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Events for November

  • Modeling Discretion, Knowledge and Coordination in Professional Service Systems

    Tue, Nov 03, 2009

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    INFORMATION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT, Marshall School of Business, Operations Management, PresentsSeyed M. R. Iravani, Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern UniversityFriday, November 20, 2009, Hoffman Hall 306, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM"Modeling Discretion, Knowledge and Coordination in Professional Service Systems"ABSTRACT: The American economy has been shifting away from traditional manufacturing activities and toward service and professional functions. In the early 1900s, only three out of ten workers in the United States were working in the service sector. By 1950, this number was five out of ten. More than forty million new jobs have been created in the service sector in the last thirty years. Today, the service sector employs eight out of every ten workers in the United States, and accounts for approximately 70 percent of U.S. national income. While in some service operations tasks are routine and well-defined, in others, which we call professional service systems, tasks are not routine; they are knowledge-intensive, they depend on worker's discretion, and they require a high level of coordination. In this talk we focus on these three features of professional service systems. We show that introducing discretion in task completion adds a fourth variability buffer, i.e., quality, to the well-known variability buffers of capacity, inventory, and time. In the second part of the talk we develop a modeling framework that includes the knowledge of the worker into the decision process and introduce a new class of networks: knowledge-based decision-flow networks. These networks allow us to evaluate the simultaneous impact of decision-making and task processing on the performance of some professional service systems. Finally, we focus on the issue of coordination in large professional service systems. Specifically, we develop a new approach to characterizing the lack of coordination between product architecture and organizational interactions in the vehicle development process of a large U.S. auto manufacturer. BIO: Seyed Iravani is an associate professor in the department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences at Northwestern University. He got his PhD from University of Toronto, and worked as postdoctoral fellow in the Industrial and Operations Engineering department at the University of Michigan. He has been working with GM, Ford, Cisco, Motorola, Feeding America, and Mobile CARE among others on several projects related to the design and control issues of manufacturing and service operation systems and non-profit supply chains. His research interests are in the applications of stochastic processes and queueing theory in production and service operations and supply chains. He has served as Associate Editor for Management Science, IIE Transactions, and Navel Research Logistics. Currently he is the Department Editor for Service Operations Engineering for IIE Transactions and Associate Editor for Operations Research.

    Location: Hoffman Hall 306

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Network Models and Optimization: Multiobjective Hybrid GA Approach

    Thu, Nov 05, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    DANIEL J. EPSTEIN DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SEMINARTitle: "Network Models and Optimization: Multiobjective Hybrid GA Approach"Guest Speaker: Mitsuo Gen, PhD, Fuzzy Logic Systems Institute, Iizuka, Japan, gen@flsi.or.jpDate/Time/Place: Thursday, November 5, 2009, 3:30–4:50 PM, Andrus Gerontology Building (GER) Room 309ABSTRACT: Network models provide a useful way for modeling various real world problems and are extensively used in many different types of systems: Mechanical, Electronic, Communications, Manufacturing and Logistics areas. Network design optimization is basically a fundamental issue in various fields, including Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Management, and Operations Research. Network models and design optimization for various Routing/Scheduling problems in Transportation, Communication, Manufacturing and Logistics systems also provide a useful way as one of case studies in real world problems and are extensively used in practice.
    Genetic and Evolutionary Algorithms in AI (Artificial Intelligence) technique have recently received a considerable attention because of its potential of being a very effective design optimization technique for solving various NP hard problems and complex Information Processing, Manufacturing and Logistics systems.
    The Tutorial introduces a thorough treatment of Multiobjective Hybrid Genetic Algorithms (moh-GA) to treat the following network optimization problems based on the book, M. Gen, R. Cheng & L. Lin: "Network Models and Optimization: Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm Approach", 710pp, Springer, London, 2008:Part 1. Shortest Path Routing ModelsPart 2. MST (Minimum Spanning Tree)-based Network ModelsPart 3. AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicle) Network Model in FMS BIO: Dr. Mitsuo Gen is a Visiting Scientist at Fuzzy Logic Systems Institute, Iizuka, Japan since Aug. 2009 and was a Visiting Prof. at Pohang University of Science & Technology (Sept. 2008 - Feb. 2009) and joined as a Professor at Graduate School of Information, Production and Systems, Waseda University, Japan since April 2003. He received a PhD in Engineering from Kogakuin University in 1974 and PhD in Informatics from Kyoto University in 2006. He was a Lecturer during 1974–1980, an Associate Professor during 1980–1987, a Professor during 1987–2003 at Ashikaga Institute of Technology. He was a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA in 1981–1982 and a Visiting Professor at University of California at Berkeley, USA from Aug. 1999 to March 2000. His research interests include Genetic & Evolutionary Algorithms, Artificial Neural Network, Fuzzy Logic & Systems and their applications to scheduling, network design, system reliability design, etc. He has authored several books, such as Genetic Algorithms and Engineering Design, John Wiley & Sons, New York (1997), Genetic Algorithms and Engineering Optimization, John Wiley & Sons, New York (2000) with Dr. R. Cheng and Network Models and Optimization: Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm Approach, Springer, London (2008) with Dr. R. Cheng and Dr. L. Lin, edited Intelligent and Evolutionary Systems, 240pp, Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol. 187, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg (2009) by Dr. M. Gen et al. and published many papers in network design and optimization area from international journals.

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • ISE/PPF 508: Health Care Operations Improvement Guest Lecture

    Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 06:30 PM - 08:00 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    DANIEL J. EPSTEIN DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SEMINARISE/PPF 508: Health Care Operations Improvement Guest LectureSpeaker: Ray Hino, CEO of Mendocino Coast District Hospital. Mr. Hino will discuss Mendocino Coast District Hospital's efforts in terms of telemedicine, robots (they have one), balanced scorecards, hospital productivity, facility layout and benchmarking. Regarding robots: http://www.mcdh.org/telemedicine-robot-allows-patient-to-recuperate-locally/ . Mr. Hino is a graduate of the USC Master of Health Administration program. He is on the national board of the American Hospital Association, past head of the California Rural Hospital association and a leader in many health care organizations. He has led his hospital to become one of nation's First 'Healing Hospitals.' See http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS210603+20-Oct-2009+PRN20091020 .All are welcome.Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 6:30 PM, Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) 120 DEN Studio C

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 120, Studio C

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Modeling Discretion, Knowledge and Coordination in Professional Service Systems

    Fri, Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    INFORMATION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT, Marshall School of Business, Operations Management, PresentsSeyed M. R. Iravani, Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern UniversityFriday, November 20, 2009, Hoffman Hall 306, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM"Modeling Discretion, Knowledge and Coordination in Professional Service Systems"ABSTRACT: The American economy has been shifting away from traditional manufacturing activities and toward service and professional functions. In the early 1900s, only three out of ten workers in the United States were working in the service sector. By 1950, this number was five out of ten. More than forty million new jobs have been created in the service sector in the last thirty years. Today, the service sector employs eight out of every ten workers in the United States, and accounts for approximately 70 percent of U.S. national income. While in some service operations tasks are routine and well-defined, in others, which we call professional service systems, tasks are not routine; they are knowledge-intensive, they depend on worker's discretion, and they require a high level of coordination. In this talk we focus on these three features of professional service systems. We show that introducing discretion in task completion adds a fourth variability buffer, i.e., quality, to the well-known variability buffers of capacity, inventory, and time. In the second part of the talk we develop a modeling framework that includes the knowledge of the worker into the decision process and introduce a new class of networks: knowledge-based decision-flow networks. These networks allow us to evaluate the simultaneous impact of decision-making and task processing on the performance of some professional service systems. Finally, we focus on the issue of coordination in large professional service systems. Specifically, we develop a new approach to characterizing the lack of coordination between product architecture and organizational interactions in the vehicle development process of a large U.S. auto manufacturer. BIO: Seyed Iravani is an associate professor in the department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences at Northwestern University. He got his PhD from University of Toronto, and worked as postdoctoral fellow in the Industrial and Operations Engineering department at the University of Michigan. He has been working with GM, Ford, Cisco, Motorola, Feeding America, and Mobile CARE among others on several projects related to the design and control issues of manufacturing and service operation systems and non-profit supply chains. His research interests are in the applications of stochastic processes and queueing theory in production and service operations and supply chains. He has served as Associate Editor for Management Science, IIE Transactions, and Navel Research Logistics. Currently he is the Department Editor for Service Operations Engineering for IIE Transactions and Associate Editor for Operations Research.

    Location: Hoffman Hall 306

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Jump-Diffusion Risk-Sensitive Asset Management

    Fri, Nov 20, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    Math Finance Colloquium and Probability/Statistics Seminar "Jump-Diffusion Risk-Sensitive Asset Management"Prof. Mark H.A Davis, Imperial College LondonThis paper considers a portfolio optimization problem in which asset prices are represented by SDEs driven by Brownian motion and a Poisson random measure, with drifts that are functions of an auxiliary diffusion 'factor' process. The criterion, following earlier work by Bielecki, Pliska, Nagai and others, is risk-sensitive optimization (equivalent to maximizing the expected growth rate subject to a constraint on variance.) By using a change of measure technique introduced by Kuroda and Nagai we show that the problem reduces to solving a certain stochastic control problem in the factor process, which has no jumps.The main result of the paper is that the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation for this problem has a classical solution. The proof uses Bellman's "policy improvement" method together with results on linear parabolic PDEs due to Ladyzhenskaya et al. This is joint work with Sebastien Lleo.BIO: Mark Davis is currently a Professor of Mathematics at Imperial College London, specializing in stochastic analysis and financial mathematics, in particular in credit risk models, pricing in incomplete markets and stochastic volatility. He also acts as a consultant to Hanover Square Capital Partners, a newly-founded capital markets company. From
    1995-1999 he was Head of Research and Product Development at Tokyo-Mitsubishi International, leading a front-office group providing pricing models and risk analysis for fixed-income, equity and credit-related products. Prof. Davis holds a PhD from the University of California Berkeley and is the author of three books on stochastic analysis and optimization. He was a founding co-editor of the journal Mathematical Finance (1990-93) and is currently an associate editor of Quantitative Finance. He was awarded the Naylor Prize in Applied Mathematics by the London Mathematical Society in 2002.FRIDAY, November 20, 2009, 3:30-4:30 PM, KAPRIELIAN HALL ROOM 414

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 414

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Mortgage Portfolio Analytics and the Underwater Refinance Solution

    Mon, Nov 30, 2009 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    MATHEMATICAL FINANCE COLLOQUIUMTitle: "Mortgage Portfolio Analytics and the Underwater Refinance Solution"Speaker: Jason Thalken, PhD, VP, Portfolio Retention Analytics and Centralized Sales, Bank of America Home LoansABSTRACT: While home prices rose rapidly from 2000 through 2006, lending practices throughout the mortgage industry adapted to maintain affordability for aspiring homeowners. From 2004 through 2007, many borrowers financed their homes with interest-only or negatively amortizing loans in order to minimize their monthly payment. As home prices fall and these loans begin to reset into higher amortizing monthly payments, there exists a high probability of foreclosure for this population. This presentation will provide a mathematical perspective and introduction to the industry, as well as an introduction to one possible solution for borrowers facing this unfortunate scenario: The Underwater Refinance Solution (patent pending).MONDAY, 11/30/09, 2:30-3:30 PM, KAP 414

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 414

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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