Components used in mobile hand-held devices (smart phones and tablets) vary greatly in performance and power consumption. The microprocessors used in these devices also have vastly different capabilities and manufacturing limitations leading to significant variation effects. Battery life is a significant concern to the end users of these products. A stand-alone Android application capable of benchmarking a device's performance and power consumption is introduced. The application does not require the end user to have any analytic equipment or to have a technical background. This enables individual end users to better understand their particular device's performance and battery life interaction. They may also use the application to determine if their device's performance or battery life has degraded over time. Data is also uploaded to a central location so that devices can be compared against each other. The benchmarking application is capable of resolving variation effects caused by device, environmental changes and power management actions. This application demonstrates the feasibility of creating a low cost ecosystem where thousands of devices can be quantitatively compared. / text

這是集合專家智庫與教師協同研究團隊共同參與、分享與學習的旅程。其研究目的在於釐清教改相關詞彙的真正意涵，探究標準取向課程理論與實踐的相關策略及其配套，以建構一合理可行的標準取向課程發展模式，從而成就課程變革由混沌轉為清明的契機。首先，透過文獻探討與工作坊研習，集體慎思標準、能力指標、核心問題、科際整合、指標性評分等關聯性意義及其對課程變革的影響，瞭解學校課程地圖的規劃、課程發展路徑、及評量機制的更新；次而對照台北美國學校的實地觀摩體驗，參與研究教師協同配合學校教學，進行英語文與其他學科整合的課程設計；最後在台北二所國中，以協同行動研究方法，進行理論與實作交互辯證的實驗教學，探索標準取向課程落實在教室現場的可行性。運用觀察、訪談、錄影、日誌與反省札記等，自2003年9月至2004年6月，長期實地觀測參與研究教師進行課程構思、實作與反省的歷程，比較學生的實作表現的差異，分析標準取向課程實施的方式及其限制，了解核心問題、指標性評分的功能，及其對學習邁向深度理解的影響。綜合研究分析與討論，獲致以下的結論： 1. 篩選標準是展示優質教學的重要手段，而標準的落實必須是團隊分享而非獨立作業。核心問題與探究學習則是邁向理解學習的關鍵指標。 2. 課程是為解決問題才產生的，科際整合的課程應該是用來解決課程需碎片段的組合，並提供更多的關聯性。有助於學生袪除傳統知識的刻板印象，主動積極擴展學習的視野。 3. 協同行動研究即是一解決問題，探究學習的歷程，它需要熱情、協同、好奇、反省與承諾，它也是增進教師專業知能成長的有力方式。 4. 能力的培養不是速成的，必須採標準與指標性評分活用於教室教學，以規準引導，範例說明，運用實作表現重組學生的知識基模，化為智慧能力，以落實多元質性評量的真意。 5. 課程改革應以期望學習成果或意圖的學習成果做為領域的課程目標，透過單元課程融入情意價值的潛移默化，以展現課程美學。 同時，陳述研究心得與建議，並對後續進階研究作出具體的規劃。簡言之，整體研究均在揭示：如何使學生喜歡上課，享受學習樂趣，擁有契而不捨的探究精神與實作能力，以彰顯教育改革的核心價值。 / This was a school reform study to enhance teachers’ capacity. The purpose of the research was to explore the standards-based curriculum development and build an accessible procedure. The whole process including three periods: (1)Group deliberation period, the researcher and partners learned a great deal about the practical knowledge needed to meet the objective of the study in the workshop. And then widely sifted the literature review materials. (2)Development period, the researcher and teammate made two problem-based interdisciplinary curriculum. And design rubrics to improve the approach of performance based assessment. (3)Implementation period, The field study with collaboration is to investigate the trial outcomes. There are five conclusions resulted from the study, which were as follows: (1)Standards, benchmarks and essential questions are key factors to curriculum quality. (2)The integrated curriculum program is to enhance students’ learning toward enduring understanding, and help them to become independent learners. (3)Teachers’ teamwork and professional conversation is the best policy to solve problems. (4)Professional capacity development is the critical mission of schooling. (5)The goal of curriculum renewal is to empower students to be active learners thus taking responsibility for their own studies. Above all, Teachers as transformative knowledge workers, think globlly, and act locally, to generate exciting new learning models and real-world performance standards. Meanwhile, the researcher does a follow-up project that support the creation and adoption of interdisciplinary curriculum frameworks to reflect today’s complicated socities.. / 第一章　緒　　論……………………………………………………… 1 第一節　研究背景、動機與重要性………………………………　5 第二節　研究目的…………………………………………………… 13 第三節　研究問題………………………………………………… 14 第四節　研究限制…………………………………………………　 15 第五節　名詞釋義…………………………………………………　 17 第二章　文獻探討……………………………………………………… 21 第一節　標準的核心理念及其與課程的關係…………………… 23 第二節　深度理解、核心問題與標準的關連性 ………………　42 第三節　科際整合課程意義與設計原則…………………………　57 第四節　探究學習與批判思考教學………………………………　71 第五節　指標性評分意涵及其應用 ……………………………　95 第六節　多元智慧的教師知識管理……………………………… 113 第三章　研究方法與實施策略…………………………………… 127 第一節　進入教室場域前的準備工作………………………… 128 第二節 研究者的相關經驗與研究方式……………………… 131 第三節　進入教室場域的研究策略……………………………… 134 第四節　研究資料蒐集與整理分析…………………………… 145 第五節　研究品質多元觀點的建置…………………………… 149 第四章　研究發現與討論分析(一)……………………………… 153 第一節　課程慎思與文獻探究…………………………………… 154 第二節　課程發展與科際整合…………………………………… 166 第三節　課程實踐與行動探究 (一)…………………………… 183 第四節　課程實踐與行動探究（二）…………………………… 201 第五章　研究發現與討論分析(二)……………………………… 211 第一節　知識藝術與建構學習…………………………………… 212 第二節　科際整合與教室評量…………………………………… 219 第三節　心智習性與知識管理…………………………………… 226 第四節　思考教學與閱讀理解…………………………………… 236 第六章　結論與建議………………………………………………… 245 第一節　結論與省思……………………………………………… 246 第二節　分享與建議……………………………………………… 254 參考資料……………………………………………………………………… 237 附　　錄 附錄一………………………………………………………………………… 261 附錄二………………………………………………………………………… 271 附錄三………………………………………………………………………… 295 附錄四………………………………………………………………………… 321 附錄五………………………………………………………………………… 337

Valet mellan aktiv respektive passiv fondförvaltning har sedan länge varit en omdiskuterad fråga inom privata fondsparandet. På senare tid har frågan kommit att återaktualiserat efter att de aktivt förvaltade storfonderna Allemansfond komplett och Kapitalinvest anklagats för vilseledande marknadsföring, då de inte har generat en högre avkastning än den generella marknaden. Inom den akademiska världen har erkända forskare och sedermera pristagare av Sveriges Riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne, påvisat att aktivt förvaltade fonder inte kan generera en högre avkastning med hänsyn till förvaltningsavgifterna. Utifrån förvaltningsavgifterna påvisade betydelse har vi valt att studera effekten av de rabatterade förvaltningsavgifterna, inom Premiepensionssystemet. Studiens syfte är således att under tidsperioden, 1 januari 2004 till 31 december 2013, analysera om aktiv förvaltade fonder har genererat en högre riskjusterad avkastning än passivt förvaltade fonder, då hänsyn tagits till de rabatterade förvaltningsavgifterna. Studien baserades på dagliga marknadsnoteringar av 174 aktivt förvaltade premiepensionsfonder och årliga förvaltningsavgifter.  Vidare använde vi oss av ett globalt aktiemarknadsindex, MSCI World, som utifrån definitionen av passivt förvaltade fonder var synonymt med studiens jämförelseindex. I enlighet med studiens syfte använde vi oss av det riskjusterade avkastningsmåttet Sharpekvot för att kunna besvara studiens frågeställning.  Resultatet av studien påvisade att aktivt förvaltade fonder har genererat en högre avkastning än passivt förvaltade fonder då hänsyn tagits till förvaltningsavgifter. Då även fondernas risktagande togs i anspråk blev resultatet det motsatta och vi kan därigenom konstatera att aktivt förvaltade fonder har generat en lägre riskjusterad avkastning är passivt förvaltade fonder. Vidare har vi även kunnat konstatera att aktivt förvaltade fonder med låga förvaltningsavgifter har generat en högre såväl avkastning som riskjusterad avkastning än aktivt förvaltade fonder med höga förvaltningsavgifter. / The choice between active and passive fund management has long been a contentious issue within the private mutual fund investments. Lately, the issue has been widely discussed since the actively managed funds Allemansfond komplett and Kapitalinvest was accused of misleading marketing, since their performance has not overachieved the return of the general market. In the academic world, recognized scholars and later Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, has demonstrated that actively managed funds cannot generate a higher return with regard to management fees. Based on the importance of the management fees, we have chosen to study the effect of the discount management fees, within the Premiepensionssystemet. Therefore the study's objective is to analyse whether active managed funds have generated higher risk-adjusted returns than passively managed funds, reduced for the discounted management fees. The study will be limited to analyse the period between the 1st January 2004 to 31th December 20103 The study was based on daily market quotations of 174 actively managed Premiepensionsfonder and annual management fees. Furthermore, we used a global stock market index, MSCI World, by the definition of passively managed funds that was synonymous with the study's benchmark. In accordance with the study’s purpose, we used the risk-adjusted performance measure Sharpe ratio in order to answer the research question. The results of this study demonstrated that actively managed funds have generated higher returns than passively managed funds, reduced for the discounted management fees. When the funds' risk taking was committed, the result is the opposite, and we can thus conclude that actively managed funds have yield a lower risk-adjusted returns than passively managed funds. Furthermore, we also noted that actively managed funds with low management fees has generated higher returns as well as risk-adjusted returns than actively managed funds with high management fees.

隨著網際網路和企業內部網路的盛行，異質資訊整合成為電子化企業中一個重要的議題，在網路上進行異質資訊整合涉及許多不同新的資訊技術，目前已經有些研究試圖利用延伸標記語言以及本體論當作中介技術來整合異質資訊，為了有效管理企業內的資訊，我們需要一個績效評估模型來衡量異質資訊整合的效能。在本研究中，我們提出了一個在異質資訊整合中運用延伸標記語言及本體論的績效評估工作量模型，並且建立了一個工作量產生器雛形；本研究的目標是希望發展出一個結合延伸標記語言及本體論的工作量模型，以測試在電子化企業中的異質資訊整合是否能整合不同的資訊模型，並且從這些資訊模型中衍生出語意，此工作量模型包含了延伸標記語言與本體論的資料模型與查詢模型，它們是依照延伸標記語言與本體論學名式的資料結構與查詢功能所制訂的，此外，控制模型則定義了績效評估執行環境中所需設定的變數，為了讓此工作量模型能具可攜性和延展性，以便輕易地應用在不同的領域情境中，本研究採取學名結構式且使用者定義、領域獨立的設計方法，最後，我們利用雛形實作來驗證本研究所提出的研究方法。 / With the popularity of Internet/Intranet, heterogeneous information integration becomes a hot IT topic in electronic business (EB) field. Heterogeneous information integration on the Web involves a number of new techniques. There have been research projects applying XML and ontology as mediated techniques to consolidate heterogeneous information. In order to manage and use information more effectively within the enterprise, a benchmark used to evaluate the mechanism of heterogeneous information integration is needed. In this research, we develop a XML and ontology benchmark workload model in heterogeneous information integration, and build a workload generation prototype. The objective of this research is to develop a workload model combines XML and ontology to test whether the heterogeneous information integration system under EB environment can overcome the diverse formats of content and derive meaning from this content. The workload model consists of XML and ontology data model and query model according to the generic data structure and query functionality. Also, a control model is created to set up the benchmark environment. In order to apply the workload model to different scenarios easier, this workload model is designed to be domain independent and generic-construct-based. Finally, we validate the research model through the prototype implementation.

Agriculture is of inestimable value to South Africa because it is a major source of job creation and plays a key role in earning foreign exchange. The most significant contribution of agriculture, and in particular maize, is its ability to provide food for the nation. For a number of decades government legislation determined prices, and as such the trade of grains on the futures exchange requires market participants to adapt to a volatile environment. The research focuses on the ability of market participants to effectively mitigate price volatility on the futures exchange through the use of derivative instruments, and the possibility of developing risk management strategies that will outperform the return offered by the market. The study shows that market participants are unable to use derivative instruments in such a way that price volatility is minimised. The findings of the study also indicate that the development of derivative risk management strategies could result in better returns than those offered by the market, mainly by exploiting trends on the futures market. / Financial Accounting / M. Comm. (Business Management)

Chorin’s method, Incremental Pressure Correction Scheme (IPCS) and Crank-Nicolson’s method (CN) are three numerical methods that were investigated in this study. These methods were here used for solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, which describe the motion of an incompressible fluid, in three different benchmark problems. The methods were stabilized using residual based artificial viscosity, which was introduced to avoid instability. The methods were compared in terms of accuracy and computational time. Furthermore, a theoretical study of adaptivity was made, based on an a posteriori error estimate and an adjoint problem. The implementation of the adaptivity is left for future studies. In this study we consider the following three well-known benchmark problems: laminar 2D flow around a cylinder, Taylor-Green vortex and lid-driven cavity problem. The difference of the computational time for the three methods were in general relatively small and differed depending on which problem that was investigated. Furthermore the accuracy of the methods also differed in the benchmark problems, but in general Crank-Nicolson’s method gave less accurate results. Moreover the stabilization technique worked well when the kinematic viscosity of the fluid was relatively low, since it managed to stabilize the numerical methods. In general the solution was affected in a negative way when the problem could be solved without stabilization for higher viscosities.

The velocity dimension of Big Data refers to the need to rapidly process data that arrives continuously as streams of messages or events. Distributed Stream Processing Systems (DSPS) refer to distributed programming and runtime platforms that allow users to define a composition of dataflow logic that are executed on distributed resources over streams of incoming messages. A DSPS uses commodity clusters and Cloud Virtual Machines (VMs) for its execution. In order to meet the required performance for these applications, the DSPS needs to schedule these dataßows efficiently over the resources. Despite their growing use, resource scheduling for DSPSÕs tends to be done in an ad hoc manner, favoring empirical and reactive approaches, rather than a model-driven and analytical approach. Such empirical strategies may arrive at an approximate schedule for the dataflow that needs further tuning to meet the quality of service. We propose a model-based scheduling approach that makes use of performance profiles and benchmarks developed for tasks in the dataßow to plan both the resource allocation and the resource mapping that together form the schedule planning process. We propose the Model Based Allocation (MBA) and the Slot Aware Mapping (SAM) approaches that efectively utilize knowledge of the performance model of logic tasks to provide an efficient and predictable scheduling behavior. We implemented and validate these algorithms using the popular open source Apache Storm DSPS for several micro and application dataflows. The results show that our model-driven approach is able to reduce the amount of required resources (VMs) by 30% − 50% relative to existing techniques. Also we see that our strategies o↵er a predictable behavior that ensures that the expected and actual rates supported and resources used match closely. This can enable deterministic schedule planning even under dynamic conditions. Besides this static scheduling, we also examine the ability to dynamically consolidate tasks onto fewer VMs when the load on the dataßow decreases or the VMs get fragmented. We propose reliable task migration models for Apache Storm dataßows that are able to rapidly move the task assignment in the cluster, and resume the dataflow execution without any message loss.

Corn production is scattered geographically over various continents, but most of it is grown in the United States. As such, the world price of corn futures contracts is largely dominated by North American corn prices as traded on the Chicago Board of Trade. In recent years, this market has been characterised by an increase in price volatility and magnitude of price movement as a result of decreasing stock levels. The development and implementation of an effective and successful derivative price risk management strategy based on the Chicago Board of Trade corn futures contract will therefore be of inestimable value to market stakeholders worldwide. The research focused on the efficient market hypothesis and the possibility of contesting this phenomenon through an application of a derivative price risk management methodology. The methodology is based on a combination of an analysis of market trends and technical oscillators with the objective of generating returns superior to that of a market benchmark. The study found that market participants are currently unable to exploit price movement in a manner which results in returns that contest the notion of efficient markets. The methodology proposed, however, does allow the user to consistently achieve returns superior to that of a predetermined market benchmark. The benchmark price for the purposes of this study was the average price offered by the market over the contract lifetime, and such, the efficient market hypothesis was successfully contested. / Business Management / D. Com. (Business Management)

The United Arab Emirates are challenged to include the national workforce into their increasingly diversified and knowledge-based economic vision. The federal Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development incubates Sougha, a non-profit company acting as market intermediary for Emirati artisans. This study aims at providing an insight into Sougha‘s potential to become a social enterprise. A pragmatic and exploratory approach is followed. An iterative process underpins the concept of social enterprise from established literature, re-visits it through a social constructivist lens as an emerging topic in the GCC region, and benchmarks Sougha against two selected social enterprise frameworks, based on data analysis from documents and interviews. Sougha demonstrates social value creation while its commercial value creation is restricted to social mission activities. Financial motives are insufficiently reflected in Sougha‘s strategic documentation; leaving doubt to whether Sougha is genuinely seeking financial sustainability, which endangers its eligibility as a social enterprise. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

In the last decade, web browsers have seen a remarkable increase of performance, especially in the JavaScript engines. JavaScript has over the years gone from being a slow and rather limited language, to today have become feature-rich and fast. It’s speed can be around the same or half of comparable code written in C++, but this speed is directly dependent on the choice of the web browser, and the best performance is seen in browsers using JIT compilation techniques. Even though the language has seen a dramatic increase in performance, there’s still major problems regarding memory usage. JavaScript applications typically consume 3-4 times more memory than similar applications written in C++. Many browser vendors, like Opera Software, acknowledge this and are currently trying to optimize their memory usage. This issue is hopefully non-existent within a near future. Because the majority of scientific papers written about JavaScript only compare performance using the industry benchmarks SunSpider and V8, this thesis have chosen to widen the scope. The benchmarks really give no information about how JavaScript stands in comparison to C#, C++ and other popular languages. To be able to compare that, I’ve implemented a GIF decoder, an XML parser and various elementary tests in both JavaScript and C++ to compare how far apart the languages are in terms of speed, memory usage and responsiveness.