In Peninsular Malaysia there is a stock of public sector housing for the low income group popularly known as low cost housing units which have been built over the last three decades. It is common for the owners-occu piers, through their own initiatives and efforts, to alter or to extend these houses so as to improve their housing conditions and at the same time to meet the developing needs of the households. This research aims to identify explanations for the phenomenon of owner-initiated transformation of public sector low cost housing particularly in the urban communities of Malaysia. It seeks to further knowledge on transformation from the owners-occupiers point of view, which expresses the need to be realistic of what they can afford when carrying out the transformations. This transformation activity has been slowly recognised as a form of housing supply for low income households and their tenants. Owner-occupiers exhibit a wide range of characteristics and motives for transforming these low cost houses. They may be grouped into two broad categories, that is, those primarily seeking to have an extra space for the household and those more concerned with the house as an economic investment. Transformation is generally carried out to at least the standard of the original dwelling. Where there is plenty of extra space available, the scale and cost of transformation is quite extensive. There are lessons to be learnt from looking at the characteristics of the transformed housing estates. Professionals and other actors in the housing field should acknowledge that, whatever planning provisions and housing designs are laid out by the authority, public sector housing for the low income group will inevitably and continuously undergo a process of transformation with or without government financial backing in order to meet the households' developing needs. This gradual shelter improvement among the low income households in the urban communities of developing countries contributes to the improvement of housing quality and increases the existing national housing stock.

Thesis (MEngineering)--University of South Australia, 2003.

Strategies for reuse of components are important in order to create a closed loop manufacturing system. Over decades, the notion has been gaining ground due to environmental and legislative reasons. Reuse of components is desirable and in many cases might be economically beneficial. However, the implementation of reuse strategies has been hindered by the requirement of reliable methodologies to assess the remaining life and reuse potential of used components. The estimation of the remaining life is problematic as the useful life of a component is affected by several causes of obsolescence. The common causes are due to physical and technological issues. So far, little research has attempted to address these issues simultaneously, and integrating them. This thesis seeks to develop methodologies that aid in predicting the integrated remaining lifetime of used components. There are three core parts of this research. First, the methodology determines the remaining life of used components from the physical lifetime perspective. This was derived from the estimation of physical failure using failure rate data, and the statistical analysis of usage intensity age as obtained from customers survey. Second, the research presents the use of the technological forecasting technique to predict the remaining technological life. As it is influenced by the technology progress, the forecast was developed on the basis of product technology clusters and market trend extrapolation analysis. Finally, the resulting estimations from the two aspects were combined to obtain an integrated assessment for estimating the remaining life of components. The potential for components in a product to be reused is justified when the remaining life is greater than the average expected lifespan of the product. Two cases of domestic appliances – televisions and washing machines were used to highlight and demonstrate the validity of the proposed methodology. The results show that the proposed method provides the practitioners with a promising tool for end-of-life decision making. This is in particularly attractive when used as a preliminary decision support tool prior to the time consuming and costly processes such as disassembly and quality testing.

The family Onchidiidae is perhaps one of the most neglected the Gastropoda. This is rather surprising since it affinities to both the Opisthobranchia and Pulmonata, so is of importance with regard to the phylogenetic relationships of these two groups. As would be expected, the Onchidiidae have been classed sometimes as opisthobranchs and at others as pulmonates , but the latest work on the subject, that of Fretter (1943), regards them as an early offshoot from the main stem of the opisthobranchs. In the New Zealand region only one Genus, Onchidella, is represented, Apart from early accounts of the systematics of the group, and a more recent one (McDowall 1943, unpublished thesis) on anatomy, there has been no research into any other aspect. This has left an open field for the present study, Recourse to what literature there was on the New Zealand Onchidiidae, revealed the necessity for a re-examination of the taxonomy of the Genus. Descriptions of the six species given in Suter's manual (1913) were notable for their lack of characterization of the species. To clarify the systematics it was found to be necessary to study the external morphology and anatomy of animals from all over New Zealand. Naturally enough this lead to the accumulation of details regarding their distribution. Once the various species could be identified with certainty, all further observations were concentrated on on one species, Onchidella nigricans. An ideal site for research into the ecology and reproduction of this species was discovered at Gladstone Pier in the Lyttelton Harbour. As far as general ecology was concerned, investigations were restricted to studies on the habitat and homing behaviour, while population dynamics constituted an interesting analysis of the aggregations of animals in the crevices to which the animals home. Reproduction was investigated under the headings of breeding and development; breeding covering copul ation and oviposition and development the anatomical changes and reorganisations necessary during the transformation of the egg to a young adult. To confirm the breeding times gametogenesis was studied, this also showing the cyclical changes undergone by the gonads during the year. In the conclusions the relations of the family are discussed in the light of a recent paper by Fretter (1943), and of the research carried out in this thesis.

Thesis (M.S.)--Air Force Institute of Technology, 2007. / AFIT/GCS/ENV/07-M8. "March 2007." Title from title page of PDF file ; viewed: Nov. 28, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-50).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Engineering - Civil and Environmental Engineering)--University of California, Berkeley, 2008. / Text document in PDF format. Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 26, 2009). "Fall 2008." Includes bibliographical references (p. 272-288).

Thesis (M.S. in Management of Technology)--Vanderbilt University, May 2005. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Management of Technology)--Vanderbilt University, Aug. 2004. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. S.)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Mavris, Dimitri; Committee Member: Bishop, Carlee; Committee Member: Costello, Mark; Committee Member: Nam, Taewoo; Committee Member: Schrage, Daniel.

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 1990. / Thesis Advisor(s): Mansager, Bard K. Second Reader: Moore, Thomas P. "June 1990." Description based on signature page as viewed on October 21, 2009. DTIC Identifier(s): Turkish Army, integrated logistics support, management role, life cycle costs. Author(s) subject terms: Turkish Army, integrated logistics support (ILS), management role, life cycle cost (LCC). Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-69). Also available in print.