Electronic government (e-Government) projects create numerous benefits and opportunities for both governments and citizens worldwide. Accordingly, the increasing interest in e-Government raises the issue of how governments can increase citizen adoption and usage of their on-line services. The successful adoption of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), the explosive increase in Internet usage and the rapid development of e-commerce in private sectors have placed pressure on public organisations to interact electronically with citizens. Conversely, the success of e-Government does not depend only on the supplier side, but also on the demand side and the willingness to adopt the on-line service. The concept of e-Government was developed and implemented initially in industrialised countries. Consequently, it should not be assumed that this concept is automatically appropriate for developing countries. Thus far, e-Government still faces major challenges as it continues to expand in developing countries. Moreover, when introducing e-Government to developing nations, it is anticipated that more effort will be necessary than in developed countries. The objective of various e-Government initiatives has moved in the past decade towards establishing services offering greater accessibility for citizens. As a result, it is necessary to examine all possible factors to explain citizens' adoption and usage of such systems. Hence, numerous models of e-Government adoption and intention to use and their extensions have been proposed and applied to empirical studies. Obviously, e-Government has occurred due to the technological revolution following the diffusion of the Internet and the success of information systems (IS) in organisations and e-Commerce. However, regardless of their success within the general IS context, the models are limited in terms of considering the diversity of users; they tend to assume that all end-users are homogeneous. The end-users of e-Government systems are more diverse than e-Commerce, with comparisons of wider layers of user groups (for example, elderly and less well-educated people) who are more likely to encounter problems while interacting with e-Government systems. IS literature confirmed that users’ technical capabilities and management support are influenced by their technical knowledge and expertise. Therefore, this research argues that perceived support quality is a new way of looking at citizens’ adoption and usage in the e-Government system’s field and a major factor of e-Government system’s acceptance, particularly in developing countries. This study is the first to examine the roles of perceived support quality and support satisfaction in the context of government-to-citizen (G2C), and it aims to advance knowledge within the field of e-Government by revealing the roles of perceived support quality and satisfaction towards behaviour intention and usage in developing countries. The proposed model builds upon Wixom and Todd’s (2005) theoretical model, which, in turn, was based on the integration of DeLone and McLean model (1992) into the technology acceptance model (TAM). The strength of the integrated model lies in its ability to guide both IT design and predict usage behaviours towards the system under investigation, and assume the overall theoretical model to maintain validity in G2C settings. Thirteen hypotheses were formulated to test the proposed research model. Behaviour intention to use e-Government services was proposed as the dependent variable, while the independent variables were information quality; information satisfaction; system quality; system satisfaction; social influence; performance expectancy; effort expectancy; perceived support quality and support satisfaction. A quantitative approach was deemed best suited to test the proposed model. Using a survey method (i.e. paper-based and an on-line survey), a total of 1252 responses was collected; however, only 628 were analysed. To test the proposed e-Government model, the state of Kuwait was chosen as the application area and the official website of Kuwait Government On-line Services (KGOS) was selected, since it offers a number of services on-line. Elements were citizens who have had prior experience with the KGOS website, and the survey was conducted from 5th August to 10th October 2010. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was selected as the statistical analysis technique with the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) software. A total of 40 percent of the variance among the factors of support satisfaction, system satisfaction, information quality, effort expectancy and performance expectancy was explained by behavioural intention to use an e-Government system. All hypotheses were supported except for one. The findings confirm the significance to the support quality perceived by citizens, and also provide insights into whether user satisfaction literature and TAMs should be integrated to explain citizens’ intention to use e-Government systems. Thus, in terms of the theoretical implications, this study highlights the significance of recognising theoretical relationships when performing empirical research in e-Government settings. Consequently, to capture both the technical aspects and the services provided on-line, a new variable was introduced and renamed ‘perceived support quality’. Additionally, the model offers managers a new perspective for dealing with e-Government adoption by signifying the importance of support quality perceived by citizens. The proposed model provides government decision-makers in developing countries with an appropriate approach to determining which factors require attention in order to reap the highest benefits from e-Governments’ projects. This suggests paying less attention to the social influence (SI) factor and consider instead improving the quality of on-line support citizens demand.

No description available.

Presente em diversos processos industriais, que variam desde pequenas confecções até grandes indústrias da área de metal-mecânica, os problemas de empacotamento visam definir o posicionamento de itens menores sobre objetos maiores minimizando, frequentemente, a perda de material utilizado. O problema de empacotamento de peças irregulares em faixas, estudado nesta pesquisa, tem como principal característica, e obstáculo, possuir itens irregulares. Em algumas indústrias surge, após a determinação do empacotamento, um segundo problema: a determinação do caminho mínimo de corte. Embora a solução do primeiro influencie fortemente a resolução do segundo, não é de nosso conhecimento que existam, até o momento, estratégias que integrem esses problemas. Neste trabalho, são propostos dois modelos integrados de empacotamento de peças irregulares e caminho de corte. O primeiro modelo busca minimizar o caminho de corte entre as peças considerando um ponto fixo de início de corte (vértice fixo) para cada peça, enquanto que o segundo considera o corte por peça a partir de um vértice qualquer das peças. Testes computacionais mostram que é vantajosa a integração dos problemas contudo, como ambos são problemas de difícil solução, o problema integrado é pelo menos tão difícil quanto os problemas isolados, logo apenas instâncias de pequeno porte foram resolvidas de forma exata. Uma matheurística, baseada no algoritmo genético de chaves aleatórias viciadas, é proposta para o problema de empacotamento de peças irregulares em faixa em domínio contínuo e, em seguida, estendida para o problema integrado. Os resultados são promissores, pois a matheurística consegue encontrar solução para instâncias que não haviam sido resolvidas através dos modelos integrados previamente propostos. / Having great applicability in industries, ranging from small clothing industries to large metal mechanic ones, packing problems aim to determine the positioning of small pieces over a large object minimizing, for instance, raw material waste. The main characteristic and obstacle of the irregular strip packing problem, studied in this research, is the irregular shape of its pieces. In some industries, after a layout of pieces has been defined, a second problem arises: the cutting path determination problem. Although the solution of the first strongly influences the resolution of the second, to the best of our knowledge, there are no strategy to integrate these problems. Here, we propose two irregular strip packing and cutting path integrated models. The first one minimizes the cutting path between the pieces considering that the cutting starts at a fixed vertex for each piece, while the second considers the cutting start point in any vertex of the pieces. Computational tests show that it is advantageous to integrate the problems, however, as both are difficult to solve, the integrated one is at least as difficult as each of them, so only small instances were solved to optimality. A matheuristic, based on the biased random-key genetic algorithm, is proposed for the continuos irregular strip packing problem and then extended to the integrated problem. The results are promising, the matheuristics is able to find solution for instances that had not been solved through the previously proposed integrated models.

Thesis (M. of Gerontological Studies)--Miami University, Dept. of Sociology and Gerontology, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], v, 57 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-51).

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de NÃvel Superior / A meta do trabalho à analisar a capacidade de se modelar a emissÃo de poluentes provenientes dos veÃculos transportadores de carga em Ãreas urbanas adensadas, por meio de modelos integrados de emissÃo e simulaÃÃo de trÃfego. Estes modelos sÃo comumente utilizados em atividades de planejamento de transportes e gerenciamento de trÃfego. Ademais, à proposto e detalhado um mÃtodo de coleta de emissÃes com dispositivo embarcado em campo, alÃm de simulaÃÃes de trÃfego com o objetivo de estimar as emissÃes de poluentes de veÃculos de carga em Ãrea urbana. à apresentado o detalhamento dos experimentos para anÃlise dos simuladores de trÃfego com modelos de emissÃo integrados. TrÃs simuladores de trÃfego foram utilizados na estimaÃÃo das emissÃes: AIMSUN, INTEGRATION e VISSIM. O experimento mostrou que os limites de emissÃes estabelecidos por lei nÃo estÃo sendo observados para os Materiais Particulados. O experimento mostrou que para Materiais Particulados o simulador de trÃfego AIMSUN apresentou dados mais prÃximos dos coletados em campo, jà para MonÃxido de Carbono e Ãxidos de NitrogÃnio o simulador INTEGRATION apresentou dados mais prÃximos, considerando o fator de suma importÃncia, a ausÃncia de calibraÃÃo dos modelos, mostrando a necessidade de calibraÃÃo acurada para levantamentos mais prÃximos dos colhidos em campo, pois os resultados foram pÃfios comparados com os reais. Para veÃculos de maiores dimensÃes, foram observados menores Ãndices de emissÃes, em funÃÃo de a modelagem considerar fortemente a velocidade e aceleraÃÃo para realizar as estimativas. Por Ãltimo, com o aumento do trÃfego foi observado aumento de emissÃes de Materiais Particulados, mas os Ãxidos de Carbono e NitrogÃnio se mantiveram aproximadamente constantes com a variaÃÃo do trÃfego. / The main topic of this work is the analysis of the integrated modelling of air pollutants emissions of light-duty vehicle in urban areas with dynamic traffic models. These models constitute fundamental components to support the development and assessment of traffic management policies, and the optimization of their parameters, to alleviate the negative impacts of road traffic. Furthermore, it is proposed and detailed a method for collecting real emission from light-duty vehicle in a dynamic traffic state. In this work, the details of the experiments for analysis of traffic simulators with integrated emission models are presented. Three traffic simulators have been used in the analysis: AIMSUN, INTEGRATION and VISSIM. The experiment showed that the emission limits established by law are not being observed/real for Particulate Materials (PM). The experiment showed that the estimative of PM from AIMSUNâs model is closest presented data real, since for Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Oxides the INTEGRATIONâs model is better. In this work not employed calibration effort, showing the need for more accurate calibration for future researchs. For larger vehicles, lower emission rates were observed, depending on the modeling strongly consider the speed and acceleration to make the estimates. Finally, with the increase in traffic increased emissions of particulates were observed, but the oxides of carbon and nitrogen remained approximately constant with changes in the traffic.

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Surface-strip coal mine rehabilitation planning in South Africa and Australia is immature. Rehabilitation risk assessment, despite being advocated by leading practice guidelines and in some instances by legislation, is conducted with minimum requirements often met by rehabilitation professionals. Specialist data is gathered during mine approval and for the environmental impact assessment process. However, the focus of this is toward assessing mining impacts and not for rehabilitation risk assessment. Quantitative, integrated, multi-disciplinary rehabilitation risk assessment is seldom undertaken. This thesis provides a methodology towards the development of a quantitative, integrative, multi-disciplinary rehabilitation risk assessment model. Its purpose being to 'profile' surface-strip coal mine sites, in terms of their rehabilitation risk and potential for rehabilitation failure, from the outset of mine operations, with adjustments possible progressively during mine operations. The methodology was developed by first reviewing techniques suitable for the development of the model, as well as techniques developed by others. Bayesian networks (BN) were found to be the most suited. A R2AIN framework was then provided as a process towards developing several BN risk event models that can amalgamate to form a synthesis rehabilitation risk assessment model. A case study soil compaction BN model was used to demonstrate the framework in South Africa and Australia. The case study showed that it is possible to integrate and quantify rehabilitation risk, and most importantly to segregate risk into discrete contributing multidisciplines for analysis. Risk percentages can be calculated per multi-discipline, per mine phase, per site, to aid site risk ‘profiling’. It is recommended that further risk event BN models be prioritised for development and that a rehabilitation risk assessment model be developed to synthesise these into one model. This will require continuous improvements in the method, to build confidence, including extensive risk event and synthesis BN model evaluation and testing; improved BN input node states and values; and simplification of the conditional probability table construction method. Adaptation to other mining types, development activities and other regions should be investigated, as well as spatial linkages to geographic information systems. This research contribution improves upfront mine rehabilitation planning and decision making, providing improved tools and techniques than what currently exist. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / PhD / Unrestricted

The asymptotic expression for the mean-squared prediction error is discussed for the near-unit-root models. We find the mean-squared prediction error based on the ordinary least square estimator is smaller than the one using pretest estimating under some certain conditions.

abstract: The development of microsimulation approaches to urban systems modeling has occurred largely in three parallel streams of research, namely, land use, travel demand and traffic assignment. However, there are important dependencies and inter-relationships between the model systems which need to be accounted to accurately and comprehensively model the urban system. Location choices affect household activity-travel behavior, household activity-travel behavior affects network level of service (performance), and network level of service, in turn, affects land use and activity-travel behavior. The development of conceptual designs and operational frameworks that represent such complex inter-relationships in a consistent fashion across behavioral units, geographical entities, and temporal scales has proven to be a formidable challenge. In this research, an integrated microsimulation modeling framework called SimTRAVEL (Simulator of Transport, Routes, Activities, Vehicles, Emissions, and Land) that integrates the component model systems in a behaviorally consistent fashion, is presented. The model system is designed such that the activity-travel behavior model and the dynamic traffic assignment model are able to communicate with one another along continuous time with a view to simulate emergent activity-travel patterns in response to dynamically changing network conditions. The dissertation describes the operational framework, presents the modeling methodologies, and offers an extensive discussion on the advantages that such a framework may provide for analyzing the impacts of severe network disruptions on activity-travel choices. A prototype of the model system is developed and implemented for a portion of the Greater Phoenix metropolitan area in Arizona to demonstrate the capabilities of the model system. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering 2012

Este estudo mensurou os efeitos potenciais do balanceamento de atividades (em especial entre emprego e residência) sobre o tráfego em termos de velocidade média, veículos-quilômetro (VKM) e veículos-hora viajados(VHR), tendo como pano de fundo a Região Metropolitana de São Paulo. Foi verificada a viabilidade da aplicação de processo sintético a modelos integrados de uso do solo e transporte, contudo algumas dificuldades impossibilitaram sua aplicação dentro do prazo disponível. Foram então identificados modelos tradicionais, bem como modelos integrados de uso do solo e transportes já implementados na região e o recente estudo do Metrô – Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo foi definido como fonte de parâmetros e modelos para a aplicação proposta de políticas de balanceamento. Foram criados quatro cenários básicos de balanceamento entre emprego e residência a serem comparados com um cenário base representando da forma mais acurada possível a demanda de tráfego em 1997. Dois cenários se basearam na redistribuição espacial de população, mantendo-se fixa a distribuição de empregos do cenário original. Outros dois basearam-se na redistribuição de empregos com a manutenção da distribuição da população. Quatro cenários adicionais foram propostos para verificar os efeitos do balanceamento aplicado à área restrita ou a um dado nível de renda. A redistribuição integral de população apresentou melhores resultados, notadamente a redução potencial de mais de 33% de VHT e de em torno de 9% de VKT. Nem todos os resultados das redistribuições de empregos foram tão positivos, embora se tenha verificado a redução de VHT nestes cenários. Além disso, os resultados não apresentaram tendência linear, requerendo maior esforço quanto maior o nível de benefícios desejado através do balanceamento. / The present study measured the potential effects of the activity-balancing (particularly jobs and housing) on the traffic in terms of average speed, vehiclekilometer (VKT) and vehicle-hour traveled (VHT) in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo City. It verified that using a synthesized process applied to an integrated land use and transportation model is feasible. Nevertheless, it was not possible to implement the application due to some difficulties and the time limit. Traditional and integrated models applied to the area were then identified, and the recent study of the Metrô – the Subway Company of São Paulo, which was based upon a broad Origin-Destination survey, was chosen as source of models and parameters for the jobs-housing balance policy application. Four jobs-housing balance scenarios were proposed and compared with a basic one, representing the existing transportation demand for 1997 as close as possible. Two scenarios were based on the population r edistribution based on the fixed original employment distribution. Two other were based on the redistribution of jobs with a fixed population distribution. Four additional scenarios were proposed in order to identify the effects of jobs-housing balance applied to specific area or population income level. The best results achieved were found for the population redistribution, remarkably full redistribution would potentially reduce VKT by over 33% and VHT by around 9%. Not all the results generated by the employment redistribution were good although VHT decreased in both scenarios. In addition, it was noticed that the effects are not linearly related to the balancing achieved, gradually diminishing the more balancing is reached.