Engineering Commons^™

Impact Of Culture And Age On The Use Of Social Networking Websites, Ramya Reddy Ponnavolu

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Social networking websites have become very popular amongst people of all ages in recent times. These websites have brought into existence a new form of data - 'User generated content'. Companies everywhere have begun to identify the potential of these sites and have commenced efforts to take advantage of the profitable opportunities available. In spite of all this, it is reasonable to say that the latent possibilities in social networking sites are yet to be fully explored. This is due to the fact that the technology is still young and research on its potential is still ongoing. The current research …

Domain-Specific Core Self-Evaluations And Stressors As Predictors Of Strains, Michael Raymond Hoepf

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The current study examines the use of a frame-of-reference (FOR) in the evaluation of core self-evaluations, stressors and strains. The study investigates the prediction that using a FOR that matches predictors and outcomes will result in a stronger relationship between the constructs being measured, specifically CSE, stressors, and strains. In addition, the study examines the extent to which following this procedure will add incremental validity after non-contextualized predictors are controlled. The hypotheses in this study were generally supported, although the hypotheses related to the school domain were not supported as strongly as those related to general and work domain. The …

Generating ‘As-Applied’ Pesticide Distribution Maps From A Self-Propelled Agricultural Sprayer Based On Nozzle Pressure Data, Joe D. Luck, Ajay Sharda, Santosh Pitla, John P. Fulton, Scott A. Shearer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

The application of pre-emergence, post-emergence, and burn-down herbicides (i.e., glyphosate) continues to increase as producers attempt to reduce both negative environmental impacts from tillage and input costs from labor, machinery and materials. The use of precision agriculture technologies such as automatic boom section control allows producers to reduce offtarget application when applying herbicides. While automatic boom section control provides benefits, pressure differences across the spray boom resulting from boom section actuation can lead to offrate application errors. Off-rate errors may also result from spray rate controller compensation for ground speed changes and velocity variation across the spray boom during turning …

Extrusion Systems: Components, Qi Fang, Milford Hanna

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

An extrusion system can be very simple to very complex. The complexity, or versatility, of a particular system is determined by the range of feedstocks to be processed, the desired transformations of the feedstocks, and the desired form of the products resulting from the process. These determine the specific design requirements of the various components of an extrusion system.

Investigating An Optimal Decision Point For Probability Bounds Analysis Models When Used To Estimate Remedial Soil Volumes Under Uncertainty At Hazardous Waste Sites, Charles O. Dankwah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hazardous waste site remediation cost estimation requires a good estimate of the contaminated soil volume. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) currently uses deterministic point values to estimate soil volumes but the literature suggests that probability bounds analysis (PBA) is the more accurate method to make estimates under uncertainty. The underlying statistical theory is that they are more accurate than deterministic estimates because probabilistic estimates account for data uncertainties. However, the literature does not address the problem of selecting an optimal decision point from the interval-valued PBA estimates. The purpose of this study was to identify the optimal …

The Impact Of Task Conflict On Virtual Team Performance And Cohesiveness, Wilawan Onkman, Anil Ustun, Pilar Pazos, Ana Maria Canto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper examined the impact of task conflict on team performance and cohesiveness. Twelve virtual teams participated in two sessions with two difficulty levels. Each task consisted of a survival simulation. Teams communicated using a text-based communication media (chat). A mixed methods approach combining both quantitative and qualitative data was used. Performance was measured using expert ratings, and cohesiveness was measured using a modified version of Seashore's Cohesiveness Index. Content analysis was utilized to evaluate the level of task conflict on the team. This study provides some initial evidence on the effects task conflict on virtual team performance.

Measurement And Analysis Of Temperature And Pressure In High Altitude Air Shipments, Sher Paul Singh, Jay Singh, J. Stallings, Gary J. Burgess, K. Saha

Industrial Technology and Packaging

This study was performed (at the request of the FAA) to measure temperature and pressure conditions observed by standard packages in the FedEx Next Day Air network and the environmental conditions of passenger aircrafts. To measure the single parcel environment, two destinations known to be served by non-pressurized feeder and pressurized aircrafts in the USA, San Luis Obispo, California, and Twin Falls, Idaho, were used to represent higher altitude paths. Test packages (0.30 × 0.30 × 0.30 m) containing one MadgeTech PRTemp110 recorder were shipped Priority Overnight by FedEx from East Lansing, Michigan. For 6 weeks, two test packages were …

Measurement And Analysis Of ‘Small’ Packages In Next-Day Air Shipments, Sher Paul Singh, Jay Singh, K. C. Chiang, K. Saha

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Packaged goods are shipped globally using various means of transportation. Over the past two decades, there has been a continuous increase in studies that measure and analyze dynamic events that occur to packages during transportation and handling. These data offer useful information to design and test packages, and provide protection from potential hazards like drops and impacts. However, none of the past studies are directed towards single packages regarded as 'smalls'. 'Smalls' or small-package product systems are defined as those with volume of less than 0.013 m³, a longest dimension of 0.356 m and a weight of 4.54 …

E.J. Gallo Winery Spirit-Makers Facility, Aaron Pickar

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

With growing demand for E.J. Gallo spirit brands, the cramped and cluttered facility allocated to the spirit-makers does not provide an adequate work environment to design and test new hard alcohols. E.J. Gallo Winery wants to relocate the spirit-makers to a new facility located near the brandy production floor for under 200,000 dollars. In order to do this, a revised systematic approach to facility design is used.

In this process, the departments are first defined, then the relationships between these departments and the space requirements are documented. Once these planning steps are complete, alternative layouts are constructed and analyzed until …

Implementing Rfid To Improve Animal Shelter Inventory And Allocation, Adam Mach

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The purpose of this project is to observe the best way to incorporate Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology into the animal inventory system present in animal shelters, while also observing the benefits of implementing this system. The Woods Humane Society was used in this project as a sample animal care facility that could benefit from this application.

Many RFID systems can be observed in other industries, but very few examples this technology exist in animal shelters or smaller animal care facilities. Part of the reason for that is because funds are scarce at most animal care facilities, like the Woods …

Design And Manufacture Of Tennis Ball Retriever, Philip Hurst

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

No abstract provided.

Application Of Quality Engineering To Investment Portfolio Selection And Optimization, Vivek Kulinchandra Jikar

Doctoral Dissertations

"The Taguchi System of Quality Engineering (TSQE) is a widely accepted philosophy and set of tools and techniques to rapidly design and manufacture high quality, low cost products and services. It is heavily focused on creating stable system designs that allow a product or system to perform as desired by customers in the environment of their choice. This research demonstrates the power of the TSQE to manage an investment portfolio. In particular, it uses the concept of design stability to select investments and optimize portfolios. It proposes a new design stability-based investment screening metric and discusses its application. Further, this …

Sensor Data-Based Decision Making, Ahmet Soylemezoglu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Increasing globalization and growing industrial system complexity has amplified the interest in the use of information provided by sensors as a means of improving overall manufacturing system performance and maintainability. However, utilization of sensors can only be effective if the real-time data can be integrated into the necessary business processes, such as production planning, scheduling and execution systems. This integration requires the development of intelligent decision making models that can effectively process the sensor data into information and suggest appropriate actions. To be able to improve the performance of a system, the health of the system also needs to be …

Emerging Technology Supply Chain Model For Additive Manufacturing, David M. Dietrich

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research concerns developing an emerging manufacturing technology, additive manufacturing (AM), into a mature and flexible, cost-effective supply chain for aerospace production. The field of additive manufacturing is an approach to low volume manufacturing of plastic or metal parts using three dimensional Computer Aided Design data. As an emerging technology, AM's supply chain is not established compared to conventional aerospace manufacturing technologies, such as injection molding or composite manufacturing. Technical and business challenges limit the robustness of the additive manufacturing system for aerospace applications. The overall intent of this research is to: first, provide an introduction to two main polymer …

Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment And Risk Control (Hirarc) In A Steel Foundry., Lee Hooi Nee

Student Works (2010-2019)

Abstract NA

Quality Analysis In Flexible Manufacturing Systems With Batch Productions, Junwen Wang

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

To improve product quality and reduce cost, batch production is often implemented in many exible manufacturing systems. However, the current literature does not provide any method to analyze the quality performance in a flexible manufacturing system with batch production.

In this research, we present an analytical method with closed-form formula to evaluate the quality performance in such systems. Based on the model, we discover and investigate monotonic and non-monotonic properties in quality to provide practical guidance for operation management. To improve product quality, we introduce the notions of quality improvability with respect to product sequencing. In addition, we develop the …

Optimization Models And Algorithms For Spatial Scheduling, Christopher J. Garcia

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Spatial scheduling problems involve scheduling a set of activities or jobs that each require a certain amount of physical space in order to be carried out. In these problems space is a limited resource, and the job locations, orientations, and start times must be simultaneously determined. As a result, spatial scheduling problems are a particularly difficult class of scheduling problems. These problems are commonly encountered in diverse industries including shipbuilding, aircraft assembly, and supply chain management. Despite its importance, there is a relatively scarce amount of research in the area of spatial scheduling.

In this dissertation, spatial scheduling problems are …

Heat Stress Evaluation Of Protective Clothing Ensembles, Amanda Lee Pease

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clothing directly affects the level of heat stress exposure. Useful measures to express the thermal characteristics are WBGT (wet bulb globe temperature) clothing adjustment factor (CAF) or apparent total evaporative resistance (R_e,T,_a). The CAF is assigned through laboratory wear trials following a heat stress protocol in which the air temperature and humidity are progressively increased until the participant clearly loses the ability to maintain thermal equilibrium. The critical condition is the point of thermal transition and from these conditions both the CAF and Re,T,a are computed. The first objective of this study is to compare the …

Calibration Of Hdm-4 For Use In Pavement Management Systems (Pms), Nurdin Mushule

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

One of major problems of road management in developing countries is the lack of decision making tools for preparing road maintenance programmes. This results in poor resource allocation and poor utilisation of existing assets. Pavement management systems (PMS) have been developed around the world in order to assist with the pavement management process in a co-ordinated and systematic manner. Some developed countries have derived pavement performance models that are suited to local conditions by setting up long term pavement performance studies. Conversely, most developing countries do not have the resources required to set up similar large-scale field experiments. However, validation …

Case Studies: In-Situ Rebuilding Of Damaged Rope Drum Shafts Of Ssg Crane And The Repair Of Circumferential Crack Of Cement Kiln By Welding, Joseph Runyoro

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Material failures in engineering are characterized by unwanted downtime of equipment and require the application of sound engineering principles to rectify the problem so that it does not reoccur. The most widely method for repairing damaged steel structures such as rope drum shaft or cracked cement kiln is by Manual metal arc welding. The equipment mentioned have their main importance that, when they are broken down, they cost a lot of money in lost revenue and affects a lot of people in terms of business and livelihood. The nominal diameter (DN) 240 rope drum shaft was damaged when the roller …

A Systemic Framework For Implementation Of Tqm Programmes, Emanuel Mjema

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The purpose of this paper is to present a systemic framework for implementation of TQM program in a manufacturing organisation that produces motor vehicle components in Port Elizabeth - South Africa. The approach used included conceptualisation of the systemic framework and then involvement of the stakeholders in adding scenarios to be considered in the design and implementing the framework in the real field. The findings obtained during the implementation of the systemic framework established that reduction of scrap rate, reduction of production costs, reduction of cycle time and employee motivation could be achieved through the implementation of a Systemic Framework …

Simulation Model To Investigate Flexible Workload Management For Healthcare And Servicescape Environment, Michael Thorwarth, Paul Harper, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

High demand and poor staffing conditions cause avoidable pressure and stress among healthcare personnel which results in burnout symptoms and unplanned absenteeism which are hidden cost drivers. The work environment within an emergency department is commonly arranged in a flexible workload which is highly dynamic and complex for the outside observer. Using detailed simulation modeling within structured modeling methods, a comprehensive model to characterize the nurses' time utilization in such flexible dynamic workload environment was investigated. The results have been used to derive a generalized analytic expression that describes certain settings that lead to an instable queuing system with serious …

Extending The Strategy Based Risk Model Using The Delphi Method: An Application To The Validation Process For Research And Developmental (R&D) Satellites, Amanda J. Langenbrunner, Mary R. Trautwein

Theses and Dissertations

The validation between a research and developmental satellite and its ground system is critical to ensuring the success on-orbit. However, the exact process for completing validation is not documented, frequently underfunded, and accomplished ad hoc. This leads to debate regarding maintenance of budget and schedule, while ensuring on-orbit success. This thesis examines readiness and on-orbit activities within the U.S. Air Force Space Development and Test Wing's Research Development Test and Evaluation Support Complex. Combining historical data with the consultation of subject matter experts, a validation process was defined. Risks associated with this process were then analyzed using the Strategy Based …

Analyzing Systems Integration Best Practices And Assessment In Dod Space Systems Acquisition, Douglas R. Dillon, Enriqueta M. Styres

Theses and Dissertations

Senior leadership of the Air Force's Space and Missile Center suggested an investigation of systems integration within the space acquisition community in the fall of 2008. This thesis performs that investigation. A review concluded that while Systems Integration (SI) is extensively discussed as an area deserving considerable attention in the Systems Engineering literature, definitions are weak and methods and tools non-existent. Known SI activities are not being traced and assessed for adequacy throughout system development. Employing the Space System Acquisition Lifecycle Framework as the environment for this research, a method of characterizing and tracing SI throughout a program‘s lifecycle by …

Analysis And Selection Of New Rental Paintball Masks For Gladiator Paintball Park, Geoff Wakefield

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This project is designed to select new rental paintball masks for Gladiator Paintball Park. The currently used rental masks are worn down and need replacement. Criteria for new rental masks are examined and include customer preferences, owner's constraints, and time studies. Candidate masks were found by asking customers what they like in rental masks, interviewing other paintball field owners, and referring to the online paintball community. Three candidate masks were found, the V-Force Vantage, JT Alpha, and Kingman java paintball masks. These masks were compared to the currently used rental masks, the V-Force Armor. Customers were surveyed to find out …

Acs Custom Creation's New Business And Assembly Operations, Kent Christensen

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

ACS Custom Creations had assembly and business operations that wasted time and wasted money. The objective of the project is to improve and implement ACS Custom Creations business and manufacturing operations. The proposed assembly process involves the rearranging of the bottlenecked steps to eliminate constraints. The assembly workstations were also redesigned to reduce cycle time. With the improvement of the new assembly and business operations, ACS is poised to grow into a bigger company. Financial Statements were created to improve visibility of the company’s historical data. These financial statements include an income statement, balance sheet, and a cash flow statement. …

Solder Qwik Pentm, Katherine E. Robbins

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Electronics soldering is a technique used frequently in the manufacturing of Printed

Circuit Boards (PCB) to attach small electronic parts or wires together. Often times

the need to remove a solder joint arises; this is known as desoldering. Solder wick,

fine braided copper wire infused with rosin, is one of the most effective ways to

desolder because it results in the cleanest joints. Currently using solder wick

involves several time consuming and somewhat awkward steps. This report will

cover the process behind designing, manufacturing, and testing a new ergonomic,

dispenser for solder wick that can be used with one hand. …

Examining Strategic Information Technology In Relationship To The Need For Technology Modernization, Jill A. Brown

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Strategic planning can be a critical business process for today’s organizations, especially for IT organizations that are facing continually changes in technology. This research was designed to investigate IT organizations’ use of strategic planning and determine if the organization uses their strategic plan to set project priorities. The second part of this research was to determine if the IT strategic plans are aligned with the overall organization’s strategic plan.

This research was conducted using a mail-type survey to IT Executives from organizations with sales/revenues under 100 million dollars, a maximum of 5000 employees, and SIC codes of 201 thru 399. …

An Environment That Fosters Shared Leadership And The Effects On Engineering Education: An Analysis And Proposed Structure, Brian J. Galli, Ray Luechtefeld

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Engineers must not only have design and technical skills, but they must also possess the ability to work in and lead teams, adopt and adapt to change, and act as leaders who can think in terms of the bigger picture. to develop these skills, engineering students must be actively involved in their education and trained to continually learn. Many engineering students have become accustomed to traditional forms of education, which can lead to passivity and dependence on faculty to tell them what to know and why they need to know it. Research in organizational behavior suggests a solution can lie …

E-Design Tool For Friction Stir Welding, Harish Bagaitkar, Venkat Allada

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper describes efforts to develop a web-Based E-Design tool for the Friction Stir Welding (FSW) technique. the input parameters to the E-Design tool are the joint specifications. the output parameters of the E-Design tool are process parameters such as tool geometry details, tool rpm, and plunge depth. the heart of the E-Design tool is the FSW database. the FSW database contains mappings of various input parameters and output parameters that are captured by referring to various experimental studies cited in the literature. the proposed E-Design tool deals with lap joints and butt joints between similar aluminum alloys. Copyright © …