Management Science and Engineering

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This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Management Science and Engineering.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 367

Acceptance of a Remote Desktop Access System to Increase Workspace Awareness
(University of Waterloo, 2000) Williams, Jennifer
Awareness systems are being designed and implemented to improve employee connections. This study examines the variables that affect the acceptance of an awareness system. The awareness system that was used for this research was a remote desktop access system. The independent variables investigated were the degree of detail that can be viewed on a desktop, whether the users can control who can access their desktops, whether the users can control when others have access to their desktops, the equality of access to others' desktops, and task-technology fit. In determining the effect of the independent variables on acceptance, the dependent variable, the mediating variables of privacy and fairness were taken into account. There was a preliminary survey conducted to determine appropriate situations to be used in the scenario descriptions for the survey for the main study. The methodology of policy-capturing surveys was utilized to conduct the survey for the main study in order to investigate the model developed in this study. The policy-capturing survey was pre-tested on University of Waterloo students. The main study was conducted in two different organizations, the subjects for the first study were employees from the Information Systems and Technology Department at the University of Waterloo and the subjects for the second study were employees from Ciber Incorporated. Results indicate that perceptions of privacy and perceptions of fairness have significant effects on acceptance. Also, perceptions of privacy and fairness are related to details in the design of the remote desktop access system. This research may be a contribution to this field since little research has been conducted in this area and implications can be drawn for future research on acceptance of awareness systems.
Access to Government Micro-data for SME Internationalization Research
(University of Waterloo, 2012-02-10T20:36:40Z) Niroui, Fariba
International entrepreneurship (IE) is “a combination of innovative, proactive and risk-seeking behaviour that crosses national borders and is intended to create value in organizations”. The IE literature has been concerned with entrepreneurial behaviour in multiple countries and cross-border studies of entrepreneurship and international activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Due to the potential for SMEs to serve as significant sources of export, considerable research has been conducted regarding their internationalization. However, despite attempts to integrate concrete frameworks of international entrepreneurship, some primary issues have not been adequately addressed and IE researchers are faced with challenges including insufficient micro-data for advancing quality research. The main objective of this thesis is to study and explore the limitations on researchers to access governmental data regarding small firms operating internationally and use it for scientific purposes. Despite company data being compiled and publicly available in some countries, such as Germany, other countries, including Canada, have not made any such efforts in a coherent way. There is a significant disconnect in the Canadian context between internationalization and firms’ data. This shortcoming may stem from various sources, including the legal framework in Canada for accessing data and a lack of sufficient financial support and expertise to gather and integrate such data. Furthermore, the type of data available to the research community through statistical institutions were identified and analyzed, as were access methods. With the increasing interest of researchers in accessing data gathered by the government, the formation of anonymized records or anonymized micro-datasets has acquired great importance. Therefore, the primary approach is to explore the extent to which data regarding firms’ characteristics and internationalization activities are currently available to the research community, as well as to ensure the confidentiality of official statistics, most notably in the Canadian context. The research resulted in the confirmation of data availability in Canada through government and statistical organizations. The latter bodies can provide researchers and research organizations access to some data but limitations arise in providing micro-datasets to researchers due to confidentiality issues; these constraints were identified and further analyzed. Moreover, this research has studied methods to overcome these limitations and assess the shortcomings in micro-data in order to advance quality research. Methods and recommendations were introduced and studied to allow researchers access to essential data and information while maintaining confidentiality.
Accuracies of Optimal Transmission Switching Heuristics Based on Exact and Approximate Power Flow Equations
(University of Waterloo, 2013-05-24T17:11:01Z) Soroush, Milad
Optimal transmission switching (OTS) enables us to remove selected transmission lines from service as a cost reduction method. A mixed integer programming (MIP) model has been proposed to solve the OTS problem based on the direct current optimal power flow (DCOPF) approximation. Previous studies indicated computational issues regarding the OTS problem and the need for a more accurate model. In order to resolve computational issues, especially in large real systems, the MIP model has been followed by some heuristics to find good, near optimal, solutions in a reasonable time. The line removal recommendations based on DCOPF approximations may result in poor choices to remove from service. We assess the quality of line removal recommendations that rely on DCOPF-based heuristics, by estimating actual cost reduction with the exact alternating current optimal power flow (ACOPF) model, using the IEEE 118-bus test system. We also define an ACOPF-based line-ranking procedure and compare the quality of its recommendations to those of a previously published DCOPF-based procedure. For the 118-bus system, the DCOPF-based line ranking produces poor quality results, especially when demand and congestion are very high, while the ACOPF-based heuristic produces very good quality recommendations for line removals, at the expense of much longer computation times. There is a need for approximations to the ACOPF that are accurate enough to produce good results for OTS heuristics, but fast enough for practical use for OTS decisions.
Alternative Electricity Market Systems for Energy and Reserves using Stochastic Optimization
(University of Waterloo, 2005) Wong, Steven
This thesis presents a model that simulates and solves power system dispatch problems utilizing stochastic linear programming. The model features the ability to handle single period, multiple bus, linear DC approximated systems. It determines capacity, energy, and reserve quantities while accounting for N-1 contingency scenarios (single loss of either generator or line) on the network. Market systems applying to this model are also proposed, covering multiple real-time, day-ahead, and hybrid versions of consumer costing, transmission operator payment, and generator remuneration schemes. The model and its market schemes are applied to two test systems to verify its viability: a small 6-bus system and a larger 66-bus system representing the Ontario electricity network.
Analysis of IV-pump Management Alternatives Using Simulation
(University of Waterloo, 2006) Tavassoli, Mahsa
The objective of this thesis was to better understand the patterns of IV-pump use throughout the hospital in order to provide guidance to the hospital on alternative pump management methods. In the current system, when the number of available pumps in a department was fewer than the number of pumps required for patient care, the department encountered shortage. In most cases, the personnel were not clear on where available pumps might be stored and had to search for free pumps throughout the hospital.

The system was thoroughly studied and the necessary data were collected. A model reflecting the current flow of patients and pumps was developed. This model was operationalized by constructing a simulation model. The model presented the flow through the hospital on a daily basis.

The output of the simulation model provided the daily number of pumps in use in each of the departments and the distribution of pump use for each department, separately, and overall. Using these distributions, the number of pumps required in each department if maintaining a supply of pumps was quantified to meet certain service levels. In addition, the number of pumps required in the system if the pumps were all shared, was also obtained. It was concluded that the actual number of pumps required in the system is fewer than the number of pumps existing in the hospital. This conclusion confirmed that long searches for free pumps were not due to insufficient quantity of pumps, but were solely due to the behaviour of hoarding extra pumps when available. The simulation also provided the number of pumps short per day and the number of pumps in excess per day, by department.

Two pump management alternatives were suggested to the hospital. The first alternative was to utilize a centralized pool to keep all shared pumps when not in use. The second alternative was to install RFID technology throughout the hospital and equip all pumps with RFID tags so that they could be easily located. The three pump management systems (current, central pooling, and RFID) were compared, and the advantages and disadvantages of each of the alternative techniques were discussed.
ANALYSIS OF SHIPMENT CONSOLIDATION IN THE LOGISTICS SUPPLY CHAIN
(University of Waterloo, 2009-08-19T20:24:34Z) Ulku, M. Ali
Shipment Consolidation (SCL) is a logistics strategy that combines two or more orders or shipments so that a larger quantity can be dispatched on the same vehicle to the same market region. This dissertation aims to emphasize the importance and substantial cost saving opportunities that come with SCL in a logistics supply chain, by offering new models or by improving on the current body of literature. Our research revolves around "three main axes" in SCL: Single-Item Shipment Consolidation (SISCL), Multi-Item Shipment Consolidation (MISCL), and Pricing and Shipment Consolidation. We investigate those topics by employing various Operations Research concepts or techniques such as renewal theory, dynamic optimization, and simulation. In SISCL, we focus on analytical models, when the orders arrive randomly. First, we examine the conditions under which an SCL program enables positive savings. Then, in addition to the current SCL policies used in practice and studied in the literature, i.e. Quantity-Policy (Q-P), Time-Policy (T-P) and Hybrid Policy (H-P), we introduce a new one that we call the Controlled Dispatch Policy (CD-P). Moreover, we provide a cost-based comparison of those policies. We show that the Q-P yields the lowest cost per order amongst the others, yet with the highest randomness in dispatch times. On the other hand, we also show that, between the service-level dependent policies (i.e. the CD-P, H-P and T-P), H-P provides the lowest cost per order, while CD-P turns out to be more flexible and responsive to dispatch times, again with a lower cost than the T-P. In MISCL, we construct dispatch decision rules. We employ a myopic analysis, and show that it is optimal, when costs and the order-arrival processes are dependent on the type of items. In a dynamic setting, we apply the concept of time-varying probability to integrate the dispatching and load planning decisions. For the most common dispatch objectives such as cost per order, cost per unit time or cost per unit weight, we use simulation and observe that the variabilities in both cost and the optimal consolidation cycle are smaller for the objective of cost per unit weight. Finally on our third axis, we study the joint optimization of pricing and time-based SCL policy. We do this for a price- and time-sensitive logistics market, both for common carriage (transport by a public, for-hire trucking company) and private carriage (employing one's own fleet of trucks). The main motivation for introducing pricing in SCL decisions stems from the fact that transportation is a service, and naturally demand is affected by price. Suitable pricing decisions may influence the order-arrival rates, enabling extra savings. Those savings emanate from two sources: Scale economies (in private carriage) or discount economies (in common carriage) that come with SCL, and additional revenue generated by employing an appropriate pricing scheme. Throughout the dissertation, we offer numerical examples and as many managerial insights as possible. Suggestions for future research are offered.
Analysis of Stochastic Models through Multi-Layer Markov Modulated Fluid Flow Processes
(University of Waterloo, 2021-07-19) Wu, Haoran
This thesis is concerned with the multi-layer Markov modulated fluid flow (MMFF) processes and their applications to queueing systems with customer abandonment. For the multi-layer MMFF processes, we review and refine the theory on the joint distribution of the multi-layer MMFF processes and develop an easy to implement algorithm to calculate the joint distribution. Then, we apply the theory to three quite general queueing systems with customer abandonment to show the applicability of this approach and obtain a variety of queueing quantities, such as the customer abandonment probabilities, waiting times distributions and mean queue lengths. The first application is the MAP/PH/K+GI queue. The MMFF approach and the count-server-for-phase (CSFP) method are combined to analyze this multi-server queueing system with a moderately large number of servers. An efficient and easy-to-implement algorithm is developed for the performance evaluation of the MAP/PH/K +GI queueing model. Some of the queueing quantities such as waiting time distributions of the customers abandoning the queue at the head of the waiting queue are difficult to derive through other methods. Then the double-sided queues with marked Markovian arrival processes (MMAP) and abandonment are studied. Multiple types of inputs and finite discrete abandonment times make this queueing model fairly general. Three age processes related to the inputs are defined and then converted into a multi-layer MMFF process. A number of aggregate queueing quantities and quantities for individual types of inputs are obtained by the MMFF approach, which can be useful for practitioners to design stochastic systems such as ride-hailing platforms and organ transplantation systems. The last queueing model is the double-sided queues with batch Markovian arrival processes (BMAP) and abandonment, which arise in various stochastic systems such as perishable inventory systems and financial markets. Customers arrive at the system with a batch of orders to be matched by counterparts. The abandonment time of a customer depends on the batch size and the position in the queue of the customer. Similar to the previous double-sided queueing model, a multi-layer MMFF process related to some age processes is constructed. A number of queueing quantities including matching rates, fill rates, sojourn times and queue length for both sides of the system are derived. This queueing model is used to analyze a vaccine inventory system as a case study in the thesis. Overall, this thesis studies the joint stationary distribution of the multi-layer MMFF processes and shows the power of this approach in dealing with complex queueing systems. Four algorithms are presented to help practitioners to design stochastic systems and researchers do numerical experiments.
An Analysis of Workplace Training in Canada: Evidence from WES
(University of Waterloo, 2012-05-18T21:32:38Z) Wang, Ying
With fast development of technology and globalization competition, firms today are in a changing environment. Skills obsolete quickly. To prevent the skill shortage, training has been given more and more attention. However, current literature has some gaps in examining the training determinants. This thesis use the Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) data (1999 - 2005) to conduct research on the determinants of provision of training and training selection in Canada. The workplace data is a longitudinal panel data of seven waves while the employee data is linked to employer at the micro level. Training is first explored on the workplace panel data to capture the workplace determinants that decide training incidence and intensity. Then with these workplace determinants included, provided that different company train differently in regard of training incidence, employee’s participation in training is investigated on the linked data. Heckman Two-step selection model is adopted to correct the selection bias which has not been properly addressed in most of the studies. With the analysis results, determinants of training are identified. Profit, non-wage benefit and payroll are alternatives to training regardless of firm size. Firms train less if they are experiencing high turnover rate while more training will be provided if firms have larger proportion of professional and technical workers or undergo some organizational change. Employees with longer tenure, married people and female employees are the group of employees that have disadvantage in training. Classroom training is more sensitive for immigrants and temporary workers. The negative effects are greater for classroom training than on-the-job training when those two variables are presented. Collective bargaining agreements only guarantee a large proportion of employees having the training opportunity while training intensity cannot be promised. In fact, small firms reduce their training expenditure while large firms increase investment in training when they are unionized.Several implications are also mentioned.
Analyzing an acquisition model and optimizing stock abnormal return using simulation techniques
(University of Waterloo, 2003) Liu, Ying
The relative economic efficiency of acquisitions as a means of restructuring financially distressed firms is investigated. Yearly accounting and daily stock price data are extracted for the period between 1979 and 1998 on firms entering financial distress The behaviour and performance of these firms were traced for a five year period following their entry into distress or until their shares were no longer trading. These collected data forms the basis for analyzing the returns acquired from investing in potential takeover targets. Survival analysis is used to analyze the hazard rate for both the acquisition and bankruptcy of distressed firms. The results of the analysis indicate that the ZSCORE, a predictor of the probability of failure, and SPCSRM, the rating by Standard and Poor's, can be used as financial indicators in the screening mechanisms for financially distressed firms. A multinomial-logit acquisition model is used to predict three outcomes of financially distressed firms: survival, acquisition and failure. This model is tested using two methods by simulating the probability of acquisition. The first uses to compare the predicted versus the actual corporate events to maximize the predicted acquisition event. The second uses to compute abnormal return to maximize portfolio return over a given time period, continual on the ZSCORE, probability of acquisition, and the length of holding period. The predictive model of the acquisition probability is applied as a stock entry rule in a buy-sell system. The success of the model will serve two purposes. One is to predict the economic value of acquisition. The other is to provide successful strategies for investing in stocks.
Answering Consumer Health Questions on the Web
(University of Waterloo, 2022-12-21) Vakili Tahami, Amir
Question answering is an important sub task in the field of information retrieval. Question answering has typically used reliable sources of information such as the Wikipedia for information. In this work, we look at answering health questions using the web. The web offers the means to answer general medical questions on a variety of topics but comes with the downside of being rife with misinformation and contradictory information. We develop our techniques using the TREC health misinformation tracks that use consumer health question as topics and web crawls as their document collection. In this work, we implement a document filtering technique based on topic-sensitive PageRank that uses a web graph of the hosts in common crawl. We develop a new passage extraction technique that performs query-based contextualized sentence selection. We test this technique on a multi-span extractive question answering dataset. We also develop an answer aggregation technique that can combine language features and manual features to predict answers to these consumer health questions. We test all of these approaches on the TREC Health Misinformation Track. We show that these techniques in the majority of cases provide an uplift in performance.
Antecedents of High-growth and Gazelle Enterprises: An Empirical Study
(University of Waterloo, 2010-04-14T15:40:31Z) Sheppard, Michael
This research explores a problem important to both management strategists and policy-makers: what makes some companies grow rapidly? This topic is important as high-growth companies create a disproportionally high percentage of new jobs. The literature frequently cites sustainable competitive advantage as an explanation for firm performance and growth. Companies can build competitive advantage through the accumulation and development of resources, strategic orientations and unique capabilities. More recently, researchers have looked outside the firm for explanations, concluding that inter-firm co-operative networks and alliances are also important sources of competitive advantage leading to firm growth. While there is an extensive body of literature on firm growth, few studies have specifically addressed the antecedents of rapid firm growth. Much of the available literature is descriptive, for example Birch’s (1987) study of gazelle firms or the OECD (2008) report on high-growth firms. There are however few theoretic models or empirical tests to explain the success of these firms. In response this research explains the occurrence of high-growth firms in terms of the resource- and knowledge-based view, dynamic capabilities, core competencies, and strategic orientation theories. Structural equation and growth mixture models were tested using data gathered from a survey administered to a cross-industry sample of Canadian businesses. The study found that high-growth forms were more likely to be innovators, as well as to have a combination of strong entrepreneurial and market orientations and the ability to manage their business networks. These findings highlight the importance to management of not only responding to market demands but leading the market with innovation and extending firm capabilities and reach through networking. In addition, this research indicates that institutional support for innovation, networking and market development would assist in developing high-growth firms in Canada.
Anticipatory Batch Insertion To Mitigate Perceived Processing Risk
(University of Waterloo, 2004) Varghese, Smitha
The literature reviewed on lot-sizing models with random yields is limited to certain random occurrences such as day to day administrative errors, minor machine repairs and random supply due to faulty delivery of parts. In reality however, the manufacturing industry faces other risks that are non random in nature. One example would be yield discrepancies caused by non random triggers such as a change in the production process, product or material. Yield uncertainties of these types are temporary in nature and usually pertain until the system stabilizes. One way of reducing the implications of such events is to have additional batches processed earlier in the production that can absorb the risk associated with the event. In this thesis, this particular approach is referred to as the anticipatory batch insertion to mitigate perceived risk. This thesis presents an exploratory study to analyze the performance of batch insertion under various scenarios. The scenarios are determined by sensitivity of products, schedule characteristics and magnitude of risks associated with causal triggers such as a process change. The results indicate that the highest return from batch insertion can be expected when there are slightly loose production schedules, high volumes of sensitive products are produced, there are high costs associated with the risks, and the risks can be predicted with some degree of certainty.
Applications of stochastic modeling and data analytics techniques in healthcare decision making
(University of Waterloo, 2017-12-19) Dalgic, Ozden Onur
We present approaches utilizing aspects of data analytics and stochastic modeling techniques and applied to various areas in healthcare. In general, the thesis has composed of three major components. Firtsly, we propose a comparison analysis between two of the very well-known infectious disease modeling techniques to derive effective vaccine allocation strategies. This study, has emerged from the fact that individuals are prioritized based on their risk profiles when allocating limited vaccine stocks during an influenza pandemic. Computationally expensive but realistic agent-based simulations and fast but stylized compartmental models are typically used to derive effective vaccine allocation strategies. A detailed comparison of these two approaches, however, is often omitted. We derive age-specific vaccine allocation strategies to mitigate a pandemic influenza outbreak in Seattle by applying derivative-free optimization to an agent-based simulation and also to a compartmental model. We compare the strategies derived by these two approaches under various infection aggressiveness and vaccine coverage scenarios. We observe that both approaches primarily vaccinate school children, however they may allocate the remaining vaccines in different ways. The vaccine allocation strategies derived by using the agent-based simulation are associated with up to 70% decrease in total cost and 34% reduction in the number of infections compared to the strategies derived by the compartmental model. Nevertheless, the latter approach may still be competitive for very low and/or very high infection aggressiveness. Our results provide insights about the possible differences between the vaccine allocation strategies derived by using agent-based simulations and those derived by using compartmental models. Secondly, we introduce a novel and holistic scheme to capture the gradual amyotrophic lateral sclerosis progression based on the critical events referred as tollgates. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is neuro-degenerative and terminal disease. Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis lose control of voluntary movements over time due to continuous degeneration of motor neurons. Using a comprehensive longitudinal dataset from Mayo Clinic’s ALS Clinic in Rochester, MN, we characterize the progression through tollgates at the body segment (e.g., arm, leg, speech, swallowing, breathing) and patient levels over time. We describe how the progression based on the followed tollgate pathways varies among patients and ultimately, how this type of progression characterization may be utilized for further studies. Kaplan-Meier analysis are conducted to derive the probability of passing each tollgate over time. We observe that, in each body segment, the majority of the patients have their abilities affected or worse (Level1) at the first visit. Especially, the proportion of patients at higher tollgate levels is larger for arm and leg segments compared to others. For each segment, we derive the over-time progression pathways of patients in terms of the reached tollgates. Tollgates towards later visits show a great diversity among patients who were at the same tollgate level at the first clinic visit. The proposed tollgate mechanism well captures the variability among patients and the history plays a role on when patients reach tollgates. We suggest that further and comprehensive studies should be conducted to observe the whole effect of the history in the future progression. Thirdly, based on the fact that many available databases may not have detailed medical records to derive the necessary data, we propose a classification-based approach to estimate the tollgate data using ALSFRS-R scores which are available in most databases. We observed that tollgates are significantly associated with the ALSFRS-R scores. Multiclass classification techniques are commonly used in such problem; however, traditional classification techniques are not applicable to the problem of finding the tollgates due to the constraint of that a patients’ tollgates under a specific segment for multiple visit should be non-decreasing over time. Therefore, we propose two approaches to achieve a multi-class estimation in a non-decreasing manner given a classification method. While the first approach fixes the class estimates of observation in a sequential manner, the second approach utilizes a mixed integer programming model to estimate all the classes of a patients’ observations. We used five different multi-class classification techniques to be employed by both of the above implementations. Thus, we investigate the performance of classification model employed under both approaches for each body segment.
Are environmentally friendly firms more innovation-oriented?
(University of Waterloo, 2021-08-27) Chen, Wenying
This study aims to explore the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and firm’s innovation decision. It proposes that firms investing in environmental protection are more likely to have strong dynamic capabilities to proactively respond to the growing environmental awareness and movement, which in turn can trigger their innovation intention. Moreover, building on stakeholder theory, this study also hypothesizes an indirect relationship between firms’ environmental responsibility and innovation decision mediated by government support. The hypotheses are tested by analyzing the Chinese Private Enterprise Survey data collected in 2010 and are supported. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Ascertaining the effects of malevolent acts in a developing market on the stock returns of firms operating in those markets
(University of Waterloo, 2012-05-18T21:44:53Z) Wapiennik, Zdzislaw
Experiencing malevolent acts is a common feature when conducting business in parts of the developing world, but the effects that these acts have on a firm’s stock price have not received sufficient attention by the literature. Filling the gap, this thesis looks at the oil industry in Nigeria and the effects of multiple malevolent acts over a five year period (ranging from 2006 to 2010) on the stock prices of the four major international oil firms operating therein: Shell, Chevron, Exxon, and Total. The stock price data was presented in the form of abnormal returns, the difference in stock price from the expected price. Ordinary least squares regression as well as Wilcoxian sign-rank techniques were used to test the abnormal returns data for our firms. This data was segregated by firm name as well as by event types to isolate the effects that each has on the returns of the firms under study. This thesis raises several hypotheses, such as that a negative event in general will lead to negative returns and that negative events affecting one firm will lead to positive returns for that firm’s competitors. We managed to determine that the only event types that had a significant impact on any firm’s returns were kidnappings and government policies (either political or economic) targeted to harm the firms. We discovered that kidnapping events affected Shell’s returns negatively, whereas they have positive impact on the returns of Chevron and Exxon. We postulate that the latter results are a reaction to the relatively strong negative effect on Shell’s returns. In response to negative government actions, Shell and Total experienced positive returns , we postulate that this is due to the market’s perception that these policies will lead to less supply and consequently to higher prices for Nigerian oil. Our results indicate that violent events have no impact, at least on the four major firms, whereas kidnappings and government policies do.
Asymmetric dependence and its effect on helping behaviour in work groups
(University of Waterloo, 2010-01-20T21:39:52Z) Poile, Christopher
A case study of two software teams in a large American software company revealed evidence of a power imbalance and intergroup conflict. The case study was used to generate questions about the effects of task-dependence on interpersonal work relationships. Situational affordances and Heider's balance theory were used to explain how task-dependence and expectations impel helping behaviour between coworkers. The theoretical model was tested using an experimental card-game. The card-game was designed so that the task would remain the same while three factors of task-dependence were manipulated: level of dependence (low vs. high), mutuality of dependence (asymmetric vs. symmetric), and reward interdependence (individual vs. group). The goal was to isolate these aspects of task-dependence and measure their effect on helpful behaviours and intragroup conflict. The results indicated that as the level (the amount) of dependence increases, the amount of intragroup conflict increases, but so does the number of helpful behaviours. As the mutuality of dependence changes from asymmetric to symmetric, the number of helpful behaviours increases, but the intragroup conflict decreases. The experiment deepens the findings of the case study: asymmetric dependence is associated with intragroup conflict and it presents a situation where the more powerful of the two is less inclined to give help to their dependent. Unexpectedly, however, if the level of the dependence increases, the more powerful of the two will offer more help. These findings contradict the predictions of social exchange theory, interdependence theory, and the power and influence approaches. Balance theory offers an explanation: a request for help coming from a co-worker in great need creates an imbalanced cognitive situation, one with more tension than the situation created when a request comes from someone less dependent. One way the help-giver can relieve their cognitive tension is to offer help; helping a co-worker satisfies the co-worker's expectations, thereby balancing the help-giver's cognitive situation. The experiment also demonstrated that a high level of task-dependence is necessary for helpful behaviours to increase; without the ability and opportunity to help afforded by task-dependence, greater social expectation will have little effect on the amount of helping behaviour.
Auctions for Targeted Television Advertising
(University of Waterloo, 2008-05-26T17:24:47Z) Zschocke, Mark Steven
Television advertising is a billion-dollar industry in the United States. Currently, advertisers place their messages in television programs that are estimated to have a high proportion of their target demographic viewers. The advertising spots are usually purchased months in advance at set list prices or at negotiated prices. Technologies that can place advertisements at the cable box level, instead of the program level, will provide advertisers with the ability to target any demographic group directly and in real-time. This thesis explores the new decision-making required by this new technology and how the television advertisement space can be sold more effectively. In particular, it compares a list price system to a number of new auction models. The structure of the auctions for the new targeted television advertising system is unique and has not been previously studied in the literature. This thesis explores new auction models that can capture these unique features and lead to desirable results for the seller of the advertisement space. A simplified analytical model shows how these features impact advertisers’ bidding behavior and how a list price system compares to the auction models in the ability to raise revenue for the seller of the advertising space. These issues are then explored under various market settings with differing numbers of advertisers and value distributions that these advertisers have for the advertising space. Since sequential first price auctions have undesirable consequences such as strong price fluctuations, this work focuses on second price auctions. The Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism is customized for this problem by developing an optimization formulation that determines the best set of advertisers for a particular advertisement space. Because execution time may be an issue, other auction models are developed that lead to similar outcomes as the VCG mechanism but require less computational effort. This thesis provides guidance on when a list price system will lead to higher expected revenue than an auction model and vice versa in a targeted television advertising system. It also demonstrates why some of the standard auction models cannot be applied to this problem and what type of new models are required to lead to desirable advertising outcomes.
Bankers' Perceptions of the Role of Technology in Addressing Financial Exclusion
(University of Waterloo, 2012-09-20T20:26:17Z) Javaad, Syed
Financial inclusion is a measure of the ability of a population to make use of financial services. High rates of financial inclusion in a country are empirically correlated with high levels of economic development in that country; low rates of financial inclusion are correlated with low levels of development. Thus, policy makers are generally agreed that one method to increase economic development is to increase the level of financial inclusion. Not all attempts to increase financial inclusion are successful. Initiatives to improve financial inclusion can fail when policy makers or financial service providers have incorrect perceptions about financial inclusion. They may have incorrect perceptions about the purposes and beneficiaries of financial inclusion, or incorrect perceptions about how technology can encourage financial inclusion. This thesis investigates the perceptions of Pakistani bankers about financial inclusion in Pakistan. A survey of 125 Pakistani bankers was conducted. The results of the survey show that while bankers want to improve financial inclusion, they have perceptions that limit their effectiveness in reaching this goal. First, bankers’ perceptions of the actual financial inclusion levels in the country are higher than generally accepted empirical measures. Second, their perceptions about the reasons for financial exclusion are limited to socio-economic factors like low income and education of people. Finally, they have limited appreciation of the role that technology can play in elevating the level of financial inclusion. Bankers show more interest in customer-facing technology than in back-end technical infrastructure, thus limiting the scalability and interoperability of their systems. Our guidance to policy makers is to address these perceptual problems through education and through government-backed technical infrastructure programs, thus better enabling the banking industry to improve financial inclusion in Pakistan.
Batch Ordering and Batch Replenishment Policies for MTS-MTO Manufacturing Systems
(University of Waterloo, 2007-09-10T19:50:53Z) Almehdawe, Eman
Hybrid Make-To-Stock (MTS)-Make-To-Order (MTO) manufacturing is a well known policy that captures the benefits of both MTS and MTO policies. This manufacturing policy is adopted by many manufacturing firms because it allows for production based on customer specifications while keeping short response times. We study a hybrid MTS-MTO manufacturing system which consists of two processing stages and an intermediate buffer between these two stages. We propose two separate scenarios for ordering and replenishment of components from the first stage which will give more realistic guidance for practitioners. The first scenario is batching customer orders before being released to the first stage. The second scenario is batch replenishment of common components from the first stage. Most existing MTS-MTO models focus on one-for-one ordering and replenishment strategies. We enhance these models by introducing a batch ordering policy to account for economies of scale in ordering when there is an ordering cost associated with each order placed for common components. We use queueing theory to model the system behavior and use the matrix-geometric method to evaluate system performance under the new ordering policy. Afterwards, we develop an optimization model with the objective to minimize the system overall costs. The purpose of our optimization model is to find the optimal intermediate buffer size and the optimal order quantity for the system. In the second scenario, we introduce the batch replenishment policy from stage 1. This policy is suitable when stage 1 and stage 2 are physically distant and there is a shipping cost incurred when components are transferred from stage 1 to stage 2. The decision variables in this model are the intermediate buffer size and the shipping quantity. We show that the base stock policy is sub-optimal when there is an ordering cost incurred for ordering components. The savings from adopting the batch ordering policy are high and the response time for most customer orders is not affected. When there are shipping costs and shipping time between the two stages, we show that the right selection of the system decision variables can have a large impact on the total cost incurred by the system.
Beam Me 'Round, Scotty! II: Reflections on Transforming Research Goals into Gameplay Mechanics
(ACM, 2018-10-23) Harris, John Joseph; Hancock, Mark
We reflect on the design, implementation, and testing of the experimental testbed game Beam Me 'Round, Scotty! II and the numerous design lessons learned in transitioning theoretical research questions about social presence and connectedness into concrete gameplay mechanics contrasting asymmetric and symmetric cooperative play. We discuss the unanticipated challenges that can emerge from seemingly unrelated design choices and the importance of grounding experimental conclusions and design recommendations in specific gameplay contexts.

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