The User Experience Redesign of a Product Instruction Manual Using the Poka Yoke Principle

The purpose of this research is to address the issues associated with user experience in consumer products, particularly in the introduction phase of consumer product acceptance. Instructional manuals serve the role of educating new users on how to assemble or operate a new product, aiming to bridge the gap between the intended use idealized by the designer and the actual use that a consumer would intuitively perform. Historically however, instruction manuals have been known to be confusing and not usful.;The design of a toy spider instruction manual was analyzed using sequential explanatory method to determine the effectiveness of the instruction manual using a descriptive survey (User Experience Questionnaire) and grounded theory was used to develop themes that would describe issues in the instruction manual. The study utilized the design aspects of user experience, usability and desirability to determine the successes and short comings of the manual. To address design issues, the industrial manufacturing principle, poka yoke was used. Poka yoke, or mistake proofing, is a strategy used by engineers to inspect products during the assembly process to check for errors instead of conducting quality control at the end of assembly.;The results presented 12 themes that were used to revise the instruction manual. For this experiment, it was found that the implementation of the poka yoke principle increased the scales of attractiveness and desirability, and decreased the usability of the instruction manual as defined by the descriptive survey

Determination of Natural Radioactivity and Hazard in Soil and Rock Samples in a Mining Area in Ghana

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The role of regulatory credibility in effective bank regulation

This paper develops a model of regulated Brownian motion with an endogenous profit term to analyze the role of regulatory credibility on the stability and productivity of the banking system. We show that when regulatory intervention is perfect and costless, the volatility of the system can be substantially reduced with no loss of productivity. In fact, perfect credibility can actually reduce the volatility of intrinsically risky banking systems below the volatility of intrinsically less risky systems as banks anticipate intervention and mitigate their investment behaviour accordingly. However, when the credibility of the regime is weakened because of increased uncertainty stemming from regulation, such as random costs or imperfect timing of regulatory intervention, both the stability and productivity of the financial system are impaired. Importantly, we find that in the presence of regulatory costs and imperfect credibility, there is no universal optimal intervention policy rule. The optimal regulatory system depends on the regulator’s level of absolute risk aversion

Convexity, magnification, and translation: the effect of managerial option-based compensation on corporate cash holdings

Using the distinctions among the convexity, magnification, and translation effects, we identify the pertinent parameters and examine empirically the relation between cash holdings and option-based managerial compensation. We show that changes in delta reduce the effects of magnification and convexity on managerial risk aversion. We also provide evidence that there is a negative relation between the option-based incentives delta and vega and cash holdings. These results are robust when incentives are extended to include all executive board members and when the sample is broken down according to different risk characteristics

Macroeconomic effects on emerging-markets sovereign credit spreads

This paper investigates the explanatory and forecasting power of macroeconomic fundamentals on emerging market sovereign credit spreads. We pay special attention to a new set of macroeconomic factors related to market values that reflect investor expectations concerning future economic performance. The model we propose captures a significant part of the empirical variation in spreads. Importantly, it also includes a powerful forecasting component that extends up to 12 months outside the sample period. The forward-looking variables that we construct are significant and complement and enhance the explanatory content of the conventional variables found in the extant literature

Accountability of Education and Secondary School Performance in Tandahimba and Mtwara Districts, Tanzania

This study sought to establish level of accountability of education actors in relation to current status of education delivery and its resultant academic performance of secondary schools in Tandahimba and Mtwara Districts, Tanzania. The study was underpinned by Principal-Agency Theory and Public Choice Theory and it employed the cross-sectional explanatory design through questionnaire as source of data from 229 respondents who were sampled from the population of 563 education administrators. Furthermore, seven district level officers were purposively selected for in-depth interview while 10 teachers and 10 parents were conveniently selected to participate in the focus group discussion. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics whilst qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The quantitative findings indicate that education actors were accountable in their roles. However, the qualitative findings revealed that heads of schools and school management teams were not accountable for involvement of parents in school management; some heads of schools were burdens to schools since they did not have managerial skills, experience and knowledge. The findings are in line with the theoretical thinking of public choice theory, which proposes that lower accountability of education actors compromises delivery of quality education in secondary schools. Based on the findings, this study recommends that the local government should enhance the accountability of head of schools and school management teams by involving community and parents in the management of schools. Moreover, heads of schools have to be trained after being appointed so as to impart them with managerial knowledge and skills so as to regulate their performance and eventually their accountability

Workforce Diversity And Organizational Communication: Analysis Of Human Capital Performance And Productivity

The twenty-first century organizations are increasingly becoming multicultural workplaces for communication. This paper explores recent literature on the increasing global influence of workforce diversity and its affect on workplace communication. It provides a model for the discussion of the opportunities and challenges of diversity in the workplace. The paper then provides an analytical framework that guides readers with practical ideas that can assist them in their endeavors to effectively communicate in a globally diverse work environment.  The paper stresses that effective communication in a diverse workforce ensures a high level of performance and productivity for human and intellectual capital and   provides business organizations a competitive advantage in their expanded markets and in the global economy