APPLICATION OF NEUROMANAGEMENT IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING - DIST2012-18

APPLICATION OF NEUROMANAGEMENT ININDUSTRIAL ENGINEERINGQ. Ma1, 2, Y. Hu1, 2, J. Bian1, 2*1School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, People’sRepublic of China2Neuromanagement Lab, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, Peopl e’sRepublic of ChinaEmail: bjbianjun@AbstractNeuro-Industrial Engineering (Neuro-IE) aims at putting the usage of neuro-management into engineering process and in this manuscript we will focus on introducing the detailed description of the applied branches of Neuro-IE in modern engineering management and technology innovation. We mainly present a new perspective of how neural value engineering, neuro-management, artificial brain-based decision-making and other aspects of Neuro-IE which are applied into architectural and industrial engineering management. The last but not the least, we will also introduce an innovative and systemic mode on training undergraduates to enhance the ability of scientific research based on our years of exploration and practice.Key wordsNeuro-management, Neuro-Industrial-Engineering, Neural value engineeringINTRODUCTIONWhen traditional industrial engineering management meets modern neuroscience, a new and advanced branch subject-- Neuro-Industrial Engineering (Neuro-IE) arises. It aims at putting the usage of neuro-management into the whole process of engineering. Neuro-IE have two major113features: on one side it not only covers neuro-function of the human brain but can also reveal the needs and conditions of participants through factors such as psychological and physiological body indexes. On the other side, not likely the human-computer interaction and equipment design for a specific machine, neuro-IE more emphasizes on systematic distribution and taking advantages of human subjective initiatives, body characteristics and other materials and finally realizes man-machine integration by adjusting work environment and production system efficiently and safely.In this part we introduce the applications of Neuro-IE, Neuro-managemnt to modern architectural and industrial engineering such as controlling and dispatching projects of large-sized and high-complexity, intelligent buildings’ construct and management, design and evaluation of industrial environment and marketing promotion.We also introduce the Joint-Laboratory, Smart computing, perception and brain-like decision making for architecture engineering, established by the Zhejiang University and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.In the last part of this manuscript, an innovative and systemic mode on training undergraduate for improving their ability in scientific research is discussed. We have new trials on reforming the education of undergraduate and positive feedbacks are harvested based on several excellent works done by undergraduate tutored by professors in our laboratory.ACHIEVEMENTS IN NEURO-IENeuro-Industrial Engineering is firstly put forward by Professor Ma [1] in 2006, which tries to use advanced neuroscience methods and biofeedback technology to measure the indexes of human brain and physically condition to attain more objective and authentic data to further analyze and evaluate the physiological and psychological condition of the participants in the production and management. Those physiological and psychological condition index being considered new factors in evaluation can provide a better working plan to meet the real working condition and mutual need of employees and employers [2]. After years of exploration and development, we have achieved several progresses in safety production, Neuro-IE mainly in collecting information of worker s’ status and Neuro-design as I will mentioned below. Safety productionHuman safety and material safety are the two major points in safety production and it has become a tough problem to be solved in urgency. As the development of advanced technology provide lots of protections for the equipment and system, it's still difficult to measure the operators’body and114emotion condition in the means of traditional methods. For example, different people react differently to the warning signs and to design an effective system of warning signs in high risk places and key locations means a lot to the security. Our research revealed the ERP components (P200 and LPP) associated with hazard perception and subjective evaluation of warning signals by exploring the neural process of hazard perception and evaluation for warning signs(figure 1) and ERP amplitudes and behaviour changed depending on different word’s hazard level[3]. In conclusion, people have different evaluation and perception for different hazard level of warning signals.Figure1 ERP amplitude in FCZ and CPZ when sorted by response and prior category.(a) and (c) indicate P200 amplitude in FCZ, with (a) sorted by response and (c) by prior category.(b) and (d) indicate LPP amplitude in CPZ, with (b) sorted by response and (d) by prior category.Information of workers’ statusThe workers’status cannot be static but can be described in words like fatigue, excitement, depression and so on. Our team integrate ―computer video analysis technology ―and ―biofeedback technology‖and add ―Loose-coefficient‖of the working place to the new industrial engineering management software to arrange scientific and humanistic production115(figure2). By the means of advanced neuroscience tools and biofeedback technology, neuro-IE can obtain objective and real indexed of operators’ brain and physiological condition in one hand and then give instruments on management by analyzing the data to help them fit best the demands of work on the other hand.Figure2 Integration of computer video analysis technology and biofeedback technologyNeuro-DesignNeuroimaging use advanced technology such as ERP, fMRI, biofeedback tools and eye-tracking machine to reveal consumers’preferences which are unobtainable through conventional methods thereby to perfect the product design during processing. Professor Ma’s team found that N2 and P3 components of ERP are the cognitive conflict when participants made decisions whether one brand is more suit than another through doing ERP experiment [4].Biofeedback technology is also used to acquire dozens of data to jointly reveal current physiological and psychological conditions of participants. Real estate sales are trying to analyze the data from the consumers to make more effective sales measures and to provide quality-of- service to users. What’s more, eye tracking is also applied in user interfaces. The users’ eye movements116are recorded during the experiment and later analyzed retrospectively, while the eye movements do not affect the interface in real time. The research data is often used in websites and advertisement design to attract more attention from consumers.APPLICATION OF NEURO-IE IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING Based on the multiple accomplishments on Neuro-Value Engineering, Neuromanagement, artificial brain-based decision-making and other aspects of Neuro-IE, we have looked straight forward into the promising application of Neuro-IE into modern architectural and industrial engineering management, including controlling and dispatching projects of large-sized and high-complexity, intelligent buildings’ construct and management, design and evaluation of industrial environment and marketing promotion when the projects end.Intelligent building is first brought out in late seventies and the first intelligent building in the world is built in 1984 in Connecticut State in America as it is been commonly acknowledged[5]. An intelligent building can not only be equipped by advanced computer and network technology to monitor and control the air-conditioner, elevator and lightening equipments, but also can provide necessary communication services for example voice-mail, email, television contact and even satellite linkage. Nowadays, with the science and technology developing extremely fast, technologies alone do not make a building with intelligence, the concept of ―intelligent‖ now is broaden to sophisticated demand for ―comfort living environment and requirement for increased occupant control of their eco-environments‖[6], which means it must both sense to individual and environmental requirement through the monitoring and analysing equipments and be able to learn and adjust its performances from its residents and eco-environment to the changes with its intelligence[7].Research on intelligent building has been conducted ubiquitously and research results have been published in many academic journals. Sharples[8] published their architecture consisting of distributed embedded agents to utilise sensory information to learn to perform tasks related to user s’ comfort, energy conservation, safety and building functions early in 1999. Rutishauser[9] in Zurich has developed a multiagent framework for intelligent building control that is deployed in a commercial building equipped with sensors and effectors, which implement a unsupervised online real-time learning algorithm to construct a fuzzy rule-base, thereby making the building autonomously intelligent to specify the dynamic requirements like a human operator.117In the research of intelligent sensors and controlling, our team has also made some approaches. We have recently signed an agreement to establish a joint laboratory of ―intellectual perception and decision-making of construction work ―with Architecture and Environment Department of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In the hope of making a perfect cooperation, apply our Neuro-IE, Neuro-Value-engineering, Neuro-management, Decision Neuroscience and other brain-theories into these intelligent buildings’ design, construction and marketing management, to fulfil a high-efficient, high-environmental and high-tech industrial engineering management. We also launched a co-partner relationship with Harbin Engineering University (HEU) in setting up a ―HEU-Zhejiang University-Neuro-IE‖ joint laboratory to further promote the Neuro-IE’s application in architectural and industrial engineering.NEW TRIALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN UNDERGRADUATEEDUCATIONIn the fields of both management and industrial engineering, the youngster is the most hopeful future and the most promising scientific power. Aware of this fact, we have attached great attention to the culture of the research capability of undergraduate students. We are looking forward to building a scientific research echelon of ―PhD-master-undergraduate‖, to achieving a combination of undergraduate education with scientific research and to training a compound and talented research reserve of ability and specialty for future. And most exciting thing is that we have set up an innovative and systemic mode after our years of exploration and practice and not only been praised and supported by the government funds but also harvested many good news achieved by the undergraduate. Now I will give a brief introduction to our training system and the outstanding achievement.From the point view of students, as I mentioned in last paragraph, we want to build up a scientific research echelon of ―PhD-master-undergraduate‖, in which the undergraduate can not only get guidance directly from their tutors but also can communicate more with higher-grade student in the same major. This research echelon will benefit both sides including the undergraduate and the masters and PhDs. For undergraduate’s benefit, they can get familiar with the laboratory thing much earlier and easier which will help them to choose the most interested research and meanwhile their basic research ability can be trained during the process of reading papers and doing some fundamental experiments. On the other hand, with undergraduate’assistant in doing experiment, the masters and PhDs finish the work more efficiently and time can be spared to do more paper reading and further research.118From the perspective of our department, we have given some good suggestions on the curriculum set up by the education division to cut some useless or out-of-fashion course and add more selective courses instead which gives undergraduate the ultimate freedom to make their favourite choice. What’s more, we also encourage undergraduate to discover the real problem in the living world and make a solution to it, which is now becoming a regular competition in our department every semester (figure3).Figure3 Undergraduates are doing research and experiment in the working factory.After all these new trails in the education of undergraduate, we finally harvest some good news from our young promising army. In October 2011, the graduation thesis of an undergraduate Yang Yi, titled "on-line shopping site product images co mbined with character images on the user’s emotional impact‖ was selected one of the hundred Premium s undergraduate graduation design in Zhejiang University, under the tutor of associate professor Qiuzhen Wang in our laboratory. In May 11st this year, an undergraduate Xinyu Jiang reported her latest research done by the tutor of associate professor Qing Xu and professor Lei Wang in our lab titled ―Correlation Analysis of Unconventional Emergency Event Status Evolution and Government Response: Based on 5-12 Wenchuan Earthquake‖ in the meeting of the Third International Conference of e-commerce and e-government in Shanghai (ICEE 2012). All these achievements are not by our own effort also get support from the government funding. In the April last year, the teaching reforming project chaired by professor Qingguo Ma titled ―innovative undergraduate teaching reform—training mode based on the future of scientific research personnel of the National Key D isciplines‖ got listed on the Zhejiang University Teaching Achi evement Specially Fostering Project. Last December, the ―Innovative reform of higher education: research back-up leader in personnel training mode‖ chaired by professor Qingguo Ma got the Key Project Funding by Chinese Association of Higher Education’s ―Twelve Five‖ higher education scientific research projects, which is the only one in Zhejiang University.119CONLUSIONThe arrival of new century has brought a new way of production and living, thereby comes out the innovative minds and practices so as to apply new perspectives and methods to solve real problems. Neuro-Industrial Engineering has constructed a golden bridge between human brain and production behaviour, appropriate application of Neuro-IE can not only bring efficiency to the working shop but also a more intelligent and convenient life to human society.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThis work was supported by grant No.102103-N10916 from National Natural Science Foundation. We thank Huijian Fu and Wenjing Ji for their directions in this manuscript.REFERENCES[1]Qingguo Ma, and X.Y.Wang,‖Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement‖, Management Word, 10,139-149(2006)[2]Qingguo Ma, and X.Y.Wang,‖From Neuroeconomics and Neuromarketing to Neuromanagement‖, Journal of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, 20,129-132 (2006)[3]Qingguo Ma, Jing Jin, Lei Wang. ―The neural process of hazard perception and evaluation for warning signal words: evidence from event-related potentials‖, Neuroscience Letters, 483(3):206-210(2010)[4]Qingguo Ma, X.Y.Wang, Shu L, Dai S. ―Event-related potential N270 correlates of brand extensive‖, Neuroreport 18, 1031-1034(2007)[5]Caffrey R. ―The intelligent building--an ASHRAE opportunity. Intelligent Buildings‖, ASHRAE technical data bulletin, 19, 1–9(1989)[6]J.K.W.Wong, H.Li, S.W.Wang.‖Intelligent building research: a review‖. Automation in Construction.14:143-159(2005)[7]J.Yang and H.Peng. ‖Decision support to the application of intelligent building technologies‖, Renewable Energy.22:67-77(2001)[8]Sharples.‖ A multi-agent architecture for intelligent building sensing and control‖, Sensor Review. 19:135-140(1999)[9]Rutishauser. ‖Control and learning of ambience by an intelligent building‖, Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans. 35:121-132(2005)120。