Search results

The US Government is challenged to maintain pace as the world’s de facto provider of space object cataloging data. Augmenting capabilities with nontraditional sensors present an expeditious and low-cost improvement. However, the large tradespace and unexplored system of systems performance requirements pose a challenge to successful capitalization. This paper aims to better define and assess the utility of augmentation via a multi-disiplinary study.

Hypothetical telescope architectures are modeled and simulated on two separate days, then evaluated against performance measures and constraints using multi-objective optimization in a heuristic algorithm. Decision analysis and Pareto optimality identifies a set of high-performing architectures while preserving decision-maker design flexibility.

Capacity, coverage and maximum time unobserved are recommended as key performance measures. A total of 187 out of 10¹⁷ architectures were identified as top performers. A total of 29% of the sensors considered are found in over 80% of the top architectures. Additional considerations further reduce the tradespace to 19 best choices which collect an average of 49–51 observations per space object with a 595–630 min average maximum time unobserved, providing redundant coverage of the Geosynchronous Orbit belt. This represents a three-fold increase in capacity and coverage and a 2 h (16%) decrease in the maximum time unobserved compared to the baseline government-only architecture as-modeled.

This study validates the utility of an augmented network concept using a physics-based model and modern analytical techniques. It objectively responds to policy mandating cataloging improvements without relying solely on expert-derived point solutions.

The state of interactive digital technology is evolving rapidly and has shifted the ways in which customers shop dramatically. This trend heightens the need for research that examines the latest interactive digital technology tools adopted in fashion retailing. In response, the purpose of this paper was to examine fashion retailers’ incorporation of new interactive digital technology – in both online and offline retailing formats, and including new hybrid contexts – and its results in providing new experiential quality that contributes strongly to engage with customers.

The paper first reviews the literature and then proposes the research questions. This is followed by exploratory substantiation of those propositions with the findings from case studies that examined the new interactive digital technology implemented by six leading fashion retailers.

Various digital technology tools implemented in brick-to-click, click-to-brick and brick-and-mortar retailing offer customers a variety of experiential qualities that allow them to co-create products, engage in emotion-driven sensational and personalized shopping experiences and seamless shopping virtually, all of which derive from interactive digital technology implemented to enhance customer engagement.

This research examined the implementation of interactive digital technologies across the full spectrum of the fashion retail settings above. This paper makes an original contribution by adopting a customer-centric perspective and assessing the advantages technology provides to customer’s engagement quality in shopping, which differs from the traditional firm-centric perspective that views technology as a way to innovate retailers’ operations.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a contribution to the area of behavioural operations management (OM) by identifying key challenges in the use of discrete-event simulation (DES) to model people’s behaviour in OM.

A systematic literature review method is undertaken in order to assess the nature and scale of all publications relevant to the topic of modelling people’s behaviour with DES in OM within the period 2005-2017.

The publications identified by the literature review reveal key challenges to be addressed when aiming to increase the use of DES to model people’s behaviour. The review also finds a variety of strategies in use to model people’s behaviour using DES in OM applications.

A systematic literature review method is undertaken in order to include all publications relevant to the topic of modelling people’s behaviour with DES in the OM domain but some articles may not have been captured.

The literature review provides a resource in terms of identifying exemplars of the variety of methods used to model people’s behaviour using DES in OM. The study indicates key challenges for increasing the use of DES in this area and builds on current DES development methodologies by presenting a methodology for modelling people’s behaviour in OM.

This collection of papers forms a sequel to Volume I which was reviewed in AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING, Vol. XVI, October 1944, p. 297. Again we have a set of contributions of remarkable interest and variety which is well worth careful study by all aeronautical engineers who have to do with experimental stress analysis.

The resistance to stress corrosion cracking of austenitic stainless steels has been investigated and discussed with respect to the influence of molybdenum.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changes of the Italian textile district of Prato, considered an exemplary case of the industrial district (ID) model, using a business network perspective. The “Black Swan” metaphor is used to address the changes in the Prato textile district in order to understand whether such changes have been an unexpected and unpredictable phenomenon, or they can be explain with a different theoretical tool-box, namely, that developed by the industrial network approach.

The paper utilizes already published studies on the changes of the textile/fashion companies located to the Prato area. Both studies that have been carried out within an ID approach and those carried out with an Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) point of departure are considered in the research. Both types of studies were utilized to identify empirical observed changes of the producer, respectively user setting that the Prato located companies was related to, including identification of changes affecting both the local setting and the larger network it was related to.

The utilization of the IMP model proposes a learning ground that exceed the local context and open ups of investigations of opportunities and threats stemming from interactions across spatial borders. Analysed from an interactive point of view, in the specific context of Prato, the exploitation of the opportunities given by establishing relationship between natives and migrants actors goes through the creation of interactions among actors representing specific resource combinations and activity structures – within and outside the local community.

The paper concerns how the same research object – the changes of the Prato district – appears from another perspective different from the ID theory, namely, the industrial network approach developed by scholars of the IMP Group.

This study aims to evaluate how stakeholders affect project risks by analyzing the connection between stakeholder management and risk management in the information technology (IT) project context.

Using the Delphi method, interviews with IT project experts were conducted to examine four factors concerning stakeholder management and define probabilities for three risk variables. The design of experiments (DoE) method was applied for the design of the research instrument and data analysis.

Stakeholder engagement and communication with stakeholders have significant influence on the occurrence of negative risks, opportunities and the development of contingency strategies. These results provide project leaders with relevant data that better guide actions toward stakeholders and enhance project success probability.

This study clarifies important aspects of two main project management areas – stakeholder and risk management – in the IT projects context. This research also presented an unusual application for the DoE method which allows the subjective variables analysis by statistical tools and enables to explore factor influences on real project situations.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the growing trend of developing and managing photovoltaic facilities owned by third parties in buildings, as a possible alternative to energy performance contracting.

Based on an established business model template, analysis is carried out on the framework of using third-party finance in the provision of photovoltaic facilities in buildings. Case studies in the USA and China enable comparison of policy tools enabling this approach.

While barriers exist in the common energy performance contracting approach for renewable installations owned by the building owner, vesting photovoltaic equipment with a third party for a certain period has become a viable business alternative as long as revenue is generated through a power purchase agreement or lease arrangement with the building owner.

The third-party ownership business model works better if sufficient policy incentives exist alongside the revenue brought about by renewable energy. Hence, governments have to create the right environment.

Win-win situations have been identified through case studies in countries with burgeoning renewable energy use in buildings, notably the USA and China, giving new insights on facilities management.

Given the critical mass of literature on entrepreneurial risk-taking, the purpose of this paper is to assess the contribution to the knowledge so far by exploring important themes in the literature on entrepreneurial risk-taking.

The review is organized around four themes: nature of entrepreneurial risk-taking; antecedents of entrepreneurial risk-taking; context of entrepreneurial risk-taking; and outcomes of entrepreneurial risk-taking. The author critically evaluates the literature on each theme and presents the pointers for future research.

Literature does provide a holistic view encapsulating different dimensions of entrepreneurial risk-taking, but it has produced largely inconsistent findings in terms of risk and gender, risk propensity of entrepreneurs in comparison to non-entrepreneurs and the outcomes of entrepreneurial risk-taking. Organizational antecedents, non-financial measures and ethical- and health-related consequences of entrepreneurial risk are underexplored. Inconclusive literature also implies that the risk may not be a distinguishing or important factor for undertaking an entrepreneurial endeavor. Therefore, it is pertinent to explore the critical factors entrepreneurs consider (or not consider) while marshalling their resources to embark on an entrepreneurial journey. This posits the need to explore an entrepreneur’s informal approach toward risk-taking.

Suggested pointers of future research will potentially enhance the theoretical understanding of entrepreneurial risk-taking.

The purpose of this paper is to differentiate between sustainable and green construction and significantly contribute to empirical investigations related to the impact of green construction factors on sustainable performance and to test the theory of planned behavior in the construction context and empirically assess green construction factors and the performance model. The model incorporates green construction factors that link construction activities with suppliers and customers to support environmental sustainability.

Data collected from 120 construction industry respondents were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, which identified seven green construction factors. Two conformity factor analysis models were created to test the relationship fitness of the components and measure the impact of green construction factors on the sustainable performance of the construction.

The results provide substantial evidence that shows that the adoption of green construction factors by construction firms leads to improved sustainable performance. The overall perspective of respondents within the construction industry, according to the questionnaire survey, shows that the benefits, such as an improved corporate image and sustainable competitive advantage, increase compliance with customers’ expectations within the construction industry.

This study covered private construction companies and measured the construction industry professional’s feedback without including the clients.

The results of this study will support the future success of ecological sustainability and green construction initiatives, mainly on enforcement and incentives; moreover, the results of this study will ensure that regulations will cover green practices for all types of projects and will be formally monitored for compliance.

The originality of this paper stems from drawing boundaries between green and sustainable construction and exploring the impact of green management on the sustainable performance of the construction industry. Most of the related previous works have used the concepts of green and sustainability interchangeably, and there is a lack of studies in this regard, particularly in the construction industry.