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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
371

Beliefs and attitudes of middle managers towards quality programs in their organisations.

Davis, Douglas. January 2000 (has links)
University of Technology, Sydney. / This overall objective of this research was to identify factors that were important in forming middle managers' attitudes toward quality and quality programs in their organisations. An underlying assumption of the research, supported by the literature, was that a middle manager's attitude toward his/her quality program could be an important indicator of behaviour toward the program e.g. resistance, willingness to be involved. Reviews of the literature on middle management, quality, attitude measurement and research more specifically related to the research topic was undertaken. The work of Ajzen (1988) was particularly useful in devising an overall theoretical framework for the research . A number of hypotheses related to the overall research question were formulated. Twenty-one organisations agreed to participate in the research. These all had a quality program. Some of the organisations were quite advanced in quality, a number had won Australian Quality Awards, others were much less advanced. Organisations were drawn from manufacturing and services in both private and public sectors. Data was collected in two main ways. Firstly, a questionnaire was designed, piloted and distributed to approximately 1100 middle managers in participating organisations. The response rate was approximately 50%. Secondly, in depth interviews were carried out with middle managers, senior managers and quality managers in a number of the participating organisations. The results generally confirm the importance of the middle management group as key to the success of a quality program. Middle managers across all of the participating organisations generally believed that the TQM approach to management was an effective one. Their views on the effectiveness of IS09000 were less positive. Middle managers generally believed that the quality programs were more likely to benefit their organisations rather than to directly benefit themselves, although quality programs did provide some opportunities for some middle managers. Middle managers generally believed that their quality programs provided both operational and strategic benefit for their organisations. Paradoxically, a widely held belief among middle managers was that quality programs did not reduce short term thinking and over-reacting to short term goals. Positive attitudes to quality in the organisation were associated particularly with the values and beliefs that middle managers held regarding: a) program support from top management, from their direct boss and from their colleagues; b) a range of program outcomes for the organisation and c) a range of program outcomes related to the individual middle manager. For middle managers actively involved in their organisations quality program the clarity of their program role was positively related to program attitudes. Training/education in quality was also significantly related to some beliefs and attitudes towards quality and quality programs. Middle managers generally believed that quality programs involved a significant increase in paper work and bureaucracy. However this was not a significant influence on their attitudes toward quality in their organisations. An important finding was that for a wide range of beliefs and attitudes related to quality no significant differences were found between the types of jobs held by middle managers. An exception was the quality specialist group who generally had significantly more positive attitudes and beliefs about quality and their quality programs than did other job categories. Middle managers seemed relatively at ease with most of the changes that were taking place as part of their programs. In particular they had relatively positive views on devolution of responsibility to lower level employees. Middle managers also seemed relatively at ease with their own performance being more tightly monitored with program implementation. The research supported the more optimistic view of middle Management that has been reported recently (e.g. Fenton-O'Creevy 1998). The notion of the middle management still had currency in all of the organisations participating in the research despite the many structural changes that had taken place.
372

Beliefs and attitudes of middle managers towards quality programs in their organisations.

Davis, Douglas. January 2000 (has links)
University of Technology, Sydney. / This overall objective of this research was to identify factors that were important in forming middle managers' attitudes toward quality and quality programs in their organisations. An underlying assumption of the research, supported by the literature, was that a middle manager's attitude toward his/her quality program could be an important indicator of behaviour toward the program e.g. resistance, willingness to be involved. Reviews of the literature on middle management, quality, attitude measurement and research more specifically related to the research topic was undertaken. The work of Ajzen (1988) was particularly useful in devising an overall theoretical framework for the research . A number of hypotheses related to the overall research question were formulated. Twenty-one organisations agreed to participate in the research. These all had a quality program. Some of the organisations were quite advanced in quality, a number had won Australian Quality Awards, others were much less advanced. Organisations were drawn from manufacturing and services in both private and public sectors. Data was collected in two main ways. Firstly, a questionnaire was designed, piloted and distributed to approximately 1100 middle managers in participating organisations. The response rate was approximately 50%. Secondly, in depth interviews were carried out with middle managers, senior managers and quality managers in a number of the participating organisations. The results generally confirm the importance of the middle management group as key to the success of a quality program. Middle managers across all of the participating organisations generally believed that the TQM approach to management was an effective one. Their views on the effectiveness of IS09000 were less positive. Middle managers generally believed that the quality programs were more likely to benefit their organisations rather than to directly benefit themselves, although quality programs did provide some opportunities for some middle managers. Middle managers generally believed that their quality programs provided both operational and strategic benefit for their organisations. Paradoxically, a widely held belief among middle managers was that quality programs did not reduce short term thinking and over-reacting to short term goals. Positive attitudes to quality in the organisation were associated particularly with the values and beliefs that middle managers held regarding: a) program support from top management, from their direct boss and from their colleagues; b) a range of program outcomes for the organisation and c) a range of program outcomes related to the individual middle manager. For middle managers actively involved in their organisations quality program the clarity of their program role was positively related to program attitudes. Training/education in quality was also significantly related to some beliefs and attitudes towards quality and quality programs. Middle managers generally believed that quality programs involved a significant increase in paper work and bureaucracy. However this was not a significant influence on their attitudes toward quality in their organisations. An important finding was that for a wide range of beliefs and attitudes related to quality no significant differences were found between the types of jobs held by middle managers. An exception was the quality specialist group who generally had significantly more positive attitudes and beliefs about quality and their quality programs than did other job categories. Middle managers seemed relatively at ease with most of the changes that were taking place as part of their programs. In particular they had relatively positive views on devolution of responsibility to lower level employees. Middle managers also seemed relatively at ease with their own performance being more tightly monitored with program implementation. The research supported the more optimistic view of middle Management that has been reported recently (e.g. Fenton-O'Creevy 1998). The notion of the middle management still had currency in all of the organisations participating in the research despite the many structural changes that had taken place.
373

-exo-Alkylidene -lactones and -lactams via 2-alkoxycarbonyl allylboronates: mechanistic studies, diversity-oriented synthesis and target-oriented synthesis

Elford, Timothy 06 1900 (has links)
Allylboration reactions have been thoroughly utilized in organic chemistry since it was discovered that they could add in a nucleophilic fashion to aldehydes and ketones in 1964. Modification of allylboronates and the substrates that they can react with has been the focus of many research groups over the past three decades. Recent works have made use of catalysis to promote the addition of allylboronates that are generally otherwise unreactive toward various electrophiles. Chapter 2 will discuss the discovery that Brnsted acids can catalyze the addition of unreactive 2-alkoxycarbonyl allylboronates to aldehydes and that the diastereoselectivity of the reaction is determined by the electronic nature of the aldehyde. Ketones and imines are much less reactive than aldehydes towards allylboronates due to steric and electronic factors. As a result, new conditions are often required to promote the allylboration reaction of ketones and imines. Chapter 3 will briefly discuss the challenges that ketones present as substrates for allylboration reactions and show my attempts at achieving this transformation. Chapter 4 will describe imines and their associated challenges as substrates for allylboration reactions. However, once harnessed, these substrates provide easy access to -methylene -lactones when a 2-alkoxycarbonyl allylboronate is used as the allylating reagent. The modification of important or interesting molecules by making major or minor changes to a common core structure is the basis of diversity-oriented synthesis of combinatorial libraries. -Alkylidene -lactones and -alkylidene -lactams are biologically interesting compounds present in numerous natural products. Chapter 5 will discuss how the title compounds were modified by various metal-catalyzed coupling reactions to provide a diversity-oriented combinatorial library of -lactones and -lactams. Since -lactones are prevalent in many natural products, the application of 2-alkoxycarbonyl allylboronates to a target-oriented synthesis was intriguing. Unlike diversity-oriented synthesis, target oriented synthesis aims at synthesizing a single compound through any number of controlled steps, arriving at one specific product that is obtained as a pure isomer. Access to highly complex -lactones is often tedious, however, Chapter 6 will discuss how a simple, one-step allylboration reaction of a complex aldehyde with a 2-alkoxycarbonyl allylboronate can lead to a highly substituted -lactone. This -lactone can be further modified and transformed into chinensiolide B, a biologically active natural product isolated from a plant found in various locations in China.
374

Knee osteoarthritis and total knee arthroplasty quadriceps weakness, rehabilitation, and recovery /

Petterson, Stephanie Christine. January 2006 (has links)
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Lynn Snyder-Mackler, Dept. of Physical Therapy. Includes bibliographical references.
375

Analyses of power system vulnerability and total transfer capability

Yu, Xingbin 12 April 2006 (has links)
Modern power systems are now stepping into the post-restructuring era, in which utility industries as well as ISOs (Independent System Operators) are involved. Attention needs to be paid to the reliability study of power systems by both the utility companies and the ISOs. An uninterrupted and high quality power is required for the sustainable development of a technological society. Power system blackouts generally result from cascading outages. Protection system hidden failures remain dormant when everything is normal and are exposed as a result of other system disturbances. This dissertation provides new methods for power system vulnerability analysis including protection failures. Both adequacy and security aspects are included. The power system vulnerability analysis covers the following issues: 1) Protection system failure analysis and modeling based on protection failure features; 2) New methodology for reliability evaluation to incorporate protection system failure modes; and, 3) Application of variance reduction techniques and evaluation. A new model of current-carrying component paired with its associated protection system has been proposed. The model differentiates two protection failure modes, and it is the foundation of the proposed research. Detailed stochastic features of system contingencies and corresponding responses are considered. Both adequacy and security reliability indices are computed. Moreover, a new reliability index ISV (Integrated System Vulnerability) is introduced to represent the integrated reliability performance with consideration of protection system failures. According to these indices, we can locate the weakest point or link in a power system. The whole analysis procedure is based on a non-sequential Monte Carlo simulation method. In reliability analysis, especially with Monte Carlo simulation, computation time is a function not only of a large number of simulations, but also time-consuming system state evaluation, such as OPF (Optimal Power Flow) and stability assessment. Theoretical and practical analysis is conducted for the application of variance reduction techniques. The dissertation also proposes a comprehensive approach for a TTC (Total Transfer Capability) calculation with consideration of thermal, voltage and transient stability limits. Both steady state and dynamic security assessments are included in the process of obtaining total transfer capability. Particularly, the effect of FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission Systems) devices on TTC is examined. FACTS devices have been shown to have both positive and negative effects on system stability depending on their location. Furthermore, this dissertation proposes a probabilistic method which gives a new framework for analyzing total transfer capability with actual operational conditions.
376

Quality management factors and related performance measures in the cooperative extension system

Boltes, Barbara V. 07 February 1992 (has links)
The purpose of this study was to identify the critical factors for effective quality management in the Cooperative Extension System (CES) and develop an instrument that measured quality management performance in selected CES organizations as a means of identifying organizational training needs. Three procedures were applied in this study. First, critical factors of quality management were identified through a literature review and verified by an expert panel. Second, performance measures defining each critical factor were generated from the literature, approved by an iterative panel and assigned to scales. Finally, an instrument was developed and administered to a test population for purposes of establishing reliability and validity of the scales. Seven critical factors were identified that contributed to effective organization-wide quality management in the CES: (a) Administrative Support for Quality, (b) Strategic Quality Planning, (c) Continuous Quality Improvement, (d) Strategic Human Resources Management, (e) Quality Information and Analysis, (f) Clientele Satisfaction, and (g) Quality in Education and Training. Performance measures characterizing quality management were operationally defined from the literature, and approved by the iterative panel. An instrument, comprised of 69 performance measures, was designed and administered to a test population of Extension professionals, achieving a 91% response rate. Five of the critical factors including: (a) Administrative Support for Quality, (b) Strategic Quality Planning, (c) Strategic Human Resources Management, (d) Clientele Satisfaction, and (e) Quality in Education and Training, and seven of their corresponding scales, showed evidence of reliability and validity. The critical factors of Quality Information and Analysis and Clientele Satisfaction each had a scale that were reliable, but construct validity was not evident. The critical factors of Strategic Human Resources Management, and Quality in Education and Training each had a scale that did not show evidence of empirical utility. All three scales within the critical factor of Continuous Quality Improvement did not show evidence of empirical utility. This study offers a promising model for subsequent theory building and for more systematic research in assessing organization-wide training needs preceding the introduction of quality management technology in the Cooperative Extension System. / Graduation date: 1992
377

Oxidative Palladium(II)-catalyzed Arene C-H Bond Functionalization and Progress towards the Total Synthesis of 6-Deoxyerythronolide B

Borduas, Nadine 21 March 2012 (has links)
To address the issue of unnecessary functional group transformations in synthesis, the direct functionalization of carbon-hydrogen (C―H) bonds presents itself as an efficient and atom economical process. In particular, palladium(II)-catalyzed oxidative functionalization of arene C–H bonds were investigated to yield intermolecular and intramolecular arylations. Kinetic studies and characterization of bimetallic palladium(II) complexes led to the discovery of two other palladium(II)-catalyzed processes: arene hydroxylation and selective chlorination of anilides. Realizing the potential of biocatalysis and of transition-metal catalysis, we marriaged these two fundamentally different methods to access complex molecules in rapid and step economical ways and chose popular synthetic target, 6-deoxyerythronolide B to showcase the efficiency of these stereoselective reactions. To form the 14-membered lactone, we employed a transition-metal catalyzed ring-closing metathesis. Two different fragments were assembled via traditional and reliable aldols, oxidations and reductions, crotylations and protective group chemistry.
378

Oxidative Palladium(II)-catalyzed Arene C-H Bond Functionalization and Progress towards the Total Synthesis of 6-Deoxyerythronolide B

Borduas, Nadine 21 March 2012 (has links)
To address the issue of unnecessary functional group transformations in synthesis, the direct functionalization of carbon-hydrogen (C―H) bonds presents itself as an efficient and atom economical process. In particular, palladium(II)-catalyzed oxidative functionalization of arene C–H bonds were investigated to yield intermolecular and intramolecular arylations. Kinetic studies and characterization of bimetallic palladium(II) complexes led to the discovery of two other palladium(II)-catalyzed processes: arene hydroxylation and selective chlorination of anilides. Realizing the potential of biocatalysis and of transition-metal catalysis, we marriaged these two fundamentally different methods to access complex molecules in rapid and step economical ways and chose popular synthetic target, 6-deoxyerythronolide B to showcase the efficiency of these stereoselective reactions. To form the 14-membered lactone, we employed a transition-metal catalyzed ring-closing metathesis. Two different fragments were assembled via traditional and reliable aldols, oxidations and reductions, crotylations and protective group chemistry.
379

Reactivity Analysis of Nuclear Fuel Storages : The Effect of 238U Nuclear Data Uncertainties

Östangård, Louise January 2013 (has links)
The aim of this master thesis work was to investigate how the uncertainties in nuclear data for 238U affects the uncertainty of keff in criticality simulations for nuclear fuel storages. This was performed by using the Total Monte Carlo (TMC) method which allows propagation of nuclear data uncertainties from basic nuclear physics to reactor parameters, such as keff. The TMC approach relies on simulations with hundreds of calculations of keff with different random nuclear data libraries for 238U for each calculation. The result is a probability distribution for keff where the standard deviation for the distribution represents a spread in keff due to statistical and nuclear data uncertainties. Simulations were performed with MCNP for a nuclear fuel storage representing two different cases:  Normal Case and Worst Case. Normal Case represents a scenario during normal conditions and Worst Case represents accident conditions where optimal moderation occurs. In order to validate the MCNP calculations and the libraries produced with TMC, criticality benchmarks were used. The calculated mean value of keff for the criticality benchmark simulations with random libraries produced with TMC obtained a good agreement with the experimental keff for the benchmarks. This indicates that the libraries used in this this work were of good quality. The TMC method´s drawback is the long calculation time, therefore the new method, fast TMC, was tested.  Both fast TMC and original TMC were applied to the Normal Case. The two methods obtained similar results, indicating that fast TMC is a good option in order to reduce the computational time. The computer time using fast TMC was found to be significantly faster compared with original TMC in this work. The 238U nuclear data uncertainty was obtained to be 209 pcm for the Normal Case, both for original and fast TMC. For the Worst Case simulation the 238U nuclear data uncertainty was obtained to be 672 pcm with fast TMC. These results show the importance of handling uncertainties in nuclear data in order to improve the knowledge about the uncertainties for criticality calculations of keff. / Nukleära databibliotek innehåller all nödvändig information för att till exempel kunna simulera en reaktor eller en bränslebassäng för kärnbränsle. Dessa bibliotek är centrala vid beräkningar av olika reaktorparametrar som krävs för en säker kärnkraftsproduktion. En viktig reaktorparameter är multiplikationskonstanten (keff) som anger reaktiviteten för ett system. Ett kritiskt system (keff = 1) innebär att en kedjereaktion av kärnklyvningar kan upprätthållas. Detta tillstånd erfordras i en reaktor för att möjliggöra elproduktion. I en bränslebassäng där använt kärnbränsle förvaras är det viktigt att systemet är underkritiskt (keff < 1). Olika reaktorkoder används för att utföra dessa beräkningar av keff, vars resultat används i processen för att designa säkra bränsleförråd för kärnbränsle. Dagens nukleära databibliotek innehåller osäkerheter som i sin tur beror på osäkerheter i de modellparametrar som används vid framställningen av biblioteken.  Ofta är dessa nukleära data osäkerheter okända, vilket ger upphov till okända osäkerheter vid beräkning av keff. Vattenfall Nuclear Fuel AB undersöker idag möjligheten att öka anrikningen på bränslet för att minska antalet behövda bränsleknippen för en viss energimängd.  Varje bränsleknippe blir då mer reaktiv och i och med det minskar marginalen till kriticitet i bränslebassängen. Därmed är osäkerheterna för nukleära data viktiga i processen för att kunna beräkna den maximalt tillåtna anrikningen för bränslet. För att undersöka hur stora dessa osäkerheter är, användes en relativ ny metod TMC (Total Monte Carlo) som propagerar osäkerheter i nukleära data till olika reaktorparametrar (t.ex. keff) i en enda simuleringsprocess.  TMC metoden användes för att undersöka hur osäkerheterna i nukleära data för 238U påverkar beräkningar av keff för en bränslebassäng med använt kärnbränsle. Beräkningar utfördes för en bränslebassäng under normala driftförhållanden samt för en olyckshändelse då optimal moderering förekommer. Resultaten visade på att standardavvikelsen för nukleära data för 238U var 209 pcm vid normala driftförhållanden och 672 pcm för fallet med optimal moderering. Den ursprungliga TMC metoden är en tidskrävande metod och nyligen har en snabbare variant av TMC utvecklats. Denna nya metod applicerades också på bränslebassängen under normala driftförhållanden och resultaten jämfördes. Resultaten visade att båda metoderna beräknade samma nukleära dataosäkerhet för 238U och genom att använda den snabba TMC metoden, minskade beräkningstiden betydligt jämfört med att använda den ursprungliga TMC metoden.
380

Hur IT stödjer Total Quality Management i Medelstora tillverkande företag

Titoric, Nino, Cavdarovski, Kristian January 2012 (has links)
I dagens företagsklimat krävs det att medelstora tillverkande företag tillverkar produkter med hög kvalitet, för att vara i framkant vad gällande ledande kunskaper inom företagets verksamhetsområde. Ett sätt för företag att ständigt utvecklas och driva en vinstdrivande verksamhet är att fokusera på kvalitetsarbetet. Total Quality Management (TQM) är ett kvalitetsarbetssätt som utgår från företagets kunder, som likaså skapar förväntningar på företagets produkter. För företagsledningen innebär detta att förstå kundens förväntningar, tolka förväntningarna och förmedla dem till resten utav verksamheten. Företagsledningens ansvar är att organisera produktionsprocessen på ett vis som möjliggör ökad kontroll av kvaliteten och samtidigt bidrar med kvalitetssäkrad information för resten av verksamheten, medarbetarna. Informationsteknologiska stöd (IT-stöd) möjliggör för företagsledningen att applicera en TQM-strategi inom verksamheten, för att på så sätt försörja medarbetarna med kvalitetssäkrad information och ständigt förbättra kvalitetsarbetet. Syftet med studien är att skapa en helhetsförståelse och utveckla en modell för hur företagsledningen i svenska medelstora tillverkande företag kan stödja TQM med hjälp utav IT-stöd. Vi har valt att använda oss utav en kvalitativ ansats och med hjälp utav besöksintervjuer, telefonintervjuer och mailkorrespondens för att samla in data om hur IT-stöd stöjder företagsledningen i svenska medelstora tillverkande företag i arbete med TQM. Med vårt val av medelstora tillverkande företag är resursberoendeteorin (RBT) lämplig, eftersom medelstora företag oftast kännetecknas av bristande interna resurser, så som information. Studien kommer undersöka IT-stöd i form av Business Intelligence system och valet av respondenter i respektive företag ingår i företagsledningen med befattning kvalitetsansvarig och IT-chef. I analysen utreds klara samband hur TQM stöds utav IT-stöd och hur företagsledningen med hjälp utav IT-stöd kvalitetssäkrar informationen i respektive verksamhet. Resultatet av studien visar att Företag A och Företag B använder BI-system som stöd för att fatta realtidsbaserade beslut i produktionsprocessen, baserat på kvalitetsäkrad information för att harmonisera TQM-strategin och för att uppnå kvalitetsmålen. BI-system är ett IT-stöd som är användbart för företagsledningen i tillverkande medelstora företag när de önskar en kontrollerad uppföljning av TQM-strategin. BI-system ökar även kunskapen inom Företag A och Företag B för att förstå verksamhetens arbete med TQM.

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