Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

A Biofuel Supply Chain Equilibrium Analysis With Subsidy Consideration, Amirsaman Hamzeh Bajgiran

Theses and Dissertations

Growing environmental concerns in the last few decades along with the energy security issues have led governments to take actions to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and enhance renewable energy usage, including biofuels. Enforcement of federal or state mandates and regulations that obligate a certain amount of biofuel production are one of the main levers that governments use to achieve their goals. In the U.S. as an example, Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requires the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, 21 billion gallons of which should be advanced biofuels derived from biostocks other than corn starch. …

A Microscopic Simulation Laboratory For Evaluation Of Off-Street Parking Systems, Yun Yuan

Theses and Dissertations

The parking industry produces an enormous amount of data every day that, properly analyzed, will change the way the industry operates. The collected data form patterns that, in most cases, would allow parking operators and property owners to better understand how to maximize revenue and decrease operating expenses and support the decisions such as how to set specific parking policies (e.g. electrical charging only parking space) to achieve the sustainable and eco-friendly parking.

However, there lacks an intelligent tool to assess the layout design and operational performance of parking lots to reduce the externalities and increase the revenue. To address …

Heuristic Algorithm To Minimize Total Weighted Tardiness On The Unrelated Parallel Machine With Sequence Dependent Setup And Future Ready Time, Tzu Yi Li

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a heuristic algorithm to minimize total weighted tardiness on unrelated parallel machines with sequence-dependent setup time and future ready time. We propose a new rule based on Apparent Tardiness Cost (ATC). The performance of the rule is evaluated on unrelated parallel machines. In order to solve a problem, we use a look-ahead method and a job-swap method. When a machine becomes idle, the heuristic compares the jobs on the machine and selects the one with the smallest total tardiness value to carry out a process.

The propose heuristic is divided into three stages: The first stage employs …

In Silico Analysis Of Advanced Processing Methods For Light-Weight Alloys Powders, Marjan Nezafati

Theses and Dissertations

Light-weight Al and Mg-based metal-matrix nanocomposites (MMNCs) are lauded as one of the most promising structural materials for vehicle, military, and construction applications. These MMNCs are often synthesized using the powder metallurgy (PM) process under liquid nitrogen cryogenic environments to control the grain sizes. It is believed that proper incorporation of the nitrogen species into the bulk lattice during processing could strongly enhance the mechanical properties of MMNCs by forming N-rich dispersoids. In this work, using the density-functional theory (DFT), the adsorption, absorption and diffusion behavior of nitrogen molecule/atoms have been studied and related to t Al and Mg MMNC …

Demand Side Management For Building Energy Efficiency Through Hybrid Daylighting System And Battery Energy Storage System, Tonghui Li

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to investigate demand side management (DSM) to improve building energy efficiency and reduce on-peak electricity demand. Daylighting device and battery energy storage system (BESS) for peak shaving are proposed and studied. To reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of building lighting, an innovative parabolic trough solar lighting and thermal (PTL/T) system is designed and analyzed. In the proposed system, a parabolic trough collector (PTC) controlled by two-axis solar tracking system is used as solar collector. The collected sunlight is split by a cold mirror into visible light and infrared light. The visible light is reflected by …

Optimal Decision Making For Capacitated Reverse Logistics Networks With Quality Variations, Sajjad Farahani

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing concerns about the environmental impact of production, product take-back laws and dwindling natural resources have heightened the need to address the impact of disposing end-of-life (EOL) products. To cope this challenge, manufacturers have integrated reverse logistics into their supply chain or chosen to outsource product recovery activities to third party firms. The uncertain quality of returns as well as uncertainty in return flow limit the effectiveness of planning, control and monitoring of reverse logistics networks. In addition, there are different recovery routes for each returned product such as reuse, repair, disassembling, remanufacturing and recycling. To determine the most profitable …

The Effect Of Kinesiology Tape During Isotonic Knee Flexion Extension Exercise On Time To Fatigue, Rate, And Quadricep Muscle Oxygenation, Yu-Wei Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Some Kinesiology Tape manufacturers claim that Kinesiology Tape (KT) can enhance performance and increase blood flow. Therefore, this study recruited 14 healthy male subjects (college population, 182.9 ± 5.1 cm, 76.52 ± 10.2 kg). to complete an eight-day KT intervention experiment. On Day 1 and Day 2 the subjects did not wear KT. During Days 3 to 6 the subjects wore the KT on their dominant leg (treatment leg) only. Limb dominance was defined by asking the subjects which leg they use to kick a ball. During Days 7 and 8 the subjects did not wear KT. Furthermore, the KT …