Today, ERP is now considered to be the price of entry for running a business and for being connected to other enterprises in a network economy. Due to the complexity of the ERP and the needs for the business process reengineering, most of the ERP implementation projects were judged to be unsuccessful. A common problem when adopting ERP software has been the issue of misfits, that is, the gaps between the functionality offered by the package and that required by the adopting organization. These misfits include data formatting, data relating, access, controlling, operating, output formatting and data contents, and so forth. This study presents a methodology to analyze the above misfit issues and proposes strategies to solve the problems. The results will contribute to the ERP implementation.

Microsystem and integrated circuitry components are mostly manufactured using semiconductor technologies. Fabrication using high strength metals, for demanding aerospace, mechanical, or biomedical applications, requires novel technologies which are different from those for silicon. A promising mass production method for micro/meso scale components is electrochemical micromachining. The complex system, however, requires high precision mechanical fixtures and sophisticated instrumentation for proper process control. This study presents an electrochemical micromachining system with a closed-loop feedback control programmed using a conditional binary logic approach. The closed-loop control is realized using electrical current as the dynamic feedback signal. The control system improves material removal rate by 250% through optimizing inter electrode gap and provides robust automation reducing machining variation by 88%. The new system evokes production of higher quality microcomponents. Workpiece damage is reduced by 97% and increased feature sharpness is observed.

Low temperature specific heat (LTSH) is a powerful tool to investigate the physical properties of bulk samples. For superconductivity, LTSH can probe the pairing state in superconductors and provides additional information under magnetic fields. In this thesis, I present comprehensive specific-heat studies of superconductivity in YNi2B2C, NbSe2, and CeRu2. (1) Single crystalline YNi2B2C was found to be superconducting at the superconducting transition temperature Tc ~ 13.77 K. The superconducting specific heat Ce(T) can be described by either the point-node or the two-gap model. (2) Single crystalline NbSe2 has a two-dimensional crystalline structure showing the Tc ~ 6.7 K and the anisotropy in the critical fields, Hc2¡æ/Hc2// ~3. We investigated the Ce(T) and the electronic specific heat £^(H) by the two-gap model. Obtained fitting parameters, such as gap values and the relative ratio of two gaps in both analyses (Ce(T) and £^(H)), are comparable meaning that the superconductivity of NbSe2 can be described by the two-gap scenario. (3) Finally, we studied the DC magnetic susceptibility and the specific heat of polycrystalline CeRu2 in different magnetic fields. In the bulk CeRu2, the amount of the possible impurity phase or nano-clusters was reduced after annealing. Based on the analysis results of zero-field and in-field specific heat, CeRu2 is a BCS-like superconductor with an anisotropic gap.

In this thesis, we discuss the subject into four parts. Firstly, we introduce the telematics for automotive. Secondary, we study the effects of locations of the hidden antenna. Thirdly, we discuss the effects of the windshield to the hidden antenna as we place the antenna on the windshield, then, the window film is attached to the windshield. We conduct implementation and measurement to analyze the effect of the film to the antenna. Finally, we find that the antenna gain is degraded in certain receiving angle due to the car body as we place the antenna at the corner of the windshield. In order to improve this, we design an EBG structure and place it between the antenna and the car body. The simulation result indicates that the EBG structure not only improves the gain in certain receiving angles but also reduces the induced current intensity on the car body.

On-line gap measurement techniques for steel mill non-contacting conveyance system, which can supply accurate, rapid and high-sampling rate gap measurements, have been proposed. To realize the entire process, by considering the operational environment in a steel mill and combining with those available system dimension measurement instruments, an image-based scheme with proper image processing and parameter calibration process has been developed. The possible sources that affect the air-gap detection accuracies have also been thoroughly investigated, and a comprehensive measurement database and a recursive modification technique have been successfully established. In order to achieve stable control for site implementation, an integrated optical inspection system which combined with the high-speed rate line-scan camera has been designed. From the experimental results, the proposed system can both provide accurate gap values at the static state, and offer stable control operations at the dynamic state. It is believed that the proposed scheme provide innovated guidance for the related conveyance applications in the steel mill.

Recently, sport video analysis has attracted lots of researcher¡¦s attention because of its entertainment applications and potential commercial benefits. Sport video analysis aims to identify what trigged the excitement of audiences. Previous methods rely mainly on video decomposition using domain specific knowledge. The study and development of suitable and efficient techniques for sport video analysis have been conducted extensively over the last decade. However, several longstanding challenges, such as semantic gap and commercial detection are still waiting to be solved. In this work, we consider using semantic analysis to adjacent pitch scenes which we called ¡§gap length.¡¨ Difference kinds of baseball games show its specific distribution for gap length, which depicts the potential significance of each baseball game.

Using data from 1999 on immigrants in Sweden, we find that the gender earnings gap among immigrant is lower than natives’ gender earnings gap and negatively related to their source country gender earnings gap. We also show that immigrants’ earnings are lower and more concentrated than the natives’ ones which leads to a lower gender earnings gap for immigrants. Then, regarding the gender earnings gap along the earnings distribution and linking it with earnings distribution of immigrants and natives, we are able to conclude that immigrants are not strongly affected by the glass ceiling effect since they are not present in the upper tail of the distribution. We reach the conclusion that such gender earnings gap differences between natives and immigrants may be explained by selection in the labour force participation, occupational segregation of immigrants, source country culture and discrimination.

Hierarchical crop growth models can contribute signi®cantly to land quality research because the yield gap between the estimated optimum and the actual crop production has been identi®ed as a major land quality indicator. This study describes a three-level, hierarchical crop production model, simulating radiation-thermal, water-limited and natural production potentials of annual crops. Input requirements have been kept low to ensure its applicability to developing regions, which often have access only to limited data. The simplicity of this model also has disadvantages: inconsistencies have been reported when applying this model in semiarid regions, which are characterized by very irregular rainfall patterns. Revision of the water balance, which simulates the availability of water, was required. The modi®ed model was validated using the experimental yields of maize and sun¯ower in Guquka, a semiarid region of South Africa. Yields were estimated very well, possible improvements to crop production were identi®ed and implications for land-use planning highlighted. Yield gap analysis revealed that radiation, sunshine and temperature are favourable for crop production, but the heavy dependence on rainfall makes the region very vulnerable to drought, with devastating impact on yields. The generally low chemical soil fertility further reduces crop performance.

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In this dissertation, I explore the systematic failure of the current state of the art statistical techniques to detect gender salary inequity in a special case to propose a more appropriate quantitative method for analyzing gender salary discrimination. This research contributes in three key areas for the development of the quantitative analysis of salary inequity detection. I uncovered salary inequities within gender groups that can mask the salary discrimination between these groups. I then proposed the Two-stage Classification Regression as an appropriate novel statistical method. Finally, the additional propositions made can enhance future salary inequity research.Regardless of the outcome of any gender salary inequity study, we can often find a subgroup of females that is discriminated against when compared to the rest of females. Likewise, a subgroup of males may also be victim of salary inequity when compared to other males. In this context, the first main discovery is that the existence of salary inequities within gender groups can prevent regular statistical techniques from detecting salary inequity between males and females. Detecting this form of salary inequity will increase the sensitivity of the statistical test and hedge its potentially higher risk to the institution.Facing such a statistical problem, the second main contribution was devising a novel statistical approach that can not only succeed where other techniques systematically fail, but also provide a new framework for a more informative statistical analysis. In addition, a more comprehensive definition of salary inequity that goes beyond the simple measure of gender salary gap was derived.The third significant contribution is a set of propositions aiming at framing the agenda for future research on salary inequity studies. A statistical test was proposed to determine when the outcomes of these the linear regression and reverse regression techniques can be expected to be the same. Also, the probability model which is not estimable, but the most robust model was shown to be equivalent to the logistic regression model which is easily estimable, but somewhat difficult to interpret. The goal is to create theoretical supports for better statistical and econometric analyses.