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Dexterous manipulation is a challenging and important problem in robotics. While data-driven methods are a promising approach, current benchmarks require simulation or extensive engineering support due to the sample inefficiency of popular methods. We present benchmarks for the TriFinger system, an open-source robotic platform for dexterous manipulation and the focus of the 2020 Real Robot Challenge. The benchmarked methods, which were successful in the challenge, can be generally described as structured policies, as they combine elements of classical robotics and modern policy optimization. This inclusion of inductive biases facilitates sample efficiency, interpretability, reliability and high performance. The key aspects of this benchmarking is validation of the baselines across both simulation and the real system, thorough ablation study over the core features of each solution, and a retrospective analysis of the challenge as a manipulation benchmark. The code and demo videos for this work can be found on our website (https://sites.google.com/view/benchmark-rrc).

In our series about notable military engineering officers, this current study deals with a soldier who fought in both World Wars; an officer who had significant achievements in theory and practice as well. He has dealt with almost every field of engineering support. His most lasting achievements are the textbooks Haditechnikai Ismeretek I– III. [Rudiments of military technique I–III], which contain much, today still applicable information.

Yu. Ftemov The experience of fighting in the East of Ukraine shows that there is no integrated system of automated control of troops significantly reduces the degree of realization of combat capabilities of the troops (forces). Given the fact that in recent years there have been significant changes in the theory of engineering support of fighting. In turn, this is due to the inconsistency of the spatial scope of hostilities and the available forces (means) participating in it, as well as the inconsistency of the scope of tasks to create a system of engineering barriers to the capabilities of troops. However, the issue of automated control, and especially planning for the creation of a system of engineering barriers, in the general system of automated control of troops, is not given due attention. Existing calculation programs are quite operational, at the same time they solve mathematical problems of individual engineering activities and need to be systematized. Therefore, the article considers approaches to the formation of requirements for the optimization of the planning process of the system of engineering barriers, which can be implemented based on optimization methods, namely through the creation of specialized software. The general algorithm of specialized software is a series of interconnected detailed instructions that implement the calculation process, which, starting from the initial state, occurs through a sequence of logical states and ends with the final one. The transition from the previous to the next state is not necessarily deterministic – some algorithms may contain elements of randomness. When entering information (tasks, individual measures), for example, the counter ability of enemy units: the result of the calculation is to form a conclusion about the capabilities of their units to perform a specific combat task. The obtained results give grounds to conclude that the implementation of the recommendations will reduce the time for calculations to 25%, as well as an increase to 10% the number of possible options for creating a system of engineering barriers.

The article discusses the necessity of the development of military-engineering science in the context of the existence of high-tech weapons in the world. It demonstrates the role of modern remote mining systems in the protection of territories, especially in mountainous regions, in difficult terrain, under the conditions of poor infrastructure development and harsh climate. At the same time, it's mentioned the need of use of salvage fire systems in case of an invasion by excess enemy forces in order to deter the enemy, destroy its live forces and equipment. Peculiarities of the use of remote mining are discussed: the arrangement of explosive fences, the mining and disposal of maritime space, as well as the development of the art of military engineering. In the sense of preparation of the theater of war, the development of military engineering science is the country's top priority and organized system.

The operating experience of Novovoronezh NPP II-1 shows that, in the summer period, the temperature of the cooling water exceeds the design value: this indicates the insufficient performance of the service water supply system. The main factor that has a negative impact on the performance of this system is the formation of carbonate deposits on the cooling tower filler. At Novovoronezh NPP II-1, the cooling tower water distribution system was cleaned from carbonate deposits by the method of combined vibration and aerohydraulic impact. The tested method of cleaning the filler cannot be considered optimal, since the main stage that determines the entire cleaning duration is the assembly/disassembly of the cooling tower filler. It is necessary to continue research on the choice of a strategy for controlling the carbonate deposition rate, taking into account the revealed influence of the design features of the main cooling water pipelines and pipelines of the cooling tower water distribution system on the mechanism of deposit formation in the peripheral spraying area. As compensating measures to ensure the required temperature regime of the turbine plant equipment at Novovoronezh NPP II-1, it is practiced during the summer period to put the standby heat exchangers of the lubrication system and the standby pump of the nonessential services cooling water system into parallel operation. This solution is fraught with the risk of an unplanned decrease in the electrical load if this equipment is turned off in the event of a malfunction. To increase the operating stability of Novovoronezh NPP II-1 and -2 in the summer period, it is proposed to carry out a number of measures aimed at mitigating the negative consequences caused by the elevated service water temperature. Equipment upgrade options are evaluated, e.g., by installing an additional pump for the turbine building services cooling system and (or) laying an additional pipeline to supply part of the makeup water from the Don River directly to the suction pipelines of the pumps of the turbine building services cooling system.

The article presents a methodology for monitoring the implementation of integrated schemes for engineering support of territories of the Housing Stock Renovation Program in Moscow. The methodology is based on the concept of an enlarged network model, which defines the sequence of work execution and their relationships at different stages of the life cycle – construction and demolition of residential and non-residential facilities, relocation and construction of engineering infrastructure, resettlement – in the form of a combined calendar plan (Gantt chart), linked to a single timeline, and solves an important practical task: tracking the timing and volume of works performed at all stages of the implementation of the Complex scheme of engineering support for the territory of renovation. The continuity of the new methodology and previously developed and used by the Moscow Government tools for planning and coordinating urban development activities is shown. Keywords: complex scheme of engineering support, monitoring, enlarged network model, program of renovation.

The authors express gratitude to employees of energy service of Kryvorizkyi Zalizorudnyi Kombinat PJSC for their engineering support while carrying out the experiments under the conditions of the Integrated Works mines and to the authorities of Kryvorizelectromontazh Ltd as the leading enterprise engaged in the design, modernization, and implementation of electric power supply systems for iron-ore production units of Kryvyi Rih iron-ore basin for their financial support in the paper publication.

The drive for a more flexible Through-life Engineering servicing technology that can enhance both productivity and profitability for the operation of maintenance, repair, overhaul (MRO) in the aerospace implores harnessing the innovation of hybrid-additive manufacturing (HAM). Hybrid manufacturing system seeks to reduce cost by utilizing the tool-less production principle of additive manufacturing combine with the conventional subtractive manufacturing for product finishing or post-processing. HAM has many merits that make it an attractive option in manufacturing of high performance products as peculiar to MRO businesses. Therefore, this paper aims to establish a cost model derived from a “Time Driven Activity Based Costing” approach for the technological integration of Hybrid system to increase economic competitiveness of highly MRO services in the aerospace industry. Hence, a unique cost formulation method was investigated through analytical technique in cost engineering models for the purpose of manufacturing processes.

Engineering support of the natural and anthropogenic solid dust particles concentration measurement in the surface layer of the atmosphere implies the development and creation of a certain number of complex, but easy to manufacture and operate devices. The task takes on particular importance when considering dust as a means of transportation for various viruses and infections. The technical solutions we are considering boil down to the implementation of precision photometric measurements of light scattering by dust particles in liquid samples, the concentration of dust in which we increase to reliably measurable by photometry. The carried out research made it possible to formulate problems and propose solutions for a monitoring network. Technical solutions are implemented in working models and tested in urban dustiness of Tbilisi. (Abstract)

Currently, the growth of the first generation Internet of Things (IoT) system for low-end devices having less memory and infrastructure is challenged due to the lack of engineering support in terms of architecture, technology, hardware, privacy, security, and business. This paper discusses system engineering issues relevant in IoT processors and builds a case for exploring rough set as an approximate computing technique in next generation IoT hardware. The proposed approach has a potential of dealing with inconsistencies arising at layers in hardware infrastructure for IoT applications with a dominance at cloud and fog processing. The authors bring out a research direction in IoT as an engineering discipline with an emphasis on the impact of processor hardware extension.

The article considers the scale of unfinished construction of apartment houses built with the attraction of funds of citizens- participants of share construction, preconditions of formation of problematic situations, its town-planning, social and technical aspects. In conditions of market economy and reduction of the role of state regulation in the construction industry the probability of failures in the financing of construction, in material and technical support and preparation of permit and technical documentation increased. Despite the current legal regulation in the field of shared ownership construction (214- FZ, etc.) in practice sometimes arise difficult problematic social and urban situations affecting the interests of a large number of "affected citizens" who have to wait for 5, 10, 15 years or more for the completion of construction or to get compensation payments when the completion was impossible. The article shows that the last legislative changes presuppose individual approaches to the completion of the problematic objects with the use of "engineering support" which should provide administrative barriers lowering, acceleration, and cost optimization for the object completion and the solution of the developed socially-conflict situations. The goals and objectives of "engineering support" are considered as a tool for justification, adoption, and implementation of urban planning and technical solutions in this area. It is proposed to create a specialized regulatory and methodological framework of "engineering support" for completion of problematic objects. The article is a survey that characterizes an actual interdisciplinary problem and does not refer to any particular sphere of construction activity, for example, investment- financial, town-planning or technology of construction production, but includes all these directions, orienting them to an understanding of the significance of social result - overcoming of quite recurrent problematic situations within the existing legal field by methods of engineering support.

In the aerospace industry, thin-layer composites are increasingly used for load-bearing structures. When designing such composite structures, particular attention must be paid to the development of an appropriate geometric form of the structure to increase the structure’s load capacity and reduce the possibility of a loss of stability and harmful aeroelastic phenomena. For this reason, the use of knowledge-based engineering support methods is complicated. Software was developed to propose and quickly evaluate a thin-layer load-bearing structure using generative modeling methods to facilitate development of the initial concept of an aerospace load-bearing structure. Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis verifies and improves such structures. The most important contributions of the paper are a methodology for automating the design of ultralight and highly flexible aircraft structures with the use of generative modelling, proposing and verifying the form of generative models for selected fragments of the structure, especially wings, and integration of the use of generative models for iterative improvement of structures using low- and middle-fidelity methods of numerical verification.

The development and dissemination of practical additive technologies applications have become a significant trend in technology development in various activity fields. Medical engineering is one of the industries where such technologies already have a tangible effect and will become even greater in the future, especially in the manufacture of customized implants. In many cases, customized implants provide the patient with a quality of life that other solutions cannot offer. Simultaneously, the correct application of medical engineering solutions in this area requires enhanced engineering support. The point here is not about the optimal modes of implant formation but the engineering support system for decisions at every step from the initial condition analysis to surgery. So far, considerable practical experience has been gained, and many publications have appeared describing individual case implementation. Simultaneously, there is a lack of publications that would give an idea of the wide range of possibilities for using additive technologies in creating customized implants and their entire system of engineering support. This paper’s results are based on the authors’ own practical experience, implemented based on the Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering at the Institute of Orthopedics and Traumatology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine.

The new scientific discoveries that will be made by MeerKAT are both exciting and unknown. However, it is precisely the unknown that carries the most risk, and requires scientific software development strategies to help mitigate these risks. Additionally, MeerKAT, like other large telescopes, is a complex instrument that entered a phase of parallel science-observation/engineering-development soon after initial commissioning. This adds to the burden of the observational software development, requiring not only scientific observations, but also engineering support. All of which must be achieved in a robust implementation that can be rapidly updated with minimal programming, remain maintainable and evolve seamlessly without interrupting the telescope science operations. Through an evolutionary process, starting with the KAT-7 prototype, modular software libraries have been developed for MeerKAT, making it easy to implement the higher level AstroKAT observation framework to accommodate the MeerKAT operational needs. This modular implementation enabled AstroKAT to support both science and engineering observations transparently, by extending the operational code base to adapt functionality depending on the system-level libraries it finds available. The result of this is a single, configurable, software implementation that can be used all the way from the observation planning phase up to executing observation scripts on the MeerKAT telescope live system.

The regional aspects of the quality of life of the population of the city of Sayansk in the Irkutsk region are analyzed. Studies have revealed the dependence of the quality of life of the population in mono-city on the activities of the city-forming enterprise, which is a part of the Sayan industrial unit, consisting of the leading company "Sayanskkhimplast", a thermal power plant and enterprises of the construction industry. During the construction of the Sayan industrial hub and the city, the created common engineering support system determined a high degree of development of communal infrastructure in terms of centralization of water supply, heat supply, and sewage. The existing infrastructural capabilities make it possible to more actively use the status of the territory of priority social and economic development in a mono-city, contributing to the implementation of measures to diversify the economy through the development of agricultural production. Realizing the possibilities of sports and water tourism, further development of improvement with the preservation of accepted traditions of urban landscaping. In general, the existing efficiency of the city-forming enterprise can significantly contribute to a positive impact on the quality of life of citizens. Recommendations are given on improving the quality of life of the population and the rational and efficient use of the territory. It can significantly contribute to improving the quality of life of the population and, in turn, lead to a positive dynamics in its number.

Despite all of the power that machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) models bring to applications, much of AI development is currently a fairly ad hoc process. Software engineering and AI development share many of the same languages and tools, but AI development as an engineering practice is still in early stages. Mining software repositories of AI models enables insight into the current state of AI development. However, much of the relevant metadata around models are not easily extractable directly from repositories and require deduction or domain knowledge. This paper presents a library called AIMMX that enables simplified AI Model Metadata eXtraction from software repositories. The extractors have five modules for extracting AI model-specific metadata: model name, associated datasets, references, AI frameworks used, and model domain. We evaluated AIMMX against 7,998 open-source models from three sources: model zoos, arXiv AI papers, and state-of-the-art AI papers. Our platform extracted metadata with 87% precision and 83% recall. As preliminary examples of how AI model metadata extraction enables studies and tools to advance engineering support for AI development, this paper presents an exploratory analysis for data and method reproducibility over the models in the evaluation dataset and a catalog tool for discovering and managing models. Our analysis suggests that while data reproducibility may be relatively poor with 42% of models in our sample citing their datasets, method reproducibility is more common at 72% of models in our sample, particularly state-of-the-art models. Our collected models are searchable in a catalog that uses existing metadata to enable advanced discovery features for efficiently finding models.

The manufacturing domain faces new challenges due to market changes. One of these changes affects consumer behavior, i.e. customers demand individualized products in small batches. Varying production requests require different configurations of manufacturing systems. But until today most of these systems are designed for single purpose usage, therefore new manufacturing systems are required. One solution are modular manufacturing systems, which can be composed of diverse modules from different vendors providing varying capabilities [1]. Modular manufacturing systems are re-configurable at two different levels. First, on the system group level, where modules with the required capabilities are selected and orchestrated. Second, on the module level, where a configuration has to be selected that provides the capability with the right manufacturing parameters. To be able to select and orchestrate the modules on the system group level, each module has to provide a self-description, which covers the current configuration [2].

The problem of improving the management of agribusiness at the micro level in terms of accounting and engineering support is being solved. The application of an accounting management model that provides the generation of economically useful information based on the use of accounting and analytical mechanisms that operate in accordance with the principles of flexibility, relativity, and adaptability is proposed.

Problem statement : Identification of the potential significance of the introduction of engineering in the intellectual property in the process of developing technologies of construction production. The purpose of the work: to analyze the engineering support that would simplify the process of implementation of scientific developments and inventions with the lowest cost and to determine the certain types of engineering and technical services. Conclusions : the article formulates the definition of engineering support, logical and economic analysis; systematization and grouping of data obtained from literary and Internet publications; modeling; analytical study of engineering and engineering support in a licensed contract for an invention. in the license agreement for the invention.

The article examines a complex approach to building a dependable corporate information and telecommunication infrastructure which covers the applications and services, servers and storage systems, data transmission networks and engineering support. It also shows the peculiarities of using hyper-converged technology of virtualization for building fault-tolerant information systems

Purpose This paper aims to demonstrate the possibility of maintaining triple bottom line (TBL) sustainable performance in the petroleum industry via a case study. In particular, it presents the utilization of a lean-six-sigma (LSS) concept for investigating one of the underperforming support service activities in an engineering contractor (EC) and to indicate how LSS concepts enable the barriers to maintaining sustainable petroleum operations to be reduced for maintaining sustainable petroleum operations. Design/methodology/approach A case study has been carried out in an EC organization in relation to one of the support services (i.e. valves requisition process [VRP]) to demonstrate how LSS concepts enable the barriers to maintaining sustainable petroleum operations to be reduced for maintaining sustainable petroleum operations. Value stream mapping (VSM) and value stream analysis (VSA) have been utilized to investigate the barriers that inhibit sustainable operations. VSM and VSA have been performed to investigate the underperforming activities in the selected support service (i.e. VRP) using a current state map. After performing VSA, a future state map has been developed, indicating possible improvements in overall TBL sustainable performance. Findings VSM and VSA enable the barriers to maintaining TBL sustainable operations in the petroleum industry to be investigated, while minimizing waste in the ECs and asset owners’ organizations. Research limitations/implications The study has been limited to ECs’ support services, which have been delivered based on asset operators’ requirements. Practical implications The suggested LSS approach and related analysis help practicing engineers to perform similar analysis for different engineering support services. Improved performance in support service results minimize health, safety and environmental challenges in asset operations, and the resulting waste reduction increases the return on investments. Social implications Effective delivery of the assessments minimizes potential delays in projects related to petroleum operations, mitigating future accidents. It enhances the TBL sustainable performance of an asset-intensive industrial organization. Originality/value This manuscript addresses the inherent TBL sustainable performance challenges in the petroleum industry that have been caused by delayed projects. The responsibilities of projects’ delivery are mainly attributed to ECs. The EC organizations are operating in project mode, and projects delays are inherently caused by the frequently changing nature of: operators’ requirements; suppliers’ and/or manufacturers’ capabilities and restrictions; and lack of standardization in documentation and work processes (i.e. because of different engineering projects’ demands). Hence, this manuscript illustrates a methodology to demonstrate the possibility of TBL sustainable performance improvement in the petroleum industry via a case study (i.e. VRP-related project delivery performance improvement) in an EC organization utilizing the lean concept.

This paper discusses the role of natural fibers on aligning architectural production, both aesthetically and technologically, with the site’s local culture, economy, natural diversity and geographic singularities. This is a process that requires the association of contemporary and traditional techniques, demanding architects’ creativity and textile engineering support. While contributing to the maintenance of biodiversity, revival of construction techniques and economic development, it may lead to a more sustainable and diverse non-vernacular architecture, that is, erudite architecture.

The main task of machine production is assuring their operating quality, directly depending on components operating characteristics. Characteristics, assuring the components performing set functions under set operating conditions and assuring set components’ life, are considered as operating characteristics of separate surfacesand whole components. The common method of engineering support of the operating characteristics is based on necessity of assuring certain engineering and manufacturing quality parametersduring production based on the assumption that they warrant reaching set operating characteristics. Itis already proved that different sets and sequences of process methods can lead to similar components quality engineering and manufacturing parameters, but to significantly different operating characteristics. The method of process design, based on superimposing process impact results on production subject, has run its course. Suggested concept of controlled forming of goods (in particular, components) characteristics considers their reached quality as a result of transforming its separate parameters, taking into account operative impact on production object, as well, as succession and mutual influence of forming features. In order to describe the transformation a mathematical tool, allowing deterministic stochastic modeling of such transformation, was worked out. The present work includes using the concept for controlled forming of set operating characteristics of goods, using components as example. The perspective is to form technological solutions, 100% assuring directly set operating characteristics of operating surfaces or the whole component. It is demonstrated that the necessary and sufficient level of warranted assuring set operating characteristics should be limited and should take into account influence of the emergence of the technological process as a system on results of the elementary solutions, performed in such system.

Today the use of renewable energy sources for housebuilding in Russia is a relevant process. The so-called “green” energy sources are environmentally friendly and can replace expensive energy sources. At the same time, the climatic and territorial features of the North and adjacent areas do not allow growing crops without the use of engineering support systems increasing the cost. The paper presents the development results of the greenhouse project using autonomous heat and power supply systems in the Arctic regions of Russia.

Providing state-of-the-art, at-sea engineering capability to advance maritime research has been for 60 years a day-to-day mission for the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). Along those years, CMRE has been demonstrating its excellence in such endeavor, gaining worldwide recognition and awards. Numerous scientific and technology breakthrough were achieved, that were carefully transitioned and are now in use within the NATO Navies.While at-sea experimentation remains a fundamental stage to validate and advance research in the maritime domain, well performing during maritime operations is not a chance, requiring extensive experience, and expertise in multiple complementary domains. Such multidisciplinary approach includes underwater acoustics, oceanography, electronics, mechanical and ocean engineering, through embedded and real time software and data management, up to the more recent domain of unmanned systems.The purpose of this paper aims at making aware the OCEANS Research Community, by means of a description of a recent at-sea experimentation, on how complex and how challenging it may be for a well experienced and dedicated engineering team to ensure the success of a scientific at-sea trial,Description of issues that had to be faced during the preparation and the execution of the sea trials are given. Solving them allowed the proper collection of calibrated and validated data sets, necessary for the Researchers to confirm and verify their models and algorithms. Some examples of the scientific achievements are given, to illustrate the relevance of the provided engineering support.

This paper gives substantiations to a system of effective engineering support of crop cultivation for improving competitiveness of produced goods. Considering the modernization of plant cultivation techniques and technical facilities to carry out agricultural practices, the optimal system of machines for mechanizing crop cultivation was proposed. In substantiating the system of machines, the method of analysis and synthesis of existing and proposed agricultural practices with their engineering support, the methods of modeling and optimization of production processes were proposed to determine the parameters and operating modes of the proposed machines in the system, the planning of a multifactorial experiment according to the BК-plan was used. As a result of the research, the original engineering support system of crop cultivation for lowland agricultural landscapes is proposed, which, according to calculations conducted, allows increasing labor productivity by at least a factor of two. It became possible due to modernization of tillage processes, sowing and harvesting, by combining separate previously technological operations in multifunctional units. The modernization of machine-tractor units was accomplished using original devices for serial machines according to the inventions of the authors. The proposed multifunctional units without a break in time, in a single stream and pace carry out production processes that coincide in calendar terms in the technology of a cultivated agricultural crop, contributing to the quality of work and higher yields.

Stability control for soft and broken surrounding rock of crossed-roadway is one of the important contents of underground engineering support. Take the transformer substation in Hanzhuang coal mine in Shandong Province, China as a case study, deformation and failure mechanism of surrounding rock are analyzed by field monitoring and borehole imaging method. A finite element model under original support scheme is established by ABAQUS, and the rheological parameters of surrounding rocks are determined by back analysis method according to the field monitoring deformation data. Then, a partitioned anchor–grouting reinforcement technology is proposed and its supporting effect is studied by numerical simulation. Field application and deformation monitoring results show that the new support scheme can meet the requirement of stability control for soft and broken surrounding rock of crossed-roadways and has guiding significance for the similar projects.

Reinforcement technology for semi coal-rock roadways with large deformations is one of the most challenging areas in underground engineering support. Based on the serious deformation problem that occurred in a semi coal-rock roadway in China's Meihuajing coal mine, this paper analyzes the characteristics of discontinuity in surrounding rock structure and incompatibility in surrounding rock deformation via means of geological investigation, mechanical experiments and numerical simulation. Then, a new kind of combined supporting system with filled-wall, shotcrete, grouting cable, prestressed anchor cable and U-shaped steel support for semi coal-rock roadway reinforcement is proposed. The width of the filled-wall is determined by parameterized numerical simulation method. Field application and deformation observation shows that the proposed combined supporting system is effective to control the large deformation of semi coal-rock roadways, which can provide certain references significance for similar engineering.

A significant integration of energy storage systems is taking place to offer flexibility to electrical networks and to mitigate side effects of a high penetration of distributed energy resources. To accommodate this, new processes are needed for the design, implementation, and proof-of-concept of emerging storage systems services, such as voltage and frequency regulation, and reduction of energy costs, among others. Nowadays, modern approaches are getting popular to support engineers during the design and development process of such multi-functional energy storage systems. Nevertheless, these approaches still lack flexibility needed to accommodate changing practices and requirements from control engineers and along the development process. With that in mind, this paper shows how a modern development approach for rapid prototyping of multi-functional battery energy storage system applications can be extended to provide this needed flexibility. For this, an expert user is introduced, which has the sole purpose of adapting the existing engineering approach to fulfill any new requirements from the control engineers. To achieve this, the expert user combines concepts from model-driven engineering and ontologies to reach an adaptable engineering support framework. As a result, new engineering requirements, such as new information sources and target platforms, can be automatically included into the engineering approach by the expert user, providing the control engineer with further support during the development process. The usefulness of the proposed solution is shown with a selected use case related to the implementation of an application for a battery energy storage system. It demonstrates how the expert user can fully adapt an existing engineering approach to the control engineer&rsquo, s needs and thus increase the effectiveness of the whole engineering process.

Multimedia services like Skype, WhatsApp, and Google Hangouts have strict Service Level Agreements (SLAs). These services attempt to address the root causes of SLA violations through techniques such as detecting anomalies in the inputs of the services. The key problem with current anomaly detection and handling techniques is that they can't adapt to service changes in real-time. In current techniques, historic data from prior runs of the service are used to identify anomalies in the service inputs like number of concurrent users, and system states like CPU utilization. These techniques do not evaluate the current impact of anomalies on the service. Thus, they may raise alerts and take corrective measures even if the detected anomalies do not cause SLA violations. Alerts are expensive to handle from a system and engineering support perspectives, and should be raised only if necessary. We propose a dynamic approach for handling service input and system state anomalies in multimedia services in real-time, by evaluating the impact of anomalies, independently and associatively, on the service outputs. Our proposed approach alerts and takes corrective measures like capacity allocations if the detected anomalies result in SLA violations. We implement our approach in a large-scale operational multimedia service, and show that it increases anomaly detection accuracy by 31%, reduces anomaly alerting false positives by 71%, false negatives by 69%, and enhances media sharing quality by 14%.

In this chapter, major green metrics are described as they have been applied to microflow continuous processes (e.g., mass intensity (MI)/process mass intensity (PMI), E‐factor, atom economy, etc.). Thereafter, life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) analysis are reviewed in the framework of their application to evaluate microflow continuous processes. Green metrics, LCA, and LCC allow an objective quantitative measurement and decision support tool to evaluate the ecological, environmental as well as the economic impact of a chemical synthesis and process. Within the approach of green chemistry, continuous microflow processing has become a major method to achieve process intensification and engineering support. Accordingly, the specific sustainability characteristics of microflow continuous processes will be described. A comparison of microscale continuous processes and conventional macroscale processes accompanied by green metrics and LCA will be conducted. This is done in a hierarchical manner, starting from single microflow reaction optimization (both with single and bundled innovation drivers) toward combined microflow reaction separation and microflow multistep reactions. The production volume under consideration is both small (pharma) and large (fine/bulk chemical). This scenario analysis allows one to draw some generic conclusions about the environmental opportunities of continuous microflow technology and, vice versa, on the suitability of these green assessment tools. Each case scenario is for a typical, mostly experimentally validated microreactor application and illustrates the pros and cons of microflow continuous processes in the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industry. The environmental analysis is completed by a snapshot of LCC analysis for these microreactor case scenarios.

Safety as well as productivity performance in construction is often poor due to congested site conditions. We lack a formalized approach in effective activity-level construction planning to avoid workspace congestion. The purpose of this research is to investigate and prototype a new Building Information Modeling (BIM) enabled approach for activity-level construction site planning that can pro-actively improve construction safety. The presented method establishes automated workspace visualization in BIM, using remote sensing and workspace modeling technologies as an integral part of construction safety planning. Global Positioning System (GPS) data loggers were attached to the hardhats of a work crew constructing cast-in-place concrete columns. Novel algorithms were developed for extracting activity-specific workspace parameters from the recorded workforce location tracking data. Workspaces were finally visualized on a BIM platform for detecting potential workspace conflicts among the other competing work crews or between material lifting equipment. The developed method can support project stakeholders, such as engineers, planners, construction managers, foremen and site supervisors and workers with the identification and visualization of the required or potentially congested workspaces. Therefore, it improves the foundation on how decisions are made related to construction site safety as well as its potential impact on a productive and unobstructed work environment.

The test facility (TF) is one of the three major facilities of the International Fusion Material Irradiation Facility (IFMIF). Engineering designs of TF main systems and key components have been initiated and developed in the IFMIF EVEDA (Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities) phase since 2007. The related work covers the designs of a test cell which is the meeting point of the TF and accelerator facility and lithium facility, a series of test modules for experiments under different irradiation conditions, an access cell to accommodate remote handling systems, four test module handling cells for test module processing and assembling, and test facility ancillary systems for engineering support on energy, media, and control infrastructure. This paper summarizes the principle functions, brief specifications, and the current design status of the above mentioned IFMIF TF systems and key components. (C) 2015 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The main problems of implementation of event tourism in the Central Federal District (CFD), which primarily include short-term scale, the placing on the natural areas, the lack of in sufficient degree of accommodation and tourist services and style of carrying out of actions etc., are considered. The improvement of the quality of the event tourism are proposed to accomplish through the overall coordination in activities, use of the tourist information centers, establishment of a common organization of the enterprise for the hospitality industry event tourism CFD, equipping its engineering resources in the form of mobile homes of various technological purpose creating a culture and a new style of event tourism, taking into account the basic principles of sustainable tourism development, the formation of its legal and technical support and so on. Mobile homes, awareness of tourists and organization of activities allows to reduce the human impacts on the local natural landscapes of natural areas at the venue of event tourism. A new culture, style, organization and conditions of the event tourism activities will make it more appealing to a wider audience of tourists, not only in our country, but also for tourists from abroad.

Apart from subjecting metal to nondestructive testing and determining its actual state, which are the traditional methods used for managing the service life of NPP equipment during its operation, other approaches closely linked with rendering engineering support to NPP operation have emerged in recent decades, which, however, have been covered in publications to a lesser extent. Service life management matters occupy the central place in the structure of engineering support measures. Application of the concept of repairing NPP equipment based on assessing its technical state and the risk of its failure makes it possible to achieve significantly smaller costs for maintenance and repairs and produce a larger amount of electricity due to shorter planned outages. Decreasing the occurrence probability of a process-related abnormality through its prediction is a further development of techniques for monitoring the technical state of equipment and systems. The proposed and implemented procedure for predicting the occurrence of process-related deviations from normal NPP operation opens the possibility to record in the online mode the trends in changes of process parameters that are likely to lead to malfunctions in equipment operation and to reduce the probability of power unit unloading when an abnormal technical state of equipment occurs and develops by recording changes in the state at an early stage and taking timely corrective measures. The article presents the structure of interconnections between the objectives and conditions of adjustment and commissioning tests, in which the management of equipment service life (saving and optimizing the service life) occupies the central place. Special attention is paid to differences in resource saving and optimization measures.

Workspaces on construction sites represent a key resource due to their limited availability and impact on work progress and safety. The augmentation of traditional scheduling techniques (e.g., CPM, PERT) with both visualisation and new capabilities to address emerging challenges such as workspace management attracted a significant interest in recent years. Studies in this area addressed individual processes of workspace management such as workspace modelling and allocation and spatial conflict detection and resolution and were often performed in non-4D environments. This research presents the results from the development and evaluation of a methodology and an Industry Foundation Class (IFC) compliant 4D tool for workspace management. The methodology and the tool provide a holistic solution to the approach of workspace management through the allocation of workspaces to site activities, the detection of congestion, spatial and temporal conflicts and their resolution within a 4D environment in an interactive real-time manner, aided with analytic data from a centralised database.

The increasing challenge to manufacture individual products in short periods of time necessitates a huge amount of machine variants. Therefore, the efforts in engineering as well as in managing the variability increase. An adequate support in modelling such variant-rich systems enhances reuse of variable parts of the machine and, by that, promises an improvement of efficiency during development. To provide a first step into this direction, this paper analyses the applicability of an interdisciplinary product line approach as one means to improve the engineering in the machine manufacturing domain.

Energy storage systems will play a major role in the decarbonization of future sustainable electric power systems, allowing a high penetration of distributed renewable energy sources and contributing to the distribution network stability and reliability. To accomplish this, a storage system is required to provide multiple services such as self-consumption, grid support, peak-shaving, etc. The simultaneous activation of controllers operation may lead to conflicts, as a consequence the execution of committed services is not guaranteed. This paper presents and discusses a solution to the exposed issue by developing an engineering support approach to semi-automatically detect and handle conflicts for multi-usage storage systems applications. To accomplish that an ontology is developed and exploited by model-driven engineering mechanisms. The proposed approach is evaluated by implementing a use case example, where detection of conflicts is automatically done at an early design stage. Besides this, exploitable source code for conflicts resolution is generated and used during the design and prototype stages of controllers development. Thus, the proposed engineering support enhances the design and development of storage system controllers, especially for multi-usage applications.

Crafting scalable analytics in order to extract actionable business intelligence is a challenging endeavour, requiring multiple layers of expertise and experience. Often, this expertise is irreconcilably split between an organisation’s engineers and subject matter domain experts. Previous approaches to this problem have relied on technically adept users with tool-specific training.\ud \ud Such an approach has a number of challenges: Expertise — There are few data-analytic subject domain experts with in-depth technical knowledge of compute architectures; Performance — Analysts do not generally make full use of the performance and scalability capabilities of the underlying architectures; Heterogeneity — calculating the most performant and scalable mix of real-time (on-line) and batch (off-line) analytics in a problem domain is difficult; Tools — Supporting frameworks will often direct several tasks, including, composition, planning, code generation, validation, performance tuning and analysis, but do not typically provide end-to-end solutions embedding all of these activities.\ud \ud In this paper, we present a novel semi-automated approach to the composition, planning, code generation and performance tuning of scalable hybrid analytics, using a semantically rich type system which requires little programming expertise from the user. This approach is the first of its kind to permit domain experts with little or no technical expertise to assemble complex and scalable analytics, for hybrid on- and off-line analytic environments, with no additional requirement for low-level engineering support.\ud \ud This paper describes (i) an abstract model of analytic assembly and execution, (ii) goal-based planning and (iii) code generation for hybrid on- and off-line analytics. An implementation, through a system which we call Mendeleev, is used to (iv) demonstrate the applicability of this technique through a series of case studies, where a single interface is used to create analytics that can be run simultaneously over on- and off-line environments. Finally, we (v) analyse the performance of the planner, and (vi) show that the performance of Mendeleev’s generated code is comparable with that of hand-written analytics.

Information and communication technology, services and corporate security shape modern working places creating new added values. The development of technology markets and new innovations impose phrase how to lead IT and thereby be successful. The article describes and develops pragmatism and interdisciplinary of information systems of companies with the help of ITIL methodology. The construction of the help users system can improve business, but it is not easy to provide safety and legal economic regulator. Social and political system defines a new user and its function and role and the challenge is to balance customer needs and IT engineering support in a globalized world where is the thin dividing line between work and private.