Search results for: industrial risks

Authors: Ph. Fauquet-Alekhine

Abstract:

Decision-making occurs several times an hour when working in high risk industry and an erroneous choice might have undesirable outcomes for people and the environment surrounding the industrial plant. Industrial decisions are very often made in a context of acute stress. Time pressure is a crucial stressor leading decision makers sometimes to boost up the decision-making process and if it is not possible then shift to the simplest strategy. We thus found it interesting to update the characterization of the stress factors impairing decision-making at Chinon Nuclear Power Plant (France) in order to optimize decision making contexts and/or associated processes. The investigation was based on the analysis of reports addressing safety events over the last 3 years. Among 93 reports, those explicitly addressing decision-making issues were identified. Characterization of each event was undertaken in terms of three criteria: stressors, biases impairing decision making and weaknesses of the decision-making process. The statistical analysis showed that biases were distributed over 10 possibilities among which the hypothesis confirmation bias was clearly salient. No significant correlation was found between criteria. The analysis indicated that the main stressor was time pressure and highlights an unexpected form of stressor: the trust asymmetry principle of the expert. The analysis led to the conclusion that this stressor impaired decision-making from a psychological angle rather than from a physiological angle: it induces defensive bias of self-esteem, self-protection associated with a bias of confirmation. This leads to the hypothesis that this stressor can intervene in some cases without being detected, and to the hypothesis that other stressors of the same kind might occur without being detected too. Further investigations addressing these hypotheses are considered. The analysis also led to the conclusion that dealing with these issues implied i) decision-making methods being well known to the workers and automated and ii) the decision-making tools being well known and strictly applied. Training was thus adjusted.

Keywords: Bias, expert, high risk industry, stress.

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Authors: Thomas S. Abia II, Citlali Garcia-Saucedo

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A continuous copper precipitation treatment (CCPT) system was conceived at Intel Chandler Site to serve as a first-of-kind (FOK) facility-scale waste copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and manganese (Mn) co-precipitation facility. The process was designed to treat highly variable wastewater discharged from a substrate packaging research factory. The paper discusses metals co-precipitation induced by internal changes for manufacturing facilities that lack the capacity for hardware expansion due to real estate restrictions, aggressive schedules, or budgetary constraints. Herein, operating parameters such as pH and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) were examined to analyze the ability of the CCPT System to immobilize various waste metals. Additionally, influential factors such as influent concentrations and retention times were investigated to quantify the environmental variability against system performance. A total of 2,027 samples were analyzed and statistically evaluated to measure the performance of CCPT that was internally retrofitted for Mn abatement to meet environmental regulations. In order to enhance the consistency of the influent, a separate holding tank was cannibalized from another system to collect and slow-feed the segregated Mn wastewater from the factory into CCPT. As a result, the baseline influent Mn decreased from 17.2+18.7 mg¹L^-1 at pre-pilot to 5.15+8.11 mg¹L^-1 post-pilot (70.1% reduction). Likewise, the pre-trial and post-trial average influent Cu values to CCPT were 52.0+54.6 mg¹L^-1 and 33.9+12.7 mg¹L^-1, respectively (34.8% reduction). However, the raw Ni content of 0.97+0.39 mg¹L^-1 at pre-pilot increased to 1.06+0.17 mg¹L^-1 at post-pilot. The average Mn output declined from 10.9+11.7 mg¹L^-1 at pre-pilot to 0.44+1.33 mg¹L^-1 at post-pilot (96.0% reduction) as a result of the pH and ORP operating setpoint changes. In similar fashion, the output Cu quality improved from 1.60+5.38 mg¹L^-1 to 0.55+1.02 mg¹L^-1 (65.6% reduction) while the Ni output sustained a 50% enhancement during the pilot study (0.22+0.19 mg¹L^-1 reduced to 0.11+0.06 mg¹L^-1). pH and ORP were shown to be significantly instrumental to the precipitative versatility of the CCPT System.

Keywords: Copper, co-precipitation, industrial wastewater treatment, manganese, optimization, pilot study.

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Authors: G. T. Balakayeva, K. K. Nurlybayeva, M. B. Zhanuzakov

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In the proposed work, we have developed software and designed a software architecture for the implementation of enterprise business processes. The proposed software has a multi-level architecture using a domain-specific tool. The developed architecture is a guarantor of the availability, reliability and security of the system and the implementation of business processes, which are the basis for effective enterprise management. Automating business processes, automating the algorithmic stages of an enterprise, developing optimal algorithms for managing activities, controlling and monitoring, reducing risks and improving results help organizations achieve strategic goals quickly and efficiently. The software described in this article can connect to the corporate information system via two methods: a desktop client and a web client. With an appeal to the application server, the desktop client program connects to the information system on the company's work PCs over a local network. Outside the organization, the user can interact with the information system via a web browser, which acts as a web client and connects to a web server. The developed software consists of several integrated modules that share resources and interact with each other through an API. The following technology stack was used during development: Node js, React js, MongoDB, Ngnix, Cloud Technologies, Python.

Keywords: Algorithms, document processing, automation, integrated modules, software architecture, software design, information system.

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Authors: Pema Choejey, David Murray, Chun Che Fung

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Bhutan is becoming increasingly dependent on Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), especially the Internet for performing the daily activities of governments, businesses, and individuals. Consequently, information systems and networks are becoming more exposed and vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. This paper highlights the findings of the survey study carried out to understand the perceptions of cybersecurity implementation among government organizations in Bhutan. About 280 ICT personnel were surveyed about the effectiveness of cybersecurity implementation in their organizations. A questionnaire based on a 5 point Likert scale was used to assess the perceptions of respondents. The questions were asked on cybersecurity practices such as cybersecurity policies, awareness and training, and risk management. The survey results show that less than 50% of respondents believe that the cybersecurity implementation is effective: cybersecurity policy (40%), risk management (23%), training and awareness (28%), system development life cycle (34%); incident management (26%), and communications and operational management (40%). The findings suggest that many of the cybersecurity practices are inadequately implemented and therefore, there exist a gap in achieving a required cybersecurity posture. This study recommends government organizations to establish a comprehensive cybersecurity program with emphasis on cybersecurity policy, risk management, and awareness and training. In addition, the research study has practical implications to both government and private organizations for implementing and managing cybersecurity.

Keywords: Awareness and training, cybersecurity, cybersecurity policy, risk management, security risks.

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Authors: A. Elbaz, K. Spang

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Infrastructure projects are often subjected to delays and cost overruns and mistakenly described as unsuccessful projects. These projects have many peculiarities such as public attention, impact on the environment, subjected to special regulations, etc. They also deal with several stakeholders with different motivations and face unique risks. With this in mind we need to reconsider our approach to manage them, define their success factors and implement these success factors. Infrastructure projects are not only lacking a unified meaning of project success or a definition of success factors, but also a clear method to implement these factors. This paper investigates this gap and introduces a concept to implement success factors in an efficient way, taking into consideration the specific characteristics of infrastructure projects. This concept consists of six enablers such as project organization, project team, project management workflow, contract management, communication and knowledge transfer and project documentations. These enablers allow other success factors to be efficiently implemented in projects. In conclusion, this paper provides project managers as well as company managers with a tool to define and implement success factors efficiently in their projects, along with upgrading their assets for the coming projects. This tool consists of processes and validated checklists to ensure the best use of company resources and knowledge. Due to the special features of infrastructure projects this tool will be tested in the German infrastructure market. However, it is meant to be adaptable to other markets and industries.

Keywords: Infrastructure projects, enablers, project success, success factors, transportation projects.

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Authors: R. Green, T. Mazzuchi, S. Sarkani

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Through inward perceptions, we intuitively expect distributed software development to increase the risks associated with achieving cost, schedule, and quality goals. To compound this problem, agile software development (ASD) insists one of the main ingredients of its success is cohesive communication attributed to collocation of the development team. The following study identified the degree of communication richness needed to achieve comparable software quality (reduce pre-release defects) between distributed and collocated teams. This paper explores the relevancy of communication richness in various development phases and its impact on quality. Through examination of a large distributed agile development project, this investigation seeks to understand the levels of communication required within each ASD phase to produce comparable quality results achieved by collocated teams. Obviously, a multitude of factors affects the outcome of software projects. However, within distributed agile software development teams, the mode of communication is one of the critical components required to achieve team cohesiveness and effectiveness. As such, this study constructs a distributed agile communication model (DAC-M) for potential application to similar distributed agile development efforts using the measurement of the suitable level of communication. The results of the study show that less rich communication methods, in the appropriate phase, might be satisfactory to achieve equivalent quality in distributed ASD efforts.

Keywords: agile software development (ASD), distributedsoftware teams, media richness theory, software development.

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Authors: Mansoor Ahsan, Khalid Rafique, Farrukh Mazhar

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have gained tremendous importance, in both Military and Civil, during first decade of this century. In a UAV, onboard computer (autopilot) autonomously controls the flight and navigation of the aircraft. Based on the aircraft role and flight envelope, basic to complex and sophisticated controllers are used to stabilize the aircraft flight parameters. These controllers constitute the autopilot system for UAVs. The autopilot systems, most commonly, provide lateral and longitudinal control through Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers or Phase-lead or Lag Compensators. Various techniques are commonly used to ‘tune’ gains of these controllers. Some techniques used are, in-flight step-by-step tuning, software-in-loop or hardware-in-loop tuning methods. Subsequently, numerous in-flight tests are required to actually ‘fine-tune’ these gains. However, an optimization-based tuning of these PID controllers or compensators, as presented in this paper, can greatly minimize the requirement of in-flight ‘tuning’ and substantially reduce the risks and cost involved in flight-testing.

Keywords: Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), autopilot, autonomous controls, PID controler gains tuning, optimization.

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Authors: Iruka C. Anugwo, Winston M. Shakantu

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The objective of this study is to uncover the basic business-forces that necessitated the survival and sustainable performance of the medium scale contractors in the South African construction market. This study is essential as it set to contribute towards long-term strategic solutions for combating the incessant failure of start-ups construction organizations within South African. The study used a qualitative research methodology; as the most appropriate approach to elicit and understand, and uncover the phenomena that are basic business-forces for the active contractors in the market. The study also adopted a phenomenological study approach; and in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 medium scale contractors in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, between months of August to October 2015. This allowed for an in-depth understanding of the critical and basic business-forces that influenced their survival and performance beyond the first five years of business operation. Findings of the study showed that for potential contractors (startups), to survival in the competitive business environment such as construction industry, they must possess the basic business-forces. These forces are educational knowledge in construction and business management related disciplines, adequate industrial experiences, competencies and capabilities to delivery excellent services and products as well as embracing the spirit of entrepreneurship. Convincingly, it can be concluded that the strategic approach to minimize the endless failure of startups construction businesses; the potential construction contractors must endeavoring to access and acquire the basic educationally knowledge, training and qualification; need to acquire industrial experiences in collaboration with required competencies, capabilities and entrepreneurship acumen. Without these basic business-forces as been discovered in this study, the majority of the contractors gaining entrance in the market will find it difficult to develop and grow a competitive and sustainable construction organization in South Africa.

Keywords: Basic business-forces, medium scale contractors, South Africa, sustainable organisations.

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Authors: Tianqiao Zhang, Ye Tian, Yanliang Yin, Yichao Tian, Suzhai Tian, Weige Sun, Ruoliang Tang

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Heavy biomechanical loads at workplaces may lead to high risks of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). However, there is a lack of investigations on the efficacy of the ergonomic interventions with theoretical frameworks. This study aimed to formulate an Omaha System based remote intervention program on the WMSDs among nurses by systematic literature review, interviews, expert consultation. After screening title and abstract, 11 articles out of the initial search results (i.e., n=1,418) were included, 12 nurses were interviewed, and 10 experts were consulted to review the initial intervention program. Modification to the draft included (1) supplementing traditional Chinese medicine practices, (2) adding the use of assistive patient handling equipment, (3) revising the on-line training method, (4) editing and proofreading the main text of the initial program, (5) adding quizzes and exercise scales, (6) it was determined that the associated coursework should be announced promptly with multiple follow-up reminders, and (7) removing bodyweight superman exercise, and peaceful/calm meditation. In the end, the final intervention program was developed.

Keywords: Omaha System, nurses, remote intervention, musculoskeletal disease.

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Authors: Anshu Manik, William G. Buttlar, Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan

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Over the years, there is a growing trend towards quality-based specifications in highway construction. In many Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QC/QA) specifications, the contractor is primarily responsible for quality control of the process, whereas the highway agency is responsible for testing the acceptance of the product. A cooperative investigation was conducted in Illinois over several years to develop a prototype End-Result Specification (ERS) for asphalt pavement construction. The final characteristics of the product are stipulated in the ERS and the contractor is given considerable freedom in achieving those characteristics. The risk for the contractor or agency depends on how the acceptance limits and processes are specified. Stochastic simulation models are very useful in estimating and analyzing payment risk in ERS systems and these form an integral part of the Illinois-s prototype ERS system. This paper describes the development of an innovative methodology to estimate the variability components in in-situ density, air voids and asphalt content data from ERS projects. The information gained from this would be crucial in simulating these ERS projects for estimation and analysis of payment risks associated with asphalt pavement construction. However, these methods require at least two parties to conduct tests on all the split samples obtained according to the sampling scheme prescribed in present ERS implemented in Illinois.

Keywords: Asphalt Pavement, Risk Analysis, StochasticSimulation, QC/QA.

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Authors: Q. J. Yang

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This paper presents a case study of geotechnical design of bridge foundations and approaches in hilly granite formation in northern New South Wales of Australia. Firstly, the geological formation and existing cut slope conditions which have high risks of rock fall will be described. The bridge has three spans to be constructed using balanced cantilever method with a middle span of 150 m. After concept design option engineering, it was decided to change from pile foundation to pad footing with ground anchor system to optimize the bridge foundation design. The geotechnical design parameters were derived after two staged site investigations. The foundation design was carried out to satisfy both serviceability limit state and ultimate limit state during construction and in operation. It was found that the pad footing design was governed by serviceability limit state design loading cases. The design of bridge foundation also considered presence of weak rock layer intrusion and a layer of “no core” to ensure foundation stability. The precast mass concrete block system was considered for the retaining walls for the bridge approaches to resolve the constructability issue over hilly terrain. The design considered the retaining wall block sliding stability, while the overturning and internal stabilities are satisfied.

Keywords: Pad footing, hilly formation, stability, block works.

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Authors: Saeid Rabiei Majd, Motahareh Alvandi, Mehrad Rabiei

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The rapid economic and technological development of any country depends on access to cheap sources of energy. Competition for access to petroleum resources is always accompanied by numerous environmental risks. These factors have caused more attention to environmental issues and sustainable development in petroleum contracts and activities. Nowadays, a sign of developed countries is adhering to the principles and rules of international environmental law and sustainable development of commercial contracts. China has entered into play through the massive project plan, One Belt, One Road. China is becoming a new emerging power in the world. China's bilateral investment treaties have an impact on environmental rights and sustainable development through regional and international foreign direct investment. The aim of this research is to examine China's key position to promote and improve environmental principles and international law and sustainable development in the energy sector in the world through the initiative, One Belt, One Road. Based on this hypothesis, it seems that in the near future, China's investment bilateral investment treaties will become popular investment model used in global trade, especially in the field of energy and sustainable development. They will replace the European and American models. The research method is including literature review, analytical and descriptive methods.

Keywords: Principles of sustainable development, oil and gas law, Chinas BITs, one belt one road, environmental rights.

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Authors: Sachin Kamble, Raghothama Anekal, Shivakumar Bhavi

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Thermal management of electronic components packaged inside an IP65 rated enclosure is of prime importance in industrial applications. Electrical enclosure protects the multiple board configurations such as inverter, power, controller board components, busbars, and various power dissipating components from harsh environments. Industrial environments often experience relatively warm ambient conditions, and the electronic components housed in the enclosure dissipate heat, due to which the enclosures and the components require thermal management as well as reduction of internal ambient temperatures. Design of Experiments based thermal simulation approach with MOSFET arrangement, Heat sink design, Enclosure Volume, Copper and Aluminum Spreader, Power density, and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) type were considered to optimize air temperature inside the IP65 enclosure to ensure conducive operating temperature for controller board and electronic components through the different modes of heat transfer viz. conduction, natural convection and radiation using Ansys ICEPAK. MOSFET’s with the parallel arrangement, IP65 enclosure molded heat sink with rectangular fins on both enclosures, specific enclosure volume to satisfy the power density, Copper spreader to conduct heat to the enclosure, optimized power density value and selecting Aluminum clad PCB which improves the heat transfer were the contributors towards achieving a conducive operating temperature inside the IP-65 rated Motor Inverter enclosure. A reduction of 52 ℃ was achieved in internal ambient temperature inside the IP65 enclosure between baseline and final design parameters, which met the operative temperature requirements of the electronic components inside the IP-65 rated Motor Inverter.

Keywords: Ansys ICEPAK, Aluminum Clad PCB, IP 65 enclosure, motor inverter, thermal simulation.

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Authors: L. Ngowi, N. H. Mvungi

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This paper critically examines the evolution of socio-technical systems theory, its practices, and challenges in system design and development. It examines concepts put forward by researchers focusing on the application of the theory in software engineering. There are various methods developed that use socio-technical concepts based on systems engineering without remarkable success. The main constraint is the large amount of data and inefficient techniques used in the application of the concepts in system engineering for developing time-bound systems and within a limited/controlled budget. This paper critically examines each of the methods, highlight bottlenecks and suggest the way forward. Since socio-technical systems theory only explains what to do, but not how doing it, hence engineers are not using the concept to save time, costs and reduce risks associated with new frameworks. Hence, a new framework, which can be considered as a practical approach is proposed that borrows concepts from soft systems method, agile systems development and object-oriented analysis and design to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The approach will enable the development of systems using socio-technical systems theory to attract/enable the system engineers/software developers to use socio-technical systems theory in building worthwhile information systems to avoid fragilities and hostilities in the work environment.

Keywords: Socio-technical systems, human centered design, software engineering, cognitive engineering, soft systems, systems engineering.

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Authors: Edward Pol

Abstract:

All companies are confronted with the need to innovate in order to meet market demands. In so doing they are challenged with the dilemma of whether to aim to be first into the market with a new innovative product, or to deliberately wait and learn from a pioneers’ mistakes; potentially avoiding higher risks. It is therefore important to critically understand from a first mover advantage and disadvantage perspective the decision-making implications of defence industry transformation onset by an innovative paradigm shift. This paper will argue that the type of industry characteristics matter, especially when considering what role the clients play in the innovation process and what their level of influence is. Through investigation of qualitative case study research, this inquiry will focus on first mover advantages and first mover disadvantages with a view to establish practical and value-added academic findings by focusing on specific industries where the clients play an active role in cooperation with the supplier innovation. The resulting findings will help managers to mitigate risk in innovative technology introduction. A selection from several defence industry innovations is specifically chosen because of the client–supplier relationship that typically differs from traditional first mover research. In this instance, case studies will be used referencing vertical-take-off-and-landing defence equipment innovations. 

Keywords: innovation, pioneer, first mover advantage, first mover disadvantage, risk

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Authors: Masahiro Ohmura, Koh Kakusho, Takeshi Okadome

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This paper presents a regression model with autocorrelated errors in which the inputs are social moods obtained by analyzing the adjectives in Twitter posts using a document topic model, where document topics are extracted using LDA. The regression model predicts Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) more precisely than autoregressive moving-average models.

Keywords: Regression model, social mood, stock market prediction, Twitter.

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Authors: Avita K. Marihal, K.S. Jagadeesh, Sarita Sinha

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Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is a polychlorinated aromatic compound that is widespread in industrial effluents and is considered to be a serious pollutant. Among the variety of industrial effluents encountered, effluents from tanning industry are very important and have a serious pollution potential. PCP is also formed unintentionally in effluents of paper and pulp industries. It is highly persistent in soils and is lethal to a wide variety of beneficial microorganisms and insects, human beings and animals. The natural processes that breakdown toxic chemicals in the environment have become the focus of much attention to develop safe and environmentfriendly deactivation technologies. Microbes and plants are among the most important biological agents that remove and degrade waste materials to enable their recycling in the environment. The present investigation was carried out with the aim of developing a microbial system for bioremediation of PCP polluted soils. A number of plant species were evaluated for their ability to tolerate different concentrations of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in the soil. The experiment was conducted for 30 days under pot culture conditions. The toxic effect of PCP on plants was studied by monitoring seed germination, plant growth and biomass. As the concentration of PCP was increased to 50 ppm, the inhibition of seed germination, plant growth and biomass was also increased. Although PCP had a negative effect on all plant species tested, maize and groundnut showed the maximum tolerance to PCP. Other tolerating crops included wheat, safflower, sunflower, and soybean. From the rhizosphere soil of the tolerant seedlings, as many as twenty seven PCP tolerant bacteria were isolated. From soybean, 8; sunflower, 3; safflower 8; maize 2; groundnut and wheat, 3 each isolates were made. They were screened for their PCP degradation potentials. HPLC analyses of PCP degradation revealed that the isolate MAZ-2 degraded PCP completely. The isolate MAZ-1 was the next best isolate with 90 per cent PCP degradation. These strains hold promise to be used in the bioremediation of PCP polluted soils.

Keywords: Biodegradation, pentachlorophenol, rhizobacteria.

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Authors: Christos Bouras, Eirini Stergiou, Charitini Karakostaki, Vasileios Tzanos, Vasileios Kokkinos

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Wind power represents a major pathway to curtailing greenhouse gas emissions and thus reducing the rate of climate change. A wind turbine runs practically emission-free for 20 years, representing one of the most environmentally sustainable sources of energy. Nevertheless, environmental and biodiversity concerns can often slow down or halt the deployment of wind farms due to local public opposition. This opposition is often fuelled by poor relationships between wind energy stakeholders and civil society, which in many cases led to conflictual protests and property damage. In this context, addressing these concerns is essential in order to facilitate the proliferation of wind farms in Europe and the phase-out of fossil fuels from the energy mix. The aim of this study is to identify a number of good practices and cases to avoid increasing biodiversity protection at all stages of wind farms’ lifecycle in three participating countries, namely Greece, Latvia, and Poland. The results indicate that although available technological solutions are already being exploited worldwide, in these countries, there is still room for improvement. To address this gap, a set of policy recommendations is proposed to accomplish the wind energy targets in the near future while simultaneously mitigating the pertinent biodiversity risks.

Keywords: Biodiversity protection, environmental impact, social acceptance, wind energy.

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Authors: Ana C. Sousa, Beatriz C. Santos, Fátima N. Serralha

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The Tagus estuary is heavily affected by industrial and urban activities, making bioremediation studies crucial for environmental preservation. Fuel contamination in the area can arise from various anthropogenic sources, such as oil spills from shipping, fuel storage and transfer operations, and industrial discharges. These pollutants can cause severe harm to the ecosystem and the organisms, including humans, that inhabit it. Nonetheless, there are always natural organisms with the ability to resist these pollutants and transform them into non-toxic or harmless substances, which defines the process of bioremediation. Exploring the microbial communities existing in soil and their capacity to break down hydrocarbons has the potential to enhance the development of more efficient bioremediation approaches. The aim of this investigation was to explore the existence of hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms in six locations within the Tagus estuary, three on the north bank: Trancão River, Praia Fluvial do Cais das Colinas and Praia de Algés, and three on the south bank: Praia Fluvial de Alcochete, Praia Fluvial de Alburrica, and Praia da Trafaria. In all studied locations, native microorganisms of the genus Pseudomonas were identified. The bioremediation rate of common hydrocarbons like gasoline, hexane, and toluene was assessed using the redox indicator 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP). Effective hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial strains were identified in all analyzed areas, despite adverse environmental conditions. The highest bioremediation rates were achieved for gasoline (68%) in Alburrica, hexane (65%) in Algés, and toluene (79%) in Algés. Generally, the bacteria demonstrated efficient degradation of hydrocarbons added to the culture medium, with higher rates of aerobic biodegradation of hydrocarbons observed. These findings underscore the necessity for further in situ studies to better comprehend the relationship between native microbial communities and the potential for pollutant degradation in soil.

Keywords: Biodegradability rate, hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms, soil bioremediation, Tagus estuary.

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Authors: M. Cuevas-González, O. Monserrat, A. Barra, C. Reyes-Carmona, R. M. Mateos, J. P. Galve, R. Sarro, M. Cantalejo, E. Peña, M. Martínez-Corbella, J. A. Luque, J. M. Azañón, A. Millares, M. Béjar, J. A. Navarro, L. Solari

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Geohazard prone areas require continuous monitoring to detect risks, understand the phenomena occurring in those regions and prevent disasters. Satellite interferometry (InSAR) has come to be a trustworthy technique for ground movement detection and monitoring in the last few years. InSAR based techniques allow to process large areas providing high number of displacement measurements at low cost. However, the results provided by such techniques are usually not easy to interpret by non-experienced users hampering its use for decision makers. This work presents a set of tools developed in the framework of different projects (Momit, Safety, U-Geohaz, Riskcoast) and an example of their use in the Granada Coastal area (Spain) is shown. The ADA (Active Displacement Areas) tool has been developed with the aim of easing the management, use and interpretation of InSAR based results. It provides a semi-automatic extraction of the most significant ADAs through the application ADAFinder tool. This tool aims to support the exploitation of the European Ground Motion Service (EU-GMS), which will offer reliable and systematic information on natural and anthropogenic ground motion phenomena across Europe.

Keywords: Ground displacements, InSAR, natural hazards, satellite imagery.

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Authors: Altab Hossain, Ataur Rahman, A. K. M. Mohiuddin, Yulfian Aminanda

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Modeling of the dynamic behavior and motion are renewed interest in the improved tractive performance of an intelligent air-cushion tracked vehicle (IACTV). This paper presents a new dynamical model for the forces on the developed small scale intelligent air-cushion tracked vehicle moving over swamp peat. The air cushion system partially supports the 25 % of vehicle total weight in order to make the vehicle ground contact pressure 7 kN/m2. As the air-cushion support system can adjust automatically on the terrain, so the vehicle can move over the terrain without any risks. The springdamper system is used with the vehicle body to control the aircushion support system on any undulating terrain by making the system sinusoidal form. Experiments have been carried out to investigate the relationships among tractive efficiency, slippage, traction coefficient, load distribution ratio, tractive effort, motion resistance and power consumption in given terrain conditions. Experiment and simulation results show that air-cushion system improves the vehicle performance by keeping traction coefficient of 71% and tractive efficiency of 62% and the developed model can meet the demand of transport efficiency with the optimal power consumption.

Keywords: Air-cushion system, ground contact pressure, slippage, power consumption.

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Authors: Maria C. Proença, Marco Aniceto, Pedro N. Santos, José C. Freitas

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A methodology based on wavelets is proposed for the automatic location and delimitation of defects in limestone plates. Natural defects include dark colored spots, crystal zones trapped in the stone, areas of abnormal contrast colors, cracks or fracture lines, and fossil patterns. Although some of these may or may not be considered as defects according to the intended use of the plate, the goal is to pair each stone with a map of defects that can be overlaid on a computer display. These layers of defects constitute a database that will allow the preliminary selection of matching tiles of a particular variety, with specific dimensions, for a requirement of N square meters, to be done on a desktop computer rather than by a two-hour search in the storage park, with human operators manipulating stone plates as large as 3 m x 2 m, weighing about one ton. Accident risks and work times are reduced, with a consequent increase in productivity. The base for the algorithm is wavelet decomposition executed in two instances of the original image, to detect both hypotheses – dark and clear defects. The existence and/or size of these defects are the gauge to classify the quality grade of the stone products. The tuning of parameters that are possible in the framework of the wavelets corresponds to different levels of accuracy in the drawing of the contours and selection of the defects size, which allows for the use of the map of defects to cut a selected stone into tiles with minimum waste, according the dimension of defects allowed.

Keywords: Automatic detection, wavelets, defects, fracture lines.

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Authors: Ahmet Denker

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The trend in the world of Information Technology (IT) is getting increasingly large and difficult projects rather than smaller and easier. However, the data on large-scale IT project success rates provide cause for concern. This paper seeks to answer why large-scale IT projects are different from and more difficult than other typical engineering projects. Drawing on the industrial experience, a compilation of the conditions that influence failure is presented. With a view to improve success rates solutions are suggested.

Keywords: Software engineering, software economics, project management, large-scale projects.

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Authors: Hyun-Min Kim, Yun-Seok Lim, Hyeok-Jin Yun, Jang-Mok Kim, Hee-je Kim

Abstract:

As we make progressive products for good works, and future industries want to get higher speed and resolution from various developments in the robotics as well as precise control system, the concept of control feedback is getting more important. Within a range of industrial developments, the concept is most responsible for the high reliability of a device. We explain an efficient analyzing method of a rotary encoder such as an incremental type encoder and absolute type encoder using the LabVIEW program

Keywords: LabVIEW, PFI Function, Angle analyzer, Incremental encoder, Absolute encoder

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Authors: Rishabh Garg

Abstract:

Traditionally, business parties build trust with a centralized operating mechanism, such as payment by letter of credit. However, the increase in cyber-attacks and malicious hacking has jeopardized business operations and finance practices. Emerging markets, due to their high banking risks and the large presence of digital financing, are looking for technology that enables transparency and traceability of any transaction in trade, finance or supply chain management. Blockchain systems, in the absence of any central authority, enable transactions across the globe with the help of decentralized applications. DApps consist of a front-end, a blockchain back-end, and middleware, that is, the code that connects the two. The front-end can be a sophisticated web app or mobile app, which is used to implement the functions/methods on the smart contract. Web apps can employ technologies such as HTML, CSS, React and Express. In this wake, fintech and blockchain products are popping up in brokerages, digital wallets, exchanges, post-trade clearance, settlement, middleware, infrastructure and base protocols. The present paper provides a technology driven solution, financial inclusion and innovative working paradigm for business and finance.

Keywords: Authentication, blockchain, channel, cryptography, DApps, data portability, Decentralized Public Key Infrastructure, Ethereum, hash function, Hashgraph, Privilege creep, Proof of Work algorithm, revocation, storage variables, Zero Knowledge Proof.

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Authors: Hamed Rafiei, Masoud Rabbani

Abstract:

This paper addresses one of the most important issues have been considered in hybrid MTS/MTO production environments. To cope with the problem, a mathematical programming model is applied from a tactical point of view. The model is converted to a fuzzy goal programming model, because a degree of uncertainty is involved in hybrid MTS/MTO context. Finally, application of the proposed model in an industrial center is reported and the results prove the validity of the model.

Keywords: Fuzzy sets theory, Hybrid MTS/MTO, Order penetration point, Quadratic programming.

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Authors: J. Ramírez A., A. Rubiano F.

Abstract:

In this paper the direct kinematic model of a multiple applications three degrees of freedom industrial manipulator, was developed using the homogeneous transformation matrices and the Denavit - Hartenberg parameters, likewise the inverse kinematic model was developed using the same method, verifying that in the workload border the inverse kinematic presents considerable errors, therefore a genetic algorithm was implemented to optimize the model improving greatly the efficiency of the model.

Keywords: Direct Kinematic, Genetic Algorithm, InverseKinematic, Optimization, Robot Manipulator

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Authors: İsmet Öztürk, İbrahim Soğukpınar

Abstract:

With the fast progression of data exchange in electronic way, information security is becoming more important in data storage and transmission. Because of widely using images in industrial process, it is important to protect the confidential image data from unauthorized access. In this paper, we analyzed current image encryption algorithms and compression is added for two of them (Mirror-like image encryption and Visual Cryptography). Implementations of these two algorithms have been realized for experimental purposes. The results of analysis are given in this paper.

Keywords: image encryption, image cryptosystem, security, transmission

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Authors: Sujing Wang, Song Wang, Jian Zhang, Qiang Xu

Abstract:

Flaring emissions during abnormal operating conditions such as plant start-ups, shut-downs, and upsets in chemical process industries (CPI) are usually significant. Flare minimization can help to save raw material and energy for CPI plants, and to improve local environmental sustainability. In this paper, a systematic methodology based on plant-wide dynamic simulation is presented for CPI plant flare minimizations under abnormal operating conditions. Since off-specification emission sources are inevitable during abnormal operating conditions, to significantly reduce flaring emission in a CPI plant, they must be either recycled to the upstream process for online reuse, or stored somewhere temporarily for future reprocessing, when the CPI plant manufacturing returns to stable operation. Thus, the off-spec products could be reused instead of being flared. This can be achieved through the identification of viable design and operational strategies during normal and abnormal operations through plant-wide dynamic scheduling, simulation, and optimization. The proposed study includes three stages of simulation works: (i) developing and validating a steady-state model of a CPI plant; (ii) transiting the obtained steady-state plant model to the dynamic modeling environment; and refining and validating the plant dynamic model; and (iii) developing flare minimization strategies for abnormal operating conditions of a CPI plant via a validated plant-wide dynamic model. This cost-effective methodology has two main merits: (i) employing large-scale dynamic modeling and simulations for industrial flare minimization, which involves various unit models for modeling hundreds of CPI plant facilities; (ii) dealing with critical abnormal operating conditions of CPI plants such as plant start-up and shut-down. Two virtual case studies on flare minimizations for start-up operation (over 50% of emission savings) and shut-down operation (over 70% of emission savings) of an ethylene plant have been employed to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed study.

Keywords: Flare minimization, large-scale modeling and simulation, plant shut-down, plant start-up.

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Authors: Ashly Joseph

Abstract:

Cloud computing has become an essential component of enterprises and organizations globally in the current era of digital technology. The cloud has a multitude of advantages, including scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, rendering it an appealing choice for data storage and processing. The increasing storage of sensitive information in cloud environments has raised significant concerns over the security of such systems. The frequency of cyber threats and attacks specifically aimed at cloud infrastructure has been increasing, presenting substantial dangers to the data, reputation, and financial stability of enterprises. Conventional security methods can become inadequate when confronted with ever intricate and dynamic threats. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies possess the capacity to significantly transform cloud security through their ability to promptly identify and thwart assaults, adjust to emerging risks, and offer intelligent perspectives for proactive security actions. The objective of this research study is to investigate the utilization of AI technologies in augmenting the security measures within cloud computing systems. This paper aims to offer significant insights and recommendations for businesses seeking to protect their cloud-based assets by analyzing the present state of cloud security, the capabilities of AI, and the possible advantages and obstacles associated with using AI into cloud security policies.

Keywords: Machine Learning, Natural Learning Processing, Denial-of-Service attacks, Sentiment Analysis, Cloud computing.

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