Research Purpose: This study aims to build a new model of quality for education based on a Saudi-British consensus regarding the major factors contributing to education quality and after considering other models (such as EFQM) and other authors’ perspectives. Research Methodology: The research relies on realism philosophy and as a multiple case study with 15 cases, it utilises a mainly qualitative research design that employs semi-structured interview as its research instruments. This study has adopted an ‘Inductive’ approach to build a new model. Primary data in this study was collected by interviewing 33 Saudi and 30 British academics and higher education authorities from six Saudi and nine British universities. Content Analysis was used for analysis. Research Findings: While the degree of agreement with each of the 11 propositions was varied (a range from totally agree to totally disagree), all of the Saudi and British participants believe that eleven pillars/criteria of quality education are: Leadership and Strategic Management; Students, Academics and Staff Recruitment; Syllabus/ Curriculum; Research/Teaching; Pedagogy; Learning & research support; Knowledge management; Academics’ achievements; Students’ progress, success & satisfaction; Universities/Schools’ achievements; and Innovation and Change Management. Recommendations: Decision makers in education sector are recommended to consider all eleven identified factors and their connection to each other while developing policies for quality of education. Universities and other educational institutes should plan and allocate required budgets for implementation and maintenance of all aspects of quality in education. Research Contributions: The main contribution of this research is developing the 'Education Quality Model’. Although there has been some research regarding the quality of education, seemingly they have not led to the development of a research-based customised model such as the Education Quality Model. Another contribution is preparing a new and broad ‘Taxonomy of Quality’. In previous taxonomies, either the only focus is on education or in contrast, education is missing in these taxonomies. Furthermore, possibly for the first time, perspectives of Saudi academics are presented alongside their British counterparts regarding quality of education.

Enterprises have to think about how to let their customers trade on their websites to gain profits. Therefore¡A good electronic service quality is even more important to the customers now¡A this research is trying to explore the standard of electronic service quality . According to what Zeithaml et al. (2002) proposed as ¡§e-SQ model¡A¡¨ we set up the "e-SQ model¡¨ of the website of Carnews.com.tw¡A and bring up five dimensions as ¡§efficiency and reliability¡A¡¨ ¡§fulfillment and compensation¡A¡¨ ¡§contact and responsiveness ¡A¡¨ ¡§privacy¡A¡¨ and ¡§system availability¡A¡¨ to prove the proposition that ¡§Information Gap¡A¡¨ and ¡§Fulfillment Gap¡¨ do exist during the process of e-service quality delivery¡A especially among the manager¡A and the online-user. Through the method of interview and e-questionnaire¡A we confirm these propositions successfully. The Carnews.com.tw can enhance service quality by improving the listed five dimensions. This study proposes certain suggestions from the dimensions of ¡§efficiency and reliability¡A¡¨ ¡§fulfillment and compensation¡A¡¨ ¡§contact and responsiveness¡A¡¨ and ¡§privacy¡A¡¨ in order to bridge the gap between the manager and online-user. Moreover¡A this thesis hopes to benefit the exercise and service quality of Carnews website and online-user¡¦s satisfaction. The performance of service and customer satisfaction is not significantly affected by ¡§expectation of service¡A¡¨ however¡A online-user¡¦s perceived ¡§performance of service¡¨ and ¡§gap between expectation and performance¡¨ has significant impact on customer satisfaction. Furthermore¡A the performance of service has greater power to interpret the variation of customer satisfaction. Finally¡A we hope to provide suggestions to the enterprises in this field or the ones that want to participate in to upgrade their electronic service quality and gain profits. Besides¡A from the perspective of management¡A this research also hopes that through the questionnaire¡A managers of the E-commerce can understand more about the way of the customers use to evaluate electronic service.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to explore the gap of service quality between pediatric therapist and family of children with disabilities. Service Quality Model and SERVQAL were used to evaluate and compare expectations and performance of service quality for pediatric therapist and family members. Based on the research results, pediatric therapist and rehabilitation department can adjust the service quality and responsiveness. Method: Pediatric therapists and family of children with disabilities from 7 hospitals or rehabilitation clinics in Kaohsiung area completed an adapted SERVQUAL questionnaire. A total of 60 SERVQUAL questionnaires from pediatric therapists and 228 questionnaires from family members were distributed. Fifty-four questionnaires from pediatric therapists and 209 questionnaires from family were returned (response rate is 90% and 91%, respectively). The collected data was analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, and one-way ANOVA by using SPSS Windows version 17.0. Result: (1) The dimension of assurance was ranked the most important in expectations and performance of service quality for pediatric therapists and family of children. (2)The major expectation gap between pediatric therapists and family of children is the dimension of Responsiveness, and then Empathy. (3)The major gap between expectations and performance of service quality for pediatric therapists is the dimension of Tangibles. (4)The factor influences expectation of service quality is sex of pediatric therapists and family of children, autism diagnosis, and the level of the disabilities handbook. The factor influences performance of service quality is sex of pediatric therapists, the level of hospitals where therapists work, autism diagnosis, and the level of the disabilities handbook . Conclusion: For family of children with disabilities, it is very important that pediatric therapists not only get professional knowledge but also with abundant working experience. About service quality, pediatric therapists shall maintain professional and reliable services. The study suggests the tangible quality can be improved such as facilities, assistive device, environment cleaning, and parking problem.

With the rise of Internet, ¡§Electronic Mailbox¡¨ becomes the most immediate communication channel between government and citizens beyond limit of time and distance. Apparently, Electronic Mailbox appears as one of the two-way interactive e-government services; moreover, it is commonly available on all country government web sites and offers two-way communication service channel. Citizens are able to express their opinions, doubts, and complaints regarding policies, laws, and regulations via such electronic approach, and can look forward to receiving prompt responses or results. On the other hand, through civic participation, government enables to gather public opinions and then, to transform them into knowledge resources to policy and strategy decision-making. Therefore, the service quality of Electronic Mailbox not only becomes the manifest index of e-government service, but also influences citizen¡¦s satisfaction with government services. According to what Zeithaml et al. (2002) proposed as ¡§e-SQ model,¡¨ we set up the "e-SQ model¡¨ of Kaohsiung City Mayer¡¦s Electronic Mailbox, and bring up six dimensions as ¡§efficiency,¡¨ ¡§reliability,¡¨ ¡§fulfillment,¡¨ ¡§privacy,¡¨ ¡§responsiveness,¡¨ and ¡§empathy¡¨ to prove the proposition that ¡§Information Gap,¡¨ ¡§Design Gap¡¨ and ¡§Fulfillment Gap¡¨ do exist during the process of e-service quality delivery, especially among the manager, designer and the citizen. Through the method of interview and e-questionnaire, we confirm these propositions. The result shows that among these expectations of services, citizens would like to emphasize on ¡§operation instructions¡¨ most, subsequently ¡§ease of use,¡¨ and then ¡§politeness of responsiveness and offering interactive service.¡¨ After experiencing the services of Electronic Mailbox, citizens satisfy with ¡§operation instructions and submitting on line¡¨ the most, but almost displease with ¡§the accuracy of commitment¡¨ and ¡§degree of solving the problem,¡¨ which means the government has to understand the needs and troubles of the citizens, and then figure out some practical way to solve their problems. At last, according to these factors, this thesis proposes certain suggestions from the viewpoints of ¡§system,¡¨ ¡§the government staff,¡¨ and ¡§the needs of citizens¡¨ in order to bridge the gap between the manager, designer, and citizen. Moreover, this thesis hopes to benefit the exercise and service quality of Electronic Mailbox and citizen¡¦s satisfaction.

Abstract The main purpose of this study is to develop a hydrodynamic and water quality model using the system dynamic software-STELLA for the tidal river simulations. The model consists of three modules: the hydrodynamic module simulates the water level variation and the dynamic flow conditions in tidal rivers; the transport module simulates the temporal and spatial variations of dissolved matters; and water quality module simulates the bio-chemical reaction processes and the fates of the water quality variables. Water quality module was established from the conceptions of WASP6 with some modifications. Eight state variables are included in the water quality module, i.e. chlorophyll-a, organic phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus, organic nitrogen, ammonia, nitrate, carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand, and dissolved oxygen. Most the hydrodynamic and water quality models, either imported or domestic developed, were coded in FORTRAN or other conventional programming languages. In this study, the system dynamics software STELLA has been used to construct the model. The study has overcome the difficulty of using STELLA to simulate space continuity and unsteady state condition of tidal river systems. By using STELLA, the environment model can easily be integrated with researches in social-economical studies. The theories and the developments of the model are described in the thesis, the calibration and verification processes of the model using observation data of the Tamshui River system are also describe in detail. The model can be used not only to simulate and to predict the tidal flow, salinity, temperature, and water quality conditions in the Tamshui River, but also be used to evaluate the effects of various water quality purification methods and strategies. Therefore, this model can also assist policymakers to make better decisions on the balancing the economic developments with environmental protections.

Air quality of the Kao-Ping airshed has been the worst of all airsheds which are divided into seven groups by districts in Taiwan. The percentage of annual bad air quality (Pollution Standard Index, PSI > 100) in the Kao-Ping airshed (6.65−13.56%) was twice than it in the Yun-Chia-Nan airshed (2.58−6.98%) during the past decade (1998−2007). Oil refineries, petrol/plastic industries, power plants, and iron/steel/metal plants are the major industries in the Kaohsiung metropolitan area. Due to intensive industrial and traffic activities, the Kao-Ping area has the poorest air quality in Taiwan − either increased ground-level concentrations of particulate matter (PM) or ozone (O3) associated with unfavorable meteorological conditions − particularly between late fall and mid-spring The temporal and spatial characterization of suspended particles in the Kao-Ping area was analyzed by using TAPM (air quality model) and CMB (receptor model) to understand the contributions of the major emission sources. Estimations using the TAPM model suggest that point-source emissions were the predominant contributors (about 49.1%) to PM10 concentrations at Hsiung-Kong industrial site in Kaohsiung City, followed by area sources (approximately 35.0%) and neighboring transport (7.8%). Because Ping-Tung City (urban) and Chao-Chou town (rural) are located downwind of Kaohsiung City when north or northeasterly winds prevail, the two sites also experience severe pollution events despite the lack of industrial sources; neighboring transport contributed roughly 39.1% to PM10 concentrations at Ping-Tung and 48.7% at Chao-Chou. Results of CMB (chemical mass balance) modeling show that the main contributors to PM2.5 mass are vehicle exhaust (gasoline vehicle emission: 43% and diesel vehicle emission: 17% at Hsiung-Kong; gasoline vehicle emission: 45% and diesel vehicle emission: 19% at Ping-Tung; gasoline vehicle emission: 12% and diesel vehicle emission: 29% at Chao-Chou). And the main contribution to PM2.5-10 mass is the paved road emission (Hsiung-Kong: 40%; Ping-Tung: 48%; Chao-Chou: 50%). It is recommended that air quality model is an appropriate tool to large area and receptor model is more suitable to specific point to identify emission sources by the results in this study.

The Hsuehshan tunnel, whose length is about 12.9 kilometers, is the longest tunnel in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Since the tunnel is used, it reduces the traveling time from Taipei to Ilan and brings the convenience of transportation; but the vehicles and pollution sources are added. Furthermore, the concentrations of pollutants are increased by accumulation in the long tunnel. This study estimates the effects of automobile tailpipe emissions in the Hsuehshan tunnel on the air quality of neighboring areas by using Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling System for Roads (ADMS-Roads). This work simulates carbon monoxide (CO), nitrous oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) at two sites (Pin-Ling and Tou-Cheng management centers) in northern Taiwan in winter of 2008. The average concentrations of CO, NOx and SO2 at Pin-Ling (Tou-Cheng) management centers respectively are 0.49 (0.55) ppm, 10.60 (14.83) ppb and 4.80 (7.47) ppb on non-holiday and 0.66 (0.64) ppm, 16.88 (15.12) ppb and 4.70 (4.20) ppb on holiday. It shows that the concentrations of pollutants on holiday are higher than on non-holiday by increasing vehicles. Simulated results show that effects of traffic exhaust in the tunnel on the air quality of neighboring areas are less. Estimations using the ADMS-Roads suggest that the emissions are not the predominant contributors at two sites. The effect is the highest with northern (northeastern) winds at the southern (northern) area of the Hsuehshan tunnel. Comparisons between simulations and measurements at both sites are satisfactory. Simulated values are generally in agreement with measured values, with a correlation coefficient of R = 0.37 ¡V 0.81, the index of agreement (IOA) = 0.58 ¡V 0.77, and the normalized mean square error (NMSE) = 0.03 ¡V 0.25. The ADMS-Roads will be applied to assess the environmental impact while the tunnel will be allowed more types of vehicles to drive in the future.

Accurate simulations of the global radiative impact of anthropogenic emissions must employ a tropospheric chemistry model that predicts realistic distributions of aerosols of all types. The need for a such a comprehensive yet computationally efficient tropospheric chemistry model is addressed in this research via systematic development of the various sub-models/mechanisms representing the gas-, aerosol-, and cloud-phase chemistries. The gas-phase model encompasses three tropospheric chemical regimes - background and urban, continental rural, and remote marine. The background and urban gas-phase mechanism is based on the paradigm of the Carbon Bond approach, modified for global-scale applications. The rural gas-phase chemistry includes highly condensed isoprene and a-pinene reactions. The isoprene photooxidation scheme is adapted for the present model from an available mechanism in the literature, while an a-pinene photooxidation mechanism, capable of predicting secondary organic aerosol formation, is developed for the first time from the available kinetic and product formation data. The remote marine gas- phase chemistry includes a highly condensed dimethylsulfide (DMS) photooxidation mechanism, based on a comprehensive scheme available in the literature. The proposed DMS mechanism can successfully explain the observed latitudinal variation in the ratios of methanesulfonic acid to non-sea-salt sulfate concentrations. A highly efficient dynamic aerosol growth model is developed for condensing inorganic gases. Algorithms are presented for calculating equilibrium surface concentrations over dry and wet multicomponent aerosols containing sulfate, nitrate, chloride, ammonium, and sodium. This alternative model is capable of predictions as accurate for completely dissolved aerosols, and more accurate for completely dry aerosols than some of the similar models available in the literature. For cloud processes, gas to liquid mass-transfer limitations to aqueous-phase reactions within cloud droplets are examined for all absorbing species by using the two-film model coupled with a comprehensive gas and aqueous-phase reaction mechanisms. Results indicate appreciable limitations only for the OH, HO₂, and NO₃ radicals. Subsequently, an accurate highly condensed aqueous-phase mechanism is derived for global-scale applications. / Ph. D.

Context: - Machine learning is a part of artificial intelligence, this area is now continuously growing day by day. Most internet related services such as Social media service, Email Spam, E-commerce sites, Search engines are now using machine learning. The Quality of machine learning output relies on the input data, so the input data is crucial for machine learning and good quality of input data can give a better outcome to the machine learning system. In order to achieve quality data, a data scientist can use a data quality model on data of machine learning. Data quality model can help data scientists to monitor and control the input data of machine learning. But there is no considerable amount of research done on data quality attributes and data quality model for machine learning. Objectives: - The primary objectives of this paper are to find and understand the state-of-art and state-of-practice on data quality attributes for machine learning, and to develop a data quality model for machine learning in collaboration with data scientists. Methods: - This paper mainly consists of two studies: - 1) Conducted a literature review in the different database in order to identify literature on data quality attributes and data quality model for machine learning. 2) An in-depth interview study was conducted to allow a better understanding and verifying of data quality attributes that we identified from our literature review study, this process is carried out with the collaboration of data scientists from multiple locations. Totally of 15 interviews were performed and based on the results we proposed a data quality model based on these interviewees perspective. Result: - We identified 16 data quality attributes as important from our study which is based on the perspective of experienced data scientists who were interviewed in this study. With these selected data quality attributes, we proposed a data quality model with which quality of data for machine learning can be monitored and improved by data scientists, and effects of these data quality attributes on machine learning have also been stated. Conclusion: - This study signifies the importance of quality of data, for which we proposed a data quality model for machine learning based on the industrial experiences of a data scientist. This research gap is a benefit to all machine learning practitioners and data scientists who intended to identify quality data for machine learning. In order to prove that data quality attributes in the data quality model are important, a further experiment can be conducted, which is proposed in future work.

Embedded systems, including critical embedded systems (CES) are increasingly present in the modern society, providing specific solutions from small to large complex systems, such as in cars, airplanes, and healthcare equipment. Failures in these systems can result in damage to human beings, and to the environment, or can represent an unrecoverable financial loss. In this sense, it is very important to ensure they are built with quality. To provide such quality, it is necessary to consider their software architecture, which impacts on the quality of the systems. This way, the main objective of this Masters project is to propose a quality model concerning the most important quality attributes for CES, which may be used to support (but not limited to) architectural activities such as analysis and evaluation in the context of CES. / Sistemas embarcados, incluindo sistemas embarcados críticos (SEC), estão cada vez mais presentes na sociedade moderna, provendo soluções específicas que variam de sistemas pequenos até sistemas grandes e complexos, como é possível encontrar em carros, aviões e equipamentos médicos. Falhas nesses sistemas podem resultar em danos à seres humanos e ao meio ambiente, ou então em uma perda financeira irrecuperável. Sendo assim, é muito importante garantir que os SEC sejam construídos e apresentem um nível adequado de qualidade. Para garantir que esses sistemas alcancem tal qualidade, é necessário considerar sua arquitetura de software, já que esta impacta de maneira significativa na qualidade do software enquanto artefato ou produto. Deste modo, o objetivo deste projeto de mestrado é de propor um modelo de qualidade que contém os atributos de qualidade mais importantes para SEC, servindo como artefato para apoiar a execução de atividades arquiteturais (além de outras que possam se beneficiar) tais como análise e avaliação, no contexto de SEC.