A Study on Design Process Integration between Marketing and R&D of Notebook

This study focuses on building a framework which calculates the weights of FAHP (Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process) method , then integrates the analysis tools such as FQFD (Fuzzy Quality Function Development) and FFMEA (Fuzzy Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) into the framework to construct a two-phase product specifications evaluation process. Therefore, this study builds a framework and process of the new product specification evaluation which integrates the marketing attributes (the evaluation of the customers’ demands)、research attributes and development attributes and manufacture attributes (the evaluation of the failures and defects of the product specifications). It allows the product specifications which are produced by braining storm to be proceeded the evaluation before the prototype test phase and find the optimum product specification. It also can further the companies to optimize the organization resources. This research focuses on not only determining, but also transferring the market attributes to the product R&D specification in order to realize the relationship between the consumers’ demands and the product specification. According to the methodologies represented, this study attempts to fill the gap in the literature by providing an integrative research framework and offers this framework to contribute the tasks and operations in the initial phase of the new product development and build the framework of multidimensional product specifications evaluation. Finally, an example of Notebook is used to illustrate the proposed approach

Developing a Labeled Affective Magnitude scale and Fuzzy Linguistic scale for tactile feeling

Affective design is the inclusion or representation of human emotions and subjective impressions in product design processes. In affective design, a number of different scales are commonly used to reveal and measure subjective emotions related to the design features of products. Osgood's Semantic Differential Scale (SDS) is one of the scales that has often been used for this purpose. However, there are some drawbacks in the SDS due to the ordinal nature of the scale that leads to losses or distortions of a significant amount of information and this makes it difficult to justify parametric statistical analysis. In this study, two scales, namely a Labeled Affective Magnitude (LAM) scale and a Fuzzy Linguistic scale, are developed. The LAM scale is an alternative scale based on magnitude estimation and has ratio properties. The Fuzzy Linguistic scale is an interval scale for which responses are linguistic descriptors that are identified with fuzzy numbers or intervals. The scales were developed for tactile feelings because they are an important factor in product evaluation. Statistical analysis was conducted to compare the scales. There was no significant difference between the newly constructed fuzzy scale and 11 point SDS, whereas there was a significant difference between the newly constructed LAM scale and 11 point SDS

不完全な情報システムのためのラフ集合モデルと知識獲得

国立大学法人長岡技術科学大

Measuring affective responses to vehicle interior textures using Paired Comparisons

The design trend in the automotive industry is currently moving towards exploring more innovative ways of redefining the craftsmanship quality of the vehicle interior trim through perceived quality. Affective engineering has been widely used as a robust method for understanding people’ affective responses to vehicle quality attributes, also being aesthetically and physically pleasing. However, the research has identified the Semantic Differential scale and Likert scale are subject to biases and errors in assessing perceived quality attributes, resulting in non-linear measurements which ends up with poor reliability outcomes. In this study, the affective engineering approach has introduced pair comparison technique in order to measure valid and reliable participants’ affective responses using the multivariate statistical analyses of the Rasch model — with the objective to establish the linear correlation between participants’ affective responses to physical of multisensory cues of touch, vision and feeling of interior vehicle textures. In this research, the use of Rasch analysis of paired comparisons of products to derive a linear measurement of affective response is tested. Seven pieces of interior vehicle textures and nine unidimensionally fit statements to measure the dimension of perceived quality attributes. A computer-based self-report system presented one hundred and sixty-nine participants with pictures of pairs of stimuli and the evaluative statements in all combinations, and the participants were asked to indicate which stimuli satisfied the statement best. The analysis demonstrates the viability of using Rasch analysis to obtain measures of affective response from paired comparisons that participants find the choice faster and easier to make paired comparisons compared with evaluating products separately against the Likert scale. It has improved biases and error where the participants no longer make difficult judgements but that in this case, the fit of the data to the Rasch model is very poor

Improving Recall of Browsing Sets in Image Retrieval from a Semiotics Perspective

The purpose of dissertation is to utilize connotative messages for enhancing image retrieval and browsing. By adopting semiotics as a theoretical tool, this study explores problems of image retrieval and proposes an image retrieval model. The semiotics approach conceptually demonstrates that: 1) a fundamental reason for the dissonance between retrieved images and user needs is representation of connotative messages, and 2) the image retrieval model which makes use of denotative index terms is able to facilitate users to browse connotatively related images effectively even when the users' needs are potentially expressed in the form of denotative query. Two experiments are performed for verifying the semiotic-based image retrieval model and evaluating the effectiveness of the model. As data sources, 5,199 records are collected from Artefacts Canada: Humanities by Canadian Heritage Information Network, and the candidate terms of connotation and denotation are extracted from Art & Architecture Thesaurus. The first experiment, by applying term association measures, verifies that the connotative messages of an image can be derived from denotative messages of the image. The second experiment reveals that the association thesaurus which is constructed based on the associations between connotation and denotation facilitates assigning connotative terms to image documents. In addition, the result of relevant judgments presents that the association thesaurus improves the relative recall of retrieved image documents as well as the relative recall of browsing sets. This study concludes that the association thesaurus indicating associations between connotation and denotation is able to improve the accessibility of the connotative messages. The results of the study are hoped to contribute to the conceptual knowledge of image retrieval by providing understandings of connotative messages within an image and to the practical design of image retrieval system by proposing an association thesaurus which can supplement the limitations of the current content-based image retrieval systems (CBIR)

Communicating about sustainability in fashion : a construal level theory approach

Purpose Communication about sustainability in fashion is complex. While fashion businesses have increasingly sought to manage their sustainability practices, their understanding of how to communicate about sustainability persuasively remains limited. The authors argue that a key problem with a firm’s efforts in communicating about sustainability is that it is a psychologically distant issue for both businesses and stakeholders. This paper aims to apply construal level theory to explore managers’ construal level in shaping communication about sustainability. Design/methodology/approach The paper used a two-phase qualitative methodology. Phase one involved undertaking interviews with ten managers in fashion firms to address communications about sustainability in the UK. In phase two, 16 consumers interpreted and reflected on the persuasiveness of communications about sustainability encompassing both concrete and abstract forms of messaging. Findings The authors identify the factors driving different approaches to communication (concrete and abstract) depending on the construal levels of managers, managers’ perceptions of the construal level of target stakeholders and the perceived authenticity of the sustainability claim. The paper highlights the conditions under which the (mis)match with the brands’ sustainable practices works in crafting communication. The authors also highlight three main communication strategies in responding to the complexity of sustainability in fashion ecosystems: amplification, quiet activist and populist coupling. Research limitations/implications As an in-depth qualitative study, the authors seek to expose an under-researched phenomenon, yet generalisations both within the fashion industry and beyond are limited by this focus. Practical implications Fashion managers need to be flexible and evaluate how their communications about sustainability affect stakeholders’ evaluations of their brands. As sustainability in fashion brands grows, concrete and specific sustainability messaging may be necessary to improve sustainable behaviours. Originality/value The prevailing literature encourages symbiosis between sustainability practices and communications; such relationships are rare, and studies outside the consumer perspective are also rare. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this exploratory study is the first to understand how managers’ construal level influences decisions around communications about sustainability in fashion and how these messages are perceived by consumers

Communicating about sustainability in fashion: A construal level theory approach

Purpose: Communication about sustainability in fashion is complex. Whilst fashion businesses have increasingly sought to manage their sustainability practices, their understanding of how to communicate about sustainability persuasively remains limited. We argue a key problem with a firm’s efforts in communicating about sustainability is that it is a psychologically distant issue for both businesses and stakeholders. We apply construal level theory to explore managers’ construal level in shaping communication about sustainability. Design: The paper used a two-phase qualitative methodology. Phase one undertakes interviews with ten managers in fashion firms addressing communications and sustainability in the UK. In phase two, 16 consumers interpret and reflect on the persuasiveness of communications about sustainability encompassing both concrete and abstract forms of messaging. 2 Findings: We identify the factors driving different approaches to communication (concrete and abstract) depending on the construal levels of managers, the managers’ perceptions of the construal level of target stakeholders, and the perceived authenticity of the sustainability claim. The paper highlights the conditions under which the (mis)match with the brands’ sustainable practices work in crafting communication. We also highlight three main communication strategies in responding to the complexity of the sustainability in fashion ecosystems: amplification, quiet activist and populist coupling. Research limitations/implications: As an in-depth qualitative study, we seek to expose an under-researched phenomenon, yet generalisations both within the fashion industry and beyond are limited by this focus. Practical implications: Fashion managers need to be flexible and evaluate how their communications about sustainability affect stakeholders’ evaluations of their brands. As sustainability in fashion brands grows, concrete and specific sustainability messaging may be necessary to improve sustainable behaviours. Originality/value: Prevailing literature encourages symbiosis between sustainability practices and communications, such relationships are rare, and studies outside the consumer perspective are rare. This exploratory study is the first to understand how managers’ construal level influences decisions around communications about sustainability in fashion and how these messages are perceived by consumers

Rethinking the risk matrix

So far risk has been mostly defined as the expected value of a loss, mathematically PL (being P the probability of an adverse event and L the loss incurred as a consequence of the adverse event). The so called risk matrix follows from such definition. This definition of risk is justified in a long term “managerial” perspective, in which it is conceivable to distribute the effects of an adverse event on a large number of subjects or a large number of recurrences. In other words, this definition is mostly justified on frequentist terms. Moreover, according to this definition, in two extreme situations (high-probability/low-consequence and low-probability/high-consequence), the estimated risk is low. This logic is against the principles of sustainability and continuous improvement, which should impose instead both a continuous search for lower probabilities of adverse events (higher and higher reliability) and a continuous search for lower impact of adverse events (in accordance with the fail-safe principle). In this work a different definition of risk is proposed, which stems from the idea of safeguard: (1Risk)=(1P)(1L). According to this definition, the risk levels can be considered low only when both the probability of the adverse event and the loss are small. Such perspective, in which the calculation of safeguard is privileged to the calculation of risk, would possibly avoid exposing the Society to catastrophic consequences, sometimes due to wrong or oversimplified use of probabilistic models. Therefore, it can be seen as the citizen’s perspective to the definition of risk