This dissertation consists of three essays that evaluate various types of health care policies from the social welfare perspective. Chapter 1 introduces the main ideas and framework of this dissertation. Chapter 2 evaluates the new co-payment policy, enacted on July 15, 2005 under Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI). We show...
The design of a switched capacitor successive approximation A/D converter is discussed in this thesis. This design adopts a novel capacitance mismatch error cancellation algorithm proposed in references [25, 27]. Detailed charge domain analysis is given in this thesis, which results in an improvement of the proposed algorithm by tracing...
Automated Storage and Retrieval (AS/R) Systems
have had a considerable impact on manufacturing and
distribution processes. The configuration of AS/R systems
vary considerably, depending on the particular application.
The effect of different retrieval scheduling rules
is analyzed and compared for three different unit-load
AS/R systems operating under dual-command cycle. The...
The azalea lace bug (Stephanitis pyrioides Scott) is a global pest of rhododendrons and azaleas (Rhododendron spp.). It is originally from Asia, has been established in the eastern U.S. for the past century, and was recently detected in the Pacific Northwest in 2008-2009. Stephanitis pyrioides feeds on the underside of...
A comparison and analysis of jitter for five different architectures of ring oscillators using a novel simulation technique developed by Professor Forbes' group is presented. Ring oscillators have become an essential building block in many digital and synchronous communications system due to their integrated nature and are widely used in...
Shan-Mei, a Tsou aboriginal village in Taiwan, is widely known as a legend of environmental conservation, where ecotourism has been successfully combined with integrated community development. Indigenous knowledge containing "ecological wisdom" and decision-making based on consensus are perceived to be the greatest contributors to this achievement. I conducted three months...