Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Operational interactions'
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Gill, Robert A. "JIEDDO Test Board operational interactions and enduser analysis of the information flow process." Thesis, Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/5694.
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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.Improvised Explosive Devices continue to harass, maim, and kill innocent men, women, and children, as well as numerous coalition and U.S. forces. To combat this terror, the U.S. government has employed significant resources across a diverse range of dedicated researchers and testers. The urgency of their task cannot be overemphasized. However, in working so diligently to test the separate components of a defeat system, it is hypothesized that opportunities are being missed which could effectively utilize all of the information available across the test enterprise. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the organizations and activities involved, the information shared, and the processes employed by organizations within the JIEDDO Test Board (JTB). The objective is to provide an accurate representation of the process, and where the main decision points and bottlenecks occur. The conclusions achieved by this research are provided to enhance the JIEDDO test process system. The goal of this study of the JIEDDO process is to contribute to improving information sharing and knowledge management among stakeholders involved in the JIEDDO Test Board Enterprise.
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Valerio, Allison Marie. "Modeling groundwater-surface water interactions in an operational setting by linking RiverWare with MODFLOW." Connect to online resource, 2008. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:1453540.
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Gouws, BJ. "Increasing operational performance of a Human Resources Department through improving the managing of the relationships and interactions : a systems approach." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5540.
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Bibliography: leaves 97-104.Operational efficiency requires, inter-alia, efficient interpersonal and cross-functional collaboration within a system. This, however, demands a proper management of interrelationships and interactions between the different functions ofthe system. However, the emergence of interpersonal and cross-functional collaboration would appear to be dependent on more than simply the provision of a technical infrastructure. It also requires a fundamental change in the way people think and act. This necessitates the restructuring of relationships. As organisations are primarily constituted through the interaction of people within their operational domains and, as the qualities of these interactions are dependable on the network of relationships, it is essential that the relationship network also be reconstructed.
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Silva, Paulo Cesar Marques. "Modelling interactions between bus operations and traffic flow." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.367562.
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Marsillac, Erika. "Supply Chain Partner Interactions in an Environmental Context." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1290187490.
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Zhang, Lixia. "How to Apply Metaphors to Achieve Simplicity In Interaction." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367943800.
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Cunningham, Isabel L. "The Development of a Three Minute Realtime Sampling Method to Measure Social Harmony during Interactions between Parents and their Toddlers with Autism." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2018. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1248433/.
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Training parents of a child with autism to increase the frequency of their child's social behavior may improve the quality of parent-child interactions. The purpose of this methodological study was to develop a direct observation method for rapidly sampling social harmony between parents and their toddlers with autism during parent training interactions. The current study used a pre and post probe design, with benchmark comparisons to test the discriminability of the measurement protocol across two sets of data. The first set of data came from pre and post training videos from a parent training program for children with a diagnosis of autism or at risk for a diagnosis. The second set of data came from videos of typically developing toddlers and their parents. The results of the study show that the measurement system differentiated in the level of harmonious engagement between the benchmark sample and the sample including children diagnosed with autism. The results are discussed in the context of future directions and the utility of the measurement system for behavior analytic practices in parent training and other settings where rapport and complex interactional behaviors are an intervention priority.
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Leimalm, Ulrika. "Interaction between pellet properties and blast furnace operation." Doctoral thesis, Luleå : Luleå University of Technology, 2010. http://pure.ltu.se/ws/fbspretrieve/3541696.
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Chebud, Yirgalem A. "Operational Prediction of Groundwater-phosphorous Interaction Over Surficial Aquifers of South Florida." FIU Digital Commons, 2012. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/578.
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South Florida has transformed from a natural to a managed ecosystem upon channelization of Kissimmee River and the wetlands in the 1960’s. The drainage has resulted in fast transport of water and nutrient, and subsequently eutrophication of the downstream water bodies. The intervention required: intensive management of the shallow groundwater to balance ecological water requirement; and nutrient removal, namely phosphorus, to minimize eutrophication.
The study was set to examine and develop an operational prediction method for groundwater-phosphorus interactions to support the wetlands management. Accordingly, a point scale and a spatio-temporal groundwater level was simulated using sequence based Markovian stochastic analysis and dynamic factor analysis methods respectively. A root mean square error of 0.12m and 0.15m was observed for a point and spatio-temporal groundwater prediction.
Soluble and sequestered phosphorus were also simulated at 13% error using a watershed based model called ArcWAM. A spatial analysis on simulated soluble phosphorus and groundwater level indicated similarity of patterns (spatial correlation) 99% of the time. A geographically weighted multivariate analysis of soluble phosphorus using predictors of groundwater level, total phosphorus of surficial water, and distance from Kissimmee River showed a goodness of fit (R2 ) of 0.2 – 0.7. Amongst the factors, the groundwater explained 70% of the soluble phosphorus variability.
In summary, an increase in soluble phosphorus was observed with groundwater rise and a decrease during groundwater recession. A reversed relationship was identified for the total phosphorus. Presumably, organic matter in the root zone has contributed to increased soluble phosphorus with the rise in groundwater. On the other hand, solubility of calcium carbonate from the karst aquifers seems to fix and precipitate phosphorus during recession of groundwater. The least sequestration of phosphorus, observed in oversaturated wetlands also suggested that nutrient removal on karst hydrogeology could be risky unless a check is made using vegetation strip to enhance phosphorus uptake.
The study concluded that phosphorus could be operationally predicted associated with forecasting of groundwater fluctuation. Further research is recommended to explore factors that could be derived either empirically or from satellite data for prediction of soluble phosphorus at minimum cost.
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Wilson, Andrew. "The theory of interacting deductions and its application to operational semantics." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/398.
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This thesis concerns the problem of complexity in operational semantics definitions. The appeal of modern operational semantics is the simplicity of their metatheories, which can be regarded as theories of deduction about certain shapes of operational judgments. However, when applied to real programming languages they produce bulky definitions that are cumbersome to reason about. The theory of interacting deductions is a richer metatheory which simplifies operational judgments and admits new proof techniques. An interacting deduction is a pair (F, I), where F is a forest of inference trees and I is a set of interaction links (a symmetric set of pairs of formula occurrences of F), which has been built from interacting inference rules (sequences of standard inference rules, or rule atoms). This setting allows one to decompose operational judgments. For instance, for a simple imperative language, one rule atom might concern a program transition, and another a store transition. Program judgments only interact with store judgments when necessary: so stores do not have to be propagated by every inference rule. A deduction in such a semantics would have two inference trees: one for programs and one for stores. This introduces a natural notion of modularity in proofs about semantics. The proof fragmentation theorem shows that one need only consider the rule atoms relevant to the property being proved. To illustrate, I give the semantics for a simple process calculus, compare it with standard semantics and prove three simple properties: nondivergence, store correctness and an equivalence between the two semantics. Typically evaluation semantics provide simpler definitions and proofs than transition semantics. However, it turns out that evaluation semantics cannot be easily expressed using interacting deductions: they require a notion of sequentiality. The sequential deductions contain this extra structure. I compare the utility of evaluation and transition semantics in the interacting case by proving a simple translation correctness example. This proof in turn depends on proof-theoretic concerns which can be abstracted using dangling interactions. This gives rise to the techniques of breaking and assembling interaction links. Again I get the proof fragmentation theorem, and also the proof assembly theorem, which allow respectively both the isolation and composition of modules in proofs about semantics. For illustration, I prove a simple type-checking result (in evaluation semantics) and another nondivergence result (in transition semantics). I apply these results to a bigger language, CSP, to show how the results scale up. Introducing a special scoping side-condition permits a number of linguistic extensions including nested parallelism, mutual exclusion, dynamic process creation and recursive procedures. Then, as an experiment I apply the theory of interacting deductions to present and prove sound a compositional proof system for the partial correctness of CSP programs. Finally, I show that a deduction corresponds to CCS-like process evaluation, justifying philosophically my use of the theory to give operational semantics. A simple corollary is the undecidability of interacting-deducibility. Practically, the result also indicates how one can build prototype interpreters for definitions.
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Forsberg, Erik. "Interacting with information visualizations in virtual reality : Motion tracked hand controller interaction for common filtering operations in a VR information visualization application." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för datavetenskap och kommunikation (CSC), 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-210043.
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As we are heading into immersive virtual reality environments for different purposes - entertainment being the most prominent lately - we should consider how we design interactive information visualizations for VR. Is it wise to hold onto the same elements of interaction with which we are familiar from contemporary web-based interfaces? The study explores this question along with others, to explore ways to conduct familiar filtering operations known from web environments, in VR. An interactive information visualization application in VR was created to evaluate two web-inspired interaction methods used for filtering data. Thirteen users participated in the tests, in which each participant worked through eight predetermined tasks as well as one open-ended task. Qualitative feedback was gathered both through think-alouds during the tasks and in semi-structured interviews when the test had been concluded. Quantitative data was gathered in the application, containing logs of usage statistics. Results show that using web-inspired interaction methods to carry out filtering operations in VR helped the participants to understand the functionality of the interactions. By implementing haptic and visual feedback, natural interactions can be imitated which according to the results of the study generally is perceived as helpful while making the interactions feel more natural. Designing the interaction methods to function like previously known interactions (such as ones found in web interfaces) helped the participants to understand the functionality of the filters.I och med framfarten av VR och dess olika användningsområden – där underhållning gått i bräschen på senare tid – borde vi fundera på hur vi designar interaktiva informationsvisualiseringar för VR. Är det klokt att hålla fast vid samma interaktionselement som vi känner igen från webbaserade gränssnitt? Studien utforskar denna fråga tillsammans med andra, för att utforska sätt att genomföra bekanta filtreringsoperationer som känns igen från webbmiljöer, i VR. En interaktiv informationsvisualiseringsapplikation i VR skapades för att utvärdera två webbinspirerade interaktionsmetoder som användes för att filtrera data. Tretton användare deltog i studien, där varje deltagare tog sig igenom åtta förbestämda uppgifter samt en öppen uppgift. Kvalitativ återkoppling samlades in både via think-alouds under uppgifterna samt i semistrukturerade intervjuer när testet hade avslutats. Kvantitativa data samlades in i applikationen och innehöll användningsstatistik. Resultaten visar att användandet av webbinspirerade interaktionsmetoder för att genomföra filtreringsoperationer i VR hjälpte deltagarna att förstå interaktionens funktionalitet. Genom att implementera haptisk och visuell feedback kan naturliga interaktioner efterliknas, vilket enligt studiens resultat uppfattas som hjälpsamt samtidigt som interaktionerna kändes mer naturliga. Att utforma interaktionsmetoderna för att efterlikna de som återfinns i webbgränssnitt hjälpte deltagarna att förstå filtrens funktionalitet.
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Schulten, Ute Ursula. "Co-operation and conflict in German children's conversations." Thesis, University of Essex, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.343581.
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Johansen, Anne-Marte Furmyr. "Interaction in Integrated Operations : from a relational and learning perspective." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for voksnes læring og rådgivningsvitenskap, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-15017.
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In this thesis I inquire how an interdependent relationship is perceived to affect virtual team member’s interaction and the process of developing knowledge in the team. In order to explore these issues a qualitative case study was conducted and data gathered through the subjective experiences of team members constituting a virtual team in Statoil through the following research question: How is the interdependent relationship between virtual team members perceived to affect interaction and the process of developing knowledge in the team? In this thesis an interdependent relationship is understood as team members relating to each other as individuals that are mutually dependent on and responsible for the team’s actions. This interdependent relationship is the fundament for interaction in which team members build on and refine each other’s ideas and knowledge in order to reach their common goals and objectives. Principles from dialogue techniques, by the concepts of perspective making and perspective taking, are elaborated as a means to support interdependent interaction and knowledge creation in the virtual team. The empirical findings in this particular case study suggest that the informants perceive their interdependent and technologically mediated relationship to represent both challenges and possibilities in relation to their interaction and the process of developing knowledge within the team. Further, acknowledging this interdependent relationship and having the capacity to take the other’s perspective, seems decisive in order to develop shared understanding, complementary knowledge and high-quality decisions in the virtual team. The main findings in this study are: The interdependent relationship between the virtual team members is perceived characterized by involvement, vulnerability, power and shared responsibility Trust is seen as a vital precondition for interaction between the interdependent virtual team members Developing a shared situational understanding through listening to other’s perspectives seems crucial in order to utilize the potential for developing knowledge in the virtual team
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Vanet, Emmanuelle. "Distribution de l'intelligence et approche hétérarchique des marchés de l'énergie distribués dans les Smart Grids." Thesis, Université Grenoble Alpes (ComUE), 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016GREAT112/document.
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En lien étroit avec le projet européen DREAM, le sujet de thèse s’intègre dans les évolutions opérationnelles des réseaux de distribution de demain intégrant de larges quantités d'énergies renouvelables. Un contrôle centralisé de l'ensemble des acteurs est, certes globalement optimal mais complexe et peu fiable. L'étude porte sur la faisabilité d'un contrôle distribué, auto-adaptatif et temps réel des ressources locales et des composants du réseau. La piste principale explorée correspond à des agents autonomes qui peuvent construire des structures collaboratives ad-hoc suivant les besoins du réseau. Ces structures collaboratives adresseront divers modes de fonctionnement, du marché de l'énergie J-1 à infraday au marché d'ajustement (services systèmes) et au contrôle local (fréquence et auto-cicatrisation)In close relationship with the European project DREAM, this doctoral thesis focus on operational evolutions in tomorrow’s distribution networks wich will integrate a larger amount of distributed renewable resources. A centralized control of all the entities (from controllable loads to embedded generators) is overall optimal but complex and not so reliable. This study addresses the feasibility of a distributed control, autonomous, self-learning and real time operation of local resources and network’s components. The main concern to explore will be the creation of ad-hoc federations of agents that will flexibly adjust their hierarchy to current needs. These collaborative structures will use different coordination strategies ranging from market-based transactions, to balancing optimization market (ancillary services) and to local control (frequency control and self-healing)
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Doi, Tatsuya. "Interaction of lifecycle properties in High Speed Rail systems operation." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105565.
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Thesis: S.M. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2016.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-224).
High-Speed Rail (HSR) has been expanding throughout the world, providing various nations with alternative solutions for the infrastructure design of intercity passenger travel. HSR is a capital-intensive infrastructure, in which multiple subsystems are closely integrated. Also, HSR operation lasts for a long period, and its performance indicators are continuously altered by incremental updates. With this background, design and monitoring of lifecycle properties, or "ilities", is an important factor to achieve long-term successful operation. This thesis aims to analyze and evaluate dynamic behaviors of "ilities" and their interactions in HSR operation. After the literature review and the study of industrial trends about HSR "ilities", safety, availability and profitability are chosen as key "ilities" which should be monitored in HSR operation. The Tokaido Shinkansen in Japan, and Amtrak's service in the US Northeast Corridor (NEC) are chosen as cases to study "ilities" trends. In the Tokaido Shinkansen, three "ilities" form a positive feedback loop to make HSR operation successful. The NEC shows high profitability, but it does not perform as well in terms of safety and availability due to several systemic factors. System Dynamics (SD) is applied to visualize interactions of "ilities" and other variables of interest. Qualitative causal loop diagrams (CLD) reveal several feedback loops affecting "ilities". In particular, the integration of train operation and infrastructure / rolling stock management results in the emergence of major feedback loops which cannot easily be captured by other methodologies. Qualitative SD models are converted into quantitative SD models, and numerical simulations are run to further understand the structure of causal loop diagrams. Estimated parameters in the Tokaido and the NEC suggest the different relationships among "ilities" and other variables. Further, sensitivity analyses are conducted to evaluate how different policies affect "ilities" in future HSR operations.
by Tatsuya Doi.
S.M. in Engineering Systems
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Seldeslachts, Jo. "Interactions between the Internal Dynamics of Organisations and their Operations in Markets." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/4051.
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Las organizaciones son organismos complejos de los cuales tenemos solo un conocimiento muy reducido, en parte porque se tiende a investigar solo una parte de ellas. El objetivo de esta tesis es aprofundizar en el conocimiento económico de las dinámicas de las organizaciones, señalando que las empresas no solo interactúan en los mercados ni funcionan como entidades aisladas, sino que hay interacción entre el funcionamiento interno y externo. El primer capitulo postula que si los trabajadores de una empresa bloquean las reformas que pueden perjudicarles, entonces interviniendo también en la manera en la que las empresas tienen que competir en los mercados puede crear efectos positivos para los empleados, consiguiendo que al final estén también de acuerdo con las reformas. Combinar reformas crea externalidades positivas, que si están bien planteadas puede reducir la resistencia para los cambios necesarios.
El segundo capitulo considera un mercado muy concentrado y estudia los efectos de las decisiones en inversión y la organización interna de las empresas fusionadas en la eficiencia y en la estabilidad de las fusiones. No se asume que les fusiones generaran automáticamente ganancias en eficiencia: aunque pueden generar economías de escala, y por lo tanto costes más bajos, las empresas necesitan invertir para conseguirlas. Además, estas inversiones pueden ser frustradas por el conflicto que puede haber entre las empresas fusionadas. Se muestra que, incluso cuando no hay conflicto, les empresas no siempre invierten para conseguir ganancias en eficiencia aunque para ellas es beneficioso fusionarse. Cuando hay conflicto incluso puede haber pérdidas en eficiencia y por lo tanto hay muchas fusiones que no son beneficiosas. Como consecuencia, si los directores de las empresas subestiman la posibilidad de conflicto, consideraran que es positivo fusionarse aunque después se encontraran con una empresa menos eficiente y con beneficios inferiores a los que tenían por separado.
El tercer capitulo ofrece una explicación formal de porque unas fusiones fracasan al mismo tiempo que otras son exitosas. Conseguimos predicciones investigando la interacción entre dos aspectos importantes de las fusiones, problemas de integración entre las empresas fusionadas y la recopilación de información sobre las sinergias que se produce antes de la fusión. Diferencias culturales y pocos esfuerzos de integración son recurrentemente mencionados en la prensa como el principal factor que explica el fracaso de la obtención de las sinergias. Estudios en teoría de las organizaciones argumentan que, aunque mejores resultados son asociados con seleccionar un mejor emparejamiento, el grado de éxito depende del proceso de implementación de la fusión. Pero, según nuestros conocimientos, explicar fracasos de fusiones modelando el proceso post-fusión es una novedad en la literatura económica.
The aim of this thesis is broadening the reach of economic research on mergers and industry dynamics, pointing out that mergers are not only done because of firms' needs and do not only create effects in firms' markets. Indeed, dynamics are largely driven by managers and have their impact on employees. We have created some situations were internal functioning and external operating of firms interact.
The first chapter claims that if employees in a firm block law reforms that could hurt them, then intervening also in the way how firms should compete in their markets may create positive effects for employees, making them in the end to agree on reforms. Combining reforms creates positive externalites, which if well used can lower resisitance for necessary changes. This is because reforms in the labour and product markets are complementary, and therefore the loosing side of one reform will be the winning side of the other reform. Also, reforms in both markets increase welfare more than a single reform and show thus synergy effects. Moreover, it offers a possible way out of the so called "sclerosis" effect. When frictions in markets are high, interest groups enjoy higher rents and oppose more reforms and thus the markets that need most a reform, are most stuck in a sclerosis. But high frictions in one market make it easier to reform the other market and therefore the sclerosis in one market can cancel out the sclerosis in the other market.
In the second chapter we reconsider the market power-effciency trade-off made by competition authorities and stress the importance of both strategic decision making of managers and internal organisation issues after mergers have taken place. The possibility that a merged firm may become more efficient does not mean that these gains will be actually realised as is now widely assumed in the economics literature. A newly merged firm brings together different management teams, which can lead to distrust and conflict and therefore possibly less investment. Our approach facilitates the understanding of why some mergers may fail to become more efficient or even fail to happen. Moreover, it allows us to pin down some pitfalls for the regulator when taking into account efficiency gains in merger decisions. Our model gives also a potential explanation for merger failures. If the managers underestimate the potential conflict, they may end up in an unprofitable merger.
The third chapter offers a formal explanation of why some mergers fail and others succeed. We achieve predictions by investigating the interaction between two important aspects of merging: post-merger integration difficulties and the pre-merger gathering of information about obtainable merger synergies. Organisation theorists argue that the a meger success is likely to occur depends upon the process of implementing the merger. But in the economics literature it is a novalty to explain merger failures from the explicit modelling of the post-merger process. Some of our results are intuitively clear as is the fact that less precise information leads to more failures. Less precise information makes it easier to make judgement mistakes and to rely too much on the good news that your partner wants to merge with you. When costs of merging are lower, more merger failures are encountered. For example, during stock market booms when it is easier to find funding for buying up other firms, considerably more failures are indeed encountered. One of our most interesting results finally is that when the punishment of not-integrating is higher, the possibility for failures is reduced. The cultural differences that could derail effective synergy realisation are more carefully attended to because of managers' heightened sensitivity.
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Kellogg, Katherine C. "Challenging operations : changing interactions, identities, and institutions in a surgical teaching hospital." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33414.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, June 2005."May 2005."
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-170).
If institutions are comprised of cultural and positional prescriptions for action and interpretation, then institutional change must depend at some point on thinking the unthinkable, acting in "inappropriate" ways, and convincing powerful others to give up their privilege. How does this happen? How do people come to question taken-for-granted beliefs? How do they decide to attempt the unacceptable in their interactions with others? How do they persuade those who benefit from the status quo to change? And how do they extend new understandings created in particular interactions into future situations? In this dissertation, I tell the story of surgical residents at ACADEMIC hospital who accomplished both institutional stability and institutional change in their interactions with one another in the wake of nationwide changes occurring outside their hospital. Using findings from a 15 month ethnography of this surgical teaching hospital, I demonstrate that institutional stability and change occur only insofar as they are negotiated in interactions between particular workplace members with particular reasons for wanting either to maintain or to challenge the status quo.
(cont.) I draw on these findings, in combination with identity theory and symbolic interactionism, to develop a relational, identity-based framework for understanding processes of institutional stability and change. Members negotiate institutional stability and change as they shape their actions in particular situations according to their sense of self in relation to the situation, their own personal narrative, and their judgment of the likely response of their interaction partner to their various actions. What looks like institutional stability or change in the abstract is, in fact, constituted through the culturally and politically-charged daily contests between organization members interacting with one another to either protect or change their way of life and the persona and authority associated with it. At first pass, these daily contests between one action or another in familiar situations may seem obvious, even unimportant. But it is in these simple contests around habitual issues that the institutional order is constructed. The institutionalized values, positions, and beliefs that shape the patterned action of large numbers of people across decades are built up and torn down in these daily contests between challengers and defenders of the status quo and the varied positions of privilege and senses of self that that this status quo provides.
Katherine C. Kellogg.
Ph.D.
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Conner, Karen G. "Student Interactions, Connectedness, and Retention in an Online MBA Program: An Exploratory Study." W&M ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1563898859.
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The market for online education is competitive, especially for graduate programs such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA). Attrition rates vary widely, and educators must understand the needs of online students and create engaging quality programs to be competitive. Social interaction and student connectedness are particularly important in online MBA programs where one of the expected benefits is the opportunity for students to build strong professional networks. This mixed methods study explores the student interactions, connectedness, and retention in the Online MBA Program at William & Mary. While previous research has explored building community in an online educational environment, a gap remains in the literature regarding the quality and type of student connections in a part-time online graduate program tailored to working professionals. In addition to surveying faculty who taught in the program, I attempted to survey all students of the program and used the results of the Online Student Connectedness Survey (Bolliger & Inan, 2012) to inform the student participant selection process for the qualitative case study. Rooted in the social constructivist paradigm, I created the Online Student Connectedness conceptual framework and sought to determine the extent to which students and alumni of the program felt connected. I also wanted to determine what the students’ experiences of connectedness were and the quality of those connections. The results of the quantitative survey revealed a moderately high perception of connectedness among students in the program. The results of the qualitative data indicated that several factors influenced the students’ experiences of connectedness. In addition to carefully planned collaborative and group work, a feeling of comfort and perception of community were key factors. Managing students’ expectations, support from others, and connection to the institution contributed positively to the high retention rate enjoyed by the program. The results of the study offer a number of implications for practice that may be beneficial to program administrators, professors, course developers, instructional designers, and to students. Through appropriate application of social constructivist theory and adult learning theory, educators can create learning activities that promote student connectedness and thereby, increase student satisfaction and retention rates.
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Rajagopalan, Krishnan S. M. Sloan School of Management. "Interacting with users in social networks : the follow-back problem." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105000.
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Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Operations Research Center, 2016.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 69-71).
An agent wants to form a connection with a predetermined set of target users over social media. Because forming a connection is known as "following" in social networks such as Twitter, we refer to this as the follow-back problem. The targets and their friends form a directed graph which we refer to as the "friends graph." The agent's goal is to get the targets to follow it, and it is allowed to interact with the targets and their friends. To understand what features impact the probability of an interaction resulting in a follow-back, we conduct an empirical analysis of several thousand interactions in Twitter. We build a model of the follow-back probabilities based upon this analysis which incorporates features such as the friend and follower count of the target and the neighborhood overlap of the target with the agent. We find optimal policies for simple network topologies such as directed acyclic graphs. For arbitrary directed graphs we develop integer programming heuristics that employ network centrality measures and a graph score we define as the follow-back score. We show that these heuristic policies perform well in simulation on a real Twitter network.
by Krishnan Rajagopalan.
S.M.
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Cong, Yu Fang. "Comparison of visual performance with operational fatigue level based on eye tracking model." Thesis, University of Macau, 2018. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b3950613.
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Pimentel, Maria da Graca Campos. "A framework for user-hypertext interaction and alternative operations for browsing." Thesis, University of Kent, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.384895.
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Amaran, Satyajith. "Interactions of Uncertainty and Optimization: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications to Chemical Site Operations." Research Showcase @ CMU, 2014. http://repository.cmu.edu/dissertations/438.
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This thesis explores different paradigms for incorporating uncertainty with optimization frameworks for applications in chemical engineering and site-wide operations. First, we address the simulation optimization problem, which deals with the search for optimal input parameters to black-box stochastic simulations which are potentially expensive to evaluate. We include a comprehensive literature survey of the state-of-the-art in the area, propose a new provably convergent trust region-based algorithm, and discuss implementation details along with extensive computational experience, including examples for chemical engineering applications. Next, we look at the problem of long-term site-wide maintenance turnaround planning. Turnarounds involve the disruption of production for significant periods of time, and may incur enormous costs in terms of maintenance manpower as well as lost sales. The problem involves (1) the simulation of profit deterioration due to wear and tear followed by the determination of how frequently a particular turnaround should take place; and (2) the consideration of site network structure and turnaround frequencies to determine how turnarounds of different plants may be coordinated over a long-term horizon. We investigate two mixed-integer models, the first of which determines optimal frequencies of individual plant turnarounds, while the second considers maximizing long-term profit through coordination of turnarounds across the site. We then turn to more conventional methods of dealing with optimization under uncertainty, and make use of a combined robust optimization and stochastic programming approach to medium-term maintenance planning in integrated chemical sites. The nature of the uncertainty considered affects two aspects of maintenance planning, one of which is most suitably addressed through a robust optimization framework, while the other is better handled with stochastic programming models. In summary, we highlight the importance of considering uncertainty in optimization as well as the choice of approach or paradigm used through chemical engineering applications that span varied domains and time scales.
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Gong, Cencen. "The interaction between railway vehicle dynamics and track lateral alignment." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2013. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/19755/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the effect of vehicle dynamics on lateral deterioration of the track alignment. As rail traffic runs along a route, the forces imposed upon the track cause the ballast to settle, and hence the track geometry deteriorates. At a specified value of deterioration the track geometry needs to be restored by tamping or other methods. As the deterioration is mainly in the vertical direction, this aspect has been more widely studied and models have been developed to predict vertical track geometry deterioration. On the other hand, lateral track deterioration is not as well understood, and this thesis aims to fill the gap in this knowledge. However, the understanding of the lateral deterioration mechanisms becomes more important as speed and capacity increase. This thesis describes statistical studies of track lateral deterioration, as well as the development and validation of a vehicle-track lateral dynamic interaction model. This work is undertaken to contribute to the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of track lateral deterioration, therefore making the effective control and reduction of the lateral deterioration achievable. The statistical analysis provides a better understanding of three aspects of track lateral irregularities, namely: the relationship between vertical and lateral irregularities, the relationship between track curvature and track lateral irregularity and the change in track lateral deterioration over time. The vertical and lateral track irregularity magnitudes are clearly correlated. The track quality in the vertical direction is generally worse than in the lateral direction, however the number of track sections with lateral quality significantly worse than the vertical is non-negligible. The lateral irregularities tend to be larger on curves. It is notable that less than ten percent of the track studied has a constant lateral deterioration due to frequent maintenance activities and bidirectional lateral dynamic forces. Unlike vertical settlement, lateral deterioration develops exponentially in both magnitude and wavelength, and the major influences are found from the irregularities with wavelength longer than 10 m. The change in track lateral irregularity with different curve radii and the lateral deterioration rate are described in separate exponential power functions due to the limitation of the available track data. The parameters for these empirical equations do not remain constant due to the change in track conditions. Current track lateral models mainly focus on lateral failures such as buckling and lateral sliding. The development of lateral track irregularities tends to be studied using representative values of net lateral forces and net L/V (Lateral/Vertical) load ratios. Unlike other track lateral deterioration models, the model developed in this thesis focuses on the development of lateral irregularities based on the dynamic interactions between the vehicles and the track system. This model makes it possible to carry out more integrations and analysis of the track lateral deterioration in a realistic dynamic simulation, using vehicle models, contact conditions, track initial irregularities, and traffic mix more close to the reality. The vehicle-track lateral dynamic interaction model was validated against track geometry data measured on the West Coast Mainline (WCML) in England. It has been found that the model gives a reasonably accurate prediction of the development of lateral track irregularities. However, it also tends to predict a short wavelength deterioration that is not seen in the actual track deterioration. Improvements to the model are suggested by either adding more factors or simplifying the model depending on specific target application. Enhancing the model by including more details, such as longitudinal forces, temperature effect, more layered track systems, uneven track bed conditions and more representative wheel-rail contact conditions etc., may help understand the reason of the additional short wavelength. A sensitivity analysis was performed in order to identify the critical factors that influence lateral track deterioration. The track damage caused by specific vehicles can be controlled by understanding different vehicle dynamics behaviour on a particular track section or route. Vehicles with simple suspension design and heavy axle loads tend to cause more lateral track damage. Within a certain speed range, there will be a critical speed that generates the largest lateral deterioration. Vehicles with different dynamic behaviours can generate a potential offset of the lateral deterioration, so it is possible to design the traffic mix to cancel out the peak deterioration. However, it may not be very practical to redesign the traffic mix due to different traffic requirements. Subsequently, actions can be taken to effectively reduce track lateral deterioration, such as optimise the suspension design, vehicle weight, the selection of an optimal operation speed, and enhance the traffic mix design. As the most important interface between vehicle and track, the wheel-rail contact condition has an extremely large influence on lateral deterioration. Wheel and rail profiles with different wear conditions can cause altered vehicle-track lateral dynamic interaction. It is found that increasingly worn wheel/rail profiles within an acceptable tolerance can effectively reduce the lateral deterioration. Lateral deterioration can also be reduced by increasing all the track stiffness values, damping values and the mass of rails and sleepers, or alternatively, by decreasing the sleeper spacing. The sleeper-ballast interface is found to play the most important role in lateral deterioration. The interfaces between the sleeper and ballast shoulder, crib and base determines the non-linear characteristic such as hysteresis and sliding features. Improving the strength of the sleeper-ballast interface can improve the elastic limits and hysteresis characteristics, hence reducing the lateral deterioration. The findings of the investigation indicate that the model provides in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms influencing lateral deterioration and provides effective solutions with consideration of vehicles, wheel-rail contact and the track system. Further work would include track data with sufficient information in order to develop a more comprehensive empirical model that describes the lateral deterioration, inclusion of more potentially influential factors such as: temperature, ground condition, traffic etc. The model can be improved by taking into account additional factors such as the influence of longitudinal forces from the wheels to the rails, different weather and temperatures, subgrade and ground conditions, etc. The reason for the high frequency noise in the deterioration prediction is not understood yet and it should be discussed in terms of more accurate vehicle simulation results and more comprehensive rail and wheel worn profiles measured on the target track and vehicles. Furthermore, the sleeper-ballast lateral characteristics are not well understood and the previous research in this area is quite limited. To improve on the present work it would be useful to carry out laboratory tests in order to capture more accurately track lateral stiffness and damping values as well as the comprehensive non-linear characteristic of track lateral residual resistance behaviour.
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Groshong, Hannah L. "Task modeling and assessment for human-system interaction in freight rail operations." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108206.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Technology and Policy Program, 2016.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 73-76).
As technological advancement continues and the usage of automation in the cab of a locomotive grows, the role of the locomotive engineer and conductor changes. There is a need then to better understand the impact of different task allocations, or configurations of tasks, among the human and automation agents. The technical objective of this thesis was to investigate whether the workload of the locomotive engineer could be predicted from a task model of the role of the engineer and conductor and their interactions with automation in rail operation. A task model was developed by reviewing existing Cognitive Task Analyses, and also by using concept mapping to identify information gaps which were then filled via expert interviews. Engineer and conductor goals and priorities were formalized in an Abstraction Hierarchy. This included controlling train speed, train forces, and dispatcher communications, while maintaining awareness of train and signal states, track conditions, and nearby traffic. Hierarchical Task Analysis was used to identify the lower level tasks of the engineer and conductor when driving manually in traditional fashion, or when using two alternative levels of throttle, brake, horn, in cab signaling and pacing automation. Engineer mental workload was predicted based on the number of information inputs and actions required, and an analysis of when the engineer would be engaged in the specific tasks while driving a route. To validate the task model based workload prediction, a human-in-the- loop experiment was conducted in a DOT locomotive simulator. Eleven subjects drove the same route manually and under the two automation conditions. Response time to a visual secondary task was used as a proxy measure for mental workload. Hierarchical mixed regression analysis was performed to compare the secondary task response time with the workload predications from the task model, which incorporated the three automation effects. Response time correlated significantly with the modeled workload. The ratio of experimental response time to predicted workload depended significantly on subject, automation condition, and along track distance effects. The task model slightly (2%) under/overestimated mean effects of automation and average response time. However other un-modeled effects also contributed to the regression residual, as discussed. A second objective of this thesis was to consider whether the qualitative information contained in the concept maps, CTA analyses, and formal task models on the role of the engineer and conductor and their interaction with automation could be useful in policy discussions. Several potential benefits of using this information were identified: it can educate people on the job of the engineer and conductor in rail operations, it can be a shared language for stakeholders to use in discussion of the future of rail automation, and it can promote knowledge translation between researchers and policymakers. However, several steps need to be taken to get the information from the task model into an accessible form for use in policy discussions. These include creating a visual and interactive tool to display the information and involving stakeholders in the development process.
by Hannah L. Groshong.
S.M. in Technology and Policy
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Lawton, Alan. "The dynamic interaction between a magnetically levitated vehicle and a flexible track." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1988. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11527/.
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The only commercially operating magnetically levitated (maglev) transport system in the world is the link between Birmingham International Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. Comparative financial analysis for this route showed that the construction costs for both wheeled and maglev systems were similar and that the cost of the guideway accounted for over 70% of the total. In part this was because the guideway was elevated; a likely requirement for any future urban system. A substantial reduction in installation costs for a system of this nature can only be achieved by the use of cheap, lightweight and flexible guideways. The British Rail Research maglev vehicle was designed for use on a rigid guideway and it was known that excessive flexibility would make the suspension control system unstable. The aim of the study was to develop a maglev suspension control strategy that was insensitive to guideway flexibility. Vibration measurements were carried out on the Birmingham guideway to establish its modal properties. It was found to be sufficiently rigid to allow the existing controller to work without problems .Measurements were also made on the guideway of a Swiss cablecar transit system. This was felt to represent the extremes of both lightness and flexibility and established the range of guideway dynamics that were likely to be encountered. For the initial experimental work, a section of the British Rail maglev test track was modified to incorporate three sections of flexible track. A personal computer was installed on board the vehicle and software was written to aid frequency response testing and dynamic system modelling. Tests were carried out to establish the dynamic parameters of the new sections of guideway. The existing rigid guideway controller separated magnet control from suspension control. Guideway flexibility destroys this separation and induces additional feedback terms that degrade system stability. Theoretical studies of an improved controller took advantage of the fact that that the suspension magnets act directly onto the guideway and affect the position of both vehicle and guideway. As the guideway is lightly damped it is only flexible over a narrow bandwidth and the new suspension controller is able to use vehicle inertia to react forces that control the guideway at its natural frequency. Theory suggested that this would restore the separation of magnet and suspension control even with a flexible guideway. For a variety of reasons, experimental implementation of the new controller proved to be difficult. Suspension performance on the flexible portions of the guideway was never adequately demonstrated. The work did however enable a very accurate theoretical model of the system to be developed. This model contrasted with earlier predictions because, on rigid guideways, it predicted substantially smaller phase margins than the earlier models had suggested. It showed that the new controller had only modest benefits relative to the original rigid guideway suspension controller. This led to the development of an improved controller, a "lumped" controller where magnet and suspension control are not separated. Modelling for a single degree of freedom vehicle on a single mode guideway showed that large improvements in suspension performance could be made. Further modelling of a three degree of freedom vehicle and a five mode three degree of freedom flexible guideway used parameters that represent the production vehicles at Birmingham. This work defined limits for guideway flexibility and vehicle dynamic performance and showed that maglev guideways for production scale vehicles, with the "lumped" controller, can be very flexible indeed. The major aim of the project was achieved. A suspension controller was developed that will allow a maglev vehicle to work on a guideway that is far lighter, more flexible and far cheaper than the guideway required for a conventional wheeled vehicle.
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Berg, Håkon Nergaard. "Enhanced communication support between control room and field operation : Human communication and interaction." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for teknisk kybernetikk, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-16747.
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Communication between the field operator and the control room operator is vital for successful operation in the process industry. By reviewing models for human cognition and interpersonal communication and collaboration together with appropriate ~technology, concepts for enhancing the field operator/control room operator communication are developed. These concepts constitutes the basis for design and implementation of a working prototype. The prototype is utilizing a mobile device with wireless networking abilities.Evaluation of the concepts concludes that they most likely will enhance communication and decrease erroneous decisions because of higher system awareness and better mental models. This is achieved by introducing data to an operator from the system context of the other operator. The prototype also increases the communication abilities by allowing the operators to interact with each other through pointing and drawing.
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Kuriakose, Vinu P. "Floating LNG terminal and LNG carrier interaction analysis for side-by-side offloading operation." Texas A&M University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/2707.
Full textAbstract:
Floating LNG terminals are a relatively new concept with the first such terminal in
the world installed this year. The hydrodynamic interaction effects between the terminal
and a LNG carrier in a side-by-side offloading arrangement is investigated. The side-byside
arrangement is compared with each body floating alone to identify the interaction
effects. The hydrodynamic coefficients are obtained using the Constant Panel Method
and the analysis of body motions, mooring line tensions are done in time domain. The
relative motion between the two bodies is analyzed using WAMIT in frequency domain
and WINPOST in time domain to ascertain the offloading operability of the terminal
under 1 year storm condition.
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Trisnawati, Suranti. "Applying an integrated communications approach to the study of user multimedia interactions." University of Southern Queensland, Faculty of Arts, 2007. http://eprints.usq.edu.au/archive/00004107/.
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[Abbreviated Abstract]: The usual measure of the effectiveness of interactive operations on multimedia texts and related tools, such as navigational buttons and pointing devices, is usability. However, usability evaluations cannot tell us how users make meanings about the text/tools and why they construct such meanings, especially if the users have different social and educational backgrounds. .... The integrated approach employed contributes to theories of user-multimedia interactions, particularly to usability studies. The study also provides multimedia course developers with a much richer analytical and developmental tool than is provided by usability per se.
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Tarpey, Richard J. "Labor Planning Outcomes: Systemic Management Models, Human Interactions, and Knowledge Sharing." Scholar Commons, 2018. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7583.
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This project takes a systemic approach to hospital labor planning and allocation rather than sub-optimizing the individual components of workload demand forecasting, scheduling, and staffing separately. The research considers all three components within their interdependent, dynamic, cyclical systemic nature to develop a better labor planning and allocation cycle (LPAC) management model across the various subsystems of the hospital. We used an Action Design Research (ADR) method to the guided emergence of innovative artifacts – Systemic LPAC Management Model and LPAC Performance Metrics – that we evaluate and improve through interventions in situ with practitioners. The Systemic LPAC Management Model leveraged an optimization of organizational structures, work tasks and human interactions based on patient flow to create improved outcomes. Outcomes were measured via the LPAC Performance Metric artifact to assess pre and post-implementation performance. The ADR research method allowed us to assess the resulting utility and acceptance of the new model and metrics in a real-world hospital environment from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective. Implementation of the new model resulted in outcome improvement in each of the individual LPAC phases. Additionally, we observed labor management flexibility and responsiveness improvement due to the systemic approach of improving upon the previous siloed and narrowly focused labor-management model.
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Shaffer, Jonathan Andrew. "Controlling personality tendencies: predicting observer-rated personality from the interaction between general mental ability and self-rated personality." Diss., University of Iowa, 2010. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/737.
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Research has determined that measures of general mental ability (GMA) and personality are valid predictors of a wide range of work outcomes. Two of the most well established findings in the field of organizational psychology are that GMA and two of the Big Five personality traits, conscientiousness and emotional stability, predict overall job performance and training performance across all jobs. Though both GMA and personality are valid predictors of job performance, the validities of personality measures are much weaker than those observed for measures of GMA.
Some argue that personality may play a larger role in predicting work outcomes than currently believed, but that current measures of personality do not capture the construct fully. Several researchers have attempted to increase the validity of personality measures by altering the items in the measures so that they refer specifically to work contexts, and others have examined the validity of observer ratings of personality. This study draws on the theory of cognitive buffering to test the possibility is that GMA itself that causes the impact of personality traits on real life performances to be limited. That is, that people may use their GMA to control the expression of their personality tendencies in their behavior.
The results showed that GMA and personality interacted to predict peer ratings of personality, but not as initially hypothesized. Self-monitoring and personality also interacted to predict peer ratings of personality, but, again, not as hypothesized.
Several possible explanations for the results of this study are discussed, including the notion that that individuals may make efforts to manage only those personality traits that are most relevant in given situations. Moreover, it may be the case that dispositions are less subject to the process of cognitive buffering than are emotions and affect. Limitations of this study and opportunities for future research are also discussed.
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Morin, Jean-François. "Conception of an intelligent tutoring system in cost engineering : knowledge representation, pedagogical interactions, and system operation." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ38158.pdf.
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Hsu, Ya-Ke. "Market interactions and competition between public and private oyster production and supplies from other states." W&M ScholarWorks, 1993. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539616701.
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Oyster production in Virginia has declined dramatically in the past ten years, causing Virginia oyster processors to rely increasingly on oyster supplies from other regions. In response to the industry problems, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) developed and began implementing an Oyster Fishery Management Plan (OFMP) in 1985. Primarily, the plan seeks to increase Virginia oyster production from both public and leased grounds. A large increase in production could significantly affect the oyster market. There is thus a need to understand the Virginia oyster market, which derives raw material supplies primarily from public and leased-grounds production and from other states. Although the level of competition among the three sources is uncertain, it is thought to be substantial and quite important for the success of the OFMP. This study assesses the level of competition and associated sector interaction. A simultaneous equation system is specified and estimated by Full-Information-Maximum-Likelihood procedure. Estimates and a market simulation model are used to assess the impact of the OFMP on market behavior. Analyses indicate that the market for the public ground fishery consists of an elastic demand and an inelastic supply, but the market for private oyster cultivation consists of an inelastic demand and an elastic supply. The market interaction between the eastern oyster and Pacific oyster is weak. Oysters from leased grounds compete with supplies from other regions and with Pacific oysters. Market simulations indicate that the OFMP will increase total revenue for both public and private producers, suggesting that (1) the seasonal closure on commercial oyster fishery may be extended as stock size recovers, (2) increasing private production may reduce oyster supplies from other states, and (3) from the market interaction point of view, the Pacific oyster may be an alternative for private oyster planters.
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Jiang, Feng. "Essays in empirical corporate finance: CEO compensation, social interactions, and M&A." Diss., University of Iowa, 2012. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3319.
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This thesis consists of three essays and studies CEO compensation and mergers and acquisitions in empirical corporate finance. The first essay is sole-authored and is titled ‘The Effect of Social Interactions on Executive Compensation.' The second essay ‘The Role of Investment Banker Directors in M &A: Can Experts Help?' is a joint work with Qianqian Huang, Erik Lie, and Ke Yang. The third essay is titled ‘The Strategic Use of CEO Compensation in Labor Contract Negotiations' and is coauthored with Erik Lie and Tingting Que.
In the first essay, I examine how executives' social interactions affect their compensation. Using the social networks among 2,936 chief executive officers (CEOs) during 1999-2008, I report that the compensation of a pair of socially connected CEOs is significantly more similar than that of a pair of non-connected CEOs. I further find that CEO compensation responds to a peer's change in pay caused by industry performance, especially if that change in pay is positive rather than negative and when the firm is suffering from weak corporate governance. I interpret these results as consistent with the notion that relative earnings concerns within social networks affect negotiations about compensation. Finally, I find that the past practice of backdating stock option grants spread across social networks, suggesting that social networks serve as a conduit for interpersonal information flow about compensation practices. Taken together, I show that CEOs' peer interactions have a substantial impact on executive pay.
In the second essay, we examine how directors with investment banking experience affect firms' acquisition behavior. We find that firms have a higher probability of acquisition when an investment banker is a director. Furthermore, acquirers with investment banker directors on the board have significantly higher announcement returns, especially if the deal is relatively large and the bankers' experience and/or network is current. We also find evidence that investment banker directors help reduce the takeover premium and advisory fees paid to outside consultants. Finally, the presence of investment banker directors is positively related to long-run operating and stock performance.
Lastly, in the third essay, we study whether firms strategically alter CEO compensation to improve their bargaining position with labor unions. We conjecture that (i) firms in heavily unionized industries offer lower compensation packages to their CEOs than do their non-union counterparts, (ii) unionized firms temporarily curtail CEO compensation before union contract negotiations, and (iii) the curtailment in compensation is most pronounced for option grants due to their discretionary nature. Our results support these conjectures. We also find that CEOs are more likely to sacrifice compensation if they hold a relatively large stake in the company whose value depends on the contract negotiations. Finally, we report evidence that curtailing CEO compensation helps reduce the negotiated salary growth.
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Костель, Микола Васильович, Николай Васильевич Костель, Mykola Vasylovych Kostel, and K. M. Karabets. "Solution of the problems of bank's rating through interaction with financial management for effective operation." Thesis, Sumy State University, 2017. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/64994.
Full textAbstract:
A competitive banking system plays a major role in the formation of the
financial stability, wealth, and strong country’s position in the international space,
as well as in facilitating the development of public and private business sectors at
all levels, creation the favorable climate for foreign investment, etc.
The crucial point of ensuring the transparency of banks for different
stakeholders is the available information about existing financial risks valuated by
Rating agencies.
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Chen, Longfei. "Analysis and Modeling of Machine Operation Tasks using Egocentric Vision." Kyoto University, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/259046.
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Pradhananga, Nipesh. "Construction site safety analysis for human-equipment interaction using spatio-temporal data." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/52326.
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The construction industry has consistently suffered the highest number of fatalities among all human involved industries over the years. Safety managers struggle to prevent injuries and fatalities by monitoring at-risk behavior exhibited by workers and equipment operators. Current methods of identifying and reporting potential hazards on site involve periodic manual inspection, which depends upon personal judgment, is prone to human error, and consumes enormous time and resources. This research presents a framework for automatic identification and analysis of potential hazards by analyzing spatio-temporal data from construction resources. The scope of the research is limited to human-equipment interactions in outdoor construction sites involving ground workers and heavy equipment. A grid-based mapping technique is developed to quantify and visualize potentially hazardous regions caused by resource interactions on a construction site. The framework is also implemented to identify resources that are exposed to potential risk based on their interaction with other resources. Cases of proximity and blind spots are considered in order to create a weight-based scoring approach for mapping hazards on site. The framework is extended to perform ``what-if'' safety analysis for operation planning by iterating through multiple resource configurations. The feasibility of using both real and simulated data is explored. A sophisticated data management and operation analysis platform and a cell-based simulation engine are developed to support the process. This framework can be utilized to improve on-site safety awareness, revise construction site layout plans, and evaluate the need for warning or training workers and equipment operators. It can also be used as an education and training tool to assist safety managers in making better, more effective, and safer decisions.
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Groep, Macro Erik. "A supervisory control strategy for performance optimisation of sequences of interacting stochastic biochemical operations." Thesis, Imperial College London, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/7520.
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Singh, Akash. "An intelligent user interface model for contact centre operations." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011399.
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Contact Centres (CCs) are at the forefront of interaction between an organisation and its customers. Currently, 17 percent of all inbound calls are not resolved on the first call by the first agent attending to that call. This is due to the inability of the contact centre agents (CCAs) to diagnose customer queries and find adequate solutions in an effective and efficient manner. The aim of this research is to develop an intelligent user interface (IUI) model to support and improve CC operations. A literature review of existing IUI architectures, modelbased design and existing CC software together with a field study of CCs has resulted in the design of an IUI model for CCs. The proposed IUI model is described in terms of its architecture, component-level design and interface design. An IUI prototype has been developed as a proof of concept of the proposed IUI model. The IUI prototype was evaluated in order to determine to what extent it supports problem identification and query resolution. User testing, incorporating the use of eye tracking and a post-test questionnaire, was used in order to determine the usability and usefulness of the prototype. The results of this evaluation show that the users were highly satisfied with the task support and query resolution assistance provided by the IUI prototype. This research resulted in the design of an IUI model for the domain of CCs. This model can be used to assist the development of CC applications incorporating IUIs. Use of the proposed IUI model is expected to support and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of CC operations. Further research is needed to conduct a longitudinal study to determine the impact of IUIs in the CC domain.
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Prøsch, Kristine. "Risk in crane and lifting operations related to the logistic interaction process for well and drilling." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for marin teknikk, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-15570.
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This master thesis compares the logistic chain of operations and maintenance versus drilling and well and finds how drilling and well affect this chain with regards to risk on crane and lifting operations. Research has been done through accident/incident analysis, statistic, observations and interviews. An influence diagram for frequency is made, to better understanding the risk influencing factors (RIF) that affects a crane and lifting operation. The influence diagram is based on operational-, organisational-, and authority- and customer related risk influencing factors. These factors describe general causes and actors influencing the risk for frequency or consequence of a crane- and lifting operation accident. The risk influencing factors is modelled in a Bayesian Network (BN) to see how they affect the severity of incidents. To make the BN the program GenIE is used, this is a very useful program to model risk, but can be a bit complicated with regards to many influencing factors and many levels of the factor. From investigation of the logistic chain, incidents/accidents and statistics there was found: Underlying causes: Simulation and practice 38.5% Operators maintenance organisation 14% Coordination and planning 24.6% Operations, procedures and support 23% Direct causes: Human factors 35% Operational working conditions 29% Compliance 27% Physical/environmentally conditions 9 Incident: Green 96,93% Yellow 1,43% Red 1,64 When situations are at high risk (red), precautions must be taken straight away. The analysis shows that it will be most efficient to improve coordination and planning; the underlying case is reflected in all the direct causes and will affect all of them in a positive way. Some measurements will affect coordination and planning easily. A lot of misunderstandings could have been avoided if everyone had been using the same technical system, SAP, for ordering and planning. To achieve this goal everyone must learn how to use the system, and use the same part of it. A group of planners from each unit should meet once a day and work together to make one plan and inform each other about changes. For the supply vessel and installation it would have been much easier if every documentation and certification were online, this could make their planning process much easier. Then plans of where the goods should be placed could be done before the vessel enters at the supply base and the installation would have had time to prepare better for reception of the supply vessel. This should be quite easy to implement since all goods should already have a serial number in SAP: The milling machine at the installations would also make things much easier, because then not so many containers would need to be shipped to the installations and space and money would be saved.
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Feng, Bochen. "Specific DNA-Protein and Protein-Protein interactions determine the operation of the Nitrogen regulatory circuit of Neurospora Crassa /." The Ohio State University, 2000. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1488192447431226.
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Jack, Andrew E. "Operational leadership : a grounded theory study of the interaction of leaders and followers in an evolving organisational structure in a multinational enterprise." Thesis, University of Abertay Dundee, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.343882.
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Kiviniemi-Svensson, Johanna. "Övergång mellan förskola och förskoleklass : En inblick i hur pedagoger ser på kunskap, social förmåga och samverkan." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Lärarutbildningen, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-15901.
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The curriculum of the Swedish school system explains how the transitions between the preschool class and the pre-school should be. The co-operation between the organisations should aim for a long term perspective with the students learning process in mind (Lgr11). The pre-school has almost the same aim in their curriculum, as the curriculum of the Swedish school system. The aim with my study is to examine how the teachers from the different organizations relate to knowledge and how they look at the students social interactions. Also how the transition between the pre-school and the pre-school class is viewed from their point of view. How do the teachers from the different organisations comprehend knowledge? How do the teachers from the different organisations comprehend the social abilities? How do the teachers from the different organisations work and interact in terms of the transition between the pre-school and the pre-school class? The study that has been made is about the transitions between the pre-school and the pre-school class. It´s been investigated by doing interviews with teachers from both the pre-school and the pre-school class. The result from these is that the teachers from the different organisations have the same view about knowledge and social interactions. They didn´t have the same view at Co-operation this because their organizations was structured in a different way and also they hadn´t any guidelines to follow.
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Lind, Peter C. "Application of technology insertion to particle accelerator modernization and operations support /." *McMaster only, 1997.
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Rabieh, Alireza. "Studying the Interactions of Mill Media and Recycled Process Water on Media Wear and Downstream Operations During Gold Ore Processing." Thesis, Curtin University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/66126.
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The focus of this thesis was to better understand the influence of grinding media on flotation of gold bearing pyrite and cyanide gold leaching in the presence of sulfide minerals (pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite and pyrite). The interactions of sulfide minerals with various grinding media (forged steel, low chromium and high chromium steel and ceramic media) were investigated and the galvanic effects are explored, as well as the effect on flotation and leaching.
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Barber, Michael R. "Effects of Hydraulic Dredging and Vessel Operation on Atlantic Sturgeon Behavior in a Large Coastal River." VCU Scholars Compass, 2017. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/4792.
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The tidal James River, a focus of VCU's Atlantic Sturgeon program, supports both commercial shipping and hydraulic dredging. These anthropogenic threats present documented but preventable sources of mortality to the endangered species. Using three separate VEMCO Positioning System (VPS) receiver arrays, spatial data of previously-tagged fish were collected. ArcGIS and Programita software were used to analyze fish spatial distributions in the presence and absence of potential threats, using additional data including automatic identification system (AIS) vessel locations, vessel passages compiled using camera footage, and dredge records provided by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The data showed a change in distribution associated with vessels that varied according to river width but not vessel type. Dredging was associated with differences in spatial distribution, but more clearly for adults than sub-adults. The responses of Atlantic Sturgeon provide information necessary to propose potential threat mitigations, including seasonal restrictions for both vessels and dredging.
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Al-Milaji, Karam Nashwan. "Material Interactions and Self-Assembly in Inkjet Printing." VCU Scholars Compass, 2019. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/6053.
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Inkjet printing has attracted much attention in recent years as a versatile manufacturing tool, suitable for printing functional materials. This facile, low-cost printing technique with high throughput and accuracy is considered promising for a wide range of applications including but not limited to optical and electronic devices, sensors, solar cells, biochips, and displays. The performance of such functional devices is significantly influenced by the deposit morphology and printing resolution. Therefore, fabrication functional devices with precise footprints by inkjet printing requires deep understanding of ink properties, material interactions, and material self-assembly.
In conventional inkjet printing process, where sessile droplets are directly printed on substrates, particle depositions are usually associated with the well-known, undesirable coffee-ring effect due to the high solvent evaporation rate at the edges of the printed droplets. Such particle accumulation phenomenon in vicinity of the three-phase contact lines of sessile droplets is considered detrimental to inkjet printing applications. This study investigates the material interactions and self-assembly of colloidal inks in inkjet printing applications at different length scales. The potential of inkjet printing has been exploited through employing the dual-droplet inkjet printing of colloidal particles to investigate the self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles at the air-liquid interface and at the three-phase contact line of sessile droplets, which provide better understanding of the particle deposition morphologies after solvent evaporation. Different from conventional inkjet printing, the dual-droplet printing involves jetting wetting droplets, containing colloidal nanoparticles dispersed in solvents with high vapor pressure, over supporting droplets composed of water only. By tuning the surface tensions and controlling the jetting parameters of the jetted droplets, monolayers with closely-packed deposition of colloidal nanoparticles are demonstrated. Various solutions are proposed to totally suppress or mitigate the coffee-ring effect in inkjet printing applications through tuning the pH value of the supporting droplets in the dual-droplet inkjet printing to control the multibody interactions (i.e., particle-particle, particle-interface, and particle-substrate interactions) or by applying magnetic field to direct the self-assembly of colloidal particles in conventional inkjet printing. In addition, the influence of various forces such as drag force, van der Waals force, electrotactic force, and capillary force on the particle deposition and assembly in vicinity of the three-phase contact line area were investigated for both the conventional and dual-droplet inkjet printing techniques.
Finally, fabrication of functional devices such as stretchable conductors have also been demonstrated by inkjet printing of silver nanowires into elastomer substrate, where the viscous liquid elastomer layer shaped the printed silver wire lines into tens of micrometers in dimeter. The silver nanowires align along the printing direction during solvent evaporation, resulting in wires with good mechanical stability and electrical performance. The printing techniques and the outcomes presented in this study can be harnessed in engineering and manufacturing a wide range of technological applications ranging from high-performance optical and electronic devices to stretchable conductors and sensors.
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Oberley, Mark J. "The operation and interaction of the Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole Converter in a shipboard DC power distribution network." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 1996. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA326394.
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Thesis (M.S. in Electrical Engineering) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1996.Thesis advisor(s): John G. Ciezki. "December 1996." Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-186). Also available online.
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Helou, Walid. "Design and operation of antennas at the ion cyclotron and lower hybrid range of frequencies for nuclear fusion reactors." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017AIXM0395/document.
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Cette thèse fournit en premier lieu une brève introduction à la fusion nucléaire par confinement magnétique et aux tokamaks. Elle explique la nécessité de disposer de systèmes électromagnétiques aux fréquences cylctronique ionique (ICRF) et hybride basse (LHRF) pour le chauffage du plasma et la génération de courant. En second lieu les conditions à satisfaire afin d’assurer une propagation de l'onde plasma et une résonance onde-particules sont définies. Le solveur de réseaux hyperfréquences SIDON, développé pour cette thèse, est ensuite présenté. La thèse aborde ensuite les types d'antennes ICRF et l'adaptation d'impédance des réseaux de boucles rayonnantes. Les antennes ICRF de WEST sont présentées en détail et des simulations faites avec SIDON de scénarios d'adaptation d'impédance sont discutées. La thèse discute d’un banc de test faible puissance (milliwatt) développé pour les antennes ICRF de WEST ainsi que la caractérisation à faible puissance de la première d’entre elles. De plus, des expériences à forte puissance (mégawatt) avec l'antenne ITER-Like Antenna de JET sont discutées. Les antennes LHRF sont ensuite abordées ainsi que la modélisation numérique du couplage de réseaux phasés de guide d'ondes au plasma. La conception d'ASTARTE-LP et de son circuit d’excitation est discutée. ASTARTE-LP est un prototype faible puissance (milliwatt) d’une antenne basée sur le concept de guides à fentes et qui a été conçu pour être testé sur COMPASS. Enfin, la validation expérimentale d'ASTARTE-LP et de son circuit d’excitation avant les expériences sur COMPASS, ainsi que les expériences sur COMPASS, sont discutéesThe thesis provides at first a brief introduction to magnetic nuclear fusion and tokamaks. It explains the need for auxiliary plasma heating and current-drive electromagnetic systems at the Ion Cyclotron and Lower Hybrid Range of Frequencies (ICRF and LHRF). The thesis then sets antenna specifications that allow satisfying proper plasma wave propagation and proper wave-particle resonance. The Radio Frequency (RF) network solver SIDON developed for this thesis is then presented. The thesis then discusses the different types of ICRF antennas and details the challenges of the impedance matching in ICRF arrays of straps. WEST ICRF launchers are discussed in great detail and simulations of impedance matching scenarios for these launchers using SIDON are reported. The thesis reports on the low-power (milliwatt range) testbed that has been developed for WEST ICRF launchers, as well as the low-power tests of the first one among them. Furthermore, high power (megawatt range) experiments on plasma with the JET ICRF ITER-Like Antenna are reported. The thesis then provides an overview about existing LHRF antennas and discusses the numerical modeling of the coupling of waveguide phased arrays to the plasma. The RF design of ASTARTE-LP and its feeding circuit is discussed. ASTARTE-LP is a low-power (milliwatt range) prototype LHRF antenna based on the Slotted Waveguide Antenna concept that has been designed and built to perform proof of principle experiments on the COMPASS tokamak. The experimental validation of ASTARTE-LP and its feeding circuit before the experiments on COMPASS, as well as the experiments performed on COMPASS plasmas are reported
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Albinsson, Pär-Anders. "Interacting with command and control systems : Tools for operators and designers." Licentiate thesis, Linköping University, Department of Computer and Information Science, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-8425.
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Command and control is central in all distributed tactical operations such as rescue operations and military operations. It takes place in a complex system of humans and artefacts, striving to reach common goals. The command and control complexity springs from several sources, including dynamism, uncertainty, risk, time pressure, feedback delays and interdependencies. Stemming from this complexity, the thesis approaches two important and related problem areas in command and control research. On a general level, the thesis seeks to approach the problems facing the command and control operators and the problems facing the designers in the associated systems development process.
We investigate the specific problem of operators losing sight of the overall perspective when working with large maps in geographical information systems with limited screen area. To approach this problem, we propose high-precision input techniques that reduce the need for zooming and panning in touch-screen systems, and informative unit representations that make better use of the screen area available. The results from an experimental study show that the proposed input techniques are as fast and accurate as state-of-the-art techniques without the need to resort to zooming. Furthermore, results from a prototype design show that the proposed unit representation reduces on-screen clutter and makes use of off-screen units to better exploit the valuable screen area.
Developing command and control systems is a complex task with several pitfalls, including getting stuck in exhaustive analyses and overrated reliance on rational methods. In this thesis, we employ a design-oriented research framework that acknowledges creative and pragmatic ingredients to handle the pitfalls. Our approach adopts the method of reconstruction and exploration of mission histories from distributed tactical operations as a means for command and control analysis. To support explorative analysis of mission histories within our framework, we propose tools for communication analysis and tools for managing metadata such as reflections, questions, hypotheses and expert comments. By using these tools together with real data from live tactical operations, we show that they can manage large amounts of data, preserve contextual data, support navigation within data, make original data easily accessible, and strengthen the link between metadata and supporting raw data. Furthermore, we show that by using these tools, multiple analysts, experts, and researchers can exchange comments on both data and metadata in a collaborative and explorative investigation of a complex scenario.
Report code: LiU-Tek-Lic-2004:61.
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Bhatti, Shakeel Ahmed, Abideen Zain Ul, and Salah Udin Ziko. "Internationalization process of Swedish SMEs : How Swedish SMEs internationalize their business operations by developing and capitalizing international opportunity." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-180855.
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The purpose of this thesis is to study how two small and medium sized Swedish apparel firms internationalize their business activities.The international business activities are more frequent now than ever because cross border trade barriers are much less today. The companies internationalize their business operations for several reasons. High saturation in the local market, cheap supply line, hunting for resources and potential opportunities in the international market are the driving factors for internationalization. The small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have no exception from such motives. Generally (SMEs) have fewer resources than big multinationals therefore internationalization is more difficult and challenging for (SMEs). The existing internationalization theories highlight several ways for internationalization. The internationalization process model depicts that companies extend their business activities from less to far psychic distance countries and gradually increase their commitment in the international market based on experiential knowledge i.e. knowledge learned by doing. The revised model argued that companies involve in internationalization by utilizing domestic or international network. The psychic distance concept argued that companies face two types psychic distance i.e. inter – country and inter – firm psychic distance. We developed our interaction process model for internationalization. According to the interaction process model when firms start interaction within network these have higher psychic distance level and lower trust and commitment because firms initially interact occasionally. With the passage of time as the interaction of firms within network gains some pace the psychic distance level started to reduce and trust and commitment builds upward. Finally a stag arrives when psychic distance level reached at least stage and inversely trust and commitment at higher level and this result into international opportunity. Thus firms by hunting international opportunity gets involve in internationalization. Inversely, international opportunity can also be developed at initial or middle stage and interaction process start at later stages. But in such situation psychic distance level is comparatively high and trust and commitment will be low because there is no or lesser interaction among firms. The internationalization in such a way will be more risky.