This study describes and implements a necessary preliminary strategic planning procedure, the Internal Environmental Scanning (IES), and discusses its relevance to strategic planning and university-sponsored lifelong learning program model selection. Employing a qualitative research methodology, a proposed lifelong learning-centric IES process based on Bryson's (2004) strategic planning model was tested at a large public university in the American Southwest with the intention of both refining the IES process for general use in the field as well as providing a set of useable reference documents for strategic planners at that university. The prototype lifelong learning IES process as tested proved to be highly effective in identifying and categorizing previously unrecognized lifelong learning programming and organizational structures and, was reasonably efficient in process execution. Lessons learned from the application of the prototype lifelong learning IES procedure led to the development of a revised scanning procedure. This revised procedure is considered more reliable and can be accomplished by a single investigator in as little as 35 production hours, providing a detailed snapshot of the total university lifelong learning system and a point of departure for the larger strategic planning effort.

The thesis is focused on the medium dynamics simulation in the environmental scanning electron microscope. Specifically, it researches (examines) the conical aperture location effect in the differential pumped chamber and the width of the pumping channel in this chamber. The theoretical part deals with the environmental scanning microscope generally and other tools used in this thesis, e.g. ANSYS Fluen software, fluid turbulence, medium free path of molecules and electrons scattering. In the practical part, the work is focused on data processing from the ANSYS Fluent program and on their evaluation.

Emerging technologies are reshaping the digital landscape and competitive environment of highly technological companies with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI). Firms are reacting by implementing digital transformation (DT) strategies aligning the organizational and technological factors towards leveraging AI-generated information. This thesis sheds new light on the topics of knowledge management (KM), DT, and AI in organizational practices with an emphasis on AI-enhanced software-as-a-service (SaaS). The research results in a conceptual framework, designed from the literature on AI, DT, KM, and dynamic capability view (DCV) uncovering three overarching concepts (internal capabilities, absorptive capacity, and technological competitiveness). This conceptual framework was then complemented by empirical data featuring primary data gathered from a single case study and secondary data from an internet-mediated data collection. The interviews in the case study were focused on managers with extensive experience in the semiconductor industry and operators working with the AI-enhanced SaaS tool. The analysis concludes in an updated conceptual framework, highlighting the interplay of a firm’s internal capabilities and an AI-enhanced absorptive capacity indicating three pathways toward achieving technological competitiveness in a highly technological environment. Additionally, a proposed solution is presented featuring an AI-enhanced tool operator as a new role, responsible for supporting organization-wide activities with AI-generated information.

No description available.

The thesis deals with the study of properties of a new system for detection of true secondary and backscattered electrons in high pressure conditions of the specimen chamber of a newly built environmental scanning electron microscope AQUASEM II. Detection system contains three detectors. For the first time is introduced and analyzed the working principle of ionisation detector with electrostatic separator, which is in many experiments compared with ionisation detector of secondary electrons. Experimentally demonstrated are unique properties of this detection system, especially the ability of energy separation of detected signal electrons. For the various working conditions are also analyzed signal levels detected by the BSE YAG detector, which is designed as a part of the new detection system and which worked together with both ionisation detectors.

Si les processus de l’innovation dans les activités de services ont fait l’objet de travaux importants au cours des 30 dernières années, le lien avec la veille stratégique a été moins analysé dans ce contexte. Cette thèse, se propose de construire puis de confronter un modèle représentatif de ce lien avec une étude de cas multiple réalisée dans le secteur hospitalier privé et public, sur des innovations non médicales. Celle-ci confirme l’existence d’un lien fort entre veille et innovation, avant et pendant le processus de construction de l’innovation, pour une grande variété d’acteurs impliqués dans le processus, quel que soit leur positionnement hiérarchique et leur champ d’activité. / If the processes of innovation in services activities were the subject of extensive work over the past 30 years, the link with business intelligence has been less analyzed in this context. This thesis proposes to build and to confront a representative model of this link with a multiple case study in the private and public hospital sector, on non-medical innovations. They confirm the existence of a strong link between intelligence and innovation, before and during the innovation process construction, for a wide variety of stakeholders involved in the process, regardless of their hierarchical position and their field activity.

Le domaine de notre recherche est la décision stratégique au sein des organisations. Plus précisément il s'agit de l'aide à la prise de décision stratégique et de la problématique de l'acquisition des informations utiles pour de telles décisions. D'un côté les ‘informations de terrain' issus des contacts entre personnes, des réunions professionnelles, etc. demeurent essentielles pour les dirigeants. D'un autre côté les journaux quotidiens nationaux et internationaux fournissent un volume considérable de données que l'on peut qualifier de données brutes (Raw data). Mais, outre ces sources classiques, le recueil des informations a évolué de façon considérable avec l'avènement des technologies de l'information et notamment de l'Internet pour ce qui concerne dans notre recherche. Nous avons choisi le domaine concernant l'acquisition des informations de terrain fournies par les journaux nationaux quotidiens : les journaux quotidiens colombiens pour ce qui concernera notre étude empirique. Pour acquérir cette information nous avons proposé sur la base d'une recherche du type « Action Design Research », de concevoir, de construire et d'expérimenter un artéfact permettant de détecter des signaux faibles potentiels issus des données extraites d'Internet et qui aideraient les dirigeants de l'entreprise à découvrir et comprendre leur environnement. L'artéfact a été conçu et construit en deux phases utilisant des concepts théoriques liés à la surcharge de données, à la veille stratégique notamment la VAS-IC® (Veille Anticipative Stratégique – Intelligence Collective) et sur les caractéristiques souhaitables des systèmes informatisés d'aide à la décision stratégique. Après sa construction, l'artéfact a été expérimenté sur un terrain permettant d'évaluer son effectivité. Cette expérimentation a permis d'améliorer nos connaissances sur la pertinence des données numériques dans le processus de la prise de la décision. Les décideurs impliqués ont également pu d'intégrer des nouvelles pratiques adaptées à leurs besoins d'information. / Our research area is around the strategic decision within organizations. More precisely, it is applicable as an aid for strategic decision-making and detecting useful information for such decisions. On the one hand, the ‘information from the field' from the contacts between individuals, business meetings, etc. is always essential for managers. On the other hand, national and international newspapers can provide a considerable volume of data that can be defined as the raw data. However, besides these classical sources, gathering information has changed dramatically with the advent of information technology and particularly internet that is related to our research. We chose the area for the acquisition of ‘information from the field' provided by the national daily newspapers: the Colombian newspaper which concerns to our empirical study. In order to detect weak signals of potential internet base issues which help managers to discover and understand their environment, we proposed a research based on “Action Design Research” type and then applied for designing, building and testing an artifact to gain the required information. The artifact has been designed and built in two phases that is included of using theoretical concepts about the data overload, environmental scanning particularly the “anticipatory and collective environmental scanning model” (VAS-IC®) and the desirable characteristics of strategic decision making support systems. After its construction, the artifact applied to real experimentation that has allowed us to evaluate its effectiveness. Afterwards, we improved our knowledge about the relevance of digital data in the decision making process. The results of all the involved decision makers have been able to integrate these new practices into their information needs.

The Maya of Central America developed a complex society: among their many achievements they developed a writing system, complex calendar and were prolific builders. The buildings of their large urban centres, such as Copan in Honduras, were decorated with painted stucco, moulded masks, carving and elaborate murals, using a range of coloured pigments. In this study the paints used on the buildings of Copan and some ceramic sherds have been investigated, non-destructively, using micro-Raman spectroscopy, micro-ATR infrared spectroscopy, environmental scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (ESEM-EDX) and FTIR-ATR imaging spectroscopy. The paint samples come from four buildings and one tomb covering three time periods in the four hundred year history of Copan. The main pigment used in the red paint on these samples was identified as haematite, and the stucco as a mixture of calcite particles dispersed throughout a calcite-based lime wash stucco. The composition and physical nature of the stucco changed through time, indicating a refining of production techniques over this period. A range of minor mineral components have been identified in each of the samples including rutile, quartz, clay and carbon. The presence and proportion of these and other minerals differed in each sample, leading to unique mineral signatures for the paint from each time period. Green and grey paints have also been identified on one of the buildings, the Rosalila Temple. The green pigment was identified as a celadonite-based green earth, and the grey pigment as a mixture of carbon and muscovite. The combination of carbon and mica to create a reflective paint is a novel finding in Maya archaeology. The high spatial resolution of the micro-FTIR-ATR spectral imaging system has been used to resolve individual particles in tomb wall paint and to identify their mineralogy from their spectra. This system has been used in combination with micro-Raman spectroscopy and ESEM-EDX mapping to characterize the paint, which was found to be a mixture of haematite and silicate particles, with minor amounts of calcite, carbon and magnetite particles, in a sub-micron haematite and calcite matrix. The blending of a high percentage of silicate particles into the haematite pigment is unique the tomb sample. The stucco in this tomb wall paint has finely ground carbon dispersed throughout the top layer providing a dark base for the paint layer. Changing paint mixtures and stucco composition were found to correlate with changes in paint processing techniques and building construction methods over the four hundred years of site occupation.

En réponse à une demande institutionnelle, réorientée par les conclusions d'une étude exploratoire et confirmée par une revue de littérature, cette thèse cherche à répondre à la question de recherche suivante : comment rendre possible la prise de décision d'adopter une veille stratégique (VS) ? Ce travail suit un modèle multipapier dans lequel chaque étude contribue à répondre à la question de recherche principale. Notre première étude (chapitre 2) nous a permis de comprendre que les pressions institutionnelles ont une influence sur la décision mentale d'adopter ou pas une VS. Les chapitres 3 et 4 ont contribué à essayer et à améliorer une méthode de ciblage permettant d'identifier les besoins en information pour la VS. En outre, ces améliorations ont permis l'introduction de deux nouveaux concepts pour aider les praticiens à identifier leurs priorités pour faire de la VS. Les deux études sont fortement liées. Le troisième chapitre contribue à identifier les parties prenantes et les thèmes susceptibles de représenter les besoins d'information des gestionnaires dans un contexte spécifique. Le chapitre 4 reprend ces éléments et les combine avec des considérations temporelles et une autoévaluation de capacité d'anticipation dans un système type salle de réunion avec le but de faciliter le ciblage et d'identifier les priorités pour la VS. Dans le chapitre 5, nous avons étudié les interactions dans les réunions collectives de ciblage afin de comprendre la contribution de ces activités au développement de la capacité d'absorption organisationnelle. Nos travaux ont permis d'identifier les thèmes à négocier afin de faciliter l'activité de ciblage et de produire des résultats qui représentent les besoins d'information de l'organisation dans son ensemble. Enfin, nous présentons nos contributions théoriques, à la recherche, et à la pratique. / This dissertation addresses the question of how to enable decision-making to adopt Strategic Scanning (S.Scan). This work was motivated by an institutional request, reoriented by the findings from our exploratory study and supported by literature lack. This document follows a multi-paper model in which each connected study contributes to answer our main research inquiry. Our first study, Chapter 2, allowed us to understand that institutional pressures have an influence into the mental adoption of S.Scan. Chapter 3 and 4 focus into trial and allow the improvement of Target method aiding the identification of information needs for S.Scan. In addition, these improvements let to introduce two new concepts to S.Scan, helping practitioners identify their scan priorities. These studies are strongly linked, on one side, Chapter 3 contributes to identify the stakeholders and topics likely to represent information needs for managers in a particular context; on the other side, Chapter 4 combines the previous information with temporal considerations and a self-perceived anticipatory capacity within a meeting room system with the aim to facilitate S.Scan targeting and identifying scan priorities. In Chapter 5, we studied the interactions in collective targeting meetings in order to understand the contributions of such activities to develop organizational absorptive capacity. This work allowed the understanding of the main themes to be negotiated in order to ease the activity of targeting and to produce results, which represent the information needs of the organization as a whole. Finally, we present our: theoretical, research, and practice contributions.

A pesquisa realizada teve por objetivo identificar como os principais executivos dos hospitais de Caxias do Sul compreendem o conceito de Inteligência Competitiva (IC) e de que forma vislumbram a utilidade de sua aplicação no segmento hospitalar; além disso, a pesquisa teve o intuito de determinar como os hospitais estudados se preocupam em avaliar o ambiente de negócios e de que forma esta preocupação se concretiza em coleta e análise de informações para a tomada de decisão, com vistas a verificar se podem ser encontradas práticas de IC, mesmo que intuitivas, nos locais pesquisados. Para tanto, partiu-se da definição de IC e de alguns termos relacionados, como monitoramento ambiental e vigília. A pesquisa teve caráter qualitativo exploratório, baseando-se na aplicação de entrevistas individuais em profundidade com os principais executivos de seis dos sete hospitais da cidade. As entrevistas foram analisadas por meio da técnica da análise de conteúdo. Os resultados mostraram diferenças entre os hospitais cujo maior financiador é o Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) e aqueles que dependem prioritariamente das operadoras de planos de saúde, especialmente no que tange ao interesse pelo ambiente de negócios, presente fundamentalmente no segundo grupo. Como fontes para a coleta de informações do ambiente de negócios, os entrevistados destacaram órgãos regulamentadores, classe médica, outras instituições, normas de certificação, clientes e meio acadêmico. Como técnicas de coleta das informações foram mencionadas as visitas, a participação em congressos e cursos e o uso do benchmarking. Mesmo com a utilização intuitiva de alguns dos princípios de IC, a aplicação de seus conceitos e a conquista de seus benefícios foi percebida como incipiente no contexto analisado. Em um cenário caracterizado por grandes preocupações com custos e dificuldades para definir preços que contemplem as necessidades hospitalares, pensa-se que a IC tornar-se-ia grande aliada da gestão ao disponibilizar as informações mais relevantes sobre o ambiente, possibilitando melhor percepção das ações dos movimentos do mercado para a tomada de decisão e a inovação. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-29T18:38:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Adriano Reci Prestes.pdf: 1389694 bytes, checksum: 12fcf783239ee2c9f2b3d5069a6c66d0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-29T18:38:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Adriano Reci Prestes.pdf: 1389694 bytes, checksum: 12fcf783239ee2c9f2b3d5069a6c66d0 (MD5) / This study aimed to identify how the CEOs of the hospitals of Caxias do Sul, Brazil, understand the concept of Competitive Intelligence (CI) and how they perceive its utility in the hospital segment. In addition, the study focused on determining how concerned these hospitals are about evaluating business environment and how they collect and analyze information for decision-making, and determining whether CI-related activities, even intuitive ones, can be found on these companies. Methodology to achieve proposed goals has been based on qualitative research, exploratory type, with the application of in-depth interviews with the CEOs of six out of seven local hospitals. The contents proceeding from the interviews have been undergone to a content analysis. Results showed differences between the hospitals whose major funder is the Brazilian Public Health System SUS and those that depend heavily on health care operators, especially in regard to interest in the business environment, mainly perceived in this second group. As sources for collecting information of the external environment, respondents highlighted regulators, physicians, other institutions, certification standards, customers and academia. As techniques for collecting information were mentioned visits, participation in conferences and courses and the use of benchmarking. Even with the intuitive use of some of the principles of CI, the application of its concepts and benefits was considered incipient in the context examined. Anyway, in a scenario where hospitals have strong concerns about controlling costs and difficulty to set prices that address their needs, it can be assumed that CI can become a significant ally of management, enabling better understanding of the actions of competitors and the market moves to the decision-making and innovation.