Engineering Commons^™

Understanding The Challenges To Robotic-Assisted Surgery Adoption From The Perspectives Of The Human-Robot Interaction, Built Environment, And Training, Patrick A. Fuller

All Theses

Introduction: Robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) is a form of minimally invasive surgery that is increasing in both its adoption and development due to many perceived advantages such as tremor reduction and motion scaling. However, RAS is still relatively new and there are a variety of novel barriers and challenges to the adoption of these platforms. Objectives: This study aims to understand how the integration of RAS platforms impacts the interactions and outcomes of interactions between surgical team members to explore the barriers from three aspects critical to facilitating Robotic-assisted-surgery (RAS) adoption: the human-robotic interaction, built environment, and RAS training. Future …

Virtual Engagement: Can Law Enforcement Benefit From Utilizing Extended Reality In Their Training Systems?, Jacob Maxwell Read

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Extended reality (XR) technologies offer innovative training solutions for various industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, aviation, sports, military, and law enforcement. XR can provide a solution for training where job tasks are difficult or near impossible to train in real-life. A human factors research and design approach could provide an effective, low-risk, and cost and time-efficient option for integrating the use of XR technology into training for many industries. To advance this goal, this research answered two main research questions: (1) What training needs/challenges are best suited for an XR training system designed for law enforcement officers (LEOs)? (2) …

Opioid Overdose Epidemic Modeling, Chelsea Spence

All Dissertations

The opioid overdose crisis in the United States has led to thousands of lost lives and thousands more people struggling with opioid dependence. Disease modeling allows researchers to examine the course that the disease may take and to investigate policies to determine the effects they may have. Disease models can be used to model non-communicable diseases and have been used to study opioid use disorder. Many types of disease models exist with their own inherent benefits and drawbacks.

In this dissertation, we provide a scoping review of the disease models that have been used to study the opioid overdose epidemic. …

An Emergency Response System To Assist The Movement Of Vehicles During Emergency Operations In Urban Transportation Networks, Jamal Nahofti Kohneh

All Dissertations

Emergency responders need to arrive at the emergency scene as soon as possible, but operating vehicles under emergency conditions can pose a risk to both the responders and other road users, potentially resulting in crashes or delays in emergency operations. In this research, an emergency response system is proposed to assist emergency and non-emergency response vehicles (ERVs and non-ERVs) during emergency operations in a connected vehicle environment. This system collects the information from connected ERVs and non-ERVs, utilizes this information as inputs in the proposed models, and sends instruction messages back to vehicles. The proposed models provide the fastest ERV …

Feasibility Assessment And Container Traffic Forecasting Of Inland Waterway Container On Barge Transportation, Fan Bu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Container on Barge (COB) transportation is an intermodal freight transport mode that moves shipping containers via barges on navigable inland and intracoastal waterways. During the past twenty years, COB has been a growing mode of container shipping globally due to its low-cost, eco-friendly, and congestion-reducing characteristics. Europe and China are currently leading global COB transportation, and the United States (U.S.) may have the potential to achieve economic benefits through the implementation of COB within its intermodal transportation system. To explore this potential, this dissertation investigates the implementation feasibility of COB transportation within the U.S. intermodal freight transportation system. Three contributions …

Segac: Sample Efficient Generalized Actor Critic For The Stochastic On-Time Arrival Problem, Honglian Guo, Zhi He, Wenda Sheng, Zhiguang Cao, Yingjie Zhou, Weinan Gao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper studies the problem in transportation networks and introduces a novel reinforcement learning-based algorithm, namely. Different from almost all canonical sota solutions, which are usually computationally expensive and lack generalizability to unforeseen destination nodes, segac offers the following appealing characteristics. segac updates the ego vehicle’s navigation policy in a sample efficient manner, reduces the variance of both value network and policy network during training, and is automatically adaptive to new destinations. Furthermore, the pre-trained segac policy network enables its real-time decision-making ability within seconds, outperforming state-of-the-art sota algorithms in simulations across various transportation networks. We also successfully deploy segac …

Enabling Sustainable Freight Forwarding Network Via Collaborative Games, Pang Jin Tan, Shih-Fen Cheng, Richard Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Freight forwarding plays a crucial role in facilitating global trade and logistics. However, as the freight forwarding market is extremely fragmented, freight forwarders often face the issue of not being able to fill the available shipping capacity. This recurrent issue motivates the creation of various freight forwarding networks that aim at exchanging capacities and demands so that the resource utilization of individual freight forwarders can be maximized. In this paper, we focus on how to design such a collaborative network based on collaborative game theory, with the Shapley value representing a fair scheme for profit sharing. Noting that the exact …

Fuel-Saving Route Planning With Data-Driven And Learning-Based Approaches: A Systematic Solution For Harbor Tugs, Shengming Wang, Xiaocai Zhang, Jing Li, Xiaoyang Wei, Hoong Chuin Lau, Bing Tian Dai, Binbin Huang Huang, Zhe Xiao, Xiuju Fu, Zheng Qin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In recent years, there are trends toward cleaner port environments through enforcement by imposed legislation. Transit optimisation of fuel-based port service boats like harbour tugs has emerged as a critical task to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emission. In this paper, an innovative learning-based method, comprising a Reinforcement Learning (RL) model together with a fuel consumption prediction model, was proposed to formulate fuel-saving transit routes. Firstly, an ensemble model is established by combining a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model with a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) model, predicting fuel use based on tugboat movement and environment factors. Subsequently, an innovative RL based …

Smart Grid Cybersecurity In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Chip Corbett, Charles M. Weber, Timothy R. Anderson

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The security of the power grid is essential for the proper function of a democratic society, yet it is constantly under threat. The internet of things (loT) will make a bad situation much worse. Misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation (MDM) have been identified as serious threats to our democratic institutions, and that same acronym applies to mobile device management (MDM), and these devices have become ubiquitous. People are notoriously bad at doing basic cybersecurity. With trillions of devices and remote access everywhere, what could possibly go wrong? Now add in the engaging opportunity of distributed energy resources (DERs) and life gets …

Leveraging Machine Learning And Stochastic Programming To Address Vaccine Hesitancy In Public Health Resource Allocation, Hieu Trung Bui

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Infectious disease outbreaks highlight the urgent need for effective strategies to distribute vaccines and allocate critical healthcare resources to contain the disease and reduce its negative impacts on the population. Managing these allocations is a significant challenge, especially in marginalized communities facing uncertainty in healthcare demand and logistical constraints. This dissertation addresses these challenges by investigating factors that influence dynamic changes in vaccine hesitancy (VH) and its implications for disease spread and healthcare resource demand. It develops optimization models for vaccine distribution and resource allocation under uncertainty, validated with data from the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. The first study …

Path-Choice-Constrained Bus Bridging Design Under Urban Rail Transit Disruptions, Yiyang Zhu, Jian Gang Jin, Hai Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Although urban rail transit systems play a crucial role in urban mobility, they frequently suffer from unexpected disruptions due to power loss, severe weather, equipment failure, and other factors that cause significant disruptions in passenger travel and, in turn, socioeconomic losses. To alleviate the inconvenience of affected passengers, bus bridging services are often provided when rail service has been suspended. Prior research has yielded various methodologies for effective bus bridging services; however, they are mainly based on the strong assumption that passengers must follow predetermined bus bridging routes. Less attention is paid to passengers’ path choice behaviors, which could affect …

Optimization Of Customer Service And Driver Dispatch Areas For On-Demand Food Delivery, Jingfeng Yang, Hoong Chuin Lau, Hai Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the rapid development and popularization of mobile and wireless communication technologies, on-demand food delivery (OFD) platforms have been able to connect restaurants, customers, and drivers in real time, drastically changing dining and food delivery services. Motivated by the critical need for supply and demand management in the on-demand food delivery market, we focus on the optimization of customer service area and driver dispatch area for on-demand food delivery services. Specifically, for each restaurant, the platform needs to decide the (1) customer service area (CSA), i.e., the surrounding area within which customers can see the restaurant’s information and order food …

Dynamic Model Of An Overhead Crane, Leonard Ruesga

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis a novel spatial model of an overhead crane was developed. The model includes: bridge, trolley, driving and follower wheels for the bridge and trolley, drum, cable, and the payload. The model accounts for the winding/unwinding of the cable around the drum as the payload is raised/lowered. The cable and the payload were considered as rigid bodies with uniformly distributed mass. First, the kinematic equations of the model were developed by using constraint equations. Second, the dynamic equations were derived through use of Newton’s Laws. Developing the rotational dynamic equations required the determination of the angular momentum vectors …

A Survey On Fused Filament Fabrication To Produce Functionally Gradient Materials, Arup Dey, Monsuru Ramoni, Nita Yodo

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is a key extrusion-based additive manufacturing (AM) process for fabricating components from polymers and their composites. Functionally gradient materials (FGMs) exhibit spatially varying properties by modulating chemical compositions, microstructures, and design attributes, offering enhanced performance over homogeneous materials and conventional composites. These materials are pivotal in aerospace, automotive, and medical applications, where the optimization of weight, cost, and functional properties is critical. Conventional FGM manufacturing techniques are hindered by complexity, high costs, and limited precision. AM, particularly FFF, presents a promising alternative for FGM production, though its application is predominantly confined to research settings. This paper …

Enterprise Systems: Installing And Configuring Erpnext On Macos, Yazan Abbasi

Senior Honors Theses

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integrate business processes across organizations onto unified digital platforms through data and workflow consolidation. However, high licensing costs of proprietary ERP solutions like SAP and Oracle limit adoption for small and medium enterprises. This led to the emergence of open-source ERP alternatives like ERPNext which provide sophisticated capabilities at much lower total cost of ownership. However, ERPNext faces documentation gaps that hamper onboarding, customization, and widespread adoption. Accelerating ERPNext implementation by developing a comprehensive installation and configuration guide tailored for developers using Mac environments will be examined furthermore.

The background on ERP systems explores critical …

Effective Position Intelligent Decision Method Based On Model Fusion And Generative Network, Liqiang Guo, Liang Ma, Hui Zhang, Jing Yang, Lianfeng Li, Yaqi Zhai

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Military intelligence technology is currently the most dynamic frontier and the inevitable trend for the development of unmanned equipment in the future. Aiming at the dual requirements of reliability and real-time performance of unmanned platform autonomous decision-making in complex environments and the shortcomings of existing combat simulation technology based on rule reasoning in terms of dynamics and flexibility, a research method of principle analysis and experimental verification is adopted. Based on the shooting experiment dataset of an unmanned platform, the effective position recognition link of attack decision-making is transformed into a binary classification problem with imbalanced categories in the …

Digital Twin Modeling And Control Of Robots For Intelligent Manufacturing Scenarios, Ying Li, Lan Gao, Zhisong Zhu

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The introduction of Industry 4.0 and the Made in China 2025 development policy has accelerated the transformation of the manufacturing industry from automation to intelligence. Industrial robots, as the representative equipment of intelligent manufacturing, will also become more intelligent. Based on digital twin technology, digital modeling, and simulation debugging are conducted for such problems as interference and collision, tedious operation, and low efficiency of industrial robot spot welding debugging in production. Process Simulate from TECNOMATIX software is utilized to digitally model the robot spot welding station and define its motion, and TIA Portal and S7-PLCSIM Advanced are applied to …

Research On Learnable Wargame Agent Driven By Battle Scheme, Yifeng Sun, Zhi Li, Jiang Wu, Yubin Wang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To enable the agent to cope with complex battle scenarios and objectives in wargame, a learnable wargame agent architecture driven by a battle scheme is proposed. By analyzing the "attachment characteristics" and "loose coupling characteristics" of the agent to wargame system, the learnable requirements of the agent are obtained. In the design of the agent framework, battle schemes are used to reduce the learning range of the agent. The finite state machine corresponds to the knowledge of the operational phase in the battle scheme, and the decision-making space of the agent is determined according to the framework of the …

A Deep Fuzzy Classifier Based On Feature Transform And Reconstruction, Rui Yin, Wei Lu, Jianhua Yang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To obtain a classifier with good classification accuracy and interpretability, a deep fuzzy classifier based on feature transform and reconstruction (FR-DFC) is proposed. In FR-DFC, several fuzzy systems (FT_FS) for feature transform and a multi-prototype fuzzy classification system (MPRFD_FS) are stacked together to realize the classification process of the model, based on the hierarchically stacked thought originated from deep learning. Specifically, the stacked FT_FSs explore the hidden features in the data by transferring data from the original data space to the high-level feature space. MPRFD_FS, on the other hand, implements classification based on multiple prototypes that characterize the distribution …

Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm Based On Trap Label And Lazy Ant, Wei Zhang, Yuefeng Jiang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Many existing strategies for improving particle swarm optimization (PSO) fall short in assisting particles trapped in local optima and experiencing premature convergence to recover optimization performance. In response, an adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm based on trap label and lazy ant (TLLA-APSO) is proposed. Firstly, the trap label strategy dynamically adjusts particle velocities, enabling the particle swarm to escape from local optima. Secondly, the lazy ant optimization strategy is employed to diversify particle velocity and enhance population diversity. Finally, the inertia cognition strategy introduces historical position into velocity updates, promoting path diversity and particle exploration while effectively mitigating the …

Simulation Optimization Of Airport Baggage Import System Based On Multi-Objective Wolf Pack Algorithm, Yifei Tao, Xiaopeng Ding, Junbin Luo, Xiao Fu, Jiaxing Wu, Yirong Li

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Aiming at the problems of long waiting time for passenger baggage import and high system energy consumption during the operation of the baggage import system in civil aviation airports, a simulation optimization framework for solving this problem is proposed by comprehensively considering the influence of key control parameters on the operation efficiency of the baggage import system in airports, including the virtual window control mode, the operation speed of the collection belt conveyor, the length of the virtual window and the number of check-in counters opened at the same time. By analyzing the actual operating conditions of the airport …

Task Analysis Methods Based On Deep Reinforcement Learning, Xue Gong, Pengfei Peng, Li Rong, Yalian Zheng, Jun Jiang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: In response to the high coupling of task interaction and many influencing factors in task analysis, a task analysis method based on sequence decoupling and deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed, which can achieve task decomposition and task sequence reconstruction under complex constraints. The method designs an environment for deep reinforcement learning based on task information interaction, while improving the SumTree algorithm based on the difference between the loss functions of the target network and the evaluation network, achieving the priority evaluation among tasks. The activation function operation mechanism is introduced into the deep reinforcement learning network, followed by …

Modeling And Verification Of Cooperative Vehicle Infrastructure System At Unsignalized Intersection Based On Time Automata, Wei Liu, Qirui Xiao, Xinhai Chen, Chang Rao, Yu Zhang, Bosi Wang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Cooperative vehicle infrastructure system (CVIS) is one of the advanced solutions to enhance intersection vehicle passage safety. Due to the lack of clear specifications and standards regarding the dynamic timing and transition processes of system object state interaction in existing CVIS technologies, ensuring the safety of passage control logic is challenging. This study utilizes formal language to describe the functional logic of CVIS in unsignalized intersections, verifying the safety of system object state interaction and control logic to improve vehicle passage safety at unsignalized intersections. Simulations are conducted for scenarios including single-vehicle non-conflict, dual-vehicle conflict, and multi-vehicle conflict to …

Real-Time Non-Photorealistic Rendering Method For Black And White Comic Style In Games And Animation, Yan Hu, Lizhe Chen, Hanna Xie, Yuyao Ge, Shun Zhou, Xingquan Cai

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address the issues of high resource consumption and lengthy workflow in general nonphotorealistic, this paper proposes a real-time non-photorealistic rendering method for black and white comic style in games and animation. A specialized lighting model is designed to highlight the main environmental light and the grayscale grading of diffuse reflection based on the analysis of the lighting model effect. The pre-processing of the scene is achieved by merging the various components of the lighting model. A screen space three-phase edge detection method is proposed to sequentially perform depth edge detection, normal edge detection, and color edge detection on …

Simulation System For Carrier-Based Aircraft Ammunition Support Scheduling, Zhe Liu, Jiafeng Chen, Junfei Ma, Songhua Ma

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: For inefficient scheduling of carrier-based aircraft ammunition support on the flight deck of aircraft carriers, a Unity3D-based 3D virtual demonstration method for carrier-based aircraft ammunition scheduling is proposed, and a 3D virtual simulation system for carrier-based aircraft ammunition scheduling on the flight deck of aircraft carriers is constructed. A problem model targeted at carrierbased aircraft ammunition transportation and loading scheduling process as well as processing rules for path determination, sequence constraint, and loading position compensation are established based on the defining system. An optimal solution for the scheduling process is realized by using the improved discrete grey wolf optimizer …

Uav Path Planning Based On Improved Harris Hawk Algorithm And B-Spline Curve, Zhifeng Huang, Yuanhua Liu

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Aiming at the global path planning problem of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in dynamic environments, this paper proposes an improved Harris Hawk optimization algorithm. To address the problem of insufficient search performance in the later stage of the algorithm, an adaptive chaos and core population dynamic partitioning strategy is proposed to improve the searchability of the algorithm in the later stage. The Harris Hawk update formula is modified, and the golden sine strategy is introduced to improve the search efficiency of the algorithm. Then, an adaptive dynamic cloud optimal solution perturbation strategy is integrated to improve the ability of …

Optimal Scheduling Of Vehicle-Network Interaction Based On Interval Stackelberg Game Of Virtual Power Plant, Weiliang Liu, Qianwen Yan, Qiliang Zhang, Shuai Liu, Changliang Liu, Jiayao Kang, Xin Wang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To better exploit the regulation potential of electric vehicles (EVs), resolve the conflicts of interest among the stakeholders in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) interactions, and overcome the uncertainty of distributed energy sources and load, this paper proposes a two-level optimization scheduling model for V2G interactions based on the interval Stackelberg game of a virtual power plant (VPP). The VPP aggregator is considered as the upper level, and the EV users as the lower level. The upper level model uses interval numbers to describe the uncertainty of sources and loads, with the aim of minimizing the operating cost of the VPP aggregator, …

Maglev Ball Control Algorithm Based On Levant Differentiator, Zhenli Zhang, Yongzhuan Wang, Yao Qin, Jie Yang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To solve the problem of unsatisfactory control effect of permanent magnet electromagnetic hybrid suspension system caused by signal mutation and noise interference, the control method ILevant- PID, the combination of an improved Levant differentiator and PID, is proposed. The proposed method combines the strong adaptability of PID control and the robust characteristic of Levant differentiator on input noise to solve the chattering problem of the system output. The simulated anneal-particle swarm optimization is utilized to solve the constraints of the ILevant-PID controller, such as multiple parameters and strong correlation. The simulation results show that compared with the traditional PID …

Real-Time Scheduling Method For Dynamic Flexible Job Shop Scheduling, Quan Jiang, Jingxuan Wei

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: A multi-objective dynamic flexible job shop scheduling problem model with machine breakdown and random jobs arrival is constructed to address the interference of dynamic events in manufacturing processing on the scheduling scheme, and a real-time scheduling method with multiobjective proximal policy optimization (MPPO) algorithm is proposed. The MPPO algorithm trains two agents, routing agent (RA) and sequencing agent (SA), for real-time scheduling and real-time processing of dynamic events. It employs a linear combination of weight vectors and reward vectors as reward signals and stores the agents' parameters for each weight vector to optimize multiple objectives. The required state information, …

Path Planning For Mobile Robot Based On Angle Search, Yaru Wang, Dexin Yao, Zengli Liu, Yi Peng

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The angle search algorithm for angle-controlled robots is proposed to increase the path search speed and optimize the path length. The algorithm effectively finds a path in static surroundings by performing an efficient search in a specific dimensional range based on the position of the robot and the target point. Firstly, search angles are predetermined according to the characteristics of the environment in the grid map. Then, the estimated angle of the robot's surrounding grid is computed. Finally, a new extension point is chosen by comparing the estimated angle to the search angle, demonstrating the usefulness and viability of …