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¡iAbstract¡j After the end of 2007, the Asus Eee PC first low price computer present to the market that creates the low-priced market of laptop computers which attracts the attention from all of computer manufacturers to launch new products to vie for the market, the Netbook (low price laptop computers) become the next ¡§Red Ocean Strategy Market¡¨ to the computer manufacturers. The Topology Research Institute estimated this kinds of low cost computer will enter the maturity development this year, and may have 680 million sets inquiry in 2010 . With the introduction of low-priced Netbook, Taiwanese manufacturers can extend its advantages of manufacturing technology and product development. Also, it leads to the booming businesses of relevant vendors and the opportunities creation of MIT (Made in Taiwan) brand development in the international market. . The research is based on the analysis of literatures, and focus on further discussions on Taiwan¡¦s current manufacturers of low-priced laptop computers and their future development trend. To understand the current business environment, industry structure, competitive advantages as well as the opportunities and challenges that Taiwan¡¦s manufacturers may face, the research chooses ASUSTeK Computer Inc. as a case study to examine its core capabilities and the strategies of Eee PC which adopts by Five Forces Analysis of Michael E. Porter. Furthermore, the research evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of its competitiveness using SWOT analysis. Finally, the research comes out with some suggestions for Asus Eee PC¡¦s future competitive strategies and development directions.

In the past years supply chain integration has become focus of interest, due to the discussion in the literature, that a positive direct relationship exists between higher supply chain integration and higher performance. Additionally, the environmental and social performance of supply chains gained much interest based on the new sustainability focus in the 21st century. The production of electrical and electronic equipment is one of the fastest growing global manufacturing activities. However, due to technological advancements, the quick obsolescence of electronics result in increased generation of waste of electrical and electronic equipment. Germany is one of the leading electrical and electronic equipment markets within Europe and is strongly affected by the EU directives and regulations, which aim not only to protect human health but also to improve the environmental performance of the electrical and electronic equipment operators in particular. Therefore, the environmental and social performance of German electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers is increasingly gaining importance. Respectively, the purpose of this study is to investigate what effect the depth of upstream supply chain integration has on the environmental and social performance of German electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers. This study is based on the quantitative research method. The required empirical data is generated through an online questionnaire, which has been sent to German electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers. An initial operationalization of upstream supply chain integration depth and environmental and social performance is used as a foundation for the questionnaire. It can be concluded that German electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers seem to have a coordinative upstream supply chain integration and presumably have a Abstract 4 moderate environmental and social performance. Furthermore, it can be assumed that the upstream supply chain integration depth has an effect on the environmental and social performance of German electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers.

As a step towards decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the transport sector, electrical vehicles (EVs) have become more and more popular. Two major problem areas the EV industry is currently facing are range limitations, i.e. being restricted by the capacity of the battery, as well as a demand for higher bandwidth as the in-vehicle communication increases. In this thesis, an attempt is made to address these problem areas by examining the energy consumption required by Controller Area Network (CAN) and Ethernet. In addition, the effects of Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) are reviewed. The protocols are examined by performing a theoretical analysis over CAN, Ethernet and EEE, physical tests over CAN and Ethernet, as well as simulations of EEE. The results show that Ethernet requires 2.5 to four times more energy than CAN in theory, and 4.5 to six times more based on physical measurements. The energy consumption of EEE depends on usage, ranging from energy levels of 40 \% less than CAN when idle, and up to equal amounts as regular Ethernet at high utilisation. By taking full advantage of the traits of Time-Sensitive Networking, EEE has the potential of significantly decreasing the amount of energy consumed compared to standard Ethernet while still providing a much higher bandwidth than CAN, at the cost of introducing short delays. This thesis provides insight into the behaviour of a transmitter for each of the three protocols, discusses the energy implications of replacing CAN with Ethernet and highlights the importance of understanding how to use Ethernet and EEE efficiently.

Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus is a vector-borne virus amplified by the Culiseta melanura mosquito in an enzootic avian cycle, causing high morbidity and mortality to horses and humans when contracted as incidental hosts. The virus is distributed across most of the eastern United States, Canada, and Gulf coast, and has been expanding in geographic range and season of activity over time. Spatial-temporal trends in Cs. melanura abundance were correlated with available meteorological (temperature and precipitation) and remotely sensed environmental data for the period of 1997-2012 in Connecticut. The effects of inter-annual changes in precipitation, temperature, and groundwater levels on Cs. melanura abundances using time-series linear regression and cross-correlation analyses were inconclusive. Habitat modeling using logistic regression and landscape-based predictive variables demonstrated strong efficiency (46.2%) and acceptable sensitivity and specificity (65.6 and 78.6%, respectively) using NDVI difference and distance from palustrine areas as predictive factors. Remotely sensed data can improve the understanding of vector abundance patterns, helping to forecast future outbreaks and regional expansions by guiding surveillance efforts.

The market for electrical devices still continues to increase all over the world and as a consequence the quantity of waste in the category of electronics rises. A huge proportion of the electronic waste is exported from the industrial countries to developing countries, in order to save costs, and also because of too few recycling plants in industrial countries. The significant environmental and social problem in this context is that the electronic devices are mostly recycled in informal plants. Thereby the burden for the people as well as the environment increases because e-waste includes a lot of toxic substances. The negative impacts are already obvious in countries of importation. This paper will illustrate this on the basis of the case study in Ghana in Africa. The problem is evident, and research, business as well as governments aim to counter this development. The paper will investigate the current approaches employed for solving the e-waste problem with respect to legal options and also regarding voluntary agreements and the provision of information about the actual situation to the consumers.

<p>The European Union Member States has a common environmental policy. The intention of the environmental policy and the WEEE and RoHS directives are to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment, protect human health and make use of natural resources. The WEEE is abbreviation for “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment”. The WEEE directive purpose is to improve the reuse, recycling and recovery in order to reduce the amount of disposal of equipment and the contents going to landfill. The RoHS directive is abbreviation for “Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment”. The six restricted substances are lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium and two brominated flame-retardants; PPB and PBDE. The purpose of the RoHS directive is to approximate the laws of the European Member States on the restrictions of the use of hazardous substances in EEE, “Electrical and Electronic Equipment”. The common legislation is needed because the companies shall have the same terms of concerns.</p><p>The amount of EEE that the European Member States generate is growing rapidly and that is why a common waste management is needed. The content of hazardous components in EEE is a major concern during the waste management phase and recycling of WEEE. The landfills do not have the possibility to handle the upcoming volumes of waste and the rubbish incineration creates high levels of heavy-alloy metal in our surroundings. The WEEE and RoHS directives covers ten categories of EEE and the producer responsibility shall encourage the design and production of EEE, which take into full account and facilitate their repair, possible upgrading, disassembly, reuse and recycling.</p><p>The Commission has not drawn up distinct guidelines and boundaries for the EEE within some of the categories in the WEEE and RoHS directives. This makes it difficult for the producers of EEE to determine if their products are within the scope of the directives. The definition of “large-scale stationary industrial tools” is one of the most difficult definitions to interpret. This definition includes four points that the EEE shall comply with to be allowed as an exemption.</p><p>Atlas Copco and CP are two of the concerned companies that have products within the scope of the WEEE and RoHS directives. In the Atlas Copco group there are two divisions; Atlas Copco and CP. Atlas Copco and CP develop, manufacture and market industrial tools, compressed air equipment, construction and mining equipment and assembly systems. It is Atlas Copco and CP’s industrial tools and assembly systems, which are affected by the WEEE and RoHS directives. Due to this Atlas Copco and CP needs to decide which of their products that is within the scope of the directives. Some of their industrial tools and assembly systems are in the grey-area of the legislation. The purpose of this thesis is to interpret the WEEE and RoHS directives and review Atlas Copco and CP’s industrial tools and assembly systems. The author believes that the majority of Atlas Copco and CP’s industrial tools and assembly systems are not “large-scale stationary industrial tools” because they sells as single units which the customers combine as they wish, to get the accurate performance. The tools are furthermore handhold and driven by electricity through a cable or battery and the industrial tools and assembly systems are not permanently fixed. The author’s decision which industrial tools and assembly systems are within the scope of the directives differentiates from Atlas Copco and CP’s decision.</p>

<p>Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand that develop and manufacture electrical and electronic products are among other SMEs in the world meeting increasingly stringent legal and customer requirements related to environmental issues. Obstacles for the SMEs around the world to meet these requirements are almost the same in form of lack of knowledge, budget and resources. The differences between SMEs in Thailand and SMEs in the EU, Japan or even Korea are that these countries have been developed the eco-design concept and SMEs have been involved in eco-design activities for many years. This process and activities are new both for the SMEs and for the supporting institutes and organisations in Thailand. Thailand has just started to build up the infrastructure to support the SMEs to implement the eco-design concept and to work more with product related environmental issues. The focus right now for the SMEs in this research is to comply with the EU Directives, RoHS and WEEE, and this is where the main investments are made, e.g. in order to be able to export to the demanding EU market.</p><p>This research is investigating what kind of environment demands that SMEs in Thailand that develop and manufacture electrical and electronic products have on their products, how they handle these requirements and also what obstacles there are for implementing a more product related environmental concept, also known as eco-design, Design for the Environment (DfE), Green Design or Environmentally Oriented Design. A research in form of interviews and factory visits has been done with five different SMEs in Thailand. These five SMEs have also participated in the first official eco-design projects in Thailand with funding from the government in Thailand and also some from the EU. Interviews have been conducted with involved parties in these project such as institutes and experts provided by Universities. These interviews were made in order to get their opinion and experience about the present situation for SMEs in Thailand that develop and manufacture electrical and electronic products to work with product related green issues.</p><p>The research shows that these companies have the possibilities and conditions to work further on with the eco-design concept in the future. Their participation in the eco-design projects has been a good experience and there is evidence of strong support from the management and owners, environmental awareness, pro-active work and motivation among the companies. The obstacles are as mentioned above concerning lack of resources, knowledge and experience of how these environmental demands and requirements will affect the product development process. This lack of experience depends mostly on the fact that these eco-design projects are the first projects in this field for the companies. These five companies have now built up a fundamental knowledge but are still in need of further support. The communication between the SMEs and supporting parties are important and also one factor these five companies think is functioning well.</p>

The European Union Member States has a common environmental policy. The intention of the environmental policy and the WEEE and RoHS directives are to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment, protect human health and make use of natural resources. The WEEE is abbreviation for “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment”. The WEEE directive purpose is to improve the reuse, recycling and recovery in order to reduce the amount of disposal of equipment and the contents going to landfill. The RoHS directive is abbreviation for “Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment”. The six restricted substances are lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium and two brominated flame-retardants; PPB and PBDE. The purpose of the RoHS directive is to approximate the laws of the European Member States on the restrictions of the use of hazardous substances in EEE, “Electrical and Electronic Equipment”. The common legislation is needed because the companies shall have the same terms of concerns. The amount of EEE that the European Member States generate is growing rapidly and that is why a common waste management is needed. The content of hazardous components in EEE is a major concern during the waste management phase and recycling of WEEE. The landfills do not have the possibility to handle the upcoming volumes of waste and the rubbish incineration creates high levels of heavy-alloy metal in our surroundings. The WEEE and RoHS directives covers ten categories of EEE and the producer responsibility shall encourage the design and production of EEE, which take into full account and facilitate their repair, possible upgrading, disassembly, reuse and recycling. The Commission has not drawn up distinct guidelines and boundaries for the EEE within some of the categories in the WEEE and RoHS directives. This makes it difficult for the producers of EEE to determine if their products are within the scope of the directives. The definition of “large-scale stationary industrial tools” is one of the most difficult definitions to interpret. This definition includes four points that the EEE shall comply with to be allowed as an exemption. Atlas Copco and CP are two of the concerned companies that have products within the scope of the WEEE and RoHS directives. In the Atlas Copco group there are two divisions; Atlas Copco and CP. Atlas Copco and CP develop, manufacture and market industrial tools, compressed air equipment, construction and mining equipment and assembly systems. It is Atlas Copco and CP’s industrial tools and assembly systems, which are affected by the WEEE and RoHS directives. Due to this Atlas Copco and CP needs to decide which of their products that is within the scope of the directives. Some of their industrial tools and assembly systems are in the grey-area of the legislation. The purpose of this thesis is to interpret the WEEE and RoHS directives and review Atlas Copco and CP’s industrial tools and assembly systems. The author believes that the majority of Atlas Copco and CP’s industrial tools and assembly systems are not “large-scale stationary industrial tools” because they sells as single units which the customers combine as they wish, to get the accurate performance. The tools are furthermore handhold and driven by electricity through a cable or battery and the industrial tools and assembly systems are not permanently fixed. The author’s decision which industrial tools and assembly systems are within the scope of the directives differentiates from Atlas Copco and CP’s decision.

Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand that develop and manufacture electrical and electronic products are among other SMEs in the world meeting increasingly stringent legal and customer requirements related to environmental issues. Obstacles for the SMEs around the world to meet these requirements are almost the same in form of lack of knowledge, budget and resources. The differences between SMEs in Thailand and SMEs in the EU, Japan or even Korea are that these countries have been developed the eco-design concept and SMEs have been involved in eco-design activities for many years. This process and activities are new both for the SMEs and for the supporting institutes and organisations in Thailand. Thailand has just started to build up the infrastructure to support the SMEs to implement the eco-design concept and to work more with product related environmental issues. The focus right now for the SMEs in this research is to comply with the EU Directives, RoHS and WEEE, and this is where the main investments are made, e.g. in order to be able to export to the demanding EU market. This research is investigating what kind of environment demands that SMEs in Thailand that develop and manufacture electrical and electronic products have on their products, how they handle these requirements and also what obstacles there are for implementing a more product related environmental concept, also known as eco-design, Design for the Environment (DfE), Green Design or Environmentally Oriented Design. A research in form of interviews and factory visits has been done with five different SMEs in Thailand. These five SMEs have also participated in the first official eco-design projects in Thailand with funding from the government in Thailand and also some from the EU. Interviews have been conducted with involved parties in these project such as institutes and experts provided by Universities. These interviews were made in order to get their opinion and experience about the present situation for SMEs in Thailand that develop and manufacture electrical and electronic products to work with product related green issues. The research shows that these companies have the possibilities and conditions to work further on with the eco-design concept in the future. Their participation in the eco-design projects has been a good experience and there is evidence of strong support from the management and owners, environmental awareness, pro-active work and motivation among the companies. The obstacles are as mentioned above concerning lack of resources, knowledge and experience of how these environmental demands and requirements will affect the product development process. This lack of experience depends mostly on the fact that these eco-design projects are the first projects in this field for the companies. These five companies have now built up a fundamental knowledge but are still in need of further support. The communication between the SMEs and supporting parties are important and also one factor these five companies think is functioning well.