Increasing the effectiveness of product development teams : a study of quality function deployment and time-to-market drivers

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-96).Over the last two decades, manufacturing expertise and quality have been a prime focus of most companies. As the playing field becomes more level in these areas, however, more companies are looking for other sources of competitive advantage. One area which has come under increasing attention is that of product development. This thesis researches methods for increasing the effectiveness of product development teams. It looks at ways to enhance the ability of these teams to deliver a product with a high degree of customer satisfaction in a compressed amount of time. The author spent six months at a consumer product company where a case study was done on the use of a product development tool called quality function deployment (QFD). Implementation and effectiveness issues of QFD were researched, with the conclusion that QFD is a useful tool for structuring the product development process, but that it must be used as part of an overall project strategy, and not as the main strategy itself Also researched was whether or not design team participation in customer interviews would affect the team members' commitment to and alignment with customer needs. Although a detailed research design was planned and carried out, no statistically conclusive results could be determined from the data. The author speculates that one of the major drivers of these inconclusive results was the team's focus on schedule. This time-to-market pressure was studied in more detail in order to determine its root causes. The research indicates that for many product development projects the root causes of time-to-market pressure span the whole hierarchy of the company, and this hierarchy can be broken into four levels: the level of the firm, level of the project, level of the individual, and level of the task.by Mark Martin.S.M

Jornalismo e eleições: uma análise sobre o conteúdo das entrevistas do Jornal Nacional da TV Globo com os candidatos à presidência Bolsonaro e Lula

O cenário político atual do Brasil ainda reflete a polarização vivida nos últimos anos. Desde 2002, o Jornal Nacional (JN) da TV Globo realiza entrevistas com os principais candidatos à presidência da República durante o período eleitoral. Diante da situação atual do país, esta pesquisa julgou importante analisar as dinâmicas e temáticas realizadas pelo JN com os dois principais candidatos à presidência nas eleições de 2022, segundo as pesquisas eleitorais. Para isso, foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica que contextualiza o momento atual do Brasil e também recorre-se a autores que trabalham os recursos utilizados em entrevistas e faz-se uma análise de conteúdo com base em uma decupagem das entrevistas com os dois principais candidatos. Na pesquisa foi identificado que os temas tratados têm focos diferentes e estão relacionados com a polarização política que influenciou diretamente a eleição presidencial de 2022

Women’s pelvic floor muscle strength and urinary and anal incontinence after childbirth: a cross-sectional study

Abstract OBJECTIVE To analyse pelvic floor muscle strength (PFMS) and urinary and anal incontinence (UI and AI) in the postpartum period. METHOD Cross-sectional study carried out with women in their first seven months after child birth. Data were collected through interviews, perineometry (Peritron™), and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF). RESULTS 128 women participated in the study. The PFMS mean was 33.1 (SD=16.0) cmH2O and the prevalence of UI and AI was 7.8% and 5.5%, respectively. In the multiple analyses, the variables associated with PFMS were type of birth and cohabitation with a partner. Newborn’s weight, previous pregnancy, UI during pregnancy, and sexual activity showed an association with UI after child birth. Only AI prior to pregnancy was associated with AI after childbirth. CONCLUSION Vaginal birth predisposes to the reduction of PFMS, and caesarean section had a protective effect to its reduction. The occurrence of UI during pregnancy is a predictor of UI after childbirth, and women with previous pregnancies and newborns with higher weights are more likely to have UI after childbirth.AI prior to pregnancy is the only risk factor for its occurrence after childbirth. Associations between PFMS and cohabitation with a partner, and between UI and sexual activity do not make possible to conclude that these variables are directly associated

Aluminum as a source of background in low background experiments

Neutrinoless double beta decay would be a key to understanding the nature of neutrino masses. The next generation of High Purity Germanium experiments will have to be operated with a background rate of better than 10^-5 counts/(kg y keV) in the region of interest around the Q value of the decay. Therefore, so far irrelevant sources of background have to be considered. The metalization of the surface of germanium detectors is in general done with aluminum. The background from the decays of 22Na, 26Al, 226Ra and 228Th introduced by this metalization is discussed. It is shown that only a special selection of aluminum can keep these background contributions acceptable.Comment: 11 pages, 3 Tables, 11 Figures, accepted for publication in NIM

Behavior and Impact of Zirconium in the Soil–Plant System: Plant Uptake and Phytotoxicity

Because of the large number of sites they pollute, toxic metals that contaminate terrestrial ecosystems are increasingly of environmental and sanitary concern (Uzu et al. 2010, 2011; Shahid et al. 2011a, b, 2012a). Among such metals is zirconium (Zr), which has the atomic number 40 and is a transition metal that resembles titanium in physical and chemical properties (Zaccone et al. 2008). Zr is widely used in many chemical industry processes and in nuclear reactors (Sandoval et al. 2011; Kamal et al. 2011), owing to its useful properties like hardness, corrosion-resistance and permeable to neutrons (Mushtaq 2012). Hence, the recent increased use of Zr by industry, and the occurrence of the Chernobyl and Fukashima catastrophe have enhanced environmental levels in soil and waters (Yirchenko and Agapkina 1993; Mosulishvili et al. 1994 ; Kruglov et al. 1996)

Electrical Sintering of Silver Nanoparticle Ink Studied by In-Situ TEM Probing

Metallic nanoparticle inks are used for printed electronics, but to reach acceptable conductivity the structures need to be sintered, usually using a furnace. Recently, sintering by direct resistive heating has been demonstrated. For a microscopic understanding of this Joule heating sintering method, we studied the entire process in real time inside a transmission electron microscope equipped with a movable electrical probe. We found an onset of Joule heating induced sintering and coalescence of nanoparticles at power levels of 0.1–10 mW/m3. In addition, a carbonization of the organic shells that stabilize the nanoparticles were found, with a conductivity of 4 105 Sm−1

Integration of additive manufacturing and inkjet printed electronics: a potential route to parts with embedded multifunctionality

Additive manufacturing, an umbrella term for a number of different manufacturing techniques, has attracted increasing interest recently for a number of reasons, such as the facile customisation of parts, reduced time to manufacture from initial design, and possibilities in distributed manufacturing and structural electronics. Inkjet printing is an additive manufacturing technique that is readily integrated with other manufacturing processes, eminently scalable and used extensively in printed electronics. It therefore presents itself as a good candidate for integration with other additive manufacturing techniques to enable the creation of parts with embedded electronics in a timely and cost effective manner. This review introduces some of the fundamental principles of inkjet printing; such as droplet generation, deposition, phase change and post-deposition processing. Particular focus is given to materials most relevant to incorporating structural electronics and how post-processing of these materials has been able to maintain compatibility with temperature sensitive substrates. Specific obstacles likely to be encountered in such an integration and potential strategies to address them will also be discussed

The mesencephalic root of the fifth nerve. A comparative anatomical study

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49899/1/900460202_ftp.pd