Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Dallas, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-93).

No Abstract Provided

This paper reports findings from a two-year study to identify Lean practices for deriving software requirements from aerospace system level requirements, with a goal towards improving the software upgrade value stream. / Lean Aerospace Initiative

Four studies provide support for the development and validation of a framework for understanding the range of social psychological outcomes valued subjectively as consequences of negotiations. Study 1 inductively elicited and coded elements of subjective value among students, community members, and negotiation practitioners, revealing 20 categories that negotiation theorists in Study 2 sorted to reveal four underlying dimensions: Feelings about Instrumental Outcomes, the Self, Process, and Relationship. Study 3 proposed a new Subjective Value Inventory (SVI) questionnaire and confirmed its 4-factor structure, and Study 4 presents convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity data for this SVI. Results suggest the SVI is a promising tool to systematize and encourage research on the subjective outcomes of negotiation.

No description available.

abstract: The price based marketplace has dominated the construction industry. The majority of owners use price based practices of management (expectation and decision making, control, direction, and inspection.) The price based/management and control paradigm has not worked. Clients have now been moving toward the best value environment (hire contractors who know what they are doing, who preplan, and manage and minimize risk and deviation.) Owners are trying to move from client direction and control to hiring an expert and allowing them to do the quality control/risk management. The movement of environments changes the paradigm for the contractors from a reactive to a proactive, from a bureaucratic/non-accountable to an accountable position, from a relationship based/non-measuring to a measuring entity, and to a contractor who manages and minimizes the risk that they do not control. Years of price based practices have caused poor quality and low performance in the construction industry. This research identifies what is a best value contractor or vendor, what factors make up a best value vendor, and the methodology to transform a vendor to a best value vendor. It will use deductive logic, a case study to confirm the logic and the proposed methodology. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Engineering 2011

No description available.

This study examines the effects of contamination on the redevelopment and valuation of industrial land. The period covered by the study was one in which environmental legislation in the United Kingdom was undergoing significant changes. The Government's proposal to introduce registers of 'potentially contaminated sites' was fiercely opposed by different interest groups and was abandoned. New legislative proposals followed but will not take effect before 1997. During the same period, the guidance given to the valuers of industrial properties, and of other properties which may be affected by contamination, has been limited in scope and difficult to implement. It is argued that contaminated land is an important resource and that a 'risk assessment' approach should be adopted for valuation purposes and the appraisal of redevelopment proposals. The processes involved in the investigation of contaminated sites, the selection of treatment methods and the role of the valuer in these actions are considered. Alternative approaches to the valuation and appraisal of contaminated sites are described, both in situations where the existing industrial use is to continue and where redevelopment is proposed. Value was found to be affected both by the cost to treat the contamination and perceived 'risk factors', which are collectively termed 'stigma'.Besides valuers, many different actors are involved in the property development process. These actors are likely to hold differing views in respect of treatment methods, the value and desirability of redeveloping contaminated sites, according to the nature of their involvement. Questionnaire surveys were undertaken of valuers and other professionals involved in redevelopment, in order to test their perceptions of the risks involved. The views of a 'general population' sample were also obtained in respect of a number of environmental issues, in order to compare the views of two 'expert' groups with those of a wider population. Interviews were conducted with a number of leading valuers, so as to assess current practice in reflecting the possibility of contamination in valuations. The surveys enabled professional perceptions of the stigma effect to be determined. Case studies involving the redevelopment of contaminated sites were researched and the impact of stigma upon transaction prices was assessed. The findings of the research enabled a predictive model to be developed for use in the valuation of contaminated land and this was tested by reference to ten case studies. The perception of risk, associated with contaminated land, held by valuers was clearly identified to be higher than that perceived by the other group of'experts' involved in the development process. All of the professionals were generally supportive of current Government proposals but with some reservations. Property investors were identified as being the most cautious of all actors involved in property development. Further research proposals are described.

The past three decades have seen a fast expanding interest in thermal problems exhibiting a change of phase, more commonly known as Stefan problems. With the rapid advance in computer technology the use and expansion of numerical simulation schemes has been responsible for large advances in this field. The increasing size of computers has led to more sophisticated and complex numerical solutions becoming feasible from a computational point of view. On the other hand, part of this interest has developed from industrial quarters where a knowledge of the location of a melting/freezing boundary may be of critical importance for certain processes. Much experimental work has been completed in this field. However, it is still useful to be able to obtain quick, accurate numerical solutions to such problems and it is with this in mind that this thesis is presented. Ideas from both of the above areas of interest are treated. In the first case a simple to program and computationally efficient numerical scheme is proposed for solving one dimensional Stefan problems and its merits are discussed in relation to several of the more common existing solution schemes. This scheme is then modified to cater for a two dimensional problem which crudely imitates a possible heating configuration in some industrial processes. The problem, with its attendant difficulties, is first approximated by a 'test' problem which is constructed so as to admit an analytic solution. This allows assessment of the numerical procedure in two dimensions. In the course of this work a pseudo-analytic solution was obtained for the original two dimensional problem. Finally, in collaboration with the British Gas Corporation, a complex industrial freezing problem is discussed concerning the flow of liquid through an enclosed channel. Some simplifying assumptions are proposed to reduce the problem to a form for which a relatively simple numerical scheme may be adopted. Several simulations are completed to examine the effect of varying physical parameters on the solution and in particular to test for situations of blockage or steady-state.

Diploma thesis is focused on testing of value averaging investment method on real data of three global stock markets in years 1990 - 2013. The first part is devoted to analysis and comparison of return and risk of investments, which are using the value averaging method on different markets at different adjusted investments horizons. In conclusion there are recommendations for investors using value averaging method including presentation of results and their discussion with works focusing on similar theme.