Master of Science / Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Chih-Hang John Wu / The University of Kansas Medical Center’s Emergency Department is adopting a new residency program. In the past, generalized Residents have supported attending physicians during a required three month rotation in the Emergency Department. As of July 2010, the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Emergency Department has switched to a dedicated Emergency Medicine Residency program that allows recently graduated physicians the opportunity enter the field of Emergency Medicine. This thesis shows that although not initially a dedicated residency program provides an advantage to the Emergency Department. Discrete Event Simulations have been used to predict changes in processes, policies, and practices in many different fields. The models run quickly, and can provide a basis for future actions without the cost of actually implementing changes in policies or procedures. This thesis applies a learning curve in a Simulation Model in order to provide data that the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Emergency Department can utilize to make decisions about their new Residency Program. A generalized learning curve was used for the base model and compared to all alternatives. When it was compared with an alternative curve following a Sigmoid Function (Logistic Function), there were no significant differences. Ultimately, a Gompertz Curve is suggested for hospitals attempting to develop or improve their residency programs using learning curves because it is easily fitted to their desired shape. This thesis shows the effect that Residents have on the performance of the Emergency Department as a whole. The two major components examined for the generalized learning curve were the initial position for first year residents determined by the variable [alpha], and the shape of the curve determined by the variable [beta]. Individual changes the value of [alpha] had little effect. Varying values of [beta] have shown that smaller values elongate the shape of the curve, prolonging the amount of time it takes for a resident to perform at the level of the attending physician. Each resident’s personal value of [beta] can be used to evaluate the performance in the emergency department. Resident’s who’s [beta] value are smaller the emergency department’s expected value might have trouble performing.

Master of Science / Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Jessica L. Heier Stamm / In many humanitarian and public health settings, multiple organizations act independently to locate facilities to serve an affected population. As a result of this decentralized decision-making environment, individuals’ access to facility resources may suffer in comparison to a hypothetical system in which a single planner locates the facilities to optimize access for all. Furthermore, due to the unanticipated nature of humanitarian events and the urgency of the need, responders often must cope with a high level of uncertainty regarding the future supply of resources and demand for relief. The contributions of this thesis address the challenges that arise due to the decentralized and dynamic nature of humanitarian response. The first goal of this research is to quantify the difference between decentralized system performance and that possible with a centralized planner. The second goal is to demonstrate the value and feasibility of using a dynamic, rolling-horizon framework to optimize facility location decisions over time. This work compares individuals’ access to health facilities resulting from location decisions made by decentralized decision-makers to the access achieved by a centralized model that optimizes access for all. Access is measured using a special case of the gravity model, the Enhanced Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (E2SFCA) method, which is a distance-weighted ratio of capacity to demand. The E2SFCA method is integrated with integer programming to optimize public access to health facilities. This method is applied to the location of cholera treatment facilities in Haiti, which has been afflicted with a cholera epidemic since October 2010. This research finds that access varied significantly across Haiti, and in the month of February 2011, thirty-seven of the 570 sections, representing 474,286 persons (4.8 percent of the population), did not have adequate access to cholera treatment facilities. Using centralized models to optimize accessibility, performance can be improved but no single model is dominant. This paper recommends use of an efficiency-oriented model in conjunction with an equity constraint to make facility location decisions in future responses. Finally, this work successfully integrates measures of access and equity into a rolling-horizon facility location model and demonstrates that these measures can be incorporated in a full-scale implementation to provide dynamic decision support to planners. This paper advocates for greater awareness of the impact of decentralization in humanitarian response and recommends that future work be undertaken to discover incentives and strategies to mitigate the impact of decentralization in future responses.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Chih-Hang John Wu / Quality is a result of product design and production control. Product design must maximize the ability to function across variations in production and environment. Production control must monitor and maintain the key design characteristics necessary for the intended function. Failure to do so results in premature part failure and increased costs. This has occurred in the production of modern cross ties. By designing quality into the product and production process, performance is maximized. This research presents a methodology for incorporating quality into the product design and production process. For product design, a relationship between product performance and design parameters is established by modeling techniques. These models provide a means to redesign the product to maximize performance and to understand the sensitivity of the design to fluctuation in production and environment. These models also establish the key design parameters that are critical for sustaining quality. For production, a method of monitoring the key design parameters is presented that provides an affordable means of automated inspection. Automated inspection removes operator error from the inspection process and allows for greater sampling rates to be achieved. The methodology presented allows for a potential of 100% inspection to be achieved with minimal impact to production costs. The research is applied to the analysis and quality control of pre-stressing steel reinforcement for concrete cross-ties. This application provides an opportunity to test and verify the research findings on a real world problem. Novel automated 3D spatial analysis algorithms are presented. This research furthers the state of the art of performing Geometrical Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T). A cost effective method of non-contact surface profiling was developed with high resolution and high density surface profiles. The combined research findings present a methodology of achieving quality by design.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Malgorzata J. Rys / This dissertation is the result of studying different methods of increasing guide sign visibility and legibility to drivers during nighttime, to increase safety on roadways. It also studies intersection lighting to indicate the lighting benefits on nighttime crash frequency reduction. From a survey conducted, practices related to overhead guide sign illumination and retroreflectivity in United States were summarized. A laboratory experiment was conducted to compare light distribution of five light sources: Metal Halide, Mercury Vapor, High Pressure Sodium, induction lighting, and Light Emitting Diode (LED). Cost analysis of the five light sources was performed. Combining results of the laboratory experiment and the cost analysis, induction lighting was recommended for states that want to continue external sign illumination. A retroreflectivity experiment was conducted to compare three types of retroreflective sheeting: Engineering Grade (type I), Diamond Grade (type XI), and High Intensity (type IV), to determine the sheeting that best increases visibility and legibility. Diamond Grade (type XI) was found to be the optimal sheeting that increases visibility and legibility to drivers during nighttime. A glare experiment was conducted to expand the retroreflectivity experiment results. Four sheeting-font combinations of High Intensity (type IV) and Diamond Grade (type XI) materials and Series E (Modified) and Clearview fonts were compared. Results revealed an optimal sheeting-font combination of Diamond Grade (type XI) sheeting and Clearview font which increases the visibility and legibility of guide signs to drivers under presence of oncoming glare source. The Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) database was used to study the effect of intersection lighting on the expected crash frequency. Illuminated intersections showed 3.61% and 6.54% decrease in the expected nighttime crash frequency as compared to dark intersections in Minnesota and California, respectively. In addition, partial lighting at intersections decreases the expected nighttime crash frequency by 4.72% compared to continuous lighting in Minnesota. The recommended sheeting-font combination for Departments of Transportation was Diamond Grade (type XI) and Clearview. This combination will increase signs’ visibility and legibility to drivers, and consequently increase safety on roadways. Adding partial lighting at intersections will reduce the expected nighttime crash frequency, and increase safety on roadways.