The design, analysis, and performance of a small-angle scatterometer are presented. The effects of the diffraction background, geometrical aberrations and system scatter at the small-angles are separated. Graphs are provided that quantify their contribution. The far-field irradiance distributions of weakly truncated and untruncated Gaussian beams are compared. The envelope of diffraction ringing is shown to decrease proportionately with the level of truncation in the pupil. Spherical aberration and defocus are shown to have little effect on the higher-order diffraction rings of Gaussian apertures and as such will have a negligible effect on most scatter measurements. A method is presented for determining the scattered irradiance level for a given BRDF in relation to the peak irradiance of the point spread function. A method of Gaussian apodization is presented and tested that allows the level of diffraction ringing to become a design parameter. Upon sufficient reduction of the diffraction background, the scattered light from the scatterometers' primary mirror is seen to be the limiting component of the small-angle instrument profile. The scatterometer described was able to make a meaningful measurement close enough to the specular direction at 0.6328μm in order to observe the characteristic height and width of the scatter function. This allowed the rms roughness and autocorrelation length of the surface to be determined from the scatter data at this wavelength. The inferred rms roughness agreed well with an independent optical profilometer measurement of the surface. The BRDF of the samples were also measured at 10.6μm. The rms roughness inferred from this scatter data did not agree with the other measurements. The BRDF did not scale in accordance with the scaler diffraction theory of microrough surfaces. The scattering in the visible was dominated by the effects of surface roughness whereas the scattering in the far-infrared was apparently dominated by the effects of contaminants and surface defects. The model for the surface statistics is investigated. A K₀ (modified Bessel function) autocorrelation function is shown to predict the scattered light distribution of these samples much better than the conventional negative-exponential function. Additionally, a sampling theory is developed that addresses the negative-exponentially correlated output of lock-in amplifiers, detectors, and electronic circuits in general. It is shown that the optimum sampling rate is approximately one sample per time constant and at this rate the improvement in SNR is √(N/2) where N is the number of measurements.

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There are four parts to the thesis: Part I presents a review of the literature, a discussion and finally proposes a definition of the main concepts studied: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, small business owner-manager and small-medium sized manufacturing enterprise. Part 2 presents an overview of organisation theory and explains our selection of content as well as of container approaches to study the phenomenon of the small business and its growth. It leads us to introduce the field of strategy, to go over a review of the essential literature on small business strategy and to discuss it. It also leads us to introduce systems approaches and to discuss the strategy behind the evolution of the systems approach we identify as best to study small business: soft systems methodology, as developed by Peter Checkland. Part 3 presents the way we have looked at the small business as well as at the entrepreneurs and/or small business owner-managers we have studied in four different countries. It explains the choice of the research methodology, a qualitative one: interviews. It also presents some findings, essentially that entrepreneurs project a vision, they build a relations system to realise it, and successful ones show a capacity to engage in anticipatory learning to make the projected vision become reality. Part 4 discusses these findings and their use in understanding what makes entrepreneurs successful. We propose a model that incorporates the research findings. It is based on the relationship between the vision, the relations with people who will help make it happen, and the anticipatory learning which the entrepreneur does to be prepared and able to realise the vision. Our main contribution seems to be the model. Many of the other findings relate to things which already exist in the literature. What is new is the way these concepts are linked and integrated in a model that could be called a "strategic entrepreneurial model".

This thesis examines micro-enterprises (firms with under ten employees) pursuing some degree of gradual growth. While very little research specifically targets the growth of micro-enterprises, there was a host of possible influencing factors suggested by the rather broader small business literature. Less literature was found on how the complex interaction of these factors might stimulate a firm's development. A framework was derived which suggested how the factors identified might interact with four key growth drivers, namely; management expertise for growth, owner's growth motivation, resource access and demand. The framework contributed a clear agenda for analyzing a firm's growth, while allowing the specific issues of any particular firm to be investigated within its environmental context. Sixteen case studies were investigated to allow sufficient comparison across a number of firms for some generalisations to be made with a degree of conviction, while retaining adequate quality in the detailed analysis of each firm to allow the intricate configuration of factors to be understood. Two dimensions of comparison were followed. Firstly, comparison between firms that achieved different levels of growth (no attempted growth, attempted but not achieved growth and achieved growth) and secondly comparison between different sectors (retailing, service, wholesale and manufacturing). Patterns were discovered in the interaction of these factors which allowed the original framework to be empirically authenticated and improved. The quality of the data encouraged deep consideration of the process by which factors influence the growth of the firm. The analysis suggests that for a firm to grow through the micro-enterprise phase, the combined influence of factors on all four sets of growth drivers proposed in the framework needs to be positive. The possibility of a number of different factors influencing any particular set of growth drivers suggests that no factor, however strongly motivating, will itself be essential to the growth of the firm. The framework provides a useful structure to help micro-enterprise ownermanagers and their advisors formulate growth strategies by highlighting areas which require attention. It may also afford some degree of qualitative prediction of the likelihood of a firm achieving successful growth. These results reinforce the need for researchers to accept the complexity of growth factors and not to search for simplistic solutions.

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published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

3 pp. / Livestock are still an important part of rural life in Arizona. As more and more homes have been built adjacent to areas traditionally used for cattle grazing, the potential for conflict between livestock owners and homeowners has increased. Regardless of whether you yourself own large animals, you must be aware of your responsibilities towards your neighbors' livestock. The details of your responsibilities--and your liability--depend in large part upon where you live and whether you have a suitable fence around your property.

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