Systems Engineering with Economics, Probability and Statistics

This extensively revised comprehensive textbook, covering a wide range of topics, is suitable for courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, each with a different emphasis. There is more than enough material to cover two semesters of an undergraduate course, as well as a one semester graduate course. The pedagogy provides enough flexibility for an instructor to teach the topics in systems engineering she or he would like. Systems Engineering with Economics, Probability and Statistics, Second Edition is sufficiently broad-based for undergraduate and graduate programs in various branches of engineering and management.Key FeaturesIncludes a wide range of topics covering the fundamentals and practice applications of probability and statistics (including advanced topics on statistical analysis, testing and interpretation of engineering data), microeconomics, engineering economics, hard systems (such as linear programming, decision analysis, CPM, LOB and PERT), soft systems analysis (such as Checkland's method), and sustainable development and sustainability applications in engineering planningAvoids the abstract mathematical approach usually found in textbooks on this subject, in favor of one that is geared to practical engineering applicationsIntegrates the power of quantitative analysis, in a very concrete way, with the conceptual richness of economics and systems thinking to deal with engineering problemsExamples and end-of-chapter exercises drives home the fact that answers to problems need not be merely "optimal" solutions, but must include value tradeoffs and lend themselves to an enriched decision-making process, most suitable for applications in an uncertain world. Numerous open-ended, real-world problems are included.Includes a unique chapter on "systems thinking"-a first of its kind in a textbook on systems engineering. It covers the most recent soft systems structuring methods available in dealing with complexity, uncertainty, and conflict. A new case-studies chapter applying soft systems methods is also included.Contains two new chapters-one on sustainable development, sustainability, engineering and planning; and the other on case studies dealing with engineering and planning for sustainability.WAV material includes a solutions manual for those exercise problems that require numerical solutions - available from the Web Added Value(TM) Download Resource Center at www.jrosspub.com

Dr. C. Jotin Khisty is a Professor Emeritus of Civil and Architectural Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago, Illinois. He was a professor of Civil Engineering and the Director of the Transportation and Infrastructure program at IIT from 1990 to 2002. Prior to joining IIT, he was on the faculty at Washington State University, Pullman, WA, from 1978 to 1990, where he also served as the Deputy Director of the Washington State Transportation Research Center. He gained his PhD in Transportation Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University, Columbus. He has had considerable field experience, first in India and Germany on large civil engineering projects, and later as a transportation engineer and planner with Metropolitan Planning Organizations in the USA. He has published more than 100 papers in journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters on systems science, transportation and traffic engineering, infrastructure systems planning, sustainable systems and economic analysis. He is the author of two books on transportation engineering. Dr. Khisty currently serves on the advisory committee of the International Journal of Systemic Practice and Action Research and on committees of the Transportation Research Board, National Academies, Washington, DC. He is a Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and the International Society of Systems Sciences. He is a registered professional engineer.Dr. Jamshid Mohammadi is a professor of civil and architectural engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago, Illinois. Over the period 1997-2011, he also served as the chairman of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at IIT. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with MS and PhD degrees. His publication records include more than 100 papers in journals and conference proceedings in the areas related to system reliability, probabilistic methods and risk analysis with specific applications in structural engineering. He is an author, co-author or editor of four books and conference proceedings. He served as the associate editor of Journal of Structural Engineering of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) from 1998-2004. Currently, he is the editor of ASCE's Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction. He is a member of ASCE and has been active at ASCE in several committees including the fatigue and fracture reliability committee and structural reliability committee. He is a licensed professional engineer in Illinois, a registered civil engineer in California and a licensed structural engineer in Illinois.Dr. Adjo Amekudzi is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering (Structures) from Stanford University, Masters in Civil Engineering (Transportation) from Florida International University, and Masters in Civil Infrastructure Systems and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Infrastructure Systems) from Carnegie Mellon University. Amekudzi's research, teaching and professional activities focus on the study, development and application of systems methods to civil infrastructure decision making to promote sustainable development. She has published over fifty papers on sustainability planning and evaluation and infrastructure asset management, and an edited book on infrastructure reporting and asset management. Amekudzi is the founding chair of the Committee on Sustainability and the Environment of the Transportation and Development Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). She serves on the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (BICE) of the National Research Council of the National Acad