Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Automated Parameter Tuning Framework For Heterogeneous And Large Instances: Case Study In Quadratic Assignment Problem, Linda Lindawati, Zhi Yuan, Hoong Chuin Lau, Feida Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper is concerned with automated tuning of parameters of algorithms to handle heterogeneous and large instances. We propose an automated parameter tuning framework with the capability to provide instance-specific parameter configurations. We report preliminary results on the Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP) and show that our framework provides a significant improvement on solutions qualities with much smaller tuning computational time.

Extending The Minimal Learning Machine For Pattern Classification, Amauri H.Souza Junior, Francesco Corona, Yoan Miche, Amaury Lendasse, Guilherme A. Barreto

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Minimal Learning Machine (MLM) Has Been Recently Proposed as a Novel Supervised Learning Method for Regression Problems Aiming at Reconstructing the Mapping between Input and Output Distance Matrices. Estimation of the Response is Then Achieved from the Geometrical Configuration of the Output Points. Thanks to its Comprehensive Formulation, the MLM is Inherently Capable of Dealing with Nonlinear Problems and Multidimensional Output Spaces. in This Paper, We Introduce an Extension of the MLM to Classification Tasks, Thus Providing a Unified Framework for Mult response Regression and Classification Problems. on the Basis of Our Experiments, the MLM Achieves Results that Are …

Data Preprocessing And Model Design For Medicine Problems, Alberto Guillén, Amaury Lendasse, Guilherme Barreto

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Regret Based Robust Solutions For Uncertain Markov Decision Processes, Asrar Ahmed, Pradeep Reddy Varakantham, Yossiri Adulyasak, Patrick Jaillet

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we seek robust policies for uncertain Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). Most robust optimization approaches for these problems have focussed on the computation of maximin policies which maximize the value corresponding to the worst realization of the uncertainty. Recent work has proposed minimax regret as a suitable alternative to the maximin objective for robust optimization. However, existing algorithms for handling minimax regret are restricted to models with uncertainty over rewards only. We provide algorithms that employ sampling to improve across multiple dimensions: (a) Handle uncertainties over both transition and reward models; (b) Dependence of model uncertainties across state, …

Effects Of Signal Ambiguity And Signal Location On Target Detection Under Varying Degrees Of Time Constraint, Kimberly E. Culley

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of decision-making strategies and tendencies, time constraint, and signal characteristics on decision-making performance utilizing the fuzzy signal detection theory framework. Participants were tasked with deciding whether x-ray images of passenger luggage contained hazardous objects.

The first objective of the study was to develop a methodology for quantifying optimizing versus satisficing tendencies in decision making through direct measurement and observation.

The second objective of the study was to examine how time constraint and specific signal characteristics contribute to decision making. Interestingly, despite having more time available to conduct a comprehensive …

An Investigation On How Operational Wind Turbines Are Used In Secondary Classrooms, James Smith

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Through a review of literature, it was found that many schools in the United States are installing operational wind turbines, but it was unclear how teachers were using them in their science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. In order to identify how these operational wind turbines were being used and to create a list of expectations for schools with operational wind turbines, this exploratory study surveyed STEM teachers from all across the United States. A stratified random sample was created using a U.S. Department of Energy database of schools with operational wind turbines. Administrators from the selected schools identified …

Risk Analysis: Comparative Study Of Various Techniques, Hanan Mohammad Altabbakh

Doctoral Dissertations

"Researchers in the safety field are facing more challenges everyday with the expanding modern socio-technical systems. Safety analysis such as hazard analysis, accident causation analysis, and risk assessment are being revisited to overcome the shortcoming of the conventional safety analysis. With increasingly complex human system interaction in today's modern systems, new safety challenges are being faced that needed to be assessed and addressed. Managers and engineers face the challenge to choose from the vast amount of techniques available and utilize the correct one. Indeed, new or improved risk assessment tools that can address these complexities are needed. One of the …

Real Options Modeling And Valuation Of Price Adjustment Flexibility With An Application To The Leasing Industry, Ahmed A. A. Al Sharif

Doctoral Dissertations

"Uncertainty poses not only threats but also opportunities. This study sought to build the scientific foundation for introducing a real options (ROs) methodology for price risk management to the leasing industry. A price risk management that allows for both coping with threats and taking advantage of opportunities. In the leasing industry, fixed rate long-term lease contracts help contract parties stabilize cash flows within volatile markets. The contract's term, however, may be extended long enough that prevent capturing the opportunities of gaining greater profits or reducing expenses. Therefore, the flexibility that enables participants to take advantage of favorable market price is …

Two Essays On Dynamic Programming And Reinforcement Learning, Shuva Ghosh

Doctoral Dissertations

"The semi-Markov decision process (SMDP) is a variant of the Markov decision process (MOP). This dissertation work focuses on the application of SMDPs to disaster response management and to maintenance management. Average and discounted reward are two popular performance metrics for MDPs/SMDPs. While both dynamic programming (DP) methods, i.e., value iteration and policy iteration, are commonly used to solve MDPs/SMDPs, value iteration is easier to apply than policy iteration. The existing value iteration algorithms for average reward SMDPs have some noteworthy limitations, which are sought to be overcome in this work. Reinforcement learning (RL) techniques, which are also studied in …

A Building Energy Efficiency Optimization Method By Evaluating The Effective Thermal Zones Occupancy, Anna Laura Pisello, Michael Bobker, Franco Cotana

Publications and Research

Building energy efficiency is strongly linked to the operations and control systems, together with the integrated performance of passive and active systems. In new high quality buildings in particular, where these two latter aspects have been already implemented at the design stage, users’ perspective, obtained through post-occupancy assessment, has to be considered to reduce whole energy requirement during service life. This research presents an innovative and low-cost methodology to reduce buildings’ energy requirements through post-occupancy assessment and optimization of energy operations using effective users’ attitudes and requirements as feedback. As a meaningful example, the proposed method is applied to a …

An Automated Forward Operating Base Electrical Distribution System Simulator, Onur Kahveci, Mariesa L. Crow, Steven Corns

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, an automated forward operating base electrical distribution system simulator (ODCC) is developed. the ODCC has been developed based on the open platform distribution system simulator (DSS) that is able to create variable models of electrical systems and performing many types of analysis. © 2012 IEEE.

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2012, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Senior Design Experience

Part of every UNLV engineering student's academic experience, the Senior Design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. Working in teams, the senior design project encourages students to use everything learned in the engineering and computer design programs to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

Beyond the classroom ...

Because of the requirement to work in teams, students also build good communication skills, presentation skills and even business writing skills. They also have to …

Strider: Manufacturing Processes, Michael Warren-Angelucci

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The goal of the Strider Project is to create a mobility device that can support a person with weakened leg strength and enable them to be supported and maintain a standing position. A prototype of the Strider was created by three Mechanical Engineering students as their senior project. The topic of this senior project was to analyze and create a manufacturing process for the manufacture of the Strider that will be ergonomic and cost effective.

There were many things that needed to be accomplished in order to create the manufacturing process. The first step was to verify that the prototype …

Applications Of Cobb-Douglas Production Function In Construction Time-Cost Analysis, Ashkan Hassani

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cobb-Douglas Production Function was widely used in economics and productivity studies across many sectors. The function’s quantitative modeling of resource inputs and production outputs is appealing to the research domain of construction management. In this thesis we explored this function’s application in construction schedule crashing and project risk analysis related to duration of construction projects. Existing research on construction time-cost tradeoff issues rarely explore the origin of the crashing cost which is defined as the cost needed to shorten the project to the desired duration. In the existing literature crashing cost function was either assumed without much justification, or came …

Acuta Enews December 2012 Vol. 41, No. 12

ACUTA Newsletters

In this issue...

Strategic Planning & Tampa in January

ACUTA Is Looking for a Few Good Coordinators

Wi-Fi Goes Gigabit-802.11 ac

Info Links

Preparing the Workplace for "Deep Diversity"

Get Your Logos Here!

Webinar: Universal Service & Royalty Payments Due

Using Social Media to Connect

Thanks to Our 2012 Exhibitors

Number 10 on a List of 10 Hard Things IT Must Learn to Accepts

Welcome New Members

Check It Out

A Simulation-Based Decision Support System To Model Complex Demand Driven Heathcare Facilities, Amr Arisha, Michael Thorwarth

Conference papers

Simulating healthcare processes is a sophisticated endeavor. Treatment processes and patient arrival patterns differ significantly in their statistical attributes and implicate a high degree of variability. In addition, there are several types of interconnected processes of medical staff involved that accompany a patient’s journey through the healthcare facility. Replicating this behavior with process flow models in a discrete event simulation model is highly complex and therefore difficult to create while maintaining a high degree of precision. A framework is thus introduced which delivers an algorithm that allows to implement Multiple Participant Pathway Modeling (MPPM) under the consideration of Flexible Resource …

Multi-Citeria Framework For An Emergency Department In An Irish Hospital, Waleed Abo Hamad, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Health research is one of these priorities in every economy and through this research an emphasis will be put on translational research in the context of more sustainable and efficient healthcare system (translation of operations management practices to clinical applications). Healthcare systems in general and Emergency Departments in particular around the world are facing enormous challenges in meeting the increasingly conflicting objectives of providing wide accessibility and efficiency while delivering high quality and prompt services. The proposed framework integrates simulation modeling, balanced scorecard, and multi-criteria decision analysis aiming to provide a decision support system to emergency department managers. Simulation outputs …

On The Maintenance Modeling And Optimization Of Repairable Systems: Two Different Scenarios, Suzan Alaswad

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of mathematical modeling for the purpose of analyzing and optimizing the performance of repairable systems is widely studied in the literature. In this dissertation, we study two different scenarios on the maintenance modeling and optimization of repairable systems. First, we study the long-run availability of a traditional repairable system that is subjected to imperfect corrective maintenance. We use Kijima's second virtual age model to describe the imperfect repair process. Because of the complexity of the underlying probability models, we use simulation modeling to estimate availability performance and meta-modeling to convert the reliability and maintainability parameters of the repairable …

A Process Analysis Of Engineering Problem Solving And Assessment Of Problem Solving Skills, Sarah Grigg

All Dissertations

In the engineering profession, one of the most critical skills to possess is accurate and efficient problem solving. Thus, engineering educators should strive to help students develop skills needed to become competent problem solvers. In order to measure the development of skills, it is necessary to assess student performance, identify any deficiencies present in problem solving attempts, and identify trends in performance over time. Through iterative assessment using standard assessment metrics, researchers/instructors are able to track trends in problem solving performance across time, which can serve as a gauge of students' learning gains.
This research endeavor studies the problem solving …

Sustainability For Die Manufacturing: Comparative Study Of Wedm And Milling, Matthew S. Kalus

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sustainability is more important in today's culture due to the increasing demand for a more eco-friendly society. Concentrations in minimizing and reducing environmental impacts, energy and natural resources have been forthcoming in industry. The tool, mold and die industries are the most well known industries that machine harder materials using mills and WEDM. The objective of this thesis was to compare the sustainability differences in both of these machines utilizing the accepted standards for evaluating the manufacturing process performance for sustainability. These standards include the evaluation of the process parameters, raw materials, power, tools and fluids which all contribute to …