Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Computational Intelligence Methods For Predicting Fetal Outcomes From Heart Rate Patterns, Vinayaka Nagendra Harikishan Gude Divya Sampath

Masters Theses

"In this thesis, methods for evaluating the fetal state are compared to make predictions based on Cardiotocography (CTG) data. The first part of this research is the development of an algorithm to extract features from the CTG data. A feature extraction algorithm is presented that is capable of extracting most of the features in the SISPORTO software package as well as late and variable decelerations. The resulting features are used for classification based on both U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) categories and umbilical cord pH data. The first experiment uses the features to classify the results into three different …

Transmission Line Inspection Using Suspended Robot: Cost Effective Analysis And Operational Routing Identification, Balaji Rathinam Nagarajan

Masters Theses

"High voltage transmission lines form a crucial part of the energy infrastructure of a country. Effective maintenance is required to maintain its reliability and reduce the probability of the occurrence of the outage. Conventionally, the routine inspection of the transmission line was conducted by linemen with the assistance of hot stick and helicopter, which is considered dangerous, time-consuming, and expensive.

In this thesis, we focus on the initial study of seeking the state of the art robotics technology to by largely replace human beings in transmission line inspection. The existing robotics technologies that are interested by utility companies, as well …

Analyzing Sensor Based Human Activity Data Using Time Series Segmentation To Determine Sleep Duration, Yogesh Deepak Lad

Masters Theses

"Sleep is the most important thing to rest our brain and body. A lack of sleep has adverse effects on overall personal health and may lead to a variety of health disorders. According to Data from the Center for disease control and prevention in the United States of America, there is a formidable increase in the number of people suffering from sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, hypersomnia and many more. Sleep disorders can be avoided by assessing an individual's activity over a period of time to determine the sleep pattern and duration. The sleep pattern and duration can be …

Driving Under Weather: An Exploration Of The Traveling Salesman Problem With Probabilistic Unfavorable Driving Conditions, Andrew Wright

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Inclement weather has a visceral impact on transportation systems, but it has been made undeniably clear. Reliable ground transportation is absolutely fundamental in global logistics, and the need to deliver goods to customers in a timely manner has never been more important. The field of operations research offers some quality logistics problems with the foresight to provide efficient transportation solutions. One of the most prevalent problems in operations research is the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). Although much research has gone into solving the classic TSP and some of its variants, none have been truly dedicated to integrating meteorological sciences.

The …

Biomechanical Exposures Of Neck And Shoulder In Virtual Reality, Sai Akhil Penumudi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Virtual Environment pose certain potential postural discomfort or pain of the neck and shoulder that could be different from a real environment. There has been a lack of ergonomic guidelines for the Virtual Reality (VR) usage with the hand gesture interaction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the vertical target locations on biomechanical exposures of the neck and shoulder and task performance during VR interactions. Twenty subjects performed standardized pointing and painting tasks with five different target locations (15° upward, neutral, 15° downward, 30° downward, and self-selected). Users’ postures, gravitational moments, muscle activities of the …

Evaluating The Role Of Energy Demand Prediction And Renewable Energy Utilization On Energy Dependency Management: A Generic System Dynamics Model, Emad Rabiei Hosseinabad

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Supplying energy has become one of the biggest concerns of developed countries due to the growing energy needs in the last decades. Security of energy supply has forced countries to rely more on energy imports from external sources, and become energy dependent to a greater extent. Utilizing available renewable energy resources has been characterized as a reliable indicator to mitigate energy dependency in countries as well as securing the supplying of energy-based needs in the future. This research explores the impact of renewable energies as trustful resources in mitigating energy imports form external sources with investigation of its viability with …

Biomechanical Evaluation Of Friction-Reducing Devices For Transferring Patients, Veera Aneesh Kuppam

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Professional caregivers and nurses are prone to a greater risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, which is primarily related to manual patient handling. In common various transfer devices are used to transfer patients, the efficacy of friction-reducing devices in reducing biomechanical stress in the low back and upper extremities has not been systematically evaluated. Twenty professional caregivers performed standardized lateral pulling, pushing and sliding up tasks with selected transfer devices (draw sheet, slide sheet, slide board, and air-assisted transfer device). Caregivers’ hand-pull force, shoulder, and trunk posture, shoulder moment, muscle activity in wrist flexor, wrist extensor, biceps, triceps, trapezius, and erector …

Moderating Effects Of Age And Experience On The Factors Influencing The Actual Usage Of Cloud Computing, Shailja Tripathi

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Cloud computing technology (CCT) has attracted extensive attention of organizations to enhance their agility, flexibility and competitive advantage. Successful implementation of CCT depends on its acceptance and useby senior IT managers in the organizations. This study proposes an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to predict actual CCT usage by the managers. A questionnaire is used to collect the needful data. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are performed to analyze the factor structure and measurement model. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the structural model. The results supported all the hypotheses of the model. The moderating effect of experience and …

Utilizing Data Mining Techniques And Ensemble Learning To Predict Development Of Surgical Site Infections In Gynecologic Cancer Patients, John R. Mcdonough

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Surgical site infections are costly to both patients and hospitals, increase patient mortality, and are the most common form of a hospital acquired infection. Gynecological cancer surgery patients are already at higher risk of developing an infection due to the suppression of their immune system. This research leverages popular data mining techniques to create a prediction model to identify high risk patients. Implemented techniques include logistic regression, naive Bayes, recursive partitioning and regression trees, random forest, feed forward neural network, k-nearest neighbor, and support vector machines with linear kernel. Weighted stacked generalization was implemented to improve upon the individual base …

Economic And Environmentally Efficient Energy Management System For Optimal Microgrid Operation, Olayinka Samuel Obafemi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The aim of this Thesis is to study and understand the economic analysis of integrating renewable energy resources for the purpose of improving the system grid, identifying and monetizing benefits and cost. This Thesis discusses the approach taken and solution created to tackle the current problems facing the production and consumption of electricity and how the microgrid has become a platform for improvement in power system operation. A microgrid in islanded and connected mode are simulated using Homer Pro for optimization and its results help gain an insight into analyzing and monetizing cost and benefits with one common goal in …

Extraction Of Fiber Morphology From Sem Images For Quality Control Of Fiber Reinforced Composites Manufacturing, Md Fashiar Rahman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The morphology of fibers (e.g. spatial uniformity, orientation, and length) plays a decisive role in determining the material properties or fabrication quality of fiber-reinforced nanocomposites. Hence, determining the morphology becomes a very critical issue in the field of nanocomposite quality control. The conventional way of quality inspection is to take the scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images of the cross-section of composite material and do the visual checking of these SEM images to evaluate the nanofiber alignment and length distribution. But this type of inspection is often subjective, inaccurate and time consuming. Moreover, the extremely small size of nanofibers makes the …

Technical Project Management: Union Of Systems Engineering Processes With Project Management Processes, Deyaaldeen M. Abusal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Today, most projects in technical fields utilize project management to complete projects as planned, and some of the projects utilize system engineering to cover the project in both technically and commercially. This Thesis investigates the relationship between Project Management (PM) and Systems Engineering (SE) to determine if a suitably professional level of management and level of quality can be achieved. When studying PM and SE separately and make a comparison between both, there is much overlap between these two mature fields. The project could be planned and completed solely by either process. This study combines both fields of Project Management …

Uas Pilots Code – Annotated Version 1.0, Michael S. Baum, Kristine Kiernan, Donald W. Steinman, Ryan J. Wallace Ed.D.

Publications

The UAS PILOTS CODE (UASPC) offers recommendations to advance flight safety, ground safety, airmanship, and professionalism.6 It presents a vision of excellence for UAS pilots and operators, and includes general guidance for all types of UAS. The UASPC offers broad guidance—a set of values—to help a pilot interpret and apply standards and regulations, and to confront real world challenges to avoid incidents and accidents. It is designed to help UAS pilots develop standard operating procedures (SOPs), effective risk management,7 safety management systems (SMS), and to encourage UAS pilots to consider themselves aviators and participants in the broader aviation community.

Reliability Analysis By Considering Steel Physical Properties, Wujun Si

Wayne State University Dissertations

Most customers today are pursuing engineering materials (e.g., steel) that not only can achieve their expected functions but also are highly reliable. As a result, reliability analysis of materials has been receiving increasing attention over the past few decades. Most existing studies in the reliability engineering field focus on developing model-based and data-driven approaches to analyze material reliability based on material failure data such as lifetime data and degradation data, without considering effects of material physical properties. Ignoring such effects may result in a biased estimation of material reliability, which in turn could incur higher operation or maintenance costs.

Recently, …

The Rhetoric Of Science Education And Technology, Iwasan D. Kejawa

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Nearly thousands of science experiments are performed both on humans and animals every year in the United States (Gregory, 1999). Does Science enormously play a role in the well-beings of individual in the society? Research has found that science education is through motivation and satisfying the needs of humans. The scientific world is part of an elongated human development. This can be substantiated with the use and evolution of TECHNOLOGY and SCIENCE (Minton, 2004). Education of the entities that comprise the need to achieve the goal of TECHNOLOGY and SCIENCE which are important issues of today. Research has shown that …

Internet Of Underground Things In Precision Agriculture: Architecture And Technology Aspects, Mehmet C. Vuran, Abdul Salam, Rigoberto Wong, Suat Irmak

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

The projected increases in World population and need for food have recently motivated adoption of information technology solutions in crop fields within precision agriculture approaches. Internet Of Underground Things (IOUT), which consists of sensors and communication devices, partly or completely buried underground for real-time soil sensing and monitoring, emerge from this need. This new paradigm facilitates seamless integration of underground sensors, machinery, and irrigation systems with the complex social network of growers, agronomists, crop consultants, and advisors. In this paper, state-of-the-art communication architectures are reviewed, and underlying sensing technology and communication mechanisms for IOUT are presented. Moreover, recent advances in …

Understanding The Impact Of Large-Scale Power Grid Architectures On Performance, Ange-Lionel Toba

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Grid balancing is a critical system requirement for the power grid in matching the supply to the demand. This balancing has historically been achieved by conventional power generators. However, the increasing level of renewable penetration has brought more variability and uncertainty to the grid (Ela, Diakov et al. 2013, Bessa, Moreira et al. 2014), which has considerable impacts and implications on power system reliability and efficiency, as well as costs. Energy planners have the task of designing infrastructure power systems to provide electricity to the population, wherever and whenever needed. Deciding of the right grid architecture is no easy task, …

Wavelet Anova Bisection Method For Identifying Simulation Model Bias, Andrew D. Atkinson, Raymond R. Hill, Joseph J. Pignatiello Jr., G. Geoffrey Vining, Edward D. White, Eric Chicken

Faculty Publications

High-resolution computer models can simulate complex systems and processes in order to evaluate a solution quickly and inexpensively. Many simulation models produce dynamic functional output, such as a set of time-series data generated during a process. These computer models require verification and validation (V&V) to assess the correctness of these simulations. In particular, the model validation effort evaluates if the model is an appropriate representation of the real-world system that it is meant to simulate. However, when assessing a model capable of generating functional output, it is useful to learn more than simply whether the model is valid or invalid. …

The Impact Of Authentic Leadership Development On Safety Climate Change, Victoria Hoyt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Tragic, life-changing, and fatal incidents are a reality on large-scale, civil construction projects. Despite a decline following the enforcement of the 1971 Occupational Safety and Health Act, serious and fatal incidents on heavy construction projects remain higher than that of the active military and have not declined in any notable way in the past decade. Industrial-organizational literature suggested a lack of applied testing for the well-developed theory of authentic leadership (AL) to impact safety outcomes. This quasi-experiment combined the constructs of authentic leadership with safety climate perception as quantifiable measurement of potential safety outcomes in the workplace. The research question …

Private Sector Defense Contractor Management Strategies For Contract Fulfillment, Rachel Stallworth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Private sector U.S. defense contractors failing to meet contract objectives experience lower profitability, pay costly penalties, and risk survivability. Using the theory of contracts, the purpose of this multiple case study was to the explore strategies that some leaders of U.S. defense contracting businesses use to meet all the contract terms with the U.S. Department of Defense. Data were collected from 5 leaders of private sector defense contracting companies in northwest Florida through face-to-face, semistructured interviews and through a review of operations manuals, quality assurance policy manuals, and archived U.S. Department of Defense contracts. During data analysis using Yin's 5-step …

Impact Of Mortgage Characteristics On Retail Mortgage Transaction Completion Time, Kareem Atalla Tannous

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the mortgage industry, many mortgage lenders cannot manage mortgage workflow systems while meeting and exceeding organizational objectives. Organizations with an above-industry average turnaround time (ATT) to complete a retail mortgage transaction (RMT) from origination to funding experience revenue losses. Grounded in the proposition that mortgage loan purpose (MLP), mortgage loan type (MLT), and subject property type (SPT) impact ATT to complete an RMT, the purpose of this causal-comparative study was to assess the impact of MLP, MLT, and SPT on ATT to complete an RMT. Using archival data records (N = 146) from a selected mortgage institution in the …

Evaluating Microgrid Effectiveness In Transitioning Energy Portfolios, Jacob Marshal Hale

Masters Theses

"Microgrid energy systems have emerged as a potential solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions from dependence on fossil fuels. This research provides a framework for evaluating the utility of microgrids. Three key findings are presented: use of a state-of-the-art matrix (SAM) analysis to identify gaps in key research areas that inhibit wide-spread microgrid adoption, development of a system dynamics (SD) model, and a cost benefit analysis case study to evaluate microgrid feasibility in partially meeting the energy demand of a building. Governments play a central role in developing clean energy strategies. A SAM was developed to determine if key microgrid …

An Investigation Of The Economic Order Quantity Model With Quantity Discounts Under An Environmental Objective, Tiffanie Marie Toles

Masters Theses

"In a sustainable supply chain, retailers are the direct link between customers and products. Retailers play an important role by relaying feedback such as customer satisfaction, inventory improvement, or product improvement to the other key players in a supply chain. Their overall goal is to reduce supply chain costs, such as the cost of ordering product, transporting product, or holding product in inventory. Other costs associated in a supply chain can include environmental and operations costs. It is important to consider these costs due to the impact environmental operations play in the role of how sustainable a supply chain can …

Anomaly Inference Based On Heterogeneous Data Sources In An Electrical Distribution System, Yachen Tang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Harnessing the heterogeneous data sets would improve system observability. While the current metering infrastructure in distribution network has been utilized for the operational purpose to tackle abnormal events, such as weather-related disturbance, the new normal we face today can be at a greater magnitude. Strengthening the inter-dependencies as well as incorporating new crowd-sourced information can enhance operational aspects such as system reconfigurability under extreme conditions. Such resilience is crucial to the recovery of any catastrophic events. In this dissertation, it is focused on the anomaly of potential foul play within an electrical distribution system, both primary and secondary networks as …

A Methodology To Predict Community College Stem Student Retention And Completion, Jennifer Lynn Snyder

Doctoral Dissertations

"Numerous government reports point to the multifaceted issues facing the country's capacity to increase the number of STEM majors, while also diversifying the workforce. Community colleges are uniquely positioned as integral partners in the higher education ecosystem. These institutions serve as an access point to opportunity for many students, especially underrepresented minorities and women. Community colleges should serve as a major pathway to students pursuing STEM degrees; however student retention and completion rates are dismally low. Therefore, there is a need to predict STEM student success and provide interventions when factors indicate potential failure. This enables educational institutions to better …

Analyzing Factors Affecting Patient Satisfaction Using The Kano Model, Tejaswi Materla

Doctoral Dissertations

"Customer needs associated with the healthcare sector are constantly evolving with the technological advancements, rising costs, and shifts in patient demographics. Challenges associated with understanding patient needs impact the quality of care and life, safety, and satisfaction. The objective of this research was to develop a methodology to collect and analyze the needs associated with healthcare units that differ based on the type of care and services and patient perceptions over time. The proposed methodology provides insights into the voice of the customer through visualization of the relationship between the performance of quality attributes and customer satisfaction. Cronbach's alpha is …

Data Driven Decision Making Tools For Transportation Work Zone Planning, Samareh Moradpour

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research provides tools and methods for integrating stakeholder input and crash data analytics to better guide transportation engineers in effective work zone design and management. Three key contributions are presented: the importance of stakeholder input in traffic management strategies, application of data mining and pattern recognition to identify high-risk drivers in work zones, and the use of multinomial logistic regression (MLR) as a tool to understand key findings from historic crash data. Work zone signage is mandated by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), but the current configurations are often criticized by the driving public and state …

การปรับปรุงประสิทธิภาพการทำงานของโรงไฟฟ้าพลังงานแสงอาทิตย์โดยใช้การบำรุงรักษาเชิงรุก, มธุรส มิ่งมงคล

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

แม้ว่ามีดำเนินงานการบำรุงรักษาเชิงป้องกันในโรงไฟฟ้าพลังงานแสงอาทิตย์แต่ยังคงมีการขัดข้องของเครื่องจักรต่างๆ โรงงานไฟฟ้าพลังงานแสงอาทิตย์ที่เป็นกรณีศึกษานี้ได้กำหนดค่าเป้าหมายความพร้อมของเครื่องจักรไว้สูงกว่า 99.25% เมื่อเวลาผ่านไปพบว่าค่าความพร้อมใช้งานมีแนวโน้มต่ำลง แม้ว่าก่อนการปรับปรุงมีค่าความพร้อมใช้งานเฉลี่ย 99.43% ส่วนเบี่ยงเบนมาตรฐานมีค่าสูงถึง 1.20% แสดงให้เห็นว่า การบำรุงรักษาเชิงป้องกันที่มีอยู่นั้นอาจไม่เพียงพอที่จะจัดการปัญหานี้ได้ งานวิจัยนี้จึงได้นำการบำรุงรักษาเชิงรุกมาเป็นกลยุทธ์ในการปรับปรุงค่าความพร้อมการใช้งานของเครื่องจักร มีการวิเคราะห์ผลกระทบของความเสียหาย โอกาสเกิดและความรุนแรง และมีการหาสาเหตุที่ทำให้เครื่องจักรเสีย หลังจากนั้นได้ทำการปรับปรุงแผนการบำรุงรักษาเชิงป้องกันและสร้างแผนการบำรุงรักษาเชิงพยากรณ์ หลังจากที่ดำเนินการตามแผนงานพบว่าสามารถทำให้ค่าความพร้อมใช้งานเพิ่มขึ้นเฉลี่ยเป็น 99.69% ส่วนเบี่ยงเบนมาตรฐานเป็น 0.41% เวลาเฉลี่ยในการขัดข้องของเครื่องจักรลดลง 63.90% จำนวนครั้งที่เกิดการขัดข้องลดลง 40.28% และกำลังการผลิตที่สูญเสียลดลงได้ 28.44%

การวิเคราะห์วอเตอร์ฟุตพรินต์ในกระบวนการผลิตเบนซีนและพาราไซลีน, เรืองรัตน์ เรืองเดช

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยฉบับนี้เป็นการวิเคราะห์ผลกระทบจากการใช้น้ำ ของกระบวนการผลิตเบนซีนและพาราไซลีน ทั้งการใช้น้ำทางตรงและทางอ้อม การใช้น้ำทางตรงประกอบไปด้วยการใช้น้ำในกระบวนการผลิตซึ่งสามารถวัดได้โดยตรงจากข้อมูลของโรงงาน และการใช้น้ำทางอ้อมประกอบไปด้วยการใช้น้ำในส่วนของการได้มาซึ่งวัตถุดิบ การใช้ไฟฟ้า การผลิตไอน้ำ การผลิตไนโตรเจน รวมถึงการใช้น้ำในกระบวนการขนส่ง ซึ่งโรงงานไม่สามารถวัดโดยตรงได้ต้องมีการเก็บข้อมูลจากแหล่งอ้างอิงอื่นๆที่เชื่อถือได้ วิธีการประเมินผลกระทบการใช้น้ำที่ใช้ในงานวิจัยฉบับนี้ใช้วิธีวอเตอร์ฟุตพรินต์ซึ่งเป็นวิธีที่ทำให้ทราบผลกระทบจากการใช้น้ำที่แท้จริงตลอดวัฏจักรชีวิตของผลิตภัณฑ์ โดยอ้างอิงวิธีการประเมินตามข้อกำหนดและแนวทางของ ISO 14046 ผลลัพธ์จากการประเมินพบว่าผลิตภัณฑ์เบนซีนและพาราไซลีน มีค่าวอเตอร์ฟุตพรินต์ซึ่งวัดผลกระทบในแง่ของการขาดแคลนน้ำ(Water Scarcity Footprint,WSF) ต่อ 1 กิโลกรัมเท่ากับ 0.613 LiterH2Oeq และ 1.432 LiterH2Oeq ตามลำดับ โดยทั้งเบนซีนและพาราไซลีนมีค่า WSF สูงสุดจากการใช้น้ำทางอ้อม ซึ่งมีค่าสูงในการใช้ไฟฟ้าและการได้มาซึ่งคอนเดนเสท และรองลงมาคือ WSF จากการใช้น้ำทางตรงซึ่งมีค่า WSF สูงในส่วนของการระเหยของน้ำในระบบหล่อเย็น แต่เนื่องการลดผลกระทบจากการใช้น้ำจะมีความเป็นไปได้ในการลดจากใช้น้ำทางตรงมากกว่าทางอ้อม เพราะสามารถควบคุมได้โดยตรงจากโรงงานถึงแม้ว่าอาจจะทำให้ผลกระทบลดลงได้ไม่มากก็ตาม จึงเสนอการนำมาตรการในการลดการใช้น้ำทางตรงร่วมด้วย โดยแบ่งมาตรการเป็น 2 ส่วนคือการลดผลกระทบที่เกิดจากการใช้น้ำทางตรง และการลดผลกระทบจากการใช้น้ำทางอ้อม เพื่อให้กระบวนการผลิตเบนซีนและพาราไซลีนเกิดการใช้น้ำอย่างมีประสิทธิภาพสูงสุด

Ambulatory Clinic Exam Room Design With Respect To Computing Devices: A Laboratory Simulation Study, Dustin T. Weiler, Tyler Satterly, Shakaib U. Rehman, Maury A. Nussbaum, Neale R. Chumbler, Gary M. Fischer, Jason J. Saleem

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Background—Challenges persist regarding how to integrate computing effectively into the exam room, while maintaining patient-centered care. Purpose—Our objective was to evaluate a new exam room design with respect to the computing layout, which included a wall-mounted monitor for ease of (re)-positioning. Methods—In a lab-based experiment, 28 providers used prototypes of the new and older “legacy” outpatient exam room layouts in a within-subject comparison using simulated patient encounters. We measured efficiency, errors, workload, patient-centeredness (proportion of time the provider was focused on the patient), amount of screen sharing with the patient, workflow integration, and provider situation awareness. Results—There were no statistically …