Stakeholder interpretations of design: Semiotic insights into the briefing process

Briefing phase interactions between clients and designers are recognized as social engagements, characterized by communicative sign use, where conceptual ideas are gradually transformed into potential design solutions. A semiotic analysis of briefing communications between client stakeholders and designers provides evidence of the significance and importance of stakeholder interpretation and understanding of design, empirical data being drawn from a qualitative study of NHS hospital construction projects in the UK. It is contended that stakeholders engage with a project through communicative signs and artefacts of design, referencing personal cognitive knowledge in acts of interpretation that may be different from those of designers and externally appointed client advisers. Such interpretations occur in addition to NHS client and design team efforts to ‘engage’ with and ‘understand’ stakeholders using a variety of methods. Social semiotic theorizations indicate how narrative strategies motivate the formulation of signs and artefacts in briefing work, the role of sign authors and sign readers being elucidated as a result. Findings are contextualized against current understandings of briefing communications and stakeholder management practices, a more socially attuned understanding of briefing countering some of the process-led improvement models that have characterized much of the post-Egan report literature. A stakeholder interpretation model is presented as one potential method to safeguard against unforeseen interpretations occurring, the model aligning with the proposal for a more measured recognition of how designs can trigger interpretations among client stakeholders.

Effects of orange juice formulation on prebiotic functionality using an in vitro colonic model sytem

A three-stage continuous fermentative colonic model system was used to monitor in vitro the effect of different orange juice formulations on prebiotic activity. Three different juices with and without Bimuno, a GOS mixture containing galactooligosaccharides (B-GOS) were assessed in terms of their ability to induce a bifidogenic microbiota. The recipe development was based on incorporating 2.75g B-GOS into a 250 ml serving of juice (65°Brix of concentrate juice). Alongside the production of B-GOS juice, a control juice - orange juice without any additional Bimuno and a positive control juice, containing all the components of Bimuno (glucose, galactose and lactose) in the same relative proportions with the exception of B-GOS were developed. Ion Exchange Chromotography analysis was used to test the maintenance of bimuno components after the production process. Data showed that sterilisation had no significant effect on concentration of B-GOS and simple sugars. The three juice formulations were digested under conditions resembling the gastric and small intestinal environments. Main bacterial groups of the faecal microbiota were evaluated throughout the colonic model study using 16S rRNA-based fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Potential effects of supplementation of the juices on microbial metabolism were studied measuring short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) using gas chromatography. Furthermore, B-GOS juices showed positive modulations of the microbiota composition and metabolic activity. In particular, numbers of faecal bifidobacteria and lactobacilli were significantly higher when B-GOS juice was fermented compared to controls. Furthermore, fermentation of B-GOS juice resulted in an increase in Roseburia subcluster and concomitantly increased butyrate production, which is of potential benefit to the host. In conclusion, this study has shown B-GOS within orange juice can have a beneficial effect on the fecal microbiota.

Living to die and dying to live: the survival strategy behind leaf senescence

Senescence represents the final developmental act of the leaf, during which the leaf cell is dismantled in a coordinated manner to remobilize nutrients and to secure reproductive success. The process of senescence provides the plant with phenotypic plasticity to help it adapt to adverse environmental conditions. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the factors and mechanisms that control the onset of senescence. We explain how the competence to senesce is established during leaf development, as depicted by the senescence window model. We also discuss the mechanisms by which phytohormones and environmental stresses control senescence, as well as the impact of source-sink relationships on plant yield and stress tolerance. In addition, we discuss the role of senescence as a strategy for stress adaptation and how crop production and food quality could benefit from engineering or breeding crops with altered onset of senescence.

Bank regulation and the process of internationalisation: a study of Japanese bank entry into London

The paper provides a theoretical insight into bank regulation and the process of internationalisation by examining the concepts of regulatory push and market pull within the context of Japanese bank entry into London during the 1980s. Rugman and Verbeke's [(1998). Corporate strategy and international environmental policy. Journal of International Business Studies, 29(4), 819–833] Consistency of Home and Host Government Goals model is utilised to structure the discussion, which centres on a situation where there is a conflict of goals between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the home government but goal alignment between MNEs and the host government. As such the paper examines a relatively under-researched aspect of internationalisation and concludes that in certain circumstances internationalisation can occur despite great ‘psychic distance’. The paper also argues that although bank regulation can lead to a conflict situation it can also be conducive to the development of a strong home base and the development of firm specific advantages.

An unstructured CVFEM and moving interface algorithm for non-Newtonian Hele-Shaw flows in injection molding

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel unstructured simulation approach for injection molding processes described by the Hele-Shaw model. Design/methodology/approach - The scheme involves dual dynamic meshes with active and inactive cells determined from an initial background pointset. The quasi-static pressure solution in each timestep for this evolving unstructured mesh system is approximated using a control volume finite element method formulation coupled to a corresponding modified volume of fluid method. The flow is considered to be isothermal and non-Newtonian. Findings - Supporting numerical tests and performance studies for polystyrene described by Carreau, Cross, Ellis and Power-law fluid models are conducted. Results for the present method are shown to be comparable to those from other methods for both Newtonian fluid and polystyrene fluid injected in different mold geometries. Research limitations/implications - With respect to the methodology, the background pointset infers a mesh that is dynamically reconstructed here, and there are a number of efficiency issues and improvements that would be relevant to industrial applications. For instance, one can use the pointset to construct special bases and invoke a so-called ""meshless"" scheme using the basis. This would require some interesting strategies to deal with the dynamic point enrichment of the moving front that could benefit from the present front treatment strategy. There are also issues related to mass conservation and fill-time errors that might be addressed by introducing suitable projections. The general question of ""rate of convergence"" of these schemes requires analysis. Numerical results here suggest first-order accuracy and are consistent with the approximations made, but theoretical results are not available yet for these methods. Originality/value - This novel unstructured simulation approach involves dual meshes with active and inactive cells determined from an initial background pointset: local active dual patches are constructed ""on-the-fly"" for each ""active point"" to form a dynamic virtual mesh of active elements that evolves with the moving interface.

Attractive Work Process

Many companies both in Sweden and other parts of the world are since the beginning of the 21st century faceing a lack of work force (1,2,3). The ability to recruit and retain skilled employees is seen as one of the most important questions for the survival and development of the companies (4,5). Labour shortage is seen as the biggest obstacle for expansion for small enterprises in Sweden (5). There is a need for workplaces to be attractive, but how can the attractiveness be increased? Researchers at Högskolan Dalarna have during almost a decennium conducted research concerning attractive work. Based on a modell of qualities that contributes to make a work attractive (6) has a method aiming for raised attractiveness been developed for SME:s. All employees participate by answering a questionnaire about the importance of different qualities and to what degree they are fulfilled. Further discussions at the workplace on what to preserve and what to develop make the base for an action plan.Important experiences:• Discuss and establish the aim of the method with management and employees. • The company must be prepared to follow up and realize the action plan.• Agree about expectations – they must be realistic and practicable.• Reserve time to start the process and to end up in an action plan. • Avoid negative thinking and put problems away. • Take all the time small steps in the right direction.• Keep employees engaged and avoid the manager or process leader to take the command.• Use the strategy with small work groups; it gives better possibilities for participation and outspokenness.• Follow up studies are necessary to keep up the motivation.The most positive aspects of the method is its promoting perspective and that it engages all the employees.1.Rauhut, D. (2002). Arbetskraftsbrist och arbetskraftsinvandring: hot eller möjlighet för ekonomisk tillväxt? Östersund, ITPS, Institutet för tillväxtpolitiska studier.2.Funch, M. and C. Ehrnooth. (2008, 08-10-2008). Labour shortage despite financial crisis? Retrieved 2008-12-16, 2008, from www.norden.org/webb/news/news.asp?id=8113&lang=6. 3.Manpower (2008). Talent Shortage Survey 2008 Global Results: 10. 4.Bakker, A. B. and W. B. Schaufeli (2008). Positive organizational behavior: Engaged employees in flourishing organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior 29: 147-154.5.Kennemar, J. and L. Jagrén (2008). Småföretagsbarometern. Stockholm, Swedbank Företagarna: 23.6.Åteg, M., A. Hedlund, et al. (2004). Attraktivt arbete. Från anställdas uttalanden till skapandet av en modell. Stockholm, Arbetslivsinstitutet.

Machine Learning Algorithms in Heavy Process Manufacturing

In a global economy, manufacturers mainly compete with cost efficiency of production, as the price of raw materials are similar worldwide. Heavy industry has two big issues to deal with. On the one hand there is lots of data which needs to be analyzed in an effective manner, and on the other hand making big improvements via investments in cooperate structure or new machinery is neither economically nor physically viable. Machine learning offers a promising way for manufacturers to address both these problems as they are in an excellent position to employ learning techniques with their massive resource of historical production data. However, choosing modelling a strategy in this setting is far from trivial and this is the objective of this article. The article investigates characteristics of the most popular classifiers used in industry today. Support Vector Machines, Multilayer Perceptron, Decision Trees, Random Forests, and the meta-algorithms Bagging and Boosting are mainly investigated in this work. Lessons from real-world implementations of these learners are also provided together with future directions when different learners are expected to perform well. The importance of feature selection and relevant selection methods in an industrial setting are further investigated. Performance metrics have also been discussed for the sake of completion.

Decisões estratégicas de produção como suporte a uma estratégia de negócios : um estudo de caso na indústria de fertilizantes

A formulação de estratégias de produção deve estar em consonância com a estratégia de negócios da empresa. Neste trabalho, um estudo de caso simples, formulou-se um conjunto de planos de melhorias para uma fábrica de fertilizantes, com objetivo de realizar as mudanças em capacidades e custos de produção das atividades existentes, melhorando assim sua competitividade. O foco deste trabalho foi na determinação das melhorias das atividades de produção necessárias para que a unidade de análise atinja padrões de competitividade compatíveis com as demais unidades do grupo, através da utilização de indicadores de benchmarking internos da empresa e da comparação dos mesmos aos resultados obtidos na unidade de análise, identificadas as lacunas de desempenho da empresa. A partir da identificação das lacunas, foram propostos os planos de ação de melhorias, para que a unidade de análise mudasse do patamar em que se encontrava para a condição de melhores práticas, dando, assim, suporte à estratégia de negócios da empresa. Os resultados dos planos de melhorias executados, bem como uma nova estratégia de Produção implantada, não prevista, decorrente de um processo de formação de uma nova empresa, mostraram-se efetivos na obtenção dos objetivos perseguidos. Para este estudo, em produção de commodities, a escala de produção mostrou-se como determinante para atingir custos industriais competitivos.

Implantação de planejamento estratégico e conseqüente sistema de medição em empresa têxtil : estudo de caso

Este trabalho apresenta a implantação do processo de Planejamento Estratégico e o conseqüente sistema de medição com sugestão de inclusão de novos indicadores críticos ao sucesso da gestão em Empresa da Indústria Têxtil. Primeiramente foi elaborado o Planejamento Estratégico da Empresa em questão, pois é indispensável à análise de competitividade das organizações bem como necessário à elaboração de seus Sistemas de Medidas de Desempenho, decorrentes das estratégias estabelecidas. Em seguida, foi revisto o Sistema de Medidas de Desempenho utilizado, que tem o objetivo de estimular as primeiras ações de ajuste do planejado com a situação real. Por último o Sistema de Medidas de Desempenho existente foi comparado ao proposto no Balanced Scorecard para a adoção de ações de ajuste do sistema atual, contemplando a introdução de novos indicadores. Ficaram evidentes os benefícios decorrentes do processo de Planejamento Estratégico com a definição de objetivos e a formulação de estratégias para alcançá-los, desdobradas em todos os níveis da organização – requerendo um Sistema adequado de Medidas de Desempenho para o monitoramento da implementação das ações resultantes.

Formulação da estratégia em um hospital privado geral e de grande porte na cidade de São Paulo: estudo de caso

Este trabalho buscou estabelecer, através das respostas a uma entrevista estruturada, como a estratégia é construída e implementada em um grande hospital privado, geral e de grande porte na cidade de São Paulo, procurando relacioná-Ia com algumas linhas de pensamento formalizadas na literatura de negócios. O processo de formulação estratégica observado apresenta aspectos compatíveis com os conceitos atuais para ambientes de maior incerteza, como é o caso do mercado da saúde no Brasil. Uma vez que seu pioneirismo coloca este hospital em uma posição de maior incerteza pela ausência de modelos a serem seguidos, a formulação da estratégia acaba valorizando aspectos qualitativos, de valores e de história, estimulando a criação e iniciação de novos projetos, a partir da visualização de alguns cenários, cujo futuro - nas palavras de um entrevistado - "ainda é uma incógnita". Dentro deste ambiente, a estratégia do hospital também é influenciada pela observação de tendências em outros países. Apesar disso, este poderia beneficiar-se de um maior grau de estruturação, como vem sendo tentado pela atual diretoria, através de assessorias técnicas, de parcerias com organismos certificadores, e da implantação de um projeto integrado de informática, sem contudo deixar de lado o componente intuitivo e criativo presente no processo atual.

Study of the innovation management process in the development of a discontinuous product case: Motorola RAZR V3

This study will collaborate by bringing some detailed analysis and findings on a special case study of a discontinuous product development process, trying to answer how the discontinuous product development process takes place and the main factors that influence this process. Additionally, it tried to explore some explanations for the difficulties generally faced by the companies to sustain innovation. The case is about the Motorola cell phone RAZR V3, launched in 2004. RAZR V3 was noted by industry experts as game-changing feat of design and engineering, selling more than 110 million units by end of 2008 and recognized as one of the fastest selling products in the industry. The study uses a single case methodology, which is appropriate given the access to a phenomenon that happened inside corporate dominium and it is not easily accessed for academic studies, besides being a rare case of success in the cellular phone industry. In order to magnify the understanding of the phenomenon, the exploration was extended to contrast the RAZR development process and the standard product development process in Motorola. Additionally, it was integrated a longitudinal reflection of the company product development evolution until the next breakthrough product hitting the cellular phone industry. The result of the analysis shows that discontinuous products do not fit well traditional product development process (in this case, stage-gate). This result reinforces the results obtained on previous studies of discontinuous product development conducted by other authors. Therefore, it is clear that the dynamics of discontinuous product development are different from the continuous product development, requiring different treatment to succeed. Moreover, this study highlighted the importance of the management influence in all the phases of the process as one of the most important factors, suggesting a key component to be carefully observed in future researches. Some other findings of the study that were considered very important for a discontinuous product development process: have champions (who believe and protect the project) and not only one champion; create a right atmosphere to make flow the creative process; question paradigms to create discontinuous products; simple guiding light to focus the team; company culture that accepts and knows how to deal with risks; and undoubtedly, have a company strategy that understands the different dynamics of continuous and discontinuous product development processes and treat them accordingly.

A modernização do ginásio e a manutenção da ordem

processo de modernização do ginásio secundário brasileiro, que culminou com a Reforma do Ensino do primeiro grau, nos anos 70 e, portanto, com a estruturação de uma nova escola· fundarrental. A maioria das propostas para a criação de um novo ginã 510, nos anos 50 e 60 I procurava atende~ às exigências do modelo político e econômico da época. No período 61-64, fase crítica do modelo desenvolvimentista, surgiram projetos de educação secundária, como os Ginásios da Comunidade e os Giná 5105 Vocacionais, propondo urna prá~ica pedagógica, voltada para a conscientização do homem como ser histórico e produtivo e, conseqüentemente, orientada para a transformação da sociedade. A política educacional, após 1964, rechaçou as propostas de uma e'ducação secundária conscientizadora e lançou os Ginásios Poli valentes corno estratégia para a reFormulação do ensino de primeiro grau em âmbito nacional. Concluiu-se que os projetos de renovaçao do ensino secundário surgiram em decorrência das contradições do ItXldelo desenvolvimentista. Enquanto os Ginásios Poli valentes apre - sentavam uma proposta pedagógica compatível com a manutenção do capitalismo periférico, os projetos de criação dos Ginásios da Comw1idade e dos Ginásios Vocacionais constituiram resposta diferente da política de dominação cultural.

Goals Software Construction Process

Generalized hyper competitiveness in the world markets has determined the need to offer better products to potential and actual clients in order to mark an advantagefrom other competitors. To ensure the production of an adequate product, enterprises need to work on the efficiency and efficacy of their business processes (BPs) by means of the construction of Interactive Information Systems (IISs, including Interactive Multimedia Documents) so that they are processed more fluidly and correctly.The construction of the correct IIS is a major task that can only be successful if the needs from every intervenient are taken into account. Their requirements must bedefined with precision, extensively analyzed and consequently the system must be accurately designed in order to minimize implementation problems so that the IIS isproduced on schedule and with the fewer mistakes as possible. The main contribution of this thesis is the proposal of Goals, a software (engineering) construction process which aims at defining the tasks to be carried out in order to develop software. This process defines the stakeholders, the artifacts, and the techniques that should be applied to achieve correctness of the IIS. Complementarily, this process suggests two methodologies to be applied in the initial phases of the lifecycle of the Software Engineering process: Process Use Cases for the phase of requirements, and; MultiGoals for the phases of analysis and design. Process Use Cases is a UML-based (Unified Modeling Language), goal-driven and use case oriented methodology for the definition of functional requirements. It uses an information oriented strategy in order to identify BPs while constructing the enterprise’s information structure, and finalizes with the identification of use cases within the design of these BPs. This approach provides a useful tool for both activities of Business Process Management and Software Engineering. MultiGoals is a UML-based, use case-driven and architectural centric methodology for the analysis and design of IISs with support for Multimedia. It proposes the analysis of user tasks as the basis of the design of the: (i) user interface; (ii) the system behaviour that is modeled by means of patterns which can combine Multimedia and standard information, and; (iii) the database and media contents. This thesis makes the theoretic presentation of these approaches accompanied with examples from a real project which provide the necessary support for the understanding of the used techniques.

A new and improved strategy combining a dispersive-solid phase extraction-based multiclass method with ultra high pressure liquid chromatography for analysis of low molecular weight polyphenols in vegetables

This paper reports on the development and optimization of a modified Quick, Easy, Cheap Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) based extraction technique coupled with a clean-up dispersive-solid phase extraction (dSPE) as a new, reliable and powerful strategy to enhance the extraction efficiency of free low molecular-weight polyphenols in selected species of dietary vegetables. The process involves two simple steps. First, the homogenized samples are extracted and partitioned using an organic solvent and salt solution. Then, the supernatant is further extracted and cleaned using a dSPE technique. Final clear extracts of vegetables were concentrated under vacuum to near dryness and taken up into initial mobile phase (0.1% formic acid and 20% methanol). The separation and quantification of free low molecular weight polyphenols from the vegetable extracts was achieved by ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) equipped with a phodiode array (PDA) detection system and a Trifunctional High Strength Silica capillary analytical column (HSS T3), specially designed for polar compounds. The performance of the method was assessed by studying the selectivity, linear dynamic range, the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ), precision, trueness, and matrix effects. The validation parameters of the method showed satisfactory figures of merit. Good linearity (View the MathML sourceRvalues2>0.954; (+)-catechin in carrot samples) was achieved at the studied concentration range. Reproducibility was better than 3%. Consistent recoveries of polyphenols ranging from 78.4 to 99.9% were observed when all target vegetable samples were spiked at two concentration levels, with relative standard deviations (RSDs, n = 5) lower than 2.9%. The LODs and the LOQs ranged from 0.005 μg mL−1 (trans-resveratrol, carrot) to 0.62 μg mL−1 (syringic acid, garlic) and from 0.016 μg mL−1 (trans-resveratrol, carrot) to 0.87 μg mL−1 ((+)-catechin, carrot) depending on the compound. The method was applied for studying the occurrence of free low molecular weight polyphenols in eight selected dietary vegetables (broccoli, tomato, carrot, garlic, onion, red pepper, green pepper and beetroot), providing a valuable and promising tool for food quality evaluation.

Pharmacological and local toxicity studies of a liposomal formulation for the novel local anaesthetic ropivacaine

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)