Engineering Commons^™

Approximate Dynamic Programming For Military Resource Allocation, Carl R. Parson

Theses and Dissertations

This research considers the optimal allocation of weapons to a collection of targets with the objective of maximizing the value of destroyed targets. The weapon-target assignment (WTA) problem is a classic non-linear combinatorial optimization problem with an extensive history in operations research literature. The dynamic weapon target assignment (DWTA) problem aims to assign weapons optimally over time using the information gained to improve the outcome of their engagements. This research investigates various formulations of the DWTA problem and develops algorithms for their solution. Finally, an embedded optimization problem is introduced in which optimization of the multi-stage DWTA is used to …

Characterizing And Managing Intrusion Detection System (Ids) Alerts With Multi-Server/Multi-Priority Queuing Theory, Christopher C. Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

The DoD sets forth an objective to employ an active cyber defense capability to prevent intrusions onto DoD networks and systems. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are a critical part of network defense architectures, but their alerts can be difficult to manage. This research applies Queuing Theory to the management of IDS alerts, seeking to answer how analysts and priority schemes effect alert processing performance. To characterize the effect of these two variables on queue wait times, a MATLAB simulation was developed to allow parametric analysis under two scenarios. The first varies the number of analysts and the second varies the …

Exploring Individual Differences In Workload Assessment, Danielle K. Boeke

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force missions continue to increase in complexity often imposing higher levels of task load from cognitive tasks on the operators. This increased task load manifests itself in increased cognitive workload and potentially derogated performance. While cognitive workload has been studied for decades, recent advances in objective workload models and physiology monitoring have the potential to provide a more robust understanding of workload, potentially allowing systems to adaptively employ automation to maintain operator peak performance. The current research sought to provide insight into the relationship between subjective workload, task performance, objective workload, and select physiology measures. Analysis of an existing …

A Decision Analysis Framework For Evaluation Of Helmet Mounted Display Alternatives For Fighter Aircraft, Matthew R. Dansereau

Theses and Dissertations

The promise of providing an intuitive and efficient information interface, while allowing the warfighter to perform other critical tasks such as targeting or aircraft control, has led to the growing popularity of Helmet Mounted Displays (HMDs) across the military landscape, especially combat aircraft. Though design and selection of competing systems is critical to optimized performance and safety, structured methods for the evaluation of HMDs are not often used in the acquisition community, leaving selection among alternative designs to the judgment of subject matter experts. However, technical decision-making has been shown to be flawed without the use of a structured decision …

Improving Non-Linear Approaches To Anomaly Detection, Class Separation, And Visualization, Todd J. Paciencia

Theses and Dissertations

Linear approaches for multivariate data analysis are popular due to their lower complexity, reduced computational time, and easier interpretation. In many cases, linear approaches produce adequate results; however, non-linear methods may generate more robust transformations, features, and decision boundaries. Of course, these nonlinear methods present their own unique challenges that often inhibit their use. In this research, improvements to existing non-linear techniques are investigated for the purposes of providing better, timely class separation and improved anomaly detection on various multivariate datasets, culminating in application to anomaly detection in hyperspectral imagery. Primarily, kernel-based methods are investigated, with some consideration towards other …

On Translating Technology Research Into Industrial Applications, Stephen T.C. Wong

Practical Social and Industrial Research Symposium

Using personal cases he previously experienced, Prof Wong will share with colleagues the influence of environments and market forces that drive the applied technology research into practice. The speech will be delivered in an informal, interactive format, rather than didactic.

An Investigation Of The Factors Contributing To Measurement Uncertaintly Using A Coordinate Measurement Machine, Jayson S. Minix

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Science and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Engineering & Technology Management by Jayson S. Minix on December 3, 2014.

A Study Of Espoused Corporate Cultural Factors And Their Relationship With Business Success, Tonya Denise Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

Reshoring of manufacturing companies is vital to the United States’ economy. Although one may assume that all of the business reshored will be large companies, statistics show that small businesses comprise the largest share of the U.S. economy. Small businesses make up 99.7% employer firms. Yet, 80% of entrepreneurs and small businesses who start will fail within the first 18 months.

This study defines the key success variables of the espoused culture for selected Fortune 500 companies that could be used by entrepreneurs and small businesses to emulate their continued successes. The method to define the key success variables was …

Effective Multi-Echelon Inventory Systems For Supplier Selection And Order Allocation, Cong Guo

Doctoral Dissertations

Successful supply chain management requires an effective sourcing strategy to counteract uncertainties in both the suppliers and demands. Therefore, determining a better sourcing policy is critical in most of industries. Supplier selection is an essential task within the sourcing strategy. A well-selected set of suppliers makes a strategic difference to an organization's ability to reduce costs and improve the quality of its end products. To discover the cost structure of selecting a supplier, it is more interesting to further determine appropriate levels of inventory in each echelon for different suppliers. This dissertation focuses on the study of the integrated supplier …

Bikeshare Business Model For Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo, Justin Benson, Andrew Neil Gatchalian

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

With the increasing admittance of students into colleges and universities across the nation, the need for alternate modes of transportation is becoming more pressing. College and university campuses, as well as small cities, in which there is a college or university, are being overloaded with student cars. In San Luis Obispo specifically, parking on campus as well as downtown can be extremely difficult to find. Traffic is also getting progressively worse, especially at the hour when class begins/ends and student arrive to or leave campus. Financial reasons are yet another deterrent for students at Cal Poly. Parking permits, gas, and …

Redesign Of Talley Farm's "Fresh Harvest" Produce Program, Nicole Bordwell, John Rivera, Jared Toboni

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Fresh Harvest, a Central Coast Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program run by Talley Farms located in Arroyo Grande, CA, has a rapidly growing customer base. They harvest, package, and deliver boxes of fresh quality produce to almost 3000 subscribers. However, Talley Farms’ space for production and processing is limited and at times required for other aspects of business. This results in a problem where Talley Farms current processing system of produce for the Fresh Harvest program is not suitable for the forecasted growing demand. This report addresses the need to prepare for continued significant growth to the demand for Fresh …

Process Improvements Of Cilantro Harvesting With Ergonomic Considerations, Eric Penningroth, Branden Shimamoto

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The problems presented by Talley Farms to the team were a lower than desired cilantro harvesting capacity and work health pertaining to lower back problems. The project objectives were to address and improve upon both of these objectives. To increase harvesting capacity, a simulation model was created using standard times from time studies. The simulation model helped to compare the different harvesting methods as well as the effect of the utilization of the on-site manager. The throughputs between each of the models were analyzed. To address ergonomic concerns, a work sampling study was conducted and it was determined that kneeling …

Effects Of Patient Factors On Implantation Rates In In Vitro Fertilization, Heidi Richardson, Sofia Soto

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the effects of patient factors and embryo quality on the implantation rate in In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). For this report, statistical methods are used to test the significance of several patient and embryo characteristics on embryo implantation rate. This project is an analysis of data collected from over 36,000 patients.

The analysis concluded several findings. There was enough statistical evidence to conclude that age was significant in regards to implantation rate and FSH levels. As the patient ages, the amount of FSH levels found in their blood increases. A patient with high …

Analysis And Improvement Of The Security Building At Pg&E Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Alyssa Carter, Natalie Christa, Phuong Anh Pham Dinh

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

A new Security building was recently designed and built at the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP).This building’s staff and equipment are responsible for performing routine inspections on all personnel entering the facility in order to prevent security-related incidents from occurring at the nuclear power plant. Similar to airport security procedures, the DCPP security building routine inspections include the use of x-ray machines, metal detectors, and explosive detectors.

The Power Plant periodically experiences pre-planned, preventive maintenance outages, that last 4-6 weeks. During an outage, a power plant reactor is shut down for maintenance, repair, and re-fueling. …

Semi-Automated Glass Mat Splice Operation For Asphalt Shingle Line, Justin Bracci, Harry Zhao, Chad Linafelter

Mechanical Engineering

The following report details the senior project sponsored by GAF Materials Corporation, Shafter, CA in regards to semi-automating a glass-mat splicing table for asphalt roofing shingle production. Herein includes details, research, design, and analysis regarding the semi-automation of the gluing processes for the splicing table. A working prototype was manufactured and tested for the future implementation onto GAF’s production line or further senior project involvement.

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A Bayesian Beta Kernel Model For Binary Classification And Online Learning Problems, Cameron A. Mackenzie, Theodore B. Trafalis, Kash Barker

Cameron A. MacKenzie

Recent advances in data mining have integrated kernel functions with Bayesian probabilistic analysis of Gaussian distributions. These machine-learning approaches can incorporate prior information with new data to calculate probabilistic rather than deterministic values for unknown parameters. This article extensively analyzes a specific Bayesian kernel model that uses a kernel function to calculate a posterior beta distribution that is conjugate to the prior beta distribution. Numerical testing of the beta kernel model on several benchmark datasets reveals that this model's accuracy is comparable with those of the support vector machine (SVM), relevance vector machine, naive Bayes, and logistic regression, and the …

Truckload Shipment Planning And Procurement, Neo Nguyen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents three issues encountered by a shipper in the context of truckload transportation. In all of the studies, we utilize optimization techniques to model and solve the problems. Each study is inspired from the real world and much of the data used in the experiments is real data or representative of real data.

The first topic is about the freight consolidation in truckload transportation. We integrate it with a purchase incentive program to increase truckload utilization and maximize profit. The second topic is about supporting decision making collaboration among departments of a manufacturer. It is a bi-objective optimization …

Modeling Sustainability In Renewable Energy Supply Chain Systems, Fei Xie

All Dissertations

This dissertation aims at modeling sustainability of renewable fuel supply chain systems against emerging challenges. In particular, the dissertation focuses on the biofuel supply chain system design, and manages to develop advanced modeling framework and corresponding solution methods in tackling challenges in sustaining biofuel supply chain systems. These challenges include: (1) to integrate 'environmental thinking' into the long-term biofuel supply chain planning; (2) to adopt multimodal transportation to mitigate seasonality in biofuel supply chain operations; (3) to provide strategies in hedging against uncertainty from conversion technology; and (4) to develop methodologies in long-term sequential planning of the biofuel supply chain …

Studies Of Imbalance Difference Theory In Modeling Conversion Between Differential Mode And Common Mode Signals, Li Niu

All Dissertations

This dissertation describes three related studies regarding the imbalance difference theory in modeling the conversion between differential mode and common mode/antenna mode signals. The topics covered are: rigorous derivation of imbalance difference theory for modeling radiated emission problems, modeling the conversion between differential mode and common mode propagation in transmission lines, and modeling the loading impedance on differential mode signals due to radiated emissions. The imbalance difference theory describes a method for calculating the coupling between differential mode signals and common mode signals due to changes in electrical balance on a transmission line. It provides both physical insight and a …

Second Order-Response Surface Model For The Automated Parameter Tuning Problem, Aldy Gunawan, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Several automated parameter tuning procedures/configurators have been proposed in order to find the best parameter setting for a target algorithm. These configurators can generally be classified into model-free and model-based approaches. We introduce a recent approach which is based on the hybridization of both approaches. It combines the Design of Experiments (DOE) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) with prevailing model-free techniques. DOE is mainly used for determining the importance of parameters. A First Order-RSM is initially employed to define the promising region for the important parameters. A Second Order-RSM is then built to approximate the center point as well as …

Strategic Planning Tool Development Using Portfolio Decision Analysis, Luis B. Vargas Rojas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A portfolio decision analysis strategic planning tool was developed for the Facilities Management Office at the University of Arkansas. The tool provides information to support budget allocation decisions based on their Strategic Planning Project List, project attributes (e.g, seat utilization, scheduling preferences, and sustainability rank), and budget constraints. The projects are evaluated using multiobjective decision analysis. We introduce dynamic value functions, which vary the range of the value measures based on the planning horizon, to evaluate the projects). We determine facilities portfolios based on the project values and constraints using Linear Programming. In addition, insightful reports are generated, which provide …

Life Cycle Assessment Projection Of Photovoltaic Cells: A Case Study On Energy Demand Of Quantum Wire Based Photovoltaic Technology Research, Shilpi Mukherjee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With increasing clean-energy demand, photovoltaic (PV) technologies have gained attention as potential long-term alternative to fossil fuel energy. However, PV research and manufacture still utilize fossil fuel-powered grid electricity. With continuous enhancement of solar conversion efficiency, it is imperative to assess whether overall life cycle efficiency is also being enhanced. Many new-material PV technologies are still in their research phase, and life cycle analyses of these technologies have not yet been performed. For best results, grid dependency must be minimized for PV research, and this can be accomplished by an analytical instrument called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

LCA is the …

A Strategic Approach To Effectively Manage Supplier Quality Within The Construction Industry, Rufaidah Almaian

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the research is to determine the best practices for supplier quality management (SQM) in the construction industry that ensure that the supplied materials and equipment for construction projects are within the quality requirements. The research is based on three main objectives. The first objective is to describe and assess the process of assuring supplier quality inside and outside the construction industry. The second objective is to develop a framework for the supplier quality process based on the collection of SQM practices from multiple data sources. The third objective is to assess the SQM practices within the developed …

The Effects Of A Selected Wheel Design And Caster Fixture Design On Pushing Force When Pushing Four Wheeled Industrial Carts, David Wein

Theses and Dissertations

Manual material handlings tasks, many of which require pushing and pulling are common in almost all industrial and service sector environments. These tasks expose workers to musculoskeletal stresses as well as other related slipping and tripping hazards. The company sponsor of this study sought to lower the risk of injury from manually pushing and pulling carts. The company wanted to evaluate a newer style of split wheel and also an offset pivot dual orbital caster, which the manufacturer states will reduce pushing and pulling force. A total of eight participants (4 male, 4 female) were included in the study. Participants …

Security Analysis On Network Systems Based On Some Stochastic Models, Xiaohu Li

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Due to great effort from mathematicians, physicists and computer scientists, network science has attained rapid development during the past decades. However, because of the complexity, most researches in this area are conducted only based upon experiments and simulations, it is critical to do research based on theoretical results so as to gain more insight on how the structure of a network affects the security. This dissertation introduces some stochastic and statistical models on certain networks and uses a k-out-of-n tolerant structure to characterize both logically and physically the behavior of nodes. Based upon these models, we draw several illuminating results …

Magnetic Holding Of Synthetic Quartz For Precision Grinding, Saudin Basic

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research work is to investigate the practicality of magnetic workholding of non-magnetic synthetic quartz during high-speed grinding. This research work is sponsored by Quartzdyne and will be used as the starting point to applying single-piece rounding of its quartz. Hypotheses were created that would permit the authors to conclude that magnets are in fact worthwhile workholders for non-magnetic materials. Designs of Experiments were used to reject or fail to reject the null hypotheses. Experiments were carried out using a custom HAAS lathe, modified into a grinding center with an NSK live spindle, and neodymium-iron-boron magnets used …

Wildlife Deterrence Method Test Device, Garrett Tietz, Adam Webb, Dane Knutson

Mechanical Engineering

The objective of the Deer Busters team is to design and build a device or system of devices that will be used to determine which method, or methods, are most effective at deer deterrence. JumpSport suspects that a method which gives the appearance of approach to the deer in an aggressive or startling manner but also changes the way it attacks so that the deer do not get used to the device will be most effective. Deer Busters is committed to the completion of the deer deterrent testing device by the end of the fall quarter of 2014.

Design Of A Mobile Web-Based Dashboard To Improve Work Practices Of Crna Board Runners, Mahesh Sreedharan

All Theses

Traditional artifacts such as whiteboards serve as key tools in helping healthcare professionals keep track of frequently changing information and managing their work schedule. The simplicity of these tools has made them easy to adopt into the work culture and since these artifacts are not usually electronic, they need no external technical support or maintenance. However, these artifacts present unique challenges to their users, the primary one being lack of mobility offered. The whiteboards are usually stationary and the users will have to assemble near them to update or gather information. In a hospital, this adds significant overhead to the …

Characterizing Navigational Tools In A Virtual Search Task, Austin Riggs

All Theses

The goal of this thesis is to characterize and empirically compare navigational tools in the context of a virtual inspection task. The framework considers both directional-cue navigational tools (e.g., GPS navigation arrows) and trail navigational tools (e.g.,footprints) in comparison to a control condition. Characterizing the tools allows for documented relationships between specific navigational tool-performance combinations. It is intended that by characterizing and comparing the tools a more advantageous use of navigational tools will emerge to increase the benefit provided to both the users and implementers of virtual environments. The focus of the metrics in the paper were distance traveled, speed …