A systematic fuzzy approach is developed to model fuzziness and uncertainties in the preferences of decision makers involved in a conflict. This unique fuzzy preference formulation is used within the paradigm of the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution in which a given dispute is modeled in terms of decision makers, each decision maker’s courses of actions or options, and each decision maker’s preferences concerning the states or outcomes which could take place. In order to be able to determine the stability of each state for each decision maker and the possible equilibria or resolutions, a range of solution concepts describing potential human behavior under conflict are defined for use with fuzzy preferences. More specifically, strong and weak definitions of stability are provided for the solution concepts called Nash, general metarational, symmetric metarational, and sequential stability. To illustrate how these solution concepts can be conveniently used in practice, they are applied to a dispute over the contamination of an aquifer by a chemical company located in Elmira, Ontario, Canada.

To cope with an increasingly turbulent environment, manufacturing firms increasingly implement integration practices to enhance flexibility in the production process. This research develops a framework to explore the relationships among organizational integration practices, manufacturing flexibility, and competitive advantage. The study develops valid and reliable instruments to measure these constructs, and it applies structural equation modeling to test relationships among these variables using a large sample. The results indicate strong, positive, and direct relationships between organizational integration practices and manufacturing flexibility, and between manufacturing flexibility and competitive advantage. The results also indicate that organizational integration practices enhance competitive advantage directly as well as indirectly by facilitating manufacturing flexibility.

The paper discusses two basic principles derived from results of studies concerning foundations of micro-theories of knowledge creation; these are Multimedia Principle and Emergence Principle. Their epistemic, systemic and metaphysical importance is discussed, together with their relations to the episteme of technology treated as a separate cultural sphere. A spiral of evolutionary knowledge creation is presented, in which an extended Falsification Principle plays the role of an objectifying feedback; this spiral is related to an episteme of Evolutionary Constructive Objectivism proposed earlier for the coming knowledge civilisation age.

In this paper, we propose selected research topics that are believed central to progress and growth in the application of systems engineering (SE). As a professional activity, and as an intellectual activity, systems engineering has strong links to such associated disciplines as decision analysis, operation research, project management, quality management, and systems design. When focussing on systems engineering research, we should distinguish between subjects that are of systems engineering essence and others that more closely correspond to those that are more relevant for related disciplines.

This paper deals with the Course Timetabling Problem at an institution in a Tunisian University. We introduce a heuristic procedure to construct a feasible timetable for all lectures and tutorials taken by different groups of each sub-section of any section. We describe the timetabling problem using a list of all specific hard and soft constraints. We formulate the problem as a set of linear constraints using two sets of binary variables corresponding to lectures and tutorials, respectively. This heuristic is illustrated with real data for a sub-section of the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences of Sfax in Tunisia, and the resulting timetables are compared with those generated manually. The results of another full section have confirmed the good quality of the proposed heuristic when compared with the hand made solution.

This paper considers a two-level supply chain consisting of one warehouse and one retailer. In this model we determine the optimal ordering policy according to inventory and transportation costs. We assume that the demand rate by the retailer is known. Shortages are allowed neither at the retailer nor at the warehouse. We study this model in two cases; decentralized and centralized. In the decentralized case the retailer and the warehouse independently minimize their own costs; while in the centralized case the warehouse and the retailer are considered as a whole firm. We propose an algorithm to find economic order quantities for both the retailer and the warehouse which minimize the total system cost in the centralized case. The total system cost contains the holding and ordering costs at the retailer and the warehouse as well as the transportation cost from the warehouse to the retailer. The application of this model into the pharmaceutical downstream supply chain of a public hospital allows obtaining significant savings. By numerical examples, the costs are computed in MATLAB© to compare the costs in the centralized case with decentralized one and to propose a saving-sharing mechanism through quantity discount.

A new business concept that offers products and services in a different way of traditional product-sales businesses is getting more attention especially in manufacturing industries. This paper investigates how this new business by means of integration of products and services is achieved in Germany and Italy. In addition, it analyzes the differences according to the company sizes. The results include that this type of business is in many cases motivated by their focus on customers and often consists of physical products and their maintenance. The Italian companies, as opposed to the German ones, often design their physical products specifically for this type of offers. From the analysis based on the size difference, small companies are found to achieve specific design for this type of offers while owning physical products. There do not seem to be any established methods or tools developed to support the development of such offers and within such methods/tools there would be room for more adaptation in form of physical product design.