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Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
Embedding Systems Thinking Into Ewb Project Planning And Development: Assessing The Utility Of A Group Model Building Approach, Kimberly Pugel, Jeffrey P. Walters
Embedding Systems Thinking Into Ewb Project Planning And Development: Assessing The Utility Of A Group Model Building Approach, Kimberly Pugel, Jeffrey P. Walters
Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering
Amongst growing sociotechnical efforts, engineering students and professionals both in the international development sector and industry are challenged to approach projects more holistically to achieve project goals. Engineering service learning organisations must similarly adapt their technological projects to consider varying cultural and economic structures, ensuring more resilient social progress within development efforts. In practice, systems thinking approaches can be utilised to model the social, economic, political, and technological implications that influence the sustainability of an engineering project. This research assesses the utility of integrating systems thinking into Engineers Without Borders (EWB) project planning and development, thereby improving project impact and …
Working With Complexity: A Participatory Systems-Based Process For Planning And Evaluating Rural Water, Sanitation And Hygiene Services, Jeffrey P. Walters, Kate Neely, Karla Pozo
Working With Complexity: A Participatory Systems-Based Process For Planning And Evaluating Rural Water, Sanitation And Hygiene Services, Jeffrey P. Walters, Kate Neely, Karla Pozo
Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering
Individuals working within the water, sanitation and hygiene for development (WASH) sector grapple daily with complex technical, social, economic, and environmental issues that often produce unexpected outcomes that are difficult to plan for and resolve. Here we propose a method we are calling the ‘Participatory Systems-based Planning and Evaluation Process’ (PS-PEP) that combines structural factor analysis and collaborative modeling to guide teams of practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders through a process of modeling and interpreting how factors systemically and dynamically influence sustained access to WASH services. The use and utility of the PS-PEP is demonstrated with a regional team of …
Risk Attitudes And Global Infrastructure Technology Choices, Jessica Kaminsky, Jeffrey P. Walters
Risk Attitudes And Global Infrastructure Technology Choices, Jessica Kaminsky, Jeffrey P. Walters
Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering
Past research shows that Hofstede’s cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance explains variance in nations’ technology choice for sanitation and electricity infrastructure construction. The uncertainty avoidance dimension describes the way that nations deal with ambiguity and uncertainty. This paper is part of a larger project that links that previous national scale research to the project level that is most relevant to the construction practice. As such, this paper reviews methods from the literature that measure individual risk attitudes, including issues of measurement and risk determinants. For example, this paper discusses paid real-stakes lotteries, general risk questions, and context specific risk questions. …