5 research outputs found
Lissack H. Simpson estate inventory 1879
No full textInventory of estate dated 1879. Surrogate's Office, County of New York. Executors: Naphtali L. Simpson, Solomon L. SimpsonBatch change test 0806201
Recommended from our members
A holistic conceptual model for managing construction logistics in building projects: the case of Iran
No full textLogistics, as a factor that affects the total cost of a product, has attracted attention in many industries. However, construction is behind other industries, such as manufacturing and food, in terms of obtaining value through application of effective logistics management. Some specific characteristics of the construction industry, such as fragmented supply chain, indirect employment, temporary location and matchless products, have prevented organisations utilising logistic management in their projects. In construction, logistics is about the mobilisation of different types of resources to feed the project with the required materials and components at the right time, in the right place, right quantity and right quality. To do so, a new approach to construction logistics should be undertaken that respects the special characteristics of this industry. This research aims to develop a conceptual model based on the current practice of construction logistics in building projects. This model, in addition to complying with the special characteristics of the construction industry, is also adapted to the economic, cultural, technological and environmental specifications of the building sector in Iran. The complexity mindset is adopted in this research which allows considering a construction logistics system as a whole and the system may assert an aggregate behaviour. This approach is called holism and investigates the performance of complex adaptive systems.
The study is focused on the Iranian construction industry as the main source of data collection. To achieve the aim and objectives of the research, a literature review was followed by qualitative and quantitative data collection. This research adopted the complementarity approach that uses qualitative and quantitative strategies in a way that complement each other. In the qualitative phase, twenty four open-ended interviews were conducted with construction practitioners who work in the building sector in Iran. Gathered data was analysed using NVivo. This involves codifying the textual data to find themes, categories and relationships. The results of the first phase were rich and exploratory and explained opinions, norms and attitudes. Based on the results of the first phase, a questionnaire with ten sections was designed to investigate different aspects of construction logistics from wider perspectives by conducting a survey on a large sample. The data gathered from the second phase were analysed in a descriptive manner to provide statistical information about the present practice of construction logistics in the Iranian building sector.
The final product of this research is a holistic conceptual model that has four subsystems: (a) environmental factors (b) operational factors, (c) commercial factors, and (d) managerial factors. Each subsystem has several agents that are different functions of logistics in a building project. The environmental factors include project size and location, peak working seasons, resource conservation and weather conditions. The operational factors discuss technological matters, construction methods, new materials, waste and transportation. The commercial factors encompass the supply chain, finance, economic conditions, material costs, estimation, supplier selection, packaging, purchasing, inspection, and material quality. The managerial factors cover material management, warehousing, material handling, information management, scheduling, delivery, organisation, personnel, knowledge, culture and site layout designing. All of these functions are integrated under the topic of construction logistics model. The model also illustrates the relationships among agents of the system. The developed model, in addition to technical factors, has paid attention to soft factors such as culture, economy and knowledge. The model is adaptable to changing environments and elements may be added or deleted from the system whenever required
Agentes inteligentes difusos: uma ferramenta híbrida para exploração de processos espaciais em zonas costeiras
No full textTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção.A dinâmica das interações de grupos de usuários com o meio ambiente tem se intensificado a ponto de ameaçar a disponibilidade dos recursos naturais. As previsões para as zonas costeiras, em especial, apontam para o esgotamento de recursos e para a perspectiva de superpopulação. O estudo do impacto de ações humanas nessas zonas por meio de modelos matemáticos apresenta limitações em capturar a natureza da percepção dos atores e em expressar a sua conseqüente distribuição no espaço. A presente tese propõe um modelo de simulação baseado em agentes para a análise de cenários de ocupação de zonas costeiras, a partir da modelagem da percepção espacial desses agentes, construída através de Lógica Difusa. A modelagem baseada em agentes trata-se de novo enfoque para simulações e envolve a reprodução do mundo real em um virtual, onde são conduzidos experimentos. Nesse universo virtual, cada agente é representado como uma entidade independente, capaz de agir localmente, em resposta à sua percepção, comportamento e alterações de parâmetros ambientais. A Lógica Difusa vem sendo empregada com bastante sucesso no manuseio da incerteza associada ao mundo real e permite a utilização de termos lingüísticos em sistemas computacionais. O desenvolvimento de um protótipo possibilitou a comprovação da viabilidade de aplicação do modelo em casos reais, bem como a captura de comportamento real de indivíduos em zonas costeiras. Além disso, a aplicação do modelo em um caso real demonstra o seu poder de previsibilidade e o subsídio a estudos ambientais por meio de simulação computacional, indicando um grande potencial para testes de hipóteses sobre o papel que cada indivíduo representa no funcionamento global de um sistema
The strategic response of full service airlines to the low cost carrier threat and the perception of passengers to each type of carrier
No full textLow cost carriers have changed the competitive dynamics of the short-haul market
forever. They have revolutionised the way of doing business in aviation by adopting a
fresh approach on both strategic and operational issues. Simplicity has become their
universal principle over network airlines and subsequently they have achieved
substantial cost advantages which are passed onto the consumer as lower fares.
Network airlines have found it difficult to reshape their structural barriers and have
been slow to incorporate the components that low cost carriers deemed very
significant in impacting their operating margins. However, a restructuring of their
internal weaknesses should spur initiatives to design long-term strategies to address
those shortcomings. Network airlines rely on producing value-adding and consumerdriven
product differentiation beyond the basics of the low cost carrier product. To
further differentiate themselves network airlines need to focus on: customer
satisfaction; develop long term mutually beneficial relationships with both passengers
and corporations; collaborate with a wide range of bipartisan partners; retain
differentiated flight products that add value; and to incorporate strategies that other
network carriers deemed paradigmatic. Network carriers should resist reducing costs
associated with value-added services and need to become innovative in generating
alternative revenue streams
Power, management and complexity in the NHS : a Foucauldian perspective
No full textThis thesis is a critical and post-structural exploration of the discourse of
managerialism in the NHS secondary care sector in Wales. Its central intent is to
destabilise the dominant thinking about NHS management practice and to evoke
intellectual debate about alternative discourses of management that
ontologically perceive the organisation as a complex adaptive human system.
The emergent theoretical framework conjoins the discipline of Complexity with
post-structural conjecture, posing a novel conceptualisation of a fractal self
where relations of power are seen as essential for harmonising diverse
influences and legitimising a local discourse that informs and regulates practice.
Using Foucault’s insights on power and knowledge the thesis critiques the
strategic nature of NHS discourse, exposing the discursive dominance of
managerialism and its inherent relations of power and debates what this
predicates for a local negotiation and a flexible, safe and innovative
environment. The methodological approach employs a reflexive and micro-level
interpretative strategy to emphasise the singularity of agents and to explore the
way in which the discursive constitution of the self influences agent practice.
My profound experience of the secondary care system requires I situate my self
reflexively within the context where I explore and liberate my own voice in
conjunction with my participants. The research adopts a biographical narrative
method of data collection and uses Foucauldian discourse analysis as a
framework for exploring the underlying discourse in agent stories. The findings
demonstrate the polyphonic nature of the secondary care context and reveal the demonstrate the polyphonic nature of the secondary care context and reveal the
diverse ways in which agents legitimise, negotiate or resist the conflicting truth
claims of various discourse in order to strategically sustain an image of health
care historically constituted in their self. The results portray a web of discourses
that endorse conformity or complicity through oppressive mechanisms of
disciplinary control and surveillance, perpetuating authoritative and dualist
structures, dissipating relations of trust and removing intellectual thinking from
the front-line. The conclusion asserts that this significantly jeopardises the
ability of agents to legitimise local ‘discourse’, severely limiting their capacity for adaptive practice and the generation of new order
