A commonly used process for the formation of ceramic wall tile bodies is powder compaction. Variations in density in wall tile bodies introduced by the compaction process can cause rejection at later stages of production. Quality control equipment currently employed does not identify reject bodies in the unfired state. Scope exists to reduce production costs by the timely removal of reject bodies in the unfired state. In this thesis an ultrasonic non-destructive technique is presented which allows the mapping of the density variations found in wall tile bodies in the unfired and fired states to an accuracy of ± 0.5%. An effective medium theory for the propagation of ultrasound in porous media is developed. The significance of the dependence of Young's modulus on density in determining the relationship between compression wave propagation velocity and density is explored. Using a vibrational resonance technique, it is shown that the evolution of Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio in the wall tile body material are very sensitive to the conditions used for the firing operation. The Biot two-phase theory of acoustic propagation in fluid saturated porous media which considers dissipation due to friction between the fluid and porous frame is reviewed, and the applicability to the wall tile body material assessed. It is shown that this dissipation mechanism is insignificant for this particular material. A modification is made to the model in an attempt to include dissipation due to the inelasticity and scattering of the porous frame. The results show that the two-phase theory reduces to an effective medium theory in the limit of the saturating fluid being air. The thesis concludes that density variations in wall tile bodies can be measured using and ultrasonic technique and that an effective medium theory can be used to describe the propagation of ultrasound in porous media.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

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Zhang, Yilei. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-174). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts also in Chinese.

Thesis. 1979. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY. / Bibliography: leaves 176-179. / This thesis examines the effect that federal regulation of the product quality of new drugs (through safety and efficacy requirements) has had on the flow of new drugs onto the market place. The approach is to econometrically estimate these effects using disaggregated therapeutic class data from the 1970's. There are two primary estimations. First, the current effects of regulation on the production function relation between introductions and research expenditures are estimated. Second, the indirect effects of regulation on research effort are estimated in a research expenditures equation. These estimates are then combined to estimate the overall effect of regulation on introductions in the current era. In addition to the basic estimations described above, several important subsidiary issues are treated in the thesis. One is a discussion of the decline in new drug introductions of the 1962 era in terms of its individual therapeutic class components. This discussion gives strong support to the position that nonregulatory factors precipitated that decline in the rate of product introductions. Also, the project selection process of major pharmaceutical companies is examined in great detail. That discussion, and some econometric tests of hypotheses generated, clearly demonstrates that in order to predict how firms will respond to changes in environmental factors affecting profitability, one must first understand how firms collect, evaluate, and apply information concerning those factors. / Ph.D.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

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Accounting numbers are not only the products of peripheral economic events, but, by and large, can be consciously influenced from the effects of calculated business decisions and the selective applications of alternative reporting procedures. In academic parlance, the term accounting quality, or lack thereof, is often used to describe the extent to which these convoluting influences create a disparity between economic fundamentals and their numerical portrayal. This doctoral thesis speaks to three aspects of accounting quality; (i) Earnings Thresholds: A Re-Examination of the Role of Earnings Management, (ii) Earnings Manipulation and the Investigation of 'Red Flag' Accounting Ratios, and (iii) An Empirical Analysis of Standard and Poor's (S&Ps) Core Earnings metric. Each topic is outlined in a separate research paper.