Arik Sadeh

Control of properties in injection molding by neural networks

Abstract Adequate control of product properties in injection molded plastics requires very accurate predictions. The problem is that the mechanical properties of these plastics, such as tensile modulus, are highly non-linear with the process variables, hence they are tough to predict. Consequently, up to date, injection molding machines include only closed loop control of process variables. Control of product properties is virtually non-existent. We show here for the first time, that mechanical properties, such as tensile modulus values, can be predicted using Artificial Neural Networks quite accurately within a reasonable time. This is a major step towards an integrated self-taught control mechanism for the injection molded plastics industry.

Critical managerial factors affecting defense projects success: A comparison between neural network and regression analysis

Abstract A comparison between neural networks and linear regression analysis is used for identifying critical managerial factors affecting the success of high-tech defense projects. The study shows that neural networks have better explanatory and prediction power, and it enables the exploration of relationships among the data that are difficult to arrive at by traditional statistical methods. The study yielded some new results: The chances to success of a project that was acknowledged by its prospected customers as essential for improving their performance are much higher than other projects. Furthermore, organizational learning and social cohesion of the development team are of extreme importance for success.

The relationship among systems engineers' capacity for engineering systems thinking, project types, and project success

In recent years, systems engineering and Project Management Bodies of Knowledge have been rapidly growing. However, despite the vast amount of literature available on systems engineering and project management, about two-thirds of all projects still fail. A review of both project management and systems engineering publications reveals that most of these works focus on processes. We suggest focusing on people—project managers and systems engineers. One of our previous studies dealt with project managers; this article focuses on systems engineers. This article presents findings of a study aimed at exploring the relationship among systems engineers’ capacity for engineering systems thinking (CEST), project types, and project success. The instrument used in this study was a self-report questionnaire, composed of three parts. The first part assessed the participants’ CEST, the second part assessed several measures of project success, and the third part assessed four dimensions of project type. The simple random sampling method was used, and the sample included 114 senior systems engineers who were randomly selected from the sampling frame. The study findings show that there is a statistically significant correlation between CEST and project success. The extent of the projects novelty, complexity, and technological uncertainty are moderator variables that affect this correlation.

Do Ethics Matter to E-Consumers?

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the extent to which ethical factors impact consumer willingness to purchase from e-stores. A methodology which examines a mix of factors, rather than each factor separately is employed in the context of a hypothetical purchasing situation. Two commercial factors (product price and quality) and three ethical factors (assuring e-consumer privacy and security, guaranteeing e-vendor accountability, and accurate product description) are given a ranking of “high” or “low” and used to construct 32 full factorial profiles of Websites. A sample of typical e-consumers was then asked to rate their willingness to purchase goods from each of the sites. Of the ethical factors, the assurance of privacy and security is found to have a significant impact on willingness to purchase. Yet, in the case of a conflict between the commercial and ethical factors, where the Website offers attractively priced, high-quality goods, while subjecting consumers to unfair ethical practices, the typical e-consumer tends to give more weight to the commercial factors than to the ethical factors.

The Making of Israeli High-technology Entrepreneurs: An Exploratory Study

Israel has an unusually large number of high-technology entrepreneurs and companies. The influence of high-technology start-ups on the Israeli gross national product is enormous, with no proportion to its relative size in the local or international context. The phenomenon of Israeli high-technology entrepre neurs raised great curiosity worldwide but very little academic research attention. In this exploratory study, in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-five Israeli high-technology entrepreneurs, focusing on their personal as well as professional backgrounds. Results suggest that the median successful Israeli entrepreneur is male, in his mid-forties, with technical education, a technical profession and an academic degree, who served in the army as an officer in either combat or technical position and is the first born in a small family of two or three children. The interview material revealed most poignantly the influence of service in the army on the career development of these entrepreneurs. Six cases are provided as a demonstration of this influence.

Efficient Solutions for Special Zero-One Programming Problems

A zero-one linear programming is under consideration. It has been proved that for special structures and values of the parameters, the solution of the linear relaxation of the problem is integral and can be either predetermined or computed efficiently. In general, a tight upper bound is provided in order to establish an efficient procedure for solving the problem. The results may have practical implementations in knowledge—management, data-mining, network flow, graph theory, reliability and statistical studies.

Key entrepreneurial traits and their relationship to venture uncertainty and venture success

While entrepreneurship is one of the most studied topics in business research, findings have been mixed regarding the traits of entrepreneurs. Some of the confusion in the literature may be explained by findings such as John Miners who identified four personality types capable of achieving entrepreneurial success [33]. Indeed, several authors differentiated between different entrepreneurial subgroups. However, almost all writers assumed that entrepreneurs have distinct personality traits. Among the traits mentioned most often were: high need for achievement, need for control, autonomy, independence, self-confidence, initiative, optimism, imagination, persistence, leadership, competitiveness and risk taking. Against all this body of research comes the claim that the entrepreneurial personality is nothing but a myth [48]. The current study is the fourth in a series of studies on Israeli entrepreneurs that explored their personal traits, from a macro cross-cultural and cultural perspective, through a mezzo occupational perspective to a micro individual behavioral perspective. This study, coming from a micro individual perspective, examined the correlates of the set of personal traits portraying Israeli entrepreneurs found in our previous research. It showed a. that entrepreneurial traits such as love of challenge, initiative, optimism, creativity and energy are highly correlated with risk-taking propensity; b. that this set of traits are also correlated with higher level of venture uncertainty in terms of market and technological uncertainty, and c. ventures with higher levels of uncertainty and risk create higher opportunities for future activities such as entering new markets and introducing new product lines, but are less efficient in terms of meeting schedule and budget goals.

The fit between entrepreneurs’ personality (ENTP) and the profile of the venture (VP) they manage and business success: An exploratory study

Person-organization fit, the match between individuals and the organizations in which they work, has been extended to the fit between entrepreneurspsila personality (ENTP) and the profiles of ventures (VP) they manage, and its relationship to the venturepsilas success. Sixty three Israeli entrepreneurs working in new ventures responded to a specially designed questionnaire that included the following parts: (A) provided general data on the new venture; (B) assessed the venture type along two dimensions: novelty and technological uncertainty; (C) assessed the entrepreneurspsila personality that seemed relevant to these two dimensions and (D) assessed the venturespsila success. Findings revealed that entrepreneurs in high novelty and high technological uncertainty ventures had higher education and were more investigative, entrepreneurial, secure, curious and adventurous and less abiding of rules than those in low novelty and technological uncertainty ventures. These findings were interpreted as suggesting that entrepreneurs are more attracted to ventures that fit their personality. In addition, high novelty high technological uncertainty ventures were found to be significantly more successful (on 7 out of 10 success measures used) when compared to the low novelty and low technological uncertainty ventures.

Finding the Shortest Non-Delay Schedule for a Resource-Constrained Project

Non-delay schedules lack non-essential idle time intervals. Many heuristics for solving the resource-constrained project scheduling problem yield non-delay schedules. This paper presents a technique for finding the shortest non-delay schedule, which should be as good as the heuristics for this purpose. The authors combine branch-and-bound and dynamic programming approaches to yield a surprisingly simple algorithm. (The simplicity is reflected in the number of calculations and memory required.) Due to its simplicity, a project manager should be able to trace the algorithm’s stages and results without difficulty. This simplicity is a result of: (1) the number of stages equals the number of activities; (2) each stage uses only information from the previous stage, and the number of different schedules is typically limited; and (3) the proposed method becomes simpler the more it is constrained. A detailed example illustrates the technique, which is validated by comparisons to models from the literature.

Using sliding frame approach for scheduling large and complex projects

There is a steadily increase in the size and complexity of projects. As a result, traditional project scheduling techniques, such as non-polynomial (NP) algorithms can no longer provide an optimal solution to minimum project duration under predecessors and resource constraints‥ This paper presents for the first time a general new approach that allows utilizing such algorithms in heuristic manner. This approach could be efficiently applied for solving most project scheduling problems. The main advantage of this approach is its ability to dissect the original problem to small controllable size sub problems for which exact techniques can be applied. Thus, it neutralizes the complexity of the applied algorithms (and their non-polynomial growth). We discuss our experience applying this approach and give some insight as to the choice of parameters of the sliding frame