Engineering Commons^™

Supply Chain And Logistics Technology Investment In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Edward Sweeney

Practitioner Journals

No abstract provided.

On The Curse Of Dimensionality In Supervised Learning Of Smooth Regression Functions, Elia Liitiäinen, Francesco Corona, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In This Paper, the Effect of Dimensionality on the Supervised Learning of Infinitely Differentiable Regression Functions is Analyzed. by Invoking the Van Trees Lower Bound, We Prove Lower Bounds on the Generalization Error with Respect to the Number of Samples and the Dimensionality of the Input Space Both in a Linear and Non-Linear Context. It is Shown that in Non-Linear Problems Without Prior Knowledge, the Curse of Dimensionality is a Serious Problem. at the Same Time, We Speculate Counter-Intuitively that Sometimes Supervised Learning Becomes Plausible in the Asymptotic Limit of Infinite Dimensionality. © 2011 Springer Science business Media, LLC.

Allocating Resources In Multiagent Flowshops With Adaptive Auctions, Hoong Chuin Lau, Zhengyi Zhao, Sam Shuzhi Ge, Thong Heng Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we consider the problem of allocating machine resources among multiple agents, each of which is responsible to solve a flowshop scheduling problem. We present an iterated combinatorial auction mechanism in which bid generation is performed within each agent, while a price adjustment procedure is performed by a centralized auctioneer. While this approach is fairly well-studied in the literature, our primary innovation is in an adaptive price adjustment procedure, utilizing variable step-size inspired by adaptive PID-control theory coupled with utility pricing inspired by classical microeconomics. We compare with the conventional price adjustment scheme proposed in Fisher (1985), and …

A Comparison Of Finite State Classifier And Mahalanobis-Taguchi System For Multivariate Pattern Recognition In Skin Cancer Detection, Elizabeth A. Cudney, Steven M. Corns

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This project presents two methods for image classification for the detection of malignant melanoma: The Mahalanobis-Taguchi System and Finite State Classifiers. the Mahalanobis-Taguchi System is a diagnosis and predictive method for analyzing patterns in multivariate cases, while Finite State Classifiers are a state-based machine learning technique. the goal of this study is to compare the ability of the Mahalanobis-Taguchi System and a Finite State Classifier to discriminate using small data sets. We examine the discriminant ability as a function of data set size using publicly available skin lesion image data. While analysis of the data shows a high degree of …

A Collaborative Engineering Manager Training And Certification Program, Benjamin L. Dow, William Daughton

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

As technology has rapidly increased, so has the demand for well-trained engineering managers. the engineering management skills needed to succeed in business and industry continues to evolve and includes both organizing and directing people and projects. the American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM) has developed a training and certification program to help enhance and develop these skills. This paper explores both the ASEM training and certification efforts to date. © 2011 IEEE.

Solving The Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem With Environmental Criteria Based On Real Estimations In Road Transportation: A Case Study, Javier Faulin, Angel Juan, Fernando Lera, Scott Erwin Grasman

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

One of the most important objectives in company logistics is the optimization of goods distribution considering the whole value chain. There are many algorithms to optimize the capacitated vehicle routing problems (CVRP) associated to problems of road transportation. the objective function of those problems usually involves distance, cost, number of vehicles, or profits, among others. in this contribution we also take into account environmental costs. Here, we want to manage environmental costs estimations based on surveys about road transportation crossing rural areas having valuable biological and natural stock. Thus, we develop some variants (AWEC) to traditional heuristic algorithms, such as …

Identification And Classification Of Player Types In Massive Multiplayer Online Games Using Avatar Behavior, Earl M. Bednar

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of our research is to develop an improved methodology for classifying players (identifying deviant players such as terrorists) through multivariate analysis of data from avatar characteristics and behaviors in massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs). To build our classification models, we developed three significant enhancements to the standard Generalized Regression Neural Networks (GRNN) modeling method. The first enhancement is a feature selection technique based on GRNNs, allowing us to tailor our feature set to be best modeled by GRNNs. The second enhancement is a hybrid GRNN which allows each feature to be modeled by a GRNN tailored to its …

Modeling And Analysis Of High Energy Laser Weapon System Performance In Varying Atmospheric Conditions, Megan P. Melin

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses two primary concerns relating to Directed Energy (DE) models and tests: need for more use of Design of Experiment (DOE) in structuring DE models and tests, and lack of modeling atmospheric variability in High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system propagation models and tests. To address these concerns we use a DOE factorial design to capture main, interaction, and non-linear effects between modeled weapon design and environmental factors in a well defined simulated Air-to-Ground HEL engagement scenario. The scenario modeled considers a B1-B aircraft in the 2022 timeframe equipped with an HEL weapon, irradiating a ground target from …

Reducing Selection Bias In Case-Control Studies From Rare Disease Registries, J. Alexander Cole, John S. Taylor, Thomas N. Hangartner, Neal J. Weinreb, Pramod K. Mistry, Aneal Khan

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Background: In clinical research of rare diseases, where small patient numbers and disease heterogeneity limit study design options, registries are a valuable resource for demographic and outcome information. However, in contrast to prospective, randomized clinical trials, the observational design of registries is prone to introduce selection bias and negatively impact the validity of data analyses. The objective of the study was to demonstrate the utility of case-control matching and the risk-set method in order to control bias in data from a rare disease registry. Data from the International Collaborative Gaucher Group (ICGG) Gaucher Registry were used as an example.

Methods: …

Acuta Enews September 2011, Vol 40, No. 9

ACUTA Newsletters

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Hurricane lrene Takes Top Priority for Some

From the President: ACUTA: A Career Development Program Joe Harrington, Boston College

To Attract Top lT Talent, Understand Graduates' Needs

You Don't Have to Be Young to Be "Young"............. Emily Harris, Vassar College

Add Names from Your Campus to Your ACUTA Roster

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Announcing member Benefit of the Month

lnfo Links ..........Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern lowa

Retirement

Committee Corner

ACUTA Fall Seminar in Boston

ACUTA Webinar: Transitioning to lPv6 on Your Campus

Board Report..................Riny Ledgerwood, San Diego state univ

Welcome New Members

Check lt Out: …

A Review Of Parallel Operation Of Active Power Filters In The Distributed Generation System, Shafiuzzaman Khan Khadem, Malabika Basu, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

In this paper a technical review of parallel operation of Active Power Filter (APF) for harmonic power compensation in distributed generation (DG) network has been presented. Controlling methods and connection topologies with their pros and cons are described. Recent improvements in controlling and future trends for the application of APFs in distributed mode are also identified.

Design Of A University Research Network: Analysis, Selection, And Implementation Planning, Anna P. Hopper

Master's Theses

This report focuses on the design of a university knowledge management system (KMS), and how such a system can provide the framework for students and faculty to partake in, share, and collaborate on research activities. The collaborative environment of a university KMS, or research network, must be established in order for a university to maintain its reputation as a competitive research institution and to develop its faculty and students outside the classroom. A research network may contain a variety of features, some of which include faculty profiles, forums, communication portals, publication links, biographies, faculty keywords, interest areas and contact information. …

Planned Tournament Selection, Douglas Mccorkle, Daniel Ashlock, Steven Corns, Kenneth Mark Bryden

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Tournament selection is a versatile method of selection and replacement used in evolutionary computation. Normally tournaments are chosen uniformly at random. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of planning tournaments in advance to control information flow within a population being evolved for optimization. Tests are performed on a variety of evolutionary test problems, finding that different planned tournament schemes yield significant differences in performance. the correct type of planned tournament is found to be problem dependent. in addition to a linear-function scheme for planning tournaments, this study also introduces a technique called multi-deme planned tournaments selection which permits simpler cases of …

On The Effects Of Graph Based Evolutionary Algorithms For Training Finite State Classifiers, Steven M. Corns

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This work presents a method for evolving finite state machines for the classification of polymerase chain reaction primers in mice using graph based evolutionary algorithms. using these machine learning tools we can compensate for many lab, organism, and chemical specific factors that can cause these primers to fail. using Finite State Classifiers can help to decrease the number of primers that fail to amplify correctly. for training these classifiers, fifteen different graph based evolutionary algorithms were used in two different experiments to explore the effects of diversity preservation on the development of these classifiers. by controlling the rate at which …

Adaptive Kernel Smoothing Regression Using Vector Quantization, Federico Montesino Pouzols, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A Method for Performing Kernel Smoothing Regression in an Online Adaptive Manner is Presented. the Approach Proposed is to Apply Kernel Smoothing Regression on an Incremental Estimation of the (Evolving) Probability Distribution of the Incoming Data Stream Rather Than the Sequence of Observations. This is Achieved by Performing Vector Quantization on the Incoming Stream. in Addition, the Kernel Bandwidth is Adapted Online using a Criterion based on the Median Absolute Deviation Estimator Which Can Be Computed Efficiently Online. Thus, Adaptive Kernel Smoothing Regression is Computed on an Evolving Density Estimation. the Method is Fast and Suitable for Modeling Streams of …

Characterization Of Key Process Parameters In Injection Blow Molding For Improving Quality, Aspen D'Costa

Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development

The purpose of this study was to discover the performance of significant process parameters in manufacturing 20 oz. plastic beverage bottles. An experimental methodology was carefully designed to examine the characteristics of key variables such as ambient and operating temperatures, process line operators, resin types, resin colors and operating lines associated with a plastic bottle manufacturing line. More explicitly, this study seeks to identify the definitive relationship between the selected process parameters for the production machine (Sidel™) and the ensuing product quality. Also, this study was conducted to evaluate the performance characteristics of Post Consumer Resin (PCR), virgin resin and …

Acuta Enews August 2011, Vol 40, No. 8

ACUTA Newsletters

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From ACUTA Headquarters.......... Corinne Hoch, lnterim Executive Director

Hosted/Cloud Provider Checklist .Gary Audin, Delphi, lnc.

ACUTA Webinar: Transitioning to lPv6 on Your Campus

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Campus Tech a Top Factor in College Selection and Perceived Career Success

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View 8 Sessions from the Summer Seminar at Your Desktop

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Board Report......... Riny Ledgerwood, SDSU

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Supply Chain Management: Scm Key To Competitiveness, Edward Sweeney

Practitioner Journals

Any meaningful attempt to eliminate waste and improve cost competitiveness in the Irish packaging sector must have a strong focus on how the supply chain is designed and managed.

Cyber Physical Complex Networks, Modeling, Analysis, And Control, Neveen Shlayan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research scrutinize various attributes of complex networks; mainly, modeling, sensing, estimation, safety analysis, and control. In this study, formal languages and finite automata are used for modeling incident management processes. Safety properties are checked in order to verify the system. This method introduces a systematic approach to incident management protocols that are governed by mostly unsystematic algorithms. A portion of the used data in this study is collected by means of radar and loop detectors. A weighted t-statistics methodology is developed in order to validate these detectors. The detector data is then used to extract travel time information where …

Taxisim: A Multiagent Simulation Platform For Evaluating Taxi Fleet Operations, Shih-Fen Cheng, Thi Duong Nguyen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Taxi service is an important mode of public transportation in most metropolitan areas since it provides door-to-door convenience in the public domain. Unfortunately, despite all the convenience taxis bring, taxi fleets are also extremely inefficient to the point that over 50% of its operation time could be spent in idling state. Improving taxi fleet operation is an extremely challenging problem, not just because of its scale, but also due to fact that taxi drivers are self-interested agents that cannot be controlled centrally. To facilitate the study of such complex and decentralized system, we propose to construct a multiagent simulation platform …

Effect Of Processing, Packaging And Vibration Treatment On The Sensory Quality Of Fresh-Cut Apple Slices, M. Siddiq, J. B. Harte, S. P. Singh, A. A. Khan, K. D. Dolan, Koushik Saha

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Fresh-cut fruit industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years. The present study was designed with the objective of studying the sensory quality of fresh-cut apple slices that were treated with different antibrowning agents, packed in three types of packaging materials and subjected to vibration treatment to simulate commercial transportation. The slices were treated with two commercial antibrowning agents [NatureSeal (Mantrose-Haeuser Co., Inc., Westport, CT, USA) and Ever-Fresh (Kraft Foods, Inc., Rye Brook, NY, USA)] at 5% (w/v) application rate. The treated slices were packaged in 5 oz polystyrene rigid container, 2 lb polyethylene bag or 2 oz polyethylene bag. …

The Effects Of Weather Recognition Training On General Aviation Pilot Situation Assessment And Tactical Decision Making When Confronted With Adverse Weather Conditions, Chansik Kim

All Dissertations

Previous general aviation (GA) accident studies showed that decision errors were more associated with fatal GA accidents than other kinds of human errors, and weather related accidents, especially continued visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), remained the major cause of fatal GA accidents. Thus, finding the underlying causes of GA pilots' decision errors and continued VFR flight into adverse weather conditions are needed to reduce weather related GA accidents as well as fatal GA accidents.
Causal factors and hypotheses of weather related GA accidents show that knowledge, experience, motivation, and weather information frequently have been referred …

Using Discrete Event Computer Simulation To Analyze The Effects Of Proposed Changes To Personnel In A Hospital Medical Laboratory, Gerardo Morales

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A discrete event computer simulation is used to model a portion of the medical laboratory at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in order to assess the current situation as well as to review the planed personnel changes. The area under observation is the section in which the processor(s) receive, label and distribute the patient samples. There are four cases modeled in the simulation: The main focus is to determine if one or two processors are needed per shift and if the high level of phone calls poses a significant delay to the processors’ workflow. The simulation results indicate that having two …

Bring Your Own Water Treatment System: United States Patent, Evan A. Thomas, Maximilian Gold

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A method and apparatus for filtering a fluid is presented. In one embodiment, the apparatus converts contaminated water into water having a lower turbidity and bacterial contamination level than the contaminated water. The apparatus includes a settling unit for at least partially settling a portion of the water; a filter unit having a filtration media; wherein the filtration media comprises sand, anthracite coal, burnt rice husks, diatomaceous earth, gravel, pumice gravel, or combinations thereof; a sanitation unit; wherein the sanitation unit is an ultraviolet disinfection unit; a backwash unit; wherein the settling unit is in fluid communications with the filter …

Influence Of Process Parameters On Health Outcome, Vijaya K. Musunuru

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In the recent years, healthcare organizations have realized that quality in providing service is critical for their survival in this competitive world. This increased attention to service quality has forced many health care providers to reevaluate their systems to stay in business. The main purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis “Process Quality predicts the Product quality (patient satisfaction) in the healthcare domain”. The objective of this study was three- fold. The first objective is to analyze historical data both on patient satisfaction and on provider attributes to yield process parameters for a particular area in a hospital. …

Evaluating The Capacity Of A Proton Therapy Facility, Ridvan Gedik

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A relatively new consideration in proton therapy planning is the requirement that the mix of patients treated satisfy desired percentages. Since it is very dicult to satisfy an integer number of patients in light of these requirements, deviations from patient mix preferences and their impacts on operational capabilities are of particular interest to healthcare planners. Therefore, we propose a bicriteria mathematical programming model that determines an outpatient schedule maximizing the number of fractions and minimizing the deviations from the patient mix ratios over the planning horizon. The tradeos between the two objectives are identied through analysis of ecient frontiers. Our …

An Empirical Investigation Of Supply Chain Excellence In Healthcare, Brian Keith Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research is motivated by opportunities to improve the cost and quality of healthcare delivery through improved supply chain processes. This research assesses the quality of the healthcare supply chain and identifies factors that are driving supply chain excellence among organizations in the healthcare industry. The first objective of this research is to assess the state of quality measurement in the healthcare supply chain. The achievement of this first objective is presented in Chapter 3 of this dissertation in the form of a manuscript accepted for publication in The Quality Management Journal. The second research objective is to develop …

Metaheuristics For Hub Location Models, Ornurai Sangsawang

All Dissertations

In this research, we propose metaheuristics for solving two p-hub median problems.. The first p-hub median problem, which is NP-hard, is the uncapacitated single p-hub median problem (USApHMP). In this problem, metaheuristics such as genetic algorithms, simulated annealing and tabu search, are applied in different types of representations. Caching is also
applied to speed up computational time of the algorithms. The results clearly demonstrate that tabu search with a permutation solution representation, augmented with caching is the highest performing method, both in terms of solution quality and computational time among these algorithms for the USApHMP. We also investigate the performance …

Anticipating U.S. Population-Level Health And Economic Impacts Using Discrete-Event Simulation To Guide Health Policy Decisions, Odette Reifsnider

All Dissertations

This dissertation presents two applications of discrete-event simulation (DES) to represent clinical processes: (1) a model to quantify the risk of the maternal obese and diabetic intrauterine environment influence on progression to adult obesity and diabetes, and (2) a model to evaluate health and economic outcomes of different smoking cessation strategies. The first application considers the public health impact of the diabetic and obese intrauterine environment's effect on the prevalence of diabetes and obesity across subsequent generations. We first develop a preliminary DES model to investigate and characterize the epidemiology of diabetes during pregnancy and birth outcomes related to maternal …

Improving Quality Of Service In Ems Systems By Reducing Disparities Between Service Zones, Sunarin Chanta

All Dissertations

Emergency medical service (EMS) systems respond to emergency or urgent calls so as to provide immediate care, such as pre-hospital care and/or transportation, to hospitals. Care must be provided in a timely manner; in fact quality of service is usually directly associated with response time. To reduce the response time, the number and location of vehicles within the service area are important variables. However with limited capacity, increasing the number of vehicles is often an infeasible alternative. Therefore, a critical design goal is to decide at which facilities stations should be located in order to serve as much demand as …