Essays on innovation in manufacturing environments: strategy and production

La present tesi doctoral és un recull de cinc articles científics que analitzen l'ús d'innovacions dins l'àmbit manufacturer. Entenent el concepte innovació en un sentit ampli, no només tecnològic. La tesi està estructurada en dos grans apartats, estratègia i producció. En el primer dels apartats, s'inclouen tres treballs. El primer treball és un anàlisi de quines són les principals barreres percebudes per les empreses en la cooperació en R&D. Els altres dos treballs són estudis empírics del comportament estratègic de les empreses que pertanyen al sector tèxtil i confecció. Respecte al segon gran apartat, producció, es presenten dos treballs. El primer treball, presenta per primer cop a Espanya dades detallades sobre l'ús d'innovacions tecnològiques dins l'àmbit manufacturer així com analitza el seu impacte en els resultats de l'empresa. Finalment, l'últim dels treballs estudia la relació entre l'ús d'innovacions organitzatives i la implantació de diferents nivells de qualitat dins l'empresa.

Research by design : a research strategy

The idea of an expressive component in research is important to the architectural industry. The expressive element - the possibility of expressing the qualitative aspects of the world and adding something new to the existing through experiments and proposals - is characteristic for the field. All research environments, in the science tradition and in the humanities, have their characteristics. On the one hand, they live up to certain common scientific and methodological criteria - originality and transparency – and on the other hand, they have different practices, using different methods. Research is ‘coloured’ by traditions and professions, and research in architecture should be coloured too, taking into consideration that the practice of architects stretches from natural science and sociology to art and that the most important way in which the architect achieves new cognition is through work with form and space – drawings, models and completed works. Probably all good design is informed by some kind of research – research- based design. But can research arise from design?

Comparing cochlear implant users' and their partners' subjective assessment of verbal strategy use with objective assessment: does this change following psychosocial therapy?

This paper investigates the effectiveness of a group-based psychosocial rehabilitation program for cochlear implant patients and their frequent communication partners.

Pediatric conversion to the HiResolution processing strategy: 6 case studies

This paper presents a study documenting the general trends in the programming techniques, aided behavioral thresholds, speech perception abilities, and overall behavior when converting children into processing strategy called HiResolution (HiRes), used with the Advanced Bionics Clarion II Cochlear Implant System.

EU Grand Strategy: Optimism is Mandatory. Egmont Security Policy Brief No. 36, July 2012

The Arab Spring, the American pivot, and the global crisis: these affect all of EU external action, but also present opportunities for EU action. A debate on grand strategy remains necessary.