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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Development And Investigation Of An Air Transportation Operations Safety Climate Scale, Matthew D. Roberts Sep 2017

Development And Investigation Of An Air Transportation Operations Safety Climate Scale, Matthew D. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

Safety is of critical importance in many industries, and the US Air Force is no exception. Since 2005, the US Air Force has experienced more than 119 on-duty air and ground fatalities as well as 520 off-duty ground fatalities. One of the more dangerous environments in the U.S. Air Force and the civilian industry is air transportation operations where the fatal injury rate is higher than the national average. However, peer-reviewed safety research focusing on air transportation operations is practically non-existent, both in the military and civilian context. Therefore, safety research that helps us better understand how to shape safety …


Using Markov Decision Processes With Heterogeneous Queueing Systems To Examine Military Medevac Dispatching Policies, Phillip R. Jenkins Mar 2017

Using Markov Decision Processes With Heterogeneous Queueing Systems To Examine Military Medevac Dispatching Policies, Phillip R. Jenkins

Theses and Dissertations

major focus of the Military Health System is to provide efficient and timely medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) to battlefield casualties. Medical planners are responsible for developing dispatching policies that dictate how aerial military MEDEVAC units are utilized during major combat operations. The objective of this research is to determine how to optimally dispatch MEDEVAC units in response to 9-line MEDEVAC requests to maximize MEDEVAC system performance. A discounted, infinite horizon Markov decision process (MDP) model is developed to examine the MEDEVAC dispatching problem. The MDP model allows the dispatching authority to accept, reject, or queue incoming requests based on the request's …


Application Of Enlisted Force Retention Levels And Career Field Stability, Jamie T. Zimmermann Mar 2017

Application Of Enlisted Force Retention Levels And Career Field Stability, Jamie T. Zimmermann

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force’s success is influenced by the manpower it has. The end-strength is Congressionally mandated. Predicting personnel retention is critical to the operations of the military. Over 10 years ago, the Air Force produced enlisted career field sustainment lines based on manning. If a career field was over manned the authorizations were decreased, likewise if a career field was under manned the authorizations were increased. The constant fluctuation of manning caused bathtubs to be created and requirements to go unfilled. Currently, the Air Force produces enlisted career field sustainment lines based on the 5-year historical retention rates. This method …


Simulation Modeling And Analysis Of Deployed F-16 Operations And Logistics Support, Gregory D. Potts Ii Mar 2017

Simulation Modeling And Analysis Of Deployed F-16 Operations And Logistics Support, Gregory D. Potts Ii

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to reinforce and build upon past efforts identifying and demonstrating the need to better represent logistic capabilities and constraints within the realm of wargaming, war planning, and other analyses requiring the modeling of Air Force combat operations. We develop a framework for the porting of relevant logistic information and requirements from a reliable data source (LCOM- ATK) into a discrete event simulation environment (SIMIO), providing a simulation model for enhanced and robust analyses. The simulation we create explicitly reflects (for a selected subset of Work Unit Codes) the maintenance manpower, resources, and parts required …


An Investigation Into The Indicators Of A Successful Total Force Association, Greg E. Hoyt Mar 2017

An Investigation Into The Indicators Of A Successful Total Force Association, Greg E. Hoyt

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force, since adopting and subsequently developing the Total Force concept in the early 1970s, has not thoroughly outlined clear objectives by which the progress toward and realization of this strategic vision should be defined and measured. Without clear definition, direction, and method of evaluation, the ability to credibly claim any subsequent successes or failures in the pursuit of this vision become vulnerable to challenge. Indeed, the mere claim that a single, clear vision exists may be challenged. The Total Force concepts degree of success has, on multiple occasions through its history, been critiqued with the most recent instance …


Real-Time Heuristic Algorithms For The Static Weapon-Target Assignment Problem, Alexander G. Kline Mar 2017

Real-Time Heuristic Algorithms For The Static Weapon-Target Assignment Problem, Alexander G. Kline

Theses and Dissertations

The problem of targeting and engaging individual missiles (targets) with an arsenal of interceptors (weapons) is known as the weapon target assignment problem. As many solution techniques are based upon a transformation of the objective function, their final solutions rarely produce optimal solutions. We propose a nonlinear branch and bound algorithm to provide the first optimization approach to the untransformed problem found in the literature. Further, we propose a new heuristic based upon the branch and bound algorithm which dominates other heuristics explored in optimality gap. We also propose a heuristic based upon the optimal solution to the quiz problem …


On Proportionate And Truthful International Alliance Contributions: An Analysis Of Incentive Compatible Cost Sharing Mechanisms To Burden Sharing, William N. Caballero Mar 2017

On Proportionate And Truthful International Alliance Contributions: An Analysis Of Incentive Compatible Cost Sharing Mechanisms To Burden Sharing, William N. Caballero

Theses and Dissertations

Burden sharing within an international alliance is a contentious topic, especially in the current geopolitical environment, that in practice is generally imposed by a central authority's perception of its members' abilities to contribute. Instead, we propose a cost sharing mechanism such that burden shares are allocated to nations based on their honest declarations of the alliance's worth. Specifically, we develop a set of multiobjective nonlinear optimization problem formulations that respectively impose Bayesian Incentive Compatible (BIC), Strategyproof (SP), and Group Strategyproof (GSP) mechanisms based on probabilistic inspection efforts and deception penalties that are budget balanced and in the core. Any feasible …


Survival Analysis Of Us Air Force Officer Retention Rate, Courtney N. Franzen Mar 2017

Survival Analysis Of Us Air Force Officer Retention Rate, Courtney N. Franzen

Theses and Dissertations

Personnel retention is a matter of great interest in the private and public sectors. In the public sector--specifically the US Air Force--maintaining appropriate retention levels of rated officers is paramount as these officers are the backbone of the Air Force’s mission. As part of the effort to ensure proper retention rates for rated officers, retention models are created by the Air Force Personnel division that assist in predicting future retention patterns and accession needs. The techniques for creating these models, known as the "sustainment line," involve utilizing average retention percentages obtained from historical data. In this study, more statistical-based methods …


2018 Military Retirement Options: An Expected Net Present Value Decision Analysis Model, Bret N. Witham Mar 2017

2018 Military Retirement Options: An Expected Net Present Value Decision Analysis Model, Bret N. Witham

Theses and Dissertations

The 2016 NDAA authorized changes to the military retirement system transitioning from the legacy High-3 defined benefit annuity to the new Blended Retirement System (BRS). In exchange for a reduced defined benefit annuity, the BRS incorporates automatic and matching contributions to the member’s Thrift Savings Plan and a continuation payment offered at 12 years of service. In 2018,service members with less than 12 years of service will make an irrevocable decision between the two retirement systems. This research effort addresses the problem by developing a decision analysis model incorporating up to 27 different input variables. Service members can use the …


Common Support Equipment And Its Impact On Aircraft Availability, Jason M. Leighton Mar 2017

Common Support Equipment And Its Impact On Aircraft Availability, Jason M. Leighton

Theses and Dissertations

The ability of military aircraft maintenance personnel to prepare aircraft for flight depends not only on the technical ability and availability of replacement parts, but also on access to serviceable support equipment. While the general relationship between support equipment failures and aircraft availability is understood, the struggle to quantify that relationship makes targeted support equipment replacement or quantity authorization increases difficult. Tight budgets and aging equipment further complicate the task of keeping serviceable support equipment assets in the hands of maintainers. We identify key pieces of support equipment which may affect aircraft availability and other metrics and investigate the associated …