A Process Development Project For A Case Company

This paper presents a case study on a process improvement project undertaken by a company in the sustainable energy industry. The project aimed to optimize the gate model for new product development, implement a hybrid-gate model, develop a gate checklist, and create an R&D process flow chart to better manage the R&D process. The study began with a thorough analysis of the existing gate model, which revealed several bottlenecks and inefficiencies. These were addressed through a series of process improvements, including better definition of gate criteria, improved cross-functional collaboration, and enhanced communication with stakeholders. To further improve the R&D process, the company implemented a hybrid-gate model, which integrated elements of both the stage-gate and agile development methodologies. This approach enabled the company to be more responsive to changes in the market and customer needs while maintaining the discipline and rigor of the stage-gate model. In addition, the project team developed a gate checklist, which provided a standardized set of criteria to evaluate project progress at each gate. This allowed the team to identify and address potential issues early in the development process. To provide greater visibility and understanding of the R&D process, the team also created an R&D process flow chart, which outlined the steps involved in new product development and the flow of information and decision-making. The project was successful in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the R&D process, resulting in faster time-to-market for new products and increased customer satisfaction. The gate checklist and R&D process flow chart provided greater transparency and accountability, helping to ensure that projects were delivered on time and within budget. Overall, this case study demonstrates the importance of continuous process improvement in the sustainable energy industry and highlights the potential benefits of a hybrid-gate model, gate checklist, and R&D process flow chart for managing complex development projects

Communicating With Play: Helping Adults Recognize Separation Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder In Preschool Children

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College. Despite well-founded and agreed upon evidence showing preschool-aged children experience anxiety (CDC, 2020), children ages 2-6 are continuously understudied, underdiagnosed, and undertreated for these disorders (NIMH, 2019). Researchers attribute this to the primarily cognitive, as opposed to behavioral symptoms of anxiety, communication deficits during the preschool years, and the nature of childhood amplifying already existing barriers to a diagnosis of anxiety. Because diagnosis is the first step to gaining access to mental health resources and early intervention mitigates symptoms and impaired functioning (Barstead et al., 2018), as well as preventing long-term negative outcomes (Hammen et al., 2008; Ramsawh et al., 2011), it is necessary to lift children’s voices to ensure every child receives the treatment they need. To successfully understand and help children experiencing anxiety, adults can use play, the language of childhood to communicate with children. Make-believe play has been shown to be the child’s version of talk therapy, transcribing internal thoughts and feelings of children into visible and verbal action (Segal, 1973). The history and development of play therapy literature suggest playing with children bridges the gap between the direct expression of adults and the indirect expression of children (Pehrsson, 2007). This analytical review will therefore include literature suggesting ways children with anxiety play differently than children without anxiety. Finally, based on this review, a tool will be developed specifically for parents and teachers to recognize separation anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder through play behaviors and play themes at home and at school

Selecting stories to tell: the gatekeeping of international news at SAfm

The premise of this thesis is that the selection of international news to be aired on the bulletins of SAfm by SABC Radio News staff is influenced by more complex factors than could be seen solely from the prism of an empirical journalistic paradigm. Drawing from data obtained through participant observation and interviewing, it is noted that there has been a revolution from a propagandist approach during apartheid to a professional approach following the demise of apartheid, in the selection of international news for bulletins on SAfm. Using Lewin's theory of forces in decision making and locating it within four out of five levels of a framework of gatekeeping analysis provided by Shoemaker (1991) and Shoemaker et al (200 I), it is concluded that the delimiting well-tested routines of newsmaking act as powerful companions of individuals' selection decisions of international news broadcast on SAfm's bulletins. However, these routines are adapted to meet the organisational demands of the SABC, which as a Public Service Broadcaster (PBS) has embraced the discourse of South African nationalism/panAfricanism, as a major philosophy underpinning the Corporation's coverage of the world. Therefore, some individual, routine and organisational factors influencing the se lection of international news broadcast on SAfm's bulletins, are predetermined and co-determined by the social system (the ideological/discursive structure), which is promoted by certain social institutions. Instances of spokespersons of such institutions as governments, international governmental and non-governmental organisations, etc., officiating the news abound; the gatekeepers use them to meet routine professional standards of journalism. This potentially works to sustain the hegemonic discourses of the powerful in international affairs (in tenns of core/peripheral nations relations, and elite classlruled majority relations) though there is a conscious oppositional effort to modify or dwarf stories that explicitly promote imperialism and to hold rulers accountable to the public. It is posited that the time is ripe for newsworkers responsible for the production of bulletins for SAfm to take the risk that may be necessary to inject a few changes in routine practices that could limit the engineering of consent to the powerful elites in the international arena

Women rights and land reform in South Africa: a case study of KwaZulu-Natal province.

Master of Social Science in Political Science. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg,2019.Post-Apartheid South Africa has been confronted by land conflict and hunger, which are founded on the history of land dispossession during apartheid. Thus, land reform has occupied public discourse in the new South Africa since 1994. Land resource plays significant roles in both agrarian and industrial societies, but the slow pace in South African land reform agenda has created policy gaps and renewed agitations against land inequality in the country. Evidently, lack of effective land management and gender construction in the allocation of land allocations has deepened the land inequality. This has hindered women capacity building, engendered land unproductivity and aggravated poverty in South African households. The study examines the South African land reform and legal framework on women land rights, explores the place of women rights in the land reform scheme, and explores the factors that constitute impediments to women’s land ownership and use, and reconciles women’s land rights (access and ownership) with the realities of land reform in post-apartheid South Africa, particularly that of KwaZulu-Natal Province.The research utilizes liberal feminist theory and capability approach for locating women land rights in context. Based on unstructured interviews and focus group study, the research found compelling evidence of gender discrimination in the land sector in KwaZulu-Natal Province. Furthermore, gender inequalities, in terms of land ownership and rights, have jeopardized attempts at land and agricultural productivity as well curtailing women’s capacity building. Women discrimination is more prevalent in the rural areas due to the sustained patriarchal nature of rural communities in comparison to the cities. In conclusion, despite the legal framework promoting property rights in the country, cases of infringements of the rights continue in rural KwaZulu-Natal.Thus, the government have a responsibility to enforce women’s land right and implement effective land reform in the country

An exploratory study on public perceptions towards crime: a case study of Tongaat community in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.On daily basis, crime has reportedly been an ever-rising issue not only in KZN but also all around the world. With the ever-changing laws and societies, crime has also been a changing phenomenon especially during the apartheid era, which had promoted inequality and then brought about poverty and unemployment among the people of South Africa. Studies have persistently established that poverty and unemployment have given rise to the occurrence of crime in the Democratic Republic of South Africa, as the poor are desperately attempting to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Based on the conceptual analysis of strain and rational choice theories, the study aimed at gaining Tongaat people’s perceptions on crimes that are prevalent in the area, their causes as well as the effects of such crimes on individuals that reside in the community. Using one-on-one open-ended semi-structure interviews, data were collected to describe the phenomenon in relation to relevant literatures. The study identified sexual abuse, hijackings, and robberies, house-breaking to mention but a few as the most prevalent crimes in Tongaat community. Based on the findings of the study, possible policy recommendations were offered to reduce the crime rates in the area

The Educational Leader, Vol. 17, No. 4

The Educational Leader, April 1954, Vol. 17, No. 4, 60 pages, a bulletin by Kansas State Teacher College of Pittsburg

Vulnerability assessment of modern ICT infrastructure from an information warfare perspective.

Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2011.The overall objective of the study is to provide a vulnerability assessment of the mobile communications infrastructure to information warfare attacks; this study has a South African focus. The mobile infrastructure was selected as the infrastructure and mobile devices incorporate the majority of modern ICT technologies, namely social networking, wireless connectivity and mobility, mass storage, as well as the telecommunications elements. The objectives of the study are to: Propose a new information warfare model, and from this deduce a vulnerability assessment framework from the specific information warfare perspective. These are the guiding frameworks and model for the study. Gather information regarding threats and vulnerabilities, with particular focus on potential use in information warfare and relevance to South Africa. Establish the criticality of the mobile infrastructure in South Africa. Use the gathered information in the vulnerability assessment, to assess the vulnerability of the mobile infrastructure and related devices and services. The model and framework are generated through desk-based research. The information is gathered from research protocols that are relevant to both research and risk and vulnerability assessment, these include: expert input through interviews and a research workshop, incident and trend analyses through news and vendor reports and academic publishing, computer simulation, questionnaire survey, and mathematical analyses. The information is then triangulated by using it in the vulnerability assessment. The primary and secondary data shows that attacks on confidentiality are the most prevalent for both computer-based networks and the mobile infrastructure. An increase in threats and incidents for both computer and mobile platforms is being seen. The information security trends in South Africa indicate that the existing security concerns are likely to worsen, in particular the high infection rates. The research indicates that the mobile infrastructure is critical in South Africa. The study validates the proposed framework, which indicates that South Africa is vulnerable to an information warfare attack in general. Key aspects of vulnerability in the mobile infrastructure are highlighted; the apparent high load of the mobile infrastructure in South Africa can be seen as a high risk vulnerability. Suggestions to mitigate vulnerabilities and threats are provided

The Saudi press and the Internet : how Saudi journalists and media decision makers at the Ministry of Culture and Information evaluate censorship in the presence of the Internet as a news and information medium.

The main aim of this study is to explore the opinion of Saudi journalists and media decision makers in the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information towards censorship of the national press in the presence of the Internet. To collect the data for this study, qualitative methods were used. The first method was the observation method, directed at two Saudi daily newspapers, 'Alriyadh and Aleqtisadiah’. A four-week observation was conducted of each paper. The second method was a fact-to-face interview with twenty-one Saudi journalists working for the two newspapers. The final method used in order to collect the required data for this study was face-to-face interviews with eleven decision makers at the Ministry of Culture and Information. The findings of this study indicate that censorship over the national press has been eased compared to three years ago, due to the pressure of multiple factors, which have stimulated the relaxation of censorship. Conversely, other factors play a major role in limiting the easing of censorship over the national press. The Saudi national press and the Ministry of Culture and Information are facing different pressures from two contradictory directions: on the one hand there are factors pressing for the easing of censorship and on the other there are factors pressing for strict censorship