Business Commons^™

Analysis Of The Industrial Skill Set; Lewis County Case Study, Jonathan Shane Wallingford

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the College of Science and Technology Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Jonathan Shane Wallingford on December 13, 2013.

A Two-Echelon Location-Inventory Model For A Multi-Product Donation-Demand Driven Industry, Milad Khajehnezhad

Theses and Dissertations

This study involves a joint bi-echelon location inventory model for a donation-demand driven industry in which Distribution Centers (DC) and retailers (R) exist. In this model, we confine the variables of interest to include; coverage radius, service level, and multiple products. Each retailer has two classes of product flowing to and from its assigned DC i.e. surpluses and deliveries. The proposed model determines the number of DCs, DC locations, and assignments of retailers to those DCs so that the total annual cost including: facility location costs, transportation costs, and inventory costs are minimized. Due to the complexity of problem, the …

A Comparative Study Of Performance, Impediments, Advantages, And Disadvantages Of Construction And Professional Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, Ravi Sharma

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Construction and professional disadvantaged, minority, and women business enterprises (DBE/MBE/WBEs) face several impediments that hinder their business growth. A questionnaire survey was conducted to determine the important factors that affect their business performance, impediments faced by these business enterprises, advantages, and disadvantages of being DBE (DBE will be an umbrella designation for DBE, MBE, and WBE). This study compares the difference in responses from these two groups. A total of 333 business enterprises responded to the questionnaire. The survey results showed that construction firms gave significantly higher importance to "financial" issues and "safe work practices" as their most important factors …

New Covariance-Based Feature Extraction Methods For Classification And Prediction Of High-Dimensional Data, Mopelola Adediwura Sofolahan

Open Access Dissertations

When analyzing high dimensional data sets, it is often necessary to implement feature extraction methods in order to capture relevant discriminating information useful for the purposes of classification and prediction. The relevant information can typically be represented in lower-dimensional feature spaces, and a widely used approach for this is the principal component analysis (PCA) method. PCA efficiently compresses information into lower dimensions; however, studies indicate that it is not optimal for feature extraction especially when dealing with classification problems. Furthermore, for high-dimensional data having limited observations, as is typically the case with remote sensing data and nonstationary data such as …

The Effects Of Ethical Leadership And Organizational Safety Culture On Safety Outcomes, David Ronald Freiwald

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This dissertation investigated the relationship among ethical leadership, an ethical workplace climate, safety culture, safety behaviors, and measured safety outcomes of workers in the high reliability organizations of aviation and healthcare. The primary objective was to develop a model linking these factors and assess their fit within the model. A secondary objective was to examine differences between the two populations. In this study, a 101-item instrument was used to collect and analyze employee responses on ten factors comprising the model. Structural equation modeling – path analysis was used for testing and evaluating relations using a combination of statistical analysis and …

A Free Exchange E-Marketplace For Digital Services, Wafa M. I. Ghonaim

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The digital era is witnessing a remarkable evolution of digital services. While the prospects are countless, the e-marketplaces of digital services are encountering inherent game-theoretic and computational challenges that restrict the rational choices of bidders. Our work examines the limited bidding scope and the inefficiencies of present exchange e-marketplaces. To meet challenges, a free exchange e-marketplace is proposed that follows the free market economy. The free exchange model includes a new bidding language and a double auction mechanism. The rule-based bidding language enables the flexible expression of preferences and strategic conduct. The bidding message holds the attribute-valuations and bidding rules …

The Legitimation Of Novel Technologies: The Case Of Nanotechnology, Anastasia E. Thyroff

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanotechnology is the control, manipulation, and application of matter on an atomic and molecular level. The technology is complex and confusing to consumers, and its long-term safety and effect on the human body, as well as the environment, are unknown. However, for the past decade, nanotechnology has been used to develop consumer products and food with novel and attractive attributes.

Since nanotechnology is still not well known, it is not legitimized; that is, it has not been deemed safe and accepted by society. However, the market for nanotechnology is in the legitimation process. It will take an entire network of …

Predicting Hospital Patients' Admission To Reduce Emergency Department Boarding, Mohammadmahdi Moqri

Graduate Masters Theses

Emergency Department (ED) boarding - the inability to transfer emergency patients to inpatient beds- is a key factor contributing to ED overcrowding. This paper presents a novel approach to improving hospital operational efficiency and, therefore, to decreasing ED boarding. Using the historic data of 15,000 patients, admission results and patient information are correlated in order to identify important admission predictor factors. For example, the type of radiology exams prescribed by the ED physician is identified as among the most important predictors of admission. Based on these factors, a real-time prediction model is developed which is able to correctly predict the …

Implementation Of Integrated Project Delivery On Department Of Navy Military Construction Projects, Christopher S. Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The concept of the project delivery system refers to the overall processes by which a project is designed, constructed, and/or maintained. There are many different types of project delivery systems to fit particular situations involving the owner and his intended project. The project delivery system is what establishes the framework that enables a construction project to be developed and ultimately executed.

The construction industry has observed that projects (both private and public) frequently suffer from factors such as adversarial relationships, low roductivity, high inefficiency and rework, frequent contractual disputes concerning who was at fault, and lack of innovation. Not only …

Lunalight - Bringing Light To The Expanding World, Gabriela M. Igel, Daniel J. Patrick, Kimberley M. Smith

Materials Engineering

The LunaLight, a solar rechargeable light and cell phone charger, addresses the lack of access to electricity faced by 1.4 billion of the world’s population (International Finance Corporation). The LunaTech team has developed a product that is bright, simple, compact, versatile and competitive with existing products. Through a partnership with the non-profit organization One Million Lights, LunaTech has improved a previous team’s design to address user feedback, concerns of durability, and manufacturability.

The LunaLight design includes a 5 component plastic housing held together by 4 screws, a surface mounted PCB, a lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery, one high-brightness LED, a solar panel, …

Cal Poly Brocade Challenge 2013, Chandler Morehardt, Alexa Coburn, Juan Silva, Kerry Sun, Greg Wang, Raul Chagoya, Jd Torres

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Developing A Strategic Policy Choice Framework For Technological Innovation: Case Of Chinese Pharmaceuticals, Leong Chan

Dissertations and Theses

With the growing trend of globalization and rapid development of high technologies, emerging economies face more challenges in technology development because they are chasing a fast-moving frontier. They need to identify global technology trends and adapt to local needs and capabilities. Strategies for technology development differ among countries at different developmental stages.

In this research, a technology policy choice framework is developed to link prospective high-tech areas, technology development strategies, and various innovative resources. The research approach is to develop a hierarchical decision model (HDM) and apply the analytic hierarchical process (AHP). Experts are invited from diverse sources to provide …

Innovation Measurement: A Decision Framework To Determine Innovativeness Of A Company, Kenny Phan

Dissertations and Theses

Innovation is one of the most important sources of competitive advantage. It helps a company to fuel the growth of new products and services, sustain incumbents, create new markets, transform industries, and promote the global competitiveness of nations. Because of its importance, companies need to manage innovation. It is very important for a company to be able to measure its innovativeness because one cannot effectively manage without measurement. A good measurement model will help a company to understand its current capability and identify areas that need improvement.

In this research a systematic approach was developed for a company to measure …

The Impact Of Social Capital On Innovation Intermediaries, Songphon Munkongsujarit

Dissertations and Theses

In today's open business environments, innovation happens in globally dispersed organizations that exchange technological knowledge across increasingly permeable boundaries. Innovation intermediaries play an important role in these technology transfer processes. They operate as middle-men between solution seekers (companies seeking technological knowledge for solving their problems) and problem solvers (experts with specialized knowledge and solutions) and thus help to connect suppliers and customers of technological knowledge. Currently, clients that select an intermediary organization and managers of intermediary organizations that assign agents to a project have very little guidance as to what type of an intermediary they should select to guarantee that …

Load Mixing To Improve Container Utilization, Crystal Wilson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The under utilization in trucking leads to nearly 5 billion gallons of wasted fuel annually. One way to recapture part of this waste is to use collaborative logistics. This research focuses on one specific aspect of collaborative logistics: load mixing. Load mixing is the idea of mixing two or more items of different weights in the same container to reduce the number of trucks needed.

Load mixing is similar to other packing problems such as the knapsack and container loading problems. However, traditional packing problems typically only assume a single type of capacity (e.g., weight), whereas load mixing must simultaneously …

Economic Report On Vanadium Redox Flow Battery With Optimization Of Flow Rate, Kevin Spellman, Kendrick Stiles, Ian Little

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Communication Artifacts And Interaction Evaluation For Requirements Engineering, Miloslava Plachkinova

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper aims to answer an important question regarding the development of new information systems (IS): "What is the predominant factor for the selection of communication artifacts for requirements engineering (RE)?". Many researchers have focused on the RE and communication as separate disciplines, but little or no research addressed the RE communication issues. These problems are important because they often lead to misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the gathered requirements. We develop expectations about the RE communication process based on prior literature from both disciplines and we test them through several case studies. Our methodology consists of analysis of six case …

The Influence Of Social Networking Technology In An Engineering Organization, Derrick Marcus Tepaske

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Projects for D. Eng. Degree

Computer facilitated Social Networking (SN) is becoming more prevalent in our society, both in our personal and professional lives. As its use grows, there is a desire to determine how it will impact an organization. If it can positively impact an organization then it is an initiative that could be embraced and leveraged for any number of business related activities from marketing to engineering. This project develops and implements a social networking treatment for an engineering organization in order to determine how it impacts the responsiveness and performance of the organization. The treatment includes an online tool, a training package, …

An Epistemological Inquiry Into The Incorporation Of Emergency Management Concept In The Homeland Security With A Post-Disaster Security Centric Focus, Mehmet Secilmis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The historical roots of the Emergency Management concept in the U.S. date back to 19th century. As disasters occurred, policies relating to disaster response have been developed, and many statuary provisions, including several Federal Disaster Relief Acts, conceptually established the framework of Emergency Management. In 1979, with the foundation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), disaster relief efforts were finally institutionalized, and the federal government acknowledged that Emergency Management included mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery activities as abbreviated 'MPRR.'

However, after 2000, the U.S. experienced two milestone events - the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina …

Vehicle Minimization For The Multimodal Pickup And Delivery Problem With Time Windows, Benjamin A . Clapp

Theses and Dissertations

The algorithm proposed here is used for heuristic solutions for the Multimodal Multiple Vehicle Routing Problem with Unloading Capacity, Pickup and Dropoff, and Time Windows, solved so as to minimize the number of vehicles used, subject to varying objective function values for each vehicle. The MVRP is simplified and split into a routing problem and a scheduling problem. The routing problem is addressed by Dijkstra's Algorithm. This generates a new network for the second stage of the algorithm. It is assumed that the shortest path is the correct path to use, and shipments each travel unimodally. The scheduling problem is …

Investigation Into Risk And Uncertainty: Identifying Coefficient Of Variation Benchmarks For Air Force Acat I Programs, Shaun T. Carney

Theses and Dissertations

Previous DoD cost growth studies found typical cost growth in defense acquisitions is around forty-six to sixty percent of the original estimate. The research in this study addresses the identification of risk and uncertainty benchmarks by providing decision makers with coefficient of variation ranges for cost estimates. The study recommends coefficient of variation (CV) ranges for Air Force Acquisition programs, determines if different CV ranges should be used based on platform type, and determines if CV decreases over the course of the program's acquisition lifecycle. The analysis found that the Air Force should enhance the CV review process to ensure …

Supplementary Computer Generated Cueing To Enhance Air Traffic Controller Efficiency, Laurienne Cibelle Rodrigues De Assis Santana

Theses and Dissertations

Air traffic controllers are often required to simultaneously communicate with several aircraft over multiple radio frequencies. As a result, during peak loading, it is common for the controller to receive multiple concurrent communications, each from a different aircraft, making it difficult to discern audio messages received from multiple pilots simultaneously. To address this problem, a modified air traffic control (ATC) interface was prototyped with the goal of increasing controller-to-pilot communication efficiency. This prototype included supplementary text cueing which was provided by a hypothetical automated text to speech system in an on-screen text box for controller reference in the event of …

Location-Allocation Optimization Of Supply Chain Distribution Networks: A Case Study, Mark Nicholas Helberg

Theses and Dissertations

The location of distribution centers is an important strategic decision in supply chain design, particularly as it relates to service quality, productivity, and profitability of the firm. There has been extensive research performed on distribution location models which require the use of complex algorithms and assumptions that make use of these models difficult in practice for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have limited capital and resources. Studies have also failed to capture and quantify potential business results of using more sophisticated methods. In this study, a deterministic and static location-allocation model is designed using a prototype software tool. The …

Senior Project Report - Doctest, Stephen Weessies

Computer Engineering

DocTest is a program that, simply put, allows a programmer or user to document STANAG 4586 (a standard for unmanned aerial vehicle interoperability) messages and test the vehicle system at Lockheed Martin [5]. The program is extensible to allow for further development aiding our software team to do what they do best and not get bogged down in tedious but necessary documentation. DocTest is also used to aid in testing, keeping track of the issues and bugs found and creating a document that captures each issue so an issue is not missed or forgotten. This program was made for use …

The Use Of Complexity Theory And Strange Attractors To Understand And Explain Information System Development, Arthur P. Tomasino

2013

In spite of the best efforts of researchers and practitioners, Information Systems (IS) developers are having problems "getting it right". IS developments are challenged by the emergence of unanticipated IS characteristics undermining managers ability to predict and manage IS change. Because IS are complex, development formulas, best practices or development guides simply will not work. The difficulties in these system developments stem from the complexity of IS arising from the inter-relationship, interaction, and interconnectivity of the elements in the system and its environment. This research uses complexity concepts to help solve the problem with IS development and explain why so …

Investor Sentiment In The Stock Market, Bayram Veli Salur

Open Access Theses

Classical finance theories neglect the impact of investor sentiment on stock returns. These theories assume that investors are rational and make decisions in a way that maximizes their wealth. However, a vast amount of research shows that investors' decisions are affected by their psychological biases and feelings. These findings suggest that investor sentiment may have an impact on stock returns. This hypothesis is the main motivation of this study. First, this study examines whether there is correlation among investor sentiment indicators, and whether sentiment indicators have an impact on stock returns in the US and other countries. Second, this study …

Evaluating Food Safety Systems Development And Implementation By Quantifying Haccp Training Durability, Marienne A. Anandappa

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

HACCP-based food safety programs have been widely acclaimed, accepted and implemented as an effective means of managing food safety risks. While HACCP training is a cornerstone of managing HACCP programs, there is little information about the effectiveness of HACCP training and the durability of HACCP knowledge. Findings reveal a link between involvement level in HACCP activities and the accuracy of HACCP knowledge over time. Opportunities for peer training in HACCP, irrespective of overall experience in the food industry provide favorable circumstances for maintaining accuracy of HACCP knowledge. The optimal window for engaging employees in HACCP is directly following the completion …

The Impact Of Organizations' Collaboration Strategies And Alliance Network Positions On Invention Performance, Fethullah Caliskan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the impact of organizations' collaboration strategies and network positional variables on invention performance. Organizations, particularly those pursuing a differentiation strategy, are motivated to introduce novel products and services in order to remain competitive. Thus, two questions of interest to such organizations regarding the network dynamics of the invention process are: 1) What kind of strategies allow them to attain superior invention results? 2) What is the most advantageous structural positioning in a collaborative network of innovators? Three independent studies attempt to find answers to these questions by using three complementary study approaches.

In the first study, in …

A Systematic Approach To Manage Missing Data In Pavement Management Systems, Mazin M. Al-Zou'bi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Pavements are an important part of the highway transportation infrastructure, accounting for the largest share of the overall investment. A tremendous amount of time and money is spent each year on the construction of new pavements, as well as on the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing pavements.

Transportation agencies use pavement management systems (PMS) for their maintenance and rehabilitation planning, programming, and budgeting. PMS are used to make decisions regarding when maintenance and rehabilitation should be applied. The systems also select what type of treatment should be applied for each pavement section in the network with clear estimations of the …

Engineering Problem Solving And Sustained Learning: A Mixed Methods Study To Explore The Dynamics Of Engineering Knowledge Creation, Rachel Itabashi-Campbell

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation research explores processes by which engineering problem solving (EPS) results in sustained organizational learning. Approaching from a constructionist perspective, the study empirically examines the knowledge creation dynamics instigated by product-related problems using a mixed methods research approach. The research has identified the Japanese concept of ba, defined in this study as "shared experiential space," as a key construct that explains the phenomena of interest. A new framework that the study has developed, which interprets EPS as an epistemic journey to attain system-wide improvements, is highly complementary to the traditional structured routine based approaches to engineering operations and …