19 research outputs found
Viable service systems and decision making in service management
No full textThis paper addresses decision making in the management of complex service systems,
highlighting the contribution of the viable systems approach as an interpretative and
governance methodology based on systems thinking.
In the last few decades, business management has undergone significant changes due to
rapid developments in markets. New competitive strategies and technologies have
stimulated global discussion about business models and tools (Ghoshal, 2005). The role of
relationships has become increasingly relevant in businesses, and researchers as well as
industries are shifting their focus to a service-oriented approach, moving from a paradigm
of product to one of service (IfM-IBM Cambridge SSME Report, 2008)
S-D logic research directions and opportunities : the perspective of systems, complexity and engineering
No full textThe need for a systems approach to modeling and understanding service is now well
established, (Barile 2009; Barile and Polese 2009; Golinelli 2010; Ng et.al.,
2011a). Following the construction of Maglio et al (2009) we view a service-system
as a network of agents and interactions that integrate resources for value cocreation.
The context of value creation is intrinsic to the system design.and the
adaptive, interactive actions of agents classifies the network as an ecosystem (Lusch
et al, 2010).
To date, several disciplines have broached the systems view of service and the
engineering of service systems. Operations research applied to services began with a
rather simplistic, macro view of resource integration in the form of Data
Envelopment Analysis (DEA), introduced by Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes in
1978 (Charnes, Cooper et al. 1994, Banker, Charnes et al. 1984). Micro models of
service systems have tended to study the systems’ IT components (Hsu 2009; Qiu
2009). Engineering, which has always been associated with “assembling pieces that
work in specific ways” (Ottino, 2004) and “a process of precise composition to
achieve a predictable purpose and function” (Fromm, 2010 p. 2) has contributed to
greater scalability and purposeful control in service systems. However, the agents of
the system usually are people whose activities may not be easily controlled by
predictable processes and yet are critical aspects of the value-creating system (Ng et
al, 2011b). There is need for a new combinative paradigm, such as third-generation
activity theory in which two or more activity systems come into contact, to explore
dialogue, exchanging perspectives of multiple actors, resulting in networks or groups
of activity systems that are constantly interacting (Nardi 1996, Oliveros et al 2010,
Marken 2006)
Novel Integration of Sustainable and Construction Decisions into the Design Bid Build Project Delivery Method Using BPMN
No full textAbstractA recent study on the cost of green buildings indicated that Resource Reuse is the category of credits least often achieved in LEED-certified projects. The literature suggests that there are a number of constraints and barriers to resource reuse, but perhaps the most critical one is the lack of easily accessible information about resource availability and usability. The emerging industries of building materials reuse and de-construction in the United States suffers from the absence of a “system” that would streamline business processes, establish a supply-demand chain, and connect vendors and deconstruction contractors with architects. This research derives an innovative restructuring of the architectural design process that enables resource reuse in new construction. We developed this model by capturing expert knowledge using a Delphi research protocol and mapped the Building Materials Reuse Workflow in Business Process Modeling and Notation language. We set out the knowledgebase requirements that should be integrated with Building Information Modeling to support decision-making by architects and project stakeholders
OPTIMAL INVENTORY POLICIES FOR THE ONE WAREHOUSE, N-RETAILER SYSTEM
No full textThis research examines an inventory system consisting of one warehouse and N identical retailers. It is assumed that each facility in the system operates a continuous review (Q, R) replenishment policy, that all unmet demand is backordered, that the transportation lead times between the warehouse and its supplier and between the warehouse and the retailers are fixed, and that each retailer faces independent, unit Poisson demand. Furthermore, the retailers are identical in terms of lead time, demand rate, lot size, and reorder points. The model of the system which is used in this study is the Deuermeyer-Schwarz model. Within the context of this model, the optimal allocation of safety stock among the warehouse and retailers is determined subject to a constraint on the total amount of safety stock in the system. This optimization is carried out under two different objective functions: fill-rate and expected backorders. The results of this study are general statements about the form of these optimal policies, the characterization of the locus of optimal safety stock positions for all finite values of the constraint as a policy line in the two-dimensional policy space, insights into the effects of safety stocks in this system, and a highly accurate and simple heuristic for computing optimal safety stock positions
Re-defining the Architectural Design Process Through Building a Decision Support Framework for Design with Reused Building Materials and Components
No full textWaste from construction and demolition-building activities is increasing every day. Landfills have almost reached their capacity. When thinking about the negative impact of demolishing activities on the environment it becomes very necessary to think about reusing and recycling building materials in new construction or perhaps better recycling our thoughts on how to make use of waste materials. In Kevin Lynch's book, Wasting Away, he wrote: "Architects must begin to think about holes in the ground and about flows of materials." Studies show that construction and demolition activities are the primary source of solid waste worldwide. For example construction and demolition wastes constitute about 40% of the total solid waste stream in the United States. The growing interest in materials and resource conservation in the United States is inherent in the growth of green building practices. The USGBC identifies six categories in the Materials and Resources (MR) section of LEED. One of these six categories is Resource Reuse (RR). Interestingly enough, a recent study about the cost of green buildings indicated that RR was the category credits least often achieved in most LEED certified projects. Literature suggests that there are a number of constraints and barriers to resource reuse primarily due to the complexity of buildings but perhaps the most important barrier, according to many architects, is the lack of easily accessible information to the design team on resource reuse. Therefore, as we promote the idea of building material reuse to a wider audience of designers and architects, we mus not forget that in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, both Reuse and Recycle terms are used interchangeably without yet a clear distinction between them. The use of arbitrary descriptions to distinguish reuse from recycle has caused nothing but more confusion to the public. This study argues that the real distinction between reuse and recycle exists in Knowledge and Information. This suggests that design with reuse requires a paradigm shift in the required knowledgebase and the way information flows within the design process. Unfortunately, the structure of this paradigm shift is not known and has not been well defined. Since knowledge forms the core of building a Decision Support Systems (DSS) for a design team in order to consider reuse, it is necessary to capture the required knowledge and information from the industry experts through a Knowledge Acquisition (KA) process. This knowledge can then be used to 1) identify the building material reuse criteria and 2) to build a prescriptive decision model and 3) to map the process design of the current traditional architectural design workflow and the proposed one. The overarching goal of this study is to use the building material reuse knowledgebase for 1) building a Unified Virtual Repository database to be connected to all available physical repositories and share a unified standard of information. 2) When the unified virtual repository is integrated with the Building Information Modeling (BIM) database, the DSS can work as a feedback and feed forward support for architects and designers as they consider building material reuse in new designs and constructions.Ph. D
Robust parameter optimization strategies in computer simulation experiments
No full textAn important consideration in computer simulation studies is the issue of model validity, the level of accuracy with which the simulation model represents the real world system under study. This dissertation addresses a major cause of model validity problems: the dissimilarity between the simulation model and the real system due to the dynamic nature of the real system that results from the presence of nonstationary stochastic processes within the system. This transitory characteristic of the system is typically not addressed in the search for an optimal solution.
In reliability and quality control studies, it is known that optimizing with respect to the variance of the response is as important a concern as optimizing with respect to average performance response. Genichi Taguchi has been instrumental in the advancement of this philosophy. His work has resulted in what is now popularly known as the Taguchi Methods for robust parameter design. Following Taguchi's philosophy, the goal of this research is to devise a framework for finding optimum operating levels for the controllable input factors in a stochastic system that are insensitive to internal sources of variation. Specifically, the model validity problem of nonstationary system behavior is viewed as a major internal cause of system variation.
In this research the typical application of response surface methodology (RSM) to the problem of simulation optimization is examined. Simplifying assumptions that enable the use of RSM techniques are examined. The relaxation of these assumptions to address model validity leads to a modification of the RSM approach to properly handle the problem of optimization in the presence of nonstationarity. Taguchi's strategy and methods are then adapted and applied to this problem. Finally, dual-response RSM extensions of the Taguchi approach separately modeling the process performance mean and variance are considered and suitably revised to address the same problem.
A second cause of model validity problems is also considered: the random behavior of the supposedly controllable input factors to the system. A resolution to this source of model invalidity is proposed based on the methodology described above.Ph. D
BRAZILIAN ARCHIVES OF BIOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY AN I N T E R N A T I O N A L J O U R N A L Potential medicinal use of forest species of the Deciduous Seasonal Forest from Atlantic Forest Biome, South Brazil Human and Animal Health
No full textABSTRACT The current paper focuses on potential medicinal use of forest species from Deciduous Seasonal Forest in central regio
Influência das etapas do beneficiamento na qualidade fisiológica e física de sementes de milho (Zea Mayz L.)
No full textTCC (graduação em Agronomia) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, 2011O trabalho foi conduzido no Laboratório de Sementes da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, no Centro de Ciências Agrárias, tendo como objetivo de determinar qual a etapa de beneficiamento promove maiores danos às sementes de milho, bem como qual foi o comportamento das variedades durante o processo. Foram utilizadas sementes de uma variedade crioula (Pixurum 05 - V1) e duas variedades de polinização aberta (SCS 155 Catarina - V2 e SCS 154 Fortuna - V3). A amostragem de sementes foi realizada em cinco pontos de coleta dentro da Unidade de Beneficiamento de Sementes (UBS) da cooperativa Oestebio, sendo eles: recepção - testemunha, após a pré-limpeza (P2), após a secagem (P3), após a armazenagem em silo (P4) e na pré-embalagem (P5). As avaliações de viabilidade e vigor (germinação, envelhecimento acelerado, frio, IVG e tetrazólio), umidade, pureza física e peso de mil sementes, foram baseadas nas Regras para Análise de Sementes. Na fase da recepção das amostras as sementes da variedade V1 apresentaram 14% de umidade, a V2 18,5% e a variedade V3 19,5%, após o beneficiamento a umidade das variedades foi de 12,4%, 13,5% e 12,4% respectivamente. As cultivares apresentaram comportamento diferente no processo de beneficiamento sendo que a variedade V1 foi mais estável durante o processo uma vez que sua umidade esteve constante durante todo o beneficiamento. As etapas de limpeza e classificação foram eficientes na padronização da pureza física apenas para as variedades V1 e V3 e do peso de mil sementes para as três variedades, destacando-se a variedade V1 como a de maior peso. O processamento na UBS não promoveu danos que afetassem o comprimento do coleóptilo e da radícula e no teste de germinação apenas a variedade V2 atingiu os padrões mínimos para comercialização e somente no ponto P5. Os testes de frio e tetrazólio não foram eficientes para detectar diferenças no vigor entre as três variedades e entre os pontos de coleta, no entanto o teste de envelhecimento acelerado mostrou a variedade V3 como mais sensível. A maioria dos danos e alterações na viabilidade e no vigor ocorreu em decorrência da secagem e o armazenamento no silo pulmão (P3 e P4 respectivamente), devido ao elevado teor de umidade com que as sementes das variedades V2 e V3 chegaram à UBS. Após o ponto P5 todas as variedades comportam-se de forma semelhante apontando eficiência na etapa final do beneficiamento, havendo a necessidade de adequação nos pontos P3 e P4 e especial atenção ao teor de umidade desde a colheita até o beneficiamento para evitar a perda da qualidade fisiológica das semente
Reconceptualising service through a service-dominant logic
No full textDefining the nature of service has been a challenge to researchers. Early work by Baker (1981) highlighted that while there seemed to be a widespread consensus on the importance of services, precise definitions are difficult, owing to the varied nature of service industries. Most service definition surround the idea of “activities” or “processes” and the word “service industry” is widely used to denote an industrial sector that “do(es) things for you, they don’t make things” (Silvestro and Johnston 1990, p. 206). Current literature in service seems to suggest that the term “services” is still without a definition that is generally accepted (Blois 1974, Minter 1982, Lovelock 1983, Drechsler 1990, Vargo and Lusch 2004, 2008). Early researchers such as Rathmell (1966) made a fundamental distinction in considering a good as a thing (noun) and a service as an act (verb). The former was an object whereas the latter was a deed or an effort. He further explained that products were located along a goods-service continuum, with pure goods at one end and pure services at the other, but with most products falling between these two extremes. Mitchell and Greatorex (1993) on the other hand, argued that goods and services are different but “what there is less agreement about is the way in which they differ and the extent to which these differences are relevant and significant from a marketing perspective” (p.179). This view is not ubiquitous as, even in the early days of service research, there were still considerable differences in opinion as to whether goods and services are fundamentally distinct (Bateson 1977; Judd 1964; Lovelock 1980; Uhl and Upah 1983; Wyckham, Fitzroy, and Mandry 1975)
