High oil price causing high cost of chemical industry, therefore the companies must pay attention to recycle of petrochemical sources, especially the reusing of wasted plastics which speeded global innovation of related techniques and formulas. The cost competition impact forced the plastic companies to raise effective strategy to avoid being expelled from the market. The research aims at three points: firstly, discussion of the facts of plastic recycles between Taiwan and China; secondly, discussion of the strategies of plastic recycles between Taiwan and China and the third, setting up the disruptive innovation strategy module of plastic recycles. The discussion of the theme focuses on organizational strategy, key success factors analysis, the third generation R&D and disruptive innovation. Through the analysis and discussion of some companies as well as the testing of plastic recycles disruptive innovation strategy module, it turns out to be the conclusion and suggestion for plastic recycles disruptive innovation strategy module.

Merger &Acquisition is a way to allocate resources in the capital market, and also a way for enterprises to expand scale. Since the real estate industry has a prominent position in the national economy, and M&A events in the real estate industry are also increasing year by year, it is worth studying whether M&A can improve the performance of M&A enterprises. From the perspective of horizontal M&A of real estate enterprises, this paper studies whether the short-term and long-term performance of listed real estate enterprises can be improved under horizontal M&A. First, this paper studies the background of M&A, the performance of M&A and the motivation of M&A relate to the theory and analyzes development of the real estate industry in recent years. After that, this paper begins to conduct an empirical study on the short-term performance and the long-term performance of horizontal M&A of listed real estate enterprises. This paper selects the horizontal M&A of real estate enterprises occurred in 2016 as the research samples. The short-term research calculates the CAR of each day of the event window by using the method of event studying, and compares its change. The long-term research uses the method of factors studying to calculate the comprehensive performance score of each year before and after M&A. The research result of this paper shows that although horizontal M&A of real estate companies brings positive cumulative abnormal return in the short term, the CAR is very small. In the long term, the comprehensive performance scores of horizontal M&A of real estate companies decline and then rise slowly before and after M&A. Besides, in this paper, starting from the features of the real estate industry, I analysis the driving factors of M&A of the real estate and build the M &A performance evaluation system of real estate enterprises. Using the case method, with the help of the M&A performance evaluation system, this paper analyzed the performance of Chinese real estate enterprises-Vanke after M&A from short-term and long-term performance, finding out the factors to drive the improvement of performance of vanke through M&A. According to the analysis of the case, a series of suggestions are proposed from internal and external to improve performance of real estate enterprise after M&A of our country.Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions to the participants of M&A. For example, listed real estate enterprises should pay attention to the cost of M&A and resource integration; Government departments should pay attention to marketization; Intermediary agent should be diligent and responsible. / Business Administration/Finance

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T17:40:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo723_1.pdf: 2509449 bytes, checksum: aee89d3fd6cd28c43ba22ccfaced1689 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Companhia Hidro Elétrica do São Francisco / Esta dissertação enfoca a questão do erro humano nas atividades relacionadas com a manutenção dos equipamentos de proteção e automação numa grande empresa de transmissão de energia elétrica. A ênfase é no erro humano que tenha provocado o desligamento acidental de alguma função de transmissão. A justificativa do estudo cita ações preventivas aos erros humanos na manutenção, apresenta dados básicos de desligamentos, resume os cenários antes e depois da resolução normativa que alterou a remuneração do setor de transmissão, ressalta os impactos econômicos com a nova regulamentação e aborda aspectos da cultura organizacional. A pesquisa sobre as causas de acidentes no trabalho resume teorias com ênfase no homem (da fadiga; da propensão para acidentes, do puro acaso) e teorias com visão sistêmica (modelos Skill-Rule-Knowledge e Generic Error-Modelling System). Aborda ainda aplicações das teorias de análise e classificação de erros humanos que resultaram no modelo Human Factors Analysis and Classification System. Conclui destacando a dificuldade e a necessidade das empresas abandonarem as análises de acidentes com foco nos erros dos homens para considerarem os fatores organizacionais, apresenta fatores psicológicos que levam a buscar culpados e propostas para alcançar excelentes níveis de segurança. O método proposto para a análise e classificação de erros humanos, composto de nove fases, estabelece análise ampla e participativa, apresenta fluxogramas e diagramas de apoio e um processo de validação das recomendações de modo a obter o comprometimento dos responsáveis pela implantação. Apresenta a visão da análise de acidentes no mundo, alerta para o perigo da tendência em supervalorizar o organizacional , insiste que as organizações não podem perder de vista os atos inseguros. Na aplicação é descrita a avaliação da influência da mudança na tecnologia dos equipamentos de proteção e automação em relação aos erros humanos sendo constatado forte efeito sobre a atividade de cálculo e emissão de ajustes dos equipamentos digitais. A conclusão ressalta as bases teóricas do método proposto, destaca os aplausos às empresas que conseguem evitar análises de acidentes com foco excessivo no humano e sugere estudos envolvendo psicologia, engenharia, psiquiatria, estatística, administração e pedagogia

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.

<p>Tema ovog rada bazira se na neorealističkom pokretu i istraživanju uzročnika koji su doveli do njegovog nastanka, specifičnostima koje on, kao intenzivan umetnički pokret, poseduje i korelaciji između dela koje čine njegovo jezgro. Poseban osvrt načinjen je ka analizi odnosa i interpoziciji fotografske i filmske umetnosti kao vizuelnim, ontolo&scaron;ki bliskim, medijima.<br />Istraživanje fenomena italijanskog neorealizma, ukazalo je na ogromni izvor raznovrsnog sadržaja koji se mogu istraživati i analizirati na vi&scaron;e različitih principa. Stoga su i ciljevi istraživanja postavljeni prema potrebama pitanja pozicioniranja neorealističkog pokreta u istorijski i umetnički kontekst: ispitivanje uzročnika koji su doveli do stvaranja i egzistiranja neorealističkog pokreta, istorijskih činilaca, izvora i prethodnicama u literaturi, &scaron;tampanim medijima i filmskoj i fotografskoj umetnosti.&nbsp;<br />Za polaznu tačku istraživanja, termin neorealizam postavljen je u svoj istorijski kontekst da bi se postavila tačka &quot;oslonca&quot; za dalje analize, na koju su se kasnije mogli bazirati svi zaključci izvedeni iz pojedinih oblasti: neorealizam u filmu i fotografiji, internacionalni uticaj na autore neorealizma filma i fotografije, socijalno-istorijski uticaj na tlu Italije u periodu pre, tokom i neposredno nakon trajanja neorealističkog pokreta, kao i analiza filmskih i fotografskih neorealističkih dela.<br />Svaka oblast istraživanja pružila je određene činjenice i saznanja koja su, postavljena u kontekst teme ovog rada, omogućila sagledavanje jedne nove, &scaron;ire slike o neorealističkom pokretu, zasnovanom ne samo na postulatima uslovljenim i oblikovanim socijalno-fizičkim uslovima, kao primarnim pri nastanku neorealizma, nego uzima u obzir i sve ostale činioce i pozicionira ih u istu ravan sa gore navedenim, pro&scaron;irujući tako op&scaron;ti pogled na dela nastala u ovom periodu. Sledeći tragove istraživanja koji su ukazivali na nove bitne elemente, stvorila se &scaron;ira mreža relacija i informacija koja je uputila na dublju povezanost uzročnika neorealizma. Prožimanje istorijskih činjenica, dokazane relacije, poznanstva i saradnje autora, uticaj književnosti, filmske i fotografske umetnosti, vodile su do daljih zaključaka koji su se udaljavali od ustaljene teze o neorealizmu kao pokretu koji je eksplodirao stvaralačkom energijom i kreativnim izrazom, kao posledica terora fa&scaron;ističke diktature tokom Drugog svetskog rata, a potom oslobođenja, i sirovog izraza uslovljenog nema&scaron;tinom i oskudicom materijala, koji su diktirali formu i teksturu filmske i fotografske neorealističke forme.<br />Prilikom sumiranja činjenica koje su se izdvajale kao krucijalni delovi analiza, pokazalo se da se mnoge od njih sistematski ponavljaju i potvrđuju svoje prisustvo u ostalim kategorijama, kao i to da svaka od njih ima korene koji se prepliću i time ukazuju i na dublju povezanost u istorijskom kontekstu. Ovakav &quot;bihejviorizam&quot; podataka postepeno je doveo do realizacije zaključka, postavljenog ne samo na osnovu uporedne gramatike ovih podataka i kreiranja lingvistike filmskog i fotografskog neorealizma nego i na uporednoj analizi najkarakterističnijih dela filmskog i fotografskog neorealizma.<br />Ukratko, rezultati sumirani u formi zaključka, donose nov osvrt na umetnost neorealizma, pozicioniran na uporednoj analizi gore pomenutih činilaca i utemeljenog na faktivnim tvrdnjama i zaključcima, kao i na subjektivnom doživljaju i analizi dela. Neorealizam se, nakon ovakve analize, pojavio u svetlu umetničkog pokreta koji je svoje korene imao u periodu koji mu je neposredno prethodio, ali i u socijalno-istorijskim uticajima na tlu Italije, umetnostima filma, fotografije i književnosti, &scaron;tampanim i vizuelnim medijima u tridesetim i četrdesetim godinama dvadesetog veka, kao i specifičnom italijanskom nacionalnom duhu koji je neorealizmom odgovorio na specifične te&scaron;ke uslove u državi u ratnom i posleratnom periodu. Pored toga, dokazana je veza između fotografske i filmske umetnosti, koja zalazi i izvan granica teoretske povezanosti samih tehnolo&scaron;kih karakteristika medija. Ove dve umetničke discipline dokazano su egzistirale kao samosvesne oblasti (i vi&scaron;e od fromalne povezanosti u doba neorealizma), ali sa velikom i snažnom vezom koja je obostrano uticala na njih putem saradnje autora, preplitanja uticaja, interakcije medija.</p> / <p>The subject matter of the doctoral thesis is the origin, international influence and mutual factor of the cinematic and photographic neorealist art.</p>

The goal of Intelligent Tutoring systems (ITSs) is to engage the students in sustained reasoning activity and to interact with students based on a deep understanding of student behavior. In order to understand student behavior, ITSs rely on student modeling methods to observes student actions in the tutor and creates a quantitative representation of student knowledge, interests, affective states. Good student models are going to effectively help ITSs customize instructions, engage student's interest and then promote learning. Thus, the work of building ITSs and advancing student modeling should be considered as two interconnected components of one system rather than two separate topics. In this work, we utilized the theoretical support of a well-known learning science theory, the spacing effect, to guide the development of an ITS, called Automatic Reassessment and Relearning System (ARRS). ARRS not only validated the effectiveness of spacing effect, but it also served as a testing field which allowed us to find out new approaches to improve student learning by conducting large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The rich data set we gathered from ARRS has advanced our understanding of robust learning and helped us build student models with advanced data mining methods. At the end, we designed a set of API that supports the development of ARRS in next generation ASSISTments platform and adopted deep learning algorithms to further improve retention performance prediction. We believe our work is a successful example of combining theory and practice to advance science and address real- world problems.

This thesis deals with a business plan for establishing a company named WelFit. The company will provide service in accomodation, fitness and welness. Given Business plan will be supported by an analysis of the external factors, sector analysis and complemented by a SWOT analysis. Conclusion of the thesis will consisst of a business plan and a financial plan.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Progression of Chlamydia into upper reproductive tract epithelium and the induction of subsequent immune responses to infection are major contributors to Chlamydia-induced pathogenesis of the genital tract. We reported that C. muridarum infection of the oviduct epithelial cells (OEs) secrete IFN-β in a TLR3 dependent manner. However, we showed that the C. muridarum infected TLR3-deficient OEs were still able to secrete minimal amounts of IFN-β into the supernatants, which is suggestive that there are other signaling pathways that contribute to Chlamydia-induced IFN-β synthesis in these cells. Previous studies describing the activation of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway during Chlamydia infection of cervical epithelial cells proposes a putative role for STAT1 in the synthesis of type I IFNs during Chlamydia infection. The present study investigated the role of STAT1 in Chlamydia-induced IFN-β production in OEs. OEs were infected with Chlamydia muridarum and analyzed at 24 hours by RT-PCR and western blot to determine STAT1 expression. STAT (-/-) OEs were infected and IFN-β production measured by ELISA. Quantitative real-time PCR analyses were performed at 6 and 16 hour post-infection to elucidate the mechanisms involved in IFN-β production during infection. Fluorescent microscopy was used to observe changes in Chlamydia replication. STAT1 activation and expression were significantly increased in wild-type (WT) OEs upon infection. TLR3 (-/-) OEs showed diminished STAT1 protein activation and expression. Augmented STAT1 protein expression corresponded to STAT1 mRNA levels. ELISA analyses revealed significantly less IFN-β production in infected STAT1 (-/-) OEs compared to WT OEs. Quantitative real-time PCR data showed that gene expression of IFN-β and of type I IFN signaling components were significantly increased during late stage Chlamydia infection, dependent on STAT1. Temporal regulation and increases in expression of IFN-α subtypes during infection were STAT1-dependent. Our results implicate STAT1-mediated signaling as a contributor to the C. muridarum-induced synthesis of IFN-β and other type I IFNs in OEs. We previously described a major role for TLR3 in the early-stage Chlamydia-induced synthesis of IFN-β in OEs; the results from this study suggest a role for STAT1 in the synthesis of type I IFNs that occurs during early and late stages of infection.

No description available.

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious neglected zoonosis of cattle that is prevalent but under-investigated in Cameroon, hence this study was designed to assess the epidemiology of bovine TB in cattle, risks for M. bovis infection in cattle and humans; and public health implications of zoonotic bovine TB in the highlands of Cameroon. A retrospective study of meat inspection records (1994 – 2010) was done to estimate the prevalence of TB lesions in slaughtered cattle in the North West region. The prevalence of bovine TB and anti-bovine TB antibodies in live cattle based on tuberculin skin tests (2 surveys) and immune-chromatographic assays respectively were carried out in the Western and Adamawa highlands of Cameroon. The performance of the tuberculin tests for bovine TB diagnosis in cattle using various tuberculin skin test cut-off points against the detection of anti-bovine TB antibodies (hypothesised risks of exposure) was compared. Suspected TB lesions from slaughtered cattle and infected human sputa were cultured on Lowentein – Jesen and Middlebrook 7H9 media to isolate mycobacteria agents for molecular genotyping using genomic deletion analysis and spoligotyping. Risk factors for exposure and transmission of zoonotic bovine TB infection of cattle and cattle professionals, and its public health significance were determined using structured questionnaires. Seventeen years of meat inspection record revealed that suspect TB lesions were identified in 599 of 129,165 slaughtered cattle at the Bamenda abattoir. The lungs and associated lymph nodes (over 60%) were the most affected tissues. Other results showed that the prevalence of anti-bovine TB antibodies in cattle in the study regions was 37.17%. Chi square statistics revealed that irrespective of the tuberculin test cut-off value (P<0.05; χ2>48), strong associations existed between the detection of anti-bovine TB antibodies and disease status. A 95% confidence interval analysis of the comparative cervical tuberculin tests revealed that the prevalence rates were 4.67% – 7.15%, 12.02% – 15.67% and 20.56% – 24.98% at the ≥ 4mm, ≥ 3mm and ≥ 2mm cut-off points, respectively. Overall, the best test performance was realised at ≥ 3-mm, though the ≥ 2-mm cut-off point predicted more positive reactors. Age, sex, breed and husbandry practices served as significant (P<0.05) risks to the prevalence and exposure of bovine TB in cattle. The feedbacks from cattle professionals suggested that there was high possibility of cattle to cattle and cattle to human transmission of bovine TB such as intimate and repeated animal / animal and animal / human interactions, consuming unpasteurised milk and eating raw meat. Genomic deletion analysis of cultured isolates showed evidence of M. tuberculosis from cattle and M. bovis from human while spoligotyping identified five cattle M. bovis strains; and four spoligotype patterns that had not been previously described anywhere. The study has important epidemiological and public health implications requiring prompt and decisive actions from the Cameroonian authority towards controlling zoonotic bovine TB in both humans and animals. A multidisciplinary approach is needed for further collaborative research and effective control strategies such as enhancing the awareness of people to this deadly disease through continuous education, proper food handling and personal hygiene, healthy husbandry practices and maintenance of the environment.