A new algorithm is developed for setting WIP level in production lines. It is a pull policy that determines when to authorize a job to be processed. Dynamic information in the system such as machine failures and repairs, and demand variations are taken into consideration to provide an efficient method to dynamically determine the WIP level. Two types of production lines are examined in this paper. The first is production lines which have few random interruptions and the second production line is exposed to frequent interruptions. Experiment results from these two types of production lines illustrate that the new algorithm generates higher service level with lower WIP compared to the CONWIP policy. In addition, the superiority of the new algorithm is more significant when the production line is exposed to frequent random interruptions. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

The aim of this study has been to investigate the potential of the graphical calculator for mediating students' learning of functions in mathematics at GCE Advanced level. In carrying out this investigation, the study has been primarily concerned with three inter-related themes: How does the way in which individual students behave affect the shared construction of meaning in a graphical calculator environment? How does the visual imagery provided by the graphical calculator mediate students' understanding of functions? What are the implications for the role of the teacher in graphical calculator environments? In order to address these issues, the study has involved the development of materials and approaches that were subsequently trialled with Lower Sixth form students in a school and a college in the Local Education Authority of Sheffield. An ethnographic approach towards data collection and analysis was adopted, which entailed carrying out detailed studies of singularities in three key phases. The first phase consisted of the exploratory study and considered the learning experiences of novice graphical calculator users. The second phase involved experienced graphical calculator users and was concerned with identifying how knowledge construction might differ as a result of the longer-standing status of the graphical calculator as a tool for supporting mathematics learning. The third and final phase concentrated on the introduction of key function concepts to beginning Advanced level mathematics students and focused on the personal and social factors involved. The findings of this study have served to illustrate both the complexity and interdependence of the individual, social and affective factors involved in students' acquisition of meaning with the graphical calculator. Evidence from the research suggests that the social context has direct bearing on the functioning of the graphical calculator as a cognitive reorganiser. The graphical calculator was found to mediate the development of the visual capabilities of individual students via more intensive interaction between the students themselves and with the teacher. In this respect, the pairing of visualisers and non-visualisers amongst the students was found to be especially conducive to successful collaborative learning with the technology. In this study the graphical calculator acted as both a medium for communication and also as a new authority in the classroom, which empowered students to act as autonomous and independent learners. The potential of the technology for inspiring confidence, even in instances where it is not the main source of answers was also highlighted. An important part of successfully introducing new function concepts to students was found to lie in the creation of local communities of practice in the classroom, where the graphical calculator was seen as a means of drawing students into these practices. In this way, some of the more reluctant participants were encouraged to act as peer tutors. The importance of the role of the teacher in scaffolding the students' learning was also continually emphasised throughout, especially in relation to the interpretation of unexpected results and instances of dependency on the technology, which were linked to individual work. In illuminating all of these factors, the study has demonstrated the strength and relevance of a Vygotskian socio-cultural perspective for exploring students' learning with graphical calculators.

The thesis aims to reconstruct the Holocene sea-level history in Bangladesh. Detailed litho-, bio-, and chrono-stratigraphic techniques have been applied to elucidate the nature of sedimentary sequences in association with the events of the Holocene marine transgressions and regressions. Samples have been collected from two separate sites, one at Panigati near Khulna and another at Matuail near Dhaka. The study shows evidence of five periods of marine transgression, each followed by a regression, during the Holocene. Each minerogenic sediment layer indicates a marine episode and these sediments were deposited under intertidal to estuarine conditions; each peat layer is in situ and indicates a retreat of the sea. It is difficult to separate the eustatic components contributing to these relative sea-level movements, although processes operating locally and regionally are clearly evident. Two separate sea-level curves, together with possible error ranges, have been proposed for Bangladesh; since the early mid-Holocene, an average relative sea-level rise of 1.07 mm. yr -1 has been estimated. The reconstructed sea-level curves show that during the early and mid-Holocene both sedimentation and subsidence rates were much lower than during the last millennium. Differential spatio-temporal progradation and coastline movements have also been evident. The Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers have provided a continuous sediment supply but their convergence is only of recent origin. A possible hypothesis of two separate estuarine systems for these two rivers has been put forward.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF ANGEL MARIA DAVILA, for the Master of Arts degree in TESOL and Applied Linguistics, presented on February 21, 2013, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: SPANISH SPEAKERS' READING PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH PAST TENSE INFLECTIONAL MORPHEME -ed MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Krassimira Charkova The main purpose of the present study was to examine if the accurate pronunciation of the three allomorphs of the -ed ending improves with the level of English proficiency in Nicaraguan Spanish EFL learners' read aloud production. There were 48 participants. They belonged to three English proficiency levels: high beginners, intermediate and high intermediate. Each level consisted of 16 informants, with the same number of women and men. The research instrument included a list of 44 regular past tense verbs to measure the three phonological realizations of the -ed inflectional morpheme. The results revealed that the effect of proficiency level was different for the three allomorphs. It was found that more advanced EFL Spanish learners had a significantly higher level of accuracy on the production of two of the three allomorphs, /t/ and /d/. In fact, their error rate on these two allomorphs was as low as 9% and 8%, respectively. In the case of the /əd, ɪd/ allomorph, no significant differences were found among proficiency levels. Moreover, this allomorph showed the lowest rate of errors overall. These results were interpreted in view of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (Eckman, 1977) and the Similarity Differential Rate Hypothesis (Major & Kim, 1996). The trends in the data definitely suggested support for Similarity Differential Rate Hypothesis which postulates that markedness by itself cannot explain the development of L2 learners as they improve their L2 level of proficiency. In the context of the present study, this was evident in the significantly better performance of the most advanced group which showed the highest rate of accuracy on the more marked allomorphs /t/ and /d/. In view of these findings, the study offers implications for the teaching of the three phonological realizations of the -ed past tense inflection. Keywords: allomorph, inflectional morpheme, proficiency level

Class of 2013 Abstract / Specific Aims: In 2000 the Accreditation for Pharmacy Education began accrediting only pharmacy education programs that awarded an entry-level PharmD degree. The purpose of this study is to assess pharmacy faculty opinions concerning the transition to the all-PharmD degree as compared to post-baccalaureate PharmD degree. Methods: This study was a national survey of clinical pharmacy faculty attitudes and opinions toward training of clinical pharmacists. An email invitation was sent to participate in the survey and data was collected over a two month period. Questions included opinions on pharmacist’s ability to counsel patients, recommend drug therapy, make dosage adjustments, and solve problems based on their PharmD training among other questions. Demographic data was also collected. Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests were used to determine if significant differences were present between clinical faculty with either entry-level versus post-baccalaureate PharmD degrees with respect to opinions related to skills of entry-level PharmD pharmacists. Main Results: A total of 2798 individuals were sent email invitations to participate in the survey; 493 subjects started the survey of which 420 provided complete responses. All questions were scored on a five point scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) with a neutral option (3). Entry-level PharmD’s agreed that they are equally skilled to post-baccalaureate PharmD’s in conducting a physical exam (3.3 versus 2.9), recommending drug therapy (3.5 versus 2.9), identify problems in drug therapy (3.5 versus 3.0), and counseling patients (3.8 versus 3.5) than post-baccalaureate PharmD’s (P≤0.0022). Conclusion: Post-baccalaureate PharmD faculty are less likely to believe that entry-level pharmacists are similar to themselves with respect clinical services.

Disk performance for random access fares significantly worse compared to sequential access. Time required to transfer random blocks to or from disk is dominated by seeking and rotational delay. To improve the throughput and reduce the latency, one can apply techniques to increase the sequentiality of disk accesses, such as block rearrangement and replication. We introduce an approach to improve read performance by replicating blocks into file system free space at the block level. This makes the replication module independent of the file system and therefore easier to implement and verify. A solution that requires no changes to the file system is also easier to adopt. Supporting a new file system is a matter of writing a user-space component that understands its free block data structures. We implemented a prototype as a stacked device driver for Linux and evaluated its performance on a number of workloads. / Science, Faculty of / Computer Science, Department of / Graduate

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ABSTRACT   Title: Gender Equality in Higher Education- Comparative study in Sweden and India Level: Final assignment for Master’s Degree in Business Administration Authors: Dhiviya Janoris and Paula Prela Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama Examiner: Daniella Fjellström Date: May 2019   Aim: The aim of this study is to understand gender equality in higher education in two different countries, Sweden and India. Method: The study uses a qualitative study method and a constructivism approach. We conducted 11 semi-structured interviews and document experiences regarding gender equality. We had 6 interviews from the University of Gävle, Sweden and 5 interviews from Patrician College, India. Result and Conclusions: The results have shown that there is gender equality within the University of Gävle and Patrician college. However, there can be improvements made regarding the vertical and horizontal segregation in both universities. Additionally, when examining Patrician College on a macro level, it is shown that the parental leave policies and the gender wage gap has a large impact on gender equality. Suggestions for future study: It can be suggested that future study in this topic concentrate on to understand why there is a majority of male professors rather than female professors. Additionally, the reasons as to why there is a wider gender wage gap in India and poor parental leave policies should be examined. Contribution of the thesis: The theories are used to understand gender equality in different dimensions and its relationship with the different levels of the construct of gender as a social structure with the help of different theories.   Keywords: Gender Equality, Individual level, Interactional level, Macro level, University of Gävle, Patrician College.

This essay investigating outbound factors by theoretical planning behaviors approach which generate knowledge information sharing component to knowledge workers of IC Testing/Assembly plant. The external essence and factor is divided into Individual-Level Factors, Team-Level Factors and Organizational-Level Factors: Individual-Level factors including motives (Self-Interest factor and altruistic Factor), job satisfaction; Team-Level Factors should be complied with trust, leaderships; Organizational-Level Factors would be concluded with enterprise culture, management constitutions. Investigated objects would be focused on Walton Advanced Engineering Co.,Ltd., after sampling with the IT engineering, I have concluded with the following issues: 1. Self-Interest factor and job satisfactory factor would be greater influence than the altruistic Factor. 2. Leadership is a critical influencing factor in the knowledge sharing process. 3. Trust is an essential factor for knowledge sharing within a group. 4. Culture and reward system are the most influencing factor for knowledge sharing. 5. It is necessary to tie in administrative strategy to raise the wills to share knowledge. 6. Encouraging group members explode the nuclear tacit knowledge benefits a lot to individuals and overall group improvement and growth. 7. It is quite a challenge to enterprise to build the knowledge sharing mechanism. Hoping the conclusions above would benefit to those knowledge works related managers and knowledge owners to inherit and preserver the main essence of knowledge base for their working groups.

Transit ridership analysis has been advancing towards the use of disaggregate spatial and boarding data. This study attempts to improve the understanding of factors influencing transit ridership by estimating/comparing ridership models at the route, the segmented route, and the stop level in the Austin area. Spatial and statistic analysis methods are used in this study. The dependent variable is ridership at the transit route, the segmented route, and the stop level, whereas independent variables consist of traveler characteristics, land use, transit service characteristics, and other contextual factors. Spatial analysis is conducted using Geographic Information System (GIS) to compile data within a quarter-mile buffer from each transit stop, each segregated route, and each route. Linear and semi-log models of ridership are estimated using Statistical Analysis System (SAS). Initial analysis confirms the qualitative understanding that traveler demographics such as population and employment densities, ethnic background, and income significantly affect transit ridership. Land use composition, measured by the shares of single-family homes, multi-family homes, commercial, civic uses, as well as the total area of paved parking, all influence transit use. Service qualities such as headway and transfer opportunities also matter. Sensitivity tests of these factors affecting ridership are carried out to compare model performance among the route, segmented route, and the stop level analyses. It is expected that the study findings will help to better inform transit agencies and local communities in optimizing existing transit operations, planning for new services, and developing transit-friendly environments. Primary data were obtained from the Capital Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Census Bureau, and secondary data was processed by GIS analysis. / text