Diploma thesis contains descriptions of technological process of Residential House in Zlín. The project includes a technical report for pills and monolithic constructions, mechanization plans, safety and guality of work, report scheduling and organization of construction.

The thesis solves construction technological project of the Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials in Olomouc. The thesis contains a engineering report to the resolved issues, block plan and block plan drawing, technological regulation for CFA piles and testing plan for CFA piles. Other parts of the thesis are the schedule, itemized budget for the shell construction, calculation structures according THU, time and financial plan of the whole building, work safety in the implementation of cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures, design of machine formation and solution organization of construction, which includes an engineering report site equipment and site equipment drawing.

This study examines the relationship between organisational culture and TQM implementation barriers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the factors affecting TQM implementation. For TQM implementation to take root effectively, the critical role of organisational culture is widely recognised. The existence of pitfalls and obstacles (barriers) to implementing TQM is also widely recognized, as is the importance of understanding these TQM implementation barriers. Nevertheless, whilst many TQM implementation models and frameworks have been designed and proposed, no study has been located in the literature that has systematically examined the relationship between organisational culture and TQM implementation barriers. This theoretical lapse in the TQM literature necessitates an investigation of the direction and significance of the relationship which can help in devising more informed TQM implementation models. In this context, a quantitative research methodology was adopted to examine the profiles of organisational culture and of TQM implementation barriers in organisations in Bahrain and to examine the relationship between these variables. Bahrain is presently going through a rapid expansion in quality management system adoption. Accordingly, the research uses four constructs of organisational culture as independent variables and six constructs of TQM implementation barriers identified through the literature as dependent variables. A set of hypotheses was developed describing the expected relationships between these two sets of variables. The study adopted a positivist, deductive approach using an online survey questionnaire to obtain quantitative data for hypothesis testing. The research instrument was assessed for validity and reliability through structured interviews. Responses to the survey were obtained from 325 organisations located in Bahrain. Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) version 16.0 was used to test the measurement model using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and to test the structural model using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Both models showed a very good fit to the data, with good construct validity and reliability. The findings of the study showed that group culture, which is believed to be an ‘ideal’ culture for TQM implementation helps decrease employee barriers, information barriers and customer related barriers as predicted. However group culture wasn’t found to help decrease top management barriers. Rational culture was found to decrease top management barriers as predicted but it wasn’t found to help decrease employee and customer barriers. The findings confirm the significant impact of hierarchical culture in the Bahrain context in decreasing planning and process management barriers. Developmental culture’s potential to lower employee and customer barriers was observed but was not found to be statistically significant. This research makes several contributions in both academic and practical terms. Theoretically, positioning organisational culture as an antecedent of TQM implementation barriers, this study is the first holistic approach that attempts to empirically investigate which type of organisational culture is related to which TQM implementation barriers. Understanding the nature, strength and direction of these relationships can help to inform and support future TQM implementation attempts. Practically, this research will benefit organisations who have not been able to fully realise TQM, or who are in the process of planning the introduction of TQM. The findings of the study can help Bahraini organisations to realise the long term quality objectives of the Bahrain Centre of Excellence’s Vision 2030 programme. Furthermore, the study has contributed a new empirically tested scale for measuring TQM implementation barriers - a valuable tool on its own, or in conjunction with the organisational culture profile assessment tool - for both practitioners wishing to examine their readiness for TQM or progress in creating a TQM ethos, and for future researchers wishing to extend our understanding of the influence of TQM barriers and/or culture on major organisational improvement interventions. It is expected that replication of this study in other countries and regions with different culture and context may help in developing an improved model of TQM implementation. Implications for managers and future research are advanced.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att psykometriskt undersöka den svenska versionen av Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS) för att skapa tillgång till ett självsvarsinstrument för barn och ungdomar som screenar för både traumahistorik och traumasymtom utifrån aktuellt diagnossystem DSM-5. För detta syfte undersöktes reliabilitet och evidens för validitet med hjälp av två sample; en normgrupp med 591 svenska skolelever i åldrarna 10 till 17 år samt en test-retestgrupp med 90 svenska skolelever i åldrarna 13 till 17 år. En pilotstudie med 38 svenska skolelever i åldrarna 15 till 19 år användes för metodvägledning inför studiens genomförande.   Reliabiliteten undersöktes med estimering av intern konsistens med Cronbachs α i normgrupp samt temporal stabilitet med ICC och Cohens k i test-retestgrupp. För att erhålla evidens för kriterievaliditet användes robust enkel regressionsanalys för att undersöka huruvida antalet traumahändelser kunde predicera symtomutfall.  För att erhålla evidens för konvergent och diskriminant validitet beräknades Pearsons r mellan CATS symtomskala och de sex subskalorna i Trauma Symtom Checklist for Children (TSCC). Cramérs V användes för evidensprövning av konvergent validitet mellan CATS skala för traumahistorik och LYLES.  Evidens för validitet undersöktes även med analys av formulärets interna struktur med konfirmatorisk faktoranalys (CFA) utifrån DSM-5s fyrfaktormodell för PTSD. CFA utfördes med estimeringsmetoden bootstrap Maximum-likelihood till följd av bristfällig uni- och multivariat normalitet. Oberoende t-test användes för att undersöka eventuella gruppskillnader avseende traumahistorik och traumasymtom uppmätt med CATS.   CATS symtomskala uppvisade god intern konsistens på samtliga fyra subskalor (Cronbachs α = .73-.89) och moderat temporal stabilitet (ICC = .57-.68). Temporal stabilitet för CATS totalskala för traumahistorik var god (ICC = .84) och sett till varje item var överensstämmelsen mellan test- och retestmätningar varierande från liten till nästintill perfekt (k = .34-.87). Robust enkel regressionsanalys påvisade att antalet traumahändelser predicerar symtomutfall där 32% av variansen i symtomuttryck kunde härledas till antalet traumahändelser. Måttliga till starka korrelationer återfanns mellan CATS symtomskala och TSCC symtomskalor med starkast korrelation med subskalan posttraumatisk stress (r = .82) och svagast korrelation med subskalan för sexuella bekymmer (r = .44). CATS skala för traumahistorik korrelerade måttligt med LYLES (V = .45).  DSM-5s fyrfaktormodell för PTSD indikerade god passform, reliabilitet och konvergent validitet. Modellen uppvisade bristande intern diskriminant validitet vilket kunde förklaras med prövning av en second-ordermodell med PTSD som högre ordnad faktor.

Cette recherche traite de la vulnérabilité des paysans cotonniers au Burkina Faso face aux évolutions du marché et aux changements institutionnels de la filière. En effet, la filière coton a subi depuis une dizaine d'années une crise généralisée, dont la chute des prix fut le caractère le plus visible. Cette crise sans précédent est symptomatique du démantèlement des filières d'exportation, mises en place progressivement depuis la période coloniale, dans le cadre des politiques d'ajustement structurel. La filière coton étant reconnue comme un succès historique de développement agricole, ses difficultés actuelles sont donc un bon révélateur de l'impact du retrait des États et de la coopération internationale dans le secteur de l'agriculture. Les résultats s'appuient sur le traitement d'enquêtes par questionnaire menées auprès de paysans dans l'Est du Burkina Faso et sur la réalisation d'entretiens semi-directifs auprès des acteurs de la filière. Ces analyses de terrains sont ensuite confrontées aux stratégies de sortie de crise proposées par les sociétés cotonnières, l'Union des Producteurs de Coton Burkinabè et l'État. Cette échelle d'analyse est intégrée dans une étude à différentes échelles, de la région, au marché global en passant par l'État. Cette approche multi-scalaire originale est la seule capable de mettre en relation efficacement les conclusions fondées sur un niveau unique d'analyse. Les conclusions montrent que le devenir de la filière coton et la stabilité des régions concernées dépendent de l'action des producteurs, des États et de la coopération internationale en faveur de l'agriculture familiale. Enfin, ce travail souligne l'intérêt de l'approche géographique qui intègre l'emboîtement des échelles en tant qu'élément majeur de la pérennité des filières agricoles dans les pays en voie de développement.

Pathogenesis of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and Shigella flexneri relies predominantly on members of the AraC/XylS family of transcriptional regulators, Rns (or its homolog, CfaD) and MxiE, respectively. Rns/CfaD regulate the expression of pili, which allow the bacteria to attach to the intestinal epithelium. Better understanding of the role Rns plays in virulence was attained by expanding our knowledge of the Rns regulon, revealing that it functions as an activator of cexE, a previously uncharacterized gene. By in vitro DNase I footprinting two Rns-binding sites were identified upstream of cexEp, both of which are required for full activation of cexE. The amino terminus of CexE also contains a secretory signal peptide that is removed during translocation to the periplasm. Though the function of CexE remains unknown, these studies suggest that CexE is a novel ETEC virulence factor since it is regulated by Rns/CfaD. In Shigella flexneri, the expression of a subset of virulence genes (including, ipaH9.8 and ospE2) is dependent upon the activator MxiE and a cytoplasmic chaperone IpgC. To define the molecular mechanism of transcriptional activation by this chaperone-activator pair, an in vitro pull down assay was performed revealing that MxiE specifically interacts with IpgC in a complex. Additionally, IpgC recognizes three polypeptide regions in MxiE: within MxiE(1-46), MxiE(46-110) and MxiE(196-216). Furthermore, it seems that MxiE and IpgC regulate transcription of ipaH9.8 and ospE2 promoters differently. In the bacterium, the formation of the MxiE-IpgC complex is initially prevented because IpgC is sequestered in individual complexes with effector proteins, IpaB and IpaC. Upon contact with an eukaryotic host cell the effector proteins are secreted, thereby freeing IpgC to form a complex with MxiE and activate the expression of virulence genes. This new characterization of the role of Rns and MxiE in virulence gene regulation in ETEC and S. flexneri, respectively will give new insights into the pathogenesis of the regulators.

Abstract The purpose of this paper is attempt to build and test the model of consumer behavior, using data communication on the mobile phone. Despite the explosive growth of 2nd generation mobile system (GSM) and rapidly increasing number of consumers who use media (such as photos or access the website) and try to get information they want. We adopt four dimensions to build the structural model of consumer behavior, including need for cognition, product attributes, price factors and purchase intention, and define them as unobserved variables in the LISERL. Finally, we perform relative strength in the Path analysis showing causal model. For model analysis, there are two phase to implement as follows: Firstly, we use Confirmatory Factors Analysis (CFA) to explore the correlation between unobserved (latent) and observed variables. Secondly, the relative relations of four unobserved variables will be confirmed by identification, estimation, test and model-fitting in the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). We expect that the model of consumer behavior will be appropriately inferred and explain to 3rd mobile communication (3G) in the future.

The objective of the proposed research is to develop high performance, low computational complexity resolution enhancement and demosaicing algorithms. Our approach to both problems is to find creative ways to incorporate edge information into the algorithm design. However, in contrast with the usual edge directed approaches, we do not try to detect edge presence and orientation explicitly. For the image interpolation problem, we study the relationship between low resolution and high resolution pixels, and derive a general interpolation formula to be used on all pixels. This simple interpolation algorithm is able to generate sharp edges in any orientation. We also propose a simple 3 by 3 filter that quantifies local luminance transition and apply it to the demosaicing problem. Additionally, we propose a gradient based directional demosaicing method that does not require setting any thresholds. We show that the performance of this algorithm can be improved by using multiscale gradients. Finally, we address the low spectral correlation demosaicing problem by proposing a new family of hybrid color filter array (CFA) patterns and a local algorithm that is two orders of magnitude faster than a comparable non-local solution while offering the same level of performance.

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