Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'QoS Factors'

With the growth of wireless networks and the increase in personal internet use for a wide diversity of applications, the importance of the quality of service (QoS) delivered to clients has become of great importance. In order to evaluate QoS, this study explores the application of the linear response surface analysis (LRSA) technique as an evaluation tool for QoS factors such as Throughput and Delay. An 802.11n prototype wireless network is constructed in order to capture QoS data that is then used to construct LRSA models in order to evaluate the QoS factors. The LRSA models are maximised and minimised while constraining specific measured QoS factors and the subsequent results are analysed. Based on this analysis, recommendations for the improvement of wireless networks are made as well as the use of the LRSA technique to evaluate QoS within a wireless network.<br>Thesis (MSc (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

This thesis treats of QoS (Quality of Service) in UMTS system. The term quality of service is frequently used, recently, however not only in computer networks, but also more and more in mobile networks also. Present system of 2nd generation (2G) GSM enables only limited exploitation of QoS function. System UMTS is a system of 3rd generation (3G) already and contains quality of service in greater measure which is ensured with number of algorithms and functions. Individual QoS functions enable effective utilization of radio interface, support maintenance of planned coverage and offer high spectral efficiency. Functions that cater to quality of service are called RRM functions (Radio Resource Management). There exist five basic functions in UMTS system that are Admission control (AC), Power control (PC), Load control (LC), Handover control (HC) and Packet scheduler (PS). These functions are responsible for control of network access, control of power, control of network load, control of handover and packet (bit rate) scheduling. Last three functions are usually collectively designated as Congestion control, control of network overload. UMTS layer model, differentiation of services, traffic classes and 3GPP concept are also discussed. In thesis the attention is piad to Admission control algorithm – control of network access – in the uplink direction and to different ways of load (in the cell) modeling. Individual approaches are simulated in MATLAB. A possibility of using algorithm in the real system is discussed in conclusion.

This thesis discusses wireless network standards 802.11a/b/g/n. First part explains basic principles of networks and media access. Next the standard IEEE 802.11, general QoS parameters and their application in wireless networks, according to standard 802.11e are analyzed. Second part of the thesis verifies the acquired knowledge in simulating program Opnet - effects of the delay, jitter and packet loss on VoIP call are tested. In the last part of the thesis a network for video streaming has been designed. The video was streamed in different qualities and the influence of other network traffic (with and without the support of QoS) on the video streaming was tested.

This thesis advances the establishment of a fully developed framework for implementing more robust quality management systems in the Australian construction industry. The developed framework represents a comprehensive set of guidelines for the management teams of building organisations to address and maximise the distinct relationships between the effective deployment of QMS and the factors surrounding that implementation. The overall aim of this research has been fulfilled by adopting a combination of qualitative investigation, data collection and analysis methodologies. This exploratory research was approached by collecting data through interviews and case-studies representing Tier 1 and 2 Australian building sector projects.

The main aim of this thesis is to familiarize with options of services using real-time data transfer in wireless networks. Theoretical part presents wireless network based on IEEE 802.11 standard and its practical use. Large part is focuses on 802.11e standart, that provides support for quality of service in wireless networks. Furthemore this thesis deals with transport and applicaton protocols supporting multimedia streaming over computer network. Second chapter is focused on analyzing real computer network with purpose in measuring parametrs influencing quality of service such as bandwith, delay, jitter and loss. Last part deals with the design of wireless network in OPNET Modeler enviroment with focus on simulating parameters that influence quality of service.

Applications that can change their behaviour based on the user’s contextual appearance are called context-aware applications. Applications developed for smart phones, which carry a multitude of different sensors, and actuators have gained a huge penetration within the market. Frequent usage of mobile applications such as home automation, friend finder, car accident notification and tracking etc; have seen an increased growth from the user’s perspective. However, for such applications, it is necessary to have knowledge of the performance and cost parameters, which directly affect the QoE of the application users.  This thesis investigates possible context aware behaviours in real time situations and measures the Quality of Experience (QoE) as well as identifying the Packet Delay Variation (PDV). The background and some state-of-the-art technologies are studied, and based on these studies, three scenarios are designed and implemented and based on their QoE, results and conclusions are presented, with the  results obtained  shown by means of   graphical representations of the QoE and PDV values.

Recently, there has been a significant rise in the Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) video streaming usage worldwide. However, the knowledge of performance of HTTP video streaming is still limited, especially in the aspect of factors which affect video quality. The reason is that HTTP video streaming has different characteristics from other video streaming systems. In this thesis, we show how the delivered quality of a Flash video playback is affected by different factors from diverse layers of the video delivery system, including congestion control algorithm, delay variation, playout buffer length, video bitrate and so on. We introduce Quality of Delivery Degradation (QoDD) then we use it to measure how much the Quality of Delivery (QoD) is degraded in terms of QoDD. The study is processed in a dedicated controlled environment, where we could alter the influential factors and then measure what is happening. After that, we use statistic method to analyze the data and find the relationships between influential factors and quality of video delivery which are expressed by mathematic models. The results show that the status and choices of factors have a significant impact on the QoD. By proper control of the factors, the quality of delivery could be improved. The improvements are approximately 24% by TCP memory size, 63% by congestion control algorithm, 30% by delay variation, 97% by delay when considering delay variation, 5% by loss and 92% by video bitrate.

Background: Elder abuse and its effects are a serious public health issue. However, little is known about therelation between psychological abuse, other factors (e.g. social support) and quality of life (QoL) by domain. This studyaddressed differences in QoL by domain between psychologically abused and non-abused. While considering otherfactors such as social support. Methods: The respondents were 4,467 (2,559 women) randomly selected persons aged 60-84 years living in7 European cities. The mean response across countries was 45.2%. The cross-sectional data were analyzed withbivariate/multivariate methods. Results: Abused respondents contrasted to non-abused scored lower in QoL (autonomy, 67.42 ± 21.26 vs. 72.39± 19.58; intimacy, 55.31 ± 31.15 vs. 67.21 ± 28.55; past/present/future activities, 62.79 ± 19.62 vs. 68.05 ± 18.09;social participation, 65.03 ± 19.84 vs. 68.21 ± 19.77). Regressions showed that abuse was negatively associated withautonomy, intimacy and past/present/future activities, and positively with the social participation. All QoL dimensionswere negatively associated with country and depressive/anxiety symptoms, and positively with social support. Further,variables such as age, sex and somatic symptoms were negatively associated with some of the QoL dimensions andothers such as family structure, education, health care use and drinking positively. The regression model “explained”32.8% of the variation in autonomy, 45.6% in intimacy, 44.8% in past/present/future activities and 41.5% in socialparticipation. Conclusions: Abuse was linked to lower QoL in most domains, but other factors such as depressive symptomsalso carried a negative impact. Social support and to some extent family structure had a “protective” effect on QoL.Abuse, health indicators (e.g. depressive symptoms) and social support should be considered in addressing the QoL ofolder persons. However, QoL was influenced by many factors, which could not be firmly disentangled due to the crosssectionalapproach, calling for longitudinal research to address causality.

This master’s thesis is engaged in usage of cluster analysis for ECG signal to separate normal QRS complexes from abnormal ones. For this, it is used two algorithms created in professional computing interface MATLAB. The outputs from this master’s thesis are dendrograms, which divide QRS complexes into abnormal and normal clusters, and Pearson correlation coefficients.

Submitted by Rosivalda Pereira (mrs.pereira@ufma.br) on 2017-05-11T17:34:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianaSa.pdf: 2916509 bytes, checksum: 3033cc9567acb688711d2738c53dc7e8 (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-11T17:34:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianaSa.pdf: 2916509 bytes, checksum: 3033cc9567acb688711d2738c53dc7e8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-23<br>Acromegaly is a rare disease, often caused by a pituitary tumor that secretes excess growth hormone and is associated with enlarged extremities, multiple organ dysfunction, physical limitations, decreased daily productivity, social isolation and worsening of quality Of life (QOL). The objective of this study was to identify the factors associated with quality of life and to verify the association between psychopathological symptoms and quality of life in patients with acromegaly accompanied in the only reference service of neuroendocrinology in the State of Maranhão - Northeast Brazil. The Acro-Qol questionnaire, the inventories of Beck's anxiety and depression, and the cronbach alpha were calculated. In order to identify independently associated factors, multivariate linear regression was adjusted and to verify the relationship between the factors associated with psychopathological symptoms, Student's t test and calculated the pearson correlation coefficientto to verify the correlation between quality of life and levels of anxiety and depression. Values of p <0.05 were considered significant. The study sample is composed of 57 patients. Cronbach's alpha was observed from 0.7 in all domains of Acro-Qol. There was a predominance of female patients (63.2%), with a mean age of 53.52 ± 12.2 years, with a monthly income of 3.51 + 3.9 minimum wages, with a macroadenoma (72%) and undergoing surgery (59.6%). In the multivariate linear regression, there was a positive association of income with quality of life scores in all domains; (Β = 0.372, p = 0.004), physical (β = 0.988, p = 0.001), psychological (β = 0.342, p = 0.008) P = 0.012) and in those that were inserted in the labor market in the total domains (β = 0.288, p = 0.003), psychological (β = 0.291, p = 0.032) and personal relations (β = 0.314, p = 0.019). In Pearson's correlation, there was a negative association between quality of life scores and anxiety levels in all domains; (R = - 0.442, p = 0.001), physical (r = - 0.532, p = <0.001), psychological (r = - 0.357, p = 0.006) (R = -0.370, p = 0.005) and in depression levels also in all domains; (R = -0.421, p = 0.001), physical (r = -0.645, p = <0.001), psychological (r = -0.543, p = <0.001) And personal relationships (r = - 0.541, p = <0.001). In this population of acromegaly patients, coming from one of the less developed regions of Brazil, being in the labor market and having a higher income were related to better QoL and the more intense symptoms of anxiety and depression were related to worse quality of life. Patients who have a tumor in the pituitary even reaching control of the disease are subject to a premature increase of health risks. The challenge for the future is how to improve the outcome of pituitary patients, so they can be closer to the concept of achieving a better quality of life.<br>Acromegalia é uma doença rara, frequentemente causada por um tumor na pituitária que secreta excesso de hormônio do crescimento e está associada com aumento das extremidades, disfunção de múltiplos órgãos, limitações físicas, diminuição da produtividade diária, isolamento social e piora na qualidade de vida (QV). O objetivo do estudo foi identificar os fatores associados à qualidade de vida e verificar a associação entre os sintomas de ansiedade e depressão e a qualidade de vida em portadores de acromegalia acompanhados no único serviço de referência de neuroendocrinologia do Estado do Maranhão - Nordeste do Brasil. Foi utilizado o questionário Acro-Qol, os inventários de ansiedade e depressão de Beck e calculado o alpha de cronbach. Para identificar fatores associados independentemente foi ajustado o modelo de regressão linear multivariado e para verificar a relação entre os fatores associados aos sintomas psicopatológicos foi realizado o teste t de student e calculado o coeficiente de correlação de Pearson para verificar a correlação entre qualidade de vida e os níveis de ansiedade e depressão. Os valores de p<0.05 foram considerados significantes. A amostra do estudo é composta por 57 pacientes. Observou-se o alpha de Cronbach a partir de 0.7 em todos os domínios do Acro-Qol. Houve predomínio dos pacientes do sexo feminino (63.2%), com média de idade 53.52+12.2 anos, com renda mensal de 3.51+ 3.9 salários mínimos, portador de macroadenoma (72%) e submetidos à cirurgia (59.6%). Na regressão linear multivariada, houve associação positiva da renda com escores de qualidade de vida em todos os domínios; total (β 0.037, p= 0.003), físico (β= 0.988, p= 0.001), psicológico (β= 0.342, p= 0.008), aparência (β= 0.270, p=0.049) e relações pessoais (β= 0.315, p=0.012) e naqueles que estavam inseridos no mercado de trabalho nos domínios total (β= 0.288, p= 0.003), psicológico (β= 0.291, p=0.032) e relações pessoais (β= 0.314, p=0.019). Na correlação de Pearson, houve associação negativa dos escores de qualidade de vida e os níveis de ansiedade em todos os domínios; total (r= - 0.442, p= 0.001), físico (r= - 0.532, p= < 0.001), psicológico (r= -0.357, p= 0.006), aparência (r= - 0.270, p=0.042) e relações pessoais (r= - 0.370, p=0.005) e nos níveis de depressão também em todos os domínios; total (r= - 0.621, p= <0.001), físico (r= - 0.645, p= < 0.001), psicológico (r= - 0.543, p= <0.001), aparência (r= - 0.421, p=0.001) e relações pessoais (r= - 0.541, p= <0.001). Nesta população de portadores de acromegalia, proveniente de uma das regiões menos desenvolvidas do Brasil, estar inserido no mercado de trabalho e possuir maior renda estiveram relacionados com melhor QV e os sintomas mais intensos de ansiedade e depressão estiveram relacionados com piores níveis de qualidade de vida. Pacientes que possui tumor na pituitária mesmo alcançando o controle da doença estão sujeitos a um aumento prematuro de riscos para a saúde. O desafio para o futuro é como melhorar o resultado dos pacientes pituitários, para que eles possam estar mais perto do conceito de atingir uma melhor qualidade de vida.

Mobile data traffic will continue to show rapid growth in the coming years; however the data revenue is not rising fast enough to ensure the operators’ profitability. Therefore, mobile operators must seek new approaches to find out what service does the customers need and what quality makes the customers satisfied in order to keep their increasingly sophisticated customers satisfied at the same time minimizing their revenue gap. This paper investigate the effect of mobile cellular network performance and contextual factors on smartphone users’ satisfaction, this was done via crowdsourcing through an experiment where an Android Application and a user Survey were included, which is able to evaluate and analyze the perceived quality of experience (QoE) for YouTube service for Android Smartphone users. To achieve this goal, the App NPT performs measurements of objective quality of service (QoS) parameters, whereas the survey carriers out collecting subjective user opinion. The result show that network performance parameters do impact the MOS (Mean Opinion Score) exponentially, either in a positively or negatively way, however, multiple parameters need to be considered together in order to draw a more accurate correlation with QoE. In addition, QoE are heavily affected by many other contextual factors, such as age and gender as well as users location. QoE are also impacted by several subjective factors, such as user expectation. Not always the highest throughput will lead to the best QoE, and not always the best technology (LTE) deserves the best MOS. Even though user received very high downlink throughput, their MOS value may still be low due to they might think the video were not fun to watch and the quality has not meet their expectation.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-07-11T14:09:12Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissert_AlexandreCorreia_BC.pdf: 3522945 bytes, checksum: 1bb7eee383a0aacbbda4a08a073f340e (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-11T14:09:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissert_AlexandreCorreia_BC.pdf: 3522945 bytes, checksum: 1bb7eee383a0aacbbda4a08a073f340e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-31<br>O presente estudo teve como objetivo principal a realização de um diagnóstico macroergonômico a fim de identificar a percepção dos servidores acerca da qualidade de vida no trabalho em uma Instituição de Ensino com o intuito de elaborar e implantar uma Política de Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho no Instituto. Para isto buscou-se identificar a relação das variáveis pessoais (sexo, idade e escolaridade) e funcionais (tempo de serviço, unidade de trabalho e cargo) com qualidade de vida no trabalho em relação aos aspectos de segurança, ambiente físico adequado e seguro, relações interpessoais e organização do trabalho. Para esta pesquisa, utilizou-se um questionário composto de questões objetivas e de instruções necessárias aos respondentes. Para a mensuração da opinião de cada respondente foi utilizada uma escala de avaliação contínua, sugerida por Stone et al. (1974) e amplamente utilizada por Guimarães (2008) em suas pesquisas. Esta escala tem 15 centímetros de comprimento e ao longo dela o sujeito deverá marcar a sua percepção sobre o item. A intensidade de cada resposta deverá variar no intervalo de 0 (zero) a 15 (quinze). Os dados dos questionários são tabulados e priorizados em função do nível de importância, satisfação. O peso de cada item é gerado por meio da sua média aritmética. A segunda parte, destinava-se ao levantamento dos dados demográficos dos respondentes, bem como um campo dissertativo para registro de considerações julgadas importantes sobre o tema. Os questionários e entrevistas foram aplicados em quatro unidades da Instituição de Ensino, totalizando uma amostra de servidores. Percebeu-se que ficou claro como a reestruturação organizacional afeta na percepção de satisfação dos funcionários em relação aos fatores de QVT. As análises descritivas mostraram que os funcionários percebem com insatisfação os aspectos relacionados à segurança no trabalho e as preocupações com a saúde física por parte da instituição. Em termos de correlação significativa, os resultados mostraram que as unidades de trabalho exercem influência na percepção da QVT. Estes resultados evidenciam a relevância em criar um ambiente onde as pessoas possam se sentir bem com a chefia, com elas mesmas e entre seus colegas de trabalho.<br>The present study had as main objective to identify the servers ' perception about the quality of life at work in an educational institution in order to develop and implement a policy of quality of life at work in the Institute. For this we sought to identify the relationship of personal variables (sex, age and education) and functional (service time, work unit and Office) with quality of life at work with regard to safety aspects, appropriate and safe physical environment, interpersonal relations and work organization. For this research, it was used a questionnaire composed of objective issues and necessary instructions to respondents. For the measurement of opinion of each respondent was used a range of continuous assessment, suggested by Stone et al. (1974) and widely used by Guimarães (2008) in their research. This scale has 15 centimeters long and along it the subject should check their perception on the item. The intensity of each answer must vary in the range from 0 (zero) to 15 (fifteen). The data from the questionnaires are tabulated and prioritized according to the level of importance, satisfaction. The weight of each item is generated through their arithmetic mean. The second part was the lifting of the demographics of the respondents, as well as an argumentative field to record considerations deemed important. The questionnaires and interviews were applied in four units of educational institution, totaling a sample of servers. It was noticed that it became clear as the organizational restructuring affects the perception of satisfaction of employees with regard to QOL factors. The descriptive analysis showed that employees perceive the dissatisfaction with aspects related to safety at work and physical health concerns on the part of the institution. In terms of significant correlation, the results showed that the units of work influence on perception of QOL. These results demonstrate the importance in creating an environment where people can feel good about the leadership, with themselves and among their co-workers.

Quality of life (QOL) is an extremely important concept in the promotion of appropriate and successful health care programmes. However, there is a need for conceptual clarity to unravel the complexities of terminology in different medical conditions and the underlying factors that have a direct influence on the quality of life for people with coronary heart disease. The primary objective of this thesis is to propose a theoretical model which specifies the domains of QOL and the interrelationships among these domains. The objectives of the study are four-fold: (1) To examine whether a cardiac rehabilitation programme has a beneficial effect on cardiac heart disease patients; (2) To evaluate the primary components of generic health-related quality of life assessment tools for people with coronary heart disease; (3) To identify the main factors governing disease-specific health-related quality of life assessment tools amongst patients with coronary heart disease; (4) To examine a variety of conceptual models of QOL and to determine their relevance to cardiac patients. First, in order to provide conceptual clarity, a comprehensive review of QOL measures was undertaken. Second, data was collected on a cardiac rehabilitation programme in a county hospital using Short Form-36 (SF-36) and Quality of Life for Myocardial Infarction (QLMI) instruments. This data was analysed using a number of techniques including (l)meta-analysis; (2)discriminant analysis; (3)factor analysis and (4)structural equation modelling. Analysing the data in this way enabled the development and clarification of the specific domains of the quality of life model. Meta-analysis involved pooling the results of several studies, these were then analysed to provide a systematic, quantitative review of the data. The results found that the related studies did not have consistent outcomes to support the positive effects of a cardiac exercise rehabilitation programme on quality of life in coronary patients. Findings from the SF-36 indicate that older people with coronary heart disease gain more pain relief than their younger counterparts. After a cardiac exercise rehabilitation progranune, statistically significant improvements occurred in physical function, social function, role limitation/physical, energy/vitality, body pain, and change in health-related dimensions of quality of life. The first-order five domains model includes the symptom domain, the restriction domain, the confidence domain, the self-esteem domain and the emotion domain. This model represents an appropriate model of quality of life for people with coronary heart disease compared to the three-domain model and the four-domain model. In terms of the second-order QOL model, the five-domain model also has an adequate fit to the data. According to the result of structural equation modelling, three models, including the null model, the alternative model I and the alternative model n, did not fit the data perfectly. However, the construct of full latent variable model gradually increased the fit statistics from the null model to the alternative model I and from the null model to alternative model n. Therefore, it can be concluded that the paths and indicators of the three models need to be further adjusted in order to provide a more appropriate model. Nevertheless, this is a first trial to examine a full model of quality of life for people with coronary heart disease using the structural equation analyses. As such, this study provides a new approach to examining the difference between empirical studies and theoretical approaches.

<p>This thesis aims at implementing methods for factorisation of large numbers. Seeing that there is no deterministic algorithm for finding the prime factors of a given number, the task proves rather difficult. Luckily, there have been developed some effective probabilistic methods since the invention of the computer so that it is now possible to factor numbers having about 200 decimal digits. This however consumes a large amount of resources and therefore, virtually all new factorisations are achieved using the combined power of many computers in a distributed system. </p><p>The nature of the distributed system can vary. The original goal of the thesis was to develop a client/server system that allows clients to carry out a portion of the overall computations and submit the result to the server. </p><p>Methods for factorisation discussed for implementation in the thesis are: the quadratic sieve, the number field sieve and the elliptic curve method. Actually implemented was only a variant of the quadratic sieve: the multiple polynomial quadratic sieve (MPQS).</p>

There is much dialogue in the global aviation industry about Safety Management Systems (SMS) and how it should be integrated across all domains of the industry including aircraft design, production, flight operations, overhaul and maintenance, suppliers, service providers, airports, and so forth (Johnson, 2012). Regulators have made significant progress in recent years to implement ICAO’s SMS into airlines, albeit as a required or recommended practice. More recently the regulators are seeking to implement SMS into the aircraft manufacturing and aircraft maintenance domains. This research reviewed regulatory publications from multiple countries to assess the technical makeup of SMS, and understand what regulators are requiring, or recommending, and when. It was found that global regulators accept the ICAO published definition of SMS, but different regulators have varying approaches regarding implementation. However, they are consistent in initially targeting airlines for SMS implementation. SMS comments range from “The best thing since sliced bread” to “Worst thing since the creation of the FAA; I don’t need anyone telling me what’s safe when I already know it; waste of time and money”. This investigation experimented with field tests to connect the engineering, production and airline domains into one ICAO SMS model. Results indicate that because the different domains are risk-specific, the application of one safety risk management model to all domains is not viable. The SMS model applies to airlines because airlines’ primary risk is about operational safety. Aircraft production and maintenance is about production risk – therefore the risk model must be centric to process risk. Field test 3 tailored the ICAO SMS risk architecture to assess and mitigate process risk as applicable to the aircraft manufacturing and maintenance. Although the SMS architecture was usable, the content and focus was significantly adjusted to be production process-risk centric, to the point where the term “SMS’ was deemed out of place. The resulting model was therefore named Production Risk Management System (PRMS). Following the emergence of PRMS from field tests, this investigation reviewed industry, research and regulatory arguments for and against SMS in the airline industry, and correlated those arguments with the benefits and non-benefits of PRMS for the manufacturing and aircraft maintenance domains. The researcher advocates PRMS as a viable model that meets ICAO SMS-like architecture for aircraft production and maintenance. Methods were identified for developing and implementing PRMS, and for evaluating its ROI. If and when “SMS” is truly mandated in these domains, the researcher proposes PRMS as a viable model that should be considered. Furthermore, the researcher proposes that PRMS can be an effective production risk management system that can enhance the organization’s existing QMS, regardless of “SMS” regulations.

Die vorliegende Arbeit geht der Frage nach, ob und inwiefern sich die Biogasproduktion sowohl im Allgemeinen als auch im Speziellen unter den Richtlinien des EEG 2012 auf die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit anderer landwirtschaftlicher Produktionsverfahren auswirkt. Dafür werden innerhalb Niedersachsens vier Regionen auf Gemeindeebene identifiziert, die sich durch Produktionsschwerpunkte landwirtschaftlicher Tätigkeiten charakterisieren lassen. Hierunter fallen Milchviehhaltung, Veredlung in der Schweine- und Bullenmast, Ackerbau mit dem Fokus auf Kartoffelanbau und schließlich gemischter Ackerbau. Die Vorgehensweise und das Ergebnis dieser Einteilung sind als völlig neu zu bewerten und münden in jeweiligen Intensivregionen der entsprechenden Betriebsausrichtungen. Das Instrument der Betriebszweigauswertung wird herangezogen und anhand eines eigenen Modells angepasst. Dies ermöglicht, zwischen dem jeweils regional anzusiedelnden Verfahren und ansässiger Biogasproduktion die ökonomischen Vor- und Nachteile im Wettbewerb festzustellen. In einem zweiten Schritt gibt eine Betriebsleiterbefragung Aufschluss darüber, wie die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit seitens der Biogas- und Nichtbiogasbetreiber empfunden wird. Darüber hinaus fängt die Befragung die maximalen Faktorentlohnungen der Betriebsleiter ein. Somit ergänzen sich die objektive und subjektive Messung betrieblicher Wettbewerbsfähigkeit. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit kommen wie erwartet zu dem Schluss, dass die Biogasproduktion in den von Viehwirtschaft gekennzeichneten Regionen Niedersachsens Wettbewerbsvorteile besitzt. Dieser Vorteil ist in der von Milchviehhaltung geprägten Region aber geringer als bislang angenommen. Während sich die Biogasproduktion mit gemischtem Ackerbau auf gesamtwettbewerblicher Augenhöhe befindet, sehen sich die Landwirte in der von Kartoffelanbau charakterisierten Region gegenüber Biogasbetrieben in einem Wettbewerbsnachteil, der allerdings objektiv nicht nachgewiesen werden kann.<br>This paper examines the question of whether and to what extent biogas production has an impact on the competitiveness of other agricultural production methods, both in general and in particular under the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) 2012 guidelines. For this purpose, four regions at municipal level within Lower Saxony are identified which can be characterised by production focuses of agricultural activities. These include dairy farming, pig and bull fattening, arable farming with a focus on potato cultivation and finally mixed arable farming. The procedure and the result of this classification are to be considered as completely new and lead to the respective intensive regions of the respective operational orientations. The instrument of the branch analyses is used and adapted on an own model. This makes it possible to determine the economic advantages and disadvantages in competition between the respective regionally based process and the local biogas production. In a second step, a survey of farm managers provides information on how the competitiveness of biogas and non-biogas operators is perceived. In addition, the survey captures the maximum factor remuneration of the farm managers. Thus, the objective and subjective measurement of operational competitiveness complement each other. As expected, the results of the present study conclude that biogas production has competitive advantages in the regions of Lower Saxony characterised by livestock farming. However, this advantage is lower than previously assumed in the region dominated by dairy farming. While biogas production with mixed arable farming is on a level with overall competition, farmers in the region characterised by potato cultivation see themselves at a competitive disadvantage compared to biogas farms, which however cannot be objectively proven.

碩士<br>國立成功大學<br>製造工程研究所<br>89<br>Ethernet has been broadly used in the office and enterprise networks. It is the main constituent of Internet. In recent years, there is a great advancement in Ethernet technologies, such as Fast Ethernet and Ethernet Switch. Thus, using Ethernet to replace traditional industrial networks, such as ARCNET, is a technical trend and has become an important research topic for factory automation networking. However, for Ethernet to be used as an industrial substitute, the problem of its indeterministic communication time must be overcome. In this thesis, we propose an equipment-integration framework that is constructed on top of Ethernet and possesses the capability of real-time, synchronized-control networks. It can be used in the equipment-control layer of factory automation networks to do real-time, synchronized control over equipment. In addition, because the equipment-integration framework is constructed on top of Ethernet, it can easily integrate with the automation systems, such as Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Shop Floor Control (SFC), and Cell Controller, in the information-management-layer network that is also on top of Ethernet, through the Object Request Broker (ORB) mechanism. Our equipment-integration framework adopts several technologies, including Fast Ethernet, Switch, Agent, Real-time OS Kernel, and Real-time TCP/IP API. To use off-the-shelf Ethernet adapters, we do not modify the physical layer and the data link layer of Ethernet. Instead, we develop an efficient mechanism of real-time, synchronized control in the application layer. Finally, we integrate the proposed equipment-integration framework with a laboratory-scale factory, which is currently composed of a MES, two sets of production equipment, two robots, an AS/RS, and an AGV, to perform experiments and simulations. The results show that our framework possesses the performance of real-time and OoS-guaranteed data transmission: accomplishing the message synchronization and data feedback of 10 nodes within 1.4 ms; also, it can easily cooperate with the Manufacturing Execution System. It is believed that our work can remedy the drawbacks of traditional automaton networks, such as using different protocols in the information-management layer and the equipment-control layer, and promote the networks’ performance substantially.

碩士<br>華梵大學<br>工業工程與經營資訊學系碩士班<br>97<br>With the development of Internet and information technology industry, to managers, it is necessary to invest in R&D of quality information system to effectively assist enterprises in maintaining quality assurance and achieving management objectives. With regard to the current software and hardware technologies and development, the integrated technologies of information system have been well developed. On the other hand, the solutions to the problems during the development, introduction, and integration of system are in the aspects of management systems, existing systems, human factors, and organizational behavior. When a company introduces information system and integrates it with other existing systems, employees tend to cause integration barriers due to their lack of willingness, professional knowledge, and skills. Therefore, the success of the introduction of quality information system relies on the influences of employees. Based on the fundamental aspects for developing quality information system, such as staff management, communication of knowledge, and conveyance of production skills, this study divided the structure of quality information system into three parts, which are field control system, knowledge management system, and quality feedback system to investigate the influencing factors of quality information system. Keywords: Process, Shop Floor Information System, Knowledge management system, Quality information system.

碩士<br>國立清華大學<br>高階經營管理碩士在職專班<br>100<br>With the aging population, the increasing variety of diseases, drug expenditure is increasing, which means that the drug market is also expanding. Developing safe and effective new drugs for all mankind is constantly what we look for. The drug development and the approval process are lengthy and cumbersome. It takes an average of 10 years, investing hundreds of millions of dollars, from the research labs to the patients. Only 0.001% of invented drug was ever approved for human usage. As patents on many blockbuster drugs are about to expire, the FDA regulations become more stringent therefore the profit of pharmaceutical companies in recent years has dropped significantly. In order to reduce manpower and operating costs, speeding up the time-to-market process, more and more pharmaceutical companies tend to outsource research projects to Contract Research Organizations (CROs). CRO market size is estimated to reach $ 33.2 billion with 15% market growth rate per year in 2015. In recent years, international CRO companies focus on the development of branches especially in China and India because of the low cost, and superior talents of Asia-Pacific region. Taiwan government also actively laid out the CRO industry supply chain, integrating upstream and downstream services to grab the international pharmaceutical business opportunities. In addition, the complete CRO value chain will help accelerate the new drug development in Taiwan. In this study, through the Wuxi AppTec and QPS Taiwan cases, various strategies of M&;A, joint ventures, strategic alliances or regulatory control were evaluated with the perspective of Resource Dependency Theory to explore how CROs were used to obtain a competitive advantage. The results of case study show that Wuxi AppTec focus more on direct investment, M&;A, certification and intellectual property protection, the CEO’s contacts coordinate resources to increase the independence of the important resources and reduce the uncertainty of the competition. Based on its core competency with integrated downstream services, they both provided a “whole package” service. Combine with the successful factors of WuXi AppTec and the advantages of superior talents in Taiwan, CRO industry should spend their resources on the following tasks: cultivating R&;D talents, improving the quality of service, enhancing innovation efficiency, and identifying niche markets. In addition, Taiwan CRO Center is proposed to cultivate drug discovery talents, to boost up R&;D energy, and let the academic research found convert into a new drug more quickly than before.

碩士<br>樹德科技大學<br>經營管理研究所<br>93<br>Abstract In this study, the manufacturing industry of south Taiwan was chosen as the research subject. Study was progressed in four stages: 1. literature review, 2. establishment of the research architectures and methods, 3. hypotheses, and 4. hypotheses testing. Through the empirical research, the critical success factors for enterprise to implement six sigma programs in a QMS - ISO 9001 environment were studied. The results show that the critical success factors on expectation (importance) , including: “The whole staff participation and friendly with six sigma improvement’s tool”, “the customer orientation and the incentive system”, “top manager’s support and the participation”, “performance appraisal” and “integrity education and training". For the critical success factors on perception (satisfaction), it includes: “performance appraisal and six sigma culture”, “project and incentive system”, “top manager’s support and the participation”, and "integrity education and training". The relationships between critical success factors and management performance of both ISO 9001 and 6σ also were studied. Key words: Six Sigma, ISO 9001, Critical Success Factors, Operating Performance

碩士<br>國立成功大學<br>企業管理學系(EMBA)專班<br>91<br>Since U.S. ”The Big Three” created QS- 9000 quality requirement system in 1994, the system become popular by automobile and auto parts manufacturers as an automotive industry standard. Until 1998, Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) revised the standard. The third edition of the standard brings semi-conductor industry and fixture industry into the standard. On the other hand, Semi-conductor industry, a “Hi-Tech” industry, is one of economic developing point by government. Hence this research will try to discuss how is key success factor of QS-9000 for semi-conductor industry and organization performance after promoting QS-9000 as a reference. 　　With an equal mark to so call “ Technology Noble”, people’s imagination for semi-conductor or related electric industry are high growth, high efficiency, and high profit. 　　The research surveyed 361 semi-conductor or related electric companies according to the 2001-register-list from Statistics Bureau of Economy Department. Expect through a deliberation design of survey form to search key success factor between QS-9000 and semi-conductor industry, implement performance, and co-relation. The research will also depend on background, certificate model and promoting process and exert statistical method to proceed analysis and study. 　　After verification and research, the conclusions are described as following : 1.It shows a difference on key success factor for different background companies according to production character, certificate model, and having an ISO-9000 in advance. 2.No matter how a company promoted QS-9000 by consultant or itself, there is no effect for key success factor. 3.The organizational performance for different background companies : The outcome will be different by certificate model of QS-9000/ISO-9001 or QS-9000/ISO-9002. 4.There is also no effect for organizational performance by production character, promoting process of QS-9000, recognition organization, and having an ISO-9000 in advance after inducting QS-9000. 5.Higher recognition of key success factor, better organizational performance after inducting QS-9000.

Coupled electron and proton transfer (CEPT) events are fundamental for many bioenergetic conversions that involve redox reactions. Understanding the details underlying CEPT processes will advance our knowledge of (1) how nature regulates energy conversion; (2) our strategies for achieving renewable energy sources; (3) how to cope with CEPT dysfunction diseases. Studies of the detailed mechanism(s) of CEPT in biological systems is challenging due to their complex nature. Consequently, controversies between the concerted and sequential mechanism of CEPT for many systems remain. This dissertation focuses on the bovine mitochondrial cytochrome bc1 complex. CEPT in the bc1 complex operates by a modified "Q-cycle"(1) and catalyzes electron transfer from ubiquinol (QH2), to cyt c via an iron sulfur cluster (ISC) and to the low potential hemes of cyt b, where it reduces ubiquinone (UQ). The electron transfer is coupled to the translocation of protons across the mitochondrial inner membrane, generating a proton gradient that drives ATP synthesis. Although the Q-cycle is widely accepted as the model that best describes how electrons and protons flow in bc1, detailed binding geometries at the Qo site (QH2 oxidation site) and Qi site (UQ reduction site) remain controversial. The binding geometries play critical roles in the thermodynamic and/or kinetic control of the reaction and protonatable amino acid side chains can participate in the proton transfer. The central focuses of this dissertation are molecular dynamics simulations of cofactor binding geometries near the Qo and Qi sites, calculations of the pKa values of ionizable amino acid side chains implicated in cofactor binding, especially the ISC-coordinated histidines, and implications for the proposed mechanism(s) of CEPT. For the first time, pKa values of the ISC-coordinated histidines are differentiated. The computed pKa values of 7.8±0.5 for His141 and 9.1±0.6 for His161 agree well with experiment (7.63±0.15 and 9.16±0.28). Thus, His161 should be protonated at physiological pH and cannot be the first proton acceptor in the QH2 oxidation. Water mediated hydrogen bonds between substrate models and the protein and water accessibility to the Qo and Qi sites were maintained in simulations, implying that water molecules are likely the proton donors and acceptors.<br>Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences;<br>Chemistry and Biochemistry<br>PhD;<br>Dissertation;

Brain tumors are the second leading cause of cancer deaths in young adults ages 20- 39. (Armstrong et al., 2004) According to the South African Medical Research Council, there was an estimate 801 deaths because of brain cancer in South Africa in 2000. If these statistics are compared to other types of cancers like breast-, lung- and prostate cancers, is the prevalence of the diagnoses of brain tumors, a very small percentage. According to the Mayo clinic in South Africa, the estimate number of brain tumor incidences was 3% in 2007. Despite of these statistics with regards Brain tumors, one in six South African men and one in seven South African women will be diagnosed with cancer during their life times. Despite this small percentage, the diagnoses of brain tumors have escalated the last few years. The reason for these new statistics is still unknown. With exercise that is becoming one of the most important adjuvant therapies for most diseases or illnesses, we may sustain this idea of using exercise intervention as an adjuvant therapy for brain tumor cancers we can prove this through many researches that has been done in the last few years. (Schwartz, 2003) Studies done by different researchers they found that exercise intervention is becoming increasingly recognized as a safe, feasible and beneficial supportive therapy for cancer patients both during and after the cessation of adjuvant therapy. (Jones et al., 2006) Exercise influences a lot of different systems in the body, to the advantage of the cancer patient (Schwartz, 2003) and emerging new research shows that physical exercise may boost brain function, which include improve mood. (Kong, 1999) Exercise, according to Cotman and Berchtold (2002) is commonly believed to be a behavioral strategy to relieve stress, and reduce depression and anxiety in humans. Exercise intervention further influence following aspects of the human body, namely brain deprived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and 5-HT (Serotonin). Improvement of these could, in fact, lead to a better quality of life (QoL) of a brain tumor patient (Cotman&Berchtold, 2002). Fatigue that sets in, due to the different cancer therapies, is also a factor that has an affect on depression and anxiety of the patient. Keeping still and rest to prevent fatigue were followed in previous regiment when working with cancer patients was followed. This approach, in fact, has a very negative effect on the patient. Being diagnosed with a brain tumor the patient will never be emotionally prepared for this type of information and it usually shatters their sense of well being and their personal security. All of these factors, especially depression, affect the patient’s QoL. (Vaynman et al., 2004) An exercise regiment for brain tumor patients has not yet been developed properly, because exercise intervention for familiar cancers could be problematic and not suitable for brain tumor patients. (Schwartz, 2003) Therefore, the purpose of this study is to further the knowledge and the field of expertise of exercise as an adjuvant therapy in brain tumor patients to better QoL over a larger period of time. AFRIKAANS : Die tweede grootste leier in siektes tussen die ouderdomme van 20-39 jaar wat lewens eis is Brein gewasse (brein kanker). (Armstrong et al., 2004) Volgens die Suid- Afrikaanse Mediese Navorsingraad, is daar tot 801 gevalle van breingewas sterftes in die jaar 2000 aangemeld. As hierdie statistieke vergelyk word met statistieke van kanker wat meer prominent voorkom soos byvoorbeeld bors-, long-, en protaatkanker, lyk die voorkoms van breinkanker diagnosis maar na ‘n baie klein persentasie. Die Mayo Kliniek in Suid-Afrika het in 2007 bevind dat die voorkoms van breinkanker in Suid-Afrika ‘n persentasie van 3% uitgemaak het. Ten spyte van hierdie statistieke betreffende breingewasse, sal een uit elke ses mans en een uit elke sewe vroue, gediagnoseer word met een of ander kanker gedurende hulle leeftyd. Alhoewel die persentasie wat reeds genoem is maar na ‘n klein hoeveelheid lyk, het die voorkoms van breingewasse baie toegeneem in die laaste paar jaar en selfs maande. Die rede vir hierdie aansienlike toename is steeds onbekend. Oefening word al hoe belangriker en word al hoe meer deur verskeie dokters voorgeskryf om te dien as ‘n bykomende behandeling vir verskeie siekte toestande. Dit word veral ook vir kanker pasiënte voorgeskryf. Oefen intervensie kan dus gebruik word vir breinkanker pasiënte, hierdie stelling gestaaf kan word, aangesien daar verskeie navorsings reeds bewys het dat oefening as bykomende terapie gebruik is vir kanker pasiënte. (Schwartz, 2003) Hierdie studies het bevind dat oefening as ‘n veilige, uitvoerbare en voordelige bykomende intervensie vir kanker pasiënte erken word. Hierdie intervensie kan tydens en na hoof kanker behandeling gebruik word (Jones et al., 2006). Oefening beinvloed verskeie sisteme in die liggaam, tot voordeel van die kanker pasiënt. (Schwartz, 2003) Nuwe navorsing het ook aan die lig laat kom dat fisieke aktiwiteit ‘n persoon se breinfunksie bevorder, wat onder andere ‘n baie groot invloed het om die pasiënt se gemoedstoestand. (Kong, 1999) Volgens, Cotman and Berchtold (2002), is daarvolgens studies bewys dat oefenterapie ‘n manier is om stres te verlig, sowel as depressie en angstigheid in meeste mense. Oefenterapie beinvloed ook die volgende aspekte positief in die menslike liggaam naamlik, Brein ontnemende neurtrofiese-faktor (BDNF) en 5-HT (Serotonien). Verbetering van hierdie faktore, kan ly tot ‘n beter kwaliteit van lewe van ‘n pasiënt wat met ‘n breingewas gediagnoseer is (Cotman&Berchtold, 2002). Uitputting (moegheid) wat gewoonlik intree as gevolg van kanker terapie, is ook ‘n faktor wat ‘n effek het op die depressie- en angsvlakke van ‘n pasiënt. In vroeë behandelingsprotokol van kankerpasiënte, moes die pasiënt so stil as moontlik verkeer om sodoende uitputting of moegheid te voorkom. Hierdie benadering het in die uiteinde ‘n baie negatiewe effek op die pasiënte tot gevolg gehad. ‘n Persoon wat met ‘n breingewas gediagnoseer word sal nooit emosioneel voorbereid wees op hierdie diagnose nie en sodoende kan dit lei tot ‘n ineenstorting van die persoon se geestestoestand en persoonlike sekuriteit. Hierdie “ineenstorting” kan ‘n groot invloed hê op die kwaliteit van lewe van hierdie pasiënt (Vaynman et al., 2004). ‘n Oefenintervensie protokol vir breinkanker pasiënte is nog nie voldoende vasgestel nie, aangesien oefenterapie intervensies wat vir bekende kankers problematies en selfs gevaarlik kan wees vir breingewas pasiënte nie. (Schwartz, 2003) Daarom is die doel van die studie, om inligting te verkry en kennis in te samel om die veld van deskundiges uit te brei om sodoende ‘n oefenterapie protokol neer te lê vir breinkanker pasiënte. Hierdie protokol sal dus dien as ‘n bevordering van kwaliteit van lewe van hierdie pasiente deur middel van oefen intervensie as bykomende behandeling. Copyright<br>Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.<br>Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences<br>unrestricted