Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2007. / Adviser: Chetwyn Chan. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Master of arts in arbitration and dispute resolution, City University of Hong Kong, School of Law. Title from title screen (viewed on Sept. 20, 2006) Includes bibliographical references.

Pour profiter des nombreux services offerts via Internet et « surfer » sur la toile comme quiconque, les personnes handicapées ont recours à des aides techniques. Des normes ont été établies pour assurer la compatibilité des sites web avec les aides techniques, et des lois ont été instaurées pour en imposer le respect. Néanmoins encore trop peu de sites web respectent ces normes et sont de ce fait inaccessibles aux personnes handicapées. Lors de ce travail, nous avons cherché à améliorer l'accessibilité du web aux personnes handicapées, en contribuant à l'adaptation « du » web (ou adaptation du contenu, c'est-à-dire en développant des outils pour aider les webmestres à rendre leur site accessible au regard des normes) ainsi qu'à l'adaptation « au » web (ou adaptation de l'utilisateur). / Disabled persons use assistive technologies to take advantage of numerous services offered by Internet and to navigate on the World Wide Web as whoever. Standards were established to insure compatibility of Web sites with assistive technologies, and laws were established to impose respect of these standards. However few Web sites respect these standards and as a result a lot of Web sites are inaccessible for disabled persons. During this work, we tried to improve web accessibility to the disabled persons, by contributing to the web adaptation (or contents adaptation, i.e. by proposing tools to help webmasters to return their accessible site towards the standards) as well as to the adaptation to Web (or user adaptation).

Abstract Manufacturers are under tremendous pressure to improve product quality in terms of dimension while maintaining high productivity. To maintain product quality, it is necessary to know the accuracy level of machine tools so that defective parts can be prevented in manufacturing. Different machine tools deviate from their ideal situation to an error prone state over time. Even new machine tools may cause errors due to faulty installation, an extra heat source etc. Roll, pitch and yaw errors are common problems in machine tools for the manufacturing industries. The origins of these errors are kinematics parameter deviations resulting from manufacturing errors, assembly errors or quasistatic errors. By considering the geometric description of any machine tool, one should be able to predict the actual tool tip as compared to ideal tool tip for every controlled point in the machine's workspace. By counting the forward kinematics of the machine it is possible to predict the tool tip deviation for every point. A number of measuring methods can be adopted to describe the actual geometry of machine tools. Each method has it's own advantages and disadvantages. Often machine tool experts measure the machine with different types of measuring devices to obtain error traces based on its error sources and magnitude. In this thesis, a theoretical and practical relation has been established between static and dynamic measuring systems. These relations are important when we are measuring machine tools with different measuring devices to validate the measurement results. In this work, traces obtained by one measuring system have been compared and simulated with the traces obtained by other methods. A number of systematic mathematical models have been developed, and compared with the results obtained by other measuring methods. The outcome of this can lead to the development of a software system that can be used to validate measuring results obtained from different measuring systems and those can be compared with each other. The VM182 measurement result simulates closer than the laser measurement result when both are compared using the traces obtained by DBB measurement. Several methods for improving the positioning accuracy of machine tools have been studied. One of the methods is NC code modification. This method has been applied to develop an NC program processor based on the error found by the measurements. An aluminium test piece has been cut with the modified program to test the developed model. The finding of NC code modification is that for repeatable error, we can obtain a better dimensional accuracy for work pieces when we use a modified NC program based on the algorithms developed. The arch replacement technique has given a circularity improvement from 22 to 12 with DBB measurement, and circularity has been improved from 12.59 to 8.10 when it has been applied to cut aluminium work piece.

Orientation: In theory, effective remuneration contracts will link executive remuneration with organisation financial performance and provide strong incentives for executives to operate organisations and behave in ways that will be in the shareholders’ best interests. Many proclaim that this is not happening as CEOs continue to be rewarded even when their respective organisations are performing poorly. Research purpose: The purpose of this research study was to take advantage of the available information on executive remuneration data and establish the best link (correlation) between executive remuneration and organisation financial performance between 2008 and 2012. Motivation for the study: The motivation for the research study was due to the acknowledged challenge encountered by organisations in finding a balance between executive remuneration that will be enticing enough to keep executives in the employ of the organisation and not overpaying them, especially when organisation’s performance is not favourable. Research design approach and method: The research was a quantitative, archival study, conducted over a seven year time period. The primary statistical techniques used in the study included: multiple correlation analysis, bivariate regression analysis, multiple regression analysis and stepwise regression analysis. Main findings/results: The primary finding was that the relationship between executive remuneration and organisation financial performance has been experiencing a decline since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The decline has predominantly been due to a move by executives away from performance related elements of the remuneration contracts, creating disconnect between what executives are being paid and the performance of the organisation. The findings point out to the fact that, to a large extent, remuneration contracts for executives are predominantly no longer shaped by what would be optimal for an organisation and its shareholders, but are also influenced by the natural propensity of executives to influence their own remuneration contracts. Practical managerial implications: The results suggest that there is a need for superior organisation performance measures and innovative remuneration policies that need to be developed which will be in synchronism with the longterm strategic plans of an organisation. Contribution/value add: The study provides a key insight with regard to the fact that without any performance based elements with the executive’s remuneration, it is going to be difficult to justify the high remuneration packages of executives. In the long run, a dilemma arises for board of directors as they become reluctant to either reward executives for superior performance or punish them for poor performance. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

No description available.

No description available.

Private equity fund managers (PEM, or the general partner/GP) exhibit certain performance persistence, or lack thereof, over time. Most scholarly research to date examines inter-fund performance persistence, or the performance at a fund level across multiple specific funds over time. This dissertation examines intra-fund performance, i.e., performance within a specific fund, and posits that investments made later in a specific private equity fund’s lifespan will perform worse than earlier investments, reflecting agency cost in terms of residual loss to principals as a result of the direct and indirect compensation structures. Using ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) and the sequence in which investments are made in a fund as empirical evidence of these negative effects of the compensation and contractual arrangements common throughout the industry. This performance analysis will be done within each specific fund in consideration of the effects of both direct compensation from the current fund and indirect compensation expectations of the PEM from future funds. This dissertation relies on agency theory to explain the incentives and costs that lead to a negative relationship between the sequence of an investment in a fund’s life and the ROIC of the specific investment. Concepts of risk sharing and information asymmetry, specifically from an agency theory perspective, and the misalignment of interested between investors and PEM support this hypothesis. The most notably areas impacted by this research relate to governance (both investors and public policy), compensation, and incentive structure of private equity funds. / Business Administration/Finance

Circadian rhythms are periodic physiological events that recur about every 24 hours. The word circadian derives from the Latin words <i>circ</i>a "about" and <i>dies</i> "day". The importance of circadian rhythms is well recognized in many different organisms' survival as well as in human physiology. It was in the 1950's that scientists demonstrated the existence of an endogenous biological clock, and that the clock is temperature compensated. However, the molecular mechanism of circadian rhythms began to come clear only after the discovery of the period (per) gene in Drosophila melanogaster in 1971, and the frequency (frq) gene in Neurospora crassa in 1973. Since the breakthrough discoveries of the per and frq genes and their mutants (short period mutants, perS or frq1, frq2; and long period mutants perL or frq3, frq7), molecular biologists have discovered other crucial components of the mechanism of circadian rhythms. Currently, there are about a dozen identified circadian genes in Drosophila melanogaster. The consensus idea of the mechanism is that it involves two-interlocked feedback loops largely based on transcription-translation controls. However, based on our mathematical models and analysis, we propose that there is also an autocatalytic effect based on proteolysis and stabilization of PER proteins. Based on the dynamics of multiple steady states and limit cycle oscillation, we propose an alternative mechanism for robust temperature compensation. We start with a simple model in order to understand the core dynamics of the clock mechanism, and move to a more comprehensive model. In both cases, we use bifurcation analysis as a tool to understand the dynamics of the system. With our model, we propose hypotheses to be tested in Neurospora crassa. / Ph. D.

This paper states the stability requirements of the amplifier system, and then presents, and summarizes, the classic two stage CMOS Op-Amp design by employing several popular frequency compensation techniques including traditional Miller compensation, nulling resistor, voltage buffer, and current buffer. The advantages and disadvantages of all these compensation strategies are evaluated based on a standard performance which has a 70dB DC gain, a 60◦ phase margin, a 25MHz gain bandwidth, and a slew rate of 20 V/us requirements. All the designs and simulation results are based on a 180mm 1.8 V standard TSMC CMOS technology. Ultimately, the traditional Miller compensated Op-Amp (a single compensation capacitor amplifier) cannot meet all the requirements but all other techniques could with also a boost of performance in various aspects. / Master of Science / Two-stage CMOS operational amplifier has two input pins and one output pin. it is used to amplify the differential inputs signal and transfer it to the output side. Usually the input signals are too weak to be processed by the rest of the system units. So the Op-Amp can amplify the weak input signals which then can either be further modified for some specific applications by the rest units of the system or be the final output of this entire system. The role of the Op-Amp in analog and digital systems is as the role of transformers in the power system. So the output signal is required to have fast and stable responses to the inputs. This paper states some standard requirements of the Op-Amp in aspects of gain, stability, and operating frequency. Due to the classic design of two-stage Op-Amp has poor performance of stability and operating frequency, some compensation techniques are applied as the feedback networks to improve its performance. These techniques include traditional Miller compensation, nulling resistor, voltage buffer, and current buffer. The advantages and disadvantages of all these compensation strategies are evaluated based on a 180mm 1.8 V standard TSMC CMOS technology.