archives@tulane.edu / The Pigpen Theatre Company’s devised musical The Old Man and The Old Moon was produced by the Tulane University Department of Theatre and Dance in November of 2019. The show was produced and presented at Tulane University’s Lupin Theater under the direction of Assistant Professor Monica Payne. The artistic design was led by a staff of third-year MFA students including scenic designer Myrna Padilla, costume designer Samantha Johnson, and lighting designer Jasmine Williams. The production stage management was led by Joey Vreeland (first year MFA student) with assistance from Sarah Peeler (BFA 2021). I acted as technical director with support from scene shop practicum students, graduate students, and Anthony Contello, Staff Assistant Technical Director. Professor of Practice in Musical Theatre and Voice Michael McKelvey was the musical director. The cast consisted entirely of Tulane undergraduate students, most of whom doubled as musicians for the musical. The production opened on November 19th, 2019 and closed on November 24th, 2019.
 The purpose of this thesis is to explore the process of technical direction, examining the particular requirements of this project’s design and how our production ultimately executed a variety of solutions. / 1 / Christopher M Givens

Hur kan RDF-processen hos Alwex Recycling AB illustreras? Vilket slöseri finns i RDF-processen; innan, under och efter förädlingen? Hur kan de identifierade slöserierna reduceras? Hur mycket kan Alwex Recycling AB:s kostnader reduceras genom att reducera de identifierade slöserierna? Sverige förbränner en del avfall som går till bland annat fjärrvärme. Refuse derived fuel (RDF) är ett avfall bestående av bland annat plast och papper. RDF har ett högt värmevärde, problemet är att det är svårt att få en RDF-process att bli lönsam. Alwex Recycling AB förädlar RDF och har, som andra RDF-anläggningar, problem med att få verksamheten lönsam. Marknaden där RDF köps och säljs är väldigt komplex då företag får betalt för att ta hand om avfallet som sedan förädlas och som företaget sedan måste betala för att bli av med. Uppsatsens syfte är att kartlägga RDF-processen hos Alwex Recycling AB och identifiera slöseri, för att ge förslag på hur dessa kan reduceras för att på så sätt minska Alwex Recycling AB:s produktionskostnader. För att uppfylla uppsatsens syfte har författarna utgått ifrån ett kvalitativt synsätt och gjort en fallstudie på Alwex Recycling AB. Personalen på anläggningen har intervjuats i fokusgrupper samt intervjuer med viss personal för att få fram empirisk data. Observationer har även gjorts på anläggningen för att komplettera intervjuerna. I uppsatsen har författarna kartlagt processen som den ser ut idag och identifierat de slöserier som uppstår i processen. Förbättringsförslag och kostnadsberäkningar har analyserats och kalkylerats för vissa av dessa slöserier. Anläggningen anses av författarna kunna ge en generell beskrivning av en RDF-process, detta gör att förbättringsförslagen bör kunna användas på andra liknande anläggningar i en svensk kontext. / How can the RDF-process in Alwex Recycling AB be illustrated? What wastes are identified by the RDF-process; before, during and after the refining process? How can the identified waste be reduced? How much can Alwex Recycling AB’s cost be reduced by reducing the identified waste? Sweden incinerate part of their waste and a part of this particular waste is used for district heating. Refuse derived fuel (RDF) is a fuel refined from waste partly containing of plastic and paper. RDF has a high calorific value. The problem regarding the RDF material is that it is difficult to get an RDF process to become profitable. Alwex Recycling AB refines RDF and has, like other RDF plants, problems in getting the business profitable. The market where the RDF is bought and sold is complex. Companies get paid to take care of the waste. After processing the material the company has to pay to get rid of the RDF. The purpose of this paper is to map the RDF process of Alwex Recycling AB and identify non-value added wastes. Suggestions to reduce the identified wastes and reduce Alwex Recycling AB's production costs are presented. To fulfill the purpose of the paper, the authors adopted an qualitative approach and performed a single case study on Alwex Recycling AB. The staff at the facility were interviewed in focus groups and individual interviews. Additionally, observations were made at the RDF-plant to complement empirical data collected from the interviews. In this paper, the authors have mapped the present RDF-process and identified non-value added wastes. Proposals of improvements and cost estimates are analyzed in some of the identified wastes. The RDF process at Alwex Recycling AB is considered to be of general application, therefore improvement proposals can be adopted to similar RDF-plants in Sweden.

Chemical process industries are constantly challenged to operate profitably and efficiently, despite the presence of significant uncertainties and disturbances on the operational conditions, and various operational limitations. The capability to meet the challenge relies on the quality of process control design, which should integrate the dynamic controllability characteristics in addition to the traditional economic considerations. The focus of this thesis is the development of a systematic controllability assessment framework for process control design. The framework addresses the controllability aspects in process and controller structures, as well as in time-domain dynamic performances. The aim is to provide clearer relationships between process profitability, controllability, and operational switching strategies in response to variations in the operating conditions. The skeleton of the framework is a mathematical optimisation algorithm. This algorithm considers the structural, operational and economic problems arising in process control design as a progressive, dynamic, and uncertain semi-infinite mixed integer nonlinear programming problem. The algorithm is an iterative, two-level optimisation, which determines the optimum process design and the associated controllability index within an optimisation window. The window progresses along a time horizon, ensuring optimal process design within the window while accommodating the design switching during the course of load variations in a larger time horizon. The controllability index quantifies the design capability to satisfy a given economic objective. Unique to other existing approaches, the process controllability index is computed based on the multi-dimensional geometric representation of the disturbances and uncertainties, measured process dynamics, and feasible operating spaces. These representations account for variable interactions existing in a multivariable process operation, in contrast to separate quantification in traditional single variable assessments. The geometric computation of the index requires the analysis and elimination of redundant measurement variables, which occur in different combinations at different process and controller structures. The redundancy is detected and eliminated based on statistical collinearity among the process data, allowing the assessment to focus on the retained functional variables and the associated critical disturbances and uncertainties. The redundancy analysis is tailored with a dynamic mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) solver, which is dedicated to select the optimum process and controller structure within the design. The solver is developed based on the branch and bound strategy over the design tree, which consists of alternative nonlinear programming (NLP) sub-problems. In addition to the redundancy analysis, the solver is equipped with a compact MINLP formulation, an alternating depth-first and breadth-first search strategy, sub-problems. The tailored strategy ensures fast and efficient convergence of convex problems, as well as superior optimum of non-convex counterparts. Finally, the framework is performed within a time window, which progresses along the time horizon. This strategy provides realistic responses to major variations along greater length of time, by switching between optimum operational modes, while maintaining the optimum process controllability. The performance of the framework is illustrated through several case studies. Each case demonstrates the novelty of addressing various computational features in a concise algorithm. These include the industrial case, which involves the systematic controllability assessment of an industrial five-effect liquor-burning evaporator within an Alumina refinery, which highlights the contribution of this framework in bridging the process design methodologies with the industrial implementation. The thesis consists of eight chapters, presenting the systematic development of the framework. The numerical implementations have been organised in a MATLAB Toolbox, accompanied with the relevant case studies.

In any organisation processes can be seen evolving throughout their lifecycle and play a deciding role in the efficiency of organisational activities. Tender processes are no different and with growing competitiveness and globalisation it has become the responsibility of managerial staff to ensure continuous improvement is applied to processes so organisational goals are consistently met and knowledge, talents and other success factors are institutionalised therein. The objective of this study was to perform an iteration of process re-engineering on the tender process within Tubular Track, so that a tender could be performed more efficiently and more competitively, and be more manageable. The investigation was carried out by means of a literature review and interviews. This was done to establish an accurate baseline from the current process and then re-engineer the system in its entirety. Verification of the investigation method was done through application of the PMBOK proven project management methods, while validation was done by comparison of processes through process improvement methodology principles as relationship. Process improvement and its management is a continuous procedure but because this study only focuses on the design of a new tender process for Tubular Track the conclusion that was made through literature application and comparison was that the newly designed process is expected to improve efficiency, manageability and time to complete. In the final conclusion stage recommendations were also made that re-engineering phases be planned and followed with corresponding risk and change management plans. Training needed for personnel so that implementation would be optimally applied and continuous improvement institutionalised would also need inspecting. / MIng (Development and Management Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In any organisation processes can be seen evolving throughout their lifecycle and play a deciding role in the efficiency of organisational activities. Tender processes are no different and with growing competitiveness and globalisation it has become the responsibility of managerial staff to ensure continuous improvement is applied to processes so organisational goals are consistently met and knowledge, talents and other success factors are institutionalised therein. The objective of this study was to perform an iteration of process re-engineering on the tender process within Tubular Track, so that a tender could be performed more efficiently and more competitively, and be more manageable. The investigation was carried out by means of a literature review and interviews. This was done to establish an accurate baseline from the current process and then re-engineer the system in its entirety. Verification of the investigation method was done through application of the PMBOK proven project management methods, while validation was done by comparison of processes through process improvement methodology principles as relationship. Process improvement and its management is a continuous procedure but because this study only focuses on the design of a new tender process for Tubular Track the conclusion that was made through literature application and comparison was that the newly designed process is expected to improve efficiency, manageability and time to complete. In the final conclusion stage recommendations were also made that re-engineering phases be planned and followed with corresponding risk and change management plans. Training needed for personnel so that implementation would be optimally applied and continuous improvement institutionalised would also need inspecting. / MIng (Development and Management Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Business process re-engineering (part of the Business Process Management domain) is among the top three concerns of Information Technology (IT) leaders and is deemed to be one of many important IT leveraging opportunities. Two major challenges have been identified in relation to BPM and the use of IT. The first challenge is related to involving business process participants in process improvement initiatives using BPM systems. BPM technologies are considered to be primarily targeted for developers and not BPM users, and the need to engage process participants into process improvement initiatives is not addressed, contributing to the business-IT gap. The second challenge is related to potential de-skilling of knowledge workers when knowledge-intensive processes are automated and process knowledge resides in IT, rather than human process participants. The two identified challenges are not separate issues. Process participants need to be knowledgeable about the process in order to actively contribute to BPM initiatives, and the loss of process knowledge as a result of passive use of automated systems may further threaten their participation in process improvement. In response to the call for more research on the individual impacts of business process initiatives, the purpose of this dissertation study is to understand the relationship between IT configurations (particularly process support and process visualization), process characteristics and individual level process outcomes, such as task performance and process knowledge. In the development of the research model we rely on organizational knowledge creation literature and scaffolding in Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, business process modeling and workflow automation research, as well as research on the influence of IT on individual performance. The theoretical model is tested empirically in experimental settings using a series of two studies. In both studies participants were asked to complete tasks as part of a business process using different versions of a mock-up information system. Together, the studies evaluate the effect of IT process support, process visualization and process complexity on process participant performance and process knowledge. The results of the studies show the significant influence of IT process support on individual process outcomes. The studies indicate that task performance does increase but at the cost of users’ process knowledge. Process visualization however is shown to enhance user’s process knowledge in the event of no formal process training while having no negative impact on task performance. The key contribution of this research is that it suggests a practical way to counteract potential negative effects of IT process automation by converting the use of the information system into a learning experience, where the IT itself acts as a scaffold for the acquisition of process knowledge. The results have practical implications for the design of workflow automation systems, as well as for process training.

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Written to fulfill a partial requirement for a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Acting, this thesis explores Natalie Lurowist’s continued evolution as an actor during her time at the University of Iowa. In the spirit of “the verb,” she attempts first to philosophize about acting by questioning, categorizing, defining truths, and briefly discussing its personal meaning and implications. She then ventures back in time (with a nod to her undergraduate training) to process her process as it has evolved over the course of three years of graduate school. Similar to the students’ M.F.A. plan of study, the elements of process are broken down into the foundational subjects of movement, acting, and voice. In the final section, university productions are examined for their opportunities, challenges, and the corresponding exploration, struggles, and successes in regards to Lurowist’s evolution. Inevitably, the past leads up to the present moment and future outlook in her persistent endeavor to grow.