases in the extended nominal projection to inherit a nominal feature.

CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
A demanda por serviços diversificados em aplicações distribuídas impõe a necessidade de um modelo de comunicação flexível e modular, que possa acomodar continuamente novas funções e requisitos. Neste trabalho apresenta-se o modelo de comunicação adotado no ambiente RIO, que inclui uma metodologia para a construção de aplicações distribuídas e permite selecionar a forma mais adequada para comunicação entre seus módulos. Isto requer o suporte de um sistema de comunicação multiprotocolo, que se adapte a requisitos heterogêneos. São discutidos também a implementação, pontos relevantes ao desempenho do sistema e propostas de otimização.
The distributed applications demand diversified services leads to the necessity of a modular and flexible communication model, that can host, continuously, new communications functions and requirements. The communication model adopted by the RIO environment is presented, which includes a distributed application construction methology and permits the selection of the most adequate form of communication between its modules. This feature demands the support of a multiprotocol communication sysstem, that can fulfill heterogeneous requirements. Implementation, performance aspects and optimization proposals are also discussed.

Myosin 7a is a molecular motor found in hair cells of the ear and the photoreceptor cells of the eye. Myosin 7a is comprised of an actin-binding motor domain, a lever; which is composed of 5 IQ motifs that can potentially bind 5 light chains followed by a single alpha helical (SAH) domain, and a tail composed of 2 MyTH4-FERM domains. The lever is an essential mechanical element in myosin 7a function, but an understanding of its mechanical properties and how these derive from its substructure is lacking. It has been observed in vitro that myosin 7a is able to regulate its activity through a head-tail interaction. How the flexibility of the sub-domains of the lever allows the molecule to fold up is not completely understood. To address this, the first aim of this study was to look for evidence of novel light chain binding partners in myosin 7a, which revealed calmodulin to be the preferred light chain. My second aim was to study the structure and flexibility of the lever of full-length myosin 7a using single-particle image processing of images from negative stain electron microscopy (EM). Image averaging revealed the lever to be much shorter than expected. Additionally, there was evidence of thermally-driven flexing at the motor-lever junction. A stiffness of 78 pN.nm.rad-2 for the flexing was inferred, which represents a significant compliance in the head. An investigation into lever bending analysis, by monitoring the decay of tangent-tangent correlations of the lever shapes, yielded a persistence length of 38 ± 3 nm. Finally, long time molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were compared with a novel coarse-grained (CG) simulation technique called Fluctuating Finite Element Analysis (FFEA), which treats proteins as visco-elastic continua subject to thermal noise to probe the flexibility of myosin 7a. FFEA allows sufficiently long time simulations that are computationally less expensive than corresponding all-atom MD simulations to allow myosin 7a to explore its full range of configurations. Extraction of flexibility data from all-atom MD simulations calculated the bending stiffness of the SAH domain to be 60.5 pN.nm2, with reasonable overlap of the major modes of motion between the all-atom and CG simulation types.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 47).
The Olympic Games, World Cup and similar events often serve as catalysts for the regeneration of urban areas and for the construction of new infrastructure and sport facilities. These sport venues attract a variety of social and cultural activities; consequently, such venues, particularly the stadiums, have regained their importance as city icons. In the past, Olympic Games have fostered the creation of "white elephants"- large numbers of elaborate stadiums and infrastructures, whose full capacity would not be utilized after the events and whose long-term maintenance costs were unjustified. Therefore, when planning sport venues, the post-event use of the facilities is of significant importance. This thesis analyzes the stadium typology and existing case studies, in order to explore new spatial organizations that allow greater flexibility in stadium's form and function. This flexibility support different scenarios of the stadium life. In the specific case of the Olympic Stadium for London 2012 Games, from 80.000 seats Olympic stadium to 35.000 seats athletic stadium; to soccer stadium; to various multifunction venues that can play an important role in the economic, social and cultural improvement of the specific urban area.
by Gordana Jakimovska.
S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and, (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-80).
Manufacturing flexibility has been a topic of interest for both researchers and practitioners for several decades. Despite the amount of attention that flexibility receives, it remains a nebulous concept to those in industry trying to develop flexibility within their firms. This thesis attempts to act as a guide to practitioners, bridging the gap between the idealistic academic literature and the pragmatic concerns that are encountered when actually implementing flexibility projects. It is very difficult to develop recommendations for the implementation of flexibility projects from outside of an organization. Therefore this thesis introduces two separate flexibility implementation case studies that were performed while the author was employed by the firm in the case study. Through offering this unique perspective, it becomes apparent that without knowing the cultural and political climate of the firm, poor recommendations can be made. Often implementation failure can be traced back to this root cause. Flexibility is often thought of as a manufacturing problem. While flexibility is an important tool in combating increased uncertainty and variability within the manufacturing environment, there is great opportunity to utilize flexibility in other environments as well.
(cont.) In particular flexibility can be a key source of competitive advantage if properly applied to the launch of new products. Typically most organizations divide the manufacturing and design functions through organizational boundaries resulting in vastly disparate entities. Therefore increased focus around the hand-off between these two functions, particularly with respect to flexibility can provide significant opportunities.
by Eric J. Dolak.
M.B.A.
S.M.

Thesis: M. Eng. in Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Supply Chain Management Program, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 88-92).
The oil and gas industry is very volatile; it is characterized by unpredictable cycles of sharp rises and plunges in oil prices. This cyclical nature presents a huge challenge for companies that are operating in the industry. Companies have to be able to ramp up their production quickly so that they have enough capacity to meet increasing demand when oil prices go up and be able to survive when oil prices go down. In this context, companies have to make sure that their suppliers are flexible to changing demand. Assessing supplier flexibility is one of the major challenges facing our thesis sponsor company, which is one of the largest oil field services companies in the world. Our project has two primary goals. First we would like to develop a sound understanding of common factors that characterizes flexibility of suppliers in oil and gas industry. Second, we would like to develop the first version of a self administered audit able instrument to assess the flexibility of suppliers. We developed a comprehensive list of factors influencing flexibility of suppliers through systematic literature review and interview research methodology. We then designed a survey to validate the flexibility factors using statistical measures. Finally, we developed the first version self assessment instrument using Microsoft Excel. The instrument would help our thesis sponsor company to assess the flexibility of their supply base. The findings of our research would be useful to companies operating in seasonal and cyclical industries. The research might help companies develop insights regarding flexibility of their suppliers to adapt to changing market demands, and develop strategies to balance supply and demand at minimum cost.
by Peng Bi and Remya Pushpangatha Kurup.
M. Eng. in Logistics

The Psychological Flexibility Model describes a process-oriented approach to behaviour change that underpins Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a contextual cognitive behavioural intervention. ACT promotes psychological flexibility, which refers to a person’s ability to connect with the present moment fully as a conscious human being (mindfulness and non-judgemental acceptance), and to change or persist with behaviour that is in line with identified values. For people distressed and/or disabled by auditory hallucinations, it is theorised that this experience is responded to in a psychologically inflexible manner: becoming a target for avoidance, control or focus, appraised as more powerful than the person experiencing the voices, and leading to actions that come at the cost of engaging in chosen life directions. Previous research on coping, cognitive models and mindfulness interventions for voice hearing point to the possibility that promoting active acceptance and changing the relationship with voices may be associated with better outcomes. This thesis investigates the role of psychological flexibility with voice hearing using correlational, single-case and experimental research designs. The first study in this thesis investigated the relationship of psychological flexibility and mindfulness with distress, disability, and behavioural responses to voice hearing, using self-report questionnaires in a sample of 50 distressed voice hearers. The findings suggest that psychological flexibility and non-judgemental acceptance, over and above appraisals of voices and thought control strategies, is related to voice hearers’ levels of general depressive and anxiety symptoms, and behavioural resistance to voices, but not to engagement with voices, voice-related distress or life disruption. The second study reports the findings of a 10-session ACT intervention for eight distressed voice hearers using multi-baseline single case design, assessing whether outcome changes following ACT are concomitant with increasing psychological flexibility. Following ACT there were group-level improvements in depressive symptoms, quality of life and social functioning, with changes in psychological flexibility (non-judgemental acceptance, independent action from voices). The third study involved 110 non-clinical participants experiencing simulated auditory hallucinations in an experimental analogue, and investigated differences in response following training in a regulation strategy (acceptance, reappraisal or suppression). This study did not show any significant differences between groups; the potential explanations for this lack of expected difference include the features of simulated voices, sample characteristics, and participants’ degree of adherence to the coping strategy. The findings of these studies are considered within the broader context of emotional wellbeing with voice hearing, functional approaches to understanding responding to voices, and potential implications for clinical and research directions.

This study of the relationship between heterologous protein production and bacterial growth has shown that foreign protein can account for as much as 30% of the total cell protein without the specific growth rate being affected. Higher levels of foreign protein production are achieved at lower growth rates. Foreign protein is synthesised without any increase in ribosome number or ribosome activity occurring in the recombinant cells relative to their parent strain, i.e. the capacity of parental and recombinant cells to synthesise protein is the same. These observations are explained in terms of a model in which Escherichia coli proteins are be divided into two types. Type I proteins are involved in the processes of transcription and translation. Type 2 proteins are those which serve other purposes. The model suggests that the synthesis of type 2 proteins will be decreased in order to accommodate foreign protein production. This implies that some Escherichia coli proteins are overproduced relative to the amount of that protein that is essential to the cell to maintain growth. Two dimensional electrophoresis showed that there was a decrease in some host cell protein levels between parental and recombinant cells. An increase in the levels of molecular chaperone proteins in recombinant cells grown under some conditions was observed. These data are explained in terms of our current understanding of the regulation of molecular chaperone production. The data obtained are discussed in relation to our current understanding of the growth of bacteria and the reported effects of high levels of foreign protein production on bacterial physiology.

Teoretická část práce rozebírá flexibilitu jako obecný pojem, dále ji zužuje na flexibilitu práce a konkretizuje v jedné z jejích forem - agenturním zaměstnávání. V metodologické části je stanoveno 6 pracovních hypotéz. Aplikační část rozebírá agenturní zaměstnávání ve vztahu k podniku, jednotlivci a trhu práce. Zkoumaná oblast je doplněna zmapováním souvislostí agenturního zaměstnávání v segmentu vysoce kvalifikovaných odborníků a zkušenostmi ze Spolkové republiky Německo.

Teoretická část práce rozebírá flexibilitu jako obecný pojem, dále ji zužuje na flexibilitu práce a konkretizuje v jedné z jejích forem - agenturním zaměstnávání. V metodologické části je stanoveno 6 pracovních hypotéz. Aplikační část rozebírá agenturní zaměstnávání ve vztahu k podniku, jednotlivci a trhu práce. Zkoumaná oblast je doplněna zmapováním souvislostí agenturního zaměstnávání v segmentu vysoce kvalifikovaných odborníků a zkušenostmi ze Spolkové republiky Německo.

La planification par scénarios est devenue un outil organisationnel extrêmement populaire. Elle stimule la réflexion stratégique et contribue à surmonter la pensée limitée à travers l’imagination de futurs multiples. Son objectif est de comprendre l’environnement mais encore évaluer les options stratégiques en dépit des scénarios proposés. Malgré cette popularité, force est de constater que très peu de travaux ont traité ses bienfaits sur l’organisation. L’objectif de cette recherche est, donc, l’étude de son impact sur le développement de la flexibilité et l’orientation entrepreneuriale. Notre recherche s’appuie sur une étude quantitative menée auprès de 133 cadres évoluant dans le secteur social et médico-social en France. Les résultats font apparaître une relation positive entre la planification par scénarios, la flexibilité stratégique et l’orientation entrepreneuriale
Scenario planning has become an extremely popular organizational tool. It stimulates strategic thinking and helps overcome the limited thinking across the imagination of multiple futures. Its aim is to understand the environment but also to evaluate strategic options in spite of the proposed scenarios. Despite this popularity, there is inadequate research and theory to support its benefits to the organization. The objective of this research is to study its impact on the development of flexibility and entrepreneurial orientation. Our research is based on quantitative survey of 133 executives of French companies in the social and medico-social sector. The results confirm the expected relationships and reveal scenario planning to be an important determinant of strategic flexibility and entrepreneurial orientation

Flexibility is a term that is presumed to be meaningful across different levels of analysis in an organisation. It has been suggested that flexibility is required by organisations, groups, and individuals to deal with an increasingly complex and dynamic organisation and global environment. Authors have proposed that organisational flexibility enables a firm to achieve a better 'fit' with their environment and create a sustainable competitive advantage. The group level literature promotes flexibility at this level of analysis as important for group effectiveness and successful project completion. The individual flexibility literature suggests that people who are flexible are more likely to be satisfied and effective than individuals who are inflexible. Despite the importance placed on the construct of flexibility, it is a relatively under explored construct, both theoretically and empirically. This is due in part to the lack of definitional precision and inconsistency in the operationalisation of flexibility at each level of analysis. Consequently, little is known about the meaning of flexibility and the relationship of this construct with contextual and performance variables. This research addresses the limitations of the current literature on flexibility by developing a testable multi-level framework of flexibility. Flexibility is defined in this research as an organisation's, group's, and individual's ability to be proactive, adaptable, and resilient. Three primary research questions were addressed in this thesis. The first question addressed what are the characteristics of flexibility at the organisation, group, and individual level of analysis. The second overarching research question of interest in this thesis examines how flexibility at each level of analysis is related to performance. The third overarching research question examined what factors impact flexibility at each level of analysis. To address these three research questions at each level of analysis, a theoretical review and an empirical study were conducted. The first empirical study, focused on flexibility at the organisational level of analysis. This study involved the exploration of seven specific research questions that were developed from the theoretical review. This study used cross-sectional secondary data of private sector Australian organisations. Flexibility was defined as proactivity, adaptability, and resilience. This research examined the relationships between each of the flexibility components and improvements in several organisational level outcomes. Also, the impact of the contextual variables level of organisational control, degree of structure, and competition changes on the flexibility-performance relationship was investigated. Analysis techniques included moderated regression analysis. Results showed support for the positive association between flexibility and performance. Flexibility interacted with competition and structure to influence performance, but control was found to have no moderating effect on the flexibility-performance relationship. The second empirical study investigated group flexibility. This study took a sequential, mixed method research approach, using qualitative data to explore group flexibility and quantitative analysis to explore the broad relationships found among variables from the qualitative research. Using this approach, this study addressed five specific research questions that were developed from a theoretical review, including defining group flexibility, the nature of group flexibility conceptualisation, the relationship between flexibility and group performance, factors that may enhance group flexibility, and factors that may reduce group flexibility. Findings showed group flexibility was described consistently between participants and the existing literature, proposing group flexibility is a group's ability to search and consider alternatives, be adaptable, and resilient. Results also suggested a positive relationship between group flexibility and several outcomes, including stakeholder satisfaction, personal development and satisfaction, group morale, and group confidence. The final study examined individual level flexibility. Based on the theoretical exploration of individual flexibility, in this study, individual flexibility was defined as the ability to be proactive, adaptable, and resilient. This empirical research focused specifically on managerial level flexibility. Due to the similarities in descriptions of individual flexibility and managerial flexibility in the literature, the definition of individual flexibility was applied to the managerial level. The study investigated changes in flexibility levels over time using executive coaching as the literature promotes executive coaching as an individual flexibility developmental tool. This study examined eleven leaders undertaking executive coaching with individual flexibility being measured at three points in time, pre coaching, the middle of coaching, and post coaching. Findings were consistent with the proposition of the positive impact of executive coaching on flexibility as the data showed leaders' individual flexibility levels increased from pre coaching to post coaching, with a significant linear trend over time. The results of these three studies are integrated to inform the multi-level framework of flexibility which was developed in this thesis. This framework provides a systematic, comprehensive, and tangible definition of flexibility at each level of analysis, providing a rich description of the characteristics of each flexibility component. This research advances our understanding of flexibility, which I hope will encourage further research on the construct. For managers and practitioners, this research provides a clear description of flexibility at each level of analysis and offers indicators of flexibility at each level to encourage the measurement and development of organisational, group, and individual flexibility. Also, this research provides empirical evidence of the benefits of flexibility, helping to provide legitimacy for the inclusion of flexibility into the organisation, in areas including strategic planning, organisational design, group design, recruitment and selection, and training and development. Furthermore, this multi-level model allows practitioners to be more focused in developmental efforts for organisation, group, and individual flexibility. This research provides several interesting areas for future research.

Flexibility is a term that is presumed to be meaningful across different levels of analysis in an organisation. It has been suggested that flexibility is required by organisations, groups, and individuals to deal with an increasingly complex and dynamic organisation and global environment. Authors have proposed that organisational flexibility enables a firm to achieve a better 'fit' with their environment and create a sustainable competitive advantage. The group level literature promotes flexibility at this level of analysis as important for group effectiveness and successful project completion. The individual flexibility literature suggests that people who are flexible are more likely to be satisfied and effective than individuals who are inflexible. Despite the importance placed on the construct of flexibility, it is a relatively under explored construct, both theoretically and empirically. This is due in part to the lack of definitional precision and inconsistency in the operationalisation of flexibility at each level of analysis. Consequently, little is known about the meaning of flexibility and the relationship of this construct with contextual and performance variables. This research addresses the limitations of the current literature on flexibility by developing a testable multi-level framework of flexibility. Flexibility is defined in this research as an organisation's, group's, and individual's ability to be proactive, adaptable, and resilient. Three primary research questions were addressed in this thesis. The first question addressed what are the characteristics of flexibility at the organisation, group, and individual level of analysis. The second overarching research question of interest in this thesis examines how flexibility at each level of analysis is related to performance. The third overarching research question examined what factors impact flexibility at each level of analysis. To address these three research questions at each level of analysis, a theoretical review and an empirical study were conducted. The first empirical study, focused on flexibility at the organisational level of analysis. This study involved the exploration of seven specific research questions that were developed from the theoretical review. This study used cross-sectional secondary data of private sector Australian organisations. Flexibility was defined as proactivity, adaptability, and resilience. This research examined the relationships between each of the flexibility components and improvements in several organisational level outcomes. Also, the impact of the contextual variables level of organisational control, degree of structure, and competition changes on the flexibility-performance relationship was investigated. Analysis techniques included moderated regression analysis. Results showed support for the positive association between flexibility and performance. Flexibility interacted with competition and structure to influence performance, but control was found to have no moderating effect on the flexibility-performance relationship. The second empirical study investigated group flexibility. This study took a sequential, mixed method research approach, using qualitative data to explore group flexibility and quantitative analysis to explore the broad relationships found among variables from the qualitative research. Using this approach, this study addressed five specific research questions that were developed from a theoretical review, including defining group flexibility, the nature of group flexibility conceptualisation, the relationship between flexibility and group performance, factors that may enhance group flexibility, and factors that may reduce group flexibility. Findings showed group flexibility was described consistently between participants and the existing literature, proposing group flexibility is a group's ability to search and consider alternatives, be adaptable, and resilient. Results also suggested a positive relationship between group flexibility and several outcomes, including stakeholder satisfaction, personal development and satisfaction, group morale, and group confidence. The final study examined individual level flexibility. Based on the theoretical exploration of individual flexibility, in this study, individual flexibility was defined as the ability to be proactive, adaptable, and resilient. This empirical research focused specifically on managerial level flexibility. Due to the similarities in descriptions of individual flexibility and managerial flexibility in the literature, the definition of individual flexibility was applied to the managerial level. The study investigated changes in flexibility levels over time using executive coaching as the literature promotes executive coaching as an individual flexibility developmental tool. This study examined eleven leaders undertaking executive coaching with individual flexibility being measured at three points in time, pre coaching, the middle of coaching, and post coaching. Findings were consistent with the proposition of the positive impact of executive coaching on flexibility as the data showed leaders' individual flexibility levels increased from pre coaching to post coaching, with a significant linear trend over time. The results of these three studies are integrated to inform the multi-level framework of flexibility which was developed in this thesis. This framework provides a systematic, comprehensive, and tangible definition of flexibility at each level of analysis, providing a rich description of the characteristics of each flexibility component. This research advances our understanding of flexibility, which I hope will encourage further research on the construct. For managers and practitioners, this research provides a clear description of flexibility at each level of analysis and offers indicators of flexibility at each level to encourage the measurement and development of organisational, group, and individual flexibility. Also, this research provides empirical evidence of the benefits of flexibility, helping to provide legitimacy for the inclusion of flexibility into the organisation, in areas including strategic planning, organisational design, group design, recruitment and selection, and training and development. Furthermore, this multi-level model allows practitioners to be more focused in developmental efforts for organisation, group, and individual flexibility. This research provides several interesting areas for future research.

This thesis aims to identify main possible ways how to develop Mělník III coal power plant in the future. The other goal is to evaluate all of them using methods with flexibility and to recommend the most valuable one for the realization. The theoretical part of the thesis describes all key principles used during the valuation and the analytical part contains detailed situation analysis, valuation results and the sensitivity analysis with discussion of the results.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2009.
Thesis research directed by: Robert H. Smith School of Business. Dept. of Decision and Information Technologies . Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Traditionally, projects tend to strive for increased predictability by managing details and attempting to bring all variables under control. However, experience shows that the chance of realising a plan without major amendments decreases with an increasing time horizon, which points to a need for flexible projects. A number of scholars argue that flexibility is necessary to face changes and uncertainty in the business environment. On the other hand, flexible projects are generally not described as desirable in project management literature. These conflicting approaches to flexibility have justified an analysis of the dynamics related to project flexibility, both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. Such an analysis is presented in this thesis,based on analyses of large engineering projects in Norway. Most of the projects are governmental investments.

This thesis aims at structuring knowledge on project flexibility. Two types of results have emerged; the first related to how to analyse project flexibility, and the second related to how to manage flexible projects. Based on studies of different parts of the life cycle of projects, the research provides indications as to how flexibility can be addressed in the front-end phase of large public investments. A framework for analysing project flexibility is also proposed.

Chapter 1 discusses flexibility in a project management perspective, and raises key research questions. The research presented in this thesis addresses the dynamics between utilising benefits from flexible approaches and avoiding drawbacks. Being flexible is characterised by a capability to adapt to new, different or changing requirements.

Flexibility is used in a rather wide sense in the thesis, but is always related to the managing effects of uncertainty. Project flexibility includes adjustments and preparations in response to both internal and contextual uncertainty, such as for example, scope change management, iterative decision process and adjustments related to uncertain funding. Chapter 1 ends with two key research questions related to how to analyse and manage project flexibility.

Chapter 2 presents the research design. The thesis is based on nine papers. These papers are summarised in part one of the thesis. Three main data sources have been used, along with complementary information. First, project evaluations and summaries of 18 Norwegian investment projects have been analysed. Second, this research has benefited from access to an established database for major governmental investments, including results from 48 front-end assessments of large governmental projects. Third, a wider range of data has been collected in a multi-case study of four Norwegian railway projects.

The research is based on an inductive-deductive approach, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative information. Validity and reliability associated with the data used in this thesis are not sufficient to provide solid answers, taken in isolation. As is common in project management research, the small samples in the studies generally do not support statistical analysis of the data, particularly when subgroups of the material are subject to analysis. However, the research has taken previous studies of related issues into account.The results presented in the thesis support many of the findings from other studies, but also indicate some nuances to common understanding of project flexibility. Further research is needed to clarify to what extent these indications are of a general nature or project-specific.

Chapter 3 discusses project flexibility in different project phases. A distinction is made between three project phases: front-end, planning and execution. Both this thesis and previous research point to a flexible front-end phase as the least controversial aspect of project flexibility. Low flexibility after the front-end phase increases the likelihood of projects being completed on time, within budget and according to specifications. Some models and measures of project flexibility in a time perspective are also presented in this chapter.

Chapter 4 analyses project flexibility from a stakeholder perspective. Project stakeholders are actively involved in a project, or their interests may be positively or negatively affected by the project. Project flexibility is perceived differently by different stakeholders. Flexibility for one project stakeholder can be another stakeholder’s risk.

An analysis of flexibility in stakeholder perspective called for a distinction between internal and external project flexibility. Project internal flexibility relates to flexibility within defined scope – how requirements are to be met. External flexibility refers to adjustments of project scope – what requirements are to be met. Project internal flexibility appears to be particularly desirable to project managers and contractors. Project external flexibility is more likely to be looked upon favourably by users and project owners. Incentives open to stakeholders affect their approaches to project flexibility. In general, flexible projects have a value for stakeholders which benefit from adjustments and come at a cost for those who have to adapt.

Chapter 5 highlights the relevance of efficiency and effectiveness when discussing flexible projects. In general, efficiency is related to producing direct project outputs, often measured in terms of cost, time and quality. Effectiveness is related to added value for owners and users. The case in favour of flexibility emphasises the possibility to increase a project’s effectiveness. The case against project flexibility highlights the negative effects on efficiency due to changes and the possibilities for frustration due to lack of decisions and commitments.

Analyses presented in this thesis indicate challenges in materialising the expected benefits of flexible projects. On the other hand, the expected decrease in efficiency in flexible projects has been frequently observed throughout the analysis. Chapter 5 also addresses redundancy as an enabler for project flexibility. Redundancy is created when more resources than strictly necessary are available. The logic behind redundancy is that a project with redundant resources will be efficient because it can be executed as planned, compared to a project with no redundancy that turns out to be error-prone in reality.

Chapter 6 discusses flexibility related to modularity, flexible decision processes and flexible final products. Flexibility in the decision process means that decisions and commitments in projects are made sequentially over phases. Flexibility in the product is achieved when the final product that a project is to produce is prepared for alternative use. There are indications that flexible projects utilise both flexible products and flexible decision processes, rather than emphasising one of these dimensions at the expense of the other. When analysing flexibility in decision processes, there was a need to make a distinction between planned and actual approaches to flexibility. Actual approaches turn out to be different from planned ones.

Modularity can be an enabler for flexible project management. On a macro level, modularity means that projects are divided into independent sub-units. Decision makers can then make incremental commitments to each sub-unit at a time. In the studied projects, macro modularisation was associated with cost control but also with lower benefit realisation than planned. On a micro level, modularisation means a decomposition of a product into modules with specified interfaces. Such modularisation can reduce the ‘knock-on’ effects of design changes.

Chapter 7 summarises a framework for analysing project flexibility and indicates guidelines for managing flexible projects. The framework for analysis consists of project flexibility categorisations, perspectives of analysis, and flexibility drivers and enablers. Approaches for the management of project flexibility are also suggested in Chapter 7. Successful strategies for project flexibility either aim at avoiding flexibility or at enabling projects to be flexible. Projects can avoid adjustments or live with them. One key to successful flexibility management in projects lies in the transition from an initial open-minded environment to the subsequent focused phases. Based on the results in the thesis, an attempt is made to list approaches to project flexibility management.

Even though the results are based on studies of only a few projects, there are indications that the drawbacks of flexible projects are largest when projects do not prepare for future adjustments. This notion is consistent with previous works on flexibility, which highlight that flexible decisions require a structural framework of strategies and guidelines. The suggested approaches and categorisations related to project flexibility are intended as an input to such a structural framework.

Paper I and II reprinted with kind permission of Elsevier, sciencedirect.com

This is a descriptive ethnographical study with the purpose of examining teachers’ and students’ experiences of oral examination at a State Pedagogical University in western Russia. The study also focused on finding the characteristics of oral examination and the contextual factors influencing its implementation. The research was done using participatory observations and interviews. The results show that interviewees experience oral assessment in general as positive. Their descriptions are summarised and analysed using a number of key concepts, of which flexibility, subjectivity, individualisation, and fairness are the most important. The study also shows that contextual factors such as culture, traditions, and organisational framework have large impact on how the examination is done. The conclusion is that oral examination has both gins and losses, since the teacher’s active participation creates possibilities for individualisation and deep probing of the students’ knowledge, but is also a source of bias because of its subjectivity.

This thesis is concerned with queueing models where demand is allowed to exceed the system capacity, and also with the capacity sizing and pricing problem for heterogeneous products and resources under demand uncertainty. Our aim is to improve productivity and profitability. In the first part of the thesis, we consider the dynamic assignment of servers to tasks in queueing networks where demand may exceed the capacity for service. The objective is to maximize the system throughput. We use fluid limit analysis to show that several quantities of interest, namely the maximum possible throughput, the maximum throughput for a given arrival rate, the minimum arrival rate that will yield a desired feasible throughput, and the optimal allocations of servers to classes for a given arrival rate and desired throughput, can be computed by solving linear programming problems. We develop generalized round robin policies for assigning servers to classes for a given arrival rate and desired throughput, and show that our policies achieve the desired throughput as long as this throughput is feasible for the arrival rate. We conclude with numerical examples that illustrate the points discussed and provide insights into the system behavior when the arrival rate deviates from the one the system is designed for. In the second part of the thesis, we consider the effects of inspection and repair stations on the production capacity and product quality in a serial line with possible inspection and repair following each operation. We consider multiple defect types and allow for possible inspection errors that are defect dependent. We construct a profit function that takes into account inspection, repair, and goodwill costs, as well as the capacity of each station. Then we compare the profitability of different inspection plans and discuss how to identify the optimal inspection plan. Finally, in the third part of the thesis, we consider the capacity and pricing decisions made by a monopolistic firm producing two heterogeneous products under demand uncertainty. The objective is to maximize profit. Our model incorporates dedicated and flexible resources, product substitutability, and processing rates that may depend on the product and on the resource type. We provide the optimum prices and production quantities as functions of resource capacities and demand intercepts. We also show that investment in flexible capacity is only desirable when it is optimal to invest in dedicated capacities for both products, and obtain upper bounds for the costs of the dedicated capacities that need to be satisfied for investment in the flexible resource. We conclude with numerical examples that illustrate the points discussed and provide insights into how the optimal capacities and expected production quantities, prices, and profit depend on various model parameters.

This report seeks to evaluate the flexibility in a number of Fortum’s hydropower stations. The deregulation of the Nordic electricity market has put an emphasis on revenue maximizing rather than cost minimizing and there are good indications that flexible assets will be even more valuable in the future when more wind power has been introduced into the system. Through interviews with people involved in the hydropower planning and operation process a number of factors with the potential of affecting the flexibility or causing deviations between planned and realized operation have been identified and explained. These interviews have also been used to identify main flexibility limitations in studied stations, and what potentially could be done to improve the flexibility. A data analysis has been performed where historical data from planned and realized operation and results from a model developed in Matlab has been studied. The developed linear programming model is used as a reference level of an idealized theoretical potential for flexibility. Volume weighted average prices have been used to measure and compare the flexibility of studied stations. The analysis shows that the studied stations can be divided into two groups with regards to their flexibility compared to the modeled flexibility. This result is somewhat confirmed by the interview findings. Factors related to constraints imposed by water rights seem to have the biggest single impact on the flexibility of hydropower stations. The potential for flexible operation varies with season and the planned and realized operation is closer to the modeled results during the winter. It is a general opinion within the organization that there is a potential for a more flexible utilization of many hydropower stations. Experience, resources, understanding in how to fully utilize the reservoirs, and how multiple stations in a river reach can be coordinated are keys to improving the flexibility.