Design, manufacturing, and testing of a Nb3Sn coil employing Ti alloy as structural material

We describe the design, manufacturing, and testing results of a Nb3Sn superconducting coil in which TiAIV alloys were used instead of stainless steel to reduce the magnetization contribution caused by the heat treatment for the A-15 Nb-3 Sn phase formation that affects the magnetic field homogeneity. Prior to the coil manufacturing several structural materials were studied and evaluated in terms of their mechanical and magnetic properties in as-worked, welded, and heat-treated conditions. The manufacturing process employed the wind-and-react technique followed by vacuum-pressure impregnation(VPI) at 1 MPa atm. The critical steps of the manufacturing process, besides the heat treatment and impregnation, are the wire splicing and joint manufacturing in which copper posts supported by Si3N4 ceramic were used. The coil was tested with and without a background NbTi coil and the results have shown performance exceeding the design quench current confirming the successful coil construction.

An aproach for implementing knowledge management in small and medium companies in Brazil: A case study

The search for competitive advantage in a global environment must consider the use of tacit and explicit knowledge circulating inside companies. Differential factors can be easily replicated nowadays. Due to the great volume of knowledge and information, it is necessary to create a system that allows the management of important knowledge. Existing models for Knowledge Management are based on the reality at large companies. In Brazil, most of the companies are smaller ones. This work presents a simplified model to implement Knowledge Management in Small and Medium Companies in Brazil, based on a unique case study with limited scope. Despite some human and financial restrictions, Knowledge Management can help smaller companies, preserving organizational memory and increasing process efficiency. Observing a unique case prevented any generalization of the model. But the recommendations can be references to other companies, because projects like this must address the specific issues of each organization. The objective of this study is to introduce a simplified model for planning Knowledge Management at small companies in Brazil, considering their restrictions and also seeking to create a competitive advantage. Human aspects are very important in Knowledge Management, but that is not the focus of this study. The model was conceived presuming the participation of all people involved.

Competitiveness of the manufacturing and agro-industrial sectors in the Caribbean with a focus on Dominica, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago

Includes bibliography

Organizational communication and innovation in micro and small companies: a study on the application of the Innovation Radar

This paper is a study on corporate communication and the ability to innovate in small businesses. The guiding question seeks to respond whether organizational communication is able to make progress and / or support innovation in micro and small companies, and the main objective is to analyze the relationship between innovation and organizational communication. It was applied the case study method and document research for interpreting a diagnosis instru- ment called “Innovation Radar” in a small business company located in the countryside of São Paulo state. The diagnosis is made based on assessment dimensions aimed at checking the maturity and the degree of innovation in micro and small companies. By evaluating these di- mensions it was possible to build analytical frameworks and highlight the influence of corporate communication in promoting innovation. The results indicate that every dimension of the “In- novation Radar” can improve their performance by means of corporate communication.

Performance measurement review: a comparison between English and Italian companies

Il sistema di misurazione delle performance (PMS) ha ricevuto particolare attenzione dalla ricerca in ambito accademico e dalle aziende che ogni anno investono risorse nell’implementazione e nel miglioramento di questo strumento. I ruoli assegnati al PMS possono essere: misurazione della performance, implementazione della strategia, comunicazione, allineamento dei comportamenti, apprendimento e miglioramento. Queste differenti finalità sottolineano quanto sia strategica un’efficace implementazione di tale strumento. Negli ultimi anni le aziende si trovano a dover competere in ambienti sempre più turbolenti e mutevoli. La capacità di adattarsi al cambiamento è fondamentale, pertanto anche il PMS deve essere aggiornato per garantire un’implementazione di Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) che siano appropriati e rilevanti, considerando le nuove priorità aziendali e le condizioni al contorno. Questa tesi ha come obiettivo quello di analizzare la revisione del PMS, in quanto un inappropriato set di KPIs implementati possono causare un indebolimento del potenziale di tale strumento ed ancor peggio un fallimento degli investimenti riguardanti tale strumento. L’approccio metodologico di questa tesi è un multiple case-study. Per avere una visione più ampia di come viene sviluppata la revisione del PMS nella pratica si è deciso di inserire nel campione aziende di grandi dimensioni operanti in differenti settori industriali. Le informazioni raccolte attraverso le interviste, hanno permesso di fornire un contributo non presente in letteratura: una categorizzazione delle revisioni svolte dalle aziende e riflessioni su di esse. La limitazione di questo studio è legata ad un basso numero interviste svolte.

Structural design, manufacturing and testing of the new wing for the CSIR's Modular UAS in composite materials

In the framework of an international collaboration with South Africa CSIR, the structural design, manufacturing and testing of the new wing for the Modular UAS in composite materials has been performed.

Hot wire manufacturing and resolution effects in high Reynolds number flows

Lo studio della turbolenza è di fondamentale importanza non solo per la fluidodinamica teorica ma anche perchè viene riscontrata in una moltitudine di problemi di interesse ingegneristico. All'aumentare del numero di Reynolds, le scale caratteristiche tendono a ridurre le loro dimensioni assolute. Nella fluidodinamica sperimentale già da lungo tempo si è affermata l'anemometria a filo caldo, grazie ad ottime caratteristiche di risoluzione spaziale e temporale. Questa tecnica, caratterizzata da un basso costo e da una relativa semplicità, rende possibile la realizzazione di sensori di tipo artigianale, che hanno il vantaggio di poter essere relizzati in dimensioni inferiori. Nonostante l'ottima risoluzione spaziale degli hot-wire, infatti, si può verificare, ad alto numero di Reynolds, che le dimensioni dell'elemento sensibile siano superiori a quelle delle piccole scale. Questo impedisce al sensore di risolvere correttamente le strutture più piccole. Per questa tesi di laurea è stato allestito un laboratorio per la costruzione di sensori a filo caldo con filo di platino. Sono in questo modo stati realizzati diversi sensori dalle dimensioni caratteristiche inferiori a quelle dei sensori disponibili commercialmente. I sensori ottenuti sono quindi stati testati in un getto turbolento, dapprima confrontandone la risposta con un sensore di tipo commerciale, per verificarne il corretto funzionamento. In seguito si sono eseguite misure più specifiche e limitate ad alcune particolari zone all'interno del campo di moto, dove è probabile riscontrare effetti di risoluzione spaziale. Sono stati analizzati gli effetti della dimensione fisica del sensore sui momenti statistici centrali, sugli spettri di velocità e sulle funzioni di densità di probabilità.

Manufacturing and characterization of amorphous silicon alloys passivation layers for silicon hetero-junction solar cells

Nel presente lavoro di tesi magistrale sono stati depositati e caratterizzati film sottili (circa 10 nm) di silicio amorfo idrogenato (a-Si:H), studiando in particolare leghe a basso contenuto di ossigeno e carbonio. Tali layer andranno ad essere implementati come strati di passivazione per wafer di Si monocristallino in celle solari ad eterogiunzione HIT (heterojunctions with intrinsic thin layer), con le quali recentemente è stato raggiunto il record di efficienza pari a 24.7% . La deposizione è avvenuta mediante PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition). Tecniche di spettroscopia ottica, come FT-IR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) e SE (spettroscopic ellipsometry) sono state utilizzate per analizzare le configurazioni di legami eteronucleari (Si-H, Si-O, Si-C) e le proprietà strutturali dei film sottili: un nuovo metodo è stato implementato per calcolare i contenuti atomici di H, O e C da misure ottiche. In tal modo è stato possibile osservare come una bassa incorporazione (< 10%) di ossigeno e carbonio sia sufficiente ad aumentare la porosità ed il grado di disordine a lungo raggio del materiale: relativamente a quest’ultimo aspetto, è stata sviluppata una nuova tecnica per determinare dagli spettri ellisometrici l’energia di Urbach, che esprime la coda esponenziale interna al gap in semiconduttori amorfi e fornisce una stima degli stati elettronici in presenza di disordine reticolare. Nella seconda parte della tesi sono stati sviluppati esperimenti di annealing isocrono, in modo da studiare i processi di cristallizzazione e di effusione dell’idrogeno, correlandoli con la degradazione delle proprietà optoelettroniche. L’analisi dei differenti risultati ottenuti studiando queste particolari leghe (a-SiOx e a-SiCy) ha permesso di concludere che solo con una bassa percentuale di ossigeno o carbonio, i.e. < 3.5 %, è possibile migliorare la risposta termica dello specifico layer, ritardando i fenomeni di degradazione di circa 50°C.

Running Hot and Cold: Economic Liberalization and Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America by Sector

This article examines the effects of market–oriented economic reforms on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Latin America from 1985 to 2006. In contrast with most existing scholarship, we disaggregate FDI into its destination in the primary resource, manufacturing, and service sectors allowing us to determine that different kinds of investments exhibit distinct behavior. Notably, manufacturing FDI appears to be erratic; previous investment is not a predictor of current investment. FDI across sectors is associated with varying policy environments, with service and primary resource investment attracted to hosts with policies associated with more stable economic and political contexts. Overall, manufacturing FDI appears to function more like “hot” portfolio investment and is less likely to provide some of the positive spillover effects thought to be associated with more permanent FDI. These findings have an array of implications for economic, development, and industrial policies throughout Latin America and the developing world.

Quality in healthcare organizations: Its meaning and measurement

This dissertation explores two important aspects of quality in healthcare: its meaning and its measurement. For a better understanding of what quality means, the history of quality in the manufacturing and service industries is reviewed. Concepts that are similar are pointed out as are concepts that are different. The definition introduced by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for quality in healthcare and the six IOM aims of safety, timeliness, patient-centeredness, effectiveness, efficiency, and equitableness for a high quality healthcare system are adopted. The current activities by various organizations that proclaim improvement in quality or measurement of quality as their goal are reviewed. This is followed by examining what is offered by these organizations in terms of how many of IOM aims they address.^ This dissertation ends by offering a quality measurement framework that satisfies all IOM aims. Operational aspects of the measurement framework are discussed. Future areas of research are also discussed.^

Oil and gas companies' corporate social responsibility: Policies and HIV initiatives in Nigeria

This dissertation study describes the health and HIV related initiatives of multinational oil and gas companies that operate in Nigeria, perceptions of oil and gas company employees, oil and gas company leaders, and key informants from government, public health, community and the Nigerian business coalition on HIV. A mixed method approach was used. Study participants include employees and leaders that worked for multinational oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria and key informants residing in Nigeria. The oil and gas companies that were sampled all had initiatives in place that were consistent with accepted recommended best practices for companies responding to HIV. All of the companies provided comprehensive health and HIV services to employees and dependents; all had HIV initiatives in the community and had formed partnerships with government or NGO/civil societies. Study participants shared the perception that corporate social responsibility was integral to the oil and gas companies conducting business in Nigeria due to the economic gains of the companies from the country/communities and because of the negative impact that oil and gas exploration activities had on communities. Themes identified that played a role in oil and gas companies' response and how decisions were/should be made were: 'business interest', 'social or government influence', 'pressure to respond', and 'community factors'. The study produced information that can be used to inform and guide oil and gas companies' health and HIV initiatives in Nigeria.^

Diverging Development Paths of the Electronics Industry in Korea and Taiwan

This paper examines the process and mechanism of economic development in the Republic of Korea and Taiwan through a comparative analysis of the electronics industry in each country. The paper will show that in its initial stage of development, the electronics industry in both economies had the same type of dual structure: a domestic demand sector based on the protected domestic market, and an export sector intended to capitalize on low-wage labor for the international market. However, this dual structure in the two economies faded away after the mid-1970s as their respective indigenous export-oriented enterprises began to develop. But the primary industrial players in each economy were very different. In Korea they were comprehensive electronics manufacturers affiliated with chaebols, and in Taiwan they were small and medium-size enterprises. Differences in the two economies' development mechanisms have brought about this divergence in development paths. In Korea this mechanism has been characterized by the government's positive role and the chaebol's readiness to react to the government's leadership. In Taiwan the development mechanism has been based on the private sector independent from the government. As an extension of such diverged development paths, ICs and personal computers showed spectacular growth in Korea and Taiwan after the 1980s. The development of ICs in Korea was primarily the result of a decisive role played by the chaebol's sizable financial resources, while the competitiveness in personal computers largely reflected the agility and flexibility of Taiwanese small and medium-size enterprises.