Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'APEX model'

El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo analizar la posibilidad de aplicar el modelo ético discursivo del filósofo alemán Karl-Otto Apel1, en el contexto de la educación primaria y secundaria de nuestro país. El planteamiento de Apel nos parece sin duda una filosofía acorde a nuestros tiempos; una ética propositiva, clara, que aspira a la resolución de los diversos problemas que nos atañen, apelando a la razón dialógica y la cooperación entre los individuos. Responsabilidad en relación con las consecuencias y derivaciones de todas nuestras acciones, abandonando todo tipo de violencia desde nuestras plataformas comunicativas.

Thesis(M.S.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2009
Title from PDF (viewed on 2010-01-28) Department of EMC - Mechanical Engineering Includes abstract Includes bibliographical references and appendices Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center

International transfer of technology is the key element for the industrialisation and economic development of countries. But the success of any transfer depends on the judicious selection of appropriate technology from the right source and its effective absorption. This depends to a large extent on the selection, adaptation and assimilation capabilities of the recipient of the technology. In technology transfer, adaptation at the transferee end is an important stage. The difference between the technology levels of the transferor and transferee causes a technological gap which creates a potential for technology flow, but the transfer will depend on the assimilating capability of the transferee. In this study, a mathematical function that determines the technological level of a country is developed using the logistic growth pattern. The technological level of a country, in a given industry, is measured by an indicator called 'Technology Index' using the variables that influence and reflect the performance of that industry. The technology index is computed using the factor loadings obtained by the statistical technique factor analysis. In technology transfer, one of the most important problems facing countries is the selection of a transferor. Using the classical optimisation method, optimum transferors for various hypothetical transferees are determined in order to study the optimal partnership in technology transfer. A theoretical framework is provided for technological cooperation among the member countries of APEC based on the technology transfer model and classical optimisation method developed in this study. The theoretical framework can be applied to establish, for each industry, a technology cooperation network among the member countries by identifying the optimum partnership, that will provide an effective technology transfer process. Finally, based on the outcome of the research undertaken, conclusions are drawn and recommendations for further study presented
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Les légumineuses sont souvent considérées comme des cultures clés pour une agriculture durable. Dans ce cadre, elles sont souvent cultivées en association avec les céréales et présentent de nombreux avantages d'ordres agronomique, environnemental et socio-économique. Cependant, malgré ces nombreux avantages, leur part dans l'agriculture européenne est encore très limitée. Dans la région Midi-Pyrénées (sud-ouest de la France), la superficie occupée par les légumineuses ne représente que 1 à 3% de la superficie totale cultivée, traduisant la réticence des agriculteurs à cultiver ce type de culture. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif de la thèse étaient de: i) identifier les principales contraintes pour la production de légumineuses dans la région Midi-Pyrénées, ii) identifier les principaux leviers techniques et socio-économiques (exprimés sous forme de scénarios) afin de promouvoir les légumineuses dans les systèmes de cultures actuels et iii) évaluer, en utilisant la chaîne de modélisation APES-FSSIM-indicateurs, les impacts de ces scénarios en calculant des indicateurs socio-économiques et environnementaux au niveau de trois exploitations représentatives (FT1, FT2 et FT3) de la diversité observée au niveau de la zone d'étude.L'identification des principales contraintes a été basée sur la bibliographie et les dires d'experts locaux. Ces contraintes traduisent la sensibilité des légumineuses aux types de sols et de climat, les compétences techniques demandées pour cultiver convenablement des légumineuses, la compétitivité économique des légumineuse par rapport aux autres cultures et à l'actuel prix et rendement des légumineuses et surtout leurs variabilité inter-annuelle. Pour promouvoir les légumineuses, des scénarios alternatifs ont été définis et comparés à la situation actuelle (scénario de référence). Les scénarios alternatifs, se différencie par rapport au scénario de référence par les paramètres suivantes: l'introduction de nouvelles rotations à base de légumineuses dans les systèmes de culture actuels (Stec.innov), l'octroie d'une prime spécifique aux légumineuses (Spremium), l'augmentation du prix de vente ( Sprice) et du rendement (Syield) des légumineuses, la réduction de la variabilité du prix (Sprice.var) et du rendement (Syield.var) des légumineuses et enfin, la combinaison de tous ces paramètres dans un seul scénario (Scomb). Tous les scénarios ont été simulés et comparés en utilisant la chaîne de modèles APES-FSSIM-indicateurs. Cette chaine de modèles a permis de calculer des indicateurs environnementaux et socio-économiques.Les résultats ont montré que, contrairement aux attentes, l'introduction de nouvelles rotations et la réduction de la variabilité des rendements ou des prix (Stec.innov, Sprice.var et Syield.var) n'entrainent pas l'augmentation de la superficie des légumineuses. Toutefois, une augmentation de la superficie des légumineuses a été observée pour les scénarios Spremium, Sprice, Syield et Scomb. Le scénario combiné (Scomb) a été jugé comme le plus efficace, montrant une augmentation importante de la superficie des légumineuses, soit 34 ha, 32 ha et 7 ha respectivement pour FT2, FT3 et FT1. Ce changement a entrainé également une modification significative au niveau des valeurs des indicateurs socio-économiques et environnementaux. L'augmentation de la superficie des légumineuses et la variation des indicateurs économiques et environnementaux dépendent des caractéristiques structurelles des exploitations, de la part de la surface irriguable, des systèmes de culture présents et des types de sol au niveau de chaque exploitation.Les résultats de cette étude montrent que l'application d'une nouvelle politique pour promouvoir les légumineuses, peut conduire, selon les stratégies de production adoptées par les agriculteurs afin de maximiser leurs revenus, à plusieurs changements économiques et environnementaux. Ces stratégies se traduisent principalement par la modification des superficies allouées
Grain legumes are generally considered as key crops for sustainable agriculture. They offer many agronomic, environmental and socio-economic benefits when grown in succession with cereals. Although grain legumes have many advantages, their share in European agriculture is still very limited. In the Midi-Pyrénées region (south-west of France), their area varies from 1 to 3% of the total cultivated area, moreover farmers show little interest in growing grain legumes on their farms. In this context, the objectives of the thesis were to; i) identify the main constraints for grain legume production in the Midi-Pyrénées region, ii) identify key technical and socio-economic levers (expressed as scenarios) to promote grain legumes in current cropping systems and iii) assess, by using the APES-FSSIM-Indicators modelling chain, the impacts of these scenarios on the socio-economic and environmental behaviours of three representative arable farm types (FT1, FT2 and FT3) of the Midi-Pyrénées region.The main constraints have been identified based on bibliography and in consultation with local experts. These constraints are derived from the grain legumes sensitivity to: soils and climatic conditions, farmer technical skill and expertise for sowing and harvesting the grain legumes, economic competitiveness in comparison with cereals and their yield and market prices amounts and fluctuations. From the above statement, the alternative scenarios, in comparison to the current situation (reference scenario) have been identified to promote grain legumes. They included, the introduction of new grain legumes rotations in current cropping systems of the region (Stec.innov), provision of more premiums to grain legumes (Spremium), increase in sale price (Sprice) and yield (Syield) of grain legumes, reduction in price (Sprice.var) and yield (Syield.var) variability of grain legumes, and combination of all these components (Scomb). All scenarios have been assessed with quantitative environmental and socio-economic indicators and are calculated with the APES-FSSIM-Indicators modeling chain.Results show that, contrary to expectation, the introduction of new legumes rotations or the reduction of yield or price variability (Stec.innov, Sprice.var and Syield.var) did not increase the grain legumes area. However, an increase in grain legumes area was observed for Spremium, Sprice, Syield and Scomb. The combined scenario (Scomb) was found to be most efficient, showing an important increase in grain legumes area by 34 ha, 32 ha and 7 ha respectively for FT2, FT3 and FT1 with a significant change in socio-economic and environmental indicators for all three farm types. The increase in grain legumes area and modification in economic and environmental indicators depend on the farm characteristics and can be explained by the differences in irrigable area between irrigated crops (i.e. maize, peas and soybean), cropping pattern, soil types and climatic conditions (rainfed and irrigation) on the three farms types.The results obtained from this study show that the modification of policies or the inclusion of new technologies, may lead to several economic and environmental changes, which reveal the adaptation strategies adopted by farmers in order to optimize their farm income. These strategies are mainly implemented by modifying the areas allocated to different crops on different soil types and by changes of management practices. The grain legumes area can be increased on Midi-Pyrénées farming system by the combination of slightly increase in premium, sale price and crop yield of the grain legumes. This methodology can easily be adapted to other regions of France and also EU for identifying the main developmental conditions for grain legumes production provided the skilled experts are properly selected and sufficient data are available for parameterization of the modeling chain

Aviäre pathogene E. coli (APEC) sind extraintestinale Pathogene, die beim Huhn systemische Infektionskrankheiten hervorrufen. Zur Identifizierung Gene, die an der Kolonisierung des Wirtes beteiligt sind, wurde ein Lungen-Infektionsmodell in 5 Wochen alten SPF Hühnern etabliert. In dem Modell wurden 1.800 mittels Signature-tagged-Mutagenese (STM) hergestellten Mutanten des APEC Stamms IMT5155 (O2:K1:H5; ST-Komplex 95) auf ihre Fähigkeit zur Kolonisierung getestet. Die Untersuchung führte zur Identifizierung Gene, einschließlich Adhäsin-, LPS- und Kapsel-bildenden Genen, sowie Genen mit putativer Funktion. Die STM-Analyse erlaubte zudem die Identifizierung eines zuvor nicht charakterisierten putativen Fimbrien-bildenden Adhäsins (Yqi). Das Genprodukt wurde vorläufig als ExPEC Adhäsin I (EA/I) bezeichnet. Eine Deletion des EA/I-Gens führte zu einer Reduzierung der Adhäsionsfähigkeit des Stammes IMT5155 in vitro und in vivo. Eine Komplementierung des EA/I-Gens in trans resultierte in einer Wiederherstellung des Adhäsions¬vermögens in vitro. Das EA/I-Protein (~39 kDa) wurde als Fusionsprotein in vitro exprimiert, und mittels SDS-PAGE und Western Blot nachgewiesen. Durch Überexpression des EA/I-Operons in dem Fimbrien-negativen E. coli-Stamm AAEC189 konnten mittels elektronenmikroskopischer Aufnahmen Fimbrien-bildende Strukturen auf der äußeren Membran dargestellt werden. Das Vorkommen des yqi in den untersuchten extraintestinal pathogenen E. coli (ExPEC), bei gleichzeitigem Fehlen in allen untersuchten intestinal pathogenen E. coli bestätigt die Bezeichnung ExPEC Adhäsin I. Die Prävalenz des EA/I-Gens war am stärksten assoziiert mit Stämmen der B2-Phylogenetische-Gruppe und des ST95-Komplexes des Multi-Lokus-Sequenz-Typisierungs (MLST)-Schemas. Sequenzanalysen ergaben zudem erste Hinweise auf eine positive Selektion des EA/I-Gens innerhalb dieses Komplexes. In der vorliegenden Arbeit gelang somit die Identifizierung und Charakterisierung des neuen ExPEC Adhäsin I.
The extraintestinal pathogen, avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC), known to cause systemic infections in chickens, is responsible for large economic losses in the poultry industry. To identify genes, involved adhesion and colonization, a lung colonization model of infection was established in 5-week old specific-pathogen free (SPF) chickens, and Signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) was applied to this model by generating and screening a total of 1,800 mutants of an APEC strain IMT5155 (O2:K1:H5; ST complex 95). This led to the identification of new genes of interest, including adhesins, genes involved in capsule and LPS formation, and genes of putative function. Among the many genes identified was one coding for a novel APEC fimbrial adhesin (Yqi) not described for its role in APEC pathogenesis. Its gene product was temporarily designated ExPEC Adhesin I (EA/I). Deletion of the ExPEC adhesin I gene resulted in reduced colonization ability by APEC strain IMT5155 both in vitro and in vivo. Complementation of the adhesin gene restored its ability to colonize epithelial cells in vitro. The ExPEC adhesin I protein (~ 39 kDa) was expressed as a fusion protein in vitro as shown by SDS-PAGE and western blotting. Electron microscopy of an afimbriate strain E. coli AAEC189 over-expressed with the putative EA/I gene cluster revealed short fimbrial like appendages protruding out of the bacterial outer membrane. We observed that the adhesin coding gene yqi is prevalent among extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) isolates and absent in all of the intestinal pathogenic E. coli strains tested, thereby validating the designation of the adhesin as ExPEC Adhesin I. In addition, prevalence of EA/I was most frequently associated with the E. coli phylogenetic group B2 and ST95 complex of the multi locus sequence typing (MLST) scheme, with evidence of a positive selection within this complex. This is the first report of the newly identified and functionally characterized ExPEC adhesin I.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de développer un détecteur innovant de particules chargées, dénommé 3D Silicon Coincidence Avalanche Detector (3D-SiCAD), réalisable en technologie silicium CMOS standard avec des techniques d’intégration 3D. Son principe de fonctionnement est basé sur la détection en "coïncidence" entre deux diodes à avalanche en mode "Geiger" alignées verticalement, avec la finalité d’atteindre un niveau de bruit bien inférieur à celui de capteurs à avalanche standards, tout en gardant les avantages liés à l’utilisation de technologies CMOS; notamment la grande variété d’offres technologiques disponibles sur le marché, la possibilité d’intégrer dans un seul circuit un système complexe de détection, la facilité de migrer et mettre à jour le design vers une technologie CMOS plus moderne, et le faible de coût de fabrication. Le détecteur développé dans ce travail se révèle particulièrement adapté au domaine de la physique des particules de haute énergie ainsi qu’à la physique médicale - hadron thérapie, où des performances exigeantes sont demandées en termes de résistance aux rayonnements ionisants, "material budget", vitesse, bruit et résolution spatiale. Dans ce travail, un prototype a été conçu et fabriqué en technologie HV-CMOS 0,35µm, en utilisant un assemblage 3D de type "flip-chip" avec pour finalité de démontrer la faisabilité d’un tel détecteur. La caractérisation du prototype a finalement montré que le dispositif développé permet de détecter des particules chargées avec une excellente efficacité de détection, et que le mode "coïncidence" réduit considérablement le niveau de bruit. Ces résultats très prometteurs mettent en perspective la réalisation d’un système complet de détection CMOS basé sur ce nouveau concept
The objective of this work is to develop a novel position sensitive charged particle detector referred to as "3D Silicon Coincidence Avalanche Detector" (3D-SiCAD). The working principle of this novel device relies on a "time-coincidence" mode detection between a pair of vertically aligned Geiger-mode avalanche diodes, with the aim of achieving negligible noise levels with respect to detectors based on conventional avalanche diodes, such as Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPM), and, at the same time, providing single charged particle detection capability thanks to the high charge multiplication gain, inherent of the Geiger-mode operation. A 3D-SiCAD could be particularly suitable for nuclear physics applications, in the field of High Energy Physics experiments and emerging Medical Physics applications such as hadron-therapy and Proton Computed Tomography whose future developments demand unprecedented figures in terms of material budget, noise, spatial resolution, radiation hardness, power consumption and cost-effectiveness. In this work, a 3D-SiCAD demonstrator has been successfully developed and fabricated in the Austria Micro-Systems High-Voltage 0.35 μm CMOS technology by adopting a “flip-chip” approach for the 3D-assembling. The characterization results allowed demonstrating the feasibility of this novel device and validating the expected performances in terms of excellent particle detection efficiency and noise rejection capability with respect to background counts

Despite having being discovered nearly 80 years ago, bonobos (Pan paniscus) are still one of the least well understood of the great apes, largely remaining in the shadow of their better known cousins, the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). This is especially evident in the domain of communication, with bonobo vocal behaviour still a neglected field of study, especially compared to that of chimpanzees. In this thesis, I address this issue by exploring the natural vocal communication of bonobos and its underlying cognition, focusing on the role that vocalisations play during two key contexts, food discovery and sex. In the context of food-discovery, I combine observational and experimental techniques to examine whether bonobos produce and understand vocalisations that convey meaningful information about the quality of food encountered by the caller. Results indicate that bonobos produce an array of vocalisations when finding food, and combine different food-associated calls together into sequences in a way that relates to perceived food quality. In a subsequent playback study, it was demonstrated that receivers are able to extract meaning about perceived food quality by attending to these calls and integrating information across call sequences. In the context of sexual interactions, I examine the acoustic structure of female copulation calls, as well as patterns in call usage, to explore how these signals are used by individuals. My results show that females emit copulation calls in similar ways with both male and female partners, suggesting that these signals have become partly divorced from a function in reproduction, to assume a greater social role. Overall, my results highlight the relevance of studying primate vocalisations to investigate the underlying cognition and suggest that vocalisations are important behavioural tools for bonobos to navigate their social and physical worlds.

L’objectif de la thèse est d’identifier la pertinence des modèles en équilibre général calculable (MEGC) pour analyser la problématique posée par les Accords de Partenariat Économique (APE) entre l’Union européenne et les pays ACP. Une revue de la littérature est d’abord réalisée, puis un modèle en équilibre général calculable (MEGC) à dynamique intertemporelle est construit pour analyser l’impact de l’APE sur un pays spécifique : le Ghana. À partir du constat portant sur la diversité des résultats de simulations, qui dépendent essentiellement de la structure du modèle et des modes de fermeture choisis par le modélisateur, ce travail cherche à mettre en évidence la largeur du faisceau de résultats possibles et l’impossibilité de mettre en avant les bénéfices potentiels qui peuvent être attendus d’un tel accord en s’appuyant simplement sur des MEGC néoclassiques standards
This work aims to analyze to what extent the use of an applied general equilibrium model (AGE) allows to correctly assess the potential economic impact of EPAs between ACP countries and the European Union. First, a review of the literature is conducted and then an intertemporal dynamic AGE model is built in order to assess the potential impact of EPA on a specific country: Ghana. From the variety of results resulting from the models simulations and depending on hypothesis made on the model structure and the type of closure chosen by the modeler, our work aims to stress the risk of using standard neoclassical Walrasian models to assess the potential benefits of an EPA on ACP countries economy

Les relations commerciales entre l’Union européenne (UE) et les Etats d’Afrique, des Caraïbes et du Pacifique (ACP) ont longtemps été caractérisées par un régime préférentiel non réciproque. Ce régime a finalement été dénoncé en raison de son incompatibilité avec les règles de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC). Pour se mettre en conformité avec les exigences de l’OMC, l’UE a voulu que ses relations commerciales avec les Etats ACP soient désormais régies par des Accords de partenariat économique (APE) qui doivent être négocié avec les groupements régionaux ACP. Après plus de 12 ans de négociations, les pays de la Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (CEDEAO) ont signé les APE avec l’UE ; sur fond de controverses quant aux réels bénéfices attendus d’un tel accord. Aussi, notre thèse s’est proposée de réévaluer l’impact (en termes de création ou de détournement de commerce) des APE sur les économies des pays de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, et plus particulièrement le Burkina Faso. Cette étude est basée sur un modèle d’équilibre général calculable (MEGC) construit à partir du modèle PEP-1t de Decaluwé et al. (2013) et calibré avec la Matrice de Comptabilité sociale (MCS) du Burkina version 2012. Nos résultats montrent que les APE donnent un avantage compétitif à l’UE avec des effets de détournement de commerce qui se traduisent par une augmentation des importations en provenance de l’UE, ce qui contraste avec l’absence d’un effet d’accroissement réel des exportations du Burkina Faso vers l’UE et la CEDEAO. Toutefois, les APE améliorent sensiblement le bien-être des populations, mais ne permet pas de réduire la pauvreté et les inégalités
Economic relations between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) have been characterized by non-reciprocal preferential trade agreements. These trade agreements have been continuously criticized for being incompatible with WTO rules. In order to conform to the norms of international trade, the EU has required that its economic relations with the ACP states are governed by the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), which are negotiated with three African Regional Economic Communities. After more than twelve years of negotiations, the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have signed the EPA with the EU, despite differing opinions on the real benefits that can be expected from such agreements. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the impact of the EPA on the economies of the ECOWAS (in terms of trade creation and diversion), in particular Burkina Faso. The study uses a modified version of the computable general equilibrium model developed in Decaluwé et al. (2013). The static baseline model is calibrated using a social accounting matrix (SAM) for Burkina Faso’s economy of 2012. Our results show that the APE give the EU a competitive advantage. Burkina Faso’s imports originating from the EU increase, manifesting trade diversion. The trade agreements have no significant effect on Burkina Faso’s exports to the EU or the ECOWAS. Furthermore, while the APE considerably improve population well-being, they do not lower poverty or social inequalities

博士
國立臺灣科技大學
電子工程系
100
In buildings, efficient lighting systems and excellent design of interior natural light illumination can contribute to energy savings; meanwhile, natural light illumination systems have the potential to improve human health, mood, performance and productivity. Prismatic elements are widely used in natural light illumination systems for redirecting and collect daylight. Prismatic elements can be part of a daylight illuminate system located on the roof or façade of buildings and can be used as collectors to collect and guide daylight to reduce glare and save energy. An analysis of the distribution of the energy and ray-tracing can improve the performance of daylight guiding systems and aid in the design of natural light illumination systems. The characteristics of the light that emerges from the surface of a right-angled prism vary with the apex of the prism and the incident angle of the sunshine illuminating the surface of the prismatic daylight collector. Based on the principles of optics, this article presents a simple mathematical three dimensional matrix ray-tracing methodology through which a detailed intensity distribution of parallel light beam incident onto a right angled prism from different incident angles can be calculated precisely. The direction, concentration and distribution of intensity of the emerged light from the parallel light incident onto a surface of the right-angle prism, as well as daylight illuminate on a prismatic collector are precisely calculated. The detailed calculation of the emerged light re-incident onto the adjacent prism or emerged out of the right angled prismatic element with a 45° apex angle presented that most of daylight are directly emerged out and are confined in some directions at earlier morning and afternoon; the emerged light re-incident into the adjacent prism at noon around. This paper also investigates the effect of the apex angle of a right-angled prismatic collector on the performance of the collector using this matrix ray tracing model and the edge principle. It was found that the majority of the light emerges from the hypotenuse of the right-angled prism when sunshine is incident on the surface of the prismatic daylight collector; furthermore, the distribution of the light can be shifted by changing the apex of the right-angled prismatic collector. The direct illumination level of the light emerging from the hypotenuse decreases as the apex of the right-angled prism is increased. The intensity distribution of the majority of the light emerging from the hypotenuse of a right-angled prism can be used to guide the design of natural light illumination systems and enhance their performance. The percentage of light emerging from the hypotenuse decreases with the number of prismatic elements because the relative area of the emerging light that reaches the adjacent prism increases with the number of prismatic elements. The analysis of the relative area of the emerging light that reaches the adjacent prism according to the edge ray principle shows that the total area is constant when the number of prismatic elements is greater than 10; an economical prismatic daylight collector can be realized with less material due to the larger number of smaller prisms with the same apex. This detailed calculation model of parallel light beam incident to a prismatic element can be applied to the hybrid natural light illumination system as well as to the prism-relative solar illumination system for the improvement of efficiency. This paper proposes a model of a natural light illumination system that would improve the efficiency of solar energy use. This model is composed of a prismatic daylight collector, a reflector for re-directing daylight into the room and a diffuse reflector for indoor illumination. The prismatic daylight collector and the daylight canopy not only decrease the discomfort of glare but also collect daylight for the natural lighting system.

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
營建工程系
96
Currently, Taiwan participates in international affairs actively, that in June 2005 has successfully join “Asia Pacific Engineer Coordinating Committee” and become one of Asia Pacific Engineer official member. Furthermore, Taiwan begins to handle Asia Pacific engineer qualification examination and authentication thus unfamiliar with Asia Pacific engineer implementation method yet there is delay in all categories system establishment. To respond accordingly to future and other Asia Pacific economic system mutual recognition protocol, there is a need to investigate others each Asia Pacific countries opening situation according to other mutual recognition practice. Firstly, this research is done by collecting and organizing data of foreign professional engineer qualification registration from Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Hong Kong, and other Asia Pacific countries and Furthermore investigate international mutual recognition case and Asia Pacific member economy system in adapting with foreign engineer occupation opening method. Furthermore, investigation of these Asia Pacific engineer members economic system opening method and preliminary research on Asia Pacific Engineer who comes to Taiwan are done by adopting Malaysia system temporarily to approve an Asia Pacific engineer mutual recognition framework to correspond with certain requirement of temporary foreign professional engineer’s working permit.

碩士
長榮大學
土地管理與開發學系碩士班
104
Level of urbanization is an important indicator to predict a number of global trends, however, level of urbanization may be based on unreliable data. This research proposes an simple method to identify a country's urban and country population time series if there is a problem, and to find the upper limit of level of urbanization tendency to view urbanization whether follows logistic growth model. Empirical analysis of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation member countries’ urban and country population time series were used to verify the reliability of the data. This study will investigate the urbanization of each APEC member countries. As long as the study sample shows S-shaped growth curve, this method will be effective, but the urban population change and urbanization level predicted in this study found that some outliers should exist. An exception occurs because the value of its national saturation value is abnormal, indicating urbanization is relevant to the background and characteristics of the country. Therefore, to use Logistic growth model to explore the urbanization of a country, we should be aware of its applicability and restriction.

The OSU/APEX thermal hydraulic test facility models the passive safety systems of the Westinghouse AP600 advanced light water reactor design. Numerous experiments have been performed to test these systems, the one of focus here is the station blackout scenario. This experiment simulated the complete loss of AC power to all plant systems. One of the objectives of this experiment was to determine the effectiveness of the Passive Residual Heat Removal (PRHR) system. The PRHR system removes heat by rejecting it into the In-containment Refueling Water Storage Tank (IRWST). The IRWST houses the PRHR and is used as a heat sink for the decay heat. The PRHR is a C-type tube heat exchanger. Heat is removed through two mechanisms: natural convection and nucleate boiling from the surface of the PRHR. As the experiment progressed, a large degree of thermal stratification was observed in the IRWST with no significant thermal mixing. A thermal layer developed in the top of the tank and as the thermal layer approached saturation the rate of heat removal from the sections of the PRHR engulfed by this layer decreased. The effectiveness of these sections of the PRHR continued to decrease until unexpected flow patterns developed at the same time that the thermal layer reached saturation. The IRWST fluid exhibited a bulk azimuthal flow pattern that increased the effectiveness of the PRHR. This increase allowed for more heat to be injected into the IRWST. However, the bulk fluid motion still did not mix the thermal layers. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic model using the CFX-4.2 software was developed to study the PRHR/IRWST system. The model uses the RPI method to account for the sub-cooled boiling that is present on the PRHR surface. The model successfully predicted the thermal stratification in the IRWST to within 4 K of experimental data. A counter-current flow was shown to occur along the interface of the thermal layers. This caused an enhancement of the heat transfer and turbulent mixing occurring across the interface of the thermal layers.
Graduation date: 1998

碩士
國立成功大學
電信管理研究所
100
This study measures and compares the technical efficiency and technology gap of the APEC major mobile operators using stochastic metafrontier model during the time period of 2003 to 2010. The impact of operating scale, ownership, market structure, and economic development on the mobile operators’ technical efficiency is also investigated. The four steps of the research procedure are adopted. First, the parameters for the individual firm-specific SFA models are estimated using FRONTIER 4.1 software to derive the technical efficiency value relative to the group frontier (TEs). Second, the 25 APEC operators are divided into group of advanced economies and group of emerging and developing economies according to IMF (2012). Third, the parameters of the metafrontier using GAUSS economic software are estimated to derive the technical efficiency values with respect to the metafrontier (TE*s). In the end, the technology gaps between the group frontier and the metafrontier (TGR) are obtained. The results of the study are summarized as follow. In general, the technical efficiency and technology gap of the APEC mobile operators is found to display an improving trend year by year, which was driven by the substantial investments in rapidly changing telecommunications technologies. Second, the operators in the group of advanced economies are found to have higher technical efficiency scores but smaller technology gaps on average than those in the group of emerging and developing economies. However, the operators in the emerging and developing economies did show a latecomer’s advantage by making a jump-start via deploying the latest technologies as compared to the ones in the advanced economies. In the group of advanced economies, NTT DOCOMO, Telecom New Zealand and KT had the highest TE* and TGR values, but Optus had the lowest TE*s and TGRs. In the group of emerging and developing economies, China Mobile and China Unicom had the highest TE* and TGR values, but Celcom had the lowest TE*s and TGRs. Surprisingly, none of operating scale, ownership, and market structure is found to have an impact on the technical efficiency and technology gap of a mobile operator. This contradicts the widespread managerial and Economics belief that the privatization initiates the incentives for the executive managers of organizations to pursue their own interests by adopting competitive and effective strategies and thus, would have higher efficiencies in operations, that the competition in a market (i.e., the invisible hand) sends the resources to the ones that have the highest valuations and thus, the surviving operators should be fully efficient. Finally, the managerial and policy suggestions are drawn from the results of this study to improve technical efficiency and reduce technology gap of mobile operators.

The nuclear industry has long relied upon bounding parametric analyses in predicting the safety margins of reactor designs undergoing design-basis accidents. These methods have been known to return highly-conservative results, limiting the operating conditions of the reactor. The Best-Estimate Plus Uncertainty (BEPU) method using a modernized version of the Code-Scaling, Applicability, and Uncertainty (CSAU) methodology has been applied to more accurately predict the safety margins of the Oregon State University Advanced Plant Experiment (APEX) facility experiencing a Loss-of-Feedwater Accident (LOFA). The statistical advantages of the Bayesian paradigm of probability was utilized to incorporate prior knowledge when determining the analysis required to justify the safety margins. RELAP5 Mod 3.3 was used to accurately predict the thermal-hydraulics of a primary Feed-and-Bleed response to the accident using assumptions to accompany the lumped-parameter calculation approach. A novel coupling of thermal-hydraulic and statistical software was accomplished using the Symbolic Nuclear Analysis Package (SNAP). Uncertainty in Peak Cladding Temperature (PCT) was calculated at the 95/95 probability/confidence levels under a series of four separate sensitivity studies.
Graduation date: 2013

碩士
國立臺灣大學
農業經濟學研究所
102
This study assesses the export of fresh grape from Peru to its ten major importers in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in the Asian region during 2003-2012, using a gravity model. The situation of the fresh grape industry in Peru and the world is revised taking in account different variables relevant in the gravity equation; such as, GDP of Peru and APEC countries, distance between countries, tariffs, free trade agreements (FTAs) and plantations in the APEC countries. The econometric methodology used in this study controls for zero trades among countries; specifically for the cases of China, South-Korea and Taiwan and heteroskedasticity by using PPML estimator at a 6 level Harmonized System (HS) 6-digit data 080610 fresh grapes. Results suggest that increases of the GDP of Peru by 1% increases exports by 2.3%; on the other hand, tariffs imposed to Peru by 1% to reduce its exports by 10.9%.

International transfer of technology is the key element for the industrialisation and economic development of countries. But the success of any transfer depends on the judicious selection of appropriate technology from the right source and its effective absorption. This depends to a large extent on the selection, adaptation and assimilation capabilities of the recipient of the technology. In technology transfer, adaptation at the transferee end is an important stage. The difference between the technology levels of the transferor and transferee causes a technological gap which creates a potential for technology flow, but the transfer will depend on the assimilating capability of the transferee. In this study, a mathematical function that determines the technological level of a country is developed using the logistic growth pattern. The technological level of a country, in a given industry, is measured by an indicator called 'Technology Index' using the variables that influence and reflect the performance of that industry. The technology index is computed using the factor loadings obtained by the statistical technique factor analysis. In technology transfer, one of the most important problems facing countries is the selection of a transferor. Using the classical optimisation method, optimum transferors for various hypothetical transferees are determined in order to study the optimal partnership in technology transfer. A theoretical framework is provided for technological cooperation among the member countries of APEC based on the technology transfer model and classical optimisation method developed in this study. The theoretical framework can be applied to establish, for each industry, a technology cooperation network among the member countries by identifying the optimum partnership, that will provide an effective technology transfer process. Finally, based on the outcome of the research undertaken, conclusions are drawn and recommendations for further study presented

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an extremely deadly disease characterized by aggressive metastasis and therapeutic resistance. Reactive stroma in pancreatic tumors contributes to tumor signaling, fibrosis, inflammation, and hypoxia. Hypoxia signaling creates a more aggressive phenotype with increased potential for metastasis and decreased therapeutic efficacy. Carbonic anhydrase IX (CA9) functions as part of the cellular response to hypoxia by regulating intracellular pH to promote cell survival. Apurinic/Apyrimidinic Endonuclease-1-Reduction/oxidation Effector Factor 1 (APE1/Ref-1) is a multi-functional protein with two major activities: endonuclease activity in DNA base excision repair and a redox signaling activity that reduces oxidized transcription factors, enabling them to bind target sequences in DNA. APE1/Ref-1 is a central node in redox signaling, contributing to the activation of transcription factors involved in tumor survival, growth, and hypoxia signaling. This work evaluates the mechanisms underlying PDAC cell responses to hypoxia and APE1/Ref-1 redox signaling control of hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF1a), a critical factor in hypoxia-induced CA9 transcription. We hypothesized that obstructing the HIF-CA9 axis at two points via APE1/Ref-1 inhibition and CA9 inhibition results in enhanced PDAC cell killing under hypoxic conditions. We found that HIF1a-mediated induction of CA9 is significantly attenuated following APE1/Ref-1 knock-down or redox signaling inhibition in patient-derived PDAC cells and pancreatic cancer-associated fibroblast cells. Additionally, dual-targeting of APE1/Ref-1 redox signaling activity and CA9 activity results in enhanced acidification and cytotoxicity of PDAC cells under hypoxic conditions as well as decreased tumor growth in an ex-vivo 3-dimensional tumor co-culture model. Further experiments characterized novel analogs of clinically relevant drugs targeting the key enzymes in this pathway, resulting in improved potency. These results underscore the notion that combination therapy is essential and demonstrate the potential clinical utility of blocking APE1/Ref-1 and CA9 function for novel PDAC therapeutic treatment.

This dissertation investigates whether video games are able to affect players' attitudes and information behaviour towards depicted historical topics in games over the short- and long-term. We collected data from a sample of 148 young adults. As far as we know, there is currently no study of such a scale focused on historical games. We used, as an intervention tool, a modification of the serious game Czechoslovakia 38-89: Borderlands that deals with the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the former Czechoslovakia after WWII. The game is based on historical research providing players with multiple perspectives on the depicted topics. Our control group played a similar game, but where the narrative was unrelated to any depicted historical event from Czechoslovakia 38-89: Borderlands. In the empirical part of the study, we measured explicit and implicit attitude change and information behaviour change towards the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans. Results showed more negative pretest-posttest explicit attitude changes towards the expulsion on a general level (d = -0.34; p = .022) and a specific level (d = -0.53; p = .001) in the experimental group compared to the control group. Over the long-term, group differences in attitude change remained significant for the specific level (d = -0.44; p = .014),...

This research examines participant workers’ experiences of social inclusion and quality of work life while employed at social enterprises in Jamaica. Social enterprises have been promoted as a panacea for society’s ills, such as social exclusion. Jamaica has limited safety nets, high rates of poverty and an inadequately funded public education and healthcare system. There are some 4,000 social enterprises in operation, focused on community empowerment, economic prosperity, community safety and stewardship. To explore this issue, the research develops a theoretical framework, the access-participation-empowerment model (APE), based on Gidley et al’s (2010) model of social inclusion interventions nested within the ideological underpinnings of neoliberalism, social justice and human potential. This thesis takes a case study approach. The data sources comprise semi-structured interviews, examination of company documents and articles, a review of the literature and direct observations. Interviews were conducted with 16 participant workers, management and stakeholders of two social enterprises located in urban and rural Jamaica. This thesis takes a novel approach in engaging with marginalised participant workers. Their lived experience is recorded and shared, with the intention to expose the structural inequalities they face and to enable academics, practitioners and policymakers to inform, modify or restructure their practices and policies. The research explains that social inclusion and quality of work life is experienced in three ways. First, access means being financially independent, and having control over one’s finances, regardless of how little is earned. Second, it is experienced through participation in community activities, the ability to make decisions in the workplace and improved personal relationships. Finally, it is experienced by engaging with exclusionary agents on an individual level and having one’s voice heard. The research did not find that social enterprises challenge or remove structural exclusion or institutional barriers.

In this dissertation, we investigate a number of geometric problems in different settings. We present lower bounds and approximation algorithms for geometric problems in sequential and distributed settings. For the sequential setting, we prove the first hardness of approximation results for the following problems: \begin{itemize} \item Red-Blue Geometric Set Cover is APX-hard when the objects are axis-aligned rectangles. \item Red-Blue Geometric Set Cover cannot be approximated to within $2^{\log^{1-1/{(\log\log m)^c}}m}$ in polynomial time for any constant $c < 1/2$, unless $P=NP$, when the given objects are $m$ triangles or convex objects. This shows that Red-Blue Geometric Set Cover is a harder problem than Geometric Set Cover for some class of objects. \item Boxes Class Cover is APX-hard. \end{itemize} We also define MaxRM-3SAT, a restricted version of Max3SAT, and we prove that this problem is APX-hard. This problem might be interesting in its own right.\\ In the distributed setting, we define a new model, the fixed-link model, where each processor has a position on the plane and processors can communicate to each other if and only if there is an edge between them. We motivate the model and study a number of geometric problems in this model. We prove lower bounds on the communication complexity of the problems in the fixed-link model and present approximation algorithms for them. We prove lower bounds on the number of expected bits required for any randomized algorithm in the fixed-link model with $n$ nodes to solve the following problems, when the communication is in the asynchronous KT1 model: \begin{itemize} \item $\Omega(n^2/\log n)$ expected bits of communication are required for solving Diameter, Convex Hull, or Closest Pair, even if the graph has only a linear number of edges. \item $\Omega( min\{n^2,1/\epsilon\})$ expected bits of communications are required for approximating Diameter within a $1-\epsilon$ factor of optimal, even if the graph is planar. \item $\Omega(n^2)$ bits of communications is required for approximating Closest Pair in a graph on an $[n^c] \times [n^c]$ grid, for any constant $c>1+1/(2\lg n)$, within $\frac{n^{c-1/2}}{4}-\epsilon$ factor of optimal, even if the graph is planar. \end{itemize} We also present approximation algorithms in geometric communication networks with $n$ nodes, when the communication is in the asynchronous CONGEST KT1 model: \begin{itemize} \item An $\epsilon$-kernel, and consequently $(1-\epsilon)$-\diamapprox~ and \ep -Approximate Hull with $O(\frac{n}{\sqrt{\epsilon}})$ messages plus the costs of constructing a spanning tree. \item An $\frac{n^c}{\sqrt{\frac{k}{2}}}$-Approximate Closest Pair on an $[n^c] \times [n^c]$ grid , for a constant $c>1/2$, plus the cost of computing a spanning tree, for any $k\leq {n-1}$. \end{itemize} We also define a new version of the two-party communication problem, Path Computation, where two parties communicate through a path. We prove a lower bound on the communication complexity of this problem.
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