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1
Cipollini, Irene <1976>. "Pet food: quality and quality improvement." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2008. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/1058/1/Tesi_Cipollini_Irene.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Today’s pet food industry is growing rapidly, with pet owners demanding high-quality
diets for their pets. The primary role of diet is to provide enough nutrients to meet metabolic
requirements, while giving the consumer a feeling of well-being. Diet nutrient composition
and digestibility are of crucial importance for health and well being of animals. A recent
strategy to improve the quality of food is the use of “nutraceuticals” or “Functional foods”.
At the moment, probiotics and prebiotics are among the most studied and frequently used
functional food compounds in pet foods.
The present thesis reported results from three different studies.
The first study aimed to develop a simple laboratory method to predict pet foods
digestibility. The developed method was based on the two-step multi-enzymatic incubation
assay described by Vervaeke et al. (1989), with some modification in order to better
represent the digestive physiology of dogs. A trial was then conducted to compare in vivo
digestibility of pet-foods and in vitro digestibility using the newly developed method.
Correlation coefficients showed a close correlation between digestibility data of total dry
matter and crude protein obtained with in vivo and in vitro methods (0.9976 and 0.9957,
respectively). Ether extract presented a lower correlation coefficient, although close to 1
(0.9098). Based on the present results, the new method could be considered as an alternative
system of evaluation of dog foods digestibility, reducing the need for using experimental
animals in digestibility trials.
The second parte of the study aimed to isolate from dog faeces a Lactobacillus strain
capable of exert a probiotic effect on dog intestinal microflora. A L. animalis strain was
isolated from the faeces of 17 adult healthy dogs..The isolated strain was first studied in
vitro when it was added to a canine faecal inoculum (at a final concentration of 6 Log
CFU/mL) that was incubated in anaerobic serum bottles and syringes which simulated the
large intestine of dogs. Samples of fermentation fluid were collected at 0, 4, 8, and 24 hours
for analysis (ammonia, SCFA, pH, lactobacilli, enterococci, coliforms, clostridia).
Consequently, the L. animalis strain was fed to nine dogs having lactobacilli counts lower
than 4.5 Log CFU per g of faeces. The study indicated that the L animalis strain was able to
survive gastrointestinal passage and transitorily colonize the dog intestine. Both in vitro and
in vivo results showed that the L. animalis strain positively influenced composition and
metabolism of the intestinal microflora of dogs.
The third trail investigated in vitro the effects of several non-digestible
oligosaccharides (NDO) on dog intestinal microflora composition and metabolism.
Substrates were fermented using a canine faecal inoculum that was incubated in anaerobic
serum bottles and syringes. Substrates were added at the final concentration of 1g/L (inulin,
FOS, pectin, lactitol, gluconic acid) or 4g/L (chicory). Samples of fermentation fluid were
collected at 0, 6, and 24 hours for analysis (ammonia, SCFA, pH, lactobacilli, enterococci,
coliforms). Gas production was measured throughout the 24 h of the study. Among the
tested NDO lactitol showed the best prebiotic properties. In fact, it reduced coliforms and
increased lactobacilli counts, enhanced microbial fermentation and promoted the production
of SCFA while decreasing BCFA. All the substrates that were investigated showed one or
more positive effects on dog faecal microflora metabolism or composition. Further studies
(in particular in vivo studies with dogs) will be needed to confirm the prebiotic properties of
lactitol and evaluate its optimal level of inclusion in the diet.
2
Cipollini, Irene <1976>. "Pet food: quality and quality improvement." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2008. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/1058/.
Full textAbstract:
Today’s pet food industry is growing rapidly, with pet owners demanding high-quality
diets for their pets. The primary role of diet is to provide enough nutrients to meet metabolic
requirements, while giving the consumer a feeling of well-being. Diet nutrient composition
and digestibility are of crucial importance for health and well being of animals. A recent
strategy to improve the quality of food is the use of “nutraceuticals” or “Functional foods”.
At the moment, probiotics and prebiotics are among the most studied and frequently used
functional food compounds in pet foods.
The present thesis reported results from three different studies.
The first study aimed to develop a simple laboratory method to predict pet foods
digestibility. The developed method was based on the two-step multi-enzymatic incubation
assay described by Vervaeke et al. (1989), with some modification in order to better
represent the digestive physiology of dogs. A trial was then conducted to compare in vivo
digestibility of pet-foods and in vitro digestibility using the newly developed method.
Correlation coefficients showed a close correlation between digestibility data of total dry
matter and crude protein obtained with in vivo and in vitro methods (0.9976 and 0.9957,
respectively). Ether extract presented a lower correlation coefficient, although close to 1
(0.9098). Based on the present results, the new method could be considered as an alternative
system of evaluation of dog foods digestibility, reducing the need for using experimental
animals in digestibility trials.
The second parte of the study aimed to isolate from dog faeces a Lactobacillus strain
capable of exert a probiotic effect on dog intestinal microflora. A L. animalis strain was
isolated from the faeces of 17 adult healthy dogs..The isolated strain was first studied in
vitro when it was added to a canine faecal inoculum (at a final concentration of 6 Log
CFU/mL) that was incubated in anaerobic serum bottles and syringes which simulated the
large intestine of dogs. Samples of fermentation fluid were collected at 0, 4, 8, and 24 hours
for analysis (ammonia, SCFA, pH, lactobacilli, enterococci, coliforms, clostridia).
Consequently, the L. animalis strain was fed to nine dogs having lactobacilli counts lower
than 4.5 Log CFU per g of faeces. The study indicated that the L animalis strain was able to
survive gastrointestinal passage and transitorily colonize the dog intestine. Both in vitro and
in vivo results showed that the L. animalis strain positively influenced composition and
metabolism of the intestinal microflora of dogs.
The third trail investigated in vitro the effects of several non-digestible
oligosaccharides (NDO) on dog intestinal microflora composition and metabolism.
Substrates were fermented using a canine faecal inoculum that was incubated in anaerobic
serum bottles and syringes. Substrates were added at the final concentration of 1g/L (inulin,
FOS, pectin, lactitol, gluconic acid) or 4g/L (chicory). Samples of fermentation fluid were
collected at 0, 6, and 24 hours for analysis (ammonia, SCFA, pH, lactobacilli, enterococci,
coliforms). Gas production was measured throughout the 24 h of the study. Among the
tested NDO lactitol showed the best prebiotic properties. In fact, it reduced coliforms and
increased lactobacilli counts, enhanced microbial fermentation and promoted the production
of SCFA while decreasing BCFA. All the substrates that were investigated showed one or
more positive effects on dog faecal microflora metabolism or composition. Further studies
(in particular in vivo studies with dogs) will be needed to confirm the prebiotic properties of
lactitol and evaluate its optimal level of inclusion in the diet.
3
Mehmood, Kashif. "Conception des Systèmes d'Information : une approche centrée sur les Patrons de Gestion de la Qualité." Phd thesis, Conservatoire national des arts et metiers - CNAM, 2010. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00922995.
Full textAbstract:
Les modèles conceptuels (MC) jouent un rôle crucial qui est celui de servir de base à l'ensemble du processus de développement d'un système d'information (SI) mais aussi de moyen de communication à la fois au sein de l'équipe de développement et avec les utilisateurs durant les premières étapes de validation. Leur qualité joue par conséquent un rôle déterminant dans le succès du système final. Des études ont montré que la majeure partie des changements que subit un SI concerne des manques ou des défaillances liés aux fonctionnalités attendues. Sachant que la définition de ses fonctionnalités incombe à la phase de l'analyse et conception dont les MC constituent les livrables, il apparaît indispensable pour une méthode de conception de veiller à la qualité des MC qu'elle produit. Notre approche vise les problèmes liés à la qualité de la modélisation conceptuelle en proposant une solution intégrée au processus de développement qui à l'avantage d'être complète puisqu'elle adresse à la fois la mesure de la qualité ainsi que son amélioration. La proposition couvre les aspects suivants: i. Formulation de critères de qualité en fédérant dans un premier temps les travaux existant sur la qualité des MC. En effet, un des manques constaté dans le domaine de la qualité des MC est l'absence de consensus sur les concepts et leurs définitions. Ce travail a été validé par une étude empirique. Ce travail a également permis d'identifier les parties non couverte par la littérature et de les compléter en proposant de nouveaux concepts ou en précisant ceux dont la définition n'était complète. ii. Définition d'un concept (pattern de qualité) permettant de capitaliser les bonnes pratiques dans le domaine de la mesure et de l'amélioration de la qualité des MC. Un pattern de qualité sert à aider un concepteur de SI dans l'identification des critères de qualité applicables à sa spécification, puis de le guider progressivement dans la mesure de la qualité ainsi que dans son amélioration. Sachant que la plupart des approches existantes s'intéresse à la mesure de la qualité et néglige les moyens de la corriger. La définition de ce concept est motivée par la difficulté et le degré d'expertise important qu'exige la gestion de la qualité surtout au niveau conceptuel où le logiciel fini n'est pas encore disponible et face à la diversité des concepts de qualité (critères et métriques) pouvant s'appliquer. iii. Formulation d'une méthode orientée qualité incluant à la fois des concepts, des guides et des techniques permettant de définir les concepts de qualité souhaités, leur mesure et l'amélioration de la qualité des MC. Cette méthode propose comme point d'entrée le besoin de qualité que doit formuler le concepteur. Il est ensuite guidée de manière flexible dans le choix des critères de qualité adaptés jusqu'à la mesure et la proposition de recommandations aidant à l'amélioration de la qualité du MC initial conformément au besoin formulé. iv. Développement d'un prototype "CM-Quality". Notre prototype met en œuvre la méthode proposée et offre ainsi une aide outillé à son application. Nous avons enfin mené deux expérimentations ; la première avait comme objectif de valider les concepts de qualité utilisés et de les retenir. La deuxième visait à valider la méthode de conception guidée par la qualité proposée
4
Field, Daniel James. "Profit through product quality and quality service." Master's thesis, This resource online, 1991. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-02162010-020036/.
Full text
5
D'Angelo, John. "Total Quality Leadership: creating a quality culture." Thesis, Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/26304.
Full text
6
GATTINI, LUCA. "QUALITY MEASUREMENT AND QUALITY IN PRICES INDEXES." Doctoral thesis, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10280/674.
Full textAbstract:
Rapid technical progress has increased the speed of quality change. Its impact has a large
scale effect on a broad set of variables and it has exacerbated a latent economic problem on
the measurement of true economic variables. For example, the reliability of the Consumer
Price Index (CPI) has been increasingly undermined since it has been argued that price
indexes suffer either an upward or a downward bias due to quality change in goods and
services. This paper is aimed to be a comprehensive survey on historical contributions to
modeling quality from a theoretical perspective. The fundamental contributions of several
economists are framed into a coherent building block. We construct a general framework
for quality adjustment in price index theory which helps to understand the importance of
economic theory for price index definitions. Supply and demand side models are analysed
and merged into Rosen (1974) model, the first well grounded attempt to construct a
general equilibrium explanation to quality choices. First, we address the issue of quality measures into price index theory. Then,
we present a survey of the relevant contributions to hedonic price modeling. We focus on
two main fields of applied analysis: (1) determining how the price of a unit of commodity
varies with the set of attributes; (2) estimating the demand and supply functions for the
attributes of products. The open issues on quality adjustment in consumer price indexes
will be analysed in the two applied papers, namely chapter 3 and chapter 4. They are two
applied original contributions to hedonic price literature. Chapter 3: In this paper we show that a real time measure of pure price change for different varieties
of non durable volatile and seasonal products is possible. Moreover, we introduce the idea
of unobservable elements captured by brand specific and by time specific dummies. In
order to compute a pure price index, a theoretically correct quality adjustment procedure
has been determined where quality is measured in terms of attributes (Griliches, 1971a,
1971b; Tauchen and Witte, 2001; Pakes, 2003; Ekeland et al. 2002, 2004; Triplett 2004)
and it is becomes a ’fundamental’ of the market. We have analyzed the prices of apples
and oranges traded in the General Milan Market for fruit and vegetables. We have used a
large amount of information from more than 8000 of observations collected between 2000
and 2004. We have found that quality is changed over time even if new goods/varieties
were not introduced. Price levels adjusted for qualitative levels, measured in terms of
the content of characteristics, are above the Laspeyres hedonic price index on average for
apples whilst the pure price index for oranges is close to the Laspeyres price index. Our
empirical analysis shows that a price index, which does not account for quality change, is
underepresiting inflation for apples and correctly measuring price changes for oranges. Chapter 4: The relevant literature dealing with the problem of quality measurement in passenger
cars (inter alias, Ohta and Griliches 1976, 1983; Lancaster (1966), Rosen (1974), Berry et
al. 1995; 2004) relies on general hedonic imputation methods for the assessment of the
quality adjusted price index. We deviate from this standard approach by computing a new
quality adjusted index for cars based on a weighted adjustment procedure which accounts
for attrition due to observable elements (Fitzgerald et al., 1998; Nevo, 2003; Horowitz and
Manski, 1998). By doing this, we are able to define a quality adjusted price index which
generates a more accurate identification of price index levels than the current state of the
art. We use data for the universe of new cars and their characteristics, sold between 2000
and 2007 in Italy, and we identify the basic reference unit. Based on this we study the
pricing behavior of the firms. We model a non random and non ignorable selection process
based on an entry/exit process of cars (Olly and Pakes, 1996) due to profit maximizing
firms in a differentiated product space. We find that the official index is overestimating
inflation since our results point to a mild deflation. However we show that traditional
hedonic techniques lead to an overestimation of quality improvement and consequently
they under-estimate inflation.
7
GATTINI, LUCA. "QUALITY MEASUREMENT AND QUALITY IN PRICES INDEXES." Doctoral thesis, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10280/674.
Full textAbstract:
Rapid technical progress has increased the speed of quality change. Its impact has a large
scale effect on a broad set of variables and it has exacerbated a latent economic problem on
the measurement of true economic variables. For example, the reliability of the Consumer
Price Index (CPI) has been increasingly undermined since it has been argued that price
indexes suffer either an upward or a downward bias due to quality change in goods and
services. This paper is aimed to be a comprehensive survey on historical contributions to
modeling quality from a theoretical perspective. The fundamental contributions of several
economists are framed into a coherent building block. We construct a general framework
for quality adjustment in price index theory which helps to understand the importance of
economic theory for price index definitions. Supply and demand side models are analysed
and merged into Rosen (1974) model, the first well grounded attempt to construct a
general equilibrium explanation to quality choices. First, we address the issue of quality measures into price index theory. Then,
we present a survey of the relevant contributions to hedonic price modeling. We focus on
two main fields of applied analysis: (1) determining how the price of a unit of commodity
varies with the set of attributes; (2) estimating the demand and supply functions for the
attributes of products. The open issues on quality adjustment in consumer price indexes
will be analysed in the two applied papers, namely chapter 3 and chapter 4. They are two
applied original contributions to hedonic price literature. Chapter 3: In this paper we show that a real time measure of pure price change for different varieties
of non durable volatile and seasonal products is possible. Moreover, we introduce the idea
of unobservable elements captured by brand specific and by time specific dummies. In
order to compute a pure price index, a theoretically correct quality adjustment procedure
has been determined where quality is measured in terms of attributes (Griliches, 1971a,
1971b; Tauchen and Witte, 2001; Pakes, 2003; Ekeland et al. 2002, 2004; Triplett 2004)
and it is becomes a ’fundamental’ of the market. We have analyzed the prices of apples
and oranges traded in the General Milan Market for fruit and vegetables. We have used a
large amount of information from more than 8000 of observations collected between 2000
and 2004. We have found that quality is changed over time even if new goods/varieties
were not introduced. Price levels adjusted for qualitative levels, measured in terms of
the content of characteristics, are above the Laspeyres hedonic price index on average for
apples whilst the pure price index for oranges is close to the Laspeyres price index. Our
empirical analysis shows that a price index, which does not account for quality change, is
underepresiting inflation for apples and correctly measuring price changes for oranges. Chapter 4: The relevant literature dealing with the problem of quality measurement in passenger
cars (inter alias, Ohta and Griliches 1976, 1983; Lancaster (1966), Rosen (1974), Berry et
al. 1995; 2004) relies on general hedonic imputation methods for the assessment of the
quality adjusted price index. We deviate from this standard approach by computing a new
quality adjusted index for cars based on a weighted adjustment procedure which accounts
for attrition due to observable elements (Fitzgerald et al., 1998; Nevo, 2003; Horowitz and
Manski, 1998). By doing this, we are able to define a quality adjusted price index which
generates a more accurate identification of price index levels than the current state of the
art. We use data for the universe of new cars and their characteristics, sold between 2000
and 2007 in Italy, and we identify the basic reference unit. Based on this we study the
pricing behavior of the firms. We model a non random and non ignorable selection process
based on an entry/exit process of cars (Olly and Pakes, 1996) due to profit maximizing
firms in a differentiated product space. We find that the official index is overestimating
inflation since our results point to a mild deflation. However we show that traditional
hedonic techniques lead to an overestimation of quality improvement and consequently
they under-estimate inflation.
8
Kabecha, Wanjau Wa. "The quality of informal sector production : poor quality or quality for the poor." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1994. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/36247/.
Full textAbstract:
A glance through the voluminous literature on micro-enterprises clearly shows the existence of robust information on the role, definition and the importance of informal sector in economic development. The literature however contributes very little to knowledge on the technological dimension of the sector. Little is known about the quality of products manufactured in the sector although much has been written on quality in large scale manufacturing. This research attempts to fill this gap by exploring the status of quality in micro-enterprises and the factors that contribute to it. The adopted methodology consisted of producer and consumer surveys. This was complemented by product tests, and experiments to determine the applicability of interventions to improve quality. User-based measures of quality formed the basis of measurement in this research. The products were found to be of poor quality in that they did not fulfill the task and non-task attributes that underlie a purchase by a consumer. The low quality was attributed to inadequate facilities and processes, poor quality materials and a low level of skills in the sector. Quality may be improved through either changing these inputs or raising their quality. The findings revealed a wide range of innovative behaviour by micro-enterpreneurs. However, the micro-entrepreneurs were found to be perpetuating an imitative model which inhibits their innovative capability. Interventions directed at improving products, processes and skills could empower micro-entrepreneurs through building their self confidence which could in turn generate fresh innovations.
9
Mehmood, Kashif. "Conception des Systèmes d'Information : une approche centrée sur les Patrons de Gestion de la Qualité." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Paris, CNAM, 2010. http://www.theses.fr/2010CNAM0721.
Full textAbstract:
Les modèles conceptuels (MC) jouent un rôle crucial qui est celui de servir de base à l’ensemble du processus de développement d’un système d’information (SI) mais aussi de moyen de communication à la fois au sein de l’équipe de développement et avec les utilisateurs durant les premières étapes de validation. Leur qualité joue par conséquent un rôle déterminant dans le succès du système final. Des études ont montré que la majeure partie des changements que subit un SI concerne des manques ou des défaillances liés aux fonctionnalités attendues. Sachant que la définition de ses fonctionnalités incombe à la phase de l’analyse et conception dont les MC constituent les livrables, il apparaît indispensable pour une méthode de conception de veiller à la qualité des MC qu’elle produit. Notre approche vise les problèmes liés à la qualité de la modélisation conceptuelle en proposant une solution intégrée au processus de développement qui à l’avantage d’être complète puisqu’elle adresse à la fois la mesure de la qualité ainsi que son amélioration. La proposition couvre les aspects suivants: i. Formulation de critères de qualité en fédérant dans un premier temps les travaux existant sur la qualité des MC. En effet, un des manques constaté dans le domaine de la qualité des MC est l’absence de consensus sur les concepts et leurs définitions. Ce travail a été validé par une étude empirique. Ce travail a également permis d’identifier les parties non couverte par la littérature et de les compléter en proposant de nouveaux concepts ou en précisant ceux dont la définition n’était complète. ii. Définition d’un concept (pattern de qualité) permettant de capitaliser les bonnes pratiques dans le domaine de la mesure et de l’amélioration de la qualité des MC. Un pattern de qualité sert à aider un concepteur de SI dans l’identification des critères de qualité applicables à sa spécification, puis de le guider progressivement dans la mesure de la qualité ainsi que dans son amélioration. Sachant que la plupart des approches existantes s’intéresse à la mesure de la qualité et néglige les moyens de la corriger. La définition de ce concept est motivée par la difficulté et le degré d’expertise important qu’exige la gestion de la qualité surtout au niveau conceptuel où le logiciel fini n’est pas encore disponible et face à la diversité des concepts de qualité (critères et métriques) pouvant s’appliquer. iii. Formulation d’une méthode orientée qualité incluant à la fois des concepts, des guides et des techniques permettant de définir les concepts de qualité souhaités, leur mesure et l’amélioration de la qualité des MC. Cette méthode propose comme point d’entrée le besoin de qualité que doit formuler le concepteur. Il est ensuite guidée de manière flexible dans le choix des critères de qualité adaptés jusqu’à la mesure et la proposition de recommandations aidant à l’amélioration de la qualité du MC initial conformément au besoin formulé. iv. Développement d'un prototype "CM-Quality". Notre prototype met en œuvre la méthode proposée et offre ainsi une aide outillé à son application. Nous avons enfin mené deux expérimentations ; la première avait comme objectif de valider les concepts de qualité utilisés et de les retenir. La deuxième visait à valider la méthode de conception guidée par la qualité proposéeConceptual models (CM) serve as the blueprints of information systems and their quality plays decisive role in the success of the end system. It has been witnessed that majority of the IS change-requests result due to deficient functionalities in the information systems. Therefore, a good analysis and design method should ensure that CM are correct and complete, as they are the communicating mediator between the users and the development team. Our approach targets the problems related to conceptual modeling quality by proposing a comprehensive solution. We designed multiple artifacts for different aspects of CM quality. These artifacts include the following: i. Formulation of comprehensive quality criteria (quality attributes, metrics, etc.) by federating the existing quality frameworks and identifying the quality criteria for gray areas. Most of the existing literature on CM quality evaluation represents disparate and autonomous quality frameworks proposing non-converging solutions. Thus, we synthesized (existing concepts proposed by researchers) and added the new concepts to formulate a comprehensive quality approach for conceptual models that also resulted in federating the existing quality frameworks. ii. Formulation of quality patterns to encapsulate past-experiences and good practices as the selection of relevant quality criteria (including quality attributes and metrics) with respect to a particular requirement (or goal) remains trickier for a non-expert user. These quality patterns encapsulate valuable knowledge in the form of established and better solutions to resolve quality problems in CM. iii. Designing of the guided quality driven process encompassing methods and techniques to evaluate and improve the conceptual models with respect to a specific user requirement or goal. Our process guides the user in formulating the desired quality goal, helps him/her in identifying the relevant quality patterns or quality attributes with respect to the quality goal and finally the process helps in evaluating the quality of the model and propose relevant recommendations for improvement. iv. Development of a software prototype “CM-Quality”. Our prototype implements all the above mentioned artifacts and proposes a workflow enabling its users to evaluate and improve CMs efficiently and effectively. We conducted a survey to validate the selection of the quality attributes through the above mentioned federating activity and also conducted three step detailed experiment to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of our overall approach and proposed artifacts
10
Sears, Kenneth. "Viewpoint quality model : a software quality model for the application of software quality metrics." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.341698.
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11
Leal, Diaz Ana Maria. "Food quality and properties of quality protein maize." Thesis, Texas A&M University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/171.
Full textAbstract:
Quality protein maize (QPM), high protein corn (HPC) and food grade maize (FGM) were processed into tortillas and direct expanded extruded snacks. QPM had similar test weight, density and kernel size with 45% more lysine and 38% more tryptophan compared to FGM. HPC had the largest kernel with density and test weight similar to FGM. During alkaline cooking, HPC absorbed water faster than QPM and FGM. White QPM required shorter cooking time and had less dry matter losses compared to FGM. All corn varieties had excellent pericarp removal at the optimum cooking time. Tortillas from QPM had better pliability and rollability after storage compared to FGM and HPC. HPC tortillas had lower rupture force after storage. The use of QPM for tortilla production may reduce energy and sewage cost, and could produce a tortilla with longer shelf stability with improved nutritional value. Decorticated and non-decorticated QPM, FGM and HPC grain were processed into corn meal and direct expanded snacks. A modified short scale dry milling system was used to produce the corn meal. QPM produced more coarse meal with greater fat content compared to FGM. Decortication decreased fiber content and coarse meal yield. Non-decorticated meal had greater protein, fiber and fat content compared to decorticated meal. The modified short flow milling system provides reduced lost fractions for extrusion into nutritionally improved products. Extrusion was performed in a low cost friction extruder. QPM extruded faster than FGM and HPC. FGM required greater specific mechanical energy than QPM. Extrudates from FGM were the most expanded followed by QPM and HPC. Extrudates from the three corn varieties were acceptable to the panelists and decortication did not affect acceptability. The improved nutritional value of QPM, was retained during dry milling and extrusion. Current QPM varieties can be processed into tortillas with longer shelf stability and meal for extrusion into a wide variety of snacks and other foods. These may have application in specialty health foods and in developing countries where maize is a staple food.
12
Puig, Conca Daniel. "Telepresence Quality." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for telematikk, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-18617.
Full textAbstract:
Nowadays, one of the aims of telepresence systems is to provide a sensation of nearness to people who are interacting with this type of systems. Many factors have a relevant repercussion in providing this feeling and some aspects are more important than others, depending on the scope of use. This thesis presents several studies made in order to analyse the degree of importance each factor has.One of these factors treated is the delay which limits the interactivity. For this reason, in this thesis, a method is proposed to measure the delay through a telepresence system. Another factor treated has been the frame rate in order to figure out which is its influence.In addition, an stereoscopic 3D setup was performed to analyse the degree of perceived depth which was introduced into the system.Finally, several pilot tests focused on musical rehearsals were made to evaluate the influence of the delay. The recording was made at 60fps in a high-definition quality.Subjective opinions about the interactivity and perception of this sort of systems were gathered.It was concluded that this sort of system was viable for interactive applications like conducting a choir, but an effort must be done when decreasing the amount of delay added by end devices. In fact, the conductor tolerated a delay (round-trip) about 118ms in rhythmic music, being still possible to conduct with difficulties. In contrast, the delay tolerance increased up to 160ms when conducting a more melodic piece of music. However, the use of 3D when there is more than one viewer does not produce much benefits. Instead of that, it is proposed to analyse multi-view systems as a future research.
13
Alomar, Derbas Jarrah. "Quality management." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2001. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1741.
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Kara, Madjid. "Data quality for the decision of the ambient systems." Thesis, Université Paris-Saclay (ComUE), 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018SACLV009.
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La qualité des données est une condition commune à tous les projets de technologie de l'information, elle est devenue un domaine de recherche complexe avec la multiplicité et l’expansion des différentes sources de données. Des chercheurs se sont penchés sur l’axe de la modélisation et l’évaluation des données, plusieurs approches ont été proposées mais elles étaient limitées à un domaine d’utilisation bien précis et n’offraient pas un profil de qualité nous permettant d’évaluer un modèle de qualité de données global. L’évaluation basée sur les modèles de qualité ISO a fait son apparition, néanmoins ces modèles ne nous guident pas pour leurs utilisation, le fait de devoir les adapter à chaque cas de figure sans avoir de méthodes précises. Notre travail se focalise sur les problèmes de la qualité des données d'un système ambiant où les contraintes de temps pour la prise de décision sont plus importantes par rapport aux applications traditionnelles. L'objectif principal est de fournir au système décisionnel une vision très spécifique de la qualité des données issues des capteurs. Nous identifions les aspects quantifiables des données capteurs pour les relier aux métriques appropriées de notre modèle de qualité de données spécifique. Notre travail présente les contributions suivantes : (i) création d’un modèle de qualité de données générique basé sur plusieurs standards de qualité existants, (ii) formalisation du modèle de qualité sous forme d’une ontologie qui nous permet l’intégration de ces modèles (de i), en spécifiant les différents liens, appelés relations d'équivalence, qui existent entre les critères composant ces modèles, (iii) proposition d’un algorithme d’instanciation pour extraire le modèle de qualité de données spécifique à partir du modèle de qualité de données générique, (iv) proposition d’une approche d’évaluation globale du modèle de qualité de données spécifique en utilisant deux processus, le premier processus consiste à exécuter les métriques reliées aux données capteurs et le deuxième processus récupère le résultat de cette exécution et utilise le principe de la logique floue pour l’évaluation des facteurs de qualité de notre modèle de qualité de données spécifique. Puis, l'expert établie des valeurs représentant le poids de chaque facteur en se basant sur la table d'interdépendance pour prendre en compte l'interaction entre les différents critères de données et on utilisera la procédure d'agrégation pour obtenir un degré de confiance. En ce basant sur ce résultat final, le composant décisionnel fera une analyse puis prendra une décisionData quality is a common condition to all information technology projects; it has become a complex research domain with the multiplicity and expansion of different data sources. Researchers have studied the axis of modeling and evaluating data, several approaches have been proposed but they are limited to a specific use field and did not offer a quality profile enabling us to evaluate a global quality model. The evaluation based on ISO quality models has emerged; however, these models do not guide us for their use, having to adapt them to each scenario without precise methods. Our work focuses on the data quality issues of an ambient system where the time constraints for decision-making is greater compared to traditional applications. The main objective is to provide the decision-making system with a very specific view of the sensors data quality. We identify the quantifiable aspects of sensors data to link them to the appropriate metrics of our specified data quality model. Our work presents the following contributions: (i) creating a generic data quality model based on several existing data quality standards, (ii) formalizing the data quality models under an ontology, which allows integrating them (of i) by specifying various links, named equivalence relations between the criteria composing these models, (iii) proposing an instantiation algorithm to extract the specified data quality model from the generic data quality models, (iv) proposing a global evaluation approach of the specified data quality model using two processes, the first one consists in executing the metrics based on sensors data and the second one recovers the result of the first process and uses the concept of fuzzy logic to evaluate the factors of our specified data quality model. Then, the expert defines weight values based on the interdependence table of the model to take account the interaction between criteria and use the aggregation procedure to get a degree of confidence value. Based on the final result, the decisional component makes an analysis to make a decision
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Kenerson, Jonathan E. "Quality Assurance and Quality Control Methods for Resin Infusion." Fogler Library, University of Maine, 2010. http://www.library.umaine.edu/theses/pdf/KenersonJE2010.pdf.
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Bor, Elif. "Neighborhood quality, childcare quality, and children's early developmental outcomes." Fairfax, VA : George Mason University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1920/2958.
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Thesis (M.A.)--George Mason University, 2007.Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 17, 2008). Thesis director: Adam Winsler. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology. Vita: p. 90. Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-89). Also available in print.
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Wad, Charudatta V. "QoS : quality driven data abstraction for large databases." Worcester, Mass. : Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2008. http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/ETD/Available/etd-020508-151213/.
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Ayad, Sarah. "Business Process Models Quality : evaluation and improvement." Thesis, Paris, CNAM, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013CNAM0922/document.
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La problématique scientifique abordée correspond à la modélisation et à l'amélioration des processus métiers. Ce problème est d'un intérêt croissant pour les entreprises qui prennent conscience de l'impact indéniable que peuvent avoir une meilleure compréhension et une meilleure gestion des processus métiers (PM) sur l'efficacité, la cohérence et la transparence de leurs activités. Le travail envisagé dans le cadre de la thèse vise à proposer une méthode et un outil pour mesurer et améliorer la qualité des modèles de processus métier. L’originalité de l’approche est qu’elle vise non seulement la qualité syntaxique mais aussi la qualité sémantique et pragmatique en s’appuyant notamment sur les connaissances du domaineIn recent years the problems related to modeling and improving business processes have been of growing interest. Indeed, companies are realizing the undeniable impact of a better understanding and management of business processes (BP) on the effectiveness, consistency, and transparency of their business operations. BP modeling aims at a better understanding of processes, allowing deciders to achieve strategic goals of the company. However, inexperienced systems analysts often lack domain knowledge leading and this affects the quality of models they produce.Our approach targets the problem related to business process modeling quality by proposing an approach encompassing methods and tools for business process (BP) models quality measurement and improvement. We propose to support this modeling effort with an approach that uses domain knowledge to improve the semantic quality of BP models.The main contribution of this thesis is fourfold:1. Exploiting the IS domain knowledge: A business process metamodel is identified.Semantics are added to the metamodel by the mean of OCL constraints.2. Exploiting the application domain knowledge. It relies on domain ontologies. Alignment between the concepts of both metamodels is defined and illustrated.3. Designing of the guided quality process encompassing methods and techniques to evaluate and improve the business process models. Our process propose many quality constraints and metrics in order to evaluat the quality of the models and finally the process propose relevant recommendations for improvement.4. Development of a software prototype “BPM-Quality”. Our prototype implements all theabove mentioned artifacts and proposes a workflow enabling its users to evaluate andimprove CMs efficiently and effectively.We conducted a survey to validate the selection of the quality constraints through a first experience and also conducted a second experiment to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of our overall approach and proposed improvements
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Jaafar, Harlina S. "Logistics service quality and relationship quality in third party relationships." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2006. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/7818.
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The market for third party logistics (TPL) service has expanded hugely over the past few years as its total revenue has reached $333 billion globally. It is expected that the industry will grow substantially, and became increasingly complex. As the industry matures, a number of authors have recognised that logistics service quality is becoming a vital tool for delivering superior logistics service performance and thus creating customer satisfaction. Concurrently, considerable evidence has been accumulated that shows relationship quality is useful in the marketing channel context in driving customer loyalty. However, empirical research investigating the effects of the relationships among logistics service quality, customer satisfaction, relationship quality and customer loyalty has received relatively little attention in the literature. This study attempts to fill this void by investigating customers' satisfaction with TPL providers' services across industrial sectors in the UK and the relationship quality they have with them. It empirically tests the validity of Mentzer et al's (2001) Logistics Service Quality PQ) scale for measuring logistics service quality and the LSQ process model that underpins it. A disaggregated model of relationship quality is also used to assess its impact on customer loyalty. Structural equation modelling analysis of the data collected by mail survey of 183 logistics-related managers confirms that LSQ measures are generalisable across industrial sectors in the UK. The results show that technical quality dimensions of logistics service do not drive customers' satisfaction, but serve as the order qualifiers while the functional quality dimensions act as order winning criteria that differentiates TPL providers' service excellence for customer satisfaction. It also supports existing theoretical studies that suggest that relationship quality produces loyal customers. The research contributes to both marketing and logistics discipline in that it empirically demonstrates the positive link between logistics service quality and customer satisfaction as well as customer satisfaction, relationship quality and customer loyalty.
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Miras, Dimitrios. "Quality-aware adaptation of internet video using objective quality metrics." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.411044.
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Straquadine, Gary Samuel. "Vocational agriculture program quality and factors related to program quality /." The Ohio State University, 1987. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487335992903534.
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McDougal, Karen H. "International Diversification and Earnings Quality: the Impact of Audit Quality." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2011. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/123275.
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Business Administration/AccountingPh.D.
The literature on International Diversification suggests that investors and analysts value foreign earnings differently than domestic earnings. Prior studies also show an overall "valuation discount" for firms with foreign operations. To my knowledge, no study has empirically tested and found there to be differences in earnings quality for these firms. This study investigates differences in the quality of earnings for U.S. firms with foreign operations using a direct measure (discretionary accruals) and an indirect measure (investor perception of earnings). I also consider the impact of audit quality on each measure of earnings quality. In the first part of my dissertation I find firms with foreign operations report lower discretionary accruals than firms with only domestic operations. This indicates that auditors, similar to investors and analysts, report more conservatively for firms with foreign operations. My results show that audit quality further reduces the absolute value of reported accruals, and I find a higher level of reported "income decreasing" accruals for these firms. In the second section of my dissertation I consider the impact of audit quality on investor perception of earnings. Similar to earlier papers I find that foreign earnings changes are more highly associated with changes in firm value than domestic earnings changes, and this larger earnings response is attributed to negative changes in foreign earnings. I also find that audit quality improves investor perception of foreign earnings for firms with foreign operations. While there are ample studies demonstrating that firms with foreign operations are valued differently than firms with purely domestic operations, my study is the first to provide empirical evidence about how audit quality impacts financial reporting, the quality of earnings, and investor perception of earnings for firms with foreign operations.
Temple University--Theses
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DeFazio, Mary Beth. "Total Quality Management and the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award /." Online version of thesis, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/11577.
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Cassady, Charles Richard. "Statistical quality control techniques using multilevel discrete product quality measures." Diss., This resource online, 1996. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06062008-151120/.
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Kim, Beomsoo. "Legislating healthcare quality." College Park, Md. : University of Maryland, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/3520.
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Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2006.Thesis research directed by: Economics. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.
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Peng, Qian, and Yang Qing Fan. "SOA and Quality." Thesis, Växjö University, Växjö University, Växjö University, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:vxu:diva-5192.
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This thesis emphasizes on investigating the relationship between the quality attributes and service oriented architecture (SOA). Due to quality attributes requirements drive the design of software architecture, it is necessary to maintain the positive quality of SOA and improve the negative quality of SOA. This thesis gives an introduction to SOA, Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and MULE. Then, it covers information on quality of systems and tactics for achieving each quality attribute. Finally, we discuss the quality of SOA in detail, and illustrate how to set up a SOA and how to improve its quality using a case of an order for supermarket.
Order system
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Tawbi, Hassan, of Western Sydney Macarthur University, and Faculty of Education. "Translation quality assessment." THESIS_FE_XXX_Tawbi_H.xml, 1994. http://heston.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/57.
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As yet, few explicit, practical and easy to implement marking scales for evaluating the quality of translations have been proposed. The purpose of this study is to introduce a new marking guide for making quantitative assessments of the quality of non-literary translations, and to test its practicality through a case study using the Arabic language. On the basis of the results, some generalizations about translation and translation quality assessment are made. Early treatments which dealt with the evaluation of translations are discussed, showing their merits and defects. The new marking guide is then described, including classification of errors and examples of each type of error. Guidelines are presented for the holistic subjective assessment, the guidelines are evaluated and the outcome discussedMaster of Arts (Hons)
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Sörqvist, Lars. "Poor quality costing /." Stockholm, 1998. http://www.lib.kth.se/abs98/sorq0320.pdf.
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Hellström, Erica, and Karolina Soppela. "GEOMETRICAL QUALITY FAILURE." Thesis, KTH, Industriell produktion, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-127959.
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The objective of this master thesis was to investigate if there is a relationship between geometrical quality failure cost and geometrical deviation from the designed target value. To achieve this objective this master thesis has defined what is referred to as geometrical quality failure and geometrical quality failure cost. Furthermore, to make it applicable for organizations this master thesis also has investigated how a potential relationship could be used. This master thesis was performed as a case study at the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo Cars Corporation, VCC. The case study included both a qualitative and a quantitative part. There were three main quantitative parts: questionnaires, a cost analysis and a geometrical analysis. The questionnaires were sent to recipients both within the VCC organization, also to external organizations and experts within the field of geometry assurance and geometrical quality. The responses from the questionnaires were used to define geometrical quality failure and geometrical quality failure cost. The cost analysis and the geometrical analysis were done with four samples, and investigated if there was a relationship between the defined geometrical quality failure costs and deviation from the designed target value. The qualitative part of the case study was used to find costs that were related to geometry within the VCC organization, and also to investigate how a possible relationship could be used in organizations. For the qualitative part, interviews were conducted both with individuals from VCC and external organizations. This master thesis showed that there was a relationship between the defined geometrical quality failure cost and geometrical deviation from the designed target for the investigated samples. It also argued that the relationship could be used as a communication tool within organizations. The relationship could also be used in negotiations to communicate that a more robust design, a supplier that delivers robust components, or a better assembly system could be cheaper from a long-term perspective. Furthermore, the relationship could also be used to communicate the importance of working with develop more robust designs. Keywords – Geometrical quality failure, Geometrical quality failure cost, Quality, Geometrical variation, Cost, Taguchi, and Quality loss function.Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan geometrisk kvalitetsbristkostnad och geometrisk avvikelse från det designade målvärdet. För att uppnå syftet har detta examensarbete definierat vad som kallas geometrisk kvalitetsbrist och geometrisk kvalitetsbristkostnad. Dessutom, för att göra relationen applicerbar för organisationer har detta examensarbete också undersökt hur den potentiella relationen skulle kunna användas. Examensarbetet utfördes som en fallstudie hos den svenska biltillverkaren Volvo Personvagnar AB, även benämnda som VCC i examensarbetet. I fallstudien ingick både en kvalitativ och en kvantitativ del. Det fanns tre huvudsakliga kvantitativa delar, vilka var; frågeformulär, en kostnadsanalys och en geometrisk analys. Frågeformulären skickades ut till mottagare både inom VCC och även till externa organisationer och experter inom områdena geometrisäkring och geometrisk kvalitet. Svaren från enkäterna användes för att definiera geometrisk kvalitetsbrist och geometrisk kvalitetsbristkostnad. Kostnadsanalysen och den geometriska analysen utfördes på fyra fall hämtade från VCC, och undersökte om det fanns ett samband mellan den definierade geometriska kvalitetsbristkostnaden och avvikelser från det designade målvärdet. Den kvalitativa delen av fallstudien användes för att hitta kostnader som var relaterade till geometriska defekter inom VCC samt även för att undersöka hur ett eventuellt samband kan användas i organisationer. För den kvalitativa delen har intervjuer genomförts både med personer inom VCC och externa organisationer. Detta examensarbete visade att det fanns ett samband mellan den definierade geometriska kvalitetsbristkostnaden och geometrisk avvikelse från det designade målvärdet för de undersökta fallen. Det hävdades även att detta samband skulle kunna användas som ett kommunikationsmedel inom organisationer. Sambandet kan även användas i förhandlingar för att kommunicera att en mer robust konstruktion, leverantör som levererar robusta komponenter, eller bättre monteringssystem kan vara billigare ur ett långsiktigt perspektiv. Vidare kan sambandet även användas för att kommunicera vikten av att arbeta med att utveckla mer robusta konstruktioner. Nyckelord – Geometrisk kvalitetsbrist, Geometrisk kvalitetsbristkostnad, Kvalitet, Geometrisk variation, Kostnad, Taguchi, och Quality Loss Function.
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Kaur, Amanpreet. "Outsourcing Software quality." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for datateknikk og informasjonsvitenskap, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-23005.
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The key factors which have led to a growing trend of outsourcing are:? Lack of expert-labor in some portions of the business process.? Availability of cheaper labor, whilst not comprising on the quality of output.? Ability and feasibility to concentrate on the other crucial business process.These factors have specifically contributed to most of the outsourced partnersacross different locations in the world. Expertise in communication capabilities,technical expertise and favorable financial packages are the most important advantagesof outsourcing to India.
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Middleton, Nigel Peter Jon. "Managing software quality." Thesis, Imperial College London, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.286299.
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House, Margaret A. "Water quality indices." Thesis, Middlesex University, 1986. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13379/.
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Given the present constraints on capital expenditure for water quality improvements, it is essential that best management practices be adopted whenever possible. This research provides an evaluation of existing practices in use within the water industry for surface water quality classification and assesses water quality indices as an alternative method for monitoring trends in water quality. To this end, a new family of indices have been developed and evaluated and the management flexibility provided by their application has been examined. It is shown that water-quality indices allow the reduction of vast amounts of data on a range of determinand concentrations, to a single number in an objective and reproducible manner. This provides an accurate assessment of surface water quality which will be beneficial to the operational management of surface water quality. Previously developed water quality indices and classifications are reviewed and evaluated. Two main types of index are identified: biotic indices and chemical indices. The former are based exclusively upon biological determinands/indicators and are used extensively within the United Kingdom in the monitoring of surface water quality. The latter includes a consideration of both physico-chemical and biological determinands, but with an emphasis on the former variables. Their use is still the subject of much controversy and discussion. Four main approaches to the development of chemical indices can be identified in accordance with the aims and objectives of their design. Those developed for general application are known as General Water Quality Indices (WQIs) or Indices of Pollution, with the latter based predominantly upon determinands associated with man-made pollution. Those which reflect water quality in terms of its suitability for a specific use are termed use-related; whilst planning indices are those which attempt to highlight areas of high priority for remedial action on the basis of more wide-ranging determinands. The derivation and structure of previously developed indices have been evaluated and the merits and strengths of each index assessed. In this way, nine essential index characteristics were identified, including the need to develop an index in relation to legal standards or guidelines. In addition it was recognised that one requirement of an index should be to reflect potential water use and toxic water quality in addition to general quality as reflected by routinely monitored determinands. The development of river quality classifications within the United Kingdom is reviewed and the additional management flexibility afforded by the use of an index evaluated by comparing the results produced by the SOD (1976) Index with those of the National Water Council (NWC, 1977) Classification. The latter classification is that presently used to monitor water quality in Britain. The SOD Index was found to be biased towards waters of high quality and provided no indication of potential water use or toxic water quality. Nevertheless, it displayed a number of advantages over the NWC Classification in terms of the operational management of surface water quality. It was therefore decided to develop a new family of water quality indices, each based upon legally established water quality standards and guidelines for both routinely monitored and toxic determinands and each relating water quality to a range of potential water uses, thereby indicating economic gains or losses resulting from changes in quality. Four stages in the development of a water quality index are discussed: determinand selection; the development of determinand transformations and weightings; and the selection of appropriate aggregation functions. Four separate indices have been developed as a result of this research. These may be used either independently or in combination with one another where a complete assessment of water quality is required. The first of these is a General Water Quality Index (WQI) which reflects water quality in terms of a range of potential water uses. This index is based upon nine physico-chemical and biological determinands which are routinely monitored by the water authorities and river purification boards of England, Wales and Scotland. The second, the Potable Water Supply Index (PWSI) is based upon thirteen routinely monitored determinands, but reflects water quality exclusively in terms of its suitability for use in potable water supply (PWS). The two remaining indices, the Aquatic Toxicity (ATI) and Potable Sapidity (PSI) Indices are based upon toxic determinands such as heavy metals, pesticides and hydrocarbons which are potentially harmful to both human and aquatic life. Both indices are use-related, the former reflecting the suitability of water for the protection of fish and wildlife populations; the latter, the suitability of water for use in PWS. Each index is based upon nine and twelve toxic determinands respectively. These indices were developed in as objective and rigorous a manner as possible, utilising an intensive interview and questionnaire programme with members of both the water authorities and river purification boards. Rating curves were selected as the best way in which individual determinand concentrations could be transformed to the same scale. The scales selected for the WQI and PWSI are 10 - 100 and 0 - 100 respectively, whilst those of the ATI and PSI are 0 - 10. Each has been sub-divided in such a way as to indicate not only water quality, but also possible water use. Thus, the indices reflect both current and projected changes in the economic value of a water body which would occur as a result of the implementation of alternative management strategies. The curves were developed using published water quality standards and guidelines relating to specific water uses. Therefore, they contain information on standards which must be adhered to within the United Kingdom and this adds a further dimension to their management flexibility. Determinand weightings indicating the emphasis placed by water quality experts upon individual determinands were assigned to the determinands of the WQI and PWSI. However, weightings were omitted from the ATI and PSI due to the sporadic nature of pollution events associated with these determinands. These vary spatially and temporally, both in concentration and in terms of which determinand is found to be in violation of consent conditions. Therefore, on a national scale, no one determinand could be isolated as being more important than any other. Three aggregation formulae were evaluated for use within the developed indices: the weighted and unweighted versions of an arithmetic, modified arithmetic and multiplicative formulation. Each index was applied to data collected from a series of water quality monitoring bodies covering a range of water quality conditions. In each instance, the modified arithmetic formulation was found to produce index scores which agreed most closely with a predetermined standard, normally the classifications assigned using the NWC classification. In addition, this formulation produced scores which best covered the ascribed index range. However, the multiplicative unweighted formulation was retained for use within the ATI and PSI for the detection of zero index scores, i.e. when concentrations in excess of legal limits were recorded for these toxic determinands. The results from these studies validate the ability of each index to detect fluctuations in surface water quality. Therefore, the utility of the developed indices for the operational management of surface water quality was effectively demonstrated and the flexibility and advantages of an index approach in providing additional information upon which to base management decisions was highlighted.
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Johansson, Elisabeth. "Understanding Solution Quality." Doctoral thesis, Linköpings universitet, Logistik- och kvalitetsutveckling, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-128274.
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The integration of services and products into solutions can open up new business opportunities for firms. This thesis concerns how firms can provide solutions that are perceived as high quality. Solutions are often provided over several years, which implies a changed customer relationship compared to product provisions. Since the solution aims to support the customer’s activities, firms face new challenges when introducing solutions. One challenge is to integrate all components and activities of the solution, and simultaneously support the customer’s activities. In addition, the firm must ensure that the solution and all of its parts are of high quality. Most of the existing research on quality is related to the management of a firm’s internal activities and the interaction during exchange. Within the research on quality, customer orientation means that a firm should manage the relevant product or service to meet customer requirements. When this is achieved, the product or service is of high quality. Since solutions are seen as services and products that are integrated as an outcome, as well as a customer relational process that aims to support the customer’s activities, firms have little to learn from previous research about the quality of solutions. The aim of this thesis is to increase knowledge about how to manage solution quality. The thesis combines insights from research on quality with research on solutions and servitization. Three research questions are answered. The first question concerns the content of solution quality; the second deals with how firms can, with support from interventions, meet the new challenges that arise from solution provision; and the third question concerns how customers can be involved to achieve solution quality. The research questions are answered through five papers based on literature studies and empirical data. The papers contribute to an increased knowledge of solution quality and how firms can work to achieve it. The results of the thesis suggest that solution quality is built on seven quality dimensions: reliability, communicability, internal consistency, empathy, approachability, tangibility, and adaptability. In addition, knowledge of processes and customer relationships are two prerequisites for the concept. These dimensions and prerequisites are supported by interventions that can provide a change. However, it has become evident that whatever intervention is used must be related to the dimensions that are supposed to be improved. Furthermore, customer involvement is argued to be an intervention to support the prerequisites for solution quality, especially during the solution development. The results of this thesis extend the research on quality by increasing the knowledge of the solution quality concept and by changing the view of customers and their involvement during solution development.Den här avhandlingen berör hur företag kan möjliggöra så att produkter och tjänster, integrerade i så kallade helhetslösningar, kan levereras med hög kvalitet. Helhetslösningar levereras ofta över en längre tid vilket medför en förändrad kundrelation till skillnad mot när endast en produkt levereras. Helhetslösningar syftar till att stödja kunden i dess aktiviteter. Det medför att företagen möter nya utmaningar. En utmaning är att få den komplexa helhetslösningen, bestående av olika komponenter och aktiviteter, att passa ihop och samtidigt bidra till att stötta kundens aktiviteter. Dessutom behöver företagen säkerställa att helhetslösningen och alla dess delar har hög kvalitet. Tidigare forskning inom kvalitetsutveckling berör företags interna processer och aktiviteter. När man inom kvalitetsutveckling talar om kundorientering innebär det att företaget med interna medel ska arbeta för att möjliggöra så produkten eller tjänsten möter kundens specifikationer. När detta är uppnått har produkten eller tjänsten hög kvalitet. Företagen har här inga riktlinjer att följa när de ska leverera helhetslösningar som ska anpassas efter kundens aktiviteter och när en så tydlig kundrelation ska utvecklas. Det finns med andra ord ingen vägledning för vad som är kvalitet eller hur man möjliggör hög kvalitet på helhetslösningar. Den här avhandlingen visar vad som ingår i begreppet kvalitet när det gäller helhetslösningar (lösningskvalitet) samt hur företag kan möjliggöra det. Tre olika frågor har huvudsakligen behandlats. Den första frågan besvarar vad lösningskvalitet innehåller. Den andra berör hur företag med hjälp av åtgärder kan bidra till en förändring inom företaget för att möta de nya utmaningar som uppstår med att leverera helhetslösningar. Den tredje frågan berör på vilket sätt kunden kan involveras för att uppnå lösningskvalitet. För att besvara frågorna har ett antal studier baserade på empiriskt material genomförts, och fem artiklar har författats under forskningsprocessen. Artiklarna bidrar till att öka förståelsen för lösningskvalitet och hur företag kan arbeta för att uppnå det. Avhandlingens resultat visar att lösningskvalitet består av sju olika dimensioner: tillförlitlighet, kommunicerbarhet, intern överensstämmelse, empati, nåbarhet, påtaglighet, och anpassningsbarhet. Dessutom är kunskap om processer och kundrelationer två förutsättningar för att uppnå lösningskvalitet. Dimensionerna betraktas som riktmärken för lösningskvalitet som företag kan arbeta mot. Dimensionerna och förutsättningarna stöttas i sin tur av åtgärder som används för att bidra till den interna förändringen inom företaget. Resultaten visar dock att använda åtgärder inte alltid leder till en förändring. Endast noga utvalda åtgärder som relaterar till en specifik dimension möjliggör en förändring. Exempel på en möjlig åtgärd är kundinvolvering. Speciellt vid utveckling av helhetslösningar, betraktas kundinvolvering som en möjlig åtgärd för att stötta förutsättningarna till lösningskvalitet. Resultaten i den här avhandlingen bidrar huvudsakligen till en ökad kunskap om vad kvalitet är när det gäller helhetslösningar. Ytterligare ett bidrag är att föreslå kundens förändrade roll under utveckling och vid leverans av helhetslösningar för att uppnå lösningskvalitet.
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Andersson, Roy. "Quality-driven logistics." Licentiate thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Ingenjörshögskolan, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-3393.
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The overall objective of this thesis is to describe and explain how different quality management philosophies can be combined in the supply/demand chain, in order to contribute to its resilience. The analysis is both quantitative and qualitative, based on theory and literature related to TQM, Lean, Agile and Six Sigma, one literature study and three case studies that were performed in companies. The studies are related to four research questions and are presented in four papers. The first research question focuses on similarities and differences between the quality management concepts TQM, Lean and Six Sigma. The findings were that TQM, Six Sigma and Lean have many similarities, but they differ in some areas. For examples Lean addresses process flow and waste, whereas Six Sigma addresses variation and design. The conclusion is that there is a lot to gain if organisations are able to combine these three concepts, as they are complementary. Two case studies and a literature survey supported the findings. The second research question focuses on outcomes in a logistics process if using quality management. The findings were that the quality management approach leads to risks being mitigated, managed and monitored and ensures a more effective, robust and flexible process, very much in line with the Agility philosophy. Solutions for quicker response to customers have also been introduced. The findings were supported by two case studies in seven companies. The third research question focuses on how prepared the transport- and logistics-oriented companies are for the application of quality concepts and quality management philosophy. The findings were that they can be described as being TQM-oriented. The companies do not consider Lean and Six Sigma to be future trends. Focus is on the customer, while they do not focus on variations or removing waste. The findings were supported by a case study in 24 companies. The fourth research question focuses on how quality concepts can contribute to risk control and resilience in an organisation. A combined Lean/Six Sigma approach by using Six Sigma framework and the last phase, Perfection, in the Lean concept, implies that the companies’ resilience, due to their strengthened ability to handle variability, risk management and agility, was improved. The findings were supported by two case studies in seven companies.I. Andersson Roy, Henrik Eriksson and Håkan Torstensson (2006), Similarities and differences
between TQM, Six Sigma and Lean, The TQM Magazine; Vol. 18, Issue 3, pp 282-296.
This paper was also presented at the 7th International QMOD Conference, Monterrey, Mexico
2004:
Andersson Roy, Henrik Eriksson and Håkan Torstensson (2004), Similarities and differences
between TQM, Six Sigma and Lean, Conference proceeding, 7th International QMOD Conference,
Monterrey, Mexico, pp 143-158.
II. Andersson, Roy, Peter Manfredsson and Anders Näslid (2005), Application of Six Sigma to
Control Variability in Production Logistics: A Case Study, PLAN Conference Quality and
efficiency in the entire supply chain, University College of Borås, pp 21-37.
III. Andersson, R., M. Fredriksson and H. Torstensson (2005), Reducing logistic variations by
quality techniques, Conference proceedings, Vol 1, 8th International QMOD Conference,
Palermo, pp 457-464.
IV. Andersson, R. and H. Torstensson (2006), A combined quality approach to controlling supply
chain risk. Conference proceedings, Vol 1, 9th International QMOD Conference, Liverpool.
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Sýkorová, Veronika. "Data Quality Metrics." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2008. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-2815.
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The aim of the thesis is to prove measurability of the Data Quality which is a relatively subjective measure and thus is difficult to measure. In doing this various aspects of measuring the quality of data are analyzed and a Complex Data Quality Monitoring System is introduced with the aim to provide a concept for measuring/monitoring the overall Data Quality in an organization. The system is built on a metrics hierarchy decomposed into particular detailed metrics, dimensions enabling multidimensional analyses of the metrics, and processes being measured by the metrics. The first part of the thesis (Chapter 2 and Chapter 3) is focused on dealing with Data Quality, i.e. provides various definitions of Data Quality, gives reasoning for the importance of Data Quality in a company, and presents some of the most common tools and solutions that target to managing Data Quality in an organization. The second part of the thesis (Chapter 4 and Chapter 5) builds on the previous part and leads into measuring Data Quality using metrics, i.e. contains definition and purpose of Data Quality Metrics, places them into the multidimensional context (dimensions, hierarchies) and states five possible decompositions of Data Quality metrics into detail. The third part of the thesis (Chapter 6) contains the proposed Complex Data Quality Monitoring System including description of Data Quality Management related dimensions and processes, and most importantly detailed definition of bottom-level metrics used for calculation of the overall Data Quality.
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Kingdon, Lorraine B. "Water Quality Watchdogs." College of Agriculture, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/295555.
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Evanshen, Pamela. "Quality Learning Centers." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2002. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/4399.
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Salewski, Marcus. "Accounting quality under IFRS." Doctoral thesis, Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2014. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-135412.
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Since 2005, publicly traded European companies are required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This is the result of the so-called “IAS-Regulation” of the European Parliament and of the European Council (Regulation (EC) No. 1606/2002) which formulates two objectives directly related to financial reporting: (higher) comparability and transparency of financial statements. With regard to transparency, researchers often rely on proxies to measure the quality of financial statements. In this dissertation, I follow this approach and examine the quality of IFRS financial statements relying on different proxies, such as value relevance, the degree of earnings management, and disclosure quality. The four papers in this dissertation cover research questions related to the determinants and consequences of managerial discretion in the three most important components of financial statements: the balance sheet, the income statement, and the notes. In summary, this dissertation answers important questions concerning the quality of accounting under IFRS which have remained unanswered – and in some cases even unasked – until now. Therefore, this dissertation has a material impact on the understanding of accounting quality under IFRS.
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Laghari, Khalil ur Rehman. "On quality of experience (QoE) for multimedia services in communication ecosystem." Thesis, Evry, Institut national des télécommunications, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012TELE0008/document.
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Aujourd'hui, la satisfaction du client et la joie deviennent les principaux différenciateurs pour évaluer l'efficacité des opérateurs télécoms et les fournisseurs de services. Dans ce marché concurrentiel, la mauvaise qualité de l'expérience (QoE) conduit à une réaction en chaîne de la parole négative de la bouche, pousser les clients dans les bras de concurrents en attente. Par conséquent, il est important pour les fournisseurs de services pour assurer la qualité supérieure de l'expérience afin d'éviter la déloyauté clientèle et la réputation négative. QoE est une émergence rapide multi-disciplinaire discipline axée sur la compréhension globale des exigences de qualité de l'homme sous différents angles tels que la technologie, des affaires et contexte d'utilisation. Le premier défi et avant tout est de comprendre comment différentes caractéristiques qui influencent liés à l'activité, la technologie, et le comportement influence du contexte humain. Dans cette thèse, les premiers travaux répond à ce défi de comprendre l'influence des domaines disparates sur QoE. Un modèle d'interaction QoE consolidée est proposé qui relie les domaines disparates (humains, des affaires, la technologie, et le contexte) pour comprendre la qualité globale de l'homme de l'expérience requise. Puis la taxonomie est présenté pour le modèle d'interaction QoE. Deuxième contribution dans cette thèse est basé sur le premier et son principal objectif est de capturer et analyser des données QoE à travers des études de l'utilisateur. Sur la base de données de l'utilisateur, l'influence des paramètres technologiques, contextuelles et d'affaires de plus de QoE sont évalués. Différents services multimédias ont été sélectionnés pour l'étude d'utilisateur tels que le service de streaming vidéo, la téléphonie (VoIP et PSTN), et service de téléconférence audio 3D. Selon le service multimédia, différents aspects ont été considérés lors de chaque étude sur les utilisateurs telles que les types de paramètres de service (QoS multimédia, le contenu, le contexte), les types de mesures (QoE subjective, objectif cognitif ou les deux), les caractéristiques de l'homme (âge, sexe, etc) , et les rôles de l'homme (l'utilisateur ou le client). Ces résultats aident à comprendre le lien entre QoE et d'autres domaines d'influence. La troisième contribution est basée sur les travaux en cours d'élaboration QoE des outils basés sur des services de streaming vidéo. Deux outils basés sur QoE pour l'évaluation des services multimédias ont été présentés dans cette thèse, leurs principales fonctions consistent à saisir, analyser et rapporter métriques QoE en temps réel. Ces outils sont utiles pour QoE mesure en temps réel de paramètres QoEToday, the fulfillment of customer demands and user experience requirements are becoming the main differentiators for gauging the effectiveness of telecom operators and service providers. In this competitive market, the poor Quality of Experience (QoE) leads to a chain reaction of negative word of mouth, pushing customers into the arms of waiting competitors. Therefore it is important for service providers to ensure superior quality of experience in order to avoid customer disloyalty and negative reputation. QoE is a fast emerging multi-disciplinary field focused on understanding overall human quality requirements from different angles such as technology, business and context of use. The first and foremost challenge is to understand how different influencing characteristics related to business, technology, and context influence human behavior. In this thesis, initial work addresses this challenge of understanding the influence of disparate domains over QoE. A consolidated QoE interaction model is proposed which links disparate domains (human, business, technology, and context) to understand overall human quality of experience requirements. Then taxonomy is presented for QoE interaction model. Second contribution in this thesis is based on the first and its main objective is to capture and analyze QoE data through user studies. Based on user data, the influence of technological, contextual and business parameters over QoE are evaluated. Different multimedia services were selected for user study such as video streaming service, telephony (VoIP and PSTN), and 3D audio teleconferencing service. Depending upon multimedia service, different aspects were considered during each user study such as types of multimedia service parameters (QoS, content, context), the types of QoE metrics (subjective, objective cognitive or both), human characteristics (age, gender etc), and human roles (user, or customer). These findings help in understanding the link between QoE and other influencing domains. The third contribution is based upon ongoing work of developing QoE based tools for video streaming services. Two QoE based tools for the assessment of multimedia services have been presented in this thesis, their main functions are to capture, analyze and report QoE metrics in real time. These QoE tools are useful for real time measurement of QoE metrics
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Kristensson, David. "Quality assurance in software development & evaluation of existing quality systems." Thesis, University West, Department of Economics and Informatics, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-522.
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Eriksson, Erik. "Channel Quality Information Reporting and Channel Quality Dependent Scheduling in LTE." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Electrical Engineering, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-11033.
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Telecommunication systems are under constant development. Currently 3GPP is working on an evolution of the 3G-standard, under the name 3G Long Term Evolution (LTE). Some of the goals are higher throughput and higher peak bit rates. A crucial part to achieve the higher performance is channel dependent scheduling (CDS). CDS is to assign users when they have favorable channel conditions. Channel dependent scheduling demands accurate and timely channel quality reports. These channel quality indication (CQI) reports can possibly take up a large part of the allocated uplink. This thesis report focuses on the potential gains from channel dependent scheduling in contrast to the loss in uplink to reporting overhead.
System simulations show that the gain from channel dependent scheduling is substantial but highly cell layout dependent. The gain with frequency and time CDS, compered to CDS in time domain only, is also large, around 20\%. With a full uplink it can still be a considerable gain in downlink performance if a large overhead is used for channel quality reports. This gives a loss in uplink performance, and if the uplink gets to limited it will severely affect both uplink and downlink performance negatively.
How to schedule and transmit CQI-reports is also under consideration. A suggested technique is to transmit the CQI reports together with uplink data. With a web traffic model simulations show that a high uplink load is required to get the reports often enough. The overhead also gets unnecessary large, if the report-size only depends on the allocated capacity.
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Efendic, Elvira, and Sabina Lajiq. "Service Quality : A research on how recruitment companies secure service quality." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Ekonomihögskolan, ELNU, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-19422.
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Background: Service quality is considered to be a vital strategy for survival and success in today’s competitive environment. Although there have been an emphasis in quality overall, the research in companies performance within a business-to-business approach is still largely unexplored. Accordingly, service quality in recruitment companies will be interesting to examine in order to explore the business-to-business industry further. Purpose &: The purpose of this research is to study how recruitment Research Question: companies secure quality in their services. What factors indicate various quality levels? Methodology: This is a qualitative study with a deductive approach. Multiple case studies were conducted with a total of six respondents from three companies. Conclusion: This research concluded factors that indicate various quality levels in recruitment companies. The collected data that could not be strengthened with the theories was recommended as further research.
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Bel, Patricia Damian. "Cotton quality - fibre to fabric: fibre properties relationships to fabric quality." University of Southern Queensland, Faculty of Engineering and Surveying, 2004. http://eprints.usq.edu.au/archive/00003193/.
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[Abstract]: The textile industry has a recurrent white speck nep problem in cotton. “White specks” are immature clusters of fibres that are not visible as defects until dyeing, after which they remain white on the surface of a darkly dyed fabric, or appear as non uniform streaks in the fabric. Both results render the fabric unsuitable for commercial fashion fabrics. The white speck potential of cotton is difficult to predict except in extremely immature cottons. Competitive synthetic fibres are uniform in length and strength and never have a maturity problem resulting in dye defects. They are much more predictable in the mill. As a result, cotton faces the risk of being replaced by synthetic fibres. Industry requires a method to predict fabric quality from cotton bale fibre properties to minimize this risk. This research addresses the problem of predicting white specks in dyed cotton fabrics. It is part of a large study, which is supported jointly by US and Australian agencies. The main objective is to predict fabric quality from bale fibre properties given controlled gin and mill processing. Gin and mill processing must be controlled so that field and varietal effects can be seen without the interaction of mechanical processing differences. This results in achieving other objectives, including the provision of baseline data for Australian varieties, ginning effects and comparison of ring and open-end spinning. Initially a reliable method for measuring white specks had to be found. Several systems have been evaluated and are reported here. The systems accuracy was compared using fabrics from the US Extreme Variety Study (EVS), which was grown specifically to have different levels of white specks. The fabrics made from the US (Leading Variety Study 1993 (LVS) and The American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI) Cotton Variety Processing Trials, 2001) and the Australian (1998 & 1999) variety studies were analysed using AutoRate-2-03, the best of the image analysis systems studied. The final release of AutoRate (February 2003) was developed by Dr. Bugao Xu to measure white specks on dark fabrics in conjunction with this research. This final analysis of these studies results in white speck prediction equations from high-speed fibre measurement systems. This information should be immediately useful to as a tool to measure the effects of field and ginning practices on the levels of white specks without having to carry the research out to finished fabrics. Cotton breeders will be able to use the equations in the development of new varieties with low white speck potential, by eliminating varieties with high white speck potential early on. The research will continue on a much larger scale in the US and hopefully a WSP (White Speck Potential) value will be incorporated into the US Cotton Grading System.
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McIlroy, Annette R. "The return from exploration success, relating economic quality to geological quality." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape8/PQDD_0013/NQ52838.pdf.
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Syu, Niou-Jia, and 許紐佳. "The Relationships Study of Service Quality, Experience Quality, Relationship Quality, and Loyalty." Thesis, 2008. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/9bfv62.
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碩士國立高雄第一科技大學
行銷與流通管理所
96
With the coming era of the “experience economy”, more and more customers, managers and scholars begin to understand the importance of experience. Pine II and Gilmore(1998) thought that consumer’s experience is one sort of economic goods, which makes enterprises consider service as stage, goods as means, and coordinate activities that surrounding consumers to make the goods worthwhile memory. Based on the “theory of the theater”, this research is aimed to cover the conditions of experience quality, and integrate the concept of experience quality into the service industry, and attempt to discuss the relationship among experience quality, service quality, relationship quality and loyalty. The specimens of research were respectively collected from the customers of Taiwan High Speed Rail and Foot Massage Center by interviewing in person and Internet questionnaire. In accordance with the convenience sampling and snowball sampling, 362 effective interviews were conducted for the customers of the Taiwan High Speed Rail, and 226 effective interviews from the Foot Massage Center. The results of study demonstrate the followings: (a) both the experience quality and service quality are important driving factors of tsatisfaction; (b) satisfaction can influence loyalty directly or indirectly through trust; (c) service quality and experience quality can influence loyalty directly or indirectly through satisfaction; (d) service quality has greater influence than experience quality on satisfaction; experience quality has heavier influence than service quality on loyalty.
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Chen, Angel, and 陳奕蒨. "Quality Costs of instructure and Quality Choice." Thesis, 2006. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/84173465814480035515.
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Hsu, Shih-Yuan, and 徐詩媛. "Image quality assessment based on perceptual quality." Thesis, 2013. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/7b944d.
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碩士國立臺北科技大學
電機工程系研究所
101
Image quality assessment is to measure the visual difference between two images. In order to make evaluation result in line with the visual quality perceived by the human, it is necessary to make use of the characteristic of the human visual system (HVS) into image quality assessment methods. Most of the literature works focus on how to more effectively compare two images of local information, but ignore the fact that they should have unequal sum-up weighting to the total, as the human vision has different sensitivity in regions with different contents and distortion. This work proposes an image assessment methods based on VIF. At the first, we extract the features of visual sensitivity in images with the Haar wavelet transform and log-Gabor filter, and detect the salient object region with the Laplacian filter, and calculate the distortion region with SSIM. For log-Gabor filter, we apply weighting to the log-Gabor frequency band based on the contrast sensitivity function (CSF). Since VIF assessment is based on the information comparison and not effective in luminance distortion, we take into account the luminance component of SSIM in the image information calculation, to compensate for the weakness of VIF in brightness distortion. The experimental results on image database show that our overall performance and efficiency outperforms the general image quality assessment methods.
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Jian, Wei-Jie, and 簡偉傑. "Audit Quality, Mandatory Rotation and Earnings Quality." Thesis, 2013. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/51916950571815869398.
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碩士國立東華大學
會計與財務碩士學位學程
101
This study examines the association between audit quality and earnings quality in firms trading on Taiwan Stock Exchange and GreTai Securities Markets from 1986 to 2010. This study measures audit quality with Big 4 auditors and auditor tenure and measures earnings quality with dividends and conservatism. This study expects that the firms with better audit quality have more persistent earnings, and they tend to pay dividends regularly. This study also expects that audit quality more positively affects firms’ dividends and conservatism after the mandatory rotation was promulgated in 2003. The results show a significant and positive association between audit quality and dividend payout. Such an association is more pronounced after the mandatory rotation was promulgated. Moreover, the mandatory rotation increases the level of firms’ conservatism. The results also show a significant and positive association between auditor tenure and dividend payout after the mandatory rotation was promulgated. However, the positive association between big audit firms and dividend payout becomes insignificant after the mandatory rotation was promulgated. This result is attributed to the weak association between the mandatory rotation and firms’ propensity toward changing audit firms. Besides, this study conducts several sensitivity analyses, such as winsorizing observations that have the largest 1% and smallest 1% values for variables, using the amount of dividends paid and the firm’s dividend growth rates instead of the dividend possibility and controlling for the potential impact involving employee-bonus expensing policy, and finds the regression results remain robust.
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Dao, Van-Luom, and 陶文亮. "Investigating the Relationship between Service Quality, Teaching Quality, Learning Environment Quality, and Students Satisfaction." Thesis, 2017. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/834g3m.
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碩士義守大學
管理碩博士班
105
Over the past decade, because of increasing pressure for institutions to respond to the labour-market and prepare students for employment after graduation, many Taiwan universities have increased their quality standards for higher education. However, do the service quality, environment quality, and teaching quality they provided fit the requirement of foreign students? It is a question worth to investigate if Taiwan''s university want to compete with other university in the world. To answer the above question, firstly, this study examines how international students feel about the service quality, environment quality, and teaching quality of the university they studied. Then, the relationship between service quality, teaching quality, learning-environment quality and student satisfaction are also investigated. Questionnaires were used for data collection. Samples are selected from the students in one university in south Taiwan and 250 questionnaires were collected. Three research questions guided the investigation, and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for data analysis. Results reveal that the administrations of this university provide quality service standards at medium levels and quality service standards positively affect students’ satisfaction. Based on research results, recommendations to the University for improving the implementation of quality standards which will ensure continuous improvement and student satisfaction are provided. The empirical results of this study can provide support for the Parasuraman’s SERVQUAL (1985), which related to the factors contributing to students’ satisfaction.
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Lan, Wan-Tzu, and 藍婉慈. "The influence of system quality,service quality,and information quality on online impulse buying." Thesis, 2015. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/49849703466618376839.
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碩士淡江大學
資訊管理學系碩士班
103
As the era of internet has come, the way of shopping has also influenced, allowing people to carry out transaction through internet. No matter whether they are brick and mortar shops or online shops, the most popular issue is about environment. Consumers usually change their ways during the process of making a decision because of the environment surrounding them. In this research, the content focuses on online impulse buying. In the past, the discussion about this involved individual factors of Web site. However, since those discussions of individual factors are only necessary but not sufficient conditions of Web site. The purpose of this research, based on S-O-R theory, is to take three aspects to measure website quality, including system quality, service quality and information quality. As these are all relating to consumers’ emotions and the shopping enjoyment, they can help us understand why they affect online impulse buying. This study use questionnaires which focus on consumption experience of consumer on the most commonly used online shop in nearly a year. A total of 527 questionnaires were collected. Since the limitation of reference about system quality, information quality, and service quality to impulse buying, this study use PLS-SEM which is suited for theory development to analyze. This study expect to max R square of the explained variance by PLS-SEM.