The increasing importance of informal relationships derives from the steadily evolving and proceeding conditions in which we are involved in on a daily basis. These conditions range from the overall environment we are living in, over to our organizational working context and end up in our very own personal setting, namely our minds: in the end, we as human beings are the primary cause for the forming of such relationships, as they are established through our needs, concerns, wishes and fears. Furthermore, we are also highly influenced by our surrounding conditions, and so are the causes, types and effects of the so formed relationships. Our research offers an analytical as well as personal approach to bring the increasing importance of informal relationships to the minds of our readers. Especially leading figures in various organizational contexts are our target audience, as they have to cope with the also growing responsibilities and requirements that are accompanied by this process. Among scholars of this research field, there are many terms and expressions existing of such informal elements and happenings. Some speak of them as the ‘hidden assets’ of organizations, others entitle them as their ‘underlying powers’ and there also exist highly analytical notations, like for example ‘secondary adjustments’. However, all of them cannot entirely reproduce the thoughts and feelings we connect with our work. As we are now acting within the circle of these scholars, we take the liberty to add our own expression, which is best able to demonstrate our perception of such informal forces. We have given them the term ‘Lurking Lions’. They are powerful but also hard to encounter, as they are very well hidden behind the bushes of the formal organization and present without any noise. However, if our entitled lions realize some changes, threats or incentives in their environment, they are likely to reveal themselves and exert a drastic influence on the ones who caused them. By getting in contact with them, most people are likely to be overwhelmed as no one really knows about their thoughts, intentions and upcoming actions. Therefore, we tempt you to listen carefully, observe deeply and find out the nature of these ‘Lurking Lions’. By doing so, you can get a new powerful informal ally on your side.

Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) is a systematic and comprehensive methodology to evaluate risks associated with a complex engineered technological entity. The information provided by PSA has been increasingly implemented for regulatory purposes but rarely used in providing information for operation and maintenance activities. As one of the key parts in PSA, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) attempts to model and analyze failure processes of engineering and biological systems. The fault trees are composed of logic diagrams that display the state of the system and are constructed using graphical design techniques. Risk Importance Measures (RIMs) are information that can be obtained from both qualitative and quantitative aspects of FTA. Components within a system can be ranked with respect to each specific criterion defined by each RIM. Through a RIM, a ranking of the components or basic events can be obtained and provide valuable information for risk-informed decision making. Various RIMs have been applied in various applications. In order to provide a thorough understanding of RIMs and interpret the results, they are categorized with respect to risk significance (RS) and safety significance (SS) in this thesis. This has also tied them into different maintenance activities. When RIMs are used for maintenance purposes, it is called risk-informed maintenance. On the other hand, the majority of work produced on the FTA method has been concentrated on failure logic diagrams restricted to the direct or implied use of AND and OR operators. Such systems are considered as coherent systems. However, the NOT logic can also contribute to the information produced by PSA. The importance analysis of non-coherent systems is rather limited, even though the field has received more and more attention over the years. The non-coherent systems introduce difficulties in both qualitative and quantitative assessment of the fault tree compared with the coherent systems. In this thesis, a set of RIMs is analyzed and investigated. The 8 commonly used RIMs (Birnbaum‘s Measure, Criticality Importance Factor, Fussell-Vesely Measure, Improvement Potential, Conditional Probability, Risk Achievement, Risk Achievement Worth, and Risk Reduction Worth) are extended to non-coherent forms. Both coherent and non-coherent forms are classified into different categories in order to assist different types of maintenance activities. The real systems such as the Steam Generator Level Control System in CANDU Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), a Gas Detection System, and the Automatic Power Control System of the experimental nuclear reactor are presented to demonstrate the application of the results as case studies. / UOIT

Sverige förändras allt mer mot ett kontantlöst samhälle och det kontanta betalningsalternativet har försvunnit på bussar, parkeringsautomater och offentliga toaletter. Anmärkningsvärt är att förändringen även nått banksektorn, en sektor starkt förknippad med kontanter. Kunderna hos dessa banker blir därmed tvungna att använda Self Service Technologies (SST:s) i form av automater för att uträtta sina kontantärenden. Samtidigt som bankkundernas valmöjlighet minskar så går Handelsbanken  mot strömmen och fortsätter erbjuda manuell kontanthantering på sina kontor.   En undersökning gjord av Svenskt Kvalitetsindex visade att bankernas kundnöjdhet (tjänstekvalité) har försämrats på grund av förändringen. För att mäta tjänstekvalitén hos de olika tjänsterna kan man dela upp dessa i mindre beståndsdelar, dimensioner, vilka är olika för SST:s och traditionella tjänster. Vår promblematisering ledde därmed till följande frågeställning:   Vilka dimensioner i tjänstekvalitén, sett utifrån SST- och traditionella tjänster, ger förklaringar till bankernas försämrade tjänstekvalité?   Huvudsyftet med studien var främst att kartlägga vilka dimensioner som förklarar bankernas försämrade tjänstekvalité. Utifrån detta ville vi även bidra med praktiska råd till bankerna för att förbättra tjänsterna och således förbättra kundernas upplevda tjänstekvalité. Dessutom ville vi studera om det finns skillnader mellan äldre och yngre kunder angående deras åskter kring de två olika kontanthanteringstjänsterna. Vi ville även kartlägga skillnader mellan kundernas ålder, teknologiska mognadsgrad och behov av mänsklig interaktion.   Studien genomfördes genom en enkätundersökning på bankkunder i ålder 18-85 år bosatta i  Umeå kommun. Studien använde sig av ett kvoturval bestående av tre kvoter:  åldersgrupp 18-35, åldersgrupp 36-59 och åldersgrupp 60-85. Insamlat material sammanställdes i en importance-performance analys och användes vid hypotesprövningar.   Vår studie visade att dimensionerna säkerhet och användarvänlighet för SST:s kan förklara bankernas försämrade tjänstekvalité. Främst uppfattar de äldre kunderna att uttagsautomaternas säkerhet är bristfällig. Samtidigt kan detta även förklaras av att kundernas valmöjligheter minskat och att vissa kunder blivit så nöjda med tjänsten manuell kontanthantering att de blir missnöjda i och med förändringen.   Vår förhoppning är att bankerna skall använda de praktiska råden och där igenom förbättra tjänstekvalitén. Vårt teoretiska bidrag är främst att ge en ökad kunskap rörande SST:s dimensioner och skillnader i åldergrupperna.

Bakgrund Inledningsvis diskuteras vad tidigare forskning visat beträffande rummet och dess betydelse. Delar som berörs är rummets utformning, grönare miljö (ljud, ljus, temperatur, luft etc.), social miljö (lärares inställning), waldorfpedagogiken – det fysiska rummet, lek som lärande samt vad olika myndigheter skriver kring klassrumsmiljön. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten som använts när vi analyserat vårt empiriska material är ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv. Vi har även definierat de begrepp som genomsyrar föreliggande studie; Det fysiska rummet (objektiv och subjektiv miljö), arbetssätt och arbetsform samt den proximala utvecklingszonen. Syfte Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka hur rummets storlek, planlösning och utformning, med tillgång till grupprum, kan ha betydelse för lärare i deras pedagogik. Metod Uppsatsen bygger på en kvalitativ studie där observationer och intervjuer har används som arbetsmetod för insamlandet av material. Genom våra observationer ville vi komma åt skillnader i den objektiva miljön och observationerna genomfördes därför i tre olika klassrum där det var olika fysiska förutsättningar när det gäller utformning, planlösning och yta i lokalen. Intervjuerna har sin utgångspunkt i ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv där vi som forskare fokuserat på hur individerna upplever förskoleklassens fysiska miljö. Det var klasslärarna i respektive rum, eller lärare med samma förutsättningar i rummet, som intervjuades och intervjuerna genomfördes med varje lärare enskilt. Resultat Resultatet visar att rummets utformning, planlösning och storlek har betydelse för lärarna när de ska utforma sin pedagogik. Men lärarens inställning till arbetssituationen och dennes förmåga att vara flexibel när undervisningen och rummet organiseras är viktiga delar att tänka på när lärare ska utforma en så bra inlärningsmiljö som möjligt.

This study develops a dynamic importance sampling method (DIS) for numerical simulations of rare events. The DIS method is flexible, fast, and accurate. The most importance is that it is very easy to implement. It could be applied to any multifactor copula models, which conduct by arbitrary independent random variables. First, the key common factor (KCF) is determined by the maximum value among the coefficients of factor loadings. Second, searching the indicator by the order statistics and applying the truncated sampling techniques, the probability of large losses (PLL) and the expected excess loss above threshold (EELAT) can be estimated precisely. Except for the assumption that the factor loadings of KCF do not exit zero elements, we do not impose any restrictions on the composition of the portfolio. The DIS method developed in this study can therefore be applied to a very wide range of credit risk models. Comparison of the numerical experiment between the method of Glasserman, Kang and Shahabuddin (2008) and the DIS method developed in this study, under the multifactor Gaussian copula model and the high market impact condition (the factor loadings of marketwide factor of 0.8), both variance reduction ratio and efficient ratio of the DIS model are much better than that of Glasserman et al. (2008)¡¦s. And both results approximate when the factor loadings of marketwide factor decreases to the range of 0.5 to 0.25. However, the DIS method is superior to the method of Glasserman et al. (2008) in terms of the practicability. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the DIS method is not only feasible to the general market conditions, but also particularly to the high market impact condition, especially in credit contagion or market collapse environments. It is also noted that the numerical results indicate that the DIS estimators exit bounded relative error.

In recent years, the service industries such as restaurants, hotels & finance have treated consumers and satisfying their needs as their first priority. This kind of service concept is also greatly valued and practiced by the medical industry. While the national health insurance system reduces the financial strain and increases more medicare choices for people, the environment of operating a hospital has become more challenged and competitive. The increase of income and the high service quality provided by Starbucks and Wang Steak both have significantly impact on people's expectation for receiving higher service quality. By recognizing the demand of public, hospital management can then provide service quality that's within or even beyond expectation. This research will exam the importance and satisfaction of hospital service quality to people, as well as compare people's loyalty level toward hospitals and doctors. This research takes Kaohsiung residents as example and the total number of effective example is 351. The questionnaire is created based on SERVQUAL and the patient's satisfaction questionnaire of THIS. The result is analyzed by statistic software SPSS 17.0 and Importance Performance Analysis. The research result: 1. The importance level of hospital service quality measures from high to low is professional abilities of doctors and nurses, medical equipments in hospitals, communication and interaction with doctors and nurses, facilities and convenient access to hospitals, attitude of medical staffs, waiting time. 2. Professional abilities of doctors and nurses, medical equipments in hospitals belong in the keep up the good work category. Attitude of medical staffs and waiting time belong in the lower priority category. Communication and interaction with doctors and nurses, facilities and convenient access to hospitals belong in the possible overkill category. No item for concentrate here category. 3. Interviewees show more loyalty toward doctors rather than hospitals and their attitude is consistent with their behavior.

¡@After 2000, China started to research and to develop the ARJ21 Regional Jet and civil aviation industry, China put the civil aviation industry as the Emerging Industries of Strategic Importance and wished to drive the Chinese industrial structure upgrading. In addition, Chinese government is working on the constructions of regional aviation networks as well. Moreover Chinese government provides the subsidy policy to accelerate regional development and supply the basic aviation services. The regional aviation is the intersection of aviation industry and transport industry. It has great significance for China¡¦s political, economic and social development. ¡@This thesis is trying to explore the main significance to the regional aviation industry of China¡¦s politics, economy and society. Observing China¡¦s current difficulties, China faced by the development of the regional aviation industry. And this thesis will use the industrial policy as the main theory to analysis that when China facing those difficulties, the industrial policy can really help the government to solve those problems and reach the goals that Chinese government has expected. ¡@After research, China¡¦s domestic regional aviation market exists a market failure situation. Also, the civil aviation industry has to face the competition of the technical deficiencies and foreign manufacturers, both of them need the government¡¦s assistances. Actually, the government¡¦s role is much weaker, and can¡¦t really help airline industries to reduce deficit in a difficult environment, so the government needs to invest much more resources. ¡@However, Chinese regional aviation industrial policies are not really failed. Nowadays, the aviation industry has been totally changed, it reached not only the technical skills which China¡¦s government pursued, but also reached the goal that v upgraded the industrial structure. Therefore we can¡¦t arbitrary thinks that Chinese regional aviation industrial policies are failure, but it really shows the limitation of the policies. How to overcome the limitations of the industrial policies is the greatest challenge that Chinese government has to face for.

¡@¡@This paper is refer to the chapter 1 to chapter 5 (except chapter 4 ) of the book, Monte Carlo Statistical Methods(second edition), the author is Robert and Casella(2004). The goal is to translate the chapter 1 to chapter 5 contents of this book into Chinese, modify the mistakes, add the details of the examples, translate the algorithm of the examples into Mathematica(7th) codes, and use the Simulated Annealing method to deal with the estimation of parameters by rounding data, and discuss the results. This paper provides Mathematica(7th) codes of almost every example, and show the actual results, so it can be regarded as a toolbook for those people who are interested in reading this book or may solve some problems related to those examples.

The study explored spousal accuracy and positive marital behavior (PMB) and negative marital behavior (NMB) areas&rsquo / three different evaluations which were frequency, emotional impact and attributed importance in distressed and nondistressed couples. Participants of the study were 81 married couples. All 162 spouses filled out Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), Communication Skills Inventory and Information Form. Additionally one spouse in each couple filled out Spouse Observation Checklist (SOC) Form A whereas the other spouse filled out SOC Form B. Spousal accuracy were assessed by partial pairwise intraclass correlation. R-to-z transformation was used to find on which PMB and NMB areas&rsquo / accuracy distressed and nondistressed couples differ. Six Repeated Measures MANOVAs were conducted to explore differences in distressed and nondistressed couples / wives and husbands / self-report and spouse-report in three evaluations of PMB and NMB. In order to find most important PMB and NMB areas&rsquo / frequencies in terms of their relationship with marital adjustment, two Roy-Bargmann Stepdown Analysis were conducted by controlling for positive affect, negative affect and communication skills. Principal component analysis was employed to the self and spouse reports of marital behavior areas&rsquo / frequencies and then two stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to identify which factors of marital behavior play a significant role in predicting marital adjustment. Results revealed that nondistressed spouses were more accurate in predicting their partners&rsquo / reports of emotional impact and attributed importance / more frequently engaging in PMB, less frequently engaging in NMB, feel more positive about and attribute more importance to PMB compared to distressed spouses. Spouse report of marital behavior explained more variance than self report of marital behavior / NMB and affectional marital behavior explained more variance than PMB in marital adjustment.

This study aims to find differences in the perceived usage and importance of the Internet within characteristics of students. METU undergraduate students having a proper Internet connection were defined as population, and asked to answer the online questionnaire about perceived usage and importance of the Internet. For 653 eligible answers, Factorial ANOVA and independent samples t-test were used to compare mean scores of dependent variables across three independent variables: gender, accommodation type and faculty. Results indicate that although genders spent equal times on the Internet, their perceived usage and importance of the Internet differs. Females&rsquo / perceived usage and importance of the Internet for academic works and instant messaging are more than males, whereas males are using Internet for seeking current information like news, sending content to interactive web services and playing online games. This study also states that there is no evidence of a statistically significant difference for amount of the Internet usage between 3 accommodation types, METU Dormitories with high speed Internet connection, house with family or relatives, house with friends or alone. However, it is observed that students staying at METU Dormitories stated more instant messaging usage than that of staying at house with friends or alone. Between faculties, there is evidence that students from Faculty of Education are using Internet for academic course work more than the other faculties. Finally, students who are living in campus are more satisfied with the access speed to university local area network and Turkish National Research Network.