Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Computing Research In Academia: Classifications, Keywords, Perceptions, And Connections, Sung Han Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) recognizes five computing disciplines: Computer Science (CS), Computer Engineering (CE), Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS), and Software Engineering (SE). Founded in 1947 the ACM is the world's largest society for computing educators, researchers, and professionals. While Computer Science has been a degree program since 1962, the other four are relatively new. This research focuses on understanding the graduate research in four of the five ACM disciplines (CS, CE, IT, and IS) using a large body of thesis and dissertation metadata. SE is not found in the metadata and graduate work in SE is …

Essays In Physicians Preference Items And Inventory Management Within The Healthcare Supply Chain, Mohammad A. Shbool

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work is composed of a number of topics in the healthcare area, which are approached separately with appropriate methodologies. The two topics deal with physician preference items via two different approaches. The first one investigates stock keeping unit (SKU) proliferation in healthcare organizations due to physician preference items (PPI). It captures perspectives of physicians and supply chain professionals about this problem through two surveys. The second topic builds a decision-making framework for the PPI selection process that can be used by healthcare organizations to make more objective decisions. A Multi-criteria decision making technique is implemented to illustrate the framework.

Modeling The Impact Of Rfid Technology On The Healthcare Supply Chain, Travis B. Peter

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Due to increasing competition in the healthcare industry, healthcare providers must find ways to reduce their costs of operation or potentially lose customers to more affordable options. For many years, the healthcare supply chain has significantly lagged behind the retail supply chain in terms of supply chain efficiency. Certain disruptive technologies that have become widespread in the retail supply chain have yet to be integrated by a significant number of healthcare providers, and as a result, there are large opportunities for improvements in the healthcare supply chain that could lead to both cost and time savings. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) …

Improving Reliability Of Medical Device Tracking Using Unique Device Identification, John A. Bonfanti

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The term “disruptive innovation” has been the buzzword of industries looking to create technological advancements in their respective fields ever since the term was first coined in 1995. In order to invest in the future of the industry, companies are beginning to focus on new, innovative ideas that come into the market as a low-cost alternative to the sustaining innovations currently in place. Similar business-models can be seen in the healthcare industry, as physicians look to disruptive innovations to provide methods of diagnosis and treatment that are easier to perform and maintain. Companies, from medical device manufacturers to the hospitals …

Predicting Nonadherence Behavior Towards Mammography Screening Guidelines, Brian L. Trussell

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The goal of this research is to examine factors associated with nonadherence behavior toward mammography screening among U.S. women. The 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey data was used for this study, allowing the model to represent a robust sample. A logistic regression model was developed to gain an understanding of influencing factors, including demographic, health-related and behavioral characteristics. Further analysis with logistic regression models stratified by age were conducted to control for the effect of age. The results show that demographic and health related information such as income, number of children, and BMI category can help intervention …

Modeling Supply Chain Resiliency, Jeff A. Hazel

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Engineered Resilient Systems (ERS) is a Department of Defense (DoD) program focusing on the effective and efficient design and development of complex engineered systems throughout their life cycle. There is a growing literature with qualitative definitions of resilience and quantitative models for systems with one performance measure. This paper uses a quantitative resilience framework (the Framework for ERS) that includes system design options, reliability, threats, vulnerabilities, responses, and consequences assessed in multiple system performance measures. The framework assists in establishing a model for any system to evaluate resiliency. This paper applies this framework using Multiple Objective Decision Analysis (MODA) to …

The Impact Of Learning Curve Model Selection And Criteria For Cost Estimation Accuracy In The Dod, Candace Honious, Brandon Johnson, John J. Elshaw, A. B. Badiru

Faculty Publications

The first part of this manuscript examines the impact of configuration changes to the learning curve when implemented during production. This research is a study on the impact to the learning curve slope when production is continuous but a configuration change occurs. Analysis discovered the learning curve slope after a configuration change is different from the stable learning curve slope pre-configuration change. The newly configured units were statistically different from previous units. This supports that the new configuration should be estimated with a new learning curve equation. The research also discovered the post-configuration slope is always steeper than the stable …

Safety Management Analysis For Construction Industry: Statistical Process Control (Spc) Approach, Zhenpeng Liu

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the College of Business and Technology Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Zhenpeng Liu on April 26, 2016.

Factor Analysis And Yield Optimization Of A Billet Manufacturing Process: A Case Study, Fatemeh Davoudi Kakhki

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the College of Business and Technology Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Fatemeh Davoudi Kakhki on April 22, 2016.

Impact Of Clustering Microgrids On Their Stability And Resilience During Blackouts, Mahmoud S. Saleh, Ammar Althaibani, Yusef Esa, Yassine Mhandi, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

In this paper, the impact of clustering multiple microgrids during blackouts, on their stability and supply availability, will be investigated. Microgrids have the capability of satisfying their emergency loads during blackouts. However, distributed energy resources (DERs)-dominated microgrids are affected by the uncertainty of their input energy supply, e.g. impact of solar irradiance on photovoltaic (PV) output. Moreover, an individual islanded microgrid is prone to instability issues due to large sudden load/generation changes. In order to increase the supply security, and enhance system stability, we propose to use the existing distribution grid infrastructure, if applicable, during blackouts to form microgrid clusters. …

How Trust Influences Adoption: Creating Human-Centered Autonomous Vehicles, David R. Garcia

Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Habitat Monitoring System For Simulated Mars Missions, Rebecca Demarco

Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference

The developers for the Habitat Monitoring System (HMS) for the Mobile Extreme Environment Research Station (MEERS) Mission Control System (MCS) faced challenges in the design and implementation of their human machine interface. Designing a human machine interface for a diverse group of end users presents technical and design challenges for the developers. By applying human factors concepts and following the engineering process, the development team was able to produce a human machine interface that met the product requirements and satisfied their product owners. This presentation discusses the process used by the development team to create the interface for the Habitat …

Ergonomics In Space Flight – Past, Present, & Future, Robert Consolo

Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference

From the days of “The Rocket Men” to the uprising of SpaceX, spaceflight has always inspired awe in humanity. If you examine the men that were apart of those first missions, you will find that they were not only the most capable, but won the genetic lottery to become this nations first astronauts. Looking to the times of Mercury, you see the extreme constraints that potential astronaut candidates had to meet in order to go to space. Aside from the rigorous medical testing, potential candidates also had to meet strict height and weight requirements. Early candidates could not be taller …

Creation And Implementation Of An Underwater-Capable Vr Headset Through The Use Of Additive Manufacturing, Matthew D. Meyers, Nathan Sonnenfeld

Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference

No abstract provided.

Designing A Mobile Space Habitat Analog, Victor Kitmanyen, Matthew Burkhard, Timothy Disher

Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference

No abstract provided.

Human Factors In The Development Of The Mobile Extreme Environment Research Station (Meers) Mission Control System (Mcs), Rebecca Demarco

Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference

The developers for the MEERS MCS were required to develop a novel interface for their product. During the development of the MCS, analytical human factors methods and display principles were implemented to create the user interface. The methods and principles were also used so the MCS had a user centered design. The MCS went through several iterations of design. This presentation discusses the development process of the MEERS MCS from a human factors standpoint.

Renewable Energy Investment Planning And Policy Design, Alireza Ghalebani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we leverage predictive and prescriptive analytics to develop decision support systems to promote the use of renewable energy in society. Since electricity from renewable energy sources is still relatively expensive, there are variety of financial incentive programs available in different regions. Our research focuses on financial incentive programs and tackles two main problem: 1) how to optimally design and control hybrid renewable energy systems for residential and commercial buildings given the capacity based and performance based incentives, and 2) how to develop a model-based system for policy makers for designing optimal financial incentive programs to promote investment …

Application Of Kansei Engineering To Tactile Sense In The Thai Food Wrapping Materials, Chaiwat Kittidecha, Ashuboda Chandrajith Marasinghe, Yamada Koichi

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

The paper investigates tactile attributes of food wrapping materials in Thailand based on Kansei Engineering and finds that 1) there are two major Kansei dimensions in tactile sense of food wrapping materials, 2) the emotion of "like" constitutes one of the two dimensions both with "smooth" and "natural", and 3) the most favorable wrapping material for Thai is "plastic foam" among nine different wrapping materials; plastic bag, aluminum foil, plastic film, paper, banana leaf, wax paper, plastic net, plastic air bubble and plastic foam. The study was conducted through a questionnaire that asked 6 pairs of emotions about samples; dislike …

Mapping Quality In Extended Value Streams Using Data Recorders, Eric Olsen, Christopher Fung, Jay Singh, Paul Singh

Industrial Technology and Packaging

This research compares three new methods and measures for mapping and evaluating the transportation segment of a value chain. The three methods are total energy, energy-time and energy-distance. The methods combine practices used in traditional physical distribution system analysis and extended value stream mapping (VSM) analysis. This research concludes that the energy-distance method and measure is the most effective for analyzing, comparing, and identifying opportunities for value chain improvement. It also identifies a ‘U-shape’ that is characteristic of the energy transfer pattern during a transportation segment that suggests that damage from transportation may need to be screened for quality at …

Mining Dynamic Recurrences In Nonlinear And Nonstationary Systems For Feature Extraction, Process Monitoring And Fault Diagnosis, Yun Chen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Real-time sensing brings the proliferation of big data that contains rich information of complex systems. It is well known that real-world systems show high levels of nonlinear and nonstationary behaviors in the presence of extraneous noise. This brings significant challenges for human experts to visually inspect the integrity and performance of complex systems from the collected data. My research goal is to develop innovative methodologies for modeling and optimizing complex systems, and create enabling technologies for real-world applications. Specifically, my research focuses on Mining Dynamic Recurrences in Nonlinear and Nonstationary Systems for Feature Extraction, Process Monitoring and Fault Diagnosis. …

Educators’ Resistance To The Technology And Engineering Education Transition, Kenneth L. Rigler Ph.D.

Applied Technology Faculty Publications

The purpose of the qualitative grounded theory study was to explore why industrial arts educators resisted organizational change to technology and engineering education. An exploratory, grounded theory method was used to identify new theory related to educators’ resistance because the current literature did not provide a theoretical perspective about why industrial arts educators have resisted the change. The sampling frame was derived from a database of 379 secondary technology and engineering education teachers in the state of Kansas, and a sample size of 13 participants was needed to reach theoretical saturation of the phenomenon. The data for the study was …

Densification Of W-Ni-Fe Powders Using Laser Sintering, Xuan Wang, Matthew Wraith, Stephen Burke, Howard Rathbun, Kyle Devlugt

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

In this paper, Laser Sintering (LS) of 90%W–7%Ni–3%Fe (wt.%) powders have been investigated, with the goal to understand the influence of final density by laser power, scanning speed, laser trace width, and the number of scanning passes. The results suggest that the laser power and scanning speed are the most important factors influencing density; the influence of trace width and number of scanning passes are not significant. With the increase of laser power and decrease of scanning speed, higher density can be achieved. The microstructure analysis indicated that the porosity changed from open porosity to closed porosity with higher laser …

In The Face Of Anticipation: Decision Making Under Visible Uncertainty As Present In The Safest-With-Sight Problem, Bryan A. Knowles

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Pathfinding, as a process of selecting a fixed route, has long been studied in

Computer Science and Mathematics. Decision making, as a similar, but intrinsically different, process of determining a control policy, is much less studied. Here, I propose a problem that appears to be of the first class, which would suggest that it is easily solvable with a modern machine, but that would be too easy, it turns out. By allowing a pathfinding to anticipate and respond to information, without setting restrictions

on the \structure" of this anticipation, selecting the \best step" appears to be an intractable problem.

After …

Optimization Of Process Parameters In Micro Electrical Discharge Machining (Edm) Of Ti-6al-4v Alloy, Farshid Alavi

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Ti-6Al-4V has a wide range of applications such as in the automotive and aerospace industries. Nevertheless, titanium alloys are very difficult to machine by conventional methods. Micro-EDM is a non-conventional machining method that uses the thermal effect of precisely controlled sparks. Manufacturers are looking for the methods and optimal settings to increase the productivity of micro-EDM in terms of lessening machining time and tool wear. Moreover, surface integrity of the machined area is crucial for some products such as biomedical implants.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the micro-EDM process parameters on response variables, in …

Breakdown Voltage Performances Of Aluminum And Copper Conductor Wire Under Compression Stresses, Richard Donald Suchanek Iii

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In the global, competitive market of energy transformation, increased operational expenses and depletion of raw materials have resulted in companies pursuing alternate materials to reduce consumer costs. In electrical applications, energy is transformed using materials with high electrical conductive properties. The conductive material used to transmit a signal is called conductor wire and is comprised of any material that has the ability to move charged particles from one point to another without propagation or delay. The conductor wire in many applications is encapsulated in epoxy resin called enamel. The enamel is the insulation system that provides necessary dielectric clearances to …

The Casualty Transportation Of Ebola Outbreak In Liberia: A Simulation Study, Hyejin Cho

Open Access Theses

In this paper, we have solved the unique problem of casualty transportation problem under Ebola by developing dynamic policies for vehicle routing in order to provide practical decision support. The objective of the proposed model is to minimize the total transmission risk. We describe the problem with real- constraints and parameters based on the empirical data of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Liberia. The casualty transportation problem is a variant of Dynamic Pick-up and Delivery Problems (DPDP), in which a vehicle is dispatched to demand location in real time and it then transports the demands to the aimed area (destination). …

Developing Agent-Based Simulation Models Of Task Performance Of Cognitively Diverse Teams, Megan Marie Nyre

Open Access Theses

Team-oriented work dominates industry, government, and academic areas with the goal of solving increasingly complex problems. However, the scope and external validity of traditional human factors research is inherently limited by the time and resources required to conduct laboratory studies. The model described in this thesis integrates simulation with human factors by providing an operationalized model that incorporates cognitive diversity and domain expertise. Convergence and functionality of the model have been established through a series of analyses, and a clear path for future research has been identified. By integrating simulation methods into human factors subject areas, researchers may be able …

A Case Study Of Two-Echelon Multi-Depot Vehicle Routing Problem, Tianqi Yu

Open Access Theses

The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is a classic combinatorial optimization problem and a topic still studied for practical applications. Current research focuses on single echelon distribution systems such as distribution centers serving customers. However, in typical distribution, goods flows among regional distribution centers, local warehouses and customers, defined as a two-echelon network. The two-echelon multiple depot VRP problem is documented and applied to two stages illustrated by a small scale computational example. In the first stage, the simulated annealing algorithm is employed to determine the routes between local warehouses and final customers. For the second stage, trial-and-error is applied to …

A Retrospective Study Of Amusement Ride Restraint And Containment Systems: Identifying Design Challenges For Statistically Rare Anthropometric Cases, Paula M. Stenzler

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The intent of this project was to conduct a retrospective study of amusement ride restraint and containment systems’ failures to identify the challenges associated with existing design criteria to safely accommodate statistically rare groups that fall outside amusement industry standards. Innovations in ride technology provide an opportunity for injuries to occur if restraint and containment systems cannot properly accommodate unique patron anthropometry. It is paramount to understand how anthropometric features contribute to the patron’s ability to defeat ride restraint and containment systems. A systemic perspective was used based on industry accident data to frame the problem associated with restraint and …

Multi-Level Analytic Network Process Model To Mitigate Supply Chain Disruptions In Disaster Recovery Planning, Martina Ursula Kroener

Master's Theses

Over the past few decades, environmental changes have led to more frequent occurrences and greater intensities of natural disasters worldwide. In terms of globally connected supply chains, this has resulted in an enormous economical loss for corporations. Therefore, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) planning and management has become essential for businesses in order to protect their critical business flow. Yet there is a lack of systematic and transparent methodologies for companies to handle this problem.

Hence, this thesis introduces a novel approach to combine consecutive steps of the Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) process within one application. The multi-criteria decision-making …