The purpose of this thesis is to examine the influence of e-commerce on the small-size companies in Sweden. This thesis describes the drivers for e-commerce adoption and investigates the barriers and benefits faced from the companies when starting the process of implementation. A qualitative research was performed and an abductive approach was used, where the research findings and the theoretical background were connected by going back and forward in the process of analysis. Interviews with small companies in Värmland Country, Sweden were conducted in order to answer the research questions. This study shows that Swedish companies have relatively well-developed e-commerce strategies comparing to other counties, but the gap between small and large companies is still visible. The decisions for e-commerce adoption are dependent on the knowledge of the owner /manager and e-commerce is extensively used as a marketing tool. Main benefits of e-commerce adoption are improved internal efficiency and increased information exchange. The results suggest that companies value less than before the cost factor and consider the lack of knowledge as a main barrier. At the same time many companies are not motivated enough to make improvements, because of lack of customer demand.

This study investigated effects of the process parameters on the forging load and metal flow pattern during forging and thread-rolling these two process of LZ91 magnesium alloy small size screw by the finite element analysis. At first, Compression tests were carried out under various forming temperatures to study the flow stress. Then, FEM software DEFORM-2D is adopted to simulate forging and thread-rolling processes of small screw to analyze the formability and parameters. In one of this study, there are two stages in forging process, and found out that up-die velocity, temperatures and friction factors will affect the product quality and appearance; on the other part, it investigated the effect of friction factor and temperature under thread-rolling process, and found out that effective stress, effective strain, metal flow and height of thread will be affected. In addition, conduct forging and thread-rolling experiments by using universal testing machine with the mold self-designed, and MoS2 of lubricant, and comparing the analytical results to verify the suitability and accuracy of FEM for forging process. Finally, according to the analysis result of this study, engineers can take it as reference.

Com a crescente evolução da mancha urbana das cidades, o ser humano intensificou o seu uso sobre o espaço, ocasionando certas conseqüências socioambientais, intensificadas através de fenômenos climáticos, tais como: enchentes, a piora da qualidade do ar e do aumento da temperatura nas cidades, comparada a sua área entorno. Este último, também é conhecido como Ilha de calor. A área de estudo contemplada nesta pesquisa se justificativa pelo fato de apresentar: a) um crescimento acelerado da população urbana a partir de meados da década de 1970; b) um Intenso processo de verticalização iniciado na década de 1980 e c) por conseguinte a expansão da malha urbana da cidade, que convive com uma arborização muito reduzida. A partir destes argumentos, o presente trabalho procurou investigar a hipótese da constituição de um clima urbano associado ao crescimento da cidade sede do município de Viçosa. Para isto, primeiramente, analisou-se a série histórica da estação climatológica de Viçosa entre 1968 e 2006. E, em seguida, utilizou-se da técnica de transetos móveis, com a utilização de um termohigrômetro digital de leitura direta (MINIPA-MT-241), envolvido em tubo PVC recoberto por papel alumínio e colocado do lado de fora do carro há uma altura de aproximadamente 2,0m de altura. Este procedimento foi realizado em três escalas de análise: campocidade, área urbana e o centro da cidade e estações sazonais distintas. Depois de realizados os experimentos e analisado os registros históricos de temperatura do ar, pode-se dizer que Viçosa ainda não constitui um clima urbano, muito embora, possa ter sido possível identificar ilhas de calor na cidade, principalmente à noite. / With the increasing development of urban stain of cities, the human being intensified its use on the area, causing certain social consequences, intensified by climatic phenomena, such as flooding, the worsening air quality and increasing the temperature in cities compared to its surrounding area. The latter is also known as heat island. The study area included in this search was justified because the present: a) an accelerated growth of urban population from the mid-1970s, b) a Intensy verticalisation process started in the 1980s and c) therefore the expansion of urban network of the city, living with a very limited stock. From these arguments, this study sought to investigate the possibility of setting up a climate associated with the urban growth of the city headquarters of the municipality of Viçosa. For this, first analyzes the historical series of the climatological station of Viçosa between 1968 and 2006. And then it was used the technique of mobile transects, using a digital direct reading termohigrômetro (MINIPA-MT-241), involved in PVC pipe covered by aluminum foil and placed outside the car there is a height of approximately 2.0 m high. This procedure was performed on three scales of analysis: country-city, urban area and the city center and seasonal distinct seasons. After the experiments performed and analyzed the historical records of air temperature, we can say that Viçosa still not an urban environment, though, might have been possible to identify islands of heat in the city, mainly at night.

In this dissertation, the study mainly focuses on small-size multiband mobile phone antennas for practical applications. Loop antenna is chosen to be the antenna type for designing the compact internal multiband antenna. Four antenna designs are presented, including ¡§Compact Multiband Folded Loop Chip Antenna for Small-Size Mobile Phone¡¨, ¡§Very-Small-Size Folded Loop Antenna with a Band-Stop Matching Circuit for Penta-Band Mobile Phone Application¡¨, ¡§Very-Small-Size Printed Loop Antenna for GSMDCSPCSUMTS Operation¡¨, and ¡§Printed Loop Mobile Phone Antenna with an Internal Printed Matching Circuit¡¨. The first two antenna designs occupy a volume of 1.0 cm3 and 0.6 cm3 respectively and the last two antenna designs are to be directly printed on the system circuit board of the mobile phone. Either of them can operate as a quad-band antenna for GSM/DCS/PCS/UMTS operation or as a penta-band antenna for GSM850/900/1800/1900/UMTS operation.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study has started as part of a research project at Stellenbosch University (SU) that aims at building a team of soccer-playing robots for the RoboCup Small Size League (SSL). In the RoboCup SSL the Decision- Making Module (DMM) plays an important role for it makes all decisions for the robots in the team. This research focuses on the development of some parts of the DMM for the team at SU. A literature study showed that the DMM is typically developed in a hierarchical structure where basic soccer skills form the fundamental building blocks and high-level team behaviours are implemented using these basic soccer skills. The literature study also revealed that strategies in the DMM are usually developed using a hand-coded approach in the RoboCup SSL domain, i.e., a specific and fixed strategy is coded, while in other leagues a Machine Learning (ML) approach, Reinforcement Learning (RL) in particular, is widely used. This led to the following research objective of this thesis, namely to develop basic soccer skills using RL for the RoboCup Small Size League. A second objective of this research is to develop a simulation environment to facilitate the development of the DMM. A high-level simulator was developed and validated as a result. The temporal-difference value iteration algorithm with state-value functions was used for RL, along with a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) as a function approximator. Two types of important soccer skills, namely shooting skills and passing skills were developed using the RL and MLP combination. Nine experiments were conducted to develop and evaluate these skills in various playing situations. The results showed that the learning was very effective, as the learning agent executed the shooting and passing tasks satisfactorily, and further refinement is thus possible. In conclusion, RL combined with MLP was successfully applied in this research to develop two important basic soccer skills for robots in the RoboCup SSL. These form a solid foundation for the development of a complete DMM along with the simulation environment established in this research. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie het ontstaan as deel van 'n navorsingsprojek by Stellenbosch Universiteit wat daarop gemik was om 'n span sokkerrobotte vir die RoboCup Small Size League (SSL) te ontwikkel. Die besluitnemingsmodule (BM) speel 'n belangrike rol in die RoboCup SSL, aangesien dit besluite vir die robotte in die span maak. Hierdie navorsing fokus op ontwikkeling van enkele komponente van die BM vir die span by SU. 'n Literatuurstudie het getoon dat die BM tipies ontwikkel word volgens 'n hiërargiese struktuur waarin basiese sokkervaardighede die fundamentele boublokke vorm en hoëvlak spangedrag word dan gerealiseer deur hierdie basiese vaardighede te gebruik. Die literatuur het ook getoon dat strategieë in die BM van die RoboCup SSL domein gewoonlik ontwikkel word deur 'n hand-gekodeerde benadering, dit wil s^e, 'n baie spesifieke en vaste strategie word gekodeer, terwyl masjienleer (ML) en versterkingsleer (VL) wyd in ander ligas gebruik word. Dit het gelei tot die navorsingsdoelwit in hierdie tesis, naamlik om basiese sokkervaardighede vir robotte in die RoboCup SSL te ontwikkel. 'n Tweede doelwit was om 'n simulasie-omgewing te ontwikkel wat weer die ontwikkeling van die BM sou fasiliteer. Hierdie simulator is suksesvol ontwikkel en gevalideer. Die tydwaarde-verskil iterariewe algoritme met toestandwaarde-funksies is gebruik vir VL saam met 'n multi-laag perseptron (MLP) vir funksiebenaderings. Twee belangrike sokkervaardighede, naamlik doelskop- en aangeevaardighede is met hierdie kombinasie van VL en MLP ontwikkel. Nege eksperimente is uitgevoer om hierdie vaardighede in verskillende speelsituasies te ontwikkel en te evalueer. Volgens die resultate was die leerproses baie effektief, aangesien die leer-agent die doelskiet- en aangeetake bevredigend uitgevoer het, en verdere verfyning is dus moontlik. Die gevolgtrekking is dat VL gekombineer met MLP suksesvol toegepas is in hierdie navorsingswerk om twee belangrike, basiese sokkervaardighede vir robotte in die RoboCup SSL te ontwikkel. Dit vorm 'n sterk fondament vir die ontwikkeling van 'n volledige BM tesame met die simulasie-omgewing wat in hierdie werk daargestel is.

Com a crescente evolução da mancha urbana das cidades, o ser humano intensificou o seu uso sobre o espaço, ocasionando certas conseqüências socioambientais, intensificadas através de fenômenos climáticos, tais como: enchentes, a piora da qualidade do ar e do aumento da temperatura nas cidades, comparada a sua área entorno. Este último, também é conhecido como Ilha de calor. A área de estudo contemplada nesta pesquisa se justificativa pelo fato de apresentar: a) um crescimento acelerado da população urbana a partir de meados da década de 1970; b) um Intenso processo de verticalização iniciado na década de 1980 e c) por conseguinte a expansão da malha urbana da cidade, que convive com uma arborização muito reduzida. A partir destes argumentos, o presente trabalho procurou investigar a hipótese da constituição de um clima urbano associado ao crescimento da cidade sede do município de Viçosa. Para isto, primeiramente, analisou-se a série histórica da estação climatológica de Viçosa entre 1968 e 2006. E, em seguida, utilizou-se da técnica de transetos móveis, com a utilização de um termohigrômetro digital de leitura direta (MINIPA-MT-241), envolvido em tubo PVC recoberto por papel alumínio e colocado do lado de fora do carro há uma altura de aproximadamente 2,0m de altura. Este procedimento foi realizado em três escalas de análise: campocidade, área urbana e o centro da cidade e estações sazonais distintas. Depois de realizados os experimentos e analisado os registros históricos de temperatura do ar, pode-se dizer que Viçosa ainda não constitui um clima urbano, muito embora, possa ter sido possível identificar ilhas de calor na cidade, principalmente à noite. / With the increasing development of urban stain of cities, the human being intensified its use on the area, causing certain social consequences, intensified by climatic phenomena, such as flooding, the worsening air quality and increasing the temperature in cities compared to its surrounding area. The latter is also known as heat island. The study area included in this search was justified because the present: a) an accelerated growth of urban population from the mid-1970s, b) a Intensy verticalisation process started in the 1980s and c) therefore the expansion of urban network of the city, living with a very limited stock. From these arguments, this study sought to investigate the possibility of setting up a climate associated with the urban growth of the city headquarters of the municipality of Viçosa. For this, first analyzes the historical series of the climatological station of Viçosa between 1968 and 2006. And then it was used the technique of mobile transects, using a digital direct reading termohigrômetro (MINIPA-MT-241), involved in PVC pipe covered by aluminum foil and placed outside the car there is a height of approximately 2.0 m high. This procedure was performed on three scales of analysis: country-city, urban area and the city center and seasonal distinct seasons. After the experiments performed and analyzed the historical records of air temperature, we can say that Viçosa still not an urban environment, though, might have been possible to identify islands of heat in the city, mainly at night.

Real estate industry is a new economic growth point and main industry in Chinese gross domestic product nowadays. This paper analyzes the trend of Chinese real estate market development to help investors to understand the current situation of Chinese real estate markets and policies better, so as to make better real estate investment decisions in China in the future. Because of oversaturated with investment and higher cost of investment there are more and more limitations in investing in big cities in China. With the rapid development of the economy, the huge inner demand of real estate is increasing in medium and small sized cities. Some investigations show that there are huge spaces of the appreciation in Chinese real estate market in medium and small sized cities. The author will describe and analyze the investment strategy and development of Fuxing Huiyu Real Estate Corporation as a case study. The demonstrated company is a public company with rapid growth in a medium sized city named Wuhan in the central part of China. Other investment companies or real estate companies could get some ideas by analyzing the development and decision making process of this company.

No description available.

The error analysis is made for the simple annular domain with the circular boundaries having the same origin. The error bounds are derived, and the optimal convergence rates can be archived. For circular domains with circular boundaries, the same convergence rates can be achieved by strict proof. Moreover, the NFM algorithms and its conservative schemes can be applied to very small holes, which are difficult for other numerical methods to handle. Both the NFM and the collocation Trefftz method(CTM) are used for very small circular holes, the CTM is superior to the NFM in accuracy and stability.

Os custos da qualidade são os custos de conformidade e da não-conformidade, desde o início da realização de um processo ou atividade, para fornecer um produto e serviço, com a qualidade desejada. A utilização dos custos da qualidade não é um conceito largamente utilizado e as empresas, raramente, têm uma ideia realista do quanto de suas receitas estão sendo perdidas, por conta da baixa qualidade. Embora as grandes empresas conheçam a necessidade de avaliar os custos da qualidade, em muitas delas, que anunciam ter o costume de medir os custos da qualidade, os resultados são muito subestimados. As empresas de pequeno porte, na maioria das vezes, sequer têm qualquer orçamento previsto para a gestão da qualidade e não tendem a controlar seus custos da qualidade. Como não existe nenhum padrão definido para realização do levantamento dos custos da qualidade, o melhor parâmetro a ser aplicado é definido pelos gestores da qualidade da empresa. O objetivo desta dissertação é comprovar como a introdução de um modelo de medição dos custos da qualidade, em uma pequena empresa, no ramo de usinagem e ferramentaria industrial, se pode melhorar seus processos e custos. Os métodos utilizados foram pesquisa bibliográfica, documental, o estudo de caso único com abordagem qualitativa. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que os custos da qualidade foram reduzidos em 76%, no primeiro ano. Conclui-se que o modelo proposto possibilita a visualização das maiores perdas no processo favorecendo o alcance de um custo ótimo da qualidade. Concluiu-se também que o modelo proposto é perene, levando à estabilidade após vários meses de implantação, mostrando o alcance da maturidade do sistema. / Quality Costs are given by conformity and non- conformity costs, beginning with the initial process or activity work, in order to provide a product or service, with a desired quality. Quality Costs utilization is not a widely used concept and companies, rarely, have a realistic idea of the income value lost due to poor quality. Although large companies usually state the necessity of evaluating costs of quality, in several cases, stating their activity of quality costs evaluation, results are largely under estimated. Small size companies, in most cases, dont even have a quality management budget provision neither control their costs of quality. Since there is no definite standard for the evaluation of quality costs, the best parameter to be applied is defined by the company quality managers. The objective of this dissertation is to show how the implementation of a quality costs evaluation model, in a small size company, operating in the field of industrial machining and tooling, can improve its processes and costs. The methods used were bibliographical research and documentary, applied to a single case study with qualitative approach. The results showed that the quality costs were reduced by 76% in the first year. It is concluded that the proposed model allows the visualization of the biggest losses in the process favoring the achievement of an optimal cost of quality. It was also concluded that the proposed model is perennial, leading to stability after several months of implantation, showing the scope of system maturity.