Simulation Gaming in Technology Management

This paper discusses business games as teaching tools in Technology Management (TM). The discipline’s traditional teaching methods, while appropriate for the dissemination of foundational knowledge, do not provide the optimal platform for students to link abstract concepts and real-world problems. We suggest that business simulation games are an effective way to engage students in TM topics; that they compel students to understand and cope with the ambiguities associated with real-world organizations. Specifically, we discuss our experience with the International Operations Simulation Mark/2000 (INTOPIA), a game designed to channel students into a stream of entrepreneurial decision-making. We employed the game over 13 semesters with approximately 1000 advanced MBA candidates. Our findings indicate that business games represent a sufficiently novel approach to teaching and learning

A Classification of Infographics

Classifications are useful for describing existing phenomena and guiding further investigation. Several classifications of diagrams have been proposed, typically based on analytical rather than empirical methodologies. A notable exception is the work of Lohse and his colleagues, published in Communications of the ACM in December 1994. The classification of diagrams that Lohse proposed was derived from bottom-up grouping data collected from sixteen participants and based on 60 diagrams. Mean values on ten Likert-scales were used to predict diagram class. We follow a similar methodology to Lohse, using real-world infographics (i.e. embellished data charts) as our stimuli. We propose a structural classification of infographics, and determine whether infographics class can be predicted from values on Likert scales

Cluster-resolved dynamic scaling theory and universal corrections for transport on percolating systems

For percolating systems, we propose a universal exponent relation connecting the leading corrections to scaling of the cluster size distribution with the dynamic corrections to the asymptotic transport behaviour at criticality. Our derivation is based on a cluster-resolved scaling theory unifying the scaling of both the cluster size distribution and the dynamics of a random walker. We corroborate our theoretical approach by extensive simulations for a site percolating square lattice and numerically determine both the static and dynamic correction exponents.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Quantum nondemolition detection of a propagating microwave photon

The ability to nondestructively detect the presence of a single, traveling photon has been a long-standing goal in optics, with applications in quantum information and measurement. Realising such a detector is complicated by the fact that photon-photon interactions are typically very weak. At microwave frequencies, very strong effective photon-photon interactions in a waveguide have recently been demonstrated. Here we show how this type of interaction can be used to realize a quantum nondemolition measurement of a single propagating microwave photon. The scheme we propose uses a chain of solid-state 3-level systems (transmons), cascaded through circulators which suppress photon backscattering. Our theoretical analysis shows that microwave-photon detection with fidelity around 90% can be realized with existing technologies

A Method of Intervals for the Study of Diffusion-Limited Annihilation, A + A --> 0

We introduce a method of intervals for the analysis of diffusion-limited annihilation, A+A -> 0, on the line. The method leads to manageable diffusion equations whose interpretation is intuitively clear. As an example, we treat the following cases: (a) annihilation in the infinite line and in infinite (discrete) chains; (b) annihilation with input of single particles, adjacent particle pairs, and particle pairs separated by a given distance; (c) annihilation, A+A -> 0, along with the birth reaction A -> 3A, on finite rings, with and without diffusion.Comment: RevTeX, 13 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. References Added, and some other minor changes, to conform with final for

Random walk in a two-dimensional self-affine random potential : properties of the anomalous diffusion phase at small external force

We consider the random walk of a particle in a two-dimensional self-affine random potential of Hurst exponent $H=1/2$ in the presence of an external force $F$. We present numerical results on the statistics of first-passage times that satisfy closed backward master equations. We find that there exists a zero-velocity phase in a finite region of the external force $0<F<F_c$, where the dynamics follows the anomalous diffusion law $ x(t) \sim \xi(F) \ t^{\mu(F)} $. The anomalous exponent$0<\mu(F)<1$and the correlation length$\xi(F)$vary continuously with$F$. In the limit of vanishing force$F \to 0$, we measure the following power-laws : the anomalous exponent vanishes as$\mu(F) \propto F^a$with$a \simeq 0.6$(instead of$a=1$in dimension$d=1$), and the correlation length diverges as$\xi(F) \propto F^{-\nu}$with$\nu \simeq 1.29$(instead of$\nu=2$in dimension$d=1$). Our main conclusion is thus that the dynamics renormalizes onto an effective directed trap model, where the traps are characterized by a typical length$\xi(F)$along the direction of the force, and by a typical barrier$1/\mu(F)$. The fact that these traps are 'smaller' in linear size and in depth than in dimension$d=1$, means that the particle uses the transverse direction to find lower barriers.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, v2=final versio

Hot gas ingestion characteristics and flow visualization of a vectored thrust STOVL concept

A 9.2 percent scale short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) hot gas ingestion model was designed and built by McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MCAIR) and tested in the NASA Lewis Research Center 9- by 15-Foot Low Speed Wind Tunnel (LSWT). Hot gas ingestion, the entrainment of heated engine exhaust into the inlet flow field, is a key development issue for advanced short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft. The Phase 1 test program, conducted by NASA Lewis and McDonnell Douglas Corporation, evaluated the hot ingestion phenomena and control techniques and Phase 2 test program which was conducted by NASA Lewis are both reported. The Phase 2 program was conducted at exhaust nozzles temperatures up to 1460 R and utilized a sheet laser system for flow visualization of the model flow field in and out of ground effects. Hot gas ingestion levels were measured for the several forward nozzle splay configurations and with flow control/lift improvement devices which reduced the hot gas ingestion. The model support system had four degrees of freedom, heated high pressure air for nozzle flow, and a suction system exhaust for inlet flow. The headwind (freestream) velocity for Phase 1 was varied from 8 to 90 kn, with primary data taken in the 8 to 23 kn headwind velocity range. Phase 2 headwind velocity varied from 10 to 23 kn. Results of both Phase 1 and 2 are presented. A description of the model, facility, a new model support system, and a sheet laser illumination system are also provided. Results are presented over a range of main landing gear height (model height) above the ground plane at a 10 kn headwind velocity. The results contain the compressor face pressure and temperature distortions, total pressure recovery, compressor face temperature rise, and the environmental effects of the hot gas. The environmental effects include the ground plane temperature and pressure distributions, model airframe heating, and the location of the ground flow separation. Results from the sheet laser flow visualization test are also shown

Environmental Benefits and Management of Small Grain Cover Crops in Corn-Soybean Rotations

These slides offer research results on cover crops