This thesis highlights the effectiveness of Real Options Analysis (ROA) in capacity planning decisions for engineering projects subject to uncertainty. This is in contrast to the irreversible decision-making proposed by the deterministic strategies based on expected estimates of parameters drawn…

Recent advances in microdroplet generation and deposition processes have made it possible to directly form solder bumps on integrated circuits using micron-sized molten metal droplets. The direct droplet deposition bumping process can potentially produce uniform-sized bumps more economically than the…

(cont.) as well, firms have an incentive to require coordinated investments in technology across the enterprise. Still, research in IS has also highlighted the fact that the productivity of computer investments is highly dependent on co-investment in complementary assets (for…

Trust Management is a growing problem in large corporations today. In industries like financial services, firms need to comply with constantly changing regulations, security requirements and business policies. Information technology is often the backbone of the processes that are regulated…

Nearly 2% of all live births are very premature (gestational age less than 32 weeks), and 50% of all new cases of cerebral palsy occur in survivors of premature birth (gestational age less than 37 weeks). Because of their underdeveloped…

We have developed a method and prototype program for assisting two experts in their attempts to construct a single, consensus knowledge base. We show that consensus building can be effectively facilitated by a debugging approach that identifies, explains, and resolves…

This paper examines the issues and the solutions that have been studied in database (DB) integration research and tries to draw lessons from them for knowledge base (KB) integration.

his dissertation analyzes how local knowledge improves environmental decisions. The premise is that controlling pollution and addressing public health disparities are not problems that professionals alone can solve. Concerned lay publics, especially low-income populations and people of color that experience…

We develop a qualitative method for understanding and representing phase space structures of complex systems and demonstrate the method with a program, MAPS --- Modeler and Analyzer for Phase Spaces, using deep domain knowledge of dynamical system theory. Given a…

(cont.) which is expected, given their additional knowledge resources. The respondents' urgency in looking for the relevant knowledge is the primary explanation for this difference between the two networks. This difference in knowledge networking among the different groups did not…