Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Rapid Development Of Multimedia Instructional Modules For Information Technology Education, Nanda Ganesan

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

A multifaceted learning model was developed for implementing e-learning in a largely commuter campus. The primary objective of the model was to build a flexible learning environment that combined the learning effectiveness of in-class learning with the flexibility and accessibility of online learning. One of the components of the model was the multimedia instructional modules produced to teach various Information Technology courses. Several different types of modules were produced representing chalk-and-talk type of lectures, PowerPoint presentations and software tutorials. The chalk-and-talk type of lecture modules and the software tutorials that emulated the in-class learning experience contributed positively towards enhancing the …

Can Information Systems Foster Emotional Intelligence? A Design Theory-Based Approach, Richard J. Burkhard, Thomas A. Horan, Brian N. Hilton, Michael Leih

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Researchers in Information Systems (IS) have conducted extensive research into various kinds of collaboration systems over the last twenty-five years. A parallel stream of inquiry in psychology and management has developed research in organizational Emotional Intelligence, which contributes to the effectiveness of group interactions by increasing cooperation and reducing conflict. Collaboration systems present a special opportunity to introduce soft management functions such as Emotional Intelligence because they are designed as an intelligent channel of interaction between group members. This research used an Information Systems Design Theory approach to guide the integration of Emotional Intelligence functions into collaboration systems. Two artifact …

Business Risks: When Is Fails To Detect Circumvention Activities, Stanley X. Lewis Jr., J. Scott Magruder, Eddy J. Burks, Carl Smolinski

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

A business must recognize and address various risk factors when establishing and maintaining its information system. The overall risk to management is that the control environment does not protect proprietary business data and the financial reporting system that produces financial statements and other information used by investors, creditors and regulatory agencies. These risks require that management implement efforts to ensure the integrity and effectiveness of control procedures over business activities while being aware of additional system issues such as failing to adequately consider other risks which are more business-oriented including the risk of failing to prevent or detect fraudulent or …

Ontology-Based Business Process Customization For Composite Web Services, Qianhui (Althea) Liang, Xindong Wu, E. K. Park, T. Khoshgoftaar, C. Chi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A key goal of the Semantic Web is to shift social interaction patterns from a producer-centric paradigm to a consumer-centric one. Treating customers as the most valuable assets and making the business models work better for them are at the core of building successful consumer-centric business models. It follows that customizing business processes constitutes a major concern in the realm of a knowledge-pull-based human semantic Web. This paper conceptualizes the customization of service-based business processes leveraging the existing knowledge of Web services and business processes. We represent this conceptualization as a new Extensible Markup Language (XML) markup language Web Ontology …

The Price Of Stability In Selfish Scheduling Games, Lucas Agussurja, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Game theory has gained popularity as an approach to analysing and understanding distributed systems with self-interested agents. Central to game theory is the concept of Nash equilibrium as a stable state (solution) of the system, which comes with a price − the loss in efficiency. The quantification of the efficiency loss is one of the main research concerns. In this paper, we study the quality and computational characteristics of the best Nash equilibrium in two selfish scheduling models: the congestion model and the sequencing model. In particular, we present the following results: (1) In the congestion model: first, the best …

Integrated Resource Allocation And Scheduling In Bidirectional Flow Shop With Multi-Machine And Cos Constraints, Hoong Chuin Lau, Zhengyi Zhao, Shuzhi Sam Ge

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

An integer programming (IP) model is proposed for integrated resource allocation and operation scheduling for a multiple job-agents system. Each agent handles a specific job-list in a bidirectional flowshop. For the individual agent scheduling problem, a formulation is proposed in continuous time domain and compared with an IP formulation in discrete time domain. Of particular interest is the formulation of the machine utilization function-- both in continuous time and discrete time. Fast heuristic methods are proposed with the relaxation of the machine capacity. For the integrated resource allocation and scheduling problem, a linear programming relaxation approach is applied to solve …

Event-Detecting Multi-Agent Mdps: Complexity And Constant-Factor Approximation, Akshat Kumar, S. Zilberstein

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Planning under uncertainty for multiple agents has grown rapidly with the development of formal models such as multi-agent MDPs and decentralized MDPs. But despite their richness, the applicability of these models remains limited due to their computational complexity. We present the class of event-detecting multi-agent MDPs (eMMDPs), designed to detect multiple mobile targets by a team of sensor agents. We show that eMMDPs are NP-Hard and present a scalable 2-approximation algorithm for solving them using matroid theory and constraint optimization. The complexity of the algorithm is linear in the state-space and number of agents, quadratic in the horizon, and exponential …

An Integrated Probability-Based Approach For Multiple Response Surface Optimization, Okay Isik

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Nearly all real life systems have multiple quality characteristics where individual modeling and optimization approaches can not provide a balanced compromising solution. Since performance, cost, schedule, and consistency remain the basics of any design process, design configurations are expected to meet several conflicting requirements at the same time. Correlation between responses and model parameter uncertainty demands extra scrutiny and prevents practitioners from studying responses in isolation. Like any other multi-objective problem, multi-response optimization problem requires trade-offs and compromises, which in turn makes the available algorithms difficult to generalize for all design problems. Although multiple modeling and optimization approaches have been …

Implementing A Functional Iso 9001 Quality Management System In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Andres Sousa-Poza, Mert Altinkilinc, Cory Searcy

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This conceptual paper provides guidance for the implementation of a functional ISO 9001 quality management system (QMS) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To help a SME understand its starting point, four initial states for QMS implementation are defined. Five paths for moving the QMS from the initial state to the desired state are described. To support the transition from the initial to the desired state, some key considerations in implementing a QMS in SMEs are discussed. The paper is based on site visits and implementation assistance the authors have provided to several SMEs. It is anticipated the paper will …

Summer Sessions Breakdown Of Course Dates And Time, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This report highlights an exhaustive analysis of the hundreds of Summer Session courses to develop an understanding of when they occur during the day and during which of the four academic terms. The analysis shows that the most popular time for scheduling courses is between 9:30 am and noon for each of the four summer session terms. Given the limited number of general purpose classrooms on campus, accommodating faculty preference for rooms, buildings, and computer equipment is sometimes not possible during the most in demand course times. The results also showcase the potential for having summer courses four-day per week …

Spreadsheet Data Resampling For Monte-Carlo Simulation, Thin Yin Leong, Wee Leong Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The pervasiveness of spreadsheets software resulted in its increased application as a simulation tool for business analysis. Random values generation supporting such evaluations using spreadsheets are simple and yet powerful. However, the typical approach to Monte-Carlo simulations, which is what simulations with stochasticity are called, requires significant amount of time to be spent on data collection, data collation, and distribution function fitting. In fact, the latter can be overwhelming for undergraduate students to learn and do properly in a short time. Resampling eliminates both the need to fit distributions to the sample data, and to perform the ensuing tests of …

Engineering Management Framework In Support Of Modeling & Simulation Application For Domain Specific Procurement, Thomas Guy Litwin

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A strategic process is desirable for project-based organizations in order for them to be efficient and effective when developing Modeling & Simulation (M&S) systems. This thesis proposes an overarching process that combines traditional M&S and Engineering Management methodologies in a new framework to support M&S organizations during the procurement process.

This thesis proposes both a Strategic Project Management Process (SPMP) and a systems engineering process for M&S federation development projects. The systems engineering process utilizes the artifacts of Model Driven Architecture (MDA) to support building M&S federations driven by operational requirements. Detailed research of this systems engineering process revealed a …

Research On Logistic Management In Deltai Medical Company, Yan Hu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Research On Information Integration Of Zhoushan Port And Its External Environment, Peiyao Lu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Research On Container Operations At Container Freight Station And Rfid Implementation, Kasarla Naga Chandra Mohan

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Allocation Of Airline Check-In Counters: A Queueing Optimisation Approach, Mahmut Parlar, Sharafali Moosa

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper was motivated by an observation in an international airport with regard to allocation of resources for check-in counters. In an exclusive check-in counter system, each flight has a dedicated number of counters that will be open until at least a half-hour before the scheduled departure of that flight. Currently, in many of the airports around the world, the decision to open or close check-in counters is done on an ad hoc basis by human schedulers. In doing so, the schedulers are almost always forced to perform a balancing act in meeting the quality of service stipulated by the …

Forecasting Flying Hour Costs Of The B-1, B-2, And B-52 Bomber Aircraft, Stefanie L. Van Dyk

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis both evaluates, and presents improvements to, the current method of forecasting flying costs of Air Force aircraft. It uses depot level repairable (DLR) and consumable (CONS) data for the Air Force's bomber platforms: B-1B, B-2, and B-52H. The current forecasting method assumes a proportional relationship between costs and flying hours such that 1) when no hours are flown costs are zero, and 2) a 1% increase in flying hours will increase costs by 1%. The findings of this research indicate that applying log-linear ordinary least squares regression techniques may be an improved fit of flying cost data over …

Electric Elves: What Went Wrong And Why, Milind Tambe, Emma Bowring, Jonathan Pearce, Pradeep Reddy Varakantham, Paul Scerri, David V. Pynadath

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Software personal assistants continue to be a topic of significant research interest. This article outlines some of the important lessons learned from a successfully-deployed team of personal assistant agents (Electric Elves) in an office environment. In the Electric Elves project, a team of almost a dozen personal assistant agents were continually active for seven months. Each elf (agent) represented one person and assisted in daily activities in an actual office environment. This project led to several important observations about privacy, adjustable autonomy, and social norms in office environments. In addition to outlining some of the key lessons learned we outline …

Measuring Agility Of Organizations - A Comprehensive Agility Measurement Tool (Camt), Ameya S. Erande, Alok K. Verma

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Since "Agility" is ability to respond to unpredictable changes with quick response and profitability, it is not industry specific. This "not industry specific" nature of agility makes it hard to assess and measure it on a fixed scale. Measurement of agility of an enterprise has been a major topic of research since inception of agility in 1991. Though some methods have been developed to measure agility, they mainly remain tied to manufacturing industry. As agility is present in all the industries, comprehensive tool to measure it is a necessity in order to determine responsiveness of an enterprise to external turbulences. …

Agent-Based Modeling And Possible Implications On Management And Engineering Management, Ipek Bozkurt, Jose J. Padilla, Andres A. Sousa-Poza

VMASC Publications

Engineering Management (EM) is a discipline that takes pride in bridging two major fields, namely engineering and management. It is clear from any basic research conducted within this field that both engineering and management tools and paradigms need to be used jointly. A mixture that encompasses quantitative and qualitative research, as well as theoretical and empirical research is found in literature, making Engineering Management, as a discipline, very complex in nature. As this complexity evolves, so should the tools of the craft. It is interesting, however, to see that Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) as a tool or as a topic of …

Differences In The Performance Of Knowledge Transfer Across Projects: A Study Of Gender And Role Of Key Project Stakeholders, Rafael E. Landaeta, Catherine Vergopia, Rey N. Diaz

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This investigation contributes empirical results of differences identified in key project stakeholders with respect to their use of knowledge transferred across projects. Gender and role were the two individual characteristics investigated. Project managers and members of project teams were the key stakeholders analyzed. Data was collected from 71 closed projects using a survey composed of closed-ended questions. The data collected was cross tabulated and statistically analyzed using Friedman's test and Spearman's correlation. The results provide evidence of the association of the performance of knowledge transfer across projects with (a) the individual factors of gender and role of key project stakeholders …

Designing The Market Game For A Commodity Trading Simulation, Shih-Fen Cheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we propose to design a market game that (a) can be used in modeling and studying commodity trading scenarios, and (b) can be used in capturing human traders' behaviors. Specifically, we demonstrate the usefulness of this commodity trading game in a single-commodity futures trading scenario. A pilot experiment was run with a mixture of human traders and an autonomous agent that emulates the aggregatedmarket condition, with the assumption that this autonomous agent would hint each of its action through a public announcement. We show that the information collected from this simulation can be used to extract the …

The Price Of Stability In Selfish Scheduling Games, Lucas Agussurja, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Game theory has gained popularity as an approach to analysing and understanding distributed systems with selfinterested agents. Central to game theory is the concept of Nash equilibrium as a stable state (solution) of the system, which comes with a price - the loss in efficiency. The quantification of the efficiency loss is one of the main research concerns. In this paper, we study the quality and computational characteristic of the best Nash equilibrium in two selfish scheduling models: the congestion model and the sequencing model. In particular, we present the following results: (1) In the congestion model: first, the best …

Multi-Period Combinatorial Auction Mechanism For Distributed Resource Allocation And Scheduling, Hoong Chuin Lau, Shih-Fen Cheng, Thin Yin Leong, Jong Han Park, Zhengyi Zhao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We consider the problem of resource allocation and scheduling where information and decisions are decentralized, and our goal is to propose a market mechanism that allows resources from a central resource pool to be allocated to distributed decision makers (agents) that seek to optimize their respective scheduling goals. We propose a generic combinatorial auction mechanism that allows agents to competitively bid for the resources needed in a multi-period setting, regardless of the respective scheduling problem faced by the agent, and show how agents can design optimal bidding strategies to respond to price adjustment strategies from the auctioneer. We apply our …

Semester Project For Engineering Management, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Instructional Materials

This is the semester-project for my IMSE 405/805 course on Engineering Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This team-based project required students to develop an operational plan (facility layout, required staffing, company operating policies, company benefits program) for a specified product.

Radical Impact Of Change In Actions And Confidence Index On Reverse Decision Making An Application Based Study, Swatee Trimbak Paithankar

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

While making decisions under uncertainty, people are often unaware of the logical approach to form the decision process. It is assumed that collecting details, analyzing and evaluating data is enough to make 'proper' decisions. However, past research in the decision making arena has significantly validated that there exists a class of decision problems which is complex, ill-structured and not defined to the level where decision makers can draw logical conclusions based on existing traditional decision approaches. RDM (reverse decision making), one of the novel approaches of decision making under conditions of uncertainty, has shown potential towards addressing some of these …

Robust Local Search And Its Application To Generating Robust Schedules, Hoong Chuin Lau, Fei Xiao, Thomas Ou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we propose an extended local search framework to solve combinatorial optimization problems with data uncertainty. Our approach represents a major departure from scenario-based or stochastic programming approaches often used to tackle uncertainty. Given a value 0 < ? 1, we are interested to know what the robust objective value is, i.e. the optimal value if we allow an chance of not meeting it, assuming that certain data values are defined on bounded random variables. We show how a standard local search or metaheuristic routine can be extended to efficiently construct a decision rule with such guarantee, albeit heuristically. We demonstrate its practical applicability on the Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem with minimal and maximal time lags (RCPSP/max) taking into consideration activity duration uncertainty. Experiments show that, partial order schedules can be constructed that are robust in our sense without the need for a large planned horizon (due date), which improves upon the work proposed by Policella et al. 2004.

Research On Logistics Operation Mode Of Shanghai 2010 Expo, Jiaying Chen

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Leanness And Agility In Job Shops: A Framework For A Survey Instrument Developed Using The Delphi Method, Zaki Kuruppalil

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Manufacturers are facing new challenges as competition has become global. Manufacturing companies arc looking for strategies which would help them gain an edge over their competitors. In the United States, lean manufacturing and agile manufacturing have been gaining importance among industries. Agile manufacturing was developed when the United States Department of Defense (DOD) requested Iacocca Institute at Lehigh University to develop a manufacturing framework that could give US companies an edge over their worldwide competitors whereas lean manufacturing has its roots tied to the Toyota Production System (TPS). This raises the questions: what is the clear difference between the two …

Using Reconstructability Analysis For Input Variable Reduction: A Business Example, Stephen Shervais, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

We demonstrate the use of reconstructability analysis (RA) on the UCI Australian Credit dataset to reduce the number of input variables for two different analysis tools. Using 14 variables, an artificial neural net (NN) is able to predict whether or not credit was granted, with a 79.1% success rate. RA preprocessing allows us to reduce the number of independent variables from 14 to two different sets of three, which have success rates of 77.2% and 76.9% respectively. The difference between these rates and that of the 14-variable NN is not statistically significant. The three-variable rulesets given by RA achieve success …