Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Optimal Route Planning Using Computer Simulation In The Context Of Distributor-To-Consumer Supply Network, Miriam Aguilera Nava

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Effective route planning for distribution centers is a multifaceted challenge crucial tobusiness success, as it directly impacts time and cost savings while enhancing overall delivery efficiency. Oversight of proper planning can lead to problems and inefficiencies in the distribution process. Hence, this work undertakes a comparative experiment of two delivery strategies in a distributor-to-consumer supply network. While the first strategy investigates the delivery process by zip area, the second strategy considers the clustering of the areas for more streamlined delivery fulfillment. The effectiveness of the delivery process is gauged based on a set of metrics, including total distance traveled, average …

Reliability Modeling And Improvement Of Critical Infrastructures: Theory, Simulation, And Computational Methods, José Carlos Hernández Azucena

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a framework for developing data-driven tools to model and improve the performance of Interconnected Critical Infrastructures (ICIs) in multiple contexts. The importance of ICIs for daily human activities and the large volumes of data in continuous generation in modern industries grant relevance to research efforts in this direction. Chapter 2 focuses on the impact of disruptions in Multimodal Transportation Networks, which I explored from an application perspective. The outlined research directions propose exploring the combination of simulation for decision-making with data-driven optimization paradigms to create tools that may provide stakeholders with optimal policies for a wide array …

Simulation Analysis Of The Distrix Protocol For Political Redistricting, Cui Fu

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the process of political redistricting, a crucial component of ensuring fair representation in legislative bodies. The study first outlines the background and criteria of redistricting in the United States, emphasizing important criteria such as equal population, racial fairness, contiguity, and political fairness. It then focuses on the Distrix protocol for political redistricting in which two or more players (i.e., political parties) take turns assigning small pieces of territory to districts until no more unassigned territory remains. The Distrix protocol was recently introduced in a board game of the same name. After describing the Distrix protocol, we present …

Utilization Of Integer Programming For Scheduling Maintenance At Nuclear Power Plants, Timothy Gallacher

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis develops a thought that naturally explores three specific motifs for solving the complexities of scheduling maintenance at Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). The first chapter of this paper will develop the initial thought around creating a schedule for a given work week, including all the various constraints inherent to this problem. Such constraints include but are not limited to personnel availability, allowable component out-of-service time, and the Plant Risk Assessment. The objective function being to minimize the total cost of worker’s compensation for that given week.

The second chapter addresses the question of whether this simple schedule can be …

Exact Models, Heuristics, And Supervised Learning Approaches For Vehicle Routing Problems, Zefeng Lyu

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents contributions to the field of vehicle routing problems by utilizing exact methods, heuristic approaches, and the integration of machine learning with traditional algorithms. The research is organized into three main chapters, each dedicated to a specific routing problem and a unique methodology. The first chapter addresses the Pickup and Delivery Problem with Transshipments and Time Windows, a variant that permits product transfers between vehicles to enhance logistics flexibility and reduce costs. To solve this problem, we propose an efficient mixed-integer linear programming model that has been shown to outperform existing ones. The second chapter discusses a practical …

Automation Complacency On Humans And Cyber-Physical Systems In The Energy Sector, Shannon Olaveson

Cyber Operations and Resilience Program Graduate Projects

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) enable industrial systems and technology to work together to achieve increased connectivity and operational efficiency through the use of automation. Because automation requires less human interaction to run industrial tasks, a reliance may form on this integration to take over an otherwise manual process. This reliance can cause human behavior to affect operational safety and security, leading to unintentional outcomes or vulnerable areas of adversarial opportunity. The energy sector is one of the most critical infrastructure areas becoming a part of the rise to automation, resourcing gas, oil, and electricity …

A Multi-Objective Stochastic Programming Model For Resilient And Sustainable Supply Chains Under Uncertainty, Mohammad H. Majdfaghihi

Dissertations

Supply chain resilience (SCRES) and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) have garnered significant attention in the field of Supply Chain Management (SCM) science. This heightened interest is largely attributable to the increasing frequency and severity of uncertainty and disruptions in global supply chains. Resilience is a beneficial approach to managing uncertainties and preparing for and mitigating the adverse consequences of Supply Chain (SC) disruptions. Sustainability is a key concept in SCM, driven by governmental regulations and heightened stakeholder and customer concerns for environmental and societal well-being. Studies on SCRES have traditionally focused on preparing for and reacting to disruptions and …

Automated Usability Evaluation Utilizing Log Files And Data Mining Techniques., Sima Shafaei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Usability evaluation is one of the essential aspects of software production. This evaluation should be done during the entire life cycle of a software application, from pre-production to production and post-production. However, the collection and evaluation of usability data can be a very challenging, time-consuming, and expensive task to be conducted manually, particularly for certain types of products and working conditions. These challenges may include the need to recruit participants fully engage and motivate them during evaluation, and factor in environmental conditions. Other challenges may include collecting data in real-world environments, especially when the users are geographically dispersed, minimizing evaluator …

Gaze Tracking Embedded Collaborative Robots For Automated Metrology And Reverse Engineering, Sachithra H. Karunathilake

Theses and Dissertations

Conventional geometric metrology, or three-dimensional (3D) scanning, and reverse engineering heavily rely on the experience of the operators. With an increasing need for automation, robot arms have been adopted for this task. However, due to the large variety of parts and designs, automated path planning could provide a scanning solution that may overlook the critical area, which could potentially deteriorate the scan results. This study explores the integration of collaborative robotics (cobots) with eye tracking technology to improve the autonomous 3D scanning process. The primary objective of this study is to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of cobots in …

Kwad - Ksu All Weather Autonomous Drone, Nick Farinacci, Sebastian Gomez, Stewart Baker, Ed Sheridan

Symposium of Student Scholars

"KWAD" or "KSU all-Weather Autonomous Drone" project was sponsored by Ultool, LLC to the KSU Research and Service Foundation to create a lightweight drone capable of capturing HD video during all-weather operations. The conditions of all-weather operation include rainfall of one inch per hour and wind speeds of up to twenty miles per hour. In addition, a global minimum structural safety factor of two is required to ensure the system's integrity in extreme weather conditions. Potential mission profiles include autonomous aerial delivery, topological mapping in high moisture areas, security surveillance, search and rescue operations, emergency transportation of medical supplies, and …

Mining High Impact Combinations Of Conditions From The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Arjun Mohan

Masters Theses

The condition of multimorbidity — the presence of two or more medical conditions in an individual — is a growing phenomenon worldwide. In the United States, multimorbid patients represent more than a third of the population and the trend is steadily increasing in an already aging population. There is thus a pressing need to understand the patterns in which multimorbidity occurs, and to better understand the nature of the care that is required to be provided to such patients.

In this thesis, we use data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) from the years 2011 to 2015 to identify …

Multichannel Low-Cost Sensor For Iaq Monitoring: Implementation And Guidelines, Isaac Ntiamoah

LSU Master's Theses

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is adversely affected by both indoor and outdoor environments, and rental homes occupied by low-income families suffer the most. Poor indoor air can be detrimental to the health of occupants, especially for susceptible populations like those with respiratory diseases such as asthma. Although IAQ monitoring is necessary, it is a challenging, costly, and time-intensive task. Moreover, the protocol for assessing IAQ in residential settings varies, and additional research is needed to establish a standard operating procedure that incorporates new monitoring technologies, such as low-cost air sensors. However, there is a dearth of comprehensive, evidence-based protocols for …

Knowledge Integration In Domain-Informed Machine Learning And Multi-Scale Modeling Of Nonlinear Dynamics In Complex Systems, Phat K. Huynh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nonlinear dynamical systems have been extensively used to model various phenomena in the changing world around us, especially in science and engineering fields. Thanks to breakthrough advancements in sensing technologies, an increasingly high volume of multi-modal sensor data has been collected, which enables us gain better insights into complex systems dynamics and build sophisticated data-driven machine-learning-based dynamic models without having the access to the underlying governing equations. However, integrating domain-specific knowledge in machine learning algorithms remains pivotal for various reasons: it promises enhanced predictive accuracy, better model interpretability, and increased generalizability. This dissertation delves into three core research questions, each …

The Aging Workforce: How It Relates To Incident Rates Within A Distribution Warehouse And A Chemical Manufacturing Building, Elisabeth V. Jones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past 20 years or so, the average age of the global population has slowly increased. This is due to low birth rates as well as increased life expectancy. With this global population aging, there has also been a shift in the global labor market causing a trend termed the “aging workforce.” However, with the aging workforce comes a new set of issues for the health and safety professional because they create new hazards. This is due mostly because of the body undergoing physical, psychological, and cognitive decline as someone ages which causes decreased capabilities. Thus, the purpose of …

Cyber-Physical Multi-Robot Systems In A Smart Factory: A Networked Ai Agents Approach, Zixiang Nie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on addressing the technical challenges of non-stationarity in smart factories through the use of cyber-physical AI agents. Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing with smart factories as a central role, have a growing demand for Just-in-Time (JIT) and on-demand production, as well as mass customization—all while maintaining high productivity, resource efficiency and resilience. This research positions Multi-Robot Systems (MRS)-driven smart factories. The heterogeneous production and transportation robots in an MRS collaborate to form multiple real-time adjusted production flows achieving the flexibility to accommodate such on-demand, mass customization.

However, the implementation of MRS introduces new sets of challenges, including …

Numerical Study Of Solar Receiver Tube With Modified Surface Roughness For Enhanced And Selective Absorptivity In Concentrated Solar Power Tower, Shawn Hatcher, Mathew Z. Farias, Jianzhi Li, Peiwen Li, Ben Xu

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Concentrated solar power (CSP) is a reliable renewable energy source that is progressively lowering its cost of energy. However, the heat loss due to reflected and emitted radiation hinders the maximum achievable thermal efficiency for solar receiver tubes on the solar tower. Current solar selective coatings cannot withstand the high temperatures that come with state-of-the-art CSP towers often needing to be recoated soon after initial operation. We intend to use Inconel 718 with different additive manufacturing (AM) practices to construct surfaces that allow for more light-trapping to occur. By adjusting printing parameters, we can tailor a surface to allow for …

Wire Deflection Investigation During Wedm Of Aisi 304 Stainless Steel: An Experimental And Numerical Study, Sara A. El-Bahloul, Mohamed G. Elkhateeb

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is a specific form of electrical discharge machining that employs a small diameter wire electrode to cut a narrow kerf in the workpiece. Since the wire deflection has a negative effect on the performed cutting, this research seeks to study the resultant wire deflection during WEDM of AISI 304 stainless steel. This study is performed with the help of three types of modeling; namely, mathematical modeling, experimental modeling, and thermo-mechanical finite element modeling. The mathematical modeling is performed to analyze the stresses and the wire lag, while the experimental modeling is achieved to observe the …

An Examination Of The Role Of Industry 4.0 In Supply Chain Management: Critical Success Factors And A Roadmap, Alper Senol

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Global supply chain management aims to enhance efficiency and profitability for suppliers, manufacturers, logistics providers, and warehouses. It faces challenges due to the complexity involved. To stay competitive, organizations in the industry are leveraging Industry 4.0 technologies, but some struggle with implementation due to limited expertise. The primary challenge of Global Supply Chain Management now is to integrate Industry 4.0 tools and technologies to maintain high-quality standards and optimized processes. This study focused on identifying the key factors that directly affect the success of integrating Industry 4.0 into the supply chain. It examined both tangible and intangible business resources and …

Optimal Sequencing And Scheduling Algorithm For Traffic Flows Based On Extracted Control Actions Near The Airport, Sharmistha Chakrabarti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

This dissertation seeks to design an optimization algorithm, based on naturalistic flight data, with emphasis on safety to perform a benefits' analysis when sequencing and scheduling aircraft at the runway. The viability of creating a decision-support tool to aid air traffic controllers in sequencing and optimizing airport operations is evaluated through the benefits' analysis. Air traffic control is a complex and critical system that ensures the safe and efficient movement of aircraft within the airspace. This is particularly true in the immediate vicinity of an airport. Unlike in en-route or terminal area airspace where aircraft usually traverse well established routes …

Improving Basic Cadet Training For Changing Environment: Case Study At The Korea Air Force Academy, Yoojin Kwon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Increasing uncertainty, such as Covid-19 and weather changes, threatens BCT (Basic Cadet Training) at ROKAFA (Republic of Korea Air Force Academy). In preparation for the changing and adverse environment, this study carried out the following steps to propose a system improvement utilizing LVC (Live, Virtual, Constructive) in BCT system at ROKAFA; 1) Researching the examples of BCT and LVC by advanced countries, 2) Analyzing BCT (ROKAFA) through systems approach (document analysis, survey of 140 cadets and officers, written interviews with military experts), 3) Applying LVC to BCT. BCT is a vital step in the transition from civilian to military status …