Matching Items (5)
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- All Subjects: Simulations
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Description
Billions of people around the world deal with the struggles of poverty every day. Consequently, a number of others have committed themselves to help alleviate poverty. Many various methods are used, and a current consensus on the best method to alleviate poverty is lacking. Generally the methods used or researched exist somewhere on the spectrum between top-down and bottom-up approaches to fighting poverty. This paper analyzes a specific method proposed by C.K. Prahalad known as the Bottom of the Pyramid solution. The premise of the method is that large multinational corporations should utilize the large conglomerate of money that exists amongst poor people \u2014 created due to the sheer number of poor people \u2014 for business ventures. Concurrently, the poor people can benefit from the company's entrance. This method has received acclaim theoretically, but still needs empirical evidence to prove its practicality. This paper compares this approach with other approaches, considers international development data trends, and analyzes case studies of actual attempts that provide insight into the approach's potential for success. The market of poor people at the bottom of the pyramid is extremely segmented which makes it very difficult for large companies to financially prosper. It is even harder to establish mutual benefit between the large corporation and the poor. It has been found that although aspects of the bottom of the pyramid method hold merit, higher potential for alleviating poverty exists when small companies venture into this space rather than large multinational corporations. Small companies can conform to a single community and niche economy to prosper \u2014 a flexibility that large companies lack. Moving forward, analyzing the actual attempts provides the best and only empirical insights; hence, it will be important to consider more approaches into developing economies as they materialize.
ContributorsSanchez, Derek Javier (Author) / Henderson, Mark (Thesis director) / Shunk, Dan (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The current Enterprise Requirements and Acquisition Model (ERAM), a discrete event simulation of the major tasks and decisions within the DoD acquisition system, identifies several what-if intervention strategies to improve program completion time. However, processes that contribute to the program acquisition completion time were not explicitly identified in the simulation study. This research seeks to determine the acquisition processes that contribute significantly to total simulated program time in the acquisition system for all programs reaching Milestone C. Specifically, this research examines the effect of increased scope management, technology maturity, and decreased variation and mean process times in post-Design Readiness Review contractor activities by performing additional simulation analyses. Potential policies are formulated from the results to further improve program acquisition completion time.
ContributorsWorger, Danielle Marie (Author) / Wu, Teresa (Thesis director) / Shunk, Dan (Committee member) / Wirthlin, J. Robert (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Workplace productivity is a result of many factors, and among them is the setup of the office and its resultant noise level. The conversations and interruptions that come along with converting an office to an open plan can foster innovation and creativity, or they can be distracting and harm the performance of employees. Through simulation, the impact of different types of office noise was studied along with other changing conditions such as number of people in the office. When productivity per person, defined in terms of mood and focus, was measured, it was found that the effect of noise was positive in some scenarios and negative in others. In simulations where employees were performing very similar tasks, noise (and its correlates, such as number of employees), was beneficial. On the other hand, when employees were engaged in a variety of different types of tasks, noise had a negative overall effect. This indicates that workplaces that group their employees by common job functions may be more productive than workplaces where the problems and products that employees are working on are varied throughout the workspace.
ContributorsHall, Mikaela Starrantino (Author) / Pavlic, Theodore P. (Thesis director) / Cooke, Nancy (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
In this study, the implementation of educational technology and its effect on learning and user experience is measured. A demographic survey, pretest/posttest, and educational experience survey was used to collect data on the control and experimental groups. The experimental group was subjected to different learning material than the control group with the use of the Elements 4D mobile application by Daqri to learn basic chemical elements and compounds. The control group learning material provided all the exact information as the application, but in the 2D form of a printed packet. It was expected the experimental group would outperform the control group and have a more enjoyable experience and higher performance. After data analysis, it was concluded that the control group outperformed the experimental group on performance and both groups has similar experiences in contradiction to the hypothesis. Once the factors that contribute to the limitations of different study duration, learning the application beforehand, and only-memorization questions are addressed, the study can be conducted again. Application improvements may also alter the future results of the study and hopefully lead to full implementation into a curriculum.
ContributorsApplegate, Garrett Charles (Author) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis director) / Chavez-Echeagaray, Maria Elena (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition system is a complex system riddled with cost and schedule overruns. These cost and schedule overruns are very serious issues as the acquisition system is responsible for aiding U.S. warfighters. Hence, if the acquisition process is failing that could be a potential threat to our nation's security. Furthermore, the DoD acquisition system is responsible for proper allocation of billions of taxpayer's dollars and employs many civilians and military personnel. Much research has been done in the past on the acquisition system with little impact or success. One reason for this lack of success in improving the system is the lack of accurate models to test theories. This research is a continuation of the effort on the Enterprise Requirements and Acquisition Model (ERAM), a discrete event simulation modeling research on DoD acquisition system. We propose to extend ERAM using agent-based simulation principles due to the many interactions among the subsystems of the acquisition system. We initially identify ten sub models needed to simulate the acquisition system. This research focuses on three sub models related to the budget of acquisition programs. In this thesis, we present the data collection, data analysis, initial implementation, and initial validation needed to facilitate these sub models and lay the groundwork for a full agent-based simulation of the DoD acquisition system.
ContributorsBucknell, Sophia Robin (Author) / Wu, Teresa (Thesis director) / Li, Jing (Committee member) / Colombi, John (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05