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Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons™

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Theses/Dissertations

2009

All Theses

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

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

2-D And 3-D Assessment Of Cambered And Symmetric Airfoils: A Cfd Study, Tuncay Kamas Dec 2009

2-D And 3-D Assessment Of Cambered And Symmetric Airfoils: A Cfd Study, Tuncay Kamas

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A two dimensional and three dimensional computational study has been carried out respectively regarding aerodynamic forces affecting a symmetric airfoil, NACA0015 and a cambered airfoil, NACA2414. The negative lift (down force) and drag forces were predicted through the simulation of airflows over inverted rear-wings in different configurations namely; varying incidences i.e. angles of attack of the airfoils, two dimensional cross section of the inverted rear wings to be mounted on back of a car, and varying speeds of initial airflow.
The downforce increases as the angle of attack increases however, if an inverted rear wing is fixed on a car …

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A Particle Swarm Optimization Using Random Keys For Flexible Flow Shop Scheduling Problem With Sequence Dependent Setup Times, Vinodh Sankaran Dec 2009

A Particle Swarm Optimization Using Random Keys For Flexible Flow Shop Scheduling Problem With Sequence Dependent Setup Times, Vinodh Sankaran

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In this research, a particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) using random keys is developed to schedule flexible flow lines with sequence dependent setup times to minimize makespan. The flexible flow line scheduling problem is a branch of production scheduling and is found in industries such as printed circuit board and automobile manufacturing. It is well known that this problem is NP-hard. For this reason, we approach the problem by implementing a particle swarm optimization (PSO), a metaheuristic which is inspired by the motion of a flock of birds or a school of fish searching for food. The proposed PSO has …

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Sensor-Based Soil Water Monitoring To More Effectively Manage Agricultural Water Resources In Coastal Plain Soils, Christopher Bellamy Dec 2009

Sensor-Based Soil Water Monitoring To More Effectively Manage Agricultural Water Resources In Coastal Plain Soils, Christopher Bellamy

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Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is widely grown in the United States with 5.7 million ha grown nationally and 1.2 million ha grown in the humid southeastern states in 2005. From 1969 to 2003, agricultural irrigated farmland acreage and total water applied increased by over 40% and 11% respectively to include a total of 55.3 million acres in 2002. Combined with recent and more frequent drought periods and legal water conflicts between states, there has been an increased interest in more effective southeastern water management, thus making the need to develop improved irrigation scheduling methods and enhanced water use efficiency of …

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Effectiveness Of Team-Building And Teamwork In Real And Virtual Worlds, Rachana Ranade Dec 2009

Effectiveness Of Team-Building And Teamwork In Real And Virtual Worlds, Rachana Ranade

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Given the increasing importance of globalization and collaboration, this research investigates the possibility of performing team-building training for globally dispersed teams using the capabilities of the virtual world Second Life. Three meeting conditions, the 3D virtual world Second Life, a combination of face-to-face and Second Life and face-to-face were evaluated. Thirty randomly assigned 3 person teams performed an ice-breaker session and then a team-building activity in each meeting condition. Four dependent variables were measured: task completion time; quality of task performance; the subjective satisfaction with the process based on group cohesiveness, perception of the process and satisfaction with the outcome; …

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A Logistic Regression Model To Predict Incident Severity Using The Human Factors Analysis And Classification System, Hrishikesh Kavade Dec 2009

A Logistic Regression Model To Predict Incident Severity Using The Human Factors Analysis And Classification System, Hrishikesh Kavade

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The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) is used to help identify causal factors that lead to human error. The framework has been used in a variety of industries to identify leading contributing factors of unsafe events, such as accidents, incidents and near misses. While traditional application of the HFACS framework to safety outcomes has allowed evaluators to identify leading causal issues based on frequency, little has been done to gain a more comprehensive view of the system's total risk. This work utilizes the concept of event severity along with the HFACS framework to help better identify target areas …

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Thermoelastic Behavior Of A Small Bearing Cage, Eric Planting Dec 2009

Thermoelastic Behavior Of A Small Bearing Cage, Eric Planting

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The full field non contact measurement of objects undergoing testing is one of interest for manufacturers of parts which are graded on their longevity. Unfortunately, for homogenous small parts with irregular geometries, such as bearing cages, the solution for testing is typically to use only a FEA model and compliment the testing of the model with simply cyclically loading the sample until failure. To better understand the stresses and behavior of a small object Thermoelasticity can be employed in order to see in a full field technique what stress patterns exist and their correlation to a FEA model.
The FEA …

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Performance Of Storm Water Stage And Quality Measuring Instruemtnation Of A Small Watershed Using A Remote Monitoring Station, Rebecca Crane Dec 2009

Performance Of Storm Water Stage And Quality Measuring Instruemtnation Of A Small Watershed Using A Remote Monitoring Station, Rebecca Crane

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ABSTRACT


As economic development proceeds special care must be taken to preserve and sustain our water resources. Monitoring the storm water from a watershed during a rainfall event can help quantify any changes in water quantity and quality. An accurate means of measuring flow is necessary for all watershed monitoring projects. This study was conducted to analyze the performance of stage, turbidity, and temperature measuring devices in a laboratory setting as well as on Honeycutt Creek in Clemson, South Carolina.
The stage measuring devices under study include: a radar level sensor, ultrasonic transmitter, pressure transducer, and a bubbler module. A …

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Effects Of Meeting Spaces On The Performance Of A Concept Selection Task By Engineering Design Teams, Necmettin Ozkan Aug 2009

Effects Of Meeting Spaces On The Performance Of A Concept Selection Task By Engineering Design Teams, Necmettin Ozkan

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Given the increasing importance of collaboration and the resulting use of virtual tools, this research investigates the performance of engineering design teams using a concept selection task in three meeting spaces, face-to-face, 2D online and 3D virtual. Cisco's WebEx and Sun Microsystems' Wonderland were used as the 2D online meeting space and the 3D virtual environment, respectively. Twenty-four two-person design teams were formed and randomly assigned to the meeting spaces. Eight teams performed a cell-phone concept selection task in each meeting space. Four dependent variables were measured: task completion time, team satisfaction, self-evaluated quality and expert-evaluated quality. Following data collection, …

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Biohydrogen Production From Cull Peach Medium By Hyperthermophilic Bacterium Thermotoga Neapolitana, Abhiney Jain Aug 2009

Biohydrogen Production From Cull Peach Medium By Hyperthermophilic Bacterium Thermotoga Neapolitana, Abhiney Jain

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ABSTRACT
Thermotoga neapolitana is a marine hyperthermophilic bacterium that ferments various sugars to hydrogen and acetate. In this study, cull peaches were used as carbon source in a defined medium for biohydrogen production and produced 18 % to 25% hydrogen in the headspace. The hydrogen production varied from 6.4-7.7 mmol H2/g peach (dry weight). The hydrogen concentration did not increase after 20 hours of incubation. The final pH decreased to 4.9 after 20 hours. Unautoclaved peach medium can be used for hydrogen production. The hydrogen production did not increase with the increase in peach concentration from 50 g/L to 100 …

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High-Rate Channel Catfish Fingerling Production In The Partitioned Aquaculture System, Tim Wells May 2009

High-Rate Channel Catfish Fingerling Production In The Partitioned Aquaculture System, Tim Wells

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The objective of this 4-year research project was to evaluate the performance of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) fingerling production in the Partitioned Aquaculture System (PAS). The goal was to demonstrate production of 80-gram minimum sized fingerlings in a single growing season, allowing for 100% market-size fish production after one additional season in the grow-out PAS.
A series of 2-inch airlift pumps fed by a single 3-hp low-head blower was found to be capable of supplying sufficient water flow-rate (in 2005, 2006, and 2007) of gpm per container to 9 cohorts. A series of 0.75-hp axial flow pumps (in 2005, 2006, …

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Design Of A Multi-Echelon Global Supply Chain Network With Microsoftå¨ Excel Premium Solver Plataform, Wilder Ferreira May 2009

Design Of A Multi-Echelon Global Supply Chain Network With Microsoftå¨ Excel Premium Solver Plataform, Wilder Ferreira

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I designed a global supply chain distribution model of one single product, with the objective of minimizing the costs of transportation, handling materials, duties and tariffs, production, and fixed infrastructure. The distribution network has a combination of manufacturing facilities (fixed and to-be-determined), warehouses (to-be-determined), distribution centers (to-be-determined), and customer zones at fixed locations. This network design is similar to the mathematical mixed-integer linear model from Tsiakis, Shah and Pantelides (2001). This model has been implemented in Microsoft Excel, using the Standard Simplex method from Frontline, Inc. This model optimizes the number of facilities worldwide (multi-echelon) along with the flow of …

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