Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

A Quantitative Model For Truck Parking Utilization With Hours Of Service Regulations, Alexis Christine Gaddy

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Continual growth in traffic volume on U.S. Highways and insufficient parking for commercial trucking vehicles has led to significant safety concerns for truck drivers. Hours of Service (HOS) regulations dictate driving and rest periods of truck drivers. When a truck driver must stop as designated by the HOS regulations and the nearest parking location is at capacity, the trucker must either continue driving past the HOS limit or park in an undesignated and possibly illegal or unsafe spot such as an off-ramp. The combination of these two variables play an important role in the safety of truck drivers on a …

Performance Analysis Of Organizations As Complex Systems., William C. Harrington Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides a method for evaluating the difference in performance after an organization makes a change while considering the stochastic nature in which it operates. A procedure that uses simulation to estimate outcomes by adjusting controllable parameters and leaving uncontrolled parameters unadjusted is proposed. As healthcare organizations are considered as highly complex systems, a case study involving a scheduling tactic change in the mother-baby service line of a hospital is used to demonstrate application of this procedure. The goal in the case study was to reduce delays in transitioning care of mother patients from the labor and delivery unit …

A Multi-Period Facility Location Model For Service Organizations Operating In A Competitive Environment., Sven W. Brose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis develops a multi-period, mathematical programming location model for facilities operating in a competitive environment. The objective is to maximize the profit in a variable demand environment. The solution of the problem can either be done in a robust or in a dynamic manner. A robust solution methodology forecasts the demand for all the periods in the planning horizon and provides a robust solution that may be suboptimal for any given period, but optimal when all the periods are taken into consideration. A problem with this approach is that it requires accurate forecast of demand for multiple periods into …

The Effect Of Role Assignment And Personality Subtypes In Simulation On Critical Thinking Development, Situation Awareness, And Perceived Self-Efficacy Of Nursing Baccalaureate Students., Dustin Travis Weiler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have evaluated the effectiveness of high fidelity patient simulators (HFPS) on nursing training. However, a gap exists on the effects of role assignment and student personality subtypes in simulation scenarios. This thesis explored the effects of role assignment and personality on critical thinking, situation awareness, and self-efficacy in baccalaureate-level nursing students. Using researcher-developed tools and altering previously validated tools to fit the simulation scenario, the effects of role assignment and personality were determined. Role assignment and personality were found to have a significant effect on critical thinking and self-efficacy, but not situation awareness. It was determined that roles …

Applying Kaizen To University Teaching Through Weekly Course Evaluation, Ingo Kregel

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

Current evaluation standards in German higher education institutions (HEIs) most often do not lead to measurable quality improvement. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate whether Kaizen can be a useful methodology to improve the quality of teaching on course level and intensify the exchange and discussion between lecturers and learners.

From The Head To The Heart: A Case Study Of The Start-Up Year For Lean Six Sigma In University College Dublin, Michael Sinnott

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

The purpose of this paper is to reflect back on the first year of running a Lean Six Sigma programme in University College Dublin. This year begins after the decision to run a process enhancement and culture change project using Lean Six Sigma has been taken, a high level implementation plan signed off, and the UCD Agile support unit created.

Stakeholder Theory: Implications For Total Quality Management In Higher Education, Louis Hickman, Mesut Akdere

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

No abstract provided.

Preface, Chad Laux, Jiju Antony, Elizabeth Cudney

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

Preface for the Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Lean Six Sigma for Higher Education.

Leadership’S Guide For Achieving Sustainable Lean Six Sigma Program Change In Higher Educational Institutions, Sandra Furterer

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

This paper will highlight the current research, practices and an innovative framework for enhancing Lean Six Sigma leadership engagement, and program success in higher educational institutions.

The Elimination Of Waste In Higher Education: Prescriptions For Doing The Right Things The Right Way, Michael Hayden, Randy Peters

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

The authors defined waste in higher education and describe proven strategies to reduce waste, from and engineering and technical background, informed by HE administrative perspectives. It is important to categorize waste and then prioritize it because effort should be spent on eliminating the waste that has the greatest potential to improve the efficiency of the entire system. Waste can only be dealt with by someone with the span of control over that waste.

A Continuous Improvement Journey In The Higher Education Sector: A Case Study Of A University In Ireland, Seamus O’Reilly, Joe Healy, Tom Murphy, Ronan O’Dubhghaill

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

The paper’s purpose is to contribute to a developing literature in relation to Continuous Improvement (CI), incorporating Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This paper follows on from a previous study which focused on the initial steps taken by an Irish university on its CI journey by discussing the next steps, detailing the findings from these.

Utilizing Six Sigma Methodology For Training Undergraduate Student For Conducting Global Field Research, Kritika Chopra, Shweta Chopra, Chad Laux

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

With the increase in demand for the global research, scholars in engineering and technology discipline do not hesitate in taking up global opportunity for conducting research. Training the next generation for such international research opportunity is key and involving undergraduate students’ beyond study abroad is important.

A Value-Stream Mapping Success Story: Mba Recruiting Process Improvements, Paulette S. Alexander, Janyce Brennan Fadden

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

The benefits of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) in higher education are highlighted through this case study which demonstrates that by using the practices of VSM, the graduate recruiting process can be successfully improved by engaging faculty and staff in change events and with rigorous follow up.

Learning Lean Six Sigma: A Student Reflective Study, Chad Laux, Ludmila Nunes

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma has become a worldwide effort at continuous improvement. As it becomes more prevalent, the teaching and learning of LSS has not caught up with current trends. The purpose of this paper is to understand how students learn Lean Six Sigma in a classroom environment.

How To Use Lean Six Sigma To Improve Service Processes In Higher Education: A Case Study, Na Li, Susan Ely, Chad Laux

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

The purpose of this paper is to explore how to use Six Sigma to improve the service process in higher education.

Investigation Of Influential Factors On Selecting An Engineering Major., Paige A. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis evaluates the factors that freshman engineering students at the University of Louisville are taking into consideration when deciding on their major within engineering. The outcome of the research is expected to help to shape the syllabus of the ENGR 110 course, which is a mandatory class for all freshman engineering students. ENGR 110 is comprised of course lectures, department presentations, and company presentations. Currently, both the department and company presentations are held outside of course times. The influential factors identified by this research may help shape the course so that these factors are discussed thoroughly about each major …

Integrated Literature Review Of Information Technology Leadership In Higher Education: Implications For Total Quality Management, Louis Hickman, Mesut Akdere

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

The current shortage of highly skilled employees across the country continues to be a concern for our higher education (HE) institutions. Information technology (IT) is used in a variety of ways to expand the reach of education, from distance education, simulation technology, Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and more. Additionally, public HE institutions face flat and decreasing funding. IT departments are responsible for identifying transformational change opportunities, implementing technologies that expand the reach of our universities, and operating efficiently with flat funding. Therefore, identifying effective IT leadership practices to enable change and reduce costs is vital to success for modern …

Resolving Stakeholder Challenges In The Higher Education System, Godson A. Tetteh

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

The purpose of this paper is to study how to resolve conflicts among major the stakeholders using the Kano et al. (1984) model so as to improve the quality of higher education (HE).

A Lean Six Sigma Approach For Improving Utilization Of Walk-In Tutors, Sandra Furterer, Kellie Schneider, Michael Key, Yusheng "Johnny” Zhang

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

The purpose of this study is to improve the utilization of walk-in tutors at the University of Dayton.

Lean Six Sigma In Academic Institutions—Uk Vs. Rest Of The World, Stephen Anthony, Jiju Antony

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

The main purpose of this paper is to illustrate examples of the current maturity of universities both in the UK and abroad when implementing a continuous improvement programme or change agenda using techniques such as Lean Six Sigma.

Designing For Standardizing On Six Sigma Education, Jing Lu, Chad Laux, Aswathy Suresh

International Conference on Lean Six Sigma

This study evaluated differing sources of the Lean Six Sigma body of knowledge with the purpose of standardizing on learning outcomes for a Black Belt graduate level course.

Service Consistency In Vehicle Routing, Kunlei Lian

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies service consistency in the context of multi-period vehicle routing problems (VRP) in which customers require repeatable services over a planning horizon of multiple days. Two types of service consistency are considered, namely, driver consistency and time consistency. Driver consistency refers to using the fewest number of different drivers to perform all of the visits required by a customer over a planning horizon and time consistency refers to visiting a customer at roughly the same time on each day he/she needs service. First, the multi-objective consistent VRP is defined to explore the trade-offs between the objectives of travel …

Brain Lesions Among Orally Fed And Gastrostomy-Fed Dysphagic Preterm Infants: Can Routine Qualitative Or Volumetric Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Predict Feeding Outcomes?, Nasser H. Kashou, Irfaan Akram Dar, Mohamed A. El-Mahdy, Charles Pluto, Mark Smith, Ish K. Gulati, Warren Lo, Sudarshan R. Jadcherla

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Introduction: The usefulness of qualitative or quantitative volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in early detection of brain structural changes and prediction of adverse outcomes in neonatal illnesses warrants further investigation. Our aim was to correlate certain brain injuries and the brain volume of feeding-related cortical and subcortical regions with feeding method at discharge among preterm dysphagic infants.

Materials and methods: Using a retrospective observational study design, we examined MRI data among 43 (22 male; born at 31.5 ± 0.8 week gestation) infants who went home on oral feeding or gastrostomy feeding (G-tube). MRI scans were segmented, and volumes of brainstem, …

Decision Support Models For A Few Critical Problems In Transportation System Design And Operations, Ran Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Transportation system is one of the key functioning components of the modern society and plays an important role in the circulation of commodity and growth of economy. Transportation system is not only the major influencing factor of the efficiency of large-scale complex industrial logistics, but also closely related to everyone’s daily life. The goals of an ideal transportation system are focused on improving mobility, accessibility, safety, enhancing the coordination of different transportation modals and reducing the impact on the environment, all these activities require sophisticated design and plan that consider different factors, balance tradeoffs and maintaining efficiency. Hence, the design …

Strategies For Reducing Preventable Hospital Readmissions On Medicare Patients, Andres Patricio Garcia-Arce

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The high expenditure of healthcare in the United States (U.S.) does not translate into better quality of care. Indeed, the U.S. healthcare system is recognized by its lack of efficiency and waste (which represents about 20% of the country’s healthcare expenses). Lack of coordination is one of the most referenced causes of waste in the U.S. healthcare system, and preventable hospital readmissions have been acknowledged to be evidence of poor coordination of care. In fiscal year 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established financial penalties for inpatient care reimbursements in hospitals with excessive readmissions. All the same, …

Design And Optimization Of An Explosive Storage Policy In Internet Fulfillment Warehouses, Sevilay Onal

Dissertations

This research investigates the warehousing operations of internet retailers. The primary physical process in internet retail is fulfillment, which typically involves a large internet fulfillment warehouse (IFW) that has been built and designed exclusively for online sales and an accompanying parcel delivery network. Based on observational studies of IFW operations at a leading internet retailer, the investigations find that traditional warehousing methods are being replaced by new methods which better leverage information technology and efficiently serve the new internet retail driven supply chain economy. Traditional methods assume a warehouse moves bulk volumes to retail points where the bulks get broken …

Revisiting The One-Sided Ewma Control Chart Design, Duy Anh Duong-Tran

Masters Theses

Over the past half-century, Exponential Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) control charts have been widely used in Statistical Process Control to detect small and persistent process shifts. In theory, EWMA control limits monotonically increase over time to account for the continual growth of the EWMA statistic’s variance. These control limits are often assumed constant and are set to their respective asymptotic limits. While not theoretically correct, this simplifies the process of applying and analyzing the EWMA control chart while having little effect on the chart’s performance. One-Sided EWMA charts are often implemented when it is only desirable to detect shifts in …

Impact Of A Localized Lean Six Sigma Implementation On Overall Patient Safety And Process Efficiency, Luvianca G. Gil-Moreno

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Continuous quality improvement tools have been widely used in the Healthcare Industry to increase efficiency and patient safety as well as to reduce cost. This research explores the impact of a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) process improvement initiative on the overall process efficiency and patient safety in the Labor and Delivery (L+D) units of a large hospital provider. This study focuses on the application of a modeling and simulation methodology to investigate the influence of a localized process improvement intervention on the overall L+D unit output by considering patient flow, system capacity, and unit performance. The simulation models capacity profiles …

Learning Curves: An Alternative Analysis, Sharif F. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Learning curves are used to describe and estimate the cost performance of a serial production process. There are numerous different models and methods, however, it is not definitively known which is preferred. The research objective is to performance compare the more common learning curve models. The research goal is improved understanding of the systemic cost drivers of a production process, their relationship to cost, and present modeling methods. The research method is qualitative analysis combined with statistical regression modeling. The research identified that preference for one function or another depended upon the shape of the data and how well a …

Optimal Bidding Strategy For A Strategic Power Producer Using Mixed Integer Programming, Sayed Abdullah Sadat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The thesis focuses on a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation for a bi-level mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) considering chance constraints. The particular MPEC problem relates to a power producer’s bidding strategy: maximize its total benefit through determining bidding price and bidding power output while considering an electricity pool’s operation and guessing the rival producer’s bidding price. The entire decision-making process can be described by a bi-level optimization problem. The contribution of our thesis is the MILP formulation of this problem considering the use of chance constrained mathematical program for handling the uncertainties.

First, the lower-level poor operation …