Innovation and technological change is the major factor of production, renewal, and competitiveness of firms and nations in the contemporary “knowledge economy”. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the innovative behavior of firms in various sectors and regions. In particular, I have analyzed the determinants (driving forces) of firms’ innovation on the one hand (in paper 1 and 2), and the effect of firms’ innovation on the other hand (in paper 3 and 4). In addition, a central concern in this dissertation is that context, in which firms operate and innovate, matters for innovation. I take into account several contexts in the analyses of both the determinants and effects of innovation. These contexts are: the regions in which firms are located, the dynamics of industries, and the dynamics of cluster in which firms belong to. This dissertation consists of four separate papers plus an introductory chapter. Each paper can be read independently, but all of them deal with either determinants or effects of the innovation of firms. The first paper analyzes the effect of various firm-specific determinants on firms’ innovation output. It also considers the stages of the Industry Life Cycle (ILC) as a context in which firms operate and innovate. Using the Community Innovation Survey data for manufacturing and service sectors in Sweden during 2002-2004, I find that the importance of various determinants of firms’ innovation depends on the stages of the ILC in which they operate. The second paper is again investigates the determinants of innovation, but this time incorporates another context that affect the innovation, i.e. the regions that firms belong to. Using the patent applications data as a measure of innovation in all functional regions in Sweden during 2002-2007, we find that both the internal knowledge generated within the region and the inflow of external knowledge matter for innovation of firms located in the regions. Moreover, the extent of related variety of knowledge in the region has the superior role to promote innovation. The third paper examines the effect of a firm’s innovation output on firm’s performance. Export behavior of firms is chosen as a performance indicator. Particular attention is devoted to distinguishing between innovation input and innovation output and to isolate their effects on export behavior of firms. Using two waves of Swedish Community Innovation Survey data during 2002-2006 merged with registered firm-level data, I find that what really matters for enhancing the export behavior of firms is the innovation output of firms, rather than the innovation input (mere efforts in investing in innovation activities). The fourth paper also analyzes the effect of innovation on performance measures but this time incorporates another context, i.e. the life cycle of the regional cluster that firms belong to. This paper delves into a particular cluster, i.e. Linköping ICT cluster. Using data collected through interviews during 2009 and 2012 on key cluster actors, we find that innovation is among the factors that are always highly important at any given stage of the cluster’s evolution, however, it has slightly greater importance during the “growing” stage.

Many health geography studies, including the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study (ONS), have faced significant challenges uncovering local variation in patterns of community health in rural areas. This is due to the fact that sparsely populated rural areas make it difficult to define neighbourhoods that are representative of the social and resource utilization patterns of the individuals therein. Moreover, rural areas yield small samples from population-based regional health surveys and this leads to insufficient sample sizes for reliable estimation of health determinants and outcomes. In response to this issue this thesis combines geographical and statistical techniques which allow for the simulation of health variables within small areas and populations within rural Ottawa. This methodological approach combines the techniques of dasymetric mapping and statistical micro-simulation in an innovative way, which will allow health geography researchers to explore health determinants and health outcomes at small spatial scales in rural areas. Dasymetric mapping is used to generate a statistical population surface over Ottawa and then estimate socio-economic (SES) variables within small neighbourhood units within rural Ottawa. The estimated SES variables are then used as correlate variables to simulate health determinant and health outcome variables form the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) using statistical micro-simulation. Through this methodology, simulations of specific health determinants and outcome can be investigated at small spatial scales within rural areas. Dasymetric mapping provided neighbourhood-level population estimates that were used to re-weight as set of SES variables that were correlates with those in the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). These neighbourhood-level correlates allowed microsimulation and consequent spatial exploration of prevalence for smoking, binge drinking, obesity, self-rated mental health, and the presence of two or more chronic conditions. The methodology outlined in this paper, provides and innovative way of exploring health determinants and health outcomes in neighbourhoods for which population and health statistics are not traditionally collected at levels that would allow traditional statistical analyses of prevalence.

The study was aimed at discovering the extent to which the education system of Venda satisfies the human resource needs of that area. Chapter one not only outlines the aim of the study but also defines certain terminology used in the text. It also gives an outline of the research methodology. Chapter two identifies the theoretical guidelines with regard to how the education system is related to human resource needs. In defining the education system the chapter indicates that education cannot be divorced from the society in which it exists and therefore must be seen as a social, cultural and economic phenomenon. Chapter three examines the manner in which human resources function as a determinant of the education system. In examining the meaning of human resources it indicates the importance of developing the skills of the people as well as indicating the importance of attitudes towards work of the people, thus showing that skills and attitudes together help create good human resources for the growth and development of society. Chapter four indicates general educational needs as well as the criteria to be used for the purposes of this research. It indicates that basic skills should be developed in all people so that they can be able to adjust properly to the workplace. It emphasises the importance of reading, writing, computation and speaking abilities as the basis for education which intends to develop good human resources. Chapter five is the empirical study. It therefore indicates how the postal questionnaire was used. It also contains the results of the empirical study, and explains them. Chapter six gives the conclusions as well as the recommendations that are a result of this research. It concludes that the education system and society are bound together and should not be separated, that human resource development is an important aim of education systems and therefore development should not be one-sided but should be complete, that is, it should include social and cultural skills and economic development. Thus education in Venda should not ignore this, and should be of a good quality as from the lowest standards, so that whether a person has an education of up to Standard 5, 8 or 10 it should not be an insurmountable handicap to adjustment to the work situation. / Thesis (MEd (Vergelykende Opvoedkunde))--PU vir CHO, 1996

The thesis is structured into 5 chapters as follows: <strong>Chapter 1</strong> is an introduction to the tools and methods we use most frequently. <strong>Chapter 2</strong> Pairs of k-free Numbers, consecutive square-full Numbers. In this chapter, we refine the approximate determinant method by Heath-Brown. We present applications to asymptotic formulas for consecutive k-free integers, and more generally for k-free integers represented by r-tuples of linear forms. We also show how the method can be used to derive an upper bound for the number of consecutive square-full integers. Finally, we apply the method to make a statement about the size of the fundamental solution of Pell equations. <strong>Chapter 3</strong> Power-Free Values of Polynomials. A conjecture by Erdös states that for any irreducible polynomial f of degree d&ge;3 with no fixed (d-1)-th power prime divisor, there are infinfinitely many primes p such that f(p) is (d-1)-free. We prove this conjecture and derive the corresponding asymptotic formulas. <strong>Chapter 4</strong> Integer Points on Bilinear and Trilinear Equations. In the fourth chapter, we derive upper bounds for the number of integer solutions on bilinear or trilinear forms. <strong>Chapter 5</strong> In the fifth chapter, we present a method to count the monomials that occur in the projective determinant method when the method is applied to cubic varieties.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Generic use of articles in French This Diploma thesis deals with the generic use of articles in the French language. It is divided into the theoretical and the experimental part. After the broader introduction into the issue of determinants, the most important part of the work treats genericity expressed in French by the definite article in singular and plural as well as by the indefinite article in singular. Firstly, the existing research on the subject of generic articles is studied, including the presentation of various approaches and principal theories, then is formulated proper syntactic and semantic interpretation of genericity which is finally verified in the experimental part of the thesis based on the analysis of model sentences. Keywords determinant, article, genericity, reference, nominal syntagm

Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / William B. Kuhn / The design of power amplifiers in any semi-conductor process is not a trivial exercise and it is often encountered that the simulated solution is significantly different than the results obtained. Oscillatory phenomena occurring either in-band or out of band and sometimes at subharmonic intervals can render a design useless. Other less apparent effects such as jumps, hysteresis and continuous spectrum, often referred to as chaos, can also invalidate a design. All of these problems might have been identified through a more rigorous approach to stability analysis. Designing for stability is probably the one area of amplifier design that receives the least amount of attention but incurs the most catastrophic of effects if it is not performed properly. Other parameters such as gain, power output, frequency response and even matching may have suitable mitigation paths. But the lack of stability in an amplifier has no mitigating path. In addition to the loss of the design there are the increased production cycle costs, costs involved with investigating and resolving the problem and the costs involved with schedule slips or delays resulting from it. The Linville or Rollett stability criteria that many microwave engineers follow and rely exclusively on is not sufficient by itself to ensure a stable and robust design. It will be shown that the belief that unconditional stability is obtained through an analysis of the scattering matrix S to determine if K>1 and [delta][supscript]s<1 can fail and other tools must be used to validate circuit stability. With the emphasis being placed on stability, a 1W pulse modulated S-band power amplifier is designed using a battery of analysis tools in addition to the standard Linville or Rollett criteria to rigorously confirm the stability of the circuit. Test measurements are then presented to confirm the stability of the design and illustrate the results. The research shown contributes to the state of the art by offering a detailed approach to stability design and then applying the techniques to the design of a 1W pulse modulated S-band power amplifier demonstrating the first with 20 nanosecond pulse width switching and single digit nanosecond rise and fall times at 1 Watt power levels.

Submitted by Eliton Mendonça Moro null (elitonmoro@hotmail.com) on 2017-02-07T16:23:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Moro E M.pdf: 1346120 bytes, checksum: fb365a8ed97b3769301b908d77114d7c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by LUIZA DE MENEZES ROMANETTO (luizamenezes@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-02-13T16:33:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 moro_em_me_sjrp.pdf: 1346120 bytes, checksum: fb365a8ed97b3769301b908d77114d7c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-13T16:33:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 moro_em_me_sjrp.pdf: 1346120 bytes, checksum: fb365a8ed97b3769301b908d77114d7c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-01-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Os sistemas de comunicação com Múltiplas Entradas e Múltiplas Saídas (MIMO), são sistemas constituídos por estruturas que utilizam várias antenas, tanto no transmissor como no receptor. Por serem transmitidos via antenas, naturalmente surgem problemas de ruídos e de multipercursos, que impõe um desafio para o desenvolvimento dos sistemas de comunicação MIMO. Por esses motivos, muitos estudos focam em certas propriedades dos sinais enviados a fim de minimizar os efeitos sofridos na informação durante a transmissão. Existem muitos tipos diferentes de Códigos de Bloco Espaço-Temporais (STBC) disponíveis para duas antenas transmissoras, dentre eles, o código de bloco espaço-temporal ciclotômico, Código de Ouro e Código de Prata. Neste trabalho apresentamos uma construção de STBC cujos os sinais utilizados na transmissão são identificados por elementos de anéis de inteiros de corpos de números totalmente imaginários, Q(√d), com d<0, e apresentamos os melhores STBC em termos do critério que denominamos como critério produto, considerando extensões de Q(√d) com d=-1,-2,-3,-7, -11. / The communication systems of Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO), are systems consisting of structures that use multiple antennas, both on the transmitter and the receiver. For being transmitted via antennas, noise and path problems naturally arise, which poses a challenge for the development and optimization of MIMO systems. For these reasons, many studies focus on certain properties of the signals sent in order to minimize the effects suffered on the information during transmission. There are many different types of Space-Time Block Codes (STBC) available for two transmitting antennas, such as the cyclotomic space-time block code, Golden code, and Silver code. In this work, we present a STBC construct via totally imaginary quadratic fields, Q(√d) with d <0 and present the best STBC in terms of the criterion that we call product criteria, considering extensions of Q(√d) with d = -1, - 2, - 3, - 7, -11.

Student Number : 9903144J - MSc (Med) dissertation - Faculty of Health Sciences / Since the introduction of vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in South Africa, at least one case of infection despite vaccination has occurred. The purpose of this study was to determine whether this infection was the result of mutations within the region of the surface (S) gene encoding the a determinant epitopes of the hepatitis B surface antigen, which permitted viral vaccine-escape. HBV DNA was extracted from the serum and liver tissue of the patient and amplified within the complete 3 215 bp genome and S gene, respectively. Following cloning, sequencing revealed a minor population displaying unique or uncommon S gene mutations that resulted in C138R, C139R, K141R, P142L, T143A, N146D, and T148A amino acid substitutions in the clones from the serum, and C139Y and D144N in the clones from the liver. Such isolates may represent South African HBV vaccine-escape mutants that caused chronic infection in the host prior to their reversion to wild-type.

ABSTRACT Occupational exposure to wood dust and biohazards associated with wood dust (endotoxins, (1->3)-b-D-glucans, Gram (-)ve bacteria and fungi), their correlation to respiratory function, and symptoms among woodworkers have been investigated in the present study. Wood dust, endotoxins, and allergenic fungi are the main hazards found in woodworking environments. Relatively very few studies have been done on wood dust exposure. The present study was designed to comprehensively investigate the health effects of wood dust exposure, and in particular provide new information regarding: Exposure to (1->3)-b-D-glucans in an occupational environment; Levels of exposure to wood dust and biohazards associated with wood dust in different woodworking environments; Correlations among personal exposures, especially correlations between (1->3)-b-D-glucans and fungi exposures, and endotoxins and Gram (-)ve bacteria exposures; Effects of personal exposure to biohazards on lung function; Effects of personal exposure to biohazards on work-related symptoms; and Determinants of inhalable exposures (provide which factors in the environment influence the personal inhalable exposures). Workers at four different woodworking processes; two logging sites, four sawmills, one major woodchipping operation and five joineries situated in the state of New South Wales in Australia were studied for personal exposure to inhalable dust (n=182) and respirable dust (n=81), fungi (n=120), Gram (-)ve bacteria (n=120), inhalable endotoxin (n=160), respirable endotoxin (n=79), inhalable (1->3)-b-D-glucan (n=105), and respirable (1->3)-b-D-glucan (n=62). The workers (n=168) were also tested for lung function. A questionnaire study (n=195) was carried out to determine the prevalence of work-related symptoms. The geometric mean inhalable exposure at logging sites was 0.56 mg/m3 (n=7), sawmills 1.59 mg/m3 (n=93), the woodchipping mill 1.86 mg/m3 (n=9) and joineries 3.68 mg/m3 (n=66). Overall, sixty two percent of the exposures exceeded the current standards. Among joineries, 95% of the hardwood exposures and 35% of the softwood exposures were above the relevant standards. Compared with green mills, the percentage of samples, which exceeded the hardwood standard was high for dry mills (70% in dry mills, 50% in green mills). The respirable dust exposures were high at the joineries compared with the other worksites. Exposure levels to fungi at logging sites and sawmills were in the range 103-104 cfu/m3, woodchipping 103-105 cfu/m3 and joineries 102-104 cfu/m3. The predominant fungi found at sawmills were Penicillium spp. High exposure levels of Aureobasidium pullulans were also found at two sawmills. At the woodchipping mill the predominant species were Aspergillus fumigatus, Penicillium spp., and Paecilomyces spp. The sawmills, which employed kiln drying processes, had lower exposure levels of fungi compared with the green mills. Those workplaces which had efficient dust control systems showed less exposure to fungi and bacteria. Although mean endotoxin levels were lower than the suggested threshold value of 20 ng/m3, some personal exposures at sawmills and joineries exceeded the threshold limit value. The mean inhalable (1->3)-b-D-glucan level at the woodchipping mill was 2.32 ng/m3, at sawmills 1.37 ng/m3, at logging sites 2.02 ng/m3, and at joineries 0.43 ng/m3. For the respirable size fraction, mean endotoxin and mean (1->3)-b-D-glucan concentrations were much lower, being similar to observed dust concentrations. Significant correlations were found between mean inhalable endotoxin and Gram (-)ve bacteria levels (p<0.0001), and mean airborne inhalable (1->3)-b-D-glucan and fungi levels (p=0.0003). The correlations between mean respirable endotoxin levels vs Gram (-)ve bacteria exposure levels (p=0.005), and respirable (1->3)-b-D-glucan exposure levels vs total fungi levels (p=0.005) were also significant. Significant correlations were found between lung function and personal exposures. Multivariate analyses showed that the effect of all the personal exposures on cross-shift decrements in lung function was more prominent among sawmill and chip mill workers compared with joinery workers. Woodworkers had markedly high prevalence of cough, phlegm, chronic bronchitis, frequent headaches, throat and eye irritations, and nasal symptoms compared with controls. Among the woodworkers, smokers had a high prevalence of chronic bronchitis (20%) compared with non-smokers (10%). Some workers also reported a variety of allergy problems due to exposure to various types of wood dust. Both joinery workers and sawmill and chip mill workers revealed significant correlations between work-related symptoms and personal exposures. Chronic bronchitis was significantly correlated with personal exposure to wood dust, endotoxin, (1->3)-b-D-glucan, fungi, and Gram (-)ve bacteria among joinery workers. Whereas among sawmill workers chronic bronchitis was significantly correlated with personal exposure to endotoxin, (1->3)-b-D-glucan, and fungi. Woodworkers showed significant positive correlations between percentage cross-shift change (decrease) in lung function and respiratory symptoms. Significant inverse correlations were also found among percentage predicted lung function and respiratory symptoms. The elevated inhalable dust exposures observed in this study can be explained by a combination of factors, including: lack of awareness of potential health effects of wood dust exposure among both management and workers, aging equipment, inadequate and ineffective dust extraction systems or usually none especially for hand held tools, poor maintenance of the ventilation system in some, non-segregation of dusty processes, dry sweeping, and the use of compressed air jets. The determinant-of-exposure analysis confirmed the field observations. The significant determinants of personal inhalable dust exposures (n=163) were found to be: local exhaust ventilation, job title, use of hand-held tools, cleaning method used, use of compressed air, and green or dry wood processed. Type of wood processed was not found to be statistically significant. A majority of workers (~90%) did not wear appropriate respirators approved for wood dust, while the workers who did wear them, used them on average less than 50% of the time. Workers should be protected by controlling dust at its source. When exposure to wood dust cannot be avoided, engineering controls should be supplemented with the use of appropriate personal protective equipment.