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Emergency Evacuation Route Planning Considering Human Behavior During Short- And No-Notice Emergency Situations, Suebpong Kittirattanapaiboon
Emergency Evacuation Route Planning Considering Human Behavior During Short- And No-Notice Emergency Situations, Suebpong Kittirattanapaiboon
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Throughout United States and world history, disasters have caused not only significant loss of life, property but also enormous financial loss. The tsunami that occurred on December 26, 2004 is a telling example of the devastation that can occur unexpectedly. This unexpected natural event never happened before in this area. In addition, there was a lack of an emergency response plan for events of that magnitude. Therefore, this event resulted not only in a natural catastrophe for the people of South and Southeast Asia, but it is also considered one of the greatest natural disasters in world history. After the …
A Systematic Analysis To Identify, Mitigate, Quantify, And Measure Risk Factors Contributing To Falls In Nasa Ground Support Ope, Joylene Ware
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The objective of the research was to develop and validate a multifaceted model such as a fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model that considers both qualitative and quantitative elements with relative significance in assessing the likelihood of falls and aid in the design of NASA Ground Support Operations in aerospace environments. The model represented linguistic variables that quantified significant risk factor levels. Multiple risk factors that contribute to falls in NASA Ground Support Operations are task related, human/personal, environmental, and organizational. Six subject matter experts were asked to participate in a voting system involving a survey where they judge risk …
Occupational Lower Extremity Risk Assessment Modeling, Christopher Reid
Occupational Lower Extremity Risk Assessment Modeling, Christopher Reid
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Introduction: Lower extremity (LE) work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are known to occur with cumulative exposure to occupational and personal risks. The objective of this dissertation study was to find if creating a quantifiable risk detection model for the LE was feasible. The primary product of the literature review conducted for this study resulted in focusing the attention of the model development process onto creating the initial model of the LE for assessing knee disorder risk factors. Literature Review: LE occupational disorders affect numerous industries and thousands of people each year by affecting any one of the musculoskeletal systems deemed susceptible …
Direct Manipulation Of Virtual Objects, Long Nguyen
Direct Manipulation Of Virtual Objects, Long Nguyen
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Interacting with a Virtual Environment (VE) generally requires the user to correctly perceive the relative position and orientation of virtual objects. For applications requiring interaction in personal space, the user may also need to accurately judge the position of the virtual object relative to that of a real object, for example, a virtual button and the user's real hand. This is difficult since VEs generally only provide a subset of the cues experienced in the real world. Complicating matters further, VEs presented by currently available visual displays may be inaccurate or distorted due to technological limitations. Fundamental physiological and psychological …
Contributions By Individual And Group Strategies For Organizational Learning In Architectural, Engineering, And Construction Firms, Robert Beaver
Contributions By Individual And Group Strategies For Organizational Learning In Architectural, Engineering, And Construction Firms, Robert Beaver
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organizations with multiple operating requirements require support functions to assist in execution of strategic goals. This effort, in turn, requires management of engineering activities in control of projects and in sustaining facilities. High level strategies include employing engineering support that consists of a project management function encompassing technical and managerial disciplines. The architecture/engineering, and construction office (AEC) is the subject of this research. Engineering and construction oriented organizations have experienced challenges to their abilities to learn and grow. This has potential detrimental implications for these organizations if support functions cannot keep pace with changing objectives and strategy. The competitive nature …
Evaluating The Performance Of Animal Shelters: An Application Of Data Envelopment Analysis, Brandy Heyde
Evaluating The Performance Of Animal Shelters: An Application Of Data Envelopment Analysis, Brandy Heyde
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The focus of this thesis is the application of data envelopment analysis to understand and evaluate the performance of diverse animal welfare organizations across the United States. The results include identification of the most efficient animal welfare organizations, at least among those that post statistics on their operations, and a discussion of various partnerships that may improve the performance of the more inefficient organizations. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that there are 4000 - 6000 independently-run animal shelters across the United States, with an estimated 6-8 million companion animals entering them each year. Unfortunately, more than half …
Dmarc: A Framework For The Integration Of Dmaic And Dmadv, Abhishek Vootukuru
Dmarc: A Framework For The Integration Of Dmaic And Dmadv, Abhishek Vootukuru
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Lean Six Sigma methodology is being applied extensively to tackle many quality related issues in many processes of today s industries. Various companies have benefited greatly from the adoption of Six Sigma and Lean engineering concepts since their introduction, and continue to do so. The DMAIC method that is traditionally adopted in the implementation of the Lean Six Sigma methodology has proven to yield cost saving results in most cases. Yet, industries have found that just improvement of existent process and products to reduce defects, does not quench the customer s growing thirst for greater quality. In order to …
Improving Airline Schedule Reliability Using A Strategic Multi-Objective Runway Slot Assignment Search Heuristic, Florian Hafner
Improving Airline Schedule Reliability Using A Strategic Multi-Objective Runway Slot Assignment Search Heuristic, Florian Hafner
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Improving the predictability of airline schedules in the National Airspace System (NAS) has been a constant endeavor, particularly as system delays grow with ever-increasing demand. Airline schedules need to be resistant to perturbations in the system including Ground Delay Programs (GDPs) and inclement weather. The strategic search heuristic proposed in this dissertation significantly improves airline schedule reliability by assigning airport departure and arrival slots to each flight in the schedule across a network of airports. This is performed using a multi-objective optimization approach that is primarily based on historical flight and taxi times but also includes certain airline, airport, and …
Automatic Generation Of Supply Chain Simulation Models From Scor Based Ontologies, Dayana Cope
Automatic Generation Of Supply Chain Simulation Models From Scor Based Ontologies, Dayana Cope
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In today's economy of global markets, supply chain networks, supplier/customer relationship management and intense competition; decision makers are faced with a need to perform decision making using tools that do not accommodate the nature of the changing market. This research focuses on developing a methodology that addresses this need. The developed methodology provides supply chain decision makers with a tool to perform efficient decision making in stochastic, dynamic and distributed supply chain environments. The integrated methodology allows for informed decision making in a fast, sharable and easy to use format. The methodology was implemented by developing a stand alone tool …
The Creation Of Tools And Models To Characterize And Quantify User-Centered Design Considerations In Product And System Developm, Katherine Meza
The Creation Of Tools And Models To Characterize And Quantify User-Centered Design Considerations In Product And System Developm, Katherine Meza
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Ease of use differentiates products in a highly competitive market place. It also brings an added value that culminates in a higher degree of customer satisfaction, repeated business, increased sales, and higher revenue. User-centered design is a strategic asset that companies can use to improve their customer relationships by learning more about their customers, and increase their sales. In today's economy, the measurement of intangible assets such as user experience has become a major need for industries because of the relationship between user-centered design and organizational benefits such as customer loyalty. As companies realize that the inclusion of user-centered design …
A Surrogate Measure Of Customer Satisfaction In The Manufacture Of Printed Wiring Boards, Adam Y. Maamoun
A Surrogate Measure Of Customer Satisfaction In The Manufacture Of Printed Wiring Boards, Adam Y. Maamoun
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The objective of this research is to determine and develop a model that is capable of accurately measuring customer satisfaction for different industries and in particularly for the Printed Wiring Boards (PWB) Manufacturers. The new model will incorporate data not being collected or utilized by the survey method of determining customer satisfaction. The method used is a weighted average of satisfaction among several researched categories with percentages that accurately represent the relative importance of multiple facets of the PWB manufacturers customer satisfaction. A very common term in quality assurance is that "What is not measured accurately can not be evaluated …
Optimizing The Level Of Customization For Products In Mass Customization Systems, Sami Spahi
Optimizing The Level Of Customization For Products In Mass Customization Systems, Sami Spahi
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Mass customization (MC) was developed to capitalize on the combined benefits of economies of scale and economies of scope. Balancing the tradeoffs involved in an MC system warrants the determination of the degree or the extent of customization. Most of the literature views the degree of customization as how early or how far the customer is integrated in the production cycle, which is defined as the order decoupling point. In this study we are addressing the degree of customization from a product structural perspective. There are two objectives in this research. The first is to develop a unit of measurement …
A Hybrid System Dynamics-Discrete Event Simulationapproach To Simulating The Manufacturing Enterprise, Magdy Helal
A Hybrid System Dynamics-Discrete Event Simulationapproach To Simulating The Manufacturing Enterprise, Magdy Helal
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
With the advances in the information and computing technologies, the ways the manufacturing enterprise systems are being managed are changing. More integration and adoption of the system perspective push further towards a more flattened enterprise. This, in addition to the varying levels of aggregation and details and the presence of the continuous and discrete types of behavior, created serious challenges for the use of the existing simulation tools for simulating the modern manufacturing enterprise system. The commonly used discrete event simulation (DES) techniques face difficulties in modeling such integrated systems due to increased model complexity, the lack of data at …
Drive-Based Modeling And Visualization Of Crew Race Strategy And Performance, Jeffrey Cornett
Drive-Based Modeling And Visualization Of Crew Race Strategy And Performance, Jeffrey Cornett
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Crew race strategy is typically formulated by coaches based on rowing tradition and years of experience. However, coaching strategies are not generally supported by empirical evidence and decision-support models. Previous models of crew race strategy have been constrained by the sparse information published on crew race performance (quarterly 500-meter splits). Empirical research has merely summarized which quarterly splits averaged the fastest and slowest relative to the other splits and relative to the average speed of the other competitors. Video records of crew race world championships provide a rich source of data for those capable and patient enough to mine this …
Improving Business Performance Through The Integration Of Human Factors Engineering Into Organizations Using A Systems Engineeri, Monica Philippart
Improving Business Performance Through The Integration Of Human Factors Engineering Into Organizations Using A Systems Engineeri, Monica Philippart
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Most organizations today understand the valuable contribution employees as people (rather than simply bodies) provide to their overall performance. Although efforts are made to make the most of the human in organizations, there is still much room for improvement. Focus in the reduction of employee injuries such as cumulative trauma disorders rose in the 80 s. Attempts at increasing performance by addressing employee satisfaction through various methods have also been ongoing for several years now. Knowledge Management is one of the most recent attempts at controlling and making the best use of employees knowledge. All of these efforts and more …
Information Retrieval Performance Enhancement Using The Average Standard Estimator And The Multi-Criteria Decision Weighted Set, Tareq Ahram
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Information retrieval is much more challenging than traditional small document collection retrieval. The main difference is the importance of correlations between related concepts in complex data structures. These structures have been studied by several information retrieval systems. This research began by performing a comprehensive review and comparison of several techniques of matrix dimensionality estimation and their respective effects on enhancing retrieval performance using singular value decomposition and latent semantic analysis. Two novel techniques have been introduced in this research to enhance intrinsic dimensionality estimation, the Multi-criteria Decision Weighted model to estimate matrix intrinsic dimensionality for large document collections and the …
Stochastic Resource Constrained Project Scheduling With Stochastic Task Insertion Problems, Sandra Archer
Stochastic Resource Constrained Project Scheduling With Stochastic Task Insertion Problems, Sandra Archer
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The area of focus for this research is the Stochastic Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (SRCPSP) with Stochastic Task Insertion (STI). The STI problem is a specific form of the SRCPSP, which may be considered to be a cross between two types of problems in the general form: the Stochastic Project Scheduling Problem, and the Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem. The stochastic nature of this problem is in the occurrence/non-occurrence of tasks with deterministic duration. Researchers Selim (2002) and Grey (2007) laid the groundwork for the research on this problem. Selim (2002) developed a set of robustness metrics and used …
Multiobjective Coordination Models For Maintenance And Service Parts Inventory Planning And Control, Oscar Martinez
Multiobjective Coordination Models For Maintenance And Service Parts Inventory Planning And Control, Oscar Martinez
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In many equipment-intensive organizations in the manufacturing, service and particularly the defense sectors, service parts inventories constitute a significant source of tactical and operational costs and consume a significant portion of capital investment. For instance, the Defense Logistics Agency manages about 4 million consumable service parts and provides about 93% of all consumable service parts used by the military services. These items required about US$1.9 billion over the fiscal years 1999-2002. During the same time, the US General Accountability Office discovered that, in the United States Navy, there were about 3.7 billion ship and submarine parts that were not needed. …
Defining Risk Assessment Confidence Levels For Use In Project Management Communications, Gary Johnson
Defining Risk Assessment Confidence Levels For Use In Project Management Communications, Gary Johnson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
A review of the literature regarding risk management and effective risk communications identified that very few researchers have addressed risk assessment confidence levels when using risk scoring methods. The focus of this research is to develop a definition of risk assessment confidence levels for use in internal project management communications and to evaluate its usefulness. This research defines risk assessment confidence level as "The degree of certainty that the likelihood or consequence score (assigned by the risk assessor) reflects reality." A specific level of confidence is defined based on the types of analyses that were conducted to determine the risk …
Project Review Maturity And Project Performance: An Empirical Case Study, Catherine Vergopia
Project Review Maturity And Project Performance: An Empirical Case Study, Catherine Vergopia
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Many organizations use project management maturity models to improve their project performance. These systematic and sequential frameworks are designed to help organizations quantify their project management maturity and improve their project management processes. However, these models rarely put enough emphasis on project reviews as tools to improve project performance, because, too often, project reviews are considered as non-productive administrative processes. The lack of emphasis on project reviews in project management maturity models is also illustrated by the limited amount of research published on the relationship between project reviews and project performance. Based on the concept of project management maturity models, …
Developmemnt Of A Modeling And Simulation Training Needs Model For Selected Defense Acquisition Workforce Communities, Lik Chun Peh
Developmemnt Of A Modeling And Simulation Training Needs Model For Selected Defense Acquisition Workforce Communities, Lik Chun Peh
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The DoD Modeling and Simulation Steering Committee (M&S SC) identified Modeling and Simulation (M&S) as an educational objective for the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L) workforce. Notably, past usages of M&S in system acquisitions for both DoD and commercial industry have demonstrated improvements in efficiency and effectiveness over traditional acquisition techniques. However, to achieve expected and consistent performance by this workforce in these new techniques, the M&S essential skill requirements for this workforce may be extensive. This research aims to validate the content and level of competency in selected M&S tools and technology necessary for consistent workforce performance. The notion …
Modeling Lane-Based Traffic Flow In Emergency Situations In The Presence Of Multiple Heterogeneous Flows, Amani Saleh
Modeling Lane-Based Traffic Flow In Emergency Situations In The Presence Of Multiple Heterogeneous Flows, Amani Saleh
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In recent years, natural, man-made and technological disasters have been increasing in magnitude and frequency of occurrence. Terrorist attacks have increased after the September 11, 2001. Some authorities suggest that global warming is partly the blame for the increase in frequency of natural disasters, such as the series of hurricanes in the early-2000's. Furthermore, there has been noticeable growth in population within many metropolitan areas not only in the US but also worldwide. These and other facts motivate the need for better emergency evacuation route planning (EERP) approaches in order to minimize the loss of human lives and property. This …
A Comprehensive Multi-Faceted Approach For Simultaneously Analyzing Organizational Performance Measures Essential For Company Su, Ana Ferreras
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Profit, ergonomics, safety, employee morale, quality, efficiency, and productivity are critical components that greatly impact company success within manufacturing organizations. Therefore, it is essential that a valid and reliable systematic approach that encompasses all of these factors be developed for use by top management in today's rapidly changing manufacturing environment. Organizational-level decisions made based upon a single goal or narrow perspective that only considers one of the aforementioned components, such as profit, while ignoring others, such as employee morale, have proven harmful to the long term viability and success of manufacturing companies. Often organizational leaders are not adequately equipped to …
A Framework To Align Strategy, Improvement Performance, And Customer Satisfaction Using An Integration Of Six Sigma And Balanced, Adriana Rodriguez
A Framework To Align Strategy, Improvement Performance, And Customer Satisfaction Using An Integration Of Six Sigma And Balanced, Adriana Rodriguez
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation investigated the development, implementation, and evaluation of a management methodology founded on the alignment among the strategy, performance, and customer to bring value to any organization. A case study/action research in a service organization, called Institution "Z," provided the opportunity to assess the effects of the proposed Six Sigma Scorecard (SSS) methodology in the productivity indicators (measured by cycle time, line capacity, and number of errors). The Case study/action research was conducted in three phases: Model and Concepts Design, Data Collection, and Findings. During the research, validity was pursued by using triangulation and theory to help maintain the …
Value Mapping Framework Involving Stakeholders For Supply Chain Improvement When Implementing Information Technology Projects, Karla Moore
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Successful Supply Chain Management (SCM) depends on how well an organization performs internal and external communications with trading partners, executes the logistics component, and understands/monitors related costs of conducting its business. The use of information technology (IT) is considered a prerequisite for the effective control of today's complex supply chains. Increased communication technology has redefined how businesses work together, raised customer expectations, and placed new demands on supply chain performance. IT components with proven and rapid return-on-investment are favored to support critical supply chain processes such as leaner manufacturing processes, consumer-driven supply chains, and customer responsiveness. The use of IT …
Mass Customization Strategies And Their Relationship To Lean Production In The Homebuilding Industry, Isabelina Nahmens
Mass Customization Strategies And Their Relationship To Lean Production In The Homebuilding Industry, Isabelina Nahmens
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Current housing trends point to an increasing interest from homebuyers to demand houses that reflect their personal and unique styles, and which are individually configured according to these needs (NAHB, 2004). These homebuyers in turn are unwilling to settle for standard models that sacrifice what they really want in a home. At the same time this creates pressure on builders who are reluctant to sacrifice production efficiencies by deviating from standard models. Such customization desired by demanding customers can disrupt the entire estimating, production, delivery and management process, making it even more difficult to manage homebuilding efficiently and effectively. The …
Optimization Models For Emergency Relief Shelter Planning For Anticipated Hurricane Events, Abeer Tarief Sharawi
Optimization Models For Emergency Relief Shelter Planning For Anticipated Hurricane Events, Abeer Tarief Sharawi
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Natural disasters, specifically hurricanes, can cause catastrophic loss of life and property. In recent years, the United States has endured significant losses due to a series of devastating hurricanes (e.g., Hurricanes Charley and Ivan in 2004, and Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma in 2005). Several Federal authorities report that there are weaknesses in the emergency and disaster planning and response models that are currently employed in practice, thus creating a need for better decision models in emergency situations. The current models not only lack fast communication with emergency responders and the public, but are also inadequate for advising the pre-positioning of …
Cognitive Learning From Computer-Based Information Systems By Incorporating Knowledge Construction Interventions, Wajdi Wazzan
Cognitive Learning From Computer-Based Information Systems By Incorporating Knowledge Construction Interventions, Wajdi Wazzan
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The aim of the present study was to develop and empirically evaluate different categories of instructional activities, which stimulate the generation and construction of knowledge on the part of an individual student. These generative activities are primed by prompts or scaffolds, which can easily be inserted into specific curriculum addressing any domain of knowledge. To assess the manner in which the knowledge construction interventions influence the learning outcomes from computerized information systems, we have developed an online computer-based information system that describes the functions and mechanisms associated with the bus system of the US army Abrams M1A2 tank. Seven versions …
Identification And Suitability Of A Non-Anthropomorphic Meta-Language Framework In Military Applications, Gilbert Cardona
Identification And Suitability Of A Non-Anthropomorphic Meta-Language Framework In Military Applications, Gilbert Cardona
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Humans carry mental models concerning the behaviors, looks, and operation of products, tools, and items used in their daily lives. When these items do not fit a user's conceptual model confusion and inefficiency occur. There are four basic types of mental models based on interactive activities: 1) instructing, 2) conversing, 3) manipulating and navigating, and 4) exploring and browsing. This thesis will focus on the conversing conceptual model and its application to communications between human-agent teams to best fit a user's mental model for that communication. A non-anthropomorphic framework does not exist for use in military applications such as; target …
Developing A Spatial Interface For Information Visualization And Management In A Crisis Response Scenario, Anthony Costello
Developing A Spatial Interface For Information Visualization And Management In A Crisis Response Scenario, Anthony Costello
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The focus of this study was to investigate how a spatial interface can be effectively utilized to support information presentation and information integration via human-centric data visualization, leading to decreased cognitive load, more accurate situation awareness, and subsequently, improved task performance. In high tempo, information intensive environments like those managed by an emergency operations center (EOC), information organization tools are essential. Though users can be trained to use conventional email software applications efficiently, the constraints of the information management paradigms inherent to conventional systems may limit a user's ability to gather context and create an accurate picture of the situation. …