Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Acuta Enews July 1999, Vol.28, No. 7

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New Board for 1999-2000

ACUTA EVENTS

Fall Seminars Focus on Customer Service & New Technologies

DC Update

Legislative & Regulatory Alert

They Answered Our Call

Board Report

Welcome New Members

Positions Available

Development Of A Hierarchical Model-Based Decision Support System (Dss) For Production Planning And Control Systems, Khaled Mohamed Sami Abdel-Hamid

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Evolving Neural Networks Applied To Predator-Evader Problem, Shivakumar Viswanathan, Ilker Ersoy, Filiz Bunyak, Cihan H. Dagli

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The creation of strategies to meet abstract goals is an important behavior exhibited by natural organisms. A situation requiring the development of such strategies is the predator-evader problem. To study this problem, Khepera robots are chosen as the competing agents. Using computer simulations the evolution of the adaptive behavior is studied in a predator-evader interaction. A bilaterally symmetrical multilayer perceptron neural network architecture with evolvable weights is used to model the “brains” of the agents. Evolutionary programming is employed to evolve the predator for developing adaptive strategies to meet its goals. To study the effect of learning on evolution a …

Exploring Participation Processes For Technology Development: Case Studies Of Biotechnology Research And Development Projects In Thailand, Omjai Yuktavetya

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

There is increased awareness in the organizational and management literature that participation can make contributions in technology development. One of the problems in developing biotechnology in Thailand is that only a small portion of publicly funded research and development projects directly result in commercial success. Among the reasons cited (TDRI 1992a) is a lack of collaboration between various stakeholders; therefore, an effective technology policy to support their participation is needed. This research explores current participation processes in biotechnology research and development projects in Thailand in which there were different perspectives among various stakeholders. The quantitative and qualitative methodologies developed here …

The Effectiveness Of An On-Line Graduate Engineering Management Course, Rosemarie Maffei Evans, Madison Daily, Susan L. Murray

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the summer of 1997, the Engineering Management Department of the University of Missouri-Rolla's (UMR) began offering its first Internet-based graduate level course. This course, Advanced Production Management, was designed to utilize a combination of Internet-based tools, such as EMail and Chat rooms to create a alternative means for the delivery of course material. This paper will draw these following conclusions from more than a year of research, which included over 100 students in six different course offerings. First, the Internet-based students performed equally as well as the control group students. Second, students tend to have exaggerated time requirement expectations …

Industrial Engineering Made Simple, Deena Daggett, Sema E. Alptekin

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Many high school students these days do not quickly recognize or identify Industrial Engineering (IE) procedures, practices, and products. Recruitment of qualified students into IE programs requires continuous planning, publicizing, and networking. Traditional recruitment efforts have included high school visits, brochures & flyers, and university-sponsored workshops. However, these techniques have only achieved mediocre success. Currently, a need exists for new promotional materials that utilize visual tools and provide a “hands-on” approach. We have developed several exercises that successfully introduce IE. Two such exercises are explained in this paper. The first exercise demonstrates the differences between Assembly line and Cellular Manufacturing …

Acuta Enews June 1999, Vol.28, No. 6

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Winners Announced in Student Papers Contest

Conference Offers Many Choices

Dues Notices Mailed

Does It Make Sense?

Board Report

Share Your Expertise

DC at a Glance

Positions Available

Welcome New Members

A Five-Year Development Plan For The California Aviation Database, H.-S. Jacob Tsao

Faculty Publications

The California Aviation Database (CAvD) project was suggested by Caltrans Aeronautics Program to fulfill a need of the planners involved in aviation system planning and programming activities to locate and access aviation data and information in an efficient and comprehensive way. CAvD is being implemented in the form of an Internet website and is currently intended as a five-year project. However, the development can be accelerated, and the duration will depend on the available resources. CAvD is a joint project between the National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Its primary …

Moving Transportation Toward Sustainable Development: The Need For A Paradigm Shift, Bahador Ghahramani, Stephen A. Raper

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Despite progress in controlling exhaust emissions, the increase of cars on the road will surpass progress in emission control technology. The automobile is currently responsible for 50% of world fossil fuel consumption, 15-20% of CO₂ emissions worldwide and overwhelming particulate air pollution in many urban centers. Current efforts in emissions control have been focused on improving the efficiency of fuels and automobiles and their emissions. However, as a mode of transportation, the automobile is one of the most inefficient, both in environmental and economic costs. Even the most efficient cars developed today will still significantly contribute to the amount …

Management Information System For Iso 9000, Reem Mahmoud Abdel Motaal

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Impact Of Design For Environment Guidelines : A Case Study Of Office Telephones, Hussam Fawzi Al-Okush

Theses

This research addresses a fundamental question: How much of the improvement in a product's environmental performance is directly attributable to the Design for Environment (DFE) tools and guidelines, and how much results simply from other design objectives or enabling technologies? The research examines four generations of a business telephone over the last thirty years, including the current generation, which has been designed using DEE guidelines. A lifecycle assessment (LCA) and demanufacturing analysis were performed on each of the first three generations to determine various technology and non-DEE trends. This information was used to forecast the progression to a 1997 non-DEE …

Acuta Enews May 1999, Vol. 28, No. 5

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Board Approves Slate of Nominees

Moderators & Monitors Needed in Nashville!

Board Report

Who Pays for Cellular Calls?

DC at a Glance

Positions Available

Welcome New Members

Simulation Modeling Presentations: The Life Cycle, Edward Yellig, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

A typical large scale simulation modeling project spans many months and encompasses activities such as problem definition, data collection, model development, experimentation, and scenario analysis. During the life cycle of a simulation project, numerous presentations are made to many different types of audiences. The purpose of these presentations will vary from seeking project approval, requesting information, discussing simulation model features, verifying the model, validating the model, presenting the experimental results, and offering model conclusions. This paper will discuss presentation techniques we used during a year-long simulation-modeling project. We will highlight techniques used for defining the purpose of each presentation, identifying …

Use Of Feedforward Neural Networks For Machine Vision Calibration, Mark B. Lynch, Cihan H. Dagli, Mahesh Vallenki

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Machine vision calibration is an important step to obtaining usable measurements in inspection and automation operations. Conventional calibration techniques require the development of elaborate mathematical models and have prior knowledge of many parameters. Creating a suitable model and obtaining reasonable values for some calibration parameters is often difficult and error prone. In this article, a neural network approach is presented as an indirect non-linear optimization method to machine vision calibration. This approach does not require a mathematical model be developed nor any prior knowledge about the setup or calibration parameters. A universal calibration approach is developed and utilized in various …

Graphical Display And Data Structure For Virtual Prototyping, David William Manry

Doctoral Dissertations

One of the goals of engineering firms is to bring better products to market faster. Although concurrent engineering can aid in this endeavor, it requires that all areas of an organization work simultaneously. Thus, current product data must be accessible to everyone.

Virtual prototyping allows this simultaneous exchange of information. Virtual prototyping not only replaces the physical model in product development with a virtual model, but also it goes further by allowing data associated with each part of the model to be accessed. This data is not limited to just geometric properties but could contain other quantifiable properties, such as …

Acuta Enews April 1999, Vol.28, No. 4

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Calling-Party-Pays Cellular to Get Legislative Push from Cellular Industry

Midwest Local Events

Achievements Award Nominations

Van Houweling to Speak on Internet2

Michael Zastrocky Described Enterprise 2004

Board Report

Near-TV-Quality Over Net

DC at a Glance

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Acuta Enews March 1999, Vol.28, No. 3

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In This Issue

Austin Peay Survives Tornado

Nominate Now for Board of Directors

Tips to Make Your Presentation Better

President's Message

ACUTA Spring Seminars

Preparing Competitive Proposals

Board Report

DC at a Glance

Positions Available

Welcome New Members

Implementation Of The Metaheuristic Tabu Search In Route Selection For Mobility Analysis Support System, David M. Ryer

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis employs a reactive tabu search heuristic implemented in the Java programming language to solve a real world variation of the vehicle routing problem with the objective of providing quality routes to Mobility Analysis Support System (MASS). MASS is a stochastic simulation model used extensively by Air Mobility Command (AMC) to analyze strategic airlift capabilities and future procurement decisions. This dynamic real world problem of strategic and tactical airlift possesses a number of side constraints such as vehicle capacities, route length and time windows in a sizeable network with multiple depots and a large fleet of heterogeneous vehicles. Finding …

Portfolio Selection Of Innovative Technologies Via Life Cycle Cost Modeling, Scott C. Naylor

Theses and Dissertations

High technology firms are faced with the dilemma of deciding which products to develop, which generations of technology to pass over, and which products to skip entirely. As competition among these firms increases and the life cycles of technological products shorten, there exists a great deal of pressure to bring products rapidly to the market. As a result, recouping the costs of research and development (R & D) and earning a profit becomes increasingly uncertain. Traditional life cycle cost models do not directly address shortened life cycles, time to market, or learning curve issues; all are critical factors in the …

Multi-Discipline Network Vulnerability Assessment, Karilynne Wallace

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force Space Command has a mission to provide real-time, survivable, and enduring communications, surveillance, environmental monitoring, navigation, and warning....according to Air Force Space Handbook - A War Fighters Guide to Space. In order to prevent disruption of the critical networks in Space Command, a vulnerability assessment must be performed. The set of components called a vulnerability set, which could cause network disruption, must be identified and prioritized. In order to move beyond subjective prioritization, implementation of a quantitative methodology that measures the value of each vulnerability set is needed. This thesis proposes a technique for vulnerability assessment of a …

The Quota Allocation Model: The Linear Optimization Of A Markov Decision Process, David A. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

One of the many needs of the Air Force is advanced technical degrees. These degrees can be acquired in three ways: the Air Force can directly recruit personnel with the required degrees; Air Force personnel can obtain them during off duty time from local civilian colleges near their base; or the Air Force can provide advanced academic degrees (AADs) through the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) or AFIT-sponsored programs. In 1995, the AFIT Commandant initiated a re-engineering study to review the AFIT mission. One of the initiatives of that study was the Quota Allocation Model (QuAM). The QuAM model …

Strategic Effects Of Airpower And Complex Adaptive Agents: An Initial Investigation, Thomas R. Tighe

Theses and Dissertations

US airpower theory and doctrine depend on the concept that the destruction of a few key targets or centers of gravity can unravel the enemy's physical ability to wage war or break his will to prosecute the war. This synergistic decimation of the enemy's effectiveness and resistance to our political will is known as Strategic Effects. These strategic effects are very difficult to quantify and are not directly accounted for in current DoD computer models. Since these computer models are used to aid with decisions about force structure and budget priorities, many believe that the Air Force's greatest potential contribution …

A Validation Assessment Of Thunder 6.5'S Intelligence, Surveillance, And Reconnaissance Module, Francine N. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

A validation assessment of THUNDER 6.5's Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) module is accomplished using formulational and experimental validation techniques. A comparison of ISR purposes and processes according to military doctrine is made with the purposes and processes of ISR implemented within THUNDER 6.5. This comparison provides an overview of the process, an understanding of the level of aggregation within THUNDER, insight into possible problem areas in THUNDER, and a basis for improving THUNDER ISR processes. Sensitivity analysis of the ISR parameters as they relate to the Quality, Quantity, and Timeliness of ISR is also presented to provide insight into …

Pilot Inventory Complex Adaptive System (Picas): An Artificial Life Approach To Managing Pilot Retention, Martin P. Gaupp

Theses and Dissertations

The retention of skilled pilots continues to be a problem that plagues the United States Air Force. After spending millions of dollars on training and education, it is disheartening to see the mass exodus of experienced aviators from the Air Force that has been occurring in the past decade. Many blame the economy, others the Air Force itself but few are able to accurately predict how or why they are all leaving. The current personnel models do not adequately determine retention rates. Complex adaptive systems theory, however, might provide some insight. By modeling the system at the pilot's level, allowing …

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Mission Level Simulation, Jennifer G. Walston

Theses and Dissertations

We develop an object-oriented simulation that models the surveillance and Active Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) missions of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) RQ-1A Predator. The simulation, written in Java using the Silk simulation package, interfaces with a Reactive Tabu Search routing algorithm to provide optimal UAV routes. The routing algorithm is called by the simulation to account for changes in weather conditions and to provide a means of dynamically retasking the UAV. The simulation and analysis support a UAV Battlelab initiative to test the operational effects of proposed changes in Predator performance and UAV capability to perform in …

A New Sequential Goodness Of Fit Test For The Three-Parameter Gamma Distribution With Known Shape Based On Skewness And Kurtosis, Chil Ho Park

Theses and Dissertations

This research presents a new sequential goodness of fit test for the three-parameter gamma distribution with a known shape. The test is accomplished by employing two new tests, sample skewness and sample kurtosis, sequentially as test statistics. Unlike the typical goodness of fit test, using parameter estimation methods such as maximum likelihood estimation and minimum distance estimation, this test using the two test statistics above does not involve a substantial degree of computational complexity. Large Monte Carlo simulation has been used to determine critical values and overall significance levels for all combinations of the two tests, and to conduct extensive …

Decision Analysis Methodology To Evaluate Organization, Shawn C. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

The organizational structure of the civil engineer squadron's operations flight has undergone numerous changes over the last fifty years. Today the structure of the flight to the element level is mandated by Air Force Instructions; however, each unit is given the flexibility to organize below the element level. Most civil engineer units are struggling through the decision of how to organize their flights without a sound methodology to guide their efforts. Providing such a methodology is the objective of this thesis. To accomplish the objective, the history behind the operations flight structure was researched. In addition to this historical research, …

A Bayesian Decision Model For Battle Damage Assessment, Daniel W. Franzen

Theses and Dissertations

Battle damage assessment (BDA) is critical to success in any air campaign. However, Desert Storm highlighted numerous deficiencies in the BDA process, and operations since Desert Storm continue to point out weaknesses. We present a review of the Phase I BDA decision, or physical damage assessment, and model the decision process using a Bayesian belief network. Through subject matter expert (i.e., the targeteers) elicitation sessions, imagery was found to be critically important to the BDA process yet this information is generally not retained. This use of "perfect information" is delineated in the BDA process models. We proposed a methodology based …

Two-Stage Stochastic Linear Programming With Recourse: A Characterization Of Local Regions Using Response Surface Methodology, David T. Mills

Theses and Dissertations

The LP recourse problem applies to two-stage optimization problems where uncertainty in resource availability of the second stage hinders informed decision making. The recourse function affords a way to compensate "later" for an error in prediction "now." The literature provides a rich body of work on the optimization of such problems, but little research has been accomplished regarding the characterization of the surface in the local region of optimality, in particular sensitivity analysis. A decision maker faced with considerations other than the modeled objective function must be presented with a way to estimate the impact of operating at non-optimal decision …

An Approach For Tasking Allocated Combat Resources To Targets, David A. Koewler

Theses and Dissertations

Tasking allocated combat aircraft to strike targets is a complicated and time-consuming process for combat planners. Currently, the process of scheduling missions is a two to four day process. To be able to respond quickly to the changing conditions of the battlefield, the military needs to compress the time that this process requires. Despite efforts to develop computer-based tools to automatically plan missions, combat planners still manually perform most of the tasking and scheduling of aircraft and targets. Unfortunately some of the tools currently available are perceived to be complicated and time consuming to use by the planners. They also …