A competitividade existente no setor sucroenergético faz com que as empresas busquem novos modelos de sobrevivência e desenvolvimento. A produção da cultura de cana-de-açúcar apresenta elevada complexidade, sendo constituída de inúmeros processos interdependentes, de modo que a qualidade da matéria prima é dependente destes processos. O dinamismo natural e a complexidade do processo de produção da cana apresentam um grande número de variáveis que podem afetar a qualidade da matéria-prima. Devido a este fato surgem dificuldades de priorização das atividades (foco), contribuindo para a não otimização dos processos, gerando assim desperdícios. O objetivo deste projeto foi planejar a qualidade do processo, identificando os indicadores críticos. O mapeamento do processo de produção foi identificado por meio de revisões bibliográficas obtendo-se assim as qualidades exigidas e as características da qualidade para todo o processo de produção da cultura da cana-de-açúcar, resultando na construção da matriz da qualidade. A qualidade exigida pela cana de açúcar foi dividia em 5 macroprocessos e as características da qualidade foram divididas em 3 macroprocessos. Por meio da metodologia do Desdobramento da Função da Qualidade (QFD) identificou-se que das 122 qualidades exigidas prioritárias identificadas por meio de revisões bibliográficas para o processo de produção, 86 delas correspondem a 80% de toda a qualidade exigida e das 93 características da qualidade identificadas, 52 correspondem a 80% de todos os indicadores críticos. Após a identificação das qualidades exigidas prioritárias e das características da qualidade para o processo de produção da destilaria efetuou-se a correlação entre os indicadores. Ao realizar as correlações observou-se que os indicadores produtividade do canavial e porcentagem de falha foram os indicadores que tiveram maior correlação, devido a eles estarem diretamente ligados a todo o processo de produção. / The existing competitiveness in the sugarcane industry causes companies to seek new models of survival and development. The sugarcane production has a high level of complexity, consisting of several interdependent processes, which the quality of raw materials depends upon. The dynamic nature and complexity of sugarcane production, containing a large number of variables, can affect the quality of raw material. Therefore, difficulties in prioritizing activities (focus) arise, not contributing to the optimization of the processes, thereby generating waste. The objective of this project was to plan the quality of the process, identifying the critical indicators. The production process mapping was identified from literature reviews, thus obtaining the required qualities and the characteristics of quality for the entire sugarcane process, resulting in the construction of the quality matrix. The quality demanded by the sugarcane was divided into five macro processes, whereas the quality characteristics were divided into three macro processes. Through the methodology of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), it was identified that of the 122 priority required qualities identified from literature reviews, 86 of them account for 80% of all required quality; of the 93 identified quality characteristics, 52 correspond for 80% of all critical indicators. After the identification of the priority required qualities and the quality characteristics for the production process of distillery, a correlation between the indicators was done. It was observed during the correlation stage that the sugarcane productivity and the failure percentage were the indicators with the greatest correlation, due to them being directly connected to the entire production process.

O Brasil é um dos maiores produtores de alimentos e de energia renovável do mundo e a sua economia está fortemente associada ao segmento do agronegócio. Para continuar a ter o desempenho e sustentabilidade nesse segmento, as empresas agrícolas necessitam manter uma rentabilidade adequada. Para isso, novas técnicas para o aumento da produtividade e redução dos custos de produção devem ser empregadas e uma das possibilidades é o uso da agricultura de precisão. A agricultura de precisão permite com que os fertilizantes e corretivos, que representam uma boa parcela dos custos, sejam aplicados a lanço em taxa variável, para atender as diferentes condições do ambiente. Para realizar uma aplicação de qualidade é necessário que os usuários compreendam as interações entre as variáveis do processo. Com isso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar as variáveis envolvidas na operação de aplicação a lanço em taxa variável e caracterizar a importância dessas variáveis para a qualidade da operação. Para tanto empregou-se a metodologia da função desdobramento da qualidade (QFD quality function deployment). Para a qualidade exigida pelo cliente identificou-se 87 itens, itens esses que necessitam de 117 requisitos técnicos para serem atendidos. Os requisitos técnicos fundamentais estão associados à máquina, operador e produto. Para a aplicação em taxa variável existem três requisitos principais associados à máquina. As correlações entre esses três itens, com os outros requisitos técnicos, devem ser consideradas. / Brazil is one of the largest producers of food and renewable energy in the world and its economy is strongly associated with the agribusiness segment. To continue to have the performance and sustainability in this sector, companies need to maintain an agricultural fair profit. For this, new techniques for increasing productivity and reducing costs of production should be employed and one possibility is the use of precision agriculture. Precision farming allows that fertilizer and lime, which represent a good portion of the costs are carried by throwing in a variable rate, to meet different environmental conditions. To make a quality application is necessary for users to understand the interactions between process variables. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the variables involved in the operation of application by throwing in a floating rate and characterizes the importance of these variables to the quality of the operation. For this the methodology of quality function deployment (QFD - Quality Function Deployment) was used. For the quality required by the client was identified 87 items, those items that require 117 technical requirements to be met. The basic technical requirements are associated with the machine operator and product. For variable rate application there are three main requirements associated with the machine. The correlations between these three items, with the other technical requirements must be considered.

A comparative review of statistical summary results of the Survey of Army Families demonstrated that there is a gap in the research on the emotional experiences of civilian military wives who do not participate in the Family Readiness Group (FRG). The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to supplement the limited amount of scholarly research on the emotional experiences of civilian military wives and their lack of participation in the FRG during the deployment cycle. The theoretical framework of this study explored the military family syndrome through application of the double ABCX model in examining this phenomenon. The foundational research question inquired about the deployment-related emotional experiences of civilian military wives who do not participate in a FRG. Phenomenological interviews with 5 civilian military wives narrowed the gap in research as their specific experiences with the FRG of their soldier's unit were analyzed and coded to identify different categories and themes. Study results suggested that familiarity with the deployment cycle was a crucial determinant in how civilian military wives experience the deployment cycle and perceive the use of the FRG as a source of support. The perceived detached communication and engagement of the FRG organization and its leaders were also found to be contributing factors to civilian military spouse participation. The implications of these findings for positive social change are to inform FRG leadership of the importance of addressing the needs of new and seasoned civilian military wives to foster a more favorable perception of the organization and to promote the potential participation of new members.

<p>Tendencies in product development of today make it likely that many future products will be functional equivalent and therefore hard to distinguish between for the customer. Customers will decide by highly subjective criteria which product to purchase. One task for product development in this context is to be able to capture the customer’s considerations and feelings of products and translate these emotional aspects into concrete product design.</p><p>Today a number of different methods, such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Semantical Environment Description (SMB), Conjoint Analysis and Kansei Engineering exist and are used in practical applications.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to understand and apply Kansei Engineering methodology and explore ways to integrate the methodology into an industrial product development process.</p><p>This was done by conducting a study on forklift trucks in different European countries and business areas and by exploring ways of integrating Kansei Engineering in product development processes.</p><p>The number of Kansei words collected was reduced based on the result of a pilot study using a combination of different tools. A computerized data collection method was used in combination with a modified VAS-scale in order to reduce the time for filling out the evaluation forms The results of the study in the visited Northern and Middle European companies make it evident that Kansei Engineering has to be adapted in several aspects to the circumstances in each situation. The data showed that there are differences in attitude towards reach trucks in the different European countries. These results were used in order to adapt the product requirements for each specific country. Starting at Cooper’s stage gate model Kansei Engineering was applied on a macro level, a micro level and for verifying purpose. Using QFD, Kansei Engineering helps to identify customer needs their importance and the technical responses as well as to conduct benchmarking and to connect the customer needs mathematically to the technical responses.</p><p>This study of Kansei Engineering revealed that there was no general model on the methodology available in English literature. Outgoing from a previous flowchart, a conceptual framework of Kansei Engineering was developed integrating the existing Kansei Engineering Types and future tools.</p> / ISRN/Report code: LiU-Tek-Lic 2002:19

<p>In addition to all our soldiers and officers who do military services abroad there are a lot of people who are affected by their choice to contribute, namely their next of kin. This report deals only with those who are next of kin to those who perform service abroad. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relatives' need for emotional and social support as well as practical and economical support. The main question is What kind of practical/economical and emotional/social support do close relatives require when a relative does military service abroad? The method used in this paper is a qualitative research interview. Interviews have been made with four women, who are next of kin to soldiers and officers who are or have been abroad for military services during the last two years. The result of this study is that all respondents have a need for emotional / social support linked to their partner’s deployment abroad; however, people require different types of support. Regarding practical / financial support the informants' needs differ, this is due to their different living situations.</p>

<p>This study is a response to the dilemma of poor service delivery or the lack thereof. In this regard, this study posits the professionalisation of local government as part of the solution. The focus is on the administrative arm of local government, which is the major conduit for service delivery. Professionalisation of local government is a broader theme. For the present purposes, focus will be devoted to the competency component which entails attracting qualified personnel competent to discharge local government responsibilities. However, it is not limited to attracting already competent and professional staff. It also entails developing the skills of existing staff. This definition, in essence, relates to qualification through training, learning and specialisation.11 In essence, professionalisation of local government ensures that all employees act and behave in a professional way. In this regard, this study seeks to identify the competency standards set by the legislative framework and then explore the legal avenues for enforcing compliance, by the municipal administration, with such standards. This requires one to look at and answer the following questions: What constitutes municipal staff? / What is the content of the competency framework in question? / What are the enforcement mechanisms currently in place? / Whose role is it to enforce compliance with the competency framework? / Broadly speaking, enforcement can take two forms: hard enforcement and soft enforcement. The hard form of enforcement relates to giving incentives for compliance with the competency framework and dismissal for non-compliance. Softer enforcement, in turn, relates to correction and monitoring.</p>

In addition to all our soldiers and officers who do military services abroad there are a lot of people who are affected by their choice to contribute, namely their next of kin. This report deals only with those who are next of kin to those who perform service abroad. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relatives' need for emotional and social support as well as practical and economical support. The main question is What kind of practical/economical and emotional/social support do close relatives require when a relative does military service abroad? The method used in this paper is a qualitative research interview. Interviews have been made with four women, who are next of kin to soldiers and officers who are or have been abroad for military services during the last two years. The result of this study is that all respondents have a need for emotional / social support linked to their partner’s deployment abroad; however, people require different types of support. Regarding practical / financial support the informants' needs differ, this is due to their different living situations.

<p>Instability in the administration of municipalities is a particularly serious problem in the Western Cape because of its large number of coalition councils. Coalitions have led to<br /> frequent changes in local governance and to constant changes in political and administrative leadership. Due to the fluidity in local government, the politics of the day have become synonymous with back-stabbing, secret agreements and arrangements between politicians and political parties wishing to align themselves in such a way as to gain control of the councils.1 A municipality is required by the Constitution2 to structure and manage its administration and budgets, budgeting and planning processes so as to give priority to the basic needs of the community and to promote the social and economic development of the community.3 Legislation further prescribes that &ldquo / a municipality must within its administrative and financial capacity establish and organize its administration in a manner that would enable the municipality to establish clear relationships, facilitate coordination, cooperation and communication between (i) its political structures and political office bearers and its administration / (ii) its political structures, political office bearers and administration and the local community&rdquo / .4 It may therefore be argued that a municipality subscribing to the abovementioned prescripts should be functioning effectively. However, in practice continuous administrative and political instability adversely impacts on a municipality‟s capacity to provide service delivery to the community. The 2006 local government elections resulted in only four out of 30 municipalities in the Western Cape having a single party with more than 50% of the seats (outright majority). The remaining 26 municipalities were governed by coalitions of two or more parties. In 2001, Parliament introduced floor-crossing legislation which allowed Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Legislatures and local government councillors to change their political party (or form a new party) and retains their seats when they did so.5 As a result of the 2007 floor-crossing legislation, the number of municipalities with an outright majority increased to 7. Power changes continued to occur even after the 2007 floor-crossing as a result of by-election outcomes or new internal coalition arrangements. Coalition government in the Western Cape remains a reality following the 18 May 2011 local government elections: the Democratic Alliance won 12 municipalities outright, the African National Congress won 1, and in 12 municipalities there was no outright winner. Of the 12 last-mentioned municipalities, 7 municipalities produced hung municipalities, i.e. Bitou, Witzenberg, Laingsburg, Hessequa, Theewaterskloof, Matzikama and Prince Albert.</p>

Highly distributed environments (HDEs) are deployment environments that include powerful and robust machines in addition to resource-constrained and mobile devices such as laptops, personal digital assistants (or PDAs), smart-phones, GPS devices, sensors, etc. Developing software for HDEs is fundamentally different from the software development for central systems and stable distributed systems. This argument is discussed deeply and in-details throughout this dissertation. HDE applications are challenged by two problems: unreliable networks, and heterogeneity of hardware and software. Both challenges need careful handling, where the system must continue functioning and delivering the expected QoS. This dissertation is a direct response to the mentioned challenges of HDEs. The contribution of this dissertation is the cloud component model and its related formal language and tools. This is the general title. However, and to make this contribution clear, we prefer to present it in the following detailed form: (1) We propose a paradigm shift from distribution transparency to localization acknowledgment being the first class concern. (2) To achieve the above mentioned objective, we propose a novel component model called cloud component (CC). (3) In this dissertation we propose a new approach to assemble CCs using systematic methodology that maintains the properties of CC model. (4) Cloud component development process and cloud component based systems development process. (5) Location modeling and advanced localization for HDEs are the pivotal key in our contribution. (6) Formal language to model single CC, CC assembly, CC development process, and CC based systems. (7) We finally present our fully-developed supporting tools: the cloud component management system CCMS, and the Registry utility. To respond to the challenges posed by HDEs, and to maintain expected software quality at the user endpoint, we think we need to pass a ¿paradigm shift¿ from the way software is designed and implemented currently to our new vision that this dissertation is devoted to. This is a paradigm shift from distribution transparency to localization acknowledgment being the first class concern. The contribution in this thesis has several faces as explained above, but still, these faces are cohesive. Each of these faces form a partial contribution, however, this partial contribution does not mean anything if isolated from the overall proposal. Moreover, the merit of the overall proposal can not be grasped by reading one partial contribution. The merit of the proposal is evident only if all parts of this work are cohesively organized. Finally, we claim that our proposal spans the entire software development process for HDEs, from requirements to deployment and runtime management.

Early systems engineering and requirements definition requires quantitative information about potential solutions prior to having sufficient information or time to develop detailed models. This research develops and demonstrates a transparent and repeatable process for rapidly creating quantitative models that leverage existing expert knowledge. This process is built upon established modeling frameworks and current literature for low fidelity modeling and hierarchical expert-based methods. The process includes system definition using interactive morphological analysis and gathering information from subject-matter experts with computer-based interfaces in order to create a series of linear performance models. Available volunteers provided data for a relevant aerospace design to test the process as a whole and several hypotheses about specific methodological decisions made during the development. The collected data was analyzed for similarity among participants and for similarity to model parameters of an existing trusted truth model. The results of the analysis demonstrated the ability for expert-based models to accurately match the behavior of the truth models and of historical data.