Today's manufacturers tend to use integrated manufacturing systems in order to achieve the capability to quickly respond to customer's requirements and produce high quality products in the shortest possible time and at the lowest possible cost. However, due to insufficient resources, manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are having difficulties in achieving this flexibility and competing with large companies. By integrating the manufacturing resources of many partners, which may be located in different regions, SMEs can form a global SME network to achieve the competitive edge. This need for the integration of globally distributed manufacturing resources across enterprise boundaries has been conceptualised with an integration concept of Virtual Computer Integrated Manufacturing (VCIM). / VCIM extends Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) system to the next stage of virtual enterprise, and aims to provide the capability to quickly respond to customers' product orders based on working status information of distributed resources in real time. In a VCIM system, manufacturing resources may belong to different partner enterprises, or be located at different areas, but all have the intention of working together to achieve market screen. The emphasis of VCIM is to integrate many manufacturing resources and provide cohesive services for customers who may be at different locations. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2007.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2001

Thesis (MBus)--University of South Australia, 1994

This study explores the perspectives of teachers and learners in flexible learning environments in relation to information and learning, and the implications of these perspectives for the design of effective library and information services. It adopted a case study methodology to investigate three flexible learning academic subjects offered at the University of Wollongong in Autumn Semester (March to June) 2000. Using a contextual and document review, teacher and student questionnaires, and in-depth interviews, data were gathered on participant perspectives on the following key areas of research interest: concepts of flexible learning; the flexible learning environment; the role of the teacher; the role of the learner; methods of communication; concepts of information; methods of presenting information; using information resources and services; the role of the librarian; concepts of learning; the learning process; and the relationships between information, learning and knowledge. Interview data were analysed using the constant comparative method to identify conceptual categories and higher-level themes within individual cases as well as collectively across all three cases. The main conclusions of the study were that: (1) the ways in which information and learning are conceived are central to understanding information use as part of the learning process; (2) there are a number of identifiable processes or phases involved in using information to learn; (3) the integration of information resources and communication mechanisms is a major benefit of the online learning environment; and (4) the design of the flexible learning environment influences student approaches to learning and the use of information and learning resources. The implications of the study conclusions for library and information services include the need for librarians to develop an understanding of the relationship between information and learning; the need to encourage active engagement with information, qualitative/deep approaches to learning, and critical and interpretative thinking; the need to integrate library resources, services and communication systems into online learning environments; and the need for librarians to develop their roles as collaborative partners with teachers, as guides and facilitators of student learning, as designers of information environments, and as advocates for the incorporation of information resources and services into flexible learning environments. Suggestions for further research include ongoing studies on information conceptualisation and use within flexible learning environments, and a larger scale phenomenographic study of conceptions of information.

This thesis explores the design of flexible pipes, buried in shallow trenches with dry sand backfill. The thesis reports the comprehensive analysis of twenty-two full-scale load tests conducted between 1989 and 1991 on pipe installations, mainly within a laboratory facility, at the University of South Australia. The pipes were highly flexible, spirally-wound, uPVC pipes, ranging in diameter from 300 to 450 mm. Guidelines were required by industry for safe cover heights for these pipes when subjected to construction traffic. The tests were designed by, and conducted under the supervision of, the author, prior to the author undertaking this thesis. As current design approaches for pipes could not anticipate the large loading settlements and hence, soil plasticity, experienced in these tests, finite element analyses were attempted. Extensive investigations of the materials in the installations were undertaken to permit finite element modelling of the buried pipe installations. In particular, a series of large strain triaxial tests were conducted on the sand backfill in the buried pipe installations, to provide an understanding of the sand behaviour in terms of critical state theory. Subsequently a constitutive model for the soil was developed. The soil model was validated before implementation in an element of finite element program, AFENA (Carter and Balaam, 1995). Single element modelling of the triaxial tests proved invaluable in obtaining material constants for the soil model. The new element was applied successfully to the analysis of a side-constrained, plate loading test on the sand. The simulation of the buried pipe tests was shown to require three-dimensional finite element analysis to approach the observed pipe-soil behaviour. Non-compliant side boundary conditions were ultimately adjudged chiefly responsible for the difficulty in matching the experimental data. The value of numerical analyses performed in tandem with physical testing was apparent, albeit in hindsight. The research has identified the prediction of vertical soil pressure above the pipe due to external loading as being the major difficulty for designers. Based on the finite element analyses of the field tests, a preliminary simple expression was developed for estimation of these pressures, which could be used with currently available design approaches to reasonably predict pipe deflections.

Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2006--Aachen.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2001? / Bibliography: leaves 172-184.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on April 16, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Univ., Diss.--Fribourg, 2004.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.