Engineering Commons^™

Acuta Enews October 1991, Vol. 20, No. 10

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

President's message

Wireless alternative to cable

AT&T donates computers

ACUTA budget for 1991-92

Voice messaging is "hit"

Publications Editor profiled

Domain Limitations And Interface Requirements For Expert Developed Knowledge Based Systems, Bernard Lee Lewis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The expanded use of graphical, case-based and object oriented techniques in expert systems creation has made it more practical for domain experts to develop their own applications. This thesis focuses on the elements necessary in an expert/developer interface and looks at various forms and techniques that exemplify such an approach. The spreadsheet metaphor is used for an interface or managed set of interfaces that a domain expert can use in building his own expert system or prototype. criteria are established for such interfaces and recent commercial offerings that make expert-created knowledge-bases more practical are reviewed for techniques that qualify. Approaches …

Composite Stock Cutting Through Simulated Annealing, Pipatpong Poshyanonda, Cihan H. Dagli

Computer Science Technical Reports

This paper explores the use of Simulated Annealing as an optimization technique for the problem Composite Material Stock Cutting. The shapes are not constrained to be convex polygons or even regular shapes. However, due to the composite nature of the material, the orientation of the shapes on the stock is restricted. For placements of various shapes, we show how to determine a cost function, annealing parameters, and performance.

Composite Stock Cutting Through Simulated Annealing, Pipatpong Poshyanonda, Cihan H. Dagli

Computer Science Technical Reports

This paper explores the use of Simulated Annealing as an optimization technique for the problem Composite Material Stock Cutting. The shapes are not constrained to be convex polygons or even regular shapes. However, due to the composite nature of the material, the orientation of the shapes on the stock is restricted. For placements of various shapes, we show how to determine a cost function, annealing parameters, and performance.

Acuta Enews September 1991, Vol. 20, No. 9

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

0+ fraud alive and well

AOS rules don't move north

Call screening not mandated

Workshop in Atlanta

Five Ps paying off

Business Manager profile

Development Of An Operationally-Oriented Measure Of Sustainability, Moira D. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis proposes a framework for evaluating sustainability in the Air Force and for determining an appropriate measure of effectiveness that is both meaningful in a military sense and useful in planning and programming decisions. Following a literature review of organizational performance measures and strategy formulation, Michael Porter's Competitive Analysis model for strategy selection was presented. This model was then used to evaluate case studies in which organizations faced strategic decisions and to suggest measures by which these organizations could determine their effectiveness. The model was then shown to be applicable to the Air Force, and recommendations on implementing such …

A Microcomputer Program For Estimating Production Costs Of Injection Molded Plastic Structures, Kyle F. Byard

Theses and Dissertations

The job of estimating the production costs of injection molded thermoplastic structures requires designers and analysts to produce detailed preliminary drawings and consult machinists with expertise in mold production. Interviews with injection molding experts produced a scale of part complexity and associated range of labor hours for mold production. This scale is incorporated into a cost estimating methodology which allows the analyst to estimate the cost of the structure without the aid of technicians. The resulting cost model for the injection molding process is then programmed into an interactive Pascal computer program for ease of use and documentation.

An Analysis Of Base Level Environmental Organizations, John F. Akers Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to try and determine if there was one type of environmental organization which was truly so much more effective than the others that all bases should have it, or if the decision of which type of environmental organization to have should be left entirely to the bases. In addition, I hoped to discover the advantages and disadvantages of each type of organizational structure. I feel that knowing these advantages and disadvantages will greatly aid those individuals making the decisions on environmental organizational structure. In completing this study I turned to the only place the …

An Expert System Solution For The Quantitative Condition Assessment Of Electrical Distribution Systems In The United States Air Force, David O. Paine

Theses and Dissertations

Faced with a rapidly decreasing budget, the Air Force is in need of a method to objectively evaluate its aging utility infrastructure assets. This objective evaluation could be used to compare similar facility infrastructure systems for identification of possible problem areas and prioritization of major repair projects. This thesis developed a component model which can be used to objectively evaluate a typical electrical distribution system. The Delphi process was used to gather expert opinions regarding three areas: (1) the critical components which should be included in the model, (2) the relative importance of each selected critical component, and (3) the …

Integrated Neural Network And Machine Vision Approach For Intelligent State Identification, Cihan H. Dagli, Timothy Andrew Bauer

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An interfacing of neural networks (NNs) and machine vision to provide the next state of a system given an image of the present state of the system is presented. This interfacing is applied to a loading operation. First, a NN is trained for part recognition under conditions of rotation, location, object distortion, and background noise given an image of the part. Then, a second NN, given the output of the first NN and an image of a pallet being loaded, is trained for optimal part loading onto the pallet under conditions of noise in the image. The paradigm used is …

Acuta Enews August 1991, Vol. 20, No. 8

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

President's column

Business meeting

Regional meetings

User groups

Director's column

Workshop in Atlanta

Computer Aided Process Planning System For Generating Alternative Process Plans, Rao T. Gali

Masters Theses

Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) has a key role in Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) as an interface between design and manufacturing. Current CAPP systems treat process planning as a static function, and always generate the same machine and process combinations. Thus, these CAPP systems are inadequate for advanced manufacturing facilities such as Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS). This thesis presents research conducted for the design and development of a CAPP system called Alternative Computer Aided Process Planning (A-CAPP) which generates alternative process plans by interacting with production planning and machine loading functions to satisfy system capacity constraints.

A-CAPP is a variant …

Acuta Enews July 1991, Vol. 20, No. 7

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

ACUTA Forum

Unblocking 1-0-XXX

President's farewell

Affordable fiber to the desk

Value of utility bill audits

$60 million math/science network

Tardiness Heuristic For Scheduling Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Ali S. Kiran, Sema E. Alptekin, A. Celal Kaplan

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This paper evaluates the tardiness performance of a sampling-based adaptive heuristic in a dynamic manufacturing environment. A test bed, following a real world manufacturing system, has been developed. The proposed algorithm has been implemented in this simulated environment. After fine tuning the algorithm, it has been tested in various shop conditions. The results of these simulation studies are summarized.

A Robust Approach To Human-Computer Interface Design Using The Taguchi Method, Billie Mitchell Reed

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The application of Dr. Genichi Taguchi's approach for design optimization, called Robust Design, to the design of human-computer interface software is investigated. The Taguchi Method is used to select a near optimum set of interface design alternatives to improve user acceptance of the resulting interface software product with minimum sensitivity to uncontrollable noise caused by human behavioral characteristics.

Design alternatives for interaction with personal micro-computers are identified. Several important and representative alternatives are chosen as design parameters for the Taguchi matrix experiment. A noise field with three human behavioral characteristics as noise factors were chosen as a representative noise array. …

Acuta Enews June 1991, Vol. 20, No. 6

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

Panel to focus on fraud

Interactive video bandwidth

Aggregator requirements

Telex can still be useful

Penn State still pioneering

Positions availabe

Operations Research In A New Spanish Air Force Planning System, Antonio Valderrabano

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research effort was to determine a new Spanish Air Force Planning System. Today's highly technological weapon systems are very expensive, and resources are very scarce. So its selection has to be done very carefully. This process can allow high flexibility, be helpful facing the budgetary problems for all the Air Forces, and also can be easily integrated in a joint defense system. The path defined in this thesis is able to be adapted for different situations. It can be useful for other Services or countries, when their own peculiarities have been set up on the defined …

A Modified M/G/1/N System And Its Application, Bernice Annette Figueroa

Theses

We study a single server queueing system with finite buffer, Poisson arrivals and exceptional service requirements for the first customer in each busy period. The system is studied as a Markov Chain and the limiting probability distributions are obtained. The explicit form sorution for the queue length distribution, blocking probability, waiting time distribution as well as the busy period are derived through the Laplace-Stieltjes transform method. These results are then applied to a tandem system with a finite buffer in front of the first station and no intermediate buffer between the two stations. Finally, similar results are obtained for the …

Controlling Hazards Associated With Confined Spaces, Srinivas S. Varahabhotla

Theses

Work in Confined Spaces poses special health and safety problems. To avoid the serious consequences which may follow poorly planned or poorly supervised confined space work, a comprehensive program of recognition, evaluation and control of potential dangers must be developed.

The work force should be aware of the extreme dangers associated with confined space and of the procedures and equipment used to overcome these dangers effectively and safely.

The purpose of this thesis is to present the hazardous conditions in a confined space and different means of overcoming these dangers which are not readily apparent. It shows how confined spaces …

Acuta Enews May 1991, Vol. 20, No. 5

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

Golf outing set for St. Louis

Network ties islands together

Reorganization at Chicago

Recycling phone books

Party Line

Call for nominations

Acuta Enews April 1991, Vol. 20, No. 4

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

ACUTA Forum

Travel cards save money

Reorganization at Chicago

Regional Directors elected

Enchancing campus safety

Drew's Knowledge Initiative

A Simulation Analysis Of The Usaf Commissary Customer Service Environment In Support Of Afcoms Store-Level Staff Sizing, Bruce H. Fritz Ii

Theses and Dissertations

This Thesis sought to determine the probable impact of the proposed Air Force Commissary Service (AFCOMS) manpower standard for customer service (manpower standard) upon commissary operating environments and to investigate the sensitivity of performance parameters within the customer service system. Specific problems addressed were: (1) Comparison of the cashier manpower requirements calculated by the proposed AFCOMS manpower standard to those determined by a simulation model under similar conditions; (2) Calculation of the expected mean and maximum waiting times in the commissary given the proposed standard; and (3) Determination of the sensitivity of customer waiting time performance measures to variations in …

Acuta Enews March 1991, Vol. 20, No. 3

ACUTA Newsletters

In This Issue

Telecom graduate study

Greenville Tech outgrows PBX

World-calling discounts

Call for Presentations

Update on Hawaii

Listing of exhibitors

Mapping Efficient Numerical Methods To The Solution Of Multiple Objective Linear Programs, Michael A. Shields

Theses and Dissertations

This investigation was initiated to increase the speed, accuracy and capacity of m-simplex algorithms for solving multiple objective linear programming problems. Specifically, improvements were sought through the application of general numerical techniques. It soon became apparent that the m- simplex algorithm, like the simplex algorithm, is heavily dependent upon the technology of solving related systems of linear equations. The numerical arguments for the application of LU triangular matrix factorization techniques to simplex computations are well known. OF special significance to m-simplex performance is the case of rank-k updates to basis factorizations. A stable and efficient LU approach to the rank-k …

New Modified Anderson-Darling And Cramer-Von Mises Goodness-Of-Fit Tests For A Normal Distribution With Specified Parameters, Goksel Kahya

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis improves the powers of the Anderson-Darling and Cramer-von Mises goodness-of-fit tests using the mean rank and the median rank plotting positions. A Monte Carlo simulation of 5000 repetitions is used to generate the critical values from n =4 through n =80 for certain significance levels. An extensive power study is performed to compare the powers of the modified tests to the known tests for the uniform, the exponential, the double exponential, the lognormal, and the Weibull distributions. The power of the A-D tests modified by the median rank plotting and the mean rank plotting position are approximately 0.01% …

A Goodness-Of-Fit Test For A Family Of Two Parameter Weibulls With Known Shape Using Minimum Distance Estimation Of Parameters, John S. Crown

Theses and Dissertations

This research is to produce a modified Anderson-Darling goodness of fit test for the Weibull distribution when the location parameter is found by minimum distance estimation, the shape parameter is assumed known, and the MLE is used for the scale parameter. The critical values for the Anderson-Darling test are generated via Monte Carlo simulation when both the Anderson-Darling and Cramer-Von Mises distance statistics are minimized. These critical values are then used for a power study. The Monte Carlo simulation used 5000 repetitions for sample sizes of 5,8,12,15,16,20 and 25 with the Weibull shape parameter of . 5(.5)4.0. The power study …

The Development Of An Officer Training School Board Score Prediction Method Using A Multi-Board Approach, Sandra C. Niemi

Theses and Dissertations

One phase in the Officer Training School (OTS) selection process is meeting a selection board. Recruiting Services (HQ ATC/RS) currently uses a regression model (based on data from one board) to evenly distribute 'quality' among the different panels in the selection boards. HQ ATC/RS wanted a method of predicting board scores based on data from multiple boards. This study used the results from eighteen boards and 9215 applicants to develop and validate a multi-board regression model for each of five application categories. Comparisons between the two models showed mixed results. In two categories, non- rated operations and technical, the single-board …

A Prototype Meta-Language And Automated Translator For Decision Analysis Problem Formulation, Jerry R. Puyear

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis research effort develops a prototype meta-language for decision analysis problem description and automated software to translate the meta-language into a format useable by decision analysis software solvers. MELDA, the metalanguage developed, makes use of special symbols to provide a succinct language for the automation environment yet provides the means for user comprehension. Complete syntax and implementation rules are included. The MELADA translator software developed, DAT, stores the data given by MELADA in a file using prototype standard format, DASF, designed to hold all required data to solve a problem. DAT provides error checking and a message output file. …

Locating Direction Finders In A Generalized Search And Rescue Network, Jean M. Steppe

Theses and Dissertations

A multiobjective linear programming approach is applied to the problem of locating receiving stations and HFDF receivers in a search and rescue network in order to maximize the expected number of distress signals that are geolocated. The multiobjective formulation is made up of two contrasting objectives: one maximizes the expected accurate lines of bearing, and one minimizes the excess coverage in the network. The individual objectives are weighted and combined into a composite objective function. The resulting problem is expressed as a two-stage network flow problem and is solved using SAS LP with a limited number of binary variables. The …

An Interactive Life Cycle Cost Forecasting Tool, John A. Gibson Iv

Theses and Dissertations

Enhancements were applied to an existing tool designed to estimate life cycle costs. These enhancements provide greater ease of data manipulation, additional options in developing models, and the ability to make modifications to suit the needs of the user. Life cycle costs can be generated quickly and easily. Analysis proved the amount of work done by the computer could be reduced with no loss of information. Additionally, the paths available to the user are shown graphically through flow charts--aiding in the learning process. The efforts of the user can now be directed towards developing models instead of spending those efforts …