Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

System-Wide Prediction Of General, All-Cause, Preventable Hospital Readmissions, Ken Musselman, Brandon Pope, Steve Witz, Zhiyi Tian, Lingsong Zhang, Linda Leon, Ann Davis

RCHE Publications

Existing studies of hospital readmissions typically focus on specific diagnoses, age groups, discharge dispositions, payer classes, or hospitals, and often use small samples. It is not clear how predictive models generated from such studies generalize across diseases, hospitals, or time periods. In this study, a logistic regression model of readmission risk within 30 days based on hospital administrative data was constructed and validated across hospitals and time periods. The hospitals included both general and specialty hospitals such as long-term care, women’s, and children’s hospitals. The administrative data included information on patient’s demographics, diagnoses, procedures, and discharge disposition. Derivation and validation …

Pre-Mission Input Requirements To Enable Successful Sample Collection By A Remote Field/Eva Team, Barbara A. Cohen, Darlene S. S. Lim, Kelsey E. Young, Anna Brunner, Richard C. Elphic, Audrey Horne, Mary C. Kerrigan, Gordon O. Osinski, John R. Skok, Steven W. Squyres, David Saint-Jacques, Jennifer L. Heldmann

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

We used a field excursion to the West Clearwater Lake Impact structure as an opportunity to test factors that contribute to the decisions a remote field team (for example, astronauts conducting extravehicular activities (EVA) on planetary surfaces) makes while collecting samples for return to Earth. We found that detailed background on the analytical purpose of the samples, provided to the field team, enables them to identify and collect samples that meet specific analytical objectives. However, such samples are not always identifiable during field reconnaissance activities, and may only be recognized after outcrop characterization and interpretation by crew and/or science team …

Continuous Decision Support, Jeremy P. Hendrix

Theses and Dissertations

Organizations are often faced with portfolio construction efforts that require them to select one or more alternatives, subject to resource constraints, with the aim of achieving the maximum value possible. This is a well-defined problem with a number of analytically defensible approaches, provided the entire set of alternatives is known when the decision event takes place. Less well treated in the literature is how to approach this problem when the entire set of alternatives is unknown, as when the alternatives arrive over time. This change in the availability of data shifts the problem from one of identifying an optimal subset …

Application Of Executable Architectures In Early Concept Evaluation, Ryan M. Pospisal

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores use of executable architectures to guide design decisions in the early stages of system development. Decisions made early in the system development cycle determine a majority of the total lifecycle costs as well as establish a baseline for long term system performance and thus it is vital to program success to choose favorable design alternatives. The development of a representative architecture followed the Architecture Based Evaluation Process as it provides a logical and systematic order of events to produce an architecture sufficient to document and model operational performance. In order to demonstrate the value in the application …

Collecting Unsolicited User-Generated Change Requests, Joseph W. Goldsmith

Theses and Dissertations

Unlike aircrew directly associated with acquisitions, line operators are not fully engaged in the methods to push materiel hardware or software change requests up the chain, to a decision maker, and then to the engineers. The Air Force trains these end users to logically apply expert systems knowledge to execute the mission but has not fully leveraged this resource for properly identifying and correcting operational shortfalls in an aircraft's design. Focusing on the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) community, the research goal is to determine if the Air Force should establish a formal program for collecting and prioritizing unsolicited user change …

Predictive Modeling Of Fuel Efficiency Of Trucks, Srivatsa Bindingnolle Narasimha

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This research studied the behavior of several controllable variables that affect the fuel efficiency of trucks. Re-routing is the process of modifying the parameters of the routes for a set of trips to optimize fuel consumption and also to increase customer satisfaction through efficient deliveries. This is an important process undertaken by a food distribution company to modify the trips to adapt to the immediate necessities. A predictive model was developed to calculate the change in Miles per Gallon (MPG) whenever a re-route is performed on a region of a particular distribution area. The data that was used, was from …

Electromechanics Of An Ocean Current Turbine, Vasileios Tzelepis

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The development of a numeric simulation for predicting the performance of an Ocean Current Energy Conversion System is presented in this thesis along with a control system development using a PID controller for the achievement of specified rotational velocity set-points. In the beginning, this numeric model is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink® and it is used to predict the performance of a three phase squirrel single-cage type induction motor/generator in two different cases. The first case is a small 3 meter rotor diameter, 20 kW ocean current turbine with fixed pitch blades, and the second case a 20 …

Developing And Testing An Anguilliform Robot Swimming With Theoretically High Hydrodynamic Efficiency, John B. Potts Iii

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

An anguilliform swimming robot replicating an idealized motion is a complex marine vehicle necessitating both a theoretical and experimental analysis to completely understand its propulsion characteristics. The ideal anguilliform motion within is theorized to produce ``wakeless'' swimming (Vorus, 2011), a reactive swimming technique that produces thrust by accelerations of the added mass in the vicinity of the body. The net circulation for the unsteady motion is theorized to be eliminated.

The robot was designed to replicate the desired, theoretical motion by applying control theory methods. Independent joint control was used due to hardware limitations. The fluid velocity vectors in the …

Ergonomic Analysis Of Mobile Cart–Assisted Stocking Activities Using Electromyography, Sohyung Cho

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Workers in grocery stores are exposed to numerous musculoskeletal risks that can be reduced using assistive devices while performing stocking tasks. A regional grocery store has recently deployed a mobile cart without comprehension of its ergonomic impact on workers, which this article investigates using normalized electromyography data (%MVC). This article studies not only ergonomic impact based on %MVC values but also work performance represented by a muscle force metric (MFM). The results from this study showed highest muscle groups in %MVC and MFM were the erector spinae and triceps. Interestingly, muscle activations on erector spinae were reduced when mobile cart …

On Valuing Biopharmaceutical Product Pipelines: An Effectuation Model And Evidence, Mark J. Ahn, Anne S. York, Wei Wu, Yulianto Suharto, Tugrul Unsal Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

New creative approaches are needed to manage emerging biotechnology innovations, regulations, and payor environments to enhance product pipeline productivity, valuation, and risk management. Biopharmaceutical firms must make dynamic resource allocation decisions on their relative levels of internal R&D and external strategic alliances in furthering their pipelines. As the predominant method of using discounted cash flow (DCF) methodologies may lead to chronic underinvestment and performance, we evaluated the integration of traditional DCF with an effectuation model of analysis. Unlike traditional financial models that begin with the end goal of assumed known cash flows and recursively solve for portfolio optimization, the effectuation …

Efficient Detection Of Zero-Day Android Malware Using Normalized Bernoulli Naive Bayes, Luiza Sayfullina, Emil Eirola, Dmitry Komashinsky, Paolo Palumbo, Yoan Miche, Amaury Lendasse, Juha Karhunen

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

According to a Recent F-Secure Report, 97% of Mobile Malware is Designed for the Android Platform Which Has a Growing Number of Consumers. in Order to Protect Consumers from Downloading Malicious Applications, There Should Be an Effective System of Malware Classification that Can Detect Previously Unseen Viruses. in This Paper, We Present a Scalable and Highly Accurate Method for Malware Classification based on Features Extracted from Android Application Package (APK) Files. We Explored Several Techniques for Tackling Independence Assumptions in Naive Bayes and Proposed Normalized Bernoulli Naive Bayes Classifier that Resulted in an Improved Class Separation and Higher Accuracy. We …

Swerve, Kaitlin A. Castillo, Cichasky A. Catherine

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Carpooling yields great benefits environmentally, socially, and economically for carpooling, however there is no easy to use, safe, and enjoyable application for people to connect with others who are both close in proximity and have schedules that match currently. By creating a database and visual mock ups, our senior project creates the basis for an application called Swerve that matches users by location and schedules and has social and economic incentives. Our research allowed us to further understand the social, environmental and economic benefits and incentives of carpooling. We also looked into current carpooling websites and applications and could not …

Startup Social Responsibility: A Concentrated Social Audit Of Halt Medical Inc., Matthew Frank Rosa

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Halt Medical Inc. is a biomedical device startup whose managers are interested in assessing their levels of employee satisfaction and organizational well-being. They want to know if their employees are cooperating, if departments are cohesive, and if everyone is happy. To evaluate Halt Medical’s social capital and environment, a social responsibility audit will be conducted concentrated specifically on the organization’s social and ethical initiatives to its employees. This analysis requires interviews of managers, observations of cultural diffusion, and employee opinions on a variety of business areas. The five areas of focus for this audit are the company’s accommodation of each …

Multi-Restaurant Delivery Service Design And Financial Analysis, Dylan Davis Fuller

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

When found on campus all day and in need of a quick meal before the next class what are the options for you as a Cal Poly student or faculty? Campus dining is the only option that can meet the typical demand you have of speed and convenience. Restaurants with food delivery often don’t have the variety or take to long for delivery. The goal is to provide a delivery service with the speed of getting a meal on campus but with the variety and quality of the restaurants found in downtown San Luis Obispo. Looking at existing businesses providing …

Using Precision Agriculture Field Data To Evaluate Combine Harvesting Efficiency, Justin Carroll

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Soybean crops must be harvested during a limited time period using expensive combines and associated equipment. Maximizing combine field efficiency, the ratio of the actual harvesting capacity to theoretical harvesting capacity, is an important objective of machinery managers. Spatial and temporal yield data from a 2012 CaseIH 8120 Axial-Flow combine equipped with a 30-foot MacDon D-65 Draper header and the Case-IH Advanced Farming System (AFS) yield monitoring system were used to examine field efficiency when harvesting soybean in three Arkansas Delta irrigated soybean fields during the 2015 season. Time efficiencies (TE) in the three fields ranged from 72.9 to 85.8% …

Modeling Information Reliability And Maintenance: A Systematic Literature Review, Daysi A. Guerra Garcia

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Operating a business efficiently depends on effective everyday decision-making. In turn, those decisions are influenced by the quality of data used in the decision-making process, and maintaining good data quality becomes more challenging as a business expands. Protecting the quality of the data and the information it generates is a challenge faced by many companies across all industrial sectors. As companies begin to use data from these large data bases they will need to begin to develop strategies for maintaining and assessing the reliability of the information they generate using this data. A considerable amount of literature exists on data …

Implementation Process For Automated Data Analysis In Mineral Extraction Companies, Richard A. Leach

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The need to determine knowledge from increasing amounts of information and raw data is a current and ongoing goal [1]. As technology continues to advance in the ability to collect and save more and more data, companies today must assimilate and understand this information as a valuable resource [2]. Companies in marketing and sales have found the use of a data warehouse and automated data analysis to be valuable resources [2]. This automated analysis of data has also been implemented in disciplines including scientific and medical research [2]. However, there continue to be other lower tech industrial areas of activity …

College Football Rankings: Maximum Flow Model, Jaymin Patel

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

College football is a very popular sport in the United States. There is much debate over the college football rankings every week. A maximum flow network is implemented into the CMS+ rankings to observe the effects it has on the college football rankings.

The Prediction Predicament, William "Ike" Eisenhauer

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article focuses on the prediction of predicament in terms of forecasting at industrial engineering level. Topics discussed include business optimize resources via forecasting; audience who cannot comprehend the methodology used for forecasting in healthcare operations; and use of forecasting for performance measurement.

Underwater Rope Fatigue Testing Machine, Napoleon Nino, Andrew Pimentel

Mechanical Engineering

The design and fabrication of an underwater rope fatigue testing machine meant to simulate the effects of an oceanic environment and the effects on rope.

Cost-Based Decision Making Model For Regional In-House Versus Outsourcing Logistics, Henrik Darren Lee

Master's Theses

This thesis proposes a model for selecting between insourcing logistics for local distribution and outsourcing these functions to a third-party logistics (3PL) company. Supply chain optimization, as well as global supply chain management, are topics that are now well-covered; local distribution, despite its integral function in an organization, is much less researched. Models exist for network design and optimization, but the practical application of these network models may call for decisions and considerations that are not covered in these optimization models.

A breakeven analysis selection model between using in-house logistic system and 3PL is derived, considering various regional parameters. The …

Fuel Consumption Models For Tractors With Partial Drawbar Loads, Bryan Jeffrey Smith

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Three models for predicting fuel consumption for agricultural tractors with partial drawbar loads were compared. Data were collected from eight John Deere tractors, JD 7230R (e23), 7250R (e23), 7270R (e23), 7290R (e23), 7290R (IVT), 8320R (16 speed), 8345RT (IVT), 8370R (IVT). The tractors were tested with 7 load levels per speed at four different travel speeds as close as possible to 4, 7.5, 10, and 13 km·h^-1. The IVT tractors were operated in Auto mode and the geared tractors were shifted up three gears and throttled back to the same travel speeds as the IVT tractors. The 7 …

Spare Parts On Demand Using Additive Manufacturing : A Simulation Model For Cost Evaluation., Stefan Jedeck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the impact of additive manufacturing in the spare part supply chain. A few studies are available, but they focus on specific parts and their applications only. A general model, which can be adapted to different applications, is nonexistent. This dissertation proposes a decision making framework that enables an interested practitioner/manager to decide whether using additive manufacturing to make spare parts on demand is economical when compared to conventional warehousing strategy. The framework consists of two major components: a general discrete event simulation model and a process of designing a wide range of simulation scenarios. The goal …

Modeling And Analysis Of Pca Workflow, Ewing Tiong

Masters Theses

Nursing shortage has been reported as a major problem faced not only by the United States but also by many other countries. One of the many interventions that has been used to curb nursing shortage is the increase in employment of Unlicensed Assistive Personnels (UAPs) as an alternative care delivery model. There are many types of UAP and one of them are Patient Care Assistants (PCAs). This research proposes a methodology to model and analyze the work ow of a PCA in terms of completing assigned tasks in a timely manner. The specific objectives of this research are to model …

Design Of A Web Application To Improve The Efficiency Of Crnas., Venkatramanan Chanchapalli Madhavan

All Theses

Physical artifacts such as whiteboards have been successfully used in healthcare facilities to keep track of dynamic changes in information and to manage work schedules. Since these whiteboards are easy- to- use and do not require any technical expertise, they have been easy- to-adopt. Additionally, they act as memory aids for the users by capturing transient information. However, they have their own limitations, the primary ones being the lack of mobility and real-time updates, both of which are crucial in a high consequence environment such as a healthcare facility. These whiteboards are usually kept in a central location with the …

Nursing Interruption Dynamics: The Impact Of Work System Factors, Yushi Yang

All Dissertations

Interruptions occur frequently in healthcare work systems. Hands-free Communication Devices (HCDs) were implemented in healthcare work systems to support the interruption process. However, from a sociotechnical systems perspective, HCDs may introduce new complications and unintended consequences to the work system. Research gaps exist in investigating the complexity of HCD interruptions in the real-world context. This dissertation aims to understand HCD interruption dynamics in the nursing work systems, using qualitative research methods. The first study examined the major differences between face-to-face and HCD-mediated interruptions, based on 30 hours of field observations in the acute care setting. Three major differences included: (1) …

Characterizing The Effects Of Capillary Flow During Liquid Composite Molding, Michael Ray Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

As the aerospace industry continues to incorporate composites into its aircraft, there will be a need for alternative solutions to the current autoclaving process. Liquid composite molding (LCM) has proven to be a promising alternative, producing parts at faster rates and reduced costs while retaining aerospace grade quality. The most important factor of LCM is controlling the resin flow throughout the fiber reinforcement during infusion, as incomplete filling of fibers is a major quality issue as it results in dry spots or voids. Void formation occurs at the resin flow front due to competition between viscous forces and capillary pressure. …

Ergonomics Analysis Of Touchscreen Utilization As A Function Of Preferred Hand And Gender, Jordan E. Odell

Master's Theses

The growth of touchscreen technology has changed the way users interface with a wide range of computing and communication products and systems. Examples range from personal tablets and laptops to industrial applications such as process control, point-of-sales, and ticketing kiosk systems. An important area of application is the automobile industry which is designing cars with touchscreen control panels to replace the previously designed mechanical knobs and buttons. However, interacting with touchscreens does not provide the same tactile feedback as physical mechanisms, therefore they require more precise movement and visual attention, which distracts the user from the primary task.

The purpose …

Robust Execution Strategies For Project Scheduling With Unreliable Resources And Stochastic Durations, Na Fu, Hoong Chuin Lau, Pradeep Varakantham

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The resource-constrained project scheduling problem with minimum and maximum time lags (RCPSP/max) is a general model for resource scheduling in many real-world problems (such as manufacturing and construction engineering). We consider RCPSP/max problems where the durations of activities are stochastic and resources can have unforeseen breakdowns. Given a level of allowable risk, (Formula presented.), our mechanisms aim to compute the minimum robust makespan execution strategy. Robust makespan for an execution strategy is any makespan value that has a risk less than (Formula presented.). The risk for a makespan value, (Formula presented.) given an execution strategy, is the probability that a …

Turnover In Public Accounting And Its Effects On The Industry, Ashley Gentry

University Honors Program

There is a large turnover of employees in the public accounting firms in the United States. This research paper looks at the demographics of the employees that are leaving public accounting and what factors are causing them to leave the industry. It also looks at what kind of an effect this turnover has on the accounting industry. Research was gathered by reading past studies that have been done on this topic, as well as recent articles that have been published by credible sources. The demographics of the employees that are leaving are senior or management level and mostly women. Some …