scholarly journals Robustness Metrics: Consolidating the Multiple Approaches to Quantify Robustness

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Moritz Göhler ◽  
Tobias Eifler ◽  
Thomas J. Howard

The robustness of a design has a major influence on how much the product's performance will vary and is of great concern to design, quality, and production engineers. While variability is always central to the definition of robustness, the concept does contain ambiguity, and although subtle, this ambiguity can have significant influence on the strategies used to combat variability, the way it is quantified and ultimately, the quality of the final design. In this contribution, the literature for robustness metrics was systematically reviewed. From the 108 relevant publications found, 38 metrics were determined to be conceptually different from one another. The metrics were classified by their meaning and interpretation based on the types of the information necessary to calculate the metrics. Four different classes were identified: (1) sensitivity robustness metrics; (2) size of feasible design space robustness metrics; (3) functional expectancy and dispersion robustness metrics; and (4) probability of compliance robustness metrics. The goal was to give a comprehensive overview of robustness metrics and guidance to scholars and practitioners to understand the different types of robustness metrics and to remove the ambiguities of the term robustness. By applying an exemplar metric from each class to a case study, the differences between the classes were further highlighted. These classes form the basis for the definition of four specific subdefinitions of robustness, namely the “robust concept,” “robust design,” “robust function,” and “robust product.”

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2.14) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
M Nordin A Rahman ◽  
WM Khairi ◽  
W Awang

The issue of information management is crucial for any academic institution. Convenient access to requested content is creating a competitive advantage for different types of decisions. Information management process in Institut Pendidikan Guru (IPG) often create problems because there is no systematic way of storage management. IPG lecturers stored their teaching materials in different kind of methods. This situation cause in a loss of resources, difficult to retrieve and also cannot be identified when it's needed. Dealing with large volumes of resources it is essential to use technological solutions that enable flexible storage, retrieval, processing and interpreting information. To solve the problems, this article introduced a framework that use single platform and named as Information Sharing for Learning (IS4L) for managing teaching and learning resources in IPG. The resources will be stored and can be accessed at any time. The framework also applied the technique of gamification to motivate and encourage users to use the application and consequently will increase the volume of resources stored. The developed application based on the proposed framework could help to motivate and engage peoples to share their resources and enhance quality of services in IPG. Finally it could assist to improve the performance and effectiveness of services to achieve users’ satisfaction. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
Ana Jurić ◽  
Aleksandra Zupanc ◽  
Tjaša Štrukelj

AbstractThe central aim of the article is company governance, i.e., researching governance of a company that does not want to be only financially successful but also direct its governance toward socially responsible governance. The article begins with the definition of “theoretical backgrounds,” in which social responsibility in regard to company governance improvement in quality is explained. The article then focuses on the measurement of the quality of company governance; in the research, the selected tool chosen to evaluate the governance of the chosen company regarding social responsibility, i.e., SEECGAN index, is used. Further, the case study of a Slovenian public limited liability company is used. One of the important research findings is the recognition that the addressed part of the SEECGAN index needs to be innovated and further developed. Additional questions for the completion of the index used presents the added value of the article. This article has two limitations: 1) it focuses only on the tool chosen to evaluate the governance of the chosen company regarding social responsibility; 2) the case study is based on publicly accessible data.


Author(s):  
Suryakanthi Tangirala ◽  
Samuel Nlondiwa

Mobile money is an electronic wallet service that allows users to store, send and receive money using their mobile phone. This research is an effort to find out the adoption and utilization of mobile money services in small sized enterprises located in Gaborone, Botswana. Inevitably, other aspects such as different types of transactions carried out using mobile money services in small business, customer’s perception on quality of mobile money service providers, impeding factors of mobile money adoption are also studied for wider understanding of the subject. The findings of the study show that small enterprises use mobile money services to carryout transactions but the level of adoption is not significant. The study revealed that transactional costs and connectivity issues are major barriers of adoption of mobile money services. In conclusion the study recommended that the service providers must improve the connectivity issues and reduce transaction charges in order to increase the utilization of mobile money services


2014 ◽  
pp. 324-352
Author(s):  
Rick Malleus

This chapter proposes a framework for analyzing the credibility of online news sites, allowing diaspora populations to evaluate the credibility of online news about their home countries. A definition of credibility is established as a theoretical framework for analysis, and a framework of seven elements is developed based on the following elements: accuracy, authority, believability, quality of message construction, peer review, comparison, and corroboration. Later, those elements are applied to a variety of online news sources available to the Zimbabwean diaspora that serves as a case study for explaining the framework. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the framework in relation to some contextual circumstances of diaspora populations and presents some limitations of the framework as diaspora populations might actually apply the different elements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 839-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Leick ◽  
Susanne Gretzinger

PurposeResearch on business networks in organisationally thin regions, which are characterised by a low density and quality of business networks, is still in its infancy, while the facilitation of business networks receives increasing interest. The present paper combines both perspectives by investigating how different types of network brokers facilitate business networking and knowledge-sharing in organisationally thin regions.Design/methodology/approachBurt's theory on brokers in social networks is applied to knowledge-sharing in business networks for organisational thinness as context. A qualitative case study represents the empirical basis that describes network brokers from various domains in three different German case regions, which are characterised by organisational thinness.FindingsThe network brokers studied facilitate different types of business networks, and they use various levers to increase knowledge-sharing among companies in business networks. Two broker types emerge, private business-driven versus public policy-driven network brokers with distinct approaches to the facilitation of business networking and knowledge-sharing and different limitations due to organisational thinness.Practical implicationsCompanies, notably SMEs, in contexts characterised by low networking density and quality may benefit from various types of network brokers that foster business networking and instigate knowledge exchange. Public policy should embed activities of private brokers in existing SME assistance programmes to increase the quantity and quality of business networks.Originality/valueNetwork facilitation in regions with weaknesses in their endowment with industry clusters, business networks and innovative knowledge exchange is under-explored, and this paper contributes to shedding light on this topic with a case study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 51-63
Author(s):  
Sushma Bajracharya

Health being one of the most important aspects of life, people are much concerned about their health. Because people value their health, today cities are planned considering the health and environment for providing good quality of life. Many studies have shown different effects in health due to interaction with environment. As socioeconomic, environmental and cultural conditions may vary from place to place, people living in different areas in the cities can have different health outcomes. Also, people's perception of such neighborhood conditions can vary which can influence their health. There can be different resources in and around the neighborhood that provide opportunity for its people to perform different health-benefitting activities. Such physical features can be termed as health-related resources or in other words health opportunities. This study was conducted in two different type of neighborhoods in Dortmund, Nordstadt being deprived and Kreuzviertel being affluent. To know which locations people, consider as good or bad for their health, participants who agreed to take part in questionnaire survey were directly asked to point out the places they use and avoid for health-related activities. This study found out different types of health opportunities identified by respondents in Nordstadt and Kreuzviertel. Respondents from Nordstadt mentioned health opportunities inside and outside their neighborhood whereas in Kreuzviertel health opportunities were pointed outside the neighborhood. The information about people's perception on local neighborhood can be taken as useful insights for planners and decision-makers to plan development programs. The research provides an opportunity to formulate policies that address main problems acting as barriers so that people can get maximum benefits from health opportunities. To find out detailed explanations for differences between actual and perceived environmental situation, more in-depth research is needed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 337-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmo Gonçalves de Carvalho ◽  
Inês Flores-Colen ◽  
Paulina Faria

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a proposal for a methodology to support the rehabilitation project of renders of old buildings. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the objective it was considered essential to define the main types of participants and aspects to integrate the proposal. The research methodology consists in an inquiry presented to several professional participants in rehabilitation, a market study of materials and products available in Portugal, the design of a methodology proposal and its application to a case study. The inquiry sample totals 24 answers from the targeted professionals. A sequence of relevant supporting procedures consists in the proposal, which aims to provide a supporting methodology to decide and project in this context and also to be tested with its application to the building. This proposal was applied to an old building with load-bearing stone masonry walls and air-lime-based renders. Findings – It was concluded that the assessment of the building and ex+ternal renderings’ condition, its diagnosis and of the supporting walls, the definition of intervention, the specification of materials to be used and performance requirements to comply, and also plans for conservation and periodic maintenance, are crucial. From the inquiry, compatibility between materials and complementary roles and points of view of different types of participants in rehabilitation must be highlighted. Originality/value – A proposal for a methodology to support the project could provide useful guidance particularly for architects and construction engineers, and improve the understanding of direct participants on site, therefore contributing for the correct implementation of the intervention.


Author(s):  
MAURIZIO MORISIO ◽  
IOANNIS STAMELOS ◽  
ALEXIS TSOUKIAS

Software entities (software products or processes) are characterized by many attributes, each one in its turn can be measured by one or more measures. In several cases the software entities have to be evaluated as a whole, thus raising the problem of aggregating measures to give an overall, single view on the software entity. This paper presents a method to aggregate measures, which works by comparing the product/process with predefined, ideal entities, or profiles. Profiles are defined starting from ranges of values on measures of attributes. The method is based on two main phases, namely definition of the evaluation model and application of the evaluation model. It is presented through a simplified case study that deals with evaluating the level of quality of an asset to decide whether to accept it in a reuse repository. A plausible way of how the method could be applied to process maturity assessment is also provided. The advantages of the method are that it allows using ordinal scales, while it deals explicitly with preferences expressed, implicitly or explicitly, by the evaluator.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Morales-Pinzón ◽  
M. I. García-Serna ◽  
M. T. Flórez-Calderón

An analysis of the utilisation and quality of rainwater in different collection systems located in the Pereira–Dosquebradas (Colombia) conurbation was conducted to evaluate the conditions in these systems and thus determine whether rainwater is safe water for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes. The quality of rainwater and its relation to selected variables (roofing material, material deposits, piping material and amount of precipitation) were evaluated. Six buildings with different types of roofing (zinc, polycarbonate or fibre cement) that have installed systems to capture rainwater were selected for the evaluation. According to the results, the sampled water is suitable for different uses. In cities, rainwater can be adapted and eventually used as an alternative water source, thereby reducing dependence on local and external sources.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Malczewski ◽  
Claus Rinner

Commonly used GIS combination operators such as Boolean conjunction/disjunction and weighted linear combination can be generalized to the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) family of operators. This multicriteria evaluation method allows decision-makers to define a decision strategy on a continuum between pessimistic and optimistic strategies. Recently, OWA has been introduced to GIS-based decision support systems. We propose to extend a previous implementation of OWA with linguistic quantifiers to simplify the definition of decision strategies and to facilitate an exploratory analysis of multiple criteria. The linguistic quantifier-guided OWA procedure is illustrated using a dataset for evaluating residential quality of neighborhoods in London, Ontario. <div><br></div><div>This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of Geographical Systems. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10109-005-0159-2 <br></div>


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