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Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons™

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Selected Works

2017

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Articles 1 - 17 of 17

Full-Text Articles in Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering

Community-Engaged Operations Research: Trends, New Frontiers And Current Applications, Michael P. Johnson Jr. Nov 2017

Community-Engaged Operations Research: Trends, New Frontiers And Current Applications, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Community-engaged operations research is an extension of multiple OR/MS traditions to support participatory scholarship, localized impact and social change. It applies critical thinking, evidence-based policy analysis, community participation and decision modeling to local interventions. It emphasizes the needs, voices and values of disadvantaged and marginalized populations. Through a survey of current scholarship in two complementary areas of inquiry, ‘community operational research’ (referring to work by primarily UK-based researchers) and ‘community-based operations research’ (referring to work by primarily US-based researchers), we develop principles for community-engaged OR, present critical questions that represent opportunities to expand the impact of this work, and discuss …

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Investigating The Effects Of Foreign Direct Investment (Fdi) On Croatian Business, Yonghee Cho, Tugrul U. Daim, Marina Dabic Nov 2017

Investigating The Effects Of Foreign Direct Investment (Fdi) On Croatian Business, Yonghee Cho, Tugrul U. Daim, Marina Dabic

Joseph Cho

Technological innovation plays a critical role in economic growth. The most advanced and new technologies are created by leading firms in developed countries. Global expansion, strategic outsourcing or off-shoring in leading companies has been growing to enrich their competitive advantage, while technology transfer of leading firms has been of more interest to emerging or developing countries for catching up and following the trajectory of economic growth proved in developed countries. Among various channels to acquire new technologies from leading firms, foreign direct investments (FDI) is one of the most effective channels through which technology can be transferred to subsidiaries in …

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Strengthening The Profession Through Diversity, Inclusion And Equity: Best Practices And Distinguished Practitioners, Michael P. Johnson Jr. Oct 2017

Strengthening The Profession Through Diversity, Inclusion And Equity: Best Practices And Distinguished Practitioners, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

This session will introduce INFORMS conference participants to the mission and goals of the diversity, inclusion and equity committee. Panelists will describe the state of diversity and inclusion at INFORMS and other professional societies; at organizations whose employees and members participate in INFORMS and other professional societies; and the community of practice associated with operations research, management science and analytics, other STEM fields and related disciplines. Speakers and audience members will explore values, strategies and tactics that may enable INFORMS members of diverse backgrounds and experiences to achieve professional success, and that may enable organizations to produce greater social impact …

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Improving Decision-Making Skills Of Nonprofit Professionals, Michael P. Johnson Jr., George Chichirau, Jason Wright Oct 2017

Improving Decision-Making Skills Of Nonprofit Professionals, Michael P. Johnson Jr., George Chichirau, Jason Wright

Michael P. Johnson

Nonprofits face gaps in organizational capacity, including program design and evaluation, but previous research suggests that capacity-building exercises have a positive effect. We describe a data analytics training workshop with staff from Boston-area nonprofits reflecting a wide range of sectors. Through analysis of participant work on case studies provided by the instructor, we examine how participants made sense of training materials, the various strategies employed by participants to solve three case study problems, and participant feedback about the session. Our findings provide a basis for novel interventions in community based operations research. 

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All Models Are Wrong; Some Models Are Harmful, David Hunt, Michael P. Johnson Jr. Oct 2017

All Models Are Wrong; Some Models Are Harmful, David Hunt, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

We like to think that CBOR involves the application of analytical methods to "do good" locally, and, most will agree these efforts are "doing good". However, what is meant by "doing good" and how do we know when our models are not "doing good" and may in fact be doing harm? Some philosophers consider happiness as the only good, and utilitarianism is based on maximizing happiness. But maximizing happiness can create winners and losers, and are we really "doing good" as long as the pluses outweigh the minuses? This presentation will explore these topics using examples drawn from CBOR.

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Decision Modeling For Housing And Community Development: A Methodology For Evidence-Based Urban And Regional Planning, Michael P. Johnson Jr. Aug 2017

Decision Modeling For Housing And Community Development: A Methodology For Evidence-Based Urban And Regional Planning, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Urban community development corporations and other local institutions routinely face challenging problems in housing and economic development that require substantial expertise in data analytics and decision modeling. Recent research, inspired by local responses to the housing foreclosure crisis, and developed in cooperation with Boston-area CDCs, has resulted in a collection of applications that can assist CDCs and similar organizations to design local interventions for acquisition and redevelopment of housing. This paper describes these applications. The first of these is values and objective design, i.e. the process of identifying decision opportunities. The second of these is data analytics, or …

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Capturing Cognitive Fingerprints From Keystroke Dynamics, J. Morris Chang, Chi-Chen Fang, Kuan-Hsing Ho, Norene Kelly, Pei-Yuan Wu, Yixiao Ding, Chris Chu, Stephen B. Gilbert, Amed E. Kamal, Sun-Yuan Kung Jun 2017

Capturing Cognitive Fingerprints From Keystroke Dynamics, J. Morris Chang, Chi-Chen Fang, Kuan-Hsing Ho, Norene Kelly, Pei-Yuan Wu, Yixiao Ding, Chris Chu, Stephen B. Gilbert, Amed E. Kamal, Sun-Yuan Kung

Morris Chang

Conventional authentication systems identify a user only at the entry point. Keystroke dynamics can continuously authenticate users by their typing rhythms without extra devices. This article presents a new feature called cognitive typing rhythm (CTR) to continuously verify the identities of computer users. Two machine techniques, SVM and KRR, have been developed for the system. The best results from experiments conducted with 1,977 users show a false-rejection rate of 0.7 percent and a false-acceptance rate of 5.5 percent. CTR therefore constitutes a cognitive fingerprint for continuous. Its effectiveness has been verified through a large-scale dataset. This article is part of …

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A Multiperiod Generalized Network Flow Model Of The U.S. Integrated Energy System: Part I—Model Description, Ana Quelhas, Esteban Gil, James D. Mccalley, Sarah M. Ryan Jun 2017

A Multiperiod Generalized Network Flow Model Of The U.S. Integrated Energy System: Part I—Model Description, Ana Quelhas, Esteban Gil, James D. Mccalley, Sarah M. Ryan

James McCalley

This paper is the first of a two-part paper presenting a multiperiod generalized network flow model of the integrated energy system in the United States. Part I describes the modeling approach used to evaluate the economic efficiencies of the system-wide energy flows, from the coal and natural gas suppliers to the electric load centers. Under the proposed problem formulation, fuel supply and electricity demand nodes are connected via a transportation network, and the model is solved for the most efficient allocation of quantities and corresponding prices. The methodology includes physical, economic, and environmental aspects that characterize the different networks. Part …

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Lean Energy Analysis: Identifying, Discovering And Tracking Energy Savings Potential, J. Kelly Kissock, John Seryak Mar 2017

Lean Energy Analysis: Identifying, Discovering And Tracking Energy Savings Potential, J. Kelly Kissock, John Seryak

J. Kelly Kissock

Energy in manufacturing facilities is used for direct production of goods, space conditioning, and general facility support such as lighting. This paper presents a methodology, called lean energy analysis, LEA, for graphically and statistically analyzing plant energy use in terms of these major end uses.

The LEA methodology uses as few as 60 easily obtainable data points. Multivariable change-point models of electricity and natural gas use as functions of outdoor air temperature and production data are developed. The statistical models are used to subdivide plant energy use into facility, space-conditioning and production-related components.

These breakdowns suggest the savings potential from …

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Improving Compressed Air Energy Efficiency In Automotive Plants: Practical Examples And Implementation, Nasr Alkadi, J. Kelly Kissock Mar 2017

Improving Compressed Air Energy Efficiency In Automotive Plants: Practical Examples And Implementation, Nasr Alkadi, J. Kelly Kissock

J. Kelly Kissock

The automotive industry is the largest industry in the United States in terms of the dollar value of production [1]. U.S. automakers face tremendous pressure from foreign competitors, which have an increasing manufacturing presence in this country. The Big Three North American Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)-General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler-are reacting to declining sales figures and economic strain by working more efficiently and seeking out opportunities to reduce production costs without negatively affecting the production volume or the quality of the product. Successful, cost-effective investment and implementation of the energy efficiency technologies and practices meet the challenge of maintaining the …

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Measuring Plant-Wide Energy Savings, J. Kelly Kissock, Carl Eger Mar 2017

Measuring Plant-Wide Energy Savings, J. Kelly Kissock, Carl Eger

J. Kelly Kissock

This paper presents a general method for measuring plant-wide industrial energy savings and demonstrates the method using a case study from an actual industrial energy assessment. The method uses regression models to characterize baseline energy use. It takes into account changes in weather and production, and can use sub-metered data or whole plant utility billing data. In addition to calculating overall savings, the method is also able to disaggregate savings into components, which provides additional insight into the effectiveness of the individual savings measures. Although the method incorporates search techniques and multi-variable least-squares regression, it is easily implemented using data …

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Swarm Engineering, S. Kazadi '90 Mar 2017

Swarm Engineering, S. Kazadi '90

Sanza Kazadi

Swarm engineering is the natural evolution of the use of swarm-based techniques in the accomplishment of high level tasks using a number of simple robots. In this approach, one seeks not to generate a class of behaviors designed to accomplish a given global goal, as is the approach typically found in mainstream robotics. Once the class of behaviors has been understood and decided upon, specific behaviors designed to accomplish this goal may be generated that will complete the desired task without any concern about whether or not the final goal will actually be completed. As long as the generated behaviors …

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Community-Engaged Operations Research: Trends, New Frontiers And Opportunities, Michael P. Johnson Jr. Feb 2017

Community-Engaged Operations Research: Trends, New Frontiers And Opportunities, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Scholars in multiple disciplines intersecting operations research have developed theory and applications to address the question, how can the decision sciences develop new ways to solve problems of special interest to organizations and individuals situated in geographically, economically and socially circumscribed communities? The motivation for this work is the belief that mission-driven and resource-constrained nonprofit organizations, and underrepresented, underserved, or vulnerable populations may have special needs for analytic and empirical problem-solving methods that have traditionally received less emphasis in traditional operations research and management science research and teaching. Scholarship in this area, alternatively labeled ‘community operational research’ (mostly in the …

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Community Data Analytics: Localized Data Analysis And Decision Modeling In The Era Of ‘Big Data’ And ‘Smart Cities’, Michael P. Johnson Jr. Jan 2017

Community Data Analytics: Localized Data Analysis And Decision Modeling In The Era Of ‘Big Data’ And ‘Smart Cities’, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Community-based organizations use data for program design, services provision and strategic planning. However, CBOs often have limited ability to identify, access and apply these data. Thus, CBOs may make decisions on the basis of inadequate data, or limited understanding of the local environment, or limited ability to generate mission-aligned solutions.Community data analytics (CDA) uses local know-how and clearly-articulated values in order to transform data into action. CDA is rooted in principles of operations research and management science for public benefi#12;t. These principles include: active participation by local stakeholders to identify problems of interest; a critical perspective on issues of problem …

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Forecasting Mbt Technologies Using Dea And Lr, Yonghee Cho, Timothy R. Anderson Dec 2016

Forecasting Mbt Technologies Using Dea And Lr, Yonghee Cho, Timothy R. Anderson

Joseph Cho

First, this paper explores Main Battle Tank (MBT) data set with different
statistical methods in order to decide the most appropriate variables as
reliable  yardsticks  in  applying  technology  forecasting  (TF)  using  data
envelopment analysis (TFDEA) technique. It then applies TF using DEA
method to forecast MBT technologies. This article attempts to predict
technology  development  year  of  MBT  commercialised  from  1941  to
1994. This article presents the processes of TFDEA in detail and identifies
some  issues  to  search  for  appropriate  input  and  output  variables  to
forecast MBT technologies. The purpose of this study is to address some
issues and identify an …

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Irresistible Bargains: Navigating The Surveillance Society, Robert M. Pallitto Dec 2016

Irresistible Bargains: Navigating The Surveillance Society, Robert M. Pallitto

Robert M Pallitto

Agents in contemporary societies are faced continually with choices regarding engagement with technological artifacts. They can choose to engage or decline engagement after considering the costs and benefits in each case. However, certain aspects of the surveillance society may be irresistible in a number of ways, so that refusal to engage with them is not a realistic option. The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), particularly as embedded in “smart city” initiatives, helps to make surveillance technologies potentially irresistible. After laying the conceptual groundwork for discussing irresistible bargains, this essay offers a two-part normative critique, focusing on the asymmetrical …

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Improving The Player's Recruiting Process By Using Scenario Based Analysis Methodology, Dotan I. Shvorin, Kevin M. Taaffe Dec 2016

Improving The Player's Recruiting Process By Using Scenario Based Analysis Methodology, Dotan I. Shvorin, Kevin M. Taaffe

Dr. Dotan Shvorin

High performance physical characteristics can be found today in most of the potential recruits
for any athletic program and it has become increasingly difi#14;cult to select the right candidate
based solely on these characteristics. As a result there is a growing need for a recruiter to evaluate
the decision-making capability of a player in order to understand the mind of the player in
addition to the player physical assessment. We employ scenario-based analysis to evaluate such
decision-making capabilities while enabling any recruiting to customize the potential candidate
evaluation, based on the specific program's needs. The proposed method provides a platform …

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