Asynchronous machines are considered nowadays the most commonly used electrical machines, which are mainly used as electrical induction motors. Starting the induction motor is the most important and dangerous step. The theory behind this project is based on representing the real motor by a set of equations and values in Matlab using the subsystem feature, forming a corresponding idealistic motor in a way where all the physical effects are similar. The motor is started under different loads in two methods: Direct and Soft starting. Each method is studied and discussed using supporting simulation of currents, torque, speed, efficiency and power factor curves.

This study investigates the starting characteristics of metal halide lamps. A laboratory electronic ballast was built to drive metal halide lamps with a programmable low-frequency square-wave current. The lamp current at each stage of the starting transient can be independently adjusted. Experiments were conducted on 150-W metal halide lamps. By examining the waveforms of transient voltage, current and power, the starting period can be classified into four stages, breakdown, glow discharging, glow-to-arc transition, and thermal equilibrium. In addition, the stable operation is defined by observing the variations of the lamp arc, lighting spectrum and luminous output. Based on the investigation results, four starting scenarios are presented and examined to learn the different acceleration schemes. Experimental evidence shows that the starting time of a metal halide lamp can be effectively shortened by increasing the lamp current during the start-up transition. More importantly, a specifically-regulated operating power enables the lamp to further enhance the luminance producing, and hence to greatly reduce the starting transient period.

In most New Zealand schools, transition to school programmes are introduced based on adult perceptions aimed at avoiding negative experiences and assisting children in a successful transition to school, yet they run the risk of ‘over managing’ a child’s experience. This research considers how young children perceive the up and coming ‘rite of passage’ of ‘starting school’. Through placing an emphasis on ‘children’s voice’, it explores their expectations, feelings and understandings of school before and after starting. The study follows six children (two boys and four girls, aged from 4 years eight months to 4 years ten months at the start of the study) for approximately two school terms on their journey from an Early Childhood Centre to a primary school. A range of ‘child friendly’ methods were used to gather their understandings. Children’s ‘school comments’ were recorded by their mothers during their transition. Interviews were conducted with three teachers regarding their philosophies and practices of starting school. The findings identified three main themes in children’s initial knowledge about school. The children sourced further knowledge by asking their parents about any concerns or queries as they arose. They also expressed a need to prepare themselves for school. The children gained further understanding of school throughout their transition but did not truly grasp the concept of what school was about until they became ‘school kids’ themselves. The implications of these findings are discussed for transition to school practices.

Chez les bactéries, la régulation de l’expression génétique est fondamentale pour permettre une adaptation optimale à l’environnement. De nombreux contrôles existent, notamment au niveau post-transcriptionnel par de nombreux ARN régulateurs (sRNA pour « small RNAs »). Ceux-ci ciblent des ARN messager (ARNm), permettant une régulation rapide de la synthèse de protéines. Le plus souvent, ces sRNAs interagissent avec leur(s) cible(s) au niveau du site de fixation du ribosome (RBS pour « ribosome binding site »), entrant dès lors en compétition avec le ribosome pour la fixation à l’ARNm et entraînant une régulation négative de l’expression des gènes cibles. Pour autant, il existe de nombreux mécanismes alternatifs de régulation par les sRNA. Nous avons ainsi pu démontrer que les deux sRNAs OmrA et OmrB, conservés au sein des entérobactéries, répriment la synthèse du récepteur FepA aux complexes fer-entérobactine en ciblant une structure de l’ARNm fepA. Cette structure en tige-boucle est située en aval du RBS de fepA, et de façon surprenante, elle contrôle positivement la synthèse de FepA via une activation de la fixation de la sous-unité 30S du ribosome à l’ARNm. Des structures similaires ont pu être prédites dans d’autres ARNm, à l’image de bamA, codant la sous-unité essentielle du complexe Bam d’adressage des protéines de membrane externe en tonneaux β. Comme pour fepA, la tige-boucle de l'ARNm bamA favorise la fixation du ribosome, suggérant que ce mécanisme de régulation pourrait être bien plus général du fait de la grande conservation de bamA au sein des bactéries à Gram négatif. De surcroît, ces résultats constituent la première illustration que les structures d'ARNm peuvent avoir un effet positif sur la traduction. Par ailleurs, deux autres sRNAs répriment également et indépendamment l’expression de fepA, à savoir SdsR et RseX. A chaque fois, le mécanisme de régulation impliqué est différent. Ainsi, SdsR s’apparie vraisemblablement à deux régions différentes de l’ARNm fepA, impliquant notamment une compétition classique avec la fixation du ribosome. La répression par RseX nécessite quant à elle la présence d’autres séquences du 5’UTR de fepA, à plus d’une centaine de nucléotides (nts) en amont du RBS. Enfin, chacun de ces sRNAs semble répondre à des stimuli différents, ce qui enrichit considérablement notre connaissance des signaux contribuant à la régulation de fepA, dont jusqu’ici seule la carence en fer était connue comme un signal de dérépression par le facteur de transcription Fur. Ce travail est une nouvelle illustration de l’immense diversité des mécanismes de régulation impliquant des ARN, dont la grande flexibilité de structure et de séquence constitue une importante source de diversité à la disposition de l’évolution / In order to perfectly adapt to their environment, bacteria require a tight gene expression regulation. This can occur through post-transcriptional control by numerous regulatory RNAs (or small RNAs, sRNAs). These sRNAs can target mRNAs, leading to a fast regulation of protein synthesis. Most often, sRNAs base-pair with their target mRNAs at the ribosome binding site (RBS), therefore competing with the ribosome for the binding with the mRNA and repressing gene expression. However, many other regulatory mechanisms involve sRNAs. We have demonstrated that the two sRNAs OmrA and OmrB, conserved among enterobacteria, repress the synthesis of the FepA receptor for iron-enterobactin complexes through base-pairing with a secondary structure within fepA mRNA. This stem-loop structure is located downstream of fepA RBS, and most surprisingly, promotes 30S ribosomal subunit binding to fepA mRNA, therefore activating FepA synthesis. Similar stem-loop structures have been predicted in other mRNAs, such as the bamA mRNA encoding the essential subunit of the Bam outer membrane protein assembly complex. As for fepA mRNA, the stem-loop found in bamA mRNA also promotes ribosome binding, showing that this regulatory mechanism could be widespread considering the strong conservation of bamA among Gram negative bacteria. Moreover, these results challenge the commonly admitted view of mRNA secondary structures being repressors of gene expression. Two other sRNAs also repress fepA expression in an OmrA/B-independent fashion, namely SdsR and RseX. For each of these sRNAs, the regulatory mechanism involved is different. Indeed, SdsR most likely acts through two distinct binding sites, one of which leading to a classical competition with the ribosome binding. Meanwhile, RseX repression requires most of fepA 5’UTR, including sequences at about 100nt upstream of the start codon. Finally, each of these sRNAs is expressed upon diverse stimuli, considerably extending our knowledge of the signals leading to fepA regulation, for which only the Fur-dependent derepression upon iron starvation was known. This work highlights the great versatility of regulatory mechanisms involving RNAs. This illustrates how RNAs structural flexibility and sequence diversity is a key source of diversity for evolution

In order to enhance the inherent potential of cooperatives to support society’s move towards global socio-ecological sustainability, they need to plan strategically. Strategic planning with this goal in mind requires organisations to describe and identify steps towards a desired future. The research team set out to provide practical and context-appropriate guidance to cooperatives, describing opportunities to use strategic planning in the starting-up phase in support of their long-term success. The team deployed a qualitative and iterative approach based on grounded theory and conducted a total of twenty-four interviews with cooperative practitioners and experts as well as strategic planning experts.  The outcome of the interviews are thematic areas recommended to cover in the starting-up phase of a cooperative. The thematic areas are presented in an ABCD Strategic Planning process which aims to build a shared mental model among all stakeholders, using a participatory approach. The process may be useful for newcomers to the cooperative world; future research in support of cooperatives may want to implement the above mentioned strategic planning process while capturing lessons for its improvement.

The impact of buoyancy on the development of starting flows in the near field was experimentally investigated using the Digital Particle Image Velocimetry and Planar Laser Induced Flourescence techniques. The experiments were conducted by releasing cylindri-cal columns of fluid into a glass water tank. Two diameters (0.95 and 1.9 cm) and four aspect ratios, ranging from 2 to 8, were examined. The fluid was released by bursting the thin latex membrane that held it in the tube. The buoyant fluid had a density difference of 4.7%. The flow was imaged at 60 Hz up to 7 diameters downstream. For the aspect ratio of 2, the flow developed into a single buoyant vortex ring (BVR), and was compared to a purely momentum driven vortex ring (MVR) generated with the same setup. For the aspect ratios of 4, 6, and 8, the flow was similar to a starting plume, with a vortical cap, followed by a columnar tail. The BVR's diameter grew linearly in space, with a full spreading angle of 18 degrees, while the MVR's diameter remained constant. The BVR started out as an axis touching ring, and transitioned to non-axis touching, opposite of the behavior of the MVR. The total circulation for the BVR was more than twice the amount predicted by the slug flow model, and the impulse grew linearly in time. The impulse of the MVR decayed slightly after the intial growth. The flows began to transition to thermal behavior at down-stream distance proportional to the cube root of the initial fluid volume. For all aspect ratios the impulse grew linearly in time. The growth rate was roportional to the initial buoyant force. The circulation generated by the addition of buoyancy was proportional to the square root of the initial buoyant force. Also the addition of buoyancy suppressed the separation of a starting vortex.

‘Corporate Venturing (CV)', which is broadly defined as an innovation practice by creating and nurturing internal CV teams or investing in external start-ups (Burgelman, 1983b; Dushnitsky and Lenox, 2005), has been adopted by large incumbent firms wishing to ensure their survival and business s growth in the future. Despite its promised benefits, CV activities are often terminated in the early stages. Nevertheless, some firms start their CV programs again, and these recurring patterns of CV activities contribute towards ‘CV cyclicality'. However, we have limited understandings of the phenomenon of CV cyclicality at the level of the firm. This thesis, therefore, aims to develop a better understanding of the cyclical nature of CV (i.e. CV cyclicality) in a way that helps managers manage CV activities—engaged scholarship (Van de Ven, 2007). To explore CV cyclicality at the firm level, this thesis adopted an in-depth case study approach. A large Korean ICT firm (pseudonym: Company Alpha), which is the exemplar of a large firm in Korea that repeated CV activities over time, was examined (from early 2013 to 2017) to find out how CV activities were developed, terminated, and then re-started during the period between 1990 and 2015. This approach enabled to find the importance of the term ‘direction' for the CV practitioners at Company Alpha and in the Korean context. Hence, this thesis also aims to usefully conceptualize ‘direction' itself to understand and explain Company Alpha's corporate venturing activities and how they repeat over time. This thesis suggests that the direction of corporate venturing (CV) can be usefully conceptualized as an internal consistency between the firm's structure (with actors residing in the structure) and its strategy. Drawing on research orchestration theory (Sirmon et al., 2007; 2011), a conceptual framework (the direction of CV) was developed by combining both the main managerial actors who conduct CV activities (the starting point) and the primary strategic objective that the CV program pursues and is designed to achieve (the end point). The thesis demonstrates that this new framing of direction helps us to better understand and explain Company Alpha's repeating CV cycles. From the examination of the twenty-six years history of CV (from 1990 to 2015) at the Korean ICT firm through the lens of the direction of CV, this thesis makes its main argument about the CV cyclicality at Company Alpha: rather than being terminated separately, a series of CV programs evolved over time for the purpose of combining resources in a new way; results of deliberate and experimental efforts then formed an evolutionary cycle of CV. The thesis also argues that what was terminated during the firm's repeated CV activities was, instead, a distinct evolutionary cycle of CV, which later re-initiated with the next CV cycle. This thesis makes substantial contributions to knowledge. Firstly, this thesis makes contributions to the CV literature by providing a detailed and empirical evidence-based explanation of CV cyclicality at a large Korean high-tech firm (repeated evolutionary CV cycles aimed at new resource combination), which goes beyond a relatively simple dichotomy between termination and evolution. Secondly, the thesis also contributes to the strategy and innovation management literature by suggesting a new framing of direction from an internal firm perspective. This helps us to understand organizational and strategic change in a new way that organizations can generate changes proactively by reconfiguring their internal elements, even without stimuli external to the firm. Thirdly, for practitioners, the findings from the thesis contribute by providing an empirical insight that can help managers manage their CV activities. Almost no organizational memory about their previous CV efforts remained within the firm, however, this thesis casts an empirical light by unfolding how a repeating pattern (the evolution of CV) occurred within the first (1997–2002) and the second CV cycle (2011–2015) of the firm. The case firm and other companies may benefit from having knowledge of a corporate history of CV cycles including failures.

Traditional quality control charts are designed to monitor and control a quality characteristic for processes with a stable in-control state in which enough data is available to estimate the process parameters prior to a production run. For many processes we desire the ability to monitor a quality characteristic that has an in-control state not stable such as a degradation or deterioration process that exhibits a linear trend as its in-control state. In addition, there are many times when sufficient sampling for in-control parameter estimation is not possible before the production run due to cost or collection time. We therefore desire a self-starting charting scheme that monitors both in-control and out of control linear trends. We present here the needed results so that a process with the in-control linear trend can be charted to detect slope and intercept shifts, when accurate information on in-control parameters is not available. We propose a Q chart scheme, a EWMA Q chart, and a EWMA Q chart with delay parameter d that utilizes results from statistical process control and linear regression. The developed control chart schemes are tested through simulation studies and applied to real data examples.

Svensk lönestatistik visar att manliga och kvinnliga ingenjörer har ojämnlika lönenivåer, till männens fördel. Tidigare studier har belyst att kvinnor har bristande tillit till sin förhandlingsförmåga och många studier har också visat att män har högre löneanspråk än kvinnor. Aktuell studie har ämnat identifiera faktorer som påverkar studenters förväntade löneanspråk för ingångslön. Resultaten här baseras på en enkätundersökning besvarad av 137 ingenjörsstudenter. Studiens resultat bekräftar tidigare studiers gällande mäns och kvinnors löneanspråk och förhandlingsförmåga, män anger högre värden för båda dessa variabler. Studien har kunnat synliggöra avgörande faktorer för studenters löneanspråk. Starkast prediktor för deltagarnas förväntade löneanspråk är variablerna kön, examensgrad och ålder. Könskillnader diskuteras för dessa resultat.

An Asian option is a path-dependent option whose payoff depends on the average of the underlying asset price over a certain time interval. It can be European or American. The time interval can be the entire interval of the option's life from the initiation to the expiration, or beginning from some time later than the initiation until the option's expiration. The average can be arithmetic or geometric. This paper derives a closed-form solution for the valuation of European Geometric average fixed strike Asian call option and a closed-form solution for the valuation of a forward-starting Asian call option with arithmetic average floating strike. The valuation formula is obtained by relying upon a slight linear approximation. And the valuation formula of Asian call option with arithmetic average floating strike we have derived is different from that of L. Bouaziz, E. Briys and M. Crouhy (1994). We believe that our argument here is correct, and theirs is wrong.