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Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons™

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Series

Missouri University of Science and Technology

2005

Articles 1 - 17 of 17

Full-Text Articles in Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering

A Matter Of Priorities: Effects Of Increased Opportunities For Extracurricular And Non-Traditional Learning Experiences On Student Time Management And Attitudes, David Spurlock, Daniel J. Bailey, Susan L. Murray, Andrew S. Ricke Jun 2005

A Matter Of Priorities: Effects Of Increased Opportunities For Extracurricular And Non-Traditional Learning Experiences On Student Time Management And Attitudes, David Spurlock, Daniel J. Bailey, Susan L. Murray, Andrew S. Ricke

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Many schools are emphasizing non-traditional and extracurricular learning experiences for undergraduate engineering students. These include activities such as incorporating servicelearning projects into the classroom, involving students in design competitions (e.g., solar car, formula car races), and promoting involvement in traditional campus organizations. Often this emphasis is in response to changes in ABET requirements, desires of future employers, and needs to improve student retention. What are the effects of emphasizing these sorts of activities on student attitudes and time management decisions? We examine the influences on students' priorities for allocating their time and their perceptions of the relative importance of available …

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Increasing Student Commitment To Class Preparation, Susan L. Murray Jun 2005

Increasing Student Commitment To Class Preparation, Susan L. Murray

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Most of us know the rule-of-thumb that students should spend a certain number of hours outside of class studying for every hour in class. Unfortunately, students often develop the view that it is more efficient to come to class and have the instructor cover the material and then only study material that was emphasized or unclear. As faculty members this results in the dilemma of either assuming the students are not prepared and lecturing over basic material or trying to require the students to prepare. Some use readiness quizzes covering the required readings. Some try to intimidate, calling on students …

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Work In Progress - Automated Discourse Interventions And Student Teaming, Ray Luechtefeld, Steve Eugene Watkins, Ralph E. Flori Feb 2005

Work In Progress - Automated Discourse Interventions And Student Teaming, Ray Luechtefeld, Steve Eugene Watkins, Ralph E. Flori

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The ability to successfully work in teams is a crucial part of an engineer's workplace success. Engineering education can be improved through a better understanding of how effective teamwork develops. A (patent pending) software tool that "listens" to team conversations and generates automatic interventions into team discourse can effectively mimic the actions of a skilled facilitator. Automated facilitation tools may help students improve their team skills by providing a simplified model for conversational interventions, which students can readily imitate. This paper describes this tool and presents preliminary findings from student reactions to the tool's use.

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Reinforcement Learning-Based Output Feedback Control Of Nonlinear Systems With Input Constraints, Pingan He, Jagannathan Sarangapani Feb 2005

Reinforcement Learning-Based Output Feedback Control Of Nonlinear Systems With Input Constraints, Pingan He, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel neural network (NN) -based output feedback controller with magnitude constraints is designed to deliver a desired tracking performance for a class of multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) discrete-time strict feedback nonlinear systems. Reinforcement learning in discrete time is proposed for the output feedback controller, which uses three NN: 1) a NN observer to estimate the system states with the input-output data; 2) a critic NN to approximate certain strategic utility function; and 3) an action NN to minimize both the strategic utility function and the unknown dynamics estimation errors. The magnitude constraints are manifested as saturation nonlinearities in the output feedback …

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Special Session - Team Training To Promote Constructive (Not Destructive) Conflict, Ray Luechtefeld, Steve Eugene Watkins Jan 2005

Special Session - Team Training To Promote Constructive (Not Destructive) Conflict, Ray Luechtefeld, Steve Eugene Watkins

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Advancing technology increases the need for engineering students to perform effectively on multidisciplinary teams. While conflict is a normal, and even necessary, component of team dynamics, if not managed effectively it can lead to destructive (rather than constructive) outcomes. An Action Science approach to group and individual effectiveness can help teams handle conflict constructively. This session uses a "Teach the Teacher" approach to give participants a basic understanding of skills underlying the approach. It provides practice in Action Science through a set of learning modules. These skills can be brought back and integrated into the participants' courses to provide student …

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Taxonomy Of Systems-Of-Systems, James Gideon, Cihan H. Dagli, Ann K. Miller Jan 2005

Taxonomy Of Systems-Of-Systems, James Gideon, Cihan H. Dagli, Ann K. Miller

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The study of systems-of-systems is an increasingly important topic in systems engineering. Though there is not complete agreement, a more precise definition of what these highly evolved systems are and what attributes they possess has certainly emerged. However, there are still areas in the study where the topic can be advanced by a more rigorous presentation of the basic elements. One such area is the taxonomy of systems-ofsystems. This paper will begin with the definition of systems-of-systems as it currently stands and will present the taxonomy from a broader view with additional considerations for classification. These taxonomic categories will consider …

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A "Theory Of Action" Perspective On Effective Organizational Change, Ray Luechtefeld Jan 2005

A "Theory Of Action" Perspective On Effective Organizational Change, Ray Luechtefeld

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

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A Generic, Adaptive Systems Engineering Information Model I, Ann K. Miller, Joseph J. Simpson, Scott Erwin Grasman, Cihan H. Dagli Jan 2005

A Generic, Adaptive Systems Engineering Information Model I, Ann K. Miller, Joseph J. Simpson, Scott Erwin Grasman, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes a new network centric architecture that can be used by first responders to effectively respond to crisis situations. The powerful network-centric concept originally developed for and mainly used in the military environment, can be effectively used for civilian security and emergency response missions. This paper also proposes the use of a swarm of intelligent robots as a part of the network-centric architecture to aid the first responders. The swarm of robots works in tandem with the first responders and provides them with the necessary information on a real time basis. The proposed network centric architecture with a …

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An Sds Modeling Approach For Simulation-Based Control, Sreeram Ramakrishnan, Kumar Mayur Thakur Jan 2005

An Sds Modeling Approach For Simulation-Based Control, Sreeram Ramakrishnan, Kumar Mayur Thakur

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We initiate a study of mathematical models for specifying (discrete) simulation-based control systems. It is desirable to specify simulation-based control systems using a model that is intuitive, succinct, expressive, and whose state space properties are relatively easy computationally. We compare automata-based models for specifying control systems and find that all systems that are currently used (such as finite state machines, communicating hierarchical finite state machines (FSM), communicating finite state machines, and Turing machines) lack at least one of the abovementioned features. We propose using sequential dynamical systems (SDS) - a formalism for representing discrete simulations - to specify simulation-based control …

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Network-Centric First Responder Architecture With Swarming Robots Entity, Lakshmanan Meyyappan, Cihan H. Dagli Jan 2005

Network-Centric First Responder Architecture With Swarming Robots Entity, Lakshmanan Meyyappan, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes a new network centric architecture that can be used by first responders to effectively respond to crisis situations. The powerful network-centric concept originally developed for and mainly used in the military environment, can be effectively used for civilian security and emergency response missions. This paper also proposes the use of a swarm of intelligent robots as a part of the network-centric architecture to aid the first responders. The swarm of robots works in tandem with the first responders and provides them with the necessary information on a real time basis. The proposed network centric architecture with a …

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Neural Network-Based Control Of Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems In Non-Strict Form, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Zheng Chen, Pingan He Jan 2005

Neural Network-Based Control Of Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems In Non-Strict Form, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Zheng Chen, Pingan He

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel reinforcement learning-based adaptive neural network (NN) controller, also referred as the adaptive-critic NN controller, is developed to deliver a desired tracking performance for a class of non-strict feedback nonlinear discrete-time systems in the presence of bounded and unknown disturbances. The adaptive critic NN controller architecture includes a critic NN and two action NNs. The critic NN approximates certain strategic utility function whereas the action neural networks are used to minimize both the strategic utility function and the unknown dynamics estimation errors. The NN weights are tuned online so as to minimize certain performance index. By using gradient descent-based …

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Decentralized Discrete-Time Neural Network Controller For A Class Of Nonlinear Systems With Unknown Interconnections, Jagannathan Sarangapani Jan 2005

Decentralized Discrete-Time Neural Network Controller For A Class Of Nonlinear Systems With Unknown Interconnections, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel decentralized neural network (NN) controller in discrete-time is designed for a class of uncertain nonlinear discrete-time systems with unknown interconnections. Neural networks are used to approximate both the uncertain dynamics of the nonlinear systems and the unknown interconnections. Only local signals are needed for the decentralized controller design and the stability of the overall system can be guaranteed using the Lyapunov analysis. Further, controller redesign for the original subsystems is not required when additional subsystems are appended. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller. The NN does not require an offline learning phase and the weights …

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A Robust Controller For The Manipulation Of Micro Scale Objects, Qinmin Yang, Jagannathan Sarangapani Jan 2005

A Robust Controller For The Manipulation Of Micro Scale Objects, Qinmin Yang, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A suite of novel robust controllers is presented for the manipulation and handling of micro-scale objects in a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) where adhesive, surface tension, friction and van der Waals forces are dominant. Moreover, these forces are typically unknown. The robust controller overcomes the unknown system dynamics and ensures the performance in the presence of actuator constraints by assuming that the upper bounds on these forces are known. On the other hand, for the robust adaptive controller, the unknown forces are estimated online. Using the Lyapunov approach, the uniformly ultimate boundedness (UUB) of the closed-loop manipulation error is shown for …

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Energy-Efficient Rate Adaptation Mac Protocol For Ad Hoc Wireless Networks, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Jagannathan Sarangapani Jan 2005

Energy-Efficient Rate Adaptation Mac Protocol For Ad Hoc Wireless Networks, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Resource constraints in ad hoc wireless networks require that they are energy efficient during both transmission and rate adaptation. In this paper, we propose a novel energy-efficient rate adaptation protocol that selects modulation schemes online to maximize throughput based on channel state while saving energy. This protocol uses the distributed power control (DPC) algorithm (M. Zawodniok et al., 2004) to accurately determine the necessary transmission power and to reduce the energy consumption. Additionally, the transmission rate is altered using energy efficiency as a constraint to meet the required throughput, which is estimated with queue fill ratio. Moreover, back-off scheme is …

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Predictive Congestion Control Mac Protocol For Wireless Sensor Networks, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Jagannathan Sarangapani Jan 2005

Predictive Congestion Control Mac Protocol For Wireless Sensor Networks, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Available congestion control schemes, for example transport control protocol (TCP), when applied to wireless networks results in a large number of packet drops, unfairness with a significant amount of wasted energy due to retransmissions. To fully utilize the hop by hop feedback information, a suite of novel, decentralized, predictive congestion control schemes are proposed for wireless sensor networks in concert with distributed power control (DPC). Besides providing energy efficient solution, embedded channel estimator in DPC predicts the channel quality. By using the channel quality and node queue utilizations, the onset of network congestion is predicted and congestion control is initiated. …

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Block Phase Correlation-Based Automatic Drift Compensation For Atomic Force Microscopes, Qinmin Yang, Eric W. Bohannan, Jagannathan Sarangapani Jan 2005

Block Phase Correlation-Based Automatic Drift Compensation For Atomic Force Microscopes, Qinmin Yang, Eric W. Bohannan, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Automatic nanomanipulation and nanofabrication with an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is a precursor for nanomanufacturing. In ambient conditions without stringent environmental controls, nanomanipulation tasks require extensive human intervention to compensate for the many spatial uncertainties of the AFM. Among these uncertainties, thermal drift is especially hard to solve because it tends to increase with time and cannot be compensated simultaneously by feedback. In this paper, an automatic compensation scheme is introduced to measure and estimate drift. This information can be subsequently utilized to compensate for the thermal drift so that a real-time controller for nanomanipulation can be designed as if …

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Neural Network -Based Nearly Optimal Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman Solution For Affine Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Zheng Chen Jan 2005

Neural Network -Based Nearly Optimal Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman Solution For Affine Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Zheng Chen

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we consider the use of nonlinear networks towards obtaining nearly optimal solutions to the control of nonlinear discrete-time systems. The method is based on least-squares successive approximation solution of the Generalized Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. Since successive approximation using the GHJB has not been applied for nonlinear discrete-time systems, the proposed recursive method solves the GHJB equation in discrete-time on a well-defined region of attraction. The definition of GHJB, Pre-Hamiltonian function, HJB equation and method of updating the control function for the affine nonlinear discrete time systems are proposed. A neural network is used to approximate the GHJB …

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