Writing the Problem

Statement


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Writing the problem statement for
your work or research proposal
comprises the following parts:

Setting of work proposal :
?
?

Work problem :
?
Quantitative specification of problem :

?

Importance of problem :
,
?

Project need : ,
?

Setting of work proposal :

What is the topic of interest that your work
proposal is concerned with? Can you point the
reader of your work proposal to the general area
which you are concerned with?
?

Consider the following examples:
A decision-making environment is increasingly
complex.
Consumer demand on the water supply in southern
Taiwan has significantly increased in recent years
owing to population and industrial growth, as well
as elevated living standards.
Statistical approaches such as scored methods are
extensively used to optimize the process
parameters of ordered categorical responses.
Process quality and delivery time have received
increasing emphasis in industry.

Process capability index is a highly effective means of evaluating
process performance.
Enterprises trade with each other by carefully considering business
ratings to reduce investment risks.
An increasing number of wafer fabs use a control chart to detect
assignable causes, making it extremely difficult for engineers to
effectively control the wafer process.
Predicting the amount of residuals in ground water contaminants has
been extensively studied.
Owing to their lowest density among all metallic structural materials,
magnesium alloys are highly promising for their diverse use in the
automotive, railway, aerospace, computer, communications and
consumer electronics industries.
Work problem :

What is the problem that you are trying
either to solve or more thoroughly
understand in the work proposal?

?
Conventional evaluation models are concerned only with
economic factors and neglect factors that can not be
evaluated by money.
Although the reservoir supply in southern Taiwan can satisfy
the current water demand, increasing demands will soon
surpass the reservoirs capabilities.
These methods inaccurately estimate the dispersion effect,
thereby confounding the location effect and dispersion effect.
Conventional process capability indices(PCIs) are unable not
only to objectively assess quality and delivery time, but also
to identify how PCIs and yield rate are related.
Conventional process capability indices can not
measure a non-normal distribution process accurately.
Conventional mathematic models have difficulty in
discriminating between multiple ranks.
Conventional control charts are designed for
manufacturing systems with only one source of
variation, making it impossible to control several
independent sources of variation.
These alloys have a low formability near room
temperature and are more expensive than plastics,
aluminum, steel and cast iron.
Quantitative specification of problem
: How can you quantitatively define the
problem so that the reader understands the
quantitative limitations of previous efforts to
solve this problem?

?

Consider the following examples:


A prediction accuracy of only 60% among
departed models

The inability to measure a non-normal distribution
process accurately

An error rate exceeding 20%

A situation in which the formability near room
temperature does not reach 20% elongation

Increasing the evaporation speed by 1% increases
the resistance by 5%

The failure to understand precisely which
microscopic features form a particular phase
topology

Importance of problem :

If the problem remains unsolved or not
thoroughly understood, how will this
negatively impact the reader of your work
proposal?
,
?
Consider the following examples:

Conventional models may cause decision makers to
select an inappropriate scheme.
The lack of an effective water distributed strategy
for current reservoirs will lead to frequent water
shortages in southern Taiwan.
Implementing those methods leads to an inaccurate
optimal level combination of process parameters.
The lack of an objective procedure leads to
inefficiency and a high overhead cost.
This surging demand will lead to the increased drilling of
new wells to locate
groundwater resources, which is extremely expensive.
Using such charts often leads to ineffective and futile
searches for assignable causes, thus expending a
considerable amount of manpower and capital.
The inability to understand its impact on ionic
conductivity makes it impossible not only to estimate the
radiation defect rebuilding in cesium halides doped with
OH-impurity, but also to measure the ionic conductivity
of irradiated crystals.

The inability to fully understand its physical
nature further delays experimental investigation
and possible industrial applications of these
crystals.

The inability to fully understand the exoemission
mechanism makes it impossible to detect and
investigate defects in the surface layouts of the
crystals.
Project need :
Based on the problem defined above,
what is the immediate project need?
,
?

Consider the following examples:

A flexible and accurate neural network structure
must be developed that applies artificial intelligence
in fuzzy theory to business ratings and bankruptcy
prediction.
An optimal operating model must be developed,
capable of choosing an effective monitor well to
adequately control a groundwater system.
A process capability index must be developed that
adopts the Clements and Bootstrap methods to
overcome these obstacles.
An optimization model must be developed,
capable of effectively managing water resources
for current reservoirs in order to decrease the
probability of water shortages.
An efficient quality control process must be
developed, capable of detecting assignable causes
concealed behind multiple characteristics and
multiple readings in a manufacturing system with
several sources of variation.


A NAPL simulator model must be developed
that contains several parameters acquired by
experimental data.
A processing method must be developed,
capable of producing materials in a required
shape at a relatively low cost directly from
wrought products.
An appropriate evaluation model capable of selecting
natural gas bus brands must be developed.
A novel response surface methodology with simplified
calculations must be developed to accurately estimate the
location effect and dispersion effect, leading to an optimal
level combination of process parameters.
An efficient hypothesis testing procedure for PCIS must be
developed, capable of assessing the performance of
operational cycle time (OCT) and delivery time (DT) for
VLSI..

Putting it together: Writing the
problem statement

Consider the following examples:

( example 1 )Setting of work proposal
Enterprises trade with each other by carefully
considering business ratings to reduce investment risks.
Work problemHowever, conventional
mathematic models have difficulty in discriminating
between multiple ranks. Quantitative specification of
problem A prediction accuracy of only
60% among departed models Importance of problem
exposes traders to unnecessarily high risks.
Project need Therefore, a flexible and
accurate neural network structure must be developed
that applies artificial intelligence in fuzzy theory to
business ratings and bankruptcy prediction.
(example 2 )Setting of work proposal
Demands on the water supply in Taiwan have skyrocketed
owing to the island's increasing population and elevated
living standards. Work problemEventually, the
current reservoir supply will be insufficient if current
demands from personal and industrial use persist.
Importance of problemConsequently, this
surging demand will lead to the increased drilling of new
wells to locate groundwater resources, which is extremely
expensive. Project need An optimal operating
model must therefore be developed, capable of choosing an
effective monitor well to adequately control a groundwater
system.
( example 3 ) Setting of work proposal
Engineers heavily emphasize applicability and the accuracy
when using a process capability index to evaluate how a
process performs. Work problemHowever, using
conventional process capability indices to evaluate a non-
normal distribution process often leads to inaccurate results.
Additionally, calculating a point estimator with sampling data
leads to inaccurately estimation of the process capability
index of process population. Although sampling more data
can increase the accuracy of an estimator, such an approach
would be costly and time consuming.
Importance of problemAbove limitations
would cause engineers to to error when comparing
manufacturing processes or selecting an alternative
supplier. Project need Therefore, a process
capability index must be developed that adopts the
Clements and Bootstrap methods to overcome these
obstacles.
(example 4 )Setting of work proposal Consumer
demand on the water supply in southern Taiwan has significantly
increased in recent years owing to population and industrial
growth, as well as elevated living standards. Work problem
Although the reservoir supply in southern Taiwan can satisfy
the current water demand, increasing demands will soon surpass
the systems capabilities. Importance of problem
Moreover, the lack of an effective water distributed strategy for
current reservoirs will lead to frequent water shortages in southern
Taiwan. Project need An optimization model must
therefore be developed, capable of effectively managing water
resources for current reservoirs in order to decrease the probability
of water shortages.

Setting of work proposal An increasing number of
wafer fabs use a control chart to detect assignable causes, making
it extremely difficult for engineers to effectively control the wafer
process. Work problemHowever, conventional control
charts are designed for manufacturing systems with only one
source of variation, making it impossible to control several
independent sources of variation. Importance of problem
Using such charts often leads to ineffective and futile
searches for assignable causes, thus wasting a considerable
amount of manpower and capital. Project need
Therefore, an efficient quality control process must be developed,
capable of detecting assignable causes concealed behind multiple
characteristics and multiple readings in a manufacturing system
with several sources of variation.
(example 5) Setting of work proposal
Predicting the amount of residuals of ground water
contaminants has been extensively studied. Work problem
However, their amount cannot be predicted accurately
Quantitative specification of problem when
errors exceeding 20% as caused by uncertain and insufficient
hydrology data make it impossible to accurately predict their
amount. Importance of problemAn error rate
exceeding 20% falls below R.O.C. environmental protection
standards. Project need Therefore, a NAPL
simulator model must be developed that contains several
parameters acquired by experimental data.

(example 6 ) Setting of work proposal
Owing to their lowest density among all metallic
structural materials, magnesium alloys are highly
promising for their diverse use in the automotive,
railway, aerospace, computer, communications and
consumer electronics industries. Work problem
However, these alloys have a low formability
near room temperature and are more expensive than
plastics, aluminum, steel and cast iron. Quantitative
specification of problem A situation in
which the formability near room temperature does not
reach 20% elongation
Importance of problemlimits
commercial applications of magnesium and
its alloys. Project need A
processing method must therefore be
developed, capable of producing materials in
a required shape at a relatively low cost
directly from wrought products.
(example 7 )Setting of work proposal
A decision-making environment is increasingly
complex, Work problem accounting for
why conventional evaluation models are concerned
only with economic factors and neglect those factors
that can not be evaluated by money. Quantitative
specification of problem In addition to
an economic criterion, for example, when evaluating
different brands of a bus system, many criterion are
still available such as the level of pollution made by
bus and the driving abilities of a bus.
Importance of problem Consequently,
such models may cause an incomplete evaluation and
decision makers may ultimately select an
inappropriate scheme. Moreover, implementing an
inappropriate scheme will incur large social costs and
loss of resources. Project need Therefore, an
appropriate evaluation model capable of selecting
natural gas bus brands must be developed.
(example8 ) Setting of work proposal Despite
their extensive use in solving problems related to ordered
categorical data quality, Work problem conventional
scored methods are unnecessarily complex and inaccurate in
terms of estimating the dispersion effect. Quantitative
specification of problem Additionally, their
implementation leads to an inaccurate optimal level combination
of process parameters, Importance of problem thus
requiring a large amount of time and a higher cost in product
design stage. Project need Therefore, a novel response
surface methodology with simplified calculations must be
developed to accurately estimate the location effect and
dispersion effect, leading to an optimal level combination of
process parameters.
(example 9 ) Setting of work proposal
Although process quality and delivery time
have received increasing emphasis in industry,
Work problem conventional process
capability indices (PCIs) are unable not only to
objectively assess quality and delivery time but
also to identify how PCIs and yield rate are related.
Quantitative specification of problem
Consequently, the lack of an effective
performance index and an objective procedure will
lead to inefficiency and a high overhead cost.
Importance of problem Furthermore,
firms that perform poorly in terms of quality and
delivery will lose their market competitiveness.
Project need Therefore, an efficient
hypothesis testing procedure for PCIS must be
developed, capable of assessing the performance
of operational cycle time (OCT) and delivery time
(DT) for VLSI.


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