<p>Many maintenance policies have been proposed for refreshing a warehouse. The difficulties of selecting an appropriate maintenance policy for a specific scenario with specific source characteristics, user requirements etc. has triggered researcher to develop algorithms and cost-models for predicting cost associated with a policy and a scenario. In this dissertation, we develop a benchmarking tool for testing scenarios and retrieve real world data that can be compared against algorithms and cost-models. The approach was to support a broad set of configurations, including the support of source characteristics proposed in [ENG00], to be able to test a diversity set of scenarios.</p>

Die Arbeit untersucht Einflussfaktoren auf die SPEC-CPU- Benchmarks CINT95 und CFP95. Es werden die Messbedingungen bei Messungen von Rechnerherstellern fuer SPEC-Veroeffentlichungen und bei Messungen im Universitaetsrechenzentrum verglichen. Aus den unterschiedlichen Bedingungen werden moegliche Einflussfaktoren abgeleitet, die fuer die Abweichung der Benchmarkergebnisse unter Lastbedingungen ursaechlich sein koennten. Fuer diese Einflusskomponenten eines Rechnersystems werden charakteristische Lastmasse erarbeitet. Im experimentellen Teil der Arbeit werden 4 Rechner des Universitaetsrechenzentrums mit 4 gezielt ausgewaehlten SPEC- CPU-Benchmarks untersucht. Ueber mehrere Wochen hinweg werden dabei Messungen unter verschiedensten Lastverhaeltnissen durchgefuehrt, wobei jeweils die Benchmarklaufzeit und die mittleren Werte fuer die definierten Lastmasse erfasst werden. Auf Basis dieser 16 Messreihen von jeweils 20 bis 60 Messungen werden schliesslich Aussagen zu Einflugroessen auf einzelne Benchmarks, zum generellen Einfluss einzelner Teilsysteme, sowie zum differenzierten Lastverhalten der einzelnen betrachteten UNIX-Rechnersysteme gewonnen.

The paper gives an overview on installation and usage of the Grid-enabled MPI implementation MPICH-G2. Performance results of MPICH-G2 in several environments are presented. / Die Arbeit gibt einen Überblick über die Installation und Nutzung der Grid-fähigen MPI-Implementation MPICH-G2. Performance-Ergebnisse von MPICH-G2 in verschiedenen Umgebungen werden gezeigt.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 16, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Murali K. Mantrala. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / McGinnis, Leon - Committee Chair, Griffin, Paul - Committee Member, Hackman, Steve - Committee Member, Parsons, Len - Committee Member, Sharp, Gunter - Committee Member. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Chair: Farzad Rahnema; Committee Co-Chair: Eric Elder; Committee Member: C.-K. Chris Wang; Committee Member: Rebecca Howell; Committee Member: Sang Cho. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

An Instructable Software Agent (ISA) is a software agent that humans can teach through Natural Instruction Methods (NIMs)—methods humans naturally use to teach one another. Some examples of NIMs include giving demonstrations, guided practice sessions, and definitions of concepts. If software agents were instructable, humans would be able to impart knowledge to software systems though a more natural interface. In this dissertation, I address generating benchmarks for evaluating the learning ability of ISAs despite the important differences that may exist between human learners and ISAs. I first present three years of case studies uncovering the challenges of such a comparison and then make recommendations for future studies. The main contributions of this dissertation are 1. a theory of using humans to evaluate the learning ability of Instructable Software Agents (ISAs), 2. a refined method for developing curricula and benchmarks for evaluating ISAs, including a scalable lab configuration for performing human benchmarking and a suite of accompanying software tools, and 3. the case studies themselves, amounting to an in-depth ethnographic study of the issues involved in using humans to develop curricula and benchmarks for ISAs. / text

Purpose - The purpose of the thesis is “To explore the Thai ICT market and identify differences with the leading market” Where the research questions are: 1. How are the main actors influencing the ICT market in Thailand? 2. How can the ICT market in Thailand be improved by identifying the gaps to the leading market? Method – For reaching the purpose a qualitative case study has been carried out, methods that are used are interviews, observations, document studies and literature study. Secondary data has been collected from document studies and was compiled in excel documents. Primary data has been collected from interviews, employees at Ericsson in Thailand has contributed when gather data about organizational culture. Interview with representatives from institutions in Thailand were made to achieve current data. Interviews were made to receive a primary source of information with high focus on the thesis subject and strengthen by secondary data. Findings – The most urgent problem to improve the ICT market in Thailand is to develop the infrastructure. The infrastructure needs to be developed in rural areas and urban areas. Institutions in ICT need to do active work on the market in order to expand and develop the market. Service operator’s needs to standardise and offer less price plans in order to minimize confusion among the consumers. The consumers need to increase their usage of ICT services in order to decrease the gap to the leading ICT market. One solution could be that the government push the development with all actors on the ICT market. Changing the foreign business act can lead to investments needed to expand the infrastructure. Further, creating a demand of higher technology from the consumer’s perspective will pressure the actors to develop robust network of high technology and benefit future development of technology. Implications – This study has been carried out on location in Thailand but communication has not been made in the national language in Thailand, which can contribute to misunderstandings of data. The study´s result is strengthened by being on location in Thailand, gathering primary data by interviews and do observations on place in the target environment. Delimitations – The delimitations have been made to look at the ICT market from Thailand’s perspective with learning’s from Sweden. Further, delimitations to explore the main actors that are influencing the market has been done. A market has many environmental forces and they needed to be restricted in this study.

This thesis revolves around product development in a medium-sized Swedish company. The company in question is called S:t Erik and manufactures a wide range of products made out of concrete and operates in several locations in Sweden. The study has been carried out during 20 weeks with a starting point in January, year 2015. The goal of the study is to deliver a directly implementable development process that support the company's vision and aim towards a more reliable and resource-saving product development process. The study has been conducted through interviews with people directly involved in the product development process. In addition to the interviews, an observational study carried out in the company's production unit in Uppsala and a benchmarking at S:t Eriks plant in Staffanstorp. Which though co-examination with theory revolving the Stage gate process formed the basis for the developed proposals for improvement. To achieve a more accurate product development S:t Erik is recommended to work with its product development on a project basis with clear guidance in the form of a dedicated project manager in combination with a standardized development procedure. Through a proposed model including the work guidelines and though structured development phases S:t Eriks is presented with the opportunity to drastically decrease the risk involved with the company’s product development. The result also includes a proposal to carry out the proposed working model through the online feature in Word, in response to discovered problems revolving communication, access to information and transfer of knowledge. To ensure that S:t Erik is able to interpret and meet the expressed customer need, and at the same time simplify the internal communication they are recommended to incorporate a 3D printer in the early stages of the product development. For additional ways to meet customer needs a concept collection folder available for quick and easy collection of ideas and suggestions online or alternatively on the company intranet is suggested. Finally a procedure for how the working model could be used in practise is presented in an effort to archive a successful implementation at S:t Eriks.

Reliable engineering productivity measurement is a critical element of predictable project performance and continuous improvement. Despite the fact that engineering costs have risen to levels approaching 20 percent of total project cost on some industrial projects, engineering productivity is less well understood and has received less study than construction productivity. Furthermore, engineering productivity is a critical determinant of the final cost and schedule performance of a project (Chang et al. 2001). For these reasons, metrics for assessing productivity to drive improvement are essential, especially considering trends toward offshore engineering. Applicable industry standard engineering productivity measurements must first be established and then applied to present day work processes before significant improvement and predictability of performance can be established (CII 2001). Over the years, a number of different approaches for engineering productivity measurement have been proposed. These approaches are discussed and the development of the CII Benchmarking and Metrics approach, a direct measurement approach, is presented for this research. This research: (1) identifies critical issues for the implementation of engineering productivity measurement; (2) develops an Engineering Productivity Measurement System (EPMS) based on real project data; and, finally (3) recommends a framework for future studies. / text