Industry surveys indicated that up to 16percent of pork is pale, soft, and exudative (PSE); which has reduced functionality. Recently, the cost of sodium phosphates (SP) has escalated. SPs are used to improve water holding capacity (WHC), increase pH, and retard lipid oxidation. Alkaline non-meat ingredient addition could improve PSE pork functionality and replace SP in pork products. The objective was to examine effects of alkaline solutions on pH, color, WHC, and texture of PSE and normal pork gels. Normal (pH 5.6-5.9) and PSE (pH ≤ 5.4) loins were obtained and homogenized. Treatment solutions were: no added solution (control); double-distilled deionized water (ddW); 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 pecent(w/v) SP; and 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3M potassium bicarbonate (PB), sodium bicarbonate (SB), potassium carbonate (PC), or sodium carbonate (SC). PSE gels had lighter color, lower pH, WHC, and cook yields, and higher TPA values than normal gels. Control and ddW gels had lower pH, and higher L*, a*, and b* values. As treatment levels increased, gels had higher pH, and lower L*, a*, and b* values. SP gels had lower pH, WHC, cook yields, and higher L*, a*, b*, and TPA values compared to PB, SB, PC, and SC gels. PC and SC gels had higher cook yields than normal control gels and PB and SB gels were intermediate. For both meat types, TPA values improved for PB and SB gels compared to normal control gels, but did not differ from SP gels. As levels of PC and SC increased, gels were softer, less cohesive, chewy, and lower in work 2 than other gels. Cooked PSE gels treated with 0.2 or 0.3M PC or SC were less red and yellow and had cook yields that surpassed normal control and ddW gels. Normal and PSE gels treated with 0.2 or 0.3M PC or SC did not differ in TPA measurements for hardness and work. PSE pork functionality was improved with PC or SC addition to be similar to or higher than normal samples. PC and SC are feasible alternatives to replace SP in pork gel systems without loss of WHC, color, or pH.

The dissertation proposes three approaches for financial risk management. In the first topic, we investigate the stock return and risk of financial holding companies via Markov regime-switching model. The model reduces the disadvantage of traditional linear model, which disregard information of another regime if there exist structural change during the estimation periods. The empirical result shows that all financial holding companies have different stock risk between state 0 and state 1. Moreover, stock risks of all financial holding companies are significant lower after listing. That is, financial holding companies have diversification benefits after listing. In the second topic, we gauge the credit risk of guarantee issue in a bills finance company in Taiwan by a market-based model. Since bills finance companies engage in short-term loans, we renew the contract that can extend short-term loans to mid-and long-term loans. We find that the recovery rate, different industries and business cycle have significant impact on the credit risk of the bills finance company. In the third topic, we relax the assumption of Jarrow, Lando and Turnbull (1997), and propose an elaborate model to gauge the credit risk of Taiwanese bank loans. The empirical result indicates that the credit risk is heavily reliant on the recovery rate. Therefore, collateral value check procedure is very important, which has been found in previous topic. On the other hand, we find that the credit risk management is indifferent between banks participated in financial holding companies and others. That is, banks do not have better credit risk management if take part in financial holding companies. In conclusion, we expect approaches of the dissertation will be helpful for Taiwan¡¦s financial institutions to rise to the challenge of financial risk in the future.

none

因應國際化與自由化趨勢，政府放寬民營銀行新設，因此國內的金融機構數量也快速增加，使得銀行業的經營環境邁向近乎完全競爭市場，直接壓縮到銀行界的生存空間與利潤，因此銀行業務趨向多元化發展，但隨之而來的是經營風險的提高。之後遇到國內傳統產業與房地產的長期不景氣，更讓銀行所擁有的資產品質不斷惡化，另外我國已於2002年1月1日正式加入WTO，國際性的金融集團也可以正式進入我國金融市場，在這樣的雙重壓力之下，各金融機構莫不極力拓展業務，使得銀行、保險與證券業間的區隔日漸模糊。有鑑於美國、日本先後引進金融控股公司法制從事金融改革，我國為增進金融市場之國際競爭力，故在前財政部長顏慶章的推動下，於 2000年11月通過「金融機構合併法」，2001年6月通過「金融控股公司法」，予與國內金融機構進行同業合併與跨業經營的法源依據。陸續有多家銀行、保險與證券業者申請設立，目前已經有14家獲准設立金融控股公司。 然而這14家因應政府政策而紛紛成立的金融控股公司是否真的在績效表現上有達到他們成立前所期望的表現，同時在經營風險與資本面上是否有達到較佳的程度？這些問題不但是檢驗這14金融控股公司成立至今的績效表現，同時也檢驗當時政府在決策判斷與執行的正確性。 基於上述動機，本研究希望藉由這14家金融控股公司從2001年到2005年這段期間在經營績效、經營風險與資本面上的表現數據來驗證，期望達到下列的研究目的： 一、 探討台灣金融機構採用金融控股公司架構前後對績效表現的影響 二、 檢討實施金融控股公司架構之效益 三、 探討金融機構資產大小在金控架構下是否會影響的績效表現 本研究發現實施金控法前銀行的表現優於金控法實施後的表現，可能原因是金控法實施後銀行為健全體質而大量打消呆帳，進一步影響到銀行獲利率，但若與同時期未加入金融控股公司的金融機構加以比較，則可以發現金控公司架構的確會給予加入之金融機構帶來助益，但對不同金融機構有不同的影響，金控法實施後對金控公司銀行的助益是最大，使其有多項衡量指標表現優於非金控公司銀行，就證券業與保險業而言，所帶來的助益較不若銀行的明顯，其原因可能與大部分金控公司以銀行為主體以及客戶對證券業與保險業的信任不若銀行業高，還需要一段時間的經營才會有所顯著。 而有關銀行資產對金融機構績效表現上的影響，則發現資產不同並不會影響到銀行在經營績效、風險與資本面上的表現。 因此，金控法實施至今已經四年，反省政府當初成立金融控股公司的決定，除了給予當時政府官員肯定，還可以得到該項決策是對台灣金融界的確是有所幫助的結論。

University, Diploma Thesis, --Linz, 2008.

The main objective of the study was to determine the risk(s) associated with lockout/tagout of hazardous energy and propose a new LOTO procedure which tracks the implementation of LOTO to mitigate against identified risks as a basis for promotion of safety. The study focuses on electrical personnel working in PHCN. Only electrical accident risks are examined, not other types of risk e.g. mechanical, chemical, and nuclear. To gather material for this study, a questionnaire was distributed amongst electrical workers in PHCN and their supervisors were interviewed. Relevant literature and publications were studied as reference. According to electrical personnel experience, electrocution, arc flash, arc blast, burns and lockout and tagout of the wrong electrical circuit are seen as the biggest electrical safety risk with regards to LOTO of hazardous energy. The research reveals new information about electrical accident risks. This information is used to create a procedure for tracking LOTO of hazardous energy. The procedure can be utilized in the mitigation of electrical risks and promotion of / Thesis (MIng (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The main objective of the study was to determine the risk(s) associated with lockout/tagout of hazardous energy and propose a new LOTO procedure which tracks the implementation of LOTO to mitigate against identified risks as a basis for promotion of safety. The study focuses on electrical personnel working in PHCN. Only electrical accident risks are examined, not other types of risk e.g. mechanical, chemical, and nuclear. To gather material for this study, a questionnaire was distributed amongst electrical workers in PHCN and their supervisors were interviewed. Relevant literature and publications were studied as reference. According to electrical personnel experience, electrocution, arc flash, arc blast, burns and lockout and tagout of the wrong electrical circuit are seen as the biggest electrical safety risk with regards to LOTO of hazardous energy. The research reveals new information about electrical accident risks. This information is used to create a procedure for tracking LOTO of hazardous energy. The procedure can be utilized in the mitigation of electrical risks and promotion of / Thesis (MIng (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), responsible for generating, transmitting and distributing electricity in Nigeria is being faced with an apparent huge maintenance problem which seemingly contributes greatly to the power demand problem of the country. This apparent maintenance problem is investigated by surveying its root causes through interviews, questionnaires and data gathered from selected case studies. Questionnaires were used scientifically with a confidence level of 95% and interval of +-5% and +-4.4% to establish a high level of integrity on data gathered. Findings and deliverables are compared to South Africa’s power utility company Eskom for validation of the final deliverable. With the findings of this survey, the research problem was overcome by developing a new maintenance strategy and work authorization system for the company while making some recommendations on the training being given to its maintenance personnel. The New strategy called ‘Utility Availability Centered Maintenance Strategy’ or UACMS is presented in the form of a flow chart/ block diagram with its different sections fully explained. It mainly combines preventative, predictive and corrective maintenance strategies alongside other modern maintenance techniques. It’s all linked to a computer database support to ensure high effectiveness. Furthermore, the work authorization system called ‘Internal Task Authorization form’ serves to ensure responsibility in task execution within the company. During the course of this research, an excessive application of corrective maintenance strategy, lack of root cause analysis and unavailability of computer based applications were discovered in PHCN. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Electricity availability and stability have a great contributory share of industrialization growth rate, poverty statistics, unemployment, foreign investors' participation, medium and small scale encouragement, crime and mortality rates recorded in any country. Nigeria as a country has been challenged with unstable and unreliable power supply. There are many problems associated with electricity production in Nigeria. Such problems are recorded in the generation, transmission and distribution facets of electricity production. With a multi-faceted problem, this document has been developed to deal with the economic aspect of power generation in Nigeria. Out of numerous technologies that are used in power generation, Nigerian predominantly sources its electricity supply from gas power plants and hydropower systems located within the country. Unfortunately, the Nigeria hydropower has been challenged with hydrological shortfalls. The gas power plant which is now conventional is being challenged with the developing gas technology around the globe. This development has adversely affected the cost of gas and subsequently the cost of power production using gas power plants. As a result of hydrological limitations on Nigerian hydropower dams, effect of gas price on cost of energy produced and diversifying gas technology, harnessing electric energy from Inga falls of River Congo was considered as an economic choice of power production in Nigeria. The choice of power production adopted in this document was made from an economic viability studies carried out between Nigerian gas power plants and hydropower production from the River Congo. The choice of technology employed for harnessing electric energy is largely dependent on the economic factors that go with the development. While some of these technologies go with large initial capital investment some are challenged with geometric increase of running cost. As applied in this work, the Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Levelized Cost of Energy and Cash Flow Trend Analysis are suitable tools to determine choice of power plant. These tools were integrated and developed as an NILC model. In the analysis presented in this dissertation, the economic viability of the two power plants selected was determined with the use of the Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Levelized Cost of Energy and Cash Flow Trend Analysis (NILC) model. The model was used to measure the economic viability quantities of the two power plants selected for economic comparison. After the completion of economic comparative analysis, hydropower production from the River Congo was concluded to be a better choice of power production compared to the conventional gas power plant option in Nigeria. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), responsible for generating, transmitting and distributing electricity in Nigeria is being faced with an apparent huge maintenance problem which seemingly contributes greatly to the power demand problem of the country. This apparent maintenance problem is investigated by surveying its root causes through interviews, questionnaires and data gathered from selected case studies. Questionnaires were used scientifically with a confidence level of 95% and interval of +-5% and +-4.4% to establish a high level of integrity on data gathered. Findings and deliverables are compared to South Africa’s power utility company Eskom for validation of the final deliverable. With the findings of this survey, the research problem was overcome by developing a new maintenance strategy and work authorization system for the company while making some recommendations on the training being given to its maintenance personnel. The New strategy called ‘Utility Availability Centered Maintenance Strategy’ or UACMS is presented in the form of a flow chart/ block diagram with its different sections fully explained. It mainly combines preventative, predictive and corrective maintenance strategies alongside other modern maintenance techniques. It’s all linked to a computer database support to ensure high effectiveness. Furthermore, the work authorization system called ‘Internal Task Authorization form’ serves to ensure responsibility in task execution within the company. During the course of this research, an excessive application of corrective maintenance strategy, lack of root cause analysis and unavailability of computer based applications were discovered in PHCN. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.