Writing the Problem Statement

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Writing the Problem Statement ??????????????????
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Writing the problem statement for your work or
research proposal comprises the following
partsSetting of work proposal ??????
???????????? ????????????????? Work problem
???? ????????????????????????????
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Quantitative specification of problem ?????
?????????????????????????????? ?Importance of
problem ????? ??????????????,
???????????????????Project need ????
??????,????????????
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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
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• 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.

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• 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.

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

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• 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.

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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
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• A prediction accuracy of only 60 among departed
  models
• The inability to measure a non-normal
  distribution process accurately
• An error rate exceeding 20

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• 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

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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
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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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Project need ???? Based on the problem defined
above, what is the immediate project need?
??????,????????????Consider the following
examples
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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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..

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Putting it together Writing the problem
statement ????Consider the following examples
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• ( example 1 )Setting of work proposal
  ??????Enterprises trade with each other by
  carefully considering business ratings to reduce
  investment risks. Work problem????However,
  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.

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• (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
  problem????Eventually, the current reservoir
  supply will be insufficient if current demands
  from personal and industrial use persist.
  Importance of problem?????Consequently, 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.

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• ( 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
  problem????However, 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.

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• Importance of problem?????Above 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.

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• (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.

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• 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 problem????However,
  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.

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• (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
  problem?????An 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.

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• (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

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• Importance of problem?????limits 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.

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• (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.

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• 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.

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• (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.

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• (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.

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• 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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