Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Development And Experimental Analysis Of Wireless High Accuracy Ultra-Wideband Localization Systems For Indoor Medical Applications, Michael Joseph Kuhn

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses several interesting and relevant problems in the field of wireless technologies applied to medical applications and specifically problems related to ultra-wideband high accuracy localization for use in the operating room. This research is cross disciplinary in nature and fundamentally builds upon microwave engineering, software engineering, systems engineering, and biomedical engineering. A good portion of this work has been published in peer reviewed microwave engineering and biomedical engineering conferences and journals. Wireless technologies in medicine are discussed with focus on ultra-wideband positioning in orthopedic surgical navigation. Characterization of the operating room as a medium for ultra-wideband signal transmission …

Towards Sustainable Development Of Nanomanufacturing, Sasikumar Ramdas Naidu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Sustainability" is a buzz word these days not just among regulatory agencies but even with corporations, as evident by the release of annual sustainability report by a large number of firms. Companies are starting to portray profit making along with corporate environmental responsibility.

Nanotechnology and nanomanufacturing which holds a lot of promise for development in a multitude of fields in science and engineering is the new kid on the block and carries a lot of apprehension due to public concern about their potential unwanted side effects that may result in the case of an untoward incident or lack of oversight. …

Reliability Analysis Of Nanocrystal Embedded High-K Nonvolatile Memories, Chia-Han Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

The evolution of the MOSFET technology has been driven by the aggressive shrinkage of the device size to improve the device performance and to increase the circuit density. Currently, many research demonstrated that the continuous polycrystalline silicon film in the floating-gate dielectric could be replaced with nanocrystal (nc) embedded high-k thin film to minimize the charge loss due to the defective thin tunnel dielectric layer.

This research deals with both the statistical aspect of reliability and electrical aspect of reliability characterization as well. In this study, the Zr-doped HfO₂ (ZrHfO) high-k MOS capacitors, which separately contain the nanocrystalline zinc …

Robust Multichannel Functional-Data-Analysis Methods For Data Recovery In Complex Systems, Jian Sun

Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, Condition Monitoring (CM), which can be performed via several sensor channels, has been recognized as an effective paradigm for failure prevention of operational equipment or processes. However, the complexity caused by asynchronous data collection with different and/or time-varying sampling/transmission rates has long been a hindrance in the effective use of multichannel data in constructing empirical models. The problem becomes more challenging when sensor readings are incomplete. Traditional sensor data recovery techniques are often prohibited in asynchronous CM environments, not to mention sparse datasets. The proposed Functional Principal Component Analysis (FPCA) methodologies, e.g., nonparametric FPC model and semi-parametric …

The Impact Of Change On System Of Systems Performance With An Application To Small And Medium Multihospital Systems, Karima Tayeb

Doctoral Dissertations

An entity that functions as a system of systems (SoS) is composed of multiple systems that individually provide various functions which collectively provide a holistic functional capability. It is complex in design and function and tends to become even more complex over time as it evolves and responds to both internal and external changes. These changes might be in the composition or in the interoperability among its system members. Since interoperability affects how well the members work as one system, managing it is critical to the performance of the SoS over its lifespan.

In support of this goal, this dissertation, …

A Multi-Commodity Network Flow Approach For Sequencing Refined Products In Pipeline Systems, Rolando José Acosta Amado

Doctoral Dissertations

In the oil industry, there is a special class of pipelines used for the transportation of refined products. The problem of sequencing the inputs to be pumped through this type of pipeline seeks to generate the optimal sequence of batches of products and their destination as well as the amount of product to be pumped such that the total operational cost of the system, or another operational objective, is optimized while satisfying the product demands according to the requirements set by the customers. This dissertation introduces a new modeling approach and proposes a solution methodology for this problem capable of …

Birnbaum Importance Patterns And Their Applications In The Component Assignment Problem, Qingzhu Yao

Doctoral Dissertations

The Birnbaum importance (BI) is a well-known measure that evaluates the relative contribution of components to system reliability. It has been successfully applied to tackling some reliability problems. This dissertation investigates two topics related to the BI in the reliability field: the patterns of component BIs and the BI-based heuristics and meta-heuristics for solving the component assignment problem (CAP).

There exist certain patterns of component BIs (i.e., the relative order of the BI values to the individual components) for linear consecutive-k-out-of-n (Lin/Con/k/n) systems when all components have the same reliability p. This study summarizes …

Development Of An Optimal Replenishment Policy For Human Capital Inventory, Bruce A Holt

Doctoral Dissertations

A unique approach is developed for evaluating Human Capital (workforce) requirements. With this approach, new ways of measuring personnel availability are proposed and available to ensure that an organization remains ready to provide timely, relevant, and accurate products and services in support of its strategic objectives over its planning horizon. The development of this analysis and methodology was established as an alternative approach to existing studies for determining appropriate hiring and attrition rates and to maintain appropriate personnel levels of effectiveness to support existing and future missions.

The contribution of this research is a prescribed method for the strategic analyst …

Revenue Management For Make-To-Order And Make-To-Stock Systems, Jiao Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

With the success of Revenue Management (RM) techniques over the past three decades in various segments of the service industry, many manufacturing firms have started exploring innovative RM technologies to improve their profits. This dissertation studies RM for make-to-order (MTO) and make-to-stock (MTS) systems.

We start with a problem faced by a MTO firm that has the ability to reject or accept the order and set prices and lead-times to influence demands. The firm is confronted with the problem to decide, which orders to accept or reject and trade-off the price, lead-time and potential for increased demand against capacity constraints, …

Multi-Modular Integral Pressurized Water Reactor Control And Operational Reconfiguration For A Flow Control Loop, Sergio Ricardo Pereira Perillo

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focused on the IRIS design since this will likely be one of the designs of choice for future deployment in the U.S and developing countries. With a net 335 MWe output IRIS novel design falls in the “medium” size category and it is a potential candidate for the so called modular reactors, which may be appropriate for base load electricity generation, especially in regions with smaller electricity grids, but especially well suited for more specialized non-electrical energy applications such as district heating and process steam for desalination. The first objective of this dissertation is to evaluate and quantify …

A New Lean Model: Improving Race Team Performance Through Team-Driver Communication Efficacy, Joseph Ruric Stainback Iv

Doctoral Dissertations

In some organizational settings and in the field of competitive automobile racing, certain situations and rules place an emphasis on and sometimes escalate the need for effective team communications. This dissertation hypothesizes that effective and dense communications contributes directly to team performance. Supported by organizational behavioral and lean six sigma theory, communications is declared a form of waste within the context of Industrial Engineering subject to data collection, measurements, and real-time, value-added metrics. Measuring and reporting trends in communications provides a basis for a new and unique model called a Communications Productivity Model (CPM) with an associated Communications Density Report …

Kernel-Based Data Mining Approach With Variable Selection For Nonlinear High-Dimensional Data, Seung Hyun Baek

Doctoral Dissertations

In statistical data mining research, datasets often have nonlinearity and high-dimensionality. It has become difficult to analyze such datasets in a comprehensive manner using traditional statistical methodologies. Kernel-based data mining is one of the most effective statistical methodologies to investigate a variety of problems in areas including pattern recognition, machine learning, bioinformatics, chemometrics, and statistics. In particular, statistically-sophisticated procedures that emphasize the reliability of results and computational efficiency are required for the analysis of high-dimensional data. In this dissertation, first, a novel wrapper method called SVM-ICOMP-RFE based on hybridized support vector machine (SVM) and recursive feature elimination (RFE) with information-theoretic …

Influence Of Turning On Military Vehicle Induced Rut Formation, Kun Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

Rut formation can severely influence soil conditions and vegetation, and reduce vehicle mobility. Vehicle operations can affect rut formation. Ruts formed in straight vehicle paths are different than when the vehicle turns. This research is mainly to investigate the effects of vehicle turning maneuvers on soil rut formation, including field tests, lab tests, and model development.

Field tests were conducted at Yuma Training Center, Fort Riley and Fort Lewis on wheeled and tracked military vehicles. In field tests, rut depth, rut width and rut index were used as the main indicators to quantify a rut. A Vehicle Tracking System was …

Scheduling For Service Stability And Supply Chain Coordination, Yuerong Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies scheduling for service stability and for supply chain coordination as well. The scheduling problems for service stability are studied from the single perspective of a firm itself, while the scheduling problems for supply chain coordination are investigated from the perspective of a supply chain. Both the studies have broad applications in real life.

In the first study, several job scheduling problems are addressed, with the measure of performance being job completion time variance (CTV). CTV minimization is used to represent service stability, since it means that jobs are completed in a relative concentrated period of time. CTV …

Qos Provision For Wireless Sensor Networks, Dengfeng Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

Wireless sensor network is a fast growing area of research, receiving attention not only within the computer science and electrical engineering communities, but also in relation to network optimization, scheduling, risk and reliability analysis within industrial and system engineering. The availability of micro-sensors and low-power wireless communications will enable the deployment of densely distributed sensor/actuator networks. And an integration of such system plays critical roles in many facets of human life ranging from intelligent assistants in hospitals to manufacturing process, to rescue agents in large scale disaster response, to sensor networks tracking environment phenomena, and others.

The sensor nodes will …

Reliability Analysis Of Hafnium Oxide Dielectric Based Nanoelectronics, Rui Wan

Doctoral Dissertations

With the physical dimensions ever scaling down, the increasing level of sophistication in nano-electronics requires a comprehensive and multidisciplinary reliability investigation. A kind of nano-devices, HfO₂-based high-k dielectric films, are studied in the statistical aspect of reliability as well as electrical and physical aspects of reliability characterization, including charge trapping and degradation mechanisms, breakdown modes and bathtub failure rate estimation.

This research characterizes charge trapping and investigates degradation mechanisms in high-k dielectrics. Positive charges trapped in both bulk and interface contribute to the interface state generation and flat band voltage shift when electrons are injected from the gate …

Reliability In Lean Systems, Robert S. Keyser

Doctoral Dissertations

Implementation of Lean manufacturing systems often turn into expensive hit-or-miss propositions. Whereas many organizations that lack immediate success quickly abandon their ‘Lean’ plans in hopes that the next great marketing panacea will solve their efficiency woes, organizations that experience early success often have difficulty in sustaining their Lean efforts. To further exacerbate the dilemma, knowledge of the reliability of Lean systems is currently inadequate. This paper proposes a contemporary Lean paradigm – reliability in Lean systems – through the development of an innovative Lean System Reliability model (LSRM). Principally, LSRM models the reliability of Lean subsystems as a basis for …

Person-Environment Fit And Readiness For Change: Exploring The Moderating Role Of Leader-Member Exchange And Perceived Organizational Support, Joana R.C. Pimentel

Doctoral Dissertations

This paper was aimed at investigating the interplay of multiple facets of personenvironment fit with individual readiness for change; and to expose potential moderators of this relationship, namely organizational support and quality of relationship with supervisors. The extant research on the relationships between person-environment fit and a number of individual- and organization-level outcomes reveals considerable discrepancies, mainly attributed to the measurement of person-environment fit and to potential moderators. With this in mind, moderated multiple regressions (MMR) were conducted in order to test the hypotheses of existing interaction effects.

The results revealed no significant interactions between facets of personenvironment fit and …

Demand Estimation At Manufacturer-Retailer Duo: A Macro-Micro Approach, Sirisha Saripalli

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is divided into two phases. The main objective of this phase is to use Bayesian MCMC technique, to attain (1) estimates, (2) predictions and (3) posterior probability of sales greater than certain amount for sampled regions and any random region selected from the population or sample. These regions are served by a single product manufacturer who is considered to be similar to newsvendor. The optimal estimates, predictions and posterior probabilities are obtained in presence of advertising expenditure set by the manufacturer, past historical sales data that contains both censored and exact observations and finally stochastic regional effects that …

Heuristic Procedures To Solve Sequencing And Scheduling Problems In Automobile Industry, Jingxu He

Doctoral Dissertations

With the growing trend for greater product variety, mixed-model assembly nowadays is commonly employed in many industries, which can enable just-in-time production for a production system with high variety. Efficient production scheduling and sequencing is important to achieve the overall material supply, production, and distribution efficiency around the mixed-model assembly line. This research addresses production scheduling and sequencing on a mixed-model assembly line for products with multiple product options, considering multiple objectives with regard to material supply, manufacturing, and product distribution. This research also addresses plant assignment for a product with multiple product options as a prior step to scheduling …

Yield And Reliability Analysis For Nanoelectronics, Tao Yuan

Doctoral Dissertations

As technology has continued to advance and more break-through emerge, semiconductor devices with dimensions in nanometers have entered into all spheres of our lives. Accordingly, high reliability and high yield are very much a central concern to guarantee the advancement and utilization of nanoelectronic products. However, there appear to be some major challenges related to nanoelectronics in regard to the field of reliability: identification of the failure mechanisms, enhancement of the low yields of nano products, and management of the scarcity and secrecy of available data [34]. Therefore, this dissertation investigates four issues related to the yield and reliability of …

Photogrammetry In Traffic Accident Reconstruction, Lara Lynn O’Shields

Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this research is to utilize PhotoModeler, a closerange photogrammetry software package, in various traffic accident reconstruction applications. More specifically, three distinct studies were conducted: 1.) vehicle crush measurement, 2.) road curve measurement, and 3.) an evaluation of common traffic accident reconstruction measurement methodologies.

The first study applied the photogrammetric process to controlled crash information generated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). A statistical procedure known as bootstrapping was utilized to generate distributions from which the variability was examined. The “within” subject analysis showed that 44.8% of the variability is due to the technique itself and …

Adaptive Nonlinear Optimization Methodology For Installed Capacity Decisions In Distributed Energy/Cooling Heat And Power Applications., Carl Randolph Hudson

Doctoral Dissertations

Evaluation of potential cooling, heating and power (CHP) applications requires an assessment of the operations and economics of a particular system in meeting the electric and thermal demands of a specific end-use facility. Given the electrical and thermal load behavior of a facility, the tariff structure for grid-supplied electricity, the price of primary fuel (e.g., natural gas), the operating strategy and characteristics of the CHP system, and an assumed set of installed CHP system capacities (e.g., installed capacity of prime mover and absorption chiller), one can determine the cost of such a system as compared to reliance solely on traditional, …

The Use Of Capacity And Inventory In A Rate-Based Planning And Scheduling System To Achieve Strategic Goals In Industrial Applications, Chad Aaron Toney

Doctoral Dissertations

In pull or lean manufacturing, the final production schedule is in the form of takt time (drumbeat). All internal and external suppliers are driven by pull signals to feed the production rate. However, variability can be a problem for this drumbeat as the plan should not change more than the ability of the suppliers’ capability to respond. The supply chain should have sufficient flexibility to react quickly to changes in demand, while minimizing week-to-week production variability.

Current planning and scheduling systems do not produce a plan that minimizes fluctuations. If the schedule is frozen for several periods, they are slow …