Collaborative Systems Thinking: Identifying the Enablers and Barriers of Higher-level Systems Thinking in Aerospace Engineering Teams

Student research poste

Collaborative Systems Thinking: The Role of Culture and Process in Promoting Higher-level Systems Thinking within Aerospace Teams

Agenda: • Researcher Introduction • Motivation • Research Questions • Expected Contributions to Industry • How You Can Help • Timeline for CompletionLean Advancement Initiative (LAI), National Defense Science and Engineering Fellowship (NDSEG), AIAA Fellowshi

Promoting Collaborative Systems Thinking Through the Alignment of Culture and Process: The Lean Link

Agenda • Motivation • Research Framework • Key Constructs • Objectives • Research Methods • Current Progress • Next Step

Promoting Collaborative Systems Thinking: Aligning Culture and Standardized Process

Student research poste

Corporeal Returns: Theatrical Embodiment and Spectator Response in Early Modern Drama

Taking its cue from the many Renaissance playwrights who emphasized their spectators’ participation, this dissertation develops a model of audience response based on what texts from the period reveal about early modern spectators’ active engagements with staged bodies and stage space. Discussing plays by Shakespeare, Peele, Beaumont, Marston, Ford, Middleton, and Tourneur, I establish an analytical arc that travels gradually deeper into the body, moving from performances that depict the superficial violation of the body to those that represent its violent penetration onstage, thereby encouraging spectators to contemplate the body’s physiological recesses. Early modern anatomical science and its exploration of the body provide a historical backdrop for an analysis of the spectator’s confrontation with the human body’s ontology, while a phenomenological approach to the experience of playgoing respects the importance Renaissance plays placed on the audience’s ability to bring stage phenomena to life. Chapter One argues that the representational strategies of early modern drama encourage a metatheatrical awareness on the part of audiences, by highlighting the conflation of presentation and representation that underlies the theatrical delivery of fictional bodies and places. The distinction between the actor’s persona (which presents) and the character’s persona (which is represented) fundamentally influences the spectator’s engagement with what the body performs—that is, how this dually invested body exists in space and time (the subject of Chapter Two) and what breaches of bodily integrity it can physically withstand within the performance arena (Chapters Three and Four). The drama of the time intimated that by imaginatively participating in the theatrical exploration of the body’s capabilities and limits, early modern spectators could attain the knowledge and power Renaissance culture so often invested in the physical human form

NHS Tayside Assurance and Advisory Group : third progress report

Publisher PD

Probabilistic performance-based geometric tolerancing of compressor blades

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-81).The relationship between tolerances of statically measured geometric parameters and the aerodynamic performance of a sample of manufactured airfoils is investigated in this thesis. The objective is to determine which geometric parameters are the best discriminators of performance, and how these best discriminators are affected by changes in design methodology, manufacturing precision, and desired minimum performance levels. A probabilistic model of geometric variability for a three-dimensional blade is derived. Using this geometric variability model, probabilistic aerodynamic simulations are conducted to analyze the variability in aerodynamic performance. Tolerance optimization is then applied, in which allowable ranges for each geometric parameter are determined so as to maximize the quality of the accepted blades. Optimization is performed at several performance limits to observe how the effectiveness of tolerances and the best geometric discriminators of performance change with performance limit. A set of compressor blade data is used consisting of an original geometry, a deterministic re-design, and a probabilistic re-design. Using the geometric variability model, the variability is also artificially increased to investigate the impact of manufacturing precision on tolerance effectiveness. Results shows the best geometric indicators of performance are leading-edge thickness and measures pertaining to the curve quality of an airfoil. While design can affect the performance of tolerances, tolerances are no less effective on probabilistic designs than deterministic designs.(cont.) Additionally, manufacturing precision affects the best geometric indicators of performance but tolerance effectiveness is not affected.by Caroline Marie Lamb.S.M

The influence of maternal protein intake on aspects of sex-specific foetal and neonatal development in Mastomys Natalensis

Captive multi-mammate mice, Mastomys natalensis, were paired and kept on one of three treatment diets (low, medium and high protein) in order to assess differential maternal investment in the sexes, and sex-specific resource allocation of offspring. The influence of maternal dietary protein content on maternal reproductive performance, sex-specific body composition of pups and pup growth from birth to weaning was determined. Mothers on the high protein diet were larger than those on the lower protein diets, and produced more male than female offspring. Mothers on the lower protein diets did not produce sex-biased litters. Maternal dietary protein intake did not significantly influence litter size or the interval between litters. Litters produced by mothers on the medium (15%) protein diet were significantly larger than those produced by mothers on the low (10%) protein diet. There were no sex-specific differences in body size or body tissue composition of pups at birth of at weaning within each treatment group. At weaning, pups in the 20% protein treatment group had proportionately greater amounts of lean tissue and less body lipid reserves than pups in the 10% protein treatment group. Pups in the 20% protein treatment group were also larger, and had faster growth rates, than those in the 10% protein treatment group. Weaned pups in the 15% protein treatment group had the fastest growth rates and greatest energetic contents of all of the treatment groups. These results suggest that larger mothers on the high (20%) protein diet show differential investment in the sexes, not by allocating more resources to individuals of that sex, but by producing more male than female offspring. Maternal dietary protein intake did not appear to influence the reproductive output of mothers, but did affect pup mass, growth rates and body composition which would have implications for their future success and survival.Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2006.Zoology and Entomologyunrestricte

Collaborative Systems Thinking: A survey of literature in search of team-level systems thinking within aerospace teams

This literature review was prepared in support of research investigating team-level systems thinking. Three critical constructs were identified-team, process, and culture-and the pertinent literature is explored in this white paper. The research focused on the aerospace industry, and as such, this white paper uses illustrative examples from the aerospace industry wherever possible. A fourth construct, that of team-level or collaborative systems thinking, is also addressed. This fourth construct is a new construct put forth by the author and her advisors. This white paper is divided into two main section. The first motivates research on team-level systems thinking as a solution to the growing gap between engineering design and engineering analysis. The second section treats the four critical research constructs identified above. For the first three constructs, a definition is provided based on available literature, examples grounded in aerospace are provided, common metrics are introduced, and threats to validity are discussed. For the fourth construct, a discussion of available literature is presented and a construct definition is proposed

Exploration of the mechanisms enabling team systems thinking

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-214).Aerospace systems are among the most complex anthropogenic systems and require large quantities of systems knowledge to design successfully. Within the aerospace industry, an aging workforce places those with the most systems experience near retirement at a time when fewer new programs exist to provide systems experience to the incoming generation of aerospace engineers and leaders. The resulting population will be a set of individuals who by themselves may lack sufficient systems knowledge. It is therefore important to look at teams of aerospace engineers as a new unit of systems knowledge and thinking. By understanding more about how teams engage in collaborative systems thinking (CST), organizations can better determine which types of training and intervention will lead to greater exchanges of systems-level knowledge within teams. Following a broad literature search, the constructs of team traits, technical process, and culture were identified as important for exploring CST. Using the literature and a set of 8 pilot interviews as guidance, 26 case studies (10 full and 16 abbreviated) were conducted to gather empirical data on CST enablers and barriers. These case studies incorporated data from 94 surveys and 65 interviews. From these data, a regression model was developed to identify the five strongest predictors of CST and facilitate validation. Eight additional abbreviated case studies were used to test the model and demonstrate the results are generalizable beyond the initial sample set. To summarize the results, CST teams are differentiable from non-CST teams.(cont.) Among the most prevalent differentiators is a team's self-reported balance between individual and consensus decision making. Teams that engage in consensus decision making reported stronger engagement in collaborative systems thinking. Another differentiator is the median number of past program experiences on a team. Teams whose members reported more past similar program experiences also reported more engagement in collaborative systems thinking. Data show the number of past similar programs worked is a better predictor than years of industry experience. The apparent enabling effects of qualitative team traits are also discussed. The conclusions of this document propose ways in which these findings may be used to improve training and team intervention within industry, academia, and government.by Caroline Marie Twomey Lamb.Ph.D