Evaluation of Embedded Intelligent Real‐time Systems*

Over the past two decades, questions have surfaced about the effectiveness and contribution of intelligent systems to decision makers in a variety of settings. This paper focuses on the evaluation challenges associated with intelligent real‐time software systems that are embedded in larger host systems. With the proliferation of such systems in operational settings such as aerospace, medical, manufacturing, and transportation systems, increased attention to evaluations of such systems, and to resulting software safety, is warranted. This paper describes one such evaluation and proposes a set of evaluation criteria for embedded intelligent real‐time systems (EIRTS). Implications of the evaluation and the evaluation criteria are discussed.     

A model with shortage of places for educational and manpower systems

If in a system the size of some grades either has or is going to outgrow some desired value, it will be necessary to impose some restraints, in the form of capacity limits, to the size of the grades. In this paper a stochastic model in discrete time for such kind of educational and manpower systems is developed. Here, the flow of people to some grades will not be determined by the number of people able to be promoted or recruited, but by the number of vacancies in such grades. A set of equations is derived to obtain the equilibrium structure of such systems. A new technique is explained for treating steady-state control through recruitment in a Markov system.     

Corporate Citizenship Enacted as Operating Practice

This paper explores values that underpin corporate citizenship embedded in operating practices as they affect stakeholders. Fundamentally, the paper argues that corporate citizenship is embedded integrally in the day-to-day operating practices that companies develop to relate to their important stakeholders. This systems perspective incorporates not only the objective but also subjective and intersubjective aspects of human civilization and arguably provides a systems basis for thinking about the roles and responsibilities of the corporation in society. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Race to idle or not: balancing the memory sleep time with DVS for energy minimization

Reducing energy consumption is a critical problem in most of the computing systems today. Among all the computing system components, processor and memory are two significant energy consumers. Dynamic voltage scaling is typically applied to reduce processor energy while sleep mode is usually injected to trim memory’s leakage energy. However, in the memory architecture with multiple cores sharing memory, in order to optimize the system-wide energy, these two classic techniques are difficult to be directly combined due to the complicated interactions. In this work, we explore the coordination of the multiple cores and the memory, and present systematic analysis for minimizing the system-wide energy based on different system models and task models. For tasks with common release time, optimal schemes are presented for the systems both with and without considering the static power of the cores. For agreeable deadline tasks, different dynamic programming-based optimal solutions are proposed for negligible and non-negligible static power of cores. For the general task model, this paper proposes a heuristic online algorithm. Furthermore, the scheme is extended to handle the problem when the transition overhead between the active and sleep modes is considered. The optimality of the proposed schemes for common release time and agreeable deadline tasks are proved. The validity of the proposed heuristic scheme is evaluated through experiments. Experimental results confirm the superiority of the heuristic scheme in terms of the energy saving improvement compared to the most related existing work.     

Traffic engineering of tunnel-based networks with class specific diversity requirements

Tunnel-based networks such as Multi-protocol Label switching (MPLS) are suitable for providing diversity guarantees to different service classes or customers. Based on the number of active tunnels to handle, router capabilities can be taxed due to the limited amount of memory and/or processing power of these routers. In this paper, we present a mixed-integer linear program formulation for a traffic engineering problem where such tunnel restrictions are taken into account in addition to standard capacity constraints while addressing diversity requirement of services. Due to large size of the formulation, we also present an accompanied solution approach based on Lagrangian relaxation and sub-gradient optimization. We then present results towards impact of diversity constraint upon the tunneling and capacity restrictions. We observed that the networks having higher amounts of capacity and demands with higher level of survivability are much more sensitive to number of allowed tunnels in the network. The impact is even more prominent for sparsely-connected, large-sized networks.     

Locating and detecting arrays for interaction faults

The identification of interaction faults in component-based systems has focused on indicating the presence of faults, rather than their location and magnitude. While this is a valuable step in screening a system for interaction faults prior to its release, it provides little information to assist in the correction of such faults. Consequently tests to reveal the location of interaction faults are of interest. The problem of nonadaptive location of interaction faults is formalized under the hypothesis that the system contains (at most) some number d of faults, each involving (at most) some number t of interacting factors. Restrictions on the number and size of the putative faults lead to numerous variants of the basic problem. The relationships between this class of problems and interaction testing using covering arrays to indicate the presence of faults, designed experiments to measure and model faults, and combinatorial group testing to locate faults in a more general testing scenario, are all examined. While each has some definite similarities with the fault location problems for component-based systems, each has some striking differences as well. In this paper, we formulate the combinatorial problems for locating and detecting arrays to undertake interaction fault location. Necessary conditions for existence are established, and using a close connection to covering arrays, asymptotic bounds on the size of minimal locating and detecting arrays are established.     

The bureaucratic side of computers: Memory,evocation and management information

Management information systems fail to support management because they are not flexible enough to keep pace with the unstructured nature of decision making processes. Observations made in four welfare management information systems suggest that computerization improves evocation—the means by which decision makers pool data from the collective memory, only to the extent that choices and the relevancy of data are predetermined. Facing rigid procedures and irresponsiveness to irregular data needs, managers of all ranks duplicate the computerized memory with manual records and files so as to retain access to their memory under their terms.     

Bewerbermanagementsysteme in deutschen Großunternehmen

Due to a talent shortage, German large-scale corporations and their recruiting departments go at the moment through rough times but recruiting systems could offer valuable support in the hunt for new employees. To analyze the value contribution of the IT support of these systems, HR executives of the largest 1,000 German companies were surveyed. Based on the results of this representative survey, the following implications for the value contribution of applicant tracking systems as part of operating and management services can be made. Predominately, reductions in terms of process time and process cost in recruiting can be realized by using these applicant tracking systems. However, an improvement in process quality (e.g. higher number of successfully hired ideal candidates) cannot be evaluated. For all results there is no difference between the value contribution for the operating and management system. The value contribution of these applicant tracking systems is not influenced by the size of the observed enterprises.     

Do you remember? Rater memory systems and leadership measurement

Despite widespread concerns about the use of retrospective accounts of leader behavior and response tendencies associated with raters who tend to rely on semantic memory, little attention has been devoted to developing methods that move measurement processes beyond those based on semantic memory to those based on episodic memory. The results from a series of six studies demonstrate a) questionnaire items can be classified in terms of their emphasis on episodic or semantic memory and the language used in items is associated with different types of memory processes, b) scales based on episodic memory have a greater association with trust than do scales based on semantic memory, c) the procedure that requires raters to indicate whether their response to each item is based on semantic or episodic memory dramatically reduces the impact of liking on leadership ratings, and d) the memory source intervention that encourages raters to rely on episodic memory reduces false alarms in leadership ratings. Taken together, these results demonstrate that rater memory systems are an important component of the leadership rating process and that consideration of the type of memory elicited during that process can be used to improve leadership measurement.     

Transactive Memory Systems 1985–2010: An Integrative Framework of Key Dimensions,Antecedents, and Consequences

Over two decades have passed since Wegner and his co-authors published the groundbreaking paper on transactive memory systems (TMS) in 1985. The concept attracted the interest of management, psychology, and communication scholars who have employed a variety of methods to examine the phenomenon. In this paper, we review 76 papers that examined transactive memory systems and summarize the findings in an integrative framework to show the antecedents and consequences of TMS. Our review also reveals important issues in the literature related to the measurement of TMS, its multidimensional nature, extending TMS from the team level to the organizational level, and the potential role of TMS in explaining the benefits of experience in existing organizations and new entrepreneurial ventures. We conclude by calling for future research to examine the dynamic evolution of TMS, TMS in virtual teams, TMS in entrepreneurial ventures, and TMS at the organizational level facilitated with information technologies.     

数据驱动下收货方质量偏好与电商配送服务质量优化

针对"互联网+大数据"优化电商配送服务质量问题，明确不同收货方的质量需求稳定性，引导电商根据收货方不同质量敏感性提供相对精准服务，提升配送服务质量。模拟投票结果的形成过程聚类得到收货方对服务质量偏好的记忆性特征：（1）"无记忆"型收货方；（2）"记忆"型收货方；（3）"不确定"型收货方；（4）收货方总体。进一步推导不同规划类型求解空间，设计得到"无记忆"型收货方动态规划精确求解方法，及其他三种类型近似求解粒子群算法。研究过程中，配送资源质量感知度被嵌入到模型约束；"无记忆"型收货方的质量需求规划问题转化为零库存策略最优解问题，进而证明存在精确解；"记忆"型收货方呈现出对质量感知的累积；"不确定"型收货方模型通过赋值即可得总体收货方表达式。结果表明：数据驱动研究框架借助大数据资源，使得电商更易通过收货方的质量偏好设计更加匹配的配送方案；不确定服务需求得到有效满足，投入成本的利用率更高；通过特征分类的方式，尽可能地抽取能够精确最优化的部分，缩小NP范围，提高整体求解的精确度。     

Self-management competencies in self-managing teams: Their impact on multi-team system productivity

This research examined how composition of individual capabilities within self-managed teams translates into greater effectiveness for multi-team systems (MTS) in which teams are embedded. We investigated how a broad range of self-management competencies by team members aggregate to form a collective construct that influences productivity of a team network. In a semiconductor plant, we surveyed 716 members from 97 self-managed teams in 21 MTS. We found that MTS comprising teams whose members widely practice self-management strategies attain higher productivity gains and that multi-team systems consisting of highly cohesive teams of self-managers are the most productive.     

Health, well-being and burnout of ICU nurses on 12- and 8-h shifts

It is generally agreed that some features of shift systems can influence the extent of well-being and health problems experienced by the workers involved. Extended working days (9-12 h) have been found to aggravate some problems associated with shiftwork, especially when the work is mentally and emotionally demanding. The aim of the study was to compare measures of health, sleep, psychological and social well-being, job satisfaction and burnout of ICU nurses on 12- and 8-h shifts. The groups of subjects were matced for age, length of shiftwork experience, marital status and number of hours worked. the 12-h shift nurses, when compared to their 8-h shift colleagues, experienced more chronic fatigue, cognitive anxiety, sleep disturbance and emotional exhaustion. Job satisfaction seems to be independent of the shift duration. The nurses on 12-h shifts reported less social and domestic disruption than those on 8-h shifts. The 12-h shift nurses showed worse indices of health, well-being and burnout tan the 8-h shift nurses. It is suggested that this may be associated with their longer daily exposure to the stress of work. The increased number of rest days of 12-h shift nurses seems tobe insufficient to dissipate the adverse health and well-being effects that built up over their longer shifts.     

THE NORMALIZATION OF CORRUPTION IN ORGANIZATIONS

Organizational corruption imposes a steep cost on society, easily dwarfing that of street crime. We examine how corruption becomes normalized, that is, embedded in the organization such that it is more or less taken for granted and perpetuated. We argue that three mutually reinforcing processes underlie normalization: (1) institutionalization, where an initial corrupt decision or act becomes embedded in structures and processes and thereby routinized; (2) rationalization, where self-serving ideologies develop to justify and perhaps even valorize corruption; and (3) socialization, where naı̈ve newcomers are induced to view corruption as permissible if not desirable. The model helps explain how otherwise morally upright individuals can routinely engage in corruption without experiencing conflict, how corruption can persist despite the turnover of its initial practitioners, how seemingly rational organizations can engage in suicidal corruption and how an emphasis on the individual as evildoer misses the point that systems and individuals are mutually reinforcing.     

Estimating Long Memory in Volatility

We consider semiparametric estimation of the memory parameter in a model that includes as special cases both long‐memory stochastic volatility and fractionally integrated exponential GARCH (FIEGARCH) models. Under our general model the logarithms of the squared returns can be decomposed into the sum of a long‐memory signal and a white noise. We consider periodogram‐based estimators using a local Whittle criterion function. We allow the optional inclusion of an additional term to account for possible correlation between the signal and noise processes, as would occur in the FIEGARCH model. We also allow for potential nonstationarity in volatility by allowing the signal process to have a memory parameter d^*1/2. We show that the local Whittle estimator is consistent for d^*∈(0,1). We also show that the local Whittle estimator is asymptotically normal for d^*∈(0,3/4) and essentially recovers the optimal semiparametric rate of convergence for this problem. In particular, if the spectral density of the short‐memory component of the signal is sufficiently smooth, a convergence rate of n^2/5−δ for d^*∈(0,3/4) can be attained, where n is the sample size and δ>0 is arbitrarily small. This represents a strong improvement over the performance of existing semiparametric estimators of persistence in volatility. We also prove that the standard Gaussian semiparametric estimator is asymptotically normal if d^*=0. This yields a test for long memory in volatility.     

A simulation analysis of the impact of family configuration on virtual cellular manufacturing

Past research has shown that it is possible to simultaneously achieve the setup efficiencies of traditional cellular manufacturing systems and the routeing flexibility of a job shop by viewing cells not as permanent, physical structures, but as temporary, 'virtual' entities. This research demonstrates that the advantages of virtual manufacturing cells can be obtained over a range of part family configurations. In particular, virtual cellular manufacturing is robust to changes in the number and size of families being processed. Further, the research shows that the benefits can be obtained under setup conditions impartial to a family-oriented part environment.     

Inductive Inference: An Axiomatic Approach

A predictor is asked to rank eventualities according to their plausibility, based on past cases. We assume that she can form a ranking given any memory that consists of finitely many past cases. Mild consistency requirements on these rankings imply that they have a numerical representation via a matrix assigning numbers to eventuality–case pairs, as follows. Given a memory, each eventuality is ranked according to the sum of the numbers in its row, over cases in memory. The number attached to an eventuality–case pair can be interpreted as the degree of support that the past case lends to the plausibility of the eventuality. Special instances of this result may be viewed as axiomatizing kernel methods for estimation of densities and for classification problems. Interpreting the same result for rankings of theories or hypotheses, rather than of specific eventualities, it is shown that one may ascribe to the predictor subjective conditional probabilities of cases given theories, such that her rankings of theories agree with rankings by the likelihood functions.     

Comparing reactive Kanban and reactive CONWIP

This paper compares a reactive Kanban system to a reactive CONWIP system under conditions of unstable changes in demand using simulation experiments. After an introduction, a model of the JIT ordering systems, the Kanban and the CONWIP systems, is constructed. In order to obtain the fundamental information for developing a control rule of buffer size, the performance of the two types of the JIT ordering systems is analysed under various stable-demand conditions by simulation experiments. Based on the results, the reactive JIT ordering systems are proposed, and the performance of the proposed systems is investigated. The results showed that both of the proposed systems can react to unstable changes in demand and maintain the mean waiting time of demand at less than the required level. In the reactive Kanban system, the total of the mean work-in-process inventories becomes much less than that in the traditional Kanban system without controlling buffer size. However, in the reactive CONWIP system, the total of the mean work-in-process inventories becomes much more than or nearly equal to that in the traditional CONWIP system without controlling buffer size under the strongly correlated or the weakly correlated processing times, respectively. Based on the results, it can be claimed that, in the proposed systems, the reactive Kanban system is more effective to react to unstable changes in demand than the reactive CONWIP system.     

Strategy Alternatives for Homeland Air and Cruise Missile Defense

Air and cruise missile defense of the U.S. homeland is characterized by a requirement to protect a large number of critical assets nonuniformly dispersed over a vast area with relatively few defensive systems. In this article, we explore strategy alternatives to make the best use of existing defense resources and suggest this approach as a means of reducing risk while mitigating the cost of developing and acquiring new systems. We frame the issue as an attacker‐defender problem with simultaneous moves. First, we outline and examine the relatively simple problem of defending comparatively few locations with two surveillance systems. Second, we present our analysis and findings for a more realistic scenario that includes a representative list of U.S. critical assets. Third, we investigate sensitivity to defensive strategic choices in the more realistic scenario. As part of this investigation, we describe two complementary computational methods that, under certain circumstances, allow one to reduce large computational problems to a more manageable size. Finally, we demonstrate that strategic choices can be an important supplement to material solutions and can, in some cases, be a more cost‐effective alternative.