Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Technological constraints'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 154-163).
Motivation -- Industrial firms survive, sustain and co-evolve by participating in the sector of innovation and production through industrial transactions with each other. However, it is difficult for specialized firms to be aware of and manage accordingly the kind of systemic constraints and opportunities induced by relevant but indirect transactions, as well as the technological and economic requirements of their value chains, which they cannot control or even sufficiently observe. The myopia may cause specialized firms to implement incorrect strategies, leave them vulnerable to system failures or ignorant of emerging opportunities. This implies a paradox: the simultaneous needs to specialize and to understand and manage the big picture of the eco-system. Goal -- Previous industry studies have focused on the question if a transaction with an external firm is needed rather than in-house production, and on empirical work from single industries or bilateral relationships between firms. Meanwhile, the firms' positions in the sectoral transactional network are also influential to the success and performance of firms. In this dissertation, I conduct transactional network analysis to explore how firms are organized in the sector of aggregated industries, in order to shed light on the set of previously ignored knowledge on industrial transactions, which is valuable to single firms in designing strategies and managing operations but is not available from firm- and industry-level analysis. Hierarchy in Industry Architecture -- At the sector level, existing theories often assumed hierarchical or non-hierarchical relationships among industrial firms, and quantitative evidence on variable degrees of hierarchy in industry sectors is lacking. This dissertation first identifies and defines the type of hierarchy relevant to industry studies -flow hierarchy, develops a network-based metric on the degree of hierarchy (one-way flow of transactions), and applies it to the transaction data from two industrial sectors in Japan. The empirical results show that the electronics sector exhibits a significantly lower degree of hierarchy than the automotive sector due to the presence of many transaction cycles. It shows that the simplistic hierarchy hypothesis for production sectors does not always hold. Industrial Network Model and Transaction Specificity -- I further create a network simulation model with random networks to relate sector-level hierarchy degrees to firm-level behavioral variables, and infer transaction specificity, i.e. the extent to which a firm is captive to a niche of customers positioned closely in the industrial network hierarchy. The model builds on three basic rules on market structures, i.e. hierarchy, niche, and the mapping relationship between roles and positions. Transaction specificity provides a way to quantify the tendency of a firm to fix or institutionalize its role according to its relative network position, or where the transactions of a firm are oriented in the value chains, whereas traditional studies analyze whether a transaction versus in-house production is needed. The result shows that transaction specificity in the electronics sector is quantitatively much lower than that in the automotive sector. Interviews and Firm Boundary Strategies -- I further conducted interviews with nine firms in the two sectors and found that, with decision rationales related to product modularity, innovation dynamics and asset specificity, the major electronics firms take the permeable vertical boundary strategy and diversified horizontal boundary strategy, which decrease transaction specificity so that many transaction cycles emerge in the electronics sector. My analysis shows the permeability of a firm's vertical boundary, i.e. playing multiple value chain roles, is the necessary condition for transaction cycles to emerge. Meanwhile, these two strategies are not feasible in the automotive sector according to interviews. They are also not observed in the American electronics sector. My data show the American electronics firms tend to be vertically specialized in the value chains. Social-Technical Arguments -- Linking network analysis results, interview data, and the prior work on the physical limits to product modularity, I argue that higher power level of a sector's technologies leads to higher transaction specificity, and more hierarchical transaction lows across the sector. High power technologies constrain strategic transaction choices, while lower power technologies enable a larger option space of transaction strategies, for companies to explore and exploit. Implications -- For academics, the use of network analysis permits transaction cost analysis, or more general analysis of transaction-related decisions, to be extended from the boundary of a firm to the architecture of a sector comprising related industries. It gives us a bird's-eye view to observe firm-level transaction behaviors and create new knowledge on transaction specificity. In addition, the analysis of the physical properties of product technologies allows us to interpret the difference in transaction specificities and hierarchy degrees of different sectors, which economic and sociology theories cannot explain. For industry practitioners, this research suggests that firms' choices for industrial transactions are under some predictable constraints from product technologies. A better understanding of the linkages between industry architecture, firm transaction strategy, and product technology, in turn can guide companies to tailor transaction strategies to implicit technological constraints and to adequately explore strategic options made feasible by technologies.
by Jianxi Luo.
Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1994.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-117).
Precast concrete technology is of great importance in multifamily housing. This technology provides the possibility to the industrialize housing construction and thus enhance the availability and quality of houses. With regard to the design process of precast concrete housing, architectural and technological concepts have to be woven into housing systems by iterative processes. Although precast concrete technology is an offshoot of reinforced concrete technology, its structural nature and construction process is not the same: its identification with the concept of industrialization makes this technology quite different from cast-in-place concrete. In other words, the processes of precasting, of transportation and handling, and of the erection of precast concrete building systems give significant advantages to housing systems, but they pose technological constraints to as well. This thesis investigates the technological rules and constraints of precast concrete structural systems which provide technological approaches to precast concrete housing systems. First, the methodology of the considerations of structural systems is introduced. Second, the technological rules and constraints of precasting, transportation, and construction methods are discussed in detail. Then, the technological rules and constraints of three typical structural systems, including unbraced frame, braced frame, and large panel, are examined.
by Takatoshi Nakamura.
M.S.

This thesis comprises of four essays that seek to advance understanding of the role that climatic constraints have on agricultural productivity in India and Pakistan. This work emphasises that the constraints posed to agricultural production must be understood within the context of an evolving set of environmental and technological conditions. The thesis employs empirical methods to understand these relationships, where particular emphasis is placed on methods suitable for learning about the challenges agriculture will face in the future. The first chapter studies the impact of climate change on rice yields in India by modelling the inter-annual distribution of yield conditional on projected temperature increases. The results suggest a decrease in average yield and a substantial increase in the probability of low yields. It is also shown that yields have become increasingly resilient to heat over time. The second chapter studies the e↵ect of drought on cereal production in India by estimating thresholds of drought impact. By examining thresholds over time, evidence is found of decreasing average impacts, but with evidence of an abrupt increase in average drought impacts in more recent years. Thresholds of precipitation are also estimated, indicating substantial heterogeneity in resilience to drought across crop types and regions of India. The third chapter examines how changes in agricultural technology brought about by the Green Revolution a↵ected the relative importance of agro-climatic factors in determining crop yields. Using a detailed measure of crop suitability it is found that yields increased relatively more in areas of higher suitability, indicating complementarity between agricultural technologies and favourable agro-climatic characteristics. The final chapter uses farm-level data from a specifically-designed survey to assess the impact and determinants of climate change adaptation strategies on crop productivity in Pakistan. Adaptation has a beneficial e↵ect on rice yields, but not on wheat yields. This chapter also finds that a number of household and institutional factors are strongly related to whether households have adapted to climate change.

Technological search is often depicted to be random. This paper takes a different view and analyses how innovative recombinant search is triggered, how it is done and what initial conditions influence the final design of technological artefacts. We argue that complementarities (non-separabilities) play an important role as focusing devices guiding the search for new combinations. Our analysis takes the perspective of technology adopters and not that of inventors or innovators of new products. We illustrate the process of decomposition and re-composition under the presence of binding complementarity constraints with a historical case study on the establishment of the First IT Regime at the turn of the 19th century. (author's abstract)
Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"

As a mechanism for collecting and sharing information, information and communications technologies (ICT) hold immense potential for individuals and institutions in low- and middle-income countries. Currently the distribution and adoption of ICTs--particularly mobile devices--has far outpaced the provision of other household services like clean water, sanitation, hygiene, or energy services. At the same time, the development and deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) devices including cellular- and satellite-connected sensors is facilitating more rapid feedback from remote regions where basic services are most limited. When used in conjunction with economic development or public health interventions, these devices and the feedback they provide can inform operation and maintenance activities for field staff and improve the monitoring and evaluation of outcomes for project stakeholders. This dissertation includes three chapters written as journal articles. While each chapter is framed around the work and research efforts being undertaken by the Sustainable Water, Energy, and Environmental Technologies Lab (SweetLab) at Portland State University, the common thread that weaves all three investigations together is the theme of ICT-enabled programmatic feedback. The first chapter introduces the three theoretical lenses that inform these investigations and the ways that ICTs and the data they provide can (1) serve as more appropriate proxies for measuring access to services, (2) reduce information asymmetries between various stakeholders including communities, governments, implementers, and funders, and (3) enable more robust methodologies for measuring outcomes and impacts of interventions within complex adaptive systems. The second chapter presents a critical review of the methodologies and technologies being used to track progress on sanitation and hygiene development goals. Chapter three describes how simple sensors and weight measurements can be combined with complex machine learning algorithms to facilitate more reliable and cost-effective latrine servicing in informal settlements. Chapter four presents the results from an investigation exploring how near-time feedback from sensors installed on motorized boreholes can improve water service delivery and drought resilience in arid regions of Northern Kenya. Finally, chapter five provides a summary of the three manuscripts and discusses the significance of this research for future investigations.

This study examines human capital constraints in the South African economy, and the austerity these constraints have on firms in the country. The first part of the study identifies the main human capital constraints facing South Africa, and explains how these constraints influence an economy. An inadequately educated workforce along with restrictive labour regulations makes out the central components of these constraints. The second part explores all the relevant constraints individually, and determines the cause of their existence. The final part of this study consists of a firm level analysis that describes human capital constraints experienced by firms in South Africa. Regression analysis examines the determinants of increased output per worker in manufacturing firms. These determinants also indicate the cause of growth in output per worker. Human capital aspects such as education, labour regulation, compensation and competition are all shown to have a considerable influence on output per worker. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on the explanatory variables achieved similar results. For this analysis, latent variables that incorporated education, training, region and Sector Education Training Authority (SETA) support and effectiveness explained the highest percentage of the total variance. However, this study found no evidence to suggest that human capital development initiatives like training programmes and SETA support have a positive relationship with increased levels of productivity.
Thesis (M.Com. (Economics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is a ethod of identifying unique items using radio waves that communicate between RFID tags and readers without line-of-sight readability. RFID technology provides great potential in many industries and a wide spectrum of possible uses. Areas of application include person identification, logistics, pharmaceutical, access control, security guard monitoring and asset management. One of the areas where RFID is being used and where it promises excellent results is the retail industry. While RFID systems have the potential to revolutionise the way products and goods are tracked and traced in the retail supply chain, barriers to its widespread adoption exist: for example; technical constraints, return on investment constraints, a lack of awareness and education and as well as privacy and security issues. The research aims to identify the barriers to the adoption of RFID and to investigate the perceptions of RFID held by members of the retail sector in South Africa (SA). Current research and available literature are used to identify RFID adoption barriers and a conceptual framework on this subject is proposed, which is then verified by SA retailers’ perceptions, established by means of a survey. Initial barriers to widespread adoption include a shortage in skills, a lack of standards, high costs associated with RFID devices, the difficulty of integrating with current legacy systems, and a lack of familiarity with the system. Finally, an enhanced framework is proposed, describing RFID adoption barriers within the South African retail sector. In summary, the framework is an outline of the barriers impacting RFID adoption in the SA retail sector that need to be considered and addressed. The framework identifies six categories of RFID adoption barriers, with each category containing two or more barriers relating to that particular category. These categories are Technological, Cost and return on investment, Privacy and security, Implementation, Organisational factors and People.

The exigent need to address climate change and its adverse effects is felt all around the world. As pioneers in tackling carbon emissions, the European Union continue to be head and shoulders above other continents by implementing policies and keeping a tab on its carbon dependence and emissions. However, being one of the largest importers of Natural Gas in the world, the EU remains dependent on a fossil fuel to meet its demands.  The aim of the research is to investigate the barriers and constraints in the EU policies and framework that affects the natural gas decarbonization and to investigate the levelized cost of hydrogen production (LCOH) that would be used to decarbonize the natural gas sector. Thus a comprehensive study, based on existing academic and scientific literature, EU policies, framework and regulations pertinent to Natural gas and a techno economic analysis of possible substitution of natural gas with Hydrogen, is performed. The motivation behind choosing hydrogen is based on various research studies that indicate the importance and ability to replace to natural gas. In addition, Portugal provides a great environment for cheap green hydrogen production and thus chosen as the main region of evaluation.  The study evaluates the current framework based on a SWOT ((Strength, Weakness, and Opportunities & Weakness) analysis, which includes a PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental & Legal) macroeconomic factor assessment and an expert elicitation. The levelized cost of hydrogen is calculated for blue (SMR - Steam Methane Reforming with natural gas as the feedstock) and green hydrogen (Electrolyzer with electricity from grid, solar and wind sources). The costs were specific to Portuguese conditions and for the years 2020, 2030 and 2050 based on availability of data and the alignment with the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and the climate action framework 2050. The sizes of Electrolyzers are based on the current Market capacities while SMR is capped at 300MW. The thesis only considers production of hydrogen. Transmission, distribution and storage of hydrogen are beyond the scope of the analysis.  Results show that the barriers are mainly related to costs competitiveness, amendments in rules/regulations, provisions of incentives, and constraints in the creation of market demand for low carbon gases. Ensuring energy security and supply while being economically feasible demands immediate amendments to the regulations and policies such as incentivizing supply, creating a demand for low carbon gases and taxation on carbon.  Considering the LCOH, the cheapest production costs continue to be dominated by blue hydrogen (1.33 € per kg of H2) in comparison to green hydrogen (4.27 and 3.68 € per kg of H2) from grid electricity and solar power respectively. The sensitivity analysis shows the importance of investments costs and the efficiency in case of electrolyzers and the carbon tax in the case of SMR. With improvements in electrolyzer technologies and increased carbon tax, the uptake of green hydrogen would be easier, ensuring a fair yet competitive gas market.
Det starka behovet av att ta itu med klimatförändringarna och deras negativa effekter är omfattande världen över. Den europeiska unionen utgör en pionjär när det gäller att såväl hantera sina koldioxidberoende och utsläpp som att implementera reglerande miljöpolitik, och framstår därmed som överlägsen andra stater och organisationer i detta hänseende. Unionen är emellertid fortfarande mycket beroende av fossilt bränsle för att uppfylla sina energibehov, och kvarstår därför som en av världens största importörer av naturgas.  Syftet med denna forskningsavhandling är att undersöka befintliga hinder och restriktioner i EU: s politiska ramverk som medför konsekvenser avkolningen av naturgas, samt att undersöka de utjämnande kostnaderna för väteproduktion (LCOH) som kan användas för att avkolna naturgassektorn. Därmed utförs en omfattande studie baserad på befintlig akademisk och vetenskaplig litteratur, EU: s politiska ramverk och stadgar som är relevanta för naturgasindustrin. Dessutom genomförs en teknisk-ekonomisk analys av eventuella ersättningar av naturgas med väte. Valet av väte som forskningsobjekt motiveras olika forskningsstudier som indikerar vikten och förmågan att ersätta till naturgas. Till sist berör studien Portugal. som tillhandahåller en lämplig miljö för billig och grön vätgasproduktion. Av denna anledning är Portugal utvalt som den viktigaste utvärderingsregionen.  Studien utvärderar det nuvarande ramverket baserat på en SWOT-analys ((Strength, Weakness, and Opportunities & Weakness), som inkluderar en PESTEL (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental och Legal) makroekonomisk faktoranalys och elicitering. Den utjömnade vätekostnaden beräknades i blått (SMR - Ångmetanreformering med naturgas som råvara) och grönt väte (elektrolyser med el från elnät, sol och vindkällor). Kostnaderna var specifika för de portugisiska förhållandena under åren 2020, 2030 och 2050 baserat på tillgänglighet av data samt anpassningen till den nationella energi- och klimatplanen (NECP) och klimatåtgärdsramen 2050. Storleken på elektrolyserar baseras på den nuvarande marknadskapaciteten medan SMR är begränsad till 300 MW. Avhandlingen tar endast hänsyn till produktionen av vätgas. Transmission, distribution och lagring av väte ligger utanför analysens räckvidd.  Resultaten visar att hindren är främst relaterade till kostnadskonkurrens, förändringar i stadgar och bestämmelser, incitament och begränsningar i formerandet av efterfrågan på koldioxidsnåla gaser på marknaden. Att säkerställa energiförsörjning och tillgång på ett ekonomiskt hållbart sätt kräver omedelbara ändringar av reglerna och politiken, såsom att stimulera utbudet, att skapa en efterfrågan på koldioxidsnåla gaser och genom att beskatta kol.  När det gäller LCOH dominerar blåväte beträffande produktionskostnaderna (1,33 € per kg H2) jämfört med grönt väte (4,27 respektive 3,68 € per kg H2) från elnät respektive solenergi. Osäkerhetsanalysen visar vikten av investeringskostnader och effektiviteten vid elektrolysörer och koldioxidskatten för SMR. Med förbättringar av elektrolys-tekniken och ökad koldioxidskatt skulle upptagningen av grön vätgas vara enklare och säkerställa en rättvis men konkurrenskraftig gasmarknad.

Master´s Thesis describes the realization setup procedure of factory building in Rokycany. Building has precast concrete skeleton based on in-situ concrete piles. Document consists of concept of site accommodation, sizing of building machines, time schedule, technological rules and constraints for the chosen technological processes and plan of workplace safety and health.

Дисертацію присвячено розробці методу контролю технологічних помилок як базового елементу інтелектуальної системи для запобігання нештатних ситуацій у процесі буріння нафтових і газових свердловин на основі аналізу структури прийняття рішень на множині накладених технологічних обмежень. На основі аналізу типових процедур прийняття технологічних рішень побудовано формальний підхід моделювання технологічних проблем засобами теорії представлення та задоволення обмежень, що використано як основну ідею розробки системи інтелектуальної підтримки прийняття рішень на основі обмежень. Розроблені формальні конструкції класифікації технологічних обмежень дозволяють контролювати перебіг технологічних проблем процесу буріння та виділяти на їх множині можливі нештатні ситуації, що утворює основу прийняття технологічних рішень в умовах неповної, неточної, невизначеної та розмитої інформації. Запропоновано структуру, алгоритмічне та програмне забезпечення системи інтелектуальної підтримки прийняття рішень на основі обмежень для запобігання нештатних ситуацій у процесі буріння нафтових і газових свердловин.
Dissertation is devoted to development of method for technological errors control, as a base feature for intelligible system for preventing of unscheduled situations arising in the process of drilling for oil and gas wells based on the analysis of the structure foi decision taking support on the set of imposed technological constraints. Based on the analysis of typical routines for technological decision taking support the formal approach for technological problems modeling by means of constraints based modeling and constraints satisfaction problem formalisms is presented, what is used as main idea for developing of the system for intelligible decisions support based on constraints. The developed formal constructions for classification of technological constraints allows controlling the flow of technological problems for current process and making it possible to select on the general set possibly unscheduled situations, what constitutes the common base for support of technological decision making under the conditions of incomplete, imprecise, uncertain and fuzzy information about the technological process. The general structure, algorithms and software for the system of intelligible decisions support based on the constraints for preventing of unscheduled situations in the drilling of oil and gas wells were proposed and implemented.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1992.
Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-32).

碩士
國立高雄應用科技大學
觀光與餐旅管理系
98
The faculty and administrative staffs in the universities and colleges of Taiwan have huge stress and become displeased due to intense competition and long time work, which also make them exhausted. While facing stress, the staffs need to find effective decompression methods. One of the decompression methods is to take leisure activities. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among the leisure participation, leisure constraints, and lifestyles of the faculty and administrative staffs in the universities of Taiwan. By questionnaires, we collect the data from the staffs of the technological universities in the south of Taiwan. We provide a total of 300 questionnaires, receive 285 returned questionnaires, and eliminate 15 invalid ones. Overall, a total of 270 valid questionnaires are obtained, making the returning ratio to be 90%. These obtained data are analyzed using the software of SPSS for Windows 14.0. Moreover, we consider the analysis methods including Descriptive Statistics, t-test, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Scheffe Multiple Comparison, and Regression Analysis. The results of this study can be concluded as follows. (1) In terms of leisure participation, the faculty staffs prefer the knowledge-based activities while the administrative staffs prefer the entertainment-based ones. (2) In terms of leisure constraints, since the averages regarding “individual inherent constraint” and “interpersonal relationship constraint” of the faculty staffs are much larger than those of the administrative staffs, we can infer that the faculty staffs may have the uncomplicated interpersonal relationships. (3) In terms of lifestyles, both of the faculty and administrative staffs prefer “family-oriented life,” which means they concern family lives. Since the faculty staffs prefer the knowledge-based activities as shown in the results, which may cause their insufficient exercises, the faculty staffs are encouraged to do more sport activities.

Advanced-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) presents very difficult scenarios for radiation therapy (RT) planning. The infiltration of tumor to the skull base and beyond means that the tumor is very close to critical normal organs (organs at risk, OARs). Despite the advent of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment technique---the state-of-art RT technique, conflicting requirements between organ protection and target dose conformity is still problematic. The objectives of the present research are (1) to investigate the dosimetry properties of IMRT treatment in advanced-stage NPC in respect of its dosimetric limitations and planning problems, (2) to develop new methods and tools to resolve such problems, in particular to improve the quality of treatment plans and efficiency of the dose planning and optimization process. A series of four inter-linked studies were conducted to address these issues.
In conclusion, the solutions to several major problems in IMRT planning for advanced-stage NPC were investigated and established. It has been demonstrated in this research that, by applying these methods and tools, significant improvement in the dosimetry and efficiency of IMRT treatment planning can be accomplished as compared with conventional IMRT planning techniques. It is expected that such would translate into an improvement in treatment throughput, better tumor control and reduction in normal tissues complications. The methods developed have potential to be applied to all stages of NPC and to other tumor sites.
The first study was to improve the efficacy in target coverage and organs sparing using an "organ-splitting" approach. The OARs which overlapped with targets were split into target-overlapping and non-overlapping segments and each segment was assigned with different constraints parameters to increase the degree of flexibility during optimization. As a result, a steep gradient in the dose distribution at the regions of interface between the targets and normal critical organs could be achieved and treatment quality was improved. In the second study, a thorough dosimetric comparison between conventional 2-dimensional (2D) RT and IMRT plans was conducted to determine, with reference to outcome of 2D treatments, the extended tolerance dose limits for the critical organs, especially that of the brainstem and spinal cord, and their planning organ at risk volume. Such data could then serve as reference in IMRT planning when the dose of critical organs need be exceeded in order to allow adequate dose to a very close by target. In the third study, the feasibility of using interpolated contours for segmentation of targets and OARs in IMRT planning was investigated. The result indicated that the use of interpolated contours in IMRT planning could significantly reduce the contouring time by about 50% without degrading the target coverage and OARS sparing. In the final study, an array of dose constraint templates that could accommodate different degrees of overlap between the targets and OARs, together with a template selection program, were developed to improve the efficiency of IMRT planning. By applying the methods and tools developed, IMRT treatment planning of advanced NPC could become more efficient and less dependent on planner's experience.
Chau, Ming Chun.
Adviser: Anthony Chan Tak Cheung.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: B, page: 0948.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-128).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstract also in Chinese.
School code: 1307.

Since China's reform and opening up, along with the continuous improvement of China's patent system, Huawei and other Chinese companies, as latecomer firms, have gone through a development process of technology introduction, technology imitation, imitation innovation, independent innovation, and open innovation. In this process, Chinese companies are charged high royalty fees. As their technological capabilities develop and cost advantages weaken, patent licensing renegotiations are initiated, all of which deserves careful review, especially the strategies adopted to reduce royalty fees. The thesis adopts the mathematical model construction and derivation method based on game theory. A patent hold-up model based on the technology gap and cost advantages is then constructed to analyze the dynamic impact of gaps in technological capabilities and cost advantages on patent hold-up. The thesis further verifies the above theoretical research conclusions through empirical analysis and the case study. For example, the technology gap and cost advantages of the latecomer firms are analyzed at two points of time, namely, “ten years ago” and “the recent three years”. One of the important conclusions is that compared with ten years ago, in the recent three years, as the cost advantages of latecomer firms weaken and their technology gap with foreign leading companies narrows, the severity of hold-up encountered by latecomer firms has not mitigated, which demonstrates to some extent that in the case of reduced technology gap and weakened cost advantage, latecomer firms must adopt corresponding strategies to reinitiate negotiations with foreign leading companies in order to obtain lower royalty rates. As a conclusion, the thesis proposes ways to achieve technological progress and patent-holdup to catching-up ICT. The Chinese ICT industry could take effective measures to control the labour cost and increase in investment in R&D, especially in basic research. Chinese companies should optimize the patent portfolio while working on technological advancement, realize the value of patents and establish and contribute to an improved IP system to facilitate IP operations. Foreign frontier firms can adapt and adjust their patent licensing strategies to fully utilize the infringement relief rule brought about by China’ s IP system reform, while actively seeking cooperation with Chinese companies like Huawei in emerging fields and look for the future technological pathways.
Desde a abertura económica da China, depois graças ao melhoramento contínuo do sistema de patentes da China, a Huawei e outras empresas retardatárias chinesas passaram por um processo de desenvolvimento de introdução tecnológica, imitação tecnológica, inovação em imitação, inovação independente e inovação aberta. Nesse processo, as empresas chinesas pagam altas taxas de licenciamento de patentes a entidades ocidentais. À medida que suas capacidades tecnológicas se desenvolvem e as vantagens de custo enfraquecem, renegociações de licença de patentes são iniciadas, todas as quais merecem uma revisão cuidadosa, especialmente as estratégias adotadas para reduzir as taxas de patentes. A tese adopta o método de construção e derivação de modelos matemáticos com base na teoria dos jogos. Um modelo de patente "holdup" baseado no fosso tecnológico e vantagens de custo é então construído para analisar o impacto dinâmico do "holdup" dos espaços nas capacidades tecnológicas e vantagens de custo. A tese verifica ainda as conclusões teóricas da pesquisa acima por meio da análise empírica e do estudo de caso. O fosso tecnológico e as vantagens de custo das empresas retardatárias são analisadas em dois momentos, a saber, "dez anos atrás" e "os últimos três anos". Uma das conclusões importantes é que, em comparação com dez anos atrás, nos últimos três anos, à medida que as vantagens de custo das empresas retardatárias enfraquecem e seu fosso tecnológico com as empresas dominantes estrangeiras diminuiu, a gravidade de patente "holdup" encontrado pelas empresas retardatárias não se mitigou, o que demonstra até certo ponto que, no caso de fosso tecnológico reduzido e vantagem de custo enfraquecida, as empresas retardatárias devem adotar estratégias correspondentes para reiniciar as negociações com empresas estrangeiras dominantes a fim de obter acesso mais económico a tecnologias proprietárias. A tese propõe maneiras de alcançar o progresso tecnológico e o gerir o "holdup" nas novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC). As empresas chinesas de NTIC devem tomar medidas eficazes para controlar os custos de trabalho e aumentar o investimento em I&D (Investigação e desenvolvimento), especialmente em pesquisa básica. As empresas chinesas de NTIC devem optimizar o portfólio de patentes enquanto trabalham no avanço tecnológico, criar confiança em sua tecnologia própria, perceber o valor das patentes e estabelecer e melhorar um sistema de PI (propriedade intelectual) para facilitar as estratégias de operação. As empresas avançadas estrangeiras devem adaptar-se e ajustar oportunamente suas estratégias de licenciamento de patentes, utilizar totalmente a regra de alívio de infração trazida pela reforma do sistema de PI da China, buscar activamente a cooperação com empresas chinesas como a Huawei em campos emergentes e olhar para futuras avenidas tecnológicas.

With the rapid development of Chinese construction and installation industry, many companies undertook various types of construction and installation projects in the past decades. However, it is observed that most of these companies just focused on their cash flows when they make decisions on project selection. It is true that the cash flow is a fundamental and important metric but this metric hardly reflects the comprehensive effects of projects on the companies’ development and strategy implementation. Thus, besides the cash flow metric, the company’s strategic objectives in terms of technology innovation, management innovation, and social responsibility need to be involved in the procedure of project portfolio and selection. On the other hand, scarce resources in a company hardly support executions of all candidate projects simultaneously, and thus the allocation of scarce resources within the portfolio has to be considered additionally. Otherwise, there may be some conflicts of using the resources within the selected projects in practice. In the existing literature, it has been proved that a reasonable project portfolio management is an effective way to implement company strategy through the success of the selected projects. Some research has proposed general frameworks and methods for project selection and portfolio with respect to the company’s strategy. However, these general frameworks and methods are hardly directly applied to a specific industry and company since they fail to capture the characteristics of a specific industry and companies. Moreover, some existing researchers have enforced the resources limitation into their project selection and portfolio procedure. However, in the operational levels, the allocation of scarce resources among the selected projects is seldom considered and integrated to the project selection and portfolio procedure, which results in that the generated project portfolio scheme is impractical or cannot be carried out in specific industry and company. Motivated by both industry and existing literature, this thesis studies project portfolio problem with considering a company’s strategy and resource allocation. The following two questions are addressed in this study: 1) How to comprehensively evaluate projects according to a company's predetermined strategy? 2) How to select projects and allocate scarce resources in order to maximize the whole strategic contribution of the project portfolio? portfolio? To answer the first question above, we first decompose a company's predetermined strategic goal into four objectives: financial objective, management innovation, technological innovation, and social responsibility . We t hen apply the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to establish a project evaluation system composed of hierarchical criteria and the relative weights of the criteria to the strategic goal. To solve the second question, we define an evolution metric to measure a project’s contribution ratio to the strategic goal by consuming per unit scarce resource. We then formulate the second problem as a 0 1 Knapsack problem by mixed integer programming method and further develop a heuristic rule to determine the allocation of the scarce resource among the selected projects. Finally, the proposed project evaluation system and resource allocation approaches are applied to a real case in Huashi Installation Engineering Company (HIEC), a state owned installation engineering enterprise in Sichuan Province of China. The application results show that our approach helps HIEC to improve the performance of the project portfolio management. The results of this thesis give some inspiration and guidelines to project portfolio management in the construction and installation of industry and other industries in China.
Com o rápido desenvolvimento da indústria chinesa de construção, muitas empresas empreenderam vários tipos de projetos de construção e instalação nas últimas décadas. No entanto, constatou-se que a maioria dessas empresas se concentra apenas em fluxos financeiros quando tomam decisões sobre a seleção de projetos. É um facto que os fluxos financeiros constituem-se como uma métrica fundamental e importante, no entanto essa métrica dificilmente reflete os efeitos abrangentes dos projetos sobre o desenvolvimento das empresas e a sua implementação estratégica. Assim, além da métrica dos fluxos financeiros, os objetivos estratégicos das empresas em termos de inovação tecnológica, gestão da inovação e responsabilidade social precisam de estar envolvidos num processo de seleção e gestão de portfólio de projetos. Por outro lado, os poucos recursos existentes numa empresa dificilmente suportam a execução de diversos projetos a que uma empresa se candidate em simultâneo, portanto, a alocação dos poucos recursos existentes dentro do portfólio de projetos tem que ser considerada adicionalmente. Caso contrário, poderão existir alguns conflitos sobre a gestão dos projetos que se encontram em execução. Durante a revisão de literatura, foi verificado que uma gestão equilibrada do portfólio de projetos traduz-se numa maneira efetiva de implementar a estratégia de uma companhia através do sucesso dos projetos selecionados. Foi efetuada uma pesquisa que propôs uma metodologia geral bem como métodos para a seleção de portfolios de projetos em linha com a estratégia da empresa. No entanto, essas estruturas e métodos gerais dificilmente são aplicados diretamente a uma indústria ou a uma empresa específica, uma vez que não conseguem capturar as características específicas dessa indústria ou empresa. Além disso, alguns autores reforçaram, o facto das limitações dos recursos nos seus projetos e processos de portfólio. No entanto, em níveis operacionais, a alocação de recursos dispersos entre os diversos projetos selecionados é raramente considerada e integrada no processo de seleção do portfólio de projetos, ou seja, a estrutura do portfólio em projeto não é realista ou então não pode ser colocada em prática numa indústria ou empresa específica. Motivado pela indústria e pela literatura existente, esta tese estuda o problema do portfólio de projetos considerando a estratégia definida por uma empresa e a sua alocação de recursos. Neste estudo são abordadas duas questões: 1) como avaliar de forma abrangente os projetos de acordo com a estratégia predefinida de uma empresa? 2) como selecionar projetos e alocar os poucos recursos para maximizar toda a contribuição estratégica do portfólio de projetos? Para responder à primeira questão, primeiro é desagrupado o objetivo estratégico pré definido de uma empresa e m quatro grandes objetivos: objetivo financeiro, gestão de inovação, inovação tecnológica e responsabilidade social. Em seguida, aplicamos o método do processo de hierarquia analítica (AHP) para estabelecer um sistema de avaliação de projeto composto por critérios hierárquicos e ponderações relativas para a definição do objetivo estratégico. A resposta à segunda questão foi obtida através da elaboração de uma métrica evolutiva que permitiu medir o rácio de contribuição de um projeto para um objetivo estratégico através da análise da contribuição de cada recurso num dado projeto. Posteriormente, foi definido o segundo problema como um problema 0 1 Knapsack através da programação linear mista e, em seguida, através de uma função heurística que permitiu determinar a alocação dos poucos recursos existentes numa determinada empresa aos projetos selecionados. Por fim, o sistema evolutivo proposto e as métricas de alocação dos recursos existentes foram aplicados a um caso real, nomeadamente à empresa de engenharia Huashi (HIEC), uma empresa pública chinesa localizada na província de Sichuan. Os resultados da aplicação destes modelos demonstraram que a abordagem desenvolvida ajudou a HIEC a melhorar substancialmente o seu desempenho na gestão do portfólio de projetos. Os resultados desta tese providenciaram conhecimento e linhas gerais contributivas uma eficaz para a gestão do portfólio de projetos das diversas industrias na China.

Text in English, abstract in English, Shona and Xhosa
The purpose of this study was to explore the practice of quality control in the onscreen marking (OSM) environment of Biology (5008) examinations between 2013 and 2017. Examination marking is gradually being migrating from paper-based marking (PBM) to OSM in a bid to improve the efficiency and quality of marking. The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) introduced OSM for some O Level subjects in June 2012, in a context characterised by a persistent economic crisis, patchy internet coverage, erratic power supplies and low digital literacy, among other challenges. The Council encountered some difficulties related to quality control, which triggered this qualitative instrumental single case study that was informed by the ontology, epistemology, methods and axiology of the constructivist philosophy. Data were collected through face-to-face and focus group interviews on the WhatsApp platform with 4 subject managers, 11 senior markers and 18 normal markers, and through document review. The findings of the study suggest that the quality of marking was influenced by the context in which the examinations were marked. The socio-political climate that prevailed in Zimbabwe impacted on the technological infrastructure for the OSM and the digital literacy of the examination personnel. The capacity of the examiners to work in the OSM environment was influenced by knowledge and skills transfer from training and standardisation to the live marking. The quality of marking was monitored by the seeds approach to script moderation, automatically generated reports and audit trails, and escalation of problem scripts. It was also influenced by the structure of the question papers, cognitive demands of the questions and mark schemes on the examiners, spaces provided for candidates’ responses and mark scheme features such as language and marks to marking points ratio. The assessment framework provided by the syllabus guided the design and marking of Biology examinations. From these findings, a framework that could guide the practice of quality control in the OSM environment was formulated. OSM technology could enhance the quality of marking Biology examinations, thereby eliminating challenges associated with PBM. Some of the opportunities were, however, reduced by the challenges encountered during the OSM of the examinations. It is recommended that ZIMSEC put in place policies and procedures that could guide specific quality control activities in the OSM environment and establish computer centres in the provincial capital towns. The Council could also consider benchmarking examiner recruitment, training and standardisation procedures with international examination authorities.
Tsvakurudzo ino yanga yakananga kuvandudza nharaunda yemakwenyero ebvunzo kubudikidza nemichina pachidzidzo cheBhayaroji, 5008 pakati pemakore a2013-2017. Vandudzo iyi iri kuuya zvishoma nezvishoma kubva pakukwenya pamapepa zvichienda mukukwenya nemichina (on screen marking :OSM ) nechinangwa chekuda kukwenenzvera mhando yebasa rezvekukwenya . Bazi rebvunzo reZimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) rakavarura kukwenya kubudikidza nemichina (OSM) kubvunzo dzedanho reOdhinari revhuru muna Chikumi 2012 , mumamiriro anozivikanwa ematambudziko ezveupfumi, masaisai eindaneti asingavimbiki anouya zvigamba zvigamba , magetsi asingawanikwe nguva dzose, nezivo yezvemichina muvakwenyi isina kupararira pakati pezvimwe zvimhingamupini. Kanzuru yezvebvunzo yakasangana nemamwe matambudziko ane chokuita nounaku hwezvemakwenyerwe ebvunzo hwakakonzera kuti paitwe tsvakurudzo ino yezveudzamu (qualitative) muchinzvimbo chiduku chakasarudzwa (case study) yaitungamirirwa nemaziviro evacho vanoona nezvekukwenya bvunzo (interpretivist epistemology) nemaziviro okuti chokwadi chinosiyana nekusiyana kwenharaunda nokuti chigadzirwa chevarimukati mekukwenya (constructivist ontology), nekuumba mufungo kubudikidza neumboo huchabuda mutsvakurudzo (inductive theory) nenzira nezvinokosheswa nenharaunda mukuumba ruzivo (constructivist philosophy). Umboo hwetsvakurudzo hwakawanikwa kubudikidza nebvunzurudzo ine udzamu padungamunhu nemumapoka nekupindurana padare reWatsiApu nevanotungamira zvidzidzo (Subject managers ) vana , zvidza mune zvokukwenywa bvunzo gumi neumwe, nevamwewo vakwenyi gumi nevasere uye kuongorora magwaro. Mamiriro ezvemagariro nematongerwo enyika mu
Ihloso yaleli rhubhululo bekukuphenya indlela ikhwalithi elawulwa ngayo ngehlelo lokutshwaya ngekhomphyutha kwe enhlahlubo zeBhayiloji (5008) phakathi komnyaka ka-2013 no-2017. Ukutshwaywa kwe enhlahlubo kancanikancani kuyasuka ehlelweni lokutshwaya iphepha ngesandla (PBM) kuya ehlelweni lokutshwaya ngekhomphyutha (OSM) ngomzamo wokuthuthukisa umsebenzi omuhle kanye nokuletha iqophelo eliphezulu lokutshwaya. Hlangana nezinye iintjhijilo, UMkhandlu wezokuTshwaywa kwe eNhlahlubo eZimbabwe (Zimbabwe School Examinations Council) (ZIMSEC) sewungenise ihlelo le-OSM kwezinye iimfundo zesigaba sika-O Level ngenyangaka Mgwengweni 2012, ngaphasi kobujamo obumbibe zomnotho, kobujamo obumaratha be-inthanedi, obuqokeme kobokuphakelwa ngegezi kanye na ngaphasi kwezinga eliphasi lefundo ye dijithali. UMkhandlu uhlangabezene nobunye ubudisi obumalunga nanokulawulwa kwekhwalithi, okubujamo obukhwezelele isizathu sokobana kube nerhubhululo linye elisebenzako elisebenzisa indlela yerhubhululo yekulumo, kanti lokhu kwabangelwayi-ontholoji, i-ephistemoloji, iindlela zerthubhululo kanye ne-akziyoloji yefilosofi i-constructivist philosophy. Idatha ibuthelelwe ngendlela yehlolombono yokubuza umuntu ngamunye ubuso nobuso kanye nokubuza iinqhema zabantu ezinqotjhiwe kokukundla yezokucocisana, i-WhatsApp platform kanye nabaphathi beemfundo aba-4 subject managers, abatshwayi abakhulu abali-11, kanye nabatshwayi abajayelekileko abali-18, kanti lokhu kwenziwa ngokubuyekeza umtlolo. Ilwazi elifumane keerhubhululweni liphakamisa kobana izinga lekhwalithi lokutshwaya laba nomthintela wobujamo/wendawo lapho iinhlahlubo zatshwaywa khona. Ubujamo bezehlalakuhle yabantu kezepolotik iebebusezweni leZimbabwe laba nomthelela phezu komthanga lasisekelo wethekinoloji, kanti kwathinta abasebenzi behlelo le-OSM kanye nezinga lefundo yedijithali. Amandla wekghono labatshwayi lokusebenza ebhodulukweni le-OSM lalilawulwa kudluliselwa kwelwazi kanye namakghonofundwa ukusukela ekubandulweni kanye nokwenza izinto ngendlela efanako ehlelweni elibonakala ngamehlo lokutshwaya. Izinga lokutshwaya lalitjhejwe yindlela yokulinganiswa kwamaphepha atshwayiwako, ihlelo le-seeds approach to script moderation, kanti ihlelwe lingokwalo lihlanganisa imibiko begodu lilandelela ukuhlolwa, kanti goduli yakwazi nokuveza amaphepha ane miraro. Leli hlelo begodula lilawulwa sisakhiwo sephepha lemibuzo, lilwazi elifunekako ephepheni lemibuzo kanye namaskimu wamaksi phezu kwabatshwayi bamaphepha, iinkhala ezenzelwako bana abafundi baphendulele kizo kanye namaskimu wokutshwaya okunje ngelimi kanye namamaksi asesilinganiswe nisamamaksi, phecelezi-marking points ratio. Isakhiwo sokuhlola sinikelwa yisilabhasi, okungiyo eyikombandlela yedizayini kanye nokutshwaywa kwe enhlahlubo zeBhayiloji. Ngalelilwazi elitholakeleko, kukghonakele ukuthi kutlanywe isakhiwo ebesingabayi kombandlela yendlela engalandelwa ukulawula ikhwalithi ebhodulukweni ye-OSM. Ithekinoloji ye-OSM beyinga siza izinga lokumakha iinhlahlubo zeBhayiloji, ngalokho lokhu bekungaphungula iintjhijilo ezihlobene nehlelo le-PBM. Nanyana kunjalo, amanye amathuba, aphungulwazi intjhijilo ekuhlangabezenwe nazo nakutshwaywa iinhlahlubo zehlelo le-OSM. Kuye kwa tjhukunyiswa ukobana i-ZIMSEC izene mithethomgomo kanye ne enkambiso ezingabayikombandlela elayela imisebenzi ethile koyokulawulwa kwekhwalithi ebhodulukweni le-OSM kanye nokuhloma iinkhungo zekhomphyutha kumadorobhahloko we emfunda. UMkhandlu begodu ungatjheja yokubeka izinga lokuqatjhwa kwabatshwayi, lokubandulwa kanye nehlelolokwenza izinto ngendlela efanako neyamaziko we entjhabatjhaba alawula iinhlahlubo.
Science and Technology Education
D. Phil. (Education)