1,637 research outputs found
Rationality in systems engineering : Beyond calculation or political action
No full textThis paper is written in favor of rationality in systems engineering. Operational rationality is the foundation for the improvement of quality, cost, and delivery (QCD) that leads to continued success in the market place. On both sides of operational rationality lie pitfalls that plague most systems-engineering decision making. On one side lies hand waving and political action. On the opposite side lies mathematical certainty, very enticing to the educated mind, but lacking in broad decision-making capability. In this paper we set forth the principles of operational rationality in systems engineering. These principles guide the evaluation, improvement, and development of systems-engineering practices and methods
The Pugh Controlled Convergence Method: Model-Based Evaluation and Implications for Design Theory
No full textThis paper evaluates the Pugh Controlled Convergence method and its relationship to recent developments in design theory. Computer executable models are proposed simulating a team of people involved in iterated cycles of evaluation, ideation, and investigation. The models suggest that: 1) convergence of the set of design concepts is facilitated by the selection of a strong datum concept; 2) iterated use of an evaluation matrix can facilitate convergence of expert opinion, especially if used to plan investigations conducted between matrix runs; and 3) ideation stimulated by the Pugh matrices can provide large benefits both by improving the set of alternatives and by facilitating convergence. As a basis of comparison, alternatives to Pugh's methods were assessed such as using a single summary criterion or using a Borda count. These models suggest that Pugh's method, under a substantial range of assumptions, results in better design outcomes than those from these alternative procedures
An evaluation of the pugh controlled convergence method
No full textThis paper evaluates a method known as Pugh Controlled Convergence and its relationship to recent developments in design theory. Computer executable models are proposed simulating a team of people involved in iterated cycles of evaluation, ideation, and investigation. The models suggest that: 1) convergence of the set of design concepts is facilitated by the selection of a strong datum concept; 2) iterated use of an evaluation matrix can facilitate convergence of expert opinion, especially if used to plan investigations conducted between matrix runs; and 3) ideation stimulated by the Pugh matrices can provide large benefits both by improving the set of alternatives and by facilitating convergence. As a basis of comparison, alternatives to Pugh's methods were assessed such as using a single summary criterion or using a Borda count. The models we developed suggest that Pugh's method, under a substantial range of assumptions, results in better design outcomes than those from these alternative procedures.</p
The resuscitation of Hebrew and its implications for language revitalization
No full textIn this paper the author addresses the revival process undergone by the Hebrew language and compares it to revitalization processes, such as the ones undergone by Maori, Basque and Pipil. Even though, the historical, religious and ideological reasons that allowed the revival of Hebrew are not present elsewhere, many lessons can be learned for language revitalization by taking a closer look to the Hebrew revival process. Instead of the religious and ideological reasons present in the Hebrew case, the author proposes the recovery and appreciation of their cultural identity in cases of completely assimilated peoples as a sine qua non requirement for language revitalization
On Nahuat-Pipil hermeneutics: a Salvadoran native language under erasure
No full textThis paper examines how a literary national canon is consolidated excluding the study of the most important Native language of the country. Adapting Natives to a folkloric figure and assimilating Otherness to the Same, Nahuat-Pipil linguistic legacy was ignored during the 20th century. The paper reveals a huge disparity between foreign and Salvadoran linguistics. It outlines a scientific discrepancy, as well as it sketches the nationalistic perspectives that timidly approach the study of the Nahuat-Pipil language: P. Arauz (1926/1960) T. Fidias Jiménez (1935), J. Todd (1953), M. de Baratta (1959), P. Geoffroy Rivas (1961). Salvadoran artistic canon invents the figure of a Native without a mother tongue. Indeed, two foreigners accomplished the main grammatical and mythological compilations: Leonhard Schultze-Jena (1935) and Lyle Campbell (1985). For this reason, the advance of Nahuatl-Mexicano studies —with more than four hundred and fifty works (M. León- Portilla in T. Sullivan, 1976) — has barely affected Salvadoran monolingual canon. At the verge of the civil war, the Native’s image was reduced to an ancient inhabitant of Atlantis (Salarrué, 1974) or to a guerrilla fighter (Dalton, 1974), according to the philosophy and politics of the author. Nowadays, despite a new intellectual sphere, current works on Native linguistics (R. Andrews (2003), M. Launay (1994), J. Lockhart (2001), etc.), and ethno-history (L. Matthew and S. Romero, 2012) have not yet produced a radical change in the viewpoint that Salvadoran intellectual history bestows on Nahuat-Pipil language and literature. As a political being —but barely gifted with language— Nahuat-Pipil research is still missing, despite the rise of Central American Cultural Studies. Its hermeneutics —grammatical categories, syntax and poetics— continue to be unexplored
An investigation of the penetration of Taguchi quality engineering in five U.S. corporations
No full textThesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1988.Title as it appeared in MIT Graduate list, June, 1988: An investigation of the implementation of Taguchi method quality engineering in five U.S. corporations.Bibliography: leaves 111-115.by Jeffrey A. Morrow.M.S
Quality function deployment : a study of implementation and enhancements
No full textThesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1992.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-133).by Amitabh Pandey.M.S
Managing variation during preproduction activities
No full textThesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1994, and Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-102).by Shawn P. Patterson.M.S
The resuscitation of Hebrew and its implications for language revitalization
No full textIn this paper the author addresses the revival process undergone by the Hebrew language and compares it to revitalization processes, such as the ones undergone by Maori, Basque and Pipil. Even though, the
historical, religious and ideological reasons that allowed the revival of Hebrew are not present elsewhere, many lessons can be learned for language revitalization by taking a closer look to the Hebrew revival process. Instead of the religious and ideological reasons present in the Hebrew case, the author proposes the recovery
and appreciation of their cultural identity in cases of completely assimilated peoples as a sine qua non requirement for language revitalization
Delle lodi di don Francesco Medici de' principi di Toscana : orazione /
No full textEngraved t.p. vignette of Medici arms. On recto of 2nd leaf is Callot's full-page engraved port. of Francesco de' Medici, son of Grand Duke Ferdinand I. It is in Lieure's 1st state. The port. also appeared the same year in Alessandro Adimari's Esequie dell' ill.mo & ecc.mo principe don Francesco Medici (Florence : Gio. Donato & Bernardino Giunti); see Lieure. Large woodcut Giunti device on p. [31].Lieure, J. Jacques Callot,Mode of access: Internet.At head of front pastedown is bookplate of Francesco Riccardi de Vernaccia (Florence, ca. 1780; see Gelli, p. 387). Below it is the label of Horatius (Orazio) Landau, with stamped shelfmark 53021. At foot is the bookplate of U. Manganelli, signed with the initials SER. A dedicatory inscription at foot of t.p. has been scratched out.Binding: modern marbled paper, backed in green vellum. Date, author & title writte on spine.Port. trimmed into the image at right margin and foot
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