A fuzzy front end model for concurrent specification in new product development

This research reports on the development of a new model for an early design stage in new product development (NPD) programmes called the Fuzzy Front End (FFE). The new FFE model aims at overcoming two kinds of limitations identified in previous FFE models. The first limitation concerns current trends in FFE model improvement including the need for a data-driven model, and to address agile development, incremental and radical NPDs, balanced explicitness and responsiveness characteristics, and balanced procedural and performative structures. The second limitation concerns deficiencies in the performance structure and operating mechanism regarding contextual performance and concurrent collaboration. This means that performances in the FFE do not systematically link with each other, either in a single functional domain or multidimensionally across diverse functional domains, but instead exist independently. A pragmatic-prescriptive model has been functionally embodied by analysing real-world FFE scenarios using inductive reasoning. The model is data-driven with a performative structure wherein parameters can interlock for contextual performance and concurrent collaboration throughout the entire FFE process. With this interlocking structure, once an initial parameter is produced, all remaining parameters considered from both perspectives can be obtained successively. This model allows performers to explicitly understand the purpose and roles of parameters and their relationships from both perspectives when processing parameters. The model thus leads to more agile FFE execution by reducing the iterative work needed to correct defective parameters which have not been handled with contextual performance and concurrent collaboration in mind but instead exist independently. A theoretical-descriptive model, produced by validating the developed pragmatic-prescriptive model, using deductive reasoning, consists of mathematical formulas, providing the underlying concept of an overall FFE as well as that of its parts. Consequently, the pragmatic-prescriptive model can serve as functional performance guidance, while the theoretical-descriptive model can serve as conceptual performance guidance when employing the pragmatic-prescriptive model.Open Acces

There Isn\u27t Anything that Guy Can\u27t Teach About Cars : How Nontraditional Female Career and Technical Education Students Perceive Instructor Effectiveness

This study explored how female Career and Technical Education (CTE) students who enter predominantly male-attended programs perceive instructor effectiveness. Although previous research has shed light on structural and social barriers faced by females wanting to enter these programs (Whitehead, 2013), new information suggests that CTE instructors engaged in prolonged professional development focused on improving instructional skills can support beneficial learning outcomes for their students (NRCCTE, 2013). It has also been suggested that improved knowledge of instructional approaches can increase nontraditional female students’ successful completion of their CTE programs (NRCCTE, 2013). Consequently, I sought to better understand three factors associated with effective CTE instructors, namely their content knowledge, pedagogical skills, and dispositions. Using qualitative methodologies in this case study, I documented how three female CTE students enrolled in an automotive technology program perceived their CTE instructor’s knowledge, skills, and dispositions. A main objective of the study was to allow an opportunity for these female students to have a reflective voice and provide insights about their experiences learning with their effective CTE instructor. Findings revealed that informants were influenced by their instructor’s understanding of content knowledge, his vast knowledge of pedagogical skills, and the dispositions he held toward the nontraditional female students who enter his program. This study offers administrators, researchers, and practitioners insights into the construct of effective practice in CTE contexts where female students enter male-dominated technical programs

University of Nebraska at Omaha 2020-2021 Course Catalog

Located in one of America’s best cities to live, work and learn, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s premier metropolitan university. With more than 15,000 students enrolled in 200-plus programs of study, UNO is recognized nationally for its online education, graduate education, military friendliness, and community engagement efforts. Founded in 1908, UNO has served learners of all backgrounds for more than 100 years and is dedicated to another century of excellence both in the classroom and in the communit

2021-2022 University of Nebraska at Omaha Catalog

Located in one of America’s best cities to live, work and learn, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s premier metropolitan university. With more than 15,000 students enrolled in 200-plus programs of study, UNO is recognized nationally for its online education, graduate education, military friendliness, and community engagement efforts. Founded in 1908, UNO has served learners of all backgrounds for more than 100 years and is dedicated to another century of excellence both in the classroom and in the communit

Prospecting otherwise : stirring culture´s role in tackling the climate emergency

No pico do progresso preconizado desde o modernismo, que “hipernormaliza” (Yurchak 2006) um entendimento antropocêntrico de agência absoluta sobre o planeta, tornam-se hoje gritantemente audíveis as vozes críticas dos não-humanos: enfrentamos uma iminente colisão frontal com “Gaia” (Lovelock e Margulis 1974) e um provável fim de mundo como o conhecemos. As alterações climáticas e os desequilíbrios impostos ao Sistema Planetário da Terra pairam como um “hiperobjecto” (Morton 2013). A presente investigação pretende reflectir sobre as implicações culturais da actual crise climática e ecológica, e explorar o papel das práticas artísticas contemporâneas no combate às tendências de negação, desinteresse e desconhecimento face à ameaça existencial vigente. A proposta toma a forma de um programa de artes performativas e visuais a apresentar em Portugal ao longo da temporada 2023/2024 – incluindo onze locais em todo o país –, fundado num processo de escuta profunda das preocupações da sociedade portuguesa relativamente às alterações climáticas e inspirado num amplo legado de iniciativas no âmbito da programação cultural associada a estas temáticas. Prospecting Otherwise (PO) [Prospectar outro Devir] propõe-se contribuir para uma imperativa mudança de paradigma cultural, tendo em vista reconfigurar, através da experiência artística, modos de conhecimento e construção de sentido face ao colapso, na expectativa de instigar uma alternativa “ecocêntrica” (Curry 2006) de modos de ser, aliada a uma nova “ética de possibilidade” (Appadurai 2013). Este projecto procura debater modos de catalisar a capacidade partilhada de mudança radical, desenhando novas orientações para o emergente devir planetário, humano e nãohumano, hoje antecipado pela crise climática.As humans reach the peak of modernity’s achievements, anthropocentric worldviews have become “hypernormalised” (Yurchak 2006). However, nonhuman critical voices are louder than ever: eminently facing a frontal collision with “Gaia” (Lovelock and Margulis 1974), humankind may soon witness an end to an all-too-human world. Climate change and the unbalances imposed on the Earth’s Planetary System loom as an “hyperobject” (Morton 2013). The present research intends to deepen the understanding of the cultural implications of the current climate crisis and explore the role of contemporary artistic practices in countering trends of denialism, disengagement, and unknowingness. This endeavour takes the form of a performing and visual arts programme unfolding in eleven different venues across Portugal and throughout one season (2023/2024) – Prospecting Otherwise (PO) –, grounded in a process of “deep listening” (Oliveros 2005) to Portuguese societal concerns regarding climate change and inspired in preceding cultural programming initiatives echoing these topics. PO sets to contribute to an imperative cultural paradigm shift: it aims at reconfiguring, through the experience of art, means of knowing and making sense of impending collapse, towards an alternative, “ecocentric” (Curry 2006), “ethics of possibility” (Appadurai 2013). This project aims at discussing and practising modes of catalysing shared capacity for radical change, which might enable gearing away from the anticipated planetary “extinction as usual” (Rowan 2015)

Wireless Sensor Networks

The aim of this book is to present few important issues of WSNs, from the application, design and technology points of view. The book highlights power efficient design issues related to wireless sensor networks, the existing WSN applications, and discusses the research efforts being undertaken in this field which put the reader in good pace to be able to understand more advanced research and make a contribution in this field for themselves. It is believed that this book serves as a comprehensive reference for graduate and undergraduate senior students who seek to learn latest development in wireless sensor networks

Transitions in teacher education and professional identities: proceedings

The University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, was the host for the 2014 Annual Conference of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE), which took place in August, from the 25th to the 27th. The Conference focused on Transitions in Teacher Education and Professional Identities looked at the transitions in teacher education and analysed different experiences in professional identity of (student) teachers from an international perspective. Three keywords may be identified: challenges in teaching, dilemmas in teacher education and in teacher educators’ role and current trends that are shaping teacher education in different contexts. Similar dilemmas and even contradictions have been identified in different settings with different modes of government intervention in teacher education in which content, structure and duration are also diverse but with similar features. Another key theme discussed at the Conference was the complexity of the concept of identity and also the contested nature of the transitions: transitions for what? How? Why? These transitions and shifts in teacher education and professional identities need to be examined within the context of current policies but also in the light of the complexities and contradictions of teaching as a profession. Teacher educators are also facing transitions in teacher education curricula but also regarding their own identities. These are complex processes that may include resistance and turbulence because transitions may be troublesome for many reasons. In this regard context and language matter but also the kinds of policies and practices that exist within teacher education. There are questions that remain unanswered. However, despite the differences, the dilemmas, and even the contradictions, teacher education can make a difference in professional identity development as was the case of successful experiences that have been described in the Conference

Cumulative index to NASA Tech Briefs, 1986-1990, volumes 10-14

Tech Briefs are short announcements of new technology derived from the R&D activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These briefs emphasize information considered likely to be transferrable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. This cumulative index of Tech Briefs contains abstracts and four indexes (subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief number) and covers the period 1986 to 1990. The abstract section is organized by the following subject categories: electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, computer programs, life sciences, mechanics, machinery, fabrication technology, and mathematics and information sciences