Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Mass Customization Strategies And Their Relationship To Lean Production In The Homebuilding Industry, Isabelina Nahmens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current housing trends point to an increasing interest from homebuyers to demand houses that reflect their personal and unique styles, and which are individually configured according to these needs (NAHB, 2004). These homebuyers in turn are unwilling to settle for standard models that sacrifice what they really want in a home. At the same time this creates pressure on builders who are reluctant to sacrifice production efficiencies by deviating from standard models. Such customization desired by demanding customers can disrupt the entire estimating, production, delivery and management process, making it even more difficult to manage homebuilding efficiently and effectively. The …

Optimizing The Design Of Multimodal User Interfaces, Leah Reeves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to a current lack of principle-driven multimodal user interface design guidelines, designers may encounter difficulties when choosing the most appropriate display modality for given users or specific tasks (e.g., verbal versus spatial tasks). The development of multimodal display guidelines from both a user and task domain perspective is thus critical to the achievement of successful human-system interaction. Specifically, there is a need to determine how to design task information presentation (e.g., via which modalities) to capitalize on an individual operator's information processing capabilities and the inherent efficiencies associated with redundant sensory information, thereby alleviating information overload. The present effort …

Cognitive Learning From Computer-Based Information Systems By Incorporating Knowledge Construction Interventions, Wajdi Wazzan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the present study was to develop and empirically evaluate different categories of instructional activities, which stimulate the generation and construction of knowledge on the part of an individual student. These generative activities are primed by prompts or scaffolds, which can easily be inserted into specific curriculum addressing any domain of knowledge. To assess the manner in which the knowledge construction interventions influence the learning outcomes from computerized information systems, we have developed an online computer-based information system that describes the functions and mechanisms associated with the bus system of the US army Abrams M1A2 tank. Seven versions …

Management Systems Fit For Organizational Performance, Rey Diaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study identifies the dimensions and variables using prior research within each of the constructs under the management systems, fit and, organizational strategy, structure, lifecycle and performance. The constructs from the research model were defined with a combination of direct, calculated and coded measures. Context analysis for each case categorized management systems design into either prescriptive or descriptive. The selected performance measures have been extensively investigated in the research fields associated with organizational management. The study uses the multiple case study design with cross-sectional data spanning from 1991 to 2005 and involving 19 aerospace companies in the United States. …

Design For Auditory Displays: Identifying Temporal And Spatial Information Conveyance Principles, Ali Ahmad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Designing auditory interfaces is a challenge for current human-systems developers. This is largely due to a lack of theoretical guidance for directing how best to use sounds in today's visually-rich graphical user interfaces. This dissertation provided a framework for guiding the design of audio interfaces to enhance human-systems performance. This doctoral research involved reviewing the literature on conveying temporal and spatial information using audio, using this knowledge to build three theoretical models to aid the design of auditory interfaces, and empirically validating select components of the models. The three models included an audio integration model that outlines an end-to-end process …

Methodology For Analyzing And Characterizing Error Generation In Presence Of Autocorrelated Demands In Stochastic Inventory Models, Rafael Diaz

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Most techniques that describe and solve stochastic inventory problems rely upon the assumption of identically and independently distributed (IID) demands. Stochastic inventory formulations that fail to capture serially-correlated components in the demand lead to serious errors. This dissertation provides a robust method that approximates solutions to the stochastic inventory problem where the control review system is continuous, the demand contains autocorrelated components, and the lost sales case is considered. A simulation optimization technique based on simulated annealing (SA), pattern search (PS), and ranking and selection (R&S) is developed and used to generate near-optimal solutions. The proposed method accounts for the …

Introducing Freshmen To Construction Estimating And Scheduling Using K'Nex Bridge Kits, Carol Considine, Vernon Lewis

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The College of Engineering and Technology at Old Dominion University has developed project-based courses for freshmen engineering students in order to engage them in engineering early with the goal of increasing retention. The courses are divided into three five-week modules that are distributed among the various departments within the college. The Engineering Technology department is responsible for two of the five week modules. One module is comprised of all the engineering technology curriculums; civil, electrical and mechanical, and the other module is strictly a civil engineering technology project.

The civil engineering technology project is focused on the construction industry. Students …

Multi-Phase Flow Analysis In Oil And Gas Engineering Systems And Its Modelling, Orlando F. Ayala, Luis F. Ayala, Orlando M. Ayala

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Two-phase flow is very common in industrial processes and its applications were already in use in ages as remote as the era of Archimedes. At the present time, many industrial processes rely on multi-phase phenomena for the transport of energy and mass or for material processing. During the last century, the nuclear, chemical and petroleum industries propelled intense research activity in the area. Their efforts have been aimed at the demystification of the mechanisms taking place during this complex flow situation.

Exact And Heuristic Algorithms For The Job Shop Scheduling Problem With Earliness And Tardiness Over A Common Due Date, Leonardo Bedoya-Valencia

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Scheduling has turned out to be a fundamental activity for both production and service organizations. As competitive markets emerge, Just-In-Time (JIT) production has obtained more importance as a way of rapidly responding to continuously changing market forces. Due to their realistic assumptions, job shop production environments have gained much research effort among scheduling researchers. This research develops exact and heuristic methods and algorithms to solve the job shop scheduling problem when the objective is to minimize both earliness and tardiness costs over a common due date. The objective function of minimizing earliness and tardiness costs captures the essence of the …

Identification And Suitability Of A Non-Anthropomorphic Meta-Language Framework In Military Applications, Gilbert Cardona

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Humans carry mental models concerning the behaviors, looks, and operation of products, tools, and items used in their daily lives. When these items do not fit a user's conceptual model confusion and inefficiency occur. There are four basic types of mental models based on interactive activities: 1) instructing, 2) conversing, 3) manipulating and navigating, and 4) exploring and browsing. This thesis will focus on the conversing conceptual model and its application to communications between human-agent teams to best fit a user's mental model for that communication. A non-anthropomorphic framework does not exist for use in military applications such as; target …