Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons^™

Determining The Location Of A Milk Condensing Plant In Tennessee, David Frederick Mendez

Masters Theses

Given the increasing popularity of local foods and the desire to reduce shipping costs and carbon footprint, Tennessee-based dairy product producers are showing interest in sourcing fluid milk locally. Based on dairy farmer surveys, discussions with industry leaders, shipping distances, and transportation costs estimates, a mixed integer linear programming model is used to determine the optimal location of an in-state milk condensing plant. The objective is to minimize the total transportation costs of shipments of fluid milk from farms to the condensing plant plus the transportation cost of shipments of condensing plant products to further in-state processing. Twelve scenarios of …

Cell Phone Ethnography: Mixed Methods And The Brand Consumer Relationship, Robert Nathaniel Dove

Masters Theses

Overall, the goal of this study is to identify and differentiate the various motivations and cultural influences that can be used to explain consumer behavior. In doing so, this study hopes to facilitate the development of new and innovative marketing strategies, providing a new research design for the ethnographer’s toolkit. More importantly, this model can give shape to new constructs and new variables for further empirical testing in the field through quantitative and qualitative methods. By blending the two approaches, using qualitative interpretive anthropological analysis by field study with quantitative sentiment analysis adapted from market researcher Jeffery Breen’s (2012) methodology, …

Simulation Of 48-Hour Queue Dynamics For A Semi-Private Hospital Ward Considering Blocked Beds, Wei Chen

Masters Theses

This thesis study evaluates access to care at an internal medicine unit with solely semi-private rooms at Baystate Medical Center (BMC). Patients are divided into two types: Type I patient consumes one bed; Type II patient occupies two beds or an entire semi-private room as a private space for clinical reasons, resulting in one empty but unavailable (blocked) bed per Type II patient. Because little data is available on blocked beds and Type II patients, unit-level hospital bed planning studies that consider blocked beds have been lacking. This thesis study bridges that gap by building a single-stream and a two-stream …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Environmentally Sustainable Practices In Municipal Government: A Case Study Of The City Of Knoxville’S Department Of Parks And Recreation, Anthony Michael Brown

Masters Theses

Sustainability practices produce programs and services that meet current needs while preserving the environment and natural resources for the future. City parks and recreation departments are facing budget shortfalls and increasing expectations from customers. Governments are now embracing sustainability practices to create financial savings while also fostering relations with customers.

The purpose of this single case study was twofold: (1) to examine the effectiveness of one city department’s strategies in outsourcing its environmental sustainability program through a performance contract with Ameresco; and (2) to examine the perceptions of key department employees about the effectiveness of the sustainability initiative. A …

A Genetic Algorithm For The Vehicle Routing Problem, Vickie Dawn Wester

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to develop a version of a genetic algorithm (GA ) which would provide near optimal solutions for Vehicle Routing Problems (VRP) with both time and weight constraints. The genetic algorithm used for the experimentation was adapted from a GA which had been developed by James Bean at the University of Michigan to solve machine scheduling problems. The VRP data sets used in this research were obtained from the literature. Various aspects of the GA were experimented with in order to develop a version which would perform consistently well for all the data sets. The …

The Diffusion Of Management Practices In The United States, Fumie Murase

Masters Theses

The study of diffusion of Japanese management practices in the United States is required by growing Japanese investment in the United States and the need of United States manufacturing to become more efficient. This thesis is based on a qualitative analysis of five case studies of automobile assembly plants in the United States utilizing cultural diffusion theory.

Most of Japanese production practices and some of their labor management policies were originally transferred to Japan from the United States. After being modified in Japan some of these policies are coming back to the United States with the transplants. Other Japanese management …

The Effects Of Quality Of Work Life Processes On Job Satisfaction And Productivity, Greg Alan Dabicci

Masters Theses

This study was conducted to determine the effects of employee participation on job satisfaction and productivity. A small group of hourly employees (5-7) from a package sort and load operation worked with management to identify, analyze, and solve performance problems. Four employee participation interventions were examined: 1) group problem solving of sorting performance, 2) individualized problem solving of loading performance, 3) general participation on job satisfaction, and 4) general participation on overall productivity. The results indicated that the participation program was effective in improving job satisfaction, group performance, and individual performance. The program was not effective in improving overall productivity. …

The Effect Of The 'Tendency To Report Injuries' On Minor Accident Statistics, James A. Barker

Masters Theses

This study is concerned with the effect of the "tendency to report injuries" on minor accident statistics. Assuming that individuals with the largest number of voluntary visits for nonoccupational illnesses to the Dispensary would be those who most readily report to the Dispensary in the event of minor injuries, the individuals may be defined as those who have a tendency to report injuries. The hypothesis to be tested in this thesis is: The tendency to report injuries has no significant effect on the systematic variance in reported injuries between two successive one-year exposure intervals.