Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Towards A Formal Theory Of Interoperability, Saikou Y. Diallo

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a formal theory of interoperability that explains 1) what interoperability is as opposed to how it works, 2) how to tell whether two or more systems can interoperate and 3) how to identify whether systems are interoperating or merely exchanging bits and bytes. The research provides a formal model of data in M&S that captures all possible representations of a real or imagined thing and distinguishes between existential dependencies and transformational dependencies. Existential dependencies capture the relationships within a model while transformational dependencies capture the relationships between interactions with a model. These definitions are used to formally …

A Decision Making Construct For Complex Situations, Van Edward Brewer

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The uncertainty inherently associated with complexity challenges decision-making processes, indicating a need for a construct for decision making in complex situations. A review of the literature on systems, complexity, and paradigms indicates that such a construct must be internally consistent with well-defined philosophical foundations and further that systems and complexity (as used in complex situations) are not necessarily internally consistent with traditional philosophical foundations. Therefore, a decision making construct for complex situations requires research into different foundations. This research addresses these gaps, deriving axiological and methodological components based on a set of principles consistent with the ontology and epistemology of …

Towards A Theory Of Understanding Within Problem Situations, Jose J. Padilla

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The concept of understanding is ambiguously used across areas of study, such as philosophy and cognitive sciences. This ambiguity partly originates from understanding's generally accepted definition of 'grasping' of something. Further, the concept is confounded with concurrent processes such as learning and decision making. This dissertation provides a general theory of understanding (GTU) that explains the concept of understanding unambiguously and separated from concurrent processes.

The GTU distinguishes between the process of understanding and its outcomes. Understanding, defined as a process, is the matching of knowledge, worldview, and problem. The outcome of this process is the assignment of a truth …

Utilizing Knowledge Transfer To Promote Management Of Countervailing Risks In Value Stream Analysis, Jeffery A. Temple

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Organizations are frequently faced with the challenges of modifying and streamlining their processes by utilizing the latest process improvement techniques such as Lean Thinking. They use these techniques to allow them to better perform their organizational purposes through the elimination of waste and non-value added steps. Personnel performing these modifications need to account for potential outcomes and risks when streamlining processes. An association of knowledge transfer and experience to the identification and handling of these countervailing or alternative risks when performing Lean Thinking value stream analysis is investigated. The elements of risk management, Lean Thinking and knowledge transfer are described. …

Using Sports Coaching Techniques To Enhance Project Based Learning Instruction, Lizabeth Schlemer, Faith Mimnaugh

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

As instructors attempt to apply project based learning as a preferred pedagogy for many aspects of engineering education, countless questions are raised. For instance, how do instructors assess individual performance in a team based environment? How do instructors prepare students for the culminating presentation or report? How do instructors develop the students individually? After reviewing literature on both project based learning and exceptional coaching, we have found that much can be learned from John Wooden, Phil Jackson and other coaches. This paper will organize some of the best practices in sports coaching and draw parallels that will enhance student learning …

Senior Center Network Redesign Under Demand Uncertainty, Osman Ozaltin, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Andrew Schaefer

Michael P. Johnson

Senior centers off#11;er a variety of services to facilitate independent living of older adults. In the U.S., increasing suburbanization and aging of suburban residents necessitate reconfiguring senior services. We propose a two-echelon network of senior centers across large study areas and formulate a stochastic facility location/allocation model with mixed-integer recourse. We apply our model to Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, which has one of the oldest population in the U.S. Our model shows that a two-echelon network design is appropriate for increasing the occupancy of senior centers as community focal points while maintaining customized and accessible programming in small neighborhood areas.

Rwanda National Customer Satisfaction Survey: Results And Conclusions, Deogratias Harorimana

Dr Deogratias Harorimana

It can be said that development practice requires more than financial and manpower inputs. Rwanda, in 1994 suffered a Genocide. The Society,collectively and under the leadership of His Excellence Paul Kagame the current elected President of Rwanda came together and designed strategies that would propel Rwanda to a Middle-Income, Private Sector Led Economy by the Year 2020.

In 2009, a client seating in one of the Hotels in a Suburb of Remera, in Kigali City, complained about poor service delivery he was experiencing from the waitress staff.Using his Blackberry message, the client forwarded an email to some of the RDB …

Antimicrobial And Antioxidant Activities Of Essential Oil And Methanol Extract Of Jasminum Sambac From Djibouti, Fatou Abdoul-Latif, Prosper Edou, François Eba, Nabil Mohamed, Adwa Ali, Samatar Djama, Louis-Clément Obame, Mamoudou Hama Dicko

Pr. Mamoudou H. DICKO, PhD

The essential oil of jasminum sambac from Djibouti was subjected to screening for their possible antioxidant activity by two complementary test systems, namely DPPH free radical scavenging and beta-carotene-linoleic acid assays. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was used as positive control in both test systems. In the DPPH test system, the IC50 value of essential oil and methanol extract were respectively 7.43 and 2.30 μg/ml. In the beta-carotene-linoleic acid system, oxidation was effectively inhibited by Jasminum sambac, the RAA value of essential oil and methanol extract were respectively 96.6 and 93.9%. When compared to BHT, the essential oil and methanol extract had …

Analytical Approximations To Predict Performance Measures Of Manufacturing Systems With Job Failures And Parallel Processing, Maria Hulett

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parallel processing is prevalent in many manufacturing and service systems. Many manufactured products are built and assembled from several components fabricated in parallel lines. An example of this manufacturing system configuration is observed at a manufacturing facility equipped to assemble and test web servers. Characteristics of a typical web server assembly line are: multiple products, job circulation, and paralleling processing. The primary objective of this research was to develop analytical approximations to predict performance measures of manufacturing systems with job failures and parallel processing. The analytical formulations extend previous queueing models used in assembly manufacturing systems in that they can …

Application Of Satellite-Derived Wind Profiles To Joint Precision Airdrop System (Jpads) Operations, David C. Meier

Theses and Dissertations

The Joint Precision Airdrop System has revolutionized military airdrop capability, allowing accurate delivery of equipment and supplies to smaller drop zones, from higher altitudes than was previously possible. This capability depends on accurate wind data which is currently provided by a combination of high-resolution forecast models and GPS dropsondes released in the vicinity of the dropzone shortly before the airdrop. This research develops a windprofiling algorithm to derive the needed wind data from passive IR satellite soundings, eliminating the requirement for a hazardous dropsonde pass near the drop zone, or allowing the dropsonde to be dropped farther from the dropzone. …

Uncertainty Quantification Of Multi-Component Isotope-Separation Cascade Model, Khoi D. Tran

Theses and Dissertations

Monte Carlo uncertainty quantification (UQ) capability has been added to a code for modeling multi-component steady-state isotope-separation enrichment cascades to characterize the propagation of uncertainties in input data that define the cascade and the feed. Random samples of error for every computational input are drawn from its individual uncertainty distribution and added to the inputs, creating a set of enrichment cascade problems with perturbed inputs. The set of problems is solved using the verified code. The cascade outputs are then characterized using the empirical cumulative distribution. The uncertainty output data are analyzed to gain new insights into the behaviors of …

Analysis Of An Economic Order Quantity And Reorder Point Inventory Control Model For Company Xyz, Jose L. Gonzalez, Daniel Gonzalez

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

As a result to today’s uncertain economy, companies are searching for alternative ways to stay competitive. In which, Company XYZ has been faced with an ineffective forecasting method that has lead to multiple product stock outs. The issue faced has caused sales loss as well as profit loss, which companies can not afford to lose if they want to stay competitive. This project goes through the process of analyzing the company’s current forecasting model and recommending an inventory control model to help them solve their current issue. As a result, an Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) and a Reorder Point was …

Facility And Database Design For The Research Development Center, Nicholas J. Mehas

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this project is to create a new facility and database design to replace the current Research Development Center located on the campus of California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo and the database in use at the facility. Currently the Research Development Center is a condemned building and the database lacks up-to-date technology. The project will develop new designs for both, based on concurrent engineering. The outcome of the project will be a new design for a new building that increases capacity and capability; a new database design that integrates newer technologies and methods for tracking tools.

Axle Assembly Takt Time Change, Punit Shivji

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The Toyota managed New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. automotive plant is currently going through difficult economic times. To prepare for future production demands, the plant will need to decrease production output and maintain a lower volume of vehicles produced with a high level of quality and efficiency. This project will take on the reorganization of the rear axle assembly lines and the departments that are involved to ensure a cost effective, efficient, and safe approach in manufacturing Toyota's Tacomas. Toyota recommends the Toyota production system as well as any knowledge and experience obtained from previous jobs and coursework to be …

E-Waste Solutions For Cal Poly And The Central Coast, Andrea Schmidt

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Executive Summary The focus of this paper is to explore the feasibility of an e-waste processing lab on the Cal Poly campus which can operate as an ongoing service to the community while maintaining an academic focus on the issues of end-of-life electronics. The result is a 30’ by 60’ lab on campus that includes 40 work stations, and 3,848 square feet of shelving. The lab can be entirely run by students with 36 hours per week of inspection and pre-production inventory activities and 6 hours of de-manufacturing activities, processing 264 e-waste units per month. Cal Poly students will train …

Measurement And Analysis Of Truck And Rail Vibration Levels In Thailand, V. Chonhenchob, Paul Singh, Jay A. Singh, S. Sittipod, D. Swasdee, Supoj Pratheepthinthong

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Worldwide increase in trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration and the spread of technology has caused an increased focus to be put on designing packages that can protect goods shipped globally. This requires a wide-ranging understanding of the distribution environments on a global basis. Several past studies have mapped the vibration levels for surface transportation along the most popular shipment routes in countries such as Brazil, Canada, China, India and the USA. This study was conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the vibration levels observed for truck and rail shipments for major transportation routes in Thailand, one of …

Gerber Project For Lockheed Martin, Andrew Callahan, Sean Lawyer

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Lockheed Martin, the world’s premier aerial combat vehicle manufacturer was pressed to find an eco-friendly way to package their impregnated epoxy. In the current system, the epoxy would be cut on the Gerber table to a pre-determined length and then sandwiched inside of two corrugated fiberboard sheets for storage inside of a freezer. The current process was not only labor intensive, but the corrugated fiberboard had to be disregarded after one use. In conjunction with the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Packaging program and Melmat Incorporated, we were able to find a corrugated plastic substrate to replace the currently non-reusable …

Height Adjustment In Assessing Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry Measurements Of Bone Mass And Density In Children, Babette S. Zemel, Mary B. Leonard, Andrea Kelly, Joan M. Lappe, Vicente Gilsanz, Sharon Oberfield, Soroosh Mahboubi, John A. Shepherd, Thomas N. Hangartner, Margaret M. Frederick, Karen K. Winer, Heidi J. Kalkwarf

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Context: In children, bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) measurements by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) are affected by height status. No consensus exists on how to adjust BMC or BMD (BMC/BMD) measurements for short or tall stature.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare various methods to adjust BMC/BMD for height in healthy children.

Design: Data from the Bone Mineral Density in Childhood Study (BMDCS) were used to develop adjustment methods that were validated using an independent cross-sectional sample of healthy children from the Reference Data Project (RDP).

Setting: We conducted the study in five …

Acuta Enews March 2010, Vol 39, No. 3

ACUTA Newsletters

ln This lssue

Board of Directors for 2010-2011

From ACUTA Headquarters: Broadband Grants Announced..........Jeri A. Semer, CAE, Executive Dir.

Mark Watters, Ball State University, Wins ACUTA Conference Package

Message from ACUTA Young Professionals Subcommittee ......... Jana McDonald, Texas A&M University

Be a Moderator or Monitor at the Annual Conference

Mutli-Event Discount: Attend More in 2010 and Save More!

Tech Talk: Meeting the Challenge of Measuring UC's Benefits...... Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

Washington Update Newsletter

DC Update ..............Dave Ostrom, Washington State Univ. (retired)

Pennsylvania Coalition Awarded $99.6 Million NTIA Grant

ln Memory: Denny Grandowicz

lnfo links............. Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern …

Nato Human View Architecture And Human Networks, Holly A. H. Handley, Nancy P. Houston

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The NATO Human View is a system architectural viewpoint that focuses on the human as part of a system. Its purpose is to capture the human requirements and to inform on how the human impacts the system design. The viewpoint contains seven static models that include different aspects of the human element, such as roles, tasks, constraints, training and metrics. It also includes a Human Dynamics component to perform simulations of the human system under design. One of the static models, termed Human Networks, focuses on the human-to-human communication patterns that occur as a result of ad hoc or deliberate …