Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Joint Base Station Clustering And Beamformer Design For Partial Coordinated Transmission In Heterogeneous Networks, Mingyi Hong, Ruoyu Sun, Hadi Baligh, Zhi-Quan Luo

Mingyi Hong

We consider the interference management problem in a multicell MIMO heterogeneous network. Within each cell there is a large number of distributed micro/pico base stations (BSs) that can be potentially coordinated for joint transmission. To reduce coordination overhead, we consider user-centric BS clustering so that each user is served by only a small number of (potentially overlapping) BSs. Thus, given the channel state information, our objective is to jointly design the BS clustering and the linear beamformers for all BSs in the network. In this paper, we formulate this problem from a {sparse optimization} perspective, and propose an efficient algorithm …

Sustainable Purchasing Practices: An Investigation Into Current Industry Awareness And Practice, Frank Palisi, Kathryne Newton, Edward Sweeney

Conference papers

This research study illustrates the importance of sustainable purchasing practices for organizations in the U.S. distribution industry and answers several important questions: what is the current awareness of U.S. organizations regarding sustainable purchasing practices; to what extent are U.S. organizations evaluating, selecting, and retaining suppliers based upon sustainable purchasing practices; and to what extent are sustainable purchasing practices being implemented by the U.S. organizations under study? With an ever increasing global economy, is it critically important for organizations to put in place sustainability practices; the biggest impact organizations can make is often in an organization’s purchasing department. The researcher begins …

An Empirical Investigation Of Entrepreneurship Intensity In Iranian State Universities, Behin Elahi

Behin Elahi

The purpose of this study is to propose a framework to evaluate the entrepreneurship intensity (EI) of Iranian state universities. In order to determine EI, a hybrid multimethod framework consisting of Delphi, Analytic Network Process (ANP), and VIKOR is proposed. The Delphi method is used to localize and reduce the number of criteria extracted from a deep literature review, according to the social and economic conditions of Iranian state universities by using an expert panel, including sixty-eight country-wide academicians and practitioners. After that, a group approach to ANP was utilized as an evaluation method to derive the weights of each …

Inhibition Of Bacillus Cereus Growth By Bacteriocin Producing Bacillus Subtilis Isolated From Fermented Baobab Seeds (Maari) Is Substrate Dependent, Donatien Kaboré, Dennis S. Nielsen, Hagrétoui Sawadogo-Lingan, Bréhima Diawara, Mamoudou H. Dicko Prof., Mogens Jakobsen, Line Thorsen

Pr. Mamoudou H. DICKO, PhD

Water Plans And Climate Change Plans In The Northeast And The Southwest, An Pham

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

To what degree are water managers in different regions in the United States thinking about and planning for climate change? To answer this question we reviewed water plans and climate change plans in all the cities with populations over 50,000 in the Northeastern and Southwestern regions of the United States. By locating and reviewing water and climate change plans in the described cities in the two regions, we found that of the 101 cities with over 50,000 people in the Northeast, 83 cities had water plans and/or climate change plans that could be found online; only 20 had plans that …

An Evaluation Of Methods To Assess Whether Health Information Technology-Based Tools Improve Weight Loss Measures In Bariatric Surgery Patients, Jocelyn R. Morgan

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Obesity is a chronic and growing disease defined by weighing 20% or more than the ideal, or having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m² or more. While natural weight loss is available, many patients are choosing weight loss surgery (i.e., bariatric surgery) as an alternative to lose weight and reduce their risks for comorbidities such as diabetes, heart disease, and sleep apnea. Tools and resources for post-surgical support in the bariatric surgery community have been limited and, in the past, most tools and resources for weight loss have focused on non-surgical weight loss communities; as such, analysis …

Using Computer Simulation To Study Hospital Admission And Discharge Processes, Edwin S. Kim

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Hospitals around the country are struggling to provide timely access to inpatient beds. We use discrete event simulation to study the inpatient admission and discharge processes in US hospitals. Demand for inpatient beds comes from two sources: the Emergency Department (ED) and elective surgeries (NonED). Bed request and discharge rates vary from hour to hour; furthermore, weekday demand is different from weekend demand. We use empirically collected data from national and local (Massachusetts) sources on different-sized community and referral hospitals, demand rates for ED and NonED patients, patient length of stay (LOS), and bed turnover times to calibrate our discrete …

Success In Technology Organizations, Joseph Bass

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s economic environment, it is advantageous for technology organizations to be cognizant of prevalent influences on success and failure and to incorporate this knowledge into their business and innovation strategies. Technology organizations were defined within this research as those in the business of created competence which is expressed in terms of entities consisting of devices, procedures, and acquired human skills (Clarke, 2005). Although, no organization contains the ideal mix of culture and ideological emphases, some have amassed impressive track records of great success. A literature review was used to identify factors relevant within similar contexts such as influences on …

Total Ownership Cost Modeling Of Technology Adoption Using System Dynamics: Implications For Erp Systems, Behzad Esmaeilian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Investment in new technologies is considered by firms as a solution to improve their productivity, product and service quality and their competitive advantages in the global market. Unfortunately, not all technology adoption projects have met their intended objectives. The complexity of technology adoption along with little consideration of the long term cost of the technology, are among the factors that challenge companies while adopting a new technology. Companies often make new technology adoption decision without enough attention to the total cost of the technology over its lifecycle. Sometimes poor decision making while adopting a new technology can result in substantial …

Simulation-Based Cognitive Workload Modeling And Evaluation Of Adaptive Automation Invoking And Revoking Strategies, Christina Rusnock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In human-computer systems, such as supervisory control systems, large volumes of incoming and complex information can degrade overall system performance. Strategically integrating automation to offload tasks from the operator has been shown to increase not only human performance but also operator efficiency and safety. However, increased automation allows for increased task complexity, which can lead to high cognitive workload and degradation of situational awareness. Adaptive automation is one potential solution to resolve these issues, while maintaining the benefits of traditional automation. Adaptive automation occurs dynamically, with the quantity of automated tasks changing in real-time to meet performance or workload goals. …

A Posteriori And Interactive Approaches For Decision-Making With Multiple Stochastic Objectives, Ahmed Bakhsh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computer simulation is a popular method that is often used as a decision support tool in industry to estimate the performance of systems too complex for analytical solutions. It is a tool that assists decision-makers to improve organizational performance and achieve performance objectives in which simulated conditions can be randomly varied so that critical situations can be investigated without real-world risk. Due to the stochastic nature of many of the input process variables in simulation models, the output from the simulation model experiments are random. Thus, experimental runs of computer simulations yield only estimates of the values of performance objectives, …

A Framework For Measuring The Value-Added Of Knowledge Processes With Analysis Of Process Interactions And Dynamics, Jose Cintron

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The most known and widely used methods use cash flows and tangible assets to measure the impact of investments in the organization’s outputs. But in the last decade many newer organizations whose outputs are heavily dependent on information technology utilize knowledge as their main asset. These organizations’ market values lie on the knowledge of its employees and their technological capabilities. In the current technology-based business landscape the value added by assets utilized for generation of outputs cannot be appropriately measured and managed without considering the role that intangible assets and knowledge play in executing processes. The analysis of processes for …

Strategic Improvement: A Systems Approach Using The Balanced Scorecard Methodology To Increase Federally Financed Research At The University Of Central Florida, Joseph Walters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The University of Central Florida has many successful measures to reflect on as it celebrates its 50th year in 2013. It is the university with the 2nd largest student population in the U. S. and its overall ranking in the U.S. News & World Report has improved 4 years in a row. However, with respect to research, the federally funded research and development for the University of Central Florida (UCF) has remained flat. In addition, when compared to other schools, its portion of those federal research dollars is small. This thesis lays the groundwork for developing a model for improving …

A Real Option Dynamic Decision (Rodd) Framework For Operational Innovations, Wilawan Onkham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Changing the business operations and adopting new operational innovations, have become key features for a business solution approach. However, there are challenges for developing innovative operations due to a lack of the proper decision analysis tools, lack of understanding the impacts transition will have on operational models, and the time limits of the innovation life cycle. The cases of business failure in operational innovation (i.e. Eastman Kodak Company and Borders Group Inc.,) support the need for an investment decision framework. This research aims to develop a Real Option Dynamic Decision (RODD) framework for decision making, to support decision makers for …

The Effect Of Curriculum Organization On The Acquisition Of Abstract Declarative Knowledge In Computer Based Instructions., Saleh Al-Foraih

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States of America has dropped behind many countries in terms of the Science and Engineering university degrees awarded since the beginning of the nineties. Multiple studies have been conducted to determine the cause of this decline in degrees awarded, and try to reverse the trend in US education. The goal of these studies was to determine the proper instructional methods that facilitate the knowledge acquisition process for the student. It has been determined that not one method works for all types of curriculum, for example methods that have been found to work effectively in curriculum that teaches procedures …

Modeling Of Socio-Economic Factors And Adverse Events In An Active War Theater By Using A Cellular Automata Simulation Approach, Halil Bozkurt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Department of Defense (DoD) implemented Human Social Cultural and Behavior (HSCB) program to meet the need to develop capability to understand, predict and shape human behavior among different cultures by developing a knowledge base, building models, and creating training capacity. This capability will allow decision makers to subordinate kinetic operations and promote non-kinetic operations to govern economic programs better in order to initiate efforts and development to address the grievances among the displeased by adverse events. These non-kinetic operations include rebuilding indigenous institutions’ bottom-up economic activity and constructing necessary infrastructure since the success in non-kinetic operations depends on understanding and …

Exploring The Innovation Environment Within The Systems Engineering Context Of A Defense Organization: A Preliminary Framework, Khaled Odeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Innovation may involve the introduction of ideas for designing or producing new products, or introducing improvements to products, processes, services or any other aspect of an organization to the market place. A major element for measuring organizational strength is its perception of innovation and the ability of the organization to build on and sustain such strength. While there is no shortage of research and study materials on innovation, there is, however, a shortage of thorough and realistic analysis of the intersection of innovation management, and measurement of innovation within the systems engineering context of defense organizations. In addition, while most …

A Three-Stage Model For Closed-Loop Supply Chain Configuration Under Uncertainty, Saman Hassanzadeh Amin, Guoqing Zhang

Mechanical, Automotive & Materials Engineering Publications

In this paper, a general closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network is configured which consists of multiple customers, parts, products, suppliers, remanufacturing subcontractors, and refurbishing sites. We propose a three-stage model including evaluation, network configuration, and selection and order allocation. In the first stage, suppliers, remanufacturing subcontractors, and refurbishing sites are evaluated based on a new quality function deployment (QFD) model. The proposed QFD model determines the relationship between customer requirements, part requirements, and process requirements. In addition, the fuzzy sets theory is utilised to overcome the uncertainty in the decision-making process. In the second stage, the closed-loop supply chain network …

Evaluation Of Interpolation Effects On Upsampling And Accuracy Of Cost Functions-Based Optimized Automatic Image Registration, Amir Pasha Mahmoudzadeh, Nasser H. Kashou

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Interpolation has become a default operation in image processing and medical imaging and is one of the important factors in the success of an intensity-based registration method. Interpolation is needed if the fractional unit of motion is not matched and located on the high resolution (HR) grid. The purpose of this work is to present a systematic evaluation of eight standard interpolation techniques (trilinear, nearest neighbor, cubic Lagrangian, quintic Lagrangian, hepatic Lagrangian, windowed Sinc, B-spline 3rd order, and B-spline 4th order) and to compare the effect of cost functions (least squares (LS), normalized mutual information (NMI), normalized cross correlation (NCC), …

Predicting The Clinical Outcome In Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury Using Clinical Pathway Scores, Jennifer Lorena Mendoza Alonzo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Polytrauma/TBI Rehabilitation Center (PRC) of the Veterans Affairs Hospital (VAH) treats patients with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). These patients have major motor and cognitive disabilities. Most of the patients stay in the hospital for many months without major improvements. This suggests that patients, family and the VAH could benefit if healthcare provider had a way to better assess or "predict" patients' progression. The individual progress of patients over time is assessed using a pre-defined multi-component performance measure Functional Independence Measures (FIM) at admission and discharge, and a semi-quantitative documentation parameter Clinical Pathway (CP) at weekly intervals. This work uses …