Tag: Oregon State University

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A Risk-Informed Decision Making Framework Accounting for Early-Phase Conceptual Design of Complex Systems

On April 26, 2012 I defended my dissertation in mechanical engineering at Oregon State University in the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering. The below video was generated from the live feed of the event. Approximately 15 people watched portions of the live feed. The event was held in the Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering Library in Covell Hall. Roughly 35 people attended in person.

Abstract:

A gap exists in the methods used in industry and available in academia that prevents customers and engineers from having a voice when considering engineering risk appetite in the dynamic shaping of early-phase conceptual design trade study outcomes. Current methods used in Collaborative Design Centers either collect risk information after a conceptual design has been created, treat risk as an afterthought during the trade study process, or do not consider risk at all during the creation of conceptual designs. This dissertation proposes a risk-informed decision making framework that offers a new way to account for risk and make decisions based upon risk information within conceptual complex system design trade studies. A meaningful integration of the consideration of risk in trade studies is achieved in this framework thus elevating risk to the same level as other important system-level design parameters. Trade-offs based upon risk appetites of individuals are explicitly allowed under the framework, enabled by an engineering-specific psychometric risk survey that provides aspirational information to use in utility functions. This dissertation provides a novel framework and supporting methodologies for risk-informed design decisions and trades to be made that are based upon engineering risk appetites in conceptual design trade studies.

Dissertation Electronic Copy

Please visit my portfolio for more details on my research and work: http://www.douglasvanbossuyt.com/portfolio/

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Solution for “List of Tables (Continued)” missing from LaTeX documents using the BeavTeX.cls style file

While wrapping up final edits on my dissertation, I have run into a few issues with the BeavTeX.cls style file that many Oregon State University graduate students use.  In a previous post I found the source of “Table of Contents (Continued)” not displaying on odd pages.  I found a similar problem with the “List of Tables (Continued)” header on odd pages.  In the BeavTeX.cls style file the following lines of code are at fault:

 

\def\ps@lotb{\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES (Continued)}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\hfill\protect\underline{Page}\break }}
\def\@evenhead{}
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

Changing them to the following will fix the problem:

\def\ps@lotb{\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES (Continued)}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\hfill\protect\underline{Page}\break }}
\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES (Continued)}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\hfill\protect\underline{Page}\break }} %this has been added in
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

I hope this helps future graduate students!

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Solution for “Table of Contents (Continued)” not showing up when using the BeavTeX.cls style file in LaTeX

I am currently finishing up final edits on my dissertation and ran across an issue with the BeavTeX.cls style file that grad students have been using at Oregon State University to publish their dissertations for many years.  After the first page of a multi-page table of contets, every other page of the table of contents was missing its header.  I opened up the BeavTeX.cls file and found the following lines of code:

\def\ps@tocb{\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)}\hfil\break
\rm\flushright\protect\underline{Page}\break}}
\def\@oddhead{}
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

The problem originates in the \def@oddhead{} where the odd headers are defined to be blank. I fixed the issue by copying the contents of the even headers into the odd header definition. The code snippet now looks like:

\def\ps@tocb{\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)}\hfil\break
\rm\flushright\protect\underline{Page}\break}}
\def\@oddhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)}\hfil\break
\rm\flushright\protect\underline{Page}\break}} %added this stuff in
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

Hopefully this will help out a few fellow Beavers as they wrap up edits to their dissertations and theses.