A new Direct Simulation fibre model was developed which allowed flexibility in the fibre during the simulation of fibre suspension flow.This new model was called the �Chain-of-Spheres �model.It was hypothesised that particle shape and deformation could signi ficantly a ffect partic e dynamics,and also suspension bulk properties such as viscosity.Data collected from the simulation showed that flexible fibres in shear flow resulted in an order of 7 −10% bulk relative viscosity increase over the �rigid �fibre result.Results also es- tablished the existence of a relationship between bulk viscosity and particle sti ffness.In comparison with experimental results,other more conventional rigid fibre based methods appeared to underpredict relative viscosity.The flexible fibre method thus markedly improved the ability to estimate relative viscosity.The curved rigid fibre suspension also exhibited increased viscosity of the order twice that of the equivalent straight rigid fibre suspension.With such sensitivity to fibre shape,this result has some important implications for the quality of fibre inclusions used.For consistent viscosity,the shape quality of the fibres was shown to be important. The �Chain of Spheres �simulation was substantially extended to create a new simulation method with the ability to model the dynamics of arbitrarily shaped particles in the Newtonian flow field.This new �3D Particle �simulation method accounted for the inertial force on the particles,and also allowed particles to be embedded in complex flow fields.This method was used to reproduce known dynamics for common particle shapes,and then to predict the unknown dynamics of various other particle shapes in shear flow. In later sections, the simulation demonstrated inertia-induced particle migration inthe non-linear shear gradient Couette cylinder flow,and was used to predict the fibre orientation within a diverging channel flow.The performance of the method was verified against known experimental measurements,observations and theoretical and numerical results where available.The comparisons revealed that the current method reproduced single particle dynamics with great fidelity. The broad aim of this research was to better understand the microstruc- tural dynamics within the fibre-filled suspension and from it,derive useful engineering information on the bulk flow of these fluids.This thesis represents a move forward to meet this broad aim.It is hoped that future researchers may bene fit from the new approaches and algorithms developed here.

<p><strong>Purpose </strong></p><p>To describe the concept of control & coordination mechanisms among HQs-subsidiary-distributor of MNC in direct selling business.</p><p><strong>Method</strong></p><p>Qualitative studies with two company case studies which are selected from direct selling business are implemented in this research. Data are collected from primary sources through semi-structure interview while secondary sources via company’s web sites, annual reports, news, and academic researches. Most collected data are related to control and coordination mechanisms within MNC and especially emphasize on distributor‘s aspects.   <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p>To control and coordinate HQs-subsidiary-distributor’s relation in a direct selling business, companies need to implement not only the vertical control over their people but also the lateral way and as well as the price control mechanisms. All these three main mechanisms need to be blended together as the appropriate combination of them will help assist companies to achieve their goals successfully.</p>

Photomasks are the backbone of microfabrication industries. Currently they are fabricated by lithographic process, which is very expensive and time consuming since it is a several step process. These issues can be addressed by fabricating photomask by direct femtosecond laser writing, which is a single step process and comparatively cheaper and faster than lithography. In this paper we discuss about our investigations on the effect of two types of laser writing techniques, namely, front and rear side laser writing with regard to the feature size and the edge quality of the feature. It is proved conclusively that for the patterning of mask, front side laser writing is a better technique than rear side laser writing with regard to smaller feature size and better edge quality. Moreover the energy required for front side laser writing is considerably lower than that for rear side laser writing. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

This work introduces a direct method called FIXATION for solving the general motion vision problem. This Fixation method results in a constraint equation between translational and rotational velocities that in combination with the Brightness-Change Constraint Equation (BCCE) solves the general motion vision problem, arbitrary motion with respect to an arbitrary rigid environment. Neither Correspondence nor Optical Flow has been used here. Recently Direct Motion Vision methods have used the BCCE for solving the motion vision problem of special motions or environments. In contrast to those solutions, the Fixation method does not put such severe restrictions on the motion or the environment.

Whole sorghum kernels were directly processed into whole grain snacks with acceptable texture. Extrudates made from whole sorghum had a harder gritty texture than those made from decorticated materials. Extrusion of whole sorghum provides significant savings in processing: there are no dry matter losses; no equipment or energy is required for decortication or milling; the extruder consumes less power and processes more material per time unit. In addition, the extruder utilized is a simple adiabiatic, friction extruder of relatively low cost. Grinding whole sorghum and removing fines did not improve product expansion during extrusion but altered the gritty pieces in the extrudates. The best products were obtained when whole sorghum (ground or un-ground) was extruded at 14% moisture. The whole sorghum extrudates had larger bubbles with thick cell walls, which made extrudates more crunchy. Decortication of sorghum improved extrusion performance and products by allowing adequate formation and retention of air cells. Decortication to remove 20% of the original sorghum weight was enough to produce extrudates with characteristics comparable to those made from commercial yellow corn meal. Sorghum milled fractions with composition and particle size distribution similar to corn meal produced extrudates with higher expansion, lower bulk density and similar texture. In addition, sorghum extrudates were rated equal to corn meal extrudates by a taste panel for appearance, flavor, texture and overall characteristics. Extrudates made from polished rice were less expanded and whiter than extrudates made from sorghum. When processed under similar conditions, sorghum extrusion required more energy than corn meal extrusion. However, whole sorghum extrusion required less energy than corn meal extrusion. Unground sorghum samples (decorticated or non-decorticated) produced harder extrudates compared to those made from ground raw material. White sorghum is a feasible option for snack extrusion because of its versatility, product characteristics, cost and processing properties.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse if there are any changes in the inflow of Foreign Direct Investments before, during and after a currency crisis. The thesis is based on a theoretical framework and has an empirical part, which use a regression equation. The theoretical framework presents a foundation of the incentives to mak FDI investments and the implications for a host country. Together with the possible link to the level of the real exchange rate in the host country, this thesis, based partly on previous paper written on the subject, presents a regression equation for an empirical analysis. The regression equation is based on a hypothesis about the changes in FDI inflow before, during and after the occurrence of a currency crisis in the host country. The empirical analysis presents different results concerning the link between FDI and a currency crisis. The hypothesis stated in the thesis is that a currency crisis influences FDI inflows. This hypothesis is rejected. Moreover, a currency crisis can have both positive and negative effects on the inflow of FDI for the selected countries. Results find further no similarities in regions or year of occurrence of the currency crises. The depth, length and structure of each currency crisis together with using the right definition of a currency crisis are two important factors relating to the outcomes in this study.

Purpose To describe the concept of control &amp; coordination mechanisms among HQs-subsidiary-distributor of MNC in direct selling business. Method Qualitative studies with two company case studies which are selected from direct selling business are implemented in this research. Data are collected from primary sources through semi-structure interview while secondary sources via company’s web sites, annual reports, news, and academic researches. Most collected data are related to control and coordination mechanisms within MNC and especially emphasize on distributor‘s aspects.   Conclusion To control and coordinate HQs-subsidiary-distributor’s relation in a direct selling business, companies need to implement not only the vertical control over their people but also the lateral way and as well as the price control mechanisms. All these three main mechanisms need to be blended together as the appropriate combination of them will help assist companies to achieve their goals successfully.

This research was to learn the trust of direct leaders from the points of the staff, and to discuss how to influence organizational commitment and job involvement. Since trust of direct leaders was one of the key factors to increase organizational commitment and job involvement, the cohesion will turn up when the staff accept the concern from directors, and the group can collaborate. Therefore, the operation of an organized system and the achievement of assignment were necessary to base on the trust of direct leaders, then it brought the maximum beneficial result. After getting nine hundred and thirty-six available questionnaires, this research used the methods of Analysis of One-Way Factorial Variance, Correlation Analysis, and Analytical Regression Process to get the verification. According to the statistics, I addressed the conclusion and recommendation of this research. In the discovery of the result, individual variables were including the trust of direct leaders, organizational commitment and job involvement. There wasn¡¦t any noticeable difference in sex, but it existed in marriage, age, work experience, education level and position. Moreover, according to the result of the research in Correlation Analysis, the trust of direct leaders, organizational commitment and job involvement caused high positive correlation . It means the degree of the trust of direct leaders is higher, and the staff would have higher organizational commitment, and degree of job identification and involvement. In addition, the work experience with directors was interference variables, and to prove if there was the interference effect in the trust of direct leaders from organizational commitment and job involvement, the verified result revealed that there wasn¡¦t any interference effect in any other factors, except Cognition-based Trust could effect the value and effort commitment . In terms of the collection of this research results, the assumptions approximately existed in Correlation Analysis, and on the contrary, they didn¡¦t exist in interference effect. In conclusion, I had some recommendation for this research to provide the enterprise some different ideas and directions of management. The organization should emphasize how to increase the trust of direct leaders, enhance the interaction between the management and the staff, lift organizational commitment from the personnel, and raise the degree of job involvement for the advantage of the organization development.

This dissertation describes the development of a new multi-directional direct simple shear testing device, the Texas A&M Multi-directional Direct Simple Shear (TAMU-MDSS), for testing marine soil samples under conditions, which simulate, at the element level, the state of stress acting within a submarine slope under dynamic loading. Prototype testing and an experimental program to characterize the response of marine clays to complex loading conditions are presented. The work is divided into four major components: 1) Equipment Development: Design and construction of a prototype multi-directional direct simple shear testing device (TAMU-MDSS) that addresses the limitations of previous devices. 2) Support systems: selection of control software, development of data acquisition system and design of back pressure systems for direct pore pressure measurements. 3) Prototype Testing: performance of the TAMU MDSS system and testing of strain-control and stress-control capabilities. 4) Experimental Testing: characterize the response of marine clays to monotonic, dynamic and random loads. The two-directional monotonic, cyclic, circular and figure-8 tests demonstrated the undrained shear strength increases with increasing initial shear stress, (i.e, slope), for shearing in the same direction (equivalent to downhill). The strength decreases for shearing in the direction opposite to the initial stress (shearing uphill). The response is as brittle for shearing in the same direction as the shear stress applied during consolidation initial shear stress and ductile for shearing opposite to initial shear stress. These findings have important implications for the stability of the slope, predicting that forces acting downward in the slope direction will need to mobilize less strain to reach peak strength and initiate failure. This information provides insight into the behavior of marine soils under complex loading conditions, and provides high quality laboratory data for use in constitutive and finite element model development for analysis of submarine slopes.

GPU-based raycasting is the state-of-the-art rendering technique for interactive volume visualization. The ray traversal is usually implemented in a fragment shader, utilizing the hardware in a way that was not originally intended. New programming interfaces for stream processing, such as CUDA, support a more general programming model and the use of additional device features, which are not accessible through traditional shader programming. In this paper we propose a slab-based raycasting technique that is modeled specifically to use these features to accelerate volume rendering. This technique is based on experience gained from comparing fragment shader implementations of basic raycasting to implementations directly translated to CUDA kernels. The comparison covers direct volume rendering with a variety of optional features, e.g., gradient and lighting calculations. Our findings are supported by benchmarks of typical volume visualization scenarios. We conclude that new stream processing models can only gain a small performance advantage when directly porting the basic raycasting algorithm. However, they can be advantageous through novel acceleration methods which use the hardware features not available to shader implementations.