Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Networks of production'

The relationship between industry and the city is a damaged one. However, with its existing mix of residents, industry and commerce (albeit segregated from one-another) Pretoria West holds the potential for a unique relationship between industry and the citizens of Pretoria. Only by understanding the role that these industries play within the greater context of the city can the rich character and culture of a place be ampli ed and solidi ed in a development plan. Catalyzed by its heritage, development becomes a manifestation of the character of place that will attract further growth and simultaneously embrace the existing stakeholders. e existing industrial built-environment is often misshapen and illegible and whilst it is di cult to organize (and navigate) the seemingly disorganized site, it is possible to resolve; through understanding historic boundaries and development patterns that can be utilized as organizational grids. In this case historic erf divisions and consolidations can be utilized as an organizational tool at a large scale and should serve as a guide to where future structures should be erected in order to maintain a legible built environment. When designing future additions, understanding the historic expansion of these industrial buildings holds the key to a harmonious relationship between old and new. With minimal architectural intent these buildings supply little for the architect to grapple onto, but with material spans and structural repetition forming the underlying ordering principle; it is possible to create a logical and ordered extension of the past.
Die verhouding tussen industrie en die stad is beskadig en as gevolg word industrië stelselmatig verwyder van die stad. Die mengsel tussen inwoners, industrie en handel in Pretoria Wes (albeit geissoleer van mekaar) gun egter die potensiaal tot ‘n unieke verbandskap tussen industrie en die inwoners van Pretoria. Slegs deur die rol te erken wat die industrië speel ten opsigte van die stad se groter konteks, kan die karakter en kultuur van so ‘n omgewing versterk en vasgevang word in ‘n ontwikkelings plan. Erfenis dien as katalisator vir ontwikkeling van die karakter van plek wat in beurt verdere nansiële groei sal aanhits. Die bestaande industriële bou-omgewing is misvorm en onvoorspelbaar. Alhoewel so ‘n omgewing nie aan die individie toeleen om weg te vind of organiseer nie, is dit moontlik deur die ontginning van historiese grense en ontwikkelings patrone wat kan dien as organiseerings mates. Historiese erf indelings en konsolodasies kan gebruik word om te dien as ‘n gids vir toekomstige toevoegings, om sodoende die nuwe argitektuur uit die bestaande te laat vloei. Die resultaat is ‘n leesbare en geordende bou-omgewing. Die ontwerp van die nuwe verbeelding steun op die morfologie van die bestaande omgewing om ‘n harmoniese verhouding tussen oud en nuut te skep. Materiale se span afstande neem die rol van die onderliggende orde stelsels aan as gevolg van die gebrek aan aansienlike argitektoniese bedoelings in die bestaande omgewing. Sodoende is ‘n leesbare en logiese uitbreiding van die verlede en na die toekoms moontlik in ‘n omgewing wat ontstaan het sonder ontwerp vir ervaring van mense.
Mini Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
Architecture
MArch(Prof)
Unrestricted

This dissertation studies how and in what forms the relationships between the agents in a society shape. We provide four models to examine the outcomes of the non-cooperative network formation game where agents engage in two activities: forming links and producing output. We show that when a link between two agents allows only the forming agent to enjoy the output of the other, a society always admits a stable network. Furthermore, this network almost always has a center-periphery structure. Such societies consist of two types of agents, centers that are directly connected by every other agent and peripheries to whom no agent connects. We also find that centers produce more output and typically have lower payoff than peripheries. When a link allows both agents to enjoy the output of each other, a society does not always admit a stable network. In societies where agents enjoy the outputs of those that are also indirectly linked, stable networks can take much richer forms. In this setup stable networks include the center-periphery networks as well as the wheel and star networks. If agents can adjust the efficiency of their links, then every society admits a stable network which always has a center-periphery structure.
Our results for all four models show that the level of production in non-empty stable networks is less than the amount that will maximize the total benefits in the society.

If one accepts that a firm's behavior is determined by history-dependent capabilities that adapt in a goal-directed way one would like to know how a firm's organizational structure influences the way in which this distributed and partially tacit organizational memory evolves over time. In this paper, we study the impact that alternative information systems, incentive systems and modes of learning co-ordination have on the efficiency and generality of priority rules for job shop scheduling which are learnt by a network of production agents modeled by neural networks. When modeling the alternative organizational structures by different input layers, feedback and training methods, we find that efficient rules evolve when global incentives and synchronized learning are employed even if the system state is only partially known to an agent. However, organizational learning fails when it is performed asynchronously with local goals. (author's abstract)
Series: Report Series SFB "Adaptive Information Systems and Modelling in Economics and Management Science"

This thesis explores the macroeconomic implications of endogenous production networks, defined as the collection of input-output linkages in the economy. In the first chapter, I develop a model of international trade to study how production networks adjust to the forces of globalization. Due to the inefficiency of the market equilibrium, the welfare implications of trade liberalization is ambiguous in general. Calibrating the model to trade data between the United States and the rest of the world, I find that a significant part of the welfare gains from trade arises from the endogenous rearrangement of linkages among firms. The second chapter studies the formation of input-output linkages in the context of economic growth. I establish theoretically that, with endogenous input-output linkages, the static cross-industry difference in linkage fixed costs can lead to different productivity growth rates, which in turn give rise to structural changes. A simple calibration of the model to the U.S. economy suggests that, comparing to a model with a fixed production network, the endogenous adjustment of linkages and the resulting structural changes double the welfare gains from a technology shock that lowers the linkage fixed cost universally.
Esta tesis explora las implicaciones macroeconómicas de la existencia de redes de producción endógenas, definidas como el conjunto de vínculos "input-output" en la economía. En el primer capítulo, desarrollo un modelo de comercio internacional para estudiar cómo las redes de producción se ajustan a las fuerzas de la globalización. Debido a que el equilibrio de mer-cado es ineficiente, las implicaciones para el bienestar de una liberalización comercial son ambiguas en general. Calibrando el modelo con datos de comercio entre los Estados Unidos y el resto del mundo, descubro que una parte importante de las ganancias de bienestar derivadas del comercio surge de la reorganización endógena de los vínculos entre las empresas. El segundo capítulo estudia la formación de vínculos input-output en el contexto del crecimiento económico. Establezco teóricamente que, con vínculos de entrada y salida (input-output) endógenos, la diferencia estática en el coste fijo de crear vínculos entre industrias puede conducir a diferentes tasas de crecimiento de la productividad, que a su vez dan lugar a cambios estructurales. Una simple calibración del modelo para la economía de EE. UU. sugiere que, comparado con un modelo con una red de producción fija, el ajuste endógeno de los vínculos, y los cambios estructurales que provoca este ajuste, duplican las ganancias de bienestar esperadas de un shock tecnológico que redujera el coste fijo de la formación de vínculos para todas las empresas.

Consécutivement au développement des politiques de soutien aux réseaux d’innovation, notamment des politiques de clusters, cette thèse entend tester empiriquement l’un des fondements théoriques de ces politiques selon lequel la structure des réseaux d’innovation aurait un impact sur la production d’innovation dans les territoires. Ce faisant, elle apporte des éléments de réponses à une question fondamentale en géographie de l’innovation et contribue à porter un nouveau regard sur les politiques de clusters en les évaluant au regard de leur rôle dans la structuration des réseaux d’innovation. Le premier essai (Chapitre 2) analyse ainsi dans quelle mesure l’innovation régionale est influencée par la structure des réseaux d’innovation. Bien que le développement des politiques de soutien aux réseaux d’innovation laisse sous-entendre l’existence d’une potentielle relation entre structure de réseaux d’innovation et production de connaissances dans les territoires, les preuves empiriques de cette relation sont encore rares. Partant du cas français, les résultats du Chapitre 2 mettent en évidence l’existence de cette relation, confirmant ainsi que la structure des réseaux d’innovation a un impact sur la production régionale de connaissances. Ce résultat renforce donc la pertinence des politiques de soutien aux réseaux d’innovation et souligne leur importance pour l’optimisation des réseaux d’innovation. Partant de ce constat, le second et le troisième essais de la thèse (Chapitres 3 et 4) proposent une évaluation des politiques de clusters. Ces chapitres se démarquent de la littérature évaluant les politiques de clusters en mettant l’accent sur les défaillances de réseaux
This dissertation presents three essays on innovation networks, cluster policies and regional knowledge production. Following the development of policies aiming at supporting innovation networks, especially cluster policies, this thesis intends to empirically test one of the theoretical foundations of these policies suggesting that the structure of innovation networks would have an impact on the knowledge production within regions. In doing so, it provides answers to a fundamental question from the geography of innovation literature and brings a new perspective to the analysis of cluster policies by evaluating them regarding their role for the structuration of innovation networks. The first essay (Chapter 2) thus analyses the extent to which regional innovation is influenced by the structure of innovation networks. Although the development of policies supporting innovation networks suggests the existence of a potential relationship between the structure of innovation networks and knowledge production within regions, empirical evidence supporting this relationship is still scarce. Based from the French case, the results of Chapter 2 highlight the existence of this relationship, confirming that the structure of innovation networks has an impact on regional knowledge production. This result therefore reinforces the relevance of policies supporting innovation networks and underlines their importance for the optimisation of innovation networks. Building on this result, the second and third essays of the thesis (Chapters 3 and 4) propose an evaluation of cluster policies. These chapters stand out from the literature evaluating cluster policies by focusing on network failures

Achieving sustainable production is a critical task in today’s globalised world. This is especially the case in the cotton garment industry where globally dispersed suppliers feed rapidly expanding demand across international markets. Practices associated with cotton garment production face numerous sustainability challenges from cotton farming to textile and garment manufacturing. Retailers are under increasing pressure to address these challenges and leading retailers are now actively trying to promote more sustainable production across all stages of production from raw material to final product. While numerous studies have investigated the relationship between retailers and their upper tier suppliers, there is little understanding of how sustainability challenges can be addressed across fragmented production processes. It is this gap that this thesis seeks to fill. Promoting sustainable production from raw materials to the final stages of manufacturing involves influencing practices of a diverse set of businesses responsible for different stages of production. This thesis defines the set of businesses that turn raw materials into final products as an ‘extended supplier network’ (ESN). Drawing on global value chain (GVC) and global production network (GPN) approaches to understanding how production is organised, the core question of this thesis is: To what extent is buyerdriven governance sufficient for promoting sustainable production across fragmented production processes in an ESN? GVC and GPN research provides insight into this issue as it offers a way to conceptualise how lead firms influence their suppliers. The GVC approach highlights the importance of lead buyers. The GPN approach incorporates this argument but further emphasises the importance of spatiality and the roles of a wider set of actors and processes. While both approaches theoretically incorporate all stages of production, garment industry studies using these approaches have tended to focus on relationships between brands and retailers and upper tier suppliers, paying insufficient attention to lower tiers. Considering the case of Indian cotton clothing production for major UK retailers, this study explores retailers’ governance relationships with producers at different points in their ESNs. Producers’ experiences of vertical governance through buyer-seller relationships across all stages of production within an ESN are explored. These producers’ experiences with horizontal governance within distinct local productive systems are also considered. Diverse producers’ locations within the ESN and within local productive systems are found to involve different governance experiences within the same ESN. Across the ESN, vertical governance flows are found to be limited by variation in potential for buyer governance across buyer-seller relationships in the multiple vertical pathways connecting retailers to raw material producers. Alternatively, retailers can connect to producers by making non-sourcing horizontal connections with actors in local productive systems. While dominant methods in retailers’ efforts at governance for sustainability have been vertical, horizontal connections are increasing across the industry. However, despite the emergence of new connections, this research finds that retailers’ influence over lower tier production processes remains limited. Empirically, this thesis provides insight into the complexity of sustainability challenges involved in the production of cotton garments. Conceptually, it shows the nature of diverse governance relationships across an ESN. It also emphasises that effective governance for sustainability cannot be achieved simply through vertical buyerdriven governance. Instead a more nuanced, and more complex, understanding of the interplay between vertical and horizontal is required, particularly considering the role of alliances. This has significant implications for policy, including the public and private governance for sustainability in the global cotton garment industry.

Thesis advisor: Matthew O. Jackson
In this dissertation, I focus on networks in macroeconomics and finance. In Chapter 1, I develop a theoretical model of rescue of distressed financial institutions. I study rescues in a coalition formation framework, which provides new insights into the financial contagion and stability and rescue of systemically important financial institutions. The findings show that the levels of negative shock, bankruptcy costs, interbank obligations of each financial firm and the topology of the interbank network all together determine financial firms’ contributions in rescues, where government assistance in rescues is not required in certain types of network structures. In Chapter 2, which is a joint work with Matthew O. Jackson, we study the impacts of sector level technological changes on wage inequality and GDP growth in production networks. Our results show that the macroeconomic implications of sector level technological changes depend on additional factors than the input-output structure such as type of the intermediate good (e.g., substitutes for labor vs complements to labor), task weights in production processes and labor supply. Chapter 1. I model bank rescues in a setting where banks hold each other’s financial instruments creating a network of financial linkages. Costly bankruptcies reduce interbank payments, which creates incentives for rescues by other banks. Accordingly, I analyze the sources of inefficiencies in bank rescues and show that the social welfare is maximized if regulators promote financial networks that are evenly connected (without disconnectedness/clustering) and have intermediate levels of interbank liabilities at bank level. Such networks maximize banks’ total contributions to the rescue of a distressed bank hit by a relatively small negative shock, but also ensure that banks do not fail sequentially like dominos when a bank hit by a large shock does actually fail. The results also provide a rationale for why some systemically important banks were not rescued in 2007-2008. In the model, a social welfare maximizing government assists the rescues designed to prevent the potential contagious failures and maintain financial stability instead of assisting the rescue of a bank that is hit by a large shock. Chapter 2. We study the impact of technological change on wage inequality and GDP growth in production networks. We do this in a simple model that contrasts the effects of changes in intermediate goods that substitute for labor with those that complement labor. Technological changes in intermediate goods that complement labor result in increased GDP and do not change relative wages. Technological changes in intermediate goods that substitute for (low-skilled) labor involve three phases: pre-automation, transition to automation, and post-automation. During the transition phase, technological changes in such intermediate good lead to increased wage inequality and relatively smaller increases in GDP than comparable changes in complementary goods. In addition, our results show that firm-level weights of tasks performed by different types of labor play key roles in macroeconomic network consequences of interconnectedness
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Economics

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 83 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-83).

This thesis discusses the impact of China’s putative rise in East Asian regional production networks (EARPN) with regard to the ICT industry. Many research studies have focused on China’s strengthening military and political power or are devoted to China’s astounding economic achievements vis-à-vis Japan’s recession in the world economy. The tone of much of this literature since the 1990s has been to highlight the ‘danger of the rising China’. However, there is a gap in the scholarly literature regarding the impact of a rising China on EARPNs with regard to the ICT industry. Changes in this industry mark the latest industrial revolution, and the industry itself is characterized by rapid changes and powerful influences in every aspect of the economy. This thesis will analyse the impact China brings to EARPNs because of its rapidly developing ICT industry. To be more specific, it will show to what extent changes in China’s ICT industry (re-)shape existing regional production networks (RPNs) in East Asia, which for a long time saw Japan as the key actor. Moreover, this thesis will also demonstrate whether a revised flying geese paradigm can be applied to EARPNs in terms of the ICT sector. This thesis applies a revised flying geese model to evaluate the impact of the Chinese government’s regional intentions and the Chinese ICT enterprises’ behaviour overseas in EARPNs. Based on a number of cases, this work shows that the rise of China with regard to its ICT industry is establishing China’s position as a regional leader in EARPNs. China’s significant roles both in the region and in the world are even more prominent, which has contributed to directly shaking the role of Japan as the leading goose of the EARPNs. This thesis argues that the essence of the process of catching-up and the characteristics of a dynamic hierarchical division of labour in the EARPNs have not changed simply because of the developments in China with regard to the ICT industry. However, contrary to expectation, this thesis shows that it is too early to conclude that the dynamic hierarchical division of labour has changed, and to see China replace the previous leading goose, either in terms of large amounts of FDI or in terms of capabilities of continuously providing advanced technology. The very complicated international and regional relations that China is pursuing also influence China’s ability to reshape EARPNs. In short, China has not yet become the leader of EARPNs.

This thesis is a study of the role of management control practices in global production networks (GPNs). The research is informed by a case study of an Egyptian garment factory that acts as a supplier for a French retailer of sports clothes. This thesis is inspired by its empirics. In Egypt, most of the exporting factories in the garment industry work as suppliers to foreign retailers or branders. This supplier-customer relationship is founded on the mutual transfer of knowledge from the customer. This is manifested in their requirements in terms of the product specification, quality and time of delivery. However, these are not the only requirements. In order for the factory to be selected as a supplier to the foreign retailers, the factory undergoes a detailed process of auditing in which the customer practices their negotiating power in asking for specific changes in the factory in terms of the factory’s structuring practices, human rights practices, quality control procedures, as well as management control practices. The management control requirements include cost reduction strategies, performance measurements, and reward systems for workers. The factory’s management collaborate with the customer’s team in order to apply these changes. The customer depends on visual information tags that are hung all over the factory, and electronic reports, as well as the physical attendance and observation of their team members as communication mediators through which they diffuse the required knowledge throughout the factory and view the factory’s operations. Techniques such as expanding the workers’ skills, self- and peer controls and group rewards are gradually taking place on the shop floor in order to meet the requirements of the customer. The relationship between the supplier and the customer is theorized within the framework of what is called global production networks or ‘GPNs’. GPNs are argued to be the geographic consequence of the movement from a modern to a postmodern economy. A postmodern economy is an informational economy in which advanced capitalist countries have decentralized the production processes to subordinate countries. Drawing from the theoretical framework developed by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in 2000 in Empire and extended by the work of Gilles Deleuze in 1992 in Postscript on the Societies of Control, this thesis argues that GPNs are used as one of the postmodern economic mechanisms that are facilitating the transformation of forms of power from discipline to control. As a response to this transformation, new forms of management controls are emerging in the factories of subordinate countries (i.e. the suppliers). The findings of this study show the importance of developing the technology used in both the production of goods and the communication of information within and out of the boundaries of the factory. This technology will support the development of the factory along the production network as well as improving the visibility of the factory’s operations to achieve instant and continuous control.

Over the past two decades, translation workplaces have been substantially transformed by technological developments (Drugan 2013; Risku et al. 2013), and by the emergence of production networks in which a language service provider (LSP) acts as an intermediary between translator and client (Abdallah and Koskinen 2007; Abdallah 2012). However, there is little research into how technologies are integrated in the various translation workplaces found in production networks. My research aims at enhancing our understanding of translation project management and translation quality in production networks by conceptualising project management as a practice (Shove et al. 2012). For this empirical study, a data set was collected based on 60 hours of workplace observations within a UK-based LSP and 10 semi-structured interviews with four project managers (PMs) and one vendor manager (VM). Drawing on concepts from practice theory, the study analyses routinised enactments of the practice by PMs, their integration of information technologies into such enactments, their understanding of translation quality, and their strategies to achieve quality in the translation production process. I propose that the practice of translation project management is deeply embedded into a larger complex of interdependent translation production practices. A practice-theoretical framework emphasises the socio-material and collective nature of the practice. My study demonstrates that project management is a joint effort between PMs and other actors in translation production. Based on an analysis of how PMs use CAT tools and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system when they are managing translation projects, I argue that technologies are inextricably linked with enactments of production practices, and that they form part of the social structures surrounding the practice. The application of practice theory affords a new understanding of skills, or competence, in which the engagement in professional activities is vital, and in which building competence is an ongoing process. Finally, I suggest that buyers of translation products, i.e. clients, substantially contribute to translation quality, as PMs carry out project management based on the notion of translation as a service.

In “Patria Mia,” his 1913 series of essays in New Age magazine, Ezra Pound uses a metaphor for modernist cultural production that informs and structures this dissertation. “If it lie within your desire to promote the arts,” he writes, “you must not only subsidize the man with work still in him, but you must gather such dynamic particles together; you must set them where they will interact, and stimulate each other.” Salon hostess Mabel Dodge Luhan, in Movers and Shakers, announces a similar transformation in interpersonal relations: “Looking back on it now, it seems as though everywhere, in that year of 1913 . . . there were all sorts of new ways to communicate, as well as new communications.” I argue that these new forms of communication and interaction described by Pound and Dodge not only characterize the early twentieth century but also empower transnational experiments in literature, art, and politics that we now call “modernism.” Because of dramatic and wide-ranging developments in communications and travel technologies, modernists in the early years of the twentieth century cooperated and communicated regarding their experiments in new dynamic ways that make modernism an especially collaborative project. Before the Great War casts a dark shadow over the promises of modernity, editors, writers, artists, political radicals, hostesses, and intellectuals met in small private salons, published in alternative periodicals, and joined avant-garde movements. Reading these collaborative events illuminates the interactivity that crystallizes modernism as a cultural mode of production. To analyze collaborations in the development of modernism, I construct network graphs that visualize the webs of interaction I study. Rather than rely solely on diachronic readings of modernist texts, these visualizations provide a synchronic model for modernist cultural production as simultaneous connections, constituting a modernist totality. To analyze these network graphs, I apply concepts from network theory and sociology, two disciplines that begin in the modernist moment. Thus, this dissertation is both a theory of cultural production and an effect of that cultural production. The network is itself a modernist concept.

Manufacturing activities in the personal computer industry are organised in a complex global production network (GPN) led by a variety of branded global lead firms. Increasingly, considerations on environmental, health and safety governance have emerged as an important element to the management and co-ordination of these production networks by lead firms. Within the personal computer GPN, the printed circuit board (PCB) industry is commonly subcontracted by branded firms to suppliers located in developing countries such as Penang, Malaysia. The activities of PCB manufacturing and assembly involve the use of various hazardous chemicals that pose environmental health risks to workers. This research aims to understand how governance over environmental health is implemented in the GPN led by Hewlett Packard (HP) and in particular with lower tier suppliers in the printed circuit board industry in Penang, Malaysia. The main research question is: how are environmental health concerns managed by governance mechanisms in GPNs that involve the relocation of harmful manufacturing activities to developing countries? Governance mechanisms within the GPN include private standards and codes of conduct, which are supplemented by government regulation in the host country. Governance outcomes are shaped by relations between firms and non-firm actors such as government agencies, civil society organisations and trade unions. Therefore, a GPN analytical framework is utilised to understand more specifically how a variety of firm and non-firm actors and their relationships and power dynamics influence governance practices in the industry. Fieldwork for the research was conducted in 2008 and 2010 and consisted of semi-structured in-person and telephone interviews with thirty seven key actors in Malaysia, Western Europe, and the United States. Key informants included HP; first tier suppliers to HP and second tier suppliers located in Penang, Malaysia; global and Malaysian civil society organisations; an international federation of trade unions and Malaysian trade unions; Malaysian government agencies; and a politician, occupational health doctor and journalist in Penang. The findings from this research show that a combination of factors results in a weak scenario for governing environmental health risks of suppliers in Penang. These factors are resource constraints among suppliers; weak host country capacity and willingness to regulate; weak knowledge of environmental health risks by firms and regulatory agencies; and weak contestation by external stakeholders. Findings from the analysis also show the need to have differentiated views of power amongst different actor relationships in order to understand the complexity of GPN governance.

1. Propósito y objetivo de la investigación Desde la ruptura de la antigua Yugoslavia, a principios de los 1990, las economías en transición de los países de los Balcanes occidentales han experimentado reformas intensas y una transformación estructural significativa que ha resultado en un nuevo patrón de las exportaciones y en una mejora de sus resultados económicos. En este período, los PBO se embarcaron en programas de reformas amplias que persiguieron objetivos tales como la liberalización, la estabilización y la privatización de los sectores anteriormente controlados, eliminando regulaciones que dificultaban el desarrollo empresarial y construyendo instituciones que apoyaban a la economía de mercado. Además, los PBO se han ido abriendo cada vez más al comercio mundial, volviéndose progresivamente más orientadas a la exportación. El objetivo general de estas medidas fue la de construir un entorno de negocios, con una interrupción mínima al transporte y a la comunicación entre los segmentos de producción que lleven a una mayor productividad y de las exportaciones. Esta transformación económica dio lugar a un cambio significativo en la estructura productiva y de exportación, lo que permitió a los PBO integrarse en la estructura de las redes de producción internacional y aumentar su productividad y crecimiento. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar esta transformación, tanto en términos de la identificación de los determinantes clave que faciliten la participación de estas economías en las redes de producción internacional y su especialización exportadora, como en el estudio del impacto económico de este proceso. En concreto, los objetivos principales de este trabajo están marcados en tres líneas distintivas de análisis. La primera se centra en los determinantes de la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción. La segunda y la tercera línea de investigan el impacto que esta transformación estructural y el aumento de la participación en redes productivas tiene sobre el crecimiento económico de esas economías. Más concretamente, las principales contribuciones de este trabajo hacen referencia a las siguientes cuestiones: a) Identificar la naturaleza de los factores que estimulan o dificultan la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción y el comercio de procesamiento. b) Analizar los vínculos entre la creciente internacionalización de la producción y el rendimiento económico de los PBO. c) Contrastar los efectos del comercio de bienes de procesamiento en comparación con los del comercio de bienes finales. d) Examinar el impacto que la creciente sofisticación de la estructura productiva de los países de los Balcanes occidentales tiene sobre su crecimiento. e) Determinar los factores que fomentan el proceso de sofisticación de la producción en estos países. 2. Procedimiento y metodología utilizada 2.1. Procedimiento: estructura de la Tesis Con el fin de lograr los objetivos mencionados, la tesis se ha estructurado en tres capítulos: En el Capítulo I, se utilizan datos de comercio en partes y componentes de los PBO como una aproximación al nivel de participación de estos países en las redes internacionales de producción, y se estudian los factores que estimulan este proceso. En este estudio, analizamos las importaciones y exportaciones de partes y componentes, pero también comparamos estos flujos con del comercio de bienes finales. Esto nos permite identificar los determinantes específicos que influyen en la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción, así como comparar éstos con los factores que determinan el comercio de bienes finales. En el Capítulo II, se analiza el efecto que los distintos niveles de participación en la internacionalización de la producción tienen sobre el rendimiento económico de los PBO, a través de su participación en el comercio de procesamiento. Evaluamos la posición relativa del país tanto como fuente, como como receptor de este tipo de comercio, así como la importancia del comercio de procesamiento por sectores. Por último, en el Capítulo III se analiza el impacto que la transformación estructural y el cambio de la sofisticación de la producción en los PBO tienen sobre su crecimiento económico. Asimismo, se estudian los factores subyacentes a este proceso. 2.2. Metodología empleada El análisis empírico de la Tesis hace uso del enfoque de datos de panel. Esta metodología nos permite controlar las diferencias específicas de cada país en tecnología, producción y factores socioeconómicos, evitando así los problemas de mala especificación que la heterogeneidad individual implica. Por otra parte, es un hecho bien conocido que los datos de panel proporcionan más grados de libertad, menos colinealidad y por tanto una mayor eficiencia. Con el fin de comparar resultados y probar la solidez de los mismos, así como para hacer frente al problema de la causalidad inversa o simultaneidad, en nuestro análisis econométrico hemos empleado diferentes especificaciones y diversos métodos de estimación. En particular, hemos utilizado técnicas de variables instrumentales. Concretamente, para controlar la posibilidad de que los distintos factores explicativos considerados puedan reforzarse o estar correlacionados con el nivel de participación en las redes internacionales de producción (en el Capítulo II), o con una mayor sofisticación de las exportaciones (en el Capítulo III) hemos recurrido a los mínimos cuadrados en dos etapas y a la metodología GMM. Ignorar estos efectos podría llevarnos a sobreestimar el impacto de estas variables y a encontrar relaciones significativas donde en realidad no existen. Además, para probar empíricamente nuestras hipótesis, en el Capítulo II y III hemos calculado dos índices: (i) el índice de propensión de fragmentación internacional y (ii) el índice de sofisticación de las exportaciones, los cuales han sido utilizados como determinantes principales en los modelos econométricos. Más específicamente, el índice de propensión de fragmentación internacional es de hecho un índice tipo Balassa de ventajas comparativas que capta la tendencia relativa de un país a participar en el comercio de procesamiento. En nuestro análisis, este índice revela la tendencia de un país a participar en el comercio de procesamiento, utilizando el nivel promedio de los PBO como punto de referencia. Sin embargo, por propia definición, este índice presenta un sesgo, en el sentido en que los valores superiores a la unidad expresan niveles de la fragmentación por encima de la media regional, mientras que lo contrario es cierto para los valores entre uno y cero. La ausencia de simetría por consiguiente introduce una dificultad evidente a la hora de interpretar el índice. Nosotros tratamos de resolver esta deficiencia metodológica mediante el uso de una conversión logarítmica del índice. De esta forma, obtenemos una serie simétrica de valores entre uno y menos uno; el índice es positivo cuando el país tiene una propensión comparativa a llevar a cabo comercio de procesamiento y negativo si ocurre lo contrario, lo que nos permite una interpretación más fácil del índice. En el Capítulo III, dada la ausencia de datos en I+D a nivel de productos como medida de su nivel de sofisticación, adoptamos la metodología de Hausmann et al. (2007) elaborando un índice de sofisticación de las exportaciones. Este índice trata de medir la sofisticación de la cesta de exportación de un país a través del nivel de productividad asociada a dicha cesta. Esta medida también se considera una aproximación o proxy del conjunto de los bienes más productivos que un país puede producir en un momento dado. El cálculo de este índice ha requerido la utilización conjunta de datos de comercio y de PIB per cápita de un amplio grupo de países y productos involucrando a más de cien mil observaciones. Por último, una dificultad común en el análisis econométrico de los tres capítulos ha sido la falta de disponibilidad de datos para las diferentes variables con respecto a los países de los Balcanes occidentales. En este sentido, ha habido numerosos ocasiones en que los datos de todos los países no estaban disponibles para el período requerido, lo que nos ha obligada a hacer concesiones y ajustar el período o el alcance de nuestro análisis. Sin embargo, desde nuestro punto de vista, hemos logrado superar con éxito estos obstáculos y producir conjuntos de bases de datos consistentes para todos los países lo que nos ha permitido realizar con éxito el análisis econométrico. 3. Aportes La contribución principal de este trabajo hace referencia a una profundización de los conocimientos de las economías de los Balcanes Occidentales, como una de las partes más sub-investigadas de Europa. Más específicamente, la Tesis hace las siguientes aportaciones a la literatura, de las que se derivan importantes recomendaciones de política económica: a) En primer lugar, corroboramos la teoría de que las diferencias en la dotación de factores y los costes de transacción impulsan la fragmentación del proceso de producción. Además, encontramos también que estos factores tienen un mayor impacto sobre el comercio de partes y componentes que en el comercio de bienes finales. b) A continuación, con el objetivo de analizar el impacto que la participación en redes internacionales de producción tiene sobre el crecimiento económico de los PBO, siguiendo a Baldone et al. (2007), elaboramos un índice que recoge la tendencia relativa de cada país a participar en este proceso. Los resultados muestran la influencia positiva que una mayor participación en el comercio de procesamiento tiene sobre el crecimiento de estos países, si bien encontramos algunas diferencias importantes entre los países. Además, los efectos beneficiosos del comercio de procesamiento parecen complementar a la influencia positiva del comercio tradicional. c) En esta investigación también nos fijamos en el proceso de transformación estructural y, más concretamente, en la sofisticación de la producción de los PBO. Para ello, elaboramos un índice de sofisticación de las exportaciones, a la Hausmann et al. (2007). El análisis revela que la transformación de la estructura productiva de los PBO desde productos con un bajo contenido en conocimiento y nivel tecnológico hacia productos con un conocimiento y nivel tecnológico medio se ha traducido en un aumento en el nivel de sofisticación de las exportaciones. Este proceso parece además estar impulsado en gran medida por los productos manufacturados y en particular por productos con un nivel tecnológico medio, que tienen un efecto positivo y significativo en el crecimiento económico. Observamos que más que un crecimiento en la sofisticación de los bienes con alto nivel tecnológico, ha sido el aumento de la sofisticación en productos manufacturados con nivel tecnológico medio los que han impulsado ese proceso. d) Por último, examinamos cuáles son los determinantes que fomentan el proceso de aumento de la sofisticación de las exportaciones y concluimos que el desarrollo económico y financiero y una mayor competencia en el mercado son factores críticos para estimular la sofisticación de las exportaciones en los PBO. 4. Conclusiones, comentarios finales e implicaciones política El primer capítulo de la tesis analiza los determinantes que impulsan la creciente globalización e integración de los PBO y el resultante proceso de fragmentación internacional de la producción. En concreto, se analizan los factores que facilitan la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción, centrándonos en el comercio de partes y componentes. Utilizando un modelo de datos de panel con flujos bilaterales de comercio, estimamos ecuaciones de gravedad para el período 2000-2009. En este análisis se consideran no sólo las importaciones de partes y componentes, sino también el comercio bilateral entre los países, es decir, tanto las importaciones como las exportaciones. Se estudia también los factores del comercio más "tradicional" de bienes finales con el fin de ver si hay diferencias en los determinantes que conducen a ambos procesos de internacionalización. Nuestros resultados muestran que el comercio de partes y componentes en los PBO crece muy por encima del comercio mundial de estos bienes durante el período en cuestión. De hecho, el aumento de las importaciones y exportaciones de partes y componentes fue de más de dos y tres veces el aumento de este tipo de comercio a nivel mundial. Por otra parte, el aumento del comercio de los PBO de partes y componentes fue mucho mayor que el crecimiento observado en el comercio de estos bienes en los países de la UE. Asimismo, el crecimiento de este tipo de comercio es aún mayor que el aumento en el comercio de bienes finales, lo que destaca la importancia de este tipo de comercio para la región. De acuerdo con la literatura sobre la fragmentación del proceso productivo, las diferencias en la dotación de factores y en los costes de transacción son las fuerzas que impulsan la fragmentación de la producción. Nuestras estimaciones corroboran esta teoría, al mostrar cómo las diferencias en la dotación de factores y el tamaño del mercado aumentan significativamente la fragmentación de la producción en esta región, mientras que la distancia la dificulta. Observamos que la de la distancia, como parte de los costes de transacción, tienen in impacto negativo mayor sobre el comercio de partes y componentes que sobre el comercio de bienes finales, lo que implica que la influencia de los costes relacionados con la distancia es mayor en las redes de producción debido a la naturaleza del proceso de producción y a los múltiples cruces de fronteras. Otro factor determinante en relación con los costes de transacción es la calidad de la infraestructura. Encontramos que la calidad de la infraestructura es muy relevante para el estímulo del comercio de partes y componentes. Además, dado el hecho de que hay más envíos entre los segmentos de producción dentro de las redes internacionales de producción, la calidad de la infraestructura favorece notablemente más el comercio de partes y componentes que al comercio de bienes finales. El grado de similitud en términos jurídicos y apertura económica con los países socios representa otro factor clave para el comercio de partes y componentes en la región. De nuevo, la influencia de este factor es mucho mayor en el comercio de partes y componentes que en el comercio de bienes finales. Por último, nuestras estimaciones confirman que, de acuerdo con la teoría de la fragmentación internacional de la producción, una reducción en el coste del comercio asociado a los procesos de integración regional favorece la división internacional de los procesos productivos. Encontramos que los lazos regionales entre las repúblicas de la ex-Yugoslavia siguen siendo muy activos, incluso después de una década de guerras y conflictos. Una vez más la importancia de estos efectos es mayor para el comercio de partes y componentes que para el comercio de bienes finales. De este estudio se deducen algunas implicaciones importantes de política económica. Por ejemplo, las empresas que buscan reducir sus costos de producción a través de la fragmentación de su proceso productivo debería prestar atención a los mercados más grandes de la región, en tanto y cuanto el tamaño del mercado determina la eficiencia en los costes de transacción que este proceso conlleva. La importancia del tamaño del mercado podría indicar también que detrás de las decisiones de localización de algunas empresas la búsqueda de mercados desempeña un importante papel. Asimismo, una mejora en las instituciones, que permita disminuir costes adicionales, debe considerarse una estrategia prioritaria para las autoridades. Los gobiernos también deben reconocer que el desarrollo de una infraestructura de calidad en la región es de vital importancia para unirse a la división internacional del trabajo y el comercio, en la medida que una mayor calidad de las infraestructuras promueve la integración comercial. Por último, las autoridades deben ser conscientes del alto potencial comercial subyacente de los vínculos intra-regionales, especialmente en el desarrollo de redes regionales de producción. En el segundo capítulo, damos un paso más, contrastando la hipótesis de que el comercio derivado de la fragmentación internacional de la producción puede generar efectos sobre el crecimiento económico que van más allá de la influencia beneficiosa del comercio total o de bienes finales. Dada la disponibilidad de los datos, nos centramos en el período que va desde 2002 hasta 2013. En este análisis, empleamos datos sobre el comercio de procesamiento; es decir, información sobre el comercio de bienes que se exportan o importan por razones de procesamiento. Además, al observar tanto el comercio de procesamiento en importaciones como en exportaciones podemos evaluar la posición relativa de cada país en la cadena de producción, tanto como receptor o fuente de comercio de procesamiento, lo que nos permite asimismo evaluar la importancia de este tipo de comercio en todos los sectores industriales. Nuestro análisis muestra que los PBO son claramente más un destino del comercio de procesamiento que un fuente del mismo. Además, el comercio de procesamiento desempeña un papel cada vez más importante en los PBO, especialmente en los últimos años cuando el valor añadido del comercio de estas economías se incrementa significativamente. También, observamos un cambio estructural positivo hacia industrias de mayor valor añadido. Además, nuestros resultados revelan que una mayor participación en la fragmentación internacional de la producción ejerce una influencia beneficiosa sobre el comportamiento económico de los PBO, medido tanto en términos de diferencial del crecimiento, como en crecimiento absoluto del PIB. Los resultados también sustentan la hipótesis de que el grado de participación en las redes internacionales de producción influye positivamente en los resultados económicos de los PBO, incluso una vez considerada las ganancias del comercio total o definitivo de bienes. Por lo tanto, una mayor participación en las redes internacionales de producción de los PBO, da a estas economías la posibilidad de conseguir una mayor productividad, siendo un importante determinante del crecimiento, complementando así el impacto beneficioso generado por el comercio total y bienes finales. Asimismo, nuestros resultados muestran la importancia de considerar el papel de las empresas multinacionales en el comportamiento económico de los PBO. El impacto beneficioso que el establecimiento de empresas multinacionales tiene en el crecimiento económico se verifica por el signo y la magnitud de nuestras estimaciones. Este resultado muestra la importancia que las estrategias globales de las empresas multinacionales tienen para el patrón del comercio y la actividad económica de estos países. Por último, también observamos que la acumulación de capital tiene una influencia significativa y positiva sobre el crecimiento económico de estos países. En general, nuestros resultados apoyan la idea de que las políticas destinadas a promover la apertura y la participación de los PBO en la división internacional de la producción podrían ser consideradas un importante estímulo para el desarrollo y crecimiento de estos países. La promoción de un determinado tipo de políticas económicas puede inducir a estos países a explotar mejor sus ventajas comparativas mejorando así sus posibilidades para una modernización económica exitosa. El último capítulo de la Tesis analiza el proceso de transformación de la estructura productiva de los países de la región y la sofisticación de sus exportaciones. En particular, analizamos el impacto que este cambio estructural tiene en el rendimiento económico de los PBO y tratamos de determinar los factores que fomentan este proceso. Para ello, elaboramos un índice de sofisticación de las exportaciones, a la Hausmann 2007. El índice refleja la competitividad relativa de los productos exportados, en función del grado de desarrollo de los países exportadores de cada bien. Es, por lo tanto, un indicador de la productividad de las exportaciones de un país. En nuestro análisis nos centramos en el período de 1996 a 2014. Consideramos el índice de sofisticación tanto a nivel agregado, es decir, para todos los bienes de la economía, como sólo para productos manufacturados. Asimismo, desagregamos los productos manufacturados por su nivel de intensidad en términos de conocimiento y tecnología, lo que nos permite examinar los efectos específicos niveles diferentes de dotación factorial Nuestros resultados muestran que los PBO se han vuelto cada vez más orientados a la exportación y que esto se ha debido en gran parte a una creciente participación del sector manufacturero en las exportaciones totales. Observamos también que, como resultado de la transformación estructural, la sofisticación de producción y las exportaciones de los PBO se ha incrementado durante el período analizado. Este proceso parece estar impulsado en gran medida por los productos manufacturados y en particular por productos con contenido tecnológico medio, lo que indica que los PBO habrían expandido su frontera de producción adquiriendo nuevas capacidades en este nivel de especialización. En línea con los trabajos empíricos anteriores, nuestros resultados confirman la influencia positiva de una mayor sofisticación de las exportaciones sobre el crecimiento del PIB per cápita. En consecuencia, tal y como se espera, la mejora de la sofisticación de las exportaciones de un país implicaría un crecimiento posterior de sus ingresos. Por el contrario, la proporción de manufacturas altamente intensivas en tecnología en las exportaciones no parece haber influido significativamente en el crecimiento económico de estos países. Por el contrario, cuando nos centramos en el impacto que la sofisticación de manufacturas contenido tecnológico medio, nuestros resultados muestran que ésta tiene una influencia positiva y significativa sobre el crecimiento. Esto ratifica nuestra idea de que el movimiento observado desde una especialización en productos con contenido tecnológico bajo hacia productos medianamente intensivos en tecnología ha tenido importantes consecuencias para el crecimiento económico de los PBO. Nuestro análisis también confirma que existe un fuerte efecto de convergencia hacia los países más desarrollados. Por último, en consonancia con los resultados en el Capítulo 2, corroboramos el efecto positivo y significativo que las inversiones y la acumulación de capital tienen sobre el crecimiento en estas economías. Otra cuestión que se analiza en este Capítulo hace referencia a los principales determinantes subyacentes a la variación de la sofisticación de las exportaciones. Es decir, ¿qué es lo que permite a un país mejorar la sofisticación de sus exportaciones? La evidencia obtenida a este respecto sostiene que tanto el desarrollo económico como financiero son factores cruciales en la estimulación de la sofisticación de la cesta de exportaciones en los PBO. Además, también observamos que una menor concentración de las exportaciones contribuye a un aumento de su complejidad y por lo tanto a un mayor crecimiento económico. En general, nuestros resultados apoyan la idea de que las reformas estructurales destinadas a mejorar la estructura de la producción en los PBO aumentan la sofisticación de las exportaciones en la región, pudiendo ser por tanto consideradas un importante estímulo para el crecimiento de los ingresos. La promoción de las políticas dirigidas específicamente a la creciente sofisticación de la producción, y en particular de aquella con un nivel medio de conocimientos y tecnología, tiene un potencial significativo para mejorar el futuro desarrollo económico de estos países. 5. Futuras líneas de investigación Por último, hay algunas líneas futuras de investigación prometedoras que pueden ayudar a profundizar aún más en este estudio. En primer lugar, sería beneficioso extender el análisis de los determinantes que influyen en la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción. En ese sentido, si bien los resultados de este estudio están en línea con la literatura de la fragmentación internacional de la producción, somos conscientes de que estos determinantes pueden diferir de una industria a otra dependiendo de los patrones de especialización de los países. Por lo tanto, una futura vía de investigación que dirija de forma más detallada las actuaciones políticas podría ser realizar un análisis en profundidad industria por industria. En segundo lugar, el estudio de los efectos que sobre el crecimiento tiene una la mayor participación de los PBO en el comercio de procesamiento, confirmó que cada país de los Balcanes occidentales parece haberse especializado en diferentes industrias cambiando gradualmente hacia industrias con valor añadido más alto. En ese sentido, una mayor extensión de este análisis debe centrarse en un enfoque sectorial de este fenómeno, especialmente teniendo en cuenta que la especialización productiva implica lógicamente diferentes patrones de comercio de procesamiento para diferentes industrias. Por último, en cuanto a la transformación observada de la estructura productiva en los PBO sería interesante conocer más profundamente si la relación entre la sofisticación de las exportaciones y el crecimiento de la renta per cápita depende del régimen de comercio (procesamiento u ordinario) y el tipo de propiedad (nacional o extranjera) de las empresas exportadoras. Además, el avance en el diseño y construcción de un índice de sofisticación de importación (similar al que se ha usado para los bienes exportados) podría ser útil para comprobar si el crecimiento se ve también afectado por las importaciones de bienes más sofisticados (o bienes de capital).

This master's thesis has investigated how methods from artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to perform and augment production optimization of sub-sea oil reservoirs. The methods involved in this work are genetic algorithms (GAs) and artificial neural networks (ANNs). Different optimization schemes were developed by the author to perform production optimization on oil reservoir simulator models. The optimization involves finding good input parameter values for certain properties of the model, relating to how the wells in the oil reservoir operate. The research involves straightforward optimization using GAs, model approximations using ANNs, and also more advanced schemes using these methods together with other available technology to perform and augment reservoir optimization. With this work, the author has attempted to make a genuine contribution to all the research areas this master's thesis has touched upon, ranging from computer science and AI to process and petroleum engineering. The methods and approaches developed through this research were compared to the performance of each other and also to other approaches and methods used on the same challenges. The comparison found some of the developed optimization schemes to be very successful, while others were found to be less appropriate for solving the problem at hand. Some of the less successful approaches still showed considerable promise for simpler problems, leading the author to conclude that the developed schemes are suited for solving optimization problems in the petroleum industry.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 68).
In a complex manufacturing environment, generating schedules, identifying deviations, and recovering from delays have a significant impact on total operational performance. At Boeing's 787 plant, a precedence network was generated which defines the entire build sequence for a mid-body fuselage. This job-level build sequence enables planners to generate optimized and feasible resource-constrained schedules. The network also forms the foundation for a visual control system on the factory floor. This web-based tool is designed to improve routine production control decisions at all levels by presenting build status in a cohesive and concise format. Using this tool, the plant's stakeholders can effectively identify and prioritize schedule deviations before they cascade lead to major delays, resulting in an overall improvement in resource efficiency and production rate.
by Jason L. Chen.
S.M.
M.B.A.

Simulations are widely used for analysis and design of complex systems. Real-world complex systems are often too complex to be expressed with tractable mathematical formulations. Therefore simulations are often used instead of mathematical formulations because of their flexibility and ability to model real-world complex systems in some detail. Simulation models can often be complex and slow which lead to the development of simulation meta-models that are simpler and faster models of complex simulation models. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been studied for use as simulation meta-models with different results. This final year project further studies the use of ANNs as simulation meta-models by comparing the predictability of five different neural network architectures: feed-forward-, generalized feed-forward-, modular-, radial basis- and Elman artificial neural networks where the underlying simulation is of complex production system. The results where that all architectures gave acceptable results even though it can be said that Elman- and feed-forward ANNs performed the best of the tests conducted here. The difference in accuracy and generalization was considerably small.

This thesis analyzes the emergence in the 1990s and 2000s of novel forms of ‘green goods’ or ‘sustainable commodities’. Particular goods come in many forms and include fair trade coffee, certified wood, ethical investment funds, or higher density housing. They represent examples of how sustainability has emerged as a paradigm for the regulation of production and consumption networks. The thesis provides a survey of geographical and interdisciplinary work in commodity studies and suggests sustainable commodities challenges traditional geographical theories of commodification and commodity regulation. The thesis offers a survey of theories of regulation that can apply to global and local production and consumption networks and suggests the use of Strategic Relational Cultural Political Economy as a theory of regulation. The thesis includes four case studies that vary as to type of commodity and type of regulation. The first considers one of the first global certification systems -- the dolphin-safe label for tuna and which linked Thailand to California. The second concerns corporate social responsibility in foreign direct investment in bauxite (a core component in aluminum), linking a Montreal based aluminum company to mine sites in Orissa, India. The third case study concerns a domestic commodity under traditional state regulation -- that of inner city housing under urban sustainability and Smart Growth zoning initiatives in Vancouver, Canada. The fourth case study also considers housing in Vancouver but concerns the relationship between housing, neighbourhood change and rezoning initiatives outside of the urban core. The thesis concludes by showing how the case studies show the applicability of Strategic Relational Cultural Political Economy: Each study indicates a way in which environmental policies and sustainability contribute to a spatio-temporal and institutional fix for a production and consumption network.In each of the case studies, the expansion of capitalist processes involved a contradictory and conflict laden relationship with extra-economic, non-capitalist social and environmental processes. While this created societal pushback, the result was a process of negotiation and compromise which modestly incorporated civil society concern but was also protective of existing economic processes and firm market position.
Arts, Faculty of
Geography, Department of
Graduate

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
FUNDAÇÃO DE APOIO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DO RIO DE JANEIRO
A presente tese tem como objetivo identificar e entender as relações entre as transformações do trabalho e o recente ciclo global de lutas. A compreensão partilhada nessa investigação é de que a partir da década de 1980, o trabalho passa por uma transformação sem perder sua centralidade. Entretanto, vale destacar, sua centralidade será renovada pela transformação. Diferentemente da dinâmica fordista que tendia a excluir a subjetividade do trabalhador nos processos produtivos, o trabalho pós-fordista exige a participação subjetiva do trabalhador não apenas na produção. Ou seja, o trabalhador participa através da sua capacidade de criar, imaginar, intervir, mas, também, nas dinâmicas de circulação. A produção contemporânea se dá, portanto, extrapolando os espaços de confinamento fabris de outrora, difundindo-se por todo tecido social numa cooperação entre redes e ruas. Nesse contexto, a cidade converte-se em espaço de produção e valorização do trabalho. Diante das condições de vida e trabalho na cidade, cada vez mais precária, a metrópole constitui-se também como terreno das lutas por melhores condições de vida e gestão democrática da cidade. Articulado aos movimentos globais, o levante brasileiro de junho de 2013 constituiu-se como desvio da tese que nos impele à investigação das associações que os movimentos reivindicativos de direitos permitem estabelecer com as questões do trabalho metropolitano. Em termos metodológicos, acolher o desvio diz respeito à construção de um pensamento que se alimenta do encontro com o mundo e, nesse sentido, questiona continuísmos artificiais. Essa opção metodológica faz da pesquisa uma prática inventiva que exige o esforço de conceber outras maneiras de pensar os caminhos e modos de fazer da pesquisa. O método mais do que mero instrumento, é ele mesmo questão de pesquisa. Assim, enquanto teoricamente a investigação se articula em torno das problemáticas do trabalho, e dos direitos, estendendo-se para as questões da vida na metrópole, metodologicamente, a tese se ocupa com a própria forma de apresentar o conhecimento produzido, buscando um método que lhe faça justiça.
This thesis aims to identify and understand the relations between the changes in labor and the recent global cycle of struggles. The shared understanding in the investigation is that from the 1980s, labor goes through a transformation without losing its centrality. However, it s worth mentioning, its centrality will be renewed by the transformation. Unlike the Fordist dynamics, which tended to exclude the worker s subjectivity in the production processes, the post-Fordist work requires the worker s subjective participation not only in the production. In other words, the worker participates through their capacity to create, imagine, intervene, but also in the circulation dynamics. Therefore, contemporary production happens, extrapolating the otherwise confined factory spaces, disseminating through the entire social fabric in a cooperation between networks and streets. In that context, the city turns into a space of production and valorization of labor. In face of life and work conditions in the city, increasingly precarious, the city is also territory for struggles to improve life conditions and the city s democratic administration. Hinged to global movements, the Brazilian uprising of June, 2013 established itself as a deviation from the thesis that impels us to investigate the association that the protests claiming for rights allow us to establish with the issues regarding metropolitan labor. Methodologically speaking, receiving the deviation refers to the construction of a thought that feeds from the encounter with the world and, in that sense, it questions artificial continuities. That methodological choice makes this research an inventive practice that requires an effort to conceive other forms to think the ways and means to research. More than a simple instrument, the method is a research matter. Therefore, while in theory the investigation revolves around labor and right issues, extending to the issues of city life, methodologically speaking, the thesis deals with the very way of presenting the knowledge produced, searching for a method that does justice to it.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-261). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Abstract Bleaching is an essential process in chemical pulp production for better pulp brightness and longer life expectancy. However, it causes costs such as chemicals, energy, equipment, and loss of yield. Non-linear reactions and several process variables, with interactions, make large plants complicated to model and optimize. As an expensive process bleaching has been a natural target of optimization, but there is still the need to either improve these methods or consider the optimization problem from a new point of view. The aim of this thesis was to develop production optimization methods for pulp bleaching, so that they are practical, usable on-line, easy to tune, and transferable. According to our assumption, neural networks could provide a practical optimization method by combining analytical knowledge with real data. In this kind of problem, the load sharing concept, recognizing interactions in chemical usage and the serial multi-stage nature of the process can simplify the task. The related work in bleaching optimization was studied as well as multi-stage serial process solving in principle, related optimization methods and especially neural networks in optimization. The data were collected during normal mill operation and modeled using neural networks. Optimization was performed based on visualizing the neural network models. The results showed that backpropagation neural networks are capable of modeling parts of the bleach plant and also the entire bleaching operation to such an extent that they are useful in the optimization. The modeling and the tuning can be performed without a profound knowledge of the system, but the process is slower and less reliable. Moving a trained neural network to another mill is inadvisable. It is more reasonable just to transfer the knowledge of variables and network structure. The important factor in on-line production optimization is the stabilization of the disturbances and a well-controlled operation towards a more economical state. Generally, more than half of the total chemicals should be used in the first bleaching stage D0 and the remaining load should be divided so that the dosage at the D1 is about 30% higher than in the D2 stage.

Large-scale, high-density Wi-Fi networks use hundreds of access points to serve thousands of closelypacked users within a large physical space (hundreds of thousands of square feet or more, such as in a stadium or arena). Because of their scale, these are complex and dynamic systems comprised of several layers and multiple components within each layer, and faults may be present in any one of these components. The problems that manifest from these faults are usually not network-wide and may be localized to a certain physical areas of the network. This makes these problems challenging to detect and diagnose; in most cases, only a small number of devices tend to be impacted by any given problem. However, many such problems may occur simultaneously in different areas of the network. Adding to the complexity is the dynamic nature of such networks, where the physical positions of radios (in end-user devices), human bodies, and other objects in the space are constantly changing, thereby creating a continually-changing RF environment. Taken together, these properties make problem diagnosis in large-scale, high-density Wi-Fi networks challenging. There are many existing techniques for diagnosing problems in Wi-Fi networks. Many of these approaches rely on data from only a single perspective of the network to diagnose problems, for example, either the client, the infrastructure (access points), or external Wi-Fi sensors that passively monitor the network. In addition, many of these approaches require the invasive modification of the network’s components in order to collect data, through techniques such as the installation of specialized software on clients, modifying the firmware on access points, or even physically installing specialized devices in the RF environment of the Wi-Fi network. Finally, many approaches rely on offline analysis of the collected instrumentation, in which case diagnosis cannot be done in real time (minutes or less). Many others require network connectivity for real-time diagnosis, in which case the device must be able to communicate using the Wi-Fi infrastructure (that may be experiencing a problem). As a result, many of these approaches are difficult to deploy in production networks (due to the high financial cost or maintenance effort required), and those that are deployed often fail to detect and diagnose problems that are localized to a small number of devices (10 or less) or problems that are only present for a short time (minutes or less). This dissertation takes a unique approach that contrasts with existing approaches in three key ways. First, we combine the Wi-Fi performance data from multiple layers of the Wi-Fi network and attempt to diagnose problems at all of these layers, rather than focusing on a single layer alone, and we introduce a fault model that includes faults that can occur across all layers of the system. Second, we require no invasive modification of the Wi-Fi network or its components in order collect data and perform problem diagnosis and mitigation. Third, we present an infrastructure-free approach to problem diagnosis that relies on Bluetooth communication with other devices nearby (peers) to perform diagnosis based on multiple perspectives of the Wi-Fi network. With this approach, our diagnosis algorithm is able to collect data from multiple network perspectives without relying on Wi-Fi infrastructure, which may be slow or unavailable. Our approach begins with the construction of an instrumentation and data-collection system to obtain Wi-Fi performance metrics from both the client and infrastructure perspectives of the network. We then build upon our instrumentation to determine when user-visible problems occur. We define a user-visible problem as a Wi-Fi-network-performance problem that causes users to disengage from using the network. Once we have detected a user-visible problem, we then proceed to diagnose the root cause of the problem as one of the faults in our fault model using an approach based on decision trees. Finally, based on the diagnosed fault, we apply an automated mitigation-strategy, which forces the device to associate with a different access point that will likely provide better performance. To validate our approach and demonstrate its real-world impact, we have conducted a number of studies to collect data in support of our approach from both a laboratory testbed and real-world production Wi-Fi networks. We used our instrumentation and data-collection system to obtain data from over 25 real-world, large-scale, high-density Wi-Fi networks located within collegiate and professional stadiums. Our diagnostic system was deployed in a real-world mobile video-streaming application used over the Wi-Fi networks in these stadiums. Using this data, we determined the thresholds for when a Wi-Fi performance problem becomes user visible, based on our study of when users disengage from using the video-streaming application in the face of buffering. In addition to obtaining real-world data, we have studied this phenomenon in a testbed for fault injection and diagnosis that has been deployed both in a lab environment and in an arena to collect data on the behavior of large-scale, high-density Wi-Fi networks and understand how best to diagnose problems. Using this testbed, we evaluated the performance of our problem-diagnosis approach in terms of its precision and recall on injected faults. We also evaluated the performance of our mitigation strategy on our testbed by injecting faults and verifying that the selected mitigation strategy successfully mitigated the problem caused by that fault. We found that our approach diagnoses the correct root cause of faults with high precision and recall (often above 90%) and can mitigate problems via alternative access-point selection in 100% of our test cases. While we have studied our approach in certain test environments and for video-streaming applications, we believe that our approach can be applied to any Wi-Fi network and many other applications outside of video streaming. Our work in this dissertation could be extended through the automated discovery of the parameters for our diagnosis and mitigation algorithms that provide the best performance in other Wi-Fi networks, along with further studies of how Wi-Fi performance problems manifest in other types of applications and under what conditions users disengage with those applications due to problems.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2000.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-56).
The thesis is motivated by two major trends: the rise of a global information and knowledge economy, and environmental degradation and the search for sustainable solutions. The increasing importance of knowledge has by some been equated with a new industrial revolution, one based on computer technology, digital infrastructure, and highly educated and technically skilled workers. But how do we assess the value of knowledge in this 'new' economy? The question over value is explored through the diffusion and localization of new knowledge via a knowledge network, based on information technology. The central argument is that in the knowledge economy, the value of knowledge lies in the ability to share it over a knowledge network, which allows for diffusion and localization of new knowledge. This central thesis and the value of knowledge networks is further explored by looking at the case of environmentally friendly or sustainable production. The knowledge network targets barriers to environmentally friendly practices by encouraging and enabling diffusion of knowledge related to sustainable products and processes. The knowledge scope for environmental solutions is analyzed, with the objective to develop common categories, and to understand better the increasing complexities and knowledge needs as enterprises engage in sustainable production. In discussing the knowledge economy and knowledge networks, the thesis focuses mostly on the business enterprise. But the development of the knowledge age has much larger implications, such as 'knowledge for whom?' and 'value for whom?'. The information technologies and networks offer new ways for people and groups to interact and influence social issues and can enable the diffusion of wide variety of views and perspectives. Thinking about the information and knowledge age in the larger economic and social context requires us to consider who builds, controls, influences and benefits from the technology and its use. Before we can reasonably approach this analysis, a basic conceptual framework or understanding of knowledge sharing, knowledge networks, and value of knowledge is called for. This thesis is a building block for such a framework, a contribution to future research into the economic and social implications of the knowledge economy.
by Vignir Mar Haraldsson.
S.M.

This investigation of the 2014 midterm election brings together research in communication, journalism, political science, and sociology. Incorporating concepts of interdependence through the application of social network analysis, I analyzed how journalists construct and utilize networks of news sources in election coverage. Survey results indicate that journalists use sources in a complementary fashion in order to fulfill their resource needs. Such perceptions are also dependent on aspects of the journalist, news norms, organizational pressures, and extra-media influences. Overall, source networks are strategically used to fulfill traditional journalistic norms of objectivity and credibility as well as economic and entertainment needs. Content analysis results suggest that, along with more traditional variables such as ownership and source type, networks characteristics also influence new outcomes, with higher network density resulting in increases in issue coverage. In other words, greater connections among sources may result in more substantive information being passed on to voters. For the field of communication, this study enhances our understanding of agenda building and framing by revealing (1) how journalists perceive their networks (networks to journalists), (2) how they translate real life networks into symbolic networks within news coverage (networks from journalists), (3) how source networks vary across time and election contexts (networks across time), and (4) how such networks influence coverage outcomes. It furthers our understanding of the role interdependence plays in news construction and suggests the incorporation of network concepts and measures will increase our understanding of the news production process.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2000.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-253).
by Jonh S. Hollywood.
Ph.D.

This paper analyzes the meanings attributed by social network users to the aestheticization of the self-phenomenon, product of the identities negotiation process among its participants. The objective is to join efforts to overcome the dichotomy established between disparate identity conceptions in the social network environment, and provide a concept that favors the operationalization of this category of studies. The study employed a qualitative methodology, conducting 16 semi-structured interviews with male and female Facebook users of diverse ages, ethnicities and socioeconomic levels; all residents in Brasilia-DF. A dialecticalsubjective production process among social network users was verified.
El presente artículo analiza los sentidos atribuidos por los usuarios de las redes sociales de internet al fenómeno de la estetización del self, producto del proceso de negociación de identidades entre sus participantes. El objetivo es unirse a los esfuerzos por la superación de la dicotomía establecida entre concepciones dispares de las identidades en el ambiente de redes sociales y aportar una concepción que favorezca la operacionalización de esta categoría de estudios. La metodología se constituyó en una investigación cualitativa con base en entrevistas semiestructuradas con 16 usuarios del Facebook de ambos sexos, de diferentes edades, etnias y niveles socioeconómicos, todos residentes en Brasilia-DF. Como resultado, constatamos un proceso dialéctico de producción subjetiva entre los usuarios de las redes sociales.
O presente artigo analisa os significados atribuídos pelos usuários de redes sociais de Internet ao fenômeno da estetização do self, produto do processo de negociação de identidades entre seus participantes. O objetivo é unir-se aos esforços pela superação da dicotomia estabelecida entre concepções díspares de identidades no ambiente de redes sociais e proporcionar uma concepção que favoreça a operacionalização desta categoria de estudos. A metodologia constituiu-se em uma pesquisa qualitativa baseada em entrevistas semi-estruturadas com 16 usuários de Facebook de ambos sexos, de diferentes idades, etnias e níveis socioeconômicos,todos os participantes são residentes de Brasília-DF. Como resultado, encontramos um processo dialético de produção subjetiva entre os usuários das redes sociais.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 110 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 106-110).

Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina Veterinária
There is an increasing understanding that antimicrobial consumption must kept low, while not compromising productivity, in modern animal farming. However, viable alternatives to antimicrobials are needed. Using data regarding antimicrobial prescription, production, biosecurity and vaccination, amongst others, this project included an analysis of the network of interdependencies between these variables, to deepen the understanding of the interactions between the factors which make up pig farming. The dataset included data from 160 Danish sow herds, with information regarding the sow and the weaner sector of the production. With this in mind, additive bayesian networks methodologies were applied - a multivariate technique suited to process datasets of considerable size and complexity, which returns as final output a directed acyclic graph, representing of the network of associations between the parameters, and differencing direct from indirect ones. As such, it was discovered no association regarding antimicrobial consumption-related variables, indicating other factores, such as biosecurity, as more impactful in sow farming. The Danish SPF system, and all the standards it implies, also appeared as relevant. Although these results must be interpreted having the context of Danish pig farming in mind, it nonetheless reveals it is possible a reduction of the dependence in antimicrobials.
RESUMO - A rede de associações entre consumo de antimicrobianos, biosegurança, vacinação e produção: Uma análise de efetivos de porcas na Dinamarca, usando Redes Aditivas Bayesianas - A necessidade de reduzir o consumo de antimicrobianos faz-se sentir cada vez mais, na agropecuária atual. Contudo, é necessário garantir a manutenção dos níveis produtivos aquando desta redução, pelo que se afigura importante a identificação de alternativas viáveis aos antimicrobianos. Utilizando dados relativos à prescrição de antimicrobianos, parâmetros produtivos, biosegurança e vacinação, entre outros, o presente projeto conduziu uma análise à rede de interdependências entre as variáveis, com o objetivo de aprofundar conhecimento sobre a dinâmica das interações entre os vários fatores que determinam a produção porcina. Para o efeito, foi usada a metodologia de redes aditivas bayesianas, uma técnica multivariada destinada a bases de dados de tamanho e complexidade consideráveis, cujo resultado final se materializa num gráfico acíclico direcionado – uma representação visual da rede de associações entre todos os parâmetros, discriminando as diretas das indiretas. Como tal, foi descoberta uma ausência de associações relacionadas com consumo de antimicrobianos, indicando um maior impacto de outros fatores, como a biosegurança, na produção de porcas. O sistema SPF dinamarquês, e todos os padrões que engloba, também se revelaram influentes. Apesar destes resultados deverem ser interpretados à luz daquilo que é o contexto dinamarquês, constata-se ser possível a redução da dependência em antimicrobianos.
N/A

There has been great scholarly interest in examining the management, proliferation, and dynamic articulations of borders through an actor-network lens in recent years. In tracing the networks of Mohamed Harkat, the irregular arrival of a particular group of Tamil migrants, and Deepan Budlakoti, I demonstrate how the border is a fluid entity composed of socio-technical actors dispersed across time and space capable of producing varying degrees of membership statuses. In exploring the cases of these non-citizens, this thesis aims to understand what each of these multi-level networks tells us about the notion of borders and bordering practices alike. This study contributes to the expanding literature that situates the border as a fluid and malleable entity that is made up of interwoven socio-technical practices, discourses, symbols, institutions, and networks through which power is dispersed and the binary distinctions between membership and non-membership increasingly become layered concepts.

The objective of this thesis is to make a contribution to the existing knowledge and understanding of the structure, nature and determinants of East Asia’s automobile production networks. To understand the structure of East Asia’s automobile production, we explored the trade networks in terms of the major roles played by each East Asian country, their main trading partners, and the network patterns for the years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010. After understanding the structure of East Asia’s production networks, we then explored the nature of such networks by means of some related indices. Consequently, through the use of gravity equations, we were able to investigate the determinants of the automobile trade level for East Asian countries given their position in the international production networks. The findings of this thesis indicate that East Asia’s automobile networks are expanding over time and there exists a trend toward exporting parts and components for domestic assembly in view of the local market. In terms of the production network, the role of some countries such as Malaysia and Singapore remains unchanged, while the role of other countries such as China, Indonesia and the Philippines had expanded from importers to exporters of auto parts and components. Meanwhile, the role of Thailand has changed dramatically during the same period, i.e. from an importer of auto parts, components and final automobiles in the 1990s to an exporter of auto parts, components and final automobiles in the decade that followed. The findings also suggested that the main actor, i.e. Japan, played a major role in the transformation of the auto industry in East Asia during this period, with it now importing auto parts and components from its East Asian partners and also exporting auto parts and components to Thailand which then exports them as final goods. In addition, IPNs structure and nature, government policies as well as the role played by Japanese MNCs are the important determinants that boosted the development of East Asia’s auto industry.