1,007 research outputs found
The optimisation of a strategic business process
The optimisation of a Tendering Process for Warship Refit Contracts is presented. The Pre Contract Award process (PCA) involves all the activities needed to successfully win a Refit Contract, e.g. estimating, planning, tendering and negotiation. Process activities and information flows have been modelled using Integrated computer aided manufacturing DEFinition methodology (IDEF0) and a Design Structure Matrix (DSM) with optimisation performed via a Genetic Algorithm (DSM-GA) search technique [1]. The aim of the DSM-GA is to provide the user with an enhanced sequence of performing process activities. A new process was extracted from the optimised solution, showing an improved sequence with reduced iteration and planned activity concurrency based on carefully considered information requirements. This is of practical benefit to enhance understanding and to provide a guide to implementation. The approach suggests an enhanced sequence of process activities, based on information requirements, and can lead to improved business practice. This Paper discusses the potential benefits and limitations of this approach in a practical setting
The optimisation of the estimating and tendering process in warship refit - a case study
The optimisation of a tendering process for warship refit contracts is presented. The tendering process, also known as the pre-contract award process (PCA), involves all the activities needed to be successfully awarded a refit contract. Process activities and information flows have been modelled using Integrated Definition Language IDEF0 and a Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) with optimisation performed via a Genetic Algorithm (DSM-GA) search technique. By utilising this approach the process activities were re-sequenced in such an order that the number and size of rework cycles were reduced. The result being a 57% reduction in a criterion indicating 're-work' cycles
Real estate stock selection and attribute preferences
The majority of studies that explore property portfolio construction and management strategies utilise highly aggregated ex-post data, but stock selection is known to be a significant determinant of portfolio performance. Thus, here we look at stock selection, focusing on the choices faced by investors, necessitating the collection and analysis of primary data, carried out utilising conjoint analysis. This represents a new step in property research, with the data collection undertaken using a simulation exercise. This enables fund managers to make hypothetical purchase decisions, viewing properties comprising a realistic bundle of attributes and making complex contemporaneous trade-offs between attributes, subject to their stated market and economic forecasts and sector specialism. In total 51 fund managers were surveyed, producing 918 purchase decisions for analysis, with additional data collected regarding fund and personal characteristics. The results reveal that âfixedâ property characteristics (location and obsolescence) are dominant in the decision-making process, over and above âmanageableâ tenant and lease characteristics which can be explicitly included within models of probabilities of income variation. This reveals investors are making ex-ante risk judgements and are considering post acquisition risk management strategies. The study also reveals that behavioural factors affect acquisition decisions
Collineation group as a subgroup of the symmetric group
Let be the projectivization (i.e., the set of one-dimensional vector
subspaces) of a vector space of dimension over a field. Let be a
closed (in the pointwise convergence topology) subgroup of the permutation
group of the set . Suppose that contains the
projective group and an arbitrary self-bijection of transforming a
triple of collinear points to a non-collinear triple. It is well-known from
\cite{KantorMcDonough} that if is finite then contains the
alternating subgroup of .
We show in Theorem \ref{density} below that , if
is infinite.Comment: 9 page
A Systematic Extended Iterative Solution for QCD
An outline is given of an extended perturbative solution of Euclidean QCD
which systematically accounts for a class of nonperturbative effects, while
allowing renormalization by the perturbative counterterms. Proper vertices
Gamma are approximated by a double sequence Gamma[r,p], with r the degree of
rational approximation w.r.t. the QCD mass scale Lambda, nonanalytic in the
coupling g, and p the order of perturbative corrections in g-squared,
calculated from Gamma[r,0] - rather than from the perturbative Feynman rules
Gamma(0)(pert) - as a starting point. The mechanism allowing the
nonperturbative terms to reproduce themselves in the Dyson-Schwinger equations
preserves perturbative renormalizability and is tied to the divergence
structure of the theory. As a result, it restricts the self-consistency problem
for the Gamma[r,0] rigorously - i.e. without decoupling approximations - to the
superficially divergent vertices. An interesting aspect of the scheme is that
rational-function sequences for the propagators allow subsequences describing
short-lived excitations. The method is calculational, in that it allows known
techniques of loop computation to be used while dealing with integrands of
truly nonperturbative content.Comment: 48 pages (figures included). Scope of replacement: correction of a
technical defect; no changes in conten
Diffeomorphic approximation of Sobolev homeomorphisms
Every homeomorphism h : X -> Y between planar open sets that belongs to the
Sobolev class W^{1,p}(X,Y), 1<p<\infty, can be approximated in the Sobolev norm
by diffeomorphisms.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure
and couplings in QCD
We calculate the and couplings using QCD sum rules on the
light-cone. In this approach, the large-distance dynamics is incorporated in a
set of pion wave functions. We take into account two-particle and
three-particle wave functions of twist 2, 3 and 4. The resulting values of the
coupling constants are and .
From this we predict the partial width \Gamma (D^{*+} \ra D^0 \pi^+ )=32 \pm
5~ keV . We also discuss the soft-pion limit of the sum rules which is
equivalent to the external axial field approach employed in earlier
calculations. Furthermore, using and the pole
dominance model for the B \ra \pi and D\ra \pi semileptonic form factors
is compared with the direct calculation of these form factors in the same
framework of light-cone sum rules.Comment: 27 pages (LATEX) +3 figures enclosed as .uu file MPI-PhT/94-62 ,
CEBAF-TH-94-22, LMU 15/9
Analysis and simulations for a phaseâfield fracture model at finite strains based on modified invariants
Phaseâfield models have already been proven to predict complex fracture patterns for brittle fracture at small strains. In this paper we discuss a model for phaseâfield fracture at finite deformations in more detail. Among the identification of crack location and projection of crack growth the numerical stability is one of the main challenges in solid mechanics. Here we present a phaseâfield model at finite strains, which takes into account the anisotropy of damage by applying an anisotropic split of the modified invariants of the right CauchyâGreen strain tensor. We introduce a suitable weak notion of solution that also allows for a spatial and temporal discretization of the model. In this framework we study the existence of solutions and we show that the timeâdiscrete solutions converge in a weak sense to a solution of the timeâcontinuous formulation of the model. Numerical examples in two and three space dimensions illustrate the range of validity of the analytical results
Survey of nucleon electromagnetic form factors
A dressed-quark core contribution to nucleon electromagnetic form factors is
calculated. It is defined by the solution of a Poincare' covariant Faddeev
equation in which dressed-quarks provide the elementary degree of freedom and
correlations between them are expressed via diquarks. The nucleon-photon vertex
involves a single parameter; i.e., a diquark charge radius. It is argued to be
commensurate with the pion's charge radius. A comprehensive analysis and
explanation of the form factors is built upon this foundation. A particular
feature of the study is a separation of form factor contributions into those
from different diagram types and correlation sectors, and subsequently a
flavour separation for each of these. Amongst the extensive body of results
that one could highlight are: r_1^{n,u}>r_1^{n,d}, owing to the presence of
axial-vector quark-quark correlations; and for both the neutron and proton the
ratio of Sachs electric and magnetic form factors possesses a zero.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures, 12 tables, 5 appendice
Definition and Calculation of Bottom Quark Cross-Sections in Deep-inelastic Scattering at HERA and Determination of their Uncertainties
The uncertainties involved in the calculation of bottom quark cross-sections
in deep-inelastic scattering at HERA are studied in different phase space
regions. Besides the inclusive bottom quark cross-section, definitions closer
to the detector acceptance requiring at least one high energetic muon from the
semi-leptonic \bquark decay or a jet with high transverse energy are
investigated. For each case the uncertainties due to the choice of the
renormalisation and factorisation scale as well as the \bquark mass are
estimated in the perturbative NLO QCD calculation and furthermore uncertainties
in the fragmenation of the bottom quark to a B-meson and in its semi-leptonic
decay are discussed
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