Early termination of R&D projects

Early project termination is one of the most difficult decisions to be made by Research and Development managers. While there is the risk of terminating good projects, there is also the opposite risk of not terminating bad projects and overspend resources in unproductive research. Criteria used for identifying these projects are common subject of research in Business Administration. In addition, companies might take important lessons from its interrupted projects that could improve their overall portfolio technical and commercial success. Finally, the set and weight of criteria, as well as the procedures companies use for achieve learning from cancelled projects may vary depending on the project type. This research intends to contribute to the understanding of policies applied to projects that were once considered attractive, but by some reason is not appreciated anymore. The research addressed the question: How companies deal with projects that become unattractive? More specifically, this research tried to answer the following questions: (1) Are projects killed or (otherwise) they die naturally by lack of resources? (2) What criteria are used to terminate projects during development? (3) How companies learn from the terminated projects to improve the overall portfolio performance? (4) Are the criteria and learning procedures different for different types of projects? In order to answer these questions, we performed a multiple case study with four companies that are reference in business administration and innovation: (1) Oxiteno, considered the base case, (2) Natura, the literal replication, (3) Mahle and (4) AES, the theoretical replications. The case studies were performed using a semi-structured protocol for interviews, which were recorded and analyzed for comparison. We found that the criteria companies use for selecting projects for termination are very similar to those anticipated by the literature, except for a criteria related to compliance. We have evidences to confirm that the set of criteria is not altered when dealing with different project types, however the weight they are applied indeed varies. We also found that learning with cancelled projects is yet very incipient, with very few structured formal procedures being described for capturing learning with early-terminated projects. However, we could observe that these procedures are more common when dealing with projects labeled as innovative, risky, big and costly, while those smaller and cheaper derivative projects aren\'t subject of a complete investigation on the learning they brought to the company. For these, the most common learning route is the informal, where the project team learns and passes the knowledge though interpersonal information exchange. We explain that as a matter of cost versus benefit of spending time to deeply investigate projects with little potential to bring new knowledge to the project team and the organization

Towards a real-time 3D object recognition pipeline on mobile GPGPU computing platforms using low-cost RGB-D sensors

In this project, we propose the implementation of a 3D object recognition system which will be optimized to operate under demanding time constraints. The system must be robust so that objects can be recognized properly in poor light conditions and cluttered scenes with significant levels of occlusion. An important requirement must be met: the system must exhibit a reasonable performance running on a low power consumption mobile GPU computing platform (NVIDIA Jetson TK1) so that it can be integrated in mobile robotics systems, ambient intelligence or ambient assisted living applications. The acquisition system is based on the use of color and depth (RGB-D) data streams provided by low-cost 3D sensors like Microsoft Kinect or PrimeSense Carmine. The range of algorithms and applications to be implemented and integrated will be quite broad, ranging from the acquisition, outlier removal or filtering of the input data and the segmentation or characterization of regions of interest in the scene to the very object recognition and pose estimation. Furthermore, in order to validate the proposed system, we will create a 3D object dataset. It will be composed by a set of 3D models, reconstructed from common household objects, as well as a handful of test scenes in which those objects appear. The scenes will be characterized by different levels of occlusion, diverse distances from the elements to the sensor and variations on the pose of the target objects. The creation of this dataset implies the additional development of 3D data acquisition and 3D object reconstruction applications. The resulting system has many possible applications, ranging from mobile robot navigation and semantic scene labeling to human-computer interaction (HCI) systems based on visual information.

UTF-8 With BOM Nimrūd áöì

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map set entitled: Vestiges of Assyria, by Felix Jones ; aided in the field operations by J.M. Hyslop ; engraved by J. & C. Walker. Map 2 entitled: Positions and plan of the ancient cities of Nimrūd and Selamiyeh, the former identical with the [Larissa] of Xenophon, perhaps the Calah of Genesis and ... of the cuneiform inscriptions. It was published by John Walker in 1855. Scale [ca. 1:12,000]. This layer is image 2 of 3 total images of the six sheet source map, representing the Mosul region Iraq. Map chiefly in English. Some place names given also in Arabic. This datalayer is compiled from two images of the six sheet source map that have been stitched together using image editing software to create a single image.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the European Datum 1950 TM42 (Transverse Mercator, Central Meridian 42) coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as ancient city ruins, drainage, canals, cities, villages, and other human settlements, roads, fortifications, selected buildings, and more. Relief shown by hachures.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Hādhā kitāb Ḥusn al-muḥāḍarah fī akhbār Miṣr wa-al-Qāhirah / lil-Imām al-Mujtahid al-Ḥafīẓ Jalāl al-Dīn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān al-Asyūṭī : manuscript, 1844

Vol. 1 of a multi-volume set.

Budūr al-ḍāwīyah fī al-taʻrīf bi-al-sādāt ahl al-Zāwiyah al-Dilāʼīyah : manuscript, undated

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وصلى الله على سيدنا ومولانا محمد وآله حدايق الازهار النددية في التعريف باهل الزاوية ... :Incipit

Musiciens migrants d'origine arabe dans le contexte montréalais : le parcours de la reconnaissance

Ce mémoire traite des parcours de musiciens migrants d’origine arabe à Montréal. Il s’intéresse à la manière dont ces derniers construisent leurs carrières musicales dans ce contexte et acquièrent la reconnaissance des différents acteurs qu’ils côtoient – pairs, intervenants culturels, public. La méthodologie adoptée est de nature qualitative et correspond à une perspective ethnosociologique, le contexte musical de l’étude inscrivant la démarche dans le domaine de la sociomusicologie. Cinq musiciens ayant migré d’un pays arabe avec une pratique musicale préalable ont été rencontrés, ainsi que cinq acteurs du milieu musical qui interagissent avec eux. Ce corpus d’entretiens a été complété par de l’observation et l’étude de traces (ex. : disques, cv). La démarche d’enquête a permis d’élaborer un ensemble de propositions visant à comprendre les phénomènes sociaux observés. Il apparaît que ces musiciens construisent leurs carrières montréalaises grâce à une actualisation et réappropriation originale des sources et influences musicales accumulées au fil de leur vie, processus néanmoins tributaire des rouages du milieu musical. Celui-ci est constitué de multiples acteurs ayant chacun leurs objectifs, intérêts, contraintes vis-à-vis desquels les musiciens doivent s’ajuster, négocier, faire des compromis. Puis, l’ethnicité arabe qui est construite et mise en scène par les performances musicales peut vraisemblablement agir comme outil pour se démarquer dans le contexte montréalais. Cependant, les dynamiques qui sous-tendent les rapports sociaux que ces artistes entretiennent dans la métropole font en sorte qu’ils ont ultimement peu d’emprise sur la manière dont se manifeste la reconnaissance à leur égard et vis-à-vis de leurs pratiques musicales.

Effects of lender decisions on farm financial planning : some solutions to problems arising from credit limitations set by commercial lenders /

Cover title.

Classification. Class D. Subclasses DT-DX. History of Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc. /

Mode of access: Internet.

Increased fuel economy in transportation systems by use of energy management. Volume III. Real-time (hybrid computer) simulation program set.

Transportation Department, Washington, D.C.

Vanpooling: a handbook to help you set up a program at your company.

Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C.