The purpose of the study was to explore researcher experiences of community engagement as part of a long-term higher education community engagement (HECE) partnership with rural schools. The theoretical framework that guided the study was grounded in the construct global citizenship. The instrumental case design followed the qualitative approach from a constructivist epistemology. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection with purposively sampled researchers (n=16), comprising male (n=3) and female (n=13) researchers, including local (n=14) and international (n=2) researchers, who completed their research in the conveniently sampled HECE project. Following thematic analysis, two main themes emerged, namely: researcher perspectives on capacity development in higher education community engagement, and researcher perspectives on higher education community engagement as a core function of higher education institutions. Findings indicated, from researchers’ perspectives, that HECE benefits from collaborative partnerships, and that researchers have opportunities for personal and professional development. Researchers felt that such capacity development was necessary to ensure project sustainability. According to researchers, HECE project challenges or barriers need to be addressed to ensure project sustainability. Higher education requires a community engagement policy that guides the establishment of platforms for knowledge generation, human capacity development and collaborative partnerships in order that the core functions of higher education institutions could be performed. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

Foreign companies were the main drivers of economic development in the Czech Republic in last two decades. Today the Czech market is already saturated with large number of foreign investment and future development of the Czech economy depends on a shift towards a knowledge-based economic development. Thesis attempts to evaluate different position of domestic and foreign companies from the Pardubice Region in global production networks. This position will have different influence on focus of companies on research, development and knowledge-based activities. The work is based on 34 directed interviews with the directors of domestic and foreign companies from the Pardubice Region. First aim is to indicate different position of domestic and foreign firms in global production networks. Second aim is to find a different meaning of research and development activities for companies. Development activities are the main article of shift towards the production of knowledge-intensive products with higher added value. Last aim of thesis is to evaluate different intensity of collaboration of domestic and foreign companies on the research and development activities with other firms and institutions.

Abstract The transportation sector has a vital role in today’s society and accounts for 20 % of our global total energy consumption. It is also one of the most greenhouse gas emission intensive sectors as almost 95 % of its energy originates from petroleum-based fuels. Due to the possible harmful nature of greenhouse gases, there is a need for a transition to more sustainable transportation alternatives. A possible alternative to the conventional petroleum-based road transportation is, implementation of Electric Road Systems (ERS) in combination with electric vehicles (Evs). There are currently three proven ERS technologies, namely, conductive power transfer through overhead lines, conductive power transfer from rails in the road and inductive power transfer through the road. The wireless charging or inductive charging electric vehicles (EV) are a type of EVs with a battery which is charged from a charging infrastructure and using the wireless power transfer technology. The wireless charging EVs are classified as stationary or dynamic charging EVs. The stationary charging EVs charge wirelessly when they are parked as well as dynamic charging EVs can charge while they are in motion. Number of studies have reported that, one of the main benefits of dynamic charging is, it allows smaller as well as lighter batteries to be used due to the frequent charging using in the charging infrastructure embedded under roads. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the recent developments of technologies in wireless charging system globally and find out the best effective method which can use for fuelling all Electric vehicles. The findings show that not all countries are viable for ERS from an economic standpoint, however, a large number of countries in the world do have good prospects for ERS implementation. Findings further indicated that small and developed countries are best suited for ERS implementation. From a technological and Business perspective, the wireless charging system in road was found to be the most attractive ERS technology followed by overhead conductive road ERS technologies.

Introduction: This study was conducted at Volvo Cars’ R&D division to investigate how test facilities and workshops can implement an agile way of working. Three departments with different levels of agile implementation were therefore investigated to fulfill our purpose. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to highlight key factors with the implementation of agile working methods at Volvo Cars' R&D department, as well as evaluate the possible advantages and disadvantages of agile, lean, and traditional working methods in test facilities and workshops. The long-term purpose was to support future development and integration of new ways of working in the car manufacturing industry, together with other industries in similar situations. Method: To enable this study and achieve a result related to the study's question, the study was conducted with a qualitative method. Information was collected through literature studies and qualitative interviews at Volvo Cars and with Carl Starendal. Additionally, a benchmark was conducted at an external company. Where the literature studies formed the basis for the study's theoretical framework and the interviews were conducted with the aim of creating a deeper analysis of the issues. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework presents the three different working methods that are recurring throughout the study, corporate culture and how this can affect the implementation of new working methods, and Kotter's (1995) theory of change management. In addition, it accounts for the development of hardware versus software. Results: The study showed that there were factors that affect the outcome of the implementation, initially the company culture was a major factor that influenced the implementation of the three departments involved at Volvo Cars. As the culture showed to be deeply rooted in the working routines, a strong guiding coalition was therefore required to drive through the change. Furthermore, it turned out that support and training was required for employees to feel involved to enable a high motivation for the agile implementation. Communication between departments and stakeholders were complex as not everyone worked agile or embraced it enough. Finally, the study examines strengths and weaknesses of the different ways of working. / Inledning: Denna studie har genomförts på Volvo Cars division för Research and Development för att studera hur man kan implementera agila arbetssätt inom testmiljöer och verkstäder. Tre olika avdelningar med olika grad av agil implementering har därför studerats. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att belysa nyckelfaktorer för implementering av agilt arbetssätt hos Volvo Cars R&D-avdelning, samt utvärdera eventuella fördelar och nackdelar med agilt, leant och traditionellt arbetssätt inom testverksamhet och verkstad. Det långsiktiga syftet är att stödja framtida utveckling och integration av nya arbetssätt inom biltillverkningsindustrin, tillsammans med andra industrier i liknande situationer. Metod: För att möjliggöra denna studie och uppnå ett resultat relaterat till studiens frågeställning genomfördes studien med en kvalitativ metod. Information samlades in genom litteraturstudier, kvalitativa intervjuer på Volvo Cars och Carl Starendal, samt benchmark på externt företag. Där litteraturstudierna utgjorde grunden för studiens teoretiska ramverk och intervjuerna genomfördes i syfte att skapa en djupare analys av frågeställningarna. Teoretiskt Ramverk: Det teoretiska ramverket presenterar de tre olika arbetssätten som är återkommande genom studien, företagskultur och hur denna kan påverka en implementering av nya arbetssätt behandlas, samt Kotters (1995) teori om förändringsledning. Dessutom redogörs det för utveckling av hårdvara kontra mjukvara. Resultat: Studien visar att det finns faktorer som påverkar utfallet av implementeringen, inledningsvis var företagskulturen en stor faktor som påverkat implementeringen hos de tre berörda avdelningarna på Volvo Cars. Då kulturen visade sig varit djupt rotade i rutiner och arbetssätt, krävdes därför ett starkt vägledande ledarskap som drev igenom förändringen. Vidare visar det sig att stöttning och utbildning krävdes för att medarbetare skulle känna sig delaktiga. Samt för att bilda motivation för den agila implementeringen. Studien behandlar även kommunikationen mellan team och intressenter, så som provbeställare och leverantörer. Då den beskrevs som komplex eftersom alla parter inte hade nått samma nivå av agil implementering. Slutligen behandlar studien för och nackdelar med de olika arbetssätten.

Defence research and development is an important public policy phenomenon, which represents a relevant part of security policy and interferes with many other areas when considered in a wider perspective. My diploma thesis presents an analysis of the Czech policy of defence research and development and an international comparison with the Netherlands and Slovakia. Governmental policy in this area is relatively pro-active as regards its declared settings. On the other hand, its actual practise reveals many problematic areas. Ministry of Defence's expenditure on defence research and development has been falling since 1999 and recently finds itself well below the limit guaranteed by the law. Insufficient utilisation of foreign financial support might be considered negatively as well. The analysis that I carried out in my thesis identified fundamental shortcomings of the Czech system, the functioning of which is far from being optimal. The deficiencies have mostly a systemic manner and can not be solved by partial changes. Due to this reason I propose an alternative set up of the Czech policy of defence research and development, based on a shift to the agency model inspired by the Dutch experience.

Market value of firms and book value of firms are rarely the same. The difference, which is attributed to unrecorded or unrecognized intangible assets, has increased significantly since the 1970s. The issue of appropriately valuing these intangible assets, however, still remains unresolved. The purpose of this study is to address this lack of understanding of valuing intangible assets in the hospitality industry. Five intangible asset investments: Research and Development, Training, Advertising, Labor, Pension, and one business model, Franchising, are chosen as the valuation constructs in this study based on previous research in the hospitality industry. The valuation models for the casual dining restaurant industry and the quick service restaurant industry are compared. The sample of this study includes 13 casual dining restaurant firms and 12 quick service restaurant firms. Compustat North America is the primary data source for this study. The annual data for casual dining restaurant firms from 1980 to 2011 is collected from this database. There are 238 firm-years in total. Two firm-years are excluded due to systematic missing values, and 15 firm-years are excluded due to missing share price information. Thus, the final count of data points for casual dining restaurant firms usable for analysis purposes is 221. The annual data for quick service restaurant firms from 1980 to 2011 is also collected from the Compustat North America database. There are 251 firm-years in total. Eight firm-years are excluded due to systematic missing values, and 47 firm-years are excluded due to missing share price information. Thus, the final count of data points for quick service restaurant firms usable for analysis purposes is 196. Pearson correlation and multivariate analyses are performed to answer the four research questions in this study. Two hypotheses are supported while one hypothesis is not supported and one hypothesis remains unanswered due to Multicollinearity issues identified in multiple regression models. The results of this study show that 1) R&D, training, advertising, labor and pension are all important valuation constructs in the hospitality industry, and 2) there are some differences, however, between casual dining restaurant firms and quick service restaurant firms. This study fills the gap in the current literature by providing a quantitative method to value intangible assets in the hospitality industry that uses the valuation constructs identified in previous hospitality research. The practical implications of this study will provide managers in the hospitality industry with helpful insights for strategic decision making, specifically in regards to research and development, advertising and employee compensation. / Ph. D.

This article examines predictors of the future market value of microcap pharmaceutical companies. This is problematic since the large majority of these firms seldom report positive net income. Their value comes from the potential of a liquidity event such as occurs when a key drug is approved by the FDA. The typical scenario is one in which the company is either acquired by a larger pharmaceutical firm or enters into a joint venture with another pharmaceutical firm. Binary logistic regression is used to determine the impact of the firm's drug treatment pipeline and its investment in research and development on the firm's market cap. Using annual financial data from 2007 through 2010, this study finds that the status of the firm's drug treatment pipeline and its research and development expenses are significant predictors of the firm's future stock value relative to other microcap pharmaceutical firms.

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京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地球環境学) / 甲第20539号 / 地環博第160号 / 新制||地環||32(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院地球環境学舎地球環境学専攻 / (主査)教授 宇佐美 誠, 教授 佐野 亘, 准教授 吉野 章, 准教授 平田 彩子 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Global Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

The attitude towards sustainability has vastly changed in the last few years.The European Green Deal(EGD) is a European law package that addresses the climate crisis and aims to transform businesseswithin the European Union towards more sustainable models. The automobile industry especially is atarget of transformation with the decarbonization efforts mandated by the Green Deal. As such, onewould expect a drastic change of how business is done around the time the Green Deal was passedand the years following it. This thesis has analyzed the annual reports of four large automobile firmsusing qualitative coding within the European Union from 2018 to 2022 in order to evaluate how thelaw package has influenced electrification research. This thesis used theoretical concepts such asinstitutional theory, theories about uncertainty and theories about innovation to analyze the results.Results indicated that while the Green Deal’s ambitions and targets are being set into motion, firmsmight not consider it as their guiding hand while moving towards sustainability. While theirconfidence levels in the EGD vary, there is plenty of opportunity for the EU to increase innovation atthis critical point in time through partnerships and infrastructural support.