Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Value-Focused Thinking In The Presence Of Weight Ambiguity: A Solution Technique Using Monte Carlo Simulation, Timothy W. Porter

Theses and Dissertations

When a Decision Maker is asked to provide his or her preferences, the response represents a snapshot in time. While their preference structure elicited at any given moment may represent their revealed preferences at that point in time, it may change over time. These changing preferences over time represent ambiguity in the decision maker's preferences. Other sources of ambiguity may exist. One weakness of many decision analysis techniques today is the inability to incorporate ambiguity into the basic decision model. The existence of the problem has been known and commented on for many years. This research addresses that problem. It …

Cross-Service Investigation Of Geographical Information Systems, Matthew H. Beverly

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the armed services current uses of GIS, and asked the question whether or not a joint GIS program could benefit the DOD. An information technology implementation model was presented as a framework to implement a joint GIS program. It was found that all four armed services use GIS for forward deployments. The Army has its Combat Terrain Information System (CTIS). The Navy's digital nautical charts are a GIS. The Marine Corps has created their Geographically Linked Information Display Environment (GLIDE) program, which is similar to a map repository. Finally, the Air Force has its GeoBase program for …

Developing Team Cohesion: A Quasi-Field Experiment, John F. Costello

Theses and Dissertations

Within military organizations, research findings have lent support to the positive influence cohesion has on group performance in combat and non-combat areas, Beyond performance, research findings show that cohesion influences the job satisfaction, and health of military members, particularly under highly stressful conditions, such as those encountered in combat or extended deployments. The purpose of this research effort is to further analyze the strategies that should be used to develop cohesiveness among Air Force members. This was done by testing the extent to which cohesion changed when familiarization and challenging situations were coupled in a technical training course geared towards …

Recovering From A Stalled Change Initiative: A Case Of Correcting Implementation Mistakes, Ellen L. Dorey

Theses and Dissertations

Amid an age of increasing technology, innovation, and global business competition, there is no question that the pace organizational changes are introduced will increase, as well. With this pace of change, organizational leaders might find themselves short on the time and resources necessary to properly create readiness by utilizing implementation strategies. Frequently, a change initiative that is not introduced properly will meet resistance within the organization. When strong resistance is encountered, the initiative is often abandoned and replaced with some other effort. However, in some situations, the initiative can not be abandoned and implementation must continue. This research effort sought …

A Study Of Information Exchange Between United States Air Force Bases And Their Surrounding Communities, Andrew C. Clewett

Theses and Dissertations

Data, information, and knowledge are exchanged daily from United States Air Force (USAF) bases to surrounding communities. The purpose of this research is to aid managers and commanders in gaining a better understanding of their information flow and bettering their information management practices. The research specifically seeks answers to the questions of where information is exchanged, why information is exchanged, and to whom information is exchanged with.

Using Value-Focused Thinking To Evaluate The Effectiveness Of Air Force Utility Privatization, Carlos Braziel

Theses and Dissertations

The majority of the Air Force s stateside utility systems are old, obsolete, and unreliable. The cost to upgrade and repair these systems is currently estimated at over $4 billion. In response, the Air Force began efforts to convey ownership of these utility systems to the private sector through privatization efforts. However, privatization critics believe that newly privatized entities of government will cost the public more money and provide a lower level of service. Therefore, independent audits are a necessity to ensure government initiatives, meet their intended goals. However, the Air Force currently lacks an effective auditing tool to ensure …

The Application Of Value Focused Thinking To Utilities Privatization Source Selection, J. Heath Duncan

Theses and Dissertations

The Department of Defense's utility systems have suffered from under-funding and lack of technology investment, thereby creating a service gap between these DoD systems and systems operated by commercial providers. In order to overcome this gap and refurbish their systems, the DoD has focused its efforts on privatization of these systems. The utilities privatization decision is extremely vital and permanent and thus warrants backup source selection methodologies. Since awarding contracts in the utilities privatization arena requires a decision considering tradeoffs between multiple competing objectives, a value-focused thinking approach was used to create a structured, standardized value model taking into account …

Policy Analysis Of Chapter 101a, Readiness And Range Preservation, Of The National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2004, William E. Sitzabee

Theses and Dissertations

This research analyzed the United States Air Force's ability to meet the two conditions required for exemptions of critical habitat designations that are authorized under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. The research was limited to natural resources management on United States Air Force training ranges. Department of Defense exemptions can only be achieved if two conditions exist: the management activities must meet the intent of the Endangered Species Act and conserve the threatened and endangered species identified on the lands managed under an Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP), and the plan must ensure that there …

Making Learning Visible: Peer Review And The Scholarship Of Teaching, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Presentations

This is the conference program from the March 2004 national conference, Making Learning Visible: Peer Review and the Scholarship of Teaching. This conference was hosted by the UNL Peer Review of Teaching project and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Making Learning Visible: Peer Review And The Scholarship Of Teaching, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Presentations

This is the promotional brochure from the March 2004 national conference, Making Learning Visible: Peer Review and the Scholarship of Teaching. This conference was hosted by the UNL Peer Review of Teaching project and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Acuta Enews February 2004, Vol. 33, No. 2

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Modeling And Analysis Of Hospital Facility Layout Problem, Amol Shrikrishna Padgaonkar

Theses

The optimal solution to any facility layout problem is an important aspect and a major concem as it involves significant material handling and transportation cost. The objective is to arrange the departments within the predefined facility boundaries in the way that the interaction between the functions is efficient and the overall movement cost is minimized. While facility layout problems have traditionally focused on manufacturing facilities, there has been little work on analyzing layouts for hospitals. The thesis focuses on hospital facility layout problems (HLP) to (i) minimize the movements of patients and (ii) minimize the movements of accompanying resources such …

Process For The Physical Segregation Of Minerals, Jon C. Yingling, Rajive Ganguli

Manufacturing Systems Engineering Faculty Patents

With highly heterogeneous groups or streams of minerals, physical segregation using online quality measurements is an economically important first stage of the mineral beneficiation process. Segregation enables high quality fractions of the stream to bypass processing, such as cleaning operations, thereby reducing the associated costs and avoiding the yield losses inherent in any downstream separation process. The present invention includes various methods for reliably segregating a mineral stream into at least one fraction meeting desired quality specifications while at the same time maximizing yield of that fraction.

A Docking Score Function For Estimating Ligand-Protein Interactions: Application To Acetylcholinesterase Inhibition, Jianxin Guo, Margaret M. Hurley, Jeffery B. Wright, Gerald H. Lushington

United States Army: Publications

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition is an important research topic because of its wide range of associated health implications. A receptor-specific scoring function was developed herein for predicting binding affinities for human AChE (huAChE) inhibitors. This method entails a statistically trained weighted sum of electrostatic and van der Waals (VDW) interactions between ligands and the receptor residues. Within the 53 ligand training set, a strong correlation was found (R² = 0.89) between computed and experimental inhibition constants. Leave-oneout cross-validation indicated high predictive power (Q² = 0.72), and analysis of a separate 16-compound test set also produced very good correlation with …

A Supply Chain Management Tool For Linking Courses In Manufacturing Engineering , Daniel Waldorf, Sema E. Alptekin

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

A Recent Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) grant received by Manufacturing Engineering Program at Cal Poly has provided funds to strengthen its curricular focus on supply chain management, flexibility, business skills, quality, and process controls. New courses and laboratories are developed in electronics manufacturing, information technology, and supply chain management. A functioning supply chain environment has been developed to provide vertical integration among several courses. A software tool being developed in-house integrates the activities of the students who play the roles of customers and suppliers. Details of the various components of this comprehensive project are presented in this paper.

Selected Collaborative Problem-Solving Methods For Industry, Dr. Anthony Mark Doggett

Architectural and Manufacturing Sciences Faculty Publications

Despite the availability of a wide range of problem solving methods, individuals continue to struggle with problems. Scientists attempt to address recurring economic, social, political, and organizational problems through the expansion of knowledge and theory. ... Cause-effect relationships advance logical explanations, predict future events,and forecast consequences. Theories and thinking based on cause-effect findings become recognized science (Goldratt, 1990) and move the field of inquiry from "art" to that of disciplined examination. In problem solving, the root cause of the problem produces an undesirable effect. Any pursuit that does not seek the root cause leads only to the symptom of the …

Structure/Function Analyses Of Human Serum Paraoxonase (Hupon1) Mutants Designed From A Dfpase-Like Homology Model, David T. Yeung, Denis Josse, James D. Nicholson, Akhil Khanal, Christopher W. Mcandrew, Brian B. Bahnson, David E. Lenz, Douglas M. Cerasoli

United States Army: Publications

Human serum paraoxonase (HuPON1) is a calcium-dependent enzyme that hydrolyzes esters, including organophosphates and lactones, and exhibits anti-atherogenic properties. A few amino acids have been shown to be essential for the enzyme’s arylesterase and organophosphatase activities. Until very recently, a three-dimensional model was not available for HuPON1, so functional roles have not been assigned to those residues. Based on sequence-structure alignment studies, we have folded the amino acid sequence of HuPON1 onto the sixfold β-propeller structure of squid diisopropylfluorophosphatase (DFPase). We tested the validity of this homology model by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and site-directed mutagenesis. Consistent with predictions from …

An Investigation Into The Actual Transfer Efficiency Of High Volume Low Pressure Spray Guns, William R. Zimmerle Jr.

Graduate Student Work

With the past research in pollution prevention for the painting and coatings industry the Iowa Waste Reduction Center has established a solid reputation of being unbiased and a leader in progressive thinking. At this point, no research has been preformed to specifically verify the TE of HVLP spray guns. The IWRC currently is preforming research and training to determine and improve spray technicians TE. In the past, research to verify other pollution prevention equipment has been performed. One example of such activity is the Environmental Technology Verification for the Laser Touch® Beta Model research project. This project verified that a …

Detection Of Antibodies To Squalene Iii. Naturally Occurring Antibodies To Squalene In Humans And Mice, Gary R. Matyas, Mangala Rao, Phillip R. Pittman, Robert Burge, Iris E. Robbins, Nabila M. Wassef, Brandie Thivierge, Carl R. Alving

United States Army: Publications

An ELISA-based assay is described for the measurement of antibodies to squalene (SQE) in human serum and plasma. The assay was adapted from the previously described assay for murine antibodies to SQE (J. Immunol. Methods 267 (2002) 119). Like the murine SQE antibody assay, the human antibody assay used sterile cell culture 96-well plates coated with SQE (20 nmol/well). Phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)–0.5% casein was used as both a blocking agent and dilution buffer. The assay has a high through-put capacity and is reproducible and quantitative. This assay was used to evaluate samples from three different human cohorts. The first cohort …

Overview Of Metal-On-Polyethylene, Metal-On-Metal, And Ceramic Hip Wear Mechanisms, A. Buford, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Premature failure of orthopaedic hip implants caused by multiple wear mechanisms is the primary failure mode of prosthetic hips. Wearing of the implants may lead to aseptic loosening, biological incompatibilities, and mechanical failure of the implant. In order to prevent or restrict the effects of the wear mechanisms, multiple laboratory studies are being conducted in order to determine each mechanism and its contribution to increased wear rates. This paper combines previous laboratory studies related to the wear of metal-onpolyethylene, metal-on-metal, and ceramic materials. The bulk quantity materials discussed include cobalt chromium alloys, stainless steels, zirconium oxide ceramics, and polyethylene materials …

A Study Of Fidelity Level And Task/Non-Task Based Testing Scenarios On The Effectiveness Of Usability Testing, Joshua R. Dolecal

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

Advances in usability are directing developers towards creating a better and all around friendlier environment for users. Unlike when buying a physical product where you purchase it first and then experience its usability, web site usability is immediately present. So, if a site doesn't meet our needs, we as users, are quick to look elsewhere. Some research has suggested that fidelity makes no significant impact on users' ability to locate errors or problems in a web site. This paper is intends to investigate the interaction between fidelity and task vs. non-task user testing with regards to the types of problems …

Decision Support Model For Construction Crew Reassignments, Angela M. Sist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The reassignment of crews on a construction project in response to changes occurs on a frequent basis. The factors that affect the crew reassignment decision can be myriad and most are not known with certainty. This research addresses the need for a decision support model to assist construction managers with the crew reassignment problem. The model design makes use of certainty factors in a decision tree structure. The research helped to determine the elements in the decision tree, the appropriate combination rules to use with the certainty factors, and the method for combining the certainty factors and costs to develop …

An Analysis Of The Effects That Several Design Variables Have On The Accuracy And Precision Of Glass’ Delta And Hedges’ G, Joshua N. Dryer

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

Effect size is the standardized effect that some treatment has on a sample of a population. In particular, Hedges' g and Glass delta are mean difference effect size estimators that are used to compute the effect sizes found in an experimental situation. A confidence interval is an interval placed around a point estimate that indicates the precision with which the point estimate can be made. This paper provides an explanation of the concept of effect size estimation and confidence interval calculation, the different methods that can be used to calculate effect sizes and confidence intervals, and applies these methods in …

Writing Reflective Case Studies For The Engineering Management Journal (Emj), Timothy Kotnour, Rafael Landaeta

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper's intent is to help authors write reflective case studies for the Engineering Management Journal (EMJ). We offer a process to convert an applied research project with an organization to an EMJ manuscript. Writing a reflective case study is a process of abstracting experiences into approaches, processes, tools, challenges, and "lessons" for a broad audience of engineering managers. This paper serves as a guide for authors to write reflective case studies.

Including Organizational Cultural Parameters In Work Processes, Holly A. H. Handley, Nancy J. Heacox

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Recent work in modeling decision-making work processes has focused on including the national culture of individual decision-makers in order to emphasize the differences in decision criteria between decision-makers of different nationalities. In addition to nationality, a decision-maker is also a member of an organization and brings this organizational culture to his role in the work process, where it may also affect his task performance. In order to represent the organizational impact on the work process, five organizational cultural parameters were identified and included in an algorithm for modeling and simulation of cultural difference in human decision-making. While the five modifiers …

Acuta Enews January 2004, Vol. 33, No. 1

ACUTA Newsletters

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ACUTA to Offer Regional Workshops

From ACUTA Headquarters.................. Jeri A. Semer, CAE, Executive Director

ACUTA Announces Online Press Room

Board Report.................... Carmine Piscopo, Providence College

Tech Talk.................... Kevin Tanzillo, Dux Public Relations

DC Update.............. Whitney Johnson, Retired, Northern Michigan Univ.

WLNP........................... Greg Stahl, St. Lawrence University

Thanks to Journal Advertisers for '03

Welcome New Members

Wear Mechanisms In Ceramic Hip Implants, M. Slonaker

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The wear in hip implants is one of the main causes for premature hip replacements. The wear affects the potential life of the prosthesis and subsequent removals of in-vivo implants. Therefore, the objective of this article is to review various joints that show lower wear rates and consequently higher life. Ceramics are used in hip implants and have been found to produce lower wear rates. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of ceramics compared to other implant materials. Different types of ceramics that are being used are reviewed in terms of the wear characteristics, debris released, and their size …

Wear Mechanisms In Ceramic Hip Implants, M. Slonaker, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The wear in hip implants is one of the main causes for premature hip replacements. The wear affects the potential life of the prosthesis and subsequent removals of in-vivo implants. Therefore, the objective of this article is to review various joints that show lower wear rates and consequently higher life. Ceramics are used in hip implants and have been found to produce lower wear rates. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of ceramics compared to other implant materials. Different types of ceramics that are being used are reviewed in terms of the wear characteristics, debris released, and their size …

Fee -Based Online Services : Exploring Consumers’ Willingness To Pay, L. Richard Ye, Yue Zhang, Dat-Dao Nguyen, James Chiu

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Many online service businesses are beginning to charge fees for services that they used to provide for free. It is unclear whether consumers are ready to embrace this practice. This study explores consumer attitudes toward fee-based online services. The results of the study indicate that consumers’ willingness to pay for online services is likely to be influenced by their perceived value of convenience these services provide, and by the extent to which they utilize these services. While consumers appear more willing to pay for services that are qualitatively better than free services, there is also indication that the belief remains …

Information Systems Service Quality Measurement: The Evolution Of The Servqual Instrument, Dwayne Whitten

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Due to the increasing service component of information technology, service quality measurement has become increasingly important as IS practitioners attempt to increase service quality to customers. The measurement of service quality in IS evolved from the research done in the marketing literature. The SERVQUAL instrument has evolved to become the most commonly used measurement instrument in both IS and marketing. Although commonly used, the SERVQUAL instrument is not without criticism. This paper describes the SERVQUAL instrument, its criticisms and support, and finally the SERVPERF instrument, a variation of the SERVQUAL instrument which is an attempt at improving upon the SERVQUAL …