The relationship between company R&D and commercial performance, if any, is the subject of much discussion and little measurement. One view (Bisio and Gastwirt 1979) is that meaningful quantitative generalisations on the value of R&D to companies cannot be made. A later study (Bergen 1983) introduced quantitative methods by creating a series of hypotheses. These were tested by scoring related variables and analysing the data for correlations and population differences. The study was confined to one industry to approach like for like comparison as closely as possible. The results encouraged the extension of the study to include Japan (Bergen & Miyajima 1986) and the USA. The present paper reports on the four country quantitative comparisons. Among other indications, the findings support the view that national culture is an important factor in both methods and results and that there is a correlation between R&D investment and productivity.
The effect of national culture, found to be strong in the FRG/UK study, is even stronger in Japan. Apparent anomalies in the quantitative findings are resolved by taking it into account.The slopes of the regression lines of R&D resources against company productivity suggest that expenditure on R&D in the U K is well below optimum while that in Japan is rather above it and permit speculation as to what the optimum is for the industry.
The activity of the mechanized extraction of wood, carried out by means of self-propelled forest machines, consists of moving the wood cut inside the forest stand from the planted forests to the roadside. During displacements, these machines normally travel over forest residues and stumps, which can demand greater motor power from the engine, in addition to the possible increase in occupational noise levels. In this context, we evaluated whether, when operating different self-propelled forest machines in the wood extraction of planted Eucalyptus forests, operators are exposed to different levels of occupational noise, especially to thresholds above those established for prevention purposes. Occupational noise data were collected during the workday, weighing six self-propelled forest machine operators who performed the wood-extraction operation, performed by two forwarders, two self-loading tractors, and two grapple skidders, in three areas with Eucalyptus plantations located in the southeastern region of Brazil. The sound-pressure level was collected using two integrative meters following the strategic measurement criterion recommendation for the whole day in the guidelines of the acoustic determination of occupational noise exposure and analyzed according to the American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists. Operators of forest machines for the mechanized extraction of wood were exposed to occupational noise levels above the recommended level, which can affect health and well-being; this occupation also required above-average levels of attention during the execution of work activities.
The constant technical and economic analysis of timber harvesting operations is essential and determining, due to the monetary magnitude. Traditionally, these analyses are conducted deterministically, which does not allow obtaining values with probabilities of occurrence. Considering this issue, stochastic models were built in order to analyze the behavior of probabilistic production cost in felling operations with feller-buncher, through the Monte Carlo method. The study was conducted in the Central-West region of the state of São Paulo in a forest of Eucalyptus sp., with six years of age, planted in 3 x 2 m spacing. Technical analysis was based on the study of time and movements, which determined the effective productivity and economy in the hourly operating cost of the feller-buncher and in the production costs of the operation. Due to uncertainties, probability distributions were assigned to these results, which identified the most relevant variables and quantified the probabilities of the production cost. The results demonstrated that the fuel cost had a statistically significant strong positive correlation coefficient ( = 0.91) (p-value < 0.01). The hourly cost, consequently, was directly proportional to the production cost of the operation. The production cost of the operation in flat relief was 18% lower than the production cost of the operation in undulating relief. Keywords: Harvest, time and movements, productivity, operational risk, cost. ResumoIncorporação da incerteza na análise técnica e econômica de um feller buncher. A constante análise técnica e econômica das operações de colheita florestal possui caráter essencial e determinante, devido à magnitude dos valores monetários. Tradicionalmente, essas análises são realizadas de forma determinística, o que não permite a obtenção de valores com probabilidades de ocorrência. Nesse sentido, foram construídos modelos estocásticos para analisar o comportamento do custo probabilístico de produção na operação de derrubada com feller buncher, por meio do método de Monte Carlo. O estudo foi conduzido na região Centro-Oeste do estado de São Paulo em uma floresta de Eucalyptus sp. com seis anos de idade, plantada em espaçamento de 3 x 2 m. A análise técnica foi pautada no estudo de tempos e movimentos, determinando-se a produtividade efetiva e a econômica no custo operacional horário do feller buncher e nos custos de produção da operação. Por conterem incertezas, a esses resultados, foram atribuídas distribuições de probabilidade, que permitiram identificar as variáveis mais relevantes e quantificar as probabilidades do custo de produção. Constatou-se que o custo com combustível possui coeficiente de correlação positiva forte ( = 0,91), estatisticamente significativo (valor p < 0,01). O custo horário, por consequência, foi diretamente proporcional ao custo de produção da operação. O custo de produção da operação em relevo plano foi 18% inferior ao custo de produção da operação em relevo ondulado. Palavras-chaves: Colheita, tempos e movimentos, produtivi...
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