Visualizing Certainty: What the Cultural History of the Gantt Chart Teaches Technical and Professional Communicators about Management

ABSTRACT

Using a cultural-historical genre analysis of the Gantt chart, the author describes how, when a project’s progress and scope are being considered, this popular project management visualization evokes managerial values of certainty and simplicity. These values, instantiated in early 20th-century scientific management philosophy, are made visually manifest in Henry L. Gantt’s popular chart. These charts require technical and professional communicators to gauge the rhetorical implications of using them when providing their expertise in communicating project management.     

Complete fuzzy scheduling and fuzzy earned value management in construction projects

This paper aims to present a comprehensive proposal for project scheduling and control by applying fuzzy earned value. It goes a step further than the existing literature: in the formulation of the fuzzy earned value we consider not only its duration, but also cost and production, and alternatives in the scheduling between the earliest and latest times. The mathematical model is implemented in a prototypical construction project with all the estimated values taken as fuzzy numbers. Our findings suggest that different possible schedules and the fuzzy arithmetic provide more objective results in uncertain environments than the traditional methodology. The proposed model allows for controlling the vagueness of the environment through the adjustment of the α-cut, adapting it to the specific circumstances of the project.     

A Multipart Project Planning and Tracking Exercise

Project Management is an important skill for business students to develop. Although project‐oriented activity is very common, the success rate for projects is poor. Many projects fail due to poor planning. This article describes a multipart class exercise used to teach elements of a project management methodology to undergraduate and graduate business students. Over the course of the eight‐part exercise, student teams iteratively develop a project plan and Gantt chart, an initial and detailed project charter, a variance analysis model, and a status report. Students are taught an iterative top‐down planning process using a technique we term the ODW (Objectives–Deliverables–Workplan) model. Students are introduced to Microsoft Project and use the tool to develop a project plan that becomes part of a more detailed Project Charter. In the final stages of the exercise, students collect results, update their plan, and produce a project status report.     

基于改进FCPM的工程项目施工动态规划研究

鉴于工程实践中项目的不确定性状态,以梯形模糊数的等效参数形式表达项目各项活动的持续时间,开展基于改进的模糊关键路径法(FCPM)的施工动态规划研究。有机整合向量的范数相似度和方向相似度,提出了向量集成相似度排序算法,有效地解决了关键路径识别中梯形模糊数的排序问题;采用修正的模糊减运算标准算法成功消除了模糊时间参数计算过程中的不可行解问题,并实现了对模糊状态下项目网络关键路径动态变化轨迹的刻画。实证分析证明,改进的FCPM求解施工动态规划问题具有合理性和有效性。     

Real-time and dynamic schedule optimization of construction projects on the basis of lean construction

Lean construction has been newly applied to construction industry. The best performance of a project can be achieved through the precise definition of construction product, rational work break structure, lean supply chain, decrease of resources waste, objective control and so forth. Referring to the characteristics of schedule planning of construction projects and lean construction philosophy, we proposed optimizing methodology of real-time and dynamic schedule of construction projects based on lean construction. The basis of the methodology is process reorganization and lean supply in construction enterprises. The traditional estimating method of the activity duration is fuzzy and random;however, a newly proposed lean forecasting method employs multi-components linear-regression, back-propagation artificial neural networks and learning curve. Taking account of the limited resources and the fixed duration of a project, the optimizing method of the real-time and dynamic schedule adopts the concept of resource driving. To optimize the schedule of a construction project timely and effectively, an intellectualized schedule management system was developed. It can work out the initial schedule, optimize the real-time and dynamic schedule, and display the schedule with the Gant Chart, the net-work graph and the space-time line chart. A case study was also presented to explain the proposed method.     

Evaluation of Farmland Drainage Water Quality by Fuzzy–Gray Combination Method

The complex relationships between indicators and water conditions cause fuzzy and gray uncertainties in evaluation of water quality. Compared to conventional single-factor evaluation methods, the combination evaluation method can consider these two uncertainties to produce more objective and reasonable evaluation results. In this paper, we propose a combination evaluation method with two main parts:(1) the use of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation and gray correlation analysis as submodels with which to consider the fuzzy and gray uncertainties and(2) the establishment of a combination model based on minimum bias squares. In addition, using this method, we evaluate the water quality of a ditch in a typical rice–wheat system of Yixing city in the Taihu Lake Basin during three rainfall events. The results show that the ditch water quality is not good and we found the chemical oxygen demand to be the key indicator that affects water quality most significantly. The proposed combination evaluation method is more accurate and practical than single-factor evaluation methods in that it considers the uncertainties of fuzziness and grayness.     

基于模糊物元方法的上市公司财务失败预测

基于财务失败预测概念的模糊性和评价指标的不相容性,以模糊物元分析为基础,将熵值理论与模糊集和贴近度相结合,建立了基于熵权与专家打分法所获权重的组合权重的模糊物元模型预测上市公司的财务失败,并以*ST夏新为例进行实证研究,研究结果表明,运用模糊物元模型预测上市公司的财务失败,其方法是可行的,为上市公司的财务失败预测提供了一种新方法。     

模糊交货期和模糊优先下的单机调度问题

A single machine scheduling problem involving fuzzy due dates and fuzzy precedence constraints is investigated. The fuzzy precedence reflects the satisfaction level with respect to precedence between two jobs. A membership function is associated with each job Ji, which describes the degree of satisfaction with respect to completion time of Ji. For the bi-criteria scheduling problem, an 0 （ n^3 ） algorithm is proposed for finding nondominated solutions.     

Rockfill dam compaction quality evaluation based on cloud-fuzzy model

The quality of compaction is key to the safety of dam construction and operation. However, because of incomplete information about the construction process and the unknown relationship between compaction quality and the factors that influence it, traditional evaluation methods such as neural networks and multivariate linear regression models fail to take uncertainty fully into account. This paper proposes a cloud-fuzzy method for assessing compaction quality by considering randomness, fuzziness, and incomplete information. The compaction parameters and material source parameters are the key parameters in the assessment of compaction quality. A five-layer neural-network model of compaction quality assessment is established that considers compacted dry density and its classification membership and probability as the criteria, and the rolling speed, rolling passes, and compacted layer thickness as alternatives. Because of uncertainties in the criteria and alternatives, the cloud-fuzzy method, in which a fuzzy neural network is extended with a cloud model to handle uncertain and fuzzy problems more effectively, is introduced to determine the compaction quality. A case study is presented to evaluate the compaction quality of a hydropower project in China. The results indicate that the cloud-fuzzy model is feasible in relation to precision and makes up for the sole focus on precision by traditional methods. The proposed method provides a triple index for understanding compaction quality, which facilitates assessment of the compaction quality of an entire dam surface.     

模糊规则的表示方法研究

在已有的各种推理方法中,所使用的产生式规则表示形式都不统一,其中含有的信息量也不一样,有的少,有的多,各有侧重点,但都不全面,因而不能把它们作为模糊知识的统一表示形式．其根本的原因就是推理模型本身不完备．本文描述的通用模糊规则,是建立在通用不确定模型和模糊集合理论的基础之上的知识统一表示形式,也是通用模糊推理算法的基础．这种方法采用可能性分布理论来表示知识的模糊性,对一般规则表示进行全面的模糊化,全面考虑了知识的模糊性．它含有推理所需的丰富信息,能用于表达各种情况的模糊性,有着广泛的适用性．已有的规则形式,如确定性知识的规则表示等,只是这种通用形式在忽略部分模糊性情况下的特例．这种表示方法在飞机总体外形设计模糊专家系统（ＡＣＤＳ－ＦＥＳ）中得到了很好的运用．     

模糊规则的表示方法研究

在已有的各种推理方法中，所使用的产生式规则表示形式都不统一，其中含有的信息量也不一样，有的少，有的多，各有侧重 点，但都不全面，因而不能把它们作为模糊知识的统一表示形式.其根本的原因就是推理模型本身不完备.本文描述的通用模糊规 则，是建立在通用不确定模型和模糊集合理论的基础之上的知识统一表示形式，也是通用模糊推理算法的基础.这种方法采用可 能性分布理论来表示知识的模糊性，对一般规则表示进行全面的模糊化，全面考虑了知识的模糊性.它含有推理所需的丰富信息， 能用于表达各种情况的模糊性，有着广泛的适用性.已有的规则形式，如确定性知识的规则表示等，只是这种通用形式在忽略部分 模糊性情况下的特例.这种表示方法在飞机总体外形设计模糊专家系统(ACDS-FES)中得到了很好的运用.     

一种模糊控制器的设计方法

通过介绍一种模糊控制器的设计方法,给出了模糊控制器设计的算法流程图及输入量量化程序、模糊控制表查询程序等关键步骤,以此方法设计的模糊控制器由输入量模糊化接口、规则库、推理算法和输出去模糊接口四个部分组成,其结构简单、使用方便,具有广阔的应用前景。     

模糊修辞研究中凸显的几个问题

国内开始模糊修辞学研究至今已有三十余年的时间。国内学者已就模糊修辞的概念、形式、应用及功能等各方面进行了探讨。但研究的过程中存在的问题也显而易见,如：人们对模糊修辞的定义及其涵盖尚缺乏一致意见;对模糊修辞及语用模糊的区分尚不明晰;对模糊修辞现象产生的认知理据研究还有待深入;对英汉模糊修辞的对比研究尚显不足等。因此,我们有必要分析这些问题产生的原因并提出应对思路。     

Comprehensive evaluation model of reservoir operation based on improved set pair analysis

A comprehensive evaluation model based on improved set pair analysis is established. Considering the complexity in decision-making process, the model combines the certainties and uncertainties in the schemes, i.e., identical degree, different degree and opposite degree. The relations among different schemes are studied, and the traditional way of solving uncertainty problem is improved. By using the gray correlation to determine the difference degree, the problem of less evaluation indexes and inapparent linear relationship is solved. The difference between the evaluation parameters is smaller in both the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model and fuzzy matter-element method, and the dipartite degree of the evaluation result is unobvious. However, the difference between each integrated connection degree is distinct in the improved set pair analysis. Results show that the proposed method is feasible and it obtains better effects than the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method and fuzzy matter-element method.     

聚类自适应模糊控制器及其应用

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Fuzzy flexible resource constrained project scheduling based on genetic algorithm

Both fuzzy temporal constraint and flexible resource constraint are considered in project scheduling. Inorder to obtain an optimal schedule, we propose a genetic algorithm integrated with concepts on fuzzy set theory aswell as specialized coding and decoding mechanism. An example demonstrates that the proposed approach can assistthe project managers to obtain the optimal schedule effectively and make the correct decision on skill training before aproject begins.     

广东地税基于ETL元数据管理征管系统的研究与实现

提出了一种ETL元数据管理框架．论述了元数据管理架构在税收分析系统中的应用,分析了该系统的总体架构,并论述了ETL的实现、ETL的流程图、配置方案在税收分析系统中的应用。     

The TeachScheme! Project: Computing and Programming for Every Student

The discipline of project management has been available for almost 40 years. This paper examines several factors that make the management of software development projects more difficult than the management of many other kinds of projects. These factors negatively impact the software project managers' success in estimation and scheduling, planning, responding to schedule and budget pressures, monitoring project status and managing the integration, and testing phases of the project. Techniques for addressing each of these difficulties are described, and topics that need to be incorporated into software project management courses to address these issues are outlined.     

投资环境的模糊综合评价模型

投资环境评价是一个复杂决策问题，它具有因素多、模糊性强、不便于量化的特点。为了全面、客观、准确地做出评价，本文利用Fuzzy综合评判的方法建立了数学模型。     

模糊集合理论在本科教学水平评估中的应用与探讨

普通高等学校本科教学工作水平评估是一个复杂的系统,影响因素较多,其中一些指标或观测点存在一定的模糊性和不确定性.鉴于此,试图将模糊数学理论应用于评估中,建立评估模型,给出评估步骤,实现定性与定量的统一,并用计算实例验证其合理性和实用性.