Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Heuristic processes”

Scheduling is one of the most important issues in the planning of manufacturing systems. This research focuses on solving the test scheduling problem which arises in semiconductor manufacturing environment. Semiconductor wafer devices undergo a series of test processes conducted on computer-controlled test stations at various temperatures. A test process consists of both setup operations and processing operations on the test stations. The test operations occur in a specified order on the wafer devices, resulting in precedence constraints for the schedule. Furthermore, the assignment of the wafer devices to test stations and the sequence in which they are processed affects the time required to finish the test operations, resulting in sequence dependent setup times. The goal of this research is to develop a realistic model of the semiconductor wafer test scheduling problem and provide heuristics for scheduling the precedence constrained test operations with sequence dependent setup times. A mathematical model is presented and two heuristics are developed to solve the scheduling problem with the objective of minimizing the makespan required to test all wafer devices on a set of test stations. The heuristic approaches generate a sorted list of wafer devices as a dispatching sequence and then schedule the wafer lots on test stations in order of appearance on the list. An experimental analysis and two case studies are presented to validate the proposed solution approaches. In the two case studies, the heuristics are applied to actual data from a semiconductor manufacturing facility. The results of the heuristic approaches are compared to the actual schedule executed in the manufacturing facility. For both the case studies, the proposed solution approaches decreased the makespan by 23-45% compared to the makespan of actual schedule executed in the manufacturing facility. The solution approach developed in this research can be integrated with the planning software of a semiconductor manufacturing facility to improve productivity.
Master of Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kentucky, 2001.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 89 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-86).

[ES] En muchos campos de la ingeniería los modelos matemáticos son utilizados para describir el comportamiento de los sistemas, procesos o fenómenos. Hoy en día, existen varias técnicas o métodos que pueden ser usadas para obtener estos modelos. Debido a su versatilidad y simplicidad, a menudo se prefieren los métodos de identificación de sistemas. Por lo general, estos métodos requieren la definición de una estructura y la estimación computacional de los parámetros que la componen utilizando un conjunto de procedimientos y mediciones de las señales de entrada y salida del sistema. En el contexto de la identificación de sistemas no lineales, un desafío importante es la selección de la estructura. En el caso de que el sistema a identificar presente una no linealidad de tipo estático, los modelos orientados a bloques, pueden ser útiles para definir adecuadamente una estructura. Sin embargo, el diseñador puede enfrentarse a cierto grado de incertidumbre al seleccionar el modelo orientado a bloques adecuado en concordancia con el sistema real. Además de este inconveniente, se debe tener en cuenta que la estimación de algunos modelos orientados a bloques no es sencilla, como es el caso de los modelos de Wiener-Hammerstein que consisten en un bloque NL en medio de dos subsistemas LTI. La presencia de dos subsistemas LTI en los modelos de Wiener-Hammerstein es lo que principalmente dificulta su estimación. Generalmente, el procedimiento de identificación comienza con la estimación de la dinámica lineal, y el principal desafío es dividir esta dinámica entre los dos bloques LTI. Por lo general, esto implica una alta interacción del usuario para desarrollar varios procedimientos, y el modelo final estimado depende principalmente de estas etapas previas. El objetivo de esta tesis es contribuir a la identificación de los modelos de Wiener-Hammerstein. Esta contribución se basa en la presentación de dos nuevos algoritmos para atender aspectos específicos que no han sido abordados en la identificación de este tipo de modelos. El primer algoritmo, denominado WH-EA, permite estimar todos los parámetros de un modelo de Wiener-Hammerstein con un solo procedimiento a partir de un modelo dinámico lineal. Con WH-EA, una buena estimación no depende de procedimientos intermedios ya que el algoritmo evolutivo simultáneamente busca la mejor distribución de la dinámica, ajusta con precisión la ubicación de los polos y los ceros y captura la no linealidad estática. Otra ventaja importante de este algoritmo es que bajo consideraciones específicas y utilizando una señal de excitación adecuada, es posible crear un enfoque unificado que permite también la identificación de los modelos de Wiener y Hammerstein, que son casos particulares del modelo de Wiener-Hammerstein cuando uno de sus bloques LTI carece de dinámica. Lo interesante de este enfoque unificado es que con un mismo algoritmo es posible identificar los modelos de Wiener, Hammerstein y Wiener-Hammerstein sin que el usuario especifique de antemano el tipo de estructura a identificar. El segundo algoritmo llamado WH-MOEA, permite abordar el problema de identificación como un Problema de Optimización Multiobjetivo (MOOP). Sobre la base de este algoritmo se presenta un nuevo enfoque para la identificación de los modelos de Wiener-Hammerstein considerando un compromiso entre la precisión alcanzada y la complejidad del modelo. Con este enfoque es posible comparar varios modelos con diferentes prestaciones incluyendo como un objetivo de identificación el número de parámetros que puede tener el modelo estimado. El aporte de este enfoque se sustenta en el hecho de que en muchos problemas de ingeniería los requisitos de diseño y las preferencias del usuario no siempre apuntan a la precisión del modelo como un único objetivo, sino que muchas veces la complejidad es también un factor predominante en la toma de decisiones.
[CA] En molts camps de l'enginyeria els models matemàtics són utilitzats per a descriure el comportament dels sistemes, processos o fenòmens. Hui dia, existeixen diverses tècniques o mètodes que poden ser usades per a obtindre aquests models. A causa de la seua versatilitat i simplicitat, sovint es prefereixen els mètodes d'identificació de sistemes. En general, aquests mètodes requereixen la definició d'una estructura i l'estimació computacional dels paràmetres que la componen utilitzant un conjunt de procediments i mesuraments dels senyals d'entrada i eixida del sistema. En el context de la identificació de sistemes no lineals, un desafiament important és la selecció de l'estructura. En el cas que el sistema a identificar presente una no linealitat de tipus estàtic, els models orientats a blocs, poden ser útils per a definir adequadament una estructura. No obstant això, el dissenyador pot enfrontar-se a cert grau d'incertesa en seleccionar el model orientat a blocs adequat en concordança amb el sistema real. A més d'aquest inconvenient, s'ha de tindre en compte que l'estimació d'alguns models orientats a blocs no és senzilla, com és el cas dels models de Wiener-Hammerstein que consisteixen en un bloc NL enmig de dos subsistemes LTI. La presència de dos subsistemes LTI en els models de Wiener-Hammerstein és el que principalment dificulta la seua estimació. Generalment, el procediment d'identificació comença amb l'estimació de la dinàmica lineal, i el principal desafiament és dividir aquesta dinàmica entre els dos blocs LTI. En general, això implica una alta interacció de l'usuari per a desenvolupar diversos procediments, i el model final estimat depén principalment d'aquestes etapes prèvies. L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi és contribuir a la identificació dels models de Wiener-Hammerstein. Aquesta contribució es basa en la presentació de dos nous algorismes per a atendre aspectes específics que no han sigut adreçats en la identificació d'aquesta mena de models. El primer algorisme, denominat WH-EA (Algorisme Evolutiu per a la identificació de sistemes de Wiener-Hammerstein), permet estimar tots els paràmetres d'un model de Wiener-Hammerstein amb un sol procediment a partir d'un model dinàmic lineal. Amb WH-EA, una bona estimació no depén de procediments intermedis ja que l'algorisme evolutiu simultàniament busca la millor distribució de la dinàmica, afina la ubicació dels pols i els zeros i captura la no linealitat estàtica. Un altre avantatge important d'aquest algorisme és que sota consideracions específiques i utilitzant un senyal d'excitació adequada, és possible crear un enfocament unificat que permet també la identificació dels models de Wiener i Hammerstein, que són casos particulars del model de Wiener-Hammerstein quan un dels seus blocs LTI manca de dinàmica. L'interessant d'aquest enfocament unificat és que amb un mateix algorisme és possible identificar els models de Wiener, Hammerstein i Wiener-Hammerstein sense que l'usuari especifique per endavant el tipus d'estructura a identificar. El segon algorisme anomenat WH-MOEA (Algorisme evolutiu multi-objectiu per a la identificació de models de Wiener-Hammerstein), permet abordar el problema d'identificació com un Problema d'Optimització Multiobjectiu (MOOP). Sobre la base d'aquest algorisme es presenta un nou enfocament per a la identificació dels models de Wiener-Hammerstein considerant un compromís entre la precisió aconseguida i la complexitat del model. Amb aquest enfocament és possible comparar diversos models amb diferents prestacions incloent com un objectiu d'identificació el nombre de paràmetres que pot tindre el model estimat. L'aportació d'aquest enfocament se sustenta en el fet que en molts problemes d'enginyeria els requisits de disseny i les preferències de l'usuari no sempre apunten a la precisió del model com un únic objectiu, sinó que moltes vegades la complexitat és també un factor predominant en la presa de decisions.
[EN] In several engineering fields, mathematical models are used to describe the behaviour of systems, processes or phenomena. Nowadays, there are several techniques or methods for obtaining mathematical models. Because of their versatility and simplicity, system identification methods are often preferred. Generally, systems identification methods require defining a structure and estimating computationally the parameters that make it up, using a set of procedures y measurements of the system's input and output signals. In the context of nonlinear system identification, a significant challenge is the structure selection. In the case that the system to be identified presents a static type of nonlinearity, block-oriented models can be useful to define a suitable structure. However, the designer may face a certain degree of uncertainty when selecting the block-oriented model in accordance with the real system. In addition to this inconvenience, the estimation of some block-oriented models is not an easy task, as is the case with the Wiener-Hammerstein models consisting of a NL block in the middle of two LTI subsystems. The presence of two LTI subsystems in the Wiener-Hammerstein models is what mainly makes their estimation difficult. Generally, the identification procedure begins with the estimation of the linear dynamics, and the main challenge is to split this dynamic between the two LTI block. Usually, this implies a high user interaction to develop several procedures, and the final model estimated mostly depends on these previous stages. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the identification of the Wiener-Hammerstein models. This contribution is based on the presentation of two new algorithms to address specific aspects that have not been addressed in the identification of this type of model. The first algorithm, called WH-EA (An Evolutionary Algorithm for Wiener-Hammerstein System Identification), allows estimating all the parameters of a Wiener-Hammerstein model with a single procedure from a linear dynamic model. With WH-EA, a good estimate does not depend on intermediate procedures since the evolutionary algorithm looks for the best dynamic division, while the locations of the poles and zeros are fine-tuned, and nonlinearity is captured simultaneously. Another significant advantage of this algorithm is that under specific considerations and using a suitable excitation signal; it is possible to create a unified approach that also allows the identification of Wiener and Hammerstein models which are particular cases of the Wiener-Hammerstein model when one of its LTI blocks lacks dynamics. What is interesting about this unified approach is that with the same algorithm, it is possible to identify Wiener, Hammerstein, and Wiener-Hammerstein models without the user specifying in advance the type of structure to be identified. The second algorithm called WH-MOEA (Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm for Wiener-Hammerstein identification), allows to address the identification problem as a Multi-Objective Optimisation Problem (MOOP). Based on this algorithm, a new approach for the identification of Wiener-Hammerstein models is presented considering a compromise between the accuracy achieved and the model complexity. With this approach, it is possible to compare several models with different performances, including as an identification target the number of parameters that the estimated model may have. The contribution of this approach is based on the fact that in many engineering problems the design requirements and user's preferences do not always point to the accuracy of the model as a single objective, but many times the complexity is also a predominant factor in decision-making.
Zambrano Abad, JC. (2021). Identification of nonlinear processes based on Wiener-Hammerstein models and heuristic optimization [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/171739
TESIS

Markov decision processes (MDPs) are a general framework used by Artificial Intelligence (AI) researchers to model decision theoretic planning problems. Solving real world MDPs has been a major and challenging research topic in the AI literature. This paper discusses two main groups of approaches in solving MDPs. The first group of approaches combines the strategies of heuristic search and dynamic programming to expedite the convergence process. The second makes use of graphical structures in MDPs to decrease the effort of classic dynamic programming algorithms. Two new algorithms proposed by the author, MBLAO* and TVI, are described here.

Advances in additive manufacturing technologies have brought a new paradigm shift to both design and manufacturing. There is a much bigger design space in which designers can achieve a level of complexity and customizability, which are infeasible using traditional manufacturing processes. One application of this technology is for fabrication of meso-scale lattice structures (MSLS). These types of structures are designed to have material where it is needed for specific applications. They are suitable for any weight-critical applications, particularly in industries where both low weight and high strength are desired. MSLS can easily have hundreds to thousands of individual strut, where the diameter of each strut can be treated as a design variable. As a result, the design process poses a computational challenge. Since the computational complexity of the design problem often scales exponentially with the number of design variables, topological optimization that requires multi-variable optimization algorithm is infeasible for large-scale problems. In previous research, a new method was presented for efficiently optimizing MSLS by utilizing a heuristic that reduces the multivariable optimization problem to a problem of only two variables. The method is called the Size Matching and Scaling (SMS) method, which combines solid-body analysis and predefined unit-cell library to generate the topology of the structure. However, the method lacks a systematic methodology to generate the initial ground geometry for the design process, which limits the previous implementations of the SMS method to only simple, axis-aligned structures. In this research, an augmented SMS method is presented. The augmented method includes the integration of free-mesh approach in generating the initial ground geometry. The software that embodies that ground geometry generation process is integrated to commercial CAD system that allows designer to set lattice size parameters through graphical user interface. In this thesis, the augmented method and the unit-cell library are applied to various design examples. The augmented SMS method can be applied effectively in the design of conformal lattice structure with highly optimized stiffness and volume for complex surface. Conformal lattice structures are those conformed to the shape of a part's surface and that can used to stiffen or strengthen a complex and curved surface. This design approach removes the need for a rigorous topology optimization, which is a main bottleneck in designing MSLS.

Evans' (e.g., 2006) heuristic-analytic theory of the selection task proposes that card selections are triggered by relevance-determining heuristics, with analytic processing serving merely to rationalise heuristically-cued decisions. Evans (1996) provided evidence for the theory by setting up an inspection-time paradigm. He used computerpresented selection tasks and instructions for participants to indicate (with a mousepointer) cards under consideration. The theory predicts that longer inspection times should be associated with selected cards (which are subjected to rationalisation) than with rejected cards. Evans found support for this idea. Roberts (1998b) however, argued that mouse-pointing gives rise to artefactual support for Evans' predictions because of biases associated with the task format and the use of mouse pointing. In the present thesis all sources of artefact were eradicated by combining careful task constructions with eye-movement tracking to measure directly on-line attentional processing. Across a series of experiments good evidence was produced for the robustness of the inspection-time effect, supporting the predictions of the heuristicanalytic account. It was notable, however, that the magnitude of the inspection-time effect was always small. A further experiment separated the presentation of rules from associated cards to avoid possible dilution of the inspection-time effect arising from parallel rule and card presentation. However, the observed inspection time effect remained small. A series of experiments utilising think-aloud methods were then employed to test further the predictions concerning relevance effects and rationalisation processes in the selection task. Predictions in relation to these experiments were that selected cards should be associated with more references to both their facing and their hidden sides than rejected cards, which are not subjected to analytic rationalisation. Support was found for all heuristic-analytic predictions, even .,' . where 'select/don't select' decisions were enforced for all cards. These experiments also clarify the role played by secondary heuristics in cueing the consideration of hidden card values during rationalisation. It is suggested that whilst Oaksford and Chater's (e.g., 2003) information gain theory can provide a compelling account of our protocol findings, Evans' heuristic-analytic theory provides the best account of the full findings of the thesis. The mental models theory (e.g., Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 2002) fares less well as an explanation of the full dataset.

Thesis (m.s.)--University of Kentucky, 2004.
Title from document title page (viewed Jan. 5, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 32p. : ill. Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-31).

Orientador: Messias Borges Silva
Coorientador: Fernando Augusto Silva Marins
Banca: José Roberto Dale Luche
Banca: Aneirson Francisco da Silva
Banca: Antônio Augusto Chaves
Banca: Adriano Francisco Siqueira
Resumo: Empresas não medem esforços para aperfeiçoar seus processos e produtos de acordo com diferentes critérios para satisfazer as exigências e necessidades dos clientes em busca de um padrão de competitividade superior ao de suas concorrentes. Neste cenário é muito comum a necessidade de se estabelecer condições que resultem na melhoria de mais de um critério de forma simultânea. Neste trabalho foi realizada uma avaliação da utilização de quatro métodos que utilizam as Meta-heurísticas Recozimento Simulado, Algoritmo Genético, Recozimento Simulado combinado com o método Nelder Mead Simplex e algoritmo genético combinado com o método Nelde-Mead simplex para o estabelecimento de melhoria das condições de processos com múltiplas respostas. Para a avaliação dos métodos propostos foram utilizados problemas-teste criteriosamente selecionados na literatura de forma a serem analisados casos com diferente número de variáveis, número de respostas e tipos de resposta. A aglutinação das respostas foi realizada por quatro métodos diferentes: Desirability, Desvio Médio Percentual, Programação por Compromisso e Programação por Compromisso normalizada pela distância euclidiana. A avaliação dos métodos foi realizada por meio de comparação entre os resultados obtidos na utilização de um mesmo método de aglutinação, determinando assim a eficiência do método de busca. Os resultados obtidos na avaliação dos métodos sugerem a aplicação do método do algoritmo genético quando se pretende estabelecer parâmetros que resultem na melhoria de processos com múltiplas respostas, em particular quando essas respostas são modeladas por equações com termos cúbicos, independentemente do número de termos que possam conter, do tipo de respostas e do número de variáveis
Abstract: Companies go to great lengths to improve its processes and products according to different criteria to meet the demands and needs of customers looking for a higher standard of competitiveness to that of their competitors. This scenario is very common the need to establish conditions that result in the improvement of more than one criterion simultaneously. This work was carried out an evaluation of the use of four methods that use Metaheuristics Simulated Annealing, Genetic Algorithms, Simulated Annealing combined with the Nelder Mead Simplex method and genetic algorithm combined with Nelde Mead simplex method for the improvement of establishing the conditions of processes with multiple answers. For the evaluation of the proposed test methods were used in the literature problems carefully selected in order to be analyzed cases with different numbers of variables, response numbers and types of responses. In this research we used the average percentage deviation function as a way to bring together the answers. The agglutination of the answers was performed by four different methods: Desirability, Average Percentage Deviation, Compromise Programming and Compromise Programming normalized by Euclidean distance. The evaluation method was performed by comparison between the results obtained in using the same bonding method, thereby determining the efficiency of the search method. The results obtained in the evaluation of the methods suggest the application of the genetic algorithm method when you want to set parameters that result in the improvement of processes with multiple answers, particularly when these responses are modeled by equations with cubic terms, regardless of the number of terms that can contain the type of responses and the number of variables
Doutor

In the last decade, market pressures for greater variety of products forced a gradual shift from continuous manufacturing to batch manufacturing in various industries. Consequently batch scheduling problems have attracted the attention of researchers in production and operations management. This thesis addresses the scheduling of parallel non-identical batch processors in the presence of dynamic job arrivals, incompatible job-families and non-identical job sizes. This problem abstracts the scheduling of heat-treatment furnace operations of castings in a steel foundry. The problem is of considerable interest in this sector as a large proportion of the total production time is spent in heat treatment processing. This problem is also encountered in other industrial settings such as burn-in operation in the final testing stage of semiconductor manufacturing, and manufacturing of steel, ceramics, aircraft parts, footwear, etc. A detailed literature review and personal communications with experts revealed that this class of batch scheduling problems have not been addressed hitherto. A major concern in the management of foundries is to maximize throughput and reduce flow time and work-in-process inventories. Therefore we have chosen the primary scheduling objective to be the utilization of batch processors and as secondary objectives the minimization of overall flow time and weighted average waiting time per job. This formulation can be considered as an extension of problems studied by DOBSON AND NAMBINADOM (1992), UZSOY (1995), ZEE et a/. (1997) and MEHTA AND UZSOY (1998). Our effort to carefully catalogue the large number of variants of deterministic batch scheduling problems led us to the development of a taxonomy and notation. Not surprisingly, we are able to show that our problem is NP-hard and is therefore in the company of many scheduling problems that are difficult to solve. Initially two heuristic algorithms, one a mathematical programming based heuristic algorithm (MPHA) and the other a greedy heuristic algorithm were developed. Due to the computational overheads in the implementation of MPHA when compared with the greedy heuristic, we chose to focus on the latter as the primary scheduling methodology. Preliminary experimentation led us to the observation that the performance of greedy heuristics depends critically on the selection of job-families. So eight variants of the greedy heuristic that differ mainly in the decision on "job-family selection" were proposed. These eight heuristics are basically two sets {Al, A2, A3, A4} and the modified (MAI, MA2, MA3, MA4}, which differ only on how the "job-family" index, weighted shortest processing time, is computed. For evaluating the performance of the eight heuristics, computational experiments were carried out. The analysis of the experimental data is presented in two perspectives. The goal of the first perspective was to evaluate the absolute quality of the solutions obtained by the proposed heuristic algorithms when compared with estimated optimal solutions. The second perspective was to compare the relative performance of the proposed heuristics. The test problems generated were designed to reflect real-world scheduling problems that we have observed in the steel-casting industry. Three important problem parameters for the test set generation are the number of jobs [n], job-priority [P], and job-family [F]. We considered 5 different levels for n, 2 different levels for P and 2 different levels for F. The test set reflects (i) the size of the jobs vary uniformly (ii) there are two batch processors and (iii) five incompatible job-families with different processing times. 15 problem instances were generated for each level of (n, P, and F). Out of many procedures available in the literature for estimating optimal value for combinatorial optimization problems, we used the procedure based on Weibull distribution as discussed in Rardin and Uzsoy (2001). For each problem instance of the randomly generated 300 problem instances, 15 feasible solutions (i.e., the average utilization of batch processors (AUBP)) were obtained using "random decision rule for first two stages and using a "best-fit heuristic' for the last stage of the scheduling problem. These 15 feasible solutions were used to estimate the optimal value. The generated 15 feasible solutions are expected to provide the estimated optimal value of the problem instance with a very high probability. Both average performance and worst-case performance of the heuristics indicated that, the heuristic algorithms A3 and A4, on the average yielded better utilization than the estimated optimal value. This indicates that the Weibull-based technique may have yielded conservative estimates of the optimal value. Further, the other heuristic algorithms found inferior solutions when compared with the estimated optimal value. But the deviations were very small. From this, we may infer that all the proposed heuristic algorithms are acceptable. The relative evaluation of heuristics was in terms of both computational effort and the quality of the solution. For the heuristics, it was clear that the computational burden is low enough on the average to run all the proposed heuristics on each problem instance and select the best solution. Also, it is observed that any algorithm from the first set of {Al, A2, A3, and A4} takes more computational time than any one from the second set {MAI, MA2, MA3, and MA4}. Regarding solution quality, the following inferences were made: ٭ In general the heuristic algorithms are sensitive to the choice of problem factors with respect to all the scheduling objectives. ٭ The three algorithms A3, MA4 and MAI are observed to be superior with respect to the scheduling objectives: maximizing average utilization of batch processors (AUBP), minimization of overall flow time (OFT) and minimizing weighted average waiting time (WAWT) respectively. Further, the heuristic algorithm MAI turns out to be the best choice if we trade-off all three objectives AUBP, OFT and WAWT. Finally we carried out simple sensitivity analyses experiments in order to understand the influence of some parameters of the scheduling on the performance of the heuristic algorithms. These were related to one at a time changes in (1) job-size distribution, (2) capacities of batch processors and (3) processing time of job-families. From the analyses it appears that there is an influence of changes in these input parameters. The results of the sensitivity analyses can be used to guide the selection of a heuristic for a particular combination of input parameters. For example, if we have to pick a single heuristic algorithm, then MAI is the best choice when considering the performance and the robustness indicated by the sensitivity analysis. In summary, this thesis examined a problem arising in the scheduling of heat-treatment operations in the steel-casting industry. This problem was abstracted to a class of deterministic batch scheduling problems. We analyzed the computational complexity of this problem and showed that it is NP-hard and therefore unlikely to admit a scalable exact method. Eight variants of a fast greedy heuristic were designed to solve the scheduling problem of interest. Extensive computational experiments were carried out to compare the performance of the heuristics with estimated optimal values (using the Weibull technique) and also for relative effectiveness and this showed that the heuristics are capable of consistently obtaining near-estimated) optimal solutions with very low computational burden for the solution of large scale problems. Finally, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis was carried out to study the influence of a few parameters, by changing them one at a time, on the performance of the heuristic algorithms. This type of analysis gives users some confidence in the robustness of the proposed heuristics.

In the last decade, market pressures for greater variety of products forced a gradual shift from continuous manufacturing to batch manufacturing in various industries. Consequently batch scheduling problems have attracted the attention of researchers in production and operations management. This thesis addresses the scheduling of parallel non-identical batch processors in the presence of dynamic job arrivals, incompatible job-families and non-identical job sizes. This problem abstracts the scheduling of heat-treatment furnace operations of castings in a steel foundry. The problem is of considerable interest in this sector as a large proportion of the total production time is spent in heat treatment processing. This problem is also encountered in other industrial settings such as burn-in operation in the final testing stage of semiconductor manufacturing, and manufacturing of steel, ceramics, aircraft parts, footwear, etc. A detailed literature review and personal communications with experts revealed that this class of batch scheduling problems have not been addressed hitherto. A major concern in the management of foundries is to maximize throughput and reduce flow time and work-in-process inventories. Therefore we have chosen the primary scheduling objective to be the utilization of batch processors and as secondary objectives the minimization of overall flow time and weighted average waiting time per job. This formulation can be considered as an extension of problems studied by DOBSON AND NAMBINADOM (1992), UZSOY (1995), ZEE et a/. (1997) and MEHTA AND UZSOY (1998). Our effort to carefully catalogue the large number of variants of deterministic batch scheduling problems led us to the development of a taxonomy and notation. Not surprisingly, we are able to show that our problem is NP-hard and is therefore in the company of many scheduling problems that are difficult to solve. Initially two heuristic algorithms, one a mathematical programming based heuristic algorithm (MPHA) and the other a greedy heuristic algorithm were developed. Due to the computational overheads in the implementation of MPHA when compared with the greedy heuristic, we chose to focus on the latter as the primary scheduling methodology. Preliminary experimentation led us to the observation that the performance of greedy heuristics depends critically on the selection of job-families. So eight variants of the greedy heuristic that differ mainly in the decision on "job-family selection" were proposed. These eight heuristics are basically two sets {Al, A2, A3, A4} and the modified (MAI, MA2, MA3, MA4}, which differ only on how the "job-family" index, weighted shortest processing time, is computed. For evaluating the performance of the eight heuristics, computational experiments were carried out. The analysis of the experimental data is presented in two perspectives. The goal of the first perspective was to evaluate the absolute quality of the solutions obtained by the proposed heuristic algorithms when compared with estimated optimal solutions. The second perspective was to compare the relative performance of the proposed heuristics. The test problems generated were designed to reflect real-world scheduling problems that we have observed in the steel-casting industry. Three important problem parameters for the test set generation are the number of jobs [n], job-priority [P], and job-family [F]. We considered 5 different levels for n, 2 different levels for P and 2 different levels for F. The test set reflects (i) the size of the jobs vary uniformly (ii) there are two batch processors and (iii) five incompatible job-families with different processing times. 15 problem instances were generated for each level of (n, P, and F). Out of many procedures available in the literature for estimating optimal value for combinatorial optimization problems, we used the procedure based on Weibull distribution as discussed in Rardin and Uzsoy (2001). For each problem instance of the randomly generated 300 problem instances, 15 feasible solutions (i.e., the average utilization of batch processors (AUBP)) were obtained using "random decision rule for first two stages and using a "best-fit heuristic' for the last stage of the scheduling problem. These 15 feasible solutions were used to estimate the optimal value. The generated 15 feasible solutions are expected to provide the estimated optimal value of the problem instance with a very high probability. Both average performance and worst-case performance of the heuristics indicated that, the heuristic algorithms A3 and A4, on the average yielded better utilization than the estimated optimal value. This indicates that the Weibull-based technique may have yielded conservative estimates of the optimal value. Further, the other heuristic algorithms found inferior solutions when compared with the estimated optimal value. But the deviations were very small. From this, we may infer that all the proposed heuristic algorithms are acceptable. The relative evaluation of heuristics was in terms of both computational effort and the quality of the solution. For the heuristics, it was clear that the computational burden is low enough on the average to run all the proposed heuristics on each problem instance and select the best solution. Also, it is observed that any algorithm from the first set of {Al, A2, A3, and A4} takes more computational time than any one from the second set {MAI, MA2, MA3, and MA4}. Regarding solution quality, the following inferences were made: ٭ In general the heuristic algorithms are sensitive to the choice of problem factors with respect to all the scheduling objectives. ٭ The three algorithms A3, MA4 and MAI are observed to be superior with respect to the scheduling objectives: maximizing average utilization of batch processors (AUBP), minimization of overall flow time (OFT) and minimizing weighted average waiting time (WAWT) respectively. Further, the heuristic algorithm MAI turns out to be the best choice if we trade-off all three objectives AUBP, OFT and WAWT. Finally we carried out simple sensitivity analyses experiments in order to understand the influence of some parameters of the scheduling on the performance of the heuristic algorithms. These were related to one at a time changes in (1) job-size distribution, (2) capacities of batch processors and (3) processing time of job-families. From the analyses it appears that there is an influence of changes in these input parameters. The results of the sensitivity analyses can be used to guide the selection of a heuristic for a particular combination of input parameters. For example, if we have to pick a single heuristic algorithm, then MAI is the best choice when considering the performance and the robustness indicated by the sensitivity analysis. In summary, this thesis examined a problem arising in the scheduling of heat-treatment operations in the steel-casting industry. This problem was abstracted to a class of deterministic batch scheduling problems. We analyzed the computational complexity of this problem and showed that it is NP-hard and therefore unlikely to admit a scalable exact method. Eight variants of a fast greedy heuristic were designed to solve the scheduling problem of interest. Extensive computational experiments were carried out to compare the performance of the heuristics with estimated optimal values (using the Weibull technique) and also for relative effectiveness and this showed that the heuristics are capable of consistently obtaining near-estimated) optimal solutions with very low computational burden for the solution of large scale problems. Finally, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis was carried out to study the influence of a few parameters, by changing them one at a time, on the performance of the heuristic algorithms. This type of analysis gives users some confidence in the robustness of the proposed heuristics.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-06-25Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:15:39Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 lobo_la_me_ia.pdf: 968005 bytes, checksum: c68a5b6d75f9c986ec531ec3f23f8e71 (MD5)
Secretaria de Estado da Educação
Ao elaborar uma performance o músico está ciente de que decisões terão de serem tomadas. Este trabalho discute a respeito dos processos de tomadas de decisões e as suas relações com a performance, enfatizando principalmente as descobertas realizadas por Teversky e Kahneman. A ideia de racionalidade plena é contestada, fundamentando-se nas pesquisas que abordam as falácias nas decisões. Os processos cognitivos que auxiliam na velocidade de nossas escolhas – heurísticas – são responsáveis por erros sistemáticos – vieses. Os vieses são exemplos de nossa parcial racionalidade. Diante da complexidade que a performance possui e dos desafios enfrentados por um performer, defendemos a necessidade da proposta elaborada por um músico profissional ser coerente com a sua apresentação, para isso expomos a ideia de eficiência na performance defendida por Herr. O conflito existente entre a racionalidade parcial do ser humano e a busca pela eficiência é apresentado. A fim de tentar aprimorar o modelo de eficiência analisamos algumas das decisões realizadas pelo performer e buscamos identificar a utilização de heurísticas e vieses. Ter conhecimento dessas questões permite que sejamos mais conscientes de nossas escolhas e fornece novas ferramentas que possibilitem identificar e evitar os erros sistemáticos, aprimorando o modelo de eficiência. Por fim, apresentamos propostas para futuras pesquisas com o desígnio de ampliar o arcabouço teórico que possuímos
In developing a performance the musician is aware that decisions must be taken. This work discussed about the processes of decision-making and its relationship with performance, highlighting the discoveries made by Kahneman and Teversky. The idea of full rationality is challenged, basing on the research addressing the fallacies in the decisions. The cognitive processes that help speed our choices - heuristics - are responsible for systematic errors - biases. Biases are examples of our partial rationality. Given the complexity that has performance and the challenges faced by a performer, we sustain the need for the proposal prepared by a professional musician to be consistent with his presentation, to expound on this idea of efficiency in performance advocated by Herr. The conflict between the partial rationality of the human and the pursuit of efficiency is presented. In order to try to improve the efficiency model we analyze some of the decisions made by the performer and seek to identify the use of heuristics and biases. Knowledge of these issues allows us to be more conscious of our choices and provides new tools that enable the identification and avoidance of systematic errors, improving efficiency model. Finally, we present proposals for future research with the plan to expand the theoretical framework that we have

Orientador: Gisela Gomes Pupo Nogueira
Banca: Dorotéa Machado Kerr
Banca: Rosemara Staub de Barros
Resumo: Ao elaborar uma performance o músico está ciente de que decisões terão de serem tomadas. Este trabalho discute a respeito dos processos de tomadas de decisões e as suas relações com a performance, enfatizando principalmente as descobertas realizadas por Teversky e Kahneman. A ideia de racionalidade plena é contestada, fundamentando-se nas pesquisas que abordam as falácias nas decisões. Os processos cognitivos que auxiliam na velocidade de nossas escolhas - heurísticas - são responsáveis por erros sistemáticos - vieses. Os vieses são exemplos de nossa parcial racionalidade. Diante da complexidade que a performance possui e dos desafios enfrentados por um performer, defendemos a necessidade da proposta elaborada por um músico profissional ser coerente com a sua apresentação, para isso expomos a ideia de eficiência na performance defendida por Herr. O conflito existente entre a racionalidade parcial do ser humano e a busca pela eficiência é apresentado. A fim de tentar aprimorar o modelo de eficiência analisamos algumas das decisões realizadas pelo performer e buscamos identificar a utilização de heurísticas e vieses. Ter conhecimento dessas questões permite que sejamos mais conscientes de nossas escolhas e fornece novas ferramentas que possibilitem identificar e evitar os erros sistemáticos, aprimorando o modelo de eficiência. Por fim, apresentamos propostas para futuras pesquisas com o desígnio de ampliar o arcabouço teórico que possuímos
Abstract: In developing a performance the musician is aware that decisions must be taken. This work discussed about the processes of decision-making and its relationship with performance, highlighting the discoveries made by Kahneman and Teversky. The idea of full rationality is challenged, basing on the research addressing the fallacies in the decisions. The cognitive processes that help speed our choices - heuristics - are responsible for systematic errors - biases. Biases are examples of our partial rationality. Given the complexity that has performance and the challenges faced by a performer, we sustain the need for the proposal prepared by a professional musician to be consistent with his presentation, to expound on this idea of efficiency in performance advocated by Herr. The conflict between the partial rationality of the human and the pursuit of efficiency is presented. In order to try to improve the efficiency model we analyze some of the decisions made by the performer and seek to identify the use of heuristics and biases. Knowledge of these issues allows us to be more conscious of our choices and provides new tools that enable the identification and avoidance of systematic errors, improving efficiency model. Finally, we present proposals for future research with the plan to expand the theoretical framework that we have
Mestre

Previous research on human judgment and decision making has demonstrated systematic and predictable biases of judgment in experimental settings. One example of this is the tendency to intuitively violate the conjunction rule - a simple rule of probability. This was well illustrated in the famous Linda-problem. (Tversky & Kahneman, 1983). According to the dual-process theory of reasoning, (Kahneman, 2011) reasoning fallacies such as the conjunction fallacy occurs when people fail to use analytic reasoning and instead overly rely on their intuition. The dual process theory proposes that cognitive processes underlying our intuitive impulses and our conscious reasoning constitutes two different modes in the mind –system 1 and system 2- and that the intuitive system 1 are not able to compute probabilities. Furthermore, it is assumed that processes that are labeled system 1 are fast whereas system 2 are thought to be slow. We tested these time course assumptions of dual process theory in a within-subject design by comparing response time latencies between conjunction fallacy judgments and accurate probability judgments. The results showed that inducing accurate responding did not result in delayed response latency. This indicates that making accurate probability judgments does not require more processing time which goes against what would be expected by the dual-process framework.
Tidigare forskning om mänskligt beslutsfattande och bedömningar har i experiment påvisat systematiska och förutsägbara bias. Ett exempel på detta är tendensen att intuitivt gå emot konjuktionsregeln- en enkel regel gällande sannolikhet. Detta illustrerades väl i det berömda Linda- problemet (Tversky & Kahneman, 1983). Enligt två-systemsteorin (Kahneman, 2011) om problemlösning, uppstår bedömningsfel såsom konjuktionsfelet när människor inte använder sig av analytiskt tänkande och istället förlitar sig för mycket på sin intuition. Två-systemsteorin menar att de kognitiva processer som ligger till grund för våra intuitiva impulser och vårt medvetna resonerande utgör två olika aktörer i vårt tänkande- system 1 och system 2- och att det intuitiva system 1 inte kan beräkna sannolikheter. Processer som betecknas som tillhörande system 1 är enligt två-systemsteorin snabba medan system 2 föreställs vara ett långsamt system. I denna studie testades antagandet om tidsåtgång för de två systemen i en inomgruppsdesign genom att jämföra responstider mellan bedömningar där konjunktionsfelet begåtts och bedömningar där det inte begåtts. Resultaten visar att korrekta sannolikhetsbedömningar inte resulterar i långsammare responstider. Detta indikerar att det inte tycks vara mer tidskrävande att göra riktiga sannolikhetsbedömningar, vilket motsäger två-systemsteorins antagande om snabbt och långsamt processande.

This dissertation makes contributions to areas of research on planning with POMDPs: complexity theoretic results and heuristic techniques. The most important contributions are probably the complexity of approximating the optimal history-dependent finite-horizon policy for a POMDP, and the idea of heuristic search over the space of FFTs.

Submitted by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2011-11-18T11:40:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 1418400.pdf: 4816691 bytes, checksum: b9ba7b48d63b9b3c2759556585249b50 (MD5)
Approved for entry into archive by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2011-11-18T11:41:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 1418400.pdf: 4816691 bytes, checksum: b9ba7b48d63b9b3c2759556585249b50 (MD5)
Approved for entry into archive by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2011-11-18T11:41:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 1418400.pdf: 4816691 bytes, checksum: b9ba7b48d63b9b3c2759556585249b50 (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2011-11-18T11:41:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1418400.pdf: 4816691 bytes, checksum: b9ba7b48d63b9b3c2759556585249b50 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007
A pesquisa aqui representada teve por objetivo identificar quais vieses podem influenciar os tomadores de decisões estratégicas de organizações brasileiras localizadas no estado do Rio de Janeiro. O trabalho realizado apoiou-se em questionário adaptado de Bazerman (2004). A partir de estudos sobre o cognitivo, este autor apresenta as heurísticas e respectivos vieses, objetos desta dissertação. Os tipos de pesquisas utilizados foram a bibliográfica e a de campo. Esta pesquisa de campo foi realizada com presidentes e diretores executivos do ambiente corporativo. Em suas funções, são eles os responsáveis por decisões estratégicas de empresas brasileiras localizadas no Brasil. A pesquisa revelou que os vieses apresentados por Bazerman (2004) foram identificados nos executivos entrevistados.
The objective of this investigation was to identify the biases that can influence strategic decision makers in Brazilian organizations located in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The investigation was based on a questionnaire adapted from Bazerman (2004). Based on studies on cognition, this author presents the heuristics and respective biases, which are the object of this dissertation. Chairmen and CEOs who are responsible for the strategic decisions of Brazilian corporations in Brazil were the objects of the field research. The investigation revealed that the biases pointed out by Bazerman (2004) were identified in the executives that were interviewed.

As empresas de manufatura, nos dias atuais, estão incessantemente em busca de redução de custos, motivadas pela concorrência e competição, que são características fortes da globalização. No Sistema Toyota de Produção (OHNO, 1988) é ressaltada a questão dos sete desperdícios que podem existir em um processo e que, consequentemente, geram custos no produto sem, contudo agregar valor ao mesmo. Um dos desperdícios mais comumente encontrados são os do fluxo do produto semiacabado (WIP), matéria-prima ou produto acabado. O estudo de Layout visa otimizar a disposição dos recursos dentro de um processo de modo a minimizar, entre outros, o fluxo de materiais. O presente estudo visa apresentar um caso real de uma grande empresa de autopeças na região de Curitiba, PR, que gasta milhões por ano em mudanças de Layout. O objeto de estudo é a linha de montagem de um determinado componente que esta empresa fabrica. Através do uso de Métodos Heurísticos propõe-se uma abordagem para a otimização do Layout desta linha de montagem. Esta abordagem foi dividida em duas etapas. Na primeira etapa, foi resolvido o problema de formação de células (visando melhorar os tempos computacionais, bem como a qualidade da solução), visando associar as máquinas disponíveis às peças a serem fabricadas. Na segunda etapa, resolve-se o problema de otimização do layout, considerando as associações de máquinas às peças feitas na primeira etapa. Nas duas etapas testou-se o uso de uma abordagem meta-heurística (busca tabu) híbrida, bem como o método exato denominado Branch-and-Bound (este na primeira etapa), para resolver o problema. Os resultados encontrados no arranjo físico das máquinas mostraram-se bastante promissores.
Nowadays, the manufacturing enterprises are constantly looking for costs reduction, driven by rivalry and competition, which are strong globalization characteristics. In the Toyota Production System (OHNO, 1988), are highlighted the seven wastes which can exist in a manufacturing process and that, consequently, generate costs to the product without, however, adding value to it. Some commonly found wastes are the work-in-process (WIP), raw material or finished products flow wastes. The layout study aims to optimize the layout of facilities inside a process to minimize, among others, the materials flow. This study aims to present a real case of a huge auto parts manufacturer enterprise located in Curitiba, PR, which spends millions a year on layout changes. The object of study is the assembly line of a specifical component that this company manufactures. Using Heuristic methods, it proposes an approach for the layout optimizing of this assembly line. This approach was divided in two stages: in the first one, the cell formation problem (in order to improve the computational time, as well as the solution quality) was solved in order to associate machines to parts. In the second stage, the layout optimizing problem is solved, considering the combination of machines to parts (made in first stage). In both stages the hybrid meta-heuristics approach (tabu search), as well as the Exact method so called Branch-and-Bound (this on first stage), were tested to solve this problem. The results found on layout of facilities were quite promising.

Aesthetic criticism very often has been overlooked and considered a lesser form. However, many interpretations, applications and discernments can be obtained from this kind of art writing. Using Osvaldo Sánchez's work as a case study, this thesis examines how writerly art criticism offers an active reading framework of the work of art by using philosophical, literary and poetic constructions. In this regard, I will see how the "writerly" condition has contributed compelling insights to the History of Aesthetics, highlighting the connections and disconnections between Sánchez and other writerly critics, which demonstrates the significance of developing a flexible, available and aesthetic learning model of art appreciation. I will analyze as well various models of experience, subjective and objective, that release certain "openness" as a premise for their existences. Here are included the Kantian sublime, Heidegger's ontological Being, the surrealist cultivation of chance, Kaprow's happenings, and the attitude of disinterest developed by the vanishing poets as defended by the scholar Rafael Hernández Rodríguez. I will show that, by choosing an accommodating approach to discover forms of knowledge, an assortment of valuable empirical content can be found. Finally, I investigate the writerly work of Cuban critic Osvaldo Sánchez that does not adopt a fixed critical pattern. Instead, Sánchez's art writing passes through fields, providing us with a heuristic methodology in which the aesthetic emerges not as a preconditioned set of principles/procedures, but as a true lived experience.

Current research on knowledge integration offers valuable structural analyses of factors that influence knowledge integration, performance outcomes, and knowledge integration mechanisms. Less attention has been paid to how knowledge integration is carried out over time in cross-functional development projects. This thesis is based on a year-long field study of an Information Systems Development Project. The study shows how the knowledge integration process was repeatedly interrupted by different problems that could not be resolved by merely relying on integration mechanisms that were imposed by the top management. Instead, a bottom-up dynamic evolved where the project members and participating project managers managed to reestablish coordination and knowledge integration through the invention of different ‘collective heuristics’. A novel model of Dynamic Knowledge Integration is presented which claims that knowledge integration contains two interplaying processes; one consisting of different knowledge integration mechanisms and activities, and one consisting of the collective heuristics that were invented and employed when unexpected problems emerged. In general, this research argues that knowledge integration can be understood as a dynamic process, of which both knowledge integration mechanisms and collective heuristics constitute core elements.
Aktuell forskning inom området kunskapsintegration erbjuder värdefulla strukturella analyser av påverkansfaktorer, prestationsutfall och mekanismer för kunskapsintegration. Mindre uppmärksamhet har riktats mot att förstå hur kunskapsintegration åstadkoms över tid i tvärfunktionella utvecklingsprojekt. Avhandlingen bygger på en ett år lång fältstudie av ett informationssystemutvecklingsprojekt. Studien visade att kunskapsintegrationsprocessen ideligen avbröts av olika problem som inte kunde lösas med de integrationsmekanismer som den högsta ledningen infört. Istället utvecklades en ”underifrån-dynamik” där projektmedlemmarna och de deltagande projektledarna lyckades återställa koordinering och kunskapsintegration genom skapandet av olika ”kollektiva heuristiker”. En ny modell för Dynamisk Kunskapsintegration presenteras som visar att kunskapsintegration inrymmer två samverkande processer; en som består av olika mekanismer och aktiviteter för kunskapsintegration och en som består av de kollektiva heuristikerna som uppfanns och användes när oväntade problem uppstod. Mer generellt visar denna forskning hur kunskapsintegration kan förstås som en process i vilken mekanismer och heuristiker utgör centrala element som båda behövs för att förklara processens dynamiska karaktär.

Individuals utilize heuristics in order to simplify problems, which may lead to biases in decision-making. The research question of this study is: “How does the affect heuristic impact the investment process of private equity decision-makers reviewing proposals?” Through an exploratory multi-case analysis, insight is provided into complex private equity decisions by studying biases in the investment process. This is a study of private equity groups’ (PEG) decision-making process when they consider businesses for investment. Qualitative data was generated from semi-structured interviews with twenty private equity decision-makers. The deliberative heuristics applied in the teaser review are learned from process experience and guide the deliberation on whether to proceed. Simplifying heuristics are applied in the more informal review process. Organizational learning was exhibited as the PEGs have modified their investment structures based on previous experiences. The study indicates that experience and learning lead to the construction of an affect heuristic that subsequently impacts investments. It also confirms the need for strategic decision-makers to recognize their own biases and adjust their processes accordingly. A significant practical implication of this study is the insight provided into the views of the PEG decision-makers as they anticipate the need to supplement the management team is helpful to business owners and their advisors. The study highlights the opportunities for biases in PEG decision-making processes. Accessing decision-makers at larger PEGs and approaching more middle market firms would broaden the results.

This Master's describes knownledge discovery from process logs by using process mining algorithms. Chosen algorithms are described in detail. These aim to create process model based on event log analysis. The goal is to design such components, which would be able to import the process and run the simulations. Results from components can be used for short term planning.

This thesis presents an exploration of how biases stemming from the use of heuristic-‐based reasoning processes influence the internationalisation decisions made by the leaders of Small and Medium-‐Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Three types of internationalisation decisions are specifically addressed in this thesis, namely foreign market selection, entry mode and foreign market exit. The empirical context is that of Scottish SMEs from three main industries, namely Environmental and Recycling, Oil and Gas, and Textiles. Each of the case firms is involved in value-‐adding activities across national borders. The theoretical context is that of internationalising SMEs. The thesis draws on three main strands of the internationalisation literature: the Transaction Cost Approach, the Process Theory of Internationalisation and the International New Venture (INV) approaches. In investigating the decisional processes involved in internationalisation, the thesis takes a Bounded Rationality stance and assumes the use of Heuristics-‐based reasoning (Tversky and Kahneman, 1974) in internationalisation decisions. The level of analysis is the individual decision maker within the internationalising firm. The unit of analysis is the internationalisation decision, which is explored from a reasoning process perspective. A case study strategy is used. Data collection tools are semi-‐structured interviews and repertory grid elicitation. The data is analysed inductively through the construction of causal-‐cognitive maps. Findings show that heuristics are a useful tool to explain the reasoning processes employed in internationalisation decisions. The contribution that this thesis makes to extant literature on the internationalisation of smaller firms is threefold. Firstly, the thesis outlines the processes involved in an array of internationalisation decisions (country selection, entry mode, exit decisions) underpinning the cross-‐national border behaviour of firms. Secondly, by observing the processes of decision-‐making through a cognitive lens, the thesis contributes to the emerging cognitive approach in internationalisation. Thirdly, the thesis contributes to the literature on international entrepreneurial experience by explaining how experiential and vicarious knowledge are leveraged and used in the process of internationalisation decision-‐making. III Propositions are advanced and further research is invited to progress current understanding of the making of internationalisation decisions in SMEs.

The aim of this research was to explore my personal experience of becoming an integrative psychotherapist using Moustakas' theory of heuristic enquiry to facilitate thematic analysis of my own reflective journals. There is currently no agreed-upon method for trainees to go about constructing an integrative philosophy of practice or to engage in personal development. The literature is inconclusive as to what best facilitates learning in therapist trainees, and there is a paucity of empirical research on psychotherapy training. The research on the manner in which integrative therapy is taught has not developed in line with progress made in theory and practice. Personal development has been found to be useful overall, however the means of accomplishing this has not been agreed upon. Reflective writing in the form of personal journaling has been put forward as an appropriate method, for both personal and professional development. My reflective journal constituted the data in this study. The data was analysed using thematic analysis within a heuristic design framework. Therefore, I was both the participant and the researcher in the study. Themes which manifested from the analysis of the reflective journal were around personal development, ('trainee anxiety' and 'procrastination and boredom anxiety') and professional development ('making sense of theoretical ambiguity', 'searching for a needle of truth in a post-modern haystack', 'axiomatic 'truth' as a means of facilitating integration', 'the practical application of illumination'). The utility of constructing an integrative framework and a common factor or an integrative axiom to facilitate theoretically consistent integrative practice were found to be of value in terms of both practice and training. The findings are discussed in terms of my personal experience of constructing an integrative theory of practice and the contribution my heuristic investigation of reflective writing can offer to integrative psychotherapy training. Reflective writing for professional development and development of an integrative theory of practice was found to have utility in my training and was proposed as a reliable method for future trainees to utilise. It was found to be less useful and ethical in terms of personal development. Personal and professional implications are discussed. Strengths of the current research cited are its trustworthiness in terms of the quantity of data gathered and the reliability of interpretation that came from the fact that the participant was also the researcher. Limitations of the research are noted as being its potential to be seen as overly subjective. Future research directions are outlined in the form of further qualitative research looking into self-esteem and therapy outcomes and comparisons of the experiences of training with and without a reflective component.

Orientador : Prof. Dr. José Carlos Korelo
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração. Defesa: Curitiba, 26/02/2016
Inclui referências : f.131-134
Área de concentração : Estratégia de marketing
Resumo: Esta dissertação verifica a influência da indisponibilidade do produto, da determinação da preferência prévia e do momento do pagamento na manutenção da implementação. Com base na literatura de metas de consumo, processo decisório e heurísticas de compra (mind-sets de deliberação e implementação), objetiva-se investigar a propensão dos consumidores em progredirem para a compra de itens subsequentes na condição de indisponibilidade do produto primário. Nesse sentido, o efeito da moderação da preferência previamente estipulada é mensurado. Ainda, por meio da moderação da condição de contorno da heurística de compra, o estudo analisa o momento em que o pagamento é realizado na interrupção das aquisições sequenciais. Três experimentos foram realizados, através dos quais as hipóteses propostas nesta pesquisa foram testadas. O primeiro (n =109) foi um fator único com duas condições (primeira compra: disponibilidade vs. indisponibilidade do produto driver) entre grupos. Os resultados mostram que, com a ausência do item primário, os consumidores possuem maior probabilidade de comprar o produto alvo. O segundo estudo (n = 243), analisa o efeito da moderação da preferência prévia do tipo 2 (disponibilidade vs. indisponibilidade do item driver) por 2 (preferência estipulada vs. não estipulada previamente) full factorial design, between subjects design. Os resultados das relações principais não replicaram o Estudo 1 para o grupo estoque nem para a moderação. Porém, é demonstrada a predominância da preferência prévia influenciando a propensão dos consumidores adquirirem o produto target. Em conjunto, os Estudos 1 e 2 comprovam que há maior probabilidade de compra do item target quando considerada a indisponibilidade do produto inicial por meio da busca de uma meta superior de compra. Ainda, o Estudo 2 demonstra o aumento da intenção de compras sequenciais, quando analisada a preferência estipulada em um conjunto de opções. Para o teste da condição de ruptura da implementação, o Estudo 3 (n = 56), do tipo 2 (disponibilidade vs. indisponibilidade do item driver) por 2 (pagamento único final vs. parcelado por compra) factorial design, between subjects, demonstra a tendência da ruptura das compras sequenciais com a moderação do pagamento parcelado, fazendo com que os consumidores retornem ao processo de deliberação com o início de um novo episódio de consumo. Esta pesquisa contribui com a literatura demonstrando maior probabilidade dos consumidores continuarem realizando as aquisições com a indisponibilidade do item inicial, por meio do efeito da preferência prévia estipulada e do momento da efetivação do pagamento com a continuidade das heurísticas de compra. Pesquisas futuras podem replicar os achados explorando o efeito da atratividade na intenção de compra e a interação das variáveis propostas. Destaca-se a possibilidade de validação do pagamento parcelado como forma de ruptura das heurísticas de compra e a consequente ruptura da implementação. Palavras-chave: Mind-set de implementação, preferência prévia estipulada, momento do pagamento, compras sequenciais.
Abstract: This dissertation verifies the influence of the unavailability of the product, the determination of prior preference and the time of payment in the maintenance of implementation. Based on the literature of consumption goals, decision-making process, and heuristics of buying process (deliberation and implementation mind-sets), aims to investigate the propensity of consumers to progress to the purchase of subsequent items in the condition of unavailability of the primary product. In this direction, the effect of moderating the preference previously stipulated is measured. Still, through the moderation of the boundary condition of purchase heuristics, the study analyzes the time of payment is made in the interruption of sequential acquisitions. Three experiments were conducted, by which the cases provided for in this study were tested. The first (n = 109) was a single factor with two conditions (first purchase: availability vs. unavailability of driver product) between groups. The results show that in the absence of the primary items, consumers are more likely to buy the target product. The second study (n = 243), analyzes the effect of moderating the previous preference type 2 (availability vs. unavailability of driver product) by 2 (preferably: stipulated vs. not stipulated) full factorial design, between subjects design. The results of the main relations not replicate Study 1 for the stock or moderation. However, it is demonstrated the predominance of the previous preference influencing the propensity of consumers to purchase the target product. Studies 1 and 2 show that consumers are more likely to purchase the target item when considering the unavailability of the initial product through the pursuit a higher purchase goal. Further, Study 2 demonstrates the increased intention to sequential purchases when analyzed the preference stipulated in a set of options. To test the implementation rupture condition, Study 3 (n = 56), type 2 (availability unavailability vs. driver item) by 2 (Single vs. final payment by installments purchase) factorial design, between subjects, demonstrates the tendency of the rupture the sequential purchases with the moderation of payment in installments, making consumers return to the deliberation process with the onset of a new episode of consumption. This research contributes to the literature demonstrating higher likelihood consumers to continue making purchases with the unavailability of the original item, through the effect of stipulated prior preference, and the time of the payment with the continuation of purchases. Further research may apply the findings to explore the effect of attractiveness on purchase intent and the interaction of variables proposed. We highlight the possibility of validation of payment in installments as a way to rupture the purchase of heuristics and the consequent disruption of implementation. Keywords: Implementation Mind-set, prior stipulated preference, the time of encashment, sequential purchases.

À partir des travaux développés pour la recherche de la conduite optimale d'un réacteur discontinu, nous avons développé une nouvelle stratégie pour la conduite optimale d'un procédé discontinu d'estérification par la minimisation d'un critère technico-économique. La mise en œuvre de ces systèmes réactionnels équilibrés nécessite une installation constituée par un réacteur, une colonne de distillation et un condensateur afin de déplacer l'équilibre chimique. Un modèle de tendance constitué par l'association de modèles détaillés et de relations phénoménologiques, visant à décrire au mieux le fonctionnement de chaque partie de l'installation, a été développé. La stratégie de la méthode consiste en un enrichissement des connaissances du comportement du système après chaque essai. Car une fois le modèle de tendance identifié, on cherche à déterminer un nouveau jeu de paramètres de conduite, qui rend minimal le critère technico-économique. On effectue l'essai expérimental correspondant, et puis on compare la valeur obtenue des critères. Par la suite en ajoutant aux anciens les résultats expérimentaux de ce nouvel essai, on procède de nouveau à l'identification du modèle de tendance en prenant en compte la totalité des essais. On détermine un nouveau jeu de paramètres de conduite par l'intermédiaire d'une nouvelle valeur minimale du critère. La démarche est poursuivie jusqu'à ce qu'il y ait convergence entre les critères. La mise en œuvre de la méthode du plan d'expérience a été réalisée afin de la comparer avec notre méthode heuristique. On a démarré cette méthode avec un plan 2³-¹ vers un plan 3³ et elle nous a permis de mettre en valeur certaines interactions entre les paramètres de conduite

Many high school and college composition students have misused formulaic organizational structures, most conspicuously the five-paragraph theme, as invention tools. This misappropriation comes from teacher and student tendencies to oversimplify both the processes of writing instruction and its practice into countable and inflexible forms. In order to help students move towards improved invention models that respond to the overall rhetorical situation, this dissertation offers two new models of invention, the x, y thesis and the argument guide models. Beginning at the invention stage and extending recursively to all stages of the writing process, these two heuristics help guide students towards informed and analytical choices that respectively build relationships between parts and encourage asymmetrical, content-driven extensions of ideas. These models, individually and collectively, assist students in their efforts to restore a balance between content and form because the models set the students’ invented content at the core of a nonlinear rhetorical action – the composition of an essay that involves all phases of process writing.

Den här studien syftade till att undersöka om mental arbetsbelastning kan påverka benägenhetenatt begå konjunktionsfelet vid sannolikhetsbedömningar, trots att man fått ledtrådarsom synliggjort konjunktionsregeln. Detta undersöktes med en experimentell mellangruppsdesign.I studien deltog 57 deltagare, varav 27 i experimentgruppen och 30 i kontrollgruppen.Deltagarna var i huvudsak studenter på universitetsnivå. Grupperna hade en jämn könsfördelning.Vad gäller ålder så var medelvärdet i kontrollgruppen 24.8 och medelvärdet i experimentgruppenvar 30.7. Samtliga deltagare fick utföra ett datorbaserat test. Båda gruppernastest bestod av sannolikhetsbedömningsuppgifter, felstavningsuppgifter, samt en tilläggsuppgiftdär deltagarna ombads ange om ett visst ord förekommit i tidigare fråga eller ej. Experimentbetingelseninnehöll dessutom en visuospatial arbetsminnesuppgift. Resultatet visade attmental arbetsbelastning inte ökade antalet konjunktionsfel vid sannolikhetsbedömningar dådeltagarna fått ledtrådar som synliggjort konjunktionsregeln. Slutsatsen visar att det inte behövervara mer resurskrävande för arbetsminnet att göra normativa bedömningar och att tillgodogörandetav konjunktionsregeln är robust mot mental arbetsbelastning. Framtida forskningskulle kunna undersöka vilken betydelse ett visst antal ledtrådar har för om tillgodogörandetav konjunktionsregeln påverkas av mental arbetsbelastning.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether mental workload can affect the tendency tocommit the conjunction fallacy in probability assessments, despite having read clues that exposethe conjunction rule. This was investigated with an experimental between-group design.In total, the study had 57 participants, whereof 27 in the experiment group and 30 in the controlgroup. The groups were equally balanced concerning sex. The average age in the controlgroup was 24.8 years compared to 30.7 years in the experiment group. All participants performeda computer-based test. Both groups’ test consisted of tasks with probability assessments,discovering misspelled words and an additional task about estimating whether a certainword had occurred during the previous task. The experimental condition also consisted ofa visuo-spatial working memory task. The result indicated that mental workload did not increasethe number of conjunction fallacies committed in probability assessments, given thatthe participants had read clues that expose the conjunction rule. From this result, the conclusionis drawn that normative judgments are not necessarily more demanding for the workingmemory, also that the utilization of the conjunction rule is resistant to mental workload. Futureresearch might investigate what impact a certain number of clues has for whether theutilization of the conjunction rule is affected by mental work load.

Multimodal container terminals are an important part of the logistics systems in international trade. Any improvement in the terminal efficiency is likely to reduce the costs of transporting goods, and to strengthen the trading position of the nation. During the import process, containers flow from ships to the storage yard for temporary storage and then are later moved to the hinterland by rail, or by road. The export process is the reverse of the import process. From the marshalling area, it is possible for a yard machine to carry an inbound container to the storage area and back with an inbound container in one round trip. This thesis investigates the inbound and outbound container process of multimodal container terminals in a multi-ship and multi-berth environment. The aim is to develop mathematical models and analytical tools for yard operation and planning. This study concerns the yardlayout, storage locations, operation strategies as well as the sequencing and scheduling of container process. Several models are developed for the scheduling of container process, taking account of planned and unplanned disruptions, and the intermediate buffer at the marshalling area. The problem is NP-hard and real-life problems often involve large number of containers. In addition, many schedules may not be feasible due to deadlock or violation of precedence-constraints. Good results were achieved on benchmark problems using the proposed innovative. In dealing with unplanned disruptions, reactive scheduling approach was found to give the results similar to as if the disruptions were planned in advance. Numerical investigations are also presented on various factors affecting the efficiency of seaport container terminals including the number of yard machines, and the number of quay crane. As with the various yard-layouts studied, it was found that containers are best stored in rows perpendicular to the quay-line with about 10 to 14 bays in each row. For a shorter ship service time, ideally the containers should be stored as close as possible to the ship. The best storage locations, however, are scarce resources and are not always available. Another model is developed for the best storage location as well as the best schedule for the container process. From an initial best schedule with predefined storage locations, the problem is solved by iterating through the refinement of storage scheme and re-scheduling. At a seaport terminal, ships are planned to arrive and leave within a scheduled time window. Nevertheless, a ship may arrive late due to poor weather conditions or disruptions at the previous port. Such delay may also affect its departure to the subsequent port. To minimise the impact of ship delays, port operators must consider alternate arrangements including re-assignment of berths, re-sequencing of ships and rescheduling of the container process. A ship delay model is developed and the problem is solved by combining branching and Tabu Search. The models developed in this thesis establish the relationship between significant factors and the options for increasing throughput by discovering the bottlenecks. The models are applicable as decision tools for operation planning, yard layout, and cost and benefit analysis for investment in infrastructures.

Multimodal container terminals are an important part of the logistics systems in international trade. Any improvement in the terminal efficiency is likely to reduce the costs of transporting goods, and to strengthen the trading position of the nation. During the import process, containers flow from ships to the storage yard for temporary storage and then are later moved to the hinterland by rail, or by road. The export process is the reverse of the import process. From the marshalling area, it is possible for a yard machine to carry an inbound container to the storage area and back with an inbound container in one round trip. This thesis investigates the inbound and outbound container process of multimodal container terminals in a multi-ship and multi-berth environment. The aim is to develop mathematical models and analytical tools for yard operation and planning. This study concerns the yardlayout, storage locations, operation strategies as well as the sequencing and scheduling of container process. Several models are developed for the scheduling of container process, taking account of planned and unplanned disruptions, and the intermediate buffer at the marshalling area. The problem is NP-hard and real-life problems often involve large number of containers. In addition, many schedules may not be feasible due to deadlock or violation of precedence-constraints. Good results were achieved on benchmark problems using the proposed innovative. In dealing with unplanned disruptions, reactive scheduling approach was found to give the results similar to as if the disruptions were planned in advance. Numerical investigations are also presented on various factors affecting the efficiency of seaport container terminals including the number of yard machines, and the number of quay crane. As with the various yard-layouts studied, it was found that containers are best stored in rows perpendicular to the quay-line with about 10 to 14 bays in each row. For a shorter ship service time, ideally the containers should be stored as close as possible to the ship. The best storage locations, however, are scarce resources and are not always available. Another model is developed for the best storage location as well as the best schedule for the container process. From an initial best schedule with predefined storage locations, the problem is solved by iterating through the refinement of storage scheme and re-scheduling. At a seaport terminal, ships are planned to arrive and leave within a scheduled time window. Nevertheless, a ship may arrive late due to poor weather conditions or disruptions at the previous port. Such delay may also affect its departure to the subsequent port. To minimise the impact of ship delays, port operators must consider alternate arrangements including re-assignment of berths, re-sequencing of ships and rescheduling of the container process. A ship delay model is developed and the problem is solved by combining branching and Tabu Search. The models developed in this thesis establish the relationship between significant factors and the options for increasing throughput by discovering the bottlenecks. The models are applicable as decision tools for operation planning, yard layout, and cost and benefit analysis for investment in infrastructures.

The focus of this thesis is mainly on the area of human decision making. During the decision process we are subjected to several influences, which bias our judgement. Therefore, we may be misguided towards wrong decisions. In addition, it is important that the display of distorted influence is regularly repeated with the same persons. Thus, we may assume that we are talking about a universal apparatus of the human mind. The aim of this thesis is also to identify the above-mentioned influences, and mainly to understand the nature of their origin. The knowledge resulting from the research could become important and useful tool for the reader, since the knowledge may be used for the improvement of our own decisions in both private and professional life. The research is based on interdisciplinary approaches to cognitive science. On one hand we use the functional model of mind, on the other hand we utilize a wide range of empirical data from several fields, such as psychology, behavioral economics and the sciences concerned with the brain. Using these tools, we analyze specific influences, which are considered to be important from the point of view of decision making. They are for example feelings, emotions, social influences, language, self, experience, expectations and prior forms of judgement. Based on the analysis of the influences, hypotheses about their interconnectedness are deduced. Finally, we suggest several practical methods, which should help us to improve our own decision making and help us to avoid wrong conclusions.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção.
Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-20T16:44:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 191583.pdf: 919030 bytes, checksum: 783efbcaead9a0ff20d51d084b6ce6d0 (MD5)
A maioria dos contextos decisórios envolvendo múltiplos decisores procuram construir um único modelo para representar as percepções de todo o grupo a respeito de uma situação problemática. Entretanto, de acordo com uma visão construtivista, um problema pertence a uma pessoa, ele é uma interpretação feita por um indivíduo a respeito de um evento. Este trabalho propõe uma nova heurística de apoio à decisão que visa auxiliar os decisores a ordenar e escolher alternativas que se constituem nas possíveis soluções de um problema. Tal heurística segue uma abordagem construtivista, pois leva em consideração a interpretação individual (problema) de cada decisor do grupo. Assim, um modelo multicritério é construído para cada decisor, a heurística de apoio à decisão é aplicada, gerando uma ordenação das alternativas, o grupo discute os resultados fornecidos pela heurística e então uma conclusão final para a situação problemática é alcançada. Para testar a aplicabilidade desta heurística, foi utilizado um experimento de campo. Ao final da tese, são apresentadas as conclusões em relação à aplicação da heurística e sugestões para futuros trabalhos na área.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Sócio-Econômico, Programa de Pós-graduação em Contabilidade, Florianópolis, 2009
Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-24T07:42:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 270113.pdf: 867761 bytes, checksum: a34c541479a24cda5b48658feab55c59 (MD5)
O presente estudo reporta-se a uma pesquisa descritiva, envolvendo a heurística da Ancoragem e a Tomada de Decisão sob Risco. Heurística pode ser definida como um conjunto de regras e métodos que conduzem à resolução de problemas, e muitas vezes limitam ou distorcem a capacidade das pessoas tomarem decisões racionais (MACEDO, 2003). Atalhos mentais demonstram uma violação aos axiomas da TUE. Assim, a utilização da heurística da Ancoragem demonstra que as pessoas tendem a fazer estimativas ancoradas em um valor inicial, o qual é ajustado para produzir uma decisão final. Este trabalho objetiva investigar a influência da heurística da Ancoragem na tomada de decisão dos corretores profissionais em investimentos imobiliários. A investigação ocorreu por meio de testes estatísticos, baseados nas pesquisas de Jacowitz e Kahneman (1995), envolvendo o efeito da heurística da Ancoragem e estimativas de avaliações imobiliárias, Northcraft e Neale (1987). Os resultados do presente estudo sugerem, por meio dos cálculos do IA - Índice de Ancoragem, que as pessoas, menos confiantes em suas estimativas, tendem a "ancorar" mais do que as altamente confiantes. O IA geral das estimativas com baixo grau de confiança dos grupos experimentais encontrado é de 0,3281. A correlação entre as estimativas transformadas e a confiança indicada pelos corretores profissionais (grupo exposto à âncora baixa, r = 0,025; grupo exposto à âncora alta, r = -0,038.) sugeriu que a susceptibilidade à ancoragem está associada a uma baixa confiança. E que, existe ainda, uma tendência de que as avaliações-estimativas, mais significativamente afetadas por uma âncora, são feitas relativamente com menos confiança. Todavia, por meio do Teste-t, pôde-se inferir que ambos os grupos experimentais sofreram influência das âncoras (t= 3,318, p<0.05 para um N=62), contudo não foram igualmente influenciados. Assim, os efeitos da âncora baixa parecem mais pronunciados, significativos. Outra medida dos efeitos das âncoras foi verificada por meio dos valores extremos. No presente estudo foram encontrados os seguintes valores percentuais: a) percentual de valores extremos do grupo de calibragem = 25%; b) percentual de valores extremos para âncora baixa = 6,45% e, c) percentual de valores extremos para âncora alta = 12,90%. Estes resultados demonstraram que questões não quantitativas influenciam as pessoas mesmo antes que elas façam estimativas numéricas. Os efeitos da Ancoragem foram maiores no grupo experimental que foi exposto à âncora baixa, AI = 0,41. Resultado que permite inferir que as medianas das estimativas deste grupo se moveram mais de 40% em direção à âncora. Por fim, os efeitos e a influência da heurística da Ancoragem em investimentos imobiliários são notórios, contudo, não são extraordinariamente grandes.

The farm to school movement is partially supported by unofficial actors in the policymaking process who promote legislation to encourage activities such as local procurement, school gardening, and agricultural education. However, farm to school legislation can vary in its level of effectiveness and implementation throughout the United States. Research shows that Virginia has a low level of support and advocacy for farm to school activities when compared to other states. Unofficial actors, such as advocates, producers, and school nutrition professionals are uniquely qualified to identify challenges, opportunities, and suggestions on improving the policymaking process, due to their experiences with farm to school. This study addressed a gap in scholarly literature as there is limited research on the role that unofficial actors play in promoting farm to school during the legislative process. In this qualitative, case-study, the Stages Heuristic Model was used as a theoretical framework to explore unofficial actors' experiences as they participate in the agenda-setting and policy formulation stages of policy cycle in the Northern Virginia Region. The findings uncovered experiences that unofficial actors believed either prevented or made their engagement in policymaking more challenging. Opportunities and successes during these stages of advocacy were also examined. Further, participants provided suggestions to all policymaking actors to improve the process in the future. Key findings revealed the importance of themes such as collaboration, connectedness, and relationship building in the policymaking process. Additionally, unofficial actors generally found success in the "small wins'' of advocacy, such as increasing farm to school awareness, as opposed to more extensive legislative outcomes.
The farm to school movement is partially supported by active citizens in the policymaking process who promote legislation to encourage activities such as purchasing local foods, school gardening, and agricultural education. However, farm to school legislation can vary in its level of effectiveness and implementation throughout the United States. Research shows that Virginia has a low level of political advocacy for farm to school activities when compared to other states. Individuals such as advocates, farmers, and school nutrition professionals are uniquely qualified to identify challenges, opportunities, and suggestions on improving the policymaking process, due to their experiences with farm to school. This study addressed a gap in the academic community as there is limited research on the role these individuals play in promoting farm to school during the legislative process. In this study, a policymaking model was used as a foundation to explore individuals' experiences as they participate in the farm to school legislative process in the Northern Virginia Region. The findings uncovered experiences that respondents believed either prevented or made their engagement in policymaking more challenging. Opportunities and successes during these stages were also examined. Further, respondents provided suggestions to all policymakers for improving the process in the future. Key findings revealed the importance of collaboration, connectedness, and relationship building in the policymaking process. Additionally, respondents generally found success in "small wins," such as increasing farm to school awareness, as opposed to more extensive legislative outcomes.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-13T14:10:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Caroline de Andrea Picolli.pdf: 3118070 bytes, checksum: 3205a40c321003097e540fadeacc88ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-02
The market requires decision making increasingly rapid and consistent. The technology has put the world connected in real-time: people, markets, exchanges and information. In agribusiness decisions depend on uncontrollable variables like: exchange rate, price, climate and environmental conditions. In this context of pressure and speed that the individual uses a process of simplifying decision making, using shortcuts to simplify the cognitive process (heuristics), which in turn can lead to errors (biase). In hedonic perspective taking decision to purchase a product is based on the set of attributes of each product, which in turn have different capacities to provide the benefits and satisfy a need. And these attributes are evaluated by their values, beliefs or past experiences of individuals. Thus for the study of decision making regarding herbicide rancher for grazing in Brazil was based on three grounds: attributes through the utility function that has a more economical approach (LANCASTER, 1971) given an emphasis on the attribute country of origin, the heuristics and biases that has a psychological approach ( HASTIE; DAWES , 2001) , and the third the values prevalent in cattle ranchers , also with a psychological approach ( HOMER; KAHLE, 1988, HG, 1982) . The methodology has two steps with the first qualitative approach using three methods: TCIP, Laddering and conjoint analysis. The second step has the data collection through an online survey with 75 farmers. To analyse the data were used factorial analysis and cluster analysis. At the end based on all the results we propose a model of farmer decision making regarding herbicide grassland in Brazil that includes: values, heuristics and biases prevalent; attributes that make up the image of the herbicide, the set of preferred attributes and sue respective levels, the resulting factors of decision making, as well as segments of ranchers.
O mercado exige tomadas de decisões cada vez mais rápidas e consistentes. A tecnologia colocou o mundo inteiro conectado em tempo real: as pessoas, os mercados, bolsas de valores e informações. No negócio agropecuário as decisões dependem ainda de variáveis incontroláveis como taxa cambial, preço, condições climáticas e ambientais. É neste contexto por pressão e agilidade que o indivíduo se utiliza de um processo de simplificação na tomada de decisão, utilizando atalhos para simplificar o processo cognitivo (heurísticas), que por sua vez podem induzir a erros (vieses). Na perspectiva hedônica a tomada de decisão de compra de um produto ocorre com base no conjunto de atributos de cada produto, que por sua vez possuem capacidades diferentes de prestar os benefícios anunciados e satisfazer uma necessidade. E estes atributos são avaliados por seus valores, crenças ou experiências passadas dos indivíduos. Desta forma este trabalho tem como objetivo caracterizar a tomada de decisão do pecuarista quanto ao herbicida para pastagem no Brasil. Para isso, o estudo se baseia em três fundamentos: atributos por meio da função utilidade que possui uma abordagem econômica (LANCASTER, 1971) com ênfase no atributo país de origem; as heurísticas e vieses que possui uma abordagem psicológica (HASTIE; DAWES, 2001); e os valores predominantes nos pecuaristas, também com uma abordagem psicológica (HOMER; KAHLE, 1988; GUTMAN, 1982). A metodologia possui duas etapas sendo a primeira com abordagem qualitativa que usa três métodos: TCIP, Laddering e Análise conjunta. E a segunda etapa a coleta é através de uma survey online com 75 pecuaristas e como análise dos dados são feitas análise descritiva, fatorial e de aglomerados. Ao final, com base em todos os resultados, propõe-se um modelo de tomada de decisão do pecuarista quanto ao herbicida para pastagem no Brasil que contempla: valores; heurísticas e vieses predominantes; atributos que configuram a imagem do herbicida; conjunto dos atributos preferenciais e seus respectivos níveis; os consequentes fatores da tomada de decisão; assim como os segmentos de pecuaristas.

Déterminer des clusters dans des nuages de points et apparier des graphes sont des tâches primordiales en informatique, analyse de donnée, traitement d’image, généralement modélisées par des problèmes d’optimisation de classe NP-difficile. Avec l’avènement des multiprocesseurs à bas coût, l’accélération des procédures heuristiques pour ces tâches devient possible et nécessaire. Nous proposons des implantations parallèles sur système GPU (graphics processing unit) pour des algorithmes génériques appliqués ici à la segmentation d’image en superpixels et au problème du flot optique. Le but est de fournir des algorithmes génériques basés sur des structures de données décentralisées et aisément adaptables à différents problèmes d’optimisation sur des graphes et plateformes parallèles.Les algorithmes parallèles proposés sur GPU incluent le classique k-means et le calcul de forêt couvrante minimum pour la segmentation en superpixels. Ils incluent également un algorithme de recherche locale parallèle et un algorithme mémétique à base de population de solutions appliqués à l’estimation du flot optique via des appariements de superpixels. Tandis que les opérations sur les données exploitent le GPU, l’algorithme mémétique opère en tant que coalition de processus exécutés en parallèle sur le CPU multi-cœur et requérant des ressources GPU. Les images sont des nuages de points de l’espace euclidien 3D (domaine espace-intensité), et aussi des graphes auxquels sont associés des grilles de processeurs. Les kernels GPU exécutent des transformations en parallèle sous contrôle du CPU qui a un rôle réduit de détection des conditions d’arrêt et de séquencement des transformations.La contribution présentée est composée de deux grandes parties. Dans une première partie, nous présentons des outils pour la segmentation en superpixels. Une implémentation parallèle de l’algorithme des k-means est présentée et appliquée aux données 3D. Elle est basée sur une subdivision cellulaire de l’espace 3D qui permet des recherches de plus proche voisin en parallèle en temps optimal constant pour des distributions bornées. Nous présentons également une application de l’algorithme parallèle de calcul de forêt couvrante de Boruvka à la segmentation superpixel de type ligne de partage-des-eaux (watershed). Dans une deuxième partie, en se basant sur les superpixels générés, des procédures parallèles de mise en correspondance sont dérivées pour l’estimation du flot optique avec prise en compte des discontinuités. Ces méthodes incluent des heuristiques de construction et d’amélioration, telles que le winner-take-all et la recherche locale parallèle, et leur intégration dans une métaheuristique à base de population. Diverses combinaisons d’exécution sont présentées et évaluées en comparaison avec des algorithmes de l’état de l’art performants
Finding clusters in point clouds and matching graphs to graphs are recurrent tasks in computer science domain, data analysis, image processing, that are most often modeled as NP-hard optimization problems. With the development and accessibility of cheap multiprocessors, acceleration of the heuristic procedures for these tasks becomes possible and necessary. We propose parallel implantation on GPU (graphics processing unit) system for some generic algorithms applied here to image superpixel segmentation and image optical flow problem. The aim is to provide generic algorithms based on standard decentralized data structures to be easy to improve and customized on many optimization problems and parallel platforms.The proposed parallel algorithm implementations include classical k-means algorithm and application of minimum spanning forest computation for super-pixel segmentation. They include also a parallel local search procedure, and a population-based memetic algorithm applied to optical flow estimation based on superpixel matching. While data operations fully exploit GPU, the memetic algorithm operates like a coalition of processes executed in parallel on the multi-core CPU and requesting GPU resources. Images are point clouds in 3D Euclidean space (space-gray value domain), and are also graphs to which are assigned processor grids. GPU kernels execute parallel transformations under CPU control whose limited role only consists in stopping criteria evaluation or sequencing transformations.The presented contribution contains two main parts. Firstly, we present tools for superpixel segmentation. A parallel implementation of the k-means algorithm is presented with application to 3D data. It is based on a cellular grid subdivision of 3D space that allows closest point findings in constant optimal time for bounded distributions. We present an application of the parallel Boruvka minimum spanning tree algorithm to compute watershed minimum spanning forest. Secondly, based on the generated superpixels and segmentation, we derive parallel optimization procedures for optical flow estimation with edge aware filtering. The method includes construction and improvement heuristics, as winner-take-all and parallel local search, and their embedding into a population-based metaheuristic framework. The algorithms are presented and evaluated in comparison to state-of-the-art algorithms

This study develops a heuristic procedure for specifying parameters for a neural network configuration (learning rate, momentum, and the number of neurons in a single hidden layer) in Shewhart X-bar control chart applications. Also, this study examines the replicability of the neural network solution when the neural network is retrained several times with different initial weights.

Este trabalho destina-se a realizar um estudo dos efeitos da heurística da ancoragem em estimativas numéricas, e esta fundamentado em pressupostos teóricos apresentados por Amos Tversky e Daniel Kahneman em um estudo seminal de 1974. Sendo assim, este trabalho tem por objetivo examinar quais os efeitos da heurística da ancoragem nas estimativas numéricas sob a perspectiva da avaliação de bens de consumo. Os objetivos específicos foram testar o método proposto por Jacowitz e Kahneman (1995) para a mensuração dos efeitos da ancoragem em estimativas de quantidades incertas e comparar os resultados deste estudo, com os resultados dos trabalhos realizados anteriormente nesta área em outros países. O método utilizado segue as etapas propostas por Jacowitz e Kahneman (1995). Os resultados indicaram que, embora, novos experimentos sejam necessários para um avanço no entendimento de como a ancoragem pode influenciar o processo decisório de consumo, a confirmação da manifestação dos efeitos da ancoragem na estimação de quantidades incertas no experimento 1, e dos preços de diferentes produtos e serviços no experimento 2, numa avaliação do grupo total de participantes da pesquisa, foi a principal contribuição deste trabalho, além de seus resultados corroborarem com os resultados encontrados em estudos similares realizados em outros países, revelando que, no contexto brasileiro, também se observam os efeitos da ancoragem. Além disso, os resultados estendem a pesquisa dos efeitos da ancoragem na estimação do preço de produtos e serviços, e contribui para um melhor entendimento do comportamento do consumidor. Especificamente, o experimento 2 fornece novas percepções relativas aos estudos da ancoragem e indica como um número arbitrário apresentado a um indivíduo pode alterar o seu julgamento, quanto ao preço de um produto ou serviço. Deste modo, esses resultados sugerem que, em vez de dependerem de um enfoque mais passivo na estimação do valor de um produto para os compradores em potencial, e fixarem um preço de acordo com os métodos tradicionais de precificação, os varejistas podem adotar um papel mais ativo na determinação dos preços de determinados produtos, baseados na análise de fatores subjetivos que afetam os julgamentos de preços dos consumidores.
This research paper aims to study the effects of anchoring heuristic in numerical estimates, based on the theoretical presuppositions presented in the seminal work of Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in 1974. The purpose of this work is hence to examine what effects of anchoring heuristic has in numerical estimates for an assessment of consumer goods. The specific objectives were to test the method suggested by Jacowitz and Kahneman (1995) to measure the anchoring effects in estimates of uncertain quantities and compare the results of this study with those of surveys previously conducted in this field in other countries. The method used follows the steps suggested by Jacowitz and Kahneman (1995). The results indicated that, although new experiments are necessary to further understand how the anchoring is likely to influence the consumer decision process, the confirmed appearance of the anchoring effects on the estimate of uncertain quantities in experiment 1, and the prices of different products and services in experiment 2, in an overall group assessment of those who participated in the research, was the main contribution to this work, besides the fact that its results corroborated the results found in similar studies conducted in other countries, thereby revealing that the anchoring effects are also observed in the Brazilian context. Moreover, the results broaden the research on the anchoring effects when estimating product and service prices, and contribute to a better grasp of consumer behaviour. Experiment 2, more specifically, supplies new perceptions as to surveys on anchoring and reveals how an arbitrary number presented to an individual can change their judgement as to the price of a product or service. Hence, the results suggest that instead of having to concentrate more passively on a value estimate of a product for potential buyers and fixing a price according to traditional pricing methods, retailers may adopt a more active role when fixing the price of specific products, based on the analysis of subjective factors that affect the consumer’s judgement on prices.

The schedule for the jobs in a real-time system can have a huge impact on how the system behave. Since real-time systems are common in safety applications it is important that the scheduling is done in a valid way. Furthermore, one can enhance the performance of the applications by minimizing data latency and jitter. A challenge is that jobs in real-time systems usually have complex constraints making it too time consuming to minimize data latency and jitter to optimality. The purpose of this report is to investigate the possibility of creating high quality schedules using heuristics, with the goal to keep the computational time under one minute. This will be done by comparing three different algorithms that will be used on real scheduling instances provided by the company Arcticus. The first algorithm is a greedy heuristic, the second one a local search and the third one is a metaheuristic, simulated annealing. The results indicate that the data latency can be reduced whilst keeping the computational time below one minute.