Marketing Automation – en studie om ett modernt marknadsföringsverktyg i en svensk kontext

I takt med att digitala medier har utvecklats under de senaste åren har köpresan för-ändrats till att kunder idag i ett mycket senare skede släpper in leverantörer i dialogen. Marketing Automation adresserar den problembilden och har växt fram som en brygga mellan sälj- och marknadsprocessen. Systemet ger möjlighet att effektivt och automatiserat utveckla leads (potentiell kund). Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur Marketing Automation påverkar sälj- och marknadsprocesserna. Vilka förutsättningar krävs för en implementation? Ökar lönsamheten? Vi har därför valt att i det teoretiska ramverket beskriva Marketing Automation och bland annat undersöka om ett införande av Marketing Automation medför att sälj- och marknadsorganisationerna slås samman till en organisatorisk enhet. I studien har vi dessutom kartlagt och beskrivit den moderna köpresan och det som ibland kallas intäktsorganisationen. Vi har funnit att Marketing Automation är relativt outforskat i en svensk kontext. För att utröna om teorin, som i stor utsträckning bygger på internationell litteratur och internationella undersökningar, går att överföra till en svensk kontext har vi valt att genomföra en kvalitativ studie i form av en fallstudie av leverantörer av produkter och tjänster inom området samt företag, med den gemensamma nämnaren att de re-presenterar ett kunskapsintensivt erbjudande och har implementerat lösningar för Marketing Automation. I vår analys finns en samsyn mellan leverantörer och kunder i förutsättningar för ett införande, men vi kan även se hur resultaten divergerar och pekar på implikationer, inte minst avseende måluppfyllnad och samverkan mellan sälj- och marknadsorgani-sationerna. Vår slutsats visar bland annat att Marketing Automation kan leda till uppfyllnad av mjuka värden i företaget men har inte bevisats leda till ökad lönsamhet per automatik. Vi ser lönsamhet och Return on Investment (ROI) som ett område som bör utforskas vidare.

Study and experimental characterization of the laser welding process for the manufacturing of electric powertrain components in the automotive industry

The PhD project that will be presented in this thesis is focused on the study and optimization of the production process for the manufacturing of electrical powertrain components in the automotive field using the laser beam welding process (LBW). The objective is to define, through experimental activities, an optimized process condition for applications in the electrical field that can be generalized, that is, which guarantees its reproducibility as the types of connections vary and which represents the basis for extending the method to future applications in e-mobility sector. The work developed along two lines of research, the convergence of which made it possible to create prototypes of battery modules based on different types of lithium-ion cells and stator windings for electric motors. On the one hand, the different welding configurations involving the production of batteries based on pouch cells and therefore the welding of aluminum and copper in dissimilar configuration were studied, while for the prismatic cells only one configuration was analyzed. On the other hand, the welding of pure copper hairpins with rectangular shape in edge joint configuration was studied for the production of stator windings. The experimental tests carried out have demonstrated the feasibility of using the LBW process for the production of electric powertrain components entirely designed and developed internally as the types of materials and welding configurations vary; the methodologies required for the characterization methods, necessary for the end-of-line tests, for the evaluation of the properties of the different joint configurations and components (battery and electric motor) were also defined with the aim of obtaining the best performance. The entire doctorate program was conducted in collaboration with Ferrari Auto S.p.A. and the direct industrial application of the issues addressed has been faced.

Task analysis for HMI design. Level of automation study of aircraft navigation functions

Advancements in technology have enabled increasingly sophisticated automation to be introduced into the flight decks of modern aircraft. Generally, this automation was added to accomplish worthy objectives such as reducing flight crew workload, adding additional capability, or increasing fuel economy. Automation is necessary due to the fact that not all of the functions required for mission accomplishment in today’s complex aircraft are within the capabilities of the unaided human operator, who lacks the sensory capacity to detect much of the information required for flight. To a large extent, these objectives have been achieved. Nevertheless, despite all the benefits from the increasing amounts of highly reliable automation, vulnerabilities do exist in flight crew management of automation and Situation Awareness (SA). Issues associated with flight crew management of automation include: • Pilot understanding of automation’s capabilities, limitations, modes, and operating principles and techniques. • Differing pilot decisions about the appropriate automation level to use or whether to turn automation on or off when they get into unusual or emergency situations. • Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) are not always easy to use, and this aspect could be problematic when pilots experience high workload situations. • Complex automation interfaces, large differences in automation philosophy and implementation among different aircraft types, and inadequate training also contribute to deficiencies in flight crew understanding of automation.

Towards automation of constellation management with analytical models for collision avoidance

The growing interest for constellation of small, less expensive satellites is bringing space junk and traffic management to the attention of space community. At the same time, the continuous quest for more efficient propulsion systems put the spotlight on electric (low thrust) propulsion as an appealing solution for collision avoidance. Starting with an overview of the current techniques for conjunction assessment and avoidance, we then highlight the possible problems when a low thrust propulsion is used. The need for accurate propagation model shows up from the conducted simulations. Thus, aiming at propagation models with low computational burden, we study the available models from the literature and propose an analytical alternative to improve propagation accuracy. The model is then tested in the particular case of a tangential maneuver. Results show that the proposed solution significantly improve on state of the art methods and is a good candidate to be used in collision avoidance operations. For instance to propagate satellite uncertainty or optimizing avoidance maneuver when conjunction occurs within few (3-4) orbits from measurements time.

Integration of heterogeneous data sources and automated reasoning in healthcare and domotic IoT systems

In recent years, IoT technology has radically transformed many crucial industrial and service sectors such as healthcare. The multi-facets heterogeneity of the devices and the collected information provides important opportunities to develop innovative systems and services. However, the ubiquitous presence of data silos and the poor semantic interoperability in the IoT landscape constitute a significant obstacle in the pursuit of this goal. Moreover, achieving actionable knowledge from the collected data requires IoT information sources to be analysed using appropriate artificial intelligence techniques such as automated reasoning. In this thesis work, Semantic Web technologies have been investigated as an approach to address both the data integration and reasoning aspect in modern IoT systems. In particular, the contributions presented in this thesis are the following: (1) the IoT Fitness Ontology, an OWL ontology that has been developed in order to overcome the issue of data silos and enable semantic interoperability in the IoT fitness domain; (2) a Linked Open Data web portal for collecting and sharing IoT health datasets with the research community; (3) a novel methodology for embedding knowledge in rule-defined IoT smart home scenarios; and (4) a knowledge-based IoT home automation system that supports a seamless integration of heterogeneous devices and data sources.

1° level of automation: the effectiveness of adaptive cruise control on driving and visual behaviour

The research activities have allowed the analysis of the driver assistance systems, called Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in relation to road safety. The study is structured according to several evaluation steps, related to definite on-site tests that have been carried out with different samples of users, according to their driving experience with the ACC. The evaluation steps concern: •The testing mode and the choice of suitable instrumentation to detect the driver’s behaviour in relation to the ACC. •The analysis modes and outputs to be obtained, i.e.: - Distribution of attention and inattention; - Mental workload; - The Perception-Reaction Time (PRT), the Time To Collision (TTC) and the Time Headway (TH). The main purpose is to assess the interaction between vehicle drivers and ADAS, highlighting the inattention and variation of the workloads they induce regarding the driving task. The research project considered the use of a system for monitoring visual behavior (ASL Mobile Eye-XG - ME), a powerful GPS that allowed to record the kinematic data of the vehicle (Racelogic Video V-BOX) and a tool for reading brain activity (Electroencephalographic System - EEG). Just during the analytical phase, a second and important research objective was born: the creation of a graphical interface that would allow exceeding the frame count limit, making faster and more effective the labeling of the driver’s points of view. The results show a complete and exhaustive picture of the vehicle-driver interaction. It has been possible to highlight the main sources of criticalities related to the user and the vehicle, in order to concretely reduce the accident rate. In addition, the use of mathematical-computational methodologies for the analysis of experimental data has allowed the optimization and verification of analytical processes with neural networks that have made an effective comparison between the manual and automatic methodology.

Development of a robotic system for switchgear cabling

Industrial robots are an inalienable part of modern automated production. Typical applications of robots include welding, painting, (dis)assembly, packaging, labeling, palletizing, pick and place and others. Many of that applications includes object manipulation. If the shape and position of the object are known in advance, it is possible to design the trajectory of the robot’s end-effector to take and place. Such a strategy is applicable for rigid objects and widely used in the manufacturing field. But flexible (deformable) objects can change their shape and position upon contact with the robot’s end-effector or environment. That is the reason why the general approach is unacceptable. It means that the robot can fail to grasp such an object and can’t place it in the desired position. This thesis has addressed the problem of cable manipulation by bilateral robotic setup for the industrial manufacturing of electrical switchgear. The considered solution is based on the idea of tensioned cable. If the cable was grasped by the ends and tensioned, it has a line shape. Since the position of the robot’s end-effectors known, the position of the cable is known as well. Such an approach is capable to place cable in cable ducts of switchgear. The considered solution has been tested experimentally on a real bilateral robotic setup.

Analysis and development of interface components and procedures for the design and commissioning toolchains in automation systems

The objective of the thesis project, developed within the Line Control & Software Engineering team of G.D company, is to analyze and identify the appropriate tool to automate the HW configuration process using Beckhoff technologies by importing data from an ECAD tool. This would save a great deal of time, since the I/O topology created as part of the electrical planning is presently imported manually in the related SW project of the machine. Moreover, a manual import is more error-prone because of human mistake than an automatic configuration tool. First, an introduction about TwinCAT 3, EtherCAT and Automation Interface is provided; then, it is analyzed the official Beckhoff tool, XCAD Interface, and the requirements on the electrical planning to use it: the interface is realized by means of the AutomationML format. Finally, due to some limitations observed, the design and implementation of a company internal tool is performed. Tests and validation of the tool are performed on a sample production line of the company.

Development of a Robotic Wires Storage System for Switchgear Manufacturing Automation

Considering the great development of robotics in industrial automation, the Remodel project aims to reproduce, through the use of Cobots, the wiring activity typical of a human operator and to realize an autonomous storage work. My researches focused on this second topic. In this paper, we will see how to realize a gripper compatible with an Omron TM5X-900, able to perform a pick and place of different types of cables, but also how to compute possible trajectories. In particular, what I needed, was a trajectory going from the Komax, the cables production machine, to a Warehouse taking into account the possible entangles of cables with the robot during its motion. The last part has been dedicated to the synchronization between robot and main machine work.

Hepatic Involvement In Paediatric Patients With Paracoccidioidomycosis: A Histological Study.

Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic mycosis that is endemic to certain countries in Latin America. This study aimed to describe the histological features of liver involvement in patients with paracoccidioidomycosis aged <16 years of age who were treated between 1980 and 2010, with a diagnosis that was confirmed by detection of the fungus by pathological examination. Liver tissue was obtained from one necropsy and 12 biopsies. Throughout 2007, biopsies were taken from patients with persistent jaundice or portal hypertension, after which biopsies became indicated due to elevated aminotransferase and low albumin levels. Using haematoxylin and eosin (H&E), Masson's trichrome and immunohistochemical (CK7 and CK19) staining, we noted degenerative alterations in bile duct cells and inflammatory injury to the bile ducts in 10 biopsies. Using immunohistochemistry for CK7 and CK19, we observed ductal proliferation in all 12 samples. Bile duct injuries by inflammatory cells might explain the predominant increase in canalicular enzymes; immunohistochemistry is more sensitive in demonstrating ductular reactions and might show changes that are not apparent on H&E staining.

Construction Of A Manual Of Work Processes And Techniques From Centro De Dispensação De Medicamentos De Alto Custo (cedmac), Hospital De Clínicas, Unicamp.

The Centers for High Cost Medication (Centros de Medicação de Alto Custo, CEDMAC), Health Department, São Paulo were instituted by project in partnership with the Clinical Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine, USP, sponsored by the Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, FAPESP) aimed at the formation of a statewide network for comprehensive care of patients referred for use of immunobiological agents in rheumatological diseases. The CEDMAC of Hospital de Clínicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (HC-Unicamp), implemented by the Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, identified the need for standardization of the multidisciplinary team conducts, in face of the specificity of care conducts, verifying the importance of describing, in manual format, their operational and technical processes. The aim of this study is to present the methodology applied to the elaboration of the CEDMAC/HC-Unicamp Manual as an institutional tool, with the aim of offering the best assistance and administrative quality. In the methodology for preparing the manuals at HC-Unicamp since 2008, the premise was to obtain a document that is participatory, multidisciplinary, focused on work processes integrated with institutional rules, with objective and didactic descriptions, in a standardized format and with electronic dissemination. The CEDMAC/HC-Unicamp Manual was elaborated in 10 months, with involvement of the entire multidisciplinary team, with 19 chapters on work processes and techniques, in addition to those concerning the organizational structure and its annexes. Published in the electronic portal of HC Manuals in July 2012 as an e-Book (ISBN 978-85-63274-17-5), the manual has been a valuable instrument in guiding professionals in healthcare, teaching and research activities.

Dyspareunia In Hiv-positive And Hiv-negative Middle-aged Women: A Cross-sectional Study.

To evaluate whether dyspareunia is associated with HIV status in menopausal women and also to assess which factors are associated with dyspareunia in a group of HIV-positive menopausal women. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 178 HIV-negative and 128 HIV-positive women aged 40-60 years. The Short Personal Experiences Questionnaire (SPEQ) was used to collect data. Sociodemographic, clinical, behavioural and reproductive factors were evaluated, as well as factors related to the HIV infection. Dyspareunia was defined as pain during intercourse. A bivariate analysis and Poisson multiple regression analysis were performed. Overall, 41.4% of the HIV-positive women reported dyspareunia compared with 34.8% of the HIV-negative women (p=0.242). In the HIV-positive women, bivariate analysis revealed an association between dyspareunia and having a steady partner (p=0.047); the woman's partner having undergone HIV testing (p=0.020); vaginal dryness (p<0.001); muscle/joint pain (p=0.021); physical/emotional violence (p=0.049); urinary incontinence (p=0.004); and the use of lamivudine/zidovudine (p=0.048). The Poisson multiple regression analysis found an association between dyspareunia and vaginal dryness (prevalence ratio (PR)=1.96, 95% CI 1.10 to 3.50, p=0.023) and urinary incontinence (PR=1.86, 95% CI 1.06 to 3.27, p=0.031). Dyspareunia was common in this group of HIV-positive women and was associated principally with vaginal dryness and urinary incontinence. The importance of treating dyspareunia within the context of sexual health in this group of women should be emphasised and appropriate management of this issue may reduce the likelihood of lesions on the vaginal wall, which may act as a portal of entry for other infections.

Evaluation Of Red Cell And Reticulocyte Parameters As Indicative Of Iron Deficiency In Patients With Anemia Of Chronic Disease.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mature red cell and reticulocyte parameters under three conditions: iron deficiency anemia, anemia of chronic disease, and anemia of chronic disease associated with absolute iron deficiency. Peripheral blood cells from 117 adult patients with anemia were classified according to iron status, and inflammatory activity, and the results of a hemoglobinopathy investigation as: iron deficiency anemia (n=42), anemia of chronic disease (n=28), anemia of chronic disease associated with iron deficiency anemia (n=22), and heterozygous β thalassemia (n=25). The percentage of microcytic red cells, hypochromic red cells, and levels of hemoglobin content in both reticulocytes and mature red cells were determined. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to evaluate the accuracy of the parameters in differentiating between the different types of anemia. There was no significant difference between the iron deficient group and anemia of chronic disease associated with absolute iron deficiency in respect to any parameter. The percentage of hypochromic red cells was the best parameter to discriminate anemia of chronic disease with and without absolute iron deficiency (area under curve=0.785; 95% confidence interval: 0.661-0.909, with sensitivity of 72.7%, and specificity of 70.4%; cut-off value 1.8%). The formula microcytic red cells minus hypochromic red cells was very accurate in differentiating iron deficiency anemia and heterozygous β thalassemia (area under curve=0.977; 95% confidence interval: 0.950-1.005; with sensitivity of 96.2%, and specificity of 92.7%; cut-off value 13.8). The indices related to red cells and reticulocytes have a moderate performance in identifying absolute iron deficiency in patients with anemia of chronic disease.

Cheaper Faster Drug Development Validated By The Repositioning Of Drugs Against Neglected Tropical Diseases.

There is an urgent need to make drug discovery cheaper and faster. This will enable the development of treatments for diseases currently neglected for economic reasons, such as tropical and orphan diseases, and generally increase the supply of new drugs. Here, we report the Robot Scientist 'Eve' designed to make drug discovery more economical. A Robot Scientist is a laboratory automation system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to discover scientific knowledge through cycles of experimentation. Eve integrates and automates library-screening, hit-confirmation, and lead generation through cycles of quantitative structure activity relationship learning and testing. Using econometric modelling we demonstrate that the use of AI to select compounds economically outperforms standard drug screening. For further efficiency Eve uses a standardized form of assay to compute Boolean functions of compound properties. These assays can be quickly and cheaply engineered using synthetic biology, enabling more targets to be assayed for a given budget. Eve has repositioned several drugs against specific targets in parasites that cause tropical diseases. One validated discovery is that the anti-cancer compound TNP-470 is a potent inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase from the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium vivax.

Uso de redes neurais artificiais na identificação de vocalização de suínos

Animal welfare has been an important research topic in animal production mainly in its ways of assessment. Vocalization is found to be an interesting tool for evaluating welfare as it provides data in a non-invasive way as well as it allows easy automation of process. The present research had as objective the implementation of an algorithm based on artificial neural network that had the potential of identifying vocalization related to welfare pattern indicatives. The research was done in two parts, the first was the development of the algorithm, and the second its validation with data from the field. Previous records allowed the development of the algorithm from behaviors observed in sows housed in farrowing cages. Matlab® software was used for implementing the network. It was selected a retropropagation gradient algorithm for training the network with the following stop criteria: maximum of 5,000 interactions or error quadratic addition smaller than 0.1. Validation was done with sows and piglets housed in commercial farm. Among the usual behaviors the ones that deserved enhancement were: the feed dispute at farrowing and the eventual risk of involuntary aggression between the piglets or between those and the sow. The algorithm was able to identify through the noise intensity the inherent risk situation of piglets welfare reduction.