Production Systems Engineering (PSE) is an emerging branch of Engineering intended to uncover fundamental principles of production systems and utilize them for analysis, continuous improvement, and ...design. This volume is the first ever textbook devoted exclusively to PSE. It is intended for senior undergraduate and first year graduate students interested in manufacturing. The development is first principle-based rather than recipe-based. The only prerequisite is elementary Probability Theory, however, all necessary probability facts are reviewed in an introductory chapter. Using a system-theoretic approach, this textbook provides analytical solutions for the following problems: mathematical modeling of production systems, performance analysis, constrained improvability, bottleneck identification and elimination, lean buffer design, product quality, customer demand satisfaction, transient behavior, and system-theoretic properties. Numerous case studies are presented. In addition, the so-called PSE Toolbox, which implements the algorithms developed, is described. The volume includes numerous case studies and problems for homework assignment.
Production Studies Mayer, Vicki; Banks, Miranda J; Caldwell, John T
2009, 20090910, 2008-05-01, 2009-05-29
eBook
"Behind-the-scenes" stories of ranting directors, stingy producers, temperamental actors, and the like have fascinated us since the beginnings of film and television. Today, magazines, websites, ...television programs, and DVDs are devoted to telling tales of trade lore—from on-set antics to labor disputes. The production of media has become as storied and mythologized as the content of the films and TV shows themselves.
Production Studies is the first volume to bring together a star-studded cast of interdisciplinary media scholars to examine the unique cultural practices of media production. The all-new essays collected here combine ethnographic, sociological, critical, material, and political-economic methods to explore a wide range of topics, from contemporary industrial trends such as new media and niche markets to gender and workplace hierarchies. Together, the contributors seek to understand how the entire span of "media producers"—ranging from high-profile producers and directors to anonymous stagehands and costume designers—work through professional organizations and informal networks to form communities of shared practices, languages, and cultural understandings of the world.
This landmark collection connects the cultural activities of media producers to our broader understanding of media practices and texts, establishing an innovative and agenda-setting approach to media industry scholarship for the twenty-first century.
Contributors: Miranda J. Banks, John T. Caldwell, Christine Cornea, Laura Grindstaff, Felicia D. Henderson, Erin Hill, Jane Landman, Elana Levine, Amanda D. Lotz, Paul Malcolm, Denise Mann, Vicki Mayer, Candace Moore, Oli Mould, Sherry B. Ortner, Matt Stahl, John L. Sullivan, Serra Tinic, Stephen Zafirau
" Production Studies 's collection of insightful essays by academics from a range of disciplines presents a superb example of precisely the kind of complex, collaborative work their essays elucidate. Incorporating material from interviews with a range of industry professionals, interrogating both industry practices and the scholarship that has explored them, this book speaks to some of the most pressing issues in the current media studies agenda."-- Michele Hilmes , author of NBC: America's Network
"Arriving at a time when the analysis of cultural and material production, in all its forms, has perhaps never been so critical, this rich and diverse collection of essays is a vital contribution to media production studies. The contributors offer a variety of insightful accounts of production culture, approaching it from perspectives including anthropology, cultural studies, feminism, and political economy, and highlighting many different production modes, levels, and locales. Production Studies is the new benchmark for this important and rapidly evolving field, and will influence media scholars and practitioners for years to come."-- Derek Kompare , author of Rerun Nation: How Repeats Invented American Television
Vicki Mayer is Assistant Professor of Communication at Tulane University. She is author of Producing Dreams , Consuming Youth: Mexican Americans and Mass Media .
Miranda J. Banks is Assistant Professor of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College.
John Thornton Caldwell is Professor of Film, Television, and Digital Media at UCLA. He has authored and edited several books, including Televisuality: Style, Crisis and Authority in American Television , Electronic Media and Technoculture , New Media: Digitextual Theories and Practices , and Production Culture: Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film and Television .
Introduction: Production Studies: Roots and Routes, Vicki Mayer, Miranda Banks, and John Thornton Caldwell. Part One: Histories of Media Production Studies. 1. Bringing the Social Back In: Studies of Production Cultures and Social Theory, Vicki Mayer . 2. Industry-Level Studies and the Contributions of Gitlin’s Inside Prime Time , Amanda Lotz 3. Leo C. Rosten's Hollywood: Power, Status, and the Primacy of Economic and Social Networks in Cultural Production, John L. Sullivan. 4. Privilege and Distinction in Production Worlds: Copyright, Collective Bargaining, and Working Conditions in Media Making, Matt Stahl . Part Two: Producers: Selves and Others. 5. Self-Serve Celebrity: The Production of Ordinariess and the Ordinariness of Production in Reality Television, Laura Grindstaff. 6. Feminism Below-the-Line: Defining Feminist Production Studies, Miranda J. Banks. 7. It's Not TV, It’s Brand Management TV: The Collective Author(s) of the Lost Franchise, Denise Mann. 8. Showrunning the Doctor Who Franchise: A Response to Denise Mann, Christine Cornea . Part Three: Production Spaces: Centers and Peripheries. 9. Liminal Places and Spaces: Public/Private Considerations, Candace Moore. 10. "Not in Kansas Anymore": Transnational Collaboration in Television Science Fiction Production, Jane Landman . 11. Crossing the Border: Studying Canadian Television Production, Elana Levine. 12. Borders of Production Research: A Response to Elana Levine, Serra Tinic . Part Four: Production as Lived Experience. 13. Studying Sideways: Ethnographic Access in Hollywood, Sherry Ortner. 14. Audience Knowledge and the Everyday Lives of Cultural Producers in Hollywood, Stephen Zafirau 15. Lights, Camera, but Where’s the Action? Actor-Network Theory and the Production of Robert Connolly's Three Dollars , Oli Mould . 16. Both Sides of the Fence: Blurred Distinctions in Scholarhip and Production (A Portfoloio of Interviews), John Caldwell . The Craft Association, Paul Malcolm . Hollywood Assistanting, Erin Hill . The Writer's Room, Felicia D. Henderson . Select Bibliography. List of Contributors. Index.
Due to a production error, Figure 4 in the article "Autonomous Last-Mile Delivery Vehicles in Complex Traffic Environments", Computer, vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 26-35, 2020. doi: 10.1109/MC.2020.2970924 ...which appeared in the November 2020 issue of Computer, was not correct in the published version.
Markups and Firm-Level Export Status De Loecker, Jan; Warzynski, Frederic
The American economic review,
10/2012, Volume:
102, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
In this paper, we develop a method to estimate markups using plantlevel production data. Our approach relies on cost-minimizing producers and the existence of at least one variable input of ...production. The suggested empirical framework relies on the estimation of a production function and provides estimates of plant-level markups without specifying how firms compete in the product market. We rely on our method to explore the relationship between markups and export behavior. We find that markups are estimated significantly higher when controlling f or unobserved productivity; that exporters charge, on average, higher markups and that markups increase upon export entry.
Biofuels in Africa Mitchell, Donald O
2011, 2010, 11-24-2010
eBook, Book
Open access
Biofuels offer new opportunities for African countries. They can contribute to economic growth, employment, and rural incomes. They can become an important export for some countries and provide ...low-cost fuel for others. There is also a potentially large demand for biofuels to meet the rapidly growing need for local fuel. Abundant natural resources and low-cost labor make producing biofuel feedstock's a viable alternative to traditional crops; and the preferential access available to most African countries to protected markets in industrial countries provides unique export opportunities. Biofuels also bring challenges and risks, including potential land-use conflicts, environmental risks, and heightened concerns about food security. This book examines the potential of African countries to produce biofuels for export or domestic consumption and looks at the policy framework needed. It is part of the effort by the World Bank's Africa region to examine critical issues that affect the region and to recommend policies that effectively address these issues while providing an enabling environment for the private sector. The book is intended to inform policy makers and the larger development community of the global and domestic market opportunities facing biofuel producers, as well as the challenges of producing biofuels, in the Africa region.
The second edition of An Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis is designed to be a general introduction for those who wish to study efficiency and productivity analysis. The book ...provides an accessible, well-written introduction to the four principal methods involved: econometric estimation of average response models, index numbers, data envelopment analysis (DEA), and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). For each method, a detailed introduction to the basic concepts is presented, numerical examples are provided, and some of the more important extensions to the basic methods are discussed. Of special interest is the systematic use of detailed empirical applications using real-world data throughout the book. In recent years, there have been a number of excellent advance-level books published on performance measurement. This book, however, is the first systematic survey of performance measurement with the express purpose of introducing the field to a wide audience of students, researchers, and practitioners. Indeed, the 2nd Edition maintains its uniqueness: (1) It is a well-written introduction to the field. (2) It outlines, discusses and compares the four principal methods for efficiency and productivity analysis in a well-motivated presentation. (3) It provides detailed advice on computer programs that can be used to implement these performance measurement methods. The book contains computer instructions and output listings for the SHAZAM, LIMDEP, TFPIP, DEAP and FRONTIER computer programs. More extensive listings of data and computer instruction files are available on the book's website: (www.uq.edu.au/economics/cepa/crob2005).
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