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Electronic textiles are a sound platform for wearable computing. Many applications have been devised that use sensors placed on these textiles for fields such as medical monitoring and military use or for display purposes. Most of these applications require that the sensors have known locations for accurate results. Activity recognition is one application that is highly dependent on knowledge of the sensor position. Therefore, this thesis presents the design and implementation of a method whereby the location of the sensors on the electronic textile garments can be automatically identified when the user is performing an appropriate activity. The software design incorporates principle component analysis using singular value decomposition to identify the location of the sensors. This thesis presents a method to overcome the problem of bilateral symmetry through sensor connector design and sensor orientation detection. The scalability of the solution is maintained through the use of culling techniques. This thesis presents a flexible solution that allows for the fine-tuning of the accuracy of the results versus the number of valid queries, depending on the constraints of the application. The resulting algorithm is successfully tested on both motion capture and sensor data from an electronic textile garment. / Master of Science

Given the mission of community colleges, their leaders are often responsible for developing resources to support student success and improve relationships with surrounding communities. To accomplish these goals, community college leaders sometimes participate in cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) since CSPs can strengthen relationships and develop resources across sectors. However, little is known about campus and community leaders' perceptions of forming CSPs and the value they generate. This study examined campus and community leaders' perceptions of CSP participation, specifically the formation process and the value created. Guided by the Collaborative Value Framework (Austin and Seitanidi, 2012a), I conducted a multi-site case study of four community colleges in western rural North Carolina, with each college participating in a CSP designed to support adult students through a workforce development program. Findings revealed intricacies of the CSP formation process and the rich array of value created from CSP participation. Further, each case held a distinct personality, represented by a metaphor to highlight its unique findings: The Phoenix, The Beehive, The Compass, and The Treasure. Finally, leaders perceived CSP participation to be so enriching that each organization planned to continue, expand, or create new CSPs to meet additional shared needs. Leaders revealed a learning process connected to CSP participation that resulted in continual refinement and enhanced plans for future CSPs, illustrating the benefits of CSPs for addressing shared campus and community goals. Findings offer several implications for campus and community leaders, as well as future research and policymaking related to campus and community CSP participation. / Doctor of Philosophy / Given the mission of community colleges, their leaders are often responsible for developing resources to support student success and improve relationships with surrounding communities. To accomplish these goals, community college leaders sometimes participate in cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) between organizations. However, little is known about campus and community leaders' perceptions of forming CSPs and the value they generate. This study examined campus and community leaders' perceptions of CSP participation, specifically the formation process and the value created. I conducted a multi-site case study of four community colleges in western rural North Carolina, with each college participating in a CSP designed to support adult students through a workforce development program. Findings revealed the importance of establishing solid practices when initially forming a CSP to strengthen the collaboration. A wide variety of rich types of value creation was developed over the course of these CSPs, going well beyond the traditional expectations of simply sharing basic resources between organizations. Further, each case held a distinct and insightful personality, represented by a metaphor to highlight its uniqueness: The Phoenix, The Beehive, The Compass, and The Treasure. Finally, leaders perceived CSP participation to be so enriching that each organization planned to continue, expand, or create new CSPs to meet additional shared needs. Leaders learned new ways to improve current and future CSPs. This study can help campus and community leaders make decisions about the feasibility of participating in a CSP to address a shared goal more effectively rather than tackling a more complex problem single handedly.

Context: In many organizations, practices and processes of software engineering are carried out in a value-neutral setting. These value-neutral settings within software development are responsible for project failures. Value-based software engineering (VBSE) manages these value neutral settings by integrating value-oriented perspectives into software engineering. The fundamental factors that differentiate VBSE from value-neutral software engineering are value dimensions that play a crucial role in companies' success by managing customer needs, demands, and expectations Objectives: The aims of this master thesis are to 1) systematically classify the contributions within VBSE and 2) investigate practical application and validation of solutions in industry to determine their practical usability and usefulness. Methods: In this study, systematic mapping, followed by systematic review were used as research methods. Results: The findings of systematic mapping show that a clear majority of value-based research has been conducted within requirements engineering, and verification and validation. Whereas, there were not many studies discussing value-based design. In terms of research types used, evaluation research and solution proposal were the most dominant contributions. While experience reports and philosophical research were less emphasized. In general, value-based contributions such as recommendations and processes were highly reported in VBSE studies. In addition, the finding of systematic review indicates that although many solutions were proposed for value-based requirements engineering but in the absence of qualitative and quantitative results from usability and usefulness perspectives make it hard for practitioners to adopt for industrial practices. Conclusion: The systematic classification of studies and resulting maps not only give an overview of existing work on VBSE but also identifies interesting research gaps which can be used by researchers to plan and carry out future work. The findings of systematic review can be used by industry practitioners to assess the level of applicability of the proposed value-based requirements engineering solutions with respect to their application/validation context and usability and usefulness. / Naseer Jan, Cell: 0046736181463, Muhammad Ibrar, Cell: 0046760605212

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How does material production become socially recognised in capitalism? This is a fundamental question to be addressed in capitalist production, since material production takes place privately and independently in a global and atomistic system. This thesis shows that the question is tackled by Marx in the first three chapters of Capital. The process of social recognition of material production is that of the realisation of work carried out privately and independently as part of the social labour. For Marx this occurs through the private and independent work becoming objective social labour as the substance of the value of commodities, and through the latter finding its necessary developed mercantile expression in the price form of commodities. Therefore, private and independent work becomes social labour through the recognition of its product as equivalent to a certain amount of money. The thesis argues that Marx’s answer is powerfully insightful but flawed because it did not succeed in fully characterising the historical specificity of commodity. Commodity is not merely the differentiated unity of use value and value but of use value and mercantile use value, and of labour value and mercantile value. The former dialectic is immediate and distinguishes between the utility of commodity as a direct means of consumption or production and that as a means of exchange, fully determining the behaviour of the private and independent commodity producer. The latter dialectic is objective and distinguishes between commodity as the embodiment of the social labour necessary to reproduce it and as the embodiment of command over social labour, enabling the adjustment of the productive structure. Both dialectics are mediated by the mercantile form of value, which allows the indirect expression of labour value as the gravitational force of the system. The theory of commodity offered in this thesis, unlike that of Marx, consistently hinges on the atomistic private and independent commodity producer. The thesis shows that commodity production is the organisation of society’s labour for its material reproduction, just as in any previous mode of production. The discovery of the generic aspect of commodity production breaks the false immediate link between production and supply, and that between the labour theory of value and both the supply-side-determined theory of price and the single-factor theory of production. The thesis also shows that the mercantile form of value is what allows society’s labour to become an objective and autonomous materially abstract substance regulating the adjustment of the productive system under the form of material signals. This is the specific aspect of a global mode of production comprised of free and independent individuals. The mercantile form of value is thus Adam Smith’s invisible hand. Finally, the thesis analyses some implications of the framework with regard to the analysis of monetary phenomena, capital accumulation and sustainable development, and reviews the most popular Marxian topic in Economics: the transformation of values into prices of production.

The Aviation Industry in South Africa is considered to be a budding industry with an expected growth rate of 14% for each of the next three years. Considering that, plenty investment and expansion possibilities are probably available in this industry. Nonetheless, given the current economic situation, challenges may exist that necessitates the development of a decision framework. The aim of this framework should thus be to assist with informed decision-making; whether to invest in, or utilize opportunities that may occur within a given prospective “high” growth situation. In the light of all of this, a specific aviation entity desires to exploit possible business opportunities that may occur. Provided the relative high growth situation in the Aviation Industry, as mentioned above, the entity has a specific need for a decision tool which could determine whether to invest in new projects or not. In order to meet this need, a decision framework has been developed during this study. Considering the emphasis currently placed on wealth creation in the business environment, it is considered appropriate to utilize the value-based management approach in this study, with specific reference to capital budgeting techniques in developing a decision framework. Data for the study has been obtained from the participating aviation entity, who was considering investment in a specific project, given the previously referred to prospective high growth situation in the Aviation Industry. The decision framework or model was developed using Microsoft Excel as the development platform. Based on the input data, as received from the aviation entity, the results from the decision model indicated that the considered project was indeed financially viable. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The Aviation Industry in South Africa is considered to be a budding industry with an expected growth rate of 14% for each of the next three years. Considering that, plenty investment and expansion possibilities are probably available in this industry. Nonetheless, given the current economic situation, challenges may exist that necessitates the development of a decision framework. The aim of this framework should thus be to assist with informed decision-making; whether to invest in, or utilize opportunities that may occur within a given prospective “high” growth situation. In the light of all of this, a specific aviation entity desires to exploit possible business opportunities that may occur. Provided the relative high growth situation in the Aviation Industry, as mentioned above, the entity has a specific need for a decision tool which could determine whether to invest in new projects or not. In order to meet this need, a decision framework has been developed during this study. Considering the emphasis currently placed on wealth creation in the business environment, it is considered appropriate to utilize the value-based management approach in this study, with specific reference to capital budgeting techniques in developing a decision framework. Data for the study has been obtained from the participating aviation entity, who was considering investment in a specific project, given the previously referred to prospective high growth situation in the Aviation Industry. The decision framework or model was developed using Microsoft Excel as the development platform. Based on the input data, as received from the aviation entity, the results from the decision model indicated that the considered project was indeed financially viable. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In order to grow and survive, a firm must create value with consumers in ways that both fit in with consumer demands and stand out from competitors. Focusing on and understanding consumer and firm assessments of value and creation of value has become a central scope in the contemporary strategic management and marketing literature for understanding and explaining firm survival and success. Consequently, the overall aim of this thesis is to provide a conceptually and empirically grounded understanding of consumers’ and managers’ value assessments and behavior in value creation. This thesis draws on a consumer experience perspective and theories on social construction, organizational identity, self-congruence, and the theory of attractive quality, and combines multiple qualitative and quantitative studies. The findings in this thesis shed light on the interplay between consumers, firms, and contextual structures in value creation. Contextual structural, cultural, and political forces are shown to affect and be affected by the shared and individual cognitions of value creation that firms and consumers use in their assessment and creation value. The results of the study enhance the understanding of how firms can adopt various strategic schemas or organizing logics to optimize different types of use value creation when choosing between opposing and contradictive demands in their value creation. Furthermore, the thesis provides a deeper understanding of the hierarchical nature of consumer judgments of value that can be used to enhance the effectiveness of firm prioritizations and as a foundation for future value-creating strategies.

Šiandieninėje ekonominėje situacijoje, pasauliui išgyvenant globalios finansų krizės padarinius, stiprėjant konkurencijai rinkose, kai konkurentai dėl rinkos dalies griebiasi nesąžiningų kovos priemonių, tokių kaip kainų dempingavimas ir pan., kiekvienas įmonės vadovų sprendimas turi būti vertinamas ekonominio efektyvumo aspektu, t.y. ar bus pasekoje sukurta papildoma vertė įmonei. Tradiciniai įmonės finansinę situaciją apibūdinantys grynojo pelno bei pardavimų rodikliai neatskleidžia tikrosios situacijos. Tuo tarpu ekonominės pridėtosios vertės EVA rodiklis skatina įmones efektyviai panaudoti ne tik skolintą, bet ir nuosavą kapitalą. Viena didžiausių problemų ta, kad dauguma Lietuvos įmonių vadovų, pasirinkusių įmonės vertinimui naudoti EVA, praktiškai nežino, kaip teisingai apskaičiuoti šį rodiklį, kaip teisingai nustatyti įmonės valdomo kapitalo kainą, nesugeba identifikuoti vertei darančių įtaką veiksnių ir susieti sprendimų priėmimo su bendru įmonės tikslu – kaip didinti EVA. Tyrimo objektas – vidutinio dydžio gamybinė įmonė UAB „TECA“. Šio darbo tikslas – atskleisti įmonės vertės kūrimo ekonominę prasmę ir svarbą, išanalizuoti rodiklio EVA koncepciją, jo pritaikymą ir diegimą Lietuvos įmonėje. Šiam tikslui pasiekti iškelti šie svarbiausi uždaviniai: • Atskleisti vertės sampratą ir vertės nustatymo problemą; • Pristatyti ekonominio pelno – EVA rodiklio – koncepciją, palyginti su tradiciniais pelnu pagrįstais įmonės veiklos vertinimo rodikliais; • Išanalizuoti EVA... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In today‘s economical situation, when world suffers from the consequences of global financial crisis, when competition increases in the markets, when competitors take unfair means of rivalry for the part of the market, such as price dumping and similar, when each decision of companies’ heads should be evaluated at the aspect of economical efficiency, i.e. whether consequently is going to be created an additional value for the company. Traditional indicators, defining financial situation of the company, of net profit and sales do not reveal real situation. Meanwhile economic value added EVA index motivates companies to efficiently use both not only the borrowed but also own capital. One of the biggest problems is that most Lithuanian companies’ heads, who for the evaluation of company choose EVA, practically do not know how to calculate this index correctly, how to determine correctly the price of company‘s controlled capital, are not able to identify factors, influencing value and to interconnect taking decisions with general aim of the company – how to increase EVA. Object of the research – medium manufacturing company UAB “TECA”. The aim of the thesis – is to reveal economical meaning and importance of creation of company value, to analyze the conception of EVA index, and its application and implementation in Lithuanian company. For the achievement of the aim there are being set the following most important tasks: • To reveal the concept of value and the problem of value... [to full text]