Prompted by the observation that some Australian universities state that they wish to be entrepreneurial, and appear to be only mildly successful at it, whilst others are entrepreneurial by any measure and yet do not state that aim, this study explores what it means to be an entrepreneurial university in the complex and challenging Australian context. It asks the key question �What does it take?� in seeking to identify the organisational and managerial capabilities that underpin successful entrepreneurial outcomes with a view to developing a model that can assist senior university executives in their managerial and leadership practice. The study is undertaken in an interpretive, qualitative research framework where an initial model based on a literature synthesis, using the work of Clark as a starting point, is presented to a group of participants. All are either present or recent vice-chancellors, higher education industry experts and bureaucrats, or are senior technology transfer managers concerned with direct entrepreneurial efforts in larger universities. In two iterations, the participants are engaged in dialogue about the model, refining and commenting on it until their views are incorporated and it more closely approximates their own mental models for the practice of entrepreneurship in the university. Their comments about related issues of government policy, current national and international trends, their respective university strategies and concerns are also incorporated to add rich meaning to their views on the model itself. The study concludes that there are five clusters of capabilities involved in building an entrepreneurial university in the Australian setting. They are labelled Context, Strategy, People, Enabling Mechanisms and Culture and Internal Politics in this study. There is some overlap with those elements Clark originally identified but also some notable additional emphasis and detail added. In this study, the capability clusters related to relationship with environment and Context and that relating to Strategy and strategic leadership in general are found to be more important than Clark indicated, more crucial in the present Australian context and generally more underdeveloped in Australia than the current circumstances would indicate is necessary. It is concluded that where entrepreneurship is handled as a marginal, optional, or half-hearted pursuit, and the concept not fully embraced, it is likely to result in haphazard outcomes, not always enhancing or progressing the institution in its desired direction. In contrast, successful entrepreneurship in and by Australian universities essentially requires greater emphasis on the capabilities of strategic management and plans that place entrepreneurship centrally in an integrated strategic entrepreneurship framework.

Chinese medicine (CM) as a popular form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been increasingly used in the Western world over the last three decades. While the importance of original research on quality, safety and efficacy of CM therapies is well argued and supported, there has been a general negligence of the role of education in protecting public safety, promoting CM as a form of evidence-based healthcare and improving the quality of clinical CM services. This study aimed to determine the essential practitioner capabilities to ensure the safe, competent and contemporary Chinese medicine clinical practice in complex healthcare systems such that of Australia. There are two major studies in this thesis: the workforce study and the capability postal survey. For the workforce study, a specific instrument with a coding system was developed and approved by the Chinese Medicine Registration Board of Victoria (CMRBVic) prior to the commencement of the data collection based on registration forms submitted by all practitioners registered with CMRBVic during the transitional (also known as grand-parenting) period. Findings from the workforce study provide comprehensive data on the current state of the Victorian CM workforce concerning their educational background, clinical experience and their current practice of CM. Findings of the capability postal survey represent a major step in the development of a capability-based curriculum that meets the needs of the Chinese medicine workforce. The findings of this study provide the basis for developing specific continuing professional educational programs that address knowledge and skill gaps such as communication, referral, research training and for some practitioners, basic biomedical sciences. In conclusion, this study, for the first time, provided the comprehensive data on the state of the Victorian CM workforce and CM practitioners' views on desired practitioner capabilities. A number of continuing professional education needs were identified and the successful implementation of these programs will contribute to the safe and competent CM practice and thus protect the public safety.

A novel gate driver design is proposed to improve the conversion efficiency of DC-DC converters. Conventional gate drivers provide a fixed gate driving strength (capability) over the entire output load range. However, it is demonstrated that to optimize the overall conversion efficiency, the driving capability of the gate driver circuit should be adjusted according to the loading condition. The proposed segmented gate driver consists of 8 parallel driver segments that can be turned on/off allowing the power consumption of the gate driver circuit to be dynamically adjusted. The post layout simulation results in high voltage TSMC 0.25µm CMOS process shows that up to 7% improvement in the efficiency can be achieved. Furthermore, in addition to efficiency improvements, a 60% reduction in the ringing and overshoot/undershoot was observed. An integrated segmented gate driver IC designed for AMSP35HV process was submitted for fabrication with the support from CMC.

A novel gate driver design is proposed to improve the conversion efficiency of DC-DC converters. Conventional gate drivers provide a fixed gate driving strength (capability) over the entire output load range. However, it is demonstrated that to optimize the overall conversion efficiency, the driving capability of the gate driver circuit should be adjusted according to the loading condition. The proposed segmented gate driver consists of 8 parallel driver segments that can be turned on/off allowing the power consumption of the gate driver circuit to be dynamically adjusted. The post layout simulation results in high voltage TSMC 0.25µm CMOS process shows that up to 7% improvement in the efficiency can be achieved. Furthermore, in addition to efficiency improvements, a 60% reduction in the ringing and overshoot/undershoot was observed. An integrated segmented gate driver IC designed for AMSP35HV process was submitted for fabrication with the support from CMC.

For a district heating company it is of importance to have an efficient and well performing system. A central part in the work to lower temperature levels in district heating networks is to acknowledge and improve cooling capability in substations. The aim of this thesis is to analyse substations in Polish district heating systems in order to identify reasons of poor cooling and to present suggestions of implementable measures. Furthermore, the economical saving potential from an improved cooling is evaluated. The analysis was carried out for two of the five Polish companies included in this report; Sydkraft EC Slupsk and MEC Koszalin. It was followed by two scenarios created for evaluation of improvement possibilities based on calculated financial savings from reduction of distribution heat losses and distribution pumping. The results show that there are significant improvement possibilities. From the carried out scenarios a saving potential between 15 000 to 20 000 PLN/substation is possible to achieve for selected worst substations, if their individual annual average cooling is set to 30°C. The analysis further shows that causes of poor cooling in substations are highly individual but points out that customer owned substations are represented in the majority of worst substations.

For industries in Taiwan¡A marching toward 21st century indicates the importance of globalization and economics of scale.Through merge and acquisition, Hi-Tech companies attempt to expand their business domain and market share¡A leading to global competitiveness to improve market position in the world. In this wave of competition¡A because of wide-spread use of Internet and promotion by the government¡A the issue that enterprises apply information technology to help management and administration has become essential. In the process enterprises need to organize knowledge and intelligence capital when they implement information technology and organization restructuring. Then benefit of the construction of information system will ferment progressively. In view of this¡A this research tries to utilize the case study research methodology¡A and selects three cases from the Hi-Tech industry: Passive component industry¡A IC packaging industry ¡A and SAP consultant firm. Based on the perspectives of transmitter and recipient¡A the ERP implementation has covered information technology capability ¡A knowledge transfer process ¡A and organizational performance. Although there are differences in ERP implementation experience in these three cases¡A they all want to retain related knowledge in the organization eventually. For this purpose, they have adopted ASAP methodology to guide implementation. choose to channel into the way theory and do for the blueprint with the standard of SAP. No matter the first or the second time during the process of implementation¡A every organization might share the analogy of the break-in and adjustment for the ERP system. Organization memory are gradually formed via system usage and personal experience. More adaptation on the part of the user will bring in fit between system and people. Finally¡A propose four suggestions in accordance with the result of study: 1.While channelling into the new information system¡A effective information science and technology is used; Include the basic resource of science and technology of information and tactics to combine¡A can reduce the unnecessary interrupt in the transmittance process. 2.Information science and technology is related to IT ability maturity to use¡Ahigh ability can solve more difficulty problem¡Aand the industry produced positive influence to that enterprises operate through the application of relevant knowledge after the information system channels into. 3.In order to channel into the case of SAP ERP ¡A the case channels into certain methodology¡A but because the tactics difference ¡A pay to leading precess time and cost¡A cause the influence of a certain degree. 4.In the knowledge transmit process¡A setting-up of the social network between motive¡A trust to the cooperative partner¡A cooperative partner's partner channelling into it¡A knowledge absorbability¡Aetc.¡A it is enterprises that channel into the key factor influencing the performance after the implementaion of ERP system.

Neural networks can be looked as a kind of intruments which is able to learn. For making the fruitful results of neural networks' learning possess parctical applied value, the thesis makes use of linear regression technics to strengthen the extended capability of RBF neural networks. The thesis researches the training methods of RBF neural networks, and retains the frame of OLS(orthogonal least square) learning rules which is published by Chen and Billings in 1992. Besides, aiming at the RBF's characteristics, the thesis brings up improved learning rules in first and second phases, and uses " early stop" to be the condition of training ceasing. To sum up, chiefly the thesis applies some technics of statistic linear regression to strenthen the extended capability of RBF, and using different methods to do computer simulation in different noise situations.

This research identifies the factors affecting capability transfer at the subsidiary level during acquisitions. Acquisitions provide acquiring firms with the opportunity to acquire new capabilities and to apply current capabilities in new settings and in doing so improve the firm’s competitiveness. Capability transfer, therefore, is critically important for acquisition performance. Limited subsidiary level analysis has been conducted on the factors affecting capability transfer during acquisition.The study identifies implementation factors, socio-cultural factors, management practices and absorptive capacity as the key factors affecting capability transfer. To exploit and enhance these factors, strong leadership is required to create the atmosphere necessary for capability transfer though the creation of a common vision and shared identity. Aligned performance measures channel the stakeholder behaviour towards capability transfer and the achievement of acquisition objectives. Training intervention and support facilitate the contribution of retained employees to the combined firm.Understanding the key factors affecting capability transfer allows managers to better approach capability transfer in acquisitions. Managers are then in a better position to formulate appropriate and comprehensive strategies to ensure successful transfer. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Leaders of nonprofit organizations in the United States must build workforce capabilities to meet increasing demands for services. This single-case study explored strategies nonprofit leaders used to build workforce capability to address increasing service demands. The conceptual lens for this study was the full-range leadership theory. Data were collected through semistructured interviews from a purposeful sample of 3 senior executives of a single nonprofit organization located in the midwestern region of the United States. Information from internal and external documents and publicly available documents also provided data. Information and data sources included internal organizational and workforce performance data, strategy plans and analysis, internal and external financial documents, organizational website, and nonprofit data and information websites. Data and information from internal and external documents, interviews, and publicly available information were manually coded. Findings were validated through data triangulation and member checking. Using thematic analysis, 4 themes emerged related to building workforce capability: an emphasis on employee development, the expansion of technology systems, a concentration on developing a culture of autonomy and trust, and the introduction of processes and measurements. The findings from this study might contribute to positive social change by providing nonprofit leaders with strategies and data to support a deeper understanding of how to effectively build workforce capability to address increasing service demands.

Yes / The aim of this chapter is to explore how social choice theory and the capability approach can help in clarifying important ethical dilemmas and issues of injustice that need to be addressed for cities to become sustainable cities. Six types of important injustices are identified covering both intra and inter-generational fairness. Some important criticisms of smart cities are considered and important safeguards and policy priorities for smart cities from the social choice and capability approach framings are identified. The main message of this chapter is that sustainability of cities is an ethical issue and not one of technology or measurement and it is all about the six types of injustices and that cities need to tackle all six of these injustices in their quest to become sustainable. Nudging and smart cities can help but these must be contextualised to priorities participation and equality. Social choice theory as formulated by Amartya Sen provides important insights to understand and deal with conflicts between different demands on freedoms of different individuals. / British Academy / The full-text of this book chapter will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 14 Sep 2024.