Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Interactive And Dialogue Based Learning In Engineering Education, Siddartha Thummuri

Masters Theses

"This thesis focuses on a class room architecture that provides high levels of interactivity which enhances the students' learning environment both in distance and on-campus contexts and forms a basis for practical learning. Two analyses are presented in this thesis, the first one being a simple measure of levels of interactivity in this course architecture, based on rubric and the second one, a comparative analysis, to demonstrate the effectiveness of interactive (multi-directional information flow) classrooms as opposed to conventional (unidirectional information flow) classrooms and that this course architecture is ideal for enhancement of distance learning and an excellent route to …

Executable System Architecting Using Systems Modeling Language In Conjunction With Colored Petri Nets - A Demonstration Using The Geoss Network Centric System, Renzhong Wang

Masters Theses

"Models and simulation furnish abstractions to manage complexities allowing engineers to visualize the proposed system and to analyze and validate system behavior before constructing it. Unified Modeling Language (UML) and its systems engineering extension, Systems Modeling Language (SysML), provide a rich set of diagrams for systems specification. However, the lack of executable semantics of such notations limits the capability of analyzing and verifying defined specifications. This research has developed an executable system architecting framework based on SysML-CPN transformation, which introduces dynamic model analysis into SysML modeling by mapping SysML notations to Colored Petri Net (CPN), a graphical language for system …

Cognitive Biases In Risk Management, William Thomas Siefert

Masters Theses

"This thesis contends that most Risk Management/Mitigation programs fail to be as effective as they could be due to a number of mostly overlooked drivers, such as motivation and cognitive biases. The issue of cognitive biases is very seldom addressed. When questioned, most engineers purport to not have any biases. They insist that they use only logic, reasoning, and math to make decisions. A set of data was collected and reviewed for this thesis. The data presented shows that cognitive biases do affect the risk management/mitigation process. Knowledge of these biases and their potential impact on a project will lead …

Design For Auditory Displays: Identifying Temporal And Spatial Information Conveyance Principles, Ali Ahmad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Designing auditory interfaces is a challenge for current human-systems developers. This is largely due to a lack of theoretical guidance for directing how best to use sounds in today's visually-rich graphical user interfaces. This dissertation provided a framework for guiding the design of audio interfaces to enhance human-systems performance. This doctoral research involved reviewing the literature on conveying temporal and spatial information using audio, using this knowledge to build three theoretical models to aid the design of auditory interfaces, and empirically validating select components of the models. The three models included an audio integration model that outlines an end-to-end process …

Introducing Freshmen To Construction Estimating And Scheduling Using K'Nex Bridge Kits, Carol Considine, Vernon Lewis

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The College of Engineering and Technology at Old Dominion University has developed project-based courses for freshmen engineering students in order to engage them in engineering early with the goal of increasing retention. The courses are divided into three five-week modules that are distributed among the various departments within the college. The Engineering Technology department is responsible for two of the five week modules. One module is comprised of all the engineering technology curriculums; civil, electrical and mechanical, and the other module is strictly a civil engineering technology project.

The civil engineering technology project is focused on the construction industry. Students …

Multi-Phase Flow Analysis In Oil And Gas Engineering Systems And Its Modelling, Orlando F. Ayala, Luis F. Ayala, Orlando M. Ayala

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Two-phase flow is very common in industrial processes and its applications were already in use in ages as remote as the era of Archimedes. At the present time, many industrial processes rely on multi-phase phenomena for the transport of energy and mass or for material processing. During the last century, the nuclear, chemical and petroleum industries propelled intense research activity in the area. Their efforts have been aimed at the demystification of the mechanisms taking place during this complex flow situation.

Asymptotic Stability Of Nonholonomic Mobile Robot Formations Using Multilayer Neural Networks, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Travis Alan Dierks

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a combined kinematic/torque control law is developed for leader-follower based formation control using backstepping in order to accommodate the dynamics of the robots and the formation in contrast with kinematic-based formation controllers that are widely reported in the literature. A multilayer neural network (NN) is introduced along with robust integral of the sign of the error (RISE) feedback to approximate the dynamics of the follower as well as its leader using online weight tuning. It is shown using Lyapunov theory that the errors for the entire formation are asymptotically stable and the NN weights are bounded as …

Exact And Heuristic Algorithms For The Job Shop Scheduling Problem With Earliness And Tardiness Over A Common Due Date, Leonardo Bedoya-Valencia

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Scheduling has turned out to be a fundamental activity for both production and service organizations. As competitive markets emerge, Just-In-Time (JIT) production has obtained more importance as a way of rapidly responding to continuously changing market forces. Due to their realistic assumptions, job shop production environments have gained much research effort among scheduling researchers. This research develops exact and heuristic methods and algorithms to solve the job shop scheduling problem when the objective is to minimize both earliness and tardiness costs over a common due date. The objective function of minimizing earliness and tardiness costs captures the essence of the …

Integrating It-Enabled Social Networks With Transaction Cost Economics And The Resource Based View Of The Firm, Ganesh D. Bhatt, Jatinder N. D. Gupta, Sushil K. Sharma

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Prior research has mostly focused on transaction cost economics (TCE) to interpret the effect of information systems (IS) on organizational governance structures. A TCE based approach predicts that information technology (IT) will lead to increased use of electronic markets to coordinate economic transactions from electronic hierarchies. However, there is contradictory evidence in the literature regarding the rise and importance of cooperative relationships, joint ventures, and value-added partnerships integrated through information systems. To reconcile these contradictions, this paper analyzes the effect of IT on governance structures based on the TCE, social network theory, and the resource based view (RBV) of the …

In Search Of Factors To Online Game Addiction And Its Implications, Yangil Park, Jeng-Chung V. Chen

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Research has explored online users who are hooked on Internet applications such as chat rooms, web surfing, and interactive games. Online game addiction is one of the problems arisen from the use of the Internet. This study is motivated by a causal connection found from previous research of computer game addiction. The study describes two typical types of online games and looks further into the causes of the addiction by using two main theories. We also propose research hypotheses and discuss possible implications of online game addiction.

An Examination Of Internet Effectiveness For Non-Work Activities, Pruthikrai Mahatanankoon, Tim Klaus, H. Joseph Wen

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The Internet is frequently used for non-work activities. When used for these purposes, the effectiveness of the Internet in accomplishing these leisure activities becomes an important consideration. Research literature has remained relatively silent in regards to the examination of accomplishing non-work tasks through the Internet. This study uses Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a basis to predict different types of common user web activities—entertainment, communicating, and information searching. Using Structured Equation Modeling, this paper examines the effectiveness of the Internet in accomplishing non-work activities. In this study, the overall analysis of the survey data suggests that perceived ease of …

Internet Entrepreneurship And Economic Growth, Gerald V. Post, John F. Pfaff

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This paper looks at national attempts to promote economic growth through the Internet. Growth can be driven through service exports or internally through increased service transactions and fostering entrepreneurship. India is often held as an example of service exports, but economic statistics show that India might not be a good example for other nations because net service trade is negative and wages have been economically distorted. Ultimately, developing nations need to find internal growth models. Internal growth could be driven though increased consumption due to improved information, or increased investment expenditures from infrastructure investments.

Project Management Practices In The Information Technology Departments Of Various Size Institutions Of Higher Education, Charles R. Johnston, David C. Wierschem

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The demand for information technology at institutions of higher education is increasing at a rapid pace. It is fueled by student, faculty, and administrative needs. This paper examines project management practices at these institutions with respect to the sizes of the institutions. Survey results indicate an emphasis on operational concerns at small and medium size institutions when selecting IT projects. The prominence of the role of project manager and adoption of formal PM tools/techniques by IT departments generally increase with the sizes of the institutions. The importance of having a project plan is recognized by all sizes of institutions of …

An Analysis Of The D Programming Language, Sumanth Yenduri, Louise Perkins, Md. Sarder

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The C language and its derivatives have been some of the dominant higher-level languages used, and the maturity has stemmed several newer languages that, while still relatively young, possess the strength of decades of trials and experimentation with programming concepts. While C++ was a major step in the advancement from procedural to object-oriented programming (with a backbone of C), several problems existed that prompted the development of new languages. This paper focuses on one such language: D. D was designed as a potential successor to C++, supporting most features of C++’s class design and modifications intended to ease common program …

Development Of A Maintenance System Based On Web And Mobile Technologies, Jaime Campos, Erkki Jantunen, Om Prakash

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The paper reports the development of an e-monitoring and maintenance system based on web technology and mobile device, PDA. Rarity of experts led to the application of artificial intelligence and later, distributed artificial intelligence for condition monitoring and diagnosis of machine condition. Recently, web technology along with wireless communication is emerging as a potent tool in maintenance. It facilitates obtaining of the desired information by the relevant personnel at any time wherever he may be. The paper first describes the web and mobile architecture that formed the basis of the system and ICT tools used to communicate among the different …

Comparing The Prioritization Of Erp System Effectiveness Measures By Organizational Actors: A Focus On It Professionals And Business Managers, Princely Ifinedo

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Modern organizations adopt Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) to integrate their organizational data resources into unified systems. Researchers tend to concentrate on ERP implementation issues with only a handful studying ERP system effectiveness or success in adopting organizations. In fact, none has studied how key organizational actors prioritize or rank relevant measures or items related to the effectiveness of such systems. This study is designed to fill this gap in research as it aims at investigating how two organizational stakeholder groups, i.e. information technology (IT) professionals and business managers prioritize relevant measures related to ERP systems effectiveness. Using surveys in …

Strategic Alliances In Greek Mobile Telephony, Ioanna Stoili, Anastasios A. Economides

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The mobile telephony market is a very competitive market. Mobile telephony companies try to expand by forming strategic alliances with companies from various industries. The objective of this paper is to analyze the motives, the actions and the results of the collaborations and alliances of two Greek mobile telephony companies (Cosmote and Vodafone Hellas). In addition, this paper illustrates examples of how the technology change and the technological convergence (Internet, computers, and mobile telephony) affected and activated the proliferation of these alliances. The entry of I-mode and Vodafone Live! in the Greek market caused an increase in the number of …

Improving Credit Card Operations With Data Mining Techniques, Malini Krishnamurthi

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Consumer credit is ubiquitous and lending poses credit risk – the risk of economic loss due to the failure of a borrower to repay according to the terms of his or her contract with the lender. And so, managing credit risk entails estimating the potential ability of borrowers to repay their debts. Researchers have sought to identify factors that contribute to consumer risk, by using quantitative models. However, the presence of data mining techniques to identify credit risk cannot be ignored. There is a paucity of research to demonstrate the use of data mining techniques in this context, and such …

Internet Industry Competition Dynamics: Peering Limitations, Exposure, And Counter Strategies, Seungjae Shin, Jack E. Tucci

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The Internet industry is vertically integrated with Internet Backbone Providers (IBPs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs.) Although there are many ISPs and IBPs in each stream, both markets are considered independent oligopolies in that there are a few dominant competitors in each market. It is generally accepted that the Internet industry structure has evolved into a four-tier hierarchical structure. The synergistic and codependent nature of the Internet industry is the key element in understanding the competitive environment in which both IBP’s and ISP’s cooperate. Peering is an efficient way to exchange traffic freely within the access tier, nevertheless competitive constraints …

Identification And Suitability Of A Non-Anthropomorphic Meta-Language Framework In Military Applications, Gilbert Cardona

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Humans carry mental models concerning the behaviors, looks, and operation of products, tools, and items used in their daily lives. When these items do not fit a user's conceptual model confusion and inefficiency occur. There are four basic types of mental models based on interactive activities: 1) instructing, 2) conversing, 3) manipulating and navigating, and 4) exploring and browsing. This thesis will focus on the conversing conceptual model and its application to communications between human-agent teams to best fit a user's mental model for that communication. A non-anthropomorphic framework does not exist for use in military applications such as; target …

Breaking The Cycle-Preventing Failures By Leveraging Historical Data During Conceptual Design, Daniel A. Krus, Katie Grantham

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Major engineering accidents are often caused by seemingly minor failures propagating through complex systems. One example of this is an accident involving a Bell 206 Rotorcraft where a fuel pump failure led to the severing of the tail boom. Cataloguing and communicating the knowledge of potential failures and failure propagations is critical to prevent further accidents. The need for effective failure prevention tools is not specific to rotorcrafts, however. Failure reporting systems have been adopted by various industries to aid and promote failure prevention. The catalogued failures usually consist of narratives describing which part of a product failed, how it …

Development Of Integrated Process Simulation System Model For Spent Fuel Treatment Facility (Sftf) Design, Yitung Chen, Sean Hsieh

Separations Campaign (TRP)

The major objectives will lead to a creation of framework that combines all the strengths of AMUSE’s complicated calculations, well-established commercial system process package and ISOPro’s flexible parameter optimization modules. Development of the process simulation code can be done using the solvent extraction process at Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with the research team from Mechanical Engineering Department at UNLV.

Research accomplishments:

• Integrated the ASPEN-Plus process model with the ISOPro system engineering modeling package, developed by the UNLV team.
• Tested the simplified system process integration using the ISOPro package.
• Generated complete version of the ISOPro package user manual and tutorial. …

Improving Factory Layout Under A Mixed Floor And Overhead Material Handling Condition, Manocher Djassemi

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Purpose –In spite of having a number of general-purpose algorithms for solving plant layout problems, facility planners may still face a challenging task to adjust these algorithms to handle special, but not uncommon, layout problems. The purpose of this study is to propose a new method for addressing the impact of overhead space utilization on a plant layout solution.

Design/methodology/approach –A new method for adjusting material flow under a mixed floor and overhead material handling condition is incorporated in an existing plant layout procedure. A case study involving the layout improvement in a lawn mower engine assembly facility …

Social Network Enhanced Digital City Management And Innovation Success: A Prototype Design, Bih-Ru Lea, Wen-Bin Yu, Prashanth Kannan

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Innovation is the process by which knowledge is transformed into products and services which in turn fuels economic development to create wealth and generates improvements in the standard of living. With the advance of technology, social networks that play a fundamental role as a medium for the spread of information, ideas, and influence among its members have taken a form of digital city to offer a range of online services, including access to social environments, community services, and e-commerce to its infohabitants. This study investigates how social network theories can be used to design and manage a web-based digital city …

Corporate Blogs Of 40 Fortune 500 Companies: Distribution, Categorization And Characteristics, Shaoyi He, Jake Zhu

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This paper studies corporate blogs as virtual communities, focusing on the distribution, categorization and characteristics of 40 Fortune 500 Companies’ blogs. Firstly, the 40 corporate blogs were classified by industries to see which industries are active advocates of corporate blogs. Secondly, the 40 corporate blogs were first grouped in direct competitor clusters and then categorized into four types of virtual communities: 1) Community of interest, 2) Goal-oriented community of interest, 3) Learner’s community, and 4) Community of practice. Thirdly, eight common elements were identified and compared for each of the 40 corporate blogs to find out their major characteristics. Finally, …

Discovering Software Reliability Patterns Based On Multiple Software Projects, Yi Liu, Gerald Adkins, Jeng-Foung Yao, Gita Williams

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Discovering patterns that indicate software reliability provides valuable information to software project managers. Software Quality Classification (SQC) modeling is a methodology that can be used to discover reliability patterns of large software projects. However, the patterns found by SQC modeling may not be accurate and robust owing to insufficient information used in the training process. This study compares two genetic programming-based SQC models using different volumes of data. These data were extracted from seven different NASA software projects. The results demonstrate that combining data from different projects can produce more accurate and reliable patterns.

Application Of Uml For Modeling Urban Traffic System Using Producer Consumer Theory To Generate Process Algebra Model, Manuj Darbari, Sanjay Medhavi, Abhay Kumar Srivastava

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

UML is widely used as an industry standard for modeling any system. In this paper will be dealing with simple UML diagrams and show that low it can be transformed into process algebra models specially designated to model urban traffic systems. The model capture functionality at the level of mesoscopic as well as microscopic level and it is merged with process algebra’s producer consumer theory. The model is also formalized using Process algebra equations. This paper focuses on complex situational activity diagrams enhancing the expressivity by refining at the abstraction levels. Performance requirement is annotated by the UML profile for …

The Development And Application Of A Systematic Approach To Evaluating An Academic Department's Brand Meaning, Cassandra C. Elrod

Doctoral Dissertations

"Research of existing literature indicates that below the university level, there has been little effort made in branding academia, namely academic departments. The lack of branding may significantly affect the perceptions that potential students and future employers of these students have about one of these academic units. The impact may be most significant for units where the fields of study that are represented by the department may be unclear, such as in the case of engineering management. However, even in the cases of better-understood fields of study, for example, electrical engineering, the competition for students with other fields of study …

Architecting System Of Systems: Artificial Life Analysis Of Financial Market Behavior, Nil Hande Ergin

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research study focuses on developing a framework that can be utilized by system architects to understand the emergent behavior of system architectures. The objective is to design a framework that is modular and flexible in providing different ways of modeling sub-systems of System of Systems. At the same time, the framework should capture the adaptive behavior of the system since evolution is one of the key characteristics of System of Systems. Another objective is to design the framework so that humans can be incorporated into the analysis. The framework should help system architects understand the behavior as well as …

An Indirect Loss Estimation Methodology To Account For Regional Earthquake Damage To Highway Bridges, Chakkaphan Tirasirichai

Doctoral Dissertations

"This study proposes an integrated framework to estimate the indirect economic loss due to damaged bridges within the highway system from an earthquake event. The framework is designed to be general and convenient to apply to other study regions. In this dissertation, a simulated earthquake scenario centered in St. Louis Missouri with a magnitude 7.0 was used as a case study. The research results have clearly shown that the indirect losses are significant when compared to the direct loss. Policymakers can apply this study framework and the results as a guide and decision tool for developing an appropriate preventive action …