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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Simulation And Optimization Of A Multi-Agent System On Physical Internet Enabled Interconnected Urban Logistics., Long Zheng Dec 2019

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 …


Aisle Design For Order Picking Operations With Unit-Load Replenishment., Dominic Ian Sleigh Dec 2019

Aisle Design For Order Picking Operations With Unit-Load Replenishment., Dominic Ian Sleigh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The warehouse design problem has been addressed in the last decade with fewer constraints than ever before. Between optimization for unit load and order picking warehouses, the former has had extensively more research performed. Unit load optimization efforts have promised labor savings of 20-22%. Of the existing research for order-picking warehouses, only small improvements of less than 4% have been claimed. We propose the design optimization for order-picking warehouses requires consideration for inherently incurred unit load operations from pallet inbound activities, as well as forward-pick area replenishment. We perform experiments comparing optimization of aisle design using order picking data with …


Maximizing Space Utilization In Unit-Load Warehouses., Luis Felipe Cardona Olarte May 2019

Maximizing Space Utilization In Unit-Load Warehouses., Luis Felipe Cardona Olarte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a unit-load warehouse, products are stored and retrieved in pallet quantities. Examples include retail distribution centers (DC), third-party DCs, and transshipment hubs in freight transportation. Expenses related to space are a significant component of the operational cost of unit-load warehouses; therefore, maximizing space utilization is important. Moreover, the continuing revolution of retail e-commerce is changing the role and design of modern distribution centers (Boysen et al., 2018). An important trend with serious implications for design is the desire of many distributors to locate DCs in or near metropolitan areas in order to support same-day service or better (Thuermer, 2018). …


A Study Of Nonlinear Dynamics Of Eeg Responses To Simulated Unmanned Vehicle Tasks, Ziqing Xu May 2019

A Study Of Nonlinear Dynamics Of Eeg Responses To Simulated Unmanned Vehicle Tasks, Ziqing Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the contemporary world, mental workload becomes higher as technology evolves and task demand becomes overwhelming. The operators of a system are usually required to complete tasks with higher complicity within a shorter period of time. Continuous operation under a high level of mental workload can be a major source of risk and human error, thus put the operator in a hazardous working environment. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor and assess mental workload. In this study, an unmanned vehicle operation with visual detection tasks was investigated by means of nonlinear analysis of EEG time series. Nonlinear analysis is considered …


Hybrid Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment-Based Multi-Objective Optimization: A Case For Sustainable Fleet Mix, Burak Sen May 2019

Hybrid Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment-Based Multi-Objective Optimization: A Case For Sustainable Fleet Mix, Burak Sen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sustainable transportation idea includes not only switching from conventional energy sources to alternative fuel resources, but also diverging from private vehicle use and shifting to alternative transportation modes. As a part of alternative transportation mode, utilizing alternative fuels in public transportation operation supports sustainable transportation at it full-glance. Given their implications in terms of air quality and sustainable movement of people, transit buses, which provide the primary public transportation service, are considered an ideal domain for the deployment of alternative fuels. An input-output (IO) model is developed based on Eora database – a detailed IO database that consists of national …


A Two-Stage Approach To Ridesharing Assignment And Auction In A Crowdsourcing Collaborative Transportation Platform., Peiyu Luo May 2019

A Two-Stage Approach To Ridesharing Assignment And Auction In A Crowdsourcing Collaborative Transportation Platform., Peiyu Luo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative transportation platforms have emerged as an innovative way for firms and individuals to meet their transportation needs through using services from external profit-seeking drivers. A number of collaborative transportation platforms (such as Uber, Lyft, and MyDHL) arise to facilitate such delivery requests in recent years. A particular collaborative transportation platform usually provides a two sided marketplace with one set of members (service seekers or passengers) posting tasks, and the another set of members (service providers or drivers) accepting on these tasks and providing services. As the collaborative transportation platform attracts more service seekers and providers, the number of open …


A Framework To Develop Anomaly Detection/Fault Isolation Architecture Using System Engineering Principles, Thomas Clark Jan 2019

A Framework To Develop Anomaly Detection/Fault Isolation Architecture Using System Engineering Principles, Thomas Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For critical systems, timely recognition of an anomalous condition immediately starts the evaluation process. For complex systems, isolating the fault to a component or subsystem results in corrective action sooner so that undesired consequences may be minimized. There are many unique anomaly detection and fault isolation capabilities available with innovative techniques to quickly discover an issue and identify the underlying problems. This research develops a framework to aid in the selection of appropriate anomaly detection and fault isolation technology to augment a given system. To optimize this process, the framework employs a model based systems engineering approach. Specifically, a SysML …


A Methodology For Data-Driven Decision-Making In Last Mile Delivery Operations, Edgar Gutierrez Franco Jan 2019

A Methodology For Data-Driven Decision-Making In Last Mile Delivery Operations, Edgar Gutierrez Franco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Across all industries, from manufacturing to services, decision-makers must deal day to day with the outcomes from past and current decisions that affect their business. Last-mile delivery is the term used in supply chain management to describe the movement of goods from a hub to final destinations. This research proposes a methodology that supports decision making for the execution of last-mile delivery operations in a supply chain. This methodology offers diverse, hybrid, and complementary techniques (e.g., optimization, simulation, machine learning, and geographic information systems) to understand last-mile delivery operations through data-driven decision-making. The hybrid modeling might create better warning systems …


The Challenges And Barriers To Employment For Female In Riyadh And Tabuk, Sultan Almutairi Jan 2019

The Challenges And Barriers To Employment For Female In Riyadh And Tabuk, Sultan Almutairi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women labor force participation plays an important role in economic. The developing in economy in Saudi Arabia depends on men rather than women, more than 50 years the Saudi women participation in the labor force extremely is low, this dissertation seeks to identify the challenges and barriers to employment for women in Riyadh and Tabuk. This study examines three research questions. The first question explored the difference between the rate of women unemployment in Tabuk and the rate of women unemployment in Riyadh. The second question investigated ways in which a logistic regression using demographics data could be used to …


The Challenges And Barriers Facing Successful Lean Implementation In The Qatari Manufacturing Organizations, Abdulwahab Alyousef Jan 2019

The Challenges And Barriers Facing Successful Lean Implementation In The Qatari Manufacturing Organizations, Abdulwahab Alyousef

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The success of Toyota, the inventor of Lean Systems has drawn the attention of academics, researchers, and executives in the last decades. However, existing lean research is largely focused on developed economies in Europe, the Americas, and in Southeast Asia with little focus on the Arab world in general and Qatar specifically. There has been an emergence of manufacturing organizations and Small and Medium- sized Enterprises (SME) in Qatar recently which was the focus of this research. Despite the many attempts to implement lean in organizations, there have been a large number of failed attempts. This research aims to study …


Stochastic Optimization And Applications With Endogenous Uncertainties Via Discrete Choice Models, Mengnan Chen Jan 2019

Stochastic Optimization And Applications With Endogenous Uncertainties Via Discrete Choice Models, Mengnan Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stochastic optimization is an optimization method that solves stochastic problems for minimizing or maximizing an objective function when there is randomness in the optimization process. In this dissertation, various stochastic optimization problems from the areas of Manufacturing, Health care, and Information Cascade are investigated in networks systems. These stochastic optimization problems aim to make plan for using existing resources to improve production efficiency, customer satisfaction, and information influence within limitation. Since the strategies are made for future planning, there are environmental uncertainties in the network systems. Sometimes, the environment may be changed due to the action of the decision maker. …


A Study Of Perceptions On Incident Response Exercises, Information Sharing, Situational Awareness, And Incident Response Planning In Power Grid Utilities, Joseph Garmon Jan 2019

A Study Of Perceptions On Incident Response Exercises, Information Sharing, Situational Awareness, And Incident Response Planning In Power Grid Utilities, Joseph Garmon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The power grid is facing increasing risks from a cybersecurity attack. Attacks that shut off electricity in Ukraine have already occurred, and successful compromises of the power grid that did not shut off electricity to customers have been privately disclosed in North America. The objective of this study is to identify how perceptions of various factors emphasized in the electric sector affect incident response planning. Methods used include a survey of 229 power grid personnel and the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling to identify causal relationships. This study reveals the relationships between perceptions by personnel responsible for …


Multi-Level Optimization With Pricing Strategy Under Boundedly Rationality User Equilibrium, Guanxiang Yun Jan 2019

Multi-Level Optimization With Pricing Strategy Under Boundedly Rationality User Equilibrium, Guanxiang Yun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We study multi-level optimization problem on energy system, transportation system and information network. We use the concept of boundedly rational user equilibrium (BRUE) to predict the behaviour of users in systems. By using multi-level optimization method with BRUE, we can help to operate the system work in a more efficient way. Based on the introducing of model with BRUE constraints, it will lead to the uncertainty to the optimization model. We generate the robust optimization as the multi-level optimization model to consider for the pessimistic condition with uncertainty. This dissertation mainly includes four projects. Three of them use the pricing …


Factors Affecting Systems Engineering Rigor In Launch Vehicle Organizations, Denton Gibson Jan 2019

Factors Affecting Systems Engineering Rigor In Launch Vehicle Organizations, Denton Gibson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Systems engineering is a methodical multi-disciplinary approach to design, build, and operate complex systems. Launch vehicles are considered by many extremely complex systems that have greatly impacted where the systems engineering industry is today. Launch vehicles are used to transport payloads from the ground to a location in space. Satellites launched by launch vehicles can range from commercial communications to national security payloads. Satellite costs can range from a few million dollars to billions of dollars. Prior research suggests that lack of systems engineering rigor as one of the leading contributors to launch vehicle failures. A launch vehicle failure could …