Abstract This study is probing into the lasting competitive strategy of innovative IC design company. The greatest difference between innovative IC design company and imitating type IC design company is : The innovative IC design company creates profits with the means of innovating, compete in the new market with new thinking and with new products, take a broad view of the future. But the imitating type IC design company keep the profits of the currently product market by means of imitating, attempt to improve efficiency or price competition. The leading rival's advantage must be sustainable, and that the competitor can not make the same advantage by imitating in the near future. Therefore, how to set up lasting competition advantage by way of innovating (Sustainable Competitive Advantage, SCA), is the theme of this study. The company face the IC design industry which change with each passing day while beginning to pursue the lasting competition advantage. Whom want to take the lead , they have to know : How to make products positioning? When is the opportune moment to learn which kind of enterprise's ability? When is the opportune moment to get ready of enterprise resources? How to produce the biggest enterprise value by the least recource? IC design company, even have super strong research and development groups , the specification of the products is in the leading industry , but only depend on cutting down the cost and pursue profits or organization reform, it is unable to set up great enterprises; A century remarkable enterprises can often defend tenaciously of key value and can be long lasting . Facing changing fast IC design industry, which industry should be focus on? Consumer IC , LCD driver IC , network application IC or niche memory? Which way should involve? Is package , testing or end customers of systematic products? A Hedgehog insist on the doing simple things well, often surpassed a multi-purpose clever fox; Even in the times of science and technology with rapid change, follow the steps of scramble , walk and then run is still an effective way of a enterprise management strategy. This study refer to Michael E. Porter ¡¥s book (Competitive Strategy) , competitive strategy and key theme industry's analysis , rival's analysis and strategy positioning. To provide the analysis of the growth and decline of five major factor in general environment and industry's environment , competitor's analysis, competitive strategy positioning, and then make the best of the advantage and choose the excellent position. In studying through wheel of competitive strategy , IC company¡¦s main aspect clear showing, and analyse through the latest industry's information , show out the subject matter and choose in each main aspect of each competitive strategy, and then match out the best innovative competitive strategy in each aspect.

The use of best management practices has become common in recent years, leading to the need for hydrologic models to predict their behavior and effectiveness. A vegetated filter strip at Mississippi State University was used to test two models: the Hydrologic Simulation Program-FORTRAN Best Management Practices Editor (HSPF BMPrac) and the System for Urban Stormwater Treatment and Analysis Integration (SUSTAIN). Water samples were taken during the Spring of 2011 and tested for sediments and nutrients; HSPF was used for computing flows, sediments, and nutrients. The filter strip was not effective at pollutant removal with removal efficiency rates of 68.1, 91.7, 86.3, and 115.4 percent for total suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and dissolved phosphorus (DP) respectively. Calibration of HSPF was successful for TSS with a R2 value of 0.52; nutrients were not as successful with R2 values of 0.11 and 0.43 for TN and TP.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a person-centred and collaborative form of guiding individuals to elicit and strengthen their motivation for change. It has achieved success in the treatment of substance disorders, and has shown promise in several other areas of interest, such as behaviour management in chronic illness. The process through which MI exerts its influence on outcome however, is still in its infancy. This research set out to explore the nature of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes patients‟ utterances in Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) sessions (Change Talk), and the associations between their Change Talk and diabetes outcome (clinically significant change in blood glucose levels). Data for this study was taken from a multiple baseline designed study in a diabetes clinic in Christchurch (Britt, 2008). Nine patients who were referred to the clinic for help with their diabetes self-management were administered MET by Diabetes Nurse Educators (DNEs) which comprised four sessions over a six week period. In the current study participants were divided into those who did (BG Change participants; n = 4) or those who did not (BG No Change participants; n = 5) achieve a clinically significant change in their blood glucose levels (HbA1c) post intervention. All client utterances from the 36 transcripts were coded with the Motivational Interviewing Skills Code, version 2.0 (MISC, 2.0), and data analysed accordingly. This is a unique study in that it investigated both the mean frequency and strength of Change Talk in the different participant sets, as well as their patterns of Change Talk within and across sessions. Trends and directions in data suggest support for parts of the theory of the inner workings of MI. In particular, the BG Change participants uttered stronger Desire Language, a higher frequency of Commitment language, and weaker Ability language than the BG No Change participants. In addition, a general increasing pattern of strength across and within sessions, and frequency across sessions was found for the BG Change participants, while a similar pattern was found for the BG No Change participants regarding strength, but not frequency. The role of Sustain Talk strength and its relationship to the findings is highlighted. Implications of findings, as well as limitations of the current research and suggestions for future areas of research are discussed.

The globalized world is acknowledged by increased competition, and since competition today is between supply chains there is an importance of controlling the supply chain. The globalization is one of the reasons for the increasing need for organizational change, and the process of implementing strategic change is affected by skills for effective leadership; conceptual, interpersonal and technical skills. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the middle manager’s skillset and how it differs through the phases of organizational change in supply chain. By focusing on middle managers, we put emphasis on the individuals involved in putting the plan for organizational change into practice. A model is developed to explain the utilization of skills in the phases of transition. For this study we used a qualitative research method with a single case study design, by interviewing seven middle managers in an international organization. The empirical data were based on semistructured interviews with respondents in middle managerial positions in supply chain. An abductive approach was applied through the process of writing the thesis. Environmental factors as a reason for organizational changes in supply chain were initially described in the theoretical framework. Change and the phases in change processes as well as the middle manager's role in the change process were further explained. Required skills for effective leadership when presenting, implementing and embedding organizational change initiatives were further described. This thesis shows that a middle manager who faces an organizational change in supply chain are required to focus on specific skills at different points of time, when operating in the different phases of transition.

Our interest in this thesis is based on the discussion we had in previous courses about the development of emerging countries. Since two of the writers of this thesis are from Poland we tried to found a common interest, hence the relationship between the Polish subcontractors and Swedish customer is analyzed. Poland is also known as a low cost country and that make it favorable when it comes about hiring subcontractors. The subcontractors in Poland are also known for the skills and expertise to produce quality. Something that is important for many foreign companies. IKEA has more than 40 subcontractors in Poland; the reason is just the factors mentioned above, to be able to produce good quality to low cost. (www.ikea.com) Earlier research indicate that Poland is developing rapidly compare to other emergent countries in Eastern Europe. There have been and will be changes in the environment that most likely will affect the competitive advantage that the subcontractors are the leader in. In other words these changes might lead to that Poland loses its customers which choose other markets that still are able produce at lower costs. The main problem for the thesis is to investigate how can polish subcontractors cope with environmental changes to sustain competitive advantage? In order to answer this, we used a qualitative approach where the characteristics of a case study are conducted. We collected and analyzed data in an abductive way. The interviews with the three Polish subcontractors were made in a semi structure form via telephone. To be able to solve the above problem an environmental analysis of Poland was done, in order to found those factors that are mentioned as worries and are likely to change in the future. The changes are presented from subcontractors’ perspective and recommendation how to cope with them is given.

<p>Our interest in this thesis is based on the discussion we had in previous courses about the development of emerging countries. Since two of the writers of this thesis are from Poland we tried to found a common interest, hence the relationship between the Polish subcontractors and Swedish customer is analyzed.</p><p>Poland is also known as a low cost country and that make it favorable when it comes about hiring subcontractors. The subcontractors in Poland are also known for the skills and expertise to produce quality. Something that is important for many foreign companies. IKEA has more than 40 subcontractors in Poland; the reason is just the factors mentioned above, to be able to produce good quality to low cost. (www.ikea.com)</p><p>Earlier research indicate that Poland is developing rapidly compare to other emergent countries in Eastern Europe. There have been and will be changes in the environment that most likely will affect the competitive advantage that the subcontractors are the leader in. In other words these changes might lead to that Poland loses its customers which choose other markets that still are able produce at lower costs.</p><p>The main problem for the thesis is to investigate how can polish subcontractors cope with environmental changes to sustain competitive advantage?</p><p>In order to answer this, we used a qualitative approach where the characteristics of a case study are conducted. We collected and analyzed data in an abductive way. The interviews with the three Polish subcontractors were made in a semi structure form via telephone. To be able to solve the above problem an environmental analysis of Poland was done, in order to found those factors that are mentioned as worries and are likely to change in the future. The changes are presented from subcontractors’ perspective and recommendation how to cope with them is given.</p>

Despite of all the research going on for the treatment of ocular diseases, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) remains one of the serious vision threatening disease worldwide. Choroidal neovascularization, a pathophysiological characteristic of wet AMD, is the growth of anomalous blood vessels in the eye choroidal layer. Neovascularization is a key factor in AMD and thus anti-angiogenic therapy is beneficial in reducing the development of new abnormal blood vessels to prevent progression of AMD. Axitinib, multi-receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is a small molecule that works by blocking vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR) and platelet derived growth factor receptors (PDGFR) responsible for developing neovascularization. Thus, goal of this study was to develop and characterise a sustained release formulation of Axitinib loaded poly (lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were characterized for particle size and zeta potential as well as using DSC, TEM and in vitro drug release profile. The cytotoxicity of the formulation was evaluated on human retinal pigmented epithelium ARPE19 cells by MTT assay. The cellular uptake, anti-migration assay, and VEGF expression levels were found out in vitro using cells. The optimized formulation was 131.33 ± 31.20 nm in size with -4.63± 0.76 mV zeta potential. Entrapment efficiency was found to be 87.9 ± 2.7%. The cytotoxicity of ARPE19 cells was less than 12% for nanoparticles suggesting the in vitro compatibility at 10 µM concentration of drug. Cellular uptake, anti-migration assay and VEGF expression levels for the nanoparticles had greater uptake, had significant anti-angiogenic potential and exhibited inhibition of VEGF activity. The results showed successful development of axitinib loaded PLGA nanoparticles as an alternative potential treatment option for AMD.

Since 2008, physician-led primary care practices have decreased as physician's encounter sustainability challenges because of government regulations and the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The problem is that some physician-led primary care practice leaders lack strategies to sustain a medical practice longer than 5 years. The purpose of this study was to explore strategies primary-care practice leaders use to sustain a practice longer than 5 years. This study followed a case study design, including a purposeful sampling of 3 physician-led primary care practice leaders in southern Indiana. Open-ended semistructured interviews were conducted and triangulated with company policies and procedures as well as government statistics. Coded data and themes were identified using the complex adaptive systems theory. Three sustainability themes emerged: (1) patient engagement, (2) relationship development and retention, and (3) adaptation and innovation. The recommended action is for physician leaders to apply the strategies to develop their primary care medical practices. Results from the study may contribute a positive social change by presenting strategies to develop and sustain physician-led primary care practices, which could lead to an increase of primary care medical practices, resulting in more patients having access to primary care physicians.

The purpose of this study was to conduct perceptual analyses, using the initial two-second portions, of prolonged vowels /a/, /i/, and /o/. Two groups of adolescents and young adults were analyzed- one group consisting of 20 individuals with Friedreich's ataxia who were compared to 20 individuals with normal voice (control participants). A trained group of 10 graduate students listened to 132 vowel samples (3 vowels X 40 participants, + 12 samples (10%) for reliability purposes) for a total of 132 perceptual judgments. The students listened to the samples which were randomized onto Dell computers (Optiplex 755) and played through headphones that were set at a comfortable level by the listeners prior to analyzing the voice samples. Listeners used a modified version of the Consensus-Auditory Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-VM) to rate the vocal qualities of 'roughness', 'breathiness', and 'strain' in the samples on a 100 millimeter visual analog scale with 0 representing a perception of no roughness, breathiness, or strain, and 100 indicating the most extreme amount of variance from normal voice quality. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine if perceptual measures were significantly different between the two groups. Values on these analyses were expected to be larger for individuals with Friedreich's ataxia than those with normal voice. Results revealed that all three measures were significantly different between the two groups, with those in the Friedreich's ataxia group reported as having increased rough, breathy, and strained components in their voice quality as compared to normal voiced peers. Findings support perceptual measures as useful indicators for reporting changes in the phonatory system due to Friedreich's ataxia.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地球環境学) / 甲第24065号 / 地環博第228号 / 新制||地環||43(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, 講師 BAARS ROGER CLOUD, 准教授 徳永 悠 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Global Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM