Thomas A. Ottaway

An adaptive production control system utilizing agent technology

Agents are intelligent software objects capable of reasoning about, and interacting with, their environment. This paper presents conceptual and prototypical models of an adaptive production control system based on agent technology. In the system presented both workpieces and resources are represented by agents. Supervisory agents are introduced as the production load on the resources increases and removed as the load decreases. These supervisory agents serve to balance the production load across resources and maximize overall throughput. Simulation studies are presented demonstrating improvements in throughput, resource utilization, and work-in-process inventories over systems invariant to production load.

The impact of color in the e‐commerce marketing of fashions: an exploratory study

As the number of Internet purchases of fashion items increases, the problem of inaccurate color representation on the Web becomes more significant. Color inaccuracy has many negative consequences for marketers, including loss of sales, increased returns and complaints, and customer defections. This research reports the findings of a survey conducted as part of an initial investigation into consumer opinions about fashion merchandise purchasing over the Internet. Results indicate that companies are losing customers and sales as a result of having colors on e‐commerce sites that do not accurately represent the actual colors of the products being sold. Increased dissatisfaction on the part of consumers leads to greater costs in both customer service and reverse logistics. Further, a majority of the respondents indicated that they would not make additional purchases from an e‐tailer if they received items in colors different than they expected. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.

Criteria for the selection of a programming language for introductory courses

Historically, the selection of a programming language for an introductory programming course has been a process consisting of faculty evaluation, discussion, and consensus. As the number of faculty, students, and language options grows, this process is likely to become increasingly unwieldy. In addition, the process lacks structure and cannot be easily replicated. The selection process will, in all likelihood, be repeated every two to three years. Providing a structured approach to the selection of a programming language would yield a more thorough evaluation of the options available and a more easily justified selection. Developing and documenting an exhaustive set of selection criteria, and an approach for the application of these criteria, will allow the process of language selection to be more easily repeated in the future. This paper presents a comprehensive set of criteria that should be considered when selecting a programming language for a teaching environment, and proposes several approaches for the application of these criteria.

Wealth effects of time variation in investor risk preferences

We investigate the source of risk premiums: individual risk preferences. By examining the wealth characteristics of agents of different risk preferences, we study the financial incentive of investors to demonstrate different risk preferences. To accomplish this, we model the stock market utilizing artificial adaptive agents. If investors have incentive to vary their risk preferences, or if investors of a constant risk preference vary the way they participate in the market under different market conditions, this could lead to time variation in market risk premiums. We find that agents have significant incentive to demonstrate different risk preferences under different market conditions.(JEl G12)

Health informatics program design and outcomes: Learning from an early offering at a mid-level university

Curriculum development is particularly challenging in computing-related disciplines as the computing industry changes more quickly than most. As information technology degrees have become relatively pervasive, some institutions that offer information systems degrees have recognized a need to develop specialist studies in information systems. This detailed case study shows the forces related to a successful implementation of new Health Informatics degrees. The case describes both an unsuccessful and then a successful attempt at essentially the same curriculum development. Although the case includes some local political factors, these represent typical considerations that a curriculum developer is likely to encounter.