Ali Ardalan | Old Dominion University (original) (raw)

Papers by Ali Ardalan

Research paper thumbnail of Abrupt Conversion of Face-to-Face Courses to Online

Journal of Business Disciplines, 2022

In special circumstances such as the one presented by the coronavirus universities must convert t... more In special circumstances such as the one presented by the coronavirus universities must convert their face-to-face courses to online. This conversion is challenging for all universities, but extremely challenging for universities that offer all their courses face-to-face. This paper presents the major activities that a quick conversion from face-to-face courses to online courses should consider. This paper shows that higher education institutions can acquire the basic technology and be quickly trained to convert their face-to-face courses to online while trying to achieve the quality that is in line with the quality level defined in their organization’s strategy.

Research paper thumbnail of Requirements Analysis and Implementation

Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 2009

This case deals with issues related to conversion of a mostly manual information system to an ele... more This case deals with issues related to conversion of a mostly manual information system to an electronic information system where the new system significantly changes the way users interact with the system. The case focuses on the elements of analysis and design, followed by implementation and results. This case provides scenarios and settings that may be used for role plays and group discussions to highlight the importance and the need for following the accepted systems analysis and design steps in the analysis, design, and implementation of IT systems.

Research paper thumbnail of A data structure for supply chain management systems

Industrial Management & Data Systems, 2009

PurposeEfficient operation of supply chain management (SCM) software is highly dependent on perfo... more PurposeEfficient operation of supply chain management (SCM) software is highly dependent on performance of its data structures that are used for data storage and retrieval. Each module in the software should use data structures that are appropriate for the types of operations performed in that module. The purpose of this paper is to develop and introduce an efficient data structure for storage and retrieval of data related to capacity of resources.Design/methodology/approachA major aim of supply management systems is timely production and delivery of products. This paper reviews data structures and designs an efficient data structure for storage and retrieval of data that is used in the scheduling module of SCM software.FindingsThis paper introduces a new data structure and search and update algorithms. This data structure can be used in SCM software to record the availability of non‐storable resources.Originality/valueThis is the first paper that discusses the role of data structur...

Research paper thumbnail of A comparison of student feedback obtained through paper-based and web-based surveys of faculty teaching

British Journal of Educational Technology, 2007

Many colleges have either begun or are contemplating using the web-based survey to gather student... more Many colleges have either begun or are contemplating using the web-based survey to gather student feedback on faculty teaching. Unlike the paper-based method, the web-based approach gives every student in the class the opportunity to provide feedback. Hence, the populations that participate in the webbased and paper-based methods may be quite different, and so may be the feedback. This paper compares the results of student feedback gathered through paper-based and web-based approaches. The results provide information to faculty and administrators on any differences they may expect as they make the transition from a paper-based to a web-based survey of faculty teaching.

Research paper thumbnail of Budgetary Constraints and Idle Time Allocation in Common-Cycle Production with non-zero Setup Time

Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2010

Economic lot size scheduling problem (ELSP) for a multi-product single machine system is a classi... more Economic lot size scheduling problem (ELSP) for a multi-product single machine system is a classical problem. This paper considers ELSP with budgetary constraint as an important aspect of such systems. In the real world situations the available funds for investment in inventory is limited. By adopting the common cycle time approach to ELSP, we obtain the optimal common cycle which minimizes the total inventory ordering and holding costs for the case of nonzero setup times. One aspect of the scheduling is to decide what should be the sequence of production runs and how the idle times shall be distributed in the common cycle time. For such a sequencing problem, we consider two cases: a) the common cycle time is given, and b) the common cycle time is a decision variable. In the literature, scheduling rules are introduced for both cases, which assume that the total idle time is located at the end of each cycle. This paper relaxes this assumption and provides: i) a rule to optimize the production sequence and the length of idle times before (or after) producing each item, for both cases (a) and (b), and ii) the optimal common cycle for case (b). The presented rule is interestingly general, simple and easy-to-apply.

Research paper thumbnail of Abrupt Conversion of Face-to-Face Courses to Online

Journal of Business Disciplines, 2022

In special circumstances such as the one presented by the coronavirus universities must convert t... more In special circumstances such as the one presented by the coronavirus universities must convert their face-to-face courses to online. This conversion is challenging for all universities, but extremely challenging for universities that offer all their courses face-to-face. This paper presents the major activities that a quick conversion from face-to-face courses to online courses should consider. This paper shows that higher education institutions can acquire the basic technology and be quickly trained to convert their face-to-face courses to online while trying to achieve the quality that is in line with the quality level defined in their organization’s strategy.

Research paper thumbnail of Requirements Analysis and Implementation

Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 2009

This case deals with issues related to conversion of a mostly manual information system to an ele... more This case deals with issues related to conversion of a mostly manual information system to an electronic information system where the new system significantly changes the way users interact with the system. The case focuses on the elements of analysis and design, followed by implementation and results. This case provides scenarios and settings that may be used for role plays and group discussions to highlight the importance and the need for following the accepted systems analysis and design steps in the analysis, design, and implementation of IT systems.

Research paper thumbnail of A data structure for supply chain management systems

Industrial Management & Data Systems, 2009

PurposeEfficient operation of supply chain management (SCM) software is highly dependent on perfo... more PurposeEfficient operation of supply chain management (SCM) software is highly dependent on performance of its data structures that are used for data storage and retrieval. Each module in the software should use data structures that are appropriate for the types of operations performed in that module. The purpose of this paper is to develop and introduce an efficient data structure for storage and retrieval of data related to capacity of resources.Design/methodology/approachA major aim of supply management systems is timely production and delivery of products. This paper reviews data structures and designs an efficient data structure for storage and retrieval of data that is used in the scheduling module of SCM software.FindingsThis paper introduces a new data structure and search and update algorithms. This data structure can be used in SCM software to record the availability of non‐storable resources.Originality/valueThis is the first paper that discusses the role of data structur...

Research paper thumbnail of A comparison of student feedback obtained through paper-based and web-based surveys of faculty teaching

British Journal of Educational Technology, 2007

Many colleges have either begun or are contemplating using the web-based survey to gather student... more Many colleges have either begun or are contemplating using the web-based survey to gather student feedback on faculty teaching. Unlike the paper-based method, the web-based approach gives every student in the class the opportunity to provide feedback. Hence, the populations that participate in the webbased and paper-based methods may be quite different, and so may be the feedback. This paper compares the results of student feedback gathered through paper-based and web-based approaches. The results provide information to faculty and administrators on any differences they may expect as they make the transition from a paper-based to a web-based survey of faculty teaching.

Research paper thumbnail of Budgetary Constraints and Idle Time Allocation in Common-Cycle Production with non-zero Setup Time

Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2010

Economic lot size scheduling problem (ELSP) for a multi-product single machine system is a classi... more Economic lot size scheduling problem (ELSP) for a multi-product single machine system is a classical problem. This paper considers ELSP with budgetary constraint as an important aspect of such systems. In the real world situations the available funds for investment in inventory is limited. By adopting the common cycle time approach to ELSP, we obtain the optimal common cycle which minimizes the total inventory ordering and holding costs for the case of nonzero setup times. One aspect of the scheduling is to decide what should be the sequence of production runs and how the idle times shall be distributed in the common cycle time. For such a sequencing problem, we consider two cases: a) the common cycle time is given, and b) the common cycle time is a decision variable. In the literature, scheduling rules are introduced for both cases, which assume that the total idle time is located at the end of each cycle. This paper relaxes this assumption and provides: i) a rule to optimize the production sequence and the length of idle times before (or after) producing each item, for both cases (a) and (b), and ii) the optimal common cycle for case (b). The presented rule is interestingly general, simple and easy-to-apply.