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- Title
- Exploring the Innovation Environment within the Systems Engineering Context of a Defense Organization: A Preliminary Framework.
- Creator
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Odeh, Khaled, Rabelo, Luis, Elshennawy, Ahmad, Lee, Gene, Karwowski, Waldemar, Uddin, Nizam, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Innovation may involve the introduction of ideas for designing or producing new products, or introducing improvements to products, processes, services or any other aspect of an organization to the market place. A major element for measuring organizational strength is its perception of innovation and the ability of the organization to build on and sustain such strength. While there is no shortage of research and study materials on innovation, there is, however, a shortage of thorough and...
Show moreInnovation may involve the introduction of ideas for designing or producing new products, or introducing improvements to products, processes, services or any other aspect of an organization to the market place. A major element for measuring organizational strength is its perception of innovation and the ability of the organization to build on and sustain such strength. While there is no shortage of research and study materials on innovation, there is, however, a shortage of thorough and realistic analysis of the intersection of innovation management, and measurement of innovation within the systems engineering context of defense organizations. In addition, while most research studies seem to adopt strictly quantitative innovation factors in determining innovation success and performance, they seem to have overlooked the qualitative side of it. An objective of this research study is to address the need for exploring the innovation environment within the systems engineering context of a defense organization. In addition, the research presents a new model for exploring innovation factors within the examined environment, using both quantitative and qualitative factors. The research uses a number of data collection instruments that include a survey construct to gather quantitative and qualitative data. The study identified significant factors that could be used to properly determine innovation within the systems engineering context of defense organizations using traditional statistics and data mining modeling. New indicators such as security and organizational leadership are discovered as important to define, monitor, and assess the innovation of the defense industry within the context of systems engineering.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004903, ucf:49643
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004903
- Title
- A Framework of Critical Success Factors for Business Organizations that Lead to Performance Excellence Based on a Financial and Quality Systems Assessment.
- Creator
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Francisco, Melissa, Elshennawy, Ahmad, Karwowski, Waldemar, Rabelo, Luis, Xanthopoulos, Petros, Weheba, Gamal, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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One of the most important tasks that business leaders undertake in order to achieve a superior market position is strategic planning. Beyond this obligation, business owners desire to maximize profit and maintain steady growth. In order to do this, resources must be invested in the most efficient way possible in order to achieve performance excellence. Adjusting business operations quickly, however, especially in times of economic uncertainty, is extremely difficult. Business leaders...
Show moreOne of the most important tasks that business leaders undertake in order to achieve a superior market position is strategic planning. Beyond this obligation, business owners desire to maximize profit and maintain steady growth. In order to do this, resources must be invested in the most efficient way possible in order to achieve performance excellence. Adjusting business operations quickly, however, especially in times of economic uncertainty, is extremely difficult. Business leaders therefore need insight into which elements of organizational improvement are most effective in order to strategically invest their resources to achieve superior performance in the most efficient way possible.This research examines the results of companies which have a demonstrated ability to achieve performance excellence as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. This research examined award-winning applications to determine common input factors, compared the business results of a subset of those award-winners with the overall market for a time-frame of 11 years, and then investigated the profitability, liquidity, debt management, asset management, and per share performance ratios of award-winners compared with their industry peers over 11 years as well.The main focus of this research is to determine whether participation in performance excellence best practices have created value for shareholders and business owners. This objective is achieved through the analysis of performance results of award winning companies. This research demonstrates that the integration of efforts associated with performance excellence is in-fact advantageous.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005331, ucf:50503
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005331
- Title
- A Framework For Workforce Management An Agent Based Simulation Approach.
- Creator
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Marin, Mario, Rabelo, Luis, Lee, Gene, Elshennawy, Ahmad, Kincaid, John, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In today's advanced technology world, enterprises are in a constant state of competition. As the intensity of competition increases the need to continuously improve organizational performance has never been greater. Managers at all levels must be on a constant quest for finding ways to maximize their enterprises' strategic resources. Enterprises can develop sustained competitiveness only if their activities create value in unique ways. There should be an emphasis to transfer this...
Show moreIn today's advanced technology world, enterprises are in a constant state of competition. As the intensity of competition increases the need to continuously improve organizational performance has never been greater. Managers at all levels must be on a constant quest for finding ways to maximize their enterprises' strategic resources. Enterprises can develop sustained competitiveness only if their activities create value in unique ways. There should be an emphasis to transfer this competitiveness to the resources it has on hand and the resources it can develop to be used in this environment. The significance of human capital is even greater now, as the intangible value and the tacit knowledge of enterprises' resources should be strategically managed to achieve a greater level of continuous organizational success. This research effort seeks to provide managers with means for accurate decision making for their workforce management. A framework for modeling and managing human capital to achieve effective workforce planning strategies is built to assist enterprise in their long term strategic organizational goals.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005375, ucf:50439
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005375
- Title
- A Real Option Dynamic Decision (RODD) Framework for Operational Innovations.
- Creator
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Onkham, Wilawan, Rabelo, Luis, O'Neal, Thomas, Pazour, Jennifer, Yazici, Hulya Julie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Changing the business operations and adopting new operational innovations, have become key features for a business solution approach. However, there are challenges for developing innovative operations due to a lack of the proper decision analysis tools, lack of understanding the impacts transition will have on operational models, and the time limits of the innovation life cycle. The cases of business failure in operational innovation (i.e. Eastman Kodak Company and Borders Group Inc.,)...
Show moreChanging the business operations and adopting new operational innovations, have become key features for a business solution approach. However, there are challenges for developing innovative operations due to a lack of the proper decision analysis tools, lack of understanding the impacts transition will have on operational models, and the time limits of the innovation life cycle. The cases of business failure in operational innovation (i.e. Eastman Kodak Company and Borders Group Inc.,) support the need for an investment decision framework. This research aims to develop a Real Option Dynamic Decision (RODD) framework for decision making, to support decision makers for operational innovation investments. This development will help the business/organization to recognize the need for change in operations, and quickly respond to market threats and customer needs. The RODD framework is developed by integrating a strategic investment method (Real Options Analysis), management transition evaluation (Matrix of Change), competitiveness evaluation (Lotka-Volterra), and dynamic behavior modeling (System Dynamics Modeling) to analyze the feasibility of the transformation, and to assess return on investment of new operation schemes. Two case studies are used: United Parcel Service of America, Inc., and Firefighting Operations to validate the RODD framework. The results show that the benefits of this decision-making framework are (1) to provide increased flexibility, improved predictions, and more information to decision makers; (2) to assess the value alternative option with regards to uncertainty and competitiveness; (3) to reduce complexity; and (4) to gain a new understanding of operational innovations.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005039, ucf:50002
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005039
- Title
- Success in Technology Organizations.
- Creator
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Bass, Joseph, Elshennawy, Ahmad, Rabelo, Luis, O'Neal, Thomas, Sivo, Stephen, Hosni, Yasser, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In today's economic environment, it is advantageous for technology organizations to be cognizant of prevalent influences on success and failure and to incorporate this knowledge into their business and innovation strategies. Technology organizations were defined within this research as those in the business of created competence which is expressed in terms of entities consisting of devices, procedures, and acquired human skills (Clarke, 2005). Although, no organization contains the ideal mix...
Show moreIn today's economic environment, it is advantageous for technology organizations to be cognizant of prevalent influences on success and failure and to incorporate this knowledge into their business and innovation strategies. Technology organizations were defined within this research as those in the business of created competence which is expressed in terms of entities consisting of devices, procedures, and acquired human skills (Clarke, 2005). Although, no organization contains the ideal mix of culture and ideological emphases, some have amassed impressive track records of great success. A literature review was used to identify factors relevant within similar contexts such as influences on creativity, innovation, Research and Development (R(&)D), etcetera. The salient factors identified within the literature review were hypothesized as being very important to great success within technology organizations. A conceptual model was created that visually illustrated the interactions of those factors and their influence on technology organization success which was defined as average annual revenue growth and direct new job creation. An internet questionnaire was utilized to test the hypotheses among 15 very successful technology organizations according to their respective Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) or equivalents. These companies were randomly chosen from a population of the technology organizations included in Inc. Magazine's Inc. 5000, a list of the 5000 fastest growing companies in America. The questionnaire primarily consisted of Likert questions designed to test the hypotheses. The dependent variable in the statistical analyses, technology organization success, was ranked according to average annual revenue growth and direct new job creation relative to the other organizations within the sample set. The top category in typical questionnaire Likert questions included the adjective (")very(") that was interpreted to imply that the particular factor was exactly or precisely essential to affect that level of success, this in the collective opinion of the CTOs. Not meeting the threshold of exactly or precisely was interpreted that the factor may not be essential to that level of success. Rejection of the respective null hypotheses and subsequent acceptance of the alternative hypotheses were interpreted as evidence that particular factors were essential to great levels of technology organization success. And, the conceptual model was updated accordingly. Acceptance of null hypotheses demonstrated that the factors may not be essential; therefore, they were excluded from further discussion and the model. Seventeen key factors and/or categories were identified according to the Chief Technology Officers within the population of very successful technology organizations as having substantial influence on the success of those organizations. Recommendations were made to technology organizations aspiring towards prolific levels of success.As a check, three open-ended questions were included and used to verify that no consensus crucial elements were omitted within the Likert question section of the questionnaire. There were no consensus factors identified within those open-ended questions.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004652, ucf:49903
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004652
- Title
- Managing, Controlling and Improving the Treatment of Produced Water Using the Six Sigma Methodology for the Iraqi Oil Fields.
- Creator
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Al-Shamkhani, Maher T., Elshennawy, Ahmad, Rabelo, Luis, Pazour, Jennifer, Xanthopoulos, Petros, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Produced Water (PW) is the largest volume of waste that is normally generated during oil and gas production. It has large amounts of contaminants that can cause negative environmental and economic impacts. The management method for PW relies highly on types and concentrations of these contaminants, which are field dependent and can vary from one oil field to another. Produced water can be converted to fresh water if these contaminants are removed or reduced to the acceptable drinking water...
Show moreProduced Water (PW) is the largest volume of waste that is normally generated during oil and gas production. It has large amounts of contaminants that can cause negative environmental and economic impacts. The management method for PW relies highly on types and concentrations of these contaminants, which are field dependent and can vary from one oil field to another. Produced water can be converted to fresh water if these contaminants are removed or reduced to the acceptable drinking water quality level. In addition, increasing oil production rate and reducing amounts of discharged harmful contaminants can be achieved by removing dissolved hydrocarbons from PW. In order to identify the types of these contaminants, effective tools and methods should be used. Six Sigma, which uses the DMAIC (Define- Measure- Analyze- Improve- Control) problem-solving approach is one of the most effective tools to identify the root causes of having high percentages of contaminants in produced water. The methodology also helped develop a new policy change for implementing a way by which this treated water may be used. Six Sigma has not been widely implemented in oil and gas industries. This research adopted the Six Sigma methodology through a case study, related to the southern Iraqi oil fields, to investigate different ways by which produced water can be treated. Research results showed that the enormous amount of contaminated PW could be treated by using membrane filtration technology. In addition, a Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) framework is developed and that could be used as an effective tool for decision makers. The developed framework could be used within manufacturing industries, services, educational systems, governmental organizations, and others.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004645, ucf:49904
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004645
- Title
- Design of a Framework to Measure the Degree of Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) Simulation Interoperability.
- Creator
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Kim, Kiyoul, Lee, Gene, Rabelo, Luis, Elshennawy, Ahmad, Kincaid, John, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Accomplishment of the Live, Virtual and Constructive simulation interoperability has been a major goal and a challenge in the Modeling and Simulation (M(&)S) community. There have been efforts to interoperate individual Live, Virtual and Constructive simulations within a common synthetic environment through suitable technologies such as interface specifications, protocols, and standard middleware architectures. However, achieving interoperability of LVC simulation is a technologically complex...
Show moreAccomplishment of the Live, Virtual and Constructive simulation interoperability has been a major goal and a challenge in the Modeling and Simulation (M(&)S) community. There have been efforts to interoperate individual Live, Virtual and Constructive simulations within a common synthetic environment through suitable technologies such as interface specifications, protocols, and standard middleware architectures. However, achieving interoperability of LVC simulation is a technologically complex since it is affected by multiple factors, and the characteristics are not yet satisfactorily defined and studied. A proper method is absent to measure the potential interoperability degree of LVC simulation. Therefore, there should be an appropriate systematic approach to measure the potential LVC simulation interoperability which includes technical, conceptual and organizational domains. This research aims to design a preliminary systematic approach to measure the potential interoperability degree of an individual Live, Virtual and Constructive simulation and a relevant organization which plans to use the simulation system for simulation interoperability. Specifically, a framework that contains components such as a) LVC simulation interoperability domains, b) interoperability domain factors, c) interoperability maturity levels, d) interoperability determination method is proposed. To accomplish the goal, a set of factors that determine the interoperability degree in LVC simulation environment are identified, and the factors are used to build the key elements of the framework. The proposed methodology for the framework design is based on systematic literature reviews and a survey involving a number of relevant domain experts. A case study is demonstrated to prove the validity and effectiveness of the developed framework. The case study illustrates how the interoperability levels of a simulation system and a relevant organization are effectively measured. This research potentially contributes by providing an understanding of the factors that determine the interoperability degree of LVC simulation, improvement of the LVC simulation interoperability measurement process, and consequently, accomplishment of more effective LVC simulation interoperability.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005818, ucf:50032
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005818
- Title
- The effect of Curriculum Organization on the acquisition of Abstract Declarative Knowledge in Computer Based Instructions.
- Creator
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Al-Foraih, Saleh, Williams, Kent, Proctor, Michael, Rabelo, Luis, Ozkaptan, Halim, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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ABSTRACTThe United States of America has dropped behind many countries in terms of theScience and Engineering university degrees awarded since the beginning of the nineties.Multiple studies have been conducted to determine the cause of this decline in degreesawarded, and try to reverse the trend in US education. The goal of these studies was todetermine the proper instructional methods that facilitate the knowledge acquisitionprocess for the student. It has been determined that not one method...
Show moreABSTRACTThe United States of America has dropped behind many countries in terms of theScience and Engineering university degrees awarded since the beginning of the nineties.Multiple studies have been conducted to determine the cause of this decline in degreesawarded, and try to reverse the trend in US education. The goal of these studies was todetermine the proper instructional methods that facilitate the knowledge acquisitionprocess for the student. It has been determined that not one method works for all types ofcurriculum, for example methods that have been found to work effectively in curriculumthat teaches procedures and physical systems often fail in curriculum that teaches abstractand conceptual content. The purpose of this study is to design an instructional methodthat facilitates teaching of abstract knowledge, and to demonstrate its effectivenessthrough empirical research.An experiment including 72 undergraduate students was conducted to determinethe best method of acquiring abstract knowledge. All students were presented with thesame abstract knowledge but presented in different types of organization. Theseorganization types consisted of hierarchy referred as Bottom Up, Top Down, andUnorganized. Another factor that was also introduced is Graphing, which is a method thatis believe to improve the learning process. The experiment was completed in 8 weeks anddata was gathered and analyzed.The results strongly suggest that abstract knowledge acquisition is greatlyimproved when the knowledge is presented in a Bottom Up hierarchical fashion. On theother hand, neither Graphing nor the Top Down or Unorganized conditions affectlearning in these novice students.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004644, ucf:49893
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004644