An evaluation methodology for ergonomic design of electronic consumer products based on fuzzy axiomatic design

This article is posted with permission of OCP Science imprint. Copyright @ 2008 Old City Publishing Group.The development life cycle of software and electronic products has been shortened by the growth of rapid prototyping techniques. The evaluation of electronic consumer products should consider hardware and software as well as the ergonomic usability, emotional appeal and aesthetic integrity of the design. This research follows a systematic approach to develop an evaluation methodology for electronic mobile products on ergonomic design. The proposed methodology is based on fuzzy multi attribute decision making and fuzzy axiomatic design realized in three steps; determination of ergonomic attributes for electronic consumer products, determination of a representative set of alternatives, and selection of the best alternative in terms of ergonomic design by utilizing fuzzy axiomatic design. A case study is also provided to support the proposed methodology

The impact of Green Information Systems on sustainable supply chain and organizational performance

This paper reports about a research in progress focusing on the impact of green information systems on sustainable supply chain performance. Green information systems, supply chains and their relation to sustainability and performance measurement are explained. The preliminary literature review resulted in a draft conceptual framework where sustainable supply chain measures focusing on economic, environmental and social aspects are combined with traditional supply chain performance measures of cost, quality, dependability, flexibility and speed. The measures for the triple bottom line of sustainability are listed as internal and external indicators. The research challenges addressed in this preliminary work comprise of integration of sustainability performance with traditional performance objectives in the supply chain, measurement of the social performance of supply chain and establishment of the relationship amongst the sustainable supply chain and performance indicators using a green information system infrastructure

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies for locating warehouse resources: A conceptual framework

Copyright @ 2012 Information Technology SocietyIn the supply chain, a warehouse is a crucial component for linking all chain parties. It is necessary to track the real time resource location and status to support warehouse operations effectively. Therefore, RFID technology has been adopted to facilitate the collection and sharing of data in a warehouse environment. However, an essential decision should be made on the type of RFID tags the warehouse managers should adopt, because it is very important to implement RFID tags that work in warehouse environment. As a result, the warehouse resources will be easily tracked and accurately located which will improve the visibility of warehouse operations, enhance the productivity and reduce the operation costs of the warehouse. Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate the reading performance of all types of RFID tags in a warehouse environment in order to choose the most appropriate RFID tags which will enhance the operational efficiency of a warehouse. Reading performance of active and passive RFID tags have been evaluated before while, semi-passive RFID tag, which is battery-assisted with greater sensitivity than passive tags and cheaper than active tags, has not been examined yet in a warehouse environment. This research is in- progress research and it seeks to (i) provide a general overview of the existing real-time data management techniques in tracking warehouse resources location, (ii) provide an overall conceptual framework that can help warehouse managers to choose the best RFID technologies for a warehouse environment, (iii) Finally, the paper submits an experiment design for evaluating the reading performance of semi-passive RFID tags in a warehouse environment

A decision support system to improve service quality in multimodal rapid rail systems: A bayesian perspective

Copyright @ 2011 International Conference on Computers and Industrial EngineeringIn this study, the accessibility of the rail transit stations in a multimodal network formed by a trunk line and its feeder lines are defined. Connectivity between lines and the accessibility of the nodes identify the overall spatial structure of the network. The factors influencing the access choices of rail transit stations and satisfaction of transit travelers in rapid rail transit systems are investigated in order to gain insights into the factors and their interrelationships. The quantitative indications of the relationships are produced and the complexity of evaluating the performance of transit services is exhibited. As the interrelationships are mainly stochastic, the problem on hand is treated as a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN). A BBN approach that presents a learning mechanism is employed and is used as an alternative decision making tool to analyze the rapid rail transit services and identify policies to improve the traveler’s level of service

Evaluating the reading performance of semi-passive RFID tags to enhance locating of warehouse resources: An experiment design

Copyright @ 2011 8th European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems (EMCIS 2011)In the supply chain, a warehouse is a crucial component for linking all chain parties. It is necessary to track the real time resource location and status to support warehouse operations effectively. Therefore, RFID technology has been adopted to facilitate the collection and sharing of data in a warehouse environment. However, an essential decision should be made on the type of RFID tags the warehouse managers should adopt, because it is very important to implement RFID tags that work in warehouse environment. As a result, the warehouse resources will be easily tracked and accurately located which will improve the visibility of warehouse operations, enhance the productivity and reduce the operation costs of the warehouse. Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate the reading performance of all types of RFID tags in a warehouse environment in order to choose the most appropriate RFID tags which will enhance the operational efficiency of a warehouse. Reading performance of active and passive RFID tags have been evaluated before while, semi-passive RFID tag, which is battery-assisted with greater sensitivity than passive tags and cheaper than active tags, has not been examined yet in a warehouse environment. This research is in- progress research and it is aiming to perform tests for evaluating the reading performance of semi-passive RFID apparatus to provide an extensive RFID performance comparison for formulating an efficient RFID solution in warehousing environment

Influence of mixing the low-valent transition metal atoms (Y,Y∗^*=Cr,Mn,Fe) on the properties of the quaternary Co2_2[Y1−x_{1-x}Yx∗^*_x]Z (Z=Al,Ga,Si,Ge,Sn) Heusler compounds

We complement our study on the doping and disorder in Co$_2$MnZ compounds [I. Galanakis \textit{et al.}, Appl. Phys. Lett. \textbf{89}, 042502 (2006) and K. \"Ozdo\~gan \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. B \textbf{74}, (2006)] to cover also the quaterarny Co$_2$[Y$_{1-x}$Y$^*_x$]Z compounds with the lower-valent transition metals Y,Y$^*$ being Cr, Mn or Fe and the sp atom Z being one of Al, Ga, Si, Ge, Sn. This study gives a global overview of the magnetic and electronic properties of these compounds since we vary both Y and Z elements. Our results suggest that for realistic applications the most appropriate compounds are the ones belonging to the families Co$_2$[Mn$_{1-x}$Cr$_x$]Z with $x>0.5$ irrespectively of the nature of the $sp$ atoms since they combine high values of majority DOS at the Fermi level due to the presence of Cr, and half-metallicity with large band-gaps. On the other hand the presence of Fe lowers considerably the majority density of states at the Fermi level and when combined with an element belonging to the Si-column, it even can destroy half-metallicity

What Turkey expects from logistics outsourcing ?

Copyright @ 2011 Yasar UniversityThe economies of the world have become increasingly interdependent, and organizations have come under tremendous pressure to maximize productivity and profitability. Creating value through outsourcing has emerged as a popular competitive strategy for firms of all sizes in all types of industries. The aim of this research is to investigate the use of third party logistics in Turkish companies from the users’ perspective to identify the types of logistics services outsourced, problems encountered in outsourcing these services, logistics costs, decision makers in outsourcing logistics activities, and information sources used in the decision-making process. A structured survey was selected as the tool for data collection. The field study involved face-to-face interviews with 204 companies out of top 500 companies ranked in terms of turnover that are registered with industrial associations and chambers of commerce in Turkey. Moreover, a decision support system based on Bayesian Causal Map is proposed for 3PLs in order to assist them in their service proposals for different sectors. This study is a first attempt to reveal and compare the outsourcing perception of the companies in different sectors, to expose the firms’ underlying motives as well as the respective importance of these motives for outsourcing logistics activities in Turkey. The use of Bayesian Causal Map based on the survey results provides an important guide to the 3PL providers to pick a suitable strategy and to prioritize their operational activities in different sectors in such a way to achieve a competitive advantage

Effect of doping and disorder on the half-metallicity of full Heusler alloy

Heusler alloys containing Co and Mn are amongst the most heavily studied half-metallic ferromagnets for future applications in spintronics. Using state-of-the-art electronic structure calculations, we investigate the effect of doping and disorder on their electronic and magnetic properties. Small degrees of doping by substituting Fe or Cr for Mn scarcely affect the half-metallicity. A similar effect is also achieved by mixing the sublattices occupied by the Mn and sp atoms. Thus the half-metallicity is a robust property of these alloys

Serious Games as a Validation Tool for Decision Support System in Disaster Management—Case of PREDIS

Validation of Decision Support System (DSS) through simulation games or serious game is one way of validating the cognitive capability models through expert opinion. Here, this technique is used to validate PREDIS as a model for DISaster response supplier selection (PREDIS), previously introduced by authors. This DSS is a combination of a PREDictive component (PRED) for predicting the disaster human impact, an estimation component to Estimate the DISaster (EDIS) needs and optimised for supplier based resource allocation. This paper aims to test the suitability of the PREDIS model further for decision-making in the disaster situation. A quasi-experiment design embedded in a participatory simulation game is conducted to compare the opinion of equal sample of 22 experts and non-experts. The following questions are put forward. First, “Does PREDIS model assists the decision makers to make the same decisions faster”. Second, “Does the PREDIS model assist the non-experts as simulated decision makers to decide like an expert”. Using AHP weights of decision makers’ preference as well as borda counts, the decisions are compared. The result shows that PREDIS helps to reduce the decision making time by experts and non-experts within 6 h after the disaster strike, instead of 72 h. It also assist 71% of the non-expert to make similar de-cision as experts. In summary, the PREDIS model has two major capabilities. It enables the experts and non-experts to predict the disaster results immediately and using the widely available data. It also enables the non-experts to decide almost the same as the experts; either in predicting the human impact of the disaster and estimating the needs or in selecting suitable suppliers