Global supply chains of high value low volume products

Imperial Users onl

Modelo de procesos representado en BPMN para guiar la implememtacion de prácticas de desarrollo de software en empresas muy pequeñas armonizando DEVOPS y SCRUM

Los modelos de procesos de negocio son un mecanismo de representación gráfica que ayudan a mejorar la comprensión que se tiene sobre un contexto, el conjunto de pasos que se llevan a cabo dentro de él, las validaciones y reglas de negocio que hacen parte de su universo. Utilizando esto el presente artículo propone un modelo de implementación de prácticas para desarrollo de software basado en las sugerencias de DevOps y como estas pueden ser ejecutadas dentro de SCRUM por parte del Equipo de desarrollo SCRUM (SDT por sus siglas en ingles). El trabajo tiene como objetivo exponer un modelo de implementación de prácticas que integre las sugerencias de DevOps para ser ejecutadas por un equipo de desarrollo en scrum (SDT). Se identifican prácticas para desarrollo de software basado en DevOps. Se determina el momento donde la información aportada es útil para la mejora continua del equipo dentro de SCRUM. Con las practicas identificadas se realiza el modelamiento del proceso general de implementación de prácticas utilizando BPMN, seguido del modelamiento detallado. Por último, expertos evaluaron el modelo detallado de procesos. Se elabora una encuesta de 12 preguntas sobre la comprensión de los modelos de procesos de negocio creados para la implementación de las prácticas. Este instrumento es puesto a la disposición de expertos en el tema para obtener una retroalimentación sobre lo realizado. Los resultados obtenidos son prometedores. El conjunto de prácticas sugeridas por DevOps y su integración en SCRUM permiten establecer un enfoque de calidad preventiva para el mejor desarrollo de productos software. El uso de modelos de procesos de negocio representados con BPMN permite a las empresas una fácil comprensión y adopción de las prácticas propuestas

Solution-processing of Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 solar cells from metal chalcogenides: aspects of absorber crystallisation and interface formation

Photovoltaic (PV) solar cells provide a simple and smart way for direct conversion of sunlight into electricity, which is a clean alternative to conventional fossil fuel-based energy conversion methods. As a result of ongoing research, photovoltaic technologies are becoming both more efficient and cheaper. Thin film solar cells, particularly chalcogenides, are a promising area of research as they offer substantial cost savings as a consequence of reduced material usage and cheaper atmospheric fabrication processes.Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2(CIGS)solar cells are currently the best performing commercially deployed thin film PV technology. However the best performing CIGS devices are fabricated using sophisticated vacuum-based co-evaporation or co-sputtering systems requiring high capital costs and high energy budgets. Lower costs are achievable using alternative atmospheric deposition methods. These typically involve two step processes consisting of electrodeposition, nanoparticle or molecular solution coatings followed by high temperature annealing in a chalcogen containing atmosphere. [Continues.

Results from the NASA Capability Roadmap Team for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)

On January 14, 2004, the President of the United States unveiled a new vision for robotic and human exploration of space entitled, "A Renewed Spirit of Discovery". As stated by the President in the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE), NASA must "... implement a sustained and affordable human and robotic program to explore the solar system and beyond " and ".. .develop new technologies and harness the moon's abundant resources to allow manned exploration of more challenging environments." A key to fulfilling the goal of sustained and affordable human and robotic exploration will be the ability to use resources that are available at the site of exploration to "live off the land" instead of bringing everything from Earth, known as In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). ISRU can significantly reduce the mass, cost, and risk of exploration through capabilities such as: mission consumable production (propellants, fuel cell reagents, life support consumables, and feedstock for manufacturing & construction); surface construction (radiation shields, landing pads, walls, habitats, etc.); manufacturing and repair with in-situ resources (spare parts, wires, trusses, integrated systems etc.); and space utilities and power from space resources. On January 27th, 2004 the President's Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy (Aldridge Committee) was created and its final report was released in June 2004. One of the report's recommendations was to establish special project teams to evaluate enabling technologies, of which "Planetary in situ resource utilization" was one of them. Based on the VSE and the commission's final report, NASA established fifteen Capability Roadmap teams, of which ISRU was one of the teams established. From Oct. 2004 to May 2005 the ISRU Capability Roadmap team examined the capabilities, benefits, architecture and mission implementation strategy, critical decisions, current state-of-the-art (SOA), challenges, technology gaps, and risks of ISRU for future human Moon and Mars exploration. This presentation will provide an overview of the ISRU capability, architecture, and implementation strategy examined by the ISRU Capability Roadmap team, along with a top-level review of ISRU benefits, resources and products of interest, and the current SOA in ISRU processes and systems. The presentation will also highlight the challenges of incorporating ISRU into future missions and the gaps in technologies and capabilities that need to be filled to enable ISRU

Pojav tehnološke triade: opisni pojem današnje totalne realnosti

Scientific discourse refers to triads as conceptual structures whose purpose is to emphasize the connection between concepts included in the description of a certain phenomenon. The famous Popper’s triad is comprised of the world of physical objects and processes (World 1), the world of mental objects, i.e. subjective human experience (World 2) and the world of objective knowledge (World 3), which can be thought of as all the products of thought – the world of information, knowledge, scientific theories, literature, etc. During the past half-century, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and new media began to change our reality on all three levels. Using a comparative analysis, this paper will examine the impact ICT and new media have on the Popper’s World 1, 2 and 3. As it will be shown, the modern age offers a new conceptual triad the aim of which is not to stand against the Popper’s triad but to introduce new integral elements that intersect and interact with it. In this new triad the world of physical objects is being replaced by the world of virtual reality (i.e. the Virtual World), the world of mental objects is replaced by transmental objects (i.e. the Transmental World) and the world of objective knowledge is being replaced by the world of digitized data/information/knowledge in the context of developing AI (i.e. the Digital World). These new architectonic elements build new conceptual structure the aim of which is to define, describe and represent new interrelated concepts essential for better understanding of today’s totality of reality. They form new ontology of the world which describes reality as inseparable from the concepts of information and technology

Presidents, Politics, And Policy: How The Apollo And Shuttle Decisions Shaped Nasa

The two most important decisions in the history of NASA after its founding have been John Kennedy\u27s decision to send humans to the moon and Richard Nixon\u27s decision to develop the space shuttle. This study examines the nature of each decision, and illustrates how each decision resulted from a confluence of world events, presidential personalities, and domestic political pressures. This examination of both primary and secondary historical and policy source materials demonstrates that the individual personalities of each president, especially how each reacted to domestic and international political and economic pressures, played a major role in the formulation of these space policy decisions. Furthermore, the presidential election of 1960 played a critical role in determining the focus of NASA\u27s activities from the early 1960s to this day. These policy decisions directly shaped the nature of NASA\u27s human spaceflight program in the short term, but had unintended consequences in the long term. While each decision produced spectacular results in the moon landings and in the space shuttle program, each decision affected NASA\u27s ultimate growth and curtailed other space-related projects that had been proposed

Vibration and bone – an option for long-term space missions?

Bone is lost during sojourns in microgravity. In order to prevent fractures in future manned inter-planetary missions, efforts are currently being made to develop effective countermeasures. Bones adapt to mechanical stimuli, and biomechanical analysis suggests that muscle forces play an important role. Thus, resistance training is advocated as a first option for a countermeasure modality. In addition, vibration has certain characteristics (well controllable, rapid stretch-shortening and large number of contractions) that could be of interest. Studies in the past decade have shown that conventional resistive exercise may be sufficient to maintain bone when performed on a daily basis, but not when performed only every other day. Whole body vibration without additional load seems to be ineffective, but it shows good potential, and probably will have a genuine effect upon bone when combined with additional loads in the order of twice the body weight. There is now accumulating evidence to suggest that effective exercises exist to counteract microgravity-related bone loss. At least for bed rest, forceful muscle contractions seem to be a prerequisite. They may be fortified, but probably not replaced, by vibration exposure

An Organizational analysis of the inter-organizational relationships between a public American higher education university and six United States corporate supporters : an instrumental, ethnographic case study using Cone's Corporate Citizenship Spectrum

Purpose of the study. This organizational analysis examined corporate citizenship through the interorganizational relationships between a public American doctoral research university and six of its corporate partners as framed through Cone's (2010) corporate citizenship spectrum. The World Economic Forum (2002) has universally defined corporate citizenship as: The contribution a company makes to society through its core business activities, its social investment and philanthropy programmes, and its engagement in public policy. The manner in which a company manages its economic, social and environmental relationships, as well as those with different stakeholders, in particular shareholders, employees, customers, business partners, governments and communities determines its impact. (p. 1) The literature has shown that little research has been conducted regarding the behavior aspects of these inter-organizational relationships. Procedures. A single embedded, instrumental, ethnographic case study viewed organizational participants from 2006 to 2010 and included a public research university, the university's foundation, and two small, two medium, and two large (i.e., Fortune 500) corporations. Research questions used to explore this relationship: (RQ1) Why does a higher education institution accept corporate citizenship engagement and financial support? (RQ2) Why do U.S. corporations engage as corporate citizens in relationships with a higher education institution as identified on Cone's corporate citizenship spectrum as philanthropy, causerelated branding, operational culture, or DNA citizenship ethos? (RQ3) What ethical concerns arise in the engaged inter-organizational relationships between corporations and a higher education institution? Triangulation of data was provided by 36 interviews, more than 12,609 pages of documents and audiovisual materials, and a campus observation of 407 photographs. Findings. Research questions yielded several findings that developed into themes. Three RQ1 themes included: viable resources, student enrichment, and real-world connectivity. Four RQ2 themes included: workforce development, community enrichment, brand development, and research. For RQ3, three themes emerged. First, generally no ethical dilemmas were found. Second, several general ethics discussion topics created five clusters of interest: public relations, solicitation, policies and stewardship, accountability and transparency, and leadership behavior. Third, five disparate ethical concerns were shared; none involved any of the corporate participants. Four other themes emerged relating to culture, economic challenges, alumni connectivity, and geography. Conclusions. This dissertation contributes to the corporate citizenship literature by providing a broad, holistic framework to understand the range of motives and ROI expectations of corporate engagement in the American society as evidenced in inter-organizational relationships with higher education. The research is useful to provide both higher education practitioners and corporations with insights to better design and manage inter-organizational relationships

ACUTA Journal of Telecommunications in Higher Education

This Is Issue Voice over lP: Still Emerging After All These Years Unified Messaging: A Killer App tor lP State-of-the-Art Communications at SUNY Upstate Medical OptlPuter Enables More Powerful Collaborative Research Wireless Technology: A Major Area of Telecommunications Growth Ready for Convergence: lT Management and Technologists Innovation Culture Clashes Speech Recognition Solves Problems Interview President\u27s Message From the Executive Directo

Igniting technological modernization through science towns and technology parks: the case of Russia

Since the turn of the 21st century, the Russian state has attempted to address the country’s excessive dependence on natural resources. It has implemented an ambitious programme of economic modernization, including giving innovation more policy prominence and boosting state funding for research and development (R&D) and innovation. The programme includes a plethora of new initiatives, including innovation strategy documents, R&D funding for institutions, and state support for innovation infrastructure (e.g. clusters, science towns, and science and technology parks). However, despite investing substantial resources in science and technology since 2000 in a variety of forms and with an impressive legacy of scientific R&D from the Soviet period, Russia is still faring comparatively poorly in innovation outcomes, such as the number of innovative enterprises and international patent registrations. This thesis attempts to understand why Russia is performing comparatively poorly in innovation outcomes. It takes a multidisciplinary approach to examine why Russia is not doing as well in economic catch up and innovation as, for example, China. Following Taylor’s (2016) emphasis on the political economy of science, technology, and innovation policies, it suggests that a country’s political economy model is an important driver of innovation performance. The thesis finds that Russia has implemented a wide range of approaches to accelerate growth based on innovation and knowledge and provides new empirical material on Russia’s science towns and technology parks. Yet for all the good intentions and effort, Russia’s larger political economy model, as analysed here, has substantially hindered its rate of innovation and diffusion into commercial enterprises. The challenge of technological modernization is a matter of public concern and a problem to be solved by a diverse range of institutions and societal actors. Accordingly, technological modernization is enlightened by several conceptual perspectives. The five most helpful perspectives used in this thesis are certain modernization theories; rent-seeking (who benefits from modernization processes); neo-Schumpeterian and co-evolutionary growth approaches; innovation systems and innovation policies; and finally, sistema (Ledeneva, 2013), a political economic approach that explains key aspects of Russia’s current authoritarian system