Shale gas reservoirs are gaining importance in United States as conventional oil and gas resources are dwindling at a very fast pace. The purpose of this study is twofold. First aim is to help operators with simple screening criteria which can help them in making certain decisions while going after shale gas reservoirs. A guideline chart has been created with the help of available literature published so far on different shale gas basins across the US. For evaluating potential of a productive shale gas play, one has to be able to answer the following questions: 1. What are the parameters affecting the decision to drill a horizontal well or a vertical well in shale gas reservoirs? 2. Will the shale gas well flow naturally or is an artificial lift required post stimulation? 3. What are the considerations for stimulation treatment design in shale gas reservoirs? A comprehensive analysis is presented about different properties of shale gas reservoirs and how these properties can affect the completion decisions. A decision chart presents which decision best answers the above mentioned questions. Secondly, research focuses on production data analysis of Barnett Shale Gas reservoir. The purpose of this study is to better understand production mechanisms in Barnett shale. Barnett Shale core producing region is chosen for the study as it best represents behavior of Barnett Shale. A field wide moving domain analysis is performed over Wise, Denton and Tarrant County wells for understanding decline behavior of the field. It is found that in all of these three counties, Barnett shale field wells could be said to have established pressure communication within the reservoir. We have also studied the effect of thermal maturity (Ro %), thickness, horizontal well completion and vertical well completion on production of Barnett Shale wells. Thermal maturity is found to have more importance than thickness of shale. Areas with more thermal maturity and less shale thickness are performing better than areas with less thermal maturity and more shale thickness. An interactive tool is developed to access the production data according to the leases in the region and some suggestions are made regarding the selection of the sample for future studies on Barnett Shale.

The purpose of this study is to explore relevant issues concerning the evaluation of the principals of the elementary schools in Kaohsiung city, and in return, to provide a basis for the municipal administrators to conduct evaluation of the principals in the future. Applying the method of ¡§literature analysis¡¨, both domestic and international studies on the evaluation of the principals were collected and analyzed. These studies include basic concepts, establishment of criteria, methods of implementation, appointment of evaluators, application of the evaluation finds, and other relevant procedures. A questionnaire was designed to look into the viewpoints and the variance of the viewpoints of the educators, administrators, parents, and experts of the elementary schools. Regarding the prominent ideas rendered by various groups of people, a second phase questionnaire under the Delphi Method was prescribed. A common understanding was thus achieved. The questionnaire was distributed to 630 elementary school related subjects, including educators, administrative staff, parents, and experts. The response rate was 82.72% (523 specimens). The analysis The major procedures of data analysis were both qualitative and quantitative. In qualitative analysis, comments in the questionnaire were individually considered. In quantitative analysis, the formal questionnaire adopted statistical processes like percentage, frequency, mean, analysis of variance, and Shefield comparison. The second phase Delphi Method focused on 15 subjects including education experts, principals, parents, teachers and administrators. Both the quantitative and qualitative analyses were applied to achieve a common understanding from different functional groups on the evaluation of the principals. Based on findings of this study, conclusions are drawn as follow: 1.Currently, Bureau of Education of Kaohsiung City has not developed the official standards for evaluating the effectiveness of the elementary school principals. 2.The variance of the viewpoints between elementary school principals and teachers varied according to different evaluation issues. 3.The variance of viewpoints regarding principal evaluation issues varied according to participants¡¦ specific backgrounds. 4.New school culture is imperative to cultivate the mutual trust relationship between the principals and the teachers. 5.Conclusions regarding specific evaluation issues are drawn as below: -The purposes of principal evaluation are not only developmental-oriented but also and administrative-oriented. -With experts and researchers¡¦ assistance, the principal evaluation criteria need to be jointly developed by principal representatives, teacher representatives, and parent representatives. The evaluation criteria must include the core as well as the self-established criteria. - Principal evaluation process is composed of four phases: planning of evaluation, implementing and collecting data, processing date and generating results, providing feedback. -The frequency of principal evaluation must be corresponded to the principal¡¦s term of office, which is once in four years. -The appointment of evaluators ¡Õmust take into account three factors: profeessionality, multiplicity, and objectivity. - The date collecting methods for principal evaluation must be diverse. - The principal evaluation reports must consist of strengths as well as areas needing improvements. Moreover, a proper appeal procedure needed to be established for the principals to request further discussion regarding the evaluation results. -The evaluation results are not only form a frame of reference for ¡§decision-making¡¨ but also lay the cornerstone for improved practices and principals¡¦ professional growth. According to the results of this study, recommendations are made as follows: 1. Recommendations for Bureau of Education, Kaohsiung city - Developing official standards for evaluating the effectiveness of elementary school principals (see Appendix 10) -Cooperating with academic institutes to provide elementary school principals with opportunities for professional enhancement -A ¡§gradual model¡¨ should be adopted in the principal evaluation. 2. Recommendations for the elementary school principals -Embracing the notion of evaluation and actively engaging in planning, implementing and developing evaluation system. -Re-adjusting their leadership behaviors, cultivate persistent willingness and abilities for self-improvement and cumulate experience in making changes. - Emphasizing school managements and developing features unique to their schools. - Establishing and maintaining portfolios with documents represent their professional accomplishments. 3.Recommendations for teaching staffs in the elementary schools -Improving teaching staffs¡¦ evaluation capabilities by establishing professional dialogue mechanisms internally and externally. -Cultivating a culture of evaluation that is beneficial to school development as a whole 4. Recommendation to further studies to be made hereafter -Integrating evaluation criteria and paying more attention to principal¡¦s current practices, leadership behaviors and professional development. -Further exploring the relationship between ¡§principal evaluation¡¨ and ¡§evaluations of school management¡¨ and the feasibility of conducting both at a time. - ¡§Meta-evaluation¡¨ needs to be conducted to understand the effects of principal evaluation and advance the quality of evaluation eventually.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2001. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 169 p.; also contains graphics (some col.). Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: B. Chandresekaran, Dept. of Computer and Information Science. Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-169).

No description available.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2008. / Thesis Advisor(s): Cuskey, Jeffrey. "June 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on September 2, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-80). Also available in print.

Attempts to incorporate all the views of competence and quality in teaching into definitive check lists of behaviours are doomed to failure, despite the current political pressure to constrain the assessment of teaching. The reflective process in education, expressed through PCP and Self-Organised-Learning is discussed and located within the competence debate in teaching and current models of competence. The value of a conversational and reflective approach in the assessment and understanding of teaching is stressed. Twelve members of staff engaged in teacher training completed a SPACed-FOCUSed repertory grid and their personal constructs of teaching competence at the end of a four year B.Ed course were elicited. A further reiterative process of review reflection and structures of meaning exercises resulted in the production of an initial set of criteria of competence that represented the staff group#s construct dimensions. The initial criteria set was applied to students undertaking their final teaching practice and the results fed back to the staff in the form of a feedback for learning exercise. This application is compared with a review undertaken as part of a conversational methodology. Three further groups followed a broadly similar pattern to that of the staff group - Students; Newly Qualified Teachers and their Mentors. with each undertaking a group repertory grid exercise. The constructs/elements elicited lead to a criteria or competency set for each group. Comparisons are drawn between all groups, and a detailed analysis is made of each group's responses with Circular 14/93 (DFE 1993A). Recommendations for future practice are made which return to the central theme that criteria or competency sets alone cannot adequately describe the complex set of activities that is called teaching. Profiling approaches, different forms of evidence and professional development portfolios are proposed as some alternatives and additions to present practice. The final chapter reviews the author's personal learning prior to and during the research process. Influences are discussed, and critical incidents listed and analysed through a SPACed-FOCUSed repertory grid employing a conversational and reflexive processs that mirrors the study methodology.

The Performance Excellence Criteria for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award are widely accepted as an accurate reflection of quality management best practices. Since being introduced in 1988, the Baldrige Criteria have undergone regular revisions in an attempt to reflect the evolution of these best practices. This thesis examines the evolution of the elements of the Baldrige Criteria dealing with supply chain management (SCM) by conducting a detailed content analysis of each version of the Criteria since 1988. Our analysis includes an examination of changes in point values for SCM elements of the Baldrige Award over time. We also present an analysis of the distribution of the point values in each version of the Criteria across six key dimensions of SCM, as well as an analysis of how the SCM elements in the Baldrige Criteria compare with best practices as represented by the Supply Chain Operations Reference model.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Yes / This chapter reviews the substantive issue of monetary union through evaluating countries readiness for entry utilising the experience of the European Union’s process of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The European single currency system came under unprecedented strain following the Global Financial Crisis induced Great Recession and there is little reason to assume that this will diminish, in any significant way, in the near future. Crucially it is important to reflect that each economy is unique in its blend of sectoral strengths and weaknesses and comparative advantage, therefore the national interest will be distinctively different for each potential participant. In particular, there is no set rule in which to weigh the relative merits of the arguments associated with membership of a monetary union. In terms of the eurozone the chapter critically evaluates the convergence criteria stipulated in the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and empirically reviews the compliance of EU member states. It questions whether the TEU criteria satisfactorily perform this role, such that the convergence criteria present a series of financial tests, of which some are theoretically spurious, while the remainder are inadequate to indicate the range of consequences of participation. Finally, the chapter undertakes an analysis of the macroeconomic performance of Greece. Specifically, it focuses on the main features, economic events and key economic indicators (GDP per capita, inflation, unemployment, twin deficit of current account and net lending/borrowing, output gap and gross debt) during the crucial 2000-09 period, between eurozone membership and the crisis.

In this study, an integrated solution methodology for a general discrete multi-criteria decision making problem is developed based on the well-known outranking method Promethee II. While the methodology handles the existence of interdependency between the criteria, it can also incorporate the prospect theory in order to correctly reflect the decision behavior of the decision maker. A software is also developed for the application of the methodology and some applications are performed and presented.