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Optimal Resource Allocation to Minimize Last Mile Delivery Costs
Get PDFThis study focusses on a decision-making tool to assist an organization in planning for capacity needed for the Last Mile Delivery (LMD) services which is the most expensive part of the entire supply chain. Considering the use of Crowdsourcing for Logistics (CSL), the decision-making tool?s objective is to provide an optimal combination of fulltime, seasonal and CSL resources that lead to minimum operational LMD costs and meet the variable demand.
To achieve this, a three phased approach is used, where in the first analytical phase an expected cost model is numerically validated. In the second stochastic program phase, the capacity and cost of the CSL resources are varied. Finally, in the third simulation phase, the approach is further extended to consider the daily employee attrition rate and unsatisfied demand being carried over to the next day. Lastly, the use of automation or newer technologies, such as robots, for LMD services is introduced in this simulation phase to show the benefits in terms of the operations costs.
The results from the analytical model described the optimal values of fulltime and seasonal considering the utilization of CSL and experienced some penalty costs. In this case, the parameters being fixed, does not capture the differences due to the variability of CSL availability or costs, which is addressed in the stochastic program phase. Though the output from the stochastic model is higher, it does consider the variability in the CSL capacity and cost, which is practically observed. The simulation section gives a further refined optimal combination of fulltime, seasonal and CSL that meets the demand considering the attrition rate of fulltime and seasonal, and rollover the units by one day. Within this simulation, the consideration of automated delivery systems like using a robot for LMD services leads to further cost savings opportunity. Here, the fulltime delivery cost is benefited, with low utilization of seasonal and CSL limited for optimizing delivery strategy.
In conclusion a tool is provided for aggregate delivery capacity planning that would consider an optimal combination of fulltime, seasonal and CSL resources lowering the LMD costs and meeting the variable demand
Pre-Breeding to Combine Diverse Disease Resistance and Agrotype Genes in Hard Winter Wheat
Get PDFThe NDSU hard winter wheat (HWW) breeding program aims to develop improved varieties that are better equipped to cope with the environmental and disease challenges of the northern prairies. To achieve this, it is necessary to continually acquire and employ useful disease resistance and adaptation genes from other sources of HWW and hard spring wheat (HSW) germplasm. The first study pursued the transfer of the FHB resistance QTL Qfhb.rwg- 5A.1 and Qfhb.rwg-5A.2 (obtained from HSW PI 277012) through continued backcrosses into the HWW cultivar, ND Noreen, utilizing previously derived cross segregates and markers. A second study used modified single seed descent (SSD) inbreeding with phenotypic and marker selection steps to combine the FHB resistance QTL, Fhb1, and Qfhs.ifa-5A.1 (from HSW CM82036), with good winter hardiness, semi-dwarf plant height, and resistance to leaf, stem, and stripe rust
Characterizing Ride Quality With a Composite Roughness Index
Get PDFRaj Bridgelall is the program director for the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) Center for Surface Mobility Applications & Real-time Simulation environments (SMARTSeSM).There are many important applications that require ride quality characterization. However, the only international standard that specifies a roughness index is not suitable for applications beyond assessing the ride quality of paved roads. Other potential applications include automated ride quality characterization of gravel roads, bike or wheelchair paths, railways, rivers, airways, hyperloops, and elevator channels. This work proposes a composite index that characterizes roughness from multidimensional movements along any path. Statistical tests demonstrate two important properties?that the index is consistent based on an ever-decreasing margin-of-error of the mean, and distinguishable among different paths. A low-cost sensor package of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and a speedometer produced the data for spatio-temporal transformation. The experiments conducted on buses revealed that both the consistency and distinguishability of the index improves with the number of measurements. The approach is best suited for applications that can use in-situ sensors or crowdsensing to automate ride quality characterization.https://www.ugpti.org/about/staff/viewbio.php?id=7
Longitudinal Examination of Sleep and Chrononutrition
Get PDFChrononutrition (i.e., circadian timing of food intake) offers promising opportunities to improve weight management strategies, but many fundamental aspects of chrononutrition are still unknown. While research to date has suggested that unhealthy chrononutrition behaviors are linked to weight gain, chrononutrition preferences are markedly understudied, and research has not yet determined whether chrononutrition preferences and behaviors are variable or stable over time in the natural environment. Potential mechanisms underlying chrononutrition?s impact on weight are still being explored. Recent evidence suggests that weight gain is the result of an imbalance of energy consumption and expenditure that is influenced by sleep duration. Though short sleep duration may undermine weight loss efforts, lead to increased preference for energy-dense foods, and even alter chrononutrition, chrononutrition?s role in energy balance has been less studied. The purpose of the present online study was therefore to examine chrononutrition, sleep duration, and body mass index (BMI) in the natural environment, over time, in a sample of healthy, non-shift working adults. Participants completed a series of measures online and self-reported their body weight and height three times, approximately every six months, for one year. This longitudinal study showed that chrononutrition preferences were largely stable over time, while chrononutrition behaviors were more variable over the study period. Results also showed that, contrary to our hypotheses, chrononutrition was not a significant predictor of later BMI, and chrononutrition did not mediate the relationship between sleep duration and later BMI. This study provided a novel examination of fundamental aspects of chrononutrition, knowledge of which may be vital for the development of obesity prevention and treatment strategies
Bonding Performances of Epoxy-Based Composites Reinforced by Carbon Nanotubes
Get PDFEpoxy resin has been exclusively used in many civil engineering applications such as adhesive joints and anti-corrosive coatings, but most of the usages of epoxy resin highly rely on a solid adhesive bonding between the epoxy matrix and the substrate material. In order to improve the bonding performance of epoxy resin, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are incorporated into the epoxy resin due to their extraordinary mechanical properties. Although CNTs are expected to be promising additives for epoxy resin, the reinforcing efficiency of CNTs is still far from satisfactory, the bonding performance of CNT reinforced epoxy composites remains an essential research issue. In this dissertation, a systematic study was carried out to investigate the bonding performances of epoxy-based composites reinforced using CNTs. The influences of two main influential parameters (surface roughness and bondline thickness) on the bonding performance of epoxy-based composites were examined. It was found that rougher steel substrates or thinner epoxy bondlines yielded better bonding performances for both unreinforced and CNT reinforced epoxy composites. However, according to the SEM image analyses, the reinforcing efficiency of CNTs was restricted by the non-uniform dispersion of CNTs in the epoxy matrix resulted from CNT agglomeration and entanglement. Given that the great variances of CNT geometries may inevitably result in extensive differences on CNT dispersion status and reinforcing efficiencies in CNT reinforced epoxy composites, the dispersion characterizations and bonding performance of CNT reinforced epoxy composites with different CNT geometries were studied. The experimental results indicated that CNTs with larger diameter (50-100 nm) had a greater ability to achieve more uniform dispersion which further led to better bonding performance. Although CNT length did not have an evident effect on the CNT dispersion, epoxy-based composites reinforced by normal-length CNTs (5-20 ?m) had higher bonding strength and toughness than those by shorter CNTs (0.5-2 ?m). To further improve the dispersion effectiveness of CNTs, a novel CNT mixing method using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was proposed. It was proved that better CNT dispersion resulted from the CMC surface treatment significantly improved the bonding performance of CNT reinforced epoxy composites
Please Feel Invited: Children's Psychiatric Rehabilitation Using Salutogeneic Design
Get PDFMental health is a state of psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing
that can have a variety of difficulties that affect the daily function
of a person. Mental illness is a persistent problem, with the most frequent
anxiety disorders being generalized, social, panic, and depression.
These illnesses may affect anyone, regardless of background especially
children. Because of the influence on the transition to maturity, focusing
on children?s mental health is extremely important.
The National Mental Health Act was established in 1946, making the
psychological well-being of the people a federal priority. It highlighted
research aimed at dramatically improving diagnosis and treatment
options. Architecture evolves in tandem with society?s social requirements.
These new public values lead to the development of children?s mental
health centers.
The paradigm shift we hoped for has taken a long time to arrive, and
it brings with it new strategies of architecture. One of these new ways
is salutogenic design, which is defined as a method that prioritizes
the support of human health and well-being. The main goal of
this project is to show how salutogenic design can have a positive
influence on youths' mental health through the built environment. The
building's architecture will incorporate natural links with nature and
how children might benefit in the healing process, particularly for
young people
Respite Park: Changing Therapy With Community and Architecture
Get PDFArchitecture can be a driving force of change
within communities. Through a new kind of public
park with therapeutic experience pavilions based
on community interaction and integration, as well
as innovative architectural design. This thesis
explores the creation of spaces that allow for a
further push for a general acceptance of cognitive
behavior therapy in culture. Through researching
what methods of cognitive behavioral therapy are
wildly successful, combining that with research on
innovative sensory architectural techniques and
interactive art Installations to create perspective
altering experiences. In which, for visitors, the
physical and emotional distance required for self-reflection
is created. The intent is to provide a place
where cognitive behavioral therapy can be more
easily approached while eliminating a common
negative stigma behind seeking help when it is
needed
The Other Side of Paradise: How Architectural Design Can Impact the Recovery of Suicidal Individuals, Survivors, and Bereaved Families
Get PDFThis thesis explores how architectural design can impact the recovery process in
individuals with suicidal thoughts, survivors of suicide, and the bereaved.
Research on precedents, writings, and studies on psychological and biophilic
elements will guide in creating a design that bridges the disconnect between human
beings and nature. This disconnect has been created by mental illness and isolation
despite networking and digital connection through social media
Quality for Equality
Get PDFGrowing up playing softball it was always a goal to reach a big stage for
example the state tournament where even outside of games there were a
lot of experiences to be excited about. For young softball players one of the
biggest stages, you could aspire to get to would be the NCAA Women?s College
World Series in Oklahoma. It has recently come to light that the experiences
and opportunities that the women who get to play in this prestigious
tournament are much less extravagant than that of the men that play in the
Men?s College World Series. The facilities that the women were using were
lacking, to say the least, and with a new design these women would be able
to enjoy their experience more as well as accommodate for more fans to
be in attendance. It would give a greater number of people a large stage to
aspire to reach. The focus of the design is to create a place that gives everyone
the same feeling when entering whether you are a fan or a player.
The complex would be an iconic place like the Field of Dreams or Yankee
Stadium. This is a place that everyone can enjoy going to or being a part of
for years to come
Developing an Interactive Model to Integrate Human Expertise with Building Information Modelling (BIM) Software
Get PDFConsidering the significant amount of time and money wasted yearly in fixing errors caused by miscommunication and inadequate information on project sites, relaying the knowledge of field experts through design software may reduce communication-based conflicts in projects. This study aimed at creating a model to integrate human field expertise in the construction process with BIM software and also explored strides made in a similar regard. The study also explored the various strides made in human expertise integration. Basement construction in Fargo-North Dakota was the construction scenario selected for scrutiny in this study. Surveys and in-person interviews were conducted with local contractors to ascertain valuable recommendations on basement construction in Fargo. Information from these contractors was validated and coded into two concept models to offer warnings and recommendations on the assessed basement construction activities to help Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) professionals with construction processes required before and during construction