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Adsorbable organic halides (AOX) compounds produced during bleaching of pulp are recalcitrant and known to have eco-toxic effect. We have studied the removal of pentachlorophenol (PCP) as a model AOX compound in water as well as in pulp bleaching effluent of a bamboo based mill by electrochemical treatment in batch mode. It was found that 10 mg L−1 of PCP in water was removed almost completely in 90% removal of initial colour, COD and PCP in, © Elsevier

This paper describes some of the important microbiological and engineering challenges in scaling up biobeneficiation of bauxite. A soil bacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa was recently shown to selectively remove calcium and iron impurities from low grade bauxite (

Electrostatic monitoring technology is a useful tool for monitoring and detecting component faults and degradation, which is necessary for system health management. It encompasses three key research areas: sensor technology; signal detection, processing and feature extraction; and verification experimentation. It has received considerable recent attention for condition monitoring due to its ability to provide warning information and non-obstructive measurements on-line. A number of papers in recent years have covered specific aspects of the technology, including sensor design optimization, sensor characteristic analysis, signal de-noising and practical applications of the technology. This paper provides a review of the recent research and of the development of electrostatic monitoring technology, with a primary emphasis on its application for the aero-engine gas path. The paper also presents a summary of some of the current applications of electrostatic monitoring technology in other industries, before concluding with a brief discussion of the current research situation and possible future challenges and research gaps in this field. The aim of this paper is to promote further research into this promising technology by increasing awareness of both the potential benefits of the technology and the current research gaps.

The automation and flexibility of production systems is a key step towards improved profitability and competitiveness in high labour cost areas, when producing high-complexity, low-volume products. In the Evolvable Assembly Systems (EAS) project, the 'manufacturability' (or 'realisability') and 'control' algorithms were introduced to accommodate the batch-size-of-one production of highly customisable products. These algorithms enable checking whether a production line can manufacture a given product with its available set of resources, and how the product should be manufactured, e.g. which resources to use, and when. To this end, the authors formally define production recipes, which represent products, and manufacturing resources which make up a manufacturing facility. This paper re-defines these notions in the ISO-standard EBNF (Extended Backus-Naur Form) notation, and adapts the the manufacturability and control algorithms to accommodate the new definitions. The new algorithms and data structures reflect more closely the ones that are used in an implemented software tool. This paper also reports a method by which recipes and resources could be used to generate manufacturing process controllers in the Business to Manufacturing Markup Language (B2MML) standard. In doing so, this paper takes a step toward a complete path from the formal specification of a manufacturing facility and the products to be manufactured, to the automatic generation of executable process plans.

The scope of this paper is to present a novel method of actuating the legs of a walking parallel kinematic machine tool (WalkingHex) such that the upper spherical joint can be actively driven while walking and remain a free, passive joint while performing machining operations. Different concepts for the number of Degrees of Freedom (DoF) and methods for actuating the chosen concept are presented, leading to a description of a three-wire actuated spherical joint arrangement. The inverse kinematics for the actuation mechanism is defined and a control methodology that accounts for the redundantly actuated nature of the mechanism is explored. It is demonstrated that a prototype of the system is capable of achieving a motion position accuracy within 5.64% RMS. Utilising the concept presented in this paper, it is possible to develop a walking robot that is capable of manoeuvring into location and performing precision machining or inspection operations.

Due to low electricity rates at nighttime, home charging for electric vehicles (EVs) is conventionally favored. However, the recent tendency in support of daytime workplace charging that absorbs energy produced by solar photovoltaic (PV) panels appears to be the most promising solution to facilitating higher PV and EV penetration in the power grid. This paper studies optimal sizing of workplace charging stations considering probabilistic reactive power support for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which are powered by PV units in medium voltage (MV) commercial networks. In this study, analytical expressions are first presented to estimate the size of charging stations integrated with PV units with an objective of minimizing energy losses. These stations. are capable of providing reactive power support to the main grid in addition to charging PHEVs while considering the probability of PV generation. The study is further extended to investigate the impact of time-varying voltage-dependent charging load models on PV penetration. The simulation results obtained on an 18-bus test distribution system show that various charging load models can produce dissimilar levels of PHEV and PV penetration. Particularly, the maximum energy loss and peak load reductions are achieved at 70.17% and 42.95% respectively for the mixed charging load model, where the system accommodates respective PHEV and PV penetration levels of 9.51% and 50%. The results of probabilistic voltage distributions are also thoroughly reported in the paper. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Due to low cost, light weight and corrosion resistant features, polymer heat exchangers have been extensively studied by researchers with the aim to replace metallic heat exchangers in a wide range of applications. Although the thermal conductivity of polymer material is generally lower than the metallic counterparts, the large specific surface area provided by the polymer hollow fibre heat exchanger (PHFHE) offers the same or even better heat transfer performance with smaller volume and lighter weight compared with the metallic shell-and-tube heat exchangers. This paper presents the construction and experimental investigations of polypropylene based polymer hollow fibre heat exchangers in the form of shell-and-tube. The measured overall heat transfer coefficients of such PHFHEs are in the range of 258–1675 W/m2K for water to water application. The effects of various parameters on the overall heat transfer coefficient including flow rates and numbers of fibres, the effectiveness of heat exchanger, the number of heat transfer unit (NTU), and the height of transfer unit (HTU) are also discussed in this paper. The results indicate that the PHFHEs could offer a conductance per unit volume of 4 × 106 W/m3K, which is 2–8 times higher than the conventional metal heat exchangers. This superior thermal performance together with its low cost, corrosive resistant and light weight features make PHFHEs potentially very good substitutes for metallic heat recovery system for building application.

A controller for stable flight and precise tracking of a multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) carrying a heavy slung load is presented within this paper. A novel mathematical model for the multi-body system is derived. Based on that model, a Model Predictive Control (MPC) scheme is designed and applied to the system. Stability and tracking ability are demonstrated through numerical simulation. The performance of the system using the MPC strategy is compared to a linear-quadratic regulator (LQR) control approach. The simulation results are then verified by real flight tests, whereby the MPC is applied to a real multirotor UAV with a heavy slung load. The system is capable of actively damping load oscillations whilst simultaneously tracking a reference trajectory.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the vision-based See and Avoid problem for unmanned aircraft. The unique problem environment and associated constraints are detailed, followed by an in-depth analysis of visual sensing limitations. In light of such detection and estimation constraints, relevant human, aircraft and robot collision avoidance concepts are then compared from a decision and control perspective. Remarks on system evaluation and certification are also included to provide a holistic review approach. The intention of this work is to clarify common misconceptions, realistically bound feasible design expectations and offer new research directions. It is hoped that this paper will help us to unify design efforts across the aerospace and robotics communities.

The operation and maintenance phase is the longest and most expensive life-cycle period of buildings and facilities. Operators need to carry out activities to maintain equipment to prevent functionality failures. Although some software tools have already been introduced, research studies have concluded that (1) facility handover data is still predominantly dispersed, unformatted and paper-based and (2) hence operators still spend 50% of their on-site work on target localization and navigation. To improve these procedures, the authors previously presented a natural marker-based Augmented Reality (AR) framework that digitally supports facility maintenance operators when navigating indoors. Although previous results showed the practical potential, this framework fails if no visual marker is available, if identical markers are at multiple locations, and if markers are light emitting signs. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper presents an improved method that combines an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) based step counter and visual live video feed for AR based indoor navigation support. In addition, the AR based marker detection procedure is improved by learning camera exposure times in case of light emitting markers. A case study and experimental results in a controlled environment reveal the improvements and advantages of the enhanced framework.

Material properties of composites are identified using a novel hybrid RSM-PSO method in this paper. Different response surface methodology (RSM) methods and particle swarm optimization (PSO) methods are studied initially on a 4 degrees-of-freedom (4DOF) dynamic system on their performance in terms of speed and accuracy. The best combination is used as a hybrid RSM-PSO method to evaluate the performance on system identification of an orthotropic plate along with a 4DOF dynamic system and an isotropic plate. The novelty of the present paper is to identify the composite plate material properties using RSM methods based on time domain signals, which is not hitherto reported in the literature. Also, whereas previous papers have used full factorial design for system identification, here CCDI is used. The input factors (design variables) are the system parameters which are to be identified and the response (objective function) is error sum-of-square of acceleration response with respect to new test system. The performance of the proposed method is also evaluated with the addition of 5% Gaussian noise to simulate the experimental errors. The system parameters of the orthotropic plate were identified with 0% and 0.25% average prediction error with zero and 5% addition of noise respectively by the proposed hybrid RSM-PSO method. It is also showed a much better performance and robustness to noise addition when compared to the other RSM methods in the literature. � 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Voltage rise is one of the main factors which limits the capacity of Low Voltage (LV) network to accommodate more Renewable Energy (RE) sources. This paper proposes a robust and effective approach to coordinate customers’ resources and manage voltage rise in residential LV networks. PV is considered as the customer RE source. The suggested coordination approach in this paper includes both localized control strategy, based on local measurement, and distributed control strategy based on consensus algorithm. This approach can completely avoid maximum permissible voltage limit violation. A typical residential LV network is used as the case study where the simulated results are shown to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

This paper presents a review of existing and current developments and the analysis of Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Systems (HEPS) for small fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Efficient energy utilisation on an UAV is essential to its functioning, often to achieve the operational goals of range, endurance and other specific mission requirements. Due to the limitations of the space available and the mass budget on the UAV, it is often a delicate balance between the onboard energy available (i.e. fuel) and achieving the operational goals. One technology with potential in this area is with the use of HEPS. In this paper, information on the state-of-art technology in this field of research is provided. A description and simulation of a parallel HEPS for a small fixed-wing UAV by incorporating an Ideal Operating Line (IOL) control strategy is described. Simulation models of the components in a HEPS were designed in the MATLAB Simulink environment. An IOL analysis of an UAV piston engine was used to determine the most efficient points of operation for this engine. The results show that an UAV equipped with this HEPS configuration is capable of achieving a fuel saving of 6.5%, compared to the engine-only configuration.

The continued reliance of manual data capture in engineering asset intensive organisations highlights the critical role played by those responsible for recording raw data. The potential for data quality variance across individual operators also exposes the need to better manage this particular group. This paper evaluates the relative importance of the human factors associated with data quality. Using the theory of planned behaviour this paper considers the impact of attitudes, perceptions and behavioural intentions on the data collection process in an engineering asset context. Two additional variables are included, those of time pressure and operator feedback. Time pressure is argued to act as a moderator between intention and data collection behaviour, while perceived behavioural control will moderate the relationship between feedback and data collection behaviour. Overall the paper argues that the presence of best practice procedures or threats of disciplinary sanction are insufficient controls to determine data quality. Instead those concerned with improving the data collection performance of operators should consider the operator’s perceptions of group attitude towards data quality, the level of feedback provided to data collectors and the impact of time-pressures on procedure compliance. A range of practical recommendations are provided to those wishing to improve the quality of their manually acquired data.

The paper introduces the underlying principles and the general features of a meta-method (MAP method – Management & Analysis of Projects) developed as part of and used in various research, education and professional development programmes at ESC Lille. This method aims at providing effective and efficient structure and process for acting and learning in various complex, uncertain and ambiguous managerial situations (projects, programmes, portfolios). The paper is organized in three parts. In a first part, I propose to revisit the dominant vision of the project management knowledge field, based on the assumptions they are not addressing adequately current business and management contexts and situations, and that competencies in management of entrepreneurial activities are the sources of creation of value for organisations. Then, grounded on the new suggested perspective, the second part presents the underlying concepts supporting MAP method seen as a ‘convention generator' and how this meta-method inextricably links learning and practice in addressing managerial situations. The third part describes example of application, illustrating with a brief case study how the method integrates Project Management Governance, and gives few examples of use in Management Education and Professional Development.

The frequency spectra of the higher-order model, for laminated arches, are identified through a novel process, proposed in this paper. Besides the basic spectra corresponding to axial, flexural and shear, presence of higher-order spectra is established. Coupled spectra of first-order and higher-order degrees of freedom, in various combinations, are identified. Based on this spectra identification framework, the frequencies of sandwich and composite arches, for various boundary conditions are classified and presented. Also, the role of curvature and aspect ratio on the fundamental frequency of arches with various end-conditions is investigated, in the second part of this paper., © Elsevier

The accurate estimation of the predicted re-entry time of decaying space debris objects is very important for proper planning of mitigation strategies and hazard assessment. This paper highlights the implementation strategies adopted for the online reentry prediction using Kalman filter approach with constant gains with the states being the semi-major axis, eccentricity and ballistic coefficient and using the measurements of the apogee height and perigee height derived from the Two Line Elements provided by agencies like USSPACECOM. Only a very simple model is utilised for the orbit propagation and a basic feature of the present approach is that any unmodellable state and measurement errors can be accounted for by adjusting the Kalman gains which are chosen based on a suitable cost function. In this paper we provide the details of validating this approach by utilising three re-entries of debris objects, namely, US Sat. No. 25947, SROSS-C2 Satellite and COSMOS 1043 rocket body. These three objects re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on 4th March 2000, 12th July 2001 and 19th January 2002, respectively.

Energy planning is carried out at a centralized level using computer-based modeling. The centralized energy planning models and approaches have already been reviewed in literature. Decentralized energy planning (DEP) is a concept of recent origin with limited applications. Literature shows that different models are being developed and used worldwide. This paper gives an overview of different decentralized energy models used worldwide, their approaches and their applications along with a few emerging energy models. The central theme of the energy planning at decentralized level would be to prepare an area-based DEP to meet energy needs and development of alternate energy sources at least-cost to the economy and environment. Ecologically sound development of the region is possible when energy needs are integrated with the environmental concerns at the local and global levels. Taking into account these features, this paper explains the need of DEP and shows how different types of energy planning and optimization models, supply demand models, regional models, resource models and neural models have been carried, adopted and applied at decentralized level.

This paper discusses the effects of thyristor controlled series compensator (TCSC), a series FACTS controller, on the transient stability of a power system. Trajectory sensitivity analysis (TSA) has been used to measure the transient stability condition of the system. The TCSC is modeled by a variable capacitor, the value of which changes with the firing angle. It is shown that TSA can be used in the design of the controller. The optimal locations of the TCSC-controller for different fault conditions can also be identified with the help of TSA. The paper depicts the advantage of the use of TCSC with a suitable controller over fixed capacitor operation.

This paper presents an approach based on the correspondence analysis (CA) for the task of fault detection and diagnosis. Unlike other data-based monitoring tools, such as principal components analysis/dynamic PCA (PCA/DPCA), the CA algorithm has been shown to use a different metric to represent the information content in the data matrix X. Decomposition of the information represented in the metric is shown here to yield superior performance from the viewpoints of data compression, discrimination and classification, as well as early detection and diagnosis of faults. Metrics similar to the contribution plots and threshold statistics that have been developed and used for PCA are also proposed in this paper for detection and diagnosis using the CA algorithm. Further, using the benchmark Tennessee Eastman problem as a case study, significant performance improvements are demonstrated in monitoring and diagnosis (in terms of shorter detection delays, smaller false alarm rates, reduced missed detection rates and clearer diagnosis) using the CA algorithm over those achievable using the PCA and DPCA algorithms., © Elsevier

This paper describes a new test to determine flexibility of beam-to-column connectors used in conventional pallet racking systems. In this study, two different ways were used to find the flexibility of a connector. The connector developed was tested using the conventional cantilever method [Bajoria, KM. Three dimensional progressive collapse of warehouse racking, PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, UK 1986], and then also using a newly proposed double cantilever method. To verify the results obtained from both the tests, a full scale frame test was carried out. In the double cantilever test the connector is subjected to three types of forces namely moment, shear and the axial pull by the beams, thereby giving behavior close to practical usage of connectors. Non-linear finite element analysis of both the tests and also of the full scale test were carried out using ANSYS [ANSYS 7.0—User's Manual, ANSYS Inc., 2005] software. The results obtained from the double cantilever test were found to match well with the full scale frame test. The experimental results and the finite element results are compared in this paper., © Elsevier

Waste reduction through source reduction and on-site recycling is an important aspect of pollution prevention. Techniques of process integration may be used for pollution prevention. In this paper an algorithmic procedure is presented to reduce waste generation through maximizing on-site reuse/recycling. The proposed methodology is based on the pinch principles and establishes a minimum waste generation target prior to the detailed network design. A new graphical representation called source composite curve, is utilized to understand the targeting philosophy. Minimum waste targeting algorithm is applied to address different problems such as water management, hydrogen management, as well as material reuse and recycling. Appropriate changes in a process or process modification can further reduce the waste generation. In this paper a methodology is presented to reduce waste generation through process modifications and it is demonstrated through an example., © Elsevier

This paper proposes an approach using quality loss functions and multicriteria optimization procedure to determine appropriate process parameter values for producing quality products in a continuous casting system. Quality of a continuously cast product depends on the process conditions during the casting process. From the information available in the literature and industry, 17 critical quality conditions have been identified which have to be satisfied to prevent defect formation during casting. Each of these process conditions are connected to one or more than one process parameters and the process parameter values are to be selected such that all these 17 quality conditions are satisfied simultaneously. The optimization procedure suggested in the present study involves representing the relationship between the responses and the process variables in the form of an objective function and finding the best set of values for the process variables. The objective function is formulated as a loss function, which establishes a functional relationship between the input variables or process parameters and the quality criteria. The optimum values of the process parameters were obtained by minimizing the loss function using simulated annealing optimization algorithm. The details are presented in this paper with the help of a specific case., © Elsevier

In this paper, identification of dynamic stall effect of rotor blade is considered. Recurrent Neural Networks have the ability to identify the nonlinear dynamical systems from training data. This paper describes the use of recurrent neural networks for predicting the coefficient of lift $(C_Z)$ at high angle of attack. In our approach, the coefficient of lift $(C_Z)$ obtained from the experimental results (wind tunnel data) at different mean angle of attack $\theta_{mean}$ is used to train the recurrent neural network. Then the recurrent neural network prediction is compared with experimental ONERA OA212 airfoil data. The time and space complexity required to predict $C_Z$ in the proposed method is less and it is easy to incorporate in any commercially available rotor code.

Various load compensation schemes proposed in literature assume that voltage source at point of common coupling (PCC) is stiff. In practice, however, the load is remote from a distribution substation and is supplied by a feeder. In the presence of feeder impedance, the PWM inverter switchings distort both the PCC voltage and the source currents. In this paper load compensation with such a non-stiff source is considered. A switching control of the voltage source inverter (VSI) based on state feedback is used for load compensation with non-stiff source. The design of the state feedback controller requires careful considerations in choosing a gain matrix and in the generation of reference quantities. These aspects are considered in this paper. Detailed simulation and experimental results are given to support the control design.

Risk-Informed In-Service Inspection (RI-ISI) aims at prioritizing the components for inspection within the permissible risk level thereby avoiding unnecessary inspections. The two main factors that go into the prioritization of components are failure frequency and the consequence of the failure of these components. The study has been focused on piping component as presented in this paper. Failure frequency of piping is highly influenced by the degradation mechanism acting on it and these frequencies are modified as and when maintenance/ISI activities are taken up. In order to incorporate the effects of degradation mechanism and maintenance activities, a Markov model has been suggested as an efficient method for realistic analysis. Emphasis has been given to the erosion–corrosion mechanism, which is dominant in Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors. The paper highlights an analytical model for estimating the corrosion rates and also for finding the failure probability of piping, which can be further used in RI-ISI., © Elsevier

Fibre-reinforced composites are used in many engineering structures with cylindrical panels being a typical component. Buckling is one of the important modes of failure of such a panel. The work presented in this paper deals with optimizing the orientation of plies in a simply supported composite cylindrical panel so as to achieve maximum buckling load. The panel is assumed to be composed of a repeated sublaminate construction. In this type of construction the basic sublaminate has a smaller number of plies, for example, 8, 6, 4 or 2, and the full panel is obtained by repeating the basic sublaminate. Such a construction is used to avoid manufacturing errors and to produce damagetolerant panels resulting from maximum splicing of plies. The buckling loads have been found using an energy method, and optimization of ply orientations in the basic sublaminate is achieved by using the ranking technique proposed by Tsai. The following configurations are considered in the paper: (i) solid laminated panel, (ii) sandwich panel, and (iii) stiffened panel. The sandwich or stiffened panel may have sinusoidally corrugated sheet, hat-type corrugated sheet or regular grid as core or stiffener respectively. The computer program developed was first checked for accuracy by comparing with results available in the literature for isotropic and orthotropic cylindrical panels. Then it was used to optimize the ply orientation in the sublaminate for any specified geometry, material, loading and boundary conditions. It was found that significant gains in buckling loads can be had by choosing the optimum lay-up scheme and that quasi-isotropic lay-up in many cases is far from the optimum.

The data in this paper are related to the research article entitled “Development of a government continuous quality improvement procedure for assessing the provision of bone anchored limb prosthesis: A process re-design descriptive study” (Frossard et al., Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal, 2018. 1(2). p. 1–14). This article contains quality of life data experienced by individuals before and after implantation of a press-fit or screw-type osseointegrated fixation when fitted with conventional socket-suspended and bone-anchored limb prosthesis, respectively. This specifically-designed survey was developed and administered by Queensland Artificial Limb Services (QALS), an Australian State government organization. It was an integrated part of QALS′ continuous quality improvement procedure for assessing the provision of bone-anchored prosthesis. A total of 12 out of the 65 consumers completed to the survey, giving a return rate of 18%. This benchmark information can contribute to inform the design of (A) other patients' experience surveys including those built-in governmental continuous quality improvement procedure as well as (B) clinical trials looking at the overall effects of surgical implantation of ossoeintegrated fixation on patients' quality of life. Online repository contains the files: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/bkbxxmrhfh/1. Keywords: Amputation, Artificial limb, Bone-anchored prosthesis, Direct skeletal attachment, Experience, Government, Osseointegrated implants, Osseointegration, Patient’ experience, Prosthesis, Quality of life, Satisfaction

The data in this paper are related to the research article entitled “Automated characterization of anthropomorphicity of prosthetic feet fitted to bone-anchored transtibial prosthesis” (Frossard et al., 2019: DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2019.2904713). This article contains the individual angles of dorsiflexion and bending moments generated while walking with transtibial bone-anchored prostheses including prosthetic feet with different index of anthropomorphicity. Inter-participant variability were presented for the (A) position of the load cell measuring directly to the bending moments, (B) patterns of angles of dorsiflexion and bending moment as well as moment-angle curves and (C) variations of magnitude of angles of dorsiflexion as well as the raw and bodyweight-normalized bending moments between toe contact and heel off. These initial inter-participant variability benchmark datasets are critical to design future automated algorithms and clinical trials. Online repository contains the files: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/127745/1/127745.pdf. Keywords: Amputation, Artificial limb, Bone-anchored prosthesis (BAP), Direct skeletal attachment, Osseointegrated implants, Osseointegration, Prosthesis, Loading, Kinetics, Feet, Stiffness

Electrical discharge coating (EDC) methods may be used to enhance the surface functionality of electrical discharge machined components. However, industrial uptake of EDC has been restricted due to limited understanding of the fundamental interactions between energy source and workpiece material. The fraction of energy transferred to the workpiece, Fv, as a consequence of sparking, is an important parameter which affects directly crater geometry and the microstructural development of the near surface modified layer. In this paper, a 2D transient heat transfer model is presented using finite difference methods, validated against experimental observations, to estimate effective values for Fv as a function of processing conditions. Through this method we can predict coating layer thicknesses and microstructures through appropriate consideration of heat flow into the system. Estimates for crater depths compared well with experimentally determined values for coating layer thicknesses, which increased with the increasing fraction of energy transfer to the workpiece. Predictions for heat transfer and cooling of melt pools, arising from single spark events, compared well with experimental observations for the developed cermet microstructures. In particular, intermediate processing conditions were associated with the development of complex, banded, fine-grained microstructures, reflecting differences in localised cooling rates and the competing pathways for heat conduction into the substrate and convection within the dielectric fluid. Increased pulse-on times were associated with a propensity towards increasing grain size and columnar growth, reflecting the higher energies imparted into the coatings and slower cooling rates.

Adherence to procedures is critical to the safety and performance of maintenance tasks; however, few studies of procedure compliance among maintenance personnel have been reported. The present study evaluated a theoretical model in which management approaches to procedure compliance were linked to compliance outcomes through user perceptions of positive and negative procedure attributes. New scales were developed to assess these variables; hypotheses derived from the model were tested in survey data collected from maintainers in the mining industry (N = 176). A structural equation model showed acceptable fit statistics; findings were broadly consistent with the initial hypotheses. As predicted, positive and negative dimensions of procedure attributes and compliance/non-compliance were perceived as distinct constructs, and were implicated in different pathways of the model. Also supporting the initial hypotheses, user involvement and managers’ learning-oriented responses to non-compliance were linked to favourable compliance outcomes through perceived procedure attributes. Learning-oriented responses were also directly associated with greater compliance. In addition, and contrary to prediction, punitive management responses positively predicted compliance. As discussed in the paper, these findings contribute new insights, relevant in both research and industry contexts, to understanding procedure compliance among maintainers.

Cannibalisation refers to a maintenance action where an unserviceable part in an inoperative platform is replaced by a serviceable part of the same type from another platform. It helps a fleet meet operational requirements when spares are in short supply but leads to more maintenance tasks to be carried out. In practice, cannibalisation may be performed in an unrestricted manner, or through the use of cannibalisation birds. A cannibalisation bird is a platform which is selected as the primary source of cannibalisation, while any inoperative platform can be a cannibalisation source under the unrestricted policy. In order to aid fleet managers in making cannibalisation-related decisions, this paper presents a hierarchical coloured Petri net (HCPN) model of a fleet operation and maintenance process which considers mission-oriented operation, multiple level maintenance, multiple cannibalisation policies (no cannibalisation, unrestricted cannibalisation and cannibalisation bird), maintenance scheduling and spare inventory management. The model is applied to an example fleet to compare the effects of different cannibalisation policies on fleet performance using a number of performance measures related to reliability and maintenance and to optimise the number of cannibalisation birds used and the length of time that a platform is taken as a cannibalisation bird for the fleet.

In addition to windows, louvers are the most common architectural elements widely used in office buildings to protect them from excessive daylight and improve daylight penetration as well. Advanced glazing, window blinds, other fenestration systems and their automation can further improve daylighting performance. However, the stability and uniformity of daylight distribution throughout a day inside a building remain a challenge. To explore a solution for this issue, this paper proposes an advanced integrated lighting system combining different architectural elements, which can be controlled parametrically. The suitable design of such integrated system is identified through a multi-step comparison study employing parametric design approach. The criteria is to keep a relatively uniform daylight distribution in the range of 300 – 500 lux over 90% of the whole desktop area in a 7-meter-deep office room. An office building in New Cairo was chosen for a case study, where it is south oriented with a prevailing condition of clear sky. Hourly results on the 21st of several chosen months are given to show the suitability of the proposed design throughout a year, aiming to explore the maximum use of daylight and hence reduce the energy consumption of electrical lighting. The comparison indicates that the combined use of the integrated system can achieve a satisfactory relatively uniform distribution of daylight over about 90% of the desktop area, within illuminance range of 300 – 500 lux for most of the working hours throughout a year.

A decade on from the Rethinking Project Management (PM) network, concerns about the relevance gap continue with a number of multinationals looking explicitly to alternative strategies and forms of PM staff development. The literature is light on how project simulations can help the development of experienced managers as reflective experts. Few have examined the link between intended learning outcomes and real-time performance. Posing the question of “how easily is knowledge developed in the classroom transformed into effective practice?” the paper presents a chronological account of a 3-day simulated project by 25 experienced managers. Despite their prior experience and learning from shared problem-solving and structured reflections, participants struggled to deliver their projects as planned. Analysis referencing the knowledge epistemology and ambidexterity literatures yielded a number of design improvement opportunities and the insight that closing the knowing-doing gap requires courses to incorporate the ‘soft’ perceptual and attitudinal aspects underlying why people fail to convert their learning into effective practice.

Recent changes in the global construction industry coupled with rising challenges as a result of the dynamic nature of offshore operations have greatly underscored the need for stakeholders to evolve safety management systems that optimize safety during the execution of their construction project operations. As a result, the offshore industry has witnessed significant changes which currently place a greater premium on effective safety management, with organizations’ requiring to look across the whole project's life cycle. To optimize safety during operations, formulating effective safety management systems becomes a crucial challenge faced by industry stakeholders. Utilising evidence from semi- structured interviews, this paper examines senior managers’ role in safety leadership in Nigerian offshore oil and gas projects. It concluded that leadership style is critical for the implementation of any effective safety management system utilised during offshore construction projects. The findings also facilitate an in-depth understanding of lessons learnt from offshore construction projects and will be useful for improving the overall safety management strategy of organisations in line with important factors usually considered by the global offshore oil and gas industry.

Despite over thirty years of work, microwave pre-treatment processes for beneficiation of ores have not progressed much further than laboratory testing. In this paper we present a scaleable pilot-scale system for the microwave treatment of ores capable of operating at throughputs of up to 150tph. This has been achieved by confining the electric field produced from two 100kW generators operating at 896MHz in a gravity fed vertical flow system using circular choking structures yielding power densities of at least 6x108 W/m3 in the heated mineral phases. Measured S11 scattering parameters for a quartzite ore (-3.69±0.4dB) in the as-built applicator correlated well with the simulation (-3.25dB), thereby validating our design approach. We then show that by fully integrating the applicator with a materials handling system based on the concept of mass flow, we achieve a reliable, continuous process. The system was used to treat a range of porphyry copper ores.

Highlights - The effect of balcony type, depth, ventilation mode, and wind direction on ventilation performance was investigated. - The addition of balcony to cross ventilation reduces the indoor air velocity. - Provision of an open balcony to single-sided ventilation improves the ventilation performance. - Ventilation performance of single-sided ventilation is mostly affected by the prevailing wind direction. Abstract Natural ventilation and balconies are two of the most desirable features of a living space in subtropical climates. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of balconies on natural ventilation performance and thermal comfort of residential buildings. To this end, in-situ full-scale measurements were carried out for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model validation and further analysis. A number of parameters such as balcony type, balcony depth, ventilation mode, and wind angle were used in developing case studies. Once validated, the CFD model was used for investigation of air movement inside each case study. Combined and separate effects of the defined parameters on natural ventilation performance were evaluated using air velocity and Standard Effective Temperature (SET*) as criteria. The results indicate that the addition of a balcony to a building with single-sided ventilation can improve the ventilation performance. In contrast, indoor air velocity was reduced as a result of balcony addition when the case study was operated in cross ventilation mode. Furthermore, ventilation performance of single-sided ventilation was found to be more sensitive to the change of parameters compared to that of the cross ventilation. It has also been found that among the investigated parameters, incident wind angle affects the ventilation performance most for both natural ventilation modes.

An accurate load forecasting is always particularly important for optimal planning and energy management in smart buildings and power systems. Millions of dollars can be saved annually by increasing a small degree of improvement in prediction accuracy. However, forecasting load demand accurately is a challenging task due to multiple factors such as meteorological and exogenous variables. This paper develops a novel load forecasting model, which is based on a feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN), to predict hourly load demand for various seasons of a year. In this model, a global best particle swarm optimisation (GPSO) algorithm is applied as a new training technique to enhance the performance of ANN prediction. The fitness function is defined and a weight bias encoding/decoding scheme is presented to improve network training. Influential meteorological and exogenous variables along with correlated lagged load data are also employed as inputs in the presented model. The data of an ISO New England grid are used to validate the performance of the developed model. The results demonstrate that the proposed forecasting model can provide significantly better forecast accuracy, training performances and convergence characteristics than contemporary techniques found in the literature.

This paper proposes a strategy for optimal allocation of multiple Community Energy Storage (CES) units in a distribution system with photovoltaic (PV) generation. The main contribution of this strategy is it considers all possible benefits accrued from and costs incurred by CES deployment to a utility. The benefits are gained from energy arbitrage, peaking power generation, energy loss reduction, system upgrade deferral, emission reduction and VAr support. A cost-benefit analysis is also conducted to identify the optimal Net Present Value (NPV), Discounted Payback Period (DPP) and Benefit-Cost ratio (BCR). Moreover, an optimal power factor approach is included in the analysis to dispatch CES units to improve load factors and voltage profiles. The probabilistic distribution of solar irradiance is also incorporated in the proposed strategy to consider the uncertainty of PV generation. Several sensitivity analyses are carried out to investigate the effects of PV penetration, load models and the number of CES units deployed on the profitability of CES investment. Numerical results show that the proposed strategy enables a power utility to identify the location, size and operational characteristic of CES units for maximizing the total NPV and enhancing load factors and voltage profiles. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This special issue contains extended versions of the outstanding papers presented at the 13th International Conference on Business Process Management (BPM) that took place in Innsbruck, Austria on August 31–September 3, 2015.

The present article addresses the design, mathematical modelling and analysis of a novel highly exergy-efficient air to air heat exchanger. An intricate design based on an hexagonal mesh is proposed for the cross-sectional area of the heat exchanger with aims to explore the performance gains that can be obtained by exploiting the capabilities and benefits offered by modern fabrication techniques such as additive manufacturing. Special attention is paid to understanding the relationship or trade-off that exists between the overall exergy efficiency of the heat exchanger and its cost. The iterative algorithm used to find the geometrical parameters that yield the best performance in terms of volume of material required per unit of exergy transfer at a certain level of efficiency, as well as the assumptions and simplifications made, are comprehensively explained. It has been found through the analyses carried out performed, which are thoroughly discussed throughout the paper, that if the characteristic dimension of the heat exchanger is scaled up by a factor of n, the volume of material per kW of exergy transfer at certain exergy efficiency will increase by a factor of n squared. This is a very important observation, possibly applicable to other types of heat exchangers, that indicates that performance improves dramatically at smaller scales. The overall performance of the case study presented is satisfactory, a volume of material as low as 84.8 cm3 for one kW of exergy transfer can be achieved with a 99% exergy efficiency.

Manufacturing process variability is a major issue of concern in high value industries. Manufacturing small batches and in some cases batches of one is a very expensive process with specific requirements for manufacturing operations, tooling and fixturing and their level of automation and informatics provision. The automation targets cost reduction and a counterbalancing of the ever lower numbers of skilled shop floor workers. However, these small series typically are products that contain complex and compliant parts, and often also a high number of parts and components. The automation of this type of low-volume high-value production can be a daunting task. Each process has its own key parameters that are required to be within a certain tolerance band in order to ensure product quality, such as e.g. The dimensions and location of assembly mating features. Dimensional quality assurance is typically done with in-process measurement, or the measurement of certain key characteristics (KCs) in the current setup, but a special setup may have to be used in a measurement-only step in the manufacturing process. Each manufacturing stage introduces errors stemming from uncertainties in the fixturing, used processes etc. These errors will propagate in downstream stages and can even worsen errors introduced in the latter stages. The paper presents a new generic methodology for the use of stream of variation (SoV) analysis within a Smart Factory environment such as the Evolvable Assembly Systems (EAS) framework. The research is demonstrated using a simplified case study of one of EAS demonstrators for an aircraft wing box assembly. The wing box assembly and its KCs are described using formal representation. The SoV model is applied to model and simulate the assembly process. The simulation results are then analysed to predict, control and minimise the error propagation coming from uncertainties in process and equipment.

Nonlinear active noise control (ANC) systems, which employ a nonlinear filter as the adaptive controller is not robust when the primary noise to be mitigated has a non-Gaussian distribution. The algorithm which updates the weights of the controller may even diverge for some higher magnitude primary noise signals. With an objective to improve the robustness of nonlinear ANC systems, a correntropy based nonlinear ANC system is developed in this paper. The proposed ANC scheme uses an information theoretic learning approach and has been shown to provide robust noise mitigation even for non-Gaussian primary noise signals.

This paper presents the implementation of a methodology incorporating a 3D CAD geometry into a 3D discrete element method (DEM) code; discussing some of the issues which were experienced. The 3D CAD model was discretised into a finite element mesh and the finite wall method was employed for contact detection between the elements and the spherical particles. The geometry was based on a lab scale Mi-Pro granulator. Simulations were performed to represent dry particle motion in this piece of equipment. The model was validated by high speed photography of the particle motion at the surface of the Mi-Pro's clear bowl walls. The results indicated that the particle motion was dominated by the high speed impeller and that a roping regime exists. The results from this work give a greater insight into the particle motion and can be used to understand the complex interactions which occur within this equipment.

This paper presents an experimental approach to investigate the luminous environment in lightweight fabric structures through field study. Buildings selected for the field study included the Engineering Science Learning Centre at the University of Nottingham and the Clarke Quay in Singapore.By undertaking on site monitoring under different sky conditions in the chosen buildings with distinctively different site context, this research project explores how the typical homogeneously lit and rather dull luminous environment in lightweight fabric structure can be improved for enhanced visual interest, visual comfort, and three-dimensional modelling under both sunny and overcast sky conditions. Research data obtained from the subjective appreciation of the internal luminous environments and the quantitative spot measurement and mapping of light are compared and discussed.This study concluded that selective use of transparent and translucent components in the ETFE envelope can offer architectural designers the opportunities to create well balanced, yet dynamic lit scenes. Also by combining single skin ETFE foil and the double or triple layered ETFE cushion and introducing ETFE cushions with different light transmittance to the building envelope can help improve the overall visual and luminous environment and enhance task illumination. The key findings from this research work are applicable to the design of light in lightweight fabric structure in general.

An alternative integration scheme for a half-bridge switch using 70 μm thin Si IGBTs and diodes is presented. This flat switch, which is designed for high-frequency application with high power density, exhibits high strength, high toughness, low parasitic inductance and high thermal conductivity. Such a novel assembly approach is suitable to optimize performance, reliability and availability of the power system in which it is used. The paper focuses on the thermal performance of this assembly at normal and extreme operating conditions, studied by means of FEM thermo-fluidynamic simulations of the module integrated with connectors and liquid cooler, and thermal measurement performed on an early prototype. Improved solutions are also investigated by the FE model.

Minor safety incidents on the railway cause disruption, and may be indicators of more serious safety risks. The following paper aimed to gain an understanding of the relationship between active and latent factors, and particular causal paths for these types of incidents by using the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) to examine rail industry incident reports investigating such events. 78 reports across 5 types of incident were reviewed by two authors and cross-referenced for interrater reliability using the index of concordance. The results indicate that the reports were strongly focused on active failures, particularly those associated with work-related distraction and environmental factors. Few latent factors were presented in the reports. Different causal pathways emerged for memory failures for events such a failure to call at stations, and attentional failures which were more often associated with signals passed at danger. The study highlights a need for the rail industry to look more closely at latent factors at the supervisory and organisational levels when investigating minor safety of the line incidents. The results also strongly suggest the importance of a new factor - operational environment - that captures unexpected and non-routine operating conditions which have a risk of distracting the driver. Finally, the study provides further demonstration of the utility of HFACS to the rail industry, and of the usefulness of the index of concordance measure of interrater reliability.

The potentials of integrating thin-film photovoltaic technology into buildings make it the recommended renewable energy source not only for traditional architectures, but also the most innovative applications that favour envelopes characterized by free morphologies such as membrane structures. The integration of Photovoltaic technology into membrane structures offers a promising significant step in the market development. However, some challenges and questions are arising relating to the applicability of such systems and how they are significantly dependant on a list of complex aspects that have to be taken into account during the design phase. These aspects include the wide variety of membrane three-dimensional geometries that in turn govern the modules distribution, orientation and shadowing as well as the distribution of stresses and deflections for each single project and how both the structure and modules react to them.The interference between the aforementioned aspects makes it hardly investigated without using a parametric tool that's able to analyze multiple parameters in an integrative real time process. Therefore, a parametric Photovoltaic model using Grasshopper was developed as a part of the PhD dissertation of the first author, Ibrahim H., With the target to analyze the aspects that impact the payback time of the PV system such as the layout orientation, the effect of shadowing and the maximum deflection allowed for the membrane surface under different loading conditions concluding with calculating the total clear surface area available for allocating PV modules. This paper presents how Grasshopper parametric tool can be efficiently used for analysing and evaluating the feasibility of applying flexible PV systems on tensile structures geometries. The outcomes of this research work will be applied to the structures designed and manufactured by Inside2Outside Ltd within the research activities founded by Innovate UK during the 30 month Knowledge Transfer Partnership KTP9912.

Rapid expansion of the offshore wind industry has stimulated a renewed interest in the behaviour of offshore piles. There is widespread acceptance in practice that pile design methods developed for the offshore oil and gas industry may not be appropriate for designing wind turbine foundations. To date, the majority of offshore wind turbines are supported by large diameter monopiles. These foundations are sensitive to scour which can reduce their ultimate capacity and alter their dynamic response. In this paper, the use of a vibration-based method to monitor scour is investigated. The effect of scour on the natural frequency of a model monopile was measured in a scale model test. A spring-beam finite element numerical model was developed to examine the foundation response. The model, which used springs tuned to the small-strain stiffness of the sand, was shown to be capable of capturing the change in frequency observed in the scale test. This numerical procedure was extended to investigate the response of a full-scale wind turbine over a range of soil densities, which might be experienced at offshore development sites. Results suggest that wind turbines founded in loose sand would exhibit the largest relative reductions in natural frequency resulting from scour. Higher Education Authority European Regional Development Fund

A novel structural damage detection scheme is presented here using Transfer Matrix (TM). This scheme is suitable for local crack identification in large structures, by different measurement strategies for the initial state vector near the zone of interest. TM for the damaged element is developed from the theory of fracture mechanics. The state vector at a node consists of displacements, forces and moments at that node which may have internal and external contributions. When this state vector is multiplied with the TM, the state vector at the adjacent node is obtained. The initial state vector at a node is formed by measuring the forces and displacements at that node, the state vectors of the adjacent nodes are predicted by TM with crack parameters included. Measurement strategies for obtaining the initial state vector involving strain gauges and accelerometers are important aspect of this paper. The mean square error between measured and TM predicted responses is minimized using a non-classical heuristic algorithm. The stiffness integrity index for the lumps mass system, and crack depth and location of beam structures are the optimization variables. Each element is identified using TM successively with either complete or incomplete set of displacement measurements. Numerically simulated studies of a twelve story lumped mass system, a cantilever and a sub-structure of nine member frame structure are presented here. The scheme is also experimentally validated by identification of cracks in a sub-structure of a fixed beam. The speed and accuracy of this method are compared with other existing method and found to be good. � 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.