Systems Science Commons^™

Research Methodologies: A Look At The Underlying Philosophical Foundations Of Research, Nathapon Siangchokyoo, Andres Sousa-Poza

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies have had their greatest share of debates dating back to the 1970s. Researchers have long argued over the underlying philosophical features between the two methodologies and their ability to derive knowledge (Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2005, Sale, Lohfeld, & Brazil, 2002; Powell, Mihalas, Onwuegbuzie, Suldo and Daley, 2008; Sechrest and Sidani, 1995). More recently, modern researchers have argued that the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods into a single methodology (known simply as mixed methods research) allows researchers to answer questions otherwise unobtainable (Carey, 1993). The emergence of mixed methods research has gained increasing popularities in …

Modeling And Evaluating Role And Team Work Processes Using The Improved Performance Research And Integration Tool, Holly A. H. Handley, Pilar Pazos

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The Human View architecture was designed to capture the human requirements of a system and to answer questions about the interactions between humans and systems. Data captured in the Human View can be used to populate a simulation model to evaluate the performance of the humans interacting in a work process. The work process model can be used to investigate different types of human system analyses, at both the role and team levels, and to identify the appropriate metrics to evaluate the results. This study examined individual role performance using the metrics readily available in the simulation tool, and then …

Examination Timetabling With Mathematical Programming An Application In Turkish Air Force Academy, Emrah Koksalmis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The focus of this thesis is the educational timetabling problem, which is a very challenging problem to solve especially with a high number of the departments, branches, classes, and students. Due to the large scale of educational timetabling problems and preferences of the stakeholders, it is almost impossible to form a general model that solves all of the timetabling problems in the literature. This resulted in the need to develop and employ specific models for specific institutions.

The purpose of this study is to develop a mathematical programming model that solves the examination timetabling problem in Turkish Air Force Academy …

How To Improve Project Management For Agile Federation Development, Priyanka Kotikalpudi

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Developing a simulation federation out of a variety of heterogeneous simulation solutions is a complex task requiring very effective project management support in order to accomplish the common objectives and goals of this M&S federation. This thesis study conducts a detailed survey of available literature to identify the project management methods that can be extended to be applied to manage the development of simulation systems. The literature review led to the following two main results: (a) in general, there is insufficient literature dealing with M&S challenges for project management, (b) in particular, the two challenges of often changing requirements leading …

Time Valuation Of Risk: A Delayed-Bang Approach, Abhishek Pathak

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The subject of this thesis is the combined use of engineering economics and survival analysis in estimating time-value of risk-related resources. The discussion includes (1) the need for sustainable risk management, (2) the importance of time-valuation of risk related resources in the allocation or selection among competing risk mitigation alternatives, (3) the convergence of deterministic engineering economics, survivability analysis, and probabilistic analysis, and (4) results and examples of application in the context of prevention of risk event or mitigation of its consequences.

The significance of this thesis is in how three topics: engineering economics, survivability analysis, and probability theory can …

Towards A Diagnostic Framework For Understanding Complex Situations, José J. Padilla, Andres Sousa-Poza, Arturo Tejada, Samuel Kovacic

VMASC Publications

This paper presents a theoretical framework for the concept of understanding and how it can be used for assessing complex situations. Understanding is presented as a cognitive process on how an individual perceives and represents a complex domain based on his/her own predispositions, and how he/she selects knowledge or what may not be knowledge based on the same predispositions towards finding a set of solutions for the situation. Predispositions, in this case, are based on his/her epistemological, ontological and teleological biases while the domain is represented by irreducible and transient conditions. The final outcome is the match or mismatch of …

Improving Efficiency In Engineering Design Using Augmented D-Optimal Designs 'Synthetic Jet' Design Optimization Study, Fatih Erdogan

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to study the efficiency of several "design of experiments" (DOE) approaches used for the analysis and optimization of engineering designs. A literature review is conducted to study various "design of experiments" methods and the advantages and limitations of each method are discussed.

As an application, Augmented D-Optimal designs are utilized for a design study of 'synthetic jet'.

With the objective of improving efficiency and providing a minimum point experimental design model, computer-aided D-optimal method is preferred for this study. For setting up the design of the experiments and for performing the analysis of results, …

Crisis Management In Projects, Senol Nazikkol

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this investigation is to identify the processes, benefits and important tools of crisis management in projects. Crisis management is a system that helps managers to prevent and overcome crises. In this research, a general review about crisis, crisis management processes and tools are discussed. The research was done by using the information in the literature and expert judgment. This paper can be used by academics as a foundation for further research and development in the area of crisis management in projects. Managers of projects can use this study for improving their projects and project-based organizations' crisis management …

Managing The Transformation Of System Of Systems Engineering, Samuel F. Kovacic, Andres Sousa-Poza

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

SOSE methodologies exist that support engineering difficult and disparate systems with a technical solution. However, from literature it is apparent that there is a need for a formal methodology and methods that govern engineering of System of Systems (SOS) beyond the technical solution. This paper presents some of the current thinking being undertaken at NCSOSE (National Centers for Systems of Systems Engineering), on what is driving the development of SOSE, and a hypothesized solution to this problem. The purpose is to offer a different approach for resolving complexity within a situation. The paper concludes with an initial derivative of a …

A Comparison Of The Canons Of Science Used In Positivistic Research And Constructivist/Naturalistic Research, Ipek Bozkurt, Andres Sousa-Poza

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, the canons of science which are crucial for positivistic, empirical research and constructivist/naturalistic research will be identified, described, compared and discussed. Although there are common canons which are often used in papers throughout literature, it would be beneficial to set a common ground for the identification and use of the canons. The canons used in positivistic research will differ from the canons used in constructivist/ naturalistic research. This paper will analyze major publications (papers, books, etc.) exploring the canons either directly or indirectly, and will provide a link between major characteristics of two different research philosophies and …

Managing The Transformation Of System Of Systems Engineering, Samuel F. Kovacic, Andres Sousa-Poza

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

SOSE methodologies exist that support engineering difficult and disparate systems with a technical solution. However, from literature it is apparent that there is a need for a formal methodology and methods that govern engineering of System of Systems (SOS) beyond the technical solution. This paper presents some of the current thinking being undertaken at NCSOSE (National Centers for Systems of Systems Engineering), on what is driving the development of SOSE, and a hypothesized solution to this problem. The purpose is to offer a different approach for resolving complexity within a situation. The paper concludes with an initial derivative of a …

Application Of Queuing Theory And Procedure Time Estimation In A Local Healthcare System, Galina Tsoy

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

People in the United States pay more for their basic healthcare needs than do people in any other nation in the world. When we consider that the United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, controlling the majority of the world's resources, it seems only reasonable to ask: Why should it be this way?

In an effort to address this problem, this thesis examines two possible methods of improving health care efficiency in hospitals. The thesis is thus in two parts: the first part examines resource allocation in medical units using Queuing Theory, and the second part examines a …

Minimizing Post-Production Weight Growth In Tanks Using A Decision Analysis Model, Michael F. Cochrane

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Post-production weight growth of tanks is an historic problem for the military. Tanks are difficult to transport because of their weight, and post-production modifications tend to cause this weight to increase over the lifecycle of the tank. In this thesis, a computer model is constructed which uses influence diagrams to model tank weight growth as a probabilistic process. Historical weight data for the MI Abrams tank program is used to derive probabilities for the model. The model is used to predict tank weight growth over both the short and long term with the goal of understanding more about how and …

A Proposed Approach To Iso Compliance And Validation For Metrology Laboratories, J. Lyle Bagley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

International competition among metrology laboratories, as well as their customers, has intensified the incentive to seek either accreditation to ISO Guide 25 or ISO 9000 quality system registration for the laboratory. The debate continues as to which is more beneficial to the laboratory and its customers once the decision is made to pursue one or the other. This study addresses the advantages and limitations of each, and how best to prepare for complying with ISO standards. The literature was reviewed and ISO certification experts were questioned about these issues. The results were combined with new applications of existing operations research …

Fault Tolerant Pipelined Adaptive Systems, Bhasker Reddy Allam

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A fault tolerant pipelined architecture for high sampling rate adaptive filters is presented in this thesis. The architecture is based on the computational requirements of delayed LMS and lattice adaptive 61ters. It offers robust performance in the presence of single hardware faults, and software faults resulting from numerical instability. Two different architectures are proposed. One allows a graceful degradation in system performance in the event of a fault, and the other uses a module replacement strategy to recover from faults without decreasing performance. Analysis of the steady state error increase due to filter reconfiguration is presented. The reliability of the …

Predicting Utility Bills For Air Combat Command A Study Of Forecasting Techniques, William L. Luthie

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Many companies use forecasting techniques as a tool in managing their assets. Trends in such items as sales, population and inventory levels have all been determined at one time or another using forecasting, yet research indicates that these tools have not been utilized to predict utility budgets. This research was conducted to determine if such techniques could be applied to the specific task of predicting the utility bill at an Air Force base. Three quantitative models were chosen, the Moving Average, Exponential Smoothing and Regression, to determine their applicability to the task at hand. One base within Air Combat Command, …

Domain Limitations And Interface Requirements For Expert Developed Knowledge Based Systems, Bernard Lee Lewis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The expanded use of graphical, case-based and object oriented techniques in expert systems creation has made it more practical for domain experts to develop their own applications. This thesis focuses on the elements necessary in an expert/developer interface and looks at various forms and techniques that exemplify such an approach. The spreadsheet metaphor is used for an interface or managed set of interfaces that a domain expert can use in building his own expert system or prototype. criteria are established for such interfaces and recent commercial offerings that make expert-created knowledge-bases more practical are reviewed for techniques that qualify. Approaches …

A Case Study In The Development Of A Cost Reduction Methodology In The Public Sector, Ross Cooper Haines

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Intense fiscal pressures have caused the Department of Defense (DoD) to explore new ways of reducing operating expenses. The primary technique used to achieve this objective is the use of competition - recently for maintenance requirements not previously subjected to competition. One such maintenance requirement is the periodic overhaul of one of the Navy's front line fighter aircraft - the F-14A Tomcat. This case study documents the cost reduction methodology developed by the DoD's incumbent overhaul facility in preparation for competition. The methodology discusses task time estimation, cost center structure, labor rate development and analysis, internal cost transfers as well …