For safety critical complex systems, reliability and risk analysis are important design steps. Implementing these analyzes early in the design stage can reduce costs associated with redesign and provide important informa ...

Identification and population counts of soil mesofauna can be an important tool for soil ecologists to determine the soil biodiversity. Information provided from population counts can give insight to soil ecologists ...

Posting advisory speed signs at sharp horizontal curve locations is a common practice in the U.S. These signs recommend drivers safe speeds to negotiate such curves. Literature indicates that adherence to advisory speeds ...

Critical success factors (CSFs) are those things that must be done correctly for a project to be successful; however, CSFs are not sufficient by themselves to guarantee success. CSFs, as identified in the literature, var ...

The increasing level of complexity in systems creates a growing challenge for engineers to design safe and reliable systems. The growing complexity can lead to possible moments when situations occur that were unanti ...

This thesis is the summation of two publications with the motivation to move reliability analysis earlier in the design process. Current analyses aim to improve reliability after components have been selected. Moving spe ...

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 ...

Biological organisms, phenomena and strategies, herein referred to as biological systems, provide a rich set of analogies that can be used to inspire engineering innovation. Biologically-inspired, or biomimetic, designs ...

Ocean wave energy is a new and developing field of renewable energy with great potential. The energy contained in one meter of an average wave off the coast of Newport Oregon could supply dozens of homes with electricit ...