Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Multi-Objective Network Reliability Optimization Using Evolutionary Algorithms, Franciso Oswaldo Aguirre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This work presents a new multiple objective evolutionary algorithm to solve three well known network reliability allocation problems considering different conflicting objectives to be optimized simultaneously. The new algorithm is applied in the design of a telecommunication network that is formed for several stations or nodes interconnected by telecommunication links or paths. The problem presented in this work involves finding which links to activate in order to obtain connectivity in the nodes. The number of nodes that need to be connected depends of the case that is being evaluated. The three network reliability problems considered are: all-terminal, k-terminal, and two-terminal. …

Qualitative Mapping For Understanding The Collective Judgment Building Process : A Study Of The Federal Open Market Committee, Hyunjung Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study develops a mapping method for studying a collective judgment building process in a decision-making group. Environmental uncertainties and a lack of information require a decision maker to make judgments about various issues relevant to the decision task. In a group setting, the members together weave their structural model of the system with available information to build a collective judgment for the decision task.

Characterization Of Electrochemically Active Bacteria Utilizing A High-Throughput Voltage-Based Screening Assay, Justin C. Biffinger, Meghann Ribbens, Bradley Ringeisen, Jeremy Pietron, Steven Finkel, Kenneth Nealson

United States Navy: Publications

Metal reduction assays are traditionally used to select and characterize electrochemically active bacteria (EAB) for use in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). However, correlating the ability of a microbe to generate current from an MFC to the reduction of metal oxides has not been definitively established in the literature. As these metal reduction assays may not be generally reliable, here we describe a four- to nine-well prototype high throughput voltage-based screening assay (VBSA) designed using MFC engineering principles and a universal cathode. Bacterial growth curves for Shewanella oneidensis strains DSP10 and MR-1 were generated directly from changes in open circuit voltage …

Simultaneous Analysis Of Physiological And Electrical Output Changes In An Operating Microbial Fuel Cell With Shewanella Oneidensis, Justin C. Biffinger, Ricky Ray, Brenda J. Little, Lisa A. Fitzgerald, Meghann Ribbens, Steven E. Finkel, Bradley R. Ringeisen

United States Navy: Publications

Changes in metabolism and cellular physiology of facultative anaerobes during oxygen exposure can be substantial, but little is known about how these changes connect with electrical current output from an operating microbial fuel cell (MFC). A high-throughput voltage based screening assay (VBSA) was used to correlate current output from a MFC containing Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 to carbon source (glucose or lactate) utilization, culture conditions, and biofilm coverage over 250 h. Lactate induced an immediate current response from S. oneidensis MR-1, with both air-exposed and anaerobic anodes throughout the duration of the experiments. Glucose was initially utilized for current output by …

Photophysical Properties Of C60 Colloids Suspended In Water With Triton X-100 Surfactant: Excited-State Properties With Femtosecond Resolution, Andrew F. Clements, Joy E. Haley, Augustine M. Urbas, Alan Kost, R. David Rauh, Jane F. Bertone, Fei Wang, Brian M. Wiers, De Gao, Todd S. Stefanik, Andrew G. Mott, David M. Mackie

United States Army: Publications

We examine the photophysics of a colloidal suspension of C₆₀ particles in a micellar solution of Triton X-100 and water, prepared via a new synthesis which allows high-concentration suspensions. The particle sizes are characterized by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering and found to be somewhat polydisperse in the range of 10-100 nm. The suspension is characterized optically by UV-vis spectroscopy, femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, laser flash photolysis, and z-scan. The ground-state absorbance spectrum shows a broad absorbance feature centered near 450 nm which is indicative of colloidal C₆₀. The transient absorption dynamics, presented for the …

Retrieval Of Subpixel Snow Covered Area, Grain Size, And Albedo From Modis, Thomas H. Painter, Karl Rittger, Ceretha Mckenzie, Peter Slaughter, Robert E. Davis, Jeff Dozier

United States Army: Publications

We describe and validate a model that retrieves fractional snow-covered area and the grain size and albedo of that snow from surface reflectance data (product MOD09GA) acquired by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The model analyzes the MODIS visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared bands with multiple endmember spectral mixtures from a library of snow, vegetation, rock, and soil. We derive snow spectral endmembers of varying grain size from a radiative transfer model specific to a scene's illumination geometry; spectra for vegetation, rock, and soil were collected in the field and laboratory. We validate the model with fractional snow …

Enhancing Systems Integration By Incorporating Business Continuity Drivers, Bajgoric Nijaz, Young Moon

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - All Scholarship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for developing an integrated operating environment (IOE) within an enterprise information system by incorporating business continuity drivers. These drivers enable a business to continue with its operations even if some sort of failure or disaster occurs.

Design/methodology/approach – Development and implementation of the framework are based on holistic and top-down approach. An IOE on server’s side of contemporary business computing is investigated in depth.

Findings – Key disconnection points are identified, where systems integration technologies can be used to integrate platforms, protocols, data and application formats, etc. Downtime …

A Framework For Managing Engineering Change Propagation, Krishna Reddi, Young Moon

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - All Scholarship

Engineering Changes (ECs) are facts of life for any company developing and introducing new products, despite a commonly held notion that they are distractions from normal operation. Companies can become more innovative by utilising ideas from the ECs or by learning how to handle the ECs. This paper presents a framework to manage the ECs effectively, particularly the issue of EC propagation. An EC seldom confines itself to a single change, but triggers other changes in different components. The framework is designed to identify the affected components automatically, capture the required knowledge during the design phase of the product life …

Novel Approach To Predict The Crash Testing Data Using Multiple Regression Analysis And Principal Component Analysis, Ravi Lochan Kallur

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the design process of vehicles, crash tests are very critical to determine the safety measures. Every motor manufacturing company has to maintain certain standards for their autos. This will lead to the design optimization of safety measures utilizing the data available from crash tests. The engineers perform various experiments to generate data from crash testing of vehicles in their manufacturing facility. With the help of simulators; they create a virtual environment to perform design changes. Hence the data obtained from the crash tests is vital in design optimization of safety systems. The present study deals with the technologies involved …

Multiple Objective Optimization Of Performance Based Logistics, Delia Villanueva

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis presents a new Performance Based Logistics optimization model. Performance Based Logistics (PBL) is becoming increasingly important for manufacturers in mission critical environments that need to provide ultimate product availability at the lowest cost and with the highest level of customer satisfaction. The U.S. Department of Defense has mandated that Performance Based Logistics programs be adopted by its major weapon systems and equipment suppliers, is one of the newest support strategies to improve the weapon system readiness. This work presents a new multiple objective evolutionary approach that simultaneously optimizes objectives such as Reliability, Maintainability and Total Cost for Ownership. …

Contributions By Individual And Group Strategies For Organizational Learning In Architectural, Engineering, And Construction Firms, Robert Beaver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Organizations with multiple operating requirements require support functions to assist in execution of strategic goals. This effort, in turn, requires management of engineering activities in control of projects and in sustaining facilities. High level strategies include employing engineering support that consists of a project management function encompassing technical and managerial disciplines. The architecture/engineering, and construction office (AEC) is the subject of this research. Engineering and construction oriented organizations have experienced challenges to their abilities to learn and grow. This has potential detrimental implications for these organizations if support functions cannot keep pace with changing objectives and strategy. The competitive nature …

A Systematic Analysis To Identify, Mitigate, Quantify, And Measure Risk Factors Contributing To Falls In Nasa Ground Support Ope, Joylene Ware

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the research was to develop and validate a multifaceted model such as a fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model that considers both qualitative and quantitative elements with relative significance in assessing the likelihood of falls and aid in the design of NASA Ground Support Operations in aerospace environments. The model represented linguistic variables that quantified significant risk factor levels. Multiple risk factors that contribute to falls in NASA Ground Support Operations are task related, human/personal, environmental, and organizational. Six subject matter experts were asked to participate in a voting system involving a survey where they judge risk …

The Design And Development Of An Additive Fabrication Process And Material Selection Tool, Andrew Palmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the Manufacturing Industry there is a subset of technologies referred to as Rapid Technologies which are those technologies that create the ability to compress the time to market for new products under development . Of this subset, Additive Fabrication (AF), or more commonly known as Rapid Prototyping (RP), acquires much attention due to its unique and futuristic approach to the production of physical parts directly from 3D CAD data, CT or MRI scans, or data from laser scanning systems by utilizing various techniques to consecutively generate cross-sectional layers of a given thickness upon the previous layer to form 3D …

Data Entry Error In Mobile Keyboard Device Usage Subject To Cognitive, Environmental, And Communication Workload Stressors Present In Fully Activated Emergency Operations Centers, Samiullah Durrani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diversity and dynamic nature of disaster management environments necessitate the use of convenient, yet reliable, tools for technology. While there have been many improvements in mitigating the effects of disasters, it is clearly evident by recent events, such as Hurricane Katrina that issues related to emergency response and management require considerable research and improvement to effectively respond to these situations. One of the links in a disaster management chain is the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The EOC is a physical command center responsible for the overall strategic control of the disaster response and functions as an information and communication …

Dod Acquisition Workforce Education: An Sba Education Case Study, Richard Davenport

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A Department of Defense (DoD) M&S education task force is in the process of studying the Modeling and Simulation (M&S) education of the acquisition workforce. Historically, DoD acquisition workforce education is not referred to as education, but rather what the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) refers to as "practitioner training, career management, and services." The DAU is the organization primarily responsible for training the DoD acquisition corps in conjunction with service schools and strategic partners in the civilian sector. DAU programs primarily focus on program management, contracting, and management of logistics across the system life cycle. Further, the examples and cases …

Occupational Lower Extremity Risk Assessment Modeling, Christopher Reid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Lower extremity (LE) work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are known to occur with cumulative exposure to occupational and personal risks. The objective of this dissertation study was to find if creating a quantifiable risk detection model for the LE was feasible. The primary product of the literature review conducted for this study resulted in focusing the attention of the model development process onto creating the initial model of the LE for assessing knee disorder risk factors. Literature Review: LE occupational disorders affect numerous industries and thousands of people each year by affecting any one of the musculoskeletal systems deemed susceptible …

Preliminary Investigation Of Metallurgical Structure And Mechanical Properties Of Cast Iron With High Aluminum Content, Pavel Bizyukov

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The problem addressed in this study analyzed various properties of cast iron with high aluminum content. This grade of cast iron was projected for use in the automotive industry. The benefits provided with high aluminum content are lower specific gravity and relatively inexpensive source materials with the potential of achieving high temperature properties.

The purpose of the study was to select suitable source materials and determine an effective melting technique, to investigate metallurgical structure and mechanical properties at given chemical composition, and, finally, to provide elaborate results.

The design of the experiment included the following steps: (a) selection and preparation …

An Analysis Of The Effect Of Supply Chain And Manufacturing Parameters On Inventory Cost Reduction For Push Type Manufacturing Systems, Mehmet Emre Bahadir

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In the global network of businesses, supply chain and order fulfillment managements are the most critical functional departments to determine the winner of the global competition. In this research a network of companies that are flowing information, product and services between providers and a receiver is investigated in order to gain a better insight of the current situation. Analyses, explanations and solutions were developed through responding to the following research questions:

(1) What are the most important variables that affect the quality and delivery performances of a supply chain?

(2) What are the most important variables that affect the service …

Analysis Of Factors Causing Failure Mode For Automotive Hitch Control System Calibration In Agriculture Equipment, Setordji Yao Abotsi

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Traditionally, agricultural tractors have used hydro-mechanical draft control systems to mechanically sense implement draft. Technological development of low cost, reliable microprocessors has contributed to allowing greater flexibility in designing agricultural tractor control systems (Rutkowski & Welchens, 1986). To successfully control the depth of which an implement penetrates the ground, it has become imperative to incorporate a draft control system on agricultural tractors. The control system operates by responding to the draft load or force acting on the tractor. Increasing the draft load or force allows the implement to be raised and decreasing the draft load or force allows the implement …

Developing Sustainable Spacecraft Water Management Systems, Evan A. Thomas, David M. Klaus

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

It is well recognized that water handling systems used in a spacecraft are prone to failure caused by biofouling and mineral scaling, which can clog mechanical systems and degrade the performance of capillary-based technologies. Long duration spaceflight applications, such as extended stays at a Lunar Outpost or during a Mars transit mission, will increasingly benefit from hardware that is generally more robust and operationally sustainable overtime. This paper presents potential design and testing considerations for improving the reliability of water handling technologies for exploration spacecraft. Our application of interest is to devise a spacecraft wastewater management system wherein fouling can …

Hydrogen Infrastructure: Resource Evaluation And Capacity Modeling, Kevin B. Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

"A hydrogen economy could offer energy stability, economical, and environmental benefits. Several issues are involved in the design and implementation of a hydrogen economy such as the selection of feedstocks, generation and storage technologies, transportation methods, appropriate equipment capacity, codes/standards and public awareness. The design of a hydrogen infrastructure may seem insurmountable; however, as the system is deconstructed a proper design can be achieved. In order to better understand how a hydrogen system for light duty vehicles might operate, both hydrogen resource and capacity analysis and modeling is conducted. Specifically, an evaluation of leading near term production and distribution technologies …

Communication Models For Monitoring And Mobility Verification In Mission Critical Wireless Networks, Maheswaran Thiagarajan

Masters Theses

"Recent technological advances have seen wireless sensor networks emerge as an interesting research topic because of its ability to realize mission critical applications like in military or wildfire detection. The first part of the thesis focuses on the development of a novel communication scheme referred here as a distributed wireless critical information-aware maintenance network (DWCIMN), which is presented for preventive maintenance of network-centric dynamic systems. The proposed communication scheme addresses quality of service (QoS) issues by using a combination of a head-of-the-line queuing scheme, efficient bandwidth allocation, weight-based backoff mechanism, and a distributed power control scheme. A thorough analysis of …

On The Effects Of Small-Scale Fading And Mobility In Mobile Wireless Communication Network, Bandana Paudel

Masters Theses

"In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of mobility on end-to-end performance measures of Mobile Ad Hoc Network is performed by using small-scale fading models. Network simulation is performed in order to study a wide range of phenomena occurring during MANET communication. The effectiveness of three reactive routing protocols against different level of mobility is observed under varying network parameter like the network size, number of nodes and network connectivity. The study reveals that the network sparseness or density favors one or the other routing mechanism under varying mobility. Outcome of the simulation also provides a great deal …

Preventing Chemical Product Failure, Kenneth Ombete

Masters Theses

"The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate a research methodology to prevent chemical product failures. This methodology extends the risk in early design (RED) method for prevention of failure in electromechanical products to include products with chemical subsystems. Inclusion of this domain is demanded by the ever-growing semiconductor and energy industries. The RED method was extended by first identifying principal chemical failure modes and adding them to the failure mode taxonomy. The RED database was then augmented with historical failures of products that included chemical subsystems. Finally, the extension was validated with a case study of a fuel cell"--Abstract, …

An Analysis Of Lessons Learned And Best Practices From Fuel Cell Applications With An Emphasis On Hydrogen Technology, Clint Alex Cottrell

Masters Theses

"In its review of the Department of Energy's Research Development and Demonstration (RD&D) plan for hydrogen, the National Academies recommended a study of lessons learned from technologies developed for stationary fuel cell power systems. Thus, the motivation for this thesis is to study and identify the lessons learned and best practices from prior stationary fuel cell power programs. To understand how to prepare for this technology, this study conducted a thorough investigation of past stationary alternative power projects to assess the opportunities for future stationary power efforts, and how this information can be used to meet objectives for future fuel …

Public-Private Partnerships In High Risk Transportation Projects, Kiran Rangarajan

Masters Theses

"This research examines Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) between private firms and City of Chamois, Missouri to establish a ferry boat service across the Missouri River. The study illustrates the role of PPPs in managing high risk transportation projects for rural economic development. The research study was designed to accomplish three objectives. First, understand and study the high risk transportation industry which included analyzing other ferry services in and around the region, and identifying potential risks involved in a ferry boat project. Second, study various models of PPPs, identify the attributes of each model and select appropriate models based on local and …

Project Collaboration In A Distributed Environment, Shriroopa Prabhakar Deshpande

Masters Theses

"This thesis investigates methods of managing projects in an environment where project team members are in different locations. Today, large scale projects undertaken by firms that have a global presence are successfully developed across time, distance, and geographic boundaries. In order to survive in this environment, firms face many project challenges, including diverse employees, various work practices, and communication issues. Many communication issues can be minimized by the proper use of collaborative tools as well as by sharing expertise, coordinating activities, and managing relationships. Web-enabled project management tools have enhanced efforts to increase the quality, competitiveness, and profitability of these …

Adapting Management Strategies To Enter New Global Markets, Karuna Vineetha Vemulapalli

Masters Theses

"With globalization spreading its roots into every country, people from various countries are working together, and will be trying to understand the cultural differences between the organizations in different nations. Effective management of the cultural differences will be an important and competitive advantage. Keeping in mind the different perceptions of the term “Management” by varying cultures, namely United States and India, this research will be focused on understanding and managing these differences.

The proposed research will deal with concepts of cultural diversity, economic differences, intercultural and organizational differences between the two countries. Understanding why some factors like motivation, responsibility, and …

Development And Use Of Computer Aided Tools To Enhance Team Dynamics With Role Play Simulations, Vachaspathy Kuntamukkala

Masters Theses

"This thesis proposes a methodology for the development and use of computer based tools to enhance student team dynamics. Working effectively in groups cannot be taught in class room environment. Students often encounter conflicts during team meetings. Although some conflicts are resolved by the efforts of team members, an unbiased facilitator who is not a member of the team is often needed to help. This work proposes a tool that uses role play simulations to engage students in real-life scenarios so that they gain a practical, as well as a theoretical, understanding of how to work effectively as a team. …

An Integrated Probability-Based Approach For Multiple Response Surface Optimization, Okay Isik

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Nearly all real life systems have multiple quality characteristics where individual modeling and optimization approaches can not provide a balanced compromising solution. Since performance, cost, schedule, and consistency remain the basics of any design process, design configurations are expected to meet several conflicting requirements at the same time. Correlation between responses and model parameter uncertainty demands extra scrutiny and prevents practitioners from studying responses in isolation. Like any other multi-objective problem, multi-response optimization problem requires trade-offs and compromises, which in turn makes the available algorithms difficult to generalize for all design problems. Although multiple modeling and optimization approaches have been …