Although grindstones - that is, pairs of stone implements used to grind, pound, pulverise or otherwise process intermediate materials - have been intensively studied by archaeologists in other parts of the world, in southern Africa to date they have received little attention. Despite a near-ubiquitous presence on Middle and Later Stone Age archaeological sites, their primary function in archaeological reconstructions has been as proxies for other behaviours. These include behavioural modernity; gender; particular plant types, such as geophytes/underground storage organs. This doctoral thesis interrogates grindstones with a view not only to establishing specific (rather than proxy) uses in the southern African archaeological record,but also as a means to explore the gathered side of hunter-gatherer lifeways, which have also historically been neglected. It does this by developing a methodological toolkit for grindstone analysis in southern Africa. Comparison of archaeological and historical literature from the southern African Grassland Biome and elsewhere suggests a tension between archaeological accounts which posit geophyte and mineral pigment grinding as a primary purpose for grindstones and ethnohistorical accounts suggesting that grass-processing was a staple of hunter-gatherer life. Finally, a corpus of putative grindstones from the site of Ha Makotoko in western Lesotho is typologically assessed and analysed for plant starches and phytoliths. It emerges that at this site, and in contrast to received wisdom, geophyte grinding was not extensive but by contrast, grass seed processing was practised. This belies models suggesting that C4 grass seeds were unlikely to have contributed to hunter-gatherer diets, and questions interpretations of grass 'bedding' as well as the distinction between 'forager' and 'farmer'. Most importantly, this thesis validates the idea that grindstone study is worthwhile, and should be integrated into wider lithic study in southern Africa as a matter of course.

No presente trabalho apresenta-se um estudo de caso com auxílio de uma metodologia sistemática para aplicação de métodos estruturados ao desenvolvimento de novos produtos em uma indústria do ramo de implementos rodoviários. Considerando os implementos rodoviários como produtos industriais, pretende-se trabalhar as formas e processos de criação e aperfeiçoamento na geração de idéias e busca por soluções até a fase do projeto final de um novo produto. Também, foram considerados os processos de fabricação, modelamento do produto, e análises estruturais numéricas, que são ferramentas de auxílio na otimização do produto final. Paralelamente, foram consideradas as informações dos testes experimentais para auxiliar e validar as análises estruturais numéricas, contribuindo desta forma para o aperfeiçoamento de requisitos na fase do projeto de produto, antes de sua fabricação e lançamento no mercado. Assim, este estudo apresenta como foco o desenvolvimento de um semi-reboque para transporte de cana picada, com o intuito de exemplificar e aplicar de forma prática as ferramentas estudadas e seus respectivos usos no produto em questão. Os testes de campo foram instrumentados com sensores extensométricos resistivos para coleta de dados de níveis de tensão e posterior comparação com as análises numéricas. Os dados do produto, na fase de testes experimentais, foram obtidos em condições reais de trabalho junto a uma usina do setor sucro alcooleiro. Finalmente, considerando-se os resultados de desempenho do produto, semi-reboque rodotrem para transporte de cana picada, pode-se identificar que o uso de uma metodologia de referência para o desenvolvimento de produto, apoiada por ferramentas de análise estrutural, com testes de campo instrumentados, são confiáveis e úteis aos profissionais da engenharia de projeto e manufatura. / In this paper work, a case study using a systematic methodology is presented to apply structured methods for designing new products in an industry of road implements field. Considering the road implements as industrial products, it is intended to deal with forms and processes of developing ideas and improving the generating of ideas and quest of solutions until the final phase project of a new product. The manufacturing process will also be taken into consideration, besides the modeling of the product and numerical structural analysis which are tools to help optimize the final product. In addition, will be taken in considerations the information of experimental tests to avail and validate the numerical structural analysis, and through it contribute to the improvement of requirements during the design of the product before its manufacture and market launch. This study presents the development of a semi-trailer to transport chopped sugar cane, with the purpose of exemplify and put on practice the tools which are studied and their uses applied in the product concerned. The field tests were instrumented with strain gage sensors to collect data on tension levels for later comparison to numerical analysis. This way, it is expected to have reliable data as the product will operate in a plant following through real work situations during these experimental tests. Finally, considering the results of product performance - road train semi-trailer to transport chopped sugar cane - can be identified in this study that the use of a method of reference to product development, supported by structural analysis tools, and instrumented field tests are reliable and extremely useful to the professional activities of design and manufacturing engineering.

No presente trabalho apresenta-se um estudo de caso com auxílio de uma metodologia sistemática para aplicação de métodos estruturados ao desenvolvimento de novos produtos em uma indústria do ramo de implementos rodoviários. Considerando os implementos rodoviários como produtos industriais, pretende-se trabalhar as formas e processos de criação e aperfeiçoamento na geração de idéias e busca por soluções até a fase do projeto final de um novo produto. Também, foram considerados os processos de fabricação, modelamento do produto, e análises estruturais numéricas, que são ferramentas de auxílio na otimização do produto final. Paralelamente, foram consideradas as informações dos testes experimentais para auxiliar e validar as análises estruturais numéricas, contribuindo desta forma para o aperfeiçoamento de requisitos na fase do projeto de produto, antes de sua fabricação e lançamento no mercado. Assim, este estudo apresenta como foco o desenvolvimento de um semi-reboque para transporte de cana picada, com o intuito de exemplificar e aplicar de forma prática as ferramentas estudadas e seus respectivos usos no produto em questão. Os testes de campo foram instrumentados com sensores extensométricos resistivos para coleta de dados de níveis de tensão e posterior comparação com as análises numéricas. Os dados do produto, na fase de testes experimentais, foram obtidos em condições reais de trabalho junto a uma usina do setor sucro alcooleiro. Finalmente, considerando-se os resultados de desempenho do produto, semi-reboque rodotrem para transporte de cana picada, pode-se identificar que o uso de uma metodologia de referência para o desenvolvimento de produto, apoiada por ferramentas de análise estrutural, com testes de campo instrumentados, são confiáveis e úteis aos profissionais da engenharia de projeto e manufatura. / In this paper work, a case study using a systematic methodology is presented to apply structured methods for designing new products in an industry of road implements field. Considering the road implements as industrial products, it is intended to deal with forms and processes of developing ideas and improving the generating of ideas and quest of solutions until the final phase project of a new product. The manufacturing process will also be taken into consideration, besides the modeling of the product and numerical structural analysis which are tools to help optimize the final product. In addition, will be taken in considerations the information of experimental tests to avail and validate the numerical structural analysis, and through it contribute to the improvement of requirements during the design of the product before its manufacture and market launch. This study presents the development of a semi-trailer to transport chopped sugar cane, with the purpose of exemplify and put on practice the tools which are studied and their uses applied in the product concerned. The field tests were instrumented with strain gage sensors to collect data on tension levels for later comparison to numerical analysis. This way, it is expected to have reliable data as the product will operate in a plant following through real work situations during these experimental tests. Finally, considering the results of product performance - road train semi-trailer to transport chopped sugar cane - can be identified in this study that the use of a method of reference to product development, supported by structural analysis tools, and instrumented field tests are reliable and extremely useful to the professional activities of design and manufacturing engineering.

Dans cette thèse nous analysons l'évolution et les mutations subies par trois sous-systèmes de l'industrie de machines et équipements agricoles au sud du Brésil à travers l'analyse de certaines caractéristiques structurelles de l'articulation territoriale. Notre approche a été celle de la dynamique du territoire. C'est ainsi que nous nous sommes engagés à identifier la dynamique existante dans la création de connaissances et de technologies produites et provenant de l'extérieur. Dans le Chapitre 1 nous étudions l'origine de la discussion concernant le développement localisé dans les pays émergents, dans le but de montrer la pertinence de la littérature marshallienne pour analyser la réalité brésilienne autour de l'expérience des APLs. Dans le chapitre 2 nous couvrons un large ensemble de facteurs qui semblent pertinents pour la compréhension de la relation entre industrie et agriculture ainsi que du développement de l'industrie de machines et équipements agricoles dans la région du plateau du Rio Grande do Sul. Dans le chapitre 3 nous nous consacrons à l'étude du fonctionnement des trois sous-systèmes de la métal-mécanique (Avant-récolte, Récolte et Après-récolte) face aux stratégies des entreprises. Le chapitre 4 est consacré à l'analyse de chacun des trois sous-systèmes autour de quatre points clés : l'organisation de chaque sous-système (les différentes entreprises, les associations commerciales, industrielles et agricoles et les relations entre elles, la technologie, les stratégies d'appui à l'innovation et le marché du travail) ; l'évolution récente du développement et de la spécialisation productive et les relations avec les institutions (le Sebrae et la politique des APLs, les obstacles au développement de l'industrie dans chaque sous-système). Dans ce dernier chapitre nous mettons en relief les points communs entre les trois sous-systèmes sur les mutations et ruptures que l'industrie a connues et l'analyse de la dynamique existante dans chaque sous-système. En conclusion, nous arrivons au constat que, pour favoriser le processus de développement local, une politique d'accompagnement est plus cohérente pour prendre en compte les spécificités et les besoins de chaque territoire afin de réunir les conditions nécessaires à l'émergence des vrais facteurs d'un territoire. / This thesis concerns the evolution and mutation suffered by three subsystems of agricultural machinery industry and agricultural implements in the south of Brazil by analyzing certain cultural characteristics of articulation of territory. The approach was the territorial dynamic. The aim was to identify the dynamic which exists in the creation of knowledge and technology produced outside the territory. In chapter 1 we studied the discussion about the local development of emerging countries, with the objective to show the pertinence of the marshallian literature to analyze the Brazilian reality with the experience of the Local Productive Arranges (APLs). In chapter 2 a wide range of factors were studied to the comprehension of the relation between industry and agriculture, with the development of the machinery and agricultural implements in the plateau region of “Rio Grande do Sul – RS” - Brazil. In Chapter 3, the aim was the study of the operation of three subsystems in the metal mechanical industry in relation to the strategy of the industries. In chapter 4, each subsystem was analyzed (pre harvest, harvest and postharvest) considering four key points: A) Organization of the subsystem: the different industries and the commercial associations of industry and agricultural and their relations; B) The technology of support for innovation; C) the job market; D) The recent evolution of development and productive specialization and the relations with the institutions responsible for this segment in Brazil (Sebrae and APLs) and the obstacles to the industry development in each subsystem). In this last chapter the common points of the three subsystems about the mutation and ruptures that the industry met and the analysis of the existing dynamic in each subsystem. So, in conclusion, it was found that in order to favor the local development, a follow up is more coherent to consider the specification and the needs of each territory in order to unite to the necessary conditions to favor the arise of the essential variables of a territory.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:50:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3422.pdf: 675720 bytes, checksum: f875737893548d0c2f3756cbcbe90359 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-25 / This study aimed to characterize the dynamics of technological innovation in Brazilian MIA segment. To achieve this objective this work realized a survey with IBGE information, the institution responsible for carrying out PINTECs occurred between 1998 and 2005, which allowed a quantitative analysis about technological innovations on MIA companies. In addition, a national scenario with a qualitative analysis was elaborated, based on surveys conducted by IBGE and on a field research in five MIA´s manufacturers companies of São Paulo state. Results indicate that technological changes have changed the way MIA companies treat the needs of their customers by improving the processes of development and manufacture of products. Moreover, it was found that the variables size and export orientation significantly influence the innovative activities. The influence of size company on innovative activity is justified by the fact that the larger companies find it easier to finance innovative projects and the returns of innovation are more expressive when the company has increased sales volume and the fixed costs are more easily absorbed. The export orientation also generates positive impacts on the ability to innovate, because the international competitiveness encourages investments in innovative activities. Exports, while facilitating the expansion of markets, contributing effectively to the reduction of fixed costs generated in the process of innovation. / Este trabalho teve o objetivo de caracterizar a dinâmica da inovação tecnológica do segmento de MIA no Brasil. Para isso foi realizado um levantamento de informações junto ao IBGE, instituição responsável pela realização das PINTECs ocorridas entre 1998 e 2005, que permitiram uma análise quantitativa acerca das inovações tecnológicas para empresas de MIA. Para complementar as informações quantitativas disponibilizadas pelo IBGE foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo em cinco empresas fabricantes de MIA localizadas no estado de São Paulo. Os resultados indicaram que as mudanças tecnológicas modificaram a forma como as empresas de MIA passaram a tratar as necessidades de seus clientes, melhorando os processos de desenvolvimento e fabricação de seus produtos. Além disso, verificou-se que as variáveis porte e orientação exportadora influenciam de forma significativa as atividades inovativas. A influência do porte da empresa sobre a atividade inovativa é justificada pelo fato que as firmas maiores têm mais facilidade para financiar projetos inovativos e os retornos das inovações são mais expressivos quando a empresa tem maior volume de vendas, uma vez que os custos fixos são mais facilmente absorvidos. A orientação exportadora também gera impactos positivos sobre a possibilidade de inovar, pois a competitividade internacional estimula os investimentos em atividades inovativas. As exportações, quando facilitam a ampliação dos mercados, contribuem efetivamente para a redução dos custos fixos gerados no processo de inovação.

No presente trabalho apresenta-se um estudo de caso com auxílio de uma metodologia sistemática para aplicação de métodos estruturados ao desenvolvimento de novos produtos em uma indústria do ramo de implementos rodoviários. Considerando os implementos rodoviários como produtos industriais, pretende-se trabalhar as formas e processos de criação e aperfeiçoamento na geração de idéias e busca por soluções até a fase do projeto final de um novo produto. Também, foram considerados os processos de fabricação, modelamento do produto, e análises estruturais numéricas, que são ferramentas de auxílio na otimização do produto final. Paralelamente, foram consideradas as informações dos testes experimentais para auxiliar e validar as análises estruturais numéricas, contribuindo desta forma para o aperfeiçoamento de requisitos na fase do projeto de produto, antes de sua fabricação e lançamento no mercado. Assim, este estudo apresenta como foco o desenvolvimento de um semi-reboque para transporte de cana picada, com o intuito de exemplificar e aplicar de forma prática as ferramentas estudadas e seus respectivos usos no produto em questão. Os testes de campo foram instrumentados com sensores extensométricos resistivos para coleta de dados de níveis de tensão e posterior comparação com as análises numéricas. Os dados do produto, na fase de testes experimentais, foram obtidos em condições reais de trabalho junto a uma usina do setor sucro alcooleiro. Finalmente, considerando-se os resultados de desempenho do produto, semi-reboque rodotrem para transporte de cana picada, pode-se identificar que o uso de uma metodologia de referência para o desenvolvimento de produto, apoiada por ferramentas de análise estrutural, com testes de campo instrumentados, são confiáveis e úteis aos profissionais da engenharia de projeto e manufatura. / In this paper work, a case study using a systematic methodology is presented to apply structured methods for designing new products in an industry of road implements field. Considering the road implements as industrial products, it is intended to deal with forms and processes of developing ideas and improving the generating of ideas and quest of solutions until the final phase project of a new product. The manufacturing process will also be taken into consideration, besides the modeling of the product and numerical structural analysis which are tools to help optimize the final product. In addition, will be taken in considerations the information of experimental tests to avail and validate the numerical structural analysis, and through it contribute to the improvement of requirements during the design of the product before its manufacture and market launch. This study presents the development of a semi-trailer to transport chopped sugar cane, with the purpose of exemplify and put on practice the tools which are studied and their uses applied in the product concerned. The field tests were instrumented with strain gage sensors to collect data on tension levels for later comparison to numerical analysis. This way, it is expected to have reliable data as the product will operate in a plant following through real work situations during these experimental tests. Finally, considering the results of product performance - road train semi-trailer to transport chopped sugar cane - can be identified in this study that the use of a method of reference to product development, supported by structural analysis tools, and instrumented field tests are reliable and extremely useful to the professional activities of design and manufacturing engineering.

This dissertation is concerned with the relationships of prehistoric lithic technology to past subsistence and settlement systems operative at upper elevations in the Southern Interior Plateau of British Columbia. It has both a methodological and a substantive aspect. From a methodological perspective, the research applies a linear model of chipped-stone tool manufacturing processes and multivariate data reduction techniques to a series of lithic assemblages from surface sites located in Upper Hat Creek Valley in order to study intersite variability of stone tool manufacture and use. In order to efficiently study differences in tool manufacturing sequences, potential attributes that may measure such technological variability were evaluated by a R-mode factor analysis of a small sample of the assemblages; This enabled the selection of a reduced number of attributes that measure the underlying patterns of relationships present in the sample. Tool classes based on overall morphology and working edge characteristics were employed to describe artifact use. Two site classifications, one based on lithic waste patterning and the other on tool assemblage variability, were established by cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling of the assemblages. The relative effectiveness of each site classification as a means of delineating settlement types was evaluated by the ability to interpret the results of the analyses with respect to such variables as the nature and intensity of occupation, and environmental relationships. Interpretations of each analysis tend to be in general agreement with each other, although some differences are present. In some cases, the debitage analysis provides a more detailed and complex perspective of the type of occupation.- Also, a larger amount of patterning with environmental variables is evident among the site groups based on technological variability. Nevertheless, interpretations of site utilization based on results of both analyses were much more comprehensive relative to those possible from the examination of each analysis separately. In addition to studying interassemblage variability, the analysis of debitage provided some insight into the quantitative patterning of technological attributes and their significance as measures of variation in manufacturing steps. In two specific instances, observed attribute patterning is opposite to that expected by present knowledge of lithic technology. The explanation of these differences indicates some directions to be pursued by future experimental studies. The empirical validity of each site classification was also investigated. A series of Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance tests was run on general lithic assemblage data and technological attributes to determine if the site groups defined are statistically significant. The tool-based site classification differentiates general lithic assemblage variability better than debitage however, this tends to reflect site size rather than technological processes. Both analyses support expectations based on ethnography that Upper Hat Creek Valley was likely utilized for seasonal hunting and plant gathering. These activities are reflected by the two main settlement types defined: 1) staging sites for hunting and butchering activities and 2) plant gathering and processing sites. Considerable variation with respect to the emphasis on extractive and maintenance activities is present within each type. This study has major implications for the future study of interassemblage variability where the predominant artifact class is lithic debitage. It has demonstrated that technological patterning is observable at the intersite level and that this can be accounted for in terms of subsistence-settlement activities. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Throughout history, people have made or acquired vessels from which to sip their favourite beverage. In the contemporary domestic setting, households frequently accumulate multiples of the same type of object in numbers that are considerably greater than is necessary and practical for use alone. Of these many objects there are often individual pieces that have special significance for the owner or user. Some are so valued that they may even be removed and set aside because of their perceived importance. The research was initiated by a previous study of tea drinking vessels coupled with a desire, as an object maker and collector, to find out why people have special items that they designate as personally important. The aim was to identify how significance could be recognised in specific objects and whether the notion that a group of features used to gauge such objects could be conveyed into studio based work. The research outcomes are evidenced in a text-based document (which articulates the theoretical and empirical elements of the enquiry) and a body of creative studio work developed in response to aspects of the investigation. The document encompasses two components of the study. The first references material from the fields of museum and cultural studies, pivotal in focusing the enquiry. This contributed to the compilation of a general and speculative inventory of qualities that might pertain to objects deemed ???significant???. During these early investigations it became evident that a more in depth and contemporary analysis of significant drinking vessels, their owners and/or users was required. A Survey Questionnaire regarding personal use and special drinking vessels preceded a series of Interviews with a selected group of Australia curators, artists, academics and collectors who discussed and analysed their association with a personally significant drinking vessel. Subsequently, the content of these interviews became central to the focus of the research and outcomes. The research isolates a number of attributes that are commonly identified in objects that, whatever their condition, are deemed ???significant???. These describe the maker, usage, ownership, association and historical context. The perceived value or worth of the object for its owner, is recognised as a consequence of significance and declares the object as distinctive. This outcome is clearly validated by the interviews. The studio work develops from the fusion of personal narrative that has been enhanced by findings of the research. In particular, it references the cherished object, most especially those pieces that have been retained despite the ravages of time and use. The resulting work was exhibited as Trace Elements ??? Marking Time: Significance, the Vessel and the Domestic at Kudos Gallery, Paddington in April 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 380-396). Also available on the Internet.

This thesis explores the Quijos Valley ground stone economy in relation to broader social, political, and economic aspects of the Quijos chiefdoms during the Late Period (AD 500 – 1500). In particular, this research examines the extent to which ground stone craft production was a dimension of social differentiation during a period marked by the greatest sociopolitical transformations. Ultimately, this research suggests that Late Period ground stone production was an independent and part-time household activity, and not an avenue of elite aggrandizement. However, aspects of this research have aimed to show that certain forms of ground stone were important implements of household maintenance, both socially and economically. This research is embedded within the Quijos Valley Regional Archaeological Project (QVRAP) and has aimed to contribute to our understanding of the development of social complexity within this region, as well as contributing to our understanding of ground stone craft production more generally. / x, 244 leaves ; 29 cm