Procceedings / 4th International Symposium of Industrial Engineering - SIE 2009, December 10-11, 2009., Belgrade

editors Dragan D. Milanović, Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misit

Procceedings / 4th International Symposium of Industrial Engineering - SIE 2009, December 10-11, 2009., Belgrade

editors Dragan D. Milanović, Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misit

Methodology and Software for Interactive Decision Support

These Proceedings report the scientific results of an International Workshop on "Methodology and Software for Interactive Decision Support" organized jointly by the System and Decision Sciences Program of IIASA and The National Committee for Applied Systems Analysis and Management in Bulgaria. Several other Bulgarian institutions sponsored the workshop -- The Committee for Science to the Council of Ministers, The State Committee for Research and Technology and The Bulgarian Industrial Association. The workshop was held in Albena, on the Black Sea Coast. In the first section, "Theory and Algorithms for Multiple Criteria Optimization," new theoretical developments in multiple criteria optimization are presented. In the second section, "Theory, Methodology and Software for Decision Support Systems," the principles of building decision support systems are presented as well as software tools constituting the building components of such systems. Moreover, several papers are devoted to the general methodology of building such systems or present experimental design of systems supporting certain class of decision problems. The third section addresses issues of "Applications of Decision Support Systems and Computer Implementations of Decision Support Systems." Another part of this section has a special character. Beside theoretical and methodological papers, several practical implementations of software for decision support have been presented during the workshop. These software packages varied from very experimental and illustrative implementations of some theoretical concept to well developed and documented systems being currently commercially distributed and used for solving practical problems

Engineering Systems Integration

Dreamers may envision our future, but it is the pragmatists who build it. Solve the right problem in the right way, mankind moves forward. Solve the right problem in the wrong way or the wrong problem in the right way, however clever or ingenious the solution, neither credits mankind. Instead, this misfire demonstrates a failure to appreciate a crucial step in pragmatic problem solving: systems integration. The first book to address the underlying premises of systems integration and how to exposit them in a practical and productive manner, Engineering Systems Integration: Theory, Metrics, and Methods looks at the fundamental nature of integration, exposes the subtle premises to achieve integration, and posits a substantial theoretical framework that is both simple and clear. Offering systems managers and systems engineers the framework from which to consider their decisions in light of systems integration metrics, the book isolates two basic questions, 1) Is there a way to express the interplay of human actions and the result of system interactions of a product with its environment?, and 2) Are there methods that combine to improve the integration of systems? The author applies the four axioms of General Systems Theory (holism, decomposition, isomorphism, and models) and explores the domains of history and interpretation to devise a theory of systems integration, develop practical guidance applying the three frameworks, and formulate the mathematical constructs needed for systems integration. The practicalities of integrating parts when we build or analyze systems mandate an analysis and evaluation of existing integrative frameworks of causality and knowledge. Integration is not just a word that describes a best practice, an art, or a single discipline. The act of integrating is an approach, operative in all disciplines, in all we see, in all we do

Engineering Systems Integration

Dreamers may envision our future, but it is the pragmatists who build it. Solve the right problem in the right way, mankind moves forward. Solve the right problem in the wrong way or the wrong problem in the right way, however clever or ingenious the solution, neither credits mankind. Instead, this misfire demonstrates a failure to appreciate a crucial step in pragmatic problem solving: systems integration. The first book to address the underlying premises of systems integration and how to exposit them in a practical and productive manner, Engineering Systems Integration: Theory, Metrics, and Methods looks at the fundamental nature of integration, exposes the subtle premises to achieve integration, and posits a substantial theoretical framework that is both simple and clear. Offering systems managers and systems engineers the framework from which to consider their decisions in light of systems integration metrics, the book isolates two basic questions, 1) Is there a way to express the interplay of human actions and the result of system interactions of a product with its environment?, and 2) Are there methods that combine to improve the integration of systems? The author applies the four axioms of General Systems Theory (holism, decomposition, isomorphism, and models) and explores the domains of history and interpretation to devise a theory of systems integration, develop practical guidance applying the three frameworks, and formulate the mathematical constructs needed for systems integration. The practicalities of integrating parts when we build or analyze systems mandate an analysis and evaluation of existing integrative frameworks of causality and knowledge. Integration is not just a word that describes a best practice, an art, or a single discipline. The act of integrating is an approach, operative in all disciplines, in all we see, in all we do

Innovative Research for Organic 3.0 - Proceedings of the Scientific Track

The future challenges in food production and consumption appear clear: - Feed 9 to 11 billion people in the next 30 to 80 years with enough, affordable and healthy food. - Protect the environment (e.g. soils, water, air, biodiversity and landscapes) whilst increasingly under pressure to achieve greater levels of intensification. - Mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change in all farming systems and value chains. - Incorporate novel ethics, food habits, demographics and lifestyles into the food chains. - Produce food on limited farmland and fossil (non-renewable) resources efficiently and profitably. Several findings from scientific research and practical applications suggest that organic food and farming systems can help in tackling these future challenges.1The 'low external input' approach, risk minimizing strategies and ethically accepted production practices of organic food and farming systemscan help to produce more affordable food for an increasing number of people while minimizing environmental impacts. However, resource efficiency, low-meat diets and reducing food waste are also essential factors that have to be considered. From a global perspective, organic food and farming systems is still a niche sector, as less than 1% of global farmland is managed organically and only a small proportion of the global population is consuming organic food in significant amounts. Production yields are relatively low, and the goals of organic food and farming systems, described in the principles and standards, are not achieved on every farm. This needs further development based on scientific evidence and good management practices. A lot has been done already to develop organic food and farming systems. Nevertheless, to assure, that organic food and farming systems becomes a significant part of the solutions for the future challenges in the food and farming sector, there is still much to do. The Scientific Track at the Organic World Congress 2017 in Delhi, India, will contribute to the global discussion on Organic 3.0, and taking the opportunity to answers some of the challenges in the context of the Indian subcontinent in particular. After a double-blind review, done by 120 reviewers from various disciplines from many experienced research institutions throughout the world, about 183papers from 50 countries have been accepted. All the papers in these proceedings can be also foundon the database "Organic Eprints" (www.orgprints.org). The Scientific Board of the Organic World Congress 2017 Delhi, November 201

What is project governance? Disclosing the source of confusion and revealing the essence of governance

The governance of project work is well discussed in the extant literature that explores the relationship between projects and their parent organisations. And governance is a well-known term amongst senior management, project practitioners, and stakeholders. However, as this thesis reveals and attempts to address, ‘what is governance’ is actually the subject of much confusion across scholarly literature, practitioner publications and project managers themselves. Identifying and resolving such confusion is fundamental to progressing the discipline because, as proposed by this thesis, governance is the system by which projects are directed and controlled. This thesis by publication: 1. Identifies the definitional confusion surrounding project governance, governance generally and many other associated project management terms. 2. Develops a ‘refined’ definitional method for resolving confusion concerning conceptual definitions. 3. Applies this method to develop refined (internally consistent) definitions of governance and related and associated terms. 4. Reveals the lack of genericity at the core of some project management practitioner documents and methodology. 5. Identifies and resolves 10 different issues that cause definitional confusion in conceptual terms. 6. Provides a philosophical justification for the resolution of each of these issues by critically examining Aristotle’s, Mill’s, Wittgenstein’s, and Popper’s work in relation to definitions. 7. Develops a set of axioms and definitional rules for avoiding conflict resulting from definitional confusion. 8. Proposes a theory of meaning for conceptual terms in management