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A System Dynamics Model for Manpower and Technology Implementation Trade-off and Cost Estimation
Title
A System Dynamics Model for Manpower and Technology Implementation Trade-off and Cost Estimation.
Creator
Jiang, Hong, Karwowski, Waldemar, Kincaid, John, Reinerman, Lauren, Ahram, Tareq, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The U.S. Navy has been confronted with budget cuts and constraints during recent years. This reduction in budget compels the U.S. Navy to limit the number of manpower and personnel to control costs. Reducing the total ownership cost (TOC) has become a major topic of interest for the Navy as plans are made for current and future fleets. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO, 2003), manpower is the most influential component of determining the life cycle cost of a ship....
Show moreThe U.S. Navy has been confronted with budget cuts and constraints during recent years. This reduction in budget compels the U.S. Navy to limit the number of manpower and personnel to control costs. Reducing the total ownership cost (TOC) has become a major topic of interest for the Navy as plans are made for current and future fleets. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO, 2003), manpower is the most influential component of determining the life cycle cost of a ship. The vast majority of the TOC is comprised of operating and support (O(&)S) costs which account for approximately 65 percent of the TOC. Manpower and personnel costs account for approximately 50 percent of O(&)S costs. This research focused on tradeoff analysis and cost estimation between manpower and new technology implementation. Utilizing concepts from System Dynamics Modeling (SDM), System Dynamics Causal Loop diagrams (CLD) were built to identify major factors when implementing new technology, and then stocks and flows diagrams were developed to estimate manpower cost associated with new technology implementation. The SDM base model reflected an 18 months period for technology implementation, and then compared different technology implementation for different scenarios. This model had been tested by the public data from Department of the Navy (DoN) Budget estimates.The objective of this research was to develop a SDM to estimate manpower cost and technology tradeoff analysis associated with different technology implementations. This research will assist Navy decision makers and program managers when objectively considering the impacts of technology selection on manpower and associated TOC, and will provide managers with a better understanding of hidden costs associated with new technology adoption. Recommendations were made for future study in manpower cost estimation of ship systems. In future studies, one particular type of data should be located to test the model for a specific manpower configuration.
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0004869, ucf:49662
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004869
Development of a Cognitive Work Analysis Framework Tutorial Using Systems Modeling Language
Title
Development of a Cognitive Work Analysis Framework Tutorial Using Systems Modeling Language.
Creator
Wells, Wilfred, Karwowski, Waldemar, Williams, Kent, Sala-Diakanda, Serge, Elshennawy, Ahmad, Ahram, Tareq, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
At the present time, most systems engineers do not have access to cognitivework analysis information or training in terms they can understand. This may lead to adisregard of the cognitive aspect of system design. The impact of this issue is systemrequirements that do not account for the cognitive strengths and limitations of users.Systems engineers cannot design effective decision support systems without definingcognitive work requirements. In order to improve system requirements, integration...
Show moreAt the present time, most systems engineers do not have access to cognitivework analysis information or training in terms they can understand. This may lead to adisregard of the cognitive aspect of system design. The impact of this issue is systemrequirements that do not account for the cognitive strengths and limitations of users.Systems engineers cannot design effective decision support systems without definingcognitive work requirements. In order to improve system requirements, integration ofcognitive work requirements into the systems engineering process has to be improved.One option to address this gap is the development of a Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA)framework using Systems Modeling Language (SysML). The study had two phases.The first involved aligning the CWA terminology with the SysML to produce a CWAframework using SysML. The second was the creation of an instruction using SysML toinform systems engineers of the process of integrating cognitive work requirements intothe systems engineering process. This methodology provides a structured framework todefine, manage, organize, and model cognitive work requirements. Additionally, itprovides a tool for systems engineers to use in system design which supports a user'scognitive functions, such as situational awareness, problem solving, and decisionmaking.
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Date Issued
2011
Identifier
CFE0004177, ucf:49079
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004177
Total Ownership Cost Modeling of Technology Adoption Using System Dynamics: Implications for ERP Systems
Title
Total Ownership Cost Modeling of Technology Adoption Using System Dynamics: Implications for ERP Systems.
Creator
Esmaeilian, Behzad, Karwowski, Waldemar, Mollaghasemi, Mansooreh, Xanthopoulos, Petros, Ahram, Tareq, Kincaid, John, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Investment in new technologies is considered by firms as a solution to improve their productivity, product and service quality and their competitive advantages in the global market. Unfortunately, not all technology adoption projects have met their intended objectives. The complexity of technology adoption along with little consideration of the long term cost of the technology, are among the factors that challenge companies while adopting a new technology. Companies often make new technology...
Show moreInvestment in new technologies is considered by firms as a solution to improve their productivity, product and service quality and their competitive advantages in the global market. Unfortunately, not all technology adoption projects have met their intended objectives. The complexity of technology adoption along with little consideration of the long term cost of the technology, are among the factors that challenge companies while adopting a new technology. Companies often make new technology adoption decision without enough attention to the total cost of the technology over its lifecycle. Sometimes poor decision making while adopting a new technology can result in substantial recurring loss impacts. Therefore, estimating the total cost of the technology is an important step in justifying the technology adoption. Total Ownership Cost (TOC) is a wildly-accepted financial metric which can be applied to study the costs associated with the new technology throughout its lifecycle. TOC helps companies analyze not only the acquisition and procurement cost of the technology, but also other cost components occurring over the technology usage and service stage. The point is that, technology adoption cost estimation is a complex process involving consideration of various aspects such as the maintenance cost, technology upgrade cost and the cost related to the human-resource. Assessing the association between the technology characteristics (technology upgrades over its life cycle, compatibility with other systems, technology life span, etc) and the TOC encompasses a high degree of complexity. The complexity exists because there are many factors affecting the cost over time. Sometimes decisions made today can have long lasting impact on the system costs and there is a lag between the time the decision is taken and when outcomes occur. An original contribution of this dissertation is development of a System Dynamics (SD) model to estimate the TOC associated with the new technology adoption. The SD model creates casual linkage and relationships among various aspects of the technology adoption process and allows decision makers to explore the impact of their decisions on the total cost that the technology brings into the company. The SD model presented in this dissertation composes of seven sub-models including (1) technology implementation efforts, (2) workforce training, (3) technology-related workforce hiring process, (4) preventive and corrective maintenance process, (5) technology upgrade, (6) impact of technology on system performance and (7) total ownership cost sub model. A case study of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system adoption has been used to show the application of the SD model. The results of the model show that maintenance, upgrade and workforce hiring costs are among the major cost components in the ERP adoption case study presented in Chapter 4. The simulation SD model developed in this dissertation supports trade-off analysis and provides a tool for technology scenarios evaluation. The SD model presented here can be extended to provide a basis for developing a decision support system for technology evaluation.?
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFE0004836, ucf:49686
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004836
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT USING THE AVERAGE STANDARD ESTIMATOR AND THE MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION WEIGHTED SET OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES
Title
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT USING THE AVERAGE STANDARD ESTIMATOR AND THE MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION WEIGHTED SET OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES.
Creator
AHRAM, TAREQ, McCauley-Bush, Pamela, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Information retrieval is much more challenging than traditional small document collection retrieval. The main difference is the importance of correlations between related concepts in complex data structures. These structures have been studied by several information retrieval systems. This research began by performing a comprehensive review and comparison of several techniques of matrix dimensionality estimation and their respective effects on enhancing retrieval performance using singular...
Show moreInformation retrieval is much more challenging than traditional small document collection retrieval. The main difference is the importance of correlations between related concepts in complex data structures. These structures have been studied by several information retrieval systems. This research began by performing a comprehensive review and comparison of several techniques of matrix dimensionality estimation and their respective effects on enhancing retrieval performance using singular value decomposition and latent semantic analysis. Two novel techniques have been introduced in this research to enhance intrinsic dimensionality estimation, the Multi-criteria Decision Weighted model to estimate matrix intrinsic dimensionality for large document collections and the Average Standard Estimator (ASE) for estimating data intrinsic dimensionality based on the singular value decomposition (SVD). ASE estimates the level of significance for singular values resulting from the singular value decomposition. ASE assumes that those variables with deep relations have sufficient correlation and that only those relationships with high singular values are significant and should be maintained. Experimental results over all possible dimensions indicated that ASE improved matrix intrinsic dimensionality estimation by including the effect of both singular values magnitude of decrease and random noise distracters. Analysis based on selected performance measures indicates that for each document collection there is a region of lower dimensionalities associated with improved retrieval performance. However, there was clear disagreement between the various performance measures on the model associated with best performance. The introduction of the multi-weighted model and Analytical Hierarchy Processing (AHP) analysis helped in ranking dimensionality estimation techniques and facilitates satisfying overall model goals by leveraging contradicting constrains and satisfying information retrieval priorities. ASE provided the best estimate for MEDLINE intrinsic dimensionality among all other dimensionality estimation techniques, and further, ASE improved precision and relative relevance by 10.2% and 7.4% respectively. AHP analysis indicates that ASE and the weighted model ranked the best among other methods with 30.3% and 20.3% in satisfying overall model goals in MEDLINE and 22.6% and 25.1% for CRANFIELD. The weighted model improved MEDLINE relative relevance by 4.4%, while the scree plot, weighted model, and ASE provided better estimation of data intrinsic dimensionality for CRANFIELD collection than Kaiser-Guttman and Percentage of variance. ASE dimensionality estimation technique provided a better estimation of CISI intrinsic dimensionality than all other tested methods since all methods except ASE tend to underestimate CISI document collection intrinsic dimensionality. ASE improved CISI average relative relevance and average search length by 28.4% and 22.0% respectively. This research provided evidence supporting a system using a weighted multi-criteria performance evaluation technique resulting in better overall performance than a single criteria ranking model. Thus, the weighted multi-criteria model with dimensionality reduction provides a more efficient implementation for information retrieval than using a full rank model.
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Date Issued
2008
Identifier
CFE0002426, ucf:47747
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002426
A Retrospective Analysis and Field Study of Nanotechnology Related Ergonomic Risk in Industries Utilizing Nanomaterials
Title
A Retrospective Analysis and Field Study of Nanotechnology Related Ergonomic Risk in Industries Utilizing Nanomaterials.
Creator
Greaves-Holmes, Wanda, Mccauley Bush, Pamela, Mollaghasemi, Mansooreh, Sala-Diakanda, Serge, Raghavan, Seetha, Ahram, Tareq, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The National Science Foundation estimates that two million skilled nanotechnology workers will be needed world wide by 2015 (-) one million of them in the United States (2001). In the absence of scientific clarity about the potential health effects of occupational exposure to nanoparticles, guidance in decision making about hazards, risk, and controls takes on new importance. Currently, guiding principles on personal protective equipment for workers who come in contact with nanomaterials have...
Show moreThe National Science Foundation estimates that two million skilled nanotechnology workers will be needed world wide by 2015 (-) one million of them in the United States (2001). In the absence of scientific clarity about the potential health effects of occupational exposure to nanoparticles, guidance in decision making about hazards, risk, and controls takes on new importance. Currently, guiding principles on personal protective equipment for workers who come in contact with nanomaterials have not been standardized universally. Utilizing the NASA-TLX, this dissertation investigates the adequacy and shortcomings of research efforts that seek to determine whether or not occupational exposure to nanomaterials while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) is or is not potentially frustrating to the worker. While wearing PPE does the worker perceive additional effort, performance, physical, mental or temporal demands or are not impacted during task performance.
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Date Issued
2012
Identifier
CFE0004497, ucf:49267
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004497