by Ho Ping-kuen Matthew. / Bibliography: leaves 59-60 / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1982

The primary purpose of this dissertation is to identify the factors which affect the accuracy of South African quantity surveyors' pre-tender price forecasts. Prices submitted by bidders at the tender submission stage of project development are utilised as the best practical measure for establishing the degree of accuracy achieved. A large number of design price forecasting techniques are available to estimators. Many of the techniques used in the early stages of design are applicable for providing budget amounts for design control purposes, whilst others are more· appropriate for forecasting anticipated tender sums. Features of price forecasting requiring attention at all stages of design development are identified as: (i) the influence of uncertainty inherent in the process, (ii) data / information availability and management, and (iii) the utilization of tendering data by means of 'feedback' systems. The factors affecting the accuracy of price forecasts are examined by means of a literature study, opinion surveys of estimators and empirical research on the results of estimate /tender comparisons. The relevance of the question of pre-tender price forecasts is demonstrated by the results of the study which indicates that the accuracy and reliability of South African quantity surveyors' estimates produced at the tender stage is inferior to that generally found overseas and do not meet the expectations of architects and clients. The conclusions drawn from this study indicate a distinct potential for improvement in early design stage price management.

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

The subject of the thesis is the study of operator functions in the setting of symmetric operator spaces. In this latter setting, it is of great importance to analyze the properties of so-called operator functions A --> f(A), where the variable A is a self-adjoint operator and f is a complex-valued Borel function on the real line. The thesis study the question of differentiability of this type of operator functions. The latter question is intimately related to the study of commutators. Text not only extends existing results to the setting of unbounded self-adjoint linear operators, but it is also shown that this can be obtained via a unified approach utilizing the left regular representation of von Neumann algebras.

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The optimal estimates of the eigenvalue gaps and eigenvalue ratios for the Sturm-Liouville operators have been of fundamental importance. Recently a series of works by Keller [7],Chern-Shen [3], Lavine [8], Huang [4] and Horvath [6] show that the first eigenvalue gap of the Schrodinger operator under Dirichlet boundary condition and the first eigenvalue ratio¡]£f2/£f1¡^of the string equation under Dirichlet boundary condition are dual problems of each other. Furthermore the problems when the potential functions and density functions are restricted to certain classes of functions can all be solved by a variational calculus method (differentiating the whole equation with respect to a parameter t to find £fn'(t)) together with some elementary analysis. In this thesis, we shall give a short survey of these result. In particular, we shall prove $3$ pairs of theorems. First when q is convex (£l is concave), then £f2-£f1¡Ù3 ¡]£f2/£f1¡Ù4¡^.If q is a single well and its transition point is £k/2 (£l is a single barrier and its transition point is £k/2), then £f2-£f1¡Ù3¡]£f2/£f1¡Ù4¡^.All these lower bounds are optimal when q(£l) is constant. Finally when q is bounded (£l is bounded), then £f2-£f1 is minimized by a step function (£f2/£f1 is minimized by a step function), after some additional conditions. We shell give a unified treatment to the above results.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Brian D. Steckler, George W. Thomas, Juliette A. Webb. "MBA professional report"--Cover. Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-98). Also available online.

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In this thesis, we consider parabolic partial differential equations such as the heat equation, the Fokker-Planck equation, and the porous media equation. Our aim is to develop methods that provide a priori estimates for solutions with singular initial data. These estimates are obtained by understanding the time decay of norms of solutions. First, we derive regularity results for the heat equation by estimating the decay of Lebesgue norms. Then, we apply similar methods to the Fokker-Planck equation with suitable assumptions on the advection and diffusion. Finally, we conclude by extending our techniques to the porous media equation. The sharpness of our results is confirmed by examining known solutions of these equations. The main contribution of this thesis is the use of functional inequalities to express decay of norms as differential inequalities. These are then combined with ODE methods to deduce estimates for the norms of solutions and their derivatives.