No description available.

Lean Six Sigma is a method used to improve the quality and efficiency of processes by reducing variation and eliminating wastes (non-value added activities) in an organisation. The concept of combining the principles and tools of Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma has been discussed in the literature. The majority of Lean Six Sigma applications in private industry have focused primarily on manufacturing applications. The literature has not provided a framework for implementing Lean Six Sigma programmes in non-manufacturing or transactional processes like those in the Entertainment Media industry. The Saudi Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), like many other industries in Saudi Arabia, has high occupational safety risks, such as electric, fire and fall hazards which often occur in the media workplace. These risks are considered very costly and affect productivity and employee morale in general. The main objective of this research is to provide a synergistic approach to integrating occupational health and safety programmes and Lean Six Sigma tools using the DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control) problem-solving method to strengthen and assure the success of safety programmes in the Saudi Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). This research identifies the roadmap (i.e. activities, principles, tools, and important component factors) for applying Lean Six Sigma tools in the media industry. A case study addressing the safety issues that affect employees’ performance within the Saudi Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) TV studio is used to validate work outlined in this research. Furthermore, the Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) method is used to understand the probability occurrence of safety hazards. The application of the Taguchi Experimental Design method and other Lean Six Sigma tools, such as Cause and Effect diagrams, Pareto principles, 5S, Value Stream map, and Poka-Yoke have been incorporated in to this research. The application of Lean Six Sigma DMAIC problem-solving tools resulted in significant improvement in safety within SBC. The average electrical hazard incident decreased from 2.08 to 0.33, the average fire hazard incident decreased from 1.25 to 0.08, and the average fall hazard incident decreased from 3.42 to 0.17. The research has important implications for the company and its employees, with positive outcomes and feedback reported by top management, the senior technicians, and experts. The research improved the safety by reducing electrical, fire and fall risks. The Safety training sessions are one of the most significant factors that improve their safety awareness. It is observed that Lean Six Sigma problem-solving tools and methods are effective in the Saudi Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).

Experimental study of the designer plays a critical role in design research. However laboratory based study is often poorly compared and contrasted to practice, leading to a lack of uptake and subsequent research impact. The importance of addressing this issue is highlighted by its significant influence on design research and many related fields. As such the main aim of this work is to improve empirical design research by characterising the relationship between practice and laboratory-based studies for critical design situations. A review of the state of the art methods in design research and key related fields is reported. This highlights the importance and commonality of a set or core issues connected to the failure to effectively link study of practice and study in the laboratory. Further to this a technical review and scoping was carried out to establish the most efective capture strategy to be used when studying the designer empirically. Subsequently three studies are reported, forming a three point comparison between practice the laboratory (with student practitioners) and an intermediary case (a laboratory with practitioners) . Results from these studies contextualise the critical situations in practice and develop a detailed multi-level comparison between practice and the laboratory which was then validated with respect to a number of existing studies. The primary contribution of this thesis is the development of a detailed multi-level relationship between practice and the laboratory for critical design situations: information seeking, ideation and design review. The second key contribution is the development of a generic method for the empirical study of designers in varying contexts - allowing researchers to build on this work and more effectively link diverse studies together. The final key contribution of this work is the identification of a number of core methodological issues and mitigating techniques affecting both design research and its related fields.

Thin-film inorganic solar cells, such as CdTe, have demonstrated the most promise to date for a viable low-cost renewable energy resource. Their current performance, however, is far from the theoretical limit suffering from significant charge recombination losses due to grain boundaries and point defects. It is likely that the microscopic compositions of grain bulk and grain boundaries are significantly different and not optimal for the overall device performance. Good understanding of charge transport along and across the grain boundaries and other microscopic interfaces is lacking, preventing the development of reliable and predictive device models. The insufficient microscopic understanding hinders efficient characterization of photovoltaic materials and also holds back the development of process control techniques. We first show preliminary results for a novel technique, quantum-dot electron-beam induced current to characterize semiconductors in the near-field. We also propose the use of near-field optical scanning microscopy for high precision optical excitation and for local, high-resolution characterization. These imaging techniques are examined with the goal of synthesizing information obtained by both methods, of material phenomena at the relevant length scales, to other measurement methods. The most important nanoscale phenomena being the separation of compositional and electrical effects.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-05-02T17:58:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Deisi Luana Diel Weber_.pdf: 569327 bytes, checksum: 355337b56ffb691e0e6bd0005f05fc4d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-02T17:58:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Deisi Luana Diel Weber_.pdf: 569327 bytes, checksum: 355337b56ffb691e0e6bd0005f05fc4d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-10 / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / This research presents an investigation about the decision-making process regarding Make or Buy, trying to understand which variables most influence this decision to insource some activities, to outsource others, or to better estimate a percentage to combine both. The dependent variable on our research is the behavioral decision-making process, measuring the influence received by cost, quality, and monitoring. Trying to understand if differences between these independent variables influence how managers make their decision in the context of insource or outsource production. In order to test this model empirically, an experiment research was conducted, on the basis of eight different scenarios, which simulate a purchasing decision situation ranging the variables costs, quality, and monitoring of suppliers between High and Low, to understand the relationship of these constructs with the decision-making process of Brazilian managers. It was performed with a sample of 211 students from the Production Engineer course at Universidade do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos). The data was analyzed using statistical technique ANOVA. The results demonstrate that managers consider cost variation to decide about how much to internalize and how much to outsource. They change their choices when quality is higher in their suppliers than inside the company. They also evaluate manager capability to control costs over their suppliers and on their process inside the company. However, they do not change their sourcing decision due to supplier’s monitoring variation, neither when quality monitoring is considered. This issue was already addressed in Hall’s study (2012) conducted in the United States. Thus, we decided to replicate his in Brazil in order to check if in a different environment, with other economic, politic, social, and regulatory situation, the manager will change their decisions. Nevertheless, after comparing both studies, we realize that the same hypothesis was supported in both studies, what means that even in another context the same variables are considered to base managers sourcing decision.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mitchell Christopher Sombra Evangelista.pdf: 3875607 bytes, checksum: 0ac2ae3a28c5c0d8e2bd66e9455ae4b2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-27 / Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo / The research described here reports on a qualitative research had the purpose to enable high school students in a public school in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, implement and develop knowledge of mathematical object Isometric Transformations by Rotation, Translation and Reflection. Were used in this research, as motivating factors, the Ethnomatematics with Sona Geometry of African ethnic group called Cokwe and Dynamic Geometry using the software GeoGebra. The methodology, Design Experiment, enabled the improvement of a sequence of activities and created the final product of research. Levels of development psychogenetic Piaget and Garcia (1983), intrafigural, interfigural and transfigural possibility to observe the relationships between students identify geometric figures, their properties and structures. The development of this study revealed, made after the analysis of the protocols of the proposed activities, which supported the GeoGebra and Ethnomatematics favored the learning of Isometric Transformations / A pesquisa aqui descrita relata uma investigação de caráter qualitativo que teve como proposta possibilitar que alunos de Ensino Médio, de uma escola pública estadual da Região Metropolitana de São Paulo, aplicassem e desenvolvessem o conhecimento do objeto matemático Transformações Isométricas por meio da Rotação, Translação e Reflexão. Foram utilizados, nesta pesquisa, como elementos motivadores, a Etnomatemática com a Geometria Sona do grupo étnico africano chamado Cokwe e a Geometria Dinâmica com o uso do software GeoGebra. A metodologia utilizada, Design Experiment, possibilitou o aprimoramento de uma sequência de atividades e gerou o produto final da pesquisa. Os níveis de desenvolvimento psicogenéticos de Piaget e Garcia (1983), intrafigural, interfigural e transfigural possibilitaram verificar as relações que os alunos identificam entre as figuras geométricas, suas propriedades e estruturas. O desenvolvimento deste trabalho permitiu concluir, após as análises feitas dos protocolos das atividades propostas, que a Etnomatemática, com apoio do GeoGebra, favoreceu a aprendizagem das Transformações Isométricas

A relação entre preço e posicionamento de produto nas prateleiras de varejo ainda tem espaço para descobertas na literatura de marketing. O objetivo central dessa dissertação foi identificar o efeito do posicionamento de produtos levando em consideração o seu preço e a escolha do consumidor; mais especificamente o efeito positivo do posicionamento lógico de preços (i.e produtos posicionados do menor ao maior preço nas prateleiras) na escolha final, facilidade de escolha e número de unidades vendidas. Dois estudos foram feitos em busca de resultados, o primeiro sendo um experimento online, no qual escolha e facilidade de escolha foram estudadas a partir do posicionamento de preço. O segundo estudo foi um experimento de campo, no qual unidades vendidas foram verificadas através do posicionamento de preço. Os resultados encontrados em ambos os estudos indicam que o posicionamento de produtos a partir de uma ordem lógica de preço afeta a escolha do consumidor, embora não através da facilidade de escolha, e, mais ainda, afeta positivamente a quantidade de produtos vendidos. Contudo, verificou-se que o posicionamento a partir de preço não tem como consequência a facilidade de escolha. / The relationship between price and product positioning on retail shelves still has room for breakthroughs in marketing literature. The main goal of this dissertation was to identify the effect of product placement, taking into account its price, and consumer choice; more specifically, the positive effect of product placement by a logical positioning of prices (i.e. products positioned from the lowest to the highest price on the shelves) on the final choice, choice easiness and overall number of units sold. Two studies were conducted to search for these results, the first one as an online experiment, which studied choice and choice easiness from price positioning. In this first study was found that there is a positive relation between logical price arrangement (i.e. positioning products from the cheapest to the most expensive one) and consumer choice. However, price positioning does not significantly affect the ease of choice. The second study was a field experiment, in which the overall number of units sold was verified through price positioning. The results found in both studies indicate that the positioning of products from a logical price order affects consumer choice, though not through easiness of choice and, moreover, positively affects the quantity of products sold. Yet, it has been found that considering primily price to choose a shelf position does not have as consequence easiness of choice.

Process modeling is an indispensable task in the discipline of Business Process Management. The process models created in this task help its readers in to acquiring a higher comprehension of a process, allowing for the discovery of opportunities for its improvement. However, the comprehension of a process model is not guaranteed, as process modeling is a complex task that depends on the proficiency of the process modeler to avoid the creation of badly designed constructs. Process modeling guidelines are an essential tool in this regard, though they are dispersed across the many studies of the literature and not all of them have empirical evidence validating their effects. In addition to this problem, it is still an open questions if a set of process modeling guidelines makes the process modeling task more challenging and how effective modelers are in using them. It is also unclear how receptive process analysts are to the modeling guidelines. This dissertation presents a systematic literature review we conducted to collect and analyze the modeling guidelines found in the literature. It investigated a total of 520 articles, extracting a total of 45 modeling guidelines spread across 4 different categories. These 45 guidelines were simplified into a set of 20 guidelines, based on their significance to create more comprehensible process models and their practicality. This dissertation also presents the findings of an empirical experiment performed by 13 subjects that compared the results of two process modeling tasks with and without the support of the 20 modeling guidelines presented by the review, in which it was possible to observe that the subjects recognize the usefulness of the guidelines, but find them difficult to understand and use.

Traditional sketching with pen on paper can be seen as to visualize the memory. Limited to a framework of influences, experiences and ideas the outcome will result in something already known.In searching for knowledge an experimental sketch method counteracts this framework. The aim of this work is to explore morph animation of archetypical garments. Shape interpolation in Adobe Flash software makes it possible to calculate the way between two silhouettes. The result is a third silhouette, a morph of selected garments and depends on where the animation is paused. The work also deals with the gap between visualize(sketching) and making(construction/realization). In the investigation a new way of using animation as an sketch method have been found. Also how to use computer based 3D sketching in fashion design and an alternative construction method based on paper craft techniques have been developed. The collection consists of garments based on a morph between a classic skirt and a blazer to discuss new visions and possibility’s in fashion. Can the way we sketch, construct and produce affect garment definitions? And how could the findings in this work being used in a commercial industry. / Program: Modedesignutbildningen

Slaughterhouse waste (SB) has high potential to be utilized in anaerobic digestion due to its high protein and lipid content. However, these are also the limiting factors of system stability. Thus, co-digestion of slaughterhouse waste with other agro-industrial residues (manure (M), various crops (VC) and municipal solid waste (MSW)) was introduced in this study to overcome this problem. The main objective of the work was to determine the operating parameters and the methane yield in semi-continuous co-digestion of slaughterhouse waste with other agro-industrial waste streams. Four continuously stirring tank reactors (CSTRs) with different substrates and mixtures (SB, SB:M, SB:VC and SB:VC:MSW) were started up operating with hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 25 days in thermophilic conditions. The highest organic loading rates which could be achieved were 0.9 g VS/L·d in digestion of SB and 1.5 g VS/L·d for the co-digestion mixtures. In these cases, average methane yields of 300, 510, 587 and 426 ml/g VS were obtained from the digestion of SB, and the co-digestion of SB:M, SB:VC and SB:VC: MSW, respectively, with methane contents in the biogas of 60-85%. The highest average methane yield of 587 ml/g VS was found in co-digestion of SB:VC, which was in accordance with the value of 592 ml/g VS detected during the batch digestion of the same mixture. Moreover, batch assays with different substrates as well as 11 different mixtures of those were also set up to investigate the methane potential and the effect of second feeding. The results showed that the co-digestion of SB:VC, SB:VC:MSW and SB:M could provide high methane potentials, where the highest methane yields of 592, 522 and 521 ml/g VS, respectively were obtained. Moreover, increasing, similar or decreasing methane yields were determined from the second feeding depending on the substrates and substrate mixtures used. / Program: MSc in Resource Recovery - Sustainable Engineering