Increasing interest is being shown in performance measurement, in both the academic literature and by practitioners. When implementing innovative products, organisations are facing issues of how to measure and manage the performance of the products concerned and how to do so in a worthwhile way. Reviewing existing literature suggests that there has been limited research on the value of performance measurement and management processes and indeed little conceptual distinction has been made between performance measurement and performance management. A conceptual framework is developed, structured around concepts from the existing literature showing two ways of distinguishing performance measurement and performance management. Performance management processes are shown as broader than performance measurement processes and the influences of the processes on performance are also displayed, another way of differentiating between the two concepts. The framework provides a structure for a pattern matching analysis using empirical data. Empirical data collection involved four case studies, each focusing on a medical device being implemented in the UK public healthcare sector. Forty-six semi-structured interviews explored performance measurement and performance management processes in the implementation of the innovative products, as well as exploring the influences of those processes on performance of the innovative products. The findings from the thesis highlight key performance measurement and performance management processes that occur in the implementation of innovative products, finding that the two can best be distinguished by their influence, or lack of influence, on performance. Performance reporting is also highlighted as a key concept. The findings indicate that performance measurement and reporting processes alone cannot be expected to have an influence on performance, however if performance management processes occur too then they can.

The characteristics of a Zinc/Air (Zn/Air) primary cell are discussed. In addition, current technologies and the corresponding electrical performance are introduced. The basic principles of operation of a Zn/Air primary cell are discussed, focusing on the anode, cathode, and electrolyte. Basic kinetic and transport expressions are developed for the two main components of the cell: the anode and cathode compartments, based on which an overall formula for the cell polarization is developed. Input parameters are selected and approximated where possible to observe the model¡¦s ability to predict potential versus current density. Time-dependent anode performance is accomplished through the use of the shrinking core reaction model for the discharge of the zinc particles. The time-dependent dimensionless radius of the zinc particle (ď) is then used in conjunction with the developed transport and kinetic expressions for the prediction of the overall cell performance as a function of time. Plots of cell voltage prediction versus time and percent capacity versus time are presented. The simulations indicate an adequate approximate analytic model valid for a variety of drain rates corresponding to current hearing instrument devices in the market.

Many modern web applications run on distributed cloud systems, which allows them to scale their resources to match performance requirements. Scaling of resources at industry scales, however, is a financially-expensive operation, and therefore one that should involve a business justification rooted in customer quality-of-service metrics over more commonly-used utilization metrics. Additionally, changing the resources available to such a system is non-instantaneous, and thus a reasonable effort should be made to predict system performance at varying resource allocations and at various expected workloads. Common performance monitoring solutions look at general metrics such as CPU utilization or available memory. These metrics are at best an indirect means of evaluating customer experience, and at worst may provide no information as to whether users of a commercial application are satisfied with the product they have paid for. Instead, the use of application-specific metrics that accurately reflect the experience of system users, combined with research into how these metrics are affected by various tunable parameters, allows a company to make accurate decisions as to the desired performance perceived by their users versus the costs associated with providing that level of performance. This thesis uses a real-world software-as-a-service product as a case study in the development of quality-of-service metrics and the use of those metrics to determine business cases and costing packages for customers. The product used for this work is Phoenix, a state-of-the-art social media aggregation and analytics software-as-a-service web platform developed by Echosec Systems, Ltd. The product will be tested under realworld conditions on cloud hardware with a minimal test harness to ensure a realistic depiction of live production conditions. / Graduate

Cette thèse concerne l’exploitation des inhomogénéités locales du champ magnétique en complément de techniques de navigation inertielles à composants liés “strapdown”, et son application à la navigation à l’estime en intérieur avec des capteurs magnéto-inertiels miniatures à bas-coût. Cette méthode permet une mesure indirecte de la vitesse du système indépendamment des mouvements de son porteur et fonctionne sans cartographie préalable du champ magnétique, ni infrastructure dédiée. Ce travail étudie la modélisation du problème de navigation, celle des capteurs utilisés, ainsi que l’effet des incertitudes de mesure sur la précision de reconstruction du mouvement et les limites de cette technique. Des algorithmes de navigation mettant en œuvre le filtrage de Kalman étendu sont implémentés, et évalués expérimentalement. Enfin, deux techniques de calibration de gradiomètres magnétiques sont proposées et testées,dans le double objectif d’en faciliter la réalisation à la fois en production et au cours de la vie d’un système. / This thesis is about complementing strapdown inertial navigation techniques with the use of local magnetic inhomogeneity, and the application thereof to indoor dead-reckoning with low-cost micro-electromechanical magneto-inertial sensors. This method provides an indirect velocity measurement of the system independently of its wearer’s movements and works without neither mapping of the magnetic field beforehand, nor dedicated infrastructure. Modelization of the navigation problem and our sensors are studied, together with the effect of measurement uncertainty on movement estimation accuracy and the limits of this technique. Navigation algorithms based on extended Kalman filtering are implemented and evaluated in experiments. Lastly, two magnetic gradiometers calibration techniques are introduced and tested, to ease its realizationboth in production and during the system’s lifetime.

Orientador: Sérgio Romagnolo / Banca: José Paiani Spaniol / Banca: Taisa Palhares / Resumo: Esta dissertação tem dois resultados distintos: minha produção artística, envolvendo esculturas, objetos, instalações, pinturas, performances, vivência artística e um texto teórico. Em ambos os casos, o assunto da pesquisa é sobre o espaço de exposição e o modo como as obras de arte são exibidas, comparando os locais expositivos atuais e suas especificidades aos chamados Gabinetes de Curiosidades - coleções privadas exibidas a um público seleto, sobretudo entre os séculos XVII e XVIII, que podem ser considerados precursores dos museus modernos / Abstract: The present dissertation has two different purposes: to register the artist's production - including sculptures, objects, installations, paintings, performances, artistic experiences - and to present a theoretical text. For both cases, the research focuses on the exhibition space and how art works are exhibited, comparing the present spaces for exhibition and the Cabinets of Curiosities - private collections presented to a selected public, mostly during the 17th and 18th centuries, which can be regarded as the predecessors of modern museums / Mestre

A Summer Experience as a Paid Actor: It’s Not All Broken Legs Thesis Statement: Finding out that you are going to be paid to act sounds like a dream come true, but there is a lot more to it than just the glitz and glam of the final product.

Tellers from a variety of faiths will celebrate their traditions in story, song and dance in "United We Stand," an interfaith storytelling concert to benefit the Katheleen M. Stern and Milagros M. Argueta Endowment for Storytelling at ETSU. This endowment will provide scholarships and an endowed chair in storytelling with a focus on therapeutic, homiletic and community-building story. The storytelling concert will be held Saturday, Jan. 7, from 2-5 p.m. at the McKinney Center, 103 Franklin Ave., Jonesborough. Storytellers representing Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Native American faiths will participate in the program. Those slated to appear include Rev. Vincent Dial and Wendolin Elrod (Christian), Dr. Joseph Sobol (Jewish), Terry Shinn (Cherokee, following the Lakota spiritual tradition) and Taneem Aziz (Islam). Master of ceremonies will be Dr. Delanna Reed, interim coordinator of the ETSU Storytelling Program.

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JOHNSON CITY (March 31, 2017) – East Tennessee State University graduate students in storytelling will present “Ridin’ the Rails,” an evening of oral history stories and songs from the heyday of the railroad in America, on Friday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. The event will be held in room 205 – the black box theater – of the university’s Campus Center Building. Admission is free, and donations toward ongoing oral history collection work will be accepted. Dr. Delanna Reed of the ETSU Storytelling Division and graduate students within that program interviewed dozens of individuals who rode, lived or worked on the Tweetsie and Clinchfield railroads. The oral histories gathered provide a glimpse of the two local railroads and the lives they affected from as early as 1915 through 1984. Established in 1882, the narrow gauge ETWNC (Tweetsie) Railroad serviced East Tennessee and Western North Carolina as a coal train and steam engine passenger train. Until highways were established and cars common, the Tweetsie was the only mechanical mode of transportation for folks in the mountains between Johnson City and Boone, North Carolina. Locals of the Tri-Cities area currently recognize the Tweetsie name for its newly established purpose as a multi-use recreation trail for biking, walking and running that follows the former tracks from Johnson City to Elizabethton. The Clinchfield Railroad, with its headquarters in Erwin, ran from the coal fields in Virginia, Kentucky and South Carolina. Known as a feat of engineering, the Clinchfield wound for 262 miles through the Blue Ridge Mountains and fostered inspirational characters that have been the center of many films and written works. “The oral histories the audience will hear during the production of ‘Ridin’ the Rails’ are sure to inspire the mind, body and soul,” said Reed, who is directing the current graduate students making up the cast of storytellers and musicians in the program. They include John Brooks, Paul Herrin, Charis Hickson, Betty Ann Polaha and Eutimio Talavera. These students in the ETSU Storytelling Division, which is a part of the Master of Professional Communication Program in the Department of Communication and Performance, selected stories to tell from transcripts of interviews with people from Johnson City and as far away as Roan Mountain. The original interviews were conducted from 2011 to 2014 as a collaborative project between ETSU’s George L. Carter Railroad Museum and Storytelling Program. The effort was led by Reed and Dr. Fred Alsop, director of the museum. Reed says the April 7 event is a one-time opportunity to see the concert in its entirety, although individual students plan to perform segments of the show soon in other area locations.

We are currently living in a society in which interactivity is at an all-time low. People are glued to their cell phones, tablets and computers, preferring to communicate with pixels and images than other human beings. It often leads to one feeling alone, even amongst a sea of people. This is also true outside of interpersonal relationships. There is a growing lack of engagement in narrative and the design of that narrative. We see Rocky: The Musical, Amelie: The Musical and Shrek: The Musical. There are playwrights re-hashing the living room drama over and over again, afraid to venture into new material, becoming obsessed with perfecting an unattainable formula. In a constant cycle of re-hashing previously successful franchises and tropes into different mediums, designers lose the opportunity to grow. However, with the rise of smash hits like Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen and Then She Fell, designers find a place to dazzle spectators with raw, enthralling artwork that creates a sense new audiences are missing more than anything: Wonder. To continue the creation of relevant, diverse and genre-defying theatre, designers must be trained to hold authority over the elements of design. These include the concepts of line, shape, color, texture and scale. A designer must know when to trust their instincts and when to rely on time-proven techniques. A designer cannot be afraid of building something new. In addition to this, a growing emphasis is being placed on a designer’s mastery of multiple disciplines. By having a more-well rounded education, a designer is more of an asset on the team.