The progress of internet application never stopped. As an evolutionary result, Web2.0, of which made asynchronous mutual communication on web page become capable was a significant milestone in internet application. Web2.0 emphasized on the function of interaction, such as experience share, idea exchange, as well as topic discussion, and set the trend of community interaction. Numerous websites were set up with function of Web2.0 in order to following the trend. Therefore, a proposal competition of Web2.0 was held by Innovative DigiTech-Enabled Applications & Services Institute to encourage those who would like to make a business of Web2.0 application to propose their business plan. In the competition, participants were able to attend relevant courses, acquire much more technical knowledge, and amount of business information was provided. This research mainly aimed at participants of the proposal competition, and took Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a theoretical framework, though some modification had been made for research needs. The questionnaires were sent out and gathered through internet to measure the connection between perceived usefulness, perceived ease used, the attitude of Web2.0 of participants and their will of starting a business. The purposes of this paper attempted to discover¡G(1) was it appropriate to take TAM for explaining the adoption behaviors of Web2.0; furthermore, (2) to apprehend if the attitude, one of the variables in TAM, have been proved to have influences on adoption behaviors of adopters, did the attitude also cause influences on motivation of starting a business of competition participants. Finally, the results of this research could be reference for government to take into consideration while developing further related programs.

In the past years Väderstad Verken has been developing rapidly and expanding the sales of its machines in new markets, in particular in Eastern Europe. Due to the growing sales and some risks related to possible increases in the import duties on some agricultural equipment the company is considering the possibility of building a factory in the Eastern Europe to serve that market. For this reason the company was interested in a pre-study on the important factors for the factory start-up in Eastern Europe, in particular, Russia and Ukraine. Thus the scope of the thesis included the research and identification of the factors important particularly for Väderstad Verken as well as identifying some general steps necessary for the factory start-up. In order to identify and analyse location factors critical for Väderstad Verken, literature on location analysis was analysed in order to identify a list of possible factors as well as tools which could be used to evaluate them. Center of Gravity and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) have been selected to evaluate the performance of several regions on these factors to identify the suitable location of the factory. Expert Choice software was applied in order to simplify the comparison of various factors following the AHP steps. A specification for the potential factory has been defined given the desired production capacity and requirements. Two factory layouts have been suggested taking into consideration the possibility of the factory expansion. In some way this master thesis could be used as a guideline for the selection of suitable manufacturing location as well as factory start-up.

In this thesis, we plan to use a group-based semantic-expansion approach to design a new personalised system framework. Semantic web and group preference offer solution to the above problem. In this thesis, ontologies and semantic techniques are applied in different components of the framework. Information has been gathered from different resources and each of the resource might be using various types of identifiers for the same concept, therefore semantic web technologies are used to find out if the concept is the same or not. On the other hand, we create group preference in our personalization system. If the system fails to obtain personal preference from new user, group preference supports the system providing recommendation to the new user according to group classification.

The aim of the project was to develop a PCR method to detect HLA-B27 at the Immunology Department of St. James hospital in Dublin. The HLA-B27 gene is common among patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Ninety percent of patients with AS have the HLA-B27 gene and it is therefore counted as a risk factor and could be used as part of the diagnosis. Twenty-two frozen blood samples from patients with AS or suspected AS were donated from the rheumatology department at St. James hospital. PCR is a well known and common technique, many hospital laboratories have a PCR machine and therefore PCR is a good choice for detection of the HLA-B27 gene. A multiplex PCR was developed where a PCR control, primers to the β-globin gene, was used in the same tube as the HLA-B27 primers, to secure that the PCR worked in every tube. Finally a blind test was performed to test the specificity of the PCR. The result shows that the specificity was 100%. Of all patient samples, sixteen was HLA-B27 positive and six were HLA-B27 negative. In addition, optimal conditions for the PCR and the way to extract DNA from frozen blood were successfully established. For future diagnosis, the described PCR can be used to detect the HLA-B27 gene in patients and it can be considered as a start for further development of a real-time PCR for detection of the HLA-B27.

As a part of a large project at Norrmejerier, a biogas production plant has been constructed at Umeå Dairy. In this plant wastewater, residual milk and whey are decomposed and biogas is produced. The biogas is burned in a steam boiler. The biogas plant is designed as an anaerobic contact process, with sludge separation and recirculation by a clarifier. The fat in the substrate is treated in a separate reactor. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the design and start-up of this biogas production plant. Further, the interaction with the contractor responsible for construction and start-up is evaluated. The plant is generally well designed, the process conditions are suitable and the objectives are realistic. However, the seed sludge is unsuitable and the time plan is too optimistic. At the end of the period of this study, the plant was running and all central components are performing as intended. Still, the objectives have not been reached. This is mainly attributed to the poor quality of the seed sludge. The management of the plant and the interaction with the contractor has generally been good. Most problems that arose were of typical start-up nature. Others were due to insufficient planning or lack of communication. Further, several design flaws were identified during start-up. Washout of sludge has been one of the most significant drawbacks during start-up. This inconvenience seems to be the result of improper seed sludge and a too hasty increase of the organic loading rate. / Norrmejerier har som en del av ett större projekt låtit uppföra en anläggning för biogasproduktion vid Umeå mejeri. I anläggningen, som är utformad som en anaerob kontaktprocess, behandlas avloppsvattnen och andra organiska restprodukter från mejeriet tillsammans med vassle från både Umeå och Burträsk mejeri. Fettet i substratet avskiljs och behandlas separat. Den biogas som produceras vid nedbrytningen av det organiska materialet bränns i en brännare och ånga produceras. Syftet med den här studien är att utvärdera anläggningens design, valda processförhållanden och förfarandet under uppstarten av biogasanläggningen. Dessutom utvärderas interaktionen med den tyska entreprenör som är ansvarig för konstruktion och uppstart. Anläggningens utformning och valda processbetingelser är passande och de uppsatta målen är rimliga. Däremot är valet av ymp olämpligt och tidsplanen för uppstarten är för optimistisk. När denna studie avslutades var anläggningen i bruk och biogas producerades. Alla de mål för som formulerats hade dock inte uppnåtts. Ympens dåliga kvalitet är den mest bidragande orsaken till att uppstartsperioden har blivit förlängd. Arbetet under uppstarten och samarbetet med entreprenören har generellt sett varit lyckat. Man har dock stött på många komplikationer, varav de flesta har varit av typisk uppstartsnatur. Andra har varit resultatet av bristande planering och kommunikation. En rad konstruktions- och designfel har också identifierats under uppstarten. Slamflykt från reaktorerna har varit det mest betydande problemet hos den biologiska processen. Denna förlust av slam förmodas bero på olämpligt val av ymp och en alltför hastig ökning av den organiska belastningen i reaktorerna under uppstarten.

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been considered as one of the most promising energy conversion devices for the future in automotive applications. One of the major technical challenges for the commercialization of PEMFC is the effective start-up from subzero temperatures, often referred to as “cold start”. The major problem of PEMFC cold start is that the product water freezes when the temperature inside the PEMFC is lower than the freezing point. If the catalyst layer (CL) is fully occupied by ice before the cell temperature rises above the freezing point, the electrochemical reaction may stop due to the blockage of the reaction sites. However, only a few of the previous PEMFC studies paid attention to cold start. Hence, understanding the ice formation mechanisms and optimizing the design and operational strategies for PEMFC cold start are critically important. In this research, an experimental setup for the cold start testing with simultaneous measurement of current and temperature distributions is designed and built; a one-dimensional (1D) analytical model for quick estimate of purging durations before the cold start processes is formulated; and a comprehensive three-dimensional (3D) PEMFC cold start model is developed. The unique feature of the cold start experiment is the inclusion of the simultaneous measurement of current and temperature distributions. Since most of the previous numerical models are limited to either 1D or two-dimensional (2D) or 3D but only considering a section of the entire cell due to computational requirement, the measured distribution data are critically important to better understand the PEMFC cold start characteristics. With a full set of conservation equations, the 3D model comprehensively accounts for the various transport phenomena during the cold start processes. The unique feature of this model is the inclusion of: (i) the water freezing in the membrane electrolyte and its effects on the membrane conductivity; (ii) the non-equilibrium mass transfer between the water in the ionomer and the water (vapour, liquid and ice) in the pore region of the CL; and (iii) both the water freezing and melting in the CL and gas diffusion layer (GDL). This model therefore provides the fundamental framework for the future top-down multi-dimensional multiphase modelling of PEMFC. The experimental and numerical results elaborate the ice formation mechanisms and other important transport phenomena during the PEMFC cold start processes. The effects of the various cell designs, operating conditions and external heating methods on the cold start performance are studied. Independent tests are carried out to identify and optimize the important design and operational parameters.

This paper focuses on identifying factors influencing the financing decisions of growth-oriented start-ups. A sample of 8 business incubator start-ups has been studied within a qualitative research so as to reach that goal. Their fundraising choices are analyzed using supporting financial and psychological theories. Also, the thesis examines the start-ups’ interaction with a business incubator and investors.It is found that growth oriented start-ups use internal funds in the first instance, the lack of financial capital representing the main reason behind this decision. Moreover, it is clear that bank loans are not a viable alternative for start-ups mainly because of the collaterals required. However, debt financing, coming from more accessible sources, is used despite the higher costs, this if it helps in achieving growth. Lastly, equity capital is regarded positively by growth oriented start-ups although it dilutes the control. The reasoning is that control is traded-off with the skills and experience the external investors bring in once with their investments.

Music affects us humans. Marketing has long made use of music as a means to enable customers to identify with a brand, and thus increase sales. The Influence of music is obvious, but can you use this on students, and how effective is it to use in a classroom? I will answer the question: how does soft music provide reassurance/create a harmoniums learning environment at the beginning of a lesson? By observing how students react and behave to the playing of soft music. My aim is to create different strategies that teachers can effectively use to get students to “jump in” to their lessons without wasting 5-15 minutes of class time. Professor Lennart Grosin conducts research into what is in Sweden called PESKO. Education and social climate. It´s guidance for directors (Grosin 1998) he presents the importance of the teacher and the principal and how they have a consistent structure ofhow one should start and end a theory lessons. Even though the scientist Kivy written that it is not the music that provokes emotions, but the person listening to the music who provides feelings! I observe in a study of a class group, that students were stimulated by the music at the start of the lesson but that the majority did not reflect on the experience or recognise the impact of it afterwards.

Abstract This thesis, from the case-study point of view, demonstrates Hotai Motor¡¦s business reformation in its half-century history, including issues such as visions, business philosophy, values, missions, strategies and performance management. Hotai, the automobile company greeted its fiftieth anniversary in 1997, extends its business to a wide range, selling vehicles like Toyota¡BHINO¡BLexus¡Bconstruction motors and fire engines¡BMobil lubricants and vehicle maintenance services, and hiring 1,000 employees, or 10,000 if includes the upper- and down- stream businesses. After running the corporation for half a century, the management team was thinking of a new business value and reengineering for the upcoming decades. Hotai¡¦s ups and downs were bound tightly with government policies. Established in the 1940¡¦s, it has gone through the import control in 1950¡¦s, the CTOC import control policy in the late 1060¡¦s, the overall ban of Japanese vehicles in the 1970¡¦s, the Hwa-ton Motors investment in the 1980¡¦s, and finally took over Hwa-ton and transformed it to Kuozui Motors. Producing heavy vehicle at first, the company added home sedans to its product list in 1985, and has been going forward steadily ever since. This thesis will focus on how this company redefines itself to find the strength to re-start. Promoting the core value of service ¢w ¡§give more than expected¡¨, and strategies reaching multiple dimensions such as business models, products, services, recruiting, branching policy and hidden risks, ensures the strength to the business structure. Process reengineering was a popular issue and was introduces to major corporations in the 90¡¦s; unfortunately, 70% of them failed. Experts found that besides the neglect of the feasibility of business models and strategies, the major key of the failure was the deficiency of communication during reforming. In the Hotai case, communication has never stopped happening inside the whole organization, from top through bottom, from visions to strategies, which makes an excellent example for corporation reformation and change management. Keywords: Hotai Motor, Re-start, Transformation, Reengineering, Change Management.

In this study, the mixed lubrication of line contact is numerically calculated and analyzed. The surface asperities are in contact for mixed lubrication which differs from elastohydrodynamic lubrication. In this study, the Poiseuille term is neglected when the film thickness was smaller than the cut-off value about 0.5 nanometer, so that the surface asperities in contact or not contact can be solved in a system equation using the Newton-Raphson method. The mixed lubrication was studied in three parts, including the steady-state, the transient state and the start-up process. The effect of amplitude and wavelength on the film thickness and the pressure are investigated using the deterministic quantifiable method. The mixed lubrication zone in terms of rolling speed and load is established for the smooth surface under the steady-state conditions. For a single asperity on the surface, results show that the maximum pressure increases with increasing amplitude and decreasing wavelength. At high load situation, the film thickness is flattened around the asperity in the steady-state conditions, but it is increased due to the squeezing effect in transient state. For the start-up process, two surfaces are gradually separated due to the growth of film thickness, so that the contact area of two surfaces decreases linearly with time. However, the interval of contact time decreases with increasing roller speed and Young¡¦s modulus, but decreasing load.