Engineering Commons^™

The Role Of Team Preparation Processes And Task Conflict On Virtual Team Performance, Pilar Pazos, Ana María Canto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the factors contributing to team performance in global virtual teams. We report on a study on global virtual teams involved on applied projects in industry. Team members differed in location and nationalities. This paper examines the relationships between goal commitment, planning and conflict. Data were collected from 34 teams in an international Master program in Quality Management, Safety and Environmental Impact hosted in Bolivia and Chile. Students were from nine different countries in South America. Students were assigned to teams of size 3 and participated in 15-week project as …

The Role Of Is Infrastructure And Organizational Context On Implementation Of Electronic Health Records Systems, Pilar Pazos, Anjee Gorkhali, Rolando Delaguila

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This research explores the role that Information System (IS) infrastructure and organizational context play on the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) Systems. A number of indicators can be used as a proxy for IS infrastructure such as: Information System (IS) Department Budget allocation, percentage of full time IS staff and the number of technical trainings provided by the IS department to the clinical staff. Data was obtained from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) database, a non-for profit organization that evaluates the use of information technology in the health care industry. This paper reports on the development …

Acuta Enews January 2013 Vol. 42, No. 1

ACUTA Newsletters

In this issue...

1 The ACUTA Conference it Forum: What's in it for You?

2 Ruth A. Michalecki Leadership Award j Developing Funding Model

4 Wi-Fi goes Gigabit-802.1 1AC

5 Add Names from Your Campus to Your ACUTA Roster

5 Revised Webcasting Royalty Rates for 2010-15

6 Why 2013 Career Plans Must Go High-Tech

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8 Board Report ' Thanks to Event Sponsors for 2012

9 Welcome New Members

9 Check It Out

Associated Risk In Utilizing Controlled Implosion To Securely Seal An Offshore Oil-Leaking Pipeline, Mohammad Alkazimi, Katie Grantham

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper examines the potential risk of using controlled implosions as a new technique to securely seal an offshore leaking oil pipe. Massive amount of toxins and radioactive waste are produced by offshore oil leaks. These leaks can have negative impact on marine life and can threaten the stability of the ocean's ecosystem. In the past few years, there were several oil leak accidents that had left an overwhelming impact. Identifying potential impact and consequences to the proposed risk mitigation technique, to both the environment and the surrounding infra structure, is crucial to emergency response and crisis management teams. In …

Compliance In The Ether: Cloud Computing, Data Security And Business Regulation, J. Nicholas Hoover

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Simulation-Based Cognitive Workload Modeling And Evaluation Of Adaptive Automation Invoking And Revoking Strategies, Christina Rusnock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In human-computer systems, such as supervisory control systems, large volumes of incoming and complex information can degrade overall system performance. Strategically integrating automation to offload tasks from the operator has been shown to increase not only human performance but also operator efficiency and safety. However, increased automation allows for increased task complexity, which can lead to high cognitive workload and degradation of situational awareness. Adaptive automation is one potential solution to resolve these issues, while maintaining the benefits of traditional automation. Adaptive automation occurs dynamically, with the quantity of automated tasks changing in real-time to meet performance or workload goals. …

Evaluation Of Quality And Sustainability Incentives To Optimize The Indonesian To The United States Crude Oil Supply Chain, Restu Purwaningtyas Sunarto-Bussey

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The New York Times explained that the United States increased its dependence on oil from Saudi Arabia by more than 20 percent last year (Krauss 2012). The United States of Energy Information Administration (U.S. EIA) stated that oil from Saudi Arabia was accounted for 14 percent of the U.S. crude oil and petroleum products in 2012 ("Oil: Explained" 2012). This is problematic due to the fact that 14 percent of the U.S. net crude oil and petroleum products imports come from one country, Saudi Arabia. What happens to the U.S. economy when Saudi Arabia manipulates demand and possibly stops exporting …

Investigation Into The Measure, Correlate And Predict Methodologies Used In Wind Farm Design Software, Brendan O'Sullivan

Theses

This paper is focused on the Measure Correlate and Predict (MCP) methodologies used to estimate long term wind resource at a prospective site. The first common step in all MCP methodologies is a successful wind measurement campaign at the prospective site. This campaign involves the erection of a wind measurement mast (ideally to the hub height of the proposed turbine) and careful selection of booms, mountings and anemometers. The wind measurement campaign is a vital part of the process as the correlation and prediction analysis is only as accurate as the measured wind data. Correlation is a measure of the …

Assessing Robustness In Systems Of Systems Meta-Architectures, Louis Pape, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

New Systems of Systems (SoSs) are frequently created through partial participation from independent, existing systems with their own continuing missions. These systems' contribution to the SoS may be contingent on changing priorities and conditions. Therefore, when devising a SoS architecture, consideration should be given to the SoS robustness to occasional lack of availability of individual systems. Robustness is generally the ability to deliver capability in unknown future conditions. Not knowing which systems will be present would seem to fit this definition for a SoS. A fuzzy approach to defining SoS performance in terms of capabilities provided by each type of …

Model Based Systems Engineering For System Of Systems Using Agent-Based Modeling, Paulette Acheson, Cihan H. Dagli, Nil Kilicay-Ergin

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) follows a model centric approach in contrast to the traditional document centric approach. The complexity of SoS development lends itself nicely to a model centric approach, especially a model that can represent the independence of the systems that comprise the SoS. An agent-based model provides a framework where the SoS and each system are independent entities with individual dynamics and interactions. The System of Systems (SoS) development depends on contributions from the individual systems each having their own agenda and priorities. System-to-system interactions are often necessary to accomplish the overall objectives and capabilities of the …

A Fuzzy Evaluation Method For System Of Systems Meta-Architectures, Louis Pape, Kristin Giammarco, John Colombi, Cihan H. Dagli, Nil Kilicay-Ergin

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A method is proposed for evaluating a range of System of Systems (SoS) meta-architecture alternatives. SoS are composed through combination of existing, fully functioning Systems, possibly with minor functional changes, but certainly by using the combined Systems to achieve a new capability, not available from the Systems alone. The meta-architecture describes how all possible subsets of Systems can be combined to create an SoS. The fitness of a realizable SoS architecture may be characterized by terms such as unacceptable, marginal, above average, or excellent. While these terms provide little information about the SoS when used alone and informally, they readily …

Evaluation Of Interpolation Effects On Upsampling And Accuracy Of Cost Functions-Based Optimized Automatic Image Registration, Amir Pasha Mahmoudzadeh, Nasser H. Kashou

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Interpolation has become a default operation in image processing and medical imaging and is one of the important factors in the success of an intensity-based registration method. Interpolation is needed if the fractional unit of motion is not matched and located on the high resolution (HR) grid. The purpose of this work is to present a systematic evaluation of eight standard interpolation techniques (trilinear, nearest neighbor, cubic Lagrangian, quintic Lagrangian, hepatic Lagrangian, windowed Sinc, B-spline 3rd order, and B-spline 4th order) and to compare the effect of cost functions (least squares (LS), normalized mutual information (NMI), normalized cross correlation (NCC), …

Manufacturing Strategy & Operations: Reflections On Key Current Issues: Challenges And Associated Human Resource Implications, Lorraine Mcgrath

Books/Book chapters

This chapter evaluates the current issues and challenges in defining a company’s manufacturing strategy and its production operations in consideration of the contemporary shift to low cost manufacturing locations. Competitive priorities of cost, quality, delivery and flexibility are reviewed. The structural and infrastructure elements of a manufacturing strategy are outlined. Mitigating risks in a global arena are reviewed. Collaborative efforts, including the cultural and personality issues of being human are included in the discussion of managing diversity in such a highly competitive and challenging enterprise resource planning environment.

Analysis Of A Multi-Server Queueing Model With Vacations And Optional Secondary Services, Srinivas R. Chakravarthy

Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Publications

In this paper we study a multi-server queueing model in which the customer arrive according to a Markovian arrival process. The customers may require, with a certain probability, an optional secondary service upon completion of a primary service. The secondary services are offered (in batches of varying size) when any of the following conditions holds good: (a) upon completion of a service a free server finds no primary customer waiting in the queue and there is at least one secondary customer (including possibly the primary customer becoming a secondary customer) waiting for service; (b) upon completion of a primary service, …

Using Modelling And Simulation To Improve Elderly Care In Ireland: A Case Study, Mohamed Ragab, Wael Rashwan, Waleed Abo-Hamad, Amr Arisha

Articles

Health care services both globally and domestically - are encountering critical issues due to the increasing demand for services at the time of economic recession. Hospital performance is subject to many constraints, and planning is made more difficult by the complexity and uncertainty of demand. Population ageing is creating immense pressures on healthcare facilities across the world, leaving them struggling to cope with the growing demand for elderly healthcare services. Current demand-supply gaps result in prolonged waiting times for patients and substantial cost burdens for healthcare systems due to delayed discharges. This paper reports on a project that uses modelling …

Scheduling In Mohs Micrographic Surgery Clinics, Stephen Vincent Steidle

Open Access Theses

Mohs Micrographic Surgery (MMS) is a surgical method used for the excision of aggressive skin cancers in areas of high cosmetic importance, such as the face and hands. The practice has been gaining popularity worldwide for its low recurrence rates and cosmetic results. Current clinics though are plagued by extreme wait times and an overall poor patient experience. In this paper we look to explore this problem by applying systems engineering principles including optimization and scheduling with the goal of improving the patient experience. Currently, little literature exists exploring the difficulties associated with scheduling for MMS clinic which primarily revolve …

Investor Sentiment In The Stock Market, Bayram Veli Salur

Open Access Theses

Classical finance theories neglect the impact of investor sentiment on stock returns. These theories assume that investors are rational and make decisions in a way that maximizes their wealth. However, a vast amount of research shows that investors' decisions are affected by their psychological biases and feelings. These findings suggest that investor sentiment may have an impact on stock returns. This hypothesis is the main motivation of this study. First, this study examines whether there is correlation among investor sentiment indicators, and whether sentiment indicators have an impact on stock returns in the US and other countries. Second, this study …

A Mechanism Design Approach To Bandwidth Allocation In Tactical Data Networks, Ankur Mour

Open Access Theses

The defense sector is undergoing a phase of rapid technological advancement, in the pursuit of its goal of information superiority. This goal depends on a large network of complex interconnected systems - sensors, weapons, soldiers - linked through a maze of heterogeneous networks. The sheer scale and size of these networks prompt behaviors that go beyond conglomerations of systems or `system-of-systems'. The lack of a central locus and disjointed, competing interests among large clusters of systems makes this characteristic of an Ultra Large Scale (ULS) system. These traits of ULS systems challenge and undermine the fundamental assumptions of today's software …

Evaluating Food Safety Systems Development And Implementation By Quantifying Haccp Training Durability, Marienne A. Anandappa

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

HACCP-based food safety programs have been widely acclaimed, accepted and implemented as an effective means of managing food safety risks. While HACCP training is a cornerstone of managing HACCP programs, there is little information about the effectiveness of HACCP training and the durability of HACCP knowledge. Findings reveal a link between involvement level in HACCP activities and the accuracy of HACCP knowledge over time. Opportunities for peer training in HACCP, irrespective of overall experience in the food industry provide favorable circumstances for maintaining accuracy of HACCP knowledge. The optimal window for engaging employees in HACCP is directly following the completion …

The Modeling, Analysis And Control Of Resilient Manufacturing Enterprises, Yao Hu

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

The resilience of manufacturing enterprises is an important research topic, since disruptions have severe effects on the normal operation of manufacturing enterprises, especially as manufacturing supply chains become global. Although many case studies have been carried out to address resilience in organizations, a systematic method to model and analyze the resilience dynamics in manufacturing enterprises is not well developed. This study is intended to conduct research on quantitative analysis and control for resilience.

After reviewing the literature addressing resilience, a modeling framework is presented to characterize the resilience of a manufacturing enterprise responding to disruptive events, which includes inventory ow …

A New Versatile Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometer For Vibration Measurements, Viswanath Bavigadda

Doctoral

Electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) has been widely used for vibration amplitude and phase measurements. Conventional ESPI systems are bulk and expensive and need careful alignment of all the optical components which is a time consuming task. To overcome these problems alternative compact ESPI systems were developed using fibre-optical components or holographic optical elements (HOEs). The fibre-optic based ESPI systems suffer from random phase fluctuations induced by environmental temperature changes. Hence HOEs can be used as more powerful alternative optical elements to design ESPI systems. The time average ESPI method is widely used for vibration studies. The time average method …

The Impact Of Organizations' Collaboration Strategies And Alliance Network Positions On Invention Performance, Fethullah Caliskan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the impact of organizations' collaboration strategies and network positional variables on invention performance. Organizations, particularly those pursuing a differentiation strategy, are motivated to introduce novel products and services in order to remain competitive. Thus, two questions of interest to such organizations regarding the network dynamics of the invention process are: 1) What kind of strategies allow them to attain superior invention results? 2) What is the most advantageous structural positioning in a collaborative network of innovators? Three independent studies attempt to find answers to these questions by using three complementary study approaches.

In the first study, in …

Predicting The Clinical Outcome In Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury Using Clinical Pathway Scores, Jennifer Lorena Mendoza Alonzo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Polytrauma/TBI Rehabilitation Center (PRC) of the Veterans Affairs Hospital (VAH) treats patients with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). These patients have major motor and cognitive disabilities. Most of the patients stay in the hospital for many months without major improvements. This suggests that patients, family and the VAH could benefit if healthcare provider had a way to better assess or "predict" patients' progression. The individual progress of patients over time is assessed using a pre-defined multi-component performance measure Functional Independence Measures (FIM) at admission and discharge, and a semi-quantitative documentation parameter Clinical Pathway (CP) at weekly intervals. This work uses …

Novel Models And Algorithms For Uncertainty Management In Power Systems, Long Zhao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a collection of previously-published manuscript and conference papers. In this dissertation, we will deal with a stochastic unit commitment problem with cooling systems for gas generators, a robust unit commitment problem with demand response and uncertain wind generation, and a power grid vulnerability analysis with transmission line switching. The latter two problems correspond to our theoretical contributions in two-stage robust optimization, i.e., how to efficiently solve a two-stage robust optimization, and how to deal with mixed-integer recourse in robust optimization. Due to copyright issue, this dissertation does not include any methodology papers written by the author during …

A Methodology For Scheduling Operating Rooms Under Uncertainty, Marbelly Paola Davila

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An operating room (OR) is considered to be one of the most costly functional areas within hospitals as well as its major profit center. It is known that managing an OR department is a challenging task, which requires the integration of many actors (e.g., patients, surgeons, nurses, technicians) who may have conflicting interests and priorities.

Considering these aspects, this dissertation focuses on developing a simulation based methodology for scheduling operating rooms under uncertainty, which reflects the complexity, uncertainty and variability associated with surgery.

We split the process of scheduling ORs under uncertainty into two main components. First, we designed a …

Steam, Electricity & Gas : Historical Perspectives On What We Drive Today And Why, Michael Edward Flinton

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT

A Mathematical Modeling Framework For Phlebotomist Scheduling And Blood Draw Assignments In Laboratory Medicine, Laquanda T. Leaven

Dissertations

Laboratory services in healthcare delivery systems play a vital role in inpatient care. Studies have shown that laboratory data affects approximately 65% of the most critical decisions on admission, discharge, and medication. Laboratory testing accounts for approximately 10% of hospital billing. Reducing laboratory costs would contribute to reducing total healthcare cost, which is one of the major goals for the U.S. healthcare delivery system. This research focuses on improving the performance of the hospital laboratory in a large hospital system. The intention of this study is to identify and then optimize the most critical stage to improve the entire laboratory …

A Neurophysiologic Study Of Visual Fatigue In Stereoscopic Related Displays, Hanniebey Dolphyne Nutung-Wiyor

Dissertations

Two tasks were investigated in this study. The first study investigated the effects of alignment display errors on visual fatigue. The experiment revealed the following conclusive results: First, EEG data suggested the possibility of cognitively-induced time compensation changes due to a corresponding effect in real-time brain activity by the eyes trying to compensate for the alignment. The magnification difference error showed more significant effects on all EEG band waves, which were indications of likely visual fatigue as shown by the prevalence of simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ) increases across all task levels. Vertical shift errors were observed to be prevalent in …

Emerging Capability Or Continuous Challenge? Relocating Knowledge Work And Managing Process Interfaces, Stephan Manning, Thomas Hutzschenreuter, Alexander Strathmann

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This study examines interface management as a dynamic organizational capability supporting an increasing global distribution of knowledge work, based on an in-depth case of an automotive supplier. We show how local responses to experiences of task and interface ambiguity following the relocation of R&D processes may lead to a shift of organizational attention from ex-ante process design to continuous process and interface management. Findings suggest that flexible interface manager positions and partnership structures across locations facilitate local experimentation with effective transfer and handling of ambiguous and partially tacit tasks. This enhances the firm’s capacity to distribute an increasing variety of …

Implementation Of Project Based Learning Technique To Enhance Engineering Education, Dinesh Kanigolla

Masters Theses

"This study investigated the impact of introducing a semester project into three engineering courses where practical application of theoretical knowledge is applicable. Three courses were examined in this work: an undergraduate course in quality, a graduate course in Lean, and a graduate course in Six Sigma. For this research, student teams were given hands-on-projects that included collaboration with local companies. Surveys were conducted to assess the impact of project based learning on students' knowledge. Student responses were recorded and analyzed to determine how students felt the use of the semester project affected the course and to identify the response patterns …