Matching Items (5)
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- All Subjects: efficiency
- Creators: Kashiwagi, Jacob
- Creators: Schlee, Edward
Description
The U.S. Navy and other amphibious military organizations utilize a derivation of the traditional side stroke called the Combat Side Stroke, or CSS, and tout it as the most efficient technique available. Citing its low aerobic requirements and slow yet powerful movements as superior to the traditionally-best front crawl (freestyle), the CSS is the go-to stroke for any operation in the water. The purpose of this thesis is to apply principles of Industrial Engineering to a real-world situation not typically approached from a perspective of optimization. I will analyze pre-existing data about various swim strokes in order to compare them in terms of efficiency for different variables. These variables include calories burned, speed, and strokes per unit distance, as well as their interactions. Calories will be measured by heart rate monitors, converting BPM to calories burned. Speed will be measured by stopwatch and observer. Strokes per unit distance will be measured by observer. The strokes to be analyzed include the breast stroke, crawl stroke, butterfly, and combat side stroke. The goal is to informally test the U.S. Navy's claim that the combat side stroke is the optimum stroke to conserve energy while covering distance. Because of limitations in the scope of the project, analysis will be done using data collected from literary sources rather than through experimentation. This thesis will include a design of experiment to test the findings here in practical study. The main method of analysis will be linear programming, followed by hypothesis testing, culminating in a design of experiment for future progress on this topic.
ContributorsGoodsell, Kevin Lewis (Author) / McCarville, Daniel R. (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
The Performance Based Studies Research Group (PBSRG) uses a leading model that helps people and procurement projects alike minimize risk while maximizing productivity. While there are a multitude of factors that propel this model, Information Measurement Theory (IMT) is the main element of the Best Value approach the group takes. I wanted to take the dominant information elements of IMT that helped me find my true self and increase my level of efficiency, and use them to find what it takes to become a successful veterinarian. In order to do this, the Kashiwagi Solution Model (KSM) within IMT was the perfect way to distinguish more successful, higher performing veterinarians from the less successful, lower performing veterinarians. In order to do this, a number of KSM-designed questions were created to score each veterinarian's level of perception. These, along with other background and performance questions, were put into a short survey and sent out. Once this was done, other elements of the veterinarians' lives could be compared side by side to their perception level. The results, of which 970 surveys were returned, found that the more expert a veterinarian is, the lower number of animals they will see per day and the better they know their customer satisfaction rating. These are both then theorized to work in conjunction to form the final correlation that the more perceptive the veterinarian, the higher their performance, aka their clinic's rating. In addition to this, no correlation was found between a veterinarian's level of thinking and their GPA from graduate school. It was concluded that though these correlations are found, I would recommend another project to be done in which all veterinarians of each surveyed clinic could be analyzed in order to gain more insight into any trends that exist between a veterinarian's level of thinking and their performance.
ContributorsBoon, Kurtis Ventry (Author) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Thesis director) / Finney, Gina Lee (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
I began this thesis because I was confused about economics. I wondered why there were so many different models. I didn't understand how they fit together. I was also confused by the assumptions being made. For instance, the assumption that humans are rational utility-maximizers did not seem to agree with my own experiences. With my director Dr. Edward Schlee's help, my thesis has become an inquiry into the state of economic methodology, both in theory and in practice. The questions that drive this paper are: How do economists choose between theories? What is the purpose of economic theory? What is the role of empirical data in assessing models? What role do assumptions play in theory evaluation, and should assumptions make sense? Part I: Methodology is the theoretical portion of the paper. I summarize the essential arguments of the two main schools of thought in economic methodology, and argue for an updated methodology. In Part II: A case study: The expected utility hypothesis, I examine methodology in practice by assessing a handful of studies that seek to test the expected utility hypothesis. Interestingly, I find that there is a different between what economists say they are doing, and what they actually seem to be doing. Throughout this paper, I restrict my analysis to microeconomic theory, simply because this is the area with which I am more familiar. I intend this paper to be a guide for my fellow students and rising economists, as well as for already practicing economists. I hope it helps the reader better understand methodology and improve her own practice.
ContributorsKang, Dominique (Author) / Schlee, Edward (Thesis director) / Schoellman, Todd (Committee member) / Boerner, Rochus (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The Performance Based Studies Research Studies Group (PBSRG) at Arizona State University (ASU) has been studying the cause of increased cost and time in construction and other projects for the last 20 years. Through two longitudinal studies with a group of owners in the state of Minnesota (400 tests over six years) and the US Army Medical Command (400 tests over four years), the client/buyer has been identified as the largest risk and source of project cost and time deviations. This has been confirmed by over 1,500 tests conducted over the past 20 years. The focus of this research effort is to analyze the economic and performance impact of a delivery process of construction called the Job Order Contracting (JOC) process, to evaluate the value (in terms of time, cost, and customer satisfaction) achieved when utilizing JOC over other traditional methods to complete projects. JOC's strength is that it minimizes the need for the owner to manage, direct and control (MDC) through a lengthy traditional process of design, bid, and award of a construction contract. The study identifies the potential economic savings of utilizing JOC. This paper looks at the results of an ongoing study surveying eight different public universities. The results of the research show that in comparison to more traditional models, JOC has large cost savings, and is preferable among most owners who have used multiple delivery systems.
ContributorsLi, Hao (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
I study split-pie bargaining problems between two agents. In chapter two, the types of both agents determine the value of outside options -- I refer to these as interdependent outside options. Since a direct mechanism stipulates outcomes as functions of agents' types, a player can update beliefs about another player’s type upon receiving a recommended outcome. I term this phenomenon as information leakage. I discuss binding arbitration, where players must stay with a recommended outcome, and non-binding arbitration, where players are not obliged to stay with an allocation. The total pie is reduced if the outcome is an outside option. With respect to efficiency, I derive a necessary and sufficient condition for first best mechanisms. These are mechanisms that assign zero probability to outside options for every report received. The condition describes balanced forces in conflict (outside options) and is the same in the cases of binding and non-binding arbitration. I also show a strong link between conflict and information: when conflict exists, information leakage occurs. Hence, non-binding arbitration may seem more restrictive than binding arbitration. To analyze why this is the case, I solve for second best mechanisms with binding arbitration and find a condition under which they can be implemented under non-binding arbitration. Thus, I show that non-binding arbitration can be as effective as binding arbitration in terms of efficiency. I also examine whether the equivalence between binding and non-binding arbitration can cease to hold, and provide analysis of why this happens. In chapter three, the bargaining problem entails no uncertainty but rather envy. Players can feel envy about the allocation of the other player. The Nash Bargaining solution is obtained in this context and some comparative statics are shown. The introduction of envy makes the more envious party a tougher negotiator.
ContributorsGonzalez Sanchez, Eric Patricio (Author) / Manelli, Alejandro (Thesis advisor) / Chade, Hector (Committee member) / Schlee, Edward (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020