<p>The increasing competition on today’s globalized markets creates drivers for new business models in order to create competitive advantage. By integrating services with the physical product, unique offers that aim at fulfilling customer needs rather than just providing physical goods can be created. This type of offers, in the literature often referred to as Product-Service Systems (PSS), are more difficult to imitate than pure products. Furthermore, the focus on fulfilling customer needs rather than just providing physical goods can reduce the use of resources, decreasing both costs and the environmental impact of the offer. From the customers’ point of view, PSS offers can bring increased flexibility and reduced risk. The development of successful PSS offers requires structured methods. Much of the research within the area, and consequently models and guidelines, has focused on large companies. However, since small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute the foundation of economic growth in all developed countries, there is an important gap in the existing research within this area. One research initiative to fill this gap is the ongoing IPSE project (Integrated Product and Service Engineering), which aims at developing a methodology for efficient development of PSS offers in manufacturing SMEs. The methodology developed in the IPSE project is however at a conceptual level that is not applicable for the management in smaller companies. This thesis hence aims at <em>developing a concrete and useful business development method applicable for the management in manufacturing SMEs, with the focus on generation of PSS offer concepts</em>.</p><p>Based on earlier research within the PSS area, with the emphasis on the IPSE methodology, a concrete business development method for the generation of PSS concepts was created, which was then tested on three SMEs in order to verify and improve the method. The method consists of the three steps <em>internal analysis</em>, <em>external analysis </em>and <em>planning of the new PSS offer. </em>Each step contains a number of tools to be used in order to analyze different aspects of the business context. After analyzing the studies of the three case studies a revised method was developed, which was then summarized in managerial guidelines to be used by managers in manufacturing SMEs. The revision of the method mainly regarded simplifications of some of the tools in order to ease the use and increase the applicability.</p><p>The method proved to be useful and concepts could be generated for all the case companies. The method thoroughly examined the possibilities of creating PSS offers, even though it was found that it was also useful for the development of conventional business offers. Since the drivers for the case companies were specific threats or opportunities that would require changes in the offer, rather than a purpose in itself to integrate more services in the offer, this implies that the method can be useful as general business development method for manufacturing SMEs.</p><p>An important learning from our studies is that the day-to-day business is strongly focused by the managers in manufacturing SMEs, leaving little time for long-term business development. As stated by a manager in the case companies:</p><p><em>“It is like running beside the bicycle, but we do not have the time to get on it.”</em></p><p><em></em>The developed method can work as a tool for structuring the information needed in the business development process and hence reducing the time needed. However, if the reduction in time needed for long-term business development is enough to get the managers on their bikes is a question assigned to further studies.</p><p> </p>

Industries want to add value to their offerings but to do this, rather than just accepting customer requirements, they now need to know how their products and/or services have been embedded within their customer’s process to achieve a goal that the customer has; any gaps within the process then present an opportunity for the provider to fill these gaps. The System-In-Use (SIU) Methodology presented in this thesis facilitates customer issues in “pulling” the supply chain into creating new solutions as well as the supply chain “pushing” new value propositions into improving customer processes. It does this by drawing on a detailed theory of value and capability which was developed as part of this research. The method has been applied in five industries in processes encompassing high value-assets with very positive outcomes for each of the stakeholders involved: notably, three solutions have been adopted in industry for which a KT-Box award was granted by Cambridge University. Cont/d.

Industries want to add value to their offerings but to do this, rather than just accepting customer requirements, they now need to know how their products and/or services have been embedded within their customer’s process to achieve a goal that the customer has; any gaps within the process then present an opportunity for the provider to fill these gaps. The System-In-Use (SIU) Methodology presented in this thesis facilitates customer issues in “pulling” the supply chain into creating new solutions as well as the supply chain “pushing” new value propositions into improving customer processes. It does this by drawing on a detailed theory of value and capability which was developed as part of this research. The method has been applied in five industries in processes encompassing high value-assets with very positive outcomes for each of the stakeholders involved: notably, three solutions have been adopted in industry for which a KT-Box award was granted by Cambridge University. Cont/d.

Introduction: Past studies have indicated that nursing support reduces parental stress and anxiety during a child’s NICU hospitalisation and therefore fosters the parents’ abilities to cope with the difficulties they are facing. The importance of parental support has been emphasised in numerous studies in Western countries, however the nursing support which is responsive to the parents may vary between different cultures. The cultural norms of medical and nursing care environments can affect parental stress-related experiences as well as nursing roles in the NICUs across different countries. The aims of this study are, first, to compare the medical and nursing care environments of the two NICUs. Second, the study establishes any similarities and differences in sources of parental stress in the two NICUs. Third, the study illustrates the underlying philosophy of Doane and Varcoe’s (2005) relational approach to family nursing and highlights the importance of relational inquiry in the process of determining the parental support which best responds to individual families’ needs in the NICU. Methods: This study analyses the nursing roles that support parents of children hospitalised in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It is a cross-cultural comparison between two NICUs, one in Christchurch, New Zealand and the other in Tokyo, Japan, with both quantitative and qualitative components. Thirty-one families participated voluntarily in the study from each NICU (n=121). The three main sources of data were a NICU staff interview, parental interview, and parental questionnaire using the Parental Stress Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU) (Miles, 2002). A thematic analysis was used in order to examine parental comments. Results: The differences between the two NICUs in terms of the NICU care environment, including NICU regulations and routine nursing care, were identified by the staff interviews, highlighting the contrasting dominant ideologies of individualism and collectivism reflected in each culture. The three sources of parental stress, measured by PSS: NICU: Sights and Sounds; Baby’s Appearance and Behaviour; the Parental Role Alteration, were examined. The sources most responsible for parental stress differed between the four groups of parents. Overall, The Tokyo parents seemed to be most concerned about the infant’s condition. The Christchurch parents, however, perceived the change in parental role to be most stressful. Additionally, only the Tokyo fathers experienced stress in association with Sights and Sounds more often than other areas of stress. The infant’s medical/nursing care requirements, oxygen therapy and/or tube feeding, were associated with a high degree of stress for each of the parents’ groups except that of the Christchurch fathers. There was a positive relationship between parental NICU visiting and stress level among the Tokyo parents while this was not the case for the Christchurch parents. The infants’ and parental characteristics were found to be associated with stress level for the Tokyo mothers and Christchurch fathers only. The thematic analysis of interview data revealed three key themes of NICU parental experiences: Uncertainty, NICU contexts and Communication with staff. These themes were identical between the two NICUs. Discussion: This study highlighted the influence of the norms of each NICU, particularly the NICU regulations and nursing care on parental stress-related experiences, and the importance of reflecting upon these norms to critique those professional beliefs which may hamper parental coping abilities. The areas of parental support needing attention were different between the two NICUs. These areas were: the establishment of oral feeding, and infants’ nursing care-related decision-making for the Christchurch NICU whilst parental information/involvement in the early stage of hospitalisation, the influence of visiting regulations, and importing Western-based NICU intervention for the Tokyo NICU. In providing these areas of parental support, the importance of effective, meaningful communication between parents and staff was equally evident in the two NICU settings. In the light of the relational approach to family nursing, this study demonstrated that how nurses communicate with families is not universal: one way to reach across the differences is to listen to parents, and this, it is clear, is crucial to the role of nurses in NICU settings.

No description available.

Les maladies cardiovasculaires sont les premières causes de mortalités dans le monde. La manière la plus efficace de combattre ces maladies est le suivi en temps réel de l’électrocardiogramme (ECG) qui traduit les signaux électriques générés par les cellules cardiaques. Le signal ECG fournit aux cardiologues toutes les informations nécessaires pour diagnostiquer les pathologies cardiaques. De nos jours, l’électrocardiogramme s’enregistre en cabinet à l’aide d’électrodes cutanées à base d’argent et chlorure de l’argent (Ag/AgCl). Celles-ci ne sont pas conçues pour un usage prolongé et peuvent provoquer des irritations de la peau à cause du gel ionique qui les compose et qui sert à réduire l’impédance de l’interface électrode/peau. Dans cette thèse, des électrodes textiles flexibles fonctionnant sans aucun gel ionique ont été développées en tant qu’alternatives aux électrodes médicales (Ag/AgCl). Notre approche est basée sur la modification d’encres conductrices à base du polymère intrinsèquement conducteur, le poly (3,4-éthylènedioxythiophène) poly(styrènesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) compatible avec les substrats textiles choisis. La réalisation des électrodes fait appel à des techniques de fabrication qui peuvent être transférées facilement à l’industrie textile. Des caractérisations ont été mises en places afin d’évaluer la fiabilité de ces systèmes avant et après 50 lavages en machine de laboratoire et domestique. En l’occurrence, la résistivité surfacique des électrodes-capteurs, la modélisation de l’interface électrode/peau, l’analyse du signal ECG en statique et en dynamique, la densité spectrale de puissance du signal ECG, le rapport signal sur bruit (SNR) ont été analysés et comparés à des électrodes commerciales à base d’argent. Comme nos électrodes-capteurs développées possèdent un véritable potentiel clinique et industriel, nous avons également étudié la faisabilité de la connectique et sa durabilité. La solution retenue se compose de deux fils conducteurs en polyamide argenté, existants sur le marché, brodés pour réaliser les connexions entre les électrodes-capteurs textiles et un module électronique flexible à base d’un film composite (polyester-aluminium). De plus deux méthodes d’encapsulation des systèmes ont été également développées en vue de leur protection au lavage et futur commercialisation. / Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. The most effective way to combat these diseases is the real-time monitoring of the electrocardiogram (ECG) that reflect the electrical signals generated by the heart cells. The ECG signal provides to cardiologists all the information needed to diagnose heart diseases. So far, the electrocardiogram is recorded by using the cutaneous conventional medical electrodes (Ag/AgCl) based on silver and silver chloride. These electrodes are not destined for long-term use and can provoke skin irritation because of the ionic gel that serves to reduce the impedance of the electrode / skin interface. In this thesis, flexible textile electrodes operating without any ionic gel have been developed as alternatives to medical electrodes (Ag/AgCl). Our approach is based on the modification of conductive inks based on the intrinsically conductive polymer, poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) compatible with selected textile substrates. The realization of the electrodes uses manufacturing techniques that can be easily transferred to the textile industry. Characterizations were set up to evaluate the reliability of these systems before and after 50 washes in laboratory and domestic machines. In this case, the surface resistivity of the electrodes-sensors, the modeling of the electrode/skin interface, the analysis of the ECG signal in static and dynamic, the spectral power density of the ECG signal, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were analyzed and compared to commercial silver-based electrodes. As our developed sensor electrodes have a real clinical and industrial potential, we have also studied the feasibility of the connection and its durability. The chosen solution consists of two silver-plated polyamide threads, which are available on the market, embroidered to make the connections between the textile sensor electrodes and a flexible electronic module based on a composite film (polyester-aluminum). In addition, two encapsulation methods have also been developed to protect systems during washing and to make them ready for the market.

Electrically conductive smart textiles are a very interesting area that could be important for the development of smart textiles. Today, conductive yarns and threads are often produced from coveted metals such as silver, copper and gold. These metals require large resources to be extracted and processed into yarns and threads and have a major impact on humans and the environment. One way to reduce the consumption of metals and save resources is to coat yarns of textile materials with electrically conductive polymers. In this study, we will investigate coating yarns with the conductive polymer blend PEDOT-PSS. PEDOT-PSS is extracted from oil, which is a non-renewable raw material, but coating with this polymer dispersion has many other advantages over metals and its production chain. Like coating yarn through a chemical bath produces very little waste, the yarn has a smaller mass, the yarn becomes more flexible, and it is easy to scale up production. However, previous studies have shown that there are some difficulties when it comes to coating yarns with PEDOT-PSS. The coating becomes fragile and brittle and to some extent affects the yarn that is coated in terms of mechanical properties. In this study, its investigated how the yarn is affected by various parameters in the production line, such as drying temperature, the viscosity of the PEDOT-PSS dispersion and the speed of the thread traveling through the production line, to find optimal production parameters that provide a balance between conductive and mechanical properties. We have produced a number of samples, all with different variations of parameters, and investigated how its conductive and mechanical properties are affected to see if there is a pattern and connection between parameters and conductive and mechanical properties on the yarn. The results show that yarn samples made with high viscosity of the PEDOT-PSS dispersion are among the lower range of resistance (with some exceptions), with average values of about 2990 O up to 10300 O, while lower viscosity shows uneven results with average values of about 92,000 O and all the way up to about 6,500,000 O. Most samples with lower measured O values are made with a high drying temperature, but no clear connection could be detected between temperature and end result, nor did the different speeds show any clear connection to the result. For the mechanical properties, it turns out that there is a relationship between result and viscosity as well as result and drying temperature. Samples made with low viscosity and low drying temperature perform best in the mechanical tests, 59.7% to 52.9% elongation and 25 cN / tex to 21 cN / tex. While speeds in this category could not show any connection between the results either. Overall, the results can be summarized as the results of tests show that there are some correlations between the parameters and the properties of the yarn samples and that the viscosity of the PEDOT-PSS dispersion and drying temperature are the most influential parameters. For conductive properties, viscosity has the greatest effect and for mechanical properties, viscosity and temperature have the greatest effect. For conductive properties, high viscosity is good, and for mechanical properties, low temperature and low viscosity are best. The sample with the best combination of test results was tested in a knitting machine but the variant chosen for knitting did not have good enough mechanical properties for the knitting machine used and broke when exposed to the stress from the knitting process. Therefore, the knitting test was not successful, but it was possible to sift out what parameter of the production line that had the greatest impact on the coated yarn properties.

No description available.

Driven by the highly cyclical nature of their increasingly commoditised product offerings, many capital goods manufacturers are seeing the benefits of delivering services integrated with their core product offerings. Whilst existing research is almost unanimous in advocating the value of a servitization strategy, understanding how these product-service systems (PSSs) can be developed and delivered remains a significant challenge. The closely related PSS field, which has its heritage in the environmental and social science disciplines, is more mature in this area and a number of models have been proposed. The research reported within this thesis contributes to knowledge by investigating whether the approaches to PSS development, reported within the PSS literature, reflects the PSS development practice of servitized manufacturers. More specifically, soft systems methodology was used to explore the delivery of PSSs within the UK railway industry in order to gain an understanding of the implications for developing new PSSs. With this understanding, the existing approaches to PSS development were evaluated with respect to one servitized manufacturer through an in-depth single case study. The findings highlighted a number of significant differences between the practice of the servitized manufacturer and the literature. A survey was used to investigate whether the differences were generalisable to a larger sample of servitized manufacturers. The findings point towards the simplification of the reported phases within PSS development and the inclusion of a number of previously unreported processes and activities. Based on these results a new model of PSS development is proposed to better reflect the practice of servitized manufacturers. The model, consisting of four phases and seventeen processes, was operationalised in the form of a workbook and tested through application. Applying the workbook resulted in the successful creation of a number of new PSS concepts.

Les actionneurs à base de polymères électroactifs ioniques constituent une alternative prometteuse par rapport aux actionneurs conventionnels, en particulier lorsqu’une réponse comparable à celle d’un muscle naturel est recherché. Parmi eux, les actionneurs à base de polymères conducteurs constituent une voie prometteuse pour des applications biomédicale où la biocompatibilité, la compacité et un positionnement précis sont requis. Néanmoins, l’essor de dispositifs fonctionnels est fortement ralenti en raison de la faible efficacité d’actionnement et de la rapide dégradation des performances de ce type d’actionneurs. L’absence de rétroaction sur la force ou sur la position est également un autre aspect limitant le développement de cette approche. L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une technique de fabrication à grande échelle pour l’élaboration d’actionneurs à base de polymères électroactifs ioniques et permettant également l’intégration de capteurs pour un contrôle rétroactif. L’impression par jet d’encre est une technologie clé pour le dépôt de polymères et une des plus alternatives les plus prometteuses pour la production d’actionneurs à base de polymères conducteurs. Cependant, la fabrication d’actionneurs par technique jet d’encre n’est pas encore totalement maîtrisée à cause des propriétés rhéologiques des solutions de polymères conducteurs qui rendent difficile le contrôle de l’éjection de gouttes mais également en raison de la nature complexe des interactions entre la solution et l’échantillon qui peut conduire à une faible adhésion et un mauvais contrôle de l’infiltration de l’encre. Pour optimiser cette méthode de fabrication, des membranes hybrides contenant des ions ont été développées. Le greffage d’un monomère hydrophile par plasma argon avec un dépôt contrôlé en profondeur a été utilisé pour obtenir des membranes en polyfluorure de vinylidène (PVDF) avec des surfaces hydrophiles tout en conservant une zone centrale hydrophobe. Ces membranes hybrides ont permis d’obtenir, par dépôt de gouttes, des actionneurs de morphologies très variées à base de polymères conducteurs. En outre, la durée de vie d’actionneurs obtenus avec une solution conductrice de poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) a été sensiblement augmentée avec des déformations de plus de 0.6% sans qu’aucun signe de délamination ne soit perceptible. Enfin, la nature complexe des mécanismes physico-chimiques à l’origine des interactions entre le film polymère et la membrane poreuse a été mieux appréhendée durant ce travail. Les conditions nécessaires pour assurer une forte adhésion et les effets conduisant à un mauvais contrôle de l’infiltration ont été partiellement identifiés. Ces résultats ont permis de définir les paramètres clés concernant la préparation de la membrane et la composition de la solution polymère. En associant l’ensemble de ces résultats avec les exigences liées à l’utilisation de l’impression de solutions par jet d’encre, nous avons réalisé, en utilisant cette technique de dépôt, les premiers actionneurs ioniques à base de PEDOT:PSS. / Onic electroactive polymer based artificial muscles are promising alternative to traditional actuators, especially where compliant muscle-like response is desirable. Among them, conducting polymer actuators (CPAs) are most promising for biomedical applications, where biocompatibility, compactness and accurate positioning is essential. Nevertheless, development of applicable devices is hold down by their low efficiency and fast performance deterioration. The absence of a tactile, force or position feed-back is another feature limiting the development of functional devices. The goal of this thesis is to develop a fabrication technique for conducting polymer based actuators that could be up-scalable and enable facile integration of sensory feedback. Inkjet printing is key technology in the field of defined polymer deposition as well as in fabrication of strain sensors. It is also one of the most promising alternatives to prevalent fabrication of conducting polymer actuators. Nevertheless, inkjet printed actuators were not yet realized due to rheological properties of conducting polymer solutions that challenge jetting and the complex solution - membrane interactions, that lead to poor adhesion or uncontrolled infiltration. In order to enable this fabrication method, hybrid ion-storing membranes were developed. Argon plasma induced grafting-to of hydrophilic macromonomer with limited-indepth deposition was used to obtain polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes with hydrophilic upper surfaces and hydrophobic centre. Functionalized PVDF membranes were shown to withhold good adhesion to the conducting polymer films and preserve electrically insulating layer in between them. Hybrid membranes were demonstrated to be advantageous in fabrication of CPAs by drop casting and enable production of actuators with various morphologies. Furthermore, fabricated poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) based actuators demonstrated long lifetime with no signs of delamination as well as large strain of more than 0.6%. In addition, the complex nature of the physico-chemical mechanisms of the interactions between the polymer film and the porous membrane was better understood during this work. The conditions necessary in order to ensure strong adhesion as well as circumstances leading to uncontrolled infiltration were partially identified. These were used to set up limits to membrane preparation and polymer solution composition. Combining obtained knowledge with known requirements for inkjet printable solutions lead to the realization of the first inkjet printed PEDOT:PSS based ionic actuators.