Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Offa'

Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências Empresariais
Nesta tese de mestrado procurou-se analisar a influência da empresa-mãe no desempenho das spin-off. Definiram-se questões de pesquisa de modo a descobrir as razões da criação de spin-off, para compreender os tipos de relações spin-off e o apoio da empresa “mãe” às spin-off no período de pós-spin, bem como identificar os tipos de recursos e conhecimentos, transferências e fazer avaliação do desempenho das spin-off após s sua criação. A fim de encontrar respostas às questões de pesquisa, realizou-se um estudo exploratória, de design qualitativo, recorrendo-se, poisteriormente, à análise quantitativa e descritiva dos dados. O estudo qualitativo foi desenvolvido com o recurso a entrevistas a sete entrevistados, ocupando cargos administrativos e de gestão em empresas de spin-off de EUA e Canadá.Análise, relizando-se uma análise de conteúdo dos dados. O estudo quantitatico recorreu à análise dos rácios financeiros e relatórios de contas sobre o desempenho spin-off.. Durante a análise dos questionários constatou-se que a maioria dos entrevistados mencionaram a maximização de valor ao acionista como a principal razão da criação de spin-off. Apesar da spin-off ser considerada na literatura como entidade independente, 3 das 7 spin-offs foram consideradas dependentes das suas empresas-mãe em recursos, conhecimento e serviços, enquanto empresa-mãe desempenhava um papel de 'manager', 'fornecedor » e « distribuidor » para spin-off. Maioria dos spin-offs recebeu ajuda da empresa-mãe sob a forma de dinheiro, funcionários e gestão. De entre o conhecimento que foi transferido da empresa-mae para a spin-off, destaca-se o pessoal gestão, técnico, tecnológico, marketing, produção e propriedade intelectual. Com base na análise dos rácios financeiros foi descoberto que a performance da spin-off, que não está relacionada com a empresa mãe, desde o ano de separação, pois continua a gerar perda líquida, apesar de que empresa-mãe de spin- off ainda partilhar com a a spin-off recursos e pessoal. A análise de desempenho com base nos indicadores financeiros da spin-off permitiu concluir que o desempenho spin-off tinha vindo a melhorar ligeiramente desde a separação da empresa-mãe. O serviço financeiro da spin-off tem ambições de se tornar um dos líderes no setor financeiro.
In this master thesis was made investigation of parent company’s influence on spin-off performance. Research questions were created in order to find out the reasons of spin-off creation, to define types of spin-off and parent-spin-off relationships in the post-spin-off period, to identify types of resources and knowledge, parent transfers to spin-off and to make evaluation of spin-off in post-spin-off performance. In order to find answer on created research questions qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis were used. Qualitative analysis implemented in the form of open-ended questionnaires was answered by 7 respondents, holding administrative and managerial positions in spin-off companies of USA and Canada. Quantitative analysis was made through financial ratios analysis of financial service and energy spin-off performance. During analysis of questionnaires was found that majority of respondents mentioned shareholder value maximization as the main reason of spin-off creation. Despite the fact, that spin-off considered in the literature like independent entity, 3 of 7 spin-offs were found dependent on their parent companies in resources, knowledge and services, while parent company was in a role of ‘manager’, ‘supplier’ and ‘distributor’ for spin-off. Majority of spin-offs got help from parent in the form of cash, employees and management. Among knowledge that was transferred from parent to spin-off was mentioned managerial, technical, technological, marketing, production and intellectual property. Based on the financial ratios performance analysis of energy spin-off was found out that energy spin-off, unrelated to its parent , since the year of separation continue to generate net loss, despite those fact that parent company of spin-off still shares with it resource and personnel. Based on financial ratio performance analysis of financial service spin-off was found out that spin-off performance had been improving slightly since separation from parent. Financial service spin-off have plans to become one of the leaders in the financial industry.

Feature selection is one of the most important decisions made by product managers. This three article study investigates the concepts, tools and techniques for making trade-off decisions of introducing new features in evolving Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software products. The first article investigates the efficacy of various feature selection techniques when the trade-off is between comprehensiveness and time-to-market. The second article investigates the impact of current level of product performance when the trade-off is between providing different types of innovative features to the users. The third article investigates the impact on the ability of the COTS product to attract new users and retain existing users when the trade-off is between providing utilitarian and hedonic value through new product features.

To meet these research goals an extensive multidisciplinary study of Information Systems (IS) and Product Development literatures was conducted followed by experimental research. The experiments were conducted among youth between 19-24 years who were users of Gmail software and produced some key findings.

In the first study the Kano survey method was found to be effective in identifying those features which added value to the product and those that did not. This finding will facilitate product managers in using appropriate techniques for identifying the critical product features to be built into the COTS product thereby reducing time-to-market without sacrificing product quality. In the second study, current COTS product performance was found to significantly impact the type of innovation to be introduced into the COTS product. Basic or Core product innovations were found to have value for the users when performance is low but not when the performance is high. On the other hand, Expected or product Performance innovations and Augmented or user Excitement innovations were found to have value when the performance is high but not when the performance is low. In the third study, Hedonic value and Utilitarian value of product features were found to have distinctive impact on users. While Hedonic value impacted Word-of-Mouth, a measure of the products' capacity to attract new customers, Utilitarian value impacted User Loyalty, a measure of the products' capacity to retain existing customers.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, February 1999.
"September 1998."
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-157).
by Eric A. Powers.
Ph.D.

2 pp.
Originally published: 1998
Damping off is caused by several different fungi under different environmental conditions. The fungi include Pythium, Rhizoctonia solani, and Thielaviopsis basicola. This article discusses the symptoms, environmental conditions, diseases, prevention and control methods for the damping-off caused by fungi.

Ao longo das últimas décadas, a crescente pressão competitiva vem ampliando a necessidade de empenho integrado da logística para melhorar, conjuntamente, o atendimento aos consumidores e a lucratividade. O atendimento aos clientes pede o oferecimento de nível de serviço que maximize as utilidades de tempo e de lugar e a busca pela geração de lucros reconhece que a logística, ao oferecer o nível de serviço definido, deve minimizar seu custo total. O custo total logístico não responde às normais técnicas de corte de custos: os custos logísticos movem-se em diferentes direções e a redução de um custo invariavelmente conduz ao aumento de outros custos ou à diminuição do serviço oferecido ao cliente. Como consequência, os profissionais logísticos precisam identificar e explorar os trade-offs de custos logísticos para encontrar e sustentar o balanço entre os custos incorridos e o serviço oferecido. Nesse contexto, o objetivo da presente dissertação foi verificar se os profissionais logísticos: (1) têm conhecimento dos trade-offs de custos logísticos e (2) avaliam os trade-offs de custos logísticos, ao desenharem e implementarem suas soluções. Para atingir esses objetivos, este trabalho caracterizou as atividades logísticas e seus respectivos elementos de custos, explorou o conceito do custo total e sua utilização na determinação das soluções, identificou os trade-offs de custos existentes entre as atividades logísticas, e apresentou e exemplificou modelos de mensuração dos impactos econômico-financeiros dos trade-offs. Tomando esse arcabouço teórico como base, os constructos e o questionário foram definidos. O questionário foi aplicado a profissionais logísticos das maiores empresas brasileiras industriais e comerciais, segundo a Revista Exame Melhores e Maiores do ano base 2010, e 73 respostas foram obtidas. Os resultados indicaram que os profissionais logísticos sabem que os trade-offs de custos logísticos existem, mas não têm clara a percepção que o custo total é determinado por esses trade-offs e que a redução individual dos custos pode aumentá-lo e não diminuí-lo. A pesquisa também evidenciou que a avaliação dos trade-offs é enfatizada em soluções de grande amplitude e que há uma defasagem entre as informações contábeis necessárias e as informações efetivamente recebidas. Foram também expostos fatores associados ao conhecimento e à avaliação dos trade-offs e elaborados mapas perceptuais que articularam os setores econômicos a esses constructos.
In recent decades, competitive pressures have been enhancing the need for an integrated effort of logistics to improve customer satisfaction and company\'s profit. Customer satisfaction demands a service level that maximizes time and place utility and the search for profit acknowledges that logistics, at a given customer service level, should minimize its total cost. Total cost does not respond to usual cost-cutting techniques: logistics costs move in different directions and reductions in one cost invariably increase other costs or decrease the customer service level. Consequently, logistics professionals need to identify and explore logistics cost trade-offs to find and sustain the right balance of cost and service. In this context, the goal of this master\'s thesis was to verify if logistics professionals: (1) know the logistics cost trade-offs and (2) analyze trade-offs when they design and implement a solution. To achieve these objectives, this work characterized logistics activities and their costs, explored total cost concept and its application in solutions design, identified cost trade-offs among logistics activities, and presented and exemplified models to measure economic and financial impacts of trade-offs. Based on this theoretical framework, the constructs and the questionnaire were defined. The questionnaire was applied to logistics professionals of the largest Brazilian commercial and industrial firms in the base year 2010, according to \"Revista Exame Melhores e Maiores\", and 73 answers were obtained. The results showed that logistics professionals know that logistics cost trade-offs exist, but do not have a clear understanding that total cost is determined by these trade-offs and that individual cost-cutting techniques may lead to greater costs. Furthermore, the results have also revealed that tradeoff analysis is emphasized in wide range solutions and that there is a considerable gap between the required accounting information and that one offered. Finally, factors associated with trade-offs knowledge and analysis were shown and perceptual maps articulating economic sectors to these constructs were elaborated.

Doutoramento em Gestão
A literatura de empreendedorismo académico tem abordado uma grande diversidade de temas, nomeadamente: (i) estudos sobre o papel dos governos em processos de spin-off incluindo formas de apoiar a sua criação e desenvolvimento como mecanismo para transferir conhecimento para o mercado; (ii) estudos sobre o papel das universidades no processo de transferência de conhecimento, tais como as formas de incentivar a criação e desenvolvimento de novas empresas pelos académicos e a avaliação da sua eficácia como mecanismo de transferência de conhecimento; (iii) e, estudos sobre a criação de novas empresas (start-up), com diversas vertentes de investigação, tais como o papel das políticas das universidades na criação, desenvolvimento e relativo desempenho das spin-offs, o papel das equipas de fundadores ou os fatores que influenciam a criação e o desempenho das start-ups. Estas novas empresas são um importante mecanismo de transferência de conhecimento, mas reconhecidamente a sua taxa de sobrevivência/desempenho é baixa ainda que comparativamente com outras tipologias de novas empresas possa ser relativamente mais alta. Apesar da sua importância na transferência de conhecimento são ainda relativamente escassos os estudos sobre este mecanismo que necessita de ser melhor compreendido. Esta foi uma das razões que nos levou a escolher como foco central desta tese o estudo dos principais fatores que podem influenciar o desempenho das spin-offs académicas e complementarmente em melhorar a compreensão de como as universidades e em particular as políticas públicas de apoio incidem sobre estes mesmos fatores. Neste sentido foi realizada uma revisão de literatura sobre a influência da produção e transferência/conversão de conhecimento na criação de condições base para despoletar o processo de spin-offs académicas. Escolhemos centrar a investigação nas condições/fatores que parecem estar associadas ao desenvolvimento/desempenho a este tipo de empresas nos seus estágios iniciais e complementarmente tentar compreender se as políticas públicas têm em conta esses fatores. Trata-se de empresas com especificidades próprias vulgarmente denominados spin-offs académicas (ASO – Academic Spin-off, sigla utilizada por alguns autores na língua inglesa que doravante adotaremos) que nesta tese são consideradas novas empresas criadas por estudantes investigadores e professores com o objetivo de explorar comercialmente o conhecimento, tecnologia ou resultados de investigação desenvolvidos pelos próprios na sua atividade de investigação na universidade, financiada por fundos públicos. Com base nas perspetivas teóricas da teoria baseada nos recursos (TBR), teoria do capital humano (TCH) e teoria do empreendedorismo (TE), a presente investigação pretende contribuir para aumentar o conhecimento teórico e empírico sobre as ASO. Este estudo analisa a influência dos recursos tecnológicos, dos recursos financeiros, do capital humano e dos apoios não financeiros no desempenho das ASO. Assim, esta tese pretende responder aos seguintes objetivos de investigação: i) desenvolver um modelo abrangente de análise dos fatores com influência no desempenho das ASO; ii) analisar a incidência das políticas públicas sobre os fatores que influenciam positivamente o desempenho das ASO. Este estudo adota uma abordagem abrangente (sem ser holística) testando os efeitos individuais dos fatores que consideramos mais importantes no desempenho das ASO. As hipóteses foram testadas através de uma combinação de dados recolhidos por questionário através de entrevista e por dados secundários obtidos numa ampla diversidade de fontes para 42 ASO Portuguesas criadas entre os anos de 2005 e 2008. Esta tese encontrou suporte empírico para a correlação positiva entre os recursos tecnológicos (patentes, investimento em I&D, relacionamento com instituição de origem) e o desempenho das ASO. De modo idêntico foi também encontrado suporte empírico para a correlação positiva entre os recursos financeiros (capital próprio e subsídios públicos) e o desempenho das ASO. Adicionalmente foi encontrado suporte empírico para explicar a relação entre diversas características do capital humano das equipas de fundadores (grau académico, diversidade de formação académica, formação profissional em gestão e empreendedorismo, experiência laboral prévia global, em gestão, comercial e empreendedora e dimensão das equipas de fundadores) e o desempenho das ASO. Nesta dimensão embora maioritariamente a relação das diferentes variáveis testadas seja positiva e significativa, excetua-se a dimensão das equipas onde essa relação não é estatisticamente significativa. Esta tese também encontrou suporte empírico para a influência dos apoios não financeiros (apoio a incubação, apoio de consultoria, apoio ao plano de negócios e apoio à prova de conceito) no desempenho das ASO. O apoio a consultoria e à prova de conceito estão relacionados de forma positiva e estatisticamente significativa com o desempenho. O apoio de incubação tendo uma relação positiva com o desempenho não é estatisticamente significativa e o plano de negócios apresenta um comportamento misto.
Academic entrepreneurship literature has been addressing a wide array of subjects, including: (i) studies on the role of governments in spin-off processes including ways to support its establishment and development as a mechanism to transfer knowledge to the market; (ii) studies on the role of universities in the process of transferring knowledge, such as ways to encourage the creation and development of new companies by academics and the evaluation of its effectiveness as a mechanism of transferring knowledge; (iii), and studies on the creation of new companies (start-up), with several scopes of research, such as the role of policies of universities in the creation, development and relative performance of spin-offs, the role of founders or the factors that influence the creation and performance of start-ups. These new companies are an important mechanism for transferring knowledge, but their performance/survival rate is considered low, even though it may be relatively higher when compared to other types of new companies. Despite of their importance in knowledge transfer, there are still few studies on this mechanism, which demands further understanding. This was one of the reasons that led to choose the study of the major factors which can influence the performance of academic spin-offs as the central focus of this thesis, as well improve understanding of how universities and, particularly, public support policies and its incidence on these type of factors. In this sense, the study comprised a review of literature on the influence of production and transfer/conversion of knowledge in the creation of basic conditions which may trigger the process of academic spin-offs. The study is thus focus research on the conditions/factors which appear to be associated with the development/performance of such companies in their early stages and additionally try to understand if public policies take into account these factors. These companies with specific characteristics are commonly called Academic spin-offs (ASO - Academic Spin-off, acronym used by some authors in English which will be adopted onwards), which, for the purpose of this thesis, are considered new companies created by research students and lecturers in order to commercially exploit knowledge, technology or research results, developed by them in their research activity at the university, funded by public incentives. Based on the theoretical perspectives of resource-based theory (RBV), human capital theory (HCT) and theory of entrepreneurship (TE), this research aims to increase the theoretical and empirical knowledge about the ASOs. This study analyzes the influence of technological resources, financial resources, human capital and non-financial support on the performance of the ASOs. Hence, this thesis aims to answer the following research objectives: i) develop a comprehensive model of analysis of the factors which influence the performance of the ASOs; ii) analyze the incidence of public policies on the factors which positively influence the performance of the ASOs. This study takes a comprehensive approach (without being holistic), testing the individual effects of the factors considered most important in the performance of ASOs. The hypotheses were tested through a combination of data collected by questionnaire through interviews and secondary data obtained from a wide variety of sources for forty-two Portuguese ASOs created between the years 2005 and 2008. This thesis has found empirical support for the positive correlation between the technological resources (patents, R&D investment, and relationship with home institution) and the performance of the ASOs. Similarly, it was also found empirical support for the positive correlation between financial resources (equity and public subsidies) and the performance of the ASOs. Additionally it was found empirical support to explain the relationship between various characteristics of the human capital of the founding teams (academic degree, diversity of academic training, management and entrepreneurship training, global prior work experience in management, business and entrepreneurial and size of founding teams) and the performance of the ASOs. In this dimension, although the relationship of different variables tested is mainly positive and significant, the size of the teams presents contrary results, whereas this relationship is not statistically significant. This thesis also found empirical support for the influence of non-financial support (support for incubation, consulting support, support to the business plan and proof of concept) on the performance of the ASOs. Consultancy support and proof of concept are related positively and statistically significant with the performance. The incubation support, although having a positive relationship with performance, is not statistically significant, and the business plan presents a mixed behavior.

Power grids utilize large central generating stations which entails the use of long transmission lines to deliver power to consumers. This approach poses some challenges such as line loses and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission into the environment from the burning of fossil fuels from such large generators. There is also little or no availability of electricity in the rural and isolated areas where the supply of power from the national grid may be considered uneconomical. Distributed generation proffers solutions to these challenges by generating power close to the point of consumption. A nanogrid is an important aspect of distributed generation in which electricity is generated for a single building. Nanogrids usually employ renewable sources of power such as solar and wind energy to generate electricity. Hence, reducing carbon dioxide emission. Also due to the versatility of nanogrids, people in the rural areas can generate their own electricity. However, the intermittent supply of power due to the variations of wind speed during the entire course of a day poses a major challenge in the use of nanogrids. This thesis focuses on the study of the interaction of the savonius wind turbine in an existing nanogrid with a particular load so as to have a better understanding of how the wind turbine parameters such as the wind speed and Tip Speed Ratio can affect the power generated from the turbine.This is achieved by modelling and measuring the power absorption of the savonius wind turbine operating in the nanogrid. From the results obtained in this project, it is glaring that the wind speed and Tip Speed Ratio of the wind turbine play a vital role in the total power harvested from the turbine. If the rotor blades spin too slowly, the wind will pass through the gap between the blades and no power will be generated. Whereas when the blades spin too fast, they act like a shield against the wind speed, creating turbulence in the air as they spin and so when the incoming blade arrives too fast, it hits the turbulent air created by the blade before it and thus, no power will also be generated in this situation. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to design the wind turbine with an optimal Tip Speed Ratio to obtain maximum power from the turbine and thus, improve the reliability and efficiency of the nanogrid technology.

Work which takes from elsewhere forms an important thread in European art music. There is a long tradition of music which variously borrows, thieves, pastiches, plagiarises, ironically ‘retakes’, hoaxes, impersonates and appropriates. The music I have written for Off the edge, while seeking to honour and add to this thread, also attempts to zoom in upon and make explicit the idea of an ultimate and irreversible composerly self-annihilation, a kind of one-way exit-gate from the world of authored musical works itself made of pieces of music, which so much of this tradition, I feel, points towards. (Of my nine pieces, it is perhaps Time to go—only, with its ‘à la suicide note’ texts and its music that seems to slide in from far beyond the frame that is ‘composer Luke Stoneham’, which manages to get closest to this.) I have chosen the title Off the edge, because all of my music tries to capture a sense of nocturnal peripheral vision: be content with catching glimpses of the composer Luke Stoneham, because as soon as you turn to look at him face-on, he disappears.

Over the past nine years, the number of travelers traveling through Swedavia’s airports has increased significantly. The increase has placed a high demand on Stockholm Arlanda Airport’s infrastructural capacity. In order to avoid major expenses on the development of the terminal buildings Swedavia has developed a project called “Off Airport Bagdrop”, which gives the travelers the opportunity to leave their luggage at a location outside the airport. This way the number of passengers and luggage in the departure hall at Terminal 5 can be reduced. The thesis examines how the service can be developed, what is needed for it to work as well as which problems must be solved. A process map and a timeline have been created to visualize the luggage handling process and its lead times. With data gathered through interviews and observations, three solutions have been identified. The best solution, with Swedavia’s perspective in mind, has then been selected. The solutions identified in the report are as follows: • A permanent “Off Airport Bagdrop” at Stockholm Central station where travelers in the vicinity of central Stockholm have the possibility to check in their luggage and get it transferred to the airport to then be able to tour the city or run errands. • The long-term parking Alfa and Beta at Arlanda where the travelers who arrive with their cars have the possibility to check in their luggage at the parking lot. This way they can begin their journey more comfortably • A “Pop Up”-service targeting group bookings, events and sport holiday travelers by providing temporary “Drop Off Points” at selected locations. We conclude that the latter alternative, the “Pop Up”-service, solves the capacity problem in the best way. This alternative is also the easiest to implement and captures the large number of passengers and luggage that create the capacity problem at Arlanda.

Resource scarcity poses challenging demands on the cognitive system. Budgeting with limited resources induces an attentional focus on the problem at hand, but it also comes with a cost. Specifically, scarcity causes a failure to notice beneficial information in the environment, or remember to execute actions in the future, that help alleviate the condition of scarcity. This neglect may arise as a result of attentional narrowing. Attentional trade-offs under scarcity can further determine memory encoding. In seven experiments, we demonstrated that participants under scarcity prioritized price information but neglected a useful discount when ordering food from a menu (Experiment 1); they showed better recall for information relevant to the focal task at a subsequent surprise memory test (Experiments 2 and 3); they performed more efficiently on the focal task but neglect a useful cue in the environment that could save them resources (Experiments 4-6); and they failed to remember the previous instructions to execute future actions that could save them resources (Experiment 7). These results collectively demonstrate that scarcity fundamentally shapes the way people process information in the environment, by directing attention to the most urgent task, while inducing a neglect of other information that can be beneficial. The attentional neglect and memory failures may lead to suboptimal behaviors that further aggravate the condition of scarcity. The results provide new insights on the behaviors of the poor, and also important implications for public policy and the design of welfare services and programs for low-income individuals.
Arts, Faculty of
Psychology, Department of
Graduate

The ability to mount an efficient immune response should be an important life-history trait as parasitism can impact upon an individual's fecundity and survival prospects, and hence its fitness. However, immune function is likely to be costly as resources must be divided between many important traits. Whilst many studies have examined host resistance to particular parasite types, fewer have considered general immune responses. Studies that have considered general immune responses tend to do so in vertebrate models. However, the complexity of the vertebrate immune system makes the examination of evolutionary aspects of immune function difficult. Using larvae of the genus Spodoptera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) as a model system, this study examines' genetic and phenotypic aspects of innate immunity. The aims were to assess the levels of additive genetic variation maintained in immune traits, to consider possible costs that could maintain this variation, and to assess the role of phenotypic plasticity in ameliorating those costs. A key finding of this study was that high levels of additive genetic variation were maintained in all of the measured Immune traits. Analysis of the genetic correlations between traits revealed potential trade-offs within the immune system and between immune components and body condition. In addition, it was shown that larvae living at high densities invest more in immune function than those living in solitary conditions, suggesting that larvae can minimise the costs of immune function by employing them only when the risk of pathogenesis is high.

If manufacturing organisations are to remain competitive they must continuously improve their levels of operating performance. In order to do this, operations managers must understand which are the key drivers that are most effective at creating performance improvements and how the various measures of operating performance interact. The research addresses both of these issues. First it attempts to identify the key drivers that seem most effective in achieving increases in overall operating performance. Then it explores the relationship between the levels of performance for different operating measures in the same manufacturing plant. The basis of the research was a database of 953 UK manufacturing plants. These plants had all participated in the UK Best Factory Awards database during the years 1993- 1996. The plants were grouped into 6 industrial categories. The plants in each industrial category were then ranked for each performance measure and divided into three equal-sized groups of high, medium and low performers. The groups of high and low performers were then compared in order to identify characteristics that were statistically different for the two groups. The high performers were found to put a greater emphasis on continuous improvement, involving a higher proportion of the workforce in this activity. The workforce was also more flexible in terms of the range of tasks that they were competent to carry out. The high performers exhibited much less variability in their processes with greater adherence to schedule, more consistent processing times, lower scrap rates and more reliable supplier deliveries. Using the results of this analysis in combination with an analysis of the literature on the characteristics of high performing plants a tentative model was constructed attempting to show how these characteristics would impact on operating performance. The model suggested that improvements in unit manufacturing cost, quality consistency, speed of delivery and delivery reliability would be positively correlated. The model also suggested that the size of the product range would be negatively correlated with unit manufacturing cost, quality consistency, speed of delivery and delivery reliability. The database was used to test for statistical correlations between measures of these aspects of performance and the results provided general support for both of these propositions. Six of the plants in the database were visited and staff responsible for planning, purchasing and production were interviewed. The objective was to test whether the conclusions reached on the basis of statistical analysis could also be validated at individual plants. There was general support for the differences in the characteristics of high and low performing plants. There was also general support for the propositions that plants achieve similar performance on unit manufacturing cost, quality consistency, speed of delivery and delivery reliability relative to plants in the same industrial sector and that increasing the size of the product range adversely affects unit manufacturing cost, quality consistency, speed of delivery and delivery reliability.

L'accélération matérielle désigne l'utilisation d'architectures spécialisées pour effectuer certaines tâches plus vite ou plus efficacement que sur du matériel générique. Les accélérateurs ont traditionnellement été utilisés dans des environnements contraints en ressources, comme les systèmes embarqués. Cependant, avec la fin des règles empiriques ayant régi la conception de matériel pendant des décennies, ces quinze dernières années ont vu leur apparition dans les centres de calcul et des environnements de calcul haute performance. Les FPGAs constituent une plateforme d'implémentation commode pour de tels accélérateurs, autorisant des compromis subtils entre débit/latence, surface, énergie, précision, etc. Cependant, identifier de bons compromis représente un défi, dans la mesure où l'espace de recherche est généralement très large. Cette thèse propose des techniques de conception pour résoudre ce problème. Premièrement, nous nous intéressons aux compromis entre performance et précision pour la conversion flottant vers fixe. L'utilisation de l'arithmétique en virgule fixe au lieu de l'arithmétique flottante est un moyen efficace de réduire l'utilisation de ressources matérielles, mais affecte la précision des résultats. La validité d'une implémentation en virgule fixe peut être évaluée avec des simulations, ou en dérivant des modèles de précision analytiques de l'algorithme traité. Comparées aux approches simulatoires, les méthodes analytiques permettent une exploration plus exhaustive de l'espace de recherche, autorisant ainsi l'identification de solutions potentiellement meilleures. Malheureusement, elles ne sont applicables qu'à un jeu limité d'algorithmes. Dans la première moitié de cette thèse, nous étendons ces techniques à des filtres linéaires multi-dimensionnels, comme des algorithmes de traitement d'image. Notre méthode est implémentée comme une analyse statique basée sur des techniques de compilation polyédrique. Elle est validée en la comparant à des simulations sur des données réelles. Dans la seconde partie de cette thèse, on se concentre sur les stencils itératifs. Les stencils forment un motif de calcul émergeant naturellement dans de nombreux algorithmes utilisés en calcul scientifique ou dans l'embarqué. À cause de cette diversité, il n'existe pas de meilleure architecture pour les stencils de façon générale : chaque algorithme possède des caractéristiques uniques (intensité des calculs, nombre de dépendances) et chaque application possède des contraintes de performance spécifiques. Pour surmonter ces difficultés, nous proposons une famille d'architectures pour stencils. Nous offrons des paramètres de conception soigneusement choisis ainsi que des modèles analytiques simples pour guider l'exploration. Notre architecture est implémentée sous la forme d'un flot de génération de code HLS, et ses performances sont mesurées sur la carte. Comme les résultats le démontrent, nos modèles permettent d'identifier les solutions les plus intéressantes pour chaque cas d'utilisation
Hardware acceleration is the use of custom hardware architectures to perform some computations faster or more efficiently than on general-purpose hardware. Accelerators have traditionally been used mostly in resource-constrained environments, such as embedded systems, where resource-efficiency was paramount. Over the last fifteen years, with the end of empirical scaling laws, they also made their way to datacenters and High-Performance Computing environments. FPGAs constitute a convenient implementation platform for such accelerators, allowing subtle, application-specific trade-offs between all performance metrics (throughput/latency, area, energy, accuracy, etc.) However, identifying good trade-offs is a challenging task, as the design space is usually extremely large. This thesis proposes design methodologies to address this problem. First, we focus on performance-accuracy trade-offs in the context of floating-point to fixed-point conversion. Usage of fixed-point arithmetic instead of floating-point is an affective way to reduce hardware resource usage, but comes at a price in numerical accuracy. The validity of a fixed-point implementation can be assessed using either numerical simulations, or with analytical models derived from the algorithm. Compared to simulation-based methods, analytical approaches enable more exhaustive design space exploration and can thus increase the quality of the final architecture. However, their are currently only applicable to limited sets of algorithms. In the first part of this thesis, we extend such techniques to multi-dimensional linear filters, such as image processing kernels. Our technique is implemented as a source-level analysis using techniques from the polyhedral compilation toolset, and validated against simulations with real-world input. In the second part of this thesis, we focus on iterative stencil computations, a naturally-arising pattern found in many scientific and embedded applications. Because of this diversity, there is no single best architecture for stencils: each algorithm has unique computational features (update formula, dependences) and each application has different performance constraints/requirements. To address this problem, we propose a family of hardware accelerators for stencils, featuring carefully-chosen design knobs, along with simple performance models to drive the exploration. Our architecture is implemented as an HLS-optimized code generation flow, and performance is measured with actual execution on the board. We show that these models can be used to identify the most interesting design points for each use case

ITC/USA 2014 Conference Proceedings / The Fiftieth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 20-23, 2014 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA
This paper addresses the future military munitions' system requirements for antennas in terms of the existing versus new fabrication technology. The antenna requirements of the future smart munitions will be GPS for precision guidance and TM for system performance testing. The environmental requirements remain the same; large temperature operating range with operation at high temperatures and high shock capable. As usual, the munitions are getting smaller, frequency bandwidth is getting larger, and the cost of the antennas must be minimized in production quantities. In particular this paper compares the existing antenna fabrication technology of Teflon based dielectric printed circuits versus multilayer alumina in the green state, a technology that has been perfected for fabricating microwave integrated circuits (MIC's). The trade-offs that will be addressed are temperature, shock, cost, tunability, loss, size, dielectric constant, and frequency bandwidth. There has been a significant effort to miniaturize the GPS and TM antenna using higher dielectric constant materials. The most popular direction of this effort has been to use ceramic impregnated Teflon. The ultimate temperature performance is the material with a dielectric constant around 2 since this material exhibits a very low coefficient of change with temperature. Materials are available with nominal dielectric constants of 6 and 10 to reduce the size of the antenna but the coefficient of change with temperature is very large and leaves these materials marginal for military temperature ranges. There have also been two other problems with Teflon based printed circuit boards, forming and bonding the boards in a 3D shape and homogeneity of the dielectric constant in the board and after bonding. These problems usually make tuning a requirement and drive the cost of antenna fabrication up. There has been a revolution in MIC's. The circuits are now being made with multiple layers of ceramic (alumina) with interlayer conductive connections and a nominal dielectric constant of 10. The layers are formed in the green state and fired at high temperature and the resulting alumina substrate has a very low coefficient of change with temperature and low loss. Since this procedure is now beyond development, the cost is low and the volume capability is high. Another significant point is that the part can be any shape since the substrate is done in the green state (formable) and then fired.

This thesis investigates the nature and management of manufacturing trade-offs. It examines the properties and features of trade-offs in the context of manufacturing systems and the ways that operations management may deal with them. The need for such an investigation stems from (a) the increasing interest in trade-offs, (b) the implicit use of trade-offs in many recent popular operations literature, (c) the interest in the dynamic competencies literature and (d) the apparent lack of trade-offs methods or an overall framework. This study reflects the need to extend the trade-offs research from its present descriptive focus to an explanatory and hopefully more elucidating focus. This research is based on a number of case studies of manufacturing companies in Great Britain and Brazil. Data concerning their trade-offs were collected mainly through the examination of documents, observations of shop-floor activities and interviews with the systems' key operations managers. Following analysis identified the major data within and across the cases about the properties, features and management of trade-offs. This investigation suggests mainly that trade-offs between MSDs do exist; that their structure can be visualised as base, pivot and function; that they are contingent and dynamic; that their performance is different from their importance; that these depend on a range of external and internal factors; that one can improve trade-offs through alternative strategies and that flexibility may have a pivotal role in this process. The major original contributions of this explanatory, in-depth investigation are (a) the development of a trade-offs model that may be more accurate and useful than previous models in the literature; (b) the distinction between the performance and importance of trade-offs; (c) the taxonomy of trade-offs management strategies and (d) the identification of the role of flexibility in trade-offs management, with emphasis on the distinction between the ideas of flexibility and variety in that context.

Effective visualization of graphs is a powerful tool to help understand the relationships among the graph's underlying objects and to interact with them. Several styles for drawing graphs have emerged over the last three decades. Polyline drawing is a widely used style for drawing graphs, where each node is mapped to a distinct point in the plane and each edge is mapped to a polygonal chain between their corresponding nodes. Some common optimization criteria for such a drawing are defined in terms of area requirement, number of bends per edge, angular resolution, number of distinct line segments, edge crossings, and number of planar layers. In this thesis we develop algorithms for drawing graphs that optimize different aesthetic qualities of the drawing. Our algorithms seek to simultaneously optimize multiple drawing aesthetics, reveal potential trade-offs among them, and improve many previous graph drawing algorithms. We start by exploring probable trade-offs in the context of planar graphs. We prove that every $n$-vertex planar triangulation $G$ with maximum degree $\Delta$ can be drawn with at most $2n+t-3$ segments and $O(8^t \cdot \Delta^{2t})$ area, where $t$ is the number of leaves in a Schnyder tree of $G$. We then show that one can improve the area by allowing the edges to have bends. Since compact drawings often suffer from bad angular resolution, we seek to compute polyline drawings with better angular resolution. We develop a polyline drawing algorithm that is simple and intuitive, yet implies significant improvement over known results. At this point we move our attention to drawing nonplanar graphs. We prove that every thickness-$t$ graph can be drawn on $t$ planar layers with $\min\{O(2^{t/2} \cdot n^{1-1/\beta}), 2.25n +O(1)\}$ bends per edge, where $\beta = 2^{\lceil (t-2)/2 \rceil }$. Previously, the bend complexity, i.e., the number of bends per edge, was not known to be sublinear for $t>2$. We then examine the case when the number of available layers is restricted. The layers may now contain edge crossings. We develop a technique to draw complete graphs on two layers, which improves previous upper bounds on the number of edge crossings in such drawings.
October 2016

Målet med den här undersökningen har varit att se om fastigheten Orkestern 1 går att koppla off-grid och om det är ekonomiskt försvarbart eller om en on-grid lösning är bättre. Förutsättningarna är goda med ett stort tak med plats för solpaneler i öst-västlig riktning och en årsmedelvind på 4 m/s. Då huset är nybyggt och välisolerat är även energiförbrukning låg. För att kunna beräkna hur mycket energi som ska produceras i form av värme och el med hjälp av solceller, vindkraftverk, pelletskamin och dieselverk upprättas en energibalans och energifördelning med hjälp av transmission och ventilationsberäkningar. Lagring av energi görs i form av pellets, batteri och biodiesel. Simuleringsprogrammet för solceller Polysun används för att beräkna produktion av solel över varje månad på året. Diagram upprättas över året indelat i månader där det framgår hur stort energibehovet är och visar hur stor del varje energiproducent har varje månad. En pay-off kalkyl görs för att se om det är ekonomiskt lönsamt och för att kunna jämföra mellan två olika off-grid system. Pay-off kalkylen används också för att jämföra mellan off-grid och on-grid system. Resultatet landar i att on-grid systemet är ekonomiskt hållbart medan off-grid systemet inte är det men är ändå fullt genomförbart.
The main target of this examination has been to see if the real estate Orkestern 1 has the possibility to go off-grid and if it is economical defendable or if on-grid solution is a better way to go. The prerequisites are good with a large roof to place solar panels to the east and west, a yearly average windspeed at 4 m/s and a low energy consumption because the house is new built and well insulated. To calculate how much energy that must be produced in form of heat and electricity with solar cells, windmills, pellet stove and diesel generator an energy balance and an energy distribution will be prepared with help of calculations of transmission and ventilation loses. Storage of energy will be done in form of pellets, battery and biodiesel. The simulation program for solar panels Polysun is used to calculate the produced solar energy for each month on the year. Diagram is prepared for each month to see the need of energy and how much every energy producer is delivering. A straight pay-off calculation is done to see if there are any economic benefits and to compare between off-grid and on-grid systems. The result will be that on-grid system is better economical but still the off-grid system is doable.

O presente estudo tem como tema a análise da trajetória de inovação para spin-offs acadêmicas, enfocando o estudo de caso da SOLINOVA, empresa que busca inovar na área de energia com soluções aplicadas ao agronegócio. O problema de pesquisa pode ser sintetizado na questão: Como uma spin-off acadêmica inova e financia seu processo de nascimento, sobrevivência e crescimento a partir de capital de inovação? Em síntese, pretende-se buscar um aprofundamento sobre o sistema de inovação existente no país, além de verificar as oportunidades de financiamento à inovação disponível para empresas desta natureza no Brasil. Basicamente, foram dois os procedimentos metodológicos adotados: em um primeiro momento, foi realizada a pesquisa bibliográfica sobre a temática abordada e, em momento posterior, o estudo de caso por meio de observação direta e entrevistas semiestruturadas da empresa SOLINOVA Inovação Tecnológica e Empresarial, que nasceu de um spin-off do Laboratório de Eficiência Energética e Simulação de Processos (LEESP) na Incubadora de Empresas Inovadoras do Agronegócio de Pirassununga (UNICETec) da Universidade de São Paulo, localizado na Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos, Campus de Pirassununga - SP. O contato direto foi realizado com os envolvidos na área de gestão e análise de documentos, visando traçar a trajetória de inovação com base nos históricos da empresa e assim atingir os objetivos propostos com o suporte teórico adquirido. O estudo relatou, ao final, as trajetórias de inovação da SOLINOVA e recursos alavancados por estratégia para acionar capital de inovação públicos e privados, que foram decisivos para a sobrevivência e desenvolvimento das tecnologias internalizadas pela empresa no país.
The present study has as its theme the analysis of the innovation trajectory for academic spin-offs, focusing on the case study of SOLINOVA, a company that seeks to innovate in the area of energy with solutions applied to agribusiness. The research problem can be summed up in the question: How does an academic spin-off innovate and thereby finance its birth, growth and survival process from capital to innovation? In summary, it intends to seek a deepening of the existing system of innovation in the country, as well as to verify the opportunities for financing innovation available to companies of this nature in Brazil. Basically, two methodological procedures were adopted: firstly, a bibliographical research on the subject was carried out and, at a later time, the case study by means of direct observation and semi-structured interviews of the company SOLINOVA Technological and Business Innovation, which was born from a spin-off of the Laboratory of Energy Efficiency and Process Simulation (LEESP) at the Agribusiness Innovation Incubator of Pirassununga (UNICETec) of the University of São Paulo, located at the Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering, Pirassununga Campus - SP. The direct contact was made with those involved in the area of document management and analysis, aiming at tracing the innovation trajectory based on company history and thus achieving the proposed objectives with the theoretical support acquired. In the end, the study reported the SOLINOVA innovation trajectories and resources leveraged by strategy to drive public and private innovation capital, which were decisive for the survival of the development of technologies internalized by the company in the country.

Physical inactivity is a public health problem and lead to bad health in the population. Healthcare in Västmanland has started the process of prescribing physical activity (OFA) to improvehealth. Sport is an important participant in prescribed physical activity and the sportseducational association, SISU Idrottsutbildarna, is organizing activity leadership training.They educate activity leaders in accepting patient’s prescribed physical activity. The aim ofthe thesis was to study the experiences of Activity Leaders in Västmanland have about theactivity leaders training and the perceptions they have about prescribed physical activity. Toanswer the thesis, six qualitative interviews carried out and analyzed with the help ofconcentration of the contents. The Activity Leaders’ experiences of the education aregenerally positive and their perceptions of prescribed physical activity vary. They believe thatthe activity leadership training can be improved and they are critical of that works are notstarted in a desirable manner and that health care does not prescribe group activities in agreater extent. Activity Leaders feel that the exchange of experiences, greater disseminationof information and health care employees' attitudes to OFA are important elements to improvethe process of prescribed physical activity. Activity Leaders welcomed the future with regardto prescribed physical activity, but that the current economic situation and the lack ofsubsidies will delay the work. Because the work of prescribed physical activity are not yethappened makes it difficult for the Activity Leaders to actively work with prescribed physicalactivity.Physical inactivity is a public health problem and lead to bad health in the population. Healthcare in Västmanland has started the process of prescribing physical activity (OFA) to improvehealth. Sport is an important participant in prescribed physical activity and the sportseducational association, SISU Idrottsutbildarna, is organizing activity leadership training.They educate activity leaders in accepting patient’s prescribed physical activity. The aim ofthe thesis was to study the experiences of Activity Leaders in Västmanland have about theactivity leaders training and the perceptions they have about prescribed physical activity. Toanswer the thesis, six qualitative interviews carried out and analyzed with the help ofconcentration of the contents. The Activity Leaders’ experiences of the education aregenerally positive and their perceptions of prescribed physical activity vary. They believe thatthe activity leadership training can be improved and they are critical of that works are notstarted in a desirable manner and that health care does not prescribe group activities in agreater extent. Activity Leaders feel that the exchange of experiences, greater disseminationof information and health care employees' attitudes to OFA are important elements to improvethe process of prescribed physical activity. Activity Leaders welcomed the future with regardto prescribed physical activity, but that the current economic situation and the lack ofsubsidies will delay the work. Because the work of prescribed physical activity are not yethappened makes it difficult for the Activity Leaders to actively work with prescribed physicalactivity.

In today’s society signatures are the most accepted form of identity verification. However, they have the unfortunate side-effect of being easily abused by those who would feign the identification or intent of an individual. This thesis implements and tests current approaches to off-line signature verification with the goal of determining the most beneficial techniques that are available. This investigation will also introduce novel techniques that are shown to significantly boost the achieved classification accuracy for both person-dependent (one-class training) and person-independent (two-class training) signature verification learning strategies. The findings presented in this thesis show that many common techniques do not always give any significant advantage and in some cases they actually detract from the classification accuracy. Using the techniques that are proven to be most beneficial, an effective approach to signature verification is constructed, which achieves approximately 90% and 91% on the standard CEDAR and GPDS signature datasets respectively. These results are significantly better than the majority of results that have been previously published. Additionally, this approach is shown to remain relatively stable when a minimal number of training signatures are used, representing feasibility for real-world situations.

Thesis (PhD (Mathematical Sciences))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
A great deal of work has been done in the area of off-line signature verification over the past two decades. Off-line systems are of interest in scenarios where only hard copies of signatures are available, especially where a large number of documents need to be authenticated. This dissertation is inspired by, amongst other things, the potential financial benefits that the automatic clearing of cheques will have for the banking industry.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California
White Sands Missile Range is supporting Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) target firings from Ft. Wingate, NM. This two Off-Range Corridor allows BMDO to conduct long range testing within the continental U.S. The Transportable Range Augmentation and Control System (TRACS), consisting of a control van and one of two Mobile Telemetry Systems (MTS), provide the necessary on-site telemetry support. The Dual Remote Interferometer System (DRDAS) that tracks the telemetry RF carrier in support of Missile Flight Safety (MFS) is also included in this paper. This paper describes the telemetry support scenario in terms of preliminary simulations followed by real-time support. Real-time support consists of data distribution from the MTS to the Telemetry Distribution Center, TRACS Control van, Missile Flight Safety display van, Project Support vans, on-site data processing, as well as relaying raw data to the main WSMR Telemetry Data Center (TDC) for real-time analysis. As soon as telemetry data arrives at the TDC, it is converted into information. This information is used by MFS during real-time monitoring of vehicle performance. This paper includes the methods used for the conversion of data into information on-site and at TDC. Real-time data processing involves multiple independent systems performing their respective tasks on a particular segment of data.

This case study examines a Philadelphia suburban school district, Lower Merion, and its failures to substantively integrate African-American students in the 21st century. Through a close analysis of the high school's basketball program, largely funded and popularized by Lower Merion alumnus Kobe Bryant, this case study exposes how extracurricular programs structure unequal expectations for African-American students in otherwise "excellent" public schools. By using oral history and local archival materials, Winning off the Court examines an all too common issue across modern American suburbia: public schools failing their minority populations while still purporting to be successful on a national scale.

La tesi affronta il tema della fotografia off-camera, ovvero realizzata senza l'ausilio di una macchina fotografica. Dall'anno della sua nascita la fotografia ha saputo esplorare con curiosità scientifica e artistica le potenzialità della luce e dei materiali fotosensibili. La fotografia off-camera ha permesso ad artisti e scienziati dall'Ottocento a oggi di ampliare la propria ricerca in direzioni inedite permettendo alla luce stessa di lasciare il proprio segno sulla carta. L'elaborato si sofferma sulle sperimentazioni off-camera da fine Ottocento alle Avanguardie, da metà Novecento alla contemporaneità. Partendo dalla luce e da materiali fotosensibili, i fotografi hanno saputo, col tempo, ampliare le sperimentazioni off-camera sfruttando la fotografia a colori, le nuove tecnologie e i fenomeni naturali e scientifici. Più di ogni altra forma d'arte, la fotografia senza macchina fotografica allaccia uno stretto legame con la materia e il tempo presenti i quali, disegnando se stessi, creano un immaginario al contempo onirico e concreto. La tesi si conclude presentando le ricerche dei più noti e influenti fotografi italiani che si occupano di cameraless photography, effettuando un parallelismo con i progetti internazionali descritti nei capitoli precedenti. La fotografia off-camera è uno strumento purtroppo poco conosciuto, ma che ha saputo offrire un importante contributo alla fotografia e alla scienza, nonché un decisivo ampliamento delle possibilità artistiche.

Abstract Miscommunication or omission of critical patient information contributes to preventable medical errors that result in 98,000 patient deaths each year. The hand-off communication process creates a critical time for the patient as necessary information for the continuity of care must be communicated. The purpose of this practice project was to evaluate the nurses' perception of the current hand-off communication process before and after an educational intervention and implementation of the I-5 Verification of Information Tool. Registered nurses were asked to complete a pre survey of their perception of the current hand-off communication process, followed by an educational power point describing the I-5 Verification of Information Tool. Participants utilized the I-5 Verification of Information Tool during hand-off over a 3-week period, and then were asked to complete a post survey to evaluate the nurses' perception of the hand-off process including of the I-5 Verification of Information Tool. A paired t test was used to determine if there was a difference in the nurses' perception of the current hand-off communication process before and after an educational intervention and implementation of the I-5 Verification of Information Tool. Although there was no statistically significant difference in the pre- and post-survey scores, post survey results demonstrated clinical significance. This project has implications for positive social change by addressing nurse communication as a method to improve the quality of hand-off reports, which has the potential to reduce medical errors and improve patient outcomes.

It is next to impossible to let a day go by without coming into contact with a computer system in some way, either by direct usage, or making a telephone call that is directed by computer systems. Due to the importance of computer systems we are all concerned with their quality, directly or indirectly, a malfunctioning system will disturb our lives in more or less drastic ways. Each stakeholder promotes his qualities and priorities for the system, and this will eventually lead to conflict, depending on relations between qualities. There is no simple solution to the problem of relating and conflicting quality attributes. But by making an informed decision it is possible to soften the effects of the trade-offs and gain a higher level of total software quality. The way to make an informed decision is to have knowledge about the relations between quality attributes along with insights of the consequences of the decision. This report gives a short introduction to the problem, and surveys both the relations stated within academia, and industry. The intention is to explore the knowledge present within academia and collect and present the established relations found by researchers. Further this report presents a survey carried out at companies working in different areas with software engineering, to show which relations that are visible to industry and how they are handling the relations between quality attributes. This gathered knowledge intends to support the ambition towards higher quality in software engineering.

A key challenge facing dairy farming is to meet the increasing demand for dairy products from a growing and more affluent global population in a period of unprecedented socio-economic and environmental change. In order to address this challenge, policies are currently placing emphasis on ‘sustainable intensification’ (SI), i.e. producing ‘more’ outputs and services with ‘less’ resources and environmental impacts. Determining whether or not SI can deliver greater yet sustainable dairy production requires understanding of the relationships between sustainability pillars (environmental; economic; and social) and farm aspects (e.g. on-farm management; and animal productivity) under particular farming systems and circumstances (e.g. regional bio-physical conditions). Trade-offs between pillars and aspects is inevitable within a farming system. Many widely-used assessment methods that aim to measure, scale and weight these pillars and aspects are unable to fully capture trade-offs between them. The objectives of this thesis are: 1) to identify key trade-offs in dairy farming systems to inform greater yet sustainable food production; and 2) to introduce models and methodologies aiming at a more holistic measurement and better understanding of dairy farm sustainability. This thesis assesses the sustainability of French and UK dairy farming systems via a farm efficiency benchmarking modelling framework coupled with statistical analyses. It explores the relationships between pillars, aspects and technical, economic and environmental performance; and identifies important drivers/differentials in dairy farm efficiency. Importantly, it also suggests ways in which farm inputs and outputs can be adjusted so that improvements in environmental, technical and economic performance become feasible. Efficiency benchmarking was performed with the multiple-input – multiple-output productive efficiency method Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). DEA calculates single aggregated efficiency indices per farm by accounting for several farm inputs and outputs which the DEA model endogenously scales and weights. In this work, the notion of farm inputs and outputs was extended to also include ‘undesirable’ outputs (greenhouse gas emissions) and environmental impacts (e.g. eutrophication, acidification etc.) of dairy farming. The DEA models employed belong to the family of ‘additive’ models, which have several advantages over ‘traditional’ DEA models. These include their ability (i) to simultaneously increase outputs and reduce inputs, undesirable outputs and environmental impacts; (ii) to identify specific sources of inefficiency. These ‘sources’ represent a farm’s shortfalls in output production and its excesses in input use and/or in undesirable outputs and environmental impacts, relatively to the other farms; (iii) to position undesirable outputs in the output set rather than consider them as inputs or ‘inverse’ outputs; and (iv) to rank farms by efficiency performance. Importantly, this thesis also proposes a new additive model with a ranking property and high discriminatory power. In a second stage, DEA was coupled with partial least squares structural equation modelling (SEM) so as to develop and relate latent variables for environmental performance, animal productivity and on-farm management practices. The results suggested that the efficacy of SI may be compromised by several on-farm trade-offs between pillars, aspects and farm inputs and outputs. Moreover, trade-offs depended on particular farming systems and circumstances. Increasing animal productivity did not always improve farm environmental performance at whole farm-level. Intensifying production at animal and farm-levels, coupled with high reliance on external inputs, reduced farm environmental performance in the French case, i.e. a significant negative relationship was found between intensification and environmental performance (SEM path coefficients ranged between -0.31 and -0.57, p < 0.05). Conversely, in the UK case, systems representing animal-level intensification (via genetic selection) for increased milk fat plus protein production performed better, on average, than controls of UK average genetic merit for milk fat plus protein production in terms of technical efficiency (DEA scores between 0.91– 0.92 versus 0.78–0.79) and environmental efficiency (scores between 0.92–0.93 versus 0.80), regardless of whether on a low-forage or high-forage diet. The levels of inefficiency in (undesirable) outputs, inputs and environmental impacts varied among farming systems and depended on the regional and managerial characteristics of each system. For instance, in France, West farms had higher eutrophication inefficiencies than East farms (average normalized eutrophication inefficiencies were, respectively 0.141 and 0.107), perhaps because of their more intensive production practices. However, West farms were more DEA-efficient than East farms as the former benefited from bio-physical conditions more favourable to dairy farming (mean DEA score ranks were 97 for West and 83 for East). Such findings can guide policy incentives for SI in different regions or dairy systems. The proposed modelling framework significantly contributes to current knowledge and the search for the best pathways to SI, improves widely-used modelling approaches, and challenges earlier findings based on less holistic exercises.

Commercial scale cellulosic biorefineries face significant challenges to produce low-cost fermentable sugar from biomass. Biorefinery processing steps are interrelated and trade-offs between process parameters impact the cost and efficiency of the overall system. Although densified biomass as a biorefinery feedstock would improve biomass supply logistics, it has not been considered viable due to high energy and emissions associated with the densification process. However, the potential synergies of biomass densification with downstream processing steps are critical. An energy-efficient system with improved supply logistics, reduced severity pretreatment, and improved hydrolysis efficiency will lower the cost of sugar production from cellulosic biomass. The objective of this research was to increase overall process efficiency of biorefineries by understanding how different process parameters affect the hydrolysis efficiency. Processing trade-offs in pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis for densified and non-densified biomass for economical sugar production were evaluated. A life cycle perspective was taken to compare fossil energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from pelleted and non-pelleted corn stover during transportation and soaking in aqueous ammonia (SAA) pretreatment. A model developed to demonstrate the interaction of enzymatic hydrolysis factors to improve hydrolysis efficiency showed that enzyme loadings had a more significant effect on hydrolysis rates than pH or temperature. Economical optimal enzyme loadings were lower than loadings to maximize yield, loadings can be adjusted to maximize profit based on enzyme costs, ethanol price, and process temperature. Pelleted corn stover allowed reduction in SAA-pretreatment severity with different combinations of temperature, time, and ammonia concentration to produce 90% or higher glucose yields. This suggests possible economic and environmental benefits of using pelleted biomass as a biorefinery feedstock. Use of pelleted biomass reduced transportation fossil energy and GHG emissions by 25%. A significant reduction of energy (89%) for SAA-pretreatment was achieved with pelleted biomass due to lower pretreatment time and higher solid loadings. Use of pelleted biomass allowed doubling of pretreatment solid loadings, which lowered pretreatment reactors from 59 to 9, in addition to associated water and chemical savings. This study demonstrated that SAA pretreatment is not feasible for non-pelleted biomass, but process synergies make SAA pretreatment possible for pelleted biomass.

Population die-offs generally refer to the loss of a large number of individuals in a population over a short time interval. When die-offs are attributable to one or more extreme natural events, they are referred to as “natural” population die-offs (also abbreviated as “NPDOs”). Despite the increased number of studies reporting natural population die-offs we still have only a limited understanding of the processes driving such phenomena. The first section of this thesis, a review chapter, highlights the variety of pathways by which extreme natural events (including extreme climatic events) can drive episodes of high mortality. It also introduces a framework for assessing vulnerability to population declines applied to terrestrial mammals. The vulnerability to these declines can be heightened if species have high susceptibility and/or a poor adaptive capacity. Using a database of 72 natural population die-offs (NPDOs) of terrestrial mammal species we tested a set of hypothesis related to species’ biological traits (body mass, home range, foraging strategy, territoriality) the main aim of chapter two investigate whether these traits are significant predictors of the observed degree of population losses caused by extreme natural events (“NPDO severity”). In parallel with intrinsic biology, the degree of exposure to threat processes determines the fate of species and their constituent populations. In this context, chapter three maps the degree of overlap between the extant geographical distribution of terrestrial mammals and areas of recent past exposure to cyclones and droughts. Species whose distributions have a high overlap with extreme climatic events are expected to be at greater threat than currently recognized by their biology alone. Chapter four then introduces a vulnerability assessment to cyclone-driven population declines based on the interactions between species biology, the species’ extant geographical range and recent past exposure to tropical cyclones. This is with the aim of determining species that are both, intrinsically vulnerable and highly exposed. This objective is addressed for the 19 terrestrial mammals listed as critically endangered by Mexican Law: Among Mexican mammalian fauna they stand already at the first line to disappear due to human-mediated impacts and extreme climate-related phenomena can increase such risk. Therefore there is a critical need to identify those further jeopardized by climatic impacts and implement comprehensive management practices to protect them. Great changes in the environment have the potential to generate large mortality events. However, the processes by which extreme climatic events shape population growth and trajectory are overlooked. In the final chapter of this thesis a population viability analysis is performed for a predator-free, well-monitored and undisturbed primate population harboured in Agaltepec Island, Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. This translocated population share ecological and demographic features within the range of variation reported for the subspecies in Los Tuxtlas region. In light of the expected increment in the frequency of extreme climatic events (e.g., cyclones for Los Tuxtlas region), systems as the one presented here can help to understand demographic consequences that extreme agents of disturbance could trigger on isolated populations embed in hostile landscapes where data is still not available.

Les infrastructures de cloud fournissent une grande variété de ressources de calcul à la demande avec différents compromis coût-performance. Cela donne aux utilisateurs des nombreuses opportunités pour exécuter leurs applications ayant des besoins complexes en ressources, à partir d’un grand nombre de serveurs avec des interconnexions à faible latence jusqu’à des dispositifs spécialisés comme des GPUs et des FPGAs. Les besoins des utilisateurs concernant l’exécution de leurs applications peuvent varier entre une exécution la plus rapide possible, la plus chère ou un compromis entre les deux. Cependant, le choix du nombre et du type des ressources à utiliser pour obtenir le compromis coût-performance que les utilisateurs exigent constitue un défi majeur. Cette thèse propose trois contributions avec l’objectif de fournir des bons compromis coût-performance pour l’exécution des applications sur des plates-formes hétérogènes. Elles suivent deux directions : un bon usage des ressources et un bon choix des ressources. Nous proposons comme première contribution une méthode de partage pour des accélérateurs de type FPGA dans l’objectif de maximiser leur utilisation. Dans une seconde contribution, nous proposons des méthodes de profilage pour la modélisation de la demande en ressources des applications. Enfin, nous démontrons comment ces technologies peuvent être intégrées dans une plate-forme de cloud hétérogène
Cloud infrastructures provide on-demand access to a large variety of computing devices with different performance and cost. This creates many opportunities for cloud users to run applications having complex resource requirements, starting from large numbers of servers with low-latency interconnects, to specialized devices such as GPUs and FPGAs. User expectations regarding the execution of applications may vary between the fastest possible execution, the cheapest execution or any trade-off between the two extremes. However, enabling cloud users to easily make performance-cost trade-offs is not a trivial exercise and choosing the right amount and type of resources to run applications accordingto user expectations is very difficult. This thesis proposes three contributions to enable performance-cost trade-offs for application execution in heterogeneous clouds by following two directions: make good use of resources and make good choice of resources. We propose as a first contribution a method to share FPGA-based accelerators in cloud infrastructures having the objective to improve their utilization. As a second contribution we propose profiling methods to automate the selection of heterogeneous resources for executing applications under user objectives. Finally, we demonstrate how these technologies can be implemented and exploited in heterogeneous cloud platforms

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 24, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Shawn Ni. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Large organisations tend to have multiple organisational goals. Example goals for organisations that perform search and rescue might be being able to search large areas quickly, and to provide, for the speedy recovery of survivors. To satisfy these goals, organisations will acquire different resources such as new systems, training programmes, infrastructure and processes. These different resources when combined to meet the same organisational goals, can be considered as a System of Systems (SoS). Organisational goals can be satisfied by completely different resource combinations with each resource combination satisfying the individual goals to varying degrees and with different overall costs. Since organisations only have limited resources available to them, there is an incentive for organisations to find the most efficient resource combinations to satisfy their goals. This can be considered as performing trade-offs in SoS acquisition. There are several open research gaps in performing trade-offs in SoS acquisition. The first is that the resources involved are heterogeneous. How do you compare the benefits of new equipment against new training programmes or organisational structures? The second is the multi-objective nature of the problem with the different organisational goals competing for the same limited budget. The third is managing the problem through-life and maintaining the satisfaction of organisational goals as old system retire and new systems come into service. This thesis presents a model-based technique (with prototype tool support) that combines techniques from the fields of through life capability management, goal modelling, search-based software engineering and model-driven engineering. This technique addresses the three problems stated above allowing decision makers to more efficiently consider the trade-offs involved when performing SoS acquisition. The technique has been evaluated on a realistic case study and on a standard problem found in the field of search-based software engineering.

Rapide Fortschritte in der Netzwerk- und Speichertechnologie haben dazu geführt, dass Informationen über viele verschiedene Quellen wie z.B. Personal Computer oder Datenbanken verstreut sind. Weil diese Informationen oft auch sehr heterogen sind, wurde gleichzeitig die Entwicklung effektiver Softwaretechniken zur Datensammlung und -integration vorangetrieben. Diese werden beispielsweise in Online-Katalogen von Bibliotheken oder in Internetsuchmaschinen eingesetzt und ermöglichen eine breitgefächerte Suche von Informationen unterschiedlichster Art und Herkunft. In sensiblen Anwendungsgebieten kann der Einsatz solcher Techniken aber zu einer Gefährdung der Privatsphäre der Datenhalter führen. Bei der Erforschung häufig auftretender Krankheiten beispielsweise sammeln und analysieren Wissenschaftler Patientendaten, um Muster mit hohem Erkrankungspotenzial zu erkennen. Dazu werden von den Forschern möglichst präzise und vollständige Daten benötigt. Der Patient hat dagegen großes Interesse am Schutz seiner persönlichen Daten. Dieser Interessenkonflikt zwischen Datenhaltern und Nutzern tritt auch in anderen Konstellationen wie beispielsweise in Internetdiensten auf, die die Eingabe von persönlichen Finanz- und Steuerdaten erfordern. Oft kann ein qualitativ höherwertiger Dienst angeboten werden, wenn persönliche Informationen preisgegeben werden. Über die hierzu notwendige Abwägung von Datenschutz und Dienstqualität sind sich nicht alle Datenhalter im Klaren und neigen zu Extremverhalten wie der Übermittlung aller persönlicher Daten oder gar keiner. Diese Dissertation erforscht den Grenzbereich zwischen den scheinbar konträren Interessen von Datenhaltern und Dienstnutzern. Dabei werden insbesondere die technischen Möglichkeiten zur Modellierung und Beschreibung dieses Bereiches betrachtet. Die erarbeiteten Techniken sollen den beteiligten Parteien ermöglichen, den bestehenden Konflikt unter Einbeziehung ihrer Präferenzen zur beiderseitigen Zufriedenheit zu lösen. Die Beiträge dieser Dissertation sind im Einzelnen: - Eine Klassifizierung von Dienstarchitekturen im Hinblick auf Datenschutzprobleme Verschiedene Dienstarchitekturen werden nach ihrer Datenschutzproblematik klassifiziert. Für jede Kategorie werden praktische Anwendungen erläutert. - Entwurf, Analyse und Implementierung einer verschlüsselungsbasierten Dienstarchitektur in einer nicht vertrauenswürdigen 2-Parteien-Umgebung Es werden Gründe für Vertrauen von Datenhaltern in Anbieter von netzbasierten Diensten dargestellt. Für Fälle, in denen dieses Vertrauen alleine nicht ausreicht, wird eine Datenschutz garantierende Dienstarchitektur abgeleitet, die auf einem modifizierten Verschlüsselungsalgorithmus basiert. Wichtige Datenbankoperationen und arithmetische Elemente werden auf die verschlüsselten Daten übertragen und in beispielhaften Diensten zum Einsatz gebracht. - Entwurf, Analyse und Implementierung einer aggregationsbasierten Dienstarchitektur in einer nicht vertrauenswürdigen 3-Parteien-Umgebung Am Beispiel eines den Datenschutz verletzenden Gesundheitsberichts wird gezeigt, wie Methoden des Operations Research dazu eingesetzt werden können, aus veröffentlichten Statistiken enge Intervalle für vertrauliche numerische Daten abzuleiten ("Intervallinferenz"). Zur Lösung des Interessenkonflikts zwischen Datenhaltern und Dienstnutzern wird die Verwendung eines sogenannten Datenschutzmediators vorgeschlagen. Dessen Kernkomponente ist die "Audit & Aggregate" Methodologie, die das Auftreten von Intervallinferenz aufdecken und verhindern kann. - Quantifizierung der Datenschutzabwägungen und Schlussfolgerungen für den elektronischen Handel Es werden verschiedene Ansätze zur Quantifizierung der Datenschutzabwägungen betrachtet und Schlussfolgerungen für den elektronischen Handel gezogen. Zusammengefasst versucht diese Arbeit, (a) die Wahrnehmung von Datenhaltern und Dienstnutzern für den bestehenden Interessenkonflikt zu erhöhen, (b) einen Rahmen zur Modellierung der Datenschutzabwägungen bereitzustellen und (c) Methoden zu entwickeln, die den Interessenkonflikt zur beiderseitigen Zufriedenheit beilegen können.
Recent developments in networking and storage technology have led to the dissemination of information over many different sources such as personal computers or corporate and public databases. As these information sources are often distributed and heterogeneous, effective tools for data collection and integration have been developed in parallel. These tools are employed e.g. in library search catalogues or in Internet search engines to facilitate information search over a wide range of different information sources. In more sensitive application areas however, the privacy of the data holders can be compromised. In medical disease research for example, scientists collect and analyze patient data for epidemiological characterizations and for the construction of predictive models. Whereas the medical researchers need patient data at the highest level of detail, patients are only willing to provide data when their privacy is guaranteed. This conflict of interest between the data holders and the users occurs in many different settings, for example in the use of web-based services that require confidential input data such as financial or tax data. The more accurate and rich the provided private information, the higher the quality of the provided service. Not all data holders are aware of this trade-off and for lack of knowledge tend to the extremes, i.e. provide no data or provide it all. This thesis explores the borderline between the competing interests of data holders and service users. In particular, we investigate the technical opportunities to model and describe this borderline. These techniques allow the two opposing parties to express their preferences and to settle the conflict with a solution that is satisfactory to both. The specific contributions of this thesis are the following: - Privacy classification of service architectures We present a privacy classification of different service architectures after the number of involved parties and the reactivity of the data provision. For each class, we provide examples of practical applications and explain their relevance by discussing preceding cases of real-world privacy violations. - Design, analysis and implementation of an encryption-based service architecture in an untrusted two-party environment We analyze the foundations of trust in web-based services and point out cases where trust in the service provider alone is not enough e.g. for legal requirements. For these cases, we derive a new privacy-preserving architecture that is based on an adapted homomorphic encryption algorithm. We map important database and arithmetic operations from plain data to encrypted data, and we present sample services that can be carried out within the framework. - Design, analysis and implementation of an aggregation-based service architecture in an untrusted three-party environment Using a privacy-compromising health report as a running example through the thesis, we show how mathematical programming can be used to derive tight intervals for confidential data fields from non-critical aggregated data. We propose a new class of privacy mediators that settle the conflict between data holders and service users. A core component is the "audit & aggregate" methodology that detects and limits this kind of disclosure called interval inference. - Quantification of the privacy trade-off and implications for electronic commerce and public policy We analyze several frameworks to quantify the trade-off between data holders and service users. We also discuss the implications of this trade-off for electronic commerce and public policy. To summarize, this thesis aims to (a) increase data holders'' and service users'' awareness of the privacy conflict, (b) to provide a framework to model the trade-off and (c) to develop methods that can settle the conflict to both parties'' satisfaction.

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With the appearance of a new world scenery, the markets are dominated by companies with high capacity of innovation. The university, one of the most important sources of knowledge, which fundamental role consists in the formation of human resources and in the performance of academic research, starts to be forced in a way that the results of its researches should bring more relevant economic and social impacts to the society in order to enrich and enlarge its role. As a consequence, the relationships of cooperation between universities and companies and the process of technology transfer from the university to the market gain importance. Among the known process of technology transfer, the creation of companies from the knowledge generated in the university (academic spin-offs), emerges as an alternative way to complement the traditional mechanisms. This study aims to characterize the process of technology transfer through the academic spin-offs, focusing the Federal University of São Carlos, and to identify its importance in the process of innovation, the employment creation, the relationships of cooperation between the university and companies and the local economic development. The methodology used was the qualitative research and case study, with field interviews and analysis of the contents. The results also show the received incentives and the main barriers faced by the academic spin-offs.
O surgimento de um novo cenário mundial, no qual os mercados são dominados por empresas com alta capacidade de inovação, a universidade, uma das mais importantes fontes de conhecimento, cujo papel fundamental consiste na formação de recursos humanos e na realização de pesquisa acadêmica, começa a ser pressionada para que os resultados de suas pesquisas tragam para a sociedade impactos econômicos e sociais mais expressivos, enriquecendo e ampliando sua atuação. Assim, as relações de cooperação entre universidades e empresas e o processo transferência de tecnologia da universidade para o mercado ganham importância. Entre os processos de transferência de tecnologia existentes, a criação de empresas a partir do conhecimento gerado nas universidades (spin-offs acadêmicas) surge como um caminho alternativo, complementando os mecanismos tradicionais já existentes. Este trabalho procura caracterizar o processo de transferência de tecnologia através das spin-offs acadêmicas na Universidade Federal de São Carlos - UFSCar e identificar sua importância no processo de inovação, na geração de empregos, nas relações de cooperação universidade-empresa e no desenvolvimento econômico local. A metodologia utilizada foi pesquisa qualitativa e estratégia de estudo de caso, com entrevistas de campo e análise de conteúdo.Os resultados mostram também os incentivos recebidos e as principais barreiras enfrentadas pelas spin-offs acadêmicas.

O novo cenário económico e social, no qual os mercados são dominados por empresas com alta capacidade de inovação e dotadas de alta tecnologia, traz novos desafios para as Universidades. Com o objectivo de estudar a criação de empresas spin-offs académicas e, tendo como base um conjunto de 49 spin-offs de Universidades consideradas empreendedoras e com maior tradição na criação de empresas, (Universidades do Minho, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra e Nova de Lisboa) efectou-se uma análise sobre o processo de génese de spin-offs universitárias, focalizando-se em cinco vertentes evidenciadas por vários autores. Dos resultados obtidos, verifica-se que são empresas com padrões de actuação semelhantes, altamente inovadoras que investem em processos de I&D para os seus produtos. Por outro lado, verifica-se que estas empresas têm algumas características particulares, existindo uma forte ligação forte entre os fundadores e a Universidade de origem. Os resultados deste trabalho sugerem igualmente a existência de algumas diferenças entre as características das spin-off por Universidade de origem; ABSTRACT: New economic and social scenario, in which markets are full of new companies with higher capability of innovation and provided with new advanced technologies, brings new challenges to Universities. The aim of this research is to study academic spin-off process. Considering a data base of 49 academic spin-offs obtained of five Universities that are considered the most entrepreneurial and that have a large tradition in creating spin-offs (Universidades do Minho, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra e Nova de Lisboa), we have made an analysis of their characteristics and factors taking into consideration five different subjects pointed out by several authors. The results obtained show that these companies have some similar patterns of action in market, have higher levels of innovation and R&D intensive activities. Academic spinoffs have also some archetypal aspects, especially founders have strong ties with the University. The results of this investigation suggest evenly some companies’ differences between Universities of origin.

Master of Agribusiness
Department of Agricultural Economics
Allen M. Featherstone
This thesis examines the effect of off-farm income on a farming operation’s ability to repay their debt. The thesis develops a regression model that includes net farm income, debt repayment capacity with carryover working capital, off-farm income sources and a number of other independent variables that help define each individual borrower. The model provides an evaluation of the current farming environment and examines various income opportunities available to borrowers affects repayment capacity. This study found that the presence of off-farm income can increase the probability that the operation will be able to repay their debts. The model indicates that if off-farm income is present, the borrower’s debt repayment capacity ratio increases. This thesis further explores the model and the results produced from not only off-farm income but several different variables within the borrower’s scope of business. Results suggest that many other factors that are not available in the sample also play a large role in predicting an operation’s ability to repay debt. The study determined that the presence of one source of off-farm income was positive and statistically significant in explaining repayment capacity. An operation with a strong outside income source and one spouse working full time on the farm is more financially stable and will likely be more successful at repaying their debts.