STUDY OF INFLUENCE OF SAFETY ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SELECTED INDUSTRIES IN KERALA

In the twentieth century, as technology grew with it. This resulted in collective efforts and thinking in the direction of controlling work related hazards and accidents. Thus, safety management developed and became an important part of industrial management. While considerable research has been reported on the topic of safety management in industries from various parts of the world, there is scarcity of literature from India. It is logical to think that a clear understanding of the critical safety management practices and their relationships with accident rates and management system certifications would help in the development and implementation of safety management systems. In the first phase of research, a set of six critical safety management practices has been identified based on a thorough review of the prescriptive, practitioner, conceptual and empirical literature. An instrument for measuring the level of practice of these safety conduction a survey using questionnaire in chemical/process industry. The instrument has been empirically validated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) approach. As the second step. Predictive validity of safety management practices and the relationship between safety management practices and self-reported accident rates and management system certifications have been investigated using ANOVA. Results of the ANOVA tests show that there is significant difference in the identified safety management practices and the determinants of safety performance have been investigated using Multiple Regression Analysis. The inter-relationships between safety management practices, determinants of safety performance and components of safety performance have been investigated with the help of structural equation modeling. Further investigations into engineering and construction industries reveal that safety climate factors are not stable across industries. However, some factors are found to be common in industries irrespective of the type of industry. This study identifies the critical safety management practices in major accident hazard chemical/process industry from the perspective of employees and the findings empirically support the necessity for obtaining safety specific management system certifications

Investigations on the Dynamics of Combination Maps and the Analysis of Bifurcation in a Discontinuous Logistic Map

This thesis is a study of discrete nonlinear systems represented by one dimensional mappings.As one dimensional interative maps represent Poincarre sections of higher dimensional flows,they offer a convenient means to understand the dynamical evolution of many physical systems.It highlighting the basic ideas of deterministic chaos.Qualitative and quantitative measures for the detection and characterization of chaos in nonlinear systems are discussed.Some simple mathematical models exhibiting chaos are presented.The bifurcation scenario and the possible routes to chaos are explained.It present the results of the numerical computational of the Lyapunov exponents (λ) of one dimensional maps.This thesis focuses on the results obtained by our investigations on combinations maps,scaling behaviour of the Lyapunov characteristic exponents of one dimensional maps and the nature of bifurcations in a discontinous logistic map.It gives a review of the major routes to chaos in dissipative systems,namely, Period-doubling ,Intermittency and Crises.This study gives a theoretical understanding of the route to chaos in discontinous systems.A detailed analysis of the dynamics of a discontinous logistic map is carried out, both analytically and numerically ,to understand the route it follows to chaos.The present analysis deals only with the case of the discontinuity parameter applied to the right half of the interval of mapping.A detailed analysis for the n –furcations of various periodicities can be made and a more general theory for the map with discontinuities applied at different positions can be on a similar footing

Complexity quantification of dense array EEG using sample entropy analysis

n this paper, a time series complexity analysis of dense array electroencephalogram signals is carried out using the recently introduced Sample Entropy (SampEn) measure. This statistic quantifies the regularity in signals recorded from systems that can vary from the purely deterministic to purely stochastic realm. The present analysis is conducted with an objective of gaining insight into complexity variations related to changing brain dynamics for EEG recorded from the three cases of passive, eyes closed condition, a mental arithmetic task and the same mental task carried out after a physical exertion task. It is observed that the statistic is a robust quantifier of complexity suited for short physiological signals such as the EEG and it points to the specific brain regions that exhibit lowered complexity during the mental task state as compared to a passive, relaxed state. In the case of mental tasks carried out before and after the performance of a physical exercise, the statistic can detect the variations brought in by the intermediate fatigue inducing exercise period. This enhances its utility in detecting subtle changes in the brain state that can find wider scope for applications in EEG based brain studies.

Consequence modelling,vulnerability assessment and fuzzy fault tree analysis of hazardous storages in an industrial area

The hazards associated with major accident hazard (MAH) industries are fire, explosion and toxic gas releases. Of these, toxic gas release is the worst as it has the potential to cause extensive fatalities. Qualitative and quantitative hazard analyses are essential for the identitication and quantification of the hazards associated with chemical industries. This research work presents the results of a consequence analysis carried out to assess the damage potential of the hazardous material storages in an industrial area of central Kerala, India. A survey carried out in the major accident hazard (MAH) units in the industrial belt revealed that the major hazardous chemicals stored by the various industrial units are ammonia, chlorine, benzene, naphtha, cyclohexane, cyclohexanone and LPG. The damage potential of the above chemicals is assessed using consequence modelling. Modelling of pool fires for naphtha, cyclohexane, cyclohexanone, benzene and ammonia are carried out using TNO model. Vapor cloud explosion (VCE) modelling of LPG, cyclohexane and benzene are carried out using TNT equivalent model. Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) modelling of LPG is also carried out. Dispersion modelling of toxic chemicals like chlorine, ammonia and benzene is carried out using the ALOHA air quality model. Threat zones for different hazardous storages are estimated based on the consequence modelling. The distance covered by the threat zone was found to be maximum for chlorine release from a chlor-alkali industry located in the area. The results of consequence modelling are useful for the estimation of individual risk and societal risk in the above industrial area.Vulnerability assessment is carried out using probit functions for toxic, thermal and pressure loads. Individual and societal risks are also estimated at different locations. Mapping of threat zones due to different incident outcome cases from different MAH industries is done with the help of Are GIS.Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) is an established technique for hazard evaluation. This technique has the advantage of being both qualitative and quantitative, if the probabilities and frequencies of the basic events are known. However it is often difficult to estimate precisely the failure probability of the components due to insufficient data or vague characteristics of the basic event. It has been reported that availability of the failure probability data pertaining to local conditions is surprisingly limited in India. This thesis outlines the generation of failure probability values of the basic events that lead to the release of chlorine from the storage and filling facility of a major chlor-alkali industry located in the area using expert elicitation and proven fuzzy logic. Sensitivity analysis has been done to evaluate the percentage contribution of each basic event that could lead to chlorine release. Two dimensional fuzzy fault tree analysis (TDFFTA) has been proposed for balancing the hesitation factor invo1ved in expert elicitation .

Development of Safety and Quality Management System in Shrimp Farming

Shrimp Aquaculture has provided tremendous opportunity for the economic and social upliftment of rural communities in the coastal areas of our country Over a hundred thousand farmers, of whom about 90% belong to the small and marginal category, are engaged in shrimp farming. Penaeus monodon is the most predominant cultured species in India which is mainly exported to highly sophisticated, quality and safety conscious world markets. Food safety has been of concem to humankind since the dawn of history and the concern about food safety resulted in the evolution of a cost effective, food safety assurance method, the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). Considering the major contribution of cultured Penaeus monodon to the total shrimp production and the economic losses encountered due to disease outbreak and also because traditional methods of quality control and end point inspection cannot guarantee the safety of our cultured seafood products, it is essential that science based preventive approaches like HACCP and Pre requisite Programmes (PRP) be implemented in our shrimp farming operations. PRP is considered as a support system which provides a solid foundation for HACCP. The safety of postlarvae (PL) supplied for brackish water shrimp farming has also become an issue of concern over the past few years. The quality and safety of hatchery produced seeds have been deteriorating and disease outbreaks have become very common in hatcheries. It is in this context that the necessity for following strict quarantine measures with standards and code of practices becomes significant. Though there were a lot of hue and cry on the need for extending the focus of seafood safety assurance from processing and exporting to the pre-harvest and hatchery rearing phases, an experimental move in this direction has been rare or nil. An integrated management system only can assure the effective control of the quality, hygiene and safety related issues. This study therefore aims at designing a safety and quality management system model for implementation in shrimp farming and hatchery operations by linking the concepts of HACCP and PRP.

An Analysis of Work Related Stress Factor in Selected Industries in Kerala ,India

Occupational stress is becoming a major issue in both corporate and social agenda .In industrialized countries, there have been quite dramatic changes in the conditions at work, during the last decade ,caused by economic, social and technical development. As a consequence, the people today at work are exposed to high quantitative and qualitative demands as well as hard competition caused by global economy. A recent report says that ailments due to work related stress is likely to cost India’s exchequer around 72000 crores between 2009 and 2015. Though India is a fast developing country, it is yet to create facilities to mitigate the adverse effects of work stress, more over only little efforts have been made to assess the work related stress.In the absence of well defined standards to assess the work related stress in India, an attempt is made in this direction to develop the factors for the evaluation of work stress. Accordingly, with the help of existing literature and in consultation with the safety experts, seven factors for the evaluation of work stress is developed. An instrument ( Questionnaire) was developed using these seven factors for the evaluation of work stress .The validity , and unidimensionality of the questionnaire was ensured by confirmatory factor analysis. The reliability of the questionnaire was ensured before administration. While analyzing the relation ship between the variables, it is noted that no relationship exists between them, and hence the above factors are treated as independent factors/ variables for the purpose of research .Initially five profit making manufacturing industries, under public sector in the state of Kerala, were selected for the study. The influence of factors responsible for work stress is analyzed in these industries. These industries were classified in to two types, namely chemical and heavy engineering ,based on the product manufactured and work environment and the analysis is further carried out for these two categories.The variation of work stress with different age , designation and experience of the employees are analyzed by means of one-way ANOVA. Further three different type of modelling of work stress, namely factor modelling, structural equation modelling and multinomial logistic regression modelling was done to analyze the association of factors responsible for work stress. All these models are found equally good in predicting the work stress.The present study indicates that work stress exists among the employees in public sector industries in Kerala. Employees belonging to age group 40-45yrs and experience groups 15-20yrs had relatively higher work demand ,low job control, and low support at work. Low job control was noted among lower designation levels, particularly at the worker level in these industries. Hence the instrument developed using the seven factors namely demand, control, manager support, peer support, relationship, role and change can be effectively used for the evaluation of work stress in industries.

Qualitative Air Flow Modelling and Analysis of Data Centre Air Conditioning as Multiple Jet Array

Data centre is a centralized repository,either physical or virtual,for the storage,management and dissemination of data and information organized around a particular body and nerve centre of the present IT revolution.Data centre are expected to serve uniinterruptedly round the year enabling them to perform their functions,it consumes enormous energy in the present scenario.Tremendous growth in the demand from IT Industry made it customary to develop newer technologies for the better operation of data centre.Energy conservation activities in data centre mainly concentrate on the air conditioning system since it is the major mechanical sub-system which consumes considerable share of the total power consumption of the data centre.The data centre energy matrix is best represented by power utilization efficiency(PUE),which is defined as the ratio of the total facility power to the IT equipment power.Its value will be greater than one and a large value of PUE indicates that the sub-systems draw more power from the facility and the performance of the data will be poor from the stand point of energy conservation. PUE values of 1.4 to 1.6 are acievable by proper design and management techniques.Optimizing the air conditioning systems brings enormous opportunity in bringing down the PUE value.The air conditioning system can be optimized by two approaches namely,thermal management and air flow management.thermal management systems are now introduced by some companies but they are highly sophisticated and costly and do not catch much attention in the thumb rules.

Analysis of System Signals Based on Cross Recurrence Method for System Dynamics Characterization

Natural systems are inherently non linear. Recurrent behaviours are typical of natural systems. Recurrence is a fundamental property of non linear dynamical systems which can be exploited to characterize the system behaviour effectively. Cross recurrence based analysis of sensor signals from non linear dynamical system is presented in this thesis. The mutual dependency among relatively independent components of a system is referred as coupling. The analysis is done for a mechanically coupled system specifically designed for conducting experiment. Further, cross recurrence method is extended to the actual machining process in a lathe to characterize the chatter during turning. The result is verified by permutation entropy method. Conventional linear methods or models are incapable of capturing the critical and strange behaviours associated with the dynamical process. Hence any effective feature extraction methodologies should invariably gather information thorough nonlinear time series analysis. The sensor signals from the dynamical system normally contain noise and non stationarity. In an effort to get over these two issues to the maximum possible extent, this work adopts the cross recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) methodology since it is found to be robust against noise and stationarity in the signals. The study reveals that the CRQA is capable of characterizing even weak coupling among system signals. It also divulges the dependence of certain CRQA variables like percent determinism, percent recurrence and entropy to chatter unambiguously. The surrogate data test shows that the results obtained by CRQA are the true properties of the temporal evolution of the dynamics and contain a degree of deterministic structure. The results are verified using permutation entropy (PE) to detect the onset of chatter from the time series. The present study ascertains that this CRP based methodology is capable of recognizing the transition from regular cutting to the chatter cutting irrespective of the machining parameters or work piece material. The results establish this methodology to be feasible for detection of chatter in metal cutting operation in a lathe.

Qualitative air flow modelling and analysis of data centre air conditioning as multiple jet array

This work identifies the importance of plenum pressure on the performance of the data centre. The present methodology followed in the industry considers the pressure drop across the tile as a dependant variable, but it is shown in this work that this is the only one independent variable that is responsible for the entire flow dynamics in the data centre, and any design or assessment procedure must consider the pressure difference across the tile as the primary independent variable. This concept is further explained by the studies on the effect of dampers on the flow characteristics. The dampers have found to introduce an additional pressure drop there by reducing the effective pressure drop across the tile. The effect of damper is to change the flow both in quantitative and qualitative aspects. But the effect of damper on the flow in the quantitative aspect is only considered while using the damper as an aid for capacity control. Results from the present study suggest that the use of dampers must be avoided in data centre and well designed tiles which give required flow rates must be used in the appropriate locations. In the present study the effect of hot air recirculation is studied with suitable assumptions. It identifies that, the pressure drop across the tile is a dominant parameter which governs the recirculation. The rack suction pressure of the hardware along with the pressure drop across the tile determines the point of recirculation in the cold aisle. The positioning of hardware in the racks play an important role in controlling the recirculation point. The present study is thus helpful in the design of data centre air flow, based on the theory of jets. The air flow can be modelled both quantitatively and qualitatively based on the results.

Analysis of Fluctuations in the Early Universe Using Fokker-Planck Formalism

The thesis begins with a review of basic elements of general theory of relativity (GTR) which forms the basis for the theoretical interpretation of the observations in cosmology. The first chapter also discusses the standard model in cosmology, namely the Friedmann model, its predictions and problems. We have also made a brief discussion on fractals and inflation of the early universe in the first chapter. In the second chapter we discuss the formulation of a new approach to cosmology namely a stochastic approach. In this model, the dynam ics of the early universe is described by a set of non-deterministic, Langevin type equations and we derive the solutions using the Fokker—Planck formalism. Here we demonstrate how the problems with the standard model, can be eliminated by introducing the idea of stochastic fluctuations in the early universe. Many recent observations indicate that the present universe may be approximated by a many component fluid and we assume that only the total energy density is conserved. This, in turn, leads to energy transfer between different components of the cosmic fluid and fluctuations in such energy transfer can certainly induce fluctuations in the mean to factor in the equation of state p = wp, resulting in a fluctuating expansion rate for the universe. The third chapter discusses the stochastic evolution of the cosmological parameters in the early universe, using the new approach. The penultimate chapter is about the refinements to be made in the present model, by means of a new deterministic model The concluding chapter presents a discussion on other problems with the conventional cosmology, like fractal correlation of galactic distribution. The author attempts an explanation for this problem using the stochastic approach.

Onset And Characterisation Of Chaos In A Two Dimensional Nonlinear Deterministic Model

Nature is full of phenomena which we call "chaotic", the weather being a prime example. What we mean by this is that we cannot predict it to any significant accuracy, either because the system is inherently complex, or because some of the governing factors are not deterministic. However, during recent years it has become clear that random behaviour can occur even in very simple systems with very few number of degrees of freedom, without any need for complexity or indeterminacy. The discovery that chaos can be generated even with the help of systems having completely deterministic rules - often models of natural phenomena - has stimulated a lo; of research interest recently. Not that this chaos has no underlying order, but it is of a subtle kind, that has taken a great deal of ingenuity to unravel. In the present thesis, the author introduce a new nonlinear model, a ‘modulated’ logistic map, and analyse it from the view point of ‘deterministic chaos‘.

“Qualitative Air Flow Modelling And Analysis Of Data Centre Air Conditioning As Multiple Jet Array

In the present study the effect of hot air recirculation is studied with suitable assumptions. It identifies that, the pressure drop across the tile is a dominant parameter which governs the recirculation. The rack suction pressure of the hardware along with the pressure drop across the tile determines the point of recirculation in the cold aisle. The positioning of hardware in the racks play an important role in controlling the recirculation point. The present study is thus helpful in the design of data centre air flow, based on the theory of jets. The air flow can be modelled both quantitatively and qualitatively based on the results