SINGLE MACHINE SCHEDULING WITH CONTROLLABLE PROCESSING TIMES AND COMPRESSION COSTS ： PROOF OF THEOREMS

Abstract This report is virtually the appendix part of the author's previous paper which includes the proofs for the theorems and lemmas.

A Study on Interregional Differences in Elderly Person’s Remote Care in Terms of Traveling Time and Expense:Comparative Consideration in TOKYO Area and OSAKA Area

This study has been carried out to examine the development of an “elderly tele-nursing model” for care provided in-homeby family members and through remote nursing systems in a super-aging society. The time required for elderly tele-nursing wasinfluenced by whether or not the visitor uses the Shinkansen or the Express train. Based on 40 questionnaires, clear differences wereobserved according to whether visits were “every two weeks” or “once per month”. And finally, comparing the trends andcharacteristics of remote care for the elderly in the TMA (Tokyo Main Area) and Kansai region clarified regional characteristic.

Multi-segment and Multi-ply Overlapping Process of Multi Coupled Activities Based on Valid Information Evolution

Complex product development will inevitably face the design planning of the multi-coupled activities, and overlapping these activities could potentially reduce product development time, but there is a risk of the additional cost. Although the downstream task information dependence to the upstream task is already considered in the current researches, but the design process overall iteration caused by the information interdependence between activities is hardly discussed; especially the impact on the design process＇ overall iteration from the valid information accumulation process. Secondly, most studies only focus on the single overlapping process of two activities, rarely take multi-segment and multi-ply overlapping process of multi coupled activities into account; especially the inherent link between product development time and cost which originates from the overlapping process of multi coupled activities. For the purpose of solving the above problems, as to the insufficiency of the accumulated valid information in overlapping process, the function of the valid information evolution （VIE） degree is constructed. Stochastic process theory is used to describe the design information exchange and the valid information accumulation in the overlapping segment, and then the planning models of the single overlapping segment are built. On these bases, by analyzing overlapping processes and overlapping features of multi-coupling activities, multi-segment and multi-ply overlapping planning models are built; by sorting overlapping processes and analyzing the construction of these planning models, two conclusions are obtained： （1） As to multi-segment and multi-ply overlapping of multi coupled activities, the total decrement of the task set development time is the sum of the time decrement caused by basic overlapping segments, and minus the sum of the time increment caused by multiple overlapping segments; （2） the total increment of development cost is the sum of the cost increment caused by all overlapping process. And then, based on overlapping degree analysis of these planning models, by the V1E degree function, the four lemmas theory proofs are represented, and two propositions are finally proved： （1） The multi-ply overlapping of the multi coupled activities will weaken the basic overlapping effect on the development cycle time reduction （2） Overlapping the multi coupled activities will decrease product development cycle, but increase product development cost. And there is trade-off between development time and cost. And so, two methods are given to slacken and eliminate multi-ply overlapping effects. At last, an example about a vehicle upper subsystem design illustrates the application of the proposed models; compared with a sequential execution pattern, the decreasing of development cycle （22%） and the increasing of development cost （3%） show the validity of the method in the example The proposed research not only lays a theoretical foundation for correctly planning complex product development process, but also provides specific and effective operation methods for overlapping multi coupled activities.

Effect of blockchain technology initiatives on firms’market value

Despite blockchain’s potential to transform corporations by providing new ways of organizing business processes and handling information,extant research pays inadequate attention to how and under what conditions blockchain technology provides additional financial value for shareholders.Drawing on the efficient market hypothesis and signaling theory,we examined the relationship between firms’blockchain use,development announcements,and stock market reactions.We used the event study methodology to analyze a sample of blockchain projects initiated by US firms between 2016 and 2019.The sample contains 114 firm-event observations.The findings show that the average abnormal return over a 2 days event period(including the day of the announcement and the day after the announcement)was positive.This positive stock market reaction is even more substantial when firms announce blockchain projects that focus on saving cost or time.Our findings also indicate that blockchain announcements tend to elicit more positive market reactions from smaller firms.We analyzed 249 firm-event observations containing firms from around the world and conclude that blockchain technology has a non-significant long-term impact on operating performance.The contingency approach adopted in our research provides advice for selecting the right mix of blockchain investment initiatives that is most suitable for a given organizational context.

PROJECT REGULARITY： DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A NEW PROJECT CHARACTERISTIC

The ability to accurately characterize projects novel project characteristic is developed characteristic, called project regularity, is essential to good project management. Therefore, a reflects the value accrue within a project. This expressed in terms of the newly introduced regular/irregular-indicator RI. The widely accepted management system of earned value management （EVM） forms the basis for evaluation of the new characteristic. More concretely, the influence of project regularity on EVMforecasting accuracy is assessed, and is shown to be significant for both time and cost forecasting. Moreover, this effect appears to be stronger than that of the widely used characteristic of project seriality expressed by the serial/parallel-indicator SP. Therefore, project regularity could also be useful as an input parameter for project network generators. Furthermore, the introduction of project regularity can provide project managers with a more accurate indication of the time and cost forecasting accuracy that is to be expected for a certain project and, correspondingly, of how a project should be built up in order to obtain more reliable forecasts during project control.