Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Acuta Enews August 2008, Vol. 37, No. 8

ACUTA Newsletters

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Report from the 37th Annual Conference & Exhibition

From the President.......Corinne Hoch, Columbia Univ., ACUTA President

Board Report............ Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Secretary/Treasurer

Tech Talk: Disks Will Fail, but how Do You Know When?.......... ...Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

lnfo Links ............. Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern Iowa

DC Update ...........Dove Ostrom, Washington State University

Welcome New Members

Check lt Out: RFls/RFPs, Job Postings, Press Releases

Conference Sessions Online

Treasure Chest Winners

Green Survey Winner

Strategic Plan For Industrial And Management Systems Engineering, Paul Savory

Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Reports

The role of this strategic plan is to map out a range of department goals, offer objectives for achieving each goal, and list potential strategies for meeting an objective. It also lists performance metrics for measuring progress for each goal. Each year, a subset of goals and objectives will be identified by the IMSE department as a priority for the coming year. Detailed metrics for measuring improvement for the department’s priorities areas will then be defined. The department committee to develop the plan consisted of Dr. Paul Savory (committee chair), Dr. Susan Hallbeck, and Dr. Erick Jones.

Reinforcement Learning Based Dual-Control Methodology For Complex Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems With Application To Spark Engine Egr Operation, Peter Shih, Brian C. Kaul, Jagannathan Sarangapani, J. A. Drallmeier

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel reinforcement-learning-based dual-control methodology adaptive neural network (NN) controller is developed to deliver a desired tracking performance for a class of complex feedback nonlinear discrete-time systems, which consists of a second-order nonlinear discrete-time system in nonstrict feedback form and an affine nonlinear discrete-time system, in the presence of bounded and unknown disturbances. For example, the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) operation of a spark ignition (SI) engine is modeled by using such a complex nonlinear discrete-time system. A dual-controller approach is undertaken where primary adaptive critic NN controller is designed for the nonstrict feedback nonlinear discrete-time system whereas the secondary …

Dynamic Allocation Of Airline Check-In Counters: A Queueing Optimisation Approach, Mahmut Parlar, Sharafali Moosa

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper was motivated by an observation in an international airport with regard to allocation of resources for check-in counters. In an exclusive check-in counter system, each flight has a dedicated number of counters that will be open until at least a half-hour before the scheduled departure of that flight. Currently, in many of the airports around the world, the decision to open or close check-in counters is done on an ad hoc basis by human schedulers. In doing so, the schedulers are almost always forced to perform a balancing act in meeting the quality of service stipulated by the …

Randomly Generating Manufacturing Flow Line Models Using Mathematica, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

To test heuristic algorithms and techniques, researchers need numerous datasets so as to measure effectiveness and improve approaches. This paper discusses using Mathematica, a mathematical programming language, for randomly generating the specifications for manufacturing flow line models. Important issues include determining an arrival rate to a flow line, the number of flow line stations, the number of parallel servers for each production station, and specifying the service time distributions and their associated parameters. The paper concludes with a discussion on generating more general types of simulation models.

Characterization And Compression Properties Of Injection Molded Carbon Nanotube Composites, Grey Curtzwiler, Jay Singh, J. Miltz, Jimmy Doi, Keith Vorst

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Since the development of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in 1991, they have received much attention with improved mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of their composites compared to common polymer composites. The CNTs are currently used to increase the modulus of common thermoplastics and thermosets, including urethanes and epoxies. The CNTs are difficult to disperse within any media because of limited chemical reactivity and potential agglomeration in their ‘‘as grown’’ state. This study evaluated the effect of incorporating bundled and unbundled CNTs at different concentrations into Polyurethane/CNT/woven fiber reinforced composites. Optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterized the dispersion of CNTs …

Damping Inter-Area Oscillations By Upfcs Based On Selected Global Measurements, Mahyar Zarghami, Yilu Liu, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper introduces a method of using a selected set of the global data for controlling inter-area oscillations of the power network using unified power flow controllers. This novel algorithm utilizes reduced order observers for estimating the missing data the purpose of control when all the data is unavailable through frequency measurements in a wide area control approach. The paper will also address the problem of time-delay in data acquisition through examples.

Linear Relaxation Techniques For Task Management In Uncertain Settings, Pradeep Varakantham, Stephen F. Smith

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we consider the problem of assisting a busy user in managing her workload of pending tasks. We assume that our user is typically oversubscribed, and is invariably juggling multiple concurrent streams of tasks (or work flows) of varying importance and urgency. There is uncertainty with respect to the duration of a pending task as well as the amount of follow-on work that may be generated as a result of executing the task. The user’s goal is to be as productive as possible; i.e., to execute tasks that realize the maximum cumulative payoff. This is achieved by enabling …

Enhancing Student Learning Through State-Of-The-Art Systems Level Design And Implementation: The Development Of A Lower Division Learning Module, James G. Harris, Dominic Dal Bello, Jianbiao Pan, Albert Liddicoat

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The Cal Poly/Allan Hancock team is developing a learning module that will allow all lower division engineering students to design, fabricate, assemble, and test an electronic system implemented on a printed circuit board (PCB). All the services necessary to perform this laboratory experiment will be provided with low-cost vendors available on the . The learning module is being developed so that it can be integrated into the existing electrical engineering lower division courses that are required by all engineering students. The laboratory learning module will use operational amplifiers (op amp), resistors, capacitors and other common electronic components to study the …

Curricular Enhancement To Support Project-Based Learning In Computer And Electrical Engineering, Albert Liddicoat, Jianbiao Pan, James G. Harris, Lynne A. Slivovsky

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Undergraduate computer and electrical engineering programs often partition the curriculum into several courses based on related topics taught in isolation. Students are expected to synthesize their knowledge in a senior design project. It is the authors’ experience that students often struggle during their senior design project since they have not gained the appropriate knowledge or mastered necessary skills needed to work on a significant or team-based engineering design project. Specifically, students need to be able to define system requirements, partition the design into subcomponents, design, build, test, and verify that the system requirements have been met. The authors have enhanced …

A Project-Based Electronics Manufacturing Laboratory Course For Lower-Division Engineering Students, Jianbiao Pan, Albert Liddicoat, James G. Harris, Dominic Dal Bello

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This paper presents a project-based laboratory course on electronics design and manufacturing. The goal of this course is to provide lower-division engineering students a hands-on experience involving actual printed circuit board (PCB) design, layout, fabrication, assembly, and testing. Through project-based learning, students not only learn technical skills in designing and manufacturing an electronic device, but also develop their project management and communication skills early in their course of study at the university. The course outline and examples of the student projects are presented in this paper as well as project evaluations and students’ feedback. This paper also presents the selection …

How Accurate Is Students’ Self Assessment Of Computer Skills?, Michael A. Collura, Samuel Bogan Daniels

Engineering and Applied Science Education Faculty Publications

Self-evaluation by students is commonly used as a key element in program and course assessment plans. Such instruments are intended to provide crucial feedback for program improvement and thus play a significant role in closing our assessment loop. For many of the program outcomes, self-assessment by current students and graduates augments other, more objective measures. However, for some outcomes there are no practical means of obtaining objective assessment and we must rely on self-assessment. The heavy reliance on this metric begs the question “How accurate is student self-assessment?” This paper provides data from a second-semester engineering course in which students …

The Effect Of Ventilation And Hand Holes On Loss Of Compression Strength In Corrugated Boxes, Jay Singh, Eric Olsen, S. P. Singh, J. Manley, F. Wallace

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Corrugated packaging is used to package approximately 90% of all products that reach retail store shelves and aisles in the United States. A large number of these corrugated shippers are used to ship fresh produce and perishables through the cold-chain environment that requires these boxes to have venting to permit air circulation. In addition, corrugated boxes for that are large in size and contain heavier products, may have hand holes to facilitate manual handling. The presence of ventilation and hand holes both cause a loss of material in two or more faces of the box. As a result the compression …

Measurement And Analysis Of Truck Transport Environment In Brazil, Giovani Otavio Rissi, Sher Paul Singh, Gary J. Burgess, Jay A. Singh

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Increasing trade in today’s global economy requires packaging to be designed to contain, protect and deliver products without damage during transportation and handling. Vibration forces that occur during transportation are one of the most significant causes of damage during shipping. The objective of this study was to quantify and analyse the vibration that occurs during truck transport in Brazil. The study was done using two types of trucks: small local trucks for local metropolitan distribution areas and larger tractor-trailers for cross-country transportation. Ten metropolitan areas in different regions of Brazil were selected for 1-day trips representing normal delivery. These trips …

Techniques For Developing Large Scale Fuzzy Logic Systems, Jon C. Ervin, Sema E. Alptekin

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

In this paper, we describe various techniques used to make Intuitionistic Fuzzy Logic Systems amenable to operating on applications with large numbers of inputs. A rule reduction technique known as Combs method is combined with an automated tuning process based on Particle Swarm Optimization. A second stage of tuning on rule weights results in improved performance and further reduction in the size of the rule-base. The entire process has been developed to operate within the Matlab software environment. The technique is tested against the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Database. The use of these tools shows great promise in significantly expanding the …

Acuta Enews June 2008, Vol. 37, No. 6

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From the President........ Walt Magnussen, Texas A&M Univ., ACUTA President

Board Report ............Riny Ledgerwood, Son Diego State Univ., ACUTA Secretary/Treasurer

Audio Seminar: Strategic Views of VolP and Staffing

Tech Talk: lf Only Aspirin Worked for Network Headaches.......... Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

Renewed Your Membership?

DC Update .........Jeanne Jansenius, Sewanee, The University of the South

More on FERPA Supporting higher education

Making the Most of ACUTA Resources...................... Dave Wirth, Princeton University

Video over lP

Thanks to PAETEC technology

ACUTA Conference Blog

More Green Incentives................................ Gray Audi, Delphi, Inc.

lnfo Links................. Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern Iowa

Welcome New …

Public-Private Partnerships For Technology Growth In The Public Sector, F. Lera-Lopez, Scott Erwin Grasman, Javier Faulin

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Public-private partnerships (PPP) are a mechanism for financing large infrastructure development such as transportation projects, hospitals, schools, and public works facilities. In addition, the benefits of PPP stretch well into the realm of engineering management. Most notably, PPPs provide the opportunity for more efficient project management, proficient risk mitigation, and enhanced technological innovation. This paper provides a general description of the typical PPP process and how this process can be used to improve management of technology in the public sector.

System Of Systems: Power And Paradox, Joseph J. Simpson, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Systems concepts and artifacts provide the basis for enumerable sources of power and wealth in our modern world. Culture, art and science all are based on established systems of behavior, values and thought. The current environment is densely populated with physical system artifacts that are used in every aspect of human life. The ubiquitous nature of existing systems has generated a strong interest in using an existing set of systems as the basis for a system of systems. Further interest in the system-of-systems approach is stimulated by rapid development, deployment and expansion of new and existing systems. While successful system …

Electric Elves: What Went Wrong And Why, Milind Tambe, Emma Bowring, Jonathan Pearce, Pradeep Reddy Varakantham, Paul Scerri, David V. Pynadath

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Software personal assistants continue to be a topic of significant research interest. This article outlines some of the important lessons learned from a successfully-deployed team of personal assistant agents (Electric Elves) in an office environment. In the Electric Elves project, a team of almost a dozen personal assistant agents were continually active for seven months. Each elf (agent) represented one person and assisted in daily activities in an actual office environment. This project led to several important observations about privacy, adjustable autonomy, and social norms in office environments. In addition to outlining some of the key lessons learned we outline …

Drop Test Reliability Of Lead-Free Chip Scale Packages, Andrew Farris, Jianbiao Pan, Albert Liddicoat, Brian J. Toleno, Dan Maslyk, Dongkai Shangguan, Jasbir Bath, Dennis Willie, David A. Geiger

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This paper presents the drop test reliability of 0.5 mm pitch lead-free chip scale packages (CSPs). Fifteen 0.5 mm pitch CSPs were assembled on a standard JEDEC drop reliability test board with Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu lead-free solder. Eight boards were edge-bonded with a UV-cured acrylic; eight boards were edge- bonded with a thermal-cured epoxy; and twelve boards were assembled without edge bonding. Half of the edge-bonded test boards were subjected to drop tests at a peak acceleration of 1500 G with a pulse duration of 0.5 ms, and the other half subjected to drop tests at a peak acceleration of 2900 G …

Acuta Enews May 2008, Vol. 37, No. 5

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From ACUTA Headquarters.......... Jeri A. Semer, CAE, ACUTA Executive Director

Two Audio Seminars in May

Tech Talk: Femtocells: Designed to Give Cellular Coverage a Boost........................ Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR 3

Board Approves State of Nominees

DC Update Jeanne Jansenius, Sewanee, The University of the South

Board Report.................. Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Sec./Treasurer

Recycle Old Cell Phones

Be a Telecom BMOC: Win Big Buck

Check lt Out: RFls/RFPs, Job Postings, Press Releases

lnfo links.................. Randy Hayes' Univ. of Northern lowa

Be a Moderator or Monitor at the Annual Conference..... Donna Hall, ACUTA Mgr. of Professional …

Ice Breaking Exercice: Group Resume For Faculty, Paul Savory

Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Instructional Materials

Resumes typically describe an individual’s accomplishments. This ice breaking exercise for faculty asks that faculty explore their incredible array of talents and experiences and create a single group resume to allow you to become acquainted with your fellow faculty participants.

Acuta Enews April 2008, Vol. 37, No. 4

ACUTA Newsletters

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From the President..................Walt Magnussen, Texas A&N Univ., ACUTA President

Board Report.........................Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego State Univ., ACUTA Sec./Treasurer

Campus Safety Legislation Mulled in Wake of Shootings ......Raymond Thrower, Jr., IACLEA

Tech Talk: We'll Ask Again: ls This a Phone You Want on Your Network? Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

12th Annual Strategic Leadership Forum Topics

DC Update .............Jeanne Jansenius, Sewanee, The University of the South

Nominate Now for ACUTA Ruth A. Michalecki Award

lnfo Links ............. Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern lowa

Welcome New Members

Check lt Out: RFls/RFPs, Job Postings, Press Releases

An Executable System Architecture Approach To Discrete Events System Modeling Using Sysml In Conjunction With Colored Petri Net, Renzhong Wang, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes an executable system architecting paradigm for discrete event system modeling and analysis through integration of a set of architecting tools, executable modeling tools, analytical tools, and visualization tools. The essential step is translating SysML-based specifications into colored Petri nets (CPNs) which enables rigorous static and dynamic system analysis as well as formal verification of the behavior and functionality of the SysML-based design. A set of tools have been studied and integrated that enable a structured architecture design process. Some basic principles of executable system architecture for discrete event system modeling that guide the process of executable architecture …

Executable Modeling For System Of Systems Architecting: An Artificial Life Framework, Kilicay-Ergin Nil, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

There is a diversity of frameworks and methodologies for enabling architecture developments. Static representation frameworks provide a standardized way to communicate the architecture to stakeholders, but do not provide means to analyze the system states and system behavior. Therefore, there is a need to convert static representation frameworks to executable models. The aim of this paper is to present Artificial Life approaches as a methodology for understanding behavior of System of Systems. For this, an Artificial Life based framework for modeling System of Systems is presented. The framework comprises cognitive architectures embedded in multi-agent models. Financial markets are selected as …

System Of Systems Architecture Generation And Evaluation Using Evolutionary Algorithms, Joseph J. Simpson, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Evolutionary algorithms and computational intelligence represent a developing technology and science that provides great potential in the area of system and system-of-systems architecture generation, categorization and evaluation. Classical system engineering analysis techniques have been used to represent a system architecture in a manner that is compatible with evolutionary algorithms and computational intelligence techniques. This paper focuses on specific system relationship configurations and attributes that are required to successfully aggregate the best-fit function in a fuzzy associative memory that is used in an evolutionary algorithm to generate and evaluate system architectures.

Systems Methodology And Framework For Problem Definition In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Reghu Anguswamy, Maheswaran Thiagarajan, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks are communication networks built up of a collection of mobile devices which can communicate through wireless connections. Mobile Ad Hoc Networks have many challenges such as routing, which is the task of directing data packets from a source node to a given destination. This task is particularly hard in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks: due to the mobility of the network elements and the lack of central control, robustness and adaptability in routing algorithms and work in a decentralized and self organizing way. Through the principles of systems architecting and Engineering; the problem statement in Mobile Ad …

Missouri S&T Mote-Based Demonstration Of Energy Monitoring Solution For Network Enabled Manufacturing Using Wireless Sensor Networks (Wsn), James W. Fonda, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Al Salour, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Donald Miller

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this work, an inexpensive electric utilities monitoring solution using wireless sensor networks is demonstrated that can easily be installed, deployed, maintained and eliminate unnecessary energy costs and effort. The monitoring solution is designed to support network enabled manufacturing (NEM) program using Missouri University of Science and Technology (MST), formerly the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR), motes.

Six Dimensions Of Expertise: A More Comprehensive Definition Of Cognitive Expertise For Team Coordination, S K. Garrett, Barrett S. Caldwell, E C. Harris, M C. Gonzalez

School of Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Looking at expertise from the vantage point of many knowledge domains allows the observations and resulting definitions to be useful across a broad range of subject areas. A stable set of definitions that work on a higher, more comprehensive level than the current literature offers is needed for an integrated description of expertise. A cohesive cross-domain definition and explanation of expertise can be used to optimise group interactions. Since group performance incorporates additional components of expertise that are not present in individual performance situations, these additional components must be examined in order to see a full picture of the successful …

C-5a Galaxy Systems Engineering Case Study, Air Force Center For Systems Engineering, John M. Griffin

AFIT Documents

The C-5 Systems Engineering Case Study captures the untold story of the application of systems engineering during the concept exploration, development, and production of the USAF C-5A and C-5B aircraft. The case study examines and dissects the systems engineering process as applied by the Air Force C-5 System Program Office and the prime contractor, Lockheed, Georgia, from the program s genesis in 1957 to the last delivery of the C-5A and the beginning of the C-5B program in 1973. Numerous interviews were conducted with the principals who managed and directed the program and a story of the systems engineering process …