Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

A General Code To Represent The Mathematical Life Cycle Cost Model Of Bridge, Bajel Mohammed Alshadeedi

Masters Theses

There are many factors that play a role in the overall cost of any bridge. The life cycle cost needs deep knowledge of bridge components to calculate its subcategories costs. The bridge life cycle cost is divided into; agency, user cost, and society costs. The agency cost includes the expected value of the final bridge construction cost, the inspection cost, better value of repainting cost, and replacing asphaltic deck cost. The user cost includes traffic delay cost and vehicle operation cost under different traffic conditions, accident cost, and failure cost. The society cost includes aesthetical and environmental impact. All costs …

A Mixed Integer Linear Programming Approach For Developing Salary Administration Systems, Taner Cokyasar

Masters Theses

Determining salary increases of executive personnel is a challenging decision process for many companies. Salary administration policies that aid in the determination of salary increases and other compensation benefits have a wide variety of advantages for both a company and its employees. This thesis develops a mathematical programming approach to create a salary administration system that recognizes the importance of performance and potential of employees for future promotions as major components of a salary increase policy for executive personnel. A number of companies all over the world use salary administration systems that integrate work performance and potential for advancement to …

A Neural Network For Collaborative Forecasting, Abdulrahman M. Enani

Masters Theses

As the supply chain activities’ backbone, demand forecasting must be accurate. This paper proposes an artificial neural network forecasting model, which integrates and synchronizes shared information, such as sales or consumption rate among different partners, to improve the forecasting’s accuracy. This information sharing is part of the collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) model, which is a supply chain model aiming to enhance the supply chain’s efficiency by jointly planning and forecasting between two or more supply chain partners that will be used as the base for production and replenishment activities. The model is validated using a tuna product sales …

Automatic Sleep Stages Classification, Maryam Zokaeinikoo

Masters Theses

In this thesis, we first develop an efficient automated classification algorithm for sleep stages identification. Polysomnography recordings (PSGs) from twenty subjects were used in this study and features were extracted from the time{frequency representation of the electroencephalography (EEG) signal. The classification of the extracted features was done using random forest classifier. The performance of the new approach is tested by evaluating the accuracy of each sleep stages and total accuracy. The results shows improvement in all five sleep stages compared to previous works.

Then, we present a simulation decision algorithm for switching between sleep interventions. This method improves the percentage …

Optimizing Cash Flows And Minimizing Simultaneous Turnovers In Operating Room Scheduling, Mohit Shukla

Masters Theses

Currently, the scheduling of surgical suites follows either an open booking or block booking framework. Under block booking, medical departments (or surgeons) that provide certain types of services (e.g. ophthalmology, orthopedics, cardiology) are assigned fixed blocks of time that are used to divide access to the operating rooms (ORs) among different specialties. Two integer-programming based methods of generating block schedules are investigated in this research. The first approach focuses on optimizing cash flows, an area not studied previously within the OR scheduling domain. Results indicate that while there is some utility of this approach in improving the liquidity of a …

Standardizing Functional Safety Assessments For Off-The-Shelf Instrumentation And Controls, Andrew Michael Nack

Masters Theses

It is typical for digital instrumentation and controls, used to manage significant risk, to undergo substantial amounts of scrutiny. The equipment must be proven to have the necessary level of design integrity. The details of the scrutiny vary based on the particular industry, but the ultimate goal is to provide sufficient evidence that the equipment will operate successfully when performing their required functions.

To be able to stand up to the scrutiny and more importantly, successfully perform the required safety functions, the equipment must be designed to defend against random hardware failures and also to prevent systematic faults. These design …

Aircraft Demand Forecasting, Kayla M. Monahan

Masters Theses

This thesis aims to forecast aircraft demand in the aerospace and defense industry, specifically aircraft orders and deliveries. Orders are often placed by airline companies with aircraft manufacturers, and then suddenly canceled due to changes in plans. Therefore, at some point during the three-year lead time, the number of orders placed and realized deliveries may be quite different. As a result, orders and deliveries are very difficult to predict and are influenced by many different factors. Among these factors are past trends, macroeconomic indicators as well as aircraft sales measures. These predictor variables were analyzed thoroughly, then used with time …

Strategies For Reducing Supplier Risk: Inputs Into The Supply Chain, Christopher A. Greene

Masters Theses

There are many aspects to consider when managing an entire supply chain from procurement to fulfillment. Complex assemblies require hundreds of components, sourced from all corners of the globe, to come together in a synchronized fashion. Given the magnitude of the supply chain, high quality standards, and significantly increased outsourcing, there is a strong need to monitor supplier risk and quickly identify and mitigate potential problems. Moreover, the continuous pressure to reduce resources and pressure to cut costs, further increases the need for the development of procedures and tools that can quickly and efficiently address these potential supply chain risks. …

Simulation Of 48-Hour Queue Dynamics For A Semi-Private Hospital Ward Considering Blocked Beds, Wei Chen

Masters Theses

This thesis study evaluates access to care at an internal medicine unit with solely semi-private rooms at Baystate Medical Center (BMC). Patients are divided into two types: Type I patient consumes one bed; Type II patient occupies two beds or an entire semi-private room as a private space for clinical reasons, resulting in one empty but unavailable (blocked) bed per Type II patient. Because little data is available on blocked beds and Type II patients, unit-level hospital bed planning studies that consider blocked beds have been lacking. This thesis study bridges that gap by building a single-stream and a two-stream …

A Meta-Architecture Analysis For A Coevolved System-Of-Systems, George Anthony Muller Iv

Masters Theses

"Modern engineered systems are becoming increasingly complex. This is driven in part by an increase in the use of systems-of-systems and network-centric concepts to improve system performance. The growth of systems-of-systems allows stakeholders to achieve improved performance, but also presents new challenges due to increased complexity. These challenges include managing the integration of asynchronously developed systems and assessing SoS performance in uncertain environments.

Many modern systems-of-systems must adapt to operating environment changes to maintain or improve performance. Coevolution is the result of the system and the environment adapting to changes in each other to obtain a performance advantage. The complexity …

Analysis Of Va Sacramento Medical Center Capacity Using Discrete Event Simulation, Tatiana Alejandra Cardona

Masters Theses

"The development of simulation models continues to provide effective solutions to a wide range of problems in healthcare systems. In the research presented within this thesis is the development of a representative and validated discrete event simulation model for the purpose of evaluating additional capacity. The study consists of a detailed exploratory analysis, verification and validation tests of the simulation results, and a thorough design of experiments. The exploratory analysis consisted of developing simulation models that provide similar characteristics found in the data. The design of experiments consisted of generating scenarios of various bed additions in the hospital units of …

Data Analysis For Driving Pattern Identification And Driver's Behavior Modeling In A Freeway Work Zone, Hari Narayanan Vijaya Raghavan Nadathur

Masters Theses

"A variety of methods are used by Departments of Transportation (DOT) for informing drivers about upcoming work zones. One such method is work zone signage configuration. Signage plays an important role in work zones to provide guidance to drivers when conditions on the road vary from normal. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of different configurations, by law, before implementation of new signage designs that deviate from the national standards.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is a compilation of national standards for all traffic control devices, including road markings, highway signs, and traffic signals. In …