Purpose To describe the concept of control & coordination mechanisms among HQs-subsidiary-distributor of MNC in direct selling business. Method Qualitative studies with two company case studies which are selected from direct selling business are implemented in this research. Data are collected from primary sources through semi-structure interview while secondary sources via company’s web sites, annual reports, news, and academic researches. Most collected data are related to control and coordination mechanisms within MNC and especially emphasize on distributor‘s aspects.   Conclusion To control and coordinate HQs-subsidiary-distributor’s relation in a direct selling business, companies need to implement not only the vertical control over their people but also the lateral way and as well as the price control mechanisms. All these three main mechanisms need to be blended together as the appropriate combination of them will help assist companies to achieve their goals successfully.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) refers to a class of systems and/or applications that use distributed resources in a decentralized and autonomous manner to achieve a goal. A number of successful applications, like BitTorrent (for file and content sharing) and SETI@Home (for distributed computing) have demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. <p> As a new form of distributed computing, P2P computing has the same coordination problems as other forms of distributed computing. Coordination has been considered an important issue in distributed computing for a long time and many coordination models and languages have been developed. <p> This research focuses on how to solve coordination problems in P2P computing. In particular, it is to provide a seamless P2P computing environment so that the migration of computation components is transparent. This research extends Manifold, an event-driven coordination model, to meet P2P computing requirements and integrates the P2P-Manifold model into an existing platform. The integration hides the complexity of the coordination model and makes the model easy to use.

<p>Development of the World Wide Web makes it possible for multiple computers to work together in order to solve problems and make the most efficient use of resources. A distributed system is composed of such computers which are separately located and connected with each other through a network. One paradigm for computation using distributed systems is the multi-agent systems, in which many autonomous agents interact with each other to solve problems. The agents in a multi-agent system may be distributed on different computers (or nodes), where each computer owns its resources. Although the resources in a multi-agent system are connected by a network through which mobile agents can migrate for accessing sufficient resources, how to share these independently owned resources in both an effective and an efficient way is not fully understood. A key challenge in multi-agent systems is how to account for and control the resources which are located on individual nodes.</p> <p>The CyberOrgs model offers one approach to manage resources among competitive or collaborative agents by organizing computations and resources in a hierarchy. A cyberorg encapsulates agents and resources in a boundary and distributes the resources available to it within this boundary. A cyberorg contained in another cyberorg has a contract with the outer cyberorg, according to which it receives resources that it may use. A cyberorg also encapsulates an amount of the eCash, which is the currency for purchasing resources from its host cyberorg. Therefore, cyberorgs have a hierarchical structure in which resources are delivered to computations by a process where resources flow down from the root to the leaves of the hierarchy and the eCash flows up from the leaves toward the root. However, the hierarchical structure of the CyberOrgs model presents challenges in scalability. As a result, efficiency is an important concern in the implementation of CyberOrgs.</p> <p>In this thesis, an efficient implementation of the CyberOrgs model is described. System design, APIs of the implementation, example applications, experimental results, and future directions are presented.</p>

This work began with the synthesis and full characterization of a novel £^-diimine ligand, (2,6-iPr2C6H3N=CH)2C6H4, from the reaction of o-phthaladehyde and the bulky aniline, 2,6-diisopropylaniline. It was observed that any <i>di-ortho</i>-substituted aniline with less bulky groups than isopropyl groups resulted in formation of the corresponding iminisoindolines. Reaction of the £^-diimine ligand with PdCl2 did not result in a seven-membered coordination complex, but in non-palladacyclic complex, [(g-diimine)PdCl(Ý-Cl)]2. Whereas reaction with Pd(OAc)2 gave an S-shaped five-membered trinuclear palladacyclic complex, {1,2-(2,6-iPr2-C6H3N=CH)2-C6H3]Pd(Ý-OAc)2}2Pd. These complexes were found to be active precatalysts for Heck and Suzuki coupling reaction giving TONs of up to 104 and 86, for arylbromides and arylchlorides, respectively.<p> On the other hand, a series of neutral and cationic seven-membered aluminum coordination complexes were obtained from the reaction of £^-diimine with a variety of aluminum species (AlMe3, AlMe2Cl, AlMeCl2 and AlCl3). The synthesis and characterization of these complexes are exemplified.<p> Also illustrated in this thesis is the synthesis and characterization of a series of air- and moisture-stable iminoisoindoline-based palladacyclic compounds of the general formula, [(iminoisoindoline)Pd{Ý-OAc}]2. These six-membered palladacyclic complexes were obtained through a simple two-step protocol as analytically pure solids. Phosphine-ligated mononuclear palladacycles of the general formula, [Pd(iminoisoindoline)X(PR3)], X= OAc or Cl, R = Ph or Cy, are also described. Dinuclear palladacycles were also found to be active for the Heck and Suzuki C-C coupling reactions. TONs of up to 106, 105 and 60 were observed for coupling of iodobenzene, <i>p</i>-acetylbromobenzene and <i>p</i>-chlorobenzaldehyde, respectively in the Heck coupling reaction.

Grasping and functionally interacting with a relatively large or awkwardly shaped object requires the independent and cooperative coordination of both limbs. Acknowledging the vital role of visual information in successfully executing any prehensile movements, the present study aimed to clarify how well existing bimanual coordination models (Kelso et al, 1979; Marteniuk & Mackenzie, 1980) can account for bimanual prehension movements targeting a single end-point under varying visual conditions. We therefore, employed two experiments in which vision of the target object and limbs was available or unavailable during a bimanual movement in order to determine the affects of visual or memory-guided control (e.g. feedback vs. feed forward) on limb coordination.<p>Ten right-handed participants (mean age = 24.5) performed a specific bimanual prehension movement targeting a solitary, static object under both visual closed loop (CL) and open loop 2s delay (OL2) conditions. Target location was varied while target amplitude remained constant. Kinematic data (bimanual coupling variables) indicated that regardless of target location, participants employed one of two highly successful movement execution strategies depending on visual feedback availability. During visual (CL) conditions participants employed a dominant-hand initiation strategy characterized by a significantly faster right-hand (RH) reaction time and simultaneous hand contact with the target. In contrast, when no visual feedback was available (OL2), participants utilized a search and follow strategy characterized by limb coupling at movement onset and a reliance on the dominant RH to contact the target ~62 ms before the left.<p>In conclusion, the common goal parameters of targeting a single object with both hands are maintained and successfully achieved regardless of visual condition. Furthermore, independent programming of each limb is undeniably evident within the behaviours observed providing support for the neural cross-talk theory of bimanual coordination (Marteniuk & Mackenzie, 1980). Whether movement execution is visually (CL) or memory-guided (OL2) there is a clear preference of RH utilization possibly due to its dynamic and/or hemispheric advantages in controlling complex motor behaviours (Gonzalez et al., 2006). Therefore, we propose that bimanual grasping to a solitary target is possibly governed globally by a higher-level structure and successful execution is achieved via independent spinal pathway modulation of limbs.

Although diversity is often thought to improve team performance by expanding the range of ideas available to the group, reported relationships between team diversity and performance have been somewhat weak (e.g., Bowers, Pharmer,&Salas, 2000; Devine&Philips, 2001; Webber&Donahue, 2001). One possible explanation for the lack of findings on team diversity is that past research has largely taken an absolute (i.e., how much diversity) rather than a relative perspective (i.e., what pattern of diversity; Tsui&O'Reilly, 1989; Tsui, Egan,&O'Reilly, 1992). Conceptually and operationally defining team diversity using faultlines - i.e., the pattern of how different types of demographic divisions either do or do not reinforce the salience of the subgroup - is one way to study diversity from a relative perspective. This thesis posits that the relative approach using faultlines may better elucidate the relationship between demography and team outcomes. In particular, this thesis posits that the structural arrangement of diversity (i.e., faultlines) among team members gives rise to relational patterns of trust and coordination, which in turn determine team performance. Results support the notion of a negative relation between faultline strength and team performance.

Abstract <br /><br /> Coordination models and languages are relatively new methods in modeling component-based software systems. These models and languages separate the communication aspect of systems from their computation aspect, and hence enable the modeling of concurrent, distributed, and heterogeneous systems. In this thesis, our goal is to show that Reo, a channel-based exogenous coordination language, is powerful enough to be used in the area of workflow management. In order to achieve this goal, we consider a set of workflow control patterns. We implement each of these patterns in terms of a Reo circuit and show that these Reo circuits capture the behavior of the corresponding workflow control patterns. We believe that the patterns we choose in this thesis are enough to show the strength of Reo as a workflow language. <br /><br /> We explain our approach in four steps. In the first step, we specify the general definition of workflow control patterns in terms of some Point Interval Temporal Logic formulas. In the second step, we convert each PITL formula to a constraint automaton. In the third step, we implement each workflow control pattern by a Reo circuit; each Reo circuit consists of a set of <em>components</em> and a set of <em>connectors</em> that connect and coordinate those components and provide its behavior as a relation on <em>timed data streams</em>; a timed data stream is a twin pair of a data stream and a time stream. In the forth step, we compositionally derive the constraint automata of that Reo circuit and finally, in the fifth step, we show the equivalence of the two constraint automata.

Lean refers to the concepts of Lean operations, Lean principle, Lean philosophy, etc. It is what people often talk about in operation management. Clean refers to the concepts of being green, environmental friendly, less environmental impact, etc. These two words seem to be unrelated, but somehow connected. In this thesis, we explored the linking between Lean and environmental issues; analyze the possible benefits of coordination between Lean and environment. In the case study, we assessed the overall Lean performance of Alderholmens mekaniska, a local manufacturing company in Gävle, Sweden. This company was seeking for solutions of their environmental wastes in the production. We found that Lean activities could be used to achieve environmental objectives. Lean methods are capable of reducing environmental waste. To coordinate Lean and environmental issues could foster an organizational culture of continuous improvement in order to encourage people to improve for better overall performance; this also benefits the environmental performance. Based on the observation in the company, and the questionnaire made during an interview with their Lean specialist, we gave some proposals on Lean implementation with emphasis on environmental issues, in order to solve their problems of environmental wastes and, furthermore, improve the performance.

Abstract <br /><br /> Coordination models and languages are relatively new methods in modeling component-based software systems. These models and languages separate the communication aspect of systems from their computation aspect, and hence enable the modeling of concurrent, distributed, and heterogeneous systems. In this thesis, our goal is to show that Reo, a channel-based exogenous coordination language, is powerful enough to be used in the area of workflow management. In order to achieve this goal, we consider a set of workflow control patterns. We implement each of these patterns in terms of a Reo circuit and show that these Reo circuits capture the behavior of the corresponding workflow control patterns. We believe that the patterns we choose in this thesis are enough to show the strength of Reo as a workflow language. <br /><br /> We explain our approach in four steps. In the first step, we specify the general definition of workflow control patterns in terms of some Point Interval Temporal Logic formulas. In the second step, we convert each PITL formula to a constraint automaton. In the third step, we implement each workflow control pattern by a Reo circuit; each Reo circuit consists of a set of <em>components</em> and a set of <em>connectors</em> that connect and coordinate those components and provide its behavior as a relation on <em>timed data streams</em>; a timed data stream is a twin pair of a data stream and a time stream. In the forth step, we compositionally derive the constraint automata of that Reo circuit and finally, in the fifth step, we show the equivalence of the two constraint automata.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) refers to a class of systems and/or applications that use distributed resources in a decentralized and autonomous manner to achieve a goal. A number of successful applications, like BitTorrent (for file and content sharing) and SETI@Home (for distributed computing) have demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. <p> As a new form of distributed computing, P2P computing has the same coordination problems as other forms of distributed computing. Coordination has been considered an important issue in distributed computing for a long time and many coordination models and languages have been developed. <p> This research focuses on how to solve coordination problems in P2P computing. In particular, it is to provide a seamless P2P computing environment so that the migration of computation components is transparent. This research extends Manifold, an event-driven coordination model, to meet P2P computing requirements and integrates the P2P-Manifold model into an existing platform. The integration hides the complexity of the coordination model and makes the model easy to use.