Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

The Effects Of Anti-Price Gouging Legislation On Supply Chain Dynamics, Jason Edward Maynard

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to model the effects of anti-price gouging (APG) legislation on the costs to businesses during the recovery period of a disaster. A system dynamics model of a business’s replenishment procedures is used to simulate the effects of APG legislation on business performance. Economists have published expansive research on the effects of price ceilings on supply and demand, but there is little research evidence on the operational consequences of price ceiling legislation on business costs. APG legislation increases consumer’s forward buying and shortage gaming after a disaster by removing price incentives to be frugal. Forward …

Quantifying The Carbon Footprint Of Lean Waste, Kristen Donovan Balinski

Masters Theses

"The objective of this paper is to provide a method of quantifying lean wastes in terms of carbon dioxide emissions by using value stream mapping. Lean manufacturing, a process based on waste identification and reduction, is a growing trend in industry and a proven method of lowering costs. The environmental impact of these wastes can be quantified by identifying the metrics associated with them, and using existing reports to convert those metrics into measurements of carbon dioxide. Growing environmental concerns are prompting federal government regulation of greenhouse gas or carbon dioxide emissions, as seen in the American Clean Energy and …

Integration Of Model-Based Systems Engineering And Virtual Engineering Tools For Detailed Design, Akshay Kande

Masters Theses

"Design and development of a system can be viewed as a process of transferring and transforming data using a set of tools that form the system's development environment. Conversion of the systems engineering data into useful information is one of the prime objectives of the tools used in the process. With complex systems, the objective is further augmented with a need to represent the information in an accessible and comprehensible manner. The importance of representation is easily understood in light of the fact that the stakeholder's ability to make prompt and appropriate decisions is directly related to his understanding of …

Proving Sustainability: The International Development Monitoring Initiative, Evan A. Thomas, Zdenek Zumr

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nearly a billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water, two billion have inadequate sanitation facilities, three billion use biomass for their daily energy needs and nearly half the world's population live in rural isolation, lacking access to the most basic human services. Combined, these limitations are a leading cause of the perpetuating cycle of poverty and political insecurity. Meanwhile, the majority of international development agencies are responsible for self-reporting project outcomes. At best, expert spot-checks are conducted in the field occasionally. These results tend to show individual project success, while meta- surveys indicate on-going challenges in …

Presentation: Proving Sustainability: The International Development Monitoring Initiative, Evan A. Thomas

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presentation detailing the activities and products of the Sustainable Water, Energy and Environmental Technologies Laboratory at Portland State University (SWEETLab). The lab also works to develop standards to help evaluate and compare projects and outcomes around the world. Water treatment and sanitation practices, as well as newly designed cookstoves, are highlighted.

Delayed-Bang Approach Towards More Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Risk Management, C. Ariel Pinto, Michael K. Mcshane, Abhishek S. Pathak

Finance Faculty Publications

This article describes the Delayed Bang Approach for determining the value of risk management alternatives in critical infrastructure security. The discussion includes (1) the need for sustainable risk management (2) the importance of time valuation in evaluating competing loss prevention and loss reduction alternatives, (3) the convergence of deterministic engineering economics, survivability analysis, and probabilistic analysis, and (4) hypothetical examples of the Delayed-Bang Approach and significance towards more sustainable risk management.

Development Of Risk Uncertainty Factors From Historical Nasa Projects, Tahani R. Amer

EMSE Doctoral Projects

NASA is a good investment of federal funds and strives to provide the best value to the nation. NASA has consistently budgeted to unrealistic cost estimates, which are evident in the cost growth in many of its programs. In this investigation, NASA has been using available uncertainty factors from the Aerospace Corporation, Air Force, and Booz Allen Hamilton to develop projects' risk posture. NASA has no insight into the developmental of these factors and, as demonstrated here, this can lead to unrealistic risks in many NASA Programs and projects (P/p). The primary contribution of this project is the development of …

Developing A Time And Motion Study For A Lean Healthcare Environment, Michael Winston Patton Jr.

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis outlines the development of a standard methodology for performing a time and motion study in a lean healthcare environment. Time and motion studies have been used in healthcare environments in the past, however they have nearly all been exclusive to a particular healthcare enterprise. To develop the time and motion study methodology, a study was designed to examine how resident doctors spend their time. This study was performed in response to coming changes in the work hours for all residents. Once the methodology was developed, trial observations were conducted. The data from these observations was analyzed to determine …

Development Of Stem Tools Using Nasa's Systems Engineering Design Approach, J Chevallier, D Hamilton, B Landers, W Landers, B Setayesh

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of Nasa's System Engineering Design Process In The Development Of An Optical Guitar Pickup, Stephanie Buckner, Jared Nelson, Ben Fowler, Samuel Hobbs, Chris Kirchner

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

How A Systems Engineer Starts..., Herman Migliore

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Dr. Migliore will review systems engineering as a process for developing products, processes, and services and suggest views that encourage systems thinking. As an example, he will focus on the beginning of the development process, the fuzzy front end, and discuss a method, ConOps, for getting started using examples from PSU's masters program.

International Space Station Systems Engineering Case Study, Air Force Center For Systems Engineering, Bill Stockman, Joe Boyle, John Bacon

AFIT Documents

This case study on the International Space Station considers what many believe to have been the ultimate international engineering project in history. The initial plans involved the direct participation of 16 nations, 88 launches and over 160 spacewalks-more space activities than NASA had accomplished prior to the 1993 International Space Station decision. Probably more important was the significant leap in System Engineering (SE) execution that would be required to build and operate a multi-national space station. In a short period of time, NASA and its partners had to work out how to integrate culturally different SE approaches, designs, languages and …

Post-Project Risk Perception And Systems Management Reaction, Baqer Alali

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this research is to identify whether risk management in projects has any role in risk management in systems. Projects, systems, and risk management are three integral concepts in the management of various enterprises and agencies. Risk management is a common concept in systems and project processes. To avoid failures or crisis during their life cycles, projects and systems managers practice risk management. Projects and systems have well defined life cycles during which the risk is defined, controlled, and managed. Risk management is conducted in each phase of projects and systems. Projects are initiated to close certain operational …

Developing Sustainable Life Support System Concepts, Evan A. Thomas

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sustainable spacecraft life support concepts may allow the development of more reliable technologies for long-duration space missions. Currently, life support technologies at different levels of development are not well evaluated against each other, and evaluation methods do not account for long-term reliability and sustainability of the hardware. This paper presents point-of-departure Sustainable System Mass (SSM) evaluation criteria for life support systems that may allow more robust technology development, testing, and comparison. An example sustainable water recovery system concept is presented.

Second-Generation International Space Station Total Organic Carbon Analyzer Verification Testing And On-Orbit Performance Results, Nicole L. Bentley, Evan A. Thomas, Michael Van Wie, Chad Morrison

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The International Space Station (ISS) total organic carbon analyzer (TOCA) is designed to autonomously assess recovered water quality by providing an indication of total organic carbon (TOC). The current TOCA has been on the ISS since November 2008. Functional checkout and operations revealed complex operating considerations. Specifically, failure of the hydrogen (H2) catalyst resulted in development of an innovative oxidation analysis method. This method reduces activation time and limits the H2 produced during analysis, while retaining the ability to indicate TOC concentrations within 25% accuracy. Subsequent testing and comparison to archived samples returned from the station and tested on the …

Lean Inventory Management System For Boeing Missile Defense, Danielle Partridge

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Lean inventory management is influential for business. One of the wastes businesses aim to reduce, using lean principles, is inventory. Inventory management provides the essential tools for eliminating extra inventory and cost that is tied up in capital.

Boeing’s Ground Based Missile Defense inventory area was failing at meeting their proprietary lean manufacturing goals. There was a need for an inventory system that included: lean principles, inventory management and user-friendly capability. The goal of this project’s inventory management database process was to minimize inventory investment while still meeting functional requirements. The deliverables for this project met the needs of Boeing’s …

Ergonomic Methods To Improve Safety In The Construction Sector And Reduce Costs, Mona Barjasteh

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Many small construction companies have difficulty providing a safe working environment for their employees because of their lack of resources. There is a need to provide a manual for small construction companies employing 10 or fewer workers with the best ergonomic solutions of the top most common injuries. Accidents in the construction field are very high with nearly 175,00o nonfatal injuries and 1,121 deaths in 2002. The nonfatal cases occur 7.1 times per 100 full time workers, while serious injuries occur 2.8 times per 100 full time workers. This information reveled the importance of focusing on minor injuries in order …

Increasing Production Capacity At A Start Up Biomedical Company, Traci J. Otsuji

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The following senior project was first introduced during a summer internship at a biomedical company called Asthmatx Inc. Asthmatx is responsible for the development and manufacturing of a catheter‐based device for moderate to severe cases of asthma. Upon the approval of FDA, Asthmatx had planned to ramp up their production capacity significantly in order to accommodate the potential growth.

The first step in the process improvement was a facility reconfiguration that involved the adjustment of process sequencing and the implementation of ergonomic catheter channels. Next, time studies were conducted to gain more accurate time standards of the production process. After …

Process Improvement For The Department Of Surgery Sierra Vista Medical Center, Jessica Paz

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This report proposes and analyzes process improvement methods for the Surgical Services Department at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center. The department currently operates with an average of 25% of elective cases starting on time. This can be attributed to a number of inefficiencies that occur throughout the hospital.

The following Industrial Engineering methods were utilized to improve patient flow:  creation of a data collection system to quantify delays  use of simulation and facility redesign techniques to determine feasibility and benefits of moving towards a surgical center model  development of a user interfaced database to record and analyze …

Police Operations Simulation, Robert Mcgee

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

In this report, the author explains the process of creating the Police Operations Simulation, shows step-by-step how it works, and statistically analyzes the results from SLOPD’s own proposed and current schedules. The data-gathering from the department and the simulation itself will receive the bulk of the coverage in this report, followed by sample results from SLOPD and a business plan for future sale to other departments.

Using the given numbers, it appears that the proposed schedule will result in significantly improved coverage for the city of San Luis Obispo. While any increase in the number officers on patrol tends to …

Ground Support Equipment For Northrop Grumman Massive Heat Transfer Experiment, Michael A. Manuel, Christopher J. Sparber, Greg A. Trent

Aerospace Engineering

California Polytechnic State University students designed, built, and certified ground support equipment for the Northrop Grumman Massive Heat Transfer Experiment. The Cal Poly design team built the 10000, 20000, and 30000 assemblies to meet Northrop Grumman requirements. The requirements included interface limitations, design load factors, delivery, and testing specifications. The design process consists of requirements generation, conceptual design, preliminary design, design reviews, manufacturing, and certification. The hardware was successfully completed and is used at the Johnson Space and Kennedy Space Center.

Cable Time Estimation Database, Joshua L. Okerman

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

The use of time standards are the basis for a high efficiency system in the manufacturing environment. This project will investigate the process followed to design and develop a database used to calculate accurate cable assembly time standards used for scheduling at General Atomics. This project will then justify the use of the Cable Time Estimation Database, through an economic analysis compared to the current methods applied.

Polyenvi, Stephen Beard, Josh Engel, Paul Fake, Diego Flores, Alvaro Nunez, Miguel Wong

Electrical Engineering

Poor indoor air quality is a problem that is recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cause health issues. In order to raise awareness of this problem, this document outlines the construction of a device that economically measures air quality through five metrics: dust, smoke, ozone, humidity, and temperature. The device integrates with a router to provide users access to information about their indoor air quality anywhere over the internet as well as local access to the data via an LCD mounted on the router. By increasing indoor air quality awareness, this device will aid users in making adjustments …

Utilizing Knowledge Transfer To Promote Management Of Countervailing Risks In Value Stream Analysis, Jeffery A. Temple

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Organizations are frequently faced with the challenges of modifying and streamlining their processes by utilizing the latest process improvement techniques such as Lean Thinking. They use these techniques to allow them to better perform their organizational purposes through the elimination of waste and non-value added steps. Personnel performing these modifications need to account for potential outcomes and risks when streamlining processes. An association of knowledge transfer and experience to the identification and handling of these countervailing or alternative risks when performing Lean Thinking value stream analysis is investigated. The elements of risk management, Lean Thinking and knowledge transfer are described. …

Towards A Formal Theory Of Interoperability, Saikou Y. Diallo

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a formal theory of interoperability that explains 1) what interoperability is as opposed to how it works, 2) how to tell whether two or more systems can interoperate and 3) how to identify whether systems are interoperating or merely exchanging bits and bytes. The research provides a formal model of data in M&S that captures all possible representations of a real or imagined thing and distinguishes between existential dependencies and transformational dependencies. Existential dependencies capture the relationships within a model while transformational dependencies capture the relationships between interactions with a model. These definitions are used to formally …

A Decision Making Construct For Complex Situations, Van Edward Brewer

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The uncertainty inherently associated with complexity challenges decision-making processes, indicating a need for a construct for decision making in complex situations. A review of the literature on systems, complexity, and paradigms indicates that such a construct must be internally consistent with well-defined philosophical foundations and further that systems and complexity (as used in complex situations) are not necessarily internally consistent with traditional philosophical foundations. Therefore, a decision making construct for complex situations requires research into different foundations. This research addresses these gaps, deriving axiological and methodological components based on a set of principles consistent with the ontology and epistemology of …

Towards A Theory Of Understanding Within Problem Situations, Jose J. Padilla

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The concept of understanding is ambiguously used across areas of study, such as philosophy and cognitive sciences. This ambiguity partly originates from understanding's generally accepted definition of 'grasping' of something. Further, the concept is confounded with concurrent processes such as learning and decision making. This dissertation provides a general theory of understanding (GTU) that explains the concept of understanding unambiguously and separated from concurrent processes.

The GTU distinguishes between the process of understanding and its outcomes. Understanding, defined as a process, is the matching of knowledge, worldview, and problem. The outcome of this process is the assignment of a truth …

Nato Human View Architecture And Human Networks, Holly A. H. Handley, Nancy P. Houston

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The NATO Human View is a system architectural viewpoint that focuses on the human as part of a system. Its purpose is to capture the human requirements and to inform on how the human impacts the system design. The viewpoint contains seven static models that include different aspects of the human element, such as roles, tasks, constraints, training and metrics. It also includes a Human Dynamics component to perform simulations of the human system under design. One of the static models, termed Human Networks, focuses on the human-to-human communication patterns that occur as a result of ad hoc or deliberate …

Funeral Services Marketing Interface To Enhance Customer Service And Overall Productivity, Alyssa R. Habing

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal of any business regardless of the industry it resides in; it’s the sole driver of a company’s productivity levels and overall success within the market. Although numb to most market fluctuations, the funeral industry needs to reinvent their business strategies continuously in order to increase their market share. It’s especially important for smaller funeral homes across the world to take this idea to another level in order to stay competitive with the larger, corporate establishments. In the past twenty years, the industry has grown exponentially due to more interest and popularity. The increase in …

Nonprofit Management Through Effective Database Utilization, Jennifer Muscat

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This project addresses problems found within a specific department within Lifewater International. Lifewater faces many unique challenges operating as a nonprofit. Like most nonprofits, elaborate costly solutions are simply not an option when solving department problems. This project addresses three interrelated problems within Lifewater’s Development and Communications Department. The three issues addressed are Volunteer Management, Donor Management, and Project Management. Each problem was examined to determine the areas for improvement that this project can handle and solve. Each problem was given an improved design. A Volunteer Management System was designed to increase volunteer utilization and appropriately match volunteers with appropriate …