Design of robust service operations using cybernetic principles and simulation

Information flows in a service organisation allow business units to co-ordinate their response to changes in the operating environment. Processes and interactions can be designed so that the right information flows to the right people, at the right time to make effective decisions regarding job priorities and allocation of limited resource. This paper develops an analysis framework and simulation approach to identify the internal information flows an organisation needs to “tune itself” for changing conditions, thus making itself more robust to uncertainties. The ideas are developed and illustrated through a case study with a major telecoms company.International Design Conference - DESIGN 201

The P3 platform: an approach and software system for developing diagrammatic model-based methods in design research

Many issues in design and design management have been explored by building models which capture the relationships between different aspects of the problem at hand. These models require computer support to construct and analyse. However, appropriate modelling tools can be time-consuming to develop in a research environment. Reflecting upon five design research projects, this paper proposes that such projects can be facilitated by recognising the iterative and tightly-coupled nature of research and tool development, and by attempting to minimise the effort of solution prototyping within this process. Our approach is enabled by a software platform which can be rapidly configured to implement many conceivable modelling approaches. This configurability is complemented by an emerging library of modelling and analysis approaches tailored to explore design process systems. The platform-based approach enables any mix of modelling concepts to be easily created. We propose it could thus help researchers to explore a wide range of questions without being constrained to existing conventions for modelling – or for model integration

Assessment of vegetation condition and health at Claudelands Bush (Jubilee Bush; Te Papanui)

As the largest remnant indigenous natural area, Claudelands Bush is a key asset for Hamilton city. With a history including clearance, logging and grazing; high numbers of plant species have been lost from the bush. Some of these pressures still exist today such as drainage, invasion by adventive plant species, presence of animal pests and the small size of the bush fragment. These pressures continue to contribute to native species losses. To reduce species loss and improve vegetation condition and biodiversity, management has been taking place in the area since the 1980’s. Management included planting of native species, weeding of the bush, construction of wind breaks and boardwalks

Designers and manufacturers’ perspectives on inclusive/universal design

Inclusive design in the U.K. and its U.S. counterpart, universal design, present opportunities and challenges to industry. In order to encourage manufacturers and design companies to adopt more inclusive design practices, the research has been carried out to gain an understanding of why and how companies adopt inclusive design practices, what are the barriers when implementing them and what are the key strategies for facilitating inclusive/universal design in an industrial context. Based on interviews with a number of U.K. design consultancies and an investigation among manufacturers in the U.S., a comparison between U.K. consultant designers and U.S. consumer product manufacturers’ perspectives on inclusive/universal design was made. It was found that designers are reluctant to sacrifice the aesthetics of the brand to design for inclusion, but nevertheless would like to have practical tools to help them develop more inclusive solutions. For manufacturers, the key motivation for such practices is that of government regulation and legislation requiring the accessibility of products and services

Comparison of laser performance for diode-pumped Tm:YLF of various doping concentrations

Single-end-pumped laser performance of 2, 4, and 6at.% Tm-doped YLF rods is reported. For the pumping configuration employed, crystal fracture was observed to occur for a thermal load per unit absorption length of ~13W/cm. The 2at.% Tm-doped crystal was found to have a quantum yield of ~90% of that of 4at.% Tm. However, due to a lower thermal loading density, the maximum possible incident pump power is predicted to be >60% higher, hence offering a greater output power per rod for the lower doping concentration. Power scaling considerations are discussed with reference to cross-relaxation, upconversion, and thermal loading of the host crystal

An introduction to the Cambridge advanced modeller

Complex products and their development processes may be viewed as systems, whose different aspects can be modelled as networks of interactions between elements in different domains. Many approaches have been proposed to explore, support or improve engineering processes by building such models. Developing these approaches, and applying them to problems of realistic complexity, often requires specialised computer software suitable for manipulating large data sets. However, creating suitable tools can be difficult–because software development is time-consuming and requires skills that many researchers and practitioners do not possess. We developed an approach which aims to address this problem by recognising the iterative nature of modelling research and its often tight coupling with prototype software development, and by reducing the effort of software prototyping and revision within this process. The approach is enabled by, and embodied in, the Cambridge Advanced Modeller (CAM)–a configurable software platform we have developed, refined and applied over several years and through a number of research projects

Galaxy correlations and the BAO in a void universe: structure formation as a test of the Copernican Principle

A suggested solution to the dark energy problem is the void model, where accelerated expansion is replaced by Hubble-scale inhomogeneity. In these models, density perturbations grow on a radially inhomogeneous background. This large scale inhomogeneity distorts the spherical Baryon Acoustic Oscillation feature into an ellipsoid which implies that the bump in the galaxy correlation function occurs at different scales in the radial and transverse correlation functions. We compute these for the first time, under the approximation that curvature gradients do not couple the scalar modes to vector and tensor modes. The radial and transverse correlation functions are very different from those of the concordance model, even when the models have the same average BAO scale. This implies that if void models are fine-tuned to satisfy average BAO data, there is enough extra information in the correlation functions to distinguish a void model from the concordance model. We expect these new features to remain when the full perturbation equations are solved, which means that the radial and transverse galaxy correlation functions can be used as a powerful test of the Copernican Principle.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, matches published versio

Vegetation restoration plan, New Plymouth Fitzroy to Bell Block coastal walkway extension

In 1999, the New Plymouth District Council began construction of its award winning coastal walkway. Along with providing an area for recreation, this new walk and cycle path serves as an alternate route for commuting along the city away from arterial roads. The New Plymouth District Council is in the process of extending this walkway a further three kilometres from Fitzroy Motor Camp to Ellesmere Avenue, Bell Block. This will encompass Peringa Park, Hickford Park and the Mangati Walkway, with completion expected by mid 2010. As part of this $4.2 million project, the District Council aims to restore the surrounding native duneland vegetation. The Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research (University of Waikato) was contracted by the New Plymouth District Council to provide a vegetation restoration plan for the Fitzroy to Bell Block section of the coastal walkway. This report considers the current vegetation of this three km section of the walkway, based on a rapid qualitative assessment undertaken in June, 2010. The target ecosytems Spinifex sandfield, flax-taupata shrubland and coastal forest vegetation types once dominant in the area are described in detail. Restoration recommendations are included to assist in the recreation of these ecosystems, including planting zones, weed control strategies and ongoing monitoring objectives