Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Decision Making Within An Nfl Context Using Multiple Objective Decision Analysis, Lawson Porter

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The National Football League (NFL) is the most popular sports league in the world, with millions of viewers every game and billions of dollars generated every season. Statistics are an important part of an NFL team’s business operating model and contribute greatly towards their decision making. Every season, general managers try to sign players that give the team the highest probability of winning games throughout the year. There are many factors that go into this decision, including the amount of money the team has to spend and the value that available players can bring to a team. Teams must abide …

Regression Analysis Of Pacing When Running A Marathon, Hawkin Starke

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Regression analysis can be an effective way of examining performance in the marathon event. By splitting up the race into segments or in runner terminology “splits” the significance of each segment as it relates to the total finish time can be explored. Because the idea of splits is already ingrained into the minds of runners, it makes intuitive sense to use these as the metrics to define a race. Additionally, marathons generally make participant age and gender date publicly available which can then be used to find trends within specific demographics. This tailors trends to smaller groups of people, making …

Topological Changes In The Functional Brain Networks Induced By Isometric Force Exertions Using A Graph Theoretical Approach: An Eeg-Based Neuroergonomics Study, Lina Ismail

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Neuroergonomics, the application of neuroscience to human factors and ergonomics, is an emerging science focusing on the human brain concerning performance at work and in everyday settings. The advent of portable neurophysiological methods, including electroencephalography (EEG), has enabled measurements of real-time brain activity during physical tasks without restricting body movements. However, the EEG signatures of different physical exertion activity levels that involve the musculoskeletal system in everyday settings remain poorly understood. Furthermore, the assessment of functional connectivity among different brain regions during different force exertion levels remains unclear. One approach to investigating the brain connectome is to model the underlying …

Noise Control In Sorting Conveyors, Eyra Herrera

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

E-commerce has increased the necessity of effective material handling equipment in warehouses and distribution centers. Sorter conveyors systems facilitate material handling by providing a reliable and automated system to classify and distribute products in a gentle and rapid manner. With the steady increase of speed in sorter conveyors to satisfy today’s industry demand, some systems have started to produce high noise levels that could potentially affect workers’ health. Since decreasing the speed of these conveyors is not a viable option to decrease noise in sorter equipment, industries have opted to find other ways to apply noise control to their equipment. …

Optimizing Garbage Pick-Up In Wahoo, Ne, Andrew Pace

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This project seeks to optimize the garbage pickup routes of Roadrunner Transportation in Wahoo, Nebraska using operations research and optimization tools. Currently, the company has no formal procedure for determining these routes. Roadrunner Transportation would like to expand their operation and to do so in the most efficient manner. To determine efficient routes, the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) is applied, and a solution to this problem is obtained by implementing a simulated annealing heuristic algorithm. Results show that a total distance of approximately 70 miles can be obtained by this implementation using a small subset of the data provided …

Teenage Cyclists’ Perception Towards Autonomous Vehicles And Its Associated Traffic Infrastructures, Obiageli Lawrentia Ngwu

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Background: Cycling is a cost-effective means of transportation. Many teenagers cycle to go to schools and ride in neighborhoods. Cyclists are more vulnerable to injuries and fatalities than motor vehicle drivers. With the implementation of autonomous vehicles (AVs), interactions between AVs and road-users are expected to be safer. It is most likely that current young people will be the ones to use these vehicles and interact with them. However, very few past studies have focused on cyclist-AV interaction, with little to no attention toward the teenage cyclist population. Objectives: This study is aimed at examining teenage cyclists’ perceptions of AVs …

Uri And Its Students: A Contract For The Provision Of A Safe Environment, Danielle Joan Beatrice

Senior Honors Projects

DANIELLE BEATRICE (English; Philosophy; Business) URI and Its Students: A Contract for the Provision of a Safe Environment

Sponsor: Judith Swift (Communication Studies, Coastal Institute)

When students begin to attend college, they expect to be consumed with busy schedules, heavy workloads, and an exciting social life. Students do not anticipate being in dangerous situations. However, this does not mean that such situations do not occur. Therefore, it is essential to teach students to be active participants in educating themselves and their peers regarding prevention and response to emergency situations. My Honors Project aims to increase the awareness of safety-related issues …

Standardizing Patient Generated Sleep And Step Data For Evidation Health, Jade Desmet, Monroe Erle, Jamie Cullen

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Since medical data has gone digital there has been a lack of standardization among wearable devices for managing the data. Evidation Health is a company that collects biometric data from a wide variety of wearable devices through their app, Achievement. Evidation is built upon a foundation of user privacy and control over permissioned health data. This project is in partnership with them, focusing on creating a standard data model and ETL tool for sleep and step data across the wearable devices Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Oura Ring. There is not yet a successful standardization for this health data, and the …

Engineering Controls For Bioaerosols In Non-Industrial/Non-Healthcare Settings, David Krause, Cheri Marcham, Bill Mele, Jack Springston, Rob Strode, Donald Weekes, Neil J. Zimmerman

Publications

The list of disease pathogens that can be transmitted in the air is extensive. This list includes the common cold, SARS, measles, Hansen’s disease (leprosy), polio, influenza, Legionella (Legionnaires’ disease and Pontiac fever), and tuberculosis (TB). TB, SARS-CoV-1, avian influenza, varicella, and now SARS-CoV-2 all have received public notice due not only to their known or assumed ability to be transmitted in the air rapidly from one individual to another, but also for their virulence. Other bioaerosols that can be transmitted through the air include bacteria, fungal spores and fragments, dust mites, and pollen. This document was developed to address …

The Status Of Construction Jobsite Emergency Alert Systems In The Construction Industry, Steven E. Pulver

Construction Management Theses

There are various types of emergency alert systems available in the construction industry from the air horn to more complex remote and app-based systems. This study utilizes an industry survey to identify the most commonly used emergency alert methods on jobsites, and the industry professionals’ knowledge and perceptions of app-based and remote emergency alert systems. Results indicate that the air horn is the most commonly used method of emergency alerts, and the construction industry is willing to spend more on the remote emergency alert systems compared to the app-based emergency alert systems. The major concerns from the construction industry are …

Optimization With Interval Data: New Problems, Algorithms, And Applications., Mohsen Mohammadi Dehcheshmeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The parameters of real-world optimization problems are often uncertain due to the failure of exact estimation of data entries. Throughout the years, several approaches have been developed to cope with uncertainty in the input parameters of optimization problems, such as robust optimization, stochastic optimization, fuzzy programming, parametric programming, and interval optimization. Each of these approaches tackles the uncertainty in the input data with different assumptions on the source of uncertainty and imposes different requirements on the returned solutions. In this dissertation, the approach we take is that of interval optimization, and more specifically, interval linear programming. The two main problems …

Approximate Difference Rewards For Scalable Multigent Reinforcement Learning, Arambam James Singh, Akshat Kumar, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We address the problem ofmultiagent credit assignment in a large scale multiagent system. Difference rewards (DRs) are an effective tool to tackle this problem, but their exact computation is known to be challenging even for small number of agents. We propose a scalable method to compute difference rewards based on aggregate information in a multiagent system with large number of agents by exploiting the symmetry present in several practical applications. Empirical evaluation on two multiagent domains - air-traffic control and cooperative navigation, shows better solution quality than previous approaches.

A Matheuristic Algorithm For The Vehicle Routing Problem With Cross-Docking, Aldy Gunawan, Audrey Tedja Widjaja, Pieter Vansteenwegen, Vincent F. Yu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper studies the integration of the vehicle routing problem with cross-docking (VRPCD). The aim is to find a set of routes to deliver products from a set of suppliers to a set of customers through a cross-dock facility, such that the operational and transportation costs are minimized, without violating the vehicle capacity and time horizon constraints. A two-phase matheuristic based on column generation is proposed. The first phase focuses on generating a set of feasible candidate routes in both pickup and delivery processes by implementing an adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm. A set of destroy and repair operators are …

Carbon Nanotori Structures For Thermal Transport Applications On Lubricants, Jaime Taha-Tijerina, Karla Aviña, Juan Manuel Martínez, Patsy Yessenia Arquieta-Guillén, Marlon González-Escobedo

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Carbon nanostructures have been recently applied to improve industrial manufacturing processes and other materials; such is the case for lubricants used in the metal-mechanic industry. Nanotori are toroidal carbon nanostructures, obtained from chemical treatment of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This material has been shown to have superb anti-wear and friction reduction performance, having the ability to homogeneously disperse within water in concentrations between 1-2 wt.%. Obtained results of these novel nanostructures under water mixtures and novel additives were a set point to our studies in different industrial lubricants. In the present work, nanotori structures have been applied in various filler …

Co-Designing Ai Tools To Reduce Kidney Discard, Casey Hines

Undergraduate Research Conference at Missouri S&T

Currently, there are about 94,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list. Less than one-third will receive a new kidney this year. Unfortunately, some kidneys that could have been transplanted into a new recipient, end up being discarded. The largest group of discarded kidneys are ones that are high-risk. At present, an organ procurement organization will send out offers for an available kidney to transplant centers. These offers go out in chronological order following the kidney transplant waiting list. A single high-risk kidney could potentially go through hundreds of offers before being accepted by a transplant center. The longer the …

Behavioral Science Can Increase Zipper Merge Usage, Maria Galbraith

Undergraduate Research Conference at Missouri S&T

Research demonstrates that zipper merges (or late merges), under heavy traffic conditions, are safer and faster than a traditional early merge. In implementation, zipper merges can be less efficient due to a lack of compliance on the part of drivers, often more accustomed to early merging. Behavioral science has been applied to a many transportation-related challenges, such as increasing seat belt usage and decreasing drinking and driving but has not yet been applied to the zipper merge. We have identified six relevant behavioral science strategies including (1) social norms, (2) appeals to reason, (3) emotional appeals, (4) humor, (5) memory …

Versatile Home Workspace Environment, Kayli Holmes

Honors Theses

Since the initial spread of COVID-19, many individuals around the world have experienced a rapid shift from an external workplace, to needing a dedicated workspace within the home. While some individuals have been faced with new distractions like family members and pets, others have been faced with the struggle of having a workspace in common areas, where relaxation and socialization normally occur. Due to the needs for many people to work from home and be isolated from coworkers, it is essential for living spaces to be adaptable to meet these needs. Producing an effective separation can help lead to overall …

Heuristics For Capacity Allocation And Queue Assignment In Congested Service Systems With Stochastic Customer Demand And Immobile Servers, Adam Colley

Operations Research and Engineering Management

We propose easy-to-implement heuristics for a problem referred to in the literature as the facility location problem with immobile servers, stochastic demand, and congestion, or the service system design problem. The problem is typically posed as one of allocating capacity to a set of M/M/1 queues to which customers with stochastic demand are assigned with the objective of minimizing a cost function composed of a fixed capacity-acquisition cost, a variable customer-assignment cost, and an expected-waiting-time cost. The expected-waiting-time cost results in a non-linear term in the objective function of the standard binary programming formulation of the problem. Thus, the solution …

Mesoscopic Traffic Simulation Model And Calibration Considering Stretching-Segment Design, Zhaocheng He, Xuanhua Lin, Peilin Nie, Ronghui Zhang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: In order to make the simulation model fit the characteristics of urban traffic, both high accuracy and high performance, a lightweight mesoscopic traffic simulation system and the process of calibration are established. The speed-density model and vertical queue model are equivalent to the vehicle movement processes, the simulation accuracy and calibration efficiency are improved by the stretching-segment design at urban intersections of vertical queuing model, and the real individual vehicle information is used as the calibration data source. The application of the model in Xuancheng urban road network shows that, compared with the vertical queuing model, it can …

Modeling And Simulation Of Electric Vehicle Industry Development Based On System Dynamics, Yueqiang Fu, Tiantian Xia

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: New energy electric vehicle are the main trend of automobile industry upgrading. It plays an important role in ensuring the energy security and improving the ecological environment. It is of theoretical and practical significance to carry out research on the development of new energy electric vehicles. The affecting factors are systematically analyzed, the causal relationship model and stock flow model are established, and the dynamic equation of the model are determined and the parameter assignments are made. The model is verified and the system simulation and analysis are performed. The development trend and main influencing factors of …