Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 95-102).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-[299]) Also available in print.

This thesis presents the results of a programme of research into the development and evaluation of a strategically driven Production Facilities Management (PFM) framework. PFM is the activity of managing production facilities to fully realise the corporate strategic objectives of a manufacturing organisation. Companies with strategies tend to be more successful than companies without them. The concept of manufacturing strategy is an approach to enhance the consistency between the manufacturing function and the direction of the organisation. Consequentially, PFM is the means to ensure these strategic requirements can be fully realised from the facilities management viewpoint. Through the literature review, it was seen that there is a lack of a link between manufacturing strategy and the management of production facilities. From questionnaire surveys and interviews at companies in the manufacturing sector, it was found that the issue of linking facilities management with corporate strategy has been ignored. Therefore, this programme of research not only investigates the context and contents in formulating an appropriate manufacturing strategy in a manufacturing environment but also reviews the most popular methods in relation to maintenance management and performance assessment of the facilities. This programme describes the development of a strategically driven, step-by-step approach that helps a company to capture the strategic requirements of the manufacturing function, measure the performance of existing production facilities and supports the decision-making analysis tasks. The primary contribution of the work presented in this thesis was the development of an implementation framework and an associated implementation workbook which comprise a set of stages and implementation sections that a user can use to carry out the process of capturing the strategic requirements and realise them with support from an appropriate PFM framework and a systematic, step-by-step implementation process.

The question which animates this thesis is the extent to which study of extant leadership theory and research is relevant to the fostering of educational leadership. Because this question cannot be answered without an adequate account of leadership in education, the thesis develops a conception of educational leadership and assesses the relevance of the leadership literature in light of that conception. The foundations upon which this conception of educational leadership is built are as follows: (1) the ordinary language meaning of "leadership," (2) the ideals fundamental to a liberal, democratic society, and (3) our ideal of the educated person. Conceptual analysis of "leadership" reveals that it is used both descriptively (to denote positions) and normatively (to rate something positively). The normative use spans a continuum of standards from weak to strong. Weak-normative leadership is ascribed according to the extent to which a leader has been able to influence others to pursue a goal. Strong-normative leadership is ascribed according to the extent to which the leader's ends and means are worthwhile. It is argued that, in general, people who want educational administrators to exercise leadership want strong-normative leadership, i.e., they want administrators to envision worthwhile goals and to use morally appropriate means to influence their colleagues to pursue these goals. Thus, the sense of leadership upon which the conception of educational leadership is based is the strong-normative sense. The ideals taken to be fundamental to a liberal democracy are: (1) equal respect for persons, (2) use of intelligence in problem solving and promoting change, (3) cooperation and pooled experience in setting values and solving problems, and (4) respect for individual rights. The ideal of the educated person is characterized in terms of the acquisition of worthwhile knowledge through means which respect rational autonomy. A conception of educational leadership compatible with these ideals is explicated and defended. Rival conceptions of educational leadership are examined. It is argued that the conception of educational leadership developed here is preferable to its rivals in that it incorporates their strengths and avoids many of their weaknesses. Leadership theory and research are examined and shown to be generally incompatible with the conception of educational leadership explicated and defended in this thesis, and with the ordinary language concept of leadership. The thesis concludes that it is probably not appropriate to make such theory and research the central component of courses which aim to foster or improve the exercise of educational leadership; rather, study of works which attempt to clarify and justify educational goals and means would seem to be more promising. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

A new idea of education is upon us and if we are to achieve a civilization based upon justice and cooperation, realization of a greater personal freedom and the accomplishment of a fuller democracy, education must pave the way. Before this goal can be fully realized, fundamental changes and adjustments must be accomplished in our social and industrial life. A new education will be one of the most potent factors in the reshaping of our national character. This education must be one that will truly equip men and women with knowledge, inspiration, and power necessary to build new institutions, and mold progressive ideas. It must be free, bound by no worn out traditions, and limited by no fixed procedure; not a reparation for life, but life itself. The individual must be trained to make adjustments to his environment and exercise self-criticism along with the power to control and govern himself. In short, the new education must be a spiritual awakening, the discovery of truth and a training in the art of living and play. We are coming to have a new view of education. Much has been said of the spirit of democracy in education, which in reality is nothing more than individual efficiency and self-control. Sometimes, we are so concerned about the results of growth, that we neglect the process of growing. We are just beginning to appreciate the fact that childhood has its own ways of thinking, seeing, and feeling.

No description available.

The problem constituting the basis of this study is one having to do with an investigation of educational objectives. Specifically, it relates to an examination of teachers' objectives in a strictly limited area of Texas and a comparison of these objectives with those advanced by professional educators and published in literature dealing with educational practices and principles.

With extensive use of information systems in day-to-day business operations, many organizations are facing challenges to develop robust computer-based information systems that are secure and widely used by the user community. In order to develop information systems that are secure and useful, understanding what stakeholders consider important and value about the security and usability is critical. Security refers to confidentiality, integrity and availability and usability refers to efficiency, effectiveness and user satisfaction. Using Value Focused Thinking approach, this research first proposes the usability objectives based on the values of system developers and users. Using the security objectives proposed by Dhillon & Torkzadeh (2006) and the usability objectives, this research proposes hierarchies with the overall/over-arching goals of security (confidentiality, integrity, availability) and/or usability (efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction). This research also analyzes a case of computer hacking and identifies which of the security and usability objectives that have not been met in that case study. The research contributions which include the usability objectives and security and usability hierarchies can be useful for theoretical as well as practical purposes.

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The aims of this thesis were; firstly, to obtain economic values for radiata pine traits to produce appearance and structural lumber, and secondly to analyze the selection of efficient logs and profitable trees to substantiate the development of breeding objectives for solid wood quality. The thesis included three approaches to value wood attributes: hedonic models, partial regressions and stochastic frontiers. Hedonic models generated economic values for pruned and unpruned log traits to produce appearance grades. Values for small end diameter were 0.33, 0.19 and 0.10 US $/mm, and for form 2.6, 1.4 and 0.63 US $ for the first, second and third log respectively. The value of mean internode length was 0.19 US $/cm. Branch size traits were non-significant to explain the log conversion return (p>0.05). The economic value of log traits to produce structural lumber with stiffness of 8, 10 and 12 GPa was estimated with a partial regression. The values were 1.1, 29.7, 0.3 and -0.4 NZ $/m3 for small end diameter (cm), stiffness (GPa), basic density (kg/m3) and largest branch (mm) respectively. Small end diameter and stiffness explained 73% of the variation of log conversion return. The economic values for structural attributes were also derived from a Cobb Douglas stochastic frontier, resulting in 2.1 NZ $/cm for small end diameter and 15.8 NZ $/GPa for stiffness. The change of values between approaches can be attributed to differences of model formulation. The stochastic frontier used aggregate volume of lumber with stiffness of 8 GPa or higher. The partial regression used the economic value of every lumber product derived from the logs, making it more sensitive to changes in wood quality. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) used structural traits and their economic values to assess the technical and economic efficiency of logs to produce lumber with stiffness of 8, 10 and 12 GPa. The most efficient logs had 1:4 ratios between stiffness and small end diameter, whereas logs that did not generate structural lumber had ratios closer to 1:8. Trait economic values from the partial regression analysis were used as attribute prices to estimate cost efficiency. Efficiency measures were significantly correlated with stiffness and log conversion return; however, they were non-significantly correlated with small end diameter and log prices. The technical efficiency of logs to produce structural lumber was also determined using a Cobb Douglas stochastic frontier which determined that the most efficient logs were characterized by a 1:5 ratio between stiffness and small end diameter. Selection of trees for deployment was analyzed with a portfolio model, where risk was represented as the mean absolute deviation of tree returns due to the variability of volume, stiffness and resin defects. Under high variability (risk), the model selected structural trees with large stiffness and high return. These results suggest an opportunity for narrowing genetic variability (via clonal or family forestry) to make the returns from radiata pine structural grades lumber less risky. As variability decreased the portfolio model opted for trees that produced appearance and structural lumber. These trees had a stabilizing effect on their returns, as there were phenotypic tradeoffs between stiffness and volume under optimistic and pessimistic growing scenarios. These results showed the benefits of product diversification at the tree level.