Process re-engineering for effective implementation of projects

Time, cost and quality are the prime objectives of any project. Unfortunately, today’s project management does not always ensure the realisation of these objectives. The main reasons of project non-achievement are changes in scope and design, changes in Government policies and regulations, unforeseen inflation, under-estimation and mis-estimation. An overall organisational approach with the application of appropriate management philosophies, tools and techniques can only solve the problem. The present study establishes a methodology for achieving success in implementing projects using a business process re-engineering (BPR) framework. Internal performance characteristics are introspected through condition diagnosis that identifies and prioritises areas of concern requiring attention. Process re-engineering emerges as a most critical area for immediate attention. Project process re-engineering is carried out by eliminating non-value added activities, taking up activities concurrently by applying information systems rigorously and applying risk management techniques throughout the project life cycle. The overall methodology is demonstrated through applications to cross country petroleum pipeline project organisation in an Indian scenario.

Composites take off without a parachute

The review is devoted to the cost effectiveness of composite materials applications as compared with their high performance characteristics. The use of reinforced plastics, ceramic matrix and metal matrix composites reinforced by carbon and graphite fibers in aerospace industry is considered. Until recently, the two major drivers for the application of composites in engines have been weight reduction and performance improvement. As shown, today a major challenge to be met by the industry is cost reduction.

A multi-modular second life hybrid battery energy storage system for utility grid applications

The modern grid system or the smart grid is likely to be populated with multiple distributed energy sources, e.g. wind power, PV power, Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV). It will also include a variety of linear and nonlinear loads. The intermittent nature of renewable energies like PV, wind turbine and increased penetration of Electric Vehicle (EV) makes the stable operation of utility grid system challenging. In order to ensure a stable operation of the utility grid system and to support smart grid functionalities such as, fault ride-through, frequency response, reactive power support, and mitigation of power quality issues, an energy storage system (ESS) could play an important role. A fast acting bidirectional energy storage system which can rapidly provide and absorb power and/or VARs for a sufficient time is a potentially valuable tool to support this functionality. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are one of a range suitable energy storage system because it can provide and absorb power for sufficient time as well as able to respond reasonably fast. Conventional BESS already exist on the grid system are made up primarily of new batteries. The cost of these batteries can be high which makes most BESS an expensive solution. In order to assist moving towards a low carbon economy and to reduce battery cost this work aims to research the opportunities for the re-use of batteries after their primary use in low and ultra-low carbon vehicles (EV/HEV) on the electricity grid system. This research aims to develop a new generation of second life battery energy storage systems (SLBESS) which could interface to the low/medium voltage network to provide necessary grid support in a reliable and in cost-effective manner. The reliability/performance of these batteries is not clear, but is almost certainly worse than a new battery. Manufacturers indicate that a mixture of gradual degradation and sudden failure are both possible and failure mechanisms are likely to be related to how hard the batteries were driven inside the vehicle. There are several figures from a number of sources including the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Control) and Arup and Cenex reports indicate anything from 70,000 to 2.6 million electric and hybrid vehicles on the road by 2020. Once the vehicle battery has degraded to around 70-80% of its capacity it is considered to be at the end of its first life application. This leaves capacity available for a second life at a much cheaper cost than a new BESS Assuming a battery capability of around 5-18kWhr (MHEV 5kWh - BEV 18kWh battery) and approximate 10 year life span, this equates to a projection of battery storage capability available for second life of >1GWhrs by 2025. Moreover, each vehicle manufacturer has different specifications for battery chemistry, number and arrangement of battery cells, capacity, voltage, size etc. To enable research and investment in this area and to maximize the remaining life of these batteries, one of the design challenges is to combine these hybrid batteries into a grid-tie converter where their different performance characteristics, and parameter variation can be catered for and a hot swapping mechanism is available so that as a battery ends it second life, it can be replaced without affecting the overall system operation. This integration of either single types of batteries with vastly different performance capability or a hybrid battery system to a grid-tie 3 energy storage system is different to currently existing work on battery energy storage systems (BESS) which deals with a single type of battery with common characteristics. This thesis addresses and solves the power electronic design challenges in integrating second life hybrid batteries into a grid-tie energy storage unit for the first time. This study details a suitable multi-modular power electronic converter and its various switching strategies which can integrate widely different batteries to a grid-tie inverter irrespective of their characteristics, voltage levels and reliability. The proposed converter provides a high efficiency, enhanced control flexibility and has the capability to operate in different operational modes from the input to output. Designing an appropriate control system for this kind of hybrid battery storage system is also important because of the variation of battery types, differences in characteristics and different levels of degradations. This thesis proposes a generalised distributed power sharing strategy based on weighting function aims to optimally use a set of hybrid batteries according to their relative characteristics while providing the necessary grid support by distributing the power between the batteries. The strategy is adaptive in nature and varies as the individual battery characteristics change in real time as a result of degradation for example. A suitable bidirectional distributed control strategy or a module independent control technique has been developed corresponding to each mode of operation of the proposed modular converter. Stability is an important consideration in control of all power converters and as such this thesis investigates the control stability of the multi-modular converter in detailed. Many controllers use PI/PID based techniques with fixed control parameters. However, this is not found to be suitable from a stability point-of-view. Issues of control stability using this controller type under one of the operating modes has led to the development of an alternative adaptive and nonlinear Lyapunov based control for the modular power converter. Finally, a detailed simulation and experimental validation of the proposed power converter operation, power sharing strategy, proposed control structures and control stability issue have been undertaken using a grid connected laboratory based multi-modular hybrid battery energy storage system prototype. The experimental validation has demonstrated the feasibility of this new energy storage system operation for use in future grid applications.

Adaptive control of hybrid battery energy storage systems under capacity fade

There is an increasing call for applications which use a mixture of batteries. These hybrid battery solutions may contain different battery types for example; using second life ex-transportation batteries in grid support applications or a combination of high power, low energy and low power, high energy batteries to meet multiple energy requirements or even the same battery types but under different states of health for example, being able to hot swap out a battery when it has failed in an application without changing all the batteries and ending up with batteries with different performances, capacities and impedances. These types of applications typically use multi-modular converters to allow hot swapping to take place without affecting the overall performance of the system. A key element of the control is how the different battery performance characteristics may be taken into account and the how the power is then shared among the different batteries in line with their performance. This paper proposes a control strategy which allows the power in the batteries to be effectively distributed even under capacity fade conditions using adaptive power sharing strategy. This strategy is then validated against a system of three different battery types connected to a multi-modular converter both with and without capacity fade mechanisms in place.

Quality Improvement through Experiments with Mixtures

Mixture experiments are typical for chemical, food, metallurgical and other industries. The aim of these experiments is to find optimal component proportions that provide desired values of some product performance characteristics.

Highly sensitive type IA fiber Bragg gratings as sensors in radiation environments

Type IA fiber gratings have unusual physical properties compared with other grating types. We compare with performance characteristics of Type IA and Type I Bragg gratings exposed to the effects of Co60 gamma-irradiation. A Bragg peak shift of 190 pm was observed for Type IA gratings written in Fibercore PS-1250/1500 photosensitive fiber at a radiation dose of 116 kGy. This is the largest wavelength shift recorded to date under radiation exposure. The Type IA and Type I gratings show different kinetics under radiation and during post-radiation annealing; this can be exploited for the design of a grating based dosimetry system. © 2012 SPIE.

Design rules for nonlinear spectral compression in optical fibers

We present comprehensive design rules to optimize the process of spectral compression arising from nonlinear pulse propagation in an optical fiber. Extensive numerical simulations are used to predict the performance characteristics of the process as well as to identify the optimal operational conditions within the space of system parameters. It is shown that the group velocity dispersion of the fiber is not detrimental and, in fact, helps achieve optimum compression. We also demonstrate that near-transform-limited rectangular and parabolic pulses can be generated in the region of optimum compression.

Recent advances in fundamentals and applications of random fiber lasers

Random fiber lasers blend together attractive features of traditional random lasers, such as low cost and simplicity of fabrication, with high-performance characteristics of conventional fiber lasers, such as good directionality and high efficiency. Low coherence of random lasers is important for speckle-free imaging applications. The random fiber laser with distributed feedback proposed in 2010 led to a quickly developing class of light sources that utilize inherent optical fiber disorder in the form of the Rayleigh scattering and distributed Raman gain. The random fiber laser is an interesting and practically important example of a photonic device based on exploitation of optical medium disorder. We provide an overview of recent advances in this field, including high-power and high-efficiency generation, spectral and statistical properties of random fiber lasers, nonlinear kinetic theory of such systems, and emerging applications in telecommunications and distributed sensing.

Optimization of pavement maintenance and rehabilitation programming using shuffled complex evolution algorithm

The major barrier to practical optimization of pavement preservation programming has always been that for formulations where the identity of individual projects is preserved, the solution space grows exponentially with the problem size to an extent where it can become unmanageable by the traditional analytical optimization techniques within reasonable limit. This has been attributed to the problem of combinatorial explosion that is, exponential growth of the number of combinations. The relatively large number of constraints often presents in a real-life pavement preservation programming problems and the trade-off considerations required between preventive maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction, present yet another factor that contributes to the solution complexity. In this research study, a new integrated multi-year optimization procedure was developed to solve network level pavement preservation programming problems, through cost-effectiveness based evolutionary programming analysis, using the Shuffled Complex Evolution (SCE) algorithm.^ A case study problem was analyzed to illustrate the robustness and consistency of the SCE technique in solving network level pavement preservation problems. The output from this program is a list of maintenance and rehabilitation treatment (M&R) strategies for each identified segment of the network in each programming year, and the impact on the overall performance of the network, in terms of the performance levels of the recommended optimal M&R strategy. ^ The results show that the SCE is very efficient and consistent in the simultaneous consideration of the trade-off between various pavement preservation strategies, while preserving the identity of the individual network segments. The flexibility of the technique is also demonstrated, in the sense that, by suitably coding the problem parameters, it can be used to solve several forms of pavement management programming problems. It is recommended that for large networks, some sort of decomposition technique should be applied to aggregate sections, which exhibit similar performance characteristics into links, such that whatever M&R alternative is recommended for a link can be applied to all the sections connected to it. In this way the problem size, and hence the solution time, can be greatly reduced to a more manageable solution space. ^ The study concludes that the robust search characteristics of SCE are well suited for solving the combinatorial problems in long-term network level pavement M&R programming and provides a rich area for future research. ^

A computer simulation model for single -lane roundabouts

During the past three decades, the use of roundabouts has increased throughout the world due to their greater benefits in comparison with intersections controlled by traditional means. Roundabouts are often chosen because they are widely associated with low accident rates, lower construction and operating costs, and reasonable capacities and delay. ^ In the planning and design of roundabouts, special attention should be given to the movement of pedestrians and bicycles. As a result, there are several guidelines for the design of pedestrian and bicycle treatments at roundabouts that increase the safety of both pedestrians and bicyclists at existing and proposed roundabout locations. Different design guidelines have differing criteria for handling pedestrians and bicyclists at roundabout locations. Although all of the investigated guidelines provide better safety (depending on the traffic conditions at a specific location), their effects on the performance of the roundabout have not been examined yet. ^ Existing roundabout analysis software packages provide estimates of capacity and performance characteristics. This includes characteristics such as delay, queue lengths, stop rates, effects of heavy vehicles, crash frequencies, and geometric delays, as well as fuel consumption, pollutant emissions and operating costs for roundabouts. None of these software packages, however, are capable of determining the effects of various pedestrian crossing locations, nor the effect of different bicycle treatments on the performance of roundabouts. ^ The objective of this research is to develop simulation models capable of determining the effect of various pedestrian and bicycle treatments at single-lane roundabouts. To achieve this, four models were developed. The first model simulates a single-lane roundabout without bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The second model simulates a single-lane roundabout with a pedestrian crossing and mixed flow bicyclists. The third model simulates a single-lane roundabout with a combined pedestrian and bicycle crossing, while the fourth model simulates a single-lane roundabout with a pedestrian crossing and a bicycle lane at the outer perimeter of the roundabout for the bicycles. Traffic data was collected at a modern roundabout in Boca Raton, Florida. ^ The results of this effort show that installing a pedestrian crossing on the roundabout approach will have a negative impact on the entry flow, while the downstream approach will benefit from the newly created gaps by pedestrians. Also, it was concluded that a bicycle lane configuration is more beneficial for all users of the roundabout instead of the mixed flow or combined crossing. Installing the pedestrian crossing at one-car length is more beneficial for pedestrians than two- and three-car lengths. Finally, it was concluded that the effect of the pedestrian crossing on the vehicle queues diminishes as the distance between the crossing and the roundabout increases. ^

Towards the design of monolithic decoupled XYZ compliant parallel mechanisms for multi-function applications

This paper deals with the monolithic decoupled XYZ compliant parallel mechanisms (CPMs) for multi-function applications, which can be fabricated monolithically without assembly and has the capability of kinetostatic decoupling. At first, the conceptual design of monolithic decoupled XYZ CPMs is presented using identical spatial compliant multi-beam modules based on a decoupled 3-PPPR parallel kinematic mechanism. Three types of applications: motion/positioning stages, force/acceleration sensors and energy harvesting devices are described in principle. The kinetostatic and dynamic modelling is then conducted to capture the displacements of any stage under loads acting at any stage and the natural frequency with the comparisons with FEA results. Finally, performance characteristics analysis for motion stage applications is detailed investigated to show how the change of the geometrical parameter can affect the performance characteristics, which provides initial optimal estimations. Results show that the smaller thickness of beams and larger dimension of cubic stages can improve the performance characteristics excluding natural frequency under allowable conditions. In order to improve the natural frequency characteristic, a stiffness-enhanced monolithic decoupled configuration that is achieved through employing more beams in the spatial modules or reducing the mass of each cubic stage mass can be adopted. In addition, an isotropic variation with different motion range along each axis and same payload in each leg is proposed. The redundant design for monolithic fabrication is introduced in this paper, which can overcome the drawback of monolithic fabrication that the failed compliant beam is difficult to replace, and extend the CPM’s life.

An Automated Surveillance Strategy to Identify Infectious Complications After Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Procedures.

Background.  The optimum approach for infectious complication surveillance for cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) procedures is unclear. We created an automated surveillance tool for infectious complications after CIED procedures. Methods.  Adults having CIED procedures between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2011 at Duke University Hospital were identified retrospectively using International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision (ICD-9) procedure codes. Potential infections were identified with combinations of ICD-9 diagnosis codes and microbiology data for 365 days postprocedure. All microbiology-identified and a subset of ICD-9 code-identified possible cases, as well as a subset of procedures without microbiology or ICD-9 codes, were reviewed. Test performance characteristics for specific queries were calculated. Results.  Overall, 6097 patients had 7137 procedures. Of these, 1686 procedures with potential infectious complications were identified: 174 by both ICD-9 code and microbiology, 14 only by microbiology, and 1498 only by ICD-9 criteria. We reviewed 558 potential cases, including all 188 microbiology-identified cases, 250 randomly selected ICD-9 cases, and 120 with neither. Overall, 65 unique infections were identified, including 5 of 250 reviewed cases identified only by ICD-9 codes. Queries that included microbiology data and ICD-9 code 996.61 had good overall test performance, with sensitivities of approximately 90% and specificities of approximately 80%. Queries with ICD-9 codes alone had poor specificity. Extrapolation of reviewed infectious rates to nonreviewed cases yields an estimated rate of infection of 1.3%. Conclusions.  Electronic queries with combinations of ICD-9 codes and microbiologic data can be created and have good test performance characteristics for identifying likely infectious complications of CIED procedures.

Strahlenmodifizierte Kunststoffseilscheiben in Seiltrieben

Kunststoffseilscheiben sind leichter als Stahl- oder Graugussseilscheiben, woraus sich insbesondere bei Auslegerkranen Vorteile in deren Konstruktion und Handling-Eigenschaften ergeben. Während die Betriebsdauer von Stahlseilen über metallische Seilscheiben gut bestimmbar ist, ist diese Bestimmung bei Verwendung von Kunststoffseilscheiben nur ungenau möglich. In einem AiF-ZIM-Forschungsprojekt wurden strahlenvernetzte sowie naturbelassene Kunststoffseilscheiben auf ihre veränderten Gebrauchseigenschaften untersucht und mit den Ergebnissen beim Lauf über Stahlseilscheiben verglichen.

Spatial Data Systems for Transportation Planning, 1997

The objective of this research was to develop a methodology for transforming and dynamically segmenting data. Dynamic segmentation enables transportation system attributes and associated data to be stored in separate tables and merged when a specific query requires a particular set of data to be considered. A major benefit of dynamic segmentation is that individual tables can be more easily updated when attributes, performance characteristics, or usage patterns change over time. Applications of a progressive geographic database referencing system in transportation planning are vast. Summaries of system condition and performance can be made, and analyses of specific portions of a road system are facilitated.

Measurement of Training Intensity and Work During Submaximal Isokinetic Progressive Resistance Training Protocols

Physical exercise programmes are routinely prescribed in clinical practice to treat impairments, improve activity and participation in daily life because of their known physiological, health and psychological benefits (RCP, 2009). Progressive resistance exercise is a type of exercise prescribed specifically to improve skeletal muscle strength (Latham et al., 2004). The effectiveness of progressive resistance exercise varies considerably between studies and populations. This thesis focuses on how training parameters influence the delivery of progressive resistance exercise. In order to appropriately evaluate the influence of training parameters, this thesis argues the need to record training performance and the total work completed by participants as prescribed by training protocols. In the first study, participants were taken through a series of protocols differentiated by the intensity and volume of training. Training intensity was defined as a proportion of the mean peak torque achieved during maximal voluntary contractions and was set at 80% and 40% respectively of the MVC mean peak torque. Training volume was defined as the total external work achieved over the training period. Measures of training performance were developed to accurately report the intensity, repetitions and work completed during the training period. A second study evaluated training performance of the training protocols over repeated sessions. These protocols were then applied to 3 stroke survivors. Study 1 found sedentary participants could achieve a differentiated training intensity. Participants completing the high and low intensity protocols trained at 80% and 40% respectively of the MVC mean peak torque. The total work achieved in the high intensity low repetition protocol was lower than the total work achieved in the low intensity high repetition protocol. With repeated practice, study 2 found participants were able to improve in their ability to perform manoeuvres as shown by a reduction in the variation of the mean training intensity achieving total work as specified by the protocol to a lower margin of error. When these protocols were applied to 3 stroke survivors, they were able to achieve the specified training intensity but they were not able to achieve the total work as expected for the protocol. This is likely to be due to an inability in achieving a consistent force throughout the contraction. These results demonstrate evaluation of training characteristics and support the need to record and report training performance characteristics during progressive resistance exercise, including the total work achieved, in order to elucidate the influence of training parameters on progressive resistance exercise. The lack of accurate training performance may partly explain the inconsistencies between studies on optimal training parameters for progressive resistance exercise.