Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Acuta Enews January 1993, Vol. 23, No. 1

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

Regulatory update

President's column

Grants to network innovators

Monograph honoraria $500

Phone fiber to carry CATV

Director's column

Constraints On Initial Ahs Deployment And The Concept Definition Of A Shuttle Service For Ahs Debut, Jacob Tsao

H.-S. Jacob Tsao

Highway automation and its evolution involve a multitude of systems issues. Particularly important and difficult in defining a deployment sequence is the very first step, i.e. the first user service involving fully automated freeway driving. However, this importance and the difficulty imply that many factors may severely constrain the initial deployment. After discussing the paramount importance of initial AHS deployment, this paper points out major high-level issues and constraints. Any realistic deployment strategy must take into consideration gradual technology maturation, introduction of new driver role and diminishing conventional driver role for automated driving, high cost of early-generation automation-equipped vehicles, gradual …

A Probabilistic Model For Avcs Longitudinal Collision/Safety Analysis, Jacob Tsao, Randolph Hall

H.-S. Jacob Tsao

This paper develops a probabilistic model for analyzing longitudinal collision/safety between an abruptly decelerating vehicle and its immediate follower. The input parameters are the length of the gap between the two vehicles, their common speed prior to the failure, the reaction delay of the following vehicle and a bivariate distribution for the two deceleration rates. The output includes the probability of a collision and the probability distribution of the relative speed at collision time We use this model to compare the safety consequences associated with the platooning and “free-agent” longitudinal-separation rules. We also demonstrate that the free-agent rule implemented with …

A Probabilistic Model For Avcs Longitudinal Collision/Safety Analysis, Jacob Tsao, Randolph Hall

Faculty Publications

This paper develops a probabilistic model for analyzing longitudinal collision/safety between an abruptly decelerating vehicle and its immediate follower. The input parameters are the length of the gap between the two vehicles, their common speed prior to the failure, the reaction delay of the following vehicle and a bivariate distribution for the two deceleration rates. The output includes the probability of a collision and the probability distribution of the relative speed at collision time We use this model to compare the safety consequences associated with the platooning and “free-agent” longitudinal-separation rules. We also demonstrate that the free-agent rule implemented with …

Constraints On Initial Ahs Deployment And The Concept Definition Of A Shuttle Service For Ahs Debut, Jacob Tsao

Faculty Publications

Highway automation and its evolution involve a multitude of systems issues. Particularly important and difficult in defining a deployment sequence is the very first step, i.e. the first user service involving fully automated freeway driving. However, this importance and the difficulty imply that many factors may severely constrain the initial deployment. After discussing the paramount importance of initial AHS deployment, this paper points out major high-level issues and constraints. Any realistic deployment strategy must take into consideration gradual technology maturation, introduction of new driver role and diminishing conventional driver role for automated driving, high cost of early-generation automation-equipped vehicles, gradual …

Manufacturing Curriculum Issues Of Two-Year Mechanical Engineering Technology Program In Taiwan, R.O.C., Chuan-Chun Wu

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to evaluate current practices and possible changes in the mechanical engineering technology manufacturing curriculum in Taiwan's two-year junior technical colleges. The study was based on survey responses from three populations: (a) graduates of mechanical engineering (manufacturing division) programs in two-year junior technical colleges, (b) their manufacturing supervisors, and (c) their company chief executive officers (CEOs). The survey was designed to develop responses for following:

1. Determine the degree of importance of courses in the current Taiwanese two-year curriculum in manufacturing, in the opinion of the three groups surveyed.

2. Determine what the future curriculum …

A Hierarchial Neural Network Implementation For Forecasting, B. Fulkerson, M. A. Ozbayoglu, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a hierarchical neural network architecture for forecasting time series is presented. The architecture is composed of two hierarchical levels using a maximum likelihood competitive learning algorithm. The first level of the system has three experts each using backpropagation and a gating network to partition the input space in order to map the input vectors to the output vectors. The second level of the hierarchical network has an expert using fuzzy ART for producing the correct trend coming from the first level. The experiments show that the resulting network is capable of forecasting the changes in the input …

A Comparison Of Fam And Cmac For Nonlinear Control, Arit Thammano, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article compares a neural network-based controller, both local and global networks, with fuzzy associative memories (FAM) on a nonlinear problem. CMAC and FAM are chosen as representatives of local generalization networks. CMAC controller is trained off-line, therefore, it can response to the incoming input immediately. CMAC can interpolate its memory and give a reasonable control signal even the input has not been trained on. Backpropagation is picked as a representative of global generalization networks. All three systems are studied on a simple simulated control problem. This preliminary research will be adapted later to control the laser cutting machine. A …

The Integration Of Simulation And Reality For Education Enhancement And Training, Clarence Rasquinha, Stephen A. Raper

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Quite often, when engineers are exposed to a manufacturing environment on the job for the first time, they undergo a baptism by fire. The environment forces them to deal with situations that integrate many different bodies of knowledge. Reliance on concepts acquired in the academic environment is crucial to their success. Unfortunately, lacking in most academic environments, is any experience through which some or all of these concepts are integrated. In a continuing effort to enhance educational practices in Manufucturing/Systems Engineering programs and perhaps improve the preparedness of a young engineer, the CITE (Computer Integrated Technological Enterprise) tool offers educators …

The Application Of Markov State Probabilities In Developing Artificially Intelligent Managerial Strategies: A Case Study Based On Major League Baseball, Arnold Vincent Arconati

Doctoral Dissertations

"Baseball is a very large industry that influences the lives and financial assets of millions of people.

Many baseball analysts estimate that even the best Major League player can increase his team's expected number of yearly wins by only 3 or 4 games. In 1993 Bobby Bonilla, a New York Mets National League outfielder, earned $5,200,000 more than the average Major League player earned. The Mets apparently believed that expenditure of this money was worth his expected additional victories. If the strategy of an Artificially Intelligent baseball manager could produce 4 more team victories than the corresponding human baseball manager, …

Integration Of Artificial Neural Networks And Simulation Modeling In A Decision Support System, Kenney Lecroy

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

A simulation based decision support system is developed for AT&T Microelectronics in Orlando. This system uses simulation modeling to capture the complex nature of semiconductor test operations. Simulation, however, is not a tool for optimization by itself. Numerous executions of the simulation model must generally be performed to narrow in on a set of proper decision parameters. As a means of alleviating this shortcoming, artificial neural networks are used in conjunction with simulation modeling to aid management in the decision making process. The integration of simulation and neural networks in a comprehensive decision support system, in effect, learns the reverse …

Method For Determining Atmospheric Aerosol Optical Depth Using Solar Transmission Measurements, Felix Tendeku

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

A multiple wavelength radiometer instrumentation has been developed and used to measure solar irradiance in a water vapor absorption band in the near-infrared region. From these measurements the total atmospheric optical depth at each wavelength of observation is deduced using a linear least-squares fitting method. An iteration technique, based on a power law wavelength dependence of aerosol optical depth, is employed to retrieve aerosol optical depth from the total optical depth data. The technique permits simultaneous determination of precipitable water vapor amount.

Materials Recovery Facilities In The United States Virgin Islands: A Regional Facilities Location Model Study, Lloyd O. Prince Jr.

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Continental municipalities have derived many benefits from the economies of scale associated with a regional approach to facilities location and management planning. Centralized solid waste processing facilities is an example. Island communities, however, surrounded by miles of ocean, are constrained to a fragmented approach to the facilities location solution. This research was conducted to determine if the regional paradigm suggested in the literature is applicable to a set of island communities connected by an ocean transportation infrastructure. A linear programming (LP) model, constraints and data requirements were developed and applied to a network of islands. A series of hypothetical material …

Teamwork In The Workplace: A Discovery Of The Work Processes One Team Used To Meet Its Goals, Thomas Andrew Hassler

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A century-old disagreement in academia surrounds the question of whether individuals acting alone accomplish all work or whether workers can truly act in concert to meet management's production requirements. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a powerful force today in the industrial world, and the formation of teams to solve short-term problems is one of its fundamental techniques. This dissertation focuses on a particular TQM team with the purpose of understanding the processes it used to meet its goals. This ten-member team functioned for about one year and was assigned goals leading to improved accelerator reliability. The investigator was a member …

A Study Of Similarity And Analogical Decision-Making In Collaborative Design, Christopher Edward Weeks

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of similarity and analogy in design communication and propose a descriptive representation of the analogical decision-making process in the context of engineering design. It is proposed that social, cultural, and contextual knowledge are brought to bear on statements of need in the form of analogy as a means to elicit and evince potential design solutions. A goal of this study is to identify communicative behaviors, representing process variables of analogical decision-making, that can be used to describe how design information is represented, manipulated, and conveyed in a collaborative design effort. …