Following the growth of IC and opto-elctronic industry in Taiwan in recent years, vacuum coaters used in the both industries has drawn a lot attention and initiated a growing investment in this sector. Conventional wisdom toward this industry had been much related to consumer products such watch cases and low-price optical lenses and decorative plastic parts. Companies facing unique industrial market characteristics and tougher competition, Competitive strategies for Taiwanese players in this sector are explored. Resources based theory and related secondary industrial data were used to form a base on which a managerial strategy and marketing perspevtives are built. As limited source of industrial information available from existing vacuum coating companies in Taiwan either inform of interview or indigenous literature, the thesis were prepared mostly based on author's industrial experiences, data provided by author's company and related academy literature related to strategy. A further field study for a generalization of competition strategy shall be required and refined for this special industry in Taiwan.

<p>This Thesis examines the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on the subsequent technological performance of the related firms. The investigated firms are selected according to their strategic choice which consists in seeing M&As as a shortcut for acquiring technological assets and capabilities and therefore the subsequent technological performance. The relatedness issue as well as the resource-based view of the firm are theoretical hints, which effectiveness on technological performance is discussed. A more managerial approach using case studies is also used in order to demonstrate a new organisational form of cooperation, derived from strategic alliances and M&As. With the help of the Renault-Nissan Alliance it is argued that this hybrid form presents many capacities for developing a successful integration process, and subsequently enhancing technological performance.</p>

This Thesis examines the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;As) on the subsequent technological performance of the related firms. The investigated firms are selected according to their strategic choice which consists in seeing M&amp;As as a shortcut for acquiring technological assets and capabilities and therefore the subsequent technological performance. The relatedness issue as well as the resource-based view of the firm are theoretical hints, which effectiveness on technological performance is discussed. A more managerial approach using case studies is also used in order to demonstrate a new organisational form of cooperation, derived from strategic alliances and M&amp;As. With the help of the Renault-Nissan Alliance it is argued that this hybrid form presents many capacities for developing a successful integration process, and subsequently enhancing technological performance.

This research develops spatial-explicit methods to characterize the relationship between wildlife and habitat use and selection. Both home range analysis and resource selection function (RSF) models, two common methods of representing wildlife-habitat associations, are often summarized aspatially. I apply a novel method to home range analysis which quantifies the spatial-temporal patterns of site fidelity and range drift. As a result, the spatial structure of home ranges is described, thus building on current methods which summarize ranges as aspatial metrics, often mean area. Furthermore, I develop a new method to spatially assess the ability of RSF models to predict wildlife occurrence using conditional randomization. As opposed to summarizing RSF model accuracy as a single value, I produce spatially-explicit and mappable outputs. I also demonstrate how this spatial method may be used to improve RSF model results. I apply these two spatial-temporal methods to a case study on adult female grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Northeastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies. Through describing the spatial-temporal pattern of grizzly bear home range change, I determine that offspring status and season impact the size and spatial configuration of a bear’s home range. By spatially evaluating the predictive success of a RSF model, I locate and quantify the spatial pattern of areas where the model is under-predicting bear occurrence using Local Moran’s I. Further, I evaluate landscape characteristics at these locations and suggest additions to the model which may increase accuracy. Both home range analysis methods and RSF evaluation techniques could assist in conservation by aiding in the delineation of critical grizzly bear habitat areas in both space and time.

Orientador: Ennio Peres da Silva / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T18:33:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lopes_DanielGabriel_D.pdf: 1342429 bytes, checksum: 07781c234da4ed70010b3d55a91f6986 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Este trabalho apresenta uma análise técnica e econômica da utilização do processo de reforma de etanol para produção de hidrogênio e da utilização deste hidrogênio para produção de energia elétrica em uma célula a combustível do tipo PEMFC de 5,0 kW. A análise técnica se fundamenta em dados experimentais, inéditos, obtidos do protótipo de um reformador de etanol desenvolvido a partir de uma parceria entre o Laboratório de Hidrogênio da UNICAMP e a empresa Hytron, levando-se em consideração as principais características do funcionamento real do que representa o estado da arte desta tecnologia no Brasil. A metodologia utilizada para realização da análise econômica foi desenvolvida para se determinar os valores de referência relativos ao custo do hidrogênio produzido (30,34 R$/kg) e da energia elétrica gerada (2,30 R$/kWh) e indicar metas para a inserção futura destas tecnologias. Os resultados obtidos permitiram que se concluísse que os atuais custos de geração do hidrogênio produzido pelo protótipo do reformador de etanol são economicamente competitivos, assim como o custo de geração da energia elétrica com utilização deste hidrogênio na célula a combustível quando comparado com a aplicação de outras tecnologias alternativas, mas não com os preços da eletricidade da rede de distribuição do Sistema Interligado brasileiro. / Abstract: This work presents a technical and economical analysis of the use of the technology of hydrogen production by the process of autothermal reforming of ethanol and the use of the hydrogen for the production of electric energy in a 5 kW PEMFC. The technical analysis is founded in unpublished experimental data obtained from the prototype of a ethanol reformer developed by the Hydrogen Laboratory at UNICAMP and by Hytron, taking into account the main characteristics of its real functioning which represents the state of the art of this technology developed in Brazil. The methodology applied for the economical analysis was developed in order to determine the reference values concerning the cost (30,34 R$/kg) of the hydrogen produced and the electric energy generated (2,30 R$/kWh), and to indicate the milestones for the future introduction of these technologies. The results led to the conclusion that the present costs of hydrogen production by the prototype of the ethanol reformer are lower than the present prices practiced in the market, and that the cost of the electric energy generation with the hydrogen in a PEMFC is lower than those obtained by the use of other alternative technologies, except when compared to grid-connected power system in Brazil. / Doutorado / Doutor em Planejamento de Sistemas Energéticos

Recent inspections conducted on levee safety in the U.S. that participate in the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Levee Safety Program under Public-Law 84-99 have shown that the overwhelming majority (>95%) of these levees have at least some deficiency associated with them, and many being identified as having an unacceptable safety rating (≈30%). In the U.S., many levees were constructed using funding from the federal government, but the responsibility of operation and maintenance of the levees were turned over to local government bodies. Given the local funding of levee maintenance, the socioeconomic characteristics of these levee-protected communities may be useful in identifying which communities may not have the economic, social, and / or political capital to maintain their levees to an acceptable safety standard. Using the lens of socio-hydrology, this study examines the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of levee-protected communities and their relationship to the safety rating of their levee system. Using GIS, socioeconomic data were compiled for each of the evaluated Illinois levee systems from the US Census and the USACE’s National Levee Database (NLD). In addition to socioeconomic data, the NLD contained information on a levee’s age, protection level, estimated value of structures within the levee-protected area, ownership, inspection status, safety rating, and other structural details. The value of levee-protected agricultural lands was also assessed using a soil productivity index used by the state of Illinois to assess taxes on farmland. This information was compiled to investigate the potential differences of socioeconomic characteristics of communities with unacceptable to those with an acceptable levee rating. To assess the differences between the compiled socioeconomic information, the Independent Samples U-Test was implemented to quantify differences between communities with an acceptable verse unacceptable safety rating. In this study, 71 levee systems were identified with a levee safety rating and socioeconomic data from which to perform the statistical comparison between levee systems with an acceptable versus unacceptable safety rating. Of these 71 levees systems, 28 had an unacceptable and 43 had an at least minimally acceptable safety rating. The results from the Independent Samples U-Test showed that five variables with substantial variance (α ≤ 0.2, 80% CI) between the levee safety ratings were, the age of the levee, property value per structure, the average soil productivity index, per capita income, and the percentage of population being black. Using these substantial variables, a binary logistic regression model was created to see if they could be used to realistically predict the levee system’s safety rating. The regression model was able to accurately predict 84% of the ‘acceptable’ group while only correctly predicting 25% of the ‘unacceptable’ group resulting in an overall accuracy of 61%. The inability of this model to predict a levee system’s safety rating underscores the complexities in trying to determine which socioeconomic factors are important for identifying a given levee system’s safety rating. This finding also suggests there are potentially other variables which may be more robust predictors of a community’s ability to adequately maintain their levee. Future research should investigate these complexities in identifying which communities can adequately maintain their levee system.

By studying zones of conflict in the Caspian Sea Basin and examining past and current policies in the region, we can incorporate the successes and failures into other conflicts around the world. This research will add to the discipline of International Relations a new synthesis of different types of conflict for similarly finite resources. It is vital to the study of international politics to study this region and these unique arenas of conflict. Most of the conflicts have ties to ethnic strife. By focusing on both conflict settlement and conflict resolution, an attainable solution may be found to the problems of Central Asia and applied elsewhere in the world.

In this paper we investigate and compare multi-objective and weighted single objective approaches to a real world workforce scheduling problem. For this difficult problem we consider the trade off in solution quality versus population diversity, for different sets of fixed objective weights. Our real-world workforce scheduling problem consists of assigning resources with the appropriate skills to geographically dispersed task locations while satisfying time window constraints. The problem is NP-Hard and contains the Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) as a sub problem. We investigate a genetic algorithm and serial schedule generation scheme together with various multi-objective approaches. We show that multi-objective genetic algorithms can create solutions whose fitness is within 2% of genetic algorithms using weighted sum objectives even though the multi-objective approaches know nothing of the weights. The result is highly significant for complex real-world problems where objective weights are seldom known in advance since it suggests that a multi-objective approach can generate a solution close to the user preferred one without having knowledge of user preferences.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Entende-se que as organizaÃÃes empresariais â presentes em um contexto caracterizado pelo efeito da globalizaÃÃo e o crescimento da diversidade das exigÃncias dos stakeholders â devem se utilizar de um conjunto de estratÃgias, implÃcitas e explÃcitas, para conquistar vantagem competitiva em relaÃÃo Ãs suas concorrentes (ACAR; ACAR, 2014). Uma dessas estratÃgias, segundo a Teoria da VisÃo Baseada em Recursos (VBR), refere-se à cultura corporativa, considerada como um recurso estratÃgico sustentÃvel, que permite à organizaÃÃo ganhos com vantagem competitiva, que, por sua vez, à refletido no seu desempenho empresarial (BARNEY, 1986; FLAMHOLTZ; RANDLE, 2012). Nesse contexto, esse estudo tem o objetivo de analisar a relaÃÃo entre a cultura corporativa e o desempenho das empresas estrangeiras listadas na NYSE. Trata-se de pesquisa descritiva, de natureza predominantemente quantitativa, utilizando-se de procedimentos inerentes à tÃcnica de anÃlise de texto e aplicaÃÃo das ferramentas estatÃsticas AnÃlise de CorrespondÃncia (Anacor), Teste de MÃdia, AnÃlise de RegressÃo Linear MÃltipla com dados em painel, para tratamento dos dados que envolvem perÃodos intercalados de 2009 a 2013. O estudo se justifica na medida em que busca contribuir para a ampliaÃÃo da discussÃo da cultura corporativa e sua relaÃÃo com o desempenho empresarial. AlÃm disso, apresenta diferencial por discutir a tipologia cultural corporativa e o desempenho empresarial a partir de aspectos organizacionais e institucionais de uma amostra que reÃne 168 empresas estrangeiras listadas na NYSE. Em relaÃÃo à aplicaÃÃo do Teste de MÃdia, os resultados sugerem a existÃncia de diferenÃas das tipologias de cultura corporativa de controle e colaborativa em relaÃÃo à situaÃÃo de crise na firma e localizaÃÃo regional, respectivamente. Verificou-se, ainda, que a tipologia cultural corporativa colaborativa, competitiva e de controle mostraram-se diferentes entre mercados avanÃados e emergentes, apontando maior participaÃÃo dessas tipologias culturais em mercados de economia avanÃada. AlÃm disso, constatou-se que a cultura corporativa nÃo sofre fortes variaÃÃes ao longo do perÃodo analisado, corroborando com a literatura sobre o assunto. A partir da Anacor, observou-se que o desempenho empresarial apresenta associaÃÃo em relaÃÃo ao setor de atuaÃÃo, ao sistema jurÃdico/legal e ao continente. Em relaÃÃo à RegressÃo Linear MÃltipla com dados em painel, os resultados mostram que as tipologias de cultura corporativa colaborativa e competitiva parecem nÃo afetar o desempenho empresarial. Entretanto, as tipologias culturais corporativas de controle e criativa exercem influÃncia negativa no desempenho empresarial. Esses resultados permitiram aceitar somente a hipÃtese especÃfica de que a cultura corporativa de controle afeta negativamente o desempenho das empresas analisadas. Logo, conclui-se que, para a amostra considerada e as anÃlises desenvolvidas, o conjunto de tipologias culturais corporativas nÃo à capaz de influenciar o desempenho empresarial. Entretanto, pode-se concluir que a cultura corporativa de controle exerce, de fato, efeito negativo no desempenho empresarial. Nesse sentido, a hipÃtese geral do estudo (a cultura corporativa atua como determinÃstica no desempenho empresarial) foi rejeitada, uma vez que somente uma das tipologias culturais corporativas analisadas se mostrou a afetar o desempenho empresarial. Embora a VBR considere a cultura corporativa como um recurso estratÃgico sustentÃvel capaz de afetar o desempenho empresarial, os resultados da pesquisa, para a amostra e os mÃtodos empregados, nÃo indica essa relaÃÃo determinÃstica em sua totalidade. / It is understood that business organizations - present in a context characterized by the effect of globalization and the growing diversity of the demands of stakeholders - must use a set of strategies, implicit and explicit, to gain competitive advantage over their competitors ( ACAR, ACAR, 2014). One of those strategies, according to the Theory of Resource Based View (RBV), refers to the corporate culture, considered as a sustainable strategic asset that enables the organization gains competitive advantage, which in turn is reflected in their business performance (BARNEY, 1986; FLAMHOLTZ; RANDLE, 2012). In this context, this study aims to analyze the relationship between corporate culture and the performance of foreign companies listed on the NYSE. It is a descriptive research, predominantly quantitative, using procedures inherent in the text analysis technique and application of statistical tools Correspondence Analysis (Anacor), Average Test, Multiple Linear Regression Analysis with panel data, for data processing involving interspersed periods from 2009 to 2013. The study is justified insofar as it seeks to contribute to expanding the discussion of corporate culture and its relationship with business performance. In addition, it presents differential to discuss corporate cultural typology and business performance from organizational and institutional aspects of a sample which includes 168 foreign companies listed on the NYSE. Regarding the implementation of the Average Test, the results suggest the existence of differences in corporate culture types of control and collaboration in relation to the crisis situation in the firm and regional location, respectively. It was also found that collaborative corporate culture typology, competitive and control were different between advanced and emerging markets, indicating greater participation of these cultural types in advanced economy markets. In addition, it was found that the corporate culture does not suffer strong variations over the analyzed period, supporting the literature on the subject. From the Anacor, it was found that business performance has association in relation to the business sector, the juridical/legal system and the continent. Regarding the Multiple Linear Regression with panel data, the results show that the collaborative and competitive corporate culture typologies do not seem to affect business performance. However, corporate cultural typologies control and creative exert negative influence on business performance. These results allowed to accept only the specific hypothesis that the corporate culture of control negatively affects the performance of the companies analyzed. Therefore, it is concluded that, for the sample considered and developed analyzes, cultural corporate set of types is not able to influence the business performance. However, it can be concluded that the corporate culture exerts control, in fact, negative effect on business performance. In this sense, the general hypothesis of the study (corporate culture acts as deterministic in business performance) was rejected, since only one of the corporate cultural typologies proved to affect business performance. Although VBR considers the corporate culture as a sustainable strategic resource able to affect business performance, the results of the research, for the sample and the methods employed, does not indicate this deterministic relationship in its entirety.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:39:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pedro Issao Takenouchi.pdf: 873574 bytes, checksum: 3107214bd8624b830f017c093e21ca11 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-05 / The primary objective of this study is to examine the market reaction to cross-border acquisitions of Brazilian multinational emerging-companies (MECs). On this purpose, we examine 128 mergers and acquisitions announcements associated with 36 (MECs) during the sample period 2000 2011. The mergers and acquisitions announcements data come from the Thomson SDC Platinum database. On this dissertation was employed the event study methodology to measure the impact of the announcements on the value of acquiring firms. Herein were established as windows event, 11, 15 and 5 days; furthermore, as windows estimation, were adopted 120, 240 and 500 days. Resulting in a total of 1,140 analysis of merger and acquisition from the original sample. Thus, the results show that, on average, cross-border acquisitions of MECs do not create value to the acquirers. Moreover, in order to explore the influencing factors of the direction and magnitude of market reaction; herein, were deeply analyzed some explanatory variables based on Resource-based View (RBV) and the cross border acquisitions literature, through stratifying event studies results, applying ordinary least square regression, and besides, a non parametric statistical analysis; yclept, bootstrap. Thereby, the empirical findings provide evidence that economic distance, acquisitions on developed countries, past performance, firm size, periods of crises and recessions, serial acquirers, among others variables; as performance drivers for Brazilian s (MECs) cross-border acquisition / Este trabalho tem como objetivo examinar a reação de mercado em aquisições internacionais (cross-border) realizadas por empresas brasileiras. Foram examinados 128 anúncios, públicos e concluídos, de fusões e aquisições (F&A) de 36 firmas brasileiras, no período de 2000 a 2011. Os dados de F&A foram obtidos da base de dados da Thomson SDC Platinum e foi utilizada a metodologia de estudo de eventos (MacKinlay, 1997; McWilliams & Siegel 1997), para mensurar o impacto resultante do anúncio de F&A sobre o valor de mercado da firma adquirente. Foram utilizados como janelas de evento (11, 15 e 5 dias) e, como janelas de estimação (120, 240 e 500 dias), resultando em um total de 1.140 análises de fusões e aquisições para a amostra da pesquisa. Como achado da pesquisa, foi encontrado que, na média, as aquisições internacionais não criaram valor para as firmas adquirentes brasileiras. Outrossim, com o intuito de verificar quais fatores influenciaram no desempenho das transações de aquisições cross border das empresas brasileiras, com base na literatura de Resource-based View (RBV) (Penrose, 1959; Aybar & Ficici, 2009; Gubbi et al., 2010), foram realizados estudos de eventos estratificados, regressão por mínimos quadrados ordinário e análise estatística não paramétrica bootstrap. Onde verificou-se que os fatores distância econômica, aquisição em país desenvolvido, desempenho passado, o tamanho da firma, períodos de crises e recessão, adquirentes seriais, entre outros; são variáveis direcionadoras para o desempenho em relação à reação de mercado a fusões e a aquisições cross-border realizadas por firmas brasileiras