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Book part
Publication date: 15 September 2017

Hsiang-Ke Chao and Harro Maas

Diagrams are ubiquitous in economics and are uncontestably among the most used, if not the most important workhorses of economists, though they come in many forms. This essay…

Abstract

Diagrams are ubiquitous in economics and are uncontestably among the most used, if not the most important workhorses of economists, though they come in many forms. This essay examines the different uses of graphs and diagrams in the pioneering work of two Victorian economists, Stanley Jevons and Alfred Marshall. We stress the difference between their use as representations and as visual reasoning tools, a difference that became obscured in the twentieth century with the rise of econometrics.

Details

Including a Symposium on the Historical Epistemology of Economics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-537-5

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 20 October 2015

Mohammad Shamsuddoha

Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured…

Abstract

Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.

The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.

The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.

Details

Sustaining Competitive Advantage Via Business Intelligence, Knowledge Management, and System Dynamics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-707-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 May 2018

Emelie Havemo

Disclosure research has argued that visuals are increasingly used in annual reports as a way to increase readability of the annual report, but comparatively little is known about…

Abstract

Purpose

Disclosure research has argued that visuals are increasingly used in annual reports as a way to increase readability of the annual report, but comparatively little is known about of diagrams compared to graphs and photographs. The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical account of visuals use in corporate disclosure, with an emphasis on diagrams, to show changes from the 1940s until present-day reporting.

Design/methodology/approach

Visual research methods were applied to analyze how diagrams, photographs and graphs were used in 69 annual reports of the Swedish telecom company Ericsson.

Findings

Photographs have been used with increasing frequency since the 1950s. Graph and diagram use has increased significantly since the 1990s while photograph use remained stable, suggesting that graphs and diagrams increasingly complement photographs for visually representing the organization in corporate disclosure. Factors explaining the case company’s development include both internal (performance, individual preferences, shifting from a manufacturing-based strategy to a service-based strategy) and external (legislation, transformation of the telecom industry).

Originality/value

Visual elements in annual reports are increasingly oriented toward immaterial representations of the organization’s standings and identity and diagrams are increasingly used and contribute to this. This finding motivates further research about diagram use in corporate communication, such as how different diagram types convey accounting messages, and whether diagrams serve as impression management devices. For regulators, it will be important to follow the emerging trend of diagram use, since it is becoming part of reporting practice.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 23 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

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Article
Publication date: 31 August 2022

Guoquan Zhang, Yaohui Wang, Jian He and Yi Xiong

Composite cellular structures have wide application in advanced engineering fields due to their high specific stiffness and strength. As an emerging technology, continuous…

Abstract

Purpose

Composite cellular structures have wide application in advanced engineering fields due to their high specific stiffness and strength. As an emerging technology, continuous fiber-reinforced polymer additive manufacturing provides a cost-effective solution for fabricating composite cellular structures with complex designs. However, the corresponding path planning methods are case-specific and have not considered any manufacturing constraints. This study aims to develop a generally applicable path planning method to fill the above research gap.

Design/methodology/approach

This study proposes a path planning method based on the graph theory, yielding an infill toolpath with a minimum fiber cutting frequency, printing time and total turning angle. More specifically, the cellular structure design is converted to a graph first. Then, the graph is modified to search an Eulerian path by adding an optimal set of extra edges determined through the integer linear programming method. Finally, the toolpath with minimum total turning angle is obtained with a constrained Euler path search algorithm.

Findings

The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through the fabrication of both periodic and nonperiodic composite cellular structures, i.e. triangular unit cell-based, Voronoi diagram-based and topology optimized structures. The proposed method provides the basis for manufacturing planar thin-walled cellular structures of continuous fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP). Moreover, the proposed method shows a notable improvement compared with the existing method. The fiber cutting frequency, printing time and total turning angle have been reduced up to 88.7%, 52.6% and 65.5%, respectively.

Originality/value

A generally applicable path planning method is developed to generate continuous toolpaths for fabricating cellular structures in CFRP-additive manufacturing, which is an emerging technology. More importantly, manufacturing constraints such as fiber cutting frequency, printing time and total turning angle of fibers are considered within the process planning for the first time.

Details

Rapid Prototyping Journal, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2546

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Article
Publication date: 1 November 2002

N. Bajgoric, I.K. Altinel, M. Draman and A.T. Ünal

An application development framework for a software project based on fusion as an object‐oriented application development method is presented. An object‐oriented approach has been…

Abstract

An application development framework for a software project based on fusion as an object‐oriented application development method is presented. An object‐oriented approach has been adopted for the design and implementation of the prototype interactive visual modelling system for building a visual presentation of a refinery process and creation of linear programming model for optimizing production decision variables. The main reason for this selection is the consideration of object‐oriented programming (OOP) as an obvious vehicle for the development of complex visual interactive modelling systems. The main dimensions of the framework are as follows: OO approach, fusion method, computer‐aided software engineering (CASE) tool, application development tool, GUI development tool, and C++ as an implementation language.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 102 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 April 2013

Varinder Singh and P.M. Singru

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of restructuring in the manufacturing system at the conceptual stage using graph theoretic model.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of restructuring in the manufacturing system at the conceptual stage using graph theoretic model.

Design/methodology/approach

Some restructuring decisions are conceptualized which reflect the aim of the organization to gradually evolve the manufacturing system towards a leaner structure. This is achieved by way of defining simplified procedures so that lesser hindrance in terms of cycles of interactions is encountered. The restructuring decisions are represented by five restructured configurations of the manufacturing system, through gradual removal of appropriate interaction links. The graph theoretic models are developed for original configuration and each of the new restructured configurations and the resulting structural characterization information is used to compare the structure of restructured configurations with the original configuration. The value of the coefficient of dissimilarity of each of the new configurations with respect to the original configuration is obtained to have a quantitative estimate of the simplification that may be achieved by different contemplated restructuring decisions.

Findings

The present work shows that the restructuring decisions can be represented by different configurations in the form of schematic diagrams involving minor changes in the interaction structure among subsystems of the manufacturing system. The quantitative analysis using coefficient of dissimilarity for restructuring decisions indicated that there are varying levels of impact created by five comparable restructuring decisions considered in the study. The findings have a potential to guide the restructuring efforts by identifying a focus area that can produce greater impact of restructuring.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are valid for a particular case manufacturing organization which does not involve itself in extensive design activity. The study is based on the assumption that the schematic diagram and graph theoretic model captured all the relevant influencing factors of the manufacturing system.

Practical implications

The study provides an easy to use methodology for the practical decision makers in manufacturing industry striving to improve the performance of their organization. It can provide the analysis of restructuring decisions at the conceptual stage itself without the necessity of disturbing the normal functioning of the organization. There is a scope for identifying focus areas where the restructuring may yield comparatively greater dividends.

Originality/value

The study of restructuring by representing it in the form of changes in interactions among subsystems of a manufacturing system and investigation of the impact of such restructuring efforts at the conceptual stage using graph theoretic model has been carried out for the first time.

Article
Publication date: 14 December 2018

De-gan Zhang, Ya-meng Tang, Yu-ya Cui, Jing-xin Gao, Xiao-huan Liu and Ting Zhang

The communication link in the engineering of Internet of Vehicle (IOV) is more frequent than the communication link in the Mobile ad hoc Network (MANET). Therefore, the highly…

Abstract

Purpose

The communication link in the engineering of Internet of Vehicle (IOV) is more frequent than the communication link in the Mobile ad hoc Network (MANET). Therefore, the highly dynamic network routing reliability problem is a research hotspot to be solved.

Design/methodology/approach

The graph theory is used to model the MANET communication diagram on the highway and propose a new reliable routing method for internet of vehicles based on graph theory.

Findings

The expanded graph theory can help capture the evolution characteristics of the network topology and predetermine the reliable route to promote quality of service (QoS) in the routing process. The program can find the most reliable route from source to the destination from the MANET graph theory.

Originality/value

The good performance of the proposed method is verified and compared with the related algorithms of the literature.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 36 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 January 2018

Varinder Singh and Pravin M. Singru

The purpose of this paper is to propose the use of graph theoretic structural modeling for assessing the possible reduction in complexity of the work flow procedures in an…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose the use of graph theoretic structural modeling for assessing the possible reduction in complexity of the work flow procedures in an organization due to lean initiatives. A tool to assess the impact of lean initiative on complexity of the system at an early stage of decision making is proposed.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the permanent function-based graph theoretic structural model has been applied to understand the complex structure of a manufacturing system under consideration. The model helps by systematically breaking it into different sub-graphs that identify all the cycles of interactions among the subsystems in the organization in a systematic manner. The physical interpretation of the existing quantitative methods linked to graph theoretic methodology, namely two types of coefficients of dissimilarity, has been used to evolve the new measures of organizational complexity. The new methods have been deployed for studying the impact of different lean initiatives on complexity reduction in a case industrial organization.

Findings

The usefulness and the application of new proposed measures of complexity have been demonstrated with the help of three cases of lean initiatives in an industrial organization. The new measures of complexity have been proposed as a credible tool for studying the lean initiatives and their implications.

Research limitations/implications

The paper may lead many researchers to use the proposed tool to model different cases of lean manufacturing and pave a new direction for future research in lean manufacturing.

Practical implications

The paper demonstrates the application of new tools through cases and the tool may be used by practitioners of lean philosophy or total quality management to model and investigate their decisions.

Originality/value

The proposed measures of complexity are absolutely new addition to the tool box of graph theoretic structural modeling and have a potential to be adopted by practical decision makers to steer their organizations though such decisions before the costly interruptions in manufacturing systems are tried on ground.

Details

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-038X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 June 2021

Joerg Leukel and Vijayan Sugumaran

Process models specific to the supply chain domain are an important tool for the analysis of interorganizational interfaces and requirements of information technology (IT) systems…

Abstract

Purpose

Process models specific to the supply chain domain are an important tool for the analysis of interorganizational interfaces and requirements of information technology (IT) systems supporting supply chain decision-making. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of supply chain process models for novice analysts in conveying domain semantics compared to alternative textual representations.

Design/methodology/approach

A laboratory experiment with graduate students as proxies for novice analysts was conducted. Participants were randomly assigned to either the diagram group, which worked with “thread diagrams” created from the modeling grammar “Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) model”, or the text group, which worked with semantically equivalent textual representations. Domain understanding was measured using cognitively demanding information acquisition for two different domains.

Findings

Diagram users were more accurate in identifying product-related information and organizing this information in a graph compared to those using the textual representation. The authors found considerable improvements in domain understanding, and using the diagrams was perceived as easy as using the texts.

Originality/value

The study's findings are unique in providing empirical evidence for supply chain process models being an effective representation for novice analysts. Such evidence is lacking in prior research because of the evaluation methods used, which are limited to scenario, case study and informed argument. This study adds the diagram user's perspective to that literature and provides a rigorous empirical evaluation by contrasting diagrammatic and textual representations.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 35 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 June 2016

Hilda Freimuth

This study analyzed 24 IELTS Task One (data explanation) prompts for task type, diagram type, subject matter, level of critical thought, and geographical references, in order to…

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Abstract

This study analyzed 24 IELTS Task One (data explanation) prompts for task type, diagram type, subject matter, level of critical thought, and geographical references, in order to determine whether Emirati university students’ anecdotal claims of cultural bias on the IELTS academic writing exam (as experienced by the researcher in the past decade of teaching IELTS in the United Arab Emirates) are valid. The analysis found that the majority of the task types (88%) were non-process in nature (i.e. required the description of data in the form of a chart or graph, rather than the description of a process); 40% of the non-process prompts consisted of more than one diagram. The analysis revealed that 33% of the non-process prompts included bar graphs and 29% included line graphs. Pie charts appeared in 25% of the prompts and tables in only 17%. An Emirati student English preparatory program survey indicated the pie chart as the easiest to understand – a finding that may highlight a difference between the most commonly used IELTS prompt and the students’ prompt preference. A content analysis of topics found a high percentage (58%) of subject matter related to the social sciences, with 79% of the geographical references pertaining to Western contexts. An analysis of the amount of critical thought needed for graph interpretation revealed 52% of non-process prompts required some form of critical thought. The study therefore found that the cultural bias perceived by Emirati students has some validity, given the students’ socio-cultural and educational background.

Details

Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2077-5504

1 – 10 of over 6000