State identification has been a more and more important issue in Taiwan since 1990.¡@This study applies focus group interview for the analysis of state identification.¡@Interviewers will progressive interpret the state identification of themselves through interaction in a small group by focus group interview. Accordingly, the facts on affecting Taiwanese in state identification can be exposed, and outwards of state identification of Taiwanese can be further explored. ¡@¡@According to the findings of the study, party identification can drive state identification for Taiwanese, especially for those who have strong emotion in party identification. And their position of state identification is usually consistent with that of their identified party. Meanwhile, as for a Taiwanese who has weak emotion in party identification, age, provincial, background, and growing experience are the main factors that affect state identification. Moreover, concerning the symbol of the state, Taiwanese have different preferences and selections in parties and the name of the state. However, once the symbol of the state appears in an international occasion, national identification can drive a Taiwanese to generate a certain degree of emotion that connects with the symbol of the state. ¡@¡@Finally, this study further discovers that Taiwanese confuse the concept of national identification with that of state identification. The concept of national identification has always been used to discuss issues about Taiwan, and therefore Taiwanese are unaware of using national identification to discuss state identification.

Although a vast amount of research has examined why job seekers become attracted to organizations, few studies have focused on how job seekers develop an initial attraction and attachment to organizations. In order to address this gap in the literature, this study examined the relationship between the ways new organizations communicate and potential job seekers' perceptions of organizational attractiveness and anticipatory organizational identification. The organizational identification literature has previously shown that organizations often use a variety of inducements in their communication to foster identification among members, and that when members perceive that membership in an organization is an opportunity to affirm, distinguish, or enhance their self-concepts, the perceived organizational identity becomes more attractive. Drawing upon these findings, this study posited that a similar relationship would occur between organizations and potential job seekers. In addition, based on findings on social categorization, this study examined whether the effectiveness of identification inducements varied depending on whether the new organization was situated within an established or emerging industry. In established industries, new organizations face the risk of being stereotyped based on job seekers' preexisting knowledge of the industry, and therefore effectively invisible to job seekers as unique organizations. In emerging industries, because it is not entirely clear what defines this set of organizations, new organizations face the risk that job seekers may be less certain about how they might connect with these organizations, and therefore tend to find them less attractive. As a consequence of these cognitive differences, this study posited that the effectiveness of identification inducements would depend on the type of industry. An experiment was conducted to test these hypotheses. Participants consisted of students either currently or recently active in job seeking activities. The findings indicate that the presence of identification inducements in an organization's external communication positively impacted job seekers' perceptions and attachment to organizations, and that the primary mechanism for this effect was job seekers' perception of similarity. No differences were found between new organizations in established versus emerging industries in terms of the impact of identification inducements. Theoretical and managerial implications of these results were discussed. / text

System identification concerns how to construct mathematical models of dynamic systems based on experimental data. A very important application of system identification is in model-based control design. In such applications it is often possible to externally excite the system during the data collection experiment. The properties of the exciting input signal influence the quality of the identified model, and well-designed input signals can reduce both the experimental time and effort. The objective of this thesis is to develop algorithms and theory for minimum cost experiment design for system identification while guaranteeing that the estimated model results in an acceptable control performance. We will use the framework of application oriented Optimal Input Design (OID). First, we study how to find a convex approximation of the set of models that results in acceptable control performance. The main contribution is analytical methods to determine application sets for controllers with no explicit control law, for instance Model Predictive Control (MPC). The application oriented OID problem is then formulated in time domain to enable the handling of signals constraints, which often comes from the physical limitations on the plant and actuators. The framework is the extended to closed-loopsystems. Here two different cases are considered. The first case assumes that the plant is controlled by a general (either linear or non-linear) but known controller. The main contribution here is a method to design an external stationary signal via graph theory such that the identification requirements and signal constraints are satisfied. In the second case application oriented OID problem is studied for MPC. The proposed approach here is a modification of a results where the experiment design requirements are integrated to the MPC as a constraint. The main idea is to back off from the identification requirements when the control requirements are violating from their acceptable bounds. We evaluate the effectiveness of all the proposed algorithms by several simulation examples. / <p>QC 20150126</p>

The recent increased focus on patient safety in hospitals has yielded a flood of new technologies and tools seeking to improve the quality of patient care at the point of care. Hospitals are complex institutions by nature, and are constantly challenged to improve the quality of healthcare delivered to patients while trying to reduce the rate of medical errors and improve patient safety. Here a simple mistake such as patient misidentification, specimen misidentification, wrong medication, or wrong blood transfusion can cause the loss of a patient’s life. Misidentification of patients is a common problem that many hospitals face on the daily basis. Patient misidentification is one of the leading causes of medical errors and medical malpractice in hospitals and it has been recognised as a serious risk to patient safety. Recent studies have shown that an increasing number of medical errors are primarily caused by adverse drug events which are caused directly or indirectly by incorrect patient identification. In recognition of the increasing threat to patient safety, it is important for hospitals to prevent these medical errors from happening by adopting a suitable patient identification system that can improve upon current safety procedures. The focus of this master’s thesis is the design, implementation, and evaluation of a handheld-based patient identification system that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) and IEEE 802.11b wireless local area networks to identify patients. In this solution, each patient is given a RFID wristband which contains demographic information (patient ID number, ward number, hospital code, etc.) of the patient. A handheld device equipped with IEEE 802.11b wireless local area network connectivity and a RFID reader is then used by the medical staff to read the patient’s wristband, identify the patient, and access the relevant records of this patient. This work was carried out at the Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering at the University College Hospital Galway (UCHG), Ireland and the National University of Ireland, Galway. / Ökande de nya fokuserar på patientsäkerhet i sjukhus har givit en översvämning av nya teknologier och bearbetar sökande att förbättra det kvalitets av patient omsorg på peka av omsorg. Sjukhus är komplexa institutions vid naturen och utmanas ständig för att förbättra det kvalitets av sjukvården som levereras till prövas patient för att förminska klassa av medicinska fel och för att förbättra patient säkerhet. Här kan ett enkelt fel liksom patient misidentification, specimenmisidentification, fel läkarbehandling eller fel blodtransfusion orsaka förlusten av ett liv för patient. Misidentification av patient är ett allmänningproblem som många sjukhus vänder mot daglig. Patient misidentification är en av leda orsakar av medicinska fel, och den medicinska malpracticen i sjukhus och den har känts igen som ett allvarligt riskerar till patient säkerhet. Nya studies har visat att ett ökande numrerar av medicinska fel orsakas i första hand av motsatt droghändelser vilka orsakas direkt eller indirekt av oriktigt patient ID. I recognition av den ökande hot till patientsäkerhet är det viktigt att sjukhus förhindrar dessa medicinska fel från att hända, genom att adoptera ett passande patient ID system som kan förbttra på säkerhetsrutin. Fokusera av denna avhandling är designen, genomförande, och utvärderingen av ett patient IDsystem, som använder radiofrekvensidentifiering (RFID) och radion 802.11b, knyter kontakt för att identifiera patient. I denna lösning ges varje patient ett RFID-armband som innehåller demografikinformation (den patient personnumer, avdelning kod, sjukhuset kod, osv.) av patient. En handdator, som utrustas med trådlös IEEE 802.11b och en RFIDs ändare/mottagare, används därefter av den medicinska personal för att läsa armbandet för patient och för att identifiera patient. Detta arbete bars ut på avdelningen av medicinskfysik och bioteknik på Universitetssjukhuset Galway (UCHG), Irland och den Nationella Universitet av Irland, Galway.

La diversité dans les équipes pose plusieurs enjeux, notamment en ce qui concerne la performance d’équipe. Les études jusqu’à présent ont rapporté un lien parfois positif, parfois négatif ou inexistant entre la présence de diversité et la performance de l’équipe. Puisque les équipes interdisciplinaires sont de plus en plus sollicitées par les organisations pour faciliter la résolution de problèmes de plus en plus complexes, il semble important de bien comprendre comment la diversité affecte la performance d’équipe. L’une des avenues encore peu explorée s’attarde à la perception de la diversité plutôt qu’à la diversité objective, par l’entremise de l’étude de l’identification à l’équipe. En effet, une identification à l’équipe forte permettrait d’atténuer la perception de diversité et aurait un impact positif sur la performance. Cependant, très peu d’études se sont intéressées à ce phénomène et aucune, à notre connaissance, n’a évalué l’impact de l’identification à l’équipe sur les processus d’équipe ou n’a évalué l’impact de différents types d’identification simultanément sur la performance d’équipe. Faute d’écrits sur la question, la compréhension du phénomène d’identification dans les équipes s’avère partielle. Par ailleurs, la définition et la mesure de l’identification à l’équipe sont affligées de plusieurs problèmes psychométriques, ce qui engendre beaucoup de confusion dans les écrits scientifiques portant sur l’identification à l’équipe. Devant ce constat, la présente thèse vise à approfondir la compréhension du phénomène d’identification à l’équipe sur la performance d’équipes interdisciplinaires et d’en clarifier la conceptualisation et la mesure. Dans cette optique, trois études, regroupées en deux articles, ont été menées auprès de deux échantillons indépendants. Ancré dans les écrits scientifiques portant sur l’identification à l’organisation (p.ex. Ashforth, & Mael, 1989; Christ, van Dick, Wagner & Stellmatcher, 2003; Edward, 2005; Tajfel, 1978), le premier article a pour visées de proposer une conceptualisation claire et intégrée de l’identification dans un contexte organisationnel, puis de développer et valider une mesure de l’identification à l’équipe. Deux études ont été réalisées pour évaluer les propriétés psychométriques de cette mesure. Des analyses factorielles exploratoires et confirmatoires, de même que des analyses de fidélité et de validité confirment les propriétés psychométriques préliminaires de l’échelle. Les implications pour la pratique et la recherche sont abordées en détail. La diversité est considérée comme l’un des obstacles à la performance d’équipe au sein d’équipes interdisciplinaires. C’est pourquoi le second article évalue ce phénomène en considérant l’impact de différents types d’identification (c.-à-d. l’identification à l’équipe et l’identification à la profession) sur la performance d’équipe. À la lumière du modèle d’Ilgen et collaborateurs (2005), les types d’identification et leur influence respective sur la performance d’équipe par l’entremise de processus d’équipe (c.-à-d. les conflits et la collaboration) ont été évalués. Cette étude est la première à considérer les interactions entre les types d’identification sur la performance d’équipe au sein d’équipes interdisciplinaires. Deux cent soixante-huit employés canadiens du système de la santé ont répondu à différents questionnaires autorapportés. Des analyses de processus conditionnels de médiations modérées (Hayes, 2013) démontrent que l’identification à l’équipe influence la performance d’équipe par l’entremise du processus de collaboration, alors que l’identification à la profession et les conflits n’auraient pas d’impact. Cette étude met en lumière l’impact de deux types d’identification en évaluant leurs impacts simultanément, en plus de suivre les recommandations de Mathieu et collaborateurs (2008) et d’évaluer simultanément l’impact de plus d’un type de processus d’équipe (c.-à-d. processus de transition, d’action et interpersonnel). Les implications pratiques qui découlent de cette étude incluent la formation d’équipe, (Salas et al., 2008), les activités de consolidation d’équipe (Klein et al. 2009) pour améliorer la collaboration, en plus de la rehausser l’attractivité de l’appartenance à l’équipe (Dutton et al., 1994) et de favoriser un style de leadership transformationnel (Hirst, et al., 2009) pour engendrer une plus grande identification à l’équipe. Une discussion générale précise la portée des résultats présentés dans le cadre des deux articles. / Diversity poses many challenges within teams, especially in regard to team performance. So far, some studies have shown a positive, negative and ever non-significant link between diversity and team performance. Since organizations are relying more often on interdisciplinary teams to help them solve the increasingly complex problems they face, it appears important to understand how diversity affects team performance. One fresh way to look at the problem is by looking at perceived diversity instead of objective diversity through the lenses of team identification. Indeed, strong team identification would attenuate perceived of diversity and would positively impact team performance. However, very few studies have investigated this phenomenon and, to our knowledge, none have looked at the impact of team identification influence on team processes nor looked at the impact of different types of identification on team performance. Due to a gap in the literature, the influence of identification within teams is not well understood. Moreover, the definition and measure of team identification has, so far, been plagued with numerous psychometric problems. This generates even more confusion surrounding the literature on team identification. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate the impact of team identification on team performance within interdisciplinary teams and to clarify its definition and measurement. In order to do so, three studies were conducted using two independent samples and are presented in two articles. Taking root in organizational identification literature (e.g. Ashforth, & Mael, 1989; Christ, van Dick, Wagner & Stellmatcher, 2003; Edward, 2005; Tajfel, 1978), the first article proposes a clearer and integrated definition of identification in an organisational context. Following the clear conceptualization of team identification, a new scale was developed and validated. Two studies were conducted to assess its psychometric proprieties. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis, plus reliability and validity analysis provide support for the scale’s reliability and validity. Practice and research implication are discussed in greater depth. Diversity is often considered an obstacle to team performance in interdisciplinary teams. Therefore, the second article addresses this issue by looking at the impact of types of identification (e.g. team and profession identification) on team performance. Drawing on Ilgen and collaborators’ (2005) model, the influence of these types of identification on team performance through their influence on team processes (e.g. conflict and collaboration) was evaluated. This study is the first to consider the interaction of different types of identification on team performance within interdisciplinary teams. Two hundred and sixty-eight Canadian healthcare employees answered five self-assessed questionnaires. Conditional process analyses (Hayes, 2013) show that team identification impacts team performance through its influence on collaboration, while neither identification to one’s profession nor conflicts impacts this relation. This study highlights the impact of different types of identification by considering their simultaneous effect. Moreover, in line with Mathieu et al.’s (2008) suggestion, different types of team processes were simultaneously evaluated (e.g. transition, action and interpersonal process). Practical implications that arise from this research includes team training (Salas et al., 2008), or team building activities (Klein et al. 2009) to improve collaboration, and heightened attractiveness of team membership (Dutton et al., 1994) or favoring transformational leadership (Hirst, et al., 2009) to foster greater team identification. A general discussion addresses the implications of the results presented in these two articles.

Although increased genome sequencing e orts have increased our understanding of genomic variability within many bacterial species, there has been limited application of this knowledge towards assessing current molecular typing methods and developing novel molecular typing methods. This thesis reports a novel in silico comparative genomic framework where the performance of typing methods is assessed on the basis of the discriminatory power of the method as well as the concordance of the method with a whole-genome phylogeny. Using this framework, we designed a comparative genomic ngerprinting (CGF) assay for Listeria monocytogenes through optimized molecular marker selection. In silico validation and assessment of the CGF assay against two other molecular typing methods for L. monocytogenes (multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and multiple virulence locus sequence typing (MVLST)) revealed that the CGF assay had better performance than these typing methods. Hence, optimized molecular marker selection can be used to produce highly discriminatory assays with high concordance to whole-genome phylogenies. The framework described in this thesis can be used to assess current molecular typing methods against whole-genome phylogenies and design the next generation of high-performance molecular typing methods from whole-genome sequence data. / xiii, 100 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

Thesis (MScAgric)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Forming part of a conservation programme, this study was concerned with two species of Cichlid fish (Oreochromis mossambicus and O. ni/oticus), which were brought into contact with each other by unnatural ways. They are now hybridizing to some extent and there is also evidence that the foreign O. ni/oticus may out compete the native O. mossambicus. To cast light on what the current distribution is of both these species and the hybrids in Southern Africa, it is important to identify specimens very accurately. In attempting to find genetic markers to distinguish between two species of Cichlids we tested 20 microsatellite dinucleotide (CAn) repeats during a preliminary study and found five of these promising to exhibit little intra-specific genetic diversity but large genetic variation between species. We amplified these five loci in 145 individuals from 10 populations, which included the two species and their hybrids. Exact sizes of the fragments were determined using an automated DNA sequencer. Between the two species, allele sizes were overlapping, but when data were analyzed by statistical models, the differences could be seen for populations, however on individual level there was overlap between the species. The hybrids were found to be intermediate positioned between the two pure species. Our attempt to assign individuals to populations provided doubtful results. Thus, using this set of markers, populations can be ascribed to one of these species, but not individuals by themselves. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: As deel van 'n natuurbewarings program, word daar in hierdie studie twee spesies van vis ondersoek was in kontak met mekaar gekom het op onnatuurlike wyse. Hierdie twee visspesies vanuit die CICHLIDAEfamilie (Oreochromis mossambicus en 0. ni/oticus) kan hibridiseer wanneer hul saam voorkom, maar dit is ook bekend dat die uitheemse O. ni/oticus die inheemse O. mossambicus kan bedreig in terme van leefruimte, kos en broeispasie. Om die voorkoms van hibriede tussen die twee spesies te ondersoek in Suider Afrika se varswater opvangsgebiede, is dit baie belangrik om individue baie akkuraat te identifiseer. In hierdie poging om genetiese merkers te vind wat die twee spesies van mekaar onderskei, het ons 20 mikrosateliet di-nulkleotied (CAn) herhalende volgordes op verskillende loci ondersoek. Vyf daarvan het belowend voorgekom om as spesie spesifieke merkers te dien. Die fragmente op die vyf loci is ge-amplifiseer in 145 individue vanuit 10 populasies. Presiese groottes van die fragmente is bepaal met behulp van 'n ge-outomatiseerde DNA volgorde bepaler waarna genotiepes vir elke individu toegeken is. Tussen die twee spesies het alleel groottes oorvleuel, maar wanneer data geanaliseer word met behulp van statistiese metodes, was verskille tussen die spesies duidelik op populasie vlak. Die hibriede het intemediêr tussen die twee spesies voorgekom. Dus met behulp van hierdie stel merkers kan onderskei word tussen die twee spesies op populasie vlak, hoewel individue nie op sig self identifiseer kan word nie.

Thesis (MScEng (Industrial Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / Traceability systems are capable of both tracking and tracing parts. They offer many benefits to an organisation from assisting with recall applications to monitoring the everyday workings of a production line or supply chain. There are numerous methods able to act as traceability systems but only a few can be regarded as automatic and unique identifiers. Automatic traceability of individual entities is the future. It is already widely used by a number of leading companies throughout different business sectors and wide mass adoption is imminent. At present, they are slightly more expensive than the simpler technologies but once mass produced, the cost will come down. To completely understand how traceability systems are implemented, practical experience is required. When starting a traceability project, there are a lot of different options. The different systems offer their own set of advantages and some don’t work in certain environments. It was for this reason that The Decision Making Model was developed to assist users through the difficult initial stages of traceability implementation (i.e. choosing the system most suitable to a particular environment). This model was programmed in Excel and supplies the user with a number of questions regarding the environment the system would work in as well as the user’s requirements. The answers to these questions help the user work through the different types of traceability options to eliminate unsuitable choices. The result is an easy to use program designed with the ability to be upgraded as the technologies evolve.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Ted C. Schroeder / Electronic animal identification systems are becoming more common in livestock auction markets because of increased numbers of cattle being electronically identified. More cattle are being individually identified because of increasing enrollment in marketing alliances and verification programs. Also, the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) has increased awareness and perhaps use of electronic identification. In this study, individual characteristics of livestock markets were analyzed to determine how they relate to a livestock market operator's views, concerns, and knowledge of the NAIS as well as adoption of RFID reading equipment. Investments in RFID tagging services and RFID reading equipment by livestock markets were estimated and price premiums associated with RFID tagged and preconditioned cattle were estimated. Data were from a national survey of livestock auction markets and cattle transaction data were obtained from three Kansas livestock markets. Auction markets that indicated they currently plan to add a RFID tagging service are likely to have more knowledge of the NAIS program standards, how to adopt the NAIS practices, and the probable costs involved. Managers of facilities that sell a large volume of livestock annually tend to have a higher level of understanding of how to adopt the NAIS practices and be more knowledgeable of the NAIS standards than operators of smallvolume facilities. Managers of markets that have operating RFID reader systems tend to be more understanding of how to adopt the NAIS practices and of costs associated with adopting the NAIS. Livestock market managers tend to be highly concerned that adoption of individual animal identification systems will adversely impact sale speed and tend to view the NAIS as a threat to their business. Large volume facilities, facilities that have registered their premises, and facilities that plan to add a RFID tagging service are more likely to adopt RFID reader systems. Economies of scale exist in RFID system adoption and RFID tagging services for auction markets. Preconditioned and RFID tagged cattle brought a significant premium at only one of three facilities where data were collected.

The San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta (SJSRD) of California is a riparian habitat that sadly represents the destructive forces and consequences of human impacts. A tributary to the SJSRD, the Calaveras River in Stockton, California, is a par1icularly degraded riparian system that recently has not been the focus of restoration effor1s. This study provides data about the current fish and mammals found in the Lower Calaveras River prior to any restoration efforts. Fish were sampled from February 2008 to February 2009 using a seine net and gill net. Fish were identified to species and length measurements and abundance were recorded. A total of 15 species were documented, only one of which was native (Sacramento sucker, Catostomus occidentalis). Dominant species throughout the sampling period included mostly those in the Family Centrarchidae. Other fish observed were golden shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas), threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense), and western mosquitofish (Gambusia aj]inis). Fish assemblage varied with changes in season and percent coverage of submerged aquatic vegetation (SA V). Bluegill and redear sunfish abundances were positively correlated. Largemouth bass and redear sunfish abundances were positively related to the percentage of SA V and to changes in season. Presence of mammals was documented using several techniques including livetrapping, soot track plates, photography, and remote sensor infrared trail cameras. Native mammals included North American river otter (Lontra canadensis), striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), raccoon (Procyon lotor), Botta's pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae), Califomia vole (Microtus californicus), California ground squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi), desert cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus auduboni), and beaver (Castor canadensis). Introduced species included house mouse (Mus musculus), black rat (Rattus rattus), muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). House mice were only captured in traps October 2008 through March 2009, and more males were captured than females. Most organisms in this ripmian habitat were found to be non-native, likely due to the habitat degradation and future work will track whether flora and fauna can be restored.