In addition to air pollutants index (i.e. PSI), ambient air quality can be described by atmospheric visibility since it can be observed directly by general publics. In this study, atmospheric visibility observation, meteorological parameter monitoring, and aerosol particle sampling were conducted to investigate the influences of physicochemical properties of suspended particles and meteorological parameters on atmospheric visibility. This study further applied receptor model and multiple regression linear analysis to forecast atmospheric visibility and develop strategies for improving urban visual air quality at Taipei region. Results from regular visibility observation indicated that the average visibilities were 10.30, 8.05 and 6.00 km in the directions of Tamsui, Sonshan, and Shindian, respectively. Similar trend of visibility variation was also observed for intensive observation. Further analysis of synoptic chart and regular observation data during the period of January 2007¡VMarch 2008 showed that the lowest atmospheric visibility commonly occurred whenas the weather patterns were in sequence of eastward movement of rainy areas in southern China, southerly airstream, strong northeast monsoon, circus-sluice of high pressure outflow, and weak northeast monsoon. Results from chemical analysis of suspended particles at Taipei region indicated that major water-soluble ionic species were SO42-, NO3-, and NH4+ and followed by Cl-, while major metallic content were Ca and K. Carbonaceous analysis showed that the mass ratio of OC/EC ranged from 1.65 to 1.91 for PM2.5 and from 1.37 to 1.88 for PM2.5-10. Ammonium nitrate, organic carbon, and ammonium sulfate were the major chemical species that influenced atmospheric visibility at Taipei region. In this study, we choose the averaged atmospheric visibility in Sonshan as a dependent variable and PM10, NO2, SO2, O3, relative humidity (RH), wind direction (WD), and wind speed (WS) as independent variables to establish multiple linear regression models for forecasting the atmospheric visibility. Results of statistical analysis indicated that high correlation between forecasted and observed atmospheric visibilities was observed (R=0.7167). Furthermore, atmospheric visibility forecasting models were established for various weather patterns. The accuracies of atmospheric visibility verification (September~December, 2007) and forecasting (January~March, 2008) were 91.80% and 87.97%, respectively. This study further applied SPSS stastistic software to conduct factor analysis for atmospheric visibility. Results from factor analysis of visibility indicated that the top three factors (PM10, NO2, and SO2) accounted for 71.13% of variance. Furthermore, variable correlation analysis showed that atmospheric visibility had positive correlation with wind speed and negative correlation with other variables (PM10, NO2, SO2, O3, RH, and WD). Besides, for the significant levels of £\=0.01 or £\=0.05, all variables were proven to be significantly correlated with atmospheric visibility except O3. At Taipei region, the automobile tail emission was the major emission source causing low visibility, thus the most effective strategy for improving atmospheric visibility was to reduce the mission of automobiles and the formation of secondary aerosols containing ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate, which could effectively increase the atmospheric visibility at Taipei region.

Engineering is inherently a process of constant change. The process of managing engineering changes is however, not a new topic and it is well defined and implemented in various other engineering management philosophies. Yet, on its own, it still remains a very challenging problem to organisations. This research examines the applicability of engineering change management to a large steel manufacturing company who identified the lack of an engineering change management system as the main contributing factor of numerous problems the company experienced over time. The study sets out to determine the high level understanding, the level- and sophistication of practical implementation and quality (identified problems with existing, or the lack of existing systems) of the engineering change management procedures. The study also compared how three surveyed companies relate in terms of their engineering change management systems and how the companies relate to the academic principals found in literature. Furthermore everyday user experience was measured to determine what aspects of engineering change is important and what needed improvement As part of the research, literature was reviewed and it was found that various authors, practitioners and academics agreed that engineering change management is increasingly important as an engineering management item. The literature revealed high-level requirements, models and constituents that are required for successful engineering change management. A questionnaire survey was developed as the experiment to measure how engineering change management was perceived practically. The aspects and phases listed from literature were examined and the perceptions, experience and feedback from the engineers that face engineering changes on a daily basis was determined. The general understanding and feeling towards their engineering change management was analysed and used to identify areas of common problems. The two other surveyed companies: a petrochemical company and a specialised product company provided means to determine if the process of engineering change management could be generalised and applied to the large steel manufacturing company. The analysis of the results of the survey provided valuable information that was used to conclude why some companies were able to achieve success with their engineering change management procedures and why others failed or struggled. The research effectively showed how engineering change management is perceived both negatively and positively in industry and identified common areas where improvement can be made. Furthermore, it can be concluded that engineering change management remained generic from a high-level and would thus be applicable to the large steel manufacturing company. The study also determined that engineering change management can effectively be used to mitigate and reduce the effects of uncontrolled changes that were listed by the large steel manufacturing company. / MIng (Development and Management Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Engineering is inherently a process of constant change. The process of managing engineering changes is however, not a new topic and it is well defined and implemented in various other engineering management philosophies. Yet, on its own, it still remains a very challenging problem to organisations. This research examines the applicability of engineering change management to a large steel manufacturing company who identified the lack of an engineering change management system as the main contributing factor of numerous problems the company experienced over time. The study sets out to determine the high level understanding, the level- and sophistication of practical implementation and quality (identified problems with existing, or the lack of existing systems) of the engineering change management procedures. The study also compared how three surveyed companies relate in terms of their engineering change management systems and how the companies relate to the academic principals found in literature. Furthermore everyday user experience was measured to determine what aspects of engineering change is important and what needed improvement As part of the research, literature was reviewed and it was found that various authors, practitioners and academics agreed that engineering change management is increasingly important as an engineering management item. The literature revealed high-level requirements, models and constituents that are required for successful engineering change management. A questionnaire survey was developed as the experiment to measure how engineering change management was perceived practically. The aspects and phases listed from literature were examined and the perceptions, experience and feedback from the engineers that face engineering changes on a daily basis was determined. The general understanding and feeling towards their engineering change management was analysed and used to identify areas of common problems. The two other surveyed companies: a petrochemical company and a specialised product company provided means to determine if the process of engineering change management could be generalised and applied to the large steel manufacturing company. The analysis of the results of the survey provided valuable information that was used to conclude why some companies were able to achieve success with their engineering change management procedures and why others failed or struggled. The research effectively showed how engineering change management is perceived both negatively and positively in industry and identified common areas where improvement can be made. Furthermore, it can be concluded that engineering change management remained generic from a high-level and would thus be applicable to the large steel manufacturing company. The study also determined that engineering change management can effectively be used to mitigate and reduce the effects of uncontrolled changes that were listed by the large steel manufacturing company. / MIng (Development and Management Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

L’un des challenges les plus importants des pays développés ou émergents est de soutenir l’innovation dans les PME. Mais la question centrale ici, est de savoir si l’innovation dépend exclusivement de la disponibilité des ressources. La capacité à innover ne dispose pas d'un cadre de référence pour son évaluation, en raison principalement de sa complexité et sa nature abstraite. Sans les indicateurs appropriés, il est impossible d'établir les objectifs et de déterminer les efforts et les ressources nécessaires pour améliorer la capacité d'innovation. Le laboratoire ERPI a développé une approche d’évaluation de cette capacité privilégiant les pratiques internes qui favorisent l’innovation dans les entreprises (IIP, Indice d’Innovation Potentielle) basée sur des méthodes d’analyse multicritère. Mais une fois obtenu un résultat, quels sont les points sur lesquels une entreprise peut jouer afin d’améliorer son système d'innovation ? Dans cette thèse, nous proposons un modèle d'optimisation qui réplique la procédure d'évaluation de la capacité à innover utilisée par l'IIP et qui nous permettra de générer un plan d'action pour améliorer la capacité à innover des PME. Le modèle considère différents facteurs (la situation particulière de l'entreprise, les efforts économiques associés à la stratégie proposée, etc.) afin de générer le plan d'action le plus approprié aux besoins de chaque PME. Ainsi, trois stratégies potentielles sont proposées : améliorer le classement actuel avec un minimum d'effort, maximiser les économies de ressources, maximiser l’IIP avec un budget défini. Des scénarii sont simulés afin de tester les résultats de la mise en œuvre des différentes stratégies / One of the most important challenges in the current industrial policy of developed and emerging countries is to support innovation in SMEs, issue which has been approach as a problem only dependent on the availability of resources. Innovation capability does not have an appropriate framework of evaluation, mainly because of its complexity and abstract nature. Without proper indicators, it is not possible to establish objectives and identify the efforts and resources necessary for its improvement. In response to this, the ERPI laboratory has developed an evaluation approach of innovation capability, taking into account internal practices to promote innovation. A field of knowledge has been developed in this direction allowing for the proposal of a novel metrology, the Potential Innovation index (PII), based on multi-criteria analysis methods for studying the dynamics within companies. In this thesis, we propose an optimization model that replicates the evaluation procedure of innovation capability to generate an action plan, i.e., the model returns concrete points in which companies can work to improve its innovation system. The model considers factors such as the particular situation of the company, the economic efforts associated with the proposed strategy, the goals of the entrepreneur, etc. Three optimization strategies are proposed: access to a higher category with a minimum of effort, maximize resource efficiency and maximize innovation performance with a defined budget. Scenarios are simulated to test the results of the implementation of the different strategies

This study aimed to explore existing quality improvement activities in primary health care setting in South Africa. Two sets of questionnaires were used to collect data from both patients and nurse managers. Findings indicated that clinics were generally acceptable and affordable to patients, but should operate for longer time-periods, that sorting of patients and long waiting times, coupled with short consultation time-periods, warranted immediate remedial actions. Only five of the fourteen listed quality initiatives were satisfactorily practised. It was concluded that despite many obstacles and difficulties as mentioned by respondents, the issue of quality-improvement in primary health care is receiving attention, but should still be improved to a greater extent. / Health Studies / M.A. (Advanced Nursing Sciences)

This study aimed to explore existing quality improvement activities in primary health care setting in South Africa. Two sets of questionnaires were used to collect data from both patients and nurse managers. Findings indicated that clinics were generally acceptable and affordable to patients, but should operate for longer time-periods, that sorting of patients and long waiting times, coupled with short consultation time-periods, warranted immediate remedial actions. Only five of the fourteen listed quality initiatives were satisfactorily practised. It was concluded that despite many obstacles and difficulties as mentioned by respondents, the issue of quality-improvement in primary health care is receiving attention, but should still be improved to a greater extent. / Health Studies / M.A. (Advanced Nursing Sciences)