Estudo da influência da adoção das práticas de manufatura enxuta na definição de prioridades competitivas: uma pesquisa survey em empresas da região de Bauru-SP

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Educação, qualificação profissional e mercado de trabalho : estudo sobre os impactos na educação da expansão econômica do complexo industrial de SUAPE/PE/Brasil

Essa pesquisa teve como preocupação central conhecer a avaliação que os estudantes do 3° ano do ensino médio da educação básica acerca da educação fornecida pela rede estadual de ensino no estado de Pernambuco quanto à preparação para o mercado de trabalho, especialmente na região do Complexo Industrial de Suape em Pernambuco, Brasil. A pesquisa contou com a participação de 130 alunos que estudavam em duas escolas do município de Ipojuca - onde se localiza o referido Complexo Industrial -, e com 07 autoridades ligadas a educação – responsáveis pelas políticas públicas nessa região e em todo estado – em Pernambuco e nas cidades do Cabo de Santo Agostinho e Ipojuca. Foram aplicados um questionário validado aos alunos e uma entrevista semi-estruturada as autoridades (secretários de estado, gerentes regionais) em educação. Na análise quantitativa fizemos uso do programa SPSS; enquanto que na análise qualitativa utilizamos a análise de discurso. A partir dos dados obtidos conseguimos como resultado que os alunos acreditam que a escola não os prepara adequadamente para o ingresso e permanência no mercado de trabalho, e acreditam ainda, que para que essa constatação possa ser modificada é preciso que haja um investimento maior na qualidade da educação como prioridade em nosso estado e em nosso país. Nesse sentido, analisamos que mesmo com todos os avanços que estão ocorrendo no Brasil, com programas e leis de incentivo a educação básica e profissional, a sociedade globalizada exige cada vez mais investimentos em educação, e que ela deixe de ser dual e torne-se integrada e onilateral, fazendo com que os alunos consigam acreditar na educação e, a partir dela se tornem sujeitos críticos e com oportunidades de ingresso no mercado com as competências que lhe são exigidas para tal fim.

Group Sequential Communication (GSC): Especificação e Análise de Desempenho de umMecanismo de Comunicação de Tempo Real Compatível ao Padrão IEEE 802.11/11e Aplicado à Automação Industrial

This thesis proposes the specification and performance analysis of a real-time communication mechanism for IEEE 802.11/11e standard. This approach is called Group Sequential Communication (GSC). The GSC has a better performance for dealing with small data packets when compared to the HCCA mechanism by adopting a decentralized medium access control using a publish/subscribe communication scheme. The main objective of the thesis is the HCCA overhead reduction of the Polling, ACK and QoS Null frames exchanged between the Hybrid Coordinator and the polled stations. The GSC eliminates the polling scheme used by HCCA scheduling algorithm by using a Virtual Token Passing procedure among members of the real-time group to whom a high-priority and sequential access to communication medium is granted. In order to improve the reliability of the mechanism proposed into a noisy channel, it is presented an error recovery scheme called second chance algorithm. This scheme is based on block acknowledgment strategy where there is a possibility of retransmitting when missing real-time messages. Thus, the GSC mechanism maintains the real-time traffic across many IEEE 802.11/11e devices, optimized bandwidth usage and minimal delay variation for data packets in the wireless network. For validation purpose of the communication scheme, the GSC and HCCA mechanisms have been implemented in network simulation software developed in C/C++ and their performance results were compared. The experiments show the efficiency of the GSC mechanism, especially in industrial communication scenarios.

An activity theory framework for industrial design

Ethnography has gained wide acceptance in the industrial design profession and curriculum as a means of understanding the user. However, there is considerable confusion about the particularities of its practice accompanied by the absence of an interoperable vocabulary. The consequent interdisciplinary effort is a power play between disciplines whereby the methodological view of ethnography marginalises its theoretical and analytical components. In doing so, it restricts the potential of ethnography suggesting the need for alternative methods of informing the design process. This article suggests that activity theory, with an emphasis on human activity as the fundamental unit of study, is an appropriate methodology for the generation of user requirements. The process is illustrated through the adaptation of an ethnographic case study, for the design of classroom furniture in India.

Discrepancy between human resource research and practice : comparison of industrial/organisational psychologists and human resource practitioners' beliefs

There is a large and growing body of research to show that human resource (HR) practices affect individual performance, organisational productivity and organisational performance. Academic findings about effective HR practices, however, have not readily been adopted by practitioners. A variety of theoretical and practical explanations have been advanced about the research-practice gap. Research by Rynes, Colbert, and Brown (2002) suggested that the research-practice gap is due to a lack of knowledge, but the extent to which these findings apply to the Australian context is unknown. The sample consisted of 102 industrial/organisational (I/O) psychologists and 89 HR practitioners. The main aim of the present study was to replicate and extend the work of Rynes et al. by examining and comparing the knowledge of I/O psychologists and HR practitioners. It was found that overall I/O psychologists were better informed about HR research than HR practitioners; in particular, they were more knowledgeable about management practices and recruitment and selection. In both groups, of the five content areas examined (Management Practices; General Employment Practices; Training and Development; Recruitment and Selection; and Compensation and Benefits), the greatest gaps were in Recruitment and Selection.