As of 2016, women in the U.S. are still making 80 cents on the dollar relative to men, and even with controls for other factors such as education, experience, and hours worked, the pay disparity is still around eight percent. The equity, efficiency wage, and Cognitive Evaluation Theories, suggest that a closed gender wage gap would be more beneficial to society. This paper uses these theories to investigate the relationship between productivity and pay disparity by using an ordinary least squares regression model to test the effects of the gender wage ratio on labor productivity while controlling for some human capital characteristics. Additionally, this paper furthers the hypotheses that the wage gap is detrimental to labor productivity and worker well-being by proposing a study in which a simulated wage gap is predicted to negatively affect worker satisfaction, motivation, and productivity. Findings and implications for further research are discussed.

The aircraft industry is viewed as a prestigious industry by many countries. Emerging economies regard the establishment of aircraft production capabilities as contributing to their competitiveness and technological development. Therefore, in the defence aircraft industry, politics play a key role in competitiveness. Governments can strategically trade market access for technological development, often in the form of offset business. “Offset” is defined as an agreement in which a large system is bought and the seller assumes obligations that both benefit the buying nation and have long-term effects on the development of the buyer’s national industry. When the offset obligations are directly connected to the product or system sold, they are called “related offsets”. The realization of an offset agreement is in most cases including some form of technology transfer. Technology transfer is the transfer of technology from a sending company, to a receiving company, where it is implemented and adapted to use. The empirical data presented in this thesis were gathered through six in-depth studies performed at the unit for aircraft production at the Swedish company Saab. The findings from the studies are presented in six appended papers. The objective of this thesis is to extend the current understanding of technology transfer realization connected to related offsets within the defence aircraft industry. The research objective is fulfilled through the addressing of two research questions. The first research question aims to identify factors that can have a major effect on technology transfer realization in the research context. As an answer to the first research question. Following factors were identified: Capability gaps, Knowledge transfer, The purpose of related offset business, Seller’s fulfilment of offset obligations before contract termination, Related offset business include hierarchical levels, Related offset work package identification to meet the buyer’s request, and Assessment of the receiver in two steps, and finally Cultural and communication challenges. These factors set the basis for research question two. The second research question addresses how to manage future related offset technology transfer realization connected to aircraft production. As an answer to the second research question, a structured related offset process and facilitation tools for managing capability gaps between the sending and the receiving company was presented. The purpose of the suggested structure is to maintain the link between the negotiated related offset agreements and the employees, working to achieve the agreement within the realization of the technology transfer.

There is widespread acceptance of the need to reduce energy consumption within the built environment. Despite this, there are often large discrepancies between the energy performance aspiration and operational reality of modern buildings. The application of existing mitigation measures appears to be piecemeal and lacks a whole-system approach to the problem. This Engineering Doctorate aims to identify common reasons for performance discrepancies and develop a methodology for risk mitigation. Existing literature was reviewed in detail to identify individual factors contributing to the risk of a building failing to meet performance aspirations. Risk factors thus identified were assembled into a taxonomy that forms the basis of a methodology for identifying and evaluating performance risk. A detailed case study was used to investigate performance at whole-building and sub-system levels. A probabilistic approach to estimating system energy consumption was also developed to provide a simple and workable improvement to industry best practice. Analysis of monitoring data revealed that, even after accounting for the absence of unregulated loads in the design estimates, annual operational energy consumption was over twice the design figure. A significant part of this discrepancy was due to the space heating sub-system, which used more than four times its estimated energy consumption, and the domestic hot water sub-system, which used more than twice. These discrepancies were the result of whole-system lifecycle risk factors ranging from design decisions and construction project management to occupant behaviour and staff training. Application of the probabilistic technique to the estimate of domestic hot water consumption revealed that the discrepancies observed could be predicted given the uncertainties in the design assumptions. The risk taxonomy was used to identify factors present in the results of the qualitative case study evaluation. This work has built on practical building evaluation techniques to develop a new way of evaluating both the uncertainty in energy performance estimates and the presence of lifecycle performance risks. These techniques form a risk management methodology that can be applied usefully throughout the project lifecycle.

This thesis explores the expectation gap and how it relates to the field of emergency management. As disasters become more commonplace, many citizens have high expectations of their governments, which results in a lack of individual disaster preparation. This thesis analyzed the current state of community education and engagement programs, use of best practices by governments and inter-agency cooperation and partnerships. The research consisted of fifteen interviews with emergency management professionals representing local, state, and federal government as well as the private sector. The results show limited public participation, as well as issues with crisis communications systems. Over 80% of research participants noted lack of disaster education programs as a serious issue. The results also show differences between expectation levels across demographic groups, limited educational program accessibility for minority populations and a difference in expectations between urban and rural residents.

As a theatre professional and a practicing Christian, I have found it very difficult to bring my two worlds together. Theatre is a tool for education, discussion, and understanding. In my work on this project, I have explored the ways in which theatre can and cannot help us understand each other on the volatile subjects that divide our contemporary culture: homosexuality and religion. Twenty-nine people with various backgrounds and worldviews were interviewed for this project. The words from these interviews were used to create the beginnings of a script for a play that explores the issues of homosexuality, religion, and the so-called "culture wars" from various points of view. While struggling to remain unbiased, this play also introduces new voices in theatre that are not commonly heard.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not having a laptop computer for individual use 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week lessens differences between how eighth grade girls and eighth grade boys in 10 middle schools in HenricoCounty, Virginia perceive computer use and computer technology. Having a laptop computer to use at any time of the day or night eliminates the issue of competition between boys and girls for computer use. It also eliminates the need for either girls or boys to perform in front of other students while learning, thus lessening to some degree, feelings of computer anxiety. Competition for computer access and computer anxiety are two theories that have been offered to explain why many young women in previous studies have chosen not to use computers to the same extent that young men do, as well as why many young women generally do not consider computer-related careers as career options in their futures. A modified Computer Attitude Questionnaire, based upon the CAQ, Version 5.14 was used to survey eighth grade girls and boys in 10 Henrico County middle schools. Data collected from the surveys were analyzed using the statistical package, SPSS 14 for Windows. Comparisons were based on gender and on the self-reported race/ethnicity of the participants. A comparison of attitudes related to the number of computers already in the home in addition to the school-issued laptop was also conducted. A variety of statistical analyses were used in order to determine differences in attitudes between the boys and girls surveyed and the interactions between the attitudes of the respondents and their race/ethnicity. This was a non-experimental, quantitative, comparative research study.

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

The objective of this thesis is to frame the scope of application of the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods and other instruments of private international law relating to the international sales contract. In this field the gaps in the Vienna Convention are analysed and methods to fill them are explored. The first chapter introduces the key terms of international trade law. First, the types of legal provisions are listed and then the sales contract is defined under both, the Czech law and the Vienna Convention. In the second chapter I focus on the overview of the development of international uniform sales law and on further sources of law, which are important for international transactions. Besides the Convention itself, I study the Rome I Regulation, the uniform principles of international contract law and the Common European Sales Law. The third chapter advances to the core of the thesis, the gaps in the Vienna Convention. After defining the gaps and characterising them, I formulate the basic principles underlying the Convention, which are to be used to fill the internal gaps. In the last, fourth chapter I selected three gaps in the Vienna Convention: interest rate, set off and the form of the contract. One by one, I explain their nature and all approaches to the gap-filling with...

Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / William B. Kuhn / RF frequency synthesizer systems are prevalent in today’s electronics. In a synthesizer there is a sensitive analog oscillator that may be affected by two different types of noise. The first is random noise injection from active devices. This results in phase noise in the synthesizer’s spectrum. The second noise source is deterministic. A digital frequency divider with high-amplitude switching is an example of such a deterministic source. This noise enters the system through various forms of electric or magnetic field coupling and manifests itself as spurs or pulling. Both forms of noise can adversely affect system performance. We will first summarize methods for reducing noise. These already known steps have to do with layout techniques, device geometry, and general synthesizer topologies. Then we will show ways to isolate noisy interfering circuits from the sensitive analog systems. Finally, we present some considerations for reducing the effects of random noise. A power supply filter can improve the effects of deterministic noise such as undesired signals on the supply line. We show several ways to improve the rejection of high frequency supply noise (characterized by the power supply rejection ratio or PSRR) through the design of a voltage regulator. The emphasis is on new techniques for obtaining good PSRR at S-band frequencies and above. To validate the techniques, we designed a regulator in Peregrine Semiconductor’s .25µm ULTRA CMOS Silicon on Sapphire process. It produces a 2.5V output with an input ranging from 2.6V to 5V and has a maximum current sourcing of 70mA. The regulator’s low drop out performance is 60mV with no load and it achieves a power supply ripple reduction of 29.8 dB at 500 MHz. To address random noise in synthesizers, the thesis provides preliminary investigation of an oscillator topology change that has been proposed in the literature. This proposed change reduces the phase noise of the oscillator within the overall system. A differential cross-coupled design is the usual topology of choice, but it is not optimal for noise performance. We investigate current noise injection in the traditional design and present an updated design that uses a differential Colpitts oscillator as an alternative to classic cross-coupled designs.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics / Thu Annelise Nguyen / Gap junctions (GJ) are intercellular channels connecting adjacent cells, allowing small molecules to transport between cells, thereby maintaining all homeostasis. Loss of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) and/or connexins, the gap junction proteins, is a hallmark of cancer. Restoration of GJIC and/or increase of connexin expression have been related to the reduction of tumorigenesis. Connexins have been reported as tumor suppressors due to both GJIC-independent and -dependent mechanisms. Therefore, development of effective agents or methods to enhance GJIC and restore connexin expression in cancer cells is a new strategy in cancer treatment. PQ1, 6-Methoxy-8-[(3-aminopropyl)amino]-4-methyl-5-(3-trifluoromethyl-phenyloxy)quinoline, has been demonstrated to increase GJIC, restore connexin expression, and exert anti-cancer effects on T47D breast cancer cells. Studies of apoptotic pathways showed that PQ1 activated both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways, indicating that PQ1 exerts its anti-cancer effects via a GJIC-independent mechanism through the induction of apoptosis. Combinational treatment of PQ1 and cisplatin showed that PQ1 counteracted cisplatin-induced inhibition of GJIC and reduction of connexin expression, thereby increasing the efficacy of cisplatin in T47D cancer cells via a GJIC-dependent mechanism. Further studies of drug distribution and toxicity revealed that administration of PQ1 by oral gavage can be achieved with low toxicity to normal vital organs. All the results suggest that PQ1, a gap junction enhancer, can function as an anti-cancer agent and potentiate the efficacy of antineoplastic drugs via both GJIC-independent and -dependent pathways.