The primary goal of a publicly traded company is to maximise the wealth of its shareholders. This implies that the management of the firm, as agents of the owners, has to manage the firm in such a manner as to create value from every decision taken. Value-based management (VBM) is a management strategy aimed at achieving shareholder wealth creation and is based on the effective management of a set of internal value drivers to maximise wealth creation. The primary objective of the current study is to investigate the quantification of the relationship between internal value drivers and shareholder wealth creation in the Mining sector of JSE listed companies in South Africa. In order to achieve this, the internal value drivers were identified from literature, the necessary financial data was collected and the value drivers as well as actual shareholder wealth were quantified. Revenue growth, operating profitability, capital requirements and weighted average cost of capital (WACC) were identified as the value drivers while total shareholder return (TSR) was identified as the actual shareholder wealth creator. For the purpose of the current study, WACC was excluded from the analysis. By application of linear regression, it was found that revenue growth and operating profitability have a positive, statistically significant effect of TSR. After analysing the effect size, it is however concluded that the effect is not practically significant. These findings concur with similar research in the field of VBM. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

This series of experiments investigated dystrophin localization in the normal cerebellum and examined Purkinje neuron function in normal and dystrophin-deficient mice to better understand the physiological basis for cognitive deficits associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a common genetic disorder among children. Cognitive impairments are consistently reported in DMD, yet precise mechanisms for their occurrence are unknown. Dystrophin protein, which is absent in DMD, is normally localized to muscles and specific neurons in the brain. Purkinje neurons are rich in dystrophin, specifically in somatic and dendritic membranes. Studies demonstrate perturbed cerebellar function in the absence of dystrophin, suggesting that DMD should be regarded as a cerebellar disorder in addition to being considered a neuromuscular disorder. However, theory and evidence are not generated from overlapping information: research investigating cerebellar involvement in DMD has focused on the vermal region, associated with motor function. The lateral region, implicated in cognition, has not been explicitly examined in DMD. The first experiment revisited the issue of dystrophin distribution in the mouse cerebellum using immunohistochemistry to investigate qualitative and quantitative differences between cerebellar regions. Both regions showed dystrophin localized to Purkinje neuron somatic and dendritic membranes, but dystrophin density was 30% greater in the lateral than the vermal region. The second experiment examined intrinsic electrophysiological properties of vermal and lateral Purkinje neurons from wild-type (WT) mice and from the mdx mouse model of DMD which lack dystrophin. Significant differences in action potential firing frequency, regularity, and shape were found between cerebellar regions. Purkinje neurons from mdx mouse cerebellum exhibited membrane hyperpolarization and irregular action potential firing, regardless of region. Spontaneous action potential firing frequency was reduced in Purkinje neurons from lateral cerebellum in mdx mice relative to controls, demonstrating that a loss of dystrophin causes a potent dysregulation of Purkinje neuron function in the region associated with cognition. This research extends our understanding of cerebellar pathology in DMD and its potential relevance to cognitive deficits in the disorder. Moreover, this research further supports the role of the cerebellum as a structure important for cognition and contributes to our understanding of dystrophin’s role in the brain.

Hard Red Winter (HRW) and Soft Red Winter (HRW) wheat classes (Triticum aestivum L.) and oat (Avena sativa L.) are commonly established as a source of winter and spring forage for cattle grazing in many regions of Texas and the U.S. Southern Great Plains. Small grains used in these grazed systems offer the flexibility of management for season long forage production or production of both forage and grain (dual-purpose). Many commercially available and experimental cultivars are continually evaluated on their ability to produce grain, but little yield data is available on wheat and oats under dual-purpose management systems. In forage production systems, soil fertility management is also an integral component in meeting specific yield goals that producers depend upon to sustain adequate animal performance. Current nitrogen (N) recommendations in Texas are based on heavy, moderate, and light levels of grazing. To address these issues, two-year studies were initiated at three locations in Central Texas. The objectives of these studies were; (1) to evaluate thirty wheat and ten oat cultivars based on forage production and grain yield to identify those best suited to dual-purpose management; (2) to determine winter wheat forage yield potential at varying levels of N fertility; and (3) to evaluate five minimally invasive and non-destructive methods of quantifying forage yield. Results from dual-purpose cultivar evaluations included significant differences in forage yield, nutritive value, and grain yield between cultivars and species. Overall, oat produced less forage than either class of wheat, but Mg content was generally higher in oat. For grain production, SRW performed better under irrigation, but in dryland situations both wheat classes performed equally. We also found that pre-plant N fertilizer significantly reduced stand establishment in dry environments. The 67 kg ha-1 pre-plant N and the 45 kg ha-1 top-dress rates produced the highest forage yield. Nutritive value generally increased as N application rate increased, even when no yield increase was observed. Hand clipping and canopy height both correlated very well with full plot harvest and visual ratings and NDVI had moderate relationships with full plot harvest. The relationship between ground cover and dry matter yield was variable and only weakly correlated.

In recent years, foods produced by genetic engineering technology have been on the world food market. The biosafety aspects, regulations, and labelling of these foods are still contentious issues in most countries. It is necessary to have approval for the use of GMOs in the production of food. Thus, detection and quantification of GMOs play crucial role for developing regulations on GM foods. In this study, raw and processed maize samples were analysed for genetic modification using a DNA based detection method, the Polymerase Chain Reaction. Ten raw food and 18 processed maize food including maize flour, starch, corn flakes, maize chips were collected from different markets located in different places in Turkey. The samples were examined for the presence of genetic elements located in the majority of transgenic crops such as NOS terminator, CaMV 35S promoter, kanamycin resistance (KanR) gene, using conventional PCR with oligonucleotide sets targeting to novel genes. Furthermore screening was conducted via Real-Time PCR assay for NOS terminator and 35S promoter. For confirming the presence of Bt11 maize lines event specific primers were utilised. Quantification of Bt11 maize lines were performed via Real-Time PCR. The result indicates that foreign genetic elements were found in all analysed raw material. In six out of 10 raw material, presence of Bt11 gene were identified. GMO detection was also possible for maize flour and starch, however in processed material as corn starch, corn flakes, corn chips and pop corn, transgenes were not detected.

ABSTRACT QUANTIFICATION OF ACCELERATION CLAIMS: A SIMPLIFIED APPROACH Operating a successful business within the construction industry has become more difficult for companies as the profitability margins decreased considerably compared to previous years. Even, global economy has created an environment in which construction firms are enforced to bid projects at or below lowest profit levels. At the same time, owners are demanding more difficult projects without increasing the quality of contract documents. This has placed an added burden on the individual contractor to construct sophisticated projects. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the number of disputes within the construction industry continues to increase. Thus, contractors requested additional payments from the owners and the concept of claim and claim management developed. However, implementation of a well developed claim management process is crucial as the consequences and reimbursement depends on this process. The objective of this study is to discuss potential sources of disputes and types of claims in the construction industry by focusing on acceleration claims. Quantification methods for owner directed acceleration are discussed as well as required documentation and claim management strategies for preparation of acceleration claims. Two different methods, namely theoretical approach and simplified approach, are presented here and examined in detail mentioning their advantages and shortcomings. These methods are applied to two different real cases, one in Turkey and the other one is abroad in order to have a better understanding of these approaches. Furthermore, a computer program is developed to carry out the calculations that constitute the necessary steps of simplified quantification method. This study can be considered as a complete guide for young civil engineers about quantification and management of acceleration claims.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

In this dissertation, we develop multiscale finite element methods and uncertainty quantification technique for Richards' equation, a mathematical model to describe fluid flow in unsaturated porous media. Both coarse-level and fine-level numerical computation techniques are presented. To develop an accurate coarse-scale numerical method, we need to construct an effective multiscale map that is able to capture the multiscale features of the large-scale solution without resolving the small scale details. With a careful choice of the coarse spaces for multiscale finite element methods, we can significantly reduce errors. We introduce several methods to construct coarse spaces for multiscale finite element methods. A coarse space based on local spectral problems is also presented. The construction of coarse spaces begins with an initial choice of multiscale basis functions supported in coarse regions. These basis functions are complemented using weighted local spectral eigenfunctions. These newly constructed basis functions can capture the small scale features of the solution within a coarse-grid block and give us an accurate coarse-scale solution. However, it is expensive to compute the local basis functions for each parameter value for a nonlinear equation. To overcome this difficulty, local reduced basis method is discussed, which provides smaller dimension spaces with which to compute the basis functions. Robust solution techniques for Richards' equation at a fine scale are discussed. We construct iterative solvers for Richards' equation, whose number of iterations is independent of the contrast. We employ two-level domain decomposition pre-conditioners to solve linear systems arising in approximation of problems with high contrast. We show that, by using the local spectral coarse space for the preconditioners, the number of iterations for these solvers is independent of the physical properties of the media. Several numerical experiments are given to support the theoretical results. Last, we present numerical methods for uncertainty quantification applications for Richards' equation. Numerical methods combined with stochastic solution techniques are proposed to sample conductivities of porous media given in integrated data. Our proposed algorithm is based on upscaling techniques and the Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Sampling results are presented to prove the efficiency and accuracy of our algorithm.

The interaction of the surface of a pure metal or an alloy with the surrounding atmosphere occurs in a highly complex interfacial regime. During atmospheric corrosion this interfacial regime involves the metal surface, often covered by a naturally formed oxide layer of a few nanometers thickness; an aqueous adlayer, typically with a thickness of a few to a few tens of nanometers, and the atmosphere from which airborne particles, oxygen, and gaseous pollutants dissolve into the adlayer and influence the atmospheric corrosion process. This thesis work is mainly concerned with the initial atmospheric corrosion of zinc and brass induced by carboxylic acids (120 parts per billion of formic, acetic, or propionic acid) in laboratory air with 90% relative humidity. This model system has been chosen to mimic indoor corrosion with carboxylic acids as major corrosion stimulators. The study forms part of a broader research program with the ultimate goal to provide a computer model of the early stages of atmospheric corrosion of copper, zinc and copper-zinc alloys, induced by carboxylic acids. Particular emphasis has been given to identify and quantify the corrosion products formed and to determine their lateral distribution over the corroding surface. This has been accomplished through a multi-analytical approach in which two main techniques are infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) which can identify and quantify corrosion products with a relative accuracy of about 10%, and confocal Raman microspectroscopy (CRM) which can identify and resolve corrosion products with a surface lateral resolution of better than one micrometer. The corrosion products identified on pure zinc are zinc oxide (ZnO) and various forms of Zn-carboxylates. On brass, the main corrosion products identified are a cuprite (Cu2O)-like phase and various forms of Zn-carboxylates. For pure zinc and brass the formation rates of corrosion products in presence of the investigated acids depend, among others, on their deposition velocity and acid strength. The interaction of pure zinc and brass with humidified air containing carboxylic acids follows two spatially separated main pathways: a proton-induced dissolution of metal ions followed by the formation of oxides, and a carboxylate-induced dissolution followed by the deposition of metal carboxylates. When applying this multi-analytical approach, it has been possible to distinguish between anodically and cathodically active areas for brass, but not for pure zinc. Galvanic effects have been shown to play a significant role during the initial corrosion of brass.  Further evidence of the selective formation of corrosion products has been found when exploring the more complex heterogeneous surface of Galvalume, a commercial aluminum-zinc alloy coating. This material has been exposed to humidified laboratory air with additions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and sodium chloride (NaCl) and to a marine atmospheric environment. Initiated in the interdendritic zinc-rich areas, a uniform aluminum oxide (Al2O3) layer is formed. This oxide exhibits an inhibiting effect on the subsequent formation of other corrosion products, including aluminum oxyhydroxide (AlOOH), aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH)3), ZnO, zinc hydroxycarbonate and zinc hydroxychloride. / QC 20110607

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a relatively new solid-state welding technology invented at The Welding Institute of UK in 1991. It is versatile and has been widely adopted to join various materials. There has been strong research activity on revealing the details of the material flow pattern in the nugget zone induced by the conventional shoulder tool. However, there is insufficient understanding on the aspects of the scroll shoulder tool design and the shoulder flow zone formation utilizing this type of tool. The major objective of this study was to conduct experiments, analyse results and then reveal the shoulder flow zone forming mechanism for the scroll shoulder tool. The method used was to identify the flow pattern in the shoulder flow zone using a ‘marker insert’ technique, and then to suggest the forming mechanism of the shoulder flow zone based on the obtained flow pattern; although the ‘marker insert’ technique has never been used to study the shoulder flow zone flow pattern induced by the scroll shoulder tool. Experiments were conducted to examine the thick sections 6061 aluminium ‘marker insert’ welds, which were welded using a scroll shoulder tool at a range of welding parameters. These were followed by quantifying the mass of the accumulated work piece material within the scroll groove (pick up material-PUM), evaluating the effect of welding parameters on the shoulder flow zone formation, and documenting the shoulder flow zone flow pattern. The major finding was that there is a simple banded structure which forms in a layer to layer manner in the bottom portion of the shoulder flow zone, but it disappears in the top portion of the shoulder flow zone. Accordingly, the forming mechanism of the shoulder flow zone for the scroll shoulder tool was suggested as follows. Firstly, the tool pin is plunged into the work piece; the work piece material is extruded by the pin and pushed up into the scroll groove forming the PUM. Secondly, after the tool shoulder is plunged into the work piece to a certain depth, the scroll groove is fully filled up with the PUM. Finally, during the forward movement of the tool, the central portion of PUM is driven downward by the root portion of the pin and then detaches from the pin (tip portion) in a layer to layer manner. It has also found that the thickness of the shoulder flow zone varies with a thicker on the advancing side than on the retreating side, and there is a positive linear relationship between the mass of PUM and the weld quality. This study has revealed for the first time the forming mechanism of the shoulder flow zone, and has improved the understanding of the shoulder flow zone formation using a scroll shoulder tool. It is recommended that a ‘shoulder-breaking’ technique is developed to break the rotating shoulder suddenly and hence embed it into the work piece during FSW, in which a real-time shoulder-work piece couple could be produced for a better three-dimensional examination of the shoulder flow zone.

Η συνεισφορά των πρωτεϊνικών θειολών στη διαμόρφωση της θειολικής οξειδοαναγωγικής κατάστασης είναι πολύ σημαντική και αλλαγές της τελευταίας μπορεί να επιφέρουν καθοριστικές μεταβολές στη κυτταρική λειτουργία. Στόχος της παρούσας μελέτης είναι η βελτίωση προηγούμενων μεθόδων ποσοτικοποίησης των πρωτεϊνικών θειολών με τη χρήση νέων αντιδραστηρίων αναγωγής δισουλφιδικών δεσμών και ανίχνευσης -SH ομάδων. Σχεδιάστηκε μια νέα φωτομετρική μέθοδος προς την κατεύθυνση της ακριβούς ποσοτικοποίησης των πρωτεϊνικών θειολών PSH, PSSP και PSSNP. Ο νέος αναγωγικός πάραγοντας που αναδείχθηκε είναι το tributylphosphine (TBP) και το νέο αντιδραστήριο- ανιχνευτής ελεύθερων -SH ομάδων, το DPS ή 4- Aldrithiol. / The protein thiols contribution in the regulation of the thiol redox status is very important and changes in the last can produce serious cell disfunction. The purpose of this study was the improvement of precedent protein thiol quantification methods using new reagents of disulfide bonds reductants and –SH group tracers. A new photometric method has been planned leading to the exact quantification of protein thiol compounds such as PSH, PSSP and PSSNP. The new reductant used is tributylphosphine (TBP) and the new free -SH tracer reagent is DPS or 4- Aldrithiol.