This thesis deals with the long-term planning of electric energy systems. Such systems are defined by complex interconnections of end-uses, energy conversion devices and natural resources. The planning process is usually guided by a number of design criteria, namely, economic, social and environmental impacts as well as system reliability and efficiency. The planning challenge is to find an acceptable compromise among these often conflicting objectives. System efficiency is a critical design criterion normally measuring the ratio of the system output and input energies. In electric energy systems, efficiency is normally defined according to the First Principle of Thermodynamics which states that energy cannot be destroyed. In this thesis, the definition of efficiency in electric energy system planning is broadened to include interpretations according to both the First and Second Principles of Thermodynamics. The Second Principle essentially states that the "quality" of energy decreases or, at best, remains constant in any conversion process where the quality of energy (denoted here by exergy) is a measure of the ability of a form of energy to be converted into any other form. Work, hydroelectric potential and electricity are examples of high quality energy sources while low temperatures heat end-use applications are at the low end of the quality scale. Since certain types of energy conversion processes may show high levels of exergy destruction, even though energetically efficient, it is important to design energy systems such that the energy quality of an end-use is matched as much as possible to that of the energy supply thus avoiding situation where a high quality supply is used for a low quality purpose. / The electric energy industry has virtually ignored exergetic considerations in system planning due, to a large extent, to a lack of familiarity with the Second Principle and its implications. Nevertheless, exergy is an attribute which must be planned and conserved with at least the same priority as energy. It is demonstrated here that the planning of energy systems will be drastically affected when both energy and exergy are considered. However, to be able to rationally use the natural resources, exergetic analysis must become an integral part of system planning. This thesis analyses the application of the Second Principle of Thermodynamics in the planning of electric energy systems through theory, examples and case studies including economic considerations. / In order to achieve electric energy systems that are more exergetically efficient, a new type of electric energy tariff called type-of-use, is proposed. Analogous to the time-of-use rate that assigns different monetary values for the time of the day considered, the type-of-use tariff assigns a monetary value to the end-uses. Simulations are performed in different electric energy systems to demonstrate that type-of-use tariffs will indeed lead to more exergetically efficient systems. / The benefits of exergetic analysis are supported by a number of studies presented in this thesis. These studies analyse from the points of view of energetic and exergetic efficiency and cost the following: (i) A space heating system; (ii) The impact of a major introduction of electric vehicles in Canada and (iii) The long range planning of a regional electric power system consisting of two interconnected provinces.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2005. / (UnM)AAI3187317. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-08, Section: A, page: 3044. Adviser: Benjamin Van Roy.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: B, page: 7566. Adviser: Christoforos N. Hadjicostis. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-112) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 2006. / (UMI)AAI3246140. Adviser: Barry Silverman. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-12, Section: B, page: 7352.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: B, page: 7640. Advisers: David E. Goldberg; Duane D. Johnson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-205). Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: B, page: 6718. Adviser: Mark W. Spong. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-154) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

As customer relationship management (CRM) becomes more complex and more strategic to the company it serves, CRM framework and CRM performance become more important concepts for companies. The better CRM performance measurement, the more effectively the CRM systems can serve the present and future needs of the organization. During the 1990's, CRM frameworks and CRM performance measurement have been identified by numerous researchers as a major issue and topic for CRM. While there have been numerous related CRM framework and CRM performance measurement studies in the past years, none have focused on the customer-based framework and no CRM performance measurement tools covering whole aspects of CRM performance. The purpose of this research was to define a customer-oriental CRM framework and develop a CRM performance measurement tool. Based on background regarding CRM framework, a new CRM framework was defined with five key components, customers, CRM systems, various customers touch points, strategy management departments and information technology supporting. This research identified measurement criteria of CRM performance in four aspects, service channels performance, strategy performance, IT performance and customer satisfaction performance. Three survey questionnaires were designed to investigate how CRM managers, IT managers and customers of companies understand the performance of CRM systems. According to the result collected from surveys, a dedicated analysis was operated to set up questionnaires' reliability and validity.

The complexity of modern digital circuit has increased enormously particularly in the context of paradigm shift from system-on-board to designs embracing embedded cores-based System-on-Chips (SoCs). This increased complexity of circuits in turn results in a huge challenge of setting up their appropriate fault testing environments. Though lots of efforts have been taken to rapidly test the very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuit chips with very reasonable cost, with advances in technology, new frontiers also emerged. This thesis aims at developing a new technique to verify and test architecture of circuits under hardware and software co-design environment, targeting specifically embedded cores-based systems-on-chip. The well-known concept, design for testability (DFT), is utilized in this thesis based on the use of ModelSim simulation and verification tool to simulate the entire design. Some partial results on ISCAS 85 combinational and ISCAS 89 sequential benchmark circuits are provided along with a comparison of the results from some earlier works.

Today's global economy requires businesses to expand their processes beyond organizational domains to integrate business partners and collaborators. SOA through Web services is emerging as a framework for bridging heterogeneous business systems over the Internet. Unfortunately it is still limited by many of the constraints of the legacy applications: procedural interaction, data polling and strong coupling of applications. Event-driven systems like publish/subscribe on the other hand provide a flexible interaction pattern that does not require rigid transport or communication protocol. Robust B2B process integration requires a framework that supports enterprise and Internet scale data sharing, point-to-point, push interaction as well as publish/subscribe broadcast based interaction. In our thesis, we accomplish this through a framework the views a B2B network as a streaming database and uses declarative policies to describe data sharing based on an SOA publish/subscribe infrastructure. The key contribution of our thesis is to define a flexible policy approach for describing streaming data. A Palliative Severe Pain Management scenario was implemented to evaluate our framework against BPI frameworks.

China has become the "world factory". In year 2007, China stood as one of the largest economy in the world. Since China started its economic reform in the 1978, its export increased significantly and the country has become more and more important to the global economy. As Chinese Smalls and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) represent a large part of Chinese economy and China's export, it's important to take a close look to the role they play in international trade and the problems they are facing. The purpose of this research is to define to what extent existing e-Marketplaces in China are able to respond to problems perceived by Chinese exporting SMEs' executives. A review of background information of Chinese international trade, the status of Chinese SMEs and Chinese export process, was conducted to identify the potential problems of SMEs in their export business are exposed. Based on these results, field research was conducted to identify the problems perceived by Chinese exporting SMEs' executives. Following the analysis of the data collected from the field research, a comparative analysis of China's existing e-Marketplaces was conducted. Various criteria where defined in order to evaluate Chinese existing e-Marketplaces and their capacity to resolve the problems identified by SMEs' executives. Finally, guidelines for a business plan that allow defining what should e-Marketplaces do to help Chinese SMEs solve their problems for exporting is presented.