叶菊艳. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 293-309) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Ye Juyan.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The overall aim of the study was to investigate the factors contributing to RAL’s performance on roads infrastructure delivery in Limpopo Province for the first ten years since its inception. The study also sought to assess RAL’s steadiness, looking at its current practices and processes versus key external and internal developmental challenges facing the construction industry, in particular the civil engineering profession. Descriptive explorative research design using an instrumental case study was used in this research project to achieve the aim of the study. The population comprised all the people and companies involved with the RAL projects in Limpopo Province, including RAL staff, CIBD active registered Civil Engineering Contracting and consulting firms. Unstructured telephonic interviews and a structured questionnaire assisted the researcher to understand factors contributing to RAL’s performance in roads. The study revealed several strengths and weaknesses contributing to RAL’s performance, which concerned the agency‘s nature and composition, level of implementation of its strategies, policies and plans. A clear and implementable quality assurance system must be developed to mitigate all risks associated with project management processes and procedures. Strategies should also be identified on how the agency’s performance will progress despite the economic instability and political interferences. Proper strategic planning has thus far proved to be prudent in identifying risks and ways to mitigate them. According to the study RAL, an organisation of its own type specialising in roads infrastructure, its nature and size, its vast experience and knowledge of construction and project organisation and Project managers’ experience, competence and commitment to finishing the project with time ,cost and budget, have emerged as key ingredients assisting it in becoming an organisation with its proven record. The study also demonstrated RAL’s strength in terms of its communication, control and dedication in managing projects. However too many tenders are issued within a short space of time which makes contractors unable to adequately respond to them. RAL has demonstrated that it is negatively affected by an unstable economic environment. As a result construction materials are always aligned to inflation. To that end RAL should constantly monitor market conditions to synchronize its activities to 5 rightfully position themselves as these are external factors that are unavoidable, but require a hands-on approach

Thesis (M.A. (Recreation Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

The companies ought to care about OEE because it is a measure that shows the effect of the performance and quality related losses on the system or equipment. In order to improve OEE, they focus on defining the losses under each OEE elements and try to eliminate these losses.This study aims to enhance raw material inventory management in order to eliminateinventory management related losses and improve OEE.  Lack of raw material and improperstorage of raw material are main problems related to inventory management. A model isdeveloped and tested in order to prevent these problems and eliminate these losses.Performance rate can be improved by preventing idle time due to lack of raw material, andquality rate can be improved by standardization and improving raw material storageprocedure. In the result of model testing, it is shown that raw material inventory managementhas an effect on OEE and OEE can be improved by enhancing raw material inventorymanagement.

Personality traits have been used extensively over the past forty years in assessing leadership potential, with varying degrees of success. A major limitation of this research has been the measures of personality. Another important limitation has been the availability of quantifiable measures of leader effectiveness. A third limitation is the lack of longitudinal studies. Because of these limitations, researchers have had difficulty determining the strength of personality traits as predictors of leadership effectiveness over time. Recent studies have used the Five Factor Model of personality to predict leadership effectiveness (e.g., Hogan, Curphy, & Hogan, 1994; Judge, Bono, Ilies, & Gerhardt, 2002; McCormack & Mellor, 2002); and researchers in positive psychology (e.g., Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) have suggested that character strength and virtues (i.e., courage, temperance, and transcendence) might also offer an approach useful in predicting leadership success. This research builds on these approaches and examined two trait-based instruments, the Big Five instrument (NEO-PI-R) and the Values in Action Inventory of Strength (VIA-IS) instrument as they relate to leader effectiveness. Using undergraduates at the United States Military Academy as participants, the research examines the relationship and efficacy of the NEO-PI-R and the VIA-IS in predicting leadership effectiveness over a two and a half year study. Regression analysis demonstrated that conscientiousness was the most significant predictor of leadership effectiveness. However, latent growth curve analysis suggests that there are three distinct patterns of leadership effectiveness. Using mixture modeling, these trajectories are best explained by the personality factors and virtue variables of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and temperance. The findings of this study have broad implications for emergent leader selection, leader development programs, and executive coaching in organizations. / Dissertation

Two sets of experiments were performed on a simulated turbine nozzle guide vane. First, adiabatic and overall effectiveness measurements were taken in the showerhead region of the vane using adiabatic and matched Biot vane models, respectively. Measurements of overall effectiveness in the showerhead region are not found in the literature, and are a useful baseline for validating the results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Overall effectiveness is useful because it shows the results of combining film cooling, internal convection, and surface conduction to provide a more complete picture of vane cooling than adiabatic effectiveness. An impingement plate was utilized to generate internal jet cooling. Momentum flux ratios were matched between the models and ranged from I*SH = 0.76 to 6.70, based on showerhead upstream approach velocity. The second set of experiments used a different model to examine the effects of surface curvature on adiabatic effectiveness. Results in open literature are found by varying the radius of curvature of a fixed setup, so the current approach was novel in that it looked at adiabatic effectiveness at locations of various curvature around the same vane. Blowing ratios from M = 0.4 to M = 1.6 were tested at a density ratio of DR = 1.20 for two locations on the suction side of the vane. Results were presented in terms of laterally averaged adiabatic effectiveness and contour plots of adiabatic effectiveness, and were compared to literature. / text

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

No description available.

The objective of this dissertation is to develop and evaluate quantitative models that have the potential to improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening and projection efforts in the U.S. Paper 1 assesses the exchangeability of a non-laboratory-based CVD risk score (predictors do not include cholesterol) with more commonly-used laboratory-based scores, such as the Framingham risk equations. Under conventional thresholds for identifying high-risk individuals, 92-96% of adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) were equivalently characterized as high- or low-risk using either type of score. The 10-year CVD death results also suggest that simple CVD risk assessment could be a useful proxy for more expensive laboratory-based screening strategies in the U.S. or other resource-limited settings. Paper 2 uses micro-simulation modeling techniques to evaluate the cost effectiveness of primary cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening using staged laboratory-based and/or non-laboratory-based total CVD risk assessment. The results imply that efficient screening guidelines should include non-laboratory-based risk assessment, either as a single stage or as part of multistage screening approach. Compared to current CVD screening guidelines, fewer cholesterol tests would be administered and more adults would receive low-cost statins under cost-effective screening policies. Paper 3 examines the trends of CVD risk factors, treatment, and total risk in the U.S. from 1973-2010, and offers projections of these variables for 2015-2030. Nine waves of cross-sectional NHANES data show that the divergent, observed trends in common CVD risk factors (such as smoking, BMI, total cholesterol, and blood pressure) are expected to continue in future years. Age-adjusted CVD risk has decreased over time (during the observed and projected periods), but total risk has increased when considering the impact of aging on CVD risk. Scenario analyses suggest that strategies targeting cholesterol and blood pressure treatment have the greatest potential to reduce future CVD burden in the U.S.