Digital Commons @ Harrisburg University of Science and Technology
Not a member yet
435 research outputs found
Sort by
Optimizing Sourcing Through Agile Project Management: Enhancing Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness in Apparel Production
No full textProduction delays, cost overruns, and inventory mismanagement are a few of the challenges that the garment industry faces in its sourcing process. The main causes of these challenges are fluctuating market demands and evolving customer preferences. This research explored the application of agile project management methodologies to address these challenges by enhancing flexibility and collaboration. This study implemented a qualitative approach, leveraging interviews with industry professionals to gather insights into the practical implementation. The significance of this research lied in its potential to provide actionable insights for companies that were seeking to improve their sourcing efficiency and cost-effectiveness. To contextualize the problem, there was an emphasis on the need for agility in supply chain processes, but there was very limited research focused on apparel sourcing. This research involved semi-structured interviews with 10 professionals from apparel companies based in the United States, selected for their experience in sourcing. Using thematic analysis, 5 major themes likequality vs cost vs speed, need for collaboration, importance of agility, supplier relationship building, and aligning on design and sourcing teams were identified. These findings supported agile methodologies’ role in improving sourcing processes. The study concluded that an agile framework could improve sourcing responsiveness, reduce lead times, and enhance market adaptability, offering practical implications for sourcing professionals operating in constantly changing market environments
Agile Effects on Risk Management in the Financial Industry
Full text linkThe study investigates the ways in which agile practices are combined with traditional risk management frameworks within financial services institutions to achieve digital transformation, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder management. Three research questions drive the study: the ways in which financial institutions are adopting agile practices without undermining compliance, the challenges they face in adopting agile practices, and the mechanisms that enable alignment between agile values and risk governance. Grounded in stakeholder theory and agile transformation models, this study used open questionnaires to gather qualitative data from financial services professionals. Thematic analysis revealed a trend towards hybrid governance solutions that insource compliance functions into agile teams and use agile tools to facilitate traceability and auditability. The main obstacles are resistance from legacy systems and hierarchical organizational power structures. However, change management efforts, such as leadership buy-in and agile departmental training, are being carried out by organizations. Research is focusing on the potentiality and possibility of including compliance in agile processes if all stakeholders work together.
This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on agile transformation for regulated industries inasmuch as pragmatic practices such as compliance retrospectives and regulation-based alignment in agile ceremonies are seen to be practiced. The implications of the findings are significant for practitioners and policymakers who seek to reinvent government without a loss of accountability. Essentially, this research provides evidence to support the creation of more adaptive and ethical financial institutions that promote positive social change through regulatory integrity-driven innovation
MICROSIMULATION: A SOLUTION FOR EFFECTIVE CLIENT ENGAGEMENT
Full text linkA key challenge that product management professionals face is to convince their clients about the relevance of a product towards their business needs by aligning those with the product vision. To accomplish this need, new strategies to engage the clients with the product vision are extremely critical. Microsimulation is a wonderful way to not just communicate product vision but also to familiarize clients with unique functionalities offered by the product. Microsimulations avoid miscommunications by establishing interaction between provider and consumer. This research study primarily focuses on solving the problem of client disengagement in organizations involved in product development and operating within the business to business (B2B) space. The paper presents current trends in product digitization and application of computer aided manufacturing to achieve human centered design and boost client engagement. This study is backed by information on how the traditional product design and development process has made it difficult to produce products that satisfy client needs in a circular economy, resulting in client disengagement, lack of trust and a ruptured relationship between service provider and end consumer. Towards the end, the research study suggests that microsimulations might offer a potential solution to achieve the intended product vision and improve client engagement
REVIEW: THE IMPACT OF INSURANCE POLICY ON GLP-1 AGONIST TREATMENT
Full text linkThis study examines how healthcare system design influences access, adherence, and financial burden associated with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in high-income countries. Through a literature review of peer-reviewed articles published between 2020 and 2025, it compares outcomes across universal and multi-payer systems. Findings reveal significant disparities. For example, the 12-month persistence reaches 68% in centralized systems like Denmark, but falls to 32–46% in the U.S., largely due to financial burdens, insurance denials, and administrative barriers. Among uninsured U.S. patients, 45% report significant financial hardship while using GLP-1 RA therapy. However, only 20% of patients enrolled in high-deductible health insurance plans reported difficulty affording the medication. System structure strongly shapes both initial access and therapy continuation. While universal systems generally reduce cost barriers, socioeconomic status and strict clinical thresholds still impact adherence. The study recommends multifaceted reforms, including copay caps, streamlined prior authorizations, formulary stability, and patient support programs. Limitations include reliance on secondary data, heterogeneous study designs, and a focus on high-income countries, which may affect generalizability. Nonetheless, the findings highlight urgent policy priorities for improving equitable access to GLP-1 RAs and sustaining their clinical benefits
A Scalable Architecture for Visualizing and Analyzing Crime Data in LA
No full textThis paper presents the design and implementation of a scalable data pipeline and interactive dashboards for analyzing crime patterns in Los Angeles using data from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The pipeline was built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), where data was ingested through Python scripts, stored in Amazon S3, processed with AWS Glue, and loaded into Amazon Redshift. Tableau was integrated for real-time visualization, enabling exploration of geographic, temporal, and demographic trends. Analysis revealed that the Central, 77th Street, and Pacific divisions consistently report the highest crime rates, with vehicle theft, battery/simple assault, and burglary as the most frequent offenses. Crimes peak in the afternoon and on Fridays, while victims are most commonly between 30 and 40 years old. The system provides residents and law enforcement with actionable insights, supporting data-driven decision-making, efficient resource allocation, and community awareness for improved public safety
Effects of Risk Management Strategies on Project Delays in Aircraft Maintenance
Full text linkAircraft maintenance delays create operational inefficiencies, increase costs, and reduce aircraft availability. These delays were often caused by poor planning, weak communication, and inconsistent risk identification. Previous research focused mainly on safety and compliance, with less attention given to how risk management affected project efficiency. This qualitative study looked at how structured risk management strategies could help reduce delays in aircraft maintenance projects. Data was collected through interviews with 12 professionals working in line and hangar maintenance. Each participant had at least five years of experience with risk-related tasks. The group included technicians, lead mechanics, a planner, and a manager. The study used inductive thematic analysis to find patterns across the interviews. Seven major themes were identified. Key findings included the importance of early problem identification, effective communication, and mentorship in managing risk. The study also found that role confusion and poor data quality made it harder to manage risks and avoid delays. These insights suggested that using structured risk practices might help improve maintenance efficiency and reduce unexpected downtime. The findings might be useful for maintenance teams trying to improve how they handle risk in daily operations
Creating a Regenerative Organizational Culture
Full text linkAbstract
The review article aims to explore the concept of creating a regenerative organizational culture through the application of transformational practices. The study investigates the potential benefits of integrating regenerative practices within an organization\u27s cultural framework to foster adaptability, innovation, and sustainability. By examining the literature on regenerative culture and digital transformation, this study provides an overview of the key components and strategies necessary for building a regenerative organizational culture in the digital era and proposes an innovative approach to predicting regenerative cultural practices required within stages of a project’s life cycle.
Organizational culture works as a lifeline. It is instrumental in companies shaping its values, behavior policies and contributes towards its overall identity. It is long known that cultures can become stagnant, especially within an ever-growing environment. This stagnancy can hinder growth, innovation, creativity, and commitment. The need for organizational regeneration of culture becomes essential as it invigorates and revitalizes the essence of an organization by igniting sustainable transformation and promoting net positive impact. Some of the key considerations supporting the efforts of cultural regeneration within an organization are, firstly, identifying and acknowledging the need for culture regeneration, secondly, commitment to sustainability, thirdly, stakeholder synergy, fourth, persistence of commitment throughout the iterative processes of product or service life cycle, and attitude of empowerment and last but not the least a conscious effort of celebrating milestone successes.
When organizations proactively assess their culture and recognize the signs of stagnation, they not only identify the shortcomings and gaps in their cultural environment but are also led to acknowledge the need for a regeneration. Value creation and delivery are an integral part of the regenerative process. Understanding how an internal climate affects an external season is critical in understanding the value of regeneration of organizational culture. There is much debate about the relationship between sustainability and circular business models impacting culture. Looking at the need for a regeneration for an organization can be understood by assessing the different departments for culture appropriateness and drawing an analogy of climate. It can then be extrapolated that the various climates impact the overall harmony of the organizational ecosystem. Conducting a thorough and holistic assessment of culture shift during the different stages of a project lifecycle could help forecast the iterative weather
Early Diagnosis and Detection of Skin Cancer Using Deep Neural Network Models and Feature Extraction from Pre-Trained CNNs
No full textSkin cancer is one of the most common and lethal cancer types. While accurate diagnosis at an early stage is essential for skin cancer treatment it remains difficult to achieve in many regions due to lack of sufficient dermatologists and proper diagnostic equipment. Prior studies show Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models excel at skin lesion classification and consistently achieve better results than standard diagnostic practices. However, the focus of many studies remains confined to image-based learning while neglecting useful patient metadata that could improve prediction accuracy. This research project created a specialized CNN model to classify skin lesions and evaluated whether adding structured patient metadata improves classification results. The study developed a custom CNN with over 20k dermoscopic images from the International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC) which was then compared against pre-trained State of the Art (SOTA) models. Using Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LightGBM) the top 20 features were selected which were then combined with image features from custom CNN to create a fusion model. The majority of the SOTA models produced lower recall and F1 score values than the custom CNN. Incorporating metadata into the model resulted in higher precision and Area Under the Curve (AUC) scores which demonstrated enhanced detection reliability for malignant cases. The fusion-based model presents an affordable scalable solution for implementing early melanoma detection systems in underprivileged clinical settings
Exploring the Role of Accessibility in Enhancing User Experience: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities Across Digital Platforms
Full text linkAccessibility was a fundamental aspect of enhancing user experience (UX) across digital platforms, ensuring equitable access to information and services for a diverse range of users, including individuals with visual, auditory, cognitive, or motor impairments. As digital products became increasingly central to education, commerce, and communication, the need for inclusive design grew. This study explored the intersection of accessibility and UX, with a specific focus on how accessibility-driven design improved usability, user satisfaction, engagement, and the overall quality of digital interactions. Grounded in Agile project management principles, the research examined how early integration of accessibility into the software development lifecycle supported iterative improvements, fostered user empathy, and aligned with the core values of human-centered design. Using a qualitative research approach based on phenomenology, data was collected through semi-structured interviews professionals from UX, project management, and software development fields. The study analyzed recurring themes and challenges related to accessibility implementation, identified effective strategies, and documented the lived experiences of those advocating for inclusive practices within Agile teams. A systematic review of existing literature complemented the primary data, enabling a robust understanding of current standards, tools, and organizational dynamics. Findings indicated that when accessibility was embedded from the initial planning stages, it significantly enhanced usability for all users, not just those with disabilities. Moreover, accessibility efforts contributed to better product performance, improved compliance with legal standards (e.g., WCAG), and alignment with ethical practices in technology development. However, challenges such as time constraints, lack of training, insufficient leadership support, and post-deployment evaluation gaps often hindered accessibility integration. This study contributed to the growing body of knowledge on inclusive digital design and offered actionable insights for designers, developers, and project managers committed to creating more accessible and user-friendly digital environments