Face checking in decorative maple veneered plywood panels is a significant problem for hardwood plywood manufacturers, furniture makers, cabinetmakers, and consumers. Efforts made by panel producers and researchers to minimize checking conducted to-­‐date have been limited, and produced contradictory results. In this study the impact of four manufacturing factors believed to contribute to check development in decorative maple veneer panels were determined. The factors investigated were face veneer thickness and preparation, lathe-­‐check orientation, adhesive and core type. An efficient, automated, optical technique based on digital image correlation principles was developed and used to detect and measure checks as they develop. The novel new method for characterizing check severity and development was effective in efficiently measuring checking for a substantial number of samples. The results of the factor screening analysis reveal intricate four way interactions between factor levels contribute to check development, and that some combinations are likely to exhibit much more checking than others. / Graduation date: 2013

本文主要討論在日常生活中，以智慧型手機和社群網站Facebook打卡為主的媒體實踐所扮演的社交角色以及實踐者的空間經驗感受，試圖描繪科技帶來社交網絡的連結，並且透過現代科技漫遊者的實踐，混淆日常性和觀光凝視的界線。從媒體實踐取徑，觀察生活中各種實踐行動，試圖勾勒媒體實踐如何定錨社交關係，以及人為主體的媒介消費複雜性。 研究以民族誌法為研究方法，結合線上觀察、線下田野、深度訪談，研究三個身處不同社交圈位置的個案；研究者以參與觀察的方式進入研究對象的生活、工作、休閒場域，期以從實踐者的生活方式，理解日常生活中細瑣行動的動態關係。 研究發現，作為新科技的Facebook打卡和智慧型手機，身處社交圈不同位置的實踐者在近用之後能發展機會，包括鞏固意見領袖地位、晉升為領導者、創造與他人的連結；而Facebook的標籤功能、打卡時機的調整、省略打卡位置等實踐，成為實踐者挪用以建立社交關係。 實踐者是為現代的科技漫遊者，在漫遊城市時透過打卡找到新空間經驗感受，這些經驗包括：(1) 日常生活與觀光凝視的界線流動，實踐者凝視平凡的日常找到非比尋常，將之轉化為打卡題材；(2) 打卡實踐是實踐者既地方性又全球性的文本生產，讓地標賦予了既真實又虛擬的混合空間意涵，實踐者於其中觀展表演而自我揭露；(3) 打卡鞏固了觀光凝視的空間經驗，實踐者的空間感受並非固定，而可能既溫暖有情感又陳悶的儀式，打卡實踐添增了生活中面對鏡頭的觀光客姿態。實踐者面對科技物質特性、社會關係、監視構成的結構性限制，能找到方式因應，但其能施展的自由與機會也有局限性。 / The aim of the research investigates Facebook’s check-ins as a media practice that plays a crucial social role in everyday life. While walking in the city nowadays, a practitioner can convey his/her feelings, uploading stories and photos to social network websites through mobile technologies. A practitioner’s gaze upon spectacle of the city brings him/her complicated media experience in the media-drenched world, which turns a practitioner into a tourist and a flâneur. The study explores practitioners’ media consumption in everyday life. My empirical study focuses on three cases, who are heavy users of smart phones and in favor of check-ins on Facebook. The three cases situate in different social status and develope different social relationships through Facebook. By choosing ethnography as my method, I am a participant-as-observer who immerse in on-line and off-line field work. My findings indicate that smart phones and check-ins on Facebook provide opportunities and resources for practitioners. A keen adopter of technologies becomes an opinion leader, and her practice of check-ins brings her a fashionable image. The person who owns ordinary fellowship becomes an opinion leader in his peer group by acquiring technology skills. The practitioners use tagging and adjust the timing of check-ins to create social connection with friends. A practitioner, who is also a tourist and a flâneur, finds new feelings through mobile technologies when walking in the city. (1) The boundary between everyday life and tourism is not fixed, but weaves in a flow instead. (2) Geo-tagging symbolizes a hybrid space, in which contains virtual and physical information. (3) The practices of check-ins embody the tourist gaze. The sense of place is a flow, and practitioners may find warm or chill places through different media practices. However, the tension of interaction between people and technologies brings several unexpected troubles. The practitioner combats these problems by using tactics with agency, while he/she faces the power of structure which limits agency at the same time.

A bill of Exchange was originally used as payment instrument. Recently, it is mostly used as securing instrument. This purpose was mainly evolved by legal practice and its legislation could be problematic and unclear for laymen. The main aim of this thesis is to analyze a bill of exchange as a securing instrument. Further attention is paid to the function of payment. However, the bill of exchange and check are both regulated in identical law, so to some of its institutes I also describe a checks. The main attention of my thesis is devoted to the securing purpose of the bill of exchange. There I describe the specifics of this instrument in the comparison of other civil securing instruments. Due to this contrast, it can be said, that the bill of exchange gives the creditor some significant advantage on one hand, but finds some insuperable limits on the other hand. My thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter describes the historical development of bills of exchange and check, and the circumstances under which these institutions were created. The second chapter deals with the exchange and check law, their rules, the systematic inclusion of this branch of law and the basic peculiarities are defined. The third chapter is devoted to a general definition of the bill of exchange, describes...

This master´s thesis provides an overview of all designs of check valves, their usage and typical features. Main purpose of this work is to clear up the phenomenon of check valve slam and the other problems that occur during transients. The check valve slam was measured at the test rig in the hydraulic laboratory. For unsteady flow evaluation after pump shut down was used Gibson method. The dynamic characteristic was possible to create by results from this method. It was achieved without impact of the speed of sound in the fluid. This work also contains 2D transient CFD calculations, which was used for evaluation of the hydrodynamic torque acting on the hinge pin. This approach provides an option to calculate wide range of cases at the expense of not entirely exact geometry. The main contribution of the theoretical study at the beginning of this thesis is its entireness. It might give an important clue when right valve is selecting. For good choice of valve might be helpful to use dynamic characteristics in this thesis presented. Mentioned characteristics were created by new way and its background is in measurements and simplified CFD calculations.

Window decoding schedules are very attractive for message passing decoding of spatially coupled LDPC codes. They take advantage of the inherent convolutional code structure and allow continuous transmission with low decoding latency and complexity. In this paper we show that the decoding complexity can be further reduced if suitable message passing schedules are applied within the decoding window. An improvement based schedule is presented that easily adapts to different ensemble structures, window sizes, and channel parameters. Its combination with a serial (on-demand) schedule is also considered. Results from a computer search based schedule are shown for comparison.

In this study the main focus of the researcher was to analyse a cheque to identify crime. This study intends to give the forensic investigator a guideline to follow during the analysis of a cheque under investigation. Crimes that could be detected during the analysis of a cheque are fraud, forgery and uttering. Other aspects were also explained to ensure a better understanding of the study, namely: forensic investigation, forensic investigator, identification and crime scenes. Forensic investigation is a systematic search for the truth with the primary purpose of finding a positive solution to a crime. Forensic investigation is not a game of chance, or based on storybook types of coincidences. Therefore, forensic investigators cannot rely on coincidental success to come their way. It is true that luck sometimes plays a role in forensic investigations, but it is the thorough investigator who creates his/her own opportunities and arrives at the right place at the right time. In order for a forensic investigator to strive for excellence, he/she must have a good knowledge of his/her field of work. It is important for the forensic investigator to understand that identification plays an important role in forensic investigation. An additional benefit is derived when one can individualise something because it makes the identification much more valuable. All crime scenes should furthermore be managed in such a way that all physical evidence can be collected in order to ensure successful prosecution and conviction in a court of law. It is the belief of the researcher that because cheques are not acknowledged as crime scenes and therefore not properly handled or protected, many investigations fail in court and the accused are acquitted. / Criminology / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

My goal in this research was to develop a checklist for examining a cheque for information that can be used to identify, individualise and trace the perpetrator of a crime. A further intent was to share and introduce a number of important concepts, namely forensic investigation, identification, individualisation, the Locard principle and crime scene. This research will explain that forensic investigation refers to the using of sophisticated investigation techniques to obtain sufficient information to prove the true facts in a court of law. Further, that identification is the collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which an object is definitively recognisable or known, while the individual characteristics establish the individuality of a specific object. To link an individual with a crime scene, many types of evidence may be used and to associate an individual with the performed illegal handling, many types of evidence may be used. These types of evidence are commonly referred to as ”transfer” evidence. This process is also referred to as the ”Locard principle”. Lastly, a crime scene is explained as a place where a crime has occurred. It is also explained to be a ”laboratory of information” and therefore, during a cheque fraud investigation, the cheque is in most cases the only link to information to trace, identify and individualise the perpetrator. Therefore, the cheque should be treated as a crime scene. If forensic investigators use their knowledge of these concepts together with the checklist, it should enhance their investigation skills and empower them to become better equipped for the challenges they face in identifying, individualising and tracing the perpetrators in order to ensure successful prosecution and conviction. I believe all forensic investigators will benefit from what I have discovered through this research and I am very pleased to be able to introduce this checklist to you. / Criminology / M.Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

This research looks at the best practices applied by forensic investigators in conducting lifestyle audits on white collar crime suspects. The researcher explored, firstly, how a lifestyle audit relates to white collar crime investigations; secondly, the best practices in performing lifestyle audits on white collar crime suspects, and lastly, the various sources of information available to forensic investigators when conducting a lifestyle audit of a white collar crime suspect. As lifestyle audits will serve as an investigative tool in future forensic investigations into white collar crime, this study’s aim was to understand and create an awareness of the current best practices applied by forensic investigators within private sector forensic investigation practices while conducting lifestyle audits during white collar crime investigations. It also makes available research data regarding the concept of lifestyle audits in white collar crime investigations, the implementation of these audits, the benefits, and the best practices of these audits. The general purpose of this study was to provide practical recommendations on the best practices for lifestyle audits for forensic investigators within private sector. / Criminology / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

於這篇論文中，我們運White (2000)的Reality Check與Romano and Wolf (2005)的stepwise multiple test檢測交易策略的獲利性以更正資料窺探的偏誤。不同於先前運用資料窺探法則的研究，我們的研究以技術分析及時間序列預測兩者為依歸來建立交易策略，另外我們探討的市場集中在六個主要的亞洲股票市場。大致上，我們發現鮮少證據支持技術交易策略的獲利性；於基礎分析中且考慮交易成本時，只有少數幾個獲利性交易法則出現於兩個興新市場。另外在子樣本期間中，我們發現獲利性策略的表現並不穩定且這幾年來獲利性有逐漸變弱的趨勢。在進階分析中，我們發現沒有任何交易策略表現優越於基本的買進持有策略。 / In this paper, we exam the profitability of trading strategies by using both White’s (2000) Reality Check and Romano and Wolf (2005)s’ stepwise multiple test that correct the data snooping bias. Different from previous studies with the data snooping methodology, our analysis set the universe of forecasts (trading strategies) based on both technical analysis and time series prediction, and the markets which our investigation focuses on are six major Asian stock markets. Overall we find little supportive evidence for the profitability of trading strategies. Our basic analysis shows that there are only few profitable trading strategies detected for two emerging markets while transaction costs are taken into account. Moreover, the performances of the profitable strategies are unstable and the profitability becomes much weaker in the recent years as we find in the sub-periods. In further analysis, we also find that there is no trading strategies in our universe that can outperform the basically buy and hold strategy.

The first part of this thesis is focused on the literature review that is concerned with Burnout syndrome. The work analyses the development of the burnout concept from the early start in 70th of the 20th century till present-day. It covers major topics that include the definition of the Burnout Syndrome, the difference among Burnout Syndrome and other mental states, signs, symptoms, diagnostics and phases of the Burnout Syndrome and last but least the analysis of the factors, that contribute to formation of the Burnout Syndrome. The factors are divided into two categories, the first are external and the other are internal. The second part of thesis consists of the empirical research. The research examines the difference in copying with Burnout Syndrome between the two groups, where the first group represents psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists who work with clients and the other group, that represents IT specialists, who minimally need to deal their job with people. The empirical part provides the differences between scores of these two groups in SMBM (Shirom-Melamed scale), LET (Life Engagement Test) and ICL (Interpersonal Check List). The goal of this part is to test assumption, that claims the relationship among Burnout Syndrome and intrapsychic or interpersonal context. Keywords:...