Engineering Activities Research Articles

The Role of Beta Bank Sampah Community in Plastic Waste Management in Hative Besar Village, Ambon City

In accordance with the provisions of Law No. 18/2008 on Waste Management, it is now necessary to change the way people view waste and how they treat or manage waste. For alternative solutions to the waste problem, the development of waste banks is a social engineering activity that teaches people to sort waste and fosters public awareness in waste management. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of Beta Waste Bank in managing plastic waste in Hative Besar Village, Teluk Ambon Sub-district, Ambon City. The type of research used in this research is descriptive qualitative. This research involves collecting data about the role of Beta Bank Sampah in managing plastic waste in Hative Besar Village, Teluk Ambon Subdistrict, Ambon City, the location of this research is Hative Besar Village, Teluk Ambon Subdistrict, Ambon City. The subjects in this study were the founders of Beta Bank Sampah and the customers of Beta Bank Sampah, totaling 12 people. The variable in this study uses a single variable, namely the waste bank manager. However, the single variable will be described with reference to the LH parliament No. 13 of 2012. In this study researchers used several data collection techniques, namely, observation, interviews, questionnaires and documentation. Based on the results of the research conducted, Beta Bank Sampah is a community that is actively engaged in efforts to maintain environmental balance by carrying out the process of recycling plastic waste into creations of economic value. good awareness efforts on environmental cleanliness especially on the impact of the threat of plastic waste that grows with the growth rate of society. and Beta Bank Sampah has helped the city government in realizing the clean Ambon program by reducing the use of plastic waste in people's lives.

A case study of implementing engineering design process to build a “controllable switch instrument”

"STEM education serves to prepare a workforce in which integration of scientific information as well as technological literacy are becoming more and more widespread. Important skills for success in the twenty-first century include critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, cooperation, self-directed learning, scientific environmental and technological literacy. In this study, primary school teacher candidates used a STEM activity, following the engineering design process. The case study, a qualitative research approach, was used in this study. The participants in the study were thirty primary school teacher candidates from second class at university. This study used audio and video recordings and engineering design notebooks as data collection tools. The engineering design process as a context for developing science, mathematics and technology concepts was used. An electrical engineering activity requiring students to design and build an electrical instrument to control the current intensity was created. This activity has been determined in an engineering context where students were introduced to the work of electrical engineers, such as designing basic electric circuits and using different electrical tools. As a result of this research, primary school teacher candidates had an opportunity to experience engineering design-based science education focused on electricity saving, which is a problem they may encounter in real life and also results demonstrated that the adjustable wrench designed by primary school teacher candidates changes the bulb's brightness. "

Substantiating the normative values of company's liquidity ratios: Evidence from the engineering, transport and logistics industries

Subject. The article addresses the normative values of financial indicators of the liquidity group that are formed as a result of financial and economic relations of the enterprise. Objectives. The aim is to calculate the normative values of financial indicators of the liquidity group for engineering, transport and logistics companies, using the hierarchical cluster analysis tool. Methods. The study draws on general scientific research methods. Results. We offered an algorithm to calculate the normative values of financial indicators, using the hierarchical cluster analysis; calculated the normative values of the quick liquidity ratio, current liquidity ratio, and absolute liquidity ratio for the branches of mechanical engineering, transport and logistics. Conclusions. The calculated financial indicators are applicable for the analysis of financial and economic activities of mechanical engineering, transport and logistics enterprises. The proposed algorithm based on the method of hierarchical cluster analysis can be used to calculate other financial indicators of enterprises operating in various industries.

Activities and Practices of Requirements Engineering in Agile Software Environments

Requirements are one of the important factors for software success. However, Requirements Engineering (RE) activities, in the Waterfall process model, are done sequentially in the analysis phase, which makes it difficult when RE practitioners think and reason about them in Agile Software Development (ASD) process model. RE practitioners need to find the established RE activities conventions in the ASD process model, especially with an increase of software companies, which transform to the ASD process model, in order to foster their transition to the new model. The objective of this study is to provide RE activities in ASD to allow RE practitioners to utilize the appropriate activity for specific ASD methodology. RE activities in ASD are handled repetitively and on a small scale, which makes them embedded in the development life cycle. This paper focuses on highlighting them in different ASD methodologies and discusses the practices that resolve the traditional Waterfall model issues. Although the ASD model has resolved some traditional RE issues, it introduced other issues, such as a consequence of trying to achieve an adequate balance between agility and stability. In addition, there is a lack of practices that target non-functional requirements.

MODERN APPROACH TO THE FORMATION OF AN OBJECT OF LEGAL PROTECTION - METHOD OF SPRAYING WITH UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

Inventive and patent-licensing work is an integral part of the activities of engineering, technical, and scientific workers in all spheres of the national economy. One of the results (types) of scientific and technical creativity is invention, which allows technically gifted individuals to express themselves: scientists, engineers, students, and other technical workers. The use of modern technical means in agriculture, for example, unmanned aerial vehicles for technological operations, prompts the creation of new approaches and methods of their effective use, which is an urgent task for agricultural enterprises, scientific, and pedagogical workers, and students. The object of the research is the method of spraying agricultural crops with unmanned aerial vehicles, as an object of legal protection. The purpose of the research is to develop an effective method of spraying agricultural plants with means of protection against pests and diseases by unmanned aerial vehicles, which is the object of legal protection of industrial property. The objectives of the research are to perform an analysis of the concepts of creativity and inventive activity of a person as a form of self-realization and overcoming technical contradictions; to carry out an analysis of the concepts of the object of the invention - the process (method) as an object of legal protection; study of the laws of development of technical systems and development of a utility model of the technological system of an unmanned aerial vehicle; development of a method of spraying field crops with unmanned aerial vehicles. The research methodology is based on the method of materialistic dialectics, methods of analysis, and synthesis of information from official sources and scientific research. As a result of the conducted research, it was established that the inventive activity of engineering and scientific workers is an integral part of the development of scientific and technical progress as a whole. The creation of fundamentally new technologies and machines, and innovative solutions in all branches of the national economy will contribute to the rapid development of our state and its entry into the system of countries with developed market relations. The object subject to legal protection is analyzed. Features of the formula for the method are described. The research proposes a modern approach to the formation of an object of legal protection, namely, a method of spraying agricultural crops with unmanned aerial vehicles. The laws of the development of technical systems are considered and a utility model of the technological system is proposed, namely - the process of spraying agricultural plants with unmanned aerial vehicles. The target function of the technological system is described and the laws of development are proposed, which will allow obtaining the optimal values of the parameters of the optimization criteria. The proposed method of aerial chemical spraying of plants with the use of sprayer drones allows for effective chemical treatment of plant crops and minimizes the inefficient use of shift work time associated with moving a mobile vehicle, thus increasing the productivity of UAVs.

A holistic failure modes and effects analysis for university plastic injection laboratory under Bayesian Network

University Research & Development (R&D) laboratories are facilities used for research and manufacturing activities in engineering and basic science fields. Various filling materials are used in plastic R&D laboratories to improve the mechanical properties of thermoplastics or to recycle waste materials. The use of filling materials causes changes in plastic production parameters. This study dealt with the risks arising from extrusion, injection and shredder in a plastic injection laboratory, which led to the inability to manufacture the appropriate product under a holistic methodology. The proposed holistic methodology merges the concepts of failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), fuzzy best-worst method (FBWM), and a rule-based three-hierarchical Bayesian network (RB-THBN). First, 15 root risks have been identified under a three-stage hierarchy with the support of laboratory decision makers. Then, questionnaires were created using the FMEA concept. The importance values (degree of belief-DoB) of three different FMEA parameters (severity, occurrence and detection) by experts for each risk have been calculated with FBWM. And finally, the RB-THBN has been created, and the final risk values have been computed using the linear utility function for the network. The system has been analyzed via a Bayesian modeling software. A validity test and a control measures planning has also been executed. According to the results, the highest root risk has been determined as “E2-The prepared mixture is not homogeneous” with a crisp risk score of 0.639559. In addition, “Failure due to extrusion” has been determined as the highest risk category with a score of 0.564059. It was discussed in detail that these risks arise from homogenization and how the used mixture should be homogenized. A comparative study among traditional FMEA, FMEA extended under FBWM and the proposed approach is performed to observe the differences in final ranking of root risks and to highlight the arguments that strengthen the advantages of the proposed method over the other two.

Tempo-Spatial Landslide Susceptibility Assessment from the Perspective of Human Engineering Activity

The expansion of mountainous urban areas and road networks can influence the terrain, vegetation, and material characteristics, thereby altering the susceptibility of landslides. Understanding the relationship between human engineering activities and landslide occurrence is of great significance for both landslide prevention and land resource management. In this study, an analysis was conducted on the landslide caused by Typhoon Megi in 2016. A representative mountainous area along the eastern coast of China—characterized by urban development, deforestation, and severe road expansion—was used to analyze the spatial distribution of landslides. For this purpose, high-precision Planet optical remote sensing images were used to obtain the landslide inventory related to the Typhoon Megi event. The main innovative features are as follows: (i) the newly developed patch generating land-use simulation (PLUS) model simulated and analyzed the driving factors of land-use land-cover (LULC) from 2010 to 2060; (ii) the innovative stacking strategy combined three strong ensemble models—Random Forest (RF), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM)—to calculate the distribution of landslide susceptibility; and (iii) distance from road and LULC maps were used as short-term and long-term dynamic factors to examine the impact of human engineering activities on landslide susceptibility. The results show that the maximum expansion area of built-up land from 2010 to 2020 was 13.433 km2, mainly expanding forest land and cropland land, with areas of 8.28 km2 and 5.99 km2, respectively. The predicted LULC map for 2060 shows a growth of 45.88 km2 in the built-up land, mainly distributed around government residences in areas with relatively flat terrain and frequent socio-economic activities. The factor contribution shows that distance from road has a higher impact than LULC. The Stacking RF-XGB-LGBM model obtained the optimal AUC value of 0.915 in the landslide susceptibility analysis in 2016. Furthermore, future road network and urban expansion have intensified the probability of landslides occurring in urban areas in 2015. To our knowledge, this is the first application of the PLUS and Stacking RF-XGB-LGBM models in landslide susceptibility analysis in international literature. The research results can serve as a foundation for developing land management guidelines to reduce the risk of landslide failures.

The adenylate cyclase toxin RTX domain follows a series templated folding mechanism with implications for toxin activity

Folding of the Repeats-in-toxin (RTX) domain of the bacterial adenylate cyclase toxin-hemolysin (CyaA) is critical to its toxin activities and the virulence of the whooping cough agent Bordetella pertussis. The RTX domain (RD) contains five RTX blocks (RTX-i to RTX-v) and their folding is driven by the binding of calcium. However, the detailed molecular mechanism via which the folding signal transmits within the five RTX blocks remains unknown. By combining single molecule optical tweezers, protein engineering, and toxin activity assays, here we demonstrate that the folding of the RD follows a strict hierarchy, with the folding starting from its C-terminal block RTX-v and proceeding towards the N-terminal RTX-i block sequentially. Our results reveal a strict series, templated folding mechanism, where the folding signal is transmitted along the RD in a series fashion from its C terminus continuously to the N terminus. Due to the series nature of this folding signal transmission pathway, the folding of RD can be disrupted at any given RTX block, rendering the RTX blocks located N-terminally to the disruption site and the acylation region of CyaA unfolded and abolishing CyaA's toxin activities. Our results reveal key mechanistic insights into the secretion and folding process of CyaA and may open up new potential avenues towards designing new therapeutics to abolish toxin activity of CyaA and combat B.pertussis.

AGN’s Deadness Over Cosmic Time: UVJ Diagrams of X-Ray AGN

Over cosmic time, galaxies tend to separate into a bimodal distribution of “red and dead” or blue and star-forming. We examine whether active galaxies evolve in a similar way, and whether this reveals anything about the complexities of the relationship between an AGN and the host galaxy. We use the Stripe82X survey to identify 3940 X-ray AGN spanning z = 0–2.5, and we measure the rest-frame UVJ colors of each galaxy. We classify AGN as star-forming or quiescent based on their location in a UVJ color diagram. We find that there is not a clear bimodal distribution between AGN in star-forming and quiescent galaxies. Furthermore, the most luminous X-ray sources tend to lie in the star-forming region, which may indicate a correlation between central engine activity and increased rates of star formation.

Agile Software Development and Reuse Approach with Scrum and Software Product Line Engineering

Agile methods and software product line engineering (SPLE) are widely recognized as practical approaches for delivering high-quality software, adapting to evolving stakeholder needs, and tackling complex problems. This study proposes a hybrid agile software development and reuse approach called SPLE-Scrum based on the activities of software product line engineering and Scrum. Within the SPLE process, we incorporate requirement engineering and design practices to create a reference architecture with reusable components called core assets by introducing a product management meeting. The core assets are reused to build a series of applications with various product lines. The product increments are delivered in each Sprint with the review and retrospective meetings based on Scrum lifecycle and practices. We present a case study involving a blockchain online store to demonstrate the practical application of SPLE-Scrum, highlighting the benefits of integrating Scrum and software product line engineering. The research hypotheses of the proposed approach were validated through a study of structured interviews with 5 experts and 44 software practitioners, showing that the key factors of product management, project requirements, and product architecture in the SPLE-Scrum approach have a beneficial impact on project success. The SPLE-Scrum approach provides valuable insights and practical guidance for organizations seeking to optimize their software engineering practices while incorporating agile development and software reuse capabilities.

Field test study of a novel solar refrigeration pile in permafrost regions

Cast-in-place piles are popular foundation forms in permafrost regions. The freezing force at the pile-soil interface is the main source of bearing capacity, which is quite sensitive to ground temperature. The warming climate and engineering activities can cause the permafrost to thaw, affecting the long-term stability of the pile foundation. However, the method of cooling pile foundations is rarely reported. This paper proposes a solar refrigeration pile consisting of a solar power system, a compression refrigeration system, and a concrete pile to control the surrounding permafrost temperature. A field test was conducted in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau permafrost regions to assess the actual cooling performance. The test results showed that the new pile effectively cooled the surrounding permafrost in the warm season without human intervention. After 10 days of cooling, the influence radius of the solar refrigeration pile exceeded 1 m. Furthermore, the solar refrigeration pile significantly improved the bearing capacity. This study provides a practical solution for addressing the challenge of maintaining the stability and bearing capacity of pile foundations in permafrost regions under the influence of climate change and human activities.

SYSTEMIC-CYBERNETIC AND SYNERGISTIC APPROACHES IN THE STUDY OF MODERN ELECTORAL ENGINEERING

This paper considers the electoral engineering within the framework of systemic-cybernetic and synergetic scientific approaches. As a result of the study, it is concluded that the basis for consideration of the electoral engineering is the systemic-cybernetic approach, since the electoral sphere in its essence is a computational mechanism that, according to certain mathematical algorithms (electoral formula), translates the votes of electors (input data) into representative mandates (output data). Main components of the electoral engineering (the subject, the object and the process of the electoral engineering) can be fully considered within the framework of the systemic-cybernetic approach as a cybernetic system with the controlling and controlled components, where the management and feedback processes are running. The controlling component here is the subject of the electoral engineering (planning and carrying out of the electoral engineering activities), whereas the controlled component is the object of the electoral engineering (parameters of the electoral system and organization of the electoral process); management is the process of the electoral engineering itself. However, the electoral sphere is a constituent part of the political system, and it is possible to apply both the systemic-cybernetic approach and synergetic approach to its study. Therefore, application of the synergetic approach to the electoral engineering is possible only in an indirect way, i.e. through consideration of the political system in the context of synergetics (the electoral engineering in this case is considered as an activity within the political system). The bases for applying the synergetic approach to the electoral engineering carried out in practice are the following: 1) objectivist basis – the electoral engineering is carried out within the framework of a political system being a part of the social reality, and therefore cannot be fully modeled and predicted with the use of the systemic-cybernetic approach; 2) subjectivist basis – subjects engaged in the electoral engineering activities are political actors pursuing their own subjective goals and interests.

An Examination of Drill Rig NOx Emission

This article creates awareness of greenhouse gases (GHG). The greenhouse gases play a significant role in climate change. The GHG includes NOx which is N2O, NO, and NO2. NOx can be produced from several human activities, including agricultural practices and drill rigs engine activities. However, drill rig emissions have received limited attention in Nigeria compared to agricultural emissions. This article addresses this research gap by examining the production of NOx emissions from drill rigs in Nigeria and its contributing effects. It also discusses the effects of climate change, which include increases in temperature, rainfall, rising sea levels, and the incidence of flooding. Storm aberrations, shortages of usable land, and potable water accompany this. The study adopts a methodology based on the correlation established by Russell (2006) to derive formation emission factors for onshore, offshore, and deep offshore Nigerian wells. The formation emission factors are based on the number of wells drilled in these locations from 2002 to 2004 and the average depth of wells in these locations. The analysis reveals that while NOx levels in Nigeria are currently low, they exhibit a constant upward trend. This observation is significant for a country heavily reliant on the petroleum industry for foreign exchange earnings and economic stability. Furthermore, considering Nigeria's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and associated hazards, understanding the effect of drill rig NOx emissions and its production becomes crucial. By shedding light on this overlooked aspect, this research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the environmental implications and sustainable practices in Nigeria's petroleum sector.

Numerical Analysis of Perforated Symmetric Fissures on Mechanical Properties of Hole-Containing Sandstone

The symmetrical fissures located within the surrounding rock of the roadway (borehole) in tunnel engineering activities can easily induce damage and instability of the surrounding rock. Therefore, studying the impact of perforated symmetrical fissures on the mechanical properties of rock with a hole has significant practical significance. Based on indoor experimental results, conventional triaxial compression simulations were performed on symmetrical fissure-hole sandstone using PFC2D. The impact of the dip angle and length of symmetric fissures on the mechanical properties of the hole-containing sandstone was analyzed. Furthermore, the relationship between crack propagation and the macroscopic mechanical properties of the specimen was discussed. The results show that: (1) The deterioration effect of symmetric fissures on hole-containing sandstone can be controlled by increasing the fissure dip angle, suppressing the stress drop phenomenon. However, increasing the fissure length exacerbates the deterioration effect. (2) The effect of symmetrical fissure dip angle on the displacement field near the hole decreases with increasing dip angle while increasing fissure length exacerbates the effect of fissures on the displacement field. (3) As the angle between the fissure and the vertical principal stress increases, the degree of tensile failure weakens while the degree of shear failure increases. (4) During the crack development phase, the extension of the stress concentration zone drives rapid crack growth. It exhibits a stress drop in the macroscopic mechanical properties, followed by the evolution of the stress field with loading, allowing rapid expansion of the microcracks and eventually leading to rock destabilization damage.

Geological Hazard Assessment of Secondary Collapses Due to Volcanic Earthquakes on Changbai Mountain in China

In recent years, the volcanic activity of Changbai Mountain has been accompanied by several earthquakes, and the frequent human engineering activities have led to a gradual increase in the number of collapses in the region, which severely impacts residents’ lives and property safety. In northeastern China, the Changbai Mountain area in the southeastern Jilin Province is a typical mountain environment. This paper selects 12 evaluation indicators to build a hazard assessment system, including slope, aspect, elevation, curvature, lithology, NDVI, land use type, distance from the fault, the river from the road, volcanic earthquake, and annual average precipitation. Using emotional weight (G1 method) and objective weight (WOE-CV method), the hazard due to collapses in the study area is evaluated too. Among them, the transcendence probability of volcanic earthquakes greater than VI degree represents the relationship between Changbai Mountain volcanic earthquakes and the assessment of geological collapse hazard. The results show that high- and very high-hazard areas are mainly distributed in densely populated areas and national and provincial trunk lines, with apparent spatial agglomeration characteristics. The low-hazard area, medium-hazard area, high-hazard area and very high-hazard area accounted for 19.33%, 44.19%, 33.85% and 2.63% of the total area of the study area, respectively. By comparing the previous geological hazard survey reports in the area with the collapse hazard zoning map in this paper, 87.72% of the known collapse hazard areas are distributed within high and very high hazard zones, indicating that the conclusions of the article are more accurate and in line with the actual situation. Results from collapse-related hazards can provide relevant guidance for preventing and controlling geological risks posed by volcanic earthquakes affecting Changbai Mountain.

An analysis of discussions in collaborative knowledge engineering through the lens of Wikidata

We study discussions in Wikidata, the world’s largest open-source collaborative knowledge graph (KG). This is important because it helps KG community managers understand how discussions are used and inform the design of collaborative practices and support tools. We follow a mixed-methods approach with descriptive statistics, thematic analysis, and statistical tests to investigate how much discussions in Wikidata are used, what they are used for, and how they support knowledge engineering (KE) activities. The study covers three core sources of discussion, the talk pages that accompany Wikidata items and properties, and a general-purpose communication page. Our findings show low use of discussion capabilities and a power-law distribution similar to other KE projects such as Schema.org. When discussions are used, they are mostly about KE activities, including activities that span across the entire KE lifecycle from conceptualisation and implementation to maintenance and taxonomy building. We hope that the findings will help Wikidata devise improved practices and capabilities to encourage the use of discussions as a tool to collaborate, improve editor engagement, and engineer better KGs.

Decisions making for fraction functions By Using Goal Programming Method

Decision making is vital and important activity in field operations research ,engineering ,administration science and economic science with any industrial or service company or organization because the core of management process as well as improve him performance . The research includes decision making process when the objective function is fraction function and solve models fraction programming by using some fraction programming methods and using goal programming method aid programming ( win QSB )and the results explain the effect use the goal programming method in decision making process when the objective function isfraction .

Landslide Risk Mapping Using the Weight-of-Evidence Method in the Datong Mining Area, Qinghai Province

Qinghai is rich in mineral resources, but frequent and large-scale mineral mining has caused secondary damage to the fragile primary surface and produced a large number of landslide disasters. In complex geological environments such as glacier ablation and frequent tectonic movements, a complete quantitative evaluation method for landslide risk in high-cold mining areas has not yet been formed. In view of this, this article uses the field survey and remote sensing data of the Datong mining area in Qinghai Province in 2012 as the basic data. We comprehensively considered five first-level factors (13 s-level factors) including topography, lithological structure, mining engineering activities, land use, and dynamic deformation as evaluation indicators for landslide susceptibility in mining areas, and used the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) and the Human Engineering Activity Intensity (HEAI) to quantitatively estimate the hazard of landslide according to the landslide trigger mechanism. The weight-of-evidence approach was used for landslide hazard and risk mapping under different landslide--inducing conditions. The results indicate that the extremely high-hazard areas induced by human engineering activities account for 14% of the total area, and the extremely high-risk areas account for 13% of the total area in the Datong mining area, and the area of the extremely high-risk area is large; the landslide risk assessment mapping model constructed in this study can effectively evaluate the probability of slope instability caused by rainfall and human engineering activities. The effective value of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the sensitivity assessment model reaches 0.863, and the evaluation results are consistent with reality; using the weight-of-evidence model for landslide risk assessment is more in line with the actual situation in alpine mining areas, and is more suitable for guiding landslide risk management and disaster prevention and mitigation in mining areas.

Belt Rotation in Pipe Conveyors: Failure Mode Analysis and Overlap Stability Assessment

Pipe conveyors provide sustainable solutions for environmentally sensitive or topographically complex powdered and bulk-solid handling processes; however, belt rotation is among the most critical failure modes of these equipment, influencing engineering, operational, and maintenance activities throughout the conveyors’ lifecycles. Position changes in the overlap are mechanical responses to uneven contact forces between the vulcanizing rubber belt and the idler rolls, owing to the highly nonlinear process of the belt folding from a trough to a tubular shape, and no method for quantifying the belt’s stability is currently available. In this study, we analyzed the failure mode of belt rotation and proposed a linearized model of an overlap stability index to evaluate the resilience of the overlap position through a case study of a short-flight curved pipe conveyor. Our proposal considers an interference model between the simulated torque of a curved flight in a pipe conveyor and the calculated torque of its equivalent straight flight by using kernel-smoothed density functions. It is adapted to incorporate adjustment factors for the filling degree based on simulations, the effect of the overlap in the forming force of the belt, the remaining useful life of the belt, and the coefficients of friction between the belt back cover and the idler rolls due to adhesion and hysteresis. An application was developed to calculate the belt’s rotational holding torque and rotary moment by processing real operational data, simulated contact forces, and the relevant equipment parameters. This analysis identified the reduced transverse bending stiffness and increased belt tension forces as the root causes for position changes with a loss of contact in the upper idler rolls of curved flights 10, 13, 15–16, and 17. The contributing factors included spots of augmented contact forces during the initial stages of the belt lifespan in curved flights 15–16, which presented unstable conditions due to increased opening forces, with an OSI of 0.8657. Furthermore, we proposed corrective and preventive action plans, an optimized replacement interval for the belt, and recommendations for design changes according to the relevant standards.

Converting semantic web services into formal planning domain descriptions to enable manufacturing process planning and scheduling in industry 4.0

To build intelligent manufacturing systems that react flexibly in case of failures or unexpected circumstances, manufacturing capabilities of production systems must be utilized as much as possible. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, in particular, automated planning can contribute to this by enabling flexible production processes. To efficiently leverage automated planning, an almost complete planning domain description of the real-world is necessary. However, creating such planning descriptions is a demanding and error-prone task that requires high manual efforts even for domain experts. In addition, maintaining the encoded knowledge is laborious and, thus, can lead to outdated domain descriptions. To reduce the high efforts, already existing knowledge can be reused and transformed automatically into planning descriptions to benefit from organization-wide knowledge engineering activities. This paper presents a novel approach that reduces the described efforts by reusing existing knowledge for planning and scheduling in Industry 4.0 (I4.0). For this purpose, requirements for developing a converter that transforms existing knowledge are derived from literature. Based on these requirements, the SWS2PDDL converter is developed that transforms the knowledge into formal Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL) descriptions. The approach’s usefulness is verified by a practical evaluation with a near real-world application scenario by generating failures in a physical smart factory and evaluating the generated re-planned production processes. When comparing the resulting plan quality to those achieved by using a manually modeled planning domain by a domain expert, the automatic transformation by SWS2PDDL leads to comparable or even better results without requiring the otherwise high manual modeling efforts.