Engineering Commons^™

Collecting Unsolicited User-Generated Change Requests, Joseph W. Goldsmith

Theses and Dissertations

Unlike aircrew directly associated with acquisitions, line operators are not fully engaged in the methods to push materiel hardware or software change requests up the chain, to a decision maker, and then to the engineers. The Air Force trains these end users to logically apply expert systems knowledge to execute the mission but has not fully leveraged this resource for properly identifying and correcting operational shortfalls in an aircraft's design. Focusing on the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) community, the research goal is to determine if the Air Force should establish a formal program for collecting and prioritizing unsolicited user change …

Continuous Decision Support, Jeremy P. Hendrix

Theses and Dissertations

Organizations are often faced with portfolio construction efforts that require them to select one or more alternatives, subject to resource constraints, with the aim of achieving the maximum value possible. This is a well-defined problem with a number of analytically defensible approaches, provided the entire set of alternatives is known when the decision event takes place. Less well treated in the literature is how to approach this problem when the entire set of alternatives is unknown, as when the alternatives arrive over time. This change in the availability of data shifts the problem from one of identifying an optimal subset …

Application Of Executable Architectures In Early Concept Evaluation, Ryan M. Pospisal

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores use of executable architectures to guide design decisions in the early stages of system development. Decisions made early in the system development cycle determine a majority of the total lifecycle costs as well as establish a baseline for long term system performance and thus it is vital to program success to choose favorable design alternatives. The development of a representative architecture followed the Architecture Based Evaluation Process as it provides a logical and systematic order of events to produce an architecture sufficient to document and model operational performance. In order to demonstrate the value in the application …

Predictive Modeling Of Fuel Efficiency Of Trucks, Srivatsa Bindingnolle Narasimha

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This research studied the behavior of several controllable variables that affect the fuel efficiency of trucks. Re-routing is the process of modifying the parameters of the routes for a set of trips to optimize fuel consumption and also to increase customer satisfaction through efficient deliveries. This is an important process undertaken by a food distribution company to modify the trips to adapt to the immediate necessities. A predictive model was developed to calculate the change in Miles per Gallon (MPG) whenever a re-route is performed on a region of a particular distribution area. The data that was used, was from …

Electromechanics Of An Ocean Current Turbine, Vasileios Tzelepis

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The development of a numeric simulation for predicting the performance of an Ocean Current Energy Conversion System is presented in this thesis along with a control system development using a PID controller for the achievement of specified rotational velocity set-points. In the beginning, this numeric model is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink® and it is used to predict the performance of a three phase squirrel single-cage type induction motor/generator in two different cases. The first case is a small 3 meter rotor diameter, 20 kW ocean current turbine with fixed pitch blades, and the second case a 20 …

Developing And Testing An Anguilliform Robot Swimming With Theoretically High Hydrodynamic Efficiency, John B. Potts Iii

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

An anguilliform swimming robot replicating an idealized motion is a complex marine vehicle necessitating both a theoretical and experimental analysis to completely understand its propulsion characteristics. The ideal anguilliform motion within is theorized to produce ``wakeless'' swimming (Vorus, 2011), a reactive swimming technique that produces thrust by accelerations of the added mass in the vicinity of the body. The net circulation for the unsteady motion is theorized to be eliminated.

The robot was designed to replicate the desired, theoretical motion by applying control theory methods. Independent joint control was used due to hardware limitations. The fluid velocity vectors in the …

Prognostic Algorithm Development For Plant Monitoring And Maintenance Planning, Them Hill Bui

Doctoral Dissertations

The economic goals in a typical industrial plant are to improve product quality, maximize equipment up-time, reliability, and availability, and minimize spare part inventories and maintenance costs. Modern facilities are comprised of thousands of subsystems with critical unique components. Simple components and more complex engineering systems alike are typically engineered to perform satisfactorily. Their lives can be predicted under normal operation runtime. It should be the same with chronological time lapse from the moment of installation. However, their ages accelerate faster than chronological time lapse if they are operated under unfavorable working conditions, making their remaining life predictions likely not …

Fault Diagnosis And Failure Prognostics Of Lithium-Ion Battery Based On Least Squares Support Vector Machine And Memory Particle Filter Framework, Mohammed Ali Lskaafi

Doctoral Dissertations

123456A novel data driven approach is developed for fault diagnosis and remaining useful life (RUL) prognostics for lithium-ion batteries using Least Square Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM) and Memory-Particle Filter (M-PF). Unlike traditional data-driven models for capacity fault diagnosis and failure prognosis, which require multidimensional physical characteristics, the proposed algorithm uses only two variables: Energy Efficiency (EE), and Work Temperature. The aim of this novel framework is to improve the accuracy of incipient and abrupt faults diagnosis and failure prognosis. First, the LSSVM is used to generate residual signal based on capacity fade trends of the Li-ion batteries. Second, adaptive threshold …

Swerve, Kaitlin A. Castillo, Cichasky A. Catherine

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Carpooling yields great benefits environmentally, socially, and economically for carpooling, however there is no easy to use, safe, and enjoyable application for people to connect with others who are both close in proximity and have schedules that match currently. By creating a database and visual mock ups, our senior project creates the basis for an application called Swerve that matches users by location and schedules and has social and economic incentives. Our research allowed us to further understand the social, environmental and economic benefits and incentives of carpooling. We also looked into current carpooling websites and applications and could not …

Multi-Restaurant Delivery Service Design And Financial Analysis, Dylan Davis Fuller

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

When found on campus all day and in need of a quick meal before the next class what are the options for you as a Cal Poly student or faculty? Campus dining is the only option that can meet the typical demand you have of speed and convenience. Restaurants with food delivery often don’t have the variety or take to long for delivery. The goal is to provide a delivery service with the speed of getting a meal on campus but with the variety and quality of the restaurants found in downtown San Luis Obispo. Looking at existing businesses providing …

Startup Social Responsibility: A Concentrated Social Audit Of Halt Medical Inc., Matthew Frank Rosa

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Halt Medical Inc. is a biomedical device startup whose managers are interested in assessing their levels of employee satisfaction and organizational well-being. They want to know if their employees are cooperating, if departments are cohesive, and if everyone is happy. To evaluate Halt Medical’s social capital and environment, a social responsibility audit will be conducted concentrated specifically on the organization’s social and ethical initiatives to its employees. This analysis requires interviews of managers, observations of cultural diffusion, and employee opinions on a variety of business areas. The five areas of focus for this audit are the company’s accommodation of each …

An Economical Model Development For A Hybrid System Of Grid Connected Solar Pv And Electrical Storage System, Mohammad Hasan Balali

Theses and Dissertations

Energy sources management is one of the most important concern in the recent decades. There are finite amount of non-renewable energy sources and one day they will run out if they have been used as primary sources of energy. Renewable energy sources have been significantly reduced the environmental effects. For most of them the source of energy is non-depletable.

One of the concerns associated with renewable resources is uncertainty or unavailability. Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) can help to have more reliable and more efficient systems by adjusting the charge and discharge time and rate. In this study, an economic model …

Warranty Period And Product Price Optimization For Remanufactured Products, Yuxi Liu

Theses and Dissertations

This study considers a remanufactured electrical product under a tiered warranty policy. Warranty is key in ensuring a good manufacturer—consumer relationship. Manufacturers hope to minimize warranty costs while consumers believe that good warranty promises better product quality and reliability. This Thesis presents an optimal warranty period from the perspective of a manufacturer to maximize the total expected profits, while ensuring sustained consumer relation. We use real data from a local company with a global supply chain to provide a numerical example.

Modeling And Analysis Of Pca Workflow, Ewing Tiong

Masters Theses

Nursing shortage has been reported as a major problem faced not only by the United States but also by many other countries. One of the many interventions that has been used to curb nursing shortage is the increase in employment of Unlicensed Assistive Personnels (UAPs) as an alternative care delivery model. There are many types of UAP and one of them are Patient Care Assistants (PCAs). This research proposes a methodology to model and analyze the work ow of a PCA in terms of completing assigned tasks in a timely manner. The specific objectives of this research are to model …

Biomechanical Evaluation Of Three Post-Kneeling Tasks: Sitting, Walking, And Standing, Alexa Hernandez Principe

Theses and Dissertations

There are several occupations that require prolonged kneeling as part of their daily practice. Employees who kneel for a prolonged period of time have been reported to have high rates of knee and low back musculoskeletal disorders (Coggon et al. 2000, Halmstrom et al. 1992, Harkness et al. 2003, Manninen et al. 2002). These disorders result in excessive worker’s compensation costs. Gallagher el al. (2009) looked at the low seam mining industry and found that companies spent the most on knee related injuries with $4.2 million and $2.7 million for low back injuries.

There is a lack of knowledge available …

Nursing Interruption Dynamics: The Impact Of Work System Factors, Yushi Yang

All Dissertations

Interruptions occur frequently in healthcare work systems. Hands-free Communication Devices (HCDs) were implemented in healthcare work systems to support the interruption process. However, from a sociotechnical systems perspective, HCDs may introduce new complications and unintended consequences to the work system. Research gaps exist in investigating the complexity of HCD interruptions in the real-world context. This dissertation aims to understand HCD interruption dynamics in the nursing work systems, using qualitative research methods. The first study examined the major differences between face-to-face and HCD-mediated interruptions, based on 30 hours of field observations in the acute care setting. Three major differences included: (1) …

College Football Rankings: Maximum Flow Model, Jaymin Patel

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

College football is a very popular sport in the United States. There is much debate over the college football rankings every week. A maximum flow network is implemented into the CMS+ rankings to observe the effects it has on the college football rankings.

Using Precision Agriculture Field Data To Evaluate Combine Harvesting Efficiency, Justin Carroll

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Soybean crops must be harvested during a limited time period using expensive combines and associated equipment. Maximizing combine field efficiency, the ratio of the actual harvesting capacity to theoretical harvesting capacity, is an important objective of machinery managers. Spatial and temporal yield data from a 2012 CaseIH 8120 Axial-Flow combine equipped with a 30-foot MacDon D-65 Draper header and the Case-IH Advanced Farming System (AFS) yield monitoring system were used to examine field efficiency when harvesting soybean in three Arkansas Delta irrigated soybean fields during the 2015 season. Time efficiencies (TE) in the three fields ranged from 72.9 to 85.8% …

A Systems Approach To Point Source Indication Of Metformin Found In Local Water Systems – The Case Of Milwaukee County, Mohamed Salem Baitelmal

Theses and Dissertations

Pharmaceutical pollutants are present in traceable concentrations in Milwaukee County water system and Lake Michigan. The actual point sources and nature of entry into the water system is difficult to determine with certainty. Pharmaceuticals have been found to persist at the South Shore Wastewater Treatment Facility (SSWTF) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The highest concentration was found to be for the pharmaceutical drug metformin. Metformin is a first line drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The broad goal of this exploratory study; the first of its kind, is to correlate trace concentrations of drugs to the point sources. Particularly, …

Water Withdrawal And Consumption Reduction Analysis For Electrical Energy Generation System, Narjes Nouri

Theses and Dissertations

There is an increasing concern over shrinking water resources. Water use in the energy sector primarily occurs in electricity generation. Anticipating scarcer supplies, the value of water is undoubtedly on the rise and design, implementation, and utilization of water saving mechanisms in energy generation systems are becoming inevitable. Most power plants generate power by boiling water to produce steam to spin electricity-generating turbines. Large quantities of water are often used to cool the steam in these plants. As a consequence, most fossil-based power plants in addition to consuming water, impact the water resources by raising the temperature of water withdrawn …

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 …

Modeling Information Reliability And Maintenance: A Systematic Literature Review, Daysi A. Guerra Garcia

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Operating a business efficiently depends on effective everyday decision-making. In turn, those decisions are influenced by the quality of data used in the decision-making process, and maintaining good data quality becomes more challenging as a business expands. Protecting the quality of the data and the information it generates is a challenge faced by many companies across all industrial sectors. As companies begin to use data from these large data bases they will need to begin to develop strategies for maintaining and assessing the reliability of the information they generate using this data. A considerable amount of literature exists on data …

Truckload Carrier Selection, Routing And Cost Optimization, Zhixin Han

Masters Theses

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the routing decision combined with common carrier selection for dedicated contract carriers to reduce full truckload routing cost on pickup and delivery service within time windows in a multiple depots scenario. Mixed Integer Programming and some heuristic algorithms such as the genetic algorithm and annealing algorithm have been successfully used to solve vehicle routing problems for a long time, but researchers seldom simultaneously focus on issues of carrier selection, multiple depots, time window, and the government regulations for a dedicated contract carrier. Therefore, this thesis involved constraints of pickup and delivery with …

Characterizing The Effects Of Capillary Flow During Liquid Composite Molding, Michael Ray Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

As the aerospace industry continues to incorporate composites into its aircraft, there will be a need for alternative solutions to the current autoclaving process. Liquid composite molding (LCM) has proven to be a promising alternative, producing parts at faster rates and reduced costs while retaining aerospace grade quality. The most important factor of LCM is controlling the resin flow throughout the fiber reinforcement during infusion, as incomplete filling of fibers is a major quality issue as it results in dry spots or voids. Void formation occurs at the resin flow front due to competition between viscous forces and capillary pressure. …

Design Of A Web Application To Improve The Efficiency Of Crnas., Venkatramanan Chanchapalli Madhavan

All Theses

Physical artifacts such as whiteboards have been successfully used in healthcare facilities to keep track of dynamic changes in information and to manage work schedules. Since these whiteboards are easy- to- use and do not require any technical expertise, they have been easy- to-adopt. Additionally, they act as memory aids for the users by capturing transient information. However, they have their own limitations, the primary ones being the lack of mobility and real-time updates, both of which are crucial in a high consequence environment such as a healthcare facility. These whiteboards are usually kept in a central location with the …

Heuristic Solution For Separated Manufacturing Process, James Dee Davis

Masters Theses

Downtime is a major issue for manufactures. Downtime may occur from breakdowns, quality issues, lack of manpower, lack of materials, or in this case a lack of storage containers. A manufacturing system was studied that consists of an injection machine that supplies two assembly lines. The injection machine suffered from frequent downtime from lack of containers. The process was analyzed for root cause of downtime. After analysis of the system it was found that the injection process had high variability in production quantity and quality. The scheduling scheme called for production until all available containers were full regardless of actual …

Ergonomics Analysis Of Touchscreen Utilization As A Function Of Preferred Hand And Gender, Jordan E. Odell

Master's Theses

The growth of touchscreen technology has changed the way users interface with a wide range of computing and communication products and systems. Examples range from personal tablets and laptops to industrial applications such as process control, point-of-sales, and ticketing kiosk systems. An important area of application is the automobile industry which is designing cars with touchscreen control panels to replace the previously designed mechanical knobs and buttons. However, interacting with touchscreens does not provide the same tactile feedback as physical mechanisms, therefore they require more precise movement and visual attention, which distracts the user from the primary task.

The purpose …

Cost-Based Decision Making Model For Regional In-House Versus Outsourcing Logistics, Henrik Darren Lee

Master's Theses

This thesis proposes a model for selecting between insourcing logistics for local distribution and outsourcing these functions to a third-party logistics (3PL) company. Supply chain optimization, as well as global supply chain management, are topics that are now well-covered; local distribution, despite its integral function in an organization, is much less researched. Models exist for network design and optimization, but the practical application of these network models may call for decisions and considerations that are not covered in these optimization models.

A breakeven analysis selection model between using in-house logistic system and 3PL is derived, considering various regional parameters. The …

Underwater Rope Fatigue Testing Machine, Napoleon Nino, Andrew Pimentel

Mechanical Engineering

The design and fabrication of an underwater rope fatigue testing machine meant to simulate the effects of an oceanic environment and the effects on rope.

Evaluation Of A Training Program (Strap) Designed To Decrease Young Drivers Secondary Task Engagement In High Risk Scenarios, Akhilesh Krishnan

Masters Theses

Distracted driving involving secondary tasks is known to lead to an increased likelihood of being involved in motor vehicle crashes. Some secondary tasks are unnecessary and should never be performed. But other secondary tasks, e.g., operating the defroster, are critical to safe driving. Ideally, the driver should schedule when to perform the critical tasks such that the likelihood of a hazard materializing is relatively small during the performance of the secondary task. The current study evaluates a training program -- STRAP (Secondary Task Regulatory & Anticipatory Program) -- which is designed to make drivers aware of latent hazards …