<p>The core purpose of this study is to follow the development of strategic alliances within the banking sector. The objective is to get an idea of the use of strategic alliances in German banking and, furthermore, to understand what kind of alliances are entered and why. This will be achieved by analyzing and evaluating different German banks. The aim is to follow the tendency of banks to co-operate with other banks and competitors as well as intersectoral partners.</p>

<p>The aim of this paper is to map out the purposes of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. This is done in order to see if humanitarian tendencies have been an increasingly cause for the UN to initiate an intervention with military means. This paper uses the time period from the end of the cold war until today, since that historic occurrence increased the U.N.’s involvement in peacekeeping. By using this time span it enables the survey to indicate changes in the mapping of humanitarian interventions. The results show that the number of operations increased during the period 1990-1999. The end of the cold war enabled the members of the U.N.’s Security Council to cooperate in peacekeeping operations by sending observers. Therefore the change in the number of operations was mostly due to political and not strictly humanitarian purposes. The number of operations then decreased during the period 2000-2008. The study explains this with a more humanitarian approach in the U.N.’s peacekeeping operations. This made the operations fewer, but more comprehensive and more complicated. A consequence of this is shown in an extended average of the time period for the operations. These results is being analyzed by using the theories of realism and liberalism, along with their moral perspectives; skeptics, state-moralists, and cosmopolites. These theories reveal a transformation in the function of the UN from a skeptic realist view during the cold war, to a state-moralist view during the period 1990-1999. And finally the period 2000-2008 indicate cosmopolitan influences with more humanitarian purposes parallel to the state-moralist thinking.</p>

Object recognition in the visual cortex is based on a hierarchical architecture, in which specialized brain regions along the ventral pathway extract object features of increasing levels of complexity, accompanied by greater invariance in stimulus size, position, and orientation. Recent theoretical studies postulate a non-linear pooling function, such as the maximum (MAX) operation could be fundamental in achieving such invariance. In this paper, we are concerned with neurally plausible mechanisms that may be involved in realizing the MAX operation. Four canonical circuits are proposed, each based on neural mechanisms that have been previously discussed in the context of cortical processing. Through simulations and mathematical analysis, we examine the relative performance and robustness of these mechanisms. We derive experimentally verifiable predictions for each circuit and discuss their respective physiological considerations.

Three-Phase Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) are finding widespread applications in grid integrated power conversion systems. The control systems of such VSCs are in an increasing number of these applications required to operate during voltage disturbances and unbalanced conditions. Control systems designed for grid side voltagesensor- less operation are at the same time becoming attractive due to the continuous drive for cost reduction and increased reliability of VSCs, but are not commonly applied for operation during unbalanced conditions. Methods for voltage-sensor-less grid synchronization and control of VSCs under unbalanced grid voltage conditions will therefore be the main focus of this Thesis. Estimation methods based on the concept of Virtual Flux, considering the integral of the converter voltage in analogy to the flux of an electric machine, are among the simplest and most well known techniques for achieving voltage-sensor-less grid synchronization. Most of the established techniques for Virtual Flux estimation are, however, either sensitive to grid frequency variations or they are not easily adaptable for operation under unbalanced grid voltage conditions. This Thesis addresses both these issues by proposing a simple approach for Virtual Flux estimation by utilizing a frequency-adaptive filter based on a Second Order Generalized Integrator (SOGI). The proposed approach can be used to achieve on-line frequency-adaptive varieties of conventional strategies for Virtual Flux estimation. The main advantage is, however, that the SOGI-based Virtual Flux estimation can be arranged in a structure that achieves inherent symmetrical component sequence separation under unbalanced conditions. The proposed method for Virtual Flux estimation can be used as a general basis for voltage-sensor-less grid synchronization and control during unbalanced conditions. In this Thesis, the estimated Virtual Flux signals are used to develop a flexible strategy for control of active and reactive power flow, formulated as generalized equations for current reference calculation. A simple, but general, implementation is therefore achieved, where the control objective and the power flow characteristics can be selected according to the requirements of any particular application. Thus, the same control structure can be used to achieve for instance balanced sinusoidal currents or elimination of double frequency active power oscillations during unbalanced conditions. In case of voltage sags, current references corresponding to a specified active or reactive power flow might exceed the current capability of the converter. The limits for active and reactive power transfer during unbalanced conditions have therefore been analyzed, and generalized strategies for current reference calculation when operating under current limitations have been derived. The specified objectives for active and reactive power flow characteristics can therefore be maintained during unbalanced grid conditions, while the average active and reactive power flow is limited to keep the current references within safe values. All concepts and techniques proposed in this Thesis have been verified by simulations and laboratory experiments. The SOGI-based method for Virtual Flux estimation and the strategies for active and reactive power control with current limitation can also be easily adapted for a wide range of applications and can be combined with various types of inner loop control structures. Therefore, the proposed approach can potentially be used as a general basis for Virtual Flux-based voltage-sensor-less operation of VSCs under unbalanced grid voltage conditions.

Bakgrund: Redan år 1936 gjordes undersökningar i USA som visade på att oro kunde minskas genom god information inför medicinsk behandling. Syfte: Beskriva barnets behov av förberedelse inför operation. Metod: Detta är en systematisk litteraturstudie där artiklarna söktes i databaserna PubMed, Cinahl och PsycInfo. Fjorton artiklar inkluderades och som har analyserats. Tre kategorier bildades; Ångest, förberedelse och delaktighet. Resultat: Barn upplever ångest inför främmande situationer. Det finns sätt att lindra denna ångest både pre- och postoperativt, exempelvis lekterapi. Föräldrars och barns ångest står i direkt relation till varandra. Diskussion: Förberedelse inför operation är viktigt för att barnet ska kunna behålla sin integritet i en miljö som kontrolleras av vuxna. Barnen måste kunna känna trygghet och tillit för att kunna hantera den stress som uppkommer i obehagliga situationer. Mer forskning inom området behövs eftersom vården och samhället hela tiden utvecklas.

The airports in Taiwan already adapted the outsourcing or contract out concept on some part of operation, such as commercial facilities, clearing, and maintenance. However, the full airport operation is still under the CAA¡¦s control. The airport operation outsourcing will be influenced by the policy, regulations, economics, social, culture of the country, also the airport scare and operation characteristic, therefore, it is difficult to define one model to meet all airport demands. This study is using Chuhai airport operation outsourcing as a case study, to induct the key factors from different faces those are considered to influence the outsourcing project. If the airport operation in Taiwan is planned to adapt outsourcing in the future, this study may provide some reference. The conclusion of this study is the influence key factors of airport operation outsourcing should consider from three faces, the external environment, the client side and contractor side. 1.The external environment: the policy (including law and regulation) and economy condition are the most important factors. 2.The client side: The law and regulation (the authorize and restriction); the organization (the strategic planning and preparation working); the management (clear object, audit mechanisms and performance evaluation). 3.The contractor side: The law and regulation (the restriction, contract reasonable, rights and responsibilities); the economic factor (profit and company strategy); the organization (the experience and capability); the management (the authority, audit mechanisms and performance evaluation).

This thesis presents contributions within two domains of manufacturing system development. The first domain is systematic design of product and manufacturing system. The second domain is model based co-operative development between manufacturing companies and manufacturing system suppliers. The axiomatic design framework for design is used to describe the product design and the manufacturing system design. The most important contributions are that product properties and analysis of product function are considered when specifying the manufacturing system. The systematic adaptation of product to the selected manufacturing solution is another contribution. A new concept of manufacturing phase functional requirements has been defined in order to cope with requirements from the manufacturing process on the in process product. The co-operative concept is based on the use of ISO 10303-214 for specification and communication of proposed systems and equipment. The concept has been tested using real project information in prototype implementation / QC 20100913

The core purpose of this study is to follow the development of strategic alliances within the banking sector. The objective is to get an idea of the use of strategic alliances in German banking and, furthermore, to understand what kind of alliances are entered and why. This will be achieved by analyzing and evaluating different German banks. The aim is to follow the tendency of banks to co-operate with other banks and competitors as well as intersectoral partners.

Machining operations are widely used to produce parts with different shapes and complicated profiles. As a machining operation, broaching is commonly used for the machining of a broad range of complex internal and external profiles either circular or non-circular such as holes, keyways, guide ways, and slots on turbine discs having fir-tree shape. Broaching is performed by pushing or pulling a tapered tool through the workpiece to remove the unwanted material and produce the required profile. Broaching is also acknowledged because of its high productivity and attainable surface quality in comparison to the other machining processes. The objective of this thesis is to simulate the broaching operation and use the results to present a methodology for optimum design of the broaching tools. In the course of the presented thesis, a new B-spline based geometric model is developed for broaching cutting edges followed by model validation using 3D ACIS modeller. To study the mechanics of cutting and generated cutting forces during broaching operation, an energy based force model is presented which can predict the cutting forces based on the power spent in the cutting system. An experimental investigation is conducted in order to confirm the estimated forces. The integrity of the broached surface is also investigated by focusing on surface roughness, subsurface microhardness, and subsurface microstructure as three major parameters of surface integrity. An optimization procedure for broaching tools design is presented in this thesis. A mathematical representation of broaching tooth geometry is also presented which is used to simulate the tooth as a cantilevered beam subjected to a distributed load. The beam is solved considering the given design constraints to achieve optimum geometric parameters for maximum durability and performance. / UOIT

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