La present tesi doctoral analitza l'evolució i els factors determinants de la competitivitat de les manufactures catalanes a la UE-25 en el període 1999-2004. La contribució principal del treball és l'aplicació de l'indicador del quality gap a l'anàlisi de la competitivitat. Aquest indicador, que es construeix a partir de les dades de comerç dels estats membres i de Catalunya amb la UE per a més de 10.000 productes manfuacturats, permet comparar la qualitat de les exportacions (estimada a partir del valor unitari) de cada un dels territoris amb la mitjana de la UE.L'anàlisi empírica, que s'emmarca en el debat actual sobre la competitivitat, s'estructura en quatre grans objectius:1. Analitzar la competitivitat de les manufactures catalanes a la UE de l'euro i l'ampliació i posar de relleu els problemes de competitivitat.2. Identificar els determinants dels problemes de competitivitat.3. Contrastar que el quality gap és un indicador rellevant de competitivitat.4. Analitzar els patrons de competitivitat de les manufactures catalanes a la UE amb al quality gap.Així mateix, les conclusions de la tesi doctoral es poden agrupar en quatre grans blocs:Un primer conjunt de conclusions té a veure amb la relació del quality gap i l'evolució de la competitivitat. Per als 25 estats membres es contrasta l'estreta relació entre capacitat d'innovació, productivitat i quality gap. A més, es contrasta que el quality gap permet explicar millor les diferències en productivitat que altres indicadors més habituals, com l'especialització intraindustrial o interindustrial. El quality gap també contribueix a explicar l'evolució de la taxa de cobertura exterior, en canvi la relació entre quality gap i evolució de la quota de mercat és menys directa, en un període marcat per l'ampliació de la UE als països de l'Europa central i oriental. En el període 1999-2004 Catalunya ha millorat el seu quality gap i la seva quota de mercat, però la seva taxa de cobertura s'ha mantingut estancada a uns nivells relativament baixos.El segon grup de conclusions està vinculat a la productivitat. A Catalunya els problemes de productivitat no s'expliquen tant per l'especialització interindustrial, que és similar a la de la UE, com per l'especialització intraindustrial, condicionada per una menor capacitat d'innovació. L'anàlisi realitzada apunta cap a un canvi en l'especialització de les exportacions manufactureres catalanes cap a sectors més intensius en tecnologia i amb una productivitat més elevada, però en els quals Catalunya està posicionada en un segment de qualitat inferior. El canvi d'especialització es detecta particularment en el comerç intraindustrial, amb una elevada i creixent tendència a l'especialització en el segment de qualitat inferior i en els mercats competitius en preus, que ha contribuït al deteriorament de la relació d'intercanvi en preus amb la UE.Un tercer grup de conclusions està relacionat amb el comerç de productes intermedis, que contribueix a explicar l'estancament de la taxa de cobertura. En el període 1999-2004 s'incrementa la propensió a importar de les empreses manufactureres catalanes i la qualitat de les importacions en relació amb les exportacions. La importació de productes intermedis de més qualitat afavoreix la millora del quality gap de les exportacions i la millora de la quota de mercat a la UE, però dificulta l'equilibri exterior de l'economia catalana.Finalment, l'indicador del quality gap aporta informació rellevant i addicional a la dels indicadors tradicionals de competitivitat i permet realitzar una anàlisi sistemàtica dels patrons nacionals de competitivitat a la UE a un nivell de desagregació elevat. / The present doctoral thesis analyses the evolution and the determining factors of the competitiveness of the Catalan manufacturing sector in the EU-25 in period 1999-2004. The main contribution of the work is the application of the quality gap indicator to the competitiveness analysis. This indicator allows to compare the quality of the exports of each one of the territories with the EU average through the comparison of the unit values of exports for more than 10.000 manufacturing products. The empirical analysis has four main objectives: 1. To analyse the competitiveness of the Catalan manufacturing sector in the EU and to point up the competitiveness problems. 2. To identify the determinants of the competitiveness problems. 3. To contrast that quality gap is a good indicator of competitiveness. 4. To analyse the patterns of competitiveness of the Catalan manufactures in the UE with the quality gap. The conclusions of the doctoral thesis can be grouped in four blocks. A first set of conclusions has to do with the relation between the quality gap and the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. For the 25 member states we verify the narrow relation among innovation capacity, productivity and quality gap. In addition we verify that quality gap explains better the differences in productivity than other more habitual indicators, like the intraindustrial or interindustrial specialization. The quality gap also contributes to explain the evolution of the external balance, although the relation between quality gap and evolution of the EU market share is less direct, in a period marked by the EU enlargement to the Central and Eastern European countries. In the period 1999-2004 Catalan manufactures have improved their quality gap and their market share in the EU, but the trade deficit has remained high. The second group of conclusions is related to the productivity. In Catalonia the productivity problems are not explained so much by the interindustrial specialization, that is similar to the one of the EU, like by the intraindustrial specialization conditioned by a lower innovation capacity. The analysis for the period 1999-2004 points at a change in the specialization of the Catalan manufacturing exports towards sectors more intensive in technology and with higher productivity, but in which Catalonia is positioned in a lower quality segment. The change of specialization is detected particularly in the intraindustrial trade, with a high and increasing tendency to the specialization in the segment of inferior quality and in the markets dominated by price competition. A third group of conclusions is related to the trade of intermediate products, that contributes to explain the high Catalan trade deficit. In period 1999-2004 the Catalan manufacturing companies have increased their propensity to import and the quality of their imports in relation to exports. The higher quality of the intermediate products favours the improvement of the exports quality gap and consequently the improvement of the market share, but it makes difficult the external balance of the Catalan economy. Finally, the indicator of quality gap provides relevant and additional information to the one of the traditional competitiveness indicators and allows to make a systematic analysis of the national patterns of competitiveness in the UE at a high level of disaggregation.

This paper studies the rural-urban migration in China. The cause of the analysis was the increasing number of rural-urban migrants caused by the fast industrialization. It could lead some serious problems in urban areas, such as the shortage of urban resources like house, food, etc., the increasing of unemployment probabilities and so on. China is the most populous country in the world. And the rural population in China has been exceeded half of the total. Due to the special current situation of China is different from other developing countries, the factors impact the rural migration in China and how to perfect the policy institutions are what I want to research in the paper.

Bootstrapping kan användas som komplement eller substitut till extern finansiering som metoder för resursanskaffning till lägsta möjliga kostnad. Samtliga respondenter föredrog internt genererade medel framför banklån. Ökning av eget kapital med hjälp av externa finansiärer visade sig vara det minst önskvärda alternativet för kapitalanskaffning. Studien visade att ägartillförda medel och nyttjande av släkt och vänner var de vanligast förekommande metoderna för bootstrapping i de tillfrågade företagen. Av de tillfrågade företagen var de som ansåg sig existera på en riskfylld marknad mer benägna att använda sig av bootstrappingmetoder. / Bootstrapping can be used as an addition or a substitute for external financing as methods for acquisition of resources at lowest possible cost. All of the respondents preferred internally generated finances to bank loans. Financing by issuing equity was the least desirable method. The study showed that owner’s capital and usage of friends and family as cheap labor are the most commonly occurring methods of bootstrapping in the surveyed corporations. Among the surveyed corporations, those operating on unpredictable markets are more likely to use bootstrapping methods.

Since the diamond like carbon features include high hardness and high wear resistance, low friction coefficient, chemical inertness, high resistance, low dielectric constant, the IR Transparency and field emission. The process of Diamond carbon film was usually by CVD or PVD techniques. However, high substrate temperature or low deposition rate and the can not make large area of films leads to limit the applications of diamond like film. Electrodeposition method is an innovative method to prepare DLC film and it meets these demands such as: equipment cheap, high deposition rate and larger area coatings. In this paper, ITO substrate was used for electrodeposition the diamond-like carbon films and to evaluate the possibility for the large area of DLC films.For the process of electrical deposition, the electrolyte consists of acetic acid and DI water mixed in different proportions. The deposition process were conditioned as: electrolyte concentration between 0.01% and 0.8%; voltage from 2.1V to 50V; growth temperature in the range of 300C ~ 850C. In addition, by using the control variables method, the deposition parameters including voltage, deposition temperature and solution concentration of electrolyte were varied to evaluate the characteristics and quality of diamond-like carbon films. The n & k film analyzer (n & k Analyze), X ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the surface morphology, microstructure and compositional analysis. The reflectivity, transmittance, and refractive index of DLC Films were revealed by the n & k analyzer. Hence, the best conditions used for anti-reflective layer and projections Eopg can be achieved. For SEM analysis, the DLC film with uniformity surface structure can be found. Additionally, the current - time graph can be used to predict the properties of film varied with the applied voltage, percent of concentrations, growth temperature etc.. The microstructure of DLC film was investigated by the XPS measurement; the sp2 / sp3 ratio varies from the growth parameters changes. The hydrogen content of DLC films was obtained by FTIR measurements, the contents decrease as the operating voltage, electrolyte concentration and the substrate temperature increase. As for the DLC deposited on ITO glass as an anti-reflective layer, the experimental results showed that DLC film can reduce the reflectivity from 40% to 70%. Finally, the results obtained show a reasonable match for various measurements. T he characteristics of DLC films also shows that it very depends on the deposited parameters and the relationship beteen them was discussed in detailed. Some of the advance study will be investigated in future.

In the study, a self-developed electrolytic micro-machining tester is employed to investigate the effects of the supply voltage and the highest position of the workpiece relative to the tool on the geometry of the tungsten rod. The peripheral surface of the iron needle (tool) is insulated by an insulator and its tip with a diameter of 50£gm is exposed to the electrolyte as a cathode. The tungsten rod (workpiece) with 200£gm in diameter reciprocates as an anode. Both the cathode and the anode are dipped into an aqueous electrolyte of 2wt % sodium hydroxide to proceed electrochemical machining. Experimental results show that since the length and the diameter of the workpiece are varied during the machining process, it is necessary to manually adjust the highest position and the gap between the workpiece and the tool in each reciprocating motion to achieve a uniform tungsten rod. Moreover, because of the higher removal rate of the workpiece at the higher supply voltage, it is hard to control the geometry of the workpiece. On the contrary, the geometry of the workpiece can be controlled at the lower supply voltage. Finally, the workpiece is first machined at the higher supply voltage, and then the supply voltage is switched to the lower one to achieve a uniform tungsten rod with 2£gm in diameter and 200£gm in length, or 100 in aspect ratio.

Abstract In retrospect, Taiwanese manufacturers have outstanding abilities in production which attracted Western international branding companies to give their orders to Taiwan firms. However, with the emerging countries¡¦ arising made a huge impact toward Taiwan OEM industry. This research is aimed at exploring on the gap analysis and strategies of filling the gap on OEM firms trying to transforming to OBM, and together with exploring on the strategic human resource planning during transforming. This research is mainly through data analysis, case study Company¡¦s interview and the comparison with Benchmark Company to achieve the research purposes. This research selects design industry, and moreover, the case study A company is undergoing this OEM to OBM process, in addition to explore the competencies and together with strategic human resource planning dimensions, and as well as the difficulties they were facing. And then, this research used a benchmark firm, Franz, which is also in design industry to make comparison and to learn from Franz through a dynamic competency view. The main contribution of this study is to explore the issue of competency gap while OEM transformed into OBM firms, and used dynamic competency view to suggest the case studied A company to consider different developing stages while making human resource plan. As for those Taiwanese design and fashion companies who also pursue transforming, this research will bring them great benefits.

This thesis considers a variant of the classical problem for finding the longest common subsequence (LCS) called longest common subsequence problem with a gapped constraint (LCSGC). Given two sequences A, B, and a constrained sequence C, which is accomplished with a corresponding gapped constraint for each symbol, whose lengths are m, n, and r, respectively, the LCSGC problem is to find an LCS of A and B, such that C is also a subsequence of this LCS and the gapped constraints corresponding to C are satisfied. In this thesis, two algorithms with time complexities O(m2n2r) and O(mnr ¡Ñ min(m, n)) are proposed based on the dynamic programming technique for solving the LCSGC problem.

¡§Phononic crystal,¡¨ a binary-composite medium composed of a square array of parallel circular brass cylinders in a water matrix is reported. Phononic crystal exists total band-gaps phenomenon which is caused by destructive interference of Bragg reflection in their acoustic transmission spectrum. This Bragg reflection theorem is also a basis for searching the total band-gaps in this thesis. Because of the band-gaps of the phononic crystal, it is very appropriate for applying phononic crystal in underwater absorptive materials. This research presents the Bragg theorem prediction of brass/water acoustic forbidden bands structure with three kinds of different filling fractions, 5 %, 10 %, and 20 %, and three kinds of transducers. Their central frequency are 300 kHz, 500 kHz, and 1 MHz, respectively, and their bandwidths are 210 kHz~390 kHz, 350 kHz~650 kHz, and 700 kHz~1300 kHz, respectively. Furthermore, in order to find total band-gaps, [100] and [110] directions are measured in this research. The band-gaps of phononic crystal in this research are designed by the couple probes of lowest frequencies 300 kHz in our laboratory. Although the devices of underwater acoustics usually operate in 15~200 kHz, it is also proved indirectly that to design and to apply phononic crystal in underwater absorptive materials are workable. In addition, the measurement results of band-gaps of single frequency are the same as broad-band frequencies using ultrasonic analyzer in this thesis. Therefore, it is a good way to survey the band-gaps with broad-band frequencies method first, and then to use single frequency method measuring deeply drop of the band-gaps. This research uses Bragg reflection theorem, to calculate approximate position of band-gaps, and predicts n=1~3 total band-gaps successfully in experiments. It is also proved that using this kind of underwater absorptive materials of phononic crystal has the effect of camouflaging submarine purpose with specific frequencies. This is an easiest theorem to survey band-gaps of phononic crystal, and must be a most useful tool to design all kinds of absorptive materials of phononic crystal.

This paper presents the research on the robust control of micromachined accelerometers. First, we present different micromaching techniques and compare, analyze the accelerometers with different methods of signal pick-off. Besides the different methods of signal pick-off(the position detection of the seismic mass) and structure designs, we can enhance the performance such as stability, bandwidth, sensitivity, resolution and dynamic range etc. by suitable feedback controllers. So inside the front part of the paper are the analyses for the controllers of different types of accelerometers so far. Moreover, we design the controllers by robust control in different methods with the model of one specific type of micromachined tunneling accelerometer. Because of the robust controllers, the accelerometers can be stable and have good performance under different environments and uncertainties. At last we analyze and compare the controllers designed by -synthesis and gap metric.

The multiple sequence alignment (MSA) is a fundamental technique of molecular biology. Biological sequences are aligned with each other vertically in order to show the similarities and differences among them. Due to its importance, many algorithms have been proposed. With dynamic programming, finding the optimal alignment for a pair of sequences can be done in O(n2) time, where n is the length of the two strings. Unfortunately, for the general optimization problem of aligning k sequences of length n , O(nk) time is required. In this thesis, we shall first propose an efficient group alignment method to perform the alignment between two groups of sequences. Then we shall propose a clustering method to build the tree topology for merging. The clustering method is based on the concept that the two sequences having the longest distance should be split into two clusters. By our experiments, both the alignment quality and required time of our algorithm are better than those of NJ (neighbor joining) algorithm and Clustal W algorithm.