Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.

Thesis (M.S.)--Wisconsin. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-114).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1999. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 18, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Paul Baker (chair), Dianne Ashby, Elizabeth Lugg, Gregory Aloia. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-91) and abstract. Also available in print.

This research investigates ways to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from the cement industry. Cement is one of the largest sources of man-made greenhouse gases, contributing ~5% of the global total. 40% of emissions from cement come from the fuel used in the process, while the electricity used contributes a further 5%. The focus of the research is to find operational changes that can reduce emissions without the need for large capital investment. Three cement plants in the UK were investigated using four different mathematical models based on real data from the plants. A new metric for assessing the environmental impact of the fuel mix of a plant was proposed, and evidence indicates that it may be a better predictor of environmental performance than the metrics currently used in industry. The research found that consistently improving this fuel metric to best-observed levels, as well as reducing the excess air ratio to industry-standard levels had the potential to reduce fuel consumption by up to 7%, and fuel derived CO2 emissions by up to 12%. Increasing use of biomass to best-observed levels had the potential to reduce the net fuel derived CO2 emissions by up to 20%. Comparing the proposed improvements to the historic range of plant performance showed that this level of performance is within the normal operating range of the plants. A reduction of 2-4% in electricity costs and electricity derived emissions was also possible from operational changes. These savings would reduce operating costs as well as emissions, and require little to no capital investment, meaning they could be implemented directly. If successfully implemented in the near future the total savings by 2050 would be on a similar scale to those expected from much more expensive technology changes, such as upgrading to new cement plants, or installing carbon capture and storage technology.

Cellular manufacturing is an important approach to the organisation of production. Large benefits are claimed over traditional functional organisation, and it is compatible with prominent manufacturing theories, such as just-in-time, total quality management, and computer integrated manufacturing. Several very successful applications of cellular manufacturing have been reported, but a wide range of performance improvements has also been observed. Many benefits ofcellular manufacturing do not arise directly from changing the organisation and layout ofdirect production resources, but from changes to the way the production process is operated, managed and controlled, that are made possible by the cellular organisation. Underachievement occurs when companies do not identify and exploit such opportunities. This research aims to address the problem by providing a system wide concept of cellular manufacturing and an improved process to support the design of a cellular manufacturing system based on this concept. A review of the theory and practice of cellular manufacturing is presented. A model is proposed, which comprises a general set of mutually compatible, production system wide, production system features for supporting or exploiting self-contained groupings of manufacturing resources. A subset of the features from the general model will be appropriate to a particular application of cellular manufacturing. Current processes for designing cellular manufacturing systems do not adequately support the application of such a concept. In particular, tailoring the general concept ofcellular manufacturing to a specific situation is identified to be an important but widely neglected design activity. A process is defined that makes concept design explicit, and a matrix-based tool developed to relate the features of cellular manufacturing to a company's performance improvement objectives. The value ofthis novel approach to designing cellular manufacturing systems is determined to be in facilitating the generation and communication of insight into the nature ofcellular manufacturing, encouraging a comprehensive appraisal of the concept and its impact throughout the production system, and focusing limited resources where they will be most effective.

No description available.

Conventional signal diversity techniques increase system complexity and/or result in an increase in the required signal bandwidth. A novel Time Spread (TS) diversity technique has been proposed in [1] aimed at improving the performance of digital communication systems in flat-fading channels without increasing their complexity or bandwidth usage. With TS, time diversity is obtained by transmitting a modulated spreading sequence, spanning over a temporal period longer than the channel coherence time Tc, for each information symbol. Unfortunately, this TS technique exhibits a Bit Error Rate (BER) performance floor at higher SNR values that renders the original technique less attractive. This dissertation is primarily concerned with the nullification of this BER performance floor. Sec¬ondly, the ability of the TS technique to transform a flat-fading channel into an Additive White Gaus¬sian Noise (AWGN) channel is investigated and exploited to enhance the performance of coding techniques designed for AWGN channels, when used in flat-fading channels. A new method is described by which TS sequences can be temporally expanded, thereby increas¬ing their obtainable time diversity gains. This method also reduces the computational complexity of a TS system, while retaining the signal diversity properties of a longer non-expanded sequence. The BER floor in TS systems is caused by the distortion of the Aperiodic Auto-Correlation (AAC) properties of overlapping spreading sequences in fading channels, resulting in Inter Code(Sequence) Interference (ICI) between spreading sequences. A Pilot Symbol Aided Modulation (PSAM) tech¬nique is adapted for the TS system to provide accurate channel estimates required by the Inter Code(Sequence) Interference Cancellation (lCIC) module. A hybrid ICIC technique, which corrects the fading TS symbol amplitudes during periods of above average instantaneous SNR levels, is shown to be the most effective. This ICIC technique enables the TS technique to provide gains similar to that of conventional third order diversity techniques at average Eb/ No ratios above 10 dB. Finally, the transparency and ability of the TS technique to transform fading channels into Gaus¬sian channels are exploited to allow the integration of conventional convolutional codes with the TS system. The coded TS system achieves substantial gains when operating in a Rayleigh flat-fading channel when a soft decision Viterbi decoder is used in the TS receiver. A strategy by which Turbo Code (TC) techniques can be integrated with the TS technique is discussed as a concluding notion to illustrate the flexibility of the TS technique. Future research areas are identified based on the findings of this dissertation. These include the investigation of more effective adaptive ICIC schemes and the possibility of using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communication techniques over a narrow band channel by employing TS- and Multi-User (MU)-detection methods, combined with existing ICIC techniques. The cryptographic value of the TS technique also provides ground for future research. / Dissertation (MEng (Electronic Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

The purpose of this work is to determine a sound approach for curriculum improvement. In fulfilling that purpose, it is proposed: (1) to survey the various historical approaches to curriculum construction and to review briefly present curriculum practices; (2) to establish sound criteria of curriculum improvement based on the outside approach or the approach from without; (3) to apply these principles and criteria to a program of curriculum improvement.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In Ghana, the number of people living in extreme poverty has reduced. Yet the poverty rate is currently 24.2 %, which is still high considering that Ghana is a lower middle-income country (Emmanuel, Frempong, Opareh & Rose, 2015; 35). In Ghana, the poor are classified in two groups: “ 1) … those who live above an upper line of GHC 1314.00 per day which is equivalent to US $ 1.83, and; 2) those within a lower poverty line of GHC 729.05 equivalent to US $ 1.03 a day…” (Emmanuel, Frempong, Opareh & Rose, 2015; 35). Those who “… live above the upper line of GHC 1314.00 are considered as non-poor, whereas those with a consumption expenditure equivalent or below GHC 729.05 a lower poverty line are in absolute poverty or living in extreme poverty…” (Emmanuel et al., 2015). In Ghana, Yaidoo and Kalaiah (2018) agree that microcredit programs are a neoliberal ploy that keep poor people in a perpetual state of poverty. Most microcredit beneficiaries are located in the rural areas and majority are the lowest income earners of the employed population. Microcredit should ordinarily have a broader range of empowerment services, yet the Ghana microcredit programs do not have this. Microcredit in Ghana has become a debt trap and its benefits to the poor is illusory (Yaidoo and Kalaiah, 2018). Most microcredits have high interest rates and seek to profit operations which had created a situation where microcredits are an additional burden to the people, impacting negatively on their livelihood (Yaidoo and Kalaiah, 2018). Further, Yaidoo and Kalaiah (2018) pinpointed that in Ghana, by observing the crippling consequences of debt burden on countries (such as Ghana who opted for the Highly Indebted Poor Country status in 2002), the world financial crisis in 2007/08, and cases of high default in repayment of debt, it would make sense to adopt a more impactful approach to microcredit. In that other role, players are needed to fill the gap with intervention resulting in improving people’s livelihood. This study aimed to empirically access the effect of microcredit on beneficiaries’ livelihood improvement. The study was conducted in four regions of Ghana, with the main objective to find out whether the Self-Supported Assistant Programme (SSAP) microcredit has improved the livelihood of its beneficiaries. The specific objectives of the study were to: i) evaluate the Beneficiaries Livelihoods Status as per their asset accumulation, voluntary saving, capabilities and frequency of loan repayment, and; ii) to estimate the effects of Demographic + Socioeconomic + Loan T&Cs Variables (financial training + loan interest rates + loan monitoring) on Beneficiaries Livelihoods Improvement (asset accumulation, voluntary saving, capabilities).

abstract: The most common approach to improvement of educational systems has been the adoption of episodic initiatives and short-lived improvement programs. In recent years, a continuous improvement (CI) approach has made it onto the education scene, but the effects of continuous improvement in education remain largely unstudied. This study addressed the need to examine the long term impacts of CI in educational organizations. Using a CI framework, this mixed methods action research (MMAR) study was conducted to examine the impact of CI on one school district’s measures of quality, stakeholder satisfaction, and cost savings, as well as to determine the value of CI leadership coaching, according to district leaders. Qualitative data included interviews with and observations of school district leaders and the CI leadership coach. Quantitative data included stakeholder surveys, district scorecards, and state data dashboard reports. Results indicated improvement from a CI approach was slow to occur, though CI positively impacted some quality outcomes, primarily in the area of math. CI positively impacted student satisfaction, though it had minimal impact on employee and parent satisfaction. The district experienced cost savings as a result of CI, and CI leadership coaching was reported as highly valued by district leaders. The results of the study suggest a systematic CI approach and coaching support can impact change over time, but requires patience and a within district executive leader champion. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2019