Thesis (MCur. (Faculty of Health Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references.

The network loading problem (NLP) is a specialized capacitated network design problem in which prescribed point-to-point demand between various pairs of nodes of a network must be met by installing (loading) a capacitated facility. We can load any number of units of the facility on each of the arcs at a specified arc dependent cost. The problem is to determine the number of facilities to be loaded on the arcs that will satisfy the given demand at minimum cost. This paper studies two core subproblems of the NLP. The first problem, motivated by a Lagrangian relaxation approach for solving the problem, considers a multiple commodity, single arc capacitated network design problem. The second problem is a three node network; this specialized network arises in larger networks if we aggregate nodes. In both cases, we develop families of facets and completely characterize the convex hull of feasible solutions to the integer programming formulation of the problems. These results in turn strengthen the formulation of the NLP.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-221). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-103)

This study sought to use "New Science" as a lens through which to view change in a university facilities management division and to determine in what ways New Science could help make sense of these changes. New Science takes scientific management concepts beyond Newton, Taylor, and Einstein and employs a systems and ecological view of life in organizations. New Science goes beyond quantum mechanics and includes uncertainty and unpredictability, complementarity, semantic and chaotic infinite complexity, non-linear adaptive feedback networks, and wholeness and implicate order. The conceptual framework for the study was based on applying complex systems theory described by New Science to human systems undergoing change in a university facilities management organization. Making sense of life and change in organizations is critical for university facility managers expected to change their organizations. I was the senior university officer of the study organization during and after the study period. The design and implementation of a computerized maintenance management system from 2000 to 2005 was used as the representative change initiative in the organization. Two integrated methods of collecting data on the change initiative were used: burography and case study. The burography was grounded in the reality of my daily life as a key actor in the study organization. The case study was my narrative of the change initiative based on archival evidence I collected in the study organization. New Science concepts described in the literature review were used as a lens through which to view and to make sense of the change data collected for the burography and case study. The goodness-of-fit between New Science concepts and the data helped address the purpose of the research. The analysis demonstrated that New Science could be used to map" the key dynamic properties of complex systems onto the human systems in the facilities management organization. Viewed through the lens of New Science, the study organizations change initiative was successful because some people in the organization used understanding of the uncertainty and unpredictability in their internal and external environments in conjunction with new moral purpose, complementarity, and semantic complexity to create wholeness and implicate order sustained by adaptive non-linear feedback networks. The networks helped to manage chaotic complexity and to rejuvenate the organization. New Science concepts proved to be an overarching lens through which other organizational and managerial lenses could be used to deal with practical aspects of leading organizations, including positional power and reciprocal leadership.

This study sought to use "New Science" as a lens through which to view change in a university facilities management division and to determine in what ways New Science could help make sense of these changes. New Science takes scientific management concepts beyond Newton, Taylor, and Einstein and employs a systems and ecological view of life in organizations. New Science goes beyond quantum mechanics and includes uncertainty and unpredictability, complementarity, semantic and chaotic infinite complexity, non-linear adaptive feedback networks, and wholeness and implicate order. The conceptual framework for the study was based on applying complex systems theory described by New Science to human systems undergoing change in a university facilities management organization. Making sense of life and change in organizations is critical for university facility managers expected to change their organizations. I was the senior university officer of the study organization during and after the study period. The design and implementation of a computerized maintenance management system from 2000 to 2005 was used as the representative change initiative in the organization. Two integrated methods of collecting data on the change initiative were used: burography and case study. The burography was grounded in the reality of my daily life as a key actor in the study organization. The case study was my narrative of the change initiative based on archival evidence I collected in the study organization. New Science concepts described in the literature review were used as a lens through which to view and to make sense of the change data collected for the burography and case study. The goodness-of-fit between New Science concepts and the data helped address the purpose of the research. The analysis demonstrated that New Science could be used to map" the key dynamic properties of complex systems onto the human systems in the facilities management organization. Viewed through the lens of New Science, the study organizations change initiative was successful because some people in the organization used understanding of the uncertainty and unpredictability in their internal and external environments in conjunction with new moral purpose, complementarity, and semantic complexity to create wholeness and implicate order sustained by adaptive non-linear feedback networks. The networks helped to manage chaotic complexity and to rejuvenate the organization. New Science concepts proved to be an overarching lens through which other organizational and managerial lenses could be used to deal with practical aspects of leading organizations, including positional power and reciprocal leadership.

The purpose of this study was to explore the possible relationship between school facility conditions and school outcomes such as student academic achievement, attendance, discipline, completion rate and teacher turnover rate. School facility condition for the participating schools was determined by the Total Learning Environment Assessment (TLEA) as completed by the principal or principal’s designee on high school campuses in Texas with enrollments between 1,000 and 2000 and economically disadvantaged enrollments less than 40%. Each school in the study population was organized by grades nine through twelve. Data for achievement, attendance, discipline, completion rate and teacher turnover rate were collected through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) managed by the Texas Education Agency. Student achievement, attendance, discipline, completion rate and teacher turnover rate and their relation to school facilities were investigated using multiple regression models to compare sections and subsections of the TLEA with each of the five dependent variables. Major research findings of this study included the following: first, student achievement, attendance and completion rate measures were not found to be statistically significant in relation to school facility conditions as measured by the TLEA at the 0.05 level; second, discipline, or behavior, was found to be significantly related to the TLEA. This indicates that the subsections of the TLEA could be used to predict discipline factors for schools in the study population; third, teacher turnover rate was found to be related to the TLEA subsections of Specialized Learning Space and Support Space, with the correlation to Support Space being indirect. Literature from prior studies infers that relationships do exist between all five of the study’s dependent variables. However, this study only yielded significant findings in the areas of student discipline and teacher turnover. The researchers recommendations based upon this study include the following: administrators and designers should take into account factors such as interior environment and academic learning space when planning schools to positively impact student discipline; school design and construction should focus on specialized learning spaces and other academic areas more than administrative support spaces when striving to increase teacher satisfaction with physical working conditions.

Facility managers use various cost models and techniques to estimate the cost of renovating a building and to secure the required funds needed for building renovation. A literature search indicates that these techniques offer both advantages and disadvantages that need to be studied and analyzed. Descriptive statistical methods and qualitative analysis are employed to identify and compare techniques used by facility managers to calculate the expected renovation costs of a building. The cost models presently used to predict the cost and accumulate the budget required for renovation of a building were determined through interviews with ten Texas-based university facilities managers. The data and information gathered were analyzed and compared. Analysis of results suggests that traditional methods like Floor Area Method (FAM) is the most accurate, less time consuming, easy to use as well as convenient for data collection. Case-Based Reasoning (CBR), though not as widely used as FAM, is known to facilities managers. This is due to the fact that, if a new type of project needs to be renovated, and the data for a similar project is not available with the facilities manager, a completely new database needs to be created. This issue can be resolved by creating a common forum where data for all types of project could be made available for the facilities managers. Methods such as regression analysis and neural networks are known to give more accurate results. However, of the ten interviewees, only one was aware of these new models but did not use them as they would be helpful for very large projects and they would need expertise. Thus such models should be simplified to not only give accurate results in less time but also be easy to use. These results may allow us to discuss changes needed within the various cost models.

Reverse Auction Bidding (RAB) study into the construction industry commenced at Texas AandM (TAMU) University in 2004 from the work of a graduate student who was interested in the reasons for RAB being considered unethical by some. This thesis is the eleventh study into Reverse Auction Bidding building on the work of the previous researchers. Previous case studies investigated a number of different competitive situations ranging from three to ten players. In the last few studies, the bidding behavior and performance of participants in the RAB process is being observed with respect to their personality. Personality for each player is tested using the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS) test. The KTS describes four major personalities and four role variants in each of the personalities, summing up to sixteen role variants. There appears at this stage a strong correlation between personality type and game performance. This study extends the work on the Guardian personality type to investigate the four sub-types of this personality. This study builds on the previous work by analyzing the four different Guardian role variants being Provider, Protector, Inspector and Supervisor. The aim of the research is to investigate whether there is a difference in game returns between the personality type from within this group. The study involves a game scenario involving a facility manager hiring the contractors who submit the lowest bid for the assumed renovation project. The study also gives the contractor a modified KTS questionnaire that can be used by them for hiring an individual for the position of an estimator with a competent personality. The individuals were selected from undergraduate Construction Science students with limited experience. The game lasted for nine rounds, with the statistical results of the bidding and contract data showing patterns similar to the previous studies. The results show us that the individuals with a role variant of Providers provided the highest return in this case study, although a single case study is insufficient to draw formal conclusions on this matter, the result points to future research.

The purpose of this study was to explore the possible relationship between school facility conditions and school outcomes such as student academic achievement, attendance, discipline, completion rate and teacher turnover rate. School facility condition for the participating schools was determined by the Total Learning Environment Assessment (TLEA) as completed by the principal or principal's designee on high school campuses in Texas with enrollments between 1,000 and 2000 and economically disadvantaged enrollments less than 40%. Each school in the study population was organized by grades nine through twelve. Data for achievement, attendance, discipline, completion rate and teacher turnover rate were collected through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) managed by the Texas Education Agency. Student achievement, attendance, discipline, completion rate and teacher turnover rate and their relation to school facilities were investigated using multiple regression models to compare sections and subsections of the TLEA with each of the five dependent variables. Major research findings of this study included the following: first, student achievement, attendance and completion rate measures were not found to be statistically significant in relation to school facility conditions as measured by the TLEA at the 0.05 level; second, discipline, or behavior, was found to be significantly related to the TLEA. This indicates that the subsections of the TLEA could be used to predict discipline factors for schools in the study population; third, teacher turnover rate was found to be related to the TLEA subsections of Specialized Learning Space and Support Space, with the correlation to Support Space being indirect. Literature from prior studies infers that relationships do exist between all five of the study's dependent variables. However, this study only yielded significant findings in the areas of student discipline and teacher turnover. The researchers recommendations based upon this study include the following: administrators and designers should take into account factors such as interior environment and academic learning space when planning schools to positively impact student discipline; school design and construction should focus on specialized learning spaces and other academic areas more than administrative support spaces when striving to increase teacher satisfaction with physical working conditions.