Based on a field study carried out in Kirikkale, this study investigates the transformation of religious tradesmen of small cities in Turkey with emphases on : (a) the role of religious values within the free market economy / (b) the &amp / #65533 / work ethics&amp / #65533 / of religious tradesmen and (c) the transformation process of religious values within the present economic system. In the study, semistructured in-depth interviews and official documents were used to collect the research data. The thesis of Weber on the relationships between religious values and the rational capitalism was examined to better understand the work ethics and the religious values of religious tradesmen. The opinions of Weber, Rodinson and &Uuml / lgener about the causes of the nonexistence of a rational capitalism in the Islamic world were evaluated throughout the study. In this respect, the emergence and the development of the Muslim guilds and petty bourgeoisie within the traditional Islamic societies were also studied. The research results suggest that the incorporation into the free market economy brings about the transformation the religious economic convictions or values. Therefore, the chance of survival and the applicability of such religious values within this economic system seem to be impossible. In summary, this particular research indicates that the religious tradesmen do not face with serious contradictions in their economic activities. They rather seem to be involved in a transformation and adaptation process in the free market economy.

Natural convection with high cooling effects is of increasing interest in cold region geotechnical engineering. To study natural air convection in a highly-permeable porous medium, convective and conductive heat transfer experiments were carried out using an insulated cylindrical tank filled with styrofoam chips. Convection and conduction were caused by controlling the temperatures at the top and bottom of the tank, and a series of cross-sectional conductive and convective isotherms were generated from collected temperature data. Additional convective patterns were obtained from tests by centrally localized heating below or cooling above. Flow velocities were measured at the center of the tank. Results showed that convective heat transfer rate was higher than thermal conduction. Convective isothermal patterns varied with various boundary conditions and could be influenced by small temperature perturbation. Given appropriate environmental conditions, efficient convective cooling effects can be used to enhance ground freezing or to protect permafrost from degradation. / Geotechnical Engineering

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

This thesis examines the adoption process of Information Technology (IT)-based solutions within small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia, in the furniture and handicraft industries. As the Indonesian SMEs grew in size, they faced new problems in managing their businesses. They have tried to use IT to support their business and resolve some of these problems. Yet in their efforts to adopt IT, they often faced new problems by introducing new technology into the organisation. The thesis examines the experiences of 35 Indonesian SMEs when they adopted IT. We investigated what factors were influencing IT adoption; the process of IT adoption which covers decision making, implementation or deployment and evaluation; and how SMEs cope with and recover from failure. The participants’ experiences were compared to what has been reported in the existing literature. Analysis of the relevant research literature revealed some unexplored issues concerning IT adoption within SMEs. Most of the published research has been conducted in developed countries, with little in developing or less developed countries. From those few, only one was conducted in Indonesia and it was about IT diffusion. The focus of previous studies was mainly to explore factors influencing IT adoption and they mostly utilised survey techniques to elicit the factors. The scant literature suggests that exploring IT adoption can be approached from three different perspectives: individualist, structuralist, and interactive process. This thesis uses the interactive process approach to explore how well those factors that have been well documented in the literature actually work in Indonesian SMEs’ IT adoption. As a result of our exploration, we formulated a model of an interactive process view of IT adoption within Indonesian SMEs. A qualitative approach was used to answer research questions and explore the participants’ experiences in depth. In this thesis, we used in-depth interviews to explore participants’ experiences. These interviews enabled us to draw out not only IT adoption processes but also successes and failures in IT adoption. Semi-structured interviews were used as the data collection tool. They provided guidance so the interviews stayed well within the focus of the thesis, yet provided room to explore new and relevant issues that emerged during the interview process. Content analysis of the interview transcripts was used to extract answers given during the semi-structured interviews and to identify new themes that emerged from the data. The analysis resulted in important findings. First, it confirms some factors found in the literature as actually influencing IT adoption in Indonesian SMEs. Despite some similarities, we found some differences such as government role and competitors’ influence on IT adoption. The other findings are concerned with the failures faced by some of the participants. We then explore the differences between failed and successful participants, and how Indonesian SMEs cope with and recover from failed IT deployment. Finally, we revised the initial model of the interactive process of IT adoption. The extended model captures new insights into success and failure of IT adoption, and could provide a better understanding of IT adoption within Indonesian SMEs. The interaction between different factors in the IT adoption shows how those factors influence each other and how different stakeholders could manage their own interests related to IT adoption. The improved model could be used to guide Indonesian SME managers to manage their adoption of IT more effectively.

[Abstract]A substantial amount of change management research exists internationally and in Australia in relation to the causes, processes and outcomes of organisational change in large organisations. However this does not reflect the change scenarios in SMEs. Furthermore, the academic and professional discipline of organisational change in Australia, while well-researched in some areas, remains embryonic when translatedto SMEs in a dynamic environment. Very few large scale state-wide and national surveys have been conducted in Australia. This study is filling the theoretical gap inrelation to the theory and practice relating to the nature, extent and characteristics of organisational change in Queensland Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs).The objective of this study was to examine the nature and extent of organisational change in Queensland SMEs. Five research questions were developed to inform thisresearch objective, including: What are the forces of change in Queensland SMEs?; To what extent does the main change driver (change agent) in SMEs possess effectivechange management skills?; What mental models do Queensland SME managers espouse in relation to the management of organisational change?; What is the natureand prevalence of change interventions for achieving organisational change in Queensland SMEs? ; and What is the impact of organisational size on the nature andprevalence of organisational change in Queensland SMEs? Eleven hypotheses in relation to the last research question were developed and tested.To answer the research questions, the study employed the use of quantitative data which was collected through a state-wide mail survey of 1000 Queensland SMEs. A34 percent response rate was achieved. The survey was adapted from a previous validated questionnaire measuring employee management and organisational change practices in Australian SMEs.The results indicate that by far the most important factor in the decision to introduce change in Queensland SMEs was customer expectations for quality. The survey results also show that, overall, the SMEs were able to achieve the objectives they pursued when implementing significant changes. The findings indicate that the main change drivers in Queensland SMEs possess a moderate profile in relation to change management skills. Furthermore, the findings reflect the view that managers tend tosupport forms of limited employee participation and consultation.Change practices are only moderately represented in Australian SMEs. Taken together with low participation of employees in the decision to employ these changes; low levels of union membership; a low presence of specialist HR managers in SMEs; and the fact that the majority of SMEs that do have written strategic plans do not use it to develop operational plans and drive day to day operations; a ‘transforming’ scenario in Queensland SMEs is unlikely. However, one very positive trend is the achievement by the majority of SMEs of change objectives pursued. Nevertheless, the fact that the mental models of Queensland SMEs favoured managerial prerogative is of more significance for the effectiveness of both the management of employees and the performance of SMEs.The findings show that organisational size is significant for the factors important in the introduction of organisational change, however size is not particularly significant in relation to the objectives pursued and achieved in the introduction of organisational change. Furthermore, size is also not significant in relation to the extent to which the main change driver (change agent) in SMEs possesses effective change management skills, and the mental models that Queensland SME managers espouse in relation to the management of organisational change. In contrast with these findings, the analysis suggests that organisational size is significant for the prevalence of change interventions/practices, with medium organisations employing change interventions to a significant greater extent. The thesis concludes with commentary on the practical implications for SME managers and policy and several directions for future research.

Medium access control (MAC) plays a vital role in satisfying the varied quality of service (QoS) requirements in wireless networks. Many MAC solutions have been proposed for these networks, and performance evaluation, optimization and enhancement of these MAC protocols is needed. In this thesis, we focus on the analysis and optimization of MAC protocols for some recently emerged wireless technologies targeted at low-rate and multimedia applications.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the information and communication technology (ICT) industries play a crucial role in the new economy. Most SMEs operate in a fiercely competitive environment; as such, it is important to optimize business practices. It is believed that performance measurement (PM) tools can help to identify weaknesses, clarify objectives and strategies, and improve management processes. While many theories on performance measurement and performance management have been developed mainly for large organizations over the past two decades, few have been tailored for SMEs. In addition, research highlights that these tools are difficult to adapt for SMEs. This research aims to identify and investigate the critical factors influencing the performance of SMEs in the ICT industries and, in doing so, develop a new PM framework that is able to effectively measure SME performance. To improve the accuracy of the judgments in this research, methodological triangulation strategy, which mixes both qualitative and quantitative approaches, was employed. At the same time, data-source triangulation was applied to reduce the impact of potential biases. In qualitative research, twenty interviews were conducted, sixteen cases were analysed through cross-case analysis. In quantitative research, sixty-six valid responses to questionnaire surveys were collected. This thesis has completed three major tasks: 1) Investigated critical success factors that affect the performance of SMEs. 2) Analysed existing SME performance measurement techniques in order to identify the best framework for SMEs in ICT industries. 3) Constructed a practical PM framework and implementation strategy for best-practice PM in ICT-related SMEs. Research results show that an effective PM system for ICT SMEs should help the companies to formulate right strategies that can especially manage the uncertainty of the external environment in their development. Importantly, a PM process should be constructed which aligns with the SMEs' daily processes such as ordinary planning, budgeting and reporting processes. Such a PM system should involve a flexible PM framework that can be adapted dynamically to suit the changes in the PM process. It is also required that the PM framework help SMEs identify customer needs, manage and measure customer satisfaction. A PM framework meets the above requirements can be built based on the structure of business excellence models and the theory of system management. At the same time, the KPIs should be incorporated in the PM system to help design the PM framework. The constructed PM framework involves measuring both performance determinants and performance results. The performance determinants, including both internal determinants and external determinants, are represented in following dimensions: capability building; resource developing and utilizing; environment adapting; strategies formulating; internal process managing and PM on innovation and learning. The performance results' dimension should include the financial results to satisfy the investors, the customer satisfaction indicators to meet customers' needs, the competitive indicators to reflect the competitive advantages, and the collaborative measures to measure the partnership.

Treatise (D.M.A.) -- Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Charles E. Brewer, Florida State University, School of Music. Title and description from treatise home page (viewed 10-6-04). Document formatted into pages; contains 83 pages. Includes biographical sketch. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Music, August 2001. / For mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra. Text excerpted from Collected Early Poems by Adrienne Rich. Includes performance notes. Also available on the Internet.

Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 2007.