Life Case Study Research Articles

Industrial Big Data as a Result of IoT Adoption in Manufacturing

The radical evolution of internet into a network of interconnected objects that create a smart environment is characterized by the term Internet of Things (IoT). The adoption of IoT in manufacturing enables the transition of tradition manufacturing systems into modern digitalized ones, generating significant economic opportunities through industries re-shaping. Industrial IoT empowers the modern companies to adopt new data-driven strategies and handle the global competitive pressure more easily. However, the adoption of IoT, increases the total volume of the generated data transforming the industrial data into industrial Big Data. The work demonstrated in this paper presents how the adoption of IoT in manufacturing, considering sensory systems and mobile devices, will generate industrial Big Data. Moreover, a developed IoT application is presented showing how real industrial data can be generated leading to Industrial Big Data. The proposed methodology is validated in a real life case study from a mould-making industry.

Sustainable development index on macro-level in industrial estates and specialised sectors

Nowadays, the index of sustainable development or sustainability is estimated/measured based on micro-level (e.g., manufacturing enterprise), but identifying a sustainable development index for a group of different enterprises in one industrial estate or similar group of specific industries in different estates still need more attention not only from academicians and industrialists but also from government and politicians. The main challenge is how to estimate the sustainable development index among similar manufacturing enterprises in different places and/or a group of different industries in one industrial estate. This new index is so called 'macro-level' of sustainability. The novelty of this paper is using normalised, evaluated and weighted sustainability indexes for each assessed value to get and identify full picture of each sustainability items (indicators, issues, pillars, micro-level and macro-level). A hypothetical numerical example is used to illustrate the proposed framework. The results show that the theoretical framework can be applicable in real life case studies.

Impacting student learning using a living case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of using a living case study method to teach graduate students in an organizational development (OD) course. A living case is defined as one where participants study a current, ongoing situation over the entire semester. Students worked with an authentic client to solve an authentic problem. After the course concluded interviews were conducted. Learners expressed a sense of feeling more connected and engaged with the course content because of the living case. Students also exhibited significant learning – new skills and mindsets developed during the course that are valued and used in their work, school, and personal lives. Design/methodology/approach – This is an instrumental case study of a work-based instructional design used to improve student engagement and learning outcomes. Findings – Students worked with an authentic client to solve an authentic problem. Learners expressed a sense of feeling more connected and engaged with the course content because of the living case. Students also exhibited significant learning – new skills and mindsets developed during the course that are valued and used in their work, school, and personal lives. Practical implications – Higher education (HE) instructors are expected to teach students knowledge and skills that will be valuable at work and in life after graduation. Using a living case allows students to extract learning directly from the work experience. By using the concepts and the tools in an authentic, living case, students gain experience and concrete knowledge. Originality/value – This study extends past research on connecting classroom learning and work experience. It looks at how a course designed using a living case study can be used to improve learner engagement and create longer term value for students.

Adding Value to Projects Using Mind Maps

This article presents the effectiveness of Mind Maps as a thinking tool and explores opportunities for using Mind Mapping to add greater value and effectiveness in managing projects. The article briefly explains what a mind map is and how it positively impacts key skills for managing projects. Four key avenues for creating value in projects are identified: Purpose (or Project Vision), People, Problem solving and Customer. The article puts forward the case for Mind Maps by sharing a real life case study and representative examples on how they can add value in areas mentioned above.

From model-driven specification to design-level set-based analysis of XACML policies

With lot of hype surrounding policy-based computing, XACML (eXtensible Access Control Markup Language) has become the widely used de facto standard for managing access to open and distributed service-based environments like Web services. However, like any other policy language, XACML has complex syntax, which makes the policies specification process both time consuming and error prone, especially with large size policies that govern complex systems. Moreover, with the diversity of rules and conditions, hidden conflicts, redundancies and access flaws are more likely to arise, which expose Web services to security breaches at runtime. This paper proposes a UML profile that allows systematic model-driven specification of XACML policies to resolve the complexity of policies designation. Based on mathematical sets that explore the rules meanings, the paper provides also a design-level analysis to detect anomalies in the specified policies, prior to their enforcement in the system. A real life case study demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of the proposition.

The effectiveness of co-opetition in a live case study approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the introduction of the concept of co-opetition in an MBA classroom through the use of a live case study competition. As part of a capstone course at the University of Guelph, teams of three to four MBA students were required to work with a corporate partner in the food industry during a five-day intensive workshop. After spending one week analyzing and working on a plan, students were asked to compete in the MBA Boardroom Challenge, which is held on the last day of the course at the corporate partner’s headquarters. During the course of the week, while developing their plans, teams could choose to interact and met on two occasions with the corporate partner as a class to ask questions. This meant that teams operated in both a cooperative and competitive context during the course. While presentations were academically evaluated by the instructor, scholarships were offered to the winning team by the company using another set of criteria. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of blending cooperation and competition in a graduate business classroom and finds that the introduction of co-opetition enhanced outcomes for both students and partners. The limitations of this process are considered, and future research directions are suggested. Design/methodology/approach – This project, the focus of this paper, was in partial fulfillment of a capstone strategic management course for the University of Glebe’s MBA program in Spring 2013. For this iteration, Longo’s Brothers, a well-established food distribution company, was brought in as the case study. The mandate of the course was to set a strategic view of Longo’s and Grocery Gateway (a division of Longo’s), a Canadian-based food e-distributor owned and operated by Longo’s Brothers. The concept of co-opetition and its application was introduced as part of the course. Findings – Longo’s Brothers provided an ideal environment for a live case study. It was open, available end engaged at all levels. Its status as a family-owned business offered a unique perspective on the food industry as well. Students benefited from the company’s openness to share sensitive information with the group, and were able to ask information on finances, marketing, human resources and the organizational structure of the company. The level of cooperation was more than adequate for a MBA-level course. But students faced a few challenges. Research limitations/implications – The unpredictable nature of the entire process did not allow for measurement of knowledge acquirement and skill development. This is something such a course should address in future iterations. Future research could usefully explore a number of research questions around this area; namely, how live case studies might enable MBA students to better understand the element of co-opetition in their industry, while going through the interplay between theory and the practical application of theory over time. Also to be assessed is the choice of an incentive for the winning team and the overall effectiveness of doing so. The impact of this crucial elements on the course needs to be measured over a greater length of time. Practical implications – Live case studies may be integrated into multiple courses, however, they require a lot of work on the part of the instructor, particularly when dealing with a company to negotiate an incentive and leverage the competitive environment. Setting up and maintaining relationships with collaborative corporate partners for the program takes significant time and effort, and the schedule of inputs into the students’ learning may not synchronize with the normal pattern of teaching. Whether this type of course can be sustained within a normal university environment is a moot point. Social implications – While presentations were evaluated academically by the instructor, scholarships were offered to the winning team by the company using another set of criteria. Criteria for grading are readily available to students at the start of the course, as per the University Senate bylaws. However, criteria used by the corporate partner are not disclosed, not even to the instructor. In fact, for the Longo’s Brothers project, the winning team failed to receive the highest grade. The winning team received the third highest grade of all seven teams competing. Originality/value – The element of co-opetition in a MBA classroom seems to elevate the quality of projects, but more evidence need to be gathered to reinforce this hypothesis. It is believed that university courses cannot fully negotiate the emotional turmoil or complexity that live case studies encompass with conventional models of evaluation.

Managing Innovation Clusters: A Network Approach

Innovation clusters have attracted increased investment worldwide to strengthen regional innovation. However, these clusters have suffered from high failure rates. This trend is not surprising as the existing literature places an inadequate focus on monitoring the effectiveness of such clusters and developing appropriate strategies to boost their success. This paper investigates approaches for effectively managing innovation clusters using a live Australian case study of the Tonsley innovation cluster, an ambitious, integral solution for economic renewal from a declining traditional manufacturing economy towards advanced manufacturing. Extending network management theory, the study contributes to our understanding of important elements in the formation of innovation clusters and its underlying networks; the management and orchestration of key stakeholders; and the performance monitoring towards achievement of anticipated outcomes. It offers important strategic implications for government, university and industry leaders in effectively managing innovation clusters.

Ferret: a sentence-based literature scanning system.

BackgroundThe rapid pace of bioscience research makes it very challenging to track relevant articles in one’s area of interest. MEDLINE, a primary source for biomedical literature, offers access to more than 20 million citations with three-quarters of a million new ones added each year. Thus it is not surprising to see active research in building new document retrieval and sentence retrieval systems. We present Ferret, a prototype retrieval system, designed to retrieve and rank sentences (and their documents) conveying gene-centric relationships of interest to a scientist. The prototype has several features. For example, it is designed to handle gene name ambiguity and perform query expansion. Inputs can be a list of genes with an optional list of keywords. Sentences are retrieved across species but the species discussed in the records are identified. Results are presented in the form of a heat map and sentences corresponding to specific cells of the heat map may be selected for display. Ferret is designed to assist bio scientists at different stages of research from early idea exploration to advanced analysis of results from bench experiments.ResultsThree live case studies in the field of plant biology are presented related to Arabidopsis thaliana. The first is to discover genes that may relate to the phenotype of open immature flower in Arabidopsis. The second case is about finding associations reported between ethylene signaling and a set of 300+ Arabidopsis genes. The third case is on searching for potential gene targets of an Arabidopsis transcription factor hypothesized to be involved in plant stress responses. Ferret was successful in finding valuable information in all three cases. In the first case the bZIP family of genes was identified. In the second case sentences indicating relevant associations were found in other species such as potato and jasmine. In the third sentences led to new research questions about the plant hormone salicylic acid.ConclusionsFerret successfully retrieved relevant gene-centric sentences from PubMed records. The three case studies demonstrate end user satisfaction with the system.

Intuitionistic Fuzzy Chance Constrained Programming for Handling Parametric Uncertainty: An Industrial Grinding Case Study

Uncertainty in the parameters of an optimization problem has a large impact on the outcome of the optimization results. Intuitionistic fuzzy chance constrained programming (IFCCP) is one technique used to handle optimization under uncertainty (OUU) problems. This technique assumes uncertain parameters as intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, which is a super set of conventional fuzzy numbers. With the assumption of intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, different degrees of risk can be modeled considering different viewpoints, e.g., optimistic, pessimistic, and mixed approaches. This generic concept of IFCCP has been applied on two different multiobjective optimization problems: the Binh korn test function, where uncertain parameters are linearly related, and a real life case study of an industrial grinding process, in which uncertain parameters are nonlinearly related. The proposed approach is generic and can be applied to any OUU problem. In addition to the trade-off between solution optimality and quality, sensitivity analysis has also been carried out.

AOMD approach for context-adaptable and conflict-free Web services composition

BPEL or Business Process Execution Language is so far the most important standard language for effective composition of Web services. However, like most available process orchestration engines, BPEL does not provide automated support for reacting according to many changes that are likely to arise in any Web services composition, like downtime services, modifications in the business logic or even new policies to govern the composition. Also low-level specification of these new changes, which would be integrated at runtime in the BPEL process, will be far from being used conveniently. Moreover, the complexity of interaction in composite Web services and the diversity of rules and policies can lead to critical behavioral conflicts. We propose in this paper AOMD, a novel aspect-oriented and model driven approach that defines new grammar to address both adaptability and behavioral conflicts problems, and offers extension for WS-BPEL meta-model for high level specification of aspects. Further, we formally verify our proposition and we present real life case study, examples and experimental results that demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of our work.

A novel approach for system change pathway analysis using consolidity charts

This paper is directed toward presenting a novel approach based on “consolidity charts” for the analysis of natural and man-made systems during their change pathway or course of life. The physical significance of the consolidity chart (region) is that it marks the boundary of all system interactive behavior resulting from all exhaustive internal and external influences. For instance, at a specific event state, the corresponding consolidity region describes all the plausible points of normalized input–output (fuzzy or non-fuzzy) interactions. These charts are developed as each event step for zone scaling of system parameters changes due to affected events or varying environments “on and above” their normal operation or set points and following the “time driven-event driven-parameters change” paradigm. Examples of the consolidity trajectory movement in the regions or patterns centers in the proposed charts of various consolidity classes are developed showing situations of change pathways from the unconsolidated form to the consolidated ones and vice versa. It is shown that the regions comparisons are based on type of consolidity region geometric shapes properties. Moreover, it is illustrated that the centerlines connecting consolidity regions during the change pathway could follow some certain type of trajectories designated as “consolidity pathway trajectory” that could assume various forms including zigzagging patterns depending on the consecutive affected influences. Implementation procedures are elaborated for the consolidity chart analysis of four real life case studies during their conventional and unconventional change pathways, describing: (i) the drug concentration production problem, (ii) the prey–predator population problem, (iii) the spread of infectious disease problem and (iv) the HIV/AIDS Epidemic problem. These solved case studies have lucidly demonstrated the applicability and effectiveness of the suggested consolidity chart approach that could open the door for a comprehensive analysis of system change pathway of many other real life applications. Examples of the fields of these applications are engineering, materials sciences, biology, medicine, geology, life sciences, ecology, environmental sciences and other important disciplines.

A multi-criteria optimization approach to manage environmental issues in closed loop supply chain network design

Imposition of strict environmental protection acts and the imperative need of best possible allocation of resources have given birth to the concept of “low carbon logistics.” Environmental laws force the manufacturers to extend their existing supply chains to form a closed loop supply chain (CLSC) through the setup of an efficient recovery system. In this paper, we attempt to deal with the environmental issues presented in the design of CLSC networks. The CLSC network proposed in the paper consists of four echelons in the forward chain and five echelons in the backward chain. To consider the environmental issues in the proposed CLSC network, we formulate a bi-objective integer nonlinear programming problem, and in order to solve it we propose an Interactive Multi- Objective Programming Approach Algorithm. This model determines the optimal flow of parts and products in the CLSC network and the optimum number of trucks hired by facilities in the forward chain of the network. A numerical experimentation of the proposed model to validate the applicability of the model is done with the help of data from a real life case study. The case presented in the paper is based on a geyser manufacturer, and its application on the model provides us with the underlying tradeoffs between the two objectives. The model also results in a very interesting fact that with the implication of the extended supply chain, a firm can create a green image of their product which eventually results in an increase in their demand while significantly reducing their usage of transportation in both directions.

An argumentation system for eco-efficient packaging material selection

Within the framework of the European project EcoBioCap (ECOefficient BIOdegradable Composite Advanced Packaging), aiming at conceiving the next generation of food packagings, we have designed an argumentation-based tool for management of conflicting viewpoints between preferences expressed by the involved parties (food and packaging industries, health authorities, consumers, waste management authority, etc.). The requirements and user preferences are modeled by several rules provided by the stakeholders expressing their viewpoints and expertise. Based on these rules, the argumentation tool computes consensual preferences which are used to parameterize a flexible querying process of a packaging database to retrieve the most relevant solution to pack a given food. In this paper, we recall briefly the principles underlying the reasoning process, and we detail the main functionalities and the architecture of the argumentation tool. We cover the overall reasoning steps starting from formal representation of text arguments and ending by extraction of justified preferences which are sent to the database querying process. Finally, we detail its operational functioning through a real life case study to determine the justifiable choices between recyclable, compostable and biodegradable packaging materials based on stakeholders’ arguments.

Planning of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling facilities: MILP modelling and case study investigation

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) consist of many different substances some of which contain hazardous components and valuable materials. The recovery of WEEE plays a key role on environmental sustainability because it minimizes the negative effects of hazardous materials and helps the efficient use of world’s limited resources. Recovery strategies enable companies to collect reusable components and to recycle the material content of WEEE by using operations like sorting, disassembly and bulk recycling. Usually companies associated with municipals collect WEEE from end-users and/or collection points. Then they sell these items to WEEE recycling facilities through bidding. For recycling facilities, it is important to generate the best operational level decisions to receive and handle WEEE. This study contributes to the fulfillment of this need by presenting a mixed integer linear programming model to determine the maximum bid price offer while determining the best operation planning strategies. In order to demonstrate the potential of the proposed model, a real life case study along with several scenarios is studied. The findings of the case study indicate that the model has the potential to enable the decision maker to come with stronger decisions related to both bidding process and operational strategies of the facility.

Service portfolio management: A repository-based framework

The paper discusses a framework for managing and evaluating ICT-enabled service portfolios along the service design phase. The framework adopts a service reuse perspective and it is made up of i) a model for the representation of a repository of services, ii) a model for the definition of a service portfolio representing current production lines of a service provider organization, iii) a set of metrics for service portfolio evaluation, and iv) a tool supporting managers in decision making for the achievement of design objectives. The proposed metrics and the tool are supposed to allow decision makers to get an improved view of the service design process. Furthermore, the framework supports managers in decision making for the achievement of production objectives as well as operational strategies, resulting in potential reuse initiatives, likewise. To provide evidence of the impacts of the proposed framework, experimental activities are discussed focusing on a real life case study, referring to an Italian small size service provider.

Rethinking Critical Care: Decreasing Sedation, Increasing Delirium Monitoring, and Increasing Patient Mobility

Sedation management, delirium monitoring, and mobility programs have been addressed in evidence-based critical care guidelines and care bundles, yet implementation in the ICU remains variable. As critically ill patients occupy higher percentages of hospital beds in the United States and beyond, it is increasingly important to determine mechanisms to deliver better care. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Rethinking Critical Care (IHI-RCC) program was established to reduce harm of critically ill patients by decreasing sedation, increasing monitoring and management of delirium, and increasing patient mobility. Case studies of a convenience sample of five participating hospitals/health systems chosen in advance of the determination of their clinical outcomes are presented in terms of how they got started and process improvements in sedation management, delirium management, and mobility. The IHI-RCC program involved one live case study and five iterations of an in-person seminar in a 33-month period (March 2011-November 2013) that emphasized interdisciplinary teamwork and culture change. Qualitative descriptions of the changes tested at each of the five case study sites demonstrate improvements in teamwork, processes, and reliability of daily work. Improvement in ICU length of stay and length of stay on the ventilator between the pre- and postimplementation periods varied from slight to substantial. Changing critical care practices requires an interdisciplinary approach addressing cultural, psychological, and practical issues. The key lessons of the IHI-RCC program are as follows: the importance of testing changes on a small scale, feeding back data regularly and providing sufficient education, and building will through seeing the work in action.

River of Hope: Forging Identity and Nation in the Rio Grande Borderlands

River of Hope: Forging Identity and Nation in the Rio Grande Borderlands

Investigating the impact of maintenance regimes on the design life of road pavements in a changing climate and the implications for transport policy

Environmental conditions are one of the key components that determine the design life and maintenance required for road pavements. This study investigates how climate change can impact road pavement design life and the required maintenance regimes required to maximise the life of the surface. Using a pavement degradation model previously adapted by the authors for use with the Thornthwaite Moisture Index climate indicator, the authors investigate the impact of climate change on the design life and maintenance requirements along a real life case study corridor in South Australia. A literature review conducted by this study determines how climate change is being considered in infrastructure related policies and literature, with a focus on road pavements. The paper then further discussed the impacts of climate change on road pavement degradation and the implications for management and maintenance of this infrastructure, and the associated impacts for transport policy makers.

Gender and entrepreneurship research: A review of methodological approaches

This article presents the findings of a systematic literature review (SLR) of the gender and entrepreneurship literature published in 18 journals over a 30-year period. The SLR sought to identify methodological trends in the field of gender and entrepreneurship and to critically explore the type of methodological innovations needed in future scholarship. Findings reveal a proliferation of large-scale empirical studies focused on male/female comparisons, often with little detail provided on industry sector or sampling methods and with either a weak, or no feminist critique whatsoever. We argue that future scholars must develop the methodological repertoire to engage with post-structural feminist approaches; this may require a radical move towards more innovative, in-depth qualitative methodologies such as life histories, case studies or discourse analysis.

A Decision Support System to design modified atmosphere packaging for fresh produce based on a bipolar flexible querying approach

To design new packaging for fresh food, stakeholders of the food chain express their needs and requirements, according to some goals and objectives. These requirements can be gathered into two groups: (i) fresh food related characteristics and (ii) packaging intrinsic characteristics. Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is an efficient way to delay senescence and spoilage and thus to extend the very short shelf life of respiring products such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Consequently, packaging O2/CO2 permeabilities must fit the requirements of fresh fruits and vegetable as predicted by virtual MAP simulating tools. Beyond gas permeabilities, the choice of a packaging material for fresh produce includes numerous other factors such as the cost, availability, potential contaminants of raw materials, process ability, and waste management constraints. For instance, the user may have the following multi-criteria query for his/her product asking for a packaging with optimal gas permeabilities that guarantee product quality and optionally a transparent packaging material made from renewable resources with a cost for raw material less than 3€/kg. To help stakeholders taking a rational decision based on the expressed needs, a new multi-criteria Decision Support System (DSS) for designing biodegradable packaging for fresh produce has been built. In this paper we present the functional specification, the software architecture and the implementation of the developed tool. This tool includes (i) a MAP simulation module combining mass transfer models and respiration of the food, (ii) a multi-criteria flexible querying module which handles imprecise, uncertain and missing data stored in the database. We detail its operational functioning through a real life case study to determine the most satisfactory materials for apricots packaging.