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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Optimization And Simulation Models To Improve Access To Organ Transplantation In The United States., Fatemeh Karami
Optimization And Simulation Models To Improve Access To Organ Transplantation In The United States., Fatemeh Karami
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organ allocation in the U.S. is administrated by the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS). UNOS’s mission is to ensure fair and equitable allocation of organs as stated in the Code of Federal Regulations, which reads "neither place of residence nor place of listing shall be a major determinant of access to transplant". Despite the regulations, there has been endless controversy surrounding the disparity in access to organ transplants. In this context, the primary research goal in this dissertation was to reduce geographic disparity in access to transplants in the U.S., with a focus on heart and kidney transplants. To …
Simulation And Optimization Of A Multi-Agent System On Physical Internet Enabled Interconnected Urban Logistics., Long Zheng
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
An urban logistics system is composed of multiple agents, e.g., shippers, carriers, and distribution centers, etc., and multi-modal networks. The structure of Physical Internet (PI) transportation network is different from current logistics practices, and simulation can effectively model a series of PI-approach scenarios. In addition to the baseline model, three more scenarios are enacted based on different characteristics: shared trucks, shared hubs, and shared flows with other less-than-truckload shipments passing through the urban area. Five performance measures, i.e., truck distance per container, mean truck time per container, lead time, CO2 emissions, and transport mean fill rate, are included in …
Simulation-Based Analysis And Optimization Of The United States Army Performance Appraisal System., Lee A. Evans
Simulation-Based Analysis And Optimization Of The United States Army Performance Appraisal System., Lee A. Evans
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In this dissertation, a discrete event simulation framework is considered to replicate the dynamics, structure, and regulatory constraints placed on the officers in the U.S. Army. Using performance appraisal data provided by the United States Army Human Resources Command, we create a multi-objective response function that quantifies the human behavior associated with evaluating subordinates. Utilizing simulation-optimization techniques for model validation enables estimating unknown input parameters, such as human behavior, based on historical data. Furthermore, the model allows users to analyze the effects of current constraints on the evaluation system and the effects of proposed personnel policy changes.The effectiveness of the …
Performance Analysis Of Organizations As Complex Systems., William C. Harrington Jr.
Performance Analysis Of Organizations As Complex Systems., William C. Harrington Jr.
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation provides a method for evaluating the difference in performance after an organization makes a change while considering the stochastic nature in which it operates. A procedure that uses simulation to estimate outcomes by adjusting controllable parameters and leaving uncontrolled parameters unadjusted is proposed. As healthcare organizations are considered as highly complex systems, a case study involving a scheduling tactic change in the mother-baby service line of a hospital is used to demonstrate application of this procedure. The goal in the case study was to reduce delays in transitioning care of mother patients from the labor and delivery unit …
Simulation Modeling For Energy Consumption Of Residential Consumers In Response To Demand Side Management., Prajwal Khadgi
Simulation Modeling For Energy Consumption Of Residential Consumers In Response To Demand Side Management., Prajwal Khadgi
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Energy efficiency in the electricity distribution system continues to gain importance as demand for electricity keeps rising and resources keep diminishing. Achieving higher energy efficiency by implementing control strategies and demand response (DR) programs has always been a topic of interest in the electric utility industry. The advent of smart grids with enhanced data communication capabilities propels DR to be an essential part of the next generation power distribution system. Fundamentally, DR has the ability to charge a customer the true price of electricity at the time of use, and the general perception is that consumers would shift their load …
Operational Decision Making For Medical Clinics Through The Use Of Simulation And Multi-Attribute Utility Theory., Bo Sun
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Currently, health care is a large industry that concerns everyone. Outpatient health care is an important part of the American health care system and is one of the strongest growth areas in the health care system. Many people pay attention to how to keep basic health care available to as many people as possible. A large health care system is usually evaluated by many performance measures. For example, the managers of a medical clinic are concerned about increasing staff utilization; both managers and patients are concerned about patient waiting time. In this dissertation, we study decision making for clinics in …
Spare Parts On Demand Using Additive Manufacturing : A Simulation Model For Cost Evaluation., Stefan Jedeck
Spare Parts On Demand Using Additive Manufacturing : A Simulation Model For Cost Evaluation., Stefan Jedeck
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Little is known about the impact of additive manufacturing in the spare part supply chain. A few studies are available, but they focus on specific parts and their applications only. A general model, which can be adapted to different applications, is nonexistent. This dissertation proposes a decision making framework that enables an interested practitioner/manager to decide whether using additive manufacturing to make spare parts on demand is economical when compared to conventional warehousing strategy. The framework consists of two major components: a general discrete event simulation model and a process of designing a wide range of simulation scenarios. The goal …
A Framework For Safety Training Using Virtual Reality Software, Rana Riad
A Framework For Safety Training Using Virtual Reality Software, Rana Riad
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Safety training is a vital component to the well-being of individuals in all industries. With technology advancing at the current pace, conventional training methods are no longer the most effective way to communicate information. There is a strong need for safety training that incorporates new methods and forms of communication to obtain higher levels of comprehension. Virtual reality systems offer a highly customizable and interactive form of delivering information to users. This research addresses major gaps in the field of safety training using virtual reality systems and provides a design framework for creating a virtual safety-training system. A model for …
Using Discrete Event Simulation To Improve The Patient Care Process In The Emergency Department Of A Rural Kentucky Hospital., Molly Cassaro Jones
Using Discrete Event Simulation To Improve The Patient Care Process In The Emergency Department Of A Rural Kentucky Hospital., Molly Cassaro Jones
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The patient care process of a rural Kentucky hospital is a complex process that must be flexible in order to deal with a large variety of patient needs and a fluctuating patient volume where all patients are unscheduled. A simulation model of an average month in the emergency department was built using the Arena Simulation package. Methods for creating a simulation using Arena are included in this work. Statistics were generated from a number of different sources to create an accurate representation of the model. The Hospital reporting shows a need to improve on two quality measures being tracked, the …
A Methodology To Stabilize The Supply Chain, Alfonso Sarmiento
A Methodology To Stabilize The Supply Chain, Alfonso Sarmiento
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In today's world, supply chains are facing market dynamics dominated by strong global competition, high labor costs, shorter product life cycles, and environmental regulations. Supply chains have evolved to keep pace with the rapid growth in these business dynamics, becoming longer and more complex. As a result, supply chains are systems with a great number of network connections among their multiple components. The interactions of the network components with respect to each other and the environment cause these systems to behave in a highly nonlinear dynamic manner. Ripple effects that have a huge, negative impact on the behavior of the …
Dod Acquisition Workforce Education: An Sba Education Case Study, Richard Davenport
Dod Acquisition Workforce Education: An Sba Education Case Study, Richard Davenport
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
A Department of Defense (DoD) M&S education task force is in the process of studying the Modeling and Simulation (M&S) education of the acquisition workforce. Historically, DoD acquisition workforce education is not referred to as education, but rather what the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) refers to as "practitioner training, career management, and services." The DAU is the organization primarily responsible for training the DoD acquisition corps in conjunction with service schools and strategic partners in the civilian sector. DAU programs primarily focus on program management, contracting, and management of logistics across the system life cycle. Further, the examples and cases …
Presence-Dependent Performance Differences Between Virtual Simulations And Miniature Worlds, Andre Huthmann
Presence-Dependent Performance Differences Between Virtual Simulations And Miniature Worlds, Andre Huthmann
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of simulation is to avoid reality-based constraints by the implemen-tation of a synthetic model. Based on this advantage, interactive simulations have conquered all areas of applications from acquisition, and training, to research. Simulation results are transferred in many ways into reality and conclusions are drawn from the simulation to the application. Many anecdotal observations on human-in-the-loop simulations have shown a significant difference in actor behavior between simulations and reality-based applications. It seems that the factors that makes simulation so attractive, namely the absence of constraints and especially of imminent danger for persons and equipment, influence the behavior and …