Dissertations / Theses: 'Setting mechanism'

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Haegele, Joseph. "A mechanism based approach to evaluating adverse drug reactions in a medico-legal setting." Thesis, Boston University, 2012. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/12408.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. The following thesis is an evaluation of the various mechanistic underpinnings of adverse drug reactions, including prescription drug-drug, drug-food, and dru gsupplement interactions, as well as "type B" adverse drug reactions, and adverse drug reactions arising from medication errors. The mechanisms associated with each of these categories are presented and supported through published studies and case reports. Furthermore, the aforementioned adverse drug reactions are associated with risk factors and severe, or fatal, adverse drug reactions are assessed within a medico-legal context for their relevance and prevalence. It was found that there is an insufficient amount of published data, especially within the United States, to determine the overall degree to which fatal adverse drug reactions may influence post-mortem analysis and outcomes of medico-legal investigation.

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Yu, Jason Jusheng Shaw Donald Lewis. "The psychological mechanism of agenda setting developing a cognitive process model to test consumer perception of cause-related marketing /." Chapel Hill, N.C. : University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009. http://dc.lib.unc.edu/u?/etd,2303.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009. Title from electronic title page (viewed Jun. 26, 2009). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication." Discipline: Journalism and Mass Communication; Department/School: Journalism and Mass Communication, School of.

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Drotsky, Willem Abraham. "Goalsetting as a motivational mechanism for therapeutic intervention." Diss., Pretoria : [s.n.], 2003. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10222004-142201.

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Greco, Claudio. "Transfer Learning and Attention Mechanisms in a Multimodal Setting." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/11572/341874.

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Humans are able to develop a solid knowledge of the world around them: they can leverage information coming from different sources (e.g., language, vision), focus on the most relevant information from the input they receive in a given life situation, and exploit what they have learned before without forgetting it. In the field of Artificial Intelligence and Computational Linguistics, replicating these human abilities in artificial models is a major challenge. Recently, models based on pre-training and on attention mechanisms, namely pre-trained multimodal Transformers, have been developed. They seem to perform tasks surprisingly well compared to other computational models in multiple contexts. They simulate a human-like cognition in that they supposedly rely on previously acquired knowledge (transfer learning) and focus on the most important information (attention mechanisms) of the input. Nevertheless, we still do not know whether these models can deal with multimodal tasks that require merging different types of information simultaneously to be solved, as humans would do. This thesis attempts to fill this crucial gap in our knowledge of multimodal models by investigating the ability of pre-trained Transformers to encode multimodal information; and the ability of attention-based models to remember how to deal with previously-solved tasks. With regards to pre-trained Transformers, we focused on their ability to rely on pre-training and on attention while dealing with tasks requiring to merge information coming from language and vision. More precisely, we investigate if pre-trained multimodal Transformers are able to understand the internal structure of a dialogue (e.g., organization of the turns); to effectively solve complex spatial questions requiring to process different spatial elements (e.g., regions of the image, proximity between elements, etc.); and to make predictions based on complementary multimodal cues (e.g., guessing the most plausible action by leveraging the content of a sentence and of an image). The results of this thesis indicate that pre-trained Transformers outperform other models. Indeed, they are able to some extent to integrate complementary multimodal information; they manage to pinpoint both the relevant turns in a dialogue and the most important regions in an image. These results suggest that pre-training and attention play a key role in pre-trained Transformers’ encoding. Nevertheless, their way of processing information cannot be considered as human-like. Indeed, when compared to humans, they struggle (as non-pre-trained models do) to understand negative answers, to merge spatial information in difficult questions, and to predict actions based on complementary linguistic and visual cues. With regards to attention-based models, we found out that these kinds of models tend to forget what they have learned in previously-solved tasks. However, training these models on easy tasks before more complex ones seems to mitigate this catastrophic forgetting phenomenon. These results indicate that, at least in this context, attention-based models (and, supposedly, pre-trained Transformers too) are sensitive to tasks’ order. A better control of this variable may therefore help multimodal models learn sequentially and continuously as humans do.

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Perera, K. Ruwan P. A. "Comparative analysis of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism with other mechanisms of settling international trade and investment disputes : a protectionist view." Thesis, University of Hull, 2003. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:5491.

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Sun, Jinju. "Modelling variable stator vane setting in multistage axial flow compressors." Thesis, Cranfield University, 1998. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/11396.

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A numerical approach for modelling variable stator stagger in multistage stage axial flow compressors is presented. The development of such an approach has been motivated by the requirements of an optimisation methodology for stator vane setting and active control of instability using controlled stator vane setting. The optimisation methodology has been further developed but active control approaches are discussed as future considerations. Varying upstream stator vane stagger . changes the incident flow angle on . the downstream rotor thus affecting the entire flow distribution within the compression systems. The approach therefore begins by investigating the effect of a change in stator stagger setting on stage performance. A meanline method was used for nu- merical prediction of stage characteristics as it can simulate the effect of a change in stagger settings and ( or) in rotational speeds. Overall compressor performance was obtained by stacking the (experimental or predicted) stage characteristics and the surge conditions predicted using a stage-by-stage dynamic compression model where the compressibility was considered explicitly. This approach for variable stagger set- ting was incorporated into a FORTRAN code and validated using the data from the 12-stage HP SPEY jTAY variable geometry compressor. To optimise the setting, a direct search method incorporating a Sequential Weight Increasing Factor Technique (SWIFT) algorithm was incorporated into the variable stagger model. The objective function in this optimisation is penalised externally 11 with an updated factor which helped to accelerate convergence. The methodology has been incorporated into a FORTRAN program and its validations were conducted using the data from the 7-stage LP OLYMPUS and the 12-stage HP SPEY /TAY compressors. Results have demonstrated that variable stagger setting is a powerful method to rematch stages and which can be used to improve the desired overall performance, and that the potential benefits of introducing additional rows of variable setting vanes can be achieved. Future work arising from the present study has been discussed and highlighted, which involves the enhancement of the model capacity and development of active control approaches. In addition the thesis involves several reviews focusing on different topics. Most reviews contain considerable information and it is expected that the information can be of help for the interested readers to trace more relevant references. These reviews consist of a general review in chapter 1; a brief review on stage characteristics modelling in chapter 2; a comparative review on incompressible and compressible surge models in chapter 3; a review of various optimisation methods for practical problems, especially for constrained non-smooth problems, in chapter 4; and a review of the state-of-the-art active approaches in chapter 7. The suitability of various approaches has been highlighted. Steinke's meanline method is suitable for investigating the in- influence of stagger resetting on stage performance. To predict the surge conditions for a (high-speed) multistage environment, the stage-by-stage compressible models are III more promising. For constrained non-smoothed optimisation, the SWIFT algorithm can be an alternative. The controlled stator vane regulated through nonlinear control law will permit the robust control of compressor instabilities.

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Pousa, Claudio Eduardo. "The impact of coaching on salesperson's performance and the mechanisms that regulate this relationship." Thèse, Université de Sherbrooke, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11143/6104.

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Companies worldwide are facing a severe competition from an increasing number of domestic and foreign competitors, who put extra pressure on the achievement of market efficiency and performance. In this context, research and transference of managerial tools aimed at increasing performance has become decisive for organizations. One particular tool, the coaching of the sales force, has been largely praised by practitioners and scholars alike as a central managerial activity increasing employee's performance. As salespeople's performance is a key antecedent of organizational performance, research on sales coaching as a tool for increasing performance is critical. Despite its importance, research on coaching has been scarce and inconsistent, and published work has been predominantly practice-driven and guru-led, lacking solid theoretical basis. Additionally, the relationship between coaching and performance has not received conclusive support, and the mediating variables linking coaching with performance have not been studied; these restrictions limited the explanations and predictive capacity of present models. This research tries to close the gap between what is presently known about coaching and what should be known in the opinion of both practitioners and scholars, by answering two general research questions: 1) does coaching by the sales manager have an impact on salesperson's performance?; and 2) what are the mediating mechanisms that turn coaching by the sales manager into salesperson's performance? This dissertation presents a model based on two institutionalized' theories, Leader-member Exchange (LMX) Theory and Goal-setting Theory; LMX is a dyadic, relational theory, useful to explain the high quality relationship developed between coach and coaché during the coaching intervention, and some of the proximal outcomes of this relationship; goal-setting theory is particularly useful in sales contexts, where salespeople have clearly defined goals, to understand how the coaching intervention can mobilize salesperson's cognition and motivation in order to achieve the goals. The model explores the motivational and cognitive process enacted by the coaching intervention that have an impact on salesperson's performance, and proposes different ways through which coaching could be translated into increased performance; according to the model, the coaching intervention helps the salesperson to develop new task-specific strategies , which increases his capacity of adapting to different selling situations; additionally, the characteristics of the coaching intervention increases his goal commitment and his self-efficacy ; in consequence, the salesperson will spend more effort , with greater persistence , and will choose better strategies; as a consequence of increased sales adaptability, new strategies, goal commitment, self-efficacy and effort, salesperson's performance will also increase. The model was tested using data collected early in 2011; a local Latin-American branch of a global industrial company and a Canadian bank accepted to participate in the study, and invitations to take a web-based survey were sent to their sales forces. I received 186 complete, usable responses, for a total response ratio of 40.43%, which were used to test the model using Structural Equation Modeling. Results supported the main hypotheses; the conclusion of the dissertation is that the coaching intervention actually enacts motivational and cognitive mechanisms in the salesperson that allows him to increase his performance. These mechanisms are increased effort, adaptive selling, sales planning, new strategies, goal commitment and self-efficacy. The dissertation contributes to the solution of the research problem in several ways. First, it proposes a model of coaching mediators, an issue that has not been addressed by previous research. The model represents an original perspective that advances the field of coaching research by enlarging our understanding of the processes addressed by the coaching intervention. Second, the model proposes two complementary ways for achieving performance; one that considers the motivational aspects of the coaching intervention, where an increased performance is achieved through increased goal commitment and effort; the other one considers the cognitive aspects of the coaching intervention, where an increased performance is achieved through increased adaptive selling and sales planning behavior, and the development and implementation of new task-related strategies. These two ways are consistent with present research on adaptive selling and sales performance. Third, the model is based on two institutionalized theories: LMX and Goal-setting Theory. The use of these theories is an original approach, useful to understand how coaching work in sales contexts. As the proposed model is not based on any particular practitioner's model or set of experiences, it can potentially be generalized through a large series of organizational settings. Finally, the results of this research contributes: 1) to the advancement of scientific knowledge through the development of an original, theory-based model of coaching mediators, as well as 2) to the solution of a managerial problem by providing practical insights to practitioners willing to implement successful coaching processes in their organizations.

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Vieira, Chaves Eduardo Walter. "A There Dimensional Setting for Strong Discontinuities Modelling in Failure Mechanics." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/6861.

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El estudio de la mecánica computacional de fallo ha ganado creciente popularidad en los últimos años. Modelizar el comportamiento poscrítico de estructuras puede alcanzar un grado elevado de complejidad, debido a la multiplicidad de aspectos que es necesario considerar. Desde el punto de vista de la mecánica de medios continuos, el fallo está estrechamente relacionado con la localización de deformaciones. Se dice que un sólido presenta localización de deformaciones cuando existen bandas en las cuales se producen modos de deformación intensos. Este fenómeno ha sido clasificado como una inestabilidad material, ya que está ligado a modelos constitutivos con ablandamiento o con reglas de flujo no asociadas. Un enfoque fenomenológico del problema de localización de deformaciones permite su estudio mediante saltos en el campo de desplazamientos, conocidos como discontinuidades fuertes. Este trabajo propone varias técnicas numéricas que contribuyen a la modelización de discontinuidades fuertes en sólidos bidimensionales dentro del marco de la mecánica de medios continuos. Con este objetivo, se hace una revisión sistemática de los fundamentos teóricos con los cuales se puede emprender el estudio del fallo en estructuras sin salir del ámbito de la mecánica de medios continuos clásica. En primer lugar, mediante el análisis de bifurcación discontinua, se establecen las condiciones necesarias para la aparición de discontinuidades en sólidos. El presente trabajo trata sobre la simulación de la localización de deformaciones en sólidos mediante el método de las discontinuidades fuertes (Strong Discontinuity Approach). Las principales hipótesis de trabajo son la de régimen cuasiestático isotérmico, la de pequeñas deformaciones y rotaciones, y la de homogeneidad e isotropía del material. Esta teoría se desarrolla en el ámbito de la Mecánica de Medios Continuos. En lo referente a la modelización constitutiva, se adopta un modelo de daño isótropo y sus variantes, los cuales pueden utilizarse en la simulación de materiales cuasifrágiles como el hormigón, los cerámicos, las rocas y el hielo. Se presentan los ingredientes básicos de la formulación de elementos finitos con discontinuidades internas en tres dimensiones, además de los ingredientes para la transición del régimen de discontinuidades débiles al de discontinuidades fuertes (modelo de ancho de banda variable). Por otra parte, se realiza un detallado análisis de bifurcación material, el cual nos proporciona la información necesaria para la propagación de discontinuidades. Finalmente, se proponen dos posibles algoritmos de trazado de la discontinuidad. Varios ejemplos numéricos demuestran la eficiencia del método. Además, su concordancia con resultados experimentales se pone de relieve. Este trabajo proporciona las herramientas necesarias para la extensión del método al estudio de ejemplos más complejos que requieren, a su vez, modelos constitutivos más complejos.

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Devore, Sasha. "Neural correlates and mechanisms of sound localization in everyday reverberant settings." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/54452.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 2009. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-176). Nearly all listening environments-indoors and outdoors alike-are full of boundary surfaces (e.g., walls, trees, and rocks) that produce acoustic reflections. These reflections interfere with the direct sound arriving at a listener's ears, distorting the binaural cues for sound localization. Yet, human listeners have little difficulty localizing sounds in most settings. This thesis addresses fundamental questions regarding the neural basis of sound localization in everyday reverberant environments. In the first set of experiments, we investigate the effects of reverberation on the directional sensitivity of low-frequency auditory neurons sensitive to interaural time differences (ITD), the principal cue for localizing sound containing low frequency energy. Because reverberant energy builds up over time, the source location is represented relatively faithfully during the early portion of a sound, but this representation becomes increasingly degraded later in the stimulus. We show that the directional sensitivity of ITD-sensitive neurons in the auditory midbrain of anesthetized cats and awake rabbits follows a similar time course. However, the tendency of neurons to fire preferentially at the onset of a stimulus results in more robust directional sensitivity than expected, suggesting a simple mechanism for improving directional sensitivity in reverberation. To probe the role of temporal response dynamics, we use a conditioning paradigm to systematically alter temporal response patterns of single neurons. Results suggest that making temporal response patterns less onset-dominated typically leads to poorer directional sensitivity in reverberation. In parallel behavioral experiments, we show that human lateralization judgments are consistent with predictions from a population rate model for decoding the observed midbrain responses, suggesting a subcortical origin for robust sound localization in reverberant environments. In the second part of the thesis we examine the effects of reverberation on directional sensitivity of neurons across the tonotopic axis in the awake rabbit auditory midbrain. We find that reverberation degrades the directional sensitivity of single neurons, although the amount of degradation depends on the characteristic frequency and the type of binaural cues available. When ITD is the only available directional cue, low frequency neurons sensitive to ITD in the fine-time structure maintain better directional sensitivity in reverberation than high frequency neurons sensitive to ITD in the envelope. On the other hand, when both ITD and interaural level differences (ILD) cues are available, directional sensitivity is comparable throughout the tonotopic axis, suggesting that, at high frequencies, ILDs provide better directional information than envelope ITDs in reverberation. These findings can account for results from human psychophysical studies of spatial hearing in reverberant environments. This thesis marks fundamental progress towards elucidating the neural basis for spatial hearing in everyday settings. Overall, our results suggest that the information contained in the rate responses of neurons in the auditory midbrain is sufficient to account for human sound localization in reverberant environments. by Sasha Devore. Ph.D.

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Wongwuthikun, Krisdakorn. "An appraisal of third-party mechanisms in settling international environmental disputes." Thesis, University of Dundee, 2016. https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/368e5d23-b96f-4c29-8a2c-9bfd6bf30e7b.

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International environmental disputes frequently have characteristics that distinguish them from other kinds of international disputes. Such characteristics of international environmental disputes include the following. Firstly, a dispute may be bilateral, multilateral or hybrid in character. Secondly, international environmental disputes frequently have a multi-dimensional character which includes the complexity of the scientific or technical information associated with a dispute and the complexity of questions relating to social, economic and political choice. Thirdly, international environmental disputes may entail difficulties in identifying the source of the alleged breach of an international environmental obligation. Fourthly, international environmental disputes may involve complex questions of quantifying damages. Lastly, international environmental disputes may involve the interpretation and application of procedural obligations. International environmental obligations of a procedural character. Given the characteristics of international environmental disputes, this thesis aims to study the suitability and effectiveness of the existing third-party mechanisms in settling such disputes. This thesis attempts to find suitable means by examining the nature of each dispute settlement mechanism and making an evaluation in order to find out how each mechanism can provide processes or procedures that correspond to the special characteristics of environmental disputes. With regard to the question of effectiveness, criteria of effectiveness will be established and then each of the mechanisms will be assessed in the light of those criteria. This thesis also proposes some recommendations that would have a chance of being carried out in practice in order to address problems or drawbacks that appear to be an obstacle to the better resolution of international environmental disputes. This thesis shows that judicial means are suitable for deciding bilateral environmental disputes and interpreting and applying procedural obligations. They are not suitable for deciding cases involving multiple parties, multidimensional disputes, quantifying environmental damages or identifying the sources of breach of environmental obligations, except ad hoc arbitration where parties can set up arbitral procedures which suit a specific characteristic of the environmental disputes at issue. Diplomatic means are suitable for deciding bilateral and multilateral disputes, multidimensional disputes but they are not suitable for awarding environmental damages and interpreting and applying procedural obligations. As far as the effectiveness is concerned, this thesis shows that most of the disputes brought before judicial and non-judicial means were settled and the parties complied with the judgments, awards, findings and recommendations. However, in most cases, they have had only a limited impact on the behaviour of the parties in the sense that they were not successful in changing States’ behaviour so discourage future violations and deter the emergence of future disputes. This thesis suggests that all of the dispute settlement mechanisms can be used in a collaborative manner. The fact that the parties decide to litigate in international courts does not mean that the other mechanisms would be excluded. Before or during the course of the judicial proceedings, diplomatic means can always be resorted to. Successful environmental dispute resolution depends partly on the readiness of the parties to end a dispute and partly on the structure of the dispute settlement mechanism. Governments would have to decide what mechanisms could accommodate the unique characteristics of international environmental disputes that are at issue, taking into account all of the considerations discussed in this thesis.

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Henderson, Jeremy. "Fracture mechanics and the evolution of seismicity in an intra-plate setting." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/14047.

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This thesis is concerned with the evolution of seismicity as described by the value of b in the Gutenberg-Richter relation, and the fractal dimension, D, of the distribution of earthquake epicenters. It is found that, in the case of two areas of California, there is a negative correlation between the b-value and D. These observations lead to the development of a one-dimensional fracture-mechanical model of seismicity which includes both negative and positive feedback processes. The fracture toughness of the fault elements is initially generated by a random walk function, but as the applied remote stress is increased, the fracture system becomes organised into a fractal set. The values of b and the fractal dimension of the crack population are measured at each step. It is found that the model predicts the observed negative correlation between the b-value and the D of earthquake epicenters. The short-range interactions described in the model give rise to a system with a long-range order, similar to current models of critical processes. It is found that in the long term there is an extremely irregular evolution of b-value. A preliminary extension of the model to two dimensions using a cellular automaton is presented. The model is further tested using a high quality dataset collected in a structurally simple area in Brazil. Two clusters of seismicity are examined in detail. It is found that in one cluster there is a strong negative correlation between b and D, whereas in the other cluster, which is characterised by a relatively small number of large events, there is a weak positive correlation. It is suggested that this positive correlation arises from processes connected with fluid migration in the crust. The fractal nature of heterogeneity in the crust in western Norway is examined by measuring coda-Q. It is found that the attenuation in this area is very low, with Q values of 1400 at 10Hz, and that the fractal dimension of lithospheric heterogeneity is low. The origin of the stresses responsible for intra-plate seismicity is studied by estimating the stress tensor in Sweden by inversion of data from earthquake fault-plane solutions. The stresses in the southern part of Sweden are found to be uniform and suggest a NW-SE compression, as predicted from present-day plate motions. In the north of the country, however, the stress varies over a short distance, and appears to have been significantly perturbed by recent deglaciation.

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Xu, Chengmao. "Interaction and collaboration mechanisms for distributed communities and groups in educational settings." [S.l. : s.n.], 2000. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=962069604.

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Grundström, Christina. "Gaining influence in standard-setting processes : a discussion of underlying mechanisms in 3G mobile telephony technology development /." Linköping : Ekonomiska inst., Univ, 2003. http://www.bibl.liu.se/liupubl/disp/disp2004/man60s.htm.

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Gelderblom, Wentzel Christoffel Andreas. "Mycotoxicological properties of fusarium verticillioides and the fumonisins : mechanisms and implications for setting risk assessment parameters in humans." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/3971.

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Thesis (DSc (Biochemistry))--Stellenbosch University, 2009. The fumonisin mycotoxins are known to be the causative principle for several animal diseases and are associated with the development of liver and oesophagus cancer and neural tube defects in humans. The thesis focuses mainly on the characterisation of the compounds from maize cultures of the fungus Fusarium verticillioides, isolated from maize, the toxicological effects in animals, mechanism involved in hepato- and nephrocarcinogenicity and discussing the major differences and contradictions in the literature together with their impact on setting relevant risk assessment parameters to safeguard human health. Controversies include the importance of non-genotoxicity vs genotoxicity in the development of cancer, the role of threshold effects in carcinogenesis and the establishment of realistic risk assessment parameters that will also be applicable in developing countries. Recent approaches suggest that thresholds should also apply for genotoxic carcinogens as interaction with the DNA is only one event in the multi-step process of cancer development and therefore could not be taken as the basis for applying a no-effect threshold for genotoxins. It would appear that a carcinogen such as fumonisin, whether it is labeled genotoxic or non-genotoxic per se, exhibits some degree of risk at any level due to additive or synergistic interactions with other xenobiotics and/or dietary constituents. The underlying mechanisms of fumonisin-induced carcinogenicity includes the disruption of sphingolipid, phospholipids and fatty acid metabolism, which plays a major role in the modulation of apoptotic and cell proliferative pathways related to cancer development. Interactive responses between arachidonic acid and ceramide affect downstream cell signal transduction pathways and depending on the cell type the disruption of these pathways could either stimulate or inhibit cell proliferation which eventually will determine the induction of apoptosis and hence affect cell survival. The modulating roles of dietary constituents such as vitamins, protein and the South African herbal teas are also highlighted as they affected the outcome of toxicological assays, thus determining thresholds of the adverse effects in specific target organs that will impact risk assessment parameters. Regulation of the fumonisins in food and the associated risk are debated from many perspectives. In developing countries there is a lack of quality control implying that maize highly contaminated with mycotoxins may directly enter the food chain of adults and children as control of mycotoxins is difficult or in some cases totally absent. The interaction of politics, economy and technology will eventually determine the impact on health as the regulation of fumonisin in food differs between countries. Knowledge about the biological effects of the fumonisins is currently playing an important role in the development of simple and inexpensive methods to reduce the levels of the fumonisin in maize by targeting specific populations at risk.

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Brückner, Theresa [Verfasser], Jürgen [Gutachter] Groll, and Matthias [Gutachter] Lehmann. "Novel application forms and setting mechanisms of mineral bone cements / Theresa Brückner [geb. Christel] ; Gutachter: Jürgen Groll, Matthias Lehmann." Würzburg : Universität Würzburg, 2019. http://d-nb.info/1175881465/34.

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Truelove, Leigh. "Tectonic setting, age and emplacement mechanisms of the end-Cretaceous to Palaeocene magmatic arc system, Precordillera of Vallenar, Northern Chile." Thesis, Kingston University, 2007. http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/20390/.

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The emplacement of the end-Cretaceous to Palaeocene magmatic arc in the Precordilleria of Vallenar occurred during a fundamental switch in deformation style of the upper plate of the Andean margin from extension/transtension to contractional deformation. This switch in regional tectonics is shown by combining precise [sup]40 Ar/[sup]39 Ar geochronology with microstructural and structural field observations that demonstrate a direct link between the ages for emplacement, cooling and subsequent deformation of end-Cretaceous to Palaeocene magmatic arc. The emplacement of the Las Campanas pluton during upper plate extension, 70.6 ± 1.3 Ma, was accommodated by a floor-subsidence mechanism that normally reactivated the east-dipping Agua de los Burros extensional growth fault. This generated a steep upper amphibolites-facies, syn-plutonic, brittle-ductile, dip-slip shear zone that is located on the pluton's western side and exhibits a consistent east-down sense of shear. [sup]40 Ar/[sup]39 Ar hornblende and biotite ages from the pluton interior and shear zone are the same, within error, which demonstrates rapid cooling of the pluton. The emplacement of the Chehueque pluton, 69.1 ± 0.62 Ma to 66.75 ± 0.62 Ma was also accommodated by floor-subsidence mechanisms during upper plate extension, but a switch from regional extension/transtension to contraction can be occurred prior to cooling. The Chehueque pluton has an upper-amphibolite facies brittle-ductile shear zone along its western margin, similar to that of Las Campanas. However, this shear-zone is much wider and shows both east-down and east-up sense of shear indicators. This duality in shear sense is attributed to two phases of deformation during the emplacement and subsequent cooling in this part of the Palaeocene magmatic arc. The initial extensional phase is directly linked to floor-subsidence emplacement mechanisms that generated passive down-bending in the host rocks, towards the pluton. This was closely followed by deformation linked to the initial stages of regional contraction that superimposed an east-up sense of shear; these kinematic indicators can be matched between the host rocks and pluton. This difference in syn-plutonic deformation style and the ages of the Las Campanas and Chehueque plutons therefore constrains the time of the switch from regional extension/transtensional deformation to contractional deformation to a period of c. 4 Myr in latest Cretaceous to early Palaeocene time in the Precordillera of Vallenar.

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Chen, Yung-Ju. "Exploring the Mechanisms of Children’s Physical Activity Behavior on the School Playground." The Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu159537253755685.

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Macomber, Bryan A. "Exploration of versatile clamping mechanism and brace system for table attachment to lamp posts and poles in urban settings." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/75713.

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Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2012. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 32). The goal of this thesis is to explore potential designs for a table that attaches to poles and street signs outside food trucks. A convenient placement of tables could greatly facilitate and improve the eating experience for food truck customers and simultaneously keep people nearby for repeated business and community development. A table design without legs, that uses existing structures, such as street signs, telephone poles and lamp posts for support, was initially explored. Three goals were identified for the table's functionality. These goals included clamping to signs and poles of various diameters, safely supporting large loads and a simple, quick deployment process. Initial prototypes failed in fulfilling all three goals, largely due to inappropriate clamping mechanisms. In choosing a ratchet tie down strap as the final clamping mechanism, further improvements and designs were explored. Ultimately, an all in one table and brace system, involving an unfolding table surface was settled on. by Bryan A. Macomber. S.B.

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Triggs, Carmel. "Exploring emotional intelligence themes and processes within a football youth academy setting : towards an applied perspective and an integration of appraisal mechanisms." Thesis, Liverpool John Moores University, 2006. http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/5782/.

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Feoktistov, Alexander. "Setting the Limit on Axon Growth: Multiple Overlapping Mechanisms Repress the MAP3K Wnd/DLK So That Growth Cones Can Remodel into Stationary Synaptic Boutons." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/20403.

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The development of a stereotyped pattern of neural connectivity depends upon the behavior of growth cones, motile structures at the tips of axons that propel axon growth and steer the axon to its targets. When growth cones reach their appropriate target cells, they halt and ultimately remodel into stationary presynaptic boutons. The influence of extracellular cues in directing growth cones to their targets is well studied, but cell-intrinsic factors are also increasingly appreciated for their role in driving much of growth cone behavior. Dual leucine zipper kinases (DLKs) promote growth cone motility and must be kept in check to ensure normal development. PHR (Pam/Highwire/RPM-1) ubiquitin ligases therefore target DLK for proteosomal degradation unless axon injury occurs. Overall DLK levels decrease during development, but how DLK levels are regulated within a developing growth cone has not been examined. We analyzed the expression of the fly DLK Wallenda (Wnd) in R7 photoreceptor growth cones as they halt at their targets and as they remodel into presynaptic boutons. We found that Wnd protein levels are repressed by the PHR protein Highwire (Hiw) during R7 growth cone halting, as has been observed in other systems. However, during remodeling, Wnd levels are further repressed by a temporally-expressed transcription factor, Tramtrack69 (Ttk69). Previously unobserved negative feedback from JNK also contributes to Wnd repression. We conclude that maturing neurons progressively deploy additional mechanisms to keep DLK off and thereby protect their connectivity. We use live imaging to directly probe the effects of Wnd and Ttk69 on remodeling R7 growth cones and conclude that Ttk69 coordinates multiple regulators of this process. Preliminary results indicate that excess Wnd signaling requires the transcription factor Fos to disrupt growth cone remodeling in R7s. This opens up new strategies to identify how Wnd exerts its motility-promoting effects on growth cone cytoskeletons. Additional findings point to a later requirement for Wnd in normal R7 synapse development, suggesting that Wnd expression is not fully silenced in R7s. Further investigation into these findings would greatly advance our understanding of how the neuronal cytoskeleton is regulated as neurons undergo profound morphological and functional changes while developing. This dissertation includes both unpublished and published co-authored material. This dissertation also includes supplemental movie files, which can be found online and are described in Appendix B.

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Papanikolaou, Ioannis. "Generation of high-resolution seismic hazard maps through integration of earthquake geology, fault mechanics theory and GIS techniques in extensional tectonic setting." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.406557.

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Millington, Devon S. "Training Non-Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) Behavior Specialists to Conduct Trial-Based Functional Analyses in Residential Settings." DigitalCommons@USU, 2018. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/7404.

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This study investigated a process for identifying the reasons why a person with an intellectual disability has problem behaviors. This process is called a trial-based functional analysis (TBFA). The researchers wanted to know if a person who was not an expert behavior analyst could be trained to perform the TBFA and if the results obtained from the TBFA could be used to create a program to reduce the problem behavior of a person with an intellectual disability living in a community-based group home for persons with disabilities. The results of this study show that a person who is not an expert behavior analyst can be trained to perform a TBFA and that the results obtained from the TBFA were useful in creating a program to reduce the problem behavior of an adult male person living in a rural area in Utah.

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Griesbeck, Morgane. "Dissecting mechanisms underlying increased TLR7-mediated IFNα production in pDCs in physiological and pathophysiological settings : between sex differences and HIV-1-HCV co-infection". Thesis, Paris 6, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015PA066444/document.

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Les interférons de type I (IFN-I) peuvent être produits par toutes les cellules mais les rares cellules dendritiques plasmacytoïdes en sont les principales cellules productrices. L’IFNa orchestre de nombreux mécanismes pathogéniques dans l’infection par le virus de l’immunodéficience humaine de type 1 (VIH-1). L’étude de modèles physiologiques et pathophysiologiques peut fournir des informations cruciales sur les moyens d’exploiter la signalisation de l’IFNa dans un but thérapeutique. Les pDCs de femmes produisent plus d’IFNa en réponse à la stimulation du récepteur Toll-like 7 (TLR7) que les pDCs d’hommes. Les mécanismes impliqués dans cette différence n’ont été que partiellement identifiés. Nous démontrons ici un mécanisme par lequel la plus forte expression d’IRF5 dans les pDCs chez les sujets sains féminins, sous le contrôle d’ERa, participe à leur production plus élevée d’IFNa en réponse à TLR7. La co-infection par le virus de l’hépatite C (VHC) est aujourd’hui l’une des principales causes de mortalité parmi les individus infectés par le VIH-1. Nous avons émis l’hypothèse que l’activation immunitaire chronique plus élevée rapportée chez des individus co-infectés par le VIH-1 et VHC pourrait être due à un dysfonctionnement de la voie de TLR7/IFN-I dans les pDCs. Nos données montrent que le VHC entraîne, chez des individus infectés par le VIH-1, des altérations associées aux pDCs et à l’IFNa, qui sont associées ˆ la sévérité de la maladie hépatique. Nos résultats suggèrent que les patients co-infectés par le VIH-1 et le VHC, même à fibrose minime, pourraient bénéficier d’un traitement plus précoce Type I interferons (IFN) can be produce by any cell type but plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) are the main producers. IFNa orchestrates multiple pathogenic mechanisms in human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1). Studying physiological and pathophysiological model scan provide critical informations on how to harness IFNa signaling for therapeutic purposes. pDCs from females produce more IFNa upon Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7 stimulation than pDCs from males. The mechanisms underlying such difference have only been partially identified. We demonstrate here a mechanism by which increased IRF5 expression in females, under the control of the esrogen receptor a, contribute to increased IFN? production upon TLR7 stimulation. HCV co-infection is one of the major cause of mortality among HIV-1 infected individuals. We hypothesized that increased chronic immune activation observed in HCV-HIV-1 co-infected individuals may be related to altered TLR7/IFNa signaling in pDCs. Our data show that HCV triggers alterations in pDCs and IFNa signaling in HIV-1 co-infected individuals, which are associated to hepatic disease severity. Our results suggest that HCV-HIV-1 co-infected individuals, even with minimal fibrosis, may benefit from ealier treatment initiation

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Fantou, Alexandre. "Étude multi-physique et multi-échelle de la réaction d'hydratation du sulfate de calcium hémihydraté." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Lyon, INSA, 2023. http://www.theses.fr/2023ISAL0099.

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En raison de leur capacité de prise, les liants hydrauliques sont utilisés à des fins très variées (e.g., matériaux de construction, substituts osseux, ...). La réaction de prise est toujours initiée par le mélange d'une ou plusieurs poudres fines avec une solution aqueuse. La dissolution des poudres réactives initiales entraîne la formation d'une pâte visqueuse, dont les propriétés évoluent avec le temps pour former une céramique poreuse monolithique par la nucléation et la précipitation de phase(s) plus stable(s). Dans le cadre de cette thèse, le plâtre CaSO4·2H2O obtenu par la réaction d'hydratation du sulfate de calcium hémihydraté CaSO4·0,5H2O est étudié dans des conditions standards (e.g., rapport massique liquide/solide, température et pression), afin de développer des techniques de caractérisation multi-physiques et multi-échelles in-situ et ex-situ pour suivre l'évolution de:- la composition des phases (réaction de dissolution et de précipitation) à l'aide de mesures calorimétriques, de la de la diffractométrie des rayons X et de la spectrophotométrie infrarouge à transformée de Fourier;- la microstructure à l'aide de la microscopie électronique à balayage et de la microtomographie aux rayons X;- les propriétés mécaniques en utilisant la mesure de vitesse de propagation des ultrasons, l'analyse mécanique dynamique en cisaillement et en compression et le test de résistance en compression. Ce panel de techniques a permis de suivre et de corréler les différentes transitions physiques survenant au cours de la réaction de prise et ainsi de dresser un portrait global des phénomènes physiques mis en jeu Because of their setting ability, hydraulic binders are used for a wide variety of applications (e.g., construction materials, bone substitutes, ...). The setting reaction is always initiated by mixing one or several fine powders with an aqueous solution. The dissolution of the initial reactive powders results in the formation of a viscous paste, whose properties evolve with time to form a porous monolithic ceramic through the nucleation and precipitation of more stable phase(s). In this thesis, gypsum plaster CaSO4·2H2O obtained by the hydration reaction of calcium sulfate hemihydrate CaSO4·0,5H2O is studied under standard conditions (e.g., liquid/solid mass ratio, temperature and pressure), in order to develop multi-physic and multi-scale characterization techniques in-situ and ex-situ to monitor the evolution of:- the phase composition (rate of dissolution and precipitation) using calorimetric measurements, X-ray diffraction and Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometry techniques;- the microstructure using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microtomography;- the mechanical properties using ultrasonic propagation velocity measurement, shear and compressive dynamic mechanical analysis and compressive strength testing. This panel of techniques enabled to monitor and to correlate the various physical transitions occurring during the setting reaction, and thus to draw a global picture of the on-going phenomena

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Wood, Christopher James. "'Consultation groups' in residential care settings : a 'realistic evaluation' of the contextual influences and mechanisms that obstruct or support positive outcomes for looked-after children." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2014. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/5501/.

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Looked-after Children (LAC) are considerably more likely than non-LAC to achieve poor outcomes across the life course. Although a substantial amount of attention has been given to this population in recent years, these findings remain consistent. Given that LAC are often accommodated in a variety of settings, it follows that the EP individually, and the educational psychology service (EPS) more widely, must adapt practice to work effectively in each context. The current research paper illustrates this point by investigating one distinct method of supporting this population: psychological consultation and practitioner empowerment within a residential care context. In the host LA, psychologists, on a fortnightly basis, visit residential care settings, and, using a model known as ‘POP’, facilitate consultation sessions with the aim of co-constructing strategies with care home staff for supporting LAC residing in the home. The model is also designed to empower staff adopting a ‘corporate parent’ role. Anecdotal findings suggest that both the process, and the model itself, are valuable; however no robust evidence is available which supports this assertion. Using ‘Realistic Evaluation’ as a methodological orientation, an exploration of the POP consultative process was undertaken in which questions of ‘what works, for whom, and why?’ permeate throughout.

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Bertholds, Alexander. "CFD Simulations of the New University of Sydney Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för teknikvetenskaper, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-166945.

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Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations, the flow in the new University of Sydney closed circuit wind tunnel has been analyzed prior to the construction of the tunnel. The objective was to obtain a uniform flow in the test section of the wind tunnel while keeping the pressure losses over the tunnel as low as possible. This was achieved by using several flow-improving components such as guide vanes, screens, a honeycomb and a settling chamber. The guide vanes were used in the corners and in the diverging part leading into the settling chamber, giving a significant improvement of the flow as they prevent it from taking undesired paths. The settling chamber is used to decelerate the flow before it is accelerated when leaving the settling chamber, a process which reduces the turbulence in the flow. Screens were used in the settling chamber to further improve the flow by imposing a pressure drop which evens out differences in the flow speed and reduces the turbulence. The honeycomb, which is situated in the end of the settling chamber, makes the flow more uniform by forcing it to go in only one direction. A uniform flow was obtained using three screens and one honeycomb together with the guide vanes and the settling chamber.

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Chernov, Gennadiy. "Convergence of agenda setting and attitude change approaches : media effects and the interaction between the characteristics of media messages, the nature of reality underlying media issues and mechanisms of information processing /." Connect to title online (ProQuest), 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1588418311&sid=6&Fmt=2&clientId=11238&RQT=309&VName=PQD.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2008. Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-144). Also available online in ProQuest, free to University of Oregon users.

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Kasap, Keskin Ozlem. "Monitoring The Development Of Properties In Fresh Cement Paste And Mortar By Ultrasonic Waves." Phd thesis, METU, 2009. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12610367/index.pdf.

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The determination and following up the development of properties during the fresh state and early ages of concrete are important in order to schedule the work and to obtain the desired properties in the hardened concrete. As the traditional methods such as Vicat and Penetrometer mostly depend on the experience of the operator and do not provide a continuous picture of the development of properties, reliable and objective non-destructive test methods are needed for the quality control of fresh concrete. The purpose of this thesis is to observe the development of properties of fresh pastes and mortars continuously by longitudinal ultrasonic waves. For this purpose, cement pastes and mortars with three different w/c ratios were prepared with ordinary portland cement. The ultrasonic pulse velocities were determined continuously during hydration. The setting times were also determined by standard test methods. The flexural and compressive strength were determined at 1, 2, 3, 7 and 28 days by standard test method and the volume of permeable pores were also obtained at the same ages. Lastly, the heat of hydration of cement pastes of similar w/c ratios were determined by isothermal calorimetry. UPV (Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity) development was compared with the results of standard tests applied on the samples. The results revealed that the UPV is a useful method in monitoring the hydration process of cementitious materials.

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Yu, Yuxin. "Mechanisms for Dynamic Setting with Restricted Allocations." Thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/6366.

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Dynamic mechanism design is an important area of multiagent systems, and commonly used in resource allocation where the resources are time related or the agents exist dynamically. We focus on a multiagent model within which the agents stay, and the resources arrive and depart. The resources are interpreted as work or jobs and are called tasks. The allocation outcome space has a special restriction that every agent can only work on one resource at a time, because every agent has a finite computational capability in reality. We propose a dynamic mechanism and analyze its incentive properties; we show that the mechanism is incentive compatible. Empirically, our dynamic mechanism performs well and is able to achieve high economic efficiency, even outperforming standard approaches if the agents are concerned about future tasks. We also introduce a static mechanism under the setting of a restricted outcome space; it is proved that the static mechanism is incentive compatible, and its computational complexity is much less than that of the standard VCG mechanism.

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董盈穎. "Oil painting Restoration Management Setting Mechanism System In Taiwan Art Museum." Thesis, 2012. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/3c375s.

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博士 國立臺灣師範大學 美術學系 100 Among the national Cultural Heritage Preservation Act currently in force in the Republic of China (Taiwan), there are hardly any items related to artwork restoration, though the National Museum Law has been discussed for many years. Lack of laws and guidelines as the restoration code of ethics similar to those in the advanced countries, and outsourcing restoration jobs make it problematic in monitoring artworks while in restoration. The restoration of oil paintings in Taiwan’s three main Art Museums, is mainly outsourcing. That is, most of the restoration jobs for oil painting artwork were outsourced to private studios and abroad. Thus makes it extremely difficult in supervising the restoration process. Unfortunately, there are no laws regulating current practice. At present none of Taiwan’s three major At Museums has a conservation department, so that oil painting restoration jobs, the administration work have to be taken by archive keeping personnel. Due to the difference between the expertise of archive keepers and conservator-restorer, there are gaps in management as well as quality control in restoration jobs. Some indiscernible damages many occur and precious data may lose during the process. Countries with a better system in restoration of artwork usually have established code of ethices and guidance for practice, though not as binding as laws, to be followed by conservator-restorer. As a guardian of oil painting restoration, and in a hope to establish Taiwan’s Standard of Procedure (SOP) for oil painting restoration, this article tries to take the code of ethics and guidelines which have been practiced worldwide, as Taiwan’s benchmark to outline the standards in three categories of “Who, What, and How” in the profession of conservator-restorer. In order to seek correct restoration procedure, this article suggests to use the Total Quality Management (TQM) Form, management charts, and checklist as the ways and means to set up restoration framework. Setting up the SOP of restoration profession may provide the guideline for the administrators supervising restoration process, and encourage conservator-restorer to become more professional in their work. With restoration process and details correctly recorded, the restoration report sent to the Museum curator becomes wholesome, and professional. In the long run, it will lift the quality and standard in Taiwan’s art restoration. It may also serve as reference for the future legislature of culture heritage law.

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Chou, Shih-Fan, and 周詩梵. "A Measurement Report Mechanism with Dynamic Timer Setting for LTE Networks." Thesis, 2011. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/37370926528475593675.

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碩士 國立交通大學 網路工程研究所 99 Long Term Evolution (LTE) is expected to ensure 3GPP's competitive edge over other cellular technologies. The advantages of LTE include improving end-user throughputs, and reducing latency. LTE systems utilize a network-controlled and the user equipment (UE) assisted handover procedure for mobility in the connected mode. When a user equipment (UE) is in the connected mode, it sends measurement reports to its source eNB. The source eNB, based on these measurement reports, determines the suitable target eNB for that UE and queries the target eNB if it has enough resources to accommodate the UE. The target eNB prepares radio resources before the source eNB commands the UE to handover to the target eNB. In this thesis, we first introduce the measurement report mechanism defined in the specification of LTE systems. We further explore possible problems and the impact on handover decisions made by the source eNB. Followed, we propose rules for timer adjustment, including timeToTrigger and reportInterval. Our mechanism aims at reducing incorrect handover decisions and shortening the end-to-end data delivery time. By conducting simulation, we evaluate the designed mechanism. The simulation results show that our proposed mechanism does achieve our design goals.

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Pei-Chi, Ji, and 紀珮琪. "A Study of Basic Wage Setting Mechanism Through the Use of Social Dialogue." Thesis, 2017. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/28382413502079186634.

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碩士 國立中正大學 勞工關係研究所 105 This study aims to investigate the application of social dialogue through the basic wage committee and to analyze what level of negotiation in Taiwan. There are several findings in this research. First, the basic wage system fails to reach the real social dialogue in Taiwan. Second, social dialogue should be distinguished from the civil dialogue. Third, “Tripartism plus” is supposed to provide knowledge or experience for strengthening Tripartism, not for weakening the process of negotiation between employers and workers. Fourth, the interview results show that the government can enforce the basic wage policy even if the social partners don’t reach an agreement during the process of social dialogue in Taiwan. Accordingly, the framework of the basic wage setting in social dialogue is attributed as weak negotiation with strong enforcement.The study suggests that the government would need to explicitly define the role of “Tripartism plus”, to establish standards for the representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations, and to magnify strengthen the social partners’ negotiation skills and knowledge in social dialogue.

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Tseng, Yu-Fu, and 曾禹復. "Quest Mechanism Design for Animal Companion Platform: Facilitating Students’ Goal Setting by Quest Committing." Thesis, 2009. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/00057681388113106379.

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碩士 國立中央大學 網路學習科技研究所 97 Information and multimedia technologies drove the rapid development of video game. As more and more scholars engage in the research field of video game, it is not just an entertainment tool any more now. “Digital game-based leaning” can provide high-interactive and multimedia effects to enhance the learning motivation. Some previous scholars design the “Animal Companion” as digital game-based leaning platform. Animal companion transforms learner’s emotion into leaning motivation. Although the result of this study pointed out that the Animal companion can enhance learners’ motivation for learning, but animal companion can’t provide learners with specific learning goal in the learning process. Learners can’t work hard for achieving the exact goal and decreased learning performance. This study is based on animal companion platform, and further designed the quest mechanism of animal companion according to goal-setting theory. Quest plays an important role of “Role-playing game”, and provides players with source of motive for cultivating character, adventuring and engaging in the game world. Author analyzed the properties of quest, and found that the concept of the quest is similar to “Goal-setting theory”. Goal-setting theory leads learners to work hard for achieving goal directly, and not waste time on things which do not related to the goal. Quest system is composed of four mechanisms include NPC, script, reward and feedback. We hope that quest mechanism of animal companion can help learners set specific learning goal and foster learners’ continuous work for achieving the goal. In order to examine the effect of quest mechanism of animal companion, an experiment was conducted among two third-grade pupil classes (class A is totally 25 pupils and class B is totally 28 pupils). Therefore, two different versions of animal companion systems were used during the experiment; one used quest mechanism and the other didn’t use quest mechanism. Two classes used the two versions of system both in different orders. Researchers used survey, observation and system log to record the responses and feedbacks of pupils when they used animal companion system to learn. The result showed that the quest mechanism can provided pupils with specific learning goal and feedback better, and furthermore it can led pupils to work hard for achieving the goal.

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Jhih-RongChen and 陳志榮. "A Study on the Priority Setting Mechanism in the National Ocean Science and Technology Development." Thesis, 2011. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53869601480002335597.

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碩士 國立成功大學 海洋科技與事務研究所 99 A sound ocean science and technology (S＆T) development is the foundation for effective undertaking of marine affairs and, in turn, effective undertaking of marine affairs by a government will affect national survival and development. Hence, in order to avoid the waste of S＆T resources due to invalid or repetitive investment into certain programs and, at the same time, to shun from the dispersion of S＆T resources into those unessential ocean S＆T programs that leads to the eventual edging out of the ocean S＆T research projects which truly carry implications to and required by national claims or securing rights on the seas, a government should to have undertaken ocean S＆T research purposely and systematically so as to uphold national survival and development. Accordingly, the object of this thesis’ study is decision making mechanism for national ocean S＆T development. Ocean S＆T decision making mechanism is a subset of oceans policy and, also, a part of public policy. Thus, the public policy analysis methods are applicable to the analysis of governmental ocean S＆T decision making mechanism. This study employs the “input-output model” to firstly analyze the operation of general S＆T decision making mechanisms of the United States, Canada and the Republic of China Governments, followed by analyses on the ocean S＆T decision making mechanisms as well as the policy outputs of these three nations. This study finds that the ocean S＆T decision making mechanism of both the United States and Canada allows close contact between decision makers and social environment so that social demands and national needs can be taken into consideration through proper decision making mechanism, or even constitute the policy goals for ocean S＆T development which, in turn, permits the concurrent satisfaction of social demands and national needs by ocean S＆T development. There lacks linkage between current ocean S＆T decision making mechanism and social demands in this Country and, such mechanism cannot even identify national needs in an effective way. As a conclusion, this thesis suggests this Country to learn from the decision making mechanisms of the United States and Canada by establishing “Departments” within the to-be-institutionalized ocean specialized agency, the “Oceans Commission”, for the identification of national ocean development needs and for the formulation of ocean S＆T development policy, respectively. Meanwhile, an advisory body should also be established to incorporate experts and scholars outside of the Government who care about ocean S＆T issues or ocean development related stake-holders from industries or the society into the ocean S＆T decision making system of this Country so as to enable the priority setting of national ocean S＆T development to truly reflect national and social needs.

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Chen, Siou-Wun, and 陳琇雯. "The Effect of Underwriting Mechanism Changes on Offer Price Setting and Initial Abnormal Returns of IPOs." Thesis, 2009. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/14127522443638754711.

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碩士 朝陽科技大學 會計所 97 The new shares underwriting rules of IPOs were amended in the late of 2002 by FSC and executed on 2003. From the viewpoints of releasing price limit and enforcing punishment for the underwriter in the new underwriting mechanism, this paper investigates whether the initial abnormal return of IPOs has changed significantly after removing price limit in the initial 5 trading days and strengthening responsibility for the underwriter. By the control of offer price setting and underwriting equation gap variables, this study examines the effect of underwriting mechanism changes on the offer price setting and initial abnormal returns of IPOs. The empirical result shows that under the new underwriting system, the underwriter would underprice the offering price which enlarges the discount amount. This may be the effect of the strengthening the punishment mechanism that makes some underwriter behave more conservatively. Several sensitivity tests show that the empirical result of the study is stable.

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Vieira, Thiago Vinícius. "Convergence between competition and data protection legal setting: protecting startups by studying a fair competition mechanism." Master's thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/1822/74359.

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Dissertação de mestrado em Direito dos Negócios Europeu e Transnacional The theme of this dissertation refers to the convergence between competition and the legal environment of data protection: protecting startups through the study of a fair competition mechanism. The development of science is based on obtaining results that allow validating hypotheses about a given event or fact, present or not in society. The specific objectives seek to present and highlight the role of data in the economy and on the internet, as well as to highlight the right of jurisdiction according to the European Union, in addition to addressing data protection and competition law in the European Union, and finally, present the abuse of dominant position of the technology titans in the current context. Finally, the present work leaves the topic open, proposing that a new research be carried out in the future, in order to contextualize the themes addressed here. Along with this new research, it is suggested to carry out a case study, for which a comparative study between European legislation on data protection law with Brazilian law is proposed. O tema deste trabalho refere-se à convergência entre a concorrência e o ambiente jurídico da proteção de dados: protegendo as startups através do estudo de um mecanismo de concorrência leal. O desenvolvimento da ciência baseia-se na obtenção de resultados que permitem validar hipóteses sobre um dado evento ou fato, presente ou não na sociedade. Os objetivos específicos buscam apresentar e destacar o papel dos dados na economia e na internet, bem como evidenciar e salientar o direito de competência segundo a União Europeia, além de abordar a proteção de dados e direito da concorrência na União Europeia, e por fim, apresentar o abuso de domínio dos titãs da tecnologia no contexto atual. Por fim, o presente trabalho deixa o tema em aberto, propondo que no futuro se realize uma nova pesquisa, com a finalidade de contextualizar os temas aqui abordados. Juntamente com esta nova pesquisa, sugere-se a realização de um estudo de caso, para o qual propõe-se um estudo comparativo entre as legislações europeias sobre o direito de proteção de dados com a legislação brasileira.

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Fan, Chung-Hsien, and 范忠賢. "The Study on Setting up Cross-strait Anti-corruption Mechanism and Comparison：An Investigation via Global Anti-corruption Movement." Thesis, 2010. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/m8yp9x.

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碩士 國立中興大學 國際政治研究所 98 Corruption is not only a regional concern but a global problem. This research adopted Globalization approach, National Development approach, System approach and, moreover, made a comparative analysis with Literature Research Method and Comparative Research Method. Finally this study advanced a research find and put forward to a proposal about future prospects and research suggestions. For this concern, this study aims at aware of current status of global anti-corruption and anti-bribery. This study was also evaluating the political integrity measures and well political culture of the Cross-Strait governments via indexes and related analyses released by international anti-corruption organizations. Besides, the research also analyzes the Cross-Strait anti-corruption mechanisms and policies such as anti-corruption facilities, anti-bribery regulations, anti-corruption strategies as well as measures. The Cross-Strait governments have serious corruption problems so that the research analyzed a comparison through corruption cases of the Cross-Strait governments. This study proposed findings and recommendations to policy-making references for the Cross-Strait so as to provide guidelines for countering against bribery and corruption via effective policies and measures.

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Lin, Wei-Chung, and 林威仲. "A Negotiation Mechanism Design for Game-Based Learning Platform: Facilitating the Improvement of Students’ Confidence by Goal Setting." Thesis, 2010. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/12119717920462446572.

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碩士 國立中央大學 網路學習科技研究所 98 Motivation is an essential element for successful learning. Previous stedies showed that the combination of learning companion and game elements can enhance students’ motivation in a game-based learning platform. On the other hand, researchers found that students had low confidence to complete digital mathematics learning material during a six-month observation. Lacking of encouragement is the main reason. Hence, this study proposed a negotiation mechanism to guide students to concentrate on learning the digital content. In particular, the negotiation mechanism was designed to help students to set learning goals and to maintain students’ learning motivation. Two trials of adopting design-based research were conducted. Trial one was carried out to revise negotiation mechanism in order to fit the real situation in classroom. Trials two was conducted to observe the effect of negotiation mechanism. The results showed that the negotiation mechanism could enhance learners’ self-confidence, especially for students with low confidence students. In addition, the game environment engages students in the learning tasks.

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Fan, Ming-Ta, and 范明達. "Changes of Performance-Measurement Setting Mechanism to Promote the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Phase-in Six-Sigma Projects." Thesis, 2007. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/55666973442495244215.

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碩士 國立屏東科技大學 高階經營管理碩士在職專班(EMBA) 95 There are more and more organizations firmly believe that the implementation of Six Sigma leads to beneficial improvement in finance; however, considerable investment in Six Sigma does not guarantee financial success for lots of companies. This study chooses company H, which has being implemented its Six Sigma system for years, as our case to examine its implementation process as well as the relationship between performance measurement and projects savings. Hopefully, the result can provide some help in measurement system design for organizations trying to implement Six Sigma. This research is based on the performance measurement model for new product development in H Company. Process reengineering techniques are employed to investigate if there are process orientation and customer orientation in new product development. As for the changes of performance measurement model, the performance evaluation parameters for quality cost are included in addition to the enhancement of internal and external customer orientation in new product development process. The result shows that during the implementation of Six Sigma, H Company has engaged the changes for its performance measurement model and secured greater benefits for the organization.

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Lai, Chi-Wei, and 賴志偉. "The Construction of Product Mix Setting Mechanism for the Wafer Fabrication under a Non-Steady State Environment with Data Envelopment Analysis." Thesis, 2006. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/36037765656565147353.

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碩士 國立交通大學 工業工程與管理系所 95 Under a very competitive market nowadays, the product mix setting is one of critical issues for Wafer fabrication factories towards success. This study presents a two-stage framework for product mix setting utilizing the concepts of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist productivity index. This framework not only considers all aspects of the performance criteria for factories and the variation of the market environment, but also examines all possibilities of product mix. Therefore, the provided suggestion is inclusive. In addition, it is computational efficient and can provide useful information for decision makers effectively.

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Cheng, Kai-Jen, and 鄭凱仁. "The Study of the Mechanism for Setting Government Estimate to Procurement and Public Construction：Take the example of Township and City District Office." Thesis, 2011. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/75157074684271130282.

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碩士 國立中央大學 土木工程學系碩士在職專班 99 Although the Article 46 of Government Procurement Act clearly states the principle for the rules of setting government estimate for a procurement, there exists tremendous differences for different entities. The reason is because not every entity has developed its own standard operating procedures of set estimate, the procurement personnel may no propose an appropriate estimate, which is suggested by the Article 46 of Government Procurement Act, to the head of the entity or the personnel authorized by the head, and hence may generate an offered price which is so low that it evidently appears to be unreasonable, and thus delay the procurement efficiency. This study aims to develop a standard operating procedure for setting an estimate to mitigate the inefficiency of the procurement. Taipei County Government has followed the rules suggested by the Article 46 of Government Procurement Act to develop a standard operating procedure for setting an estimate to offer to its related entities for reference. Under the framework of above standard operating procedure, this study takes the advantage of the data from civil and hydraulic construction work procurement in Taishan Towship, Taipei County during 2008 and 2010 to analyze the unit prices of construction items offered by the winning tender, and then propose a “80/20” rule to simplify the cost analysis of government procurement occurred in the moment of setting government estimate. According to the results generated by “80/20” rule, this study further explore a proper weight of reference items for setting the government estimate, such as the drawings, specifications, and contract requirements by taking into account the costs, markets prices, and past award records of government entities, to remove the unreasonable or inappropriate weight of each item, and then generate the most appropriate weights derive by the method of optimization.

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Tsay, Tzu-Yaw, and 蔡日耀. "A Study on Setting up a Mechanism for the Management of Foreign-flagged Longliners Run by Taiwan’s Nationals in Response to the Global Trend of Deterring IUU Fishing." Thesis, 2005. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/99931488886507349631.

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碩士 國立臺灣海洋大學 應用經濟研究所 93 Abstract The purpose of this thesis focuses on setting up management mechanism for foreign-flagged longliners run by Taiwan’s nationals in response to international trend for deterring illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities. One of the major goals is to connect the system regulating Taiwan’s nationals’ running longliners flagged to foreign countries and the measures taken by international fisheries society for proceeding in parallel ways. Through this study, it is realized that various regional tuna management organizations (RFMOs) have been established for sustainable utilization of tuna resources and these RFMOs adopt conservation and management measures through process of decision making. In 2001, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations adopted an “International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOA-IUU)”, and thereafter the RFMOs adopted measures to prevent, deter, and eliminate IUU fishing. However, to escape from the domestic laws and regulations, such as tonnage replacement requirement for building a new vessel, threshold for minimum number of specific crews onboard, constraints on operation, and taxation, some Taiwan’s nationals registered their fishing vessels to foreign countries which control their vessels loosely, or are lack of capacity together with no willingness to control their vessels. At the same time, those vessels are still run by Taiwan’s nationals and became vessels with flag of convenience, or FOC vessels. In fact, there is no “genuine link” between the flag states and FOC vessels flying their flags. Once those FOC vessels were identified to be IUU vessels because of violating conservation and management measures taken by RFMOs, the flag states therefore then were sanctioned for exporting specific fish products under competence of those RFMOs. To escape from the conservation and management measures or trade sanctions taken by RFMOs, vessel owners then changed name of vessels, name of companies, or even re-flagged their vessels to other countries without membership or cooperating status of RFMOs. As a result, the international society stringently condemns Taiwan in this regard. To prevent and deter IUU fishing in line with the trend of international society, Taiwan and Japan had a joint plan on cooperation in management of large-scaled tuna fishing vessels. In which, Taiwan established a legal channel for re-registering non-Taiwan flagged vessels built in its shipyards but run by Taiwan’s nationals so as to manage those vessels. In addition, Taiwan itself controls exportation of fishing vessels newly built in its shipyards, takes measures as a market state and port state, alarms the banks for cautiously considering and financing FOC vessels building projects, and takes measures to prevent legitimated vessels from assisting fish laundry for IUU vessels. For deterring IUU fishing, it is found that several loopholes still exist in the current system for deterring IUU fishing conducted by non-Taiwan flagged vessels run by Taiwan’s nationals. The loopholes include the followings: (1) The continuing building of new FOC vessels so as to increase the regional fishing capacity; (2) The mechanism for controlling transshipment at sea has not been established, and therefore a loophole exists for fish laundering among FOC vessels and transport vessels for frozen fish; (3) exportation of vessels built in Taiwanese shipyards without replacement of current fishing vessels in a specific region, and thus the fishing capacity of that region increases; (4) Taiwan’s nationals have been building and operating vessels less than 24 meter in length flying foreign flags to escape from measures taken by RFMOs, and Taiwan so far has no legal control on building or exporting vessels of this kind; (5) Lack of mechanisms to justify documents provided by owners of foreign vessels applying to enter Taiwan’s fishing ports; (6)Taiwan has no legal provisions to punish its nationals who run or work for vessels flying foreign flags, and engaged in IUU fishing because of the foreign registry of those vessels. The flag state has no intentions to punish those vessels neither. In line with international laws, it is the sovereignty of flag state in principle for controlling vessels operating on the high seas. However, the Convention for establishing Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission （WCPFC） stipulated that each member should take measures, to the greatest extent possible, to ensure that its nationals and fishing vessels owned or controlled by its nationals fishing in the Convention area comply with the provisions of the Convention. In addition, several major states, such as the U.S., Japan, New Zealand, Spain, have practiced to control their nationals for foreign investment on fisheries or working for foreign fishing vessels, which are exceptional practices outside of principle of flag-state’s sovereignty. Therefore, from the evolution of the international fisheries laws, it is indeed a trend that a state is urged to be responsible for controlling fishing activities of its nationals, even though the vessels owned or controlled by its nationals do not fly its flag. Taiwan has to fulfill its responsibility as a flag state, and the responsibility as a market state, port state, coastal state, and member or cooperating non-member of RFMOs. Other than this, it is necessary for Taiwan to cooperate with related states and RFMOs to deter IUU fishing activities. Since its nationals run longliners flying flags of other countries, it is therefore necessary to set up a mechanism for the management of foreign-flagged longliners run by its nationals. To keep in pace with the trend of international fisheries management and improve current system, the suggestions for establishing mechanisms of managing nationals running foreign longliners are as the followings: (1) Urging the RFMOs to set up regime for limiting vessel building and replacing vessels/tonnages before building new vessels; (2) Urging the RFMOs to establish mechanisms for managing transshipment of tuna at sea; (3) The building and exportation for fishing vessels built in Taiwan should be managed no matter what the vessel size is, including the building of vessels should be permitted by the central fisheries authority and the requirement to eliminate a vessel of same tonnage in the region before building a tuna longliner. The exportation of completed fishing vessels should acquire permit from the central fisheries authority; (4) For Taiwan’s flagged vessels and vessels built in its shipyards should not be issued permit for exporting vessels under the following conditions: exporting fishing vessels to countries sanctioned by RFMOs, or countries which are not contracting parties/cooperating non-contracting parties to RFMOs. (5) Amending regulation on port state control to stipulate that the foreign-flagged fishing vessels only listed on the white lists of RFMOs should be allowed to enter into its fishing ports with required documents justified by the authorities of the flag state; (6) Amending Fisheries law to regulate nationals running foreign vessels and working for foreign fishing vessels, and to punish them if IUU fishing conducted by them were found.

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43

Thirumulanathan, D. "Optimal Mechanisms for Selling Two Heterogeneous Items." Thesis, 2017. http://etd.iisc.ac.in/handle/2005/3782.

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We consider the problem of designing revenue-optimal mechanisms for selling two heterogeneous items to a single buyer. Designing a revenue-optimal mechanism for selling a single item is simple: Set a threshold price based on the distribution, and sell the item only when the buyer’s valuation exceeds the threshold. However, designing a revenue-optimal mechanism to sell two heterogeneous items is a harder problem. Even the simplest setting with two items and one buyer remains unsolved as yet. The partial characterizations available in the literature have succeeded in solving the problem largely for distributions that are bordered by the coordinate axes. We consider distributions that do not contain (0; 0) in their support sets. Specifically, we consider the buyer’s valuations to be distributed uniformly over arbitrary rectangles in the positive quadrant. We anticipate that the special cases we solve could be a guideline to un-derstand the methods to solve the general problem. We explore two different methods – the duality method and the virtual valuation method – and apply them to solve the problem for distributions that are not bordered by the coordinate axes. The thesis consists of two parts. In the first part, we consider the problem when the buyer has no demand constraints. We assume the buyer’s valuations to be uniformly distributed over an arbitrary rectangle [c1; c1 + b1] [c2; c2 + b2] in the positive quadrant. We first study the duality approach that solves the problem for the (c1; c2) = (0; 0) case. We then nontrivially extend this approach to provide an explicit solution for arbitrary nonnegative values of (c1; c2; b1; b2). We prove that the optimal mechanism is to sell the two items according to one of eight simple menus. The menus indicate that the items must be sold individually for certain values of (c1; c2), the items must be bundled for certain other values, and the auction is an interplay of individual sale and a bundled sale for the remaining values of (c1; c2). We conjecture that our method can be extended to a wider class of distributions. We provide some preliminary results to support the conjecture. In the second part, we consider the problem when the buyer has a unit-demand constraint. We assume the buyer’s valuations (z1; z2) to be uniformly distributed over an arbitrary rectangle [c; c + b1] [c; c + b2] in the positive quadrant, having its south-west corner on the line z1 = z2. We first show that the structure of the dual measure shows significant variations for different values of (c; b1; b2) which makes it hard to discover the correct dual measure, and hence to compute the solution. We then nontrivially extend the virtual valuation method to provide a complete, explicit solution for the problem considered. In particular, we prove that the optimal mechanism is structured into five simple menus. We then conjecture, with promising preliminary results, that the optimal mechanism when the valuations are uniformly distributed in an arbitrary rectangle [c1; c1 + b1] [c2; c2 + b2] is also structured according to similar menus.

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44

Thirumulanathan, D. "Optimal Mechanisms for Selling Two Heterogeneous Items." Thesis, 2017. http://etd.iisc.ernet.in/2005/3782.

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We consider the problem of designing revenue-optimal mechanisms for selling two heterogeneous items to a single buyer. Designing a revenue-optimal mechanism for selling a single item is simple: Set a threshold price based on the distribution, and sell the item only when the buyer’s valuation exceeds the threshold. However, designing a revenue-optimal mechanism to sell two heterogeneous items is a harder problem. Even the simplest setting with two items and one buyer remains unsolved as yet. The partial characterizations available in the literature have succeeded in solving the problem largely for distributions that are bordered by the coordinate axes. We consider distributions that do not contain (0; 0) in their support sets. Specifically, we consider the buyer’s valuations to be distributed uniformly over arbitrary rectangles in the positive quadrant. We anticipate that the special cases we solve could be a guideline to un-derstand the methods to solve the general problem. We explore two different methods – the duality method and the virtual valuation method – and apply them to solve the problem for distributions that are not bordered by the coordinate axes. The thesis consists of two parts. In the first part, we consider the problem when the buyer has no demand constraints. We assume the buyer’s valuations to be uniformly distributed over an arbitrary rectangle [c1; c1 + b1] [c2; c2 + b2] in the positive quadrant. We first study the duality approach that solves the problem for the (c1; c2) = (0; 0) case. We then nontrivially extend this approach to provide an explicit solution for arbitrary nonnegative values of (c1; c2; b1; b2). We prove that the optimal mechanism is to sell the two items according to one of eight simple menus. The menus indicate that the items must be sold individually for certain values of (c1; c2), the items must be bundled for certain other values, and the auction is an interplay of individual sale and a bundled sale for the remaining values of (c1; c2). We conjecture that our method can be extended to a wider class of distributions. We provide some preliminary results to support the conjecture. In the second part, we consider the problem when the buyer has a unit-demand constraint. We assume the buyer’s valuations (z1; z2) to be uniformly distributed over an arbitrary rectangle [c; c + b1] [c; c + b2] in the positive quadrant, having its south-west corner on the line z1 = z2. We first show that the structure of the dual measure shows significant variations for different values of (c; b1; b2) which makes it hard to discover the correct dual measure, and hence to compute the solution. We then nontrivially extend the virtual valuation method to provide a complete, explicit solution for the problem considered. In particular, we prove that the optimal mechanism is structured into five simple menus. We then conjecture, with promising preliminary results, that the optimal mechanism when the valuations are uniformly distributed in an arbitrary rectangle [c1; c1 + b1] [c2; c2 + b2] is also structured according to similar menus.

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Brückner, [geb Christel] Theresa. "Novel application forms and setting mechanisms of mineral bone cements." Doctoral thesis, 2019. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157045.

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Calcium phosphate cements (CPC) represent valuable synthetic bone grafts, as they are self-setting, biocompatible, osteoconductive and in their composition similar to the inorganic phase of human bone. Due to their long shelf-life, neutral setting and since water is sufficient for setting, hydroxyapatite (HA) forming cements are processed in different paste formulations. Those comprise dual setting, Ca2+ binding and premixed cement systems. With dual setting formulations, both dissolution and precipitation of the cement raw powder occur simultaneously to the polymerization of water-soluble monomers to form a hydrogel. Chelating agents are able to form complexes with Ca2+ released from the raw powder. Premixed systems mostly contain the raw powder of the cement and a non-aqueous binder liquid which delays the setting reaction until application in the moist physiological environment. In the present work, two of those reaction mechanisms allowed the development of HA based cement applications. Drillable cements are of high clinical interest, as the quality of screw and plate osteosynthesis techniques can be improved by cement augmentation. A drillable, dual setting composite from HA and a poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) hydrogel was analyzed with respect to the influence of monomer content and powder-to-liquid ratio on setting kinetics and mechanical outcome. While the conversion to HA and crystal growth were constantly confined with increased monomer amount, a minimum concentration of 50 % was required to see impressive ameliorations including a low bending modulus and high fracture energy at improved bending strength. Increasing the liquid amount enabled injection of the paste as well as drilling after 10 min of pre-setting. While classic bone wax formulations have drawbacks such as infection, inflammation, hindered osteogenesis and a lack of biodegradability, the as-presented premixed formulation is believed to exhibit outmatching properties. It consisted of HA raw powders and a non-aqueous, but water-miscible carrier liquid from poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). The bone wax was proved to be cohesive and malleable, it withstood blood pressure conditions and among deposition in an aqueous environment, PEG was exchanged such that porous, nanocrystalline HA was formed. Incorporation of a model antibiotic proved the suitability of the novel bone wax formulation for drug release purposes. Prefabricated laminates from premixed carbonated apatite forming cement and poly(ε-caprolactone) fiber mats with defined pore architecture were presented as a potential approach for the treatment of 2-dimensional, curved cranial defects. They are flexible until application and were produced in a layer-by-layer approach from both components such that the polymer scaffold prevents the cement from flowing. It was demonstrated that solution electrospinning with a patterned collector for the fabrication of perforated fiber mats was suitable, as high fiber volume contents in combination with an appropriate interface enabled the successful fabrication of mechanically reinforced laminates. Mild immersion of the scaffolds under alkaline conditions additionally improved the interphase followed by an increase in bending-strength. Since few years, magnesium phosphate cements (MPC) have attracted increasing attention for bone replacement. Compared to CPC, MPC exhibit a higher degradation potential and high early strength and they release biologically valuable Mg2+. However, common systems offer some challenges while using them in non-classic cement formulations such as the need for foreign ion supply, the potential acidity of the reaction or the fast setting kinetics. Here, it was possible to develop a chelate-setting MPC paste with a broad spectrum of potential applications. The general mechanism of the novel setting principle was tested in a proof-of-principle manner. The cement paste consisted of farringtonite with differently concentrated phytic acid solution for chelate formation with Mg2+ from the raw powder. Adjusting the phytic acid content and adding a magnesium oxide as setting regulator to compensate its retarding effect resulted in drillable formulations. Additionally, there is a strong clinical demand for well working bone adhesives especially in a moist environment. Mostly the existing formulations are non-biodegradable. Ex vivo adhesion of the above presented MPC under wet conditions on bone demonstrated over a course of 7 d shear strengths of 0.8 MPa. Further, the hardened cement specimens showed a mass loss of 2 wt.% within 24 d in an aqueous environment and released about 0.17 mg/g of osteogenic Mg2+ per day. Together with the demonstrated cytocompatibility towards human fetal osteoblasts, this cement system showed promising characteristics in terms of degradable biocements with special application purposes Calciumphosphatzemente (CPC) stellen ein bedeutsames Knochenersatzmaterial dar, da sie selbstabbindend, biokompatibel, osteokonduktiv und der anorganischen Komponente humanen Knochens ähnlich sind. Durch ihre Lagerstabilität, neutrale Abbindereaktion und da Wasser zum Abbinden ausreicht, werden Hydroxylapatit (HA) bildende Zemente in dual abbindenden, Ca2+ chelatisierenden und vorgefertigten Zementen, verarbeitet. Bei dual abbindenden Formulierungen findet die Lösungs-Fällungs-Reaktion zeitgleich zur Polymerisation wasserlöslicher Monomere zu einem Hydrogel statt. Chelatbildner können mit aus dem Rohpulver freigesetzten Ca2+ Komplexe bilden. Vorgefertigte Zemente enthalten eine nicht-wässrige Trägerflüssigkeit, welche die Abbindereaktion bis zur Anwendung des Zements im feuchten Milieu verzögert. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden zwei dieser Reaktionsmechanismen zur Entwicklung HA basierter Anwendungsformen eingesetzt. Bohrbare Zemente sind von klinischem Interesse, da die Qualität einer Schrauben- oder Plattenosteosynthese durch Augmentation mit Zement verbessert werden kann. Bei einem bohrbaren, dual abbindenden Komposit aus HA und einem Poly-2-Hydroxyethylmethacrylat Hydrogel wurde der Einfluss des Monomergehalts und des Pulver-zu-Flüssigkeits-Verhältnisses auf die Abbindekinetik und mechanischen Eigenschaften untersucht. Während die Umwandlung zu HA und das Kristallwachstum mit zunehmendem Monomergehalt reduziert wurden, war eine minimale Konzentration von 50 % nötig, um signifikante Verbesserungen des Bruchverhaltens im Sinne eines niedrigen Biegemoduls und einer hohen Bruchenergie bei gesteigerter Biegefestigkeit nachzuweisen. Wurde der Flüssigkeitsgehalt erhöht, so konnte die Paste injiziert und nach 10 min des Abbindens gebohrt werden. Während klassische Knochenwachsformulierungen Infektionen, Entzündungen, gehinderte Knochenneubildung und mangelhafte Bioabbaubarkeit vorweisen, zeigt die hier dargestellte Formulierung überlegene Eigenschaften. Sie bestand aus HA-Rohpulvern und einer nicht-wässrigen, mit Wasser mischbaren Trägermasse aus Polyethylenglycol (PEG). Es wurde gezeigt, dass das Wachs kohäsiv und knetbar ist und Blutdruckbedingungen standhält. Bei Kontakt mit einer wässrigen Phase wurde das PEG diffusiv mit Wasser ausgetauscht, so dass ein poröser, nanokristalliner HA präzipitierte. Die Einbettung eines Modell-Antibiotikums bestätigte zudem die Eignung des neuartigen Wachses als Wirkstoffdepot. Als eine mögliche Behandlung von 2-dimensionalen, gekrümmten Defekten der Schädeldecke wurden präfabrizierte Laminate aus lagerstabiler, Carbonatapatit bildender Zementpaste und Polycaprolakton-Fasermatten mit definierter Porenarchitektur vorgestellt. Diese sind bis zu ihrer Anwendung flexibel und wurden durch einen schichtweisen Aufbau aus beiden Komponenten erzeugt, so dass der Polymerscaffold den Zement am Zerfließen hindert. Es wurde gezeigt, dass die Herstellung makroporöser Fasermatten durch Elektrospinnen aus der Lösung mittels eines perforierten Kollektors geeignet war, da der hohe Faservolumengehalt und angemessene Grenzflächeneigenschaften die erfolgreiche Herstellung mechanisch verstärkter Laminate ermöglichte. Bei milder Behandlung der Scaffolds mit alkalischer Lösung wurden die Grenzflächeneigenschaften weiter verbessert, was zu einer Steigerung der Biegefestigkeit führte. Seit einigen Jahren geht der Trend der Knochenzementforschung immer stärker in Richtung von Magnesiumphosphatzementen (MPC), da diese verglichen mit CPC ein erhöhtes Degradationspotential, eine hohe initiale Festigkeit, sowie die Freisetzung biologisch wertvoller Mg2+ aufweisen. Jedoch stellen gängige Systeme hohe Anforderungen bei der Verwendung in nicht-klassischen Zementen wie z.B. der Bedarf an Fremdionen und die saure sowie schnelle Abbindereaktion. Dennoch war es möglich, einen chelatisierenden MPC zu entwickeln, welcher ein breites Spektrum an möglichen Anwendungsformen bot. In einer Machbarkeitsstudie wurde untersucht, ob das Abbindeprinzip funktioniert. Die Paste bestand aus Farringtonit und unterschiedlich konzentrierter Phytinsäure. Diese sollte mit freigesetzten Mg2+ komplexieren. Durch Anpassung der Phytinsäurekonzentration und Zugabe von Magnesiumoxid als Abbindemodulator wurden bohrbare Formulierungen erhalten. Neben der Bohrbarkeit sind auch adhäsive Eigenschaften der Zemente im feuchten Milieu von klinischem Interesse, wobei kommerziell erhältliche Systeme meist nicht bioabbaubar sind. Daher wurde die ex vivo Klebehaftung dieses MPC nach 7 d unter nassen Bedingungen auf Knochen analysiert, wobei sich eine Abscherfestigkeit von 0.8 MPa ergab. Des Weiteren zeigten diese Zemente einen Masseverlust von 2 Gew.% innerhalb von 24 d in wässriger Umgebung, sowie die Freisetzung von 0.17 mg/g an osteogenen Mg2+ pro Tag. Zusammen mit der bestätigten Zytokompatibilität bezüglich humaner fetaler Osteoblasten ist dieses System vielversprechend für die Anwendung als abbaubarer Biozement für unterschiedliche klinische Zwecke

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Βουδούρης, Αλέξανδρος Ανδρέας. "Μελέτη της απόδοσης μηχανισμών κατανομής διαιρέσιμων πόρων". Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10889/8413.

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Στην παρούσα μεταπτυχιακή διπλωματική εργασία χρησιμοποιούμε έννοιες και εργαλεία της Θεωρίας Παιγνίων με σκοπό να μελετήσουμε την απόδοση μηχανισμών κατανομής διαιρέσιμων πόρων εστιάζοντας κυρίως στον μηχανισμό αναλογικής κατανομής. Σύμφωνα με αυτόν τον μηχανισμό, ένα σύνολο χρηστών ανταγωνίζονται για ένα διαιρέσιμο πόρο -- όπως το εύρος ζώνης ενός τηλεπικοινωνιακού καναλιού -- υποβάλλοντας προσφορές. Ο μηχανισμός κατανέμει σε κάθε χρήστη ένα μέρος του πόρου το οποίο είναι ανάλογο της προσφοράς του και συλλέγει ένα ποσό ίσο με την προσφορά αυτή ως πληρωμή. Οι χρήστες στοχεύουν στη μεγιστοποίηση της ωφέλειας τους και συμπεριφέρονται στρατηγικά αλλάζοντας τις προσφορές τους με σκοπό να το πετύχουν. Έτσι, ο μηχανισμός ορίζει ένα παιχνίδι αναλογικής κατανομής. Παρουσιάζουμε γνωστά αποτελέσματα από τη σχετική βιβλιογραφία καθώς και νέα βελτιωμένα φράγματα για το κόστος της αναρχίας ως προς το κοινωνικό όφελος για συσχετιζόμενες ισορροπίες στο μοντέλο πλήρους πληροφόρησης και για ισορροπίες κατά Bayes-Nash στο μοντέλο ελλιπούς πληροφόρησης. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, παρουσιάζουμε ένα κάτω φράγμα 1/2 για το κόστος της αναρχίας ως προς τις προαναφερθείσες έννοιες ισορροπίας, βελτιώνοντας σημαντικά το προηγούμενο καλύτερο κάτω φράγμα 26.8% που πρόσφατα απέδειξαν οι Syrgkanis και Tardos (STOC 2013). Επίσης, μελετάμε για πρώτη φορά τη περίπτωση όπου οι χρήστες διαθέτουν περιορισμένους προϋπολογισμούς και παρουσιάζουμε ένα κάτω φράγμα περίπου 36% και ένα άνω φράγμα 50% για το κόστος της αναρχίας χρησιμοποιώντας ως αντικειμενική συνάρτηση το αποτελεσματικό όφελος το οποίο λαμβάνει υπόψη προϋπολογισμούς. In this thesis, we use notions and techniques from Game Theory in order to analyze the performance of divisible resource allocation mechanisms focusing mainly on the proportional allocation mechanism. According to this mechanism, a set of users are competing for a divisible resource -- such as bandwidth of a communication link -- by submitting bids. The mechanism allocates to each user a fraction of the resource that is proportional to the user's bid and collects an amount equal to the bid as payment. Users aim to maximize their individual utility and act strategically in order to achieve their goal. Hence, the mechanism defines a proportional allocation game. We cover previously known results from the related literature and present new bounds on the price of anarchy with respect to the social welfare over coarse-correlated and Bayes-Nash equilibria in the full and incomplete information settings, respectively. In particular, we prove a lower bound of $1/2$ for the price of anarchy over both equilibrium concepts, significantly improving the previously best known lower bound, presented by Syrgkanis and Tardos (STOC 2013). Furthermore, we study for the first time the scenario where users have budget constraints and present lower bounds on the price of anarchy using the effective welfare (which takes budgets into account) as an objective function.

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Caskey, Nourah al-Rashid. "Mechanisms influencing student understanding on an outdoor guided field trip." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/20139.

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Field trips are a basic and important, yet often overlooked part of the student experience. They provide the opportunity to integrate real world knowledge with classroom learning and student previous personal experiences. Outdoor guided field trips leave students with an increased understanding, awareness and interest and in science. However, the benefits of this experience are ambiguous at best (Falk and Balling, 1982; Falk and Dierking, 1992; Kisiel, 2006. Students on an outdoor guided field trip to a local nature park experienced a significant increase in their understanding of the rock cycle. The changes in the pre-field trip test and the post-field trip test as well as their answers in interviews showed a profound change in the students’ understanding and in their interest in the subject matter. The use of the “student’s voice” (Bamberger and Tal, 2008) was the motivation for data analysis. By using the students’ voice, I was able to determine the mechanisms that might influence their understanding of a subject. The central concepts emerging from the data were: the outdoor setting; the students’ interest; the social interaction. From these central concepts, a conceptual model was developed. The outdoor setting allows for the freedom to explore, touch, smell and movement. This, in turn, leads to an increased interest in subject matter. As the students are exploring, they are enjoying themselves and become more open to learning. Interest leads to a desire to learn (Dewey, 1975). In addition to allowing the freedom to explore and move, the outdoor setting creates the condition for social interaction. The students talk to each other as they walk; they have in-depth discourse regarding the subject matter -- with the teachers, each other and with the guides. The guides have an extremely important role in the students’ learning. The more successful guides not only act as experts, but also adjust to the students’ needs and act or speak accordingly. The interconnections of these three concepts-- the outdoor setting, the students’ interest, the social interaction - worked to provide the mechanisms by which the students increased their understanding of the rock cycle. text

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Ou, Hui-Ling, and 區慧齡. "A Caching Mechanism of Proxy Server Using Weighted Multi-Attribute Settings." Thesis, 2003. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/33423795409892240484.

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碩士 國立交通大學 資訊管理所 91 World Wide Web (WWW) grows up rapidly in recent years. The network communication has become a part of daily life for many people. Although the population of the internet access increases year by year, the resource and bandwidth of the internet do not raise correspondingly. These reason leads to a serious network-congestion problem. Therefore, how to improve the efficiency of data accessing and reduce the querying response time have become critical issues. Caching at proxy servers is one of the methods to increase the transmission efficiency. To improve the efficiency of the proxy server, we need to replace the less-using objects so that we have enough space to store the frequently- accessing objects. This thesis proposes a replacing policy for the caching mechanism of proxy server - using weighted multi-attribute settings. Observing the relation between the various attributes and the record numbers in the log files of proxy server, we group related attribute values to generate high-supporting rules by using association rule. Then, we set weight according to ‘the finishing time of the transaction’, ’the size of the file’ and ’the depth of the browsing path’. In addition, the user behavior - ‘aiming at searching’, ‘roaming among different web sites’ and ‘surfing only at one web site’ are also considered to calculate the web-weight for the priority of the replacement. Therefore, the proxy server can replace an object simply by its weight. Thus, we can reduce waiting time. The result of the simulation shows that the method proposed in this thesis does increase the hit rate of proxy server and the traffic flow in the internet decreases in the meantime.

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Luo, Kuo-Wei, and 羅國瑋. "Joint Industrial Waste Recycling and Disposal Mechanism in Multiple Plants Settings." Thesis, 2010. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/33545563883343471865.

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碩士 元智大學 工業工程與管理學系 98 Most manufacturing plants lack proper equipments for handling industrial waste and turn to recycling centers for disposal of industrial wastes. This research studies how to coordinate efficiently recycle and disposal of waste from multiple plants in a green supply chain. This research considers a system containing multiple manufacturing plants and a recycling center. Two systems are considered, each involving different decision makers. In the first system, the recycling center is the only decision maker and two recycling strategies, independent recycling strategy and joint recycling strategy are developed. In the second system, the decision makers include all the plants and the recycling center, and three recycling strategies, disperse recycling strategy, integrated recycling strategy and joint recycling strategy, are developed. Formulas for optimal recycling periods that minimize total costs are derived. In addition, an iterative heuristic to search for optimal solutions are designed for the joint recycling strategy. Results from numerical experiment show the joint recycling strategy obtains much lower total relative costs for all the systems. If manufacturing plants do not participate in decision making, their costs are substantially increased. Finally, sensitivity analysis on the number of plants, setup cost for waste disposal, and the scale between plants is conducted. The findings from this research can serve as valuable reference in management and operation for enterprises.

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Prakash, Gujar Sujit. "Novel Mechanisms For Allocation Of Heterogeneous Items In Strategic Settings." Thesis, 2010. https://etd.iisc.ac.in/handle/2005/1654.

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Allocation of objects or resources to competing agents is a ubiquitous problem in the real world. For example, a federal government may wish to allocate different types of spectrum licenses to telecom service providers; a search engine has to assign different sponsored slots to the ads of advertisers; etc. The agents involved in such situations have private preferences over the allocations. The agents, being strategic, may manipulate the allocation procedure to get a favourable allocation. If the objects to be allocated are heterogeneous (rather than homogeneous), the problem becomes quite complex. The allocation problem becomes even more formidable in the presence of a dynamic supply and/or demand. This doctoral work is motivated by such problems involving strategic agents, heterogeneous objects, and dynamic supply and/or demand. In this thesis, we model such problems in a standard game theoretic setting and use mechanism design to propose novel solutions to the problems. We extend the current state-of-the-art in a non-trivial way by solving the following problems: Optimal combinatorial auctions with single minded bidders, generalizing the existing methods to take into account multiple units of heterogeneous objects Multi-armed bandit mechanisms for sponsored search auctions with multiple slots, generalizing the current methods that only consider a single slot. Strategyproof redistribution mechanisms for heterogeneous objects, expanding the scope of the current state of practice beyond homogeneous objects Online allocation mechanisms without money for one-sided and two-sided matching markets, extending the existing methods for static settings.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Setting mechanism'

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