Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Modeling, Simulation And Control Of Microrobots For The Microfactory., Zhong Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Future assembly technologies will involve higher levels of automation in order to satisfy increased microscale or nanoscale precision requirements. Traditionally, assembly using a top-down robotic approach has been well-studied and applied to the microelectronics and MEMS industries, but less so in nanotechnology. With the boom of nanotechnology since the 1990s, newly designed products with new materials, coatings, and nanoparticles are gradually entering everyone’s lives, while the industry has grown into a billion-dollar volume worldwide. Traditionally, nanotechnology products are assembled using bottom-up methods, such as self-assembly, rather than top-down robotic assembly. This is due to considerations of volume handling of large …

Applying Deep Learning To The Ice Cream Vendor Problem: An Extension Of The Newsvendor Problem, Gaffar Solihu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Newsvendor problem is a classical supply chain problem used to develop strategies for inventory optimization. The goal of the newsvendor problem is to predict the optimal order quantity of a product to meet an uncertain demand in the future, given that the demand distribution itself is known. The Ice Cream Vendor Problem extends the classical newsvendor problem to an uncertain demand with unknown distribution, albeit a distribution that is known to depend on exogenous features. The goal is thus to estimate the order quantity that minimizes the total cost when demand does not follow any known statistical distribution. The …

The Food Truck Problem, Supply Chains And Extensions Of The Newsvendor Problem, Dennis Quayesam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Inventory control is important to ensuring sufficient quantities of items are available tomeet demands of customers. The Newsvendor problem is a model used in Operations Research to determine optimal inventory levels for fulfilling future demands. Our study extends the newsvendor problem to a food truck problem. We used simulation to show that the food truck does not reduce to a newsvendor problem if demand depends on exogenous factors such temperature, time etc. We formulate the food truck problem as a multi-product multi-period linear program and found the dual for a single item. We use Discrete Event Simulation to solve the …

Paper Structure Formation Simulation, Tyler R. Seekins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On the surface, paper appears simple, but closer inspection yields a rich collection of chaotic dynamics and random variables. Predictive simulation of paper product properties is desirable for screening candidate experiments and optimizing recipes but existing models are inadequate for practical use. We present a novel structure simulation and generation system designed to narrow the gap between mathematical model and practical prediction. Realistic inputs to the system are preserved as randomly distributed variables. Rapid fiber placement (~1 second/fiber) is achieved with probabilistic approximation of chaotic fluid dynamics and minimization of potential energy to determine flexible fiber conformations. Resulting digital packed …

A Computational Model Of Team-Based Dynamics In The Workplace: Assessing The Impact Of Incentive-Based Motivation On Productivity, Josef Di Pietrantonio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Large organizations often divide workers into small teams for the completion of essential tasks. In an effort to maximize the number of tasks completed over time, it is common practice for organizations to hire workers with the highest level of education and experience. However, despite capable workers being hired, the ability of teams to complete tasks may suffer if the workers' individual motivational needs are not satisfied.

To explore the impact of incentive-based motivation on the success of team-based organizations, we developed an agent-based model that stochastically simulates the proficiency of 100 workers with varying abilities and motive profiles to …