No description available.

No description available.

The pumping performance of the heart is affected by the mechanical properties of the muscle fibre part of the cardiac wall, the myocardium. The myocardium has a complex structure, where muscle fibres have different orientations at different locations, and during the cardiac cycle, the myocardium undergoes large elastic deformations. Hence, myocardial strain pattern is complex. In this thesis work, a computation method for myocardial strain and a detailed map of myocardial transmural strain during the cardiac cycle are found by the use of surgically implanted metallic markers and beads. The strain is characterized in a local cardiac coordinate system. Thereafter, non-invasive phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) is used to compare strain at different myocardial regions. The difference in resolution between marker data and PC-MRI data is elucidated and some of the problems associated with the low resolution of PC-MRI are given.

The industrial world of robotics requires leading-edge controllers to match the speed of new manipulators. At the University of Waterloo, a three degree-of-freedom ultra high-speed cable-based robot was created called Deltabot. In order to improve the performance of the Deltabot, a new controller called the QNX Multi-Axis Robotic Controller (QMARC) was developed. QMARC is a PC-based controller built for the replacement of the existing commercial controller called PMAC, manufactured by Delta Tau Data Systems. Although the PMAC has its own real-time processor, the rigid and complex internal structure of the PMAC makes it difficult to apply advanced control algorithms and interpolation methods. Adding unconventional hardware to PMAC, such as a camera and vision system is also quite challenging. With the development of QMARC, the flexibility issue of the controller is resolved. QMARC?s open-sourced object-oriented software structure allows the addition of new control and interpolation techniques as required. In addition, the software structure of the main Controller process is decoupled for the hardware, so that any hardware change does not affect the main controller, just the hardware drivers. QMARC is also equipped with a user-friendly graphical user interface, and many safety protocols to make it a safe and easy-to-use system. <br /><br /> Experimental tests has proven QMARC to be a safe and reliable controller. The stable software foundation created by the QMARC will allow for future development of the controller as research on the Deltabot progresses.

Polycarbonate (PC) is a glassy engineering thermoplastic that has been used for decades because of its superior mechanical properties such as high toughness and stiffness, and for its general thermal stability. However, the industrial demand for higher performance polymers with faster processing times has caused PC to be gradually replaced by different engineered polymer blends, such as polycarbonate/acyrlonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS). Blends combine the advantages of the individual components but because they are a relatively new class of materials, their time-dependent behaviour is less well understood. The goal of the present work is to characterize two primary time-dependent processes in a commercial 75:25 PC:ABS blend that are known to affect the long-term mechanical properties of the individual components. The first is physical aging which is a result of non-equilibrium fast cooling of glassy or amorphous polymers. Physical aging is associated with structural relaxation due to enthalpic and volumetric recovery. The second process is hygrothermal conditioning which is the combined application of thermal aging and moisture absorption. Three sets of characterization tests were conducted using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The enthalpic relaxation results determined from DSC data for aging at nine different combinations of time and temperature showed that aging experiments are best conducted at temperatures between 80 and 90°C. This range is below the glass temperature of the ABS component. The activation energy for enthalpic relaxation for the unaged blend was found to fall between energies for PC and ABS relaxations, but not according to the rule-of-mixtures. The present study attempted to adopt the Tool–Narayanaswamy-Moynihan (TNM) phenomenological model to predict relaxation kinetics but was found to be complicated by multiple endothermic peaks. It was then concluded that the TNM model, although very useful for single polymer systems, is unsuitable for blends. A semi-empirical model was applied instead to fit the experimental data which provided a reasonable estimate of the relaxation behaviour. Aging at 80°C for the period investigated did not reach equilibrium and it is expected that aging times of upwards of 2 years will be necessary to minimize the errors associated with the data fitting to provide a better fit of the model. The FTIR studies revealed that thermal aging at 80°C in dry atmosphere results in oxidation of the butadiene component. However, the addition of moisture to the aging process appears to prevent, or at least impede, oxidation from occurring. The presence of moisture seems to trigger hydrogen bonding, which saturates regardless of the moisture content after approximately 80 days. The initial rate of moisture diffusion in PC/ABS appeared to depend predominantly on temperature while the ambient moisture concentration tends to only affect the final equilibrium content in the blend.

This study uses the case study method to investigate how a start-up company in industrial PC ODM field makes the product line decision when the outcome does not meet the expectation on funding. Since the company A corp. which was formly a software company in Netword Attached Storage field merged a communication appliance business unit from a industrial PC manufactoror, it was expected to leverage the resources of both joint venture parties to create synergy in competing with the existing competitors. It is two years after funding the management is about to review the product lines ¡V hardware manufacture and storage system, to make the go/no go decision on the storage system product line. Regarding to the business factor, the case is described in terms of value propostion, value network, and resource and process of the company; For the business competition, competitors in both product lines are stated; And respective operation records are provided in making the decision.

No description available.

Knowledge management becomes the hot topic of business circles in recent years, more and more enterprises become interested in knowledge management, a lot of scholars are engaged in relevant research one after another too. With the fast development of information science and technology, the administrative system of knowledge is the most important part in knowledge management by enterprises, but some enterprises have found gradually , though information science and technology can help enterprises to do a good job of knowledge management , but really leading knowledge management is the members who participates in, these members include high-order executive , technical staff and user. Leadership , culture , evaluation and technology and technology that four major keys to knowledge management succeed, but because task or have different type attitude emerge at the mission on because organization of enterprise should different, for instance the stratum type organizes, flat organization , radiating type organization and matrix type organize etc., organize each unit their have two or more upper strata management units appear perhaps in matrix type especially, so but more general stratum type complicatedness that comes will come efficiently in the treatment of some tasks on the operation of organizing. So quite a lot of modern enterprises all adopt this organization method , research this mainly with view and is it is it probe into with course theory one matrix type organize enterprise during the process of channeling into knowledge management about step time organize to come to complement, Structuration of theory, times of culture and different leader classify with science and technology or other as literary composition surface that consult is it pursue difference of effect to have in leader , culture , assessment, the difficulty met and gains, do it for other reference while channeling into the management activity of knowledge in initial stage of enterprise which is similar to institutional framework . Try to complement from the view of the Structuration theory with the process theory by way of case study in this research This research adopts the law of case study and goes on, select a domestic industrial computer company listed to do for the target further investigating it, adopt a single case to design in studying the design, but carry on the collection of the materials through the interview way of the depth with the matrix type organization difference organizing, in the course of studying, three undertaking groups count 13 colleagues in researcher's interview case company altogether, duplicate the interview content to analyze for the draft word for word , understand why need information management in the case company in depth after interview? The annotation explanatory note of information management? Pursue the system of information management? Pursue the culture of information management? Pursue the present situation of personnel of information management? Pursue the science and technology and tool used of information management? Pursue the type of information management attitude? Set up those knowledge management activity? (take , take and socialize by outside inside), pursue change and result of information management? (the procedure , science and technology and structure); And use the structure of composing a piece of writing and offering now to carry on the difference analysis between different undertaking group of case company, will regard running as and will be similar to the research that enterprises pursue information management to consult relevantly in the future . This study found that the communication between managers and users is the necessarily sustained work. The communication process will influence on managers and users¡¦ cognition about KMS. This cognition will again influence on their communication behavior. Therefore, the key success factor of implementing KMS has relations with their common consensuses about the system implementation. Companies should realize the gap between managers and users¡¦ need by means of sustained communication to find the best way to develop KMS. Then, users¡¦ participation in the system implementation can increase the opportunities for managers and users¡¦ interaction. During the interaction process, they dominate the system development, and then the structure of their power will change. Therefore, the key success factor of implementing KMS has relations with their power structure. Companies should realize the structure of managers and users¡¦ power and give users more power to dominate the resource of KMS under managers¡¦ appropriate control. Besides, managers have to reveal their support by practical actions for convincing users to participate in the system implementation and then try to form a culture which is suited to the KMS implementation to sanction their behavior. Therefore, the key success factor of implementing KMS has relations with whether managers can form a culture which is suited to the KMS implementation. Companies should establish proper rules to have managers and users contribute or share knowledge during the routine work and form a culture which is suited to the KMS implementation to sanction their behavior.

<p>Människan ställs dagligen inför en mängd beslut. Att fatta beslut i dynamiska eller naturliga miljöer ställer höga krav på människan. Det är ofta mycket som står på spel, problemen är dåligt strukturerade, miljön är föränderlig och besluten måste fattas under tidspress. När flera personer ska beslut tillsammans kan beslutsfattandet organiseras på olika sätt t.ex. genom en demokratisk eller en hierarkisk organisationsstruktur. Denna rapport undersöker hurivida en hierarkisk organisationsstruktur är bättre lämpad än en demokratisk, för såväl experter som noviser, vid distribuerat beslutsfattande i en dynamisk militär domän. En experimentell studie genomfördes med studenter och officerare i en mikrovärld som skapats utifrån ett kommersiellt krigsstrategispel. I grupper om fyra personer skulle försöksdeltagarna utföra två militära uppdrag. Resultatet visar att studenterna eliminerade signifikant fler fiender än officerarna. Inga andra signifikanta skillnader erhölls. Resultatet kan ha påverkats av ett antal faktorer, studenterna hade t.ex. större vana av datorer, PC-spel och strategispel än officerarna.</p>

Der Vortrag stellt die Public Domain Software ¨samba¨ vor. Samba ist eine Implementation des SMB-Protokolls und wird benutzt, um Ressourcen eines UNIX-Systems, wie Filesystem-Kapazitaet und Drucker-Warteschlangen einem PC unter MS-DOS oder Windows verfuegbar zu machen. Es wird insbesondere auf die Verwendung von Samba im URZ der TU Chemnitz-Zwickau eingegangen, wo mittels Samba der Zugang zu AFS-HOME-Verzeichnissen aller Nutzer und weiteren Ressourcen ausgehend von jedem PC im Campusnetz ermoeglicht wird.