This dissertation is intended to explore the design of a dual connection skeleton (DCS), which facilitates effective and efficient exploitation of Internet-centric collaborative workgroup and high performance metacomputing applications. The predominant difference between DCS and conventional frameworks is that DCS administers a network of brokers that are grouped into a logical ring. New mechanisms for group collaboration, load distribution, and fault tolerance, which are three crucial issues in Internet-based computing, are proposed and integrated into the dual connection skeleton. Collaborative workgroup becomes a significant common issue when we attempt to develop wide area applications supporting computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). For group collaboration, DCS therefore offers a strategy for concurrency control that ensures the consistency of shared resources. By using the strategy, multiple users in a collaborative group are able to simultaneously access shared data without violating its consistency. With respect to load distribution, additionally, DCS applies an adaptive highest response ratio next (AHRRN) algorithm to job scheduling. Performance evaluations on competing algorithms, such as shortest job first (SJF), highest response ratio next (HRRN), and first come, first served (FCFS) are conducted. Simulation results demonstrate that AHRRN is not only an efficient algorithm, but also is able to prevent the well-known job starvation problem. In a parallel computational application, one can further decompose a composite job into constituent tasks such that these tasks can be assigned to different PEs for concurrent execution. The dual connection skeleton thus makes use of a proposed dynamic grouping scheduling (DGS), to undertake task scheduling for performance improvement. The DGS algorithm employs a task grouping strategy to determine computational costs of tasks. It re-prioritizes unscheduled tasks at each scheduling step to explore an appropriate task allocation decision. In terms of the schedule length, the performance of DGS has been evaluated by comparing with some existing algorithms, such as Heavy Node First (HNF), Critical Path Method (CPM), Weight Length (WL), Dynamic Level Scheduling (DLS), and Dynamic Priority Scheduling (DPS). Simulation results show that DGS outperforms these competing algorithms. Moreover, as for fault tolerance, DCS utilizes a dual connection mechanism for computational reliability enhancement. For the sake of constructing dual connection, we examine five approaches: RANDOM, NEXT, ROTARY, MINNUM, and WEIGHT. Each one of these approaches can be incorporated into DCS-based wide-area metacomputing systems. Performance simulation shows that WEIGHT benefits the dual connection the most. A DCS-based scientific computational application named the motion correction is used to demonstrate the fault tolerant ability of DCS. Putting the group collaboration, load distribution, and fault tolerance issues together, the dual connection skeleton forms a seamless and integrated framework for Internet-centric computing.

The purposes of this study are: 1.To investigate the effect of web-based English Learning on English teaching 2.To understand the results of practicing the AJET¡¦ Project¡]Advanced Joint English Telecommunication¡^ in Kaohsiung Girls' High School 3.To understand the expectations of the teachers, students and students' parents in the activities of the AJET Project, and 4.To find out the problems in implementing the AJET Project and the ways to solve them. The samples for this study are drawn from the teachers, students and students' parents taking part in the AJET Project in Kaohsiung Girls' High School from 1997.10 to 2002.6. Through careful observations and interviews, the conclusions of this study are as follows: 1.The AJET Project is of much help for the students in learning English because the Project facilitates them to share the living experiences and learning effects with the students of other schools at home and abroad. 2.The students taking part in the AJET Project get many excellent results in the contests held internationally and in the papers contributed to international journals. 3.The teachers participating in the AJET Project also have won the prizes for superb computer application and web-based learning. Despite the the exciting results, there are still many difficulties, such as the program scheduling and the organization of the student participants of the AJET. The teachers of the AJET cannot take part in the Project full time because of being busy in their other routine work and the teaching resources provided by the school are limited. The participant students are divided into so many small learning groups that they cannot be taken good care of. Therefore they have to cooperate with their counterparts of other schools. The students have to spend so much of their time on the regular tests of other subjects that they cannot help themselves from neglecting the AJET. Many students have wrong conceptions of the AJET target. As a result, many students do not devote themselves earnestly to all the activities of the AJET and in the long run some students even abandon the project. The targets of the AJET are not only for students to learn English for the traditional purposes but also to introduce the technique, logic thinking and algorithm of the computer and to train students' leadership. In view of the problems mentioned above, in this study some suggestions are made in the hope that they will be of help for the authorities concerned and all the participants (teachers, students and students' parents) of the AJET.

In every construction project, there is involvement of multiple team-players and their individual efforts have to be coordinated in a timely manner. Sharing and synchronizing information exchange among diverse team players requires a comprehensive project management and collaboration system that is easily accessible and manageable. Web-based or web-enabled project management and collaboration software offer several opportunities for this purpose. In the last decade, the construction industry has realized the necessity of adopting project management and collaboration systems but experienced adaptation and implementation problems. The major reasons were the required software knowledge, training and comfort level of the users. These issues can be addressed by utilizing a software package that provides a familiar user interface and flexible customization options. Microsoft Groove provides an alternative for web-enabled project management and collaboration with comprehensive and customizable tools, while maintaining the familiar Microsoft Office look and feel. This thesis compares the features of Groove software to commonly used project management and collaboration systems in the construction industry. A sample Groove workspace is developed and demonstrated with customized modules and templates for a typical construction project.

In contrast to the declining numbers of new-cars sold in Taiwan, the revenue of car repairing has grown year by year. However, many third-party (non- manufacturer -owned) garages still went bankrupt every month. Therefore, for keeping their profitability and sustainability, those third-party garages need to boost their competitiveness. The main purpose of this research is to find the methods of increasing third-party garage¡¦s competitiveness. This research uses simulative skills to study the selected object. The scope of this study contains the third-party garages¡¦ maintenance management system, cooperative models with suppliers, and customer relationship.

The Living Newspaper Project, a project-based learning model in which students conduct research on a topic, create a script, and perform their work for their peers, has been an outreach program in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin since 2005, but its potential as a professional development program has never been explored at this institution. This MFA Thesis documents the process of designing, implementing, and analyzing a collaborative professional development program for the Living Newspaper Project. The Living Newspaper Project collaborative Professional Development Program was piloted with an English teacher in Austin, Texas, and three Spanish Teachers in Merida, Venezuela. This document examines their thoughts, observations, and experiences in the program, as well as the writings of theorists and the work of other professionals in arts-based professional development to determine what aspects of a professional development program enable teachers to implement a Living Newspaper in their classrooms. / text

This study identified perceived structural and instructional critical attributes of interdisciplinary teaming at the middle school. Through interviews with principals and teachers, data was collected on critical attributes of interdisciplinary teaming in areas such as the formation of teams and the implementation of interdisciplinary teaming as a process with specific functions, both structural and instructional in nature. The critical attributes identified in this study were associated with the results from two earlier studies on interdisciplinary teaming conducted by Hackmann et al. (2002) and Valentine et al. (1993). Additionally, this study gathered data from participants on the perceived benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary teaming. Using purposeful sampling, principals and teacher participants were selected from a school district located in a metropolitan city in Texas. There were a total of 13 middle schools in the school district and five schools were selected for participation in the study. From the five middle schools, ten participants were surveyed and interviewed for this study; five principals and five teachers. The researcher conducted interviews over the telephone with each of the participants. Data collected from the interviews were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings indicated that critical attributes of interdisciplinary teaming, identified earlier by Hackmann et al. (2002) and Valentine et al. (1993), were generally associated with results from the current research. The critical attributes were developed from the following categories: Team characteristics, team membership, team planning time, and curriculum design practices. The second part of the study described perceived benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary teaming. In general, participants identified more benefits than challenges. Specifically, participants found interdisciplinary teaming to be beneficial in the areas of relationships, instruction, and parent communication. Challenges in the implementation of interdisciplinary teaming were described by both groups of participants. Implications for school officials who are trying to maintain interdisciplinary teaming in the face of budgetary constraints will necessitate a balanced look at effectiveness and efficiency. Further inquiry into an important relationship between interdisciplinary teaming and student achievement is also necessary. This study identified perceived structural and instructional critical attributes of interdisciplinary teaming at the middle school. Through interviews with principals and teachers, data was collected on critical attributes of interdisciplinary teaming in areas such as the formation of teams and the implementation of interdisciplinary teaming as a process with specific functions, both structural and instructional in nature. The critical attributes identified in this study were associated with the results from two earlier studies on interdisciplinary teaming conducted by Hackmann et al. (2002) and Valentine et al. (1993). Additionally, this study gathered data from participants on the perceived benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary teaming. Using purposeful sampling, principals and teacher participants were selected from a school district located in a metropolitan city in Texas. There were a total of 13 middle schools in the school district and five schools were selected for participation in the study. From the five middle schools, ten participants were surveyed and interviewed for this study; five principals and five teachers. The researcher conducted interviews over the telephone with each of the participants. Data collected from the interviews were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings indicated that critical attributes of interdisciplinary teaming, identified earlier by Hackmann et al. (2002) and Valentine et al. (1993), were generally associated with results from the current research. The critical attributes were developed from the following categories: Team characteristics, team membership, team planning time, and curriculum design practices. The second part of the study described perceived benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary teaming. In general, participants identified more benefits than challenges. Specifically, participants found interdisciplinary teaming to be beneficial in the areas of relationships, instruction, and parent communication. Challenges in the implementation of interdisciplinary teaming were described by both groups of participants. Implications for school officials who are trying to maintain interdisciplinary teaming in the face of budgetary constraints will necessitate a balanced look at effectiveness and efficiency. Further inquiry into an important relationship between interdisciplinary teaming and student achievement is also necessary. / text

The study investigates the constructed relationship between gender, language, and power in a type of conventional, informal discussion, commonly referred to as adda in Bengal. This research focuses on everyday contestations of authority and some ways that are differently framed by men and women, and as well as some implications of these strategies as they negotiate and position themselves within the setting of adda in Austin, Texas, a place away from Bengal. The corpus consists of a segment of recorded data within mixed-group interaction, including both men and women, among native Bengalis who are currently from Texas as well as from Bengal. I use conversation analysis as a methodology to analyze the sequential production of meaning, and study how participant roles emerge and are negotiated through the lens of an adda setting. The study investigates the transformation of a discussion between men and women into a format of debate, which is common in adda, and the strategies employed by the participants to seize the floor. The strategies analyzed include: collaboration between women to disagree with the male participants’ positions and vice-versa. Questioning as a practice can be a very powerful device within the situated space, as it demands a response from the recipient. The study builds on the recent scholarship on the multifunctional use of tag questions and contributes by adding a new perspective on how the tag-questions are employed by women as an interactional strategy to become co-tellers in the discussion. From the very outset, the study focuses on the use of tag-questions and how they are implemented in an interactional framework (by either men or women). The broader aim of this report is to use tag-question as a primary data set because of their complexity. The act of questioning is a very complex activity as it involves the context and positioning of the speaker as well as the recipient and how they both act and react to the question. In the segment analyzed in the report, women use tag question to question the men’s authority claims, but the questions are interpreted by men as a re-framing to a teacher-student paradigm, and undermine the women’s position. The female participants also create interruptions to redirect and reformulate the topic, in order to become co-tellers in the discussion. In exploring these strategies, I examine both the embodied behavior and the speech styles of both men and women. / text

The aim of this research is to investigate collaborative supply chain practices between Taiwanese and Chinese companies. To that end, we seek to address four main objectives: 1) to investigate and provide evidence of collaboration in supply chain management; 2) to evaluate supplier development within supply chain collaboration; 3) to investigate the internal processes of supply chain collaboration; and 4) to examine the outcomes of supply chain collaboration. To explore collaboration in supply chain management, we conduct an extensive review of the state of the art in collaborative supply chain, and we base our investigations and discussions on three real-life companies that practice collaborative supply chain methods in the target countries. Each study contains detailed information on each company, including the company’s background, history, culture, marketing strategy and their collaborative practices. We employ pattern-matching structures to analyse current collaborative practices, which allows us to determine the similarities and differences between theoretical collaboration and collaborative supply chain in practice. We have analysed both the literature and collaborative methodologies used by the companies in each case study, and we have identified a number of key findings that address each of the four research objectives. On one hand there is evidence to support the use of collaboration in supply chain management between Taiwanese and Chinese companies. However, to increase collaboration, we propose agreements between the countries and identification of key suppliers. On the other hand, dominant and powerful partners may prevent good collaboration within the supply chains. Therefore, in order to create an open minded and collaborative culture, we propose greater trust between Taiwanese buyers and Chinese and Taiwanese suppliers. The value in collaborative supply chain can then be realised, which has a positive impact on the business in terms of increasing competitive advantage and customer satisfaction. In addition, such collaborative practices provide the motivation for collaborative supply chain management between Taiwanese buyers and Chinese and Taiwanese suppliers.

Horizontal relationships between subsidiaries within an MNC are rarely shown on an organisation chart but the interactions along this dimension are critical to the achievement of an MNC’s global operations and strategic activities. Different interaction logics of social relationships and economic exchanges in horizontal relationships induce simultaneous competition and collaboration between the subsidiaries. Collaboration and competition is a business reality in inter-subsidiary relationships as they collaborate to share resources and knowledge, but ultimately compete for resources, customers and profits. While much research has focused on the effects of internal collaboration, and to a lesser extent internal competition, on organisational performance, little is known about the antecedents of competition and collaboration and the interplay of simultaneously occurring interactions. By focusing on one or the other, any understanding of the inherent tensions between the two is overlooked. This research explores the coopetitive nature of the inter-subsidiary relationship using a qualitative approach within three MNCs, where internal competition and collaboration are more salient. Data were gathered from 98 semi-structured interviews with top and senior management, top management focus groups and a body of secondary data including internal reports, policy documents and external publications, among others, has been referenced. The study makes three key contributions. First, by extending Luo’s (2005) theoretical model of intra-MNE coopetition, the study identifies additional respective antecedents of competition and collaboration. Second, the study locates inherent tensions arising from inter-subsidiary coopetition and explicates how the tensions are managed by the HQ and subsidiaries using spatial, balancing and assessing mechanisms and specific interventions. Third, the study offers an empirically-based model of inter-subsidiary coopetition with a more dynamic and temporal set of multiple relationships among the subsidiaries within the MNCs. Management implications include that senior management teams be aware of the opportunities and constraints of promoting a culture of collaboration while simultaneously fostering inter-subsidiary competition through internal accounting policies and incentive systems, and that the capability of senior managers to work effectively within dual organisational structures be developed and incorporated into executive development programmes.

The university art museum can make a significant contribution to the academic and cultural life of the parent institution. While there are many roles of art museums within institutions of higher education, there is a common thread -- the conviction that interdisciplinary exhibitions and programs expand the relevance of the art museum within the academic community. In this study, I examine interdisciplinary collaborations between the university art museum and faculty from diverse academic disciplines at American institutions of higher education. What relationships, if any, exist between academic programs and art museums at universities? What institutional structures are keys and barriers to successful collaboration between the university art museum and academic programs? What factors determine the success of interdisciplinary collaboration between the university art museum and diverse academic programs? In order to fully explore the possibilities of interdisciplinary collaboration, qualitative analysis of current initiatives at university art museums throughout the United States was necessary. The conceptual framework of interdisciplinary exhibitions and programs is thus established. Secondly, case studies examine the organizational culture of the institutions and challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration at the University of Virginia Art Museum, the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art of Art at the University of Richmond, and the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College. As well, my professional experience, through a retrospective account of projects at the Daura Gallery at Lynchburg College, provides insights into both the potential and process of interdisciplinary collaboration. While I am mindful that this informs my conviction that interdisciplinarity and collaborative practice is essential to the university art museum, the partiality that existed at the onset of the study was recognized and subjected to a rigorous research and methodology that imparts validity and authenticity to this inquiry. While the “publish or perish” convention of the academy supports discipline-specific research and individual publication, I contend that the university art museum must engage in interdisciplinary dialogue through which perceptions are changed and new meanings are unveiled while respecting the integrity of the disciplines involved. This study of institution-wide interdisciplinary collaboration between university art museums and the academic institutions of which they are part reveals what is being done through innovative exhibitions and programming to promote the interconnectedness of ideas and issues. Collaboration with diverse academic disciplines reaffirms the traditional expectations of the museum of investigation, inquiry, and intellectual challenge. Purposive exhibitions grounded in collaboration between academic disciplines can generate debate, critique, and conversation. In doing so, the university art museum is an indispensable component of the university’s mission and asserts its relevance to the institution and its role in the educational experience through collaboration between the university’s academic programs and the university art museum.