Software development: A paradigm for the future

A new paradigm for software development that treats software development as an experimental activity is presented. It provides built-in mechanisms for learning how to develop software better and reusing previous experience in the forms of knowledge, processes, and products. It uses models and measures to aid in the tasks of characterization, evaluation and motivation. An organization scheme is proposed for separating the project-specific focus from the organization's learning and reuse focuses of software development. The implications of this approach for corporations, research and education are discussed and some research activities currently underway at the University of Maryland that support this approach are presented

Building social business models: lessons from the Grameen experience

The social business idea borrows some concepts from the capitalist economy, and therefore the implementation of social businesses can likewise borrow some concepts from conventional business literature. As an illustration, the notion of business model, which is currently attracting much attention from researchers, can be revisited so as to enable the building of social businesses. Social business models are needed alongside conventional ones. After defining what a social business is, the authors will describe the first endeavors to create such businesses within the Grameen Group. This in turn will lead to a discussion of the social business model.Social business; business model; social business model; Grameen; Danone

Discrete event simulation and virtual reality use in industry: new opportunities and future trends

This paper reviews the area of combined discrete event simulation (DES) and virtual reality (VR) use within industry. While establishing a state of the art for progress in this area, this paper makes the case for VR DES as the vehicle of choice for complex data analysis through interactive simulation models, highlighting both its advantages and current limitations. This paper reviews active research topics such as VR and DES real-time integration, communication protocols, system design considerations, model validation, and applications of VR and DES. While summarizing future research directions for this technology combination, the case is made for smart factory adoption of VR DES as a new platform for scenario testing and decision making. It is put that in order for VR DES to fully meet the visualization requirements of both Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet visions of digital manufacturing, further research is required in the areas of lower latency image processing, DES delivery as a service, gesture recognition for VR DES interaction, and linkage of DES to real-time data streams and Big Data sets

Service Implementation Framework in Manufacturing Firms: A Case Study

The culture and the operational methods of service management have become a formidable competitive weapon even for manufacturing firms. The term "service factory" has been proposed for identifying that particular integration of products and services, achieved by the excellent manufacturing firm, where "service is a multidimensional concept". The creation of a service factory necessarily implies a radical change in the operational and organizational characteristics of the firm. In order to support manufacturing firms in adopting a service strategy, it is relevant on the one hand to identify the bundle of services which have to be provided for the customers and, on the other hand, to understand the implications for firm management model. As regards the first point, the paper proposes a framework which classifies the services along with two dimensions: Timedimension and target-dimension. The proposed framework is of interest for manufacturing firms because it allows a better recognition of services that are more perceptible for the customers. In the second part of the paper, authors discuss the implications of a service strategy adoption on the management model of manufacturing firms. In order to carry out this analysis, authors propose a model that combines four service dimensions with three decision-making categories (Organization, Methodologies and Technologies). In the end, the proposed framework has been applied in a sample of Italian hot water heater manufacturers and a case study analysis has been carried out

Planning the cultural quarter in Birmingham's Eastside

Cultural planning and the development of cultural quarters has become a new orthodoxy in the revitalization of inner city industrial districts, yet this orthodoxy is now widely questioned as to whether it delivers on its promises. In Birmingham UK, the aim to create a new cultural quarter in the industrial inner city area of Eastside represents a unique opportunity for the city to examine and learn from past lessons of the "cultural turn" in urban policy. The article examines these lessons and whether the Eastside scheme is set to repeat the mistakes of the past

Exploring the role of materials in policy change: innovation in low energy housing in the UK

We find and prove new Pohozaev identities and integration by parts type formulas for anisotropic integrodifferential operators of order 2s, with s¿(0,1). These identities involve local boundary terms, in which the quantity (Formula presented.) plays the role that ¿u/¿¿ plays in the second-order case. Here, u is any solution to Lu = f(x,u) in O, with u = 0 in RnO, and d is the distance to ¿O.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Modelling performance in a Balanced Scorecard : findings from a case study

Cet article s'intéresse à la mise en place de l'approche dite du "Balanced Scorecards" dans des unités opérationnelles plutôt qu'au niveau d'une direction générale. Il s'appuie sur une étude de cas. On propose de traiter les questions relatives à la coordination, à la fixation des objectifs et au contrôle en s'appuyant sur une méthodologie originale pour construire le modèle d'interaction entre les différentes entités de l'organisation. Cette méthodologie fait une part importante à l'apprentissage organisationnel permettant ainsi une compréhension mutuelle des degrés de liberté individuels et une meilleure observation réciproque. Cette approche "horizontale" est mieux adaptée à ce type de contexte que l'approche "verticale" plus traditionnelle du BCS.Pilotage;Tableaux de bord;Incitations;Apprentissage organisationnel

Effects of a Trust Mechanism on Complex Adaptive Supply Networks: An Agent-Based Social Simulation Study

This paper models a supply network as a complex adaptive system (CAS), in which firms or agents interact with one another and adapt themselves. And it applies agent-based social simulation (ABSS), a research method of simulating social systems under the CAS paradigm, to observe emergent outcomes. The main purposes of this paper are to consider a social factor, trust, in modeling the agents\' behavioral decision-makings and, through the simulation studies, to examine the intermediate self-organizing processes and the resulting macro-level system behaviors. The simulations results reveal symmetrical trust levels between two trading agents, based on which the degree of trust relationship in each pair of trading agents as well as the resulting collaboration patterns in the entire supply network emerge. Also, it is shown that agents\' decision-making behavior based on the trust relationship can contribute to the reduction in the variability of inventory levels. This result can be explained by the fact that mutual trust relationship based on the past experiences of trading diminishes an agent\'s uncertainties about the trustworthiness of its trading partners and thereby tends to stabilize its inventory levels.Complex Adaptive System, Agent-Based Social Simulation, Supply Network, Trust