Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A New Evolutionary Algorithm Based On Adaptive Echolocation Applied To A Multi Objective Version Of The Redundancy Allocation Problem, Karla Rocio Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The intention of this research is to develop a new algorithm that it is mainly focus in the principle of echolocation or also called biosonar. This principle is active in many animals such as: birds, shrews, dolphins and bats, these last ones are going to be a fundamental part of our study. These animals use it as radar in order to find food, obstacles or just to locate objects.

These animals use ultrasound beams with a certain degree of angle and multiple receivers; such as the two ears that are located slightly apart, so at the time of the returning …

Expanding Horizons With Chameleon: Team Missouri's Innovative Home Automation System, Bryan Glass, Ben Brannon, Katie Grantham, Stuart Werner Baur

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Team Missouri's 2009 Solar Decathlon entry featured a revolutionary home automation system, Chameleon, promoting both convenience and energy savings. This was accomplished using the typical controls of a convenience based automation system, while maintaining user set points, such as a home's ambient temperature, in the most energy efficient manner. Environmental features of the system include controls for home heating, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting, windows, shades, appliances, indoor air quality, as well as indoor and outdoor irrigation. Further analysis and refinement to the prototype system displayed at the competition is also presented in this paper.

Energy Audit And Optimization For "Arches Etc.", James Ross Dixon

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Arches etc. is a San Diego business, which specializes in the manufacture, distribution, and installation of custom designed doors, windows, mouldings, and hardware. Due to the recent economic downturn, which has hindered the construction industry, Arches etc. believed that an analysis and optimization of their energy usage would provide additional assistance towards their goal to lower overhead and maintain current operations.

To begin this task, a comprehensive energy audit was conducted to establish an initial state from which to base improvements. Arches etc.’s current monthly utility bill averages $996, which solidifies the accuracy of this project’s performed energy audit, estimating …

Optimizing The Rearrangement Process In A Dedicated Warehouse, Hector J. Carlo, German E. Giraldo

11th IMHRC Proceedings (Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA – 2010)

Determining the optimal storage assignment for products in a dedicated warehouse has been addressed extensively in the Facility Logistics literature. However, the process of implementing a particular storage assignment given the current location of products has not received much attention in the existing literature. Typically, warehouses use downtime or overtime to remove products from their current location and move them to the suggested location. This work presents the Rearrange-While-Working (RWW) policy to optimize the process of rearranging a dedicated warehouse. The RWW policy seeks to relocate products in a warehouse from the initial arrangement to the optimal arrangement while serving …

Optimization And Characterization Of Biodiesel Production From Cottonseed And Canola Oil, Hem Joshi

All Theses

Transesterification of cottonseed oil and canola oil was carried out using low molecular weight alcohols and potassium hydroxide. For cottonseed oil, a central composite design with eight factorial, six center and six axial points was used to study the effect of catalyst concentration, molar ratio of ethanol to cottonseed oil and reaction temperature on percentage yield and percentage initial absorbance (%A385nm) of the biodiesel. Catalyst concentration and molar ratio of ethanol to cottonseed oil were the most influential variables affecting percentage conversion and percentage initial absorbance. Maximum percentage yield of 98 % is predicted at a catalyst concentration of 1.07 …

A Stochastic Production Planning Model Under Uncertain Demand, Meenakshi Prajapati

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Production planning plays a vital role in the management of manufacturingfacilities. The problem is to determine the production loading plan consisting of the quantity of production and the workforce level - to fulfill a future demand. Although the deterministic version of the problem has been widely studied in the literature, the stochastic production planning problem has not. The application of production planning models could be limited if the stochastic nature of the problem, for example, uncertainty in future demand, is not addressed. This study addresses such a stochastic production planning problem under uncertain demand and its application in an enclosure …

Developing New Multidimensional Knapsack Heuristics Based On Empirical Analysis Of Legacy Heuristics, Yong Kun Cho

Theses and Dissertations

The multidimensional knapsack problem (MKP) has been used to model a variety of practical optimization and decision-making applications. Due to its combinatorial nature, heuristics are often employed to quickly find good solutions to MKPs. While there have been a variety of heuristics proposed for the MKP, and a plethora of empirical studies comparing the performance of these heuristics, little has been done to garner a deeper understanding of heuristic performance as a function of problem structure. This dissertation presents a research methodology, empirical and theoretical results explicitly aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of heuristic procedural performance as a function …

Computer-Based Methods For Constructing Two-Level Fractional-Factorial Experimental Designs With A Requirement Set, Steven L. Forsythe

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation developed four methodologies for computer-aided experimental design of two-level fractional factorial designs with requirement sets (DOE/RS). The requirement sets identify all the experimental factors and the appropriate interaction terms to be evaluated in the experiment. Taguchi graphs and similar manual methods provide techniques for solving the DOE/RS problem. Unfortunately, these methods are limited because they become difficult to use as the number of factors or interaction terms exceeds ten. This research showed that the DOE/RS problem belongs to a class of difficult-to-solve problems known as NP-Complete. It is the combinatorial nature of NP-Complete problems that causes them to …

Technology Selection For The Air Force Research Laboratory Air Vehicles Directorate: An Analysis Using Value Focused Thinking, Michael F. Winthrop

Theses and Dissertations

A technology selection model was developed for the Air Vehicles Directorate of Air Force Research Laboratory. The model was developed and demonstrated to aid in addressing the question of what technologies Air Vehicles' should invest in to remain consistent with Air Force values. Both Value-Focused Thinking and optimization approaches were used to identify the value of Air Vehicles technology, to provide insights to Air Vehicles' decision-makers, to determine where value gaps might exist with the scored alternatives, and to determine how sensitive the model was to changes. As a demonstration of the approach, seven technologies were scored, representing all three …

The Significance And Effects Of Oil Injection On The Performance Of Sliding Vane Compressors., M Mkumbwa

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

A computer model of a sliding vane air compressor was used to predict the behaviour of machines having different geometries operating at different conditions. The performance parameters which were calculated by the model were the free air delivery, power input and specific capacity which is defined as the free air delivery per unit of power input.The model also included the study of the effects of Oil injection on these mentioned compressor performance parameters. The paper describes the simulation model developed incorporating an analysis Of the effects of the oil injected into the compressor on lhe thermodynamic processes taking place in …

A Game-Theoretic Improvement Model For Stochastic Networks: Reliability Vs. Throughput, Jeffrey A. Schavland

Theses and Dissertations

Prescriptive models used to allocate resources for network improvement traditionally have used reliability or flow as Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs). Such metrics do not give value to efforts which make a component more difficult to exploit. This study developed an entirely new MOE for stochastic network improvement, flow damage utility, which uses a two person, zero-sum, non-cooperative game to optimize a probabilistic network for an estimate of expected flow minus performance degradation after a worst case component loss. A multiple criteria optimization problem that uses flow damage utility and an analogous, previously developed metric for the reliability problem is used …

The Application Of Sequential Convex Programming To Large-Scale Structural Optimization Problems, Todd A. Sriver

Theses and Dissertations

Structural design problems are often modeled using finite element methods. Such models are often characterized by constraint functions that are not explicitly defined in terms of the design variables. These functions are typically evaluated through numerical finite element analysis (FEA). Optimizing large-scale structural design models requires computationally expensive FEAs to obtain function and gradient values. An optimization approach which uses the SCP sequential convex programming algorithm of Zillober, integrated as the optimizer in the Automated Structural Optimization System (ASTROS), is tested. The traditional approach forms an explicitly defined approximate subproblem at each design iteration that is solved using the method …

An Airlift Hub-And-Spoke Location-Routing Model With Time Windows: Case Study Of The Conus-To-Korea Airlift Problem, David W. Cox

Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally, the United States Air Force's Air Mobility Command (AMC) has used the concept of direct delivery to airlift cargo and passengers from a point of embarkation to a point of debarkation. This study develops an alternative hub-and-spoke combined location-routing integer linear programming prototype model, and uses this model to determine what advantages a hub-and-spoke system offers, and in which scenarios it is better-suited than the direct delivery method. Additionally, the analysis suggests that the C-17 may be better-suited, in certain airlift situations, for theater airlift versus strategic (direct delivery) airlift. The model features the following elements: time windows, cargo …

Design Approach For Small Scale Continuous, Steady State Plants, O Kaunde

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

One of the major steps in the design of a process plant is development of an appiopriate flowsheet. At this step, the technical solutions may be con- sidered in relation to the social and economic factors. In this paper, guide- lines for developing a flowsheet for continuous, steady State process in a developing country environment have been proposed. To illustrate the pro- posed guidelines, a case study involving design of an ethanol distillation plant has been used.

Automated Manpower Rostering: Techniques And Experience, C. M. Khoong, Hoong Chuin Lau, L. W. Chew

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We present ROMAN, a comprehensive, generic manpower rostering toolkit that successfully handles a wide spectrum of work policies found in service organizations. We review the use of various techniques and methodologies in the toolkit that contribute to its robustness and efficiency, and relate experience gained in addressing manpower rostering problems in industry.

Electricity Consumption Patterns In Domestic House Holds, H Kadete

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Electricity tariff increases from 1988 to 1992 are presented. They are Compared with salaries paid to parastatal workers over the same period. Monthly expenditures on electricity are also presented. Electricity con- sumption profiles have been recorded. The typical end use electrical ap- pliances for each household category have been identified. About 69% of electricity is used for cooking in high demand households. In medium demand households electricity used for lighting dominates ar about 49%. Measurements indicate a 3 peak power consumption profile for domestic dwellings. Voltages of 180V were recorded instead of the expected 230V nominal. Power factor is nor …

A Two-Stage Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (Icbm) Design Optimization Study And Life Cycle Cost Analysis, David P. Blanks, Douglas M. Bruce, Anthony M. Logue, Ralph A. Sandfry, Stephen J. Skotte, Michael L. Zywien

Theses and Dissertations

Realities of recent changes in the fiscal environment and the international domestic security structure have caused the strategic community to make some difficult decisions to preserve the capability of the current ICBM force. One of these decisions is to view Minuteman Ill as the centerpiece of the strategic force well into the next century. Extending the life of the 24-year- old Minuteman III system requires system solutions that provide required performance at an affordable life cycle cost. The intent of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of designing a 2-stage ICBM to perform the Minuteman III mission. The main …

Optimal Allocation Of Water Among Industries In Dar Es Salaam City, Tanzania, J. I. Matondo

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Dar es Salaam is the city with the largest number of industries in Tanzania. However, the water demand for these industries is more than the supply. Therefore, there is a water use competing problem among the industries. Dynamic programming technique has been applied to optimally allocate the available water among the industries with the objective of maximizing the net benefits. Results reveal that, industries with the highest net return per unit of water will get the first priority of being allocated water.