Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M. G. I. S.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

No description available.

Το αντικείμενο το οποίο πραγματεύεται η παρούσα εργασία αφορά στη λήψη αποφάσεων λειτουργίας καταστημάτων στα πλαίσια συγχώνευσης μεταξύ δύο τραπεζικών ιδρυμάτων. Σε πιο ειδικό πλαίσιο, γίνεται αναφορά στη λήψη αποφάσεων μέσω της πολυκριτηριακής ανάλυσης κάνοντας αναφορά στις βασικές μεθόδους ανάλυσης και των κριτηρίων τους, καθώς επίσης και των συντελεστών βαρύτητας. Στην συνέχεια, παρουσιάζεται το θεωρητικό υπόβαθρο της θεωρίας χωροθέτησης. Γίνεται αναφορά στην χρηστική αξία και στην αναγκαιότητα που έχει στη λήψη στρατηγικών αποφάσεων, ενώ γίνεται και εκτενής αναφορά στο θεωρητικό υπόβαθρο της ανάπτυξης του τραπεζικού δικτύου και της χωροθέτησης σε συγκεκριμένη αγορά. Ακολούθως, παρατίθεται η θεωρία παιγνίων, όσον αφορά στην αλληλεπίδραση μεταξύ δύο επιχειρήσεων στα πλαίσια του ανταγωνισμού. Συγκεκριμένα γίνεται κατανοητή η έννοια του παιγνίου και οι κανόνες που το πλαισιώνουν, ενώ περιγράφονται οι κατηγορίες στις οποίες σύμφωνα με την βιβλιογραφία διακρίνονται. Έπειτα, γίνεται περιγραφή εφαρμογής του μοντέλου που χρησιμοποιούμε κάνοντας παράλληλα περιγραφή της περιοχής ενδιαφέροντος μας και παρουσιάζοντας τα αποτελέσματα αυτού. Τελειώνοντας την εργασία παρουσιάζουμε τα συμπεράσματα μας σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα που προέκυψαν από την εφαρμογή του μοντέλου που χρησιμοποιήσαμε. / -

This thesis investigates both the physical origin and the physiological coding of pinna-based spectral features observed in experimental Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs). An experimental method for measuring HRTFs using a Knowles Electronics Manikin for Acoustic Research (KEMAR) is presented. The method includes a technique for moulding individualised pinnae to be fitted on to the KEMAR's head. Experimental HRTF data obtained with this method are shown and analysed. The most remarkable pinna-based spectral features are identified and their dependency on source location is characterised, particularly for elevation-dependent spectral notches.

The experience of transgender people provides a unique opportunity to further our understanding of intersectionality, experienced and expressed through multiple axes of social location. Transpeople change genders in relation to androcentric, middle-class, whitenormative, and heterocentric cultural narratives. My dissertation contributes to our understandings of the interconnections of the social structural contexts of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and of how they shape the meanings we attribute to our experiences of self and identity. In addition, I show how the case of transpeople illuminates how all people draw upon hegemonic cultural constructions of intersecting social locations in processes of creating and understanding themselves. Thus, I provide insights into how individuals actively perform ("do") their own multiple social identities (such as race, class, gender, and sexuality) and how they incorporate their perceptions of others' attributions of multiple dimensions of social location. Finally, I suggest how the collective identities of identity-based social movements, such as the Transgender Movement, are rooted in racialized gendered meanings.

Although diverse methods/models have been studied and applied in general retail location areas, very few actually related to an important trade sector - Cash & Carry/Warehouse Club. Because of the distinguishing characteristics of this sector, the methods and models successfully used in other sectors cannot be simply transferred. To solve this problem, a thorough study has been conducted to compare the characteristics of the sector with available methods/models. Based on the outcome of this study, the regression model has been identified to be a better choice for the sector. Multiple key regression issues, such as model selection, trade area definition, overfilling and multicol linearity, measurement of competitiveness, subjective judgements and quantitative modelling, etc., have been explored in the configuration of a regression model for the sector. The resulting model based on the data from a British Cash & Carry company has achieved the highest R2 and R 2 (adj) when compared to similar research (based on literature search up to the year 2003). With the emergence of Geographic Information System (GIS), a powerful spatial information analysis tool, retail location enters the era of the use of Spatial Decision Support System technology to enhance the decision efficiency. Meanwhile, a dynamic location analysis system is important and necessary to retailers. This is why a Spatial-DSS is proposed and designed in the thesis. The designed system integrates technologies such as Database Management Systems (DBMS), Statistics Software, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Decision Support Systems (DSS) and others. Although these technologies have been used in various areas before, integrating them to form a coherent unity is new.

Objective data from national surveillance programmes show that, on average, individuals accumulate high amounts of sedentary time per day and only a small minority of adults achieve physical activity guidelines. One potential explanation for the failure of interventions to increase population levels of physical activity or decrease sedentary time is that research to date has been unable to identify the specific behavioural levers in specific contexts needed to change behaviour. Novel technology is emerging with the potential to elucidate these specific behavioural contexts and thus identify these specific behavioural levers. Therefore the aims of this four study thesis were to identify novel technologies capable of measuring the behavioural context, to evaluate and validate the most promising technology and to then pilot this technology to assess the behavioural context of older adults, shown by surveillance programmes to be the least physically active and most sedentary age group. Study one Purpose: To identify, via a systematic review, technologies which have been used or could be used to measure the location of physical activity or sedentary behaviour. Methods: Four electronic databases were searched using key terms built around behaviour, technology and location. To be eligible for inclusion papers were required to be published in English and describe a wearable or portable technology or device capable of measuring location. Searches were performed from the inception of the database up to 04/02/2015. Searches were also performed using three internet search engines. Specialised software was used to download search results and thus mitigate the potential pitfalls of changing search algorithms. Results: 188 research papers met the inclusion criteria. Global positioning systems were the most widely used location technology in the published research, followed by wearable cameras and Radio-frequency identification. Internet search engines identified 81 global positioning systems, 35 real-time locating systems and 21 wearable cameras. Conclusion: The addition of location information to existing measures of physical activity and sedentary behaviour will provide important behavioural information. Study Two Purpose: This study investigated the Actigraph proximity feature across three experiments. The aim of Experiment One was to assess the basic characteristics of the Actigraph RSSI signal across a range of straight line distances. Experiment Two aimed to assess the level of receiver device signal detection in a single room under unobstructed conditions, when various obstructions are introduced and the impacts these obstructions have on the intra and inter unit variability of the RSSI signal. Finally, Experiment Three aimed to assess signal contamination across multiple rooms (i.e. one beacon being detected in multiple rooms). Methods: Across all experiments, the receiver(s) collected data at 10 second epochs, the highest resolution possible. In Experiment One two devices, one receiver and one beacon, were placed opposite each other at 10cm increments for one minute at each distance. The RSSI-distance relationship was then visually assessed for linearity. In Experiment Two, a test room was demarcated into 0.5 x 0.5 m grids with receivers simultaneously placed in each demarcated grid. This process was then repeated under wood, metal and human obstruction conditions. Descriptive tallies were used to assess the signal detection achieved for each receiver from each beacon in each grid. Mean RSSI signal was calculated for each condition alongside intra and inter-unit standard deviation, coefficient of variation and standard error of the measurement. In Experiment Three, a test apartment was used with three beacons placed across two rooms. The researcher then completed simulated conditions for 10 minutes each across the two rooms. The percentage of epochs where a signal was detected from each of the three beacons across each test condition was then calculated. Results: In Experiment One, the relationship between RSSI and distance was found to be non-linear. In Experiment Two, high signal detection was achieved in all conditions; however, there was a large degree of intra and inter-unit variability in RSSI. In Experiment Three, there was a large degree of multi-room signal contamination. Conclusion: The Actigraph proximity feature can provide a binary indicator of room level location. Study Three Purpose: To use novel technology in three small feasibility trials to ascertain where the greatest utility can be demonstrated. Methods: Feasibility Trial One assessed the concurrent validity of electrical energy monitoring and wearable cameras as measures of television viewing. Feasibility Trial Two utilised indoor location monitoring to assess where older adult care home residents accumulate their sedentary time. Lastly, Feasibility Trial Three investigated the use of proximity sensors to quantify exposure to a height adjustable desk Results: Feasibility Trial One found that on average the television is switched on for 202 minutes per day but is visible in just 90 minutes of wearable camera images with a further 52 minutes where the participant is in their living room but the television is not visible in the image. Feasibility Trial Two found that residents were highly sedentary (sitting for an average of 720 minutes per day) and spent the majority of their time in their own rooms with more time spent in communal areas in the morning than in the afternoon. Feasibility Trial Three found a discrepancy between self-reported work hours and objectively measured office dwell time. Conclusion: The feasibility trials outlined in this study show the utility of objectively measuring context to provide more detailed and refined data. Study Four Purpose: To objectively measure the context of sedentary behaviour in the most sedentary age group, older adults. Methods: 26 residents and 13 staff were recruited from two care homes. Each participant wore an Actigraph GT9X on their non-dominant wrist and a LumoBack posture sensor on their lower back for one week. The Actigraph recorded proximity every 10 seconds and acceleration at 100 Hz. LumoBack data were provided as summaries per 5 minutes. Beacon Actigraphs were placed around each care home in the resident s rooms, communal areas and corridors. Proximity and posture data were combined in 5 minute epochs with descriptive analysis of average time spent sitting in each area produced. Acceleration data were summarised into 10 second epochs and combined with proximity data to show the average count per epoch in each area of the care home. Mann-Whitney tests were performed to test for differences between care homes. Results: No significant differences were found between Care Home One and Care Home Two in the amount of time spent sitting in communal areas of the care home (301 minutes per day and 39 minutes per day respectively, U=23, p=0.057) or in the amount of time residents spent sitting in their own room (215 minutes per day and 337 minutes per day in Care Home One and Two respectively, U=32, p=0.238). In both care homes, accelerometer measured average movement increases with the number of residents in the communal area. Conclusion: The Actigraph proximity system was able to quantify the context of sedentary behaviour in older adults. This enabled the identification of levers for behaviour change which can be used to reduce sedentary time in this group. Overall conclusion: There are a large number of technologies available with the potential to measure the context of physical activity or sedentary time. The Actigraph proximity feature is one such technology. This technology is able to provide a binary measure of proximity via the detection or non-detection of Bluetooth signal: however, the variability of the signal prohibits distance estimation. / The Actigraph proximity feature, in combination with a posture sensor, is able to elucidate the context of physical activity and sedentary time.

No description available.

Esse trabalho, pertencente à disciplina de Gestão de Operações, é um esforço no sentido de recortar a questão tributária da teoria sobre localização de centros de distribuição, e discutir esse tema sob a visão do ICMS, principal imposto brasileiro aplicado à distribuição de mercadorias. A questão tributária é um elemento usualmente citado como fator presente nas escolhas de localização de unidades produtivas e centros de distribuição. Entretanto, essa variável é ainda considerada como periférica, sendo pouco explorada em pesquisas acadêmicas relacionadas à literatura localizacional. Foram estabelecidos os objetivos de identificar a presença do ICMS nas escolhas por centros de distribuição e encontrar elementos que possam evidenciar afirmações sobre a influência desse imposto nas decisões de quatro empresas do setor de defensivos agrícolas. A metodologia empregada nesse trabalho foi a de estudo de casos múltiplos, baseado na observação e descrição de processos cronológicos de decisão reais, com o suporte de um roteiro de questões para a realização das entrevistas com os responsáveis pela gestão de distribuição A escolha do setor de defensivos deve-se à presença de fortes benefícios fiscais relativos ao ICMS, como isenção de pagamento para faturamento intra-estadual. A pesquisa conseguiu identificar a divisão dos fatores influenciadores da decisão em dois blocos, extra tributários e tributários, sendo os extra correspondentes aos fatores logísticos comumente estudados em pesquisas, como prazos de entrega, custos de transporte e armazenagem e os tributários ligados especificamente ao ICMS. Os resultados encontrados permitem dizer que o ICMS foi um fator presente em todos os processos de decisão, variando segundo as perspectivas financeiras relacionadas às perdas por créditos não aproveitados, implicações legais, vantagens competitivas de preços e custos de transações decorrentes de acordos especiais com clientes. A pesquisa aponta uma afirmação baseada em evidências encontradas nas quatro empresas estudadas de que qualquer decisão por centro de distribuição passa pela validação da área tributária. Além disso, comportamentos e aspectos técnicos semelhantes foram observados na organização e estrutura dos projetos para definir centros de distribuição. Outra importante conclusão é de que existe um grau de conhecimento e consciência comum sobre a influência desse imposto sobre as operações das empresas. Do ponto de vista acadêmico, a grande contribuição desse trabalho é a afirmação de que, dados os mecanismos de fomento, cobrança e compensações do ICMS, as empresas do setor de defensivos podem ter que adotar estratégias de localização que sobrepujam vantagens logísticas. E essa é, provavelmente, uma verdade para qualquer setor onde estejam presentes benefícios fiscais e alto valor agregado das mercadorias comercializadas. O aprofundamento sobre tais estratégias que as empresas devem adotar para lidar com o ICMS é a principal recomendação desse trabalho para futuros estudos acadêmicos. / This research, which belongs to the Operations Management subject, is an effort towards investigating the tax issue, inserted in the distribution centers location theory and discussing this theme under ICMS perspective, the main tax regarding goods circulation in Brazil. The tax issue is usually mentioned as one of the aspects to be considered when choosing the localization of manufacturing units and distribution centers. However, this topic is still considered less relevant than other logistics features and therefore is not deeply studied by academic researches related to location literature. There were established the objectives of identifying the presence of ICMS on the decisions concerning distributions centers localizations and finding elements that could be evidences of affirmations regarding its influence on the decisions in four companies of crop protection products. The methodology is a multiple cases study, based on observation and description of real and chronological decision processes, supported by a script of questions to interview the responsible ones for distribution functions. The choice of the crop protection business is due to the strong existence of tax benefits on this field concerning ICMS, such as payment exemption in case of intra state distribution. It was possible to identify two groups of factors, the logistics and the tax ones, being the logistics factors frequently studied as the freight, warehousing costs and lead times issues and the tax factor associated to the specific ICMS subject. The results found allow to state that ICMS was an important variable in all decision processes assuming four perspectives: financial, related to losses due to credits not consumed; legal implications, prices competitiveness advantage and transactions costs regarding special customer agreements. Based on evidences found in the four analyzed companies, this research confirms that any location decision has to be validated by the tax management. In addition, similar behavior and technical aspects were observed on the organization and structure of projects to define distribution centers. Other important conclusion is the common conscience shared among the four companies about the ICMS influence on their operations. From an academic perspective, the main contribution of this study is the affirmation that, given the foment, charging and compensations mechanisms of the ICMS, the companies from the crop protection business analyzed might have to adopt localization strategies that overcomes the logistical advantages. And this is, probably, truth to any sector whereas tax benefits and high value commercialized goods are present. The deep study about those strategies that companies have to adopt to deal with ICMS is the main recommendation of this essay for future academic researches.