by Chan Wai Man. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-76). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / LIST OF ILLUSTRATION --- p.iv / LIST OF TABLES --- p.v / Chapter CHAPTER I - --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.0 --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- The Rationale --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- The Purpose --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Significance of This Study --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Outline of This Paper --- p.4 / Chapter CHAPTER II - --- REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND MODEL DEVELOPMENT --- p.5 / Chapter 2.0 --- Overview --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1 --- What is Service Encounter --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Role of Temporal Dimensions of Service Encounters --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Duration and Frequency --- p.8 / Chapter 2.3 --- The Conceptual Model --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- "The Causal Relations among Duration, Frequency and Authentic Understanding" --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- "The Causal Relations among Duration, Frequency and Perceived Familiarity" --- p.20 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- "The Causal Relations among Duration, Frequency and Efficiency" --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- "The Causal Relations among Authentic Understanding, Familiarity, Efficiency and Service Evaluation" --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3.5 --- Summary --- p.27 / Chapter CHAPTER III - --- METHODOLOGY --- p.28 / Chapter 3.0 --- Overview --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1 --- Research Design --- p.28 / Chapter 3.2 --- Manipulations --- p.29 / Chapter 3.3 --- The Sample and the Sampling Procedure --- p.29 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- The Sample --- p.29 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Sampling Procedure --- p.29 / Chapter 3.4 --- Data Collection Procedures --- p.30 / Chapter 3.5 --- Operationalization of Constructs --- p.31 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Service Evaluation (EVA) --- p.31 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Authentic Understanding (UN) --- p.32 / Chapter 3.5.3 --- Perceived Familiarity (FAM) --- p.32 / Chapter 3.5.4 --- Efficiency (EFF) --- p.32 / Chapter 3.6 --- Data Analysis --- p.33 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- Manipulation Checks --- p.33 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- MANOVA analysis --- p.34 / Chapter 3.6.3 --- MANOVA by Structural Equation Modeling --- p.34 / Chapter 3.7 --- Research Activities --- p.36 / Chapter 3.7.1 --- Pretest 1 --- p.36 / Chapter 3.7.2 --- Pretest 2 --- p.38 / Chapter 3.7.3 --- The Main Study --- p.39 / Chapter 3.8 --- Summary --- p.39 / Chapter CHAPTER IV - --- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION --- p.40 / Chapter 4.0 --- Overview --- p.40 / Chapter 4.1 --- Manipulation Check --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2 --- MANOVA analysis --- p.40 / Chapter 4.3 --- MANOVA by Structural Equation Modeling --- p.45 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Results --- p.47 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Model Evaluation --- p.51 / Chapter 4.4 --- Discussion --- p.55 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.58 / Chapter CHAPTER V - --- CONCLUSION --- p.59 / Chapter 5.0 --- Overview --- p.59 / Chapter 5.1 --- Summary of the Research --- p.59 / Chapter 5.2 --- Contributions of the Study --- p.61 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- The Theoretical Contributions --- p.61 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- The Managerial Implications --- p.62 / Chapter 5.3 --- The Limitations --- p.65 / Chapter 5.4 --- Future Research --- p.67 / Chapter 5.5 --- Summary --- p.68 / THE REFERENCE --- p.69 / Appendices --- p.77

by Yuen Wai-ying. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-51). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Estimation of Factor Scores in a Three-level Factor Analysis Model / Chapter 2.1 --- The Three-level Factor Analysis Model --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2 --- Estimation of Factor Scores in Between-group --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- REG Method --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- GLS Method --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3 --- Estimation of Factor Scores in Second Level Within-group --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- REG Method --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- GLS Method --- p.17 / Chapter 2.4 --- Estimation of Factor Scores in First Level Within-group / Chapter 2.4.1 --- First Approach --- p.19 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Second Approach --- p.24 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Comparison of the Two Approaches in Estimating Factor Scores in First Level Within-group --- p.31 / Chapter 2.5 --- Summary on the REG and GLS Methods --- p.35 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Simulation Studies / Example1 --- p.37 / Example2 --- p.42 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Conclusion and Discussion --- p.48 / References --- p.50 / Figures --- p.52

Visualization systems traditionally focus on graphical representation of information. They tend not to provide integrated analytical services that could aid users in tackling complex knowledge discovery tasks. Users¡¯ exploration in such environments is usually impeded due to several problems: 1) Valuable information is hard to discover, when too much data is visualized on the screen. 2) They have to manage and organize their discoveries off line, because no systematic discovery management mechanism exists. 3) Their discoveries based on visual exploration alone may lack accuracy. 4) They have no convenient access to the important knowledge learned by other users. To tackle these problems, it has been recognized that analytical tools must be introduced into visualization systems. In this paper, we present a novel analysis-guided exploration system, called the Nugget Management System (NMS). It leverages the collaborative effort of human comprehensibility and machine computations to facilitate users¡¯ visual exploration process. Specifically, NMS first extracts the valuable information (nuggets) hidden in datasets based on the interests of users. Given that similar nuggets may be re-discovered by different users, NMS consolidates the nugget candidate set by clustering based on their semantic similarity. To solve the problem of inaccurate discoveries, data mining techniques are applied to refine the nuggets to best represent the patterns existing in datasets. Lastly, the resulting well-organized nugget pool is used to guide users¡¯ exploration. To evaluate the effectiveness of NMS, we integrated NMS into XmdvTool, a freeware multivariate visualization system. User studies were performed to compare the users¡¯ efficiency and accuracy of finishing tasks on real datasets, with and without the help of NMS. Our user studies confirmed the effectiveness of NMS. Keywords: Visual Analytics, Visual Knowledge

Este trabalho objetivou pesquisar a relação da temperatura de superfície (LST) e do estoque de carbono no solo (ECS) com os diferentes tipos de uso e cobertura do solo (UCT). Sabe-se que tais parâmetros podem ser influenciados pelas atividades antrópicas, podendo afetar a integridade do agroecossistema (IAG) da bacia do Rio Corumbataí (BRC). Entende-se por IAG, a capacidade de manutenção de suas propriedades \"primitivas\" e prestação de serviços ecossistêmicos à sociedade. Para alcançar o objetivo proposto, a dinâmica de UCT foi mapeada, a partir da classificação de imagens do satélite Landsat e fotografias aéreas, dos anos de 1962 a 2011. A LST foi obtida por técnicas de sensoriamento remoto, utilizando a banda termal do sensor TM (Thematic Mapper) do Landsat, para os anos de 1985, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2002 e 2011. A análise do ECS foi feita a partir da coleta de amostras de solo, em diferentes UCT: mata nativa, cana-de-açúcar, pastagem e fruticultura, na profundidade de 0-10 e 10-20 cm. Os resultados indicaram que a LST e os ECS da área de estudo são influenciados pelo UCT e pelo manejo das culturas. Verificou-se ainda que algumas políticas agrícolas, adotadas no período de 1962 a 2011, influenciaram a dinâmica de UCT e, consequentemente, a capacidade do agroecossistema da BRC no fornecimento de serviços ecossistêmicos e também geraram custos ambientais. A abordagem interdisciplinar adotada neste trabalho, com o emprego das geotecnologias, mostrou ser capaz de avaliar a integridade do agroecossistema da BRC, podendo subsidiar o planejamento de uso do solo visando a maximizar a relação benefício/custo das atividades antrópicas, considerando a LST e o ECS. Tal abordagem pode ser aplicada em diferentes áreas do conhecimento para a análise da sustentabilidade e integridade ambiental dos agroecossistemas. / In this work, the aim was search the relationship between both surface temperature (LST) and soil organic carbon (SOC) with several sort of land use cover (LUC). We know such a parameters can be influenced by anthropic activities, it can affects the Corumbataí River basin (CRB) agro ecosystem integrity (AGI). AGI means, the capacity of both maintenance of its \"primitive\" properties and supplies public ecosystem service. Reaching the proposed goal, the LUC dynamic was mapping through both Landsat-TM image classification and aerial photography from 1962 to 2011. The LST has been obtained by remote sensing technique through Lansat-TM thermal band to the years 1985, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2002 and 2011. The ECS analyze was carried out by soil sample collected in different type of LUC: forest native, sugar cane, pasture and orchard, in the 0-10 and 10-20 cm depths. The results have indicated both the BRC of the LST and SOC are influenced by both together LUC and crop tillage. Furthermore, some agricultural policy adopted during from 1962 to 2011 influenced the LUC dynamic, thus the CRB agro ecosystem capacity of supply agro ecosystem services as well as provided environmental cost. The interdisciplinary approach employed, with the use of geotechnologies, has shown to be able to assessment the CRB agro ecosystem integrity, it can supports the LUC planning in order to maximize the benefit/cost ratio anthropic activities, considering both the LST and ECS. Such an approach can be applied in several knowledge areas to evaluation of sustainability and agro ecosystem environmental integrity.

The stream of new technological advancements and their integration into the field of microbiology have contributed significantly towards our understanding of life in the micro-scale world, making the fields of microbiology and biotechnology shine like never before. Since 1980, the recombinant protein-based therapeutics industry has become one of the fastest growing sectors in the biopharmaceutical market. Nearly 30% of commercially available recombinant proteins are produced in Escherichia coli, making this species one of the most commonly used bacterial expression systems for the production of recombinant biotherapeutics. However, when it comes to the production of enzymes and bioactive secondary metabolites (antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral and immunosuppressant), Streptomyces species remain the major producer within this sector. Meeting the high demand for such products requires a clear and in-depth understanding of the bioprocesses involved to achieve high yield and quality products, whilst keeping the process industrially attractive. It is generally accepted that the metabolome, as a down-stream process to the genome and proteome, may provide a clearer picture of a biological system. Thus, in this thesis a series of metabolomics approaches were adopted to obtain a deeper insight into the metabolic effects of recombinant protein production in E. coli and Streptomyces lividans. Furthermore, a Geobacter-based biomagnetite nanoparticle production system which displayed a prolonged lag phase upon scale-up was investigated by employing metabolic profiling and fingerprinting approaches combined with multivariate analysis strategies, to identify growth-limiting metabolites. The results of this analysis identified nicotinamide as the growth limiting metabolite. Nicotinamide-feeding experiments confirmed the above findings, leading to improved biomass yield whilst restoring the lag phase to bench-scale level. Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies combined with stable isotopic probing strategies were also employed to demonstrate the application of metabolic fingerprinting in providing detailed biochemical information for quantitative characterisation and differentiation of E. coli cells at community and single-cell levels. The single-cell approach proved promising, offering detailed biochemical information and perhaps accompanying other cultivation-free approaches such as metagenomics for further future investigations. It is hoped that the advances made in these studies have proved the potential applications of metabolomics strategies to aid the optimisation of microbially-driven bioprocesses.

Lau Suk Yin Rebecca. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-117). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT (ENGLISH) --- p.i / ABSTRACT (CHINESE) --- p.iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.viii / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.ix / Chapter CHAPTER I --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER II --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Definition of Mediating Effects --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2 --- Approaches to Mediational Analyses --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Correlation Approach --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Hierarchical Regression Approach --- p.17 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- SEM Approach --- p.39 / Chapter 2.3 --- Summary --- p.44 / Chapter CHAPTER III --- A TEST FOR THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDIATING EFFECTS IN SEM --- p.47 / Chapter 3.1 --- A Significance Test for the Mediating Effects with SEM --- p.48 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Model without Mediating Effects --- p.48 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Model with Full Mediation --- p.49 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Model with Partial Mediation --- p.49 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- Model with Suppression --- p.50 / Chapter 3.2 --- Procedure for Testing the Significance of Mediating Effects in SEM --- p.50 / Chapter 3.3 --- Summary --- p.56 / Chapter CHAPTER IV --- MODEL COMPARISON IN SEM --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2 --- Testing the Significance of Mediating Effects with ΔFIs --- p.61 / Chapter CHAPTER V --- METHODOLOGY OF SIMULATION --- p.65 / Chapter 5.1 --- Resampling Space Generation --- p.65 / Chapter 5.2 --- Sample Generation and Method of Analysis --- p.67 / Chapter CHAPTER VI --- SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION --- p.73 / Chapter 6.1 --- Simulation Results --- p.73 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- Variance Explained by Model Characteristics --- p.73 / Chapter 6.1.1.1 --- Variance Explained Under the Condition of No Mediation --- p.80 / Chapter 6.1.1.2 --- Variance Explained Under the Condition of Mediating Effects at 0.1 --- p.81 / Chapter 6.1.1.2.1 --- Variance Explained by Factor Loadings --- p.81 / Chapter 6.1.1.2.2 --- Variance Explained by Sample Size --- p.82 / Chapter 6.1.1.2.3 --- Variance Explained by Number of Items --- p.83 / Chapter 6.1.1.2.4 --- "Variance Explained by 2-Way Interactions of Factor Loadings, Sample Size and Number of Items" --- p.83 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Correlation between FIs and ΔFIs --- p.84 / Chapter 6.2 --- Simulation Result Discussion --- p.88 / Chapter CHAPTER VII --- NUMERICAL EXAMPLE --- p.91 / Chapter 7.1 --- Testing Mediating Effects in a Model in Past Literature --- p.91 / Chapter 7.2 --- Summary --- p.94 / Chapter CHAPTER VIII --- DISCUSSION --- p.96 / Chapter 8.1 --- Limitations and Directions for Future Research --- p.101 / APPENDIX / Chapter APPENDIX I --- Syntax for Testing the Significance of Mediating Effects (Unconstrained Model) / Chapter APPENDIX II --- Syntax for Testing the Significance of Mediating Effects (Constrained Model) / Chapter APPENDIX III --- Syntax for Testing Full Mediation --- p.106 / Chapter APPENDIX IV --- "Syntax for Testing Mediating Effects in Model by Foley, Kidder & Powell (2002) (DV: Intentions to Leave) (Unconstrained Model)" --- p.107 / Chapter APPENDIX V --- "Syntax for Testing Mediating Effects in Model by Foley, Kidder & Powell (2002) (DV: Intentions to Leave) (Constrained Model)" --- p.108 / Chapter APPENDIX VI --- "Syntax for Testing Mediating Effects in Model by Foley, Kidder & Powell (2002) (DV: Perceived Career Prospects) (Unconstrained Model)" --- p.109 / Chapter APPENDIX VII --- "Syntax for Testing Mediating Effects in Model by Foley, Kidder & Powell (2002) (DV: Perceived Career Prospects) (Constrained Model)" --- p.110 / REFERENCES --- p.111

Leung Man-Kit. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-41). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Basic concepts of survival data --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Missing Complete at Random (MCAR) --- p.8 / Chapter 1.3 --- Missing at Random (MAR) --- p.9 / Chapter 2 --- The maximaization of the marginal likelihood --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Survival function --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Missing covariate pattern --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3 --- Set of survival time with rank restrictions --- p.13 / Chapter 2.4 --- Marginal likelihood --- p.14 / Chapter 2.5 --- Score function --- p.15 / Chapter 3 --- The MCMC stochastic approximation approach --- p.17 / Chapter 4 --- Simulations Studies --- p.22 / Chapter 4.1 --- MCAR : Simulation 1 --- p.23 / Chapter 4.2 --- MCAR : Simulation 2 --- p.24 / Chapter 4.3 --- MAR : Simulation 3 --- p.26 / Chapter 4.4 --- MAR : Simulation 4 --- p.27 / Chapter 5 --- Example --- p.30 / Chapter 6 --- Discussion --- p.33 / Appendix --- p.35 / Bibliography --- p.37

Lai, Ka Lun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-77). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Multivariate Threshold Time Series Model --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Multivariate TAR Models --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2 --- Testing for Nonlinearity --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3 --- Model Selection and Estimation --- p.22 / Chapter 2.4 --- Bivariate TAR Models --- p.26 / Chapter 2.5 --- Applications --- p.27 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Comparative Study of Interest Rates --- p.34 / Chapter 3.1 --- Background --- p.34 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Importance of Modelling Interest Rates --- p.40 / Chapter 3.3 --- The Scope of Study --- p.41 / Chapter 3.4 --- Major Findings --- p.42 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Conclusion --- p.71 / Reference --- p.80

No description available.

O sistema orçamentário é um artefato contábil relevante para a tomada de decisão diante de um contexto de alta complexidade apresentado na realidade contemporânea, pois representa uma antecipação da visão da empresa, traduzindo sua estratégia e oferecendo diretrizes de conduta. Sua composição e as razões para o seu uso (como forma de comunicação das metas, avaliando desempenho, sendo um instrumento de planejamento operacional e de formação da estratégia) parecem estar relacionadas às variáveis contingenciais que afetam a empresa, tais como a incerteza ambiental percebida, a estratégia em foco, a estrutura organizacional, a tecnologia empregada em seu sistema de informação e o seu porte. O presente estudo, portanto, possui como finalidade compreender os atributos do sistema orçamentário a partir das variáveis contingenciais, considerando determinados níveis de desempenho. Metodologicamente, trata-se de um estudo descritivo e causal, utilizando-se de coleta de dados com questionário previamente formulado, aplicado para os controllers ou responsáveis pela controladoria nas indústrias paranaenses cadastradas em 2006 na FIEP- Federação das Indústrias do Estado do Paraná. Adicionalmente, refere-se a um estudo ex post facto, em condições de campo, transversal e utilizando-se de técnicas estatísticas de análise multivariada, mais especificamente testes não-paramétricos, correlação de Pearson, análise fatorial, modelagem de equações estruturais e clusters. Por subsidiar sua investigação com a abordagem contingencial, o presente estudo pode ser caracterizado como sendo uma pesquisa de sistemas, relacionando as diversas variáveis em análise com o desempenho percebido para a identificação de arranjos contingenciais. Os resultados apresentados apontam para a aceitabilidade das cinco hipóteses apresentadas na tese, ratificando a influência do ambiente nos fatores contingenciais intra-organizacionais, a relação dos fatores contingenciais e o sistema orçamentário da empresa, a influência das variáveis contingenciais no desempenho, a associação existente entre os atributos orçamentários e o desempenho e, por fim, a presença de arranjos (fits) entre as variáveis contingenciais e os atributos do sistema orçamentário, em virtude da apresentação de um desempenho superior. A presente pesquisa empírica revela que independente do porte, indústrias paranaenses que possuem um maior grau de aderência ao sistema orçamentário, conscientes das razões para o seu uso e que apresentam tarefa rotineira em seus processos exibiram alto desempenho organizacional e orçamentário. Logo, conclui-se que sob certas condições há indícios que o orçamento é benéfico à empresa, revelando uma relação custo-benefício positiva. / The budgetary system is a relevant accounting tool to the decision-making within the high complex context of the contemporary reality, since it represents a prospect of the business vision, translating its strategy and offering conduct guidance. The budgetary system\'s composition and the reasons for its use (as a form of targets communication, performance evaluation and being an instrument for operational planning and strategic formation) seem to be related to contingent variables that affect a business, such as perceived environmental uncertainty, focus strategy, the organizational structure, the information system technology employed and its size. The present study, therefore, intends to understand the budgetary system attributes considering contingent variables and certain performance levels. Methodologically, it is a descriptive and causal study, witch uses data from previously formulated surveys, aimed to the controllers or to the responsible for the control department of the Paraná industries registered at FIEP - Federação das Indústrias do Estado do Paraná in 2006. Additionally, it is an ex post facto study, in field conditions, transversal, and using multivariate analysis statistical techniques, more specifically non parametric tests, Pearson correlation, factorial analysis, structural equation modeling, and clusters. Since this investigation is subsidized by a contingent approach, it may be characterized as a systems\' research, relating the many variables under analysis like the noticed performance of contingent arrangements/fits. The presented results show an acceptability of the five hypotheses presented on the thesis, ratifying the environment influence on the intraorganizational contingent factors, the relations between the contingent factors and the company budgetary system, the contingent variables influence on the performance, the existent association between the budgetary attributes and the performance and, finally, fits/arrangements presence between the contingent variables and the budgetary system attributes, due to the better performance presentation. This empirical research reveals that unrelated to the company size, Paraná industries that show a higher degree of adherence to the budgetary system, industries that are conscious of the reasons for its uses and present routine tasks in its process showed an organizational and budgetary high performance. Thus, the conclusion is that under certain conditions the budgeting is a benefit to the company, revealing a positive cost-benefit relation.