Engineering Commons^™

A Model To Integrate Sustainability Into The User-Centered Design Process, Adrienne Shevonne Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With concerns for the environment becoming more prevalent in business and the government, it is increasingly important to re-evaluate and update processes to include sustainability considerations early in the design process. In response to this charge, this research effort was designed to integrate sustainability factors into the usercentered design process. The results of this research highlight the benefits of sustainability requirement planning, as well as those derived from integrating sustainability into the current user-centered design model

A Framework For Quantifying Sustainability Of Lean Implementation In Healthcare Organizations, Haitham Ahmed Bahaitham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the remarkable positive effect of lean adoption in various firms in the manufacturing sector, it has been adopted by several organizations within the healthcare industry. Although the rate of adopting lean by hospitals in the developed countries is slower than it should be, it proved to be effective in helping healthcare organizations maintain or even improve their quality of care while containing their related costs. However, such adoption did not take place until the beginning of the new millennium. And with such adoption, it has been accompanied with major challenges related to proper lean implementation, sustainability of achieved …

Dynamic Routing On Stochastic Time-Dependent Networks Using Real-Time Information, Ali R. Guner

Wayne State University Dissertations

In just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing environments, on-time delivery is one of the key performance measures for dispatching and routing of freight vehicles. Both the travel time delay and its variability impact the efficiency of JIT logistics operations, that are becoming more and more common in many industries, and in particular, the automotive industry. In this dissertation, we first propose a framework for dynamic routing of a single vehicle on a stochastic time dependent transportation network using real-time information from Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Then, we consider milk-run deliveries with several pickup and delivery destinations subject to time windows under same network …

Modeling And Surveillance Of Pandemic Influenza Outbreaks, Diana Prieto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pandemic outbreaks are unpredictable as to their virus strain, transmissibility, and impact on our quality of life. Hence, the decision support models for mitigation of pandemic outbreaks must be user-friendly and operational, and also incorporate valid estimates of disease transmissibility and severity. This dissertation research is aimed at 1) reviewing the existing pandemic simulation models to identify their implementation gaps with regard to usability and operability, and suggesting research remedies, 2) increasing operability of simulation models by calibrating them via an epidemiological model that estimates infection probabilities using viral shedding profiles of concurrent pandemic and seasonal influenza, and 3) developing …

Cap-And-Trade Modeling And Analysis For Electric Power Generation Systems, Patricio Rocha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cap-and-trade is the most discussed CO₂ emissions control scheme in the U.S. It is a market-based mechanism that has been used previously to successfully reduce the levels of SO₂ and NO_x emitted by power generators. Since electricity generators are responsible for about 40% of the CO₂ emissions in the U.S., the implementation of CO₂ cap-and-trade will have a significant impact on electric power generation systems. In particular, cap-and-trade will influence the investment decisions made by power generators. These decisions in turn, will affect electricity prices and demand. If the allowances (or emission permits) created by …

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 …

Mixed Integer Programming Models For Selecting Ground-Level Ozone Control Strategies, Wei-Che Hsu

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Under the Clean Air Act (CAA) in 1990, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was required to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six common air pollutants that are considered harmful to public health and the environment. Ground–level ozone was one of the six criteria pollutants monitored by the EPA and considered the most widespread health threat. Two precursors of ground level ozone are nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) and the common sources of these two precursors include on–road vehicles, non–road engines, area sources, point sources, and biogenic and miscellaneous sources. An area …

Acuta Enews January 2011 Vol. 40, No. 1

ACUTA Newsletters

In this issue.....

Board approves slate of nominees

From ACUTA headquaters: rebalancing IT for the future.......... Jeri A. Semer, CAE, Executive Dir.

Nominate now for ACUTA Ruth A. Michalecki Leadership Award

Tech Talk: doing more with less, but in a good way........ Kevin Tanzillo, Dux PR

Washington Update Newsletter

Video Surveillance Technology........ Ron Walczak, RCDD, Walczak Techology Consultants

Forensic Tools: keeping up with the bad guys.......... Gary Audin, Delphi, Inc.

Board Report.............. George Denbow, Univ. of Texas, Austin

Thanks to Event Sponsors for 2010

ACUTA 2011 Event Calender

Info links......... Randy Hayes, Univ. of Northern Iowa

Welcome New Members

Check …

Integrated Computational Intelligence And Japanese Candlestick Method For Short-Term Financial Forecasting, Takenori Kamo

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research presents a study of intelligent stock price forecasting systems using interval type-2 fuzzy logic for analyzing Japanese candlestick techniques. Many intelligent financial forecasting models have been developed to predict stock prices, but many of them do not perform well under unstable market conditions. One reason for poor performance is that stock price forecasting is very complex, and many factors are involved in stock price movement. In this environment, two kinds of information exist, including quantitative data, such as actual stock prices, and qualitative data, such as stock traders' opinions and expertise. Japanese candlestick techniques have been proven to …

Multivariate Adaptive Regression Spline Based Framework For Statistically Parsimonious Adaptive Dynamic Programming, Subrat Sahu

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Central to Dynamic Programming (DP) is the `cost-to-go' or `future value' function, which is obtained via actually solving the Bellman's equation and central to Approximate Dynamic Programming (ADP) is the use of an approximation of the future value function. The exact DP algorithm seeks to compute and store a table consisting of one cost-to-go value for each point in the state space and its usefulness is limited by the curse of dimensionality, which renders the methodology computationally intractable in the face of real life problems with high dimensional state space and in the face of continuous state variables. ADP methodology …

Arguing Security Of Generic Avionic Mission Control Computer System (Mcc) Using Assurance Cases, Bhanuchander Reddy Poreddy, Steven Corns

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An assurance case is a body of evidence organized into an argument demonstrating that some claim about a system holds, i.e., is assured. Assurance cases are used to comment about system safety, and it serves as a mean to show that the systems acceptably satisfy their safety properties. Assurance cases perform rigorous security analysis on safety-critical complex systems. in this paper, the analysis done is an approach to documenting an assurance case for system security, i.e., a security assurance case. the paper deals with the Assurance cases for Generic Avionic Mission Control Computer system, by constructing tangible claims and investigating …

Local Linear Regression For Soft-Sensor Design With Application To An Industrial Deethanizer, Zhanxing Zhu, Francesco Corona, Amaury Lendasse, Roberto Baratti, Jose A. Romagnoli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Soft-Sensors for Estimating in Real-Time Important Quality Variables Are a Key Technology in Modern Process Industry. the Successful Development of a Soft-Sensor Whose Performance Does Not Deteriorate with Time and Changing Process Characteristics is Troublesome and Only Seldom Achieved in Real-World Setups. the Design of Soft-Sensors based on Local Regression Models is Becoming Popular. Simplicity of Calibration, Ability to Handle Nonlinearities And, Most Importantly, Reduced Maintenance Costs While Retaining the Requested Accuracy Are the Major Assets. in This Paper, We Introduce Several Approaches for Defining an Appropriate Locality Neighborhood and We Propose a Recursive Version of Local Linear Regression for …

Toward A Technology Management Core: Defining What The Technology Manager Needs To Know, Mark Doggett, Pam Mcgee, Sophia Scott

SEAS Faculty Publications

With the increasing demands on organizations to do “more with less,” and produce acceptable market results, productivity and performance standards continually raise the expectations on competitive success. To meet these expectations, organizations should create learning opportunities that combine the application of technical management skills along with the softer skills involved in people management. Technical managers with little training or past experience with nontechnical skills often perform poorly in technical management positions (Kroecker, 2007). Because this generation lives in a highly technical environment, managers need to be proficient in dealing with knowledge workers and systems; therefore, there is a growing emphasis …

Critical Success Factors In The Re-Engineering Of 21st Century Supply Chains, Edward Sweeney

Practitioner Journals

No abstract provided.

An Integrated Decision Support Framework For Remanufacturing In The Automotive Industry, Akhilesh Kumar

Wayne State University Dissertations

In today's global economy, firms are seeking any and every opportunity to differentiate from competitors by reducing supply chain costs and adding value to end customers. One increasingly popular option, under growing consumer awareness and increasing legislation, is to reintegrate returned products into the supply chain to achieve economic benefits as well as improve sustainability. An important class of such "reverse" goods flows has to do with remanufacturing (reman), which refers to activities that restore returned products ("cores") or their major modules to operational condition for using in place of new product or distributing through other channels (e.g., spare parts). …

Ambient- And High-Temperature Mechanical Properties Of Isochronally Aged Al–0.06sc, Al–0.06zr And Al–0.06sc–0.06zr (At.%) Alloys, Keith E. Knipling, David N. Seidman, David C. Dunand

United States Navy: Publications

Ambient- and high-temperature precipitation strengthening are investigated in Al–0.06Sc, Al–0.06Zr and Al–0.06Sc–0.06Zr (at.%) alloys. Following solidification, Sc is concentrated at the dendrite peripheries while Zr is segregated at the dendrite cores. During isochronal aging, precipitation of Al3Sc (L1₂) commences between 250 and 300 °C for Al–0.06Sc, and reaches a 429 MPa peak microhardness at 325 °C. For Al–0.06Zr, precipitation of Al3Zr (L1₂) first occurs between 400 and 425 °C and reaches a 295 MPa peak microhardness at 475 °C. A pronounced synergistic effect is observed when both Sc and Zr are present. Above 325 °C, Zr …

A Phase Field Model Of Deformation Twinning: Nonlinear Theory And Numerical Simulations, J. D. Clayton, J. Knap

United States Army: Publications

A continuum phase field theory and corresponding numerical solution methods are developed to describe deformation twinning in crystalline solids. An order parameter is associated with the magnitude of twinning shear, i.e., the lattice transformation associated with twinning. The general theory addresses the following physics: large deformations, nonlinear anisotropic elastic behavior, and anisotropic phase boundary energy. The theory is applied towards prediction of equilibrium phenomena in the athermal and non-dissipative limit, whereby equilibrium configurations of an externally stressed crystal are obtained via incremental minimization of a free energy functional. Outcomes of such calculations are elastic fields (e.g., displacement, strain, stress, and …

Investigations Of Transcript Expression In Fathead Minnow (Pimephales Promelas) Brain Tissue Reveal Toxicological Impacts Of Rdx Exposure, Kurt A. Gust, Mitchell S. Wilbanks, Xin Guan, Mehdi Pirooznia, Tanwir Habib, Leslie Yoo, Henri Wintz, Chris D. Vulpe, Edward J. Perkins

United States Army: Publications

Production, usage and disposal of the munitions constituent (MC) cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX) has led to environmental releases on  military facilities. The chemical attributes of RDX are conducive for leaching to surface water which may put aquatic organisms at risk of exposure. Because RDX has been observed to cause aberrant neuromuscular effects across a wide range of animal phyla, we assessed the effects of RDX on central nervous system (CNS) functions in the representative aquatic ecotoxicological model species, fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas). We developed a fathead minnow brain-tissue cDNA library enriched for transcripts differentially expressed in response to RDX and …

Fatigue-Induced Grain Coarsening In Nanocrystalline Platinum Films, Roi A. Meirom, Daan Hein Alsem, Amber L. Romasco, Trevor Clark, Ronald G. Polcawich, Jeffrey S. Pulskamp, Madan Dubey, Robert O. Ritchie, Christopher L. Muhlstein

United States Army: Publications

Mechanisms to explain the unique mechanical behavior of nanograined metals focus primarily on grain and grain boundary mobility. In most nanograined metal materials systems (both pure and alloyed) it has not been possible to decouple these time- and cycle-dependent contributions. In contrast, the 460 nm thick, (1 1 1) textured, nanograined platinum thin films evaluated in this work have robust grain morphologies that allow us to uniquely identify the fatigue damage accumulation processes. Unlike other reports of face-centered cubic metal behavior, the platinum films exhibited a particularly limited range of fatigue crack growth (<3 MPa √m) with extremely large (~10.5) power law exponents typically associated with fatigue of structural ceramics and ordered intermetallics. Transmission electron microscopy and fatigue crack growth data suggest that the crack growth mechanism appears to be intrinsic in origin and dislocation mediated.

Thermoreversible And Remendable Glass–Polymer Interface For Fiber-Reinforced Composites, Amy M. Peterson, Robert E. Jensen, Giuseppe R. Palmese

United States Army: Publications

Adhesion of the reinforcement to the polymer matrix is essential for load transfer from the polymer matrix to the reinforcement material in fiber-reinforced composites. The reversible Diels–Alder reaction between a furan-functionalized epoxy-amine thermosetting matrix with a maleimide-functionalized glass fiber was used to impart remendability at the polymer–glass interface for potential application in glass fiber-reinforced composites. At room temperature the Diels–Alder adduct is formed spontaneously and above 90 °C the adduct breaks apart to reform the original furan and maleimide moieties. Healing of the interface was investigated with single fiber microdroplet pull-out testing. Following complete failure of this interface, significant healing …

Micro-Cracks Informed Damage Models For Brittle Solids, Xiaodan Ren, Jiun-Shyan Chen, Jie Li, T. R. Slawson, M. J. Roth

United States Army: Publications

A class of micro-cracks informed damage models for describing the softening behavior of brittle solids is proposed, in which damage evolution is treated as a consequence of micro-crack propagation. The homogenized stress–strain relation in the cracked microscopic cell defines the degradation tensor, which can be obtained by the equivalence between the averaged strain energy of the microscopic cell and the strain energy density of the homogenized material. This energy equivalence relationship serves as an energy bridging vehicle between the damaged continuum and the cracked microstructure. Several damage evolution equations are obtained by this energy bridging method. The size effect of …

Antimicrobial Decapeptide Ksl-W Attenuates Candida Albicans Virulence By Modulating Its Effects On Toll-Like Receptor, Human Β-Defensin, And Cytokine Expression By Engineered Human Oral Mucosa, A. Semlali, K. P. Leung, S. Curt, M. Rouabhia

United States Army: Publications

We investigated the toxicity of synthetic antimicrobial decapeptide KSL-W on normal human gingival epithelial cell cultures, its effect on Candida albicans adhesion and growth, and the activation of epithelial cell innate immunity. Our results indicate that KSL-W had no toxic effect on cell adhesion or growth, suggesting its safe use with human cells. Pre-treating C. albicans with KSL-W attenuated the yeast’s virulence as demonstrated by its reduced adhesion and growth on engineered human oral mucosa epithelium and the subsequent decreased expression of some innate defense molecules by targeted epithelial cells. Indeed, the expression of Toll-like receptors and human β-defensins was …

Protective Efficacy Of Catalytic Bioscavenger, Paraoxonase 1 Against Sarin And Soman Exposure In Guinea Pigs, Manojkumar Valiyaveettil, Yonas Alamneh, Peter Rezk, Lionel Biggemann, Michael W. Perkins, Alfred M. Sciuto, Bhupendra P. Doctor, Madhusoodana P. Nambiar

United States Army: Publications

Human paraoxonase 1 (PON1) has been portrayed as a catalytic bioscavenger which can hydrolyze large amounts of chemical warfare nerve agents (CWNAs) and organophosphate (OP) pesticides compared to the stoichiometric bioscavengers such as butyrylcholinesterase. We evaluated the protective efficacy of purified human and rabbit serum PON1 against nerve agents sarin and soman in guinea pigs. Catalytically active PON1 purified from human and rabbit serum was intravenously injected to guinea pigs, which were 30 min later exposed to 1.2 × LCt₅₀ sarin or soman using a microinstillation inhalation exposure technology. Pre-treatment with 5 units of purified human and rabbit serum …

Creating A Sustainable Transportation Workforce: Identifying Skills, Abilities And Knowledge For Future Transportation Workforce, Sandhya Gopalakrishnan

Masters Theses

"The recruitment and retention of a transportation workforce capable of adapting to the requirements of emerging sustainable technologies is an important concern for engineering managers in transportation. Although there is an increasing demand for transportation professionals to fill positions stemming from retirement or created by innovations in sustainable transportation systems, the supply is decreasing. The objective of this research was to fill the gap between the supply and demand of skilled workforce by presenting a life-cycle framework for recruiting and retaining the transportation workforce as part of succession planning efforts funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Transportation Education Development …

Economic Evaluation Of Sustainable Strategies For The Transportation Sector, Yaqin Lin

Masters Theses

"Sustainable strategies are drawing growing attention as global environmental challenges increase concerns over energy consumption. As one of the most intensive consumers of energy, the transportation sector has a particular need to go green. Implementing alternative energy sources and applying advanced energy efficient technologies are two major approaches to achieve sustainability. Much work thus far used cost-effectiveness as an important criterion for assessing the practicability of sustainable strategies. However, few studies have evaluated such strategies systematically. This thesis has developed a framework of cost-effectiveness analysis to assess sustainability strategies. The framework summarizes the various effects of five representative alternative energy …

Exploratory Study Of Barriers To Use Of Feigenbaum's Quality Cost Strategy Within Design Engineering Firms, David Patrick Loduca

Doctoral Dissertations

"It has been more than a half century since Armand Feigenbaum first conceived of the strategy for the manufacturing sector, yet quality costing strategies have not found a foothold among engineering firms. This study was aimed at constructing a set of theories that explains possible barriers to acceptance of the Feigenbaum strategy by analyzing attitudes and opinions of players in an actual engineering firm and the culture in which they work.

Modeled after the Feigenbaum approach and tailored to the business model of engineering and architectural firms, a system was developed to classify and record costs of quality. A local …

Architecture Value Mapping: Using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps As A Reasoning Mechanism For Multi-Criteria Conceptual Design Evaluation, Atmika Singh

Doctoral Dissertations

"The conceptual design phase is the most critical phase in the systems engineering life cycle. The design concept chosen during this phase determines the structure and behavior of the system, and consequently, its ability to fulfill its intended function. A good conceptual design is the first step in the development of a successful artifact. However, decision-making during conceptual design is inherently challenging and often unreliable. The conceptual design phase is marked by an ambiguous and imprecise set of requirements, and ill-defined system boundaries. A lack of usable data for design evaluation makes the problem worse. In order to assess a …

Quantifying The Carbon Footprint Of Lean Waste, Kristen Donovan Balinski

Masters Theses

"The objective of this paper is to provide a method of quantifying lean wastes in terms of carbon dioxide emissions by using value stream mapping. Lean manufacturing, a process based on waste identification and reduction, is a growing trend in industry and a proven method of lowering costs. The environmental impact of these wastes can be quantified by identifying the metrics associated with them, and using existing reports to convert those metrics into measurements of carbon dioxide. Growing environmental concerns are prompting federal government regulation of greenhouse gas or carbon dioxide emissions, as seen in the American Clean Energy and …

Design And Analysis Of A Speed-Aware Routing Protocol For Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Kirthana Akunuri

Masters Theses

"The flexibility of movement for the wireless ad hoc devices, referred to as node mobility, introduces challenges such as dynamic topological changes, increased frequency of route disconnections and high packet loss rate in Mobile Ad hoc Wireless Network (MANET) routing. This research proposes a novel on-demand routing protocol, Speed-Aware Routing Protocol (SARP) to mitigate the effects of high node mobility by reducing the frequency of route disconnections in a MANET. SARP identifies a highly mobile node which forms an unstable link by predicting the link expiration time (LET) for a transmitter and receiver pair. When the nodes have high relative …

Trait Approach To Leadership In Campus Organizations: The Hogan Personality Inventory As A Predictor, Christyn Nicolle Collum

Masters Theses

"The trait approach to leadership has been researched extensively and applied to several fields. This study examined whether or not student leadership in registered student organizations is related to personality traits on the Missouri University of Science and Technology campus from spring semesters 2008, 2009, and 2010. It also explored whether or not traits are related to students joining organizations, during these same semesters. The students' personalities were evaluated using the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPJ), which entering freshmen voluntarily completed. The seven scales of the HPJ are Adjustment, Ambition, Sociability, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Prudence, Inquisitiveness, and Learning Approach. Personality results were …