MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMMING FOR RESOURCE POLICY APPRAISAL UNDER MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES

Mathematical programming is one technique that can be used for resource policy appraisal. Multiple objectives are usually involved in resource policy considerations. This paper discusses issues regarding the use of mathematical programming techniques for the multiobjective resource policy arena. Theoretical models are introduced with a separation called for between producer response models and policy maker models due to a disparity of objectives. The paper draws on the literature citing cases where producer level models have been utilized to simulate the policy outcome implications of alternative policies.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Multilevel Research in Information Systems: Concepts, Strategies, Problems, and Pitfalls

Information systems (IS) researchers often explore complex phenomena that result from the interplay between technologies and human actors; as such, IS research frequently involves constructs found at multiple levels of analysis, although rarely recognized as such. In fact, our targeted review of the IS literature found minimal explicit consideration of the issues posed by multilevel research although a number of studies implicitly conducted research at multiple levels. In this paper, we discuss the issues that result from not explicitly recognizing the multilevel nature of one’s work and offer guidance on how to identify and explicitly conduct multilevel IS research. Recognizing the relevance of multilevel research for the IS domain, we discuss a systematic approach to conduct quantitative multilevel IS research that is grounded in an overarching framework that focuses equally on testing variables and entities. We also highlight the unique role of IS in developing multilevel opportunities for researchers. Finally, we identify a number of gaps within the IS literature in which specific multilevel research questions may be articulated. Such explicit consideration of multilevel issues in future IS research will not only improve IS research but contribute to the larger discourse on multilevel research

The Contextual Approach in Health Research: Two Empirical Studies

Researchers are being encouraged to consider contextual influences on health-related outcomes. To support this perspective, two context-sensitive studies were conducted. The first study explored the utilization of a research report by Ontario public health units, and examined whether utilization differed by involvement in the research process. Research utilization was conceptualized as a three stage process (reading, information processing and application). Using a case study design, results from three involved public health units and three uninvolved units demonstrated that inclusion in the research process led to a greater understanding of the analysis and increased the value associated with the report. Involvement did not, however, lead to greater research utilization. An associated contextual analysis provided a rich backdrop, highlighting the general challenges of implementing research-based guidelines given front-line workers\u27 current realities. The second study examined the influence of contextual level (e.g., health region level) socioeconomic status on a woman\u27s lifetime mammography screening uptake. A secondary data analysis was conducted using Ontario data from the 1996 National Population Health Survey. Logistic hierarchical multilevel modelling was used to examine the regional variation in mammography uptake, and to examine the role of contextual and individual level variables on regional variation. The estimated average proportion of Ontario women, aged 50-69, who reported ever having had a mammogram was 0.86. Results demonstrated modest variations among health regions in ever having had a mammogram. These variations could not be explained by the variables considered in this study. Individual level variables demonstrated an association with mammography uptake, as did regional level education and regional median family income. Furthermore, each of these latter two contextual variables demonstrated interaction effects with the individual level variable, social involvement. Thus, contextual variables played a significant role in mammography uptake. Contextual circumstances ought to be considered during the development of breast health promotion programs and policies

Factors shaping the evolution of electronic documentation systems

The main goal is to prepare the space station technical and managerial structure for likely changes in the creation, capture, transfer, and utilization of knowledge. By anticipating advances, the design of Space Station Project (SSP) information systems can be tailored to facilitate a progression of increasingly sophisticated strategies as the space station evolves. Future generations of advanced information systems will use increases in power to deliver environmentally meaningful, contextually targeted, interconnected data (knowledge). The concept of a Knowledge Base Management System is emerging when the problem is focused on how information systems can perform such a conversion of raw data. Such a system would include traditional management functions for large space databases. Added artificial intelligence features might encompass co-existing knowledge representation schemes; effective control structures for deductive, plausible, and inductive reasoning; means for knowledge acquisition, refinement, and validation; explanation facilities; and dynamic human intervention. The major areas covered include: alternative knowledge representation approaches; advanced user interface capabilities; computer-supported cooperative work; the evolution of information system hardware; standardization, compatibility, and connectivity; and organizational impacts of information intensive environments

Leveraging Predictive Modeling, Machine Learning Personalization, NLP Customer Support, and AI Chatbots to Increase Customer Loyalty

AI, ML, and NLP are profoundly altering the way organizations work. With the increasing influx of data and the development of AI systems to understand it in order to solve business challenges, the excitement surrounding AI has grown. Massive datasets, computer capacity, improved algorithms, accessible algorithm libraries, and frameworks have compelled today's organizations to use AI to enhance their operations and profits. These technologies aid every kind of industry, from agriculture to finance. More specifically, AI and ML, and NLP are assisting organizations in areas such as customer service, predictive modeling, customer personalization, picture identification, sentiment analysis, offline and online document processing. The purpose of this study was twofold. We first review the several applications of AI in business and then empirically test whether these applications increase customer loyalty using the datasets of 910 firms around the world.  The datasets include the integration scores of four different AI features, namely, AI-powered customer service, predictive modeling, ML-powered personalization, and natural language processing integration. The target is the customer loyalty measure as binary. All the features are measured on a 5-pint Likert scale. We applied six different supervised machine learning algorithms, namely, Logistic regression, KNN, SVM, Decision Tree, Random Forest, and Ada boost Classifiers. the performance of each algorithm was evaluated using confusion matrices and ROC curves. The Ada boost and logistic classifiers performed better with test accuracies of 0.639 and 0.631, respectively. The decision tree and KNN had the performance with accuracies of 0.532 and 0.570, respectively.  The findings of this study highlight that by incorporating AI, ML, and NLP, businesses may analyze data to uncover what's useful, gaining valuable insights that can be used to automate processes and drive business strategies. As a result, firms that wish to remain competitive and increase customer loyalty should adopt them

Heuristics in Entrepreneurial Opportunity Evaluation: A Comparative Case Study of the Middle East and Germany

Heuristics are mental shortcuts applied, consciously, subconsciously or both, to save time and efforts at the expense of risking the accuracy of the outcome. Therefore, one might argue that it is just an accuracy-effort trade-off. Nonetheless, we ought to recognize the distinction between the circumstances of risk, where all choices, outcomes, and probabilities might be generally known, and the circumstances of uncertainty, where, at least some, are not. Traditional models like the Subjective Expected Utility (SEU) work best for decisions under risk but not under uncertainty, which portrays most situations people need to tackle. Uncertainty requires simple heuristics that are sufficient instead of perfect. In this dissertation, the notion of heuristics was researched through a comprehensive historical review that unfolded the heuristics-linked ideas of significant scholars. An explicit distinction between the deliberate and the automatic heuristics was stated with chronological categories of pre and post-introduction of the SEU theory; providing a new perspective and opening a discussion for future research to consider. Additionally, qualitative and quantitative studies were applied that produced an unsophisticated heuristic set that was used by entrepreneurs in the Middle East and Germany. Perhaps entrepreneurs, and people in general, do not always know or acknowledge their use of heuristics. But still, they use it extensively and may exchange heuristics among others. That may lead us to think that in a world where uncertainty prevails, the Homo heuristicus might become a real threat to the Homo economicus

Human factors aspects of control room design: Guidelines and annotated bibliography

A human factors analysis of the workstation design for the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite mission operation room is discussed. The relevance of anthropometry, design rules, environmental design goals, and the social-psychological environment are discussed

Influencing process and cultural change in the aerospace industry

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. 69).Aerospace equipment manufacturers have expressed considerable frustration with the lack of success in implementing process and cultural change initiatives within their organizations. The objective of this report is to offer more successful methods of designing and executing change initiatives in the aerospace industry. This report provides an analysis of three particular change initiatives in execution at Pratt&Whitney Aircraft at the time of this writing. The successes and failures of three initiatives are analyzed and compared in the context of the major barriers to change faced by the industry. The arguments made in the discussion and in the following conclusions suggest that success depends on the application of entrepreneurial marketing and negotiations theories: 1. Solving a quantifiable, pressing source of pain for the customer 2. Results selling by providing a solution versus solely a technology 3. Focusing on a single customer with the budget and power to employ the new technology 4. Understanding the positions and interests of the parties involved 5. Establishing a bargaining range when faced with resistance 6. Enabling a give and take of concessions and tradeoffs in the bargaining process.by Adam B. Kohorn.S.M

Digital Image Access & Retrieval

The 33th Annual Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing, held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in March of 1996, addressed the theme of "Digital Image Access & Retrieval." The papers from this conference cover a wide range of topics concerning digital imaging technology for visual resource collections. Papers covered three general areas: (1) systems, planning, and implementation; (2) automatic and semi-automatic indexing; and (3) preservation with the bulk of the conference focusing on indexing and retrieval.published or submitted for publicatio