Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

The Effects Of Text And Hybrid Graphic-Text Formats On Pilot Performance Using Flight Deck Data Communication Displays, Ricardo Daniel Muñoz Da Costa

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Air Traffic has shown a steady increase since the institution of commercial aviation in the first quarter of the last century, and the use of the United States National Airspace System (NAS) is expected to increase by 45 percent more passengers by the year 2015 (Smith, 2004). The increasing demands of the NAS require preventive measures in order to preserve the safety of operations. NextGen is a transformative program expected to enhance the safety and effectiveness of NAS operations. One of the ways that it will achieve these goals is by improving air-ground communications.

In the current system, communications between …

Assessing The Effects Of Multi-Modal Communications On Mental Workload During The Supervision Of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Sharon Claxton Bommer

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Human supervisory control (HSC) systems that require intermittent human input of commands to create actions within the system are helpful in reducing the human's mental workload (MWL). HSC systems are commonly employed in the piloting and control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). As the ratio of UAVs to operators increases there is a clear need to understand the effort required to complete task requirements. Specifically, this research explored MWL relative to multi-modal communications using subjective and physiological measures. To accomplish this, a cognitive model was developed to understand the relationship between tasks and MWL. MWL was manipulated by measuring three …

Application Of The Augmented Operator Function Model For Developing Performance Metrics In Persistent Surveillance, Tiffany M. Paul

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Difficulties with the implementation of persistent Wide Area Motion Imagery (WAMI) sensors to support real-time military missions have risen within Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance organizations. In this study, cognitive models were developed of operators performing real-time missions currently supported by narrow field of view Full Motion Video (FMV) and WAMI sensors. These models were used in conjunction with a cognitive task analysis, creating an augmented operator function model (OFM-COG). This thesis describes the OFM-COG and demonstrates how this model-based analysis technique can document the cognitive implications of persistent surveillance with motion imagery. The analytic procedures required to build this model …

An Evaluation Of Discharge Policies At A Generic Acute Care Hospital, Elizabeth A. Crawford

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One of the main issues faced within the U.S. healthcare continuum is ineffective care transition. Ineffective transitions from one area of care to the next can lead to a reduction in quality of care, an increased risk of readmission, and an increase in healthcare costs. According to the National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC), as many as 42% of the hospitals surveyed reported that care transitions during coordinated care delivery do not go as planned. One of the primary reasons for ineffective care transition is poor discharge planning. The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of various …

Use Of Exploratory Data-Mining Techniques To Analyze Associations Between Bone-Mineral Density And Relevant Clinical Parameters Of Gaucher Disease, Tingting Fu

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Gaucher disease (GD) is a monogenic disorder with autosomal recessive inheritance, which results from an acid lysosomal hydrolase, the beta-glucocerebrosidase deficiency. Clinical manifestations of the disease include anemia, thrombocytopenia, hepatosplenomegaly, and skeletal complications. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) has been used to treat type 1 GD for more than a decade, and many patients have shown remarkable clinical responses to the treatment, with normalization of blood counts, reduction in liver and spleen size, and improvement in bone symptoms. Many researchers have tried to study the effectiveness of ERT, but previous research has been mainly based on some predetermined hypotheses and traditional …

An Exploratory Study Of Mixed-Width Aisle Layouts For Order Picking In Distribution Centers, Corinne H. Mowrey

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Order picking is arguably the most expensive operational activity for a distribution center (DC), constituting upwards of 50% of total operating costs. Designing an optimum order picking system (OPS) for a DC depends on several system parameters, such as aisle layout, storage system configuration, storage policy, picking method, and picking strategy. From an aisle layout standpoint, traditional DCs utilize either entirely wide or entirely narrow aisles in their picking systems. Wide aisles allow pickers to pass each other, reducing blocking and requiring fewer pickers. However, the space required for wide-aisle systems is high. Narrow aisles utilize less space than wide …

Cognitive Cyber Weapon Selection Tool Empirical Evaluation, Preethi Vinayak Ponangi

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Keeping in pace with the latest technological innovations in the cyber world, the misuse of this powerful infrastructure has also increased proportionally. Although a lot of recent attacks have been documented in the mainstream media, counter measures for cyber defense mechanism have only received some attention in the recent research literature. Most of the global attacks in the cyber space have proved to be carefully planned premeditated attacks. Considering that most of these attacks are co-coordinated by humans, a new area of psychological weaponry is being investigated by the research community. This study aims to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of …

Drop-Shipping At A Promotional Products Distributor, Ramanan Veeraragavan

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During the current economic times, companies are trying to reduce costs by incorporating new strategies into their business plan. Supply chain, in particular the distribution network is one area where an improvement can bring in a healthy return on investment to a company. Drop-shipping is a distribution strategy whereby customer orders are fulfilled by directly delivering products from manufacturer's facility, instead of storing these products at the warehouse. Drop-shipping helps in reducing inventory and material handling costs at the warehouse, but may increase transportation costs due to frequent shipments. This research was motivated by the current operations at a promotional …

Scheduling Surgical Cases In A Constrained Environment, Bharathwaj Vijayakumar

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This research examines a complex surgical case scheduling problem for a publicly-funded hospital in the Midwest United States. Publicly-funded hospitals are typically under tight budget constraints and these hospitals strive to maximize the utilization of their resources such as beds, staff, equipment, operating rooms, etc. These resources are relatively fixed for a publically funded hospital. A manual scheduling approach followed by this hospital does not guarantee optimal solutions and consequently has led to large variation in the utilization of resources. This real-world problem is described in this research as a multi-day, multi-resource, and patient-priority-based surgical case scheduling problem with the …

Determining The Optimal Aisle-Width For Order Picking In Distribution Centers, Sheena R. Wallace-Finney

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Many companies use distribution centers (DC) as hubs for storing and distributing products to customers (e.g., wholesalers, retailers, or consumers). Order picking, a critical activity in every DC, refers to retrieving products from the storage locations to fulfill customer orders. It accounts for over 50% of the DC operating cost. Order picking system design involves several decisions, such as layout of the picking area, storage policy, picking method, material handling equipment, and information technology, to name a few. Aisle configuration (number, length, width, and orientation) is a critical layout decision as it directly affects picker productivity and required space. Previous …

Use Of Web-Based Lessons Of Statistical Concepts With Graphics And Animation To Enhance The Effectiveness Of Learning, Lavanya Pillala

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Statistics is of critical importance to engineers. However, many engineering students struggle to grasp the meaning of statistical concepts and the idiosyncrasies of statistical methodologies. Because of this problem, instructors of statistics are constantly searching for better ways to help students understand statistical concepts. The goal of this project is to design and develop web-based lessons that use graphics and animations to enhance the effectiveness of students' learning of statistical concepts.

Lessons of three important statistical concepts have been developed for this thesis - normal distribution, central limit theorem and confidence & tolerance intervals - following well-recognized instructional design development …

Domain-Specific Core Self-Evaluations And Stressors As Predictors Of Strains, Michael Raymond Hoepf

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The current study examines the use of a frame-of-reference (FOR) in the evaluation of core self-evaluations, stressors and strains. The study investigates the prediction that using a FOR that matches predictors and outcomes will result in a stronger relationship between the constructs being measured, specifically CSE, stressors, and strains. In addition, the study examines the extent to which following this procedure will add incremental validity after non-contextualized predictors are controlled. The hypotheses in this study were generally supported, although the hypotheses related to the school domain were not supported as strongly as those related to general and work domain. The …

An Improved Genetic Algorithm For Knapsack Problems, Taskiran, Gamze Kilincli

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In this study, an improved genetic algorithm (GA) is presented to solve the multidimensional 0-1 knapsack problem (MKP). The MKP is a well-known combinatorial optimization problem and has received wide attention from the operations research community for decades. Although recent advances in computing and optimization technologies have made the solution of small and medium size instances possible, this NP-hard problem, in general, still remains one of the challenging problems yet to be solved.

Of the various algorithms developed to solve the MKP, GA seems to be one of the best methods pointed out in the literature. A GA is an …

Impact Of Culture And Age On The Use Of Social Networking Websites, Ramya Reddy Ponnavolu

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Social networking websites have become very popular amongst people of all ages in recent times. These websites have brought into existence a new form of data - 'User generated content'. Companies everywhere have begun to identify the potential of these sites and have commenced efforts to take advantage of the profitable opportunities available. In spite of all this, it is reasonable to say that the latent possibilities in social networking sites are yet to be fully explored. This is due to the fact that the technology is still young and research on its potential is still ongoing. The current research …

Application Of Modern Principles To Demand Forecasting For Electronics, Domestic Appliances And Accessories, Gregory Daniel Noble

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Royal Philips is a large scale producer of consumer electronics, personal appliances, lighting, and healthcare appliances. Demand data from 12 Business Units (BU) of Royal Philips was examined in the study; four business units from each of three divisions: DAP, PA, and CE. From the data supplied, different forecast techniques were evaluated to determine which procedure produces the highest quality forecasts. Three forecasting techniques were evaluated using the provided data. The three forecasting techniques evaluated are the exponential smoothing forecasting method, the exponential smoothing with a linear trend forecasting method, and the Winters forecasting method.

The Visual Basic for Applications …

Using Two Channel Communication To Study Selective Auditory Attention Using Air And Bone Conducted Interfaces, Kutbi Nuruddin Kaliyakuwawala

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the human capability to use selective auditory attention across the two different hearing pathways, air conduction and bone conduction. Four two channel communication systems were used as a basis for comparison: (1) both channels presented via headphones (left ear and right ear each represent a different channel), (2) two channels presented via loudspeakers placed at 135° and 225°, (3) one channel presented via headphones (both ears) and one channel to bone vibrator (placed at the condoyle), and (4) one channel presented via bone vibrator and one channel via loud speakers (placed at …

Visualization Methods And User Interface Design Guidelines For Rapid Decision Making In Complex Multi-Task Time-Critical Environments, Sriram Mahadevan

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Real-world scenarios are complex dynamic systems that are often overloaded with information. Effective performance of these dynamic systems depends on the objects in such systems and the relationship among them. The control of many of these systems is semi-automated. Human operators constantly monitor and control these systems, assess the situation and often make decisions under time pressure. However, this supervisory control paradigm in a dual-task environment can be a very challenging task. Existing interface design methodologies and techniques have not delved deeply enough into defining information displays for complex, dynamic, time-critical, dual-task environments with capabilities for rapid task change awareness …

The Effects Of Depth And Eccentricity On Visual Search In A Depth Display, George Angelo Reis

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The attribute of depth has been shown to provide saliency or conspicuity for items in a visual search task. Novel displays that present information in real physical depth offer potential benefits. Previous research has studied depth in visual search but depth was mostly realized without real physical separation of display elements. This study aimed to better understand the effects of real physical depth and eccentricity on visual search in a depth display. Through this understanding, we can appropriately utilize this new technology. An experiment was conducted to test four hypotheses regarding how depth, eccentricity, target feature, and screen location would …

Integrated Faceted Browser And Direct Search To Enhance Information Retrieval In Text-Based Digital Libraries, Shea-Tinn Yeh

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Browsing and searching are two prominent paradigms in information retrieval. In current digital library implementations, exploratory browsing is sometimes not available as an option. When offered, it is commonly presented as an alphabetical listing of chosen categories depending on the scope of the digital collections. In addition, users have to switch between different information spaces for browsing and searching. This research proposes an information retrieval paradigm of integrated faceted browser and direct search interfaces for text-based digital libraries. Experimental results show that compared to a conventional alphabetical browser, the faceted browser can significantly improve the effectiveness (by 30.8%, p = …

Determining The Effect Of Speaker's Gender And Speech Synthesis On Callsign Acquisition Test (Cat) Results, Jasminkumar B. Soni

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Effective and efficient speech communication is one of the leading factors for success of battlefield operation. With the increases in the levels of gender diversity in military services, it is important to assess the effectiveness of voice for both genders in communication systems. The purpose of this research study was to determine the effect of the speaker's voice (male and female) on the speech intelligibility (SI) performance of the Callsign Acquisition Test (CAT). In addition, the effects of synthesized speech were evaluated. The CAT test is a new SI test that has been developed for military use. A group of …

A Stochastic Production Planning Model Under Uncertain Demand, Meenakshi Prajapati

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Production planning plays a vital role in the management of manufacturingfacilities. The problem is to determine the production loading plan consisting of the quantity of production and the workforce level - to fulfill a future demand. Although the deterministic version of the problem has been widely studied in the literature, the stochastic production planning problem has not. The application of production planning models could be limited if the stochastic nature of the problem, for example, uncertainty in future demand, is not addressed. This study addresses such a stochastic production planning problem under uncertain demand and its application in an enclosure …

Implementation Of Simulation For Network Service Delivery Point Capacity Analysis, Tiffany Jill Harper

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As businesses consolidate and modernize their operations, the impact on their network and computing infrastructure is a major consideration. In this thesis, discrete event simulation is used to show how implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system can impact network performance and ultimately affect end-users. More specifically, the model simulates the flow of data packets across a network, through a Service Delivery Point (SDP), which is comprised of routers, switches, and firewalls that connect a Local Area Network to a Wide Area Network.

The model was used to run to determine the affect of more network traffic and additional …

A Tabu Search Heuristic For Multi-Period Clustering To Rationalize Delivery Operations, Surya Sudha Khambhampati

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Delivery operations use centralized warehouses to serve geographically distributed customers. Resources (e.g. personnel, trucks, stock, and equipment) are scheduled from the warehouses to distributed locations with the aim of: (a) meeting customer demands and, (b) rationalizing delivery operation costs. My thesis investigates the problem of clustering customers based on their geographical vicinity and their multi-period demands, while optimally scheduling resources. The problem addresses with-and-without capacity constraints of vehicles at the warehouse. This problem is proven to be NP-Hard. Hence, solutions using state-of-the-art exact methods such as branch and bound are not pertinent due to the computation complexity involved. We develop …

Information Presentation On Mobile Device For Plant Operations, Raghavendra Rao Polakonda

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Process control and maintenance systems have been used in the petrochemical and refining industry for long time for improving operator performance and workforce efficiency. However, there is a need to integrate these systems with current technological innovations in a systematic and meaningful manner. Advances in mobile computing, sensor technologies, software algorithms, and computational methods provide the possibility for easy access to information anytime-anywhere. The issues associated with retrieving and reviewing this information directly affects the ability to make timely and quality decisions in high stakes environments like a petrochemical plant where time critical decisions are involved. This research investigates the …