Systems Engineering Commons^™

Wolf Ant, Gilbert L. Peterson, Christopher M. Mayer, Kevin Cousin

Faculty Publications

Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms can generate quality solutions to combinatorial optimization problems. However, like many stochastic algorithms, the quality of solutions worsen as problem sizes grow. In an effort to increase performance, we added the variable step size off-policy hill-climbing algorithm called PDWoLF (Policy Dynamics Win or Learn Fast) to several ant colony algorithms: Ant System, Ant Colony System, Elitist-Ant System, Rank-based Ant System, and Max-Min Ant System. Easily integrated into each ACO algorithm, the PDWoLF component maintains a set of policies separate from the ant colony's pheromone. Similar to pheromone but with different update rules, the PDWoLF policies …

Systems Ideas For The Scientific And Societal Imperatives Of The Coastal Ocean: Case Of The Bp Oil Gusher In The Gulf Of Mexico, Spring & Summer 2010, Christopher Mooers

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

In recent decades, great progress has been made in advancing the scientific understanding of the coastal ocean (i.e., the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)) across a broad set of disciplines. Simultaneously, the societal use of the coastal ocean has skyrocketed through, for example, increased shipping & boating, sports & commercial fishing, and exploitation of non-living resources, such as, oil & gas extraction and sand & gravel mining. International law and national policy assign coastal nations the responsibility for stewardship (i.e., wise management) of their respective EEZs. The scope of the stewardship and applications can be summarized as (1) …

A-10 Thunderbolt Ii (Warthog) Systems Engineering Case Study, Air Force Center For Systems Engineering, David R. Jacques, Dennis D. Strouble

AFIT Documents

No abstract provided.

Towards An Organizational Strategic Vitality Theory: A Study Of A Public Sector Board Of Directors, Keith L. Woodman

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Boards of directors govern practically all organizations of significant size in the public and private sector. Improving the understanding of how boards function is critical because when boards fail, the results can be devastating. Little is understood about the functioning of boards of directors in the public sector, which accounts for a significant amount of the gross national product of the world's economy. The author observed a public sector board of directors for one year. Using the grounded theory research method to analyze the observations, he generated a theory of organizational strategic vitality that describes how a board of directors …

A Structured Project-Risk Management And Life Cycle Framework For Complex Systems: Ship Repair And Maintenance (Sr&M) Projects, Michael Craig Plumb

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation contributes to insights regarding the implications of using Project Risk Management (PRM) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in managing projects for a complex system. The PRM approach apprehends many forms of risk both internal and external within a given project and assists the manager in determining the level of importance of each individual project phase and component to optimize project success. The life cycle approach to project management is used with short-term limitations with respect to a product's life cycle over several years. The literature discusses many tools and techniques that assist project managers in implementing optimal solutions, …

A Hybrid Lehmer Code Genetic Algorithm And Its Application On Traveling Salesman Problems, Jun Zhang

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Traveling Salesman Problems (TSP) is a widely studied combinatorial optimization problem. The goal of the TSP is to find a tour which begins in a specific city, visits each of the remaining cities once and returns to the initial cities such that the objective functions are optimized, typically involving minimizing functions like total distance traveled, total time used or total cost.

Genetic algorithms were first proposed by John Holland (1975). It uses an iterative procedure to find the optimal solutions to optimization problems.

This research proposed a hybrid Lehmer code Genetic Algorithm. To compensate for the weaknesses of traditional genetic …

Nurturing Systems Thinking: Developing A Framework Based On The Human Factors Analysis And Classification System (Hfacs) To Improve Systems Development Processes, Arjun Vijayanarayanan

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Large systems engineering projects have an astonishingly high failure rate. The reasons hypothesized for such a high failure rate include the neglect of nonsalient system elements such as social and human or organizational aspects of systems. Social and human factors have long been known to be critical elements of systems that are frequently ignored (e.g., Goguen, 1994). Systems engineering processes can benefit and be improved by effective utilization of a framework that helps developers expand their attention and efforts beyond the salient aspects of the system and the development process. In the aviation field, the Human Factors Analysis and Classification …

A Method To Improve The Sustainment Of Systems Based On Probability And Consequences, Michael Ashton Gaintner

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The FROST Method is presented which improves the efficiency of long-term sustainment of hardware systems. The FROST Method makes sustainment and scheduling decisions based on the minimization of the expected value of current and future costs. This differs from current methods which tend to base decisions not on the expected value of costs, but on the expected inventory demand found through projections using data which is often inaccurate.

Distributions are used to account for randomness and inaccuracy in inputs such as failure rates and vendor-claimed dates for end of production. A Monte Carlo technique is then used to convert these …

A Primary Care Workload Production Model For Estimating Relative Value Unit Output, Rachel G. Murphy

Theses and Dissertations

Health care costs have grown to unsustainable levels nationally and within the Department of Defense. Military health care costs have historically been difficult to isolate, causing budget cuts to be the vehicle for cost control. Maximum efficiency, therefore, is the goal in order to show improvement. With the Air Force’s new preventive health plan, they aim to drive a long-term posture for cost reduction through prevention. This research effort aimed to develop a tool to assist in future efforts to understand and improve efficiency in workload output, and whether a relationship exists between patient workload demand and the per-encounter variables …

Application And Validation Of Concept Maturity Assessment Framework, Mathews C. Scharch, Jeremy J. Homan

Theses and Dissertations

Far too often decision makers select concepts based on insufficient data, resulting in projects that are over-budget, over-schedule, and not what the customer wants. Research efforts have proposed a stage-gated concept maturity framework as a tool to assess and increase the maturity of concepts. This research uses multiple validation techniques to demonstrate the value this framework can provide. Interviews with acquisition professionals capture qualitative and quantitative data on the utility of the elements of the framework and the acquisition process. This research also applies the framework to a current acquisition program to determine if it can be broadly applied for …

Design Of Online Student Fee Committee Proposal Information System, Kenneth Cairns, Gregory (Greg) Jacobson

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this project is to overhaul the IME department’s Student Fee Committee (SFC) proposal system. A web enabled database was designed in order to improve this system. A significant amount of time was spent researching different programming languages, paradigms, and frameworks in order to determine the most logical approach to the system redesign. After a few false leads, it was determined that the most appropriate solution to the problem was to design a C# based web form application using asp.NET technology, developed in Microsoft Visual Studio. A mockup was created in Access in an attempt to determine if …

Standardization For Retail Facility Layout For Patagonia, Inc., Derek King

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this project is to create a standard layout for Patagonia retail stores. Currently, Patagonia has no standard layouts to follow when they update or open a new store; this has resulted in improper layouts and not fulfilling customers’ needs. This project will develop a way for Patagonia to solve both of these problems based on statistical engineering. The outcome of this project will result in a standard way for determining the optimal layout for new or updated Patagonia retail stores while meeting the business needs of the location.

Ambulatory Healthcare Utilization In The United States: A System Dynamics Approach, Rafael Diaz, Joshua G. Behr, Mandar Tulpule

VMASC Publications

Ambulatory health care needs within the United States are served by a wide range of hospitals, clinics, and private practices. The Emergency Department (ED) functions as an important point of supply for ambulatory healthcare services. Growth in our aging populations as well as changes stemming from broader healthcare reform are expected to continue trend in congestion and increasing demand for ED services. While congestion is, in part, a manifestation of unmatched demand, the state of the alignment between the demand for, and supply of, emergency department services affects quality of care and profitability. The central focus of this research is …

Mh-53j/M Pave Low Iii/Iv Systems Engineering Case Study, Air Force Center For Systems Engineering, William Albery, Raymond L. Robb, Lee Anderson

AFIT Documents

No abstract provided.

Achieving Ultrafine Grains In Mg Az31b-O Alloy By Cryogenic Friction Stir Processing And Machining, Anwaruddin Mohammed

Theses and Dissertations--Manufacturing Systems Engineering

This thesis presents results from the application of cryogenic cooling on multiple-pass friction stir processing and the subsequent orthogonal machining on friction stir processed and as-received Mg AZ31B-O disks, and shows their combined effects on microstructure and microhardness values. A simple friction stir tool, a specially designed fixture and liquid nitrogen are used to perform multiple-pass friction stir processing experiments on Mg AZ31B-O alloy. The friction stir processed and as-received sheets are then made into disks for the orthogonal machining experiments. This study analyzes the microhardness, microstructure changes by cryogenic friction stir processing and the effect of machining conditions such …

Development Of Risk Uncertainty Factors From Historical Nasa Projects, Tahani R. Amer

EMSE Doctoral Projects

NASA is a good investment of federal funds and strives to provide the best value to the nation. NASA has consistently budgeted to unrealistic cost estimates, which are evident in the cost growth in many of its programs. In this investigation, NASA has been using available uncertainty factors from the Aerospace Corporation, Air Force, and Booz Allen Hamilton to develop projects' risk posture. NASA has no insight into the developmental of these factors and, as demonstrated here, this can lead to unrealistic risks in many NASA Programs and projects (P/p). The primary contribution of this project is the development of …

Delayed-Bang Approach Towards More Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Risk Management, C. Ariel Pinto, Michael K. Mcshane, Abhishek S. Pathak

Finance Faculty Publications

This article describes the Delayed Bang Approach for determining the value of risk management alternatives in critical infrastructure security. The discussion includes (1) the need for sustainable risk management (2) the importance of time valuation in evaluating competing loss prevention and loss reduction alternatives, (3) the convergence of deterministic engineering economics, survivability analysis, and probabilistic analysis, and (4) hypothetical examples of the Delayed-Bang Approach and significance towards more sustainable risk management.

Proving Sustainability: The International Development Monitoring Initiative, Evan A. Thomas, Zdenek Zumr

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nearly a billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water, two billion have inadequate sanitation facilities, three billion use biomass for their daily energy needs and nearly half the world's population live in rural isolation, lacking access to the most basic human services. Combined, these limitations are a leading cause of the perpetuating cycle of poverty and political insecurity. Meanwhile, the majority of international development agencies are responsible for self-reporting project outcomes. At best, expert spot-checks are conducted in the field occasionally. These results tend to show individual project success, while meta- surveys indicate on-going challenges in …

Developing A Time And Motion Study For A Lean Healthcare Environment, Michael Winston Patton Jr.

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis outlines the development of a standard methodology for performing a time and motion study in a lean healthcare environment. Time and motion studies have been used in healthcare environments in the past, however they have nearly all been exclusive to a particular healthcare enterprise. To develop the time and motion study methodology, a study was designed to examine how resident doctors spend their time. This study was performed in response to coming changes in the work hours for all residents. Once the methodology was developed, trial observations were conducted. The data from these observations was analyzed to determine …

The Effects Of Anti-Price Gouging Legislation On Supply Chain Dynamics, Jason Edward Maynard

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to model the effects of anti-price gouging (APG) legislation on the costs to businesses during the recovery period of a disaster. A system dynamics model of a business’s replenishment procedures is used to simulate the effects of APG legislation on business performance. Economists have published expansive research on the effects of price ceilings on supply and demand, but there is little research evidence on the operational consequences of price ceiling legislation on business costs. APG legislation increases consumer’s forward buying and shortage gaming after a disaster by removing price incentives to be frugal. Forward …