Application of fuzzy AHP approach to selection of organizational structure with consideration to contextual dimensions

The literature of organizational structure design is relatively rich along with conceptual and complex patterns. This complexity arising from the number of elements and numerous relations in addition to the nature of variables. Thereby, the lack of operational decision-making models is felt to propose adequate structural designs in practice. In this article, the researchers employ a fuzzy multi attribute decision making model (FMADM) to select the most suitable organizational structure based on expert’s judgments and by deploying contextual dimensions of the organization. Since the organizational changes especially in the structural levels are along with resistances among involved staffs, the implementation of this model is a supportive tool in addition to help the managers to make a qualified decision and change.©2012 the Authors. Published by De Gruyter Open. Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY–NC–ND 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Knowledge sharing: a survey, assessment and directions for future research: individual behavior perspective

One of the most important areas of knowledge management studies is knowledge sharing. Measured in terms of number of scientific articles and organization-s applications, knowledge sharing stands as an example of success in the field. This paper reviews the related papers in the context of the underlying individual behavioral variables to providea direction framework for future research and writing.©2012 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology. Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution(CC BY) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Prestressed Concrete Thermal Behaviour

The structural fire safety capacity of concrete is very complicated because concrete materials have considerable variations. Constitutive relationships for prestressed normal-strength concrete (NSC) and high-strength concrete (HSC) subjected to fire are needed to provide efficient modelling and to meet specific fire-performance criteria of the behaviour for prestressed concrete structures exposed to fire. In this paper, formulations for estimating the parameters affecting the behaviour of unconfined prestressed concrete at high temperatures are proposed. These formulations include residual compression strength, initial modulus of elasticity, peak strain, thermal strain, transient creep strain and the compressive stressstrain relationship at elevated temperatures. The proposed constitutive relationships are verified with available experimental data and existing models. The proposed relationships are general and rational, and show good agreement with the experimental data. More tests are needed to further verify and improve the proposed constitutive relationships

Integration of Simulation and DEA to Determine the Most Efficient Patient Appointment Scheduling Model for a Specific Clinic Setting

This study develops a method to determine the most efficient scheduling model for a specific clinic setting. The appointment scheduling system assigns clinics' timeslots to incoming requests. There are three major scheduling models: centralized scheduling model (CSM), decentralized scheduling model (DSM) and hybrid scheduling model (HSM). In order to schedule multiple appointments, CSM involves one scheduler, DSM involves all the schedulers of individual clinics and HSM combines CSM and DSM. Clinic settings are different in terms of important factors such as randomness of appointment arrival and proportion of multiple appointments. Scheduling systems operate inefficiently if there is not an appropriate match between scheduling models and clinic settings to provide balance between indicators of efficiency. A procedure is developed to determine the most efficient scheduling model by the integrated contribution of simulation and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). A case study serves as a guide to use and as proof for the validity of the developed procedure

Experimental and numerical study of time-dependent behaviour of reinforced self-compacting concrete slabs

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.Developments in concrete technology provide engineers, designers, suppliers and contractors with new methods of approaching engineering problems. Many of these developments are engineered solutions to technical and commercial problems, by either improving the current practices or overcoming limitations in the existing technology. One of the developments is Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC). SCC refers to a ‘highly flowable, non-segregating concrete that can be spread into place, fill the formwork, and encapsulate the reinforcement without the aid of any mechanical consolidation’ as defined by the American Concrete Institute (ACI). SCC is regarded as one of the most promising developments in concrete technology due to significant advantages over Conventional Concrete (CC). Many different factors can influence a decision to adopt SCC over CC ranging from structural performance to associated costs. These decisions should be well informed and based on a sound understanding of such factors. In addition, Fibre Reinforced Self-Compacting Concrete (FRSCC) is a relatively new composite material which congregates the benefits of the SCC technology with the profits derived from the fibre addition to a brittle cementitious matrix. Fibres improve many of the properties of SCC elements including tensile strength, ductility, toughness, energy absorption capacity, fracture toughness and cracking. For a structure (made by CC, SCC and FRSCC) to remain serviceable, crack widths must be small enough to be acceptable from an aesthetic point of view, to avoid waterproofing and deterioration problems by preventing the ingress of water and harmful substances. Crack control is therefore an important aspect of the design of reinforced concrete structures at the serviceability limit state. Limited researches have been undertaken to understand cracking and crack control of SCC and FRSCC members. Since, the time-dependent mechanisms of SCC and FRSCC are still not completely understood; a reliable and universally accepted design procedure for cracking and crack control SCC and FRSCC members has not been developed yet. There exists a need for both theoretical and experimental research to study the critical factors which affect the time-dependant crack of SCC and FRSCC members. In this study cracking caused by external loads in reinforced SCC and FRSCC slabs is examined experimentally and analytically. The mechanisms associated with the flexural cracking due to the combined effects of constant sustained service loads and shrinkage are observed. One of the primary objectives of this study is to develop analytical models that accurately predict the hardened mechanical properties of SCC and FRSCC. Subsequently, these models have been successfully applied to simulate time-dependent cracking of SCC and FRSCC one-way slabs. Series of tests on eight prismatic, singly reinforced concrete one-way slabs subjected to monotonically increasing loads or to constant sustained service loads for up to 240 days, were conducted. An analytical model is presented to simulate instantaneous and time-dependant flexural cracking of SCC and FRSCC members. It should be emphasized that any analytical model developed for calculation of crack width and crack spacing of reinforced SCC and FRSCC slabs must be calibrated by experimental data and verified by utilizing Finite Element Method (FEM). The analytical predictions of crack width and crack spacing for the SCC and FRSCC one way slabs are in reasonably good agreement with the experimental observations

Acuity-based Performance Evaluation and Tactical Capacity Planning in Primary Care

Effective primary care requires timely and equitable access to care for patients as well as efficient and balanced utilization of physician time. Motivated by a family health clinic in Ontario, Canada, this research proposes ways to improve both of these aspects of primary care through tactical capacity planning based on acuity-based performance targets. First, we propose a new metric based on acuity levels to evaluate timely access to primary care. In Canada, as well as other participant countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the main metric currently used to evaluate access is the proportion of patients who are able to obtain a same- or next-day appointment. However, not all patients in primary care are urgent and require a same- or next-day appointment. Therefore, accurate evaluation of timely access to primary care should consider the urgency of the patient request. To address this need, we define multiple acuity levels and relative access targets in primary care, akin to the CTAS system in emergency care. Furthermore, current access time evaluation in the province is mostly survey-based, while our evaluation is based on appointment data and hence more objective. Thus, we propose a novel, acuity-based, data-driven approach for evaluation of timely access to primary care. Second, we develop a deterministic tactical capacity planning (TCP) model to balance workload between weeks for each family physician in the specific primary care clinic in this study. Unbalanced workload among weeks may lead to provider overtime for the weeks with high workload and provider idle time for weeks with low workload. In the proposed TCP model, we incorporate the results from access time evaluation in the first study as constraints for access time. The proposed TCP model considers 11 appointment types with multiple access targets for each appointment type. The TCP model takes as input a forecast of demand coming from an ARIMA model. We compare the results of the TCP model based on current access time targets as well as targets resulting from our acuity-based metrics. The use of our proposed acuity-based targets leads to allocation of time slots which is more equitable for patients and also improves physician workload balance. Third, we also propose a robust TCP model based on the cardinality-constrained method to minimize the highest potential physician peak load between weeks. Therefore, the developed robust TCP model enables protection against uncertainty through providing a feasible allocation of capacity for all realizations of demand. The proposed robust TCP model considers two interdependent appointment types (e.g., new patients and follow ups), multiple access time targets for each appointment type and uncertainty in demand for appointments. We conduct a set of experiments to determine how to set the level of robustness based on extra cost and infeasibility probability of a robust solution. In summary, this dissertation advocates for the definition and subsequent use of acuity-based access time targets for both performance evaluation and capacity allocation in primary care. The resulting performance metrics provide a more detailed view of primary care and lead to not only more equitable access policies but also have the potential to improve physician workload balance when used as input to capacity planning models

Effects of specimen size and shape on compressive and tensile strengths of selfcompacting concrete with or without fibres

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) can be placed and compacted under its own weight. Modifications in the mix design of SCC may significantly influence the material's mechanical properties. Therefore, it is vital to investigate whether all the assumed hypotheses about conventional concrete also hold true for SCC structures. This paper discusses an experimental programme that was carried out to study the effects of specimen size and shape on the compressive and tensile strength of SCC and fibre reinforced SCC. For this purpose, cube specimens with 100 and 150 mm dimensions and cylinder specimens with 100 3 200 and 150 3 300 mm dimensions were casted. The experimental programme examined four SCC mixtures: plain SCC, and steel-, polypropylene- and hybrid-fibre reinforced SCC. Compressive and tensile strengths were tested after 3, 7, 14, 28 and 56 days. The paper also investigates correlations between compressive and tensile strengths and the size and shape of the specimen