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Locotypes is a practice-based research project that is intended to suggest an alternative approach to traditional ways of designing and reading wayfinding signage systems. This is an alternative approach that will not follow the traditional universal* approach of design for effective signage application. The aim of the project is to suggest a rethinking of visual conformity as the main objective in designing a wayfinding signage system.The research question is: what are the opportunities and impediments to designing a wayfinding signage system that acknowledges and is equally influenced by the local as well as global characteristics of a particular system?This practical research project takes on a hypothesis that the approach of prioritising GLOBAL* visual conformity typical of the standard signage systems fails to reflect the mix of culturally specific and multi-cultural profiles that are peculiar to the "actual specific local"* contexts. I am intending to explore an alternative way of designing a coherent wayfinding signage system which can be read from both a LOCAL* and GLOBAL point of view. This system could potentially change the traditional notions of developing a wayfinding signage system and triggers further explorations in design industry

Locotypes is a practice-based research project that is intended to suggest an alternative approach to traditional ways of designing and reading wayfinding signage systems. This is an alternative approach that will not follow the traditional universal* approach of design for effective signage application. The aim of the project is to suggest a rethinking of visual conformity as the main objective in designing a wayfinding signage system.The research question is: what are the opportunities and impediments to designing a wayfinding signage system that acknowledges and is equally influenced by the local as well as global characteristics of a particular system?This practical research project takes on a hypothesis that the approach of prioritising GLOBAL* visual conformity typical of the standard signage systems fails to reflect the mix of culturally specific and multi-cultural profiles that are peculiar to the "actual specific local"* contexts. I am intending to explore an alternative way of designing a coherent wayfinding signage system which can be read from both a LOCAL* and GLOBAL point of view. This system could potentially change the traditional notions of developing a wayfinding signage system and triggers further explorations in design industry

The phenomenon of digitization is transforming industries worldwide by introducing new valueproducing opportunities. In the railway industry, market liberalization has resulted in increased competition. To remain profitable in this new market environment, rail operators need to transform and acquire new digital capabilities and tools. By digitizing information-intensive processes with an information system, railway companies can reduce loss of operation time and reduce total maintenance costs. At the same time, the limited research exploring information systems in maintenance management has made it challenging for companies wanting to digitize. Significant attention has been devoted to the separate topics, however research overlapping the two areas of study has been inadequate. The thesis aims to contribute with knowledge to bridge this gap in literature by investigating the opportunities a maintenance organization potentially can capture with an information system and the success factors needed to succeed. By conducting the thesis in collaboration with the Swedish railway maintenance company MTR Tech AB the potential uses of an information system have been identified and assessed. Findings indicate that there are three main business opportunities to obtain from an information system: support of the troubleshooting process, better planning of reactive maintenance and enabling the performance of condition-based maintenance. At the same time, the profitability of an information system was found to be directly linked to its degree of utilization. Our findings have therefore allowed us to conclude that the business opportunity to pursue is the one that is most likely to be carried out fully and successfully in the prevailing circumstances. Lastly, the findings conclude that the success factors needed to capture the desired business opportunities are a dedicated project group, clear communication and information sharing, as well as adequate personnel. / Digitalisering har påverkat och transformerat företag över hela världen genom att erbjuda nya värdeproducerande möjligheter. För att bibehålla konkurrenskraft i en föränderlig omvärld måste järnvägsoperatörer transformera sina företag och förvärva nya digitala lösningar och verktyg kopplade till järnvägsteknologier. Genom att digitalisera informationsintensiva processer med hjälp av informationssystem, blir det möjligt för järnvägsföretag att minska förlust av drifttid samt minska den totala underhållskostnaden. Samtidigt har den begränsade forskningen gällande användning av informationssystem i underhållsorganisationer försvårat digitaliseringsförsöken. Litteratur och tidigare studier har behandlat de två ämnena separat, dock har överlappande forskning varit otillräcklig. Denna studie syftar till att bidra med kunskap för att överbrygga gapet i litteraturen genom att undersöka de vinningar en underhållsorganisation kan erhålla med hjälp av ett informationssystem och de framgångsfaktorer som krävs för att uppnå dem. Genom att utföra denna studie i samarbete med det svenska underhållsbolaget MTR Tech AB har de potentiella användningsområdena av ett informationssystem identifierats. De tre huvudsakliga affärsmöjligheterna som kan erhållas från ett informationssystem är: stödjande av felsökningsprocessen, bättre planering av avhjälpande underhåll, samt möjliggörandet av tillståndsbaserat underhåll. Samtidigt har det visat sig att lönsamheten av ett informationssystem är direkt kopplat till dess utnyttjandegrad. Vi har således dragit slutsatsen att den affärsmöjlighet som bör eftersträvas är den som med största sannolikhet kommer att genomföras framgångsrikt under rådande omständigheter. Slutligen visar våra resultat att de framgångsfaktorer som krävs för att uppnå affärsmöjligheterna är en dedikerad projektgrupp, tydlig kommunikation och informationsdelning, samt lämplig personal.

Software development requires teams due to size, scope, and location of the project. A few software development team structures have been proposed based on tasks and job descriptions, but no team structure or model has been proposed to assemble software development teams based on individual characteristic and trait differences. This thesis presents two studies that support the argument that a new model needs to be developed for assembling software development teams. A roadmap for developing such a model is presented as the response to the inapplicability of applying current models to software development team assembly. / Master of Science

L’instrumentation et la mesure en ligne pour les Material Testing Reactors sont en pleine expansion en France en particulier avec la construction du Réacteur Jules Horowitz (RJH) qui possédera des capacités expérimentales accrues (conditions extrêmes). Conception/développement/optimisation de moyens expérimentaux sont requis pour une caractérisation fine des conditions expérimentales régnant dans ce MTR. C’est dans ce contexte que s’inscrivent mes travaux de thèse. Plus précisément depuis 2009, le CEA et l'Université d'Aix-Marseille (Laboratoire IM2NP UMR7334, eq. Microcapteurs-Instrumentation) conduisent des programmes de recherche au sein du laboratoire commun LIMMEX afin de proposer de nouveaux capteurs et dispositifs dédiés à la détermination spatiale et temporelle des flux neutrons/photons et de l’échauffement nucléaire dans les matériaux inertes par interactions rayonnements nucléaires/matière dans les canaux du RJH. Les travaux de ma thèse ont porté sur la calorimétrie, méthode permettant la quantification de l’échauffement nucléaire. L’objectif était d’étudier et d’optimiser la méthode et les capteurs hors flux nucléaires et d'améliorer les étapes conduisant à la quantification de l’échauffement nucléaire. Ces travaux expérimentaux et numériques ont comporté trois volets principaux. Le 1er a porté sur des études sur la réponse et le comportement de calorimètres différentiels classiques. Le 2ème volet a été dédié à des études sur la méthode d’étalonnage des calorimètres prototypes. Le 3ème volet a consisté à l’interprétation de mesures d’échauffement nucléaire et à la simulation de nouveaux capteurs pouvant mesurer un échauffement nucléaire de 20W.g-1 dans le RJH. / The instrumentation and on-line measurement for Material Testing Reactors are booming in France in particular with the construction of the Jules Horowitz Reactor (RJH), which possess increased experimental capacity (extreme conditions). Design / development / optimization of experimental resources are required for a detailed characterization of experimental conditions in the MTR. It is in this context that fit my thesis work. Specifically since 2009, the CEA and the University of Aix-Marseille (IM2NP Laboratory UMR7334, eq. Microcapteurs-Instrumentation) lead research programs in the LIMMEX joint laboratory to provide new sensors and devices dedicated to determining spatial and temporal neutron / photon fluxes and nuclear heating in the inert materials by nuclear radiation / matter interactions in the channels of RJH. The work of my thesis focused on calorimetry method for the quantification of nuclear heating. The objective was to study and optimize the method and sensors excluding nuclear flow and improve the steps leading to the quantification of nuclear heating. These experimental and numerical works involved three main components. The first focused on studies of the response and behavior of conventional differential calorimeters. The second part was devoted to studies on the calibration method calorimeters prototypes. The third component was the interpretation of nuclear heating measures and simulation of new sensors that can measure a nuclear heating of 20W.g-1 in the JHR.

This thesis seeks to contribute to the Chinese taxation literature by researching effective tax rate (ETR), marginal tax rate (MTR) and implicit tax in particular. These areas have been addressed for a number of years within the developed market context, whereas the same research for companies in developing countries is largely non-existent in Western literature. The first topic is the ETR and MTR analysis. The ETR analysis offers an overview of the actual tax burden for listed companies in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), together with the Statutory Tax Rate (STR) analysis, which incorporates the tax structure aspect of tax preferences from 1994 to 2006. In 2002, the State Council stopped unauthorised corporate tax rebate from local government and 2002 became a breaking point of the corporate tax analysis. The ETR and STR analyses reveal that companies benefitted widely from tax preferences before 2002 regardless of their industry or region. However, after 2002, the ETRs increased significantly overall and the industrial and regional ETR differences are much more significant. The tax preferential industries and regions’ companies are still in the lower ETR and STR range, but the non-tax preferential companies’ ETRs and STR increased significantly after 2002. This evidences the effectiveness of Chinese tax preference policies. The MTR estimations are the first Chinese company specific MTR estimations. The MTRs were estimated from 1995 to 2002 and the MTRs results are generally consistent with ETR results, except that the MTR estimations jointly depend on the company Net Operating Loss (NOL) occurrences, income and STR. The second topic is the determinants of ETR. An alternative view of ETR determinants is proposed. It incorporates the accounting-tax conformity theory and identifies a tax rate preference as the new ETR determinant variable to fit the Chinese taxation context. Five explanatory variables are hypothesized in associating company characteristics after controlling the company location, industry and sample period dummy variables. These explanatory variables are tax rate preference, non-operating expenses, investment gain, provision for impairment and government ownership. The ETR determinants model is also examined by OLS regression (cross-sectional), and fixed-effects and random effects regression (panel data analysis). The results show that all of the explanatory variables are statistically significant coefficients with expected signs. The results also demonstrate that the proposed ETR determinant model is superior to previous determinant models. The third topic is implicit tax research. The results are evidence of the existence of implicit tax at the corporate level. The relationships between the company Pre-tax Return of Equity (PTROE) and tax preference variables and other control variables are also examined. The results demonstrate that there is a negative relationship between PTROE and tax rate preference when considering the companies aggregately in a large scale; and there is a positive relationship between PTROE and income related tax preference when considering the companies individually. The contradictory results indicate that in reality, the imperfect market conditions impede the realisation of implicit tax at the individual company level.

No Brasil e no mundo a tecnologia nuclear vem ocupando posição de destaque com diversas aplicações na indústria, geração de energia, meio ambiente e na medicina, melhorando a qualidade de exames e tratamentos, consequentemente, a vida das pessoas. O urânio é o principal elemento utilizado em instalações nucleares, servindo como material base desde a geração de eletricidade à fabricação de radiofármacos. Nos anos 50, em meio à guerra fria, a então recém-criada Agência Internacional de Energia Atômica se propôs a supervisionar instalações nucleares e incentivar a fabricação de combustíveis nucleares com baixo teor de urânio, conhecidos como combustíveis do tipo Material Test Reactor (MTR), fabricados inicialmente na forma de U3O8 e mais tarde o U3Si2, ambos dispersos em alumínio. A utilização desta tecnologia requer uma constante melhoria de todos os processos que envolvem a fabricação do MTR sujeita a diversos protocolos internacionais, os quais procuram garantir a confiabilidade desse combustível do ponto de vista prático e ambiental. Dentro desse contexto, o controle de impurezas, do ponto de vista da economia de nêutrons, afeta diretamente a qualidade de qualquer combustível nuclear, fazendo-se necessário um controle rigoroso. A literatura reporta procedimentos que, além de gerar resíduos, são demorados e dispendiosos, pois necessitam de curva de calibração univariada e materiais de referência. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é estabelecer e validar uma metodologia de análise química quantitativa não destrutiva, de baixo custo e tempo de análise, tal como, minimizar a geração de resíduo para a determinação multielementar dos maiores constituintes (Utotal e Si) e as impurezas (B, Mg, Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, Cd e outros) presentes em U3O8 e U3Si2, atendendo as necessidades de reatores nucleares na qualificação de combustíveis nucleares do tipo MTR. Para tanto, foi aplicada a técnica de fluorescência de raios X que permite análises químicas rápidas e não destrutivas, além de não necessitar de tratamentos químicos prévios (dissolução, digestão e outros) na fase de preparação de amostras. Para as correções de efeitos espectrais e de matriz foram aplicados e avaliados os métodos de parâmetros fundamentais, de curva de calibração univariada e de calibração multivariada. Os resultados foram comparados por meios de testes estatísticos em conformidade com a norma ISO 17025 com os MRCs (123(1-7) e 124(1-7)) de U3O8 da New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) e 16 amostras de U3Si2 cedidas pelo CCN do IPEN-CNEN-SP. A quimiometria demonstrou-se um método promissor para a determinação de maiores e menores constituintes em combustíveis nuclear a base de U3O8 e U3Si2, uma vez que a precisão e exatidão são estatisticamente iguais aos métodos de análises volumétrica, gravimétrica e ICP-OES. / In Brazil and worldwide the nuclear power has occupied a prominent position with many applications in industry, power generation, environment and medicine, improving the quality of tests and treatments, therefore people\'s lives. Uranium is the main element used in nuclear facilities and its employed as base material to generation of electricity in the manufacture of radiopharmaceuticals. In the \'50s, during the Cold War, the then newly created International Atomic Energy Agency proposed to oversee nuclear facilities and encourage the manufacture of nuclear fuels with low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel came then type Material Test Reactor (MTR), manufactured initially in U3O8 and U3Si2 later, both dispersed in aluminum. The use of this technology requires a constant improvement of all processes involving the manufacture of MTR subject to several international protocols, which seek to ensure the reliability of the fuel from the standpoint of practical and environmental. In this context, the control of impurities, from the point of view of neutron economy, directly affects the quality of any nuclear fuel, so strict control is necessary. The literature has reported procedures which, beyond generating residues, are lengthy and costly, they need calibration curve and consequently reference materials. The aim of this work is to establish and validate a methodology for nondestructive quantitative chemical analysis, low cost and analysis time, as well as minimize the generation of waste, for multielement determination of major constituents (Utotal and Si) and impurities (B, Mg, Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, Cd and others) present in U3O8 and U3Si2, meeting the needs of nuclear reactors in the nuclear fuel qualification type MTR. For that purposes, will be applied the X-ray fluorescence technique which allows fast chemical and nondestructive analysis, aside from sample preparation procedures that do not require previous chemical treatments (dissolving, digesting, and others). To corrections like effects of spectral and matrix were applied and evaluated the fundamental parameter method, univariate calibration curve and multivariate calibration. The results were compared by means of statistical tests in accordance with ISO 17025 in MRCs (123 (1-7) and 124 (1-7)) MCRs of U3O8 from New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) and 16 U3Si2 samples provided by CC of IPEN/CNEN-SP. The chemometrics is a promising method to determination of minor and major constituents on the U3Si2 and U3O8 basis nuclear fuel, because the precision and accuracy are statistically equal volumetric analysis, gravimetric and ICP-OES methods.

No Brasil e no mundo a tecnologia nuclear vem ocupando posição de destaque com diversas aplicações na indústria, geração de energia, meio ambiente e na medicina, melhorando a qualidade de exames e tratamentos, consequentemente, a vida das pessoas. O urânio é o principal elemento utilizado em instalações nucleares, servindo como material base desde a geração de eletricidade à fabricação de radiofármacos. Nos anos 50, em meio à guerra fria, a então recém-criada Agência Internacional de Energia Atômica se propôs a supervisionar instalações nucleares e incentivar a fabricação de combustíveis nucleares com baixo teor de urânio, conhecidos como combustíveis do tipo Material Test Reactor (MTR), fabricados inicialmente na forma de U3O8 e mais tarde o U3Si2, ambos dispersos em alumínio. A utilização desta tecnologia requer uma constante melhoria de todos os processos que envolvem a fabricação do MTR sujeita a diversos protocolos internacionais, os quais procuram garantir a confiabilidade desse combustível do ponto de vista prático e ambiental. Dentro desse contexto, o controle de impurezas, do ponto de vista da economia de nêutrons, afeta diretamente a qualidade de qualquer combustível nuclear, fazendo-se necessário um controle rigoroso. A literatura reporta procedimentos que, além de gerar resíduos, são demorados e dispendiosos, pois necessitam de curva de calibração univariada e materiais de referência. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é estabelecer e validar uma metodologia de análise química quantitativa não destrutiva, de baixo custo e tempo de análise, tal como, minimizar a geração de resíduo para a determinação multielementar dos maiores constituintes (Utotal e Si) e as impurezas (B, Mg, Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, Cd e outros) presentes em U3O8 e U3Si2, atendendo as necessidades de reatores nucleares na qualificação de combustíveis nucleares do tipo MTR. Para tanto, foi aplicada a técnica de fluorescência de raios X que permite análises químicas rápidas e não destrutivas, além de não necessitar de tratamentos químicos prévios (dissolução, digestão e outros) na fase de preparação de amostras. Para as correções de efeitos espectrais e de matriz foram aplicados e avaliados os métodos de parâmetros fundamentais, de curva de calibração univariada e de calibração multivariada. Os resultados foram comparados por meios de testes estatísticos em conformidade com a norma ISO 17025 com os MRCs (123(1-7) e 124(1-7)) de U3O8 da New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) e 16 amostras de U3Si2 cedidas pelo CCN do IPEN-CNEN-SP. A quimiometria demonstrou-se um método promissor para a determinação de maiores e menores constituintes em combustíveis nuclear a base de U3O8 e U3Si2, uma vez que a precisão e exatidão são estatisticamente iguais aos métodos de análises volumétrica, gravimétrica e ICP-OES. / In Brazil and worldwide the nuclear power has occupied a prominent position with many applications in industry, power generation, environment and medicine, improving the quality of tests and treatments, therefore people\'s lives. Uranium is the main element used in nuclear facilities and its employed as base material to generation of electricity in the manufacture of radiopharmaceuticals. In the \'50s, during the Cold War, the then newly created International Atomic Energy Agency proposed to oversee nuclear facilities and encourage the manufacture of nuclear fuels with low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel came then type Material Test Reactor (MTR), manufactured initially in U3O8 and U3Si2 later, both dispersed in aluminum. The use of this technology requires a constant improvement of all processes involving the manufacture of MTR subject to several international protocols, which seek to ensure the reliability of the fuel from the standpoint of practical and environmental. In this context, the control of impurities, from the point of view of neutron economy, directly affects the quality of any nuclear fuel, so strict control is necessary. The literature has reported procedures which, beyond generating residues, are lengthy and costly, they need calibration curve and consequently reference materials. The aim of this work is to establish and validate a methodology for nondestructive quantitative chemical analysis, low cost and analysis time, as well as minimize the generation of waste, for multielement determination of major constituents (Utotal and Si) and impurities (B, Mg, Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, Cd and others) present in U3O8 and U3Si2, meeting the needs of nuclear reactors in the nuclear fuel qualification type MTR. For that purposes, will be applied the X-ray fluorescence technique which allows fast chemical and nondestructive analysis, aside from sample preparation procedures that do not require previous chemical treatments (dissolving, digesting, and others). To corrections like effects of spectral and matrix were applied and evaluated the fundamental parameter method, univariate calibration curve and multivariate calibration. The results were compared by means of statistical tests in accordance with ISO 17025 in MRCs (123 (1-7) and 124 (1-7)) MCRs of U3O8 from New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) and 16 U3Si2 samples provided by CC of IPEN/CNEN-SP. The chemometrics is a promising method to determination of minor and major constituents on the U3Si2 and U3O8 basis nuclear fuel, because the precision and accuracy are statistically equal volumetric analysis, gravimetric and ICP-OES methods.

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