James M. Tien

On Manpower Scheduling Algorithms

This paper provides a systematic review of several of the available manpower scheduling algorithms from a common framework. The five-stage framework is based on the recognition that the general scheduling problem can be decomposed into five separate but related subproblems or stages, namely, the determination of temporal manpower requirements, total manpower requirement, recreation blocks, recreation/work schedule, and shift schedule. One or more general models are developed at each stage to categorize the problem formulation(s) suggested by the various algorithms. Additionally, the algorithms are compared and their stage-specific solution methods are discussed.

The Future of Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Application Domains and Research Methods

Several important application areas that will dominate systems, man, and cybernetic (SMC) efforts for at least the next decade, together with the methods that will require further research and development in order to appropriately address these application domains, are considered herein. More specifically, four broad and pervasive system domains are examined: service systems, infrastructure and transportation systems, environmental and energy systems, and defense and space systems. Given the nature of these four application domains, a number of new systems [i.e., holistic-oriented, including system-of-systems (SoS)], man (i.e., decision-oriented, including decision informatics), and cybernetic (i.e., adaptive-oriented, including real-time control) methods are identified and their further development are discussed. Clearly, the IEEE Society on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics has a great future; its systems, man, and cybernetic methods are relevant for addressing challenging problems arising in system domains that are becoming dominant in this 21st century. However, the methods must be refined and expanded to meet the changing needs of the 21st century; from a system to a system-of-systems vision, from a disciplinary to a multidisciplinary outlook, from a mass production to a mass customization focus, from a steady state to a real-time perspective, and from an optimal to an adaptive approach.

Toward a decision informatics paradigm: a real-time, information-based approach to decision making

The focus of this paper is on decision making; more specifically, on what decision making requirements are needed in the future. We augur for a decision informatics paradigm; it is a real-time, information-based approach to decision making. The paradigm is supported by two sets of technologies (i.e., information and decision technologies) and underpinned by three disciplines (i.e., data fusion/analysis, decision modeling, and systems engineering). We begin by considering the context - and needs - for decision making as the economies of the world change and evolve, especially in regard to emerging services; then our proposed decision informatics paradigm is detailed and illustrated, together with an in-depth review of a critical, underpinning research area (dealing with real-time fusion and analysis of multiple nonhomogeneous data sources), followed by several concluding remarks.

Individual-centered education: an any one, any time, any where approach to engineering education

Engineering education is beset by many of the same challenges that have affected American industry. Much has been recommended and implemented to improve engineering education. However, the traditional structure of engineering education remains, even though current exigencies require a fundamental restructuring. In an earlier paper, the author proposed a para/professional model as an alternative to the traditional engineering degree structure (J.M. Tien, 1999). At a more detailed level, the paper proposes to restructure the very nature of how higher education is delivered: from a group-centered activity to an individual-centered approach that would allow any one to access educational material or multimedia courseware at any time and from any where. Fortunately, the enabling technologies for such an individual-centered approach are, for the most, available. Nevertheless, several challenges must be addressed before individual-centered education can become a reality.

On services research and education

The importance of the services sector can not be overstated; it employs 82.1 percent of the U. S. workforce and 69 percent of graduates from an example technological university. Yet, university research and education have not followed suit. Clearly, services research and education deserve our critical attention and support since services — and services innovation — serve as an indispensable engine for global economic growth. The theme of this paper is that we can and should build services research and education on what has occurred in manufacturing research (especially in regard to customization and intellectual property) and education; indeed, services and manufactured goods become indistinguishable as they are jointly co-produced in real-time. Fortunately, inasmuch as manufacturing concepts, methodologies and technologies have been developed and refined over a long period of time (i.e., since the 1800s), the complementary set of concepts, methodologies and technologies for services are more obvious. However, while new technologies (e.g., the Internet) and globalization trends have served to enable, if not facilitate, services innovation, the same technologies (e.g., the Internet) and 21st Century realities (e.g., terrorism) are making services innovation a far more complex problem and, in fact, may be undermining previous innovations in both services and manufacturing. Finally, there is a need to define a “knowledge-adjusted” GDP metric that can more adequately measure the growing knowledge economy, one driven by intangible ideas and services innovation.

Improved formulations to the hierarchical health facility location-allocation problem

A.B. Calvo and D.H. Marks (1973) formulated the problem of locating various types of health facilities, and allocating different types and levels of demand to these facilities, as a zero-one integer programming model. Although the model has been widely referenced in the literature no solution algorithm has been developed to date. It is shown in this work that the model is actually only locally inclusive and that it can be solved as a special case of another general, successively exclusive, model that is formulated and solved. A second model is presented that corrects for a shortcoming in the A.B. Calvo and D.H. Marks model and solves for the successively inclusive hierarchical location-allocation problem.

The IEEE Systems. Man, and Cybernetics Society: past, present, and future

Four current and former IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) Society presidents consider the past, present, and future of the IEEE SMC Society to commemorate the societys 20th anniversary. The authors address its auspicious beginning, its transition from an incubatee to an incubator society, the breadth of its transactions, the international character of its membership, the appropriateness of the name, the move toward a systems-oriented umbrella organization, the evolving array of research areas, and the challenges and opportunities the society faces in the future. >

Services: A System's Perspective

A systems perspective of services is contained herein. Analogous to manufacturing, services can and should also be viewed from a systems perspective. While the interdependences, similarities, and complementarities of manufacturing and services are significant, there are considerable differences between goods and services, including the shift in focus from mass production to mass customization (whereby a service is produced and delivered in response to a customers stated or imputed needs). In general, a service system can be considered to be a combination or recombination of three essential components-people (characterized by behaviors, attitudes, values, etc.), processes (characterized by collaboration, customization, etc.), and products (characterized by software, hardware, infrastructures, etc.). Furthermore, inasmuch as a service system is an integrated system, it is, in essence, a system-of-systems (SoS) which objectives are to enhance its efficiency (leading to greater interdependency), effectiveness (leading to greater usefulness), and adaptiveness (leading to greater responsiveness). The integrative methods include a components design, interface, and interdependency; a decisions strategic, tactical, and operational orientation; and an organizations data, modeling, and cybernetic consideration. A number of insights are also provided, including an alternative SoS view of services; the increasing complexity of systems (especially service systems), with all the attendant life-cycle design, human interface, and system integration issues; the increasing need for real-time, adaptive decision making within such an SoS; and the fact that modern systems are also becoming increasingly more human-centered, if not human-focused-thus, products and services are becoming more complex and more personalized or customized.

A knowledge-base generating hierarchical fuzzy-neural controller

We present an innovative fuzzy-neural architecture that is able to automatically generate a knowledge base, in an extractable form, for use in hierarchical knowledge-based controllers. The knowledge base is in the form of a linguistic rule base appropriate for a fuzzy inference system. First, we modify Berenji and Khedkars (1992) GARIC architecture to enable it to automatically generate a knowledge base; a pseudosupervised learning scheme using reinforcement learning and error backpropagation is employed. Next, we further extend this architecture to a hierarchical controller that is able to generate its own knowledge base. Example applications are provided to underscore its viability.

A generalized approach to modeling the hierarchical location-allocation problem

The hierarchical location-allocation problem is generalized in four respects: different hierarchical relationships are allowed to be simultaneously present; capacity constraints are placed on service types and service groups; a flexible (fixed and variable) cost structure is used; and interservice referrals are permitted. These four generalizations are captured in a mixed-integer linear programming model which is shown to subsume less general formulations documented in the literature. A comprehensive example is included to demonstrate the models capabilities. >