Equipment Upgrades Research Articles

Development of a stakeholder identification and analysis method for human factors integration in work system design interventions – Change Agent Infrastructure

AbstractIn any work system design intervention—for example, a physical workplace re‐design, a work process change, or an equipment upgrade—it is often emphasized how important it is to involve stakeholders in the process of analysis and design, to gain their perspectives as input to the development, and ensure their future acceptance of the solution. While the users of an artifact or workplace are most often regarded as being the most important stakeholders in a design intervention, in a work‐system context there may be additional influential stakeholders who influence and negotiate the design intervention's outcomes, resource allocation, requirements, and implementation. Literature shows that it is uncommon for empirical ergonomics and human factors (EHF) research to apply and report the use of any structured stakeholder identification method at all, leading to ad‐hoc selections of whom to consider important. Conversely, other research fields offer a plethora of stakeholder identification and analysis methods, few of which seem to have been adopted in the EHF context. This article presents the development of a structured method for identification, classification, and qualitative analysis of stakeholders in EHF‐related work system design intervention. It describes the method's EHF‐related theoretical underpinnings, lessons learned from four use cases, and the incremental development of the method that has resulted in the current method procedure and visualization aids. The method, called Change Agent Infrastructure (abbreviated CHAI), has a mainly macroergonomic purpose, set on increasing the understanding of sociotechnical interactions that create the conditions for work system design intervention, and facilitating participative efforts.

Accounting support of the strategic analysis of activity of the extractive industry enterprises and development of quarries depending on solvency of buyers

The branch features of functioning the enterprises of the extractive industry influencing the organization of the account, the analysis and audit are established: limited stocks of minerals influence the actual period of functioning of the enterprise; seasonal demand for products; complex production; the location of the enterprise in relation to settlements must be consistent with the safety of the technological process for the environment, people; obtaining special permits for legitimate subsoil use. The elements of accounting policy as a tool for the actual reflection of contractual and depreciation policy in the financial statements are described. It was found that all surveyed companies apply a uniform depreciation policy. Given the seasonal nature of production and underutilization of capacity, it is proposed to move to the application of intensive depreciation policy. This will allow you to clearly plan the timing of equipment upgrades and the cost of own or borrowed funds for its implementation Stages of assessment of buyers’ solvency are offered. The first stage involves establishing the degree of implementation of agreements between buyers and the mining industry. The second stage involves determining the completeness of the provision of cash or non-cash proceeds from sales based on the establishment of correlations between the indicators of the statement of financial performance and the statement of cash flows. The third stage involves establishing the increase in receivables for sold products, goods, works, services for the reporting period and the share of the increase in receivables in the net income from sales for the reporting period.

Critical care medicine in the French Territories in the Americas: Current situation and prospects.

ABSTRACTHospitals in the French Territories in the Americas (FTA) work according to international and French standards. This paper aims to describe different aspects of critical care in the FTA. For this, we reviewed official information about population size and intensive care unit (ICU) bed capacity in the FTA and literature on FTA ICU specificities. Persons living in or visiting the FTA are exposed to specific risks, mainly severe road traffic injuries, envenoming, stab or ballistic wounds, and emergent tropical infectious diseases. These diseases may require specific knowledge and critical care management. However, there are not enough ICU beds in the FTA. Indeed, there are 7.2 ICU beds/100 000 population in Guadeloupe, 7.2 in Martinique, and 4.5 in French Guiana. In addition, seriously ill patients in remote areas regularly have to be transferred, most often by helicopter, resulting in a delay in admission to intensive care. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that the health care system in the FTA is unready to face such an epidemic and that intensive care bed capacity must be increased. In conclusion, the critical care sector in the FTA requires upgrading of infrastructure, human resources, and equipment as well as enhancement of multidisciplinary care. Also needed are promotion of training, research, and regional and international medical and scientific cooperation.

The sunk cost fallacy in the implementation of virtual medical education

Administrative decisions in the medical education are subject to the general theory of management, one of the key concepts of which is «sunk cost» – financial investment, time or other resource input that cannot be returned in the future. In medical education, these include investments in the construction, reorganization and reconstruction of buildings and premises, installations and upgrade of technologies, equipment and software, research and development, training and retraining of pedagogical personnel. One should avoid the sunk cost fallacy by not taking into consideration such non-returnable investment, when making a managerial decision on the implementation of virtual technologies into medical education.

Does high crude oil dependence influence Chinese military expenditure decision-making?

This paper employs the mixed frequency vector autoregression (MF-VAR) to discuss the causal link between crude oil dependence and military expenditure in China. The empirical results demonstrate that the crude oil dependence Granger causes military expenditure and accounts for 66.8% of the long-run forecast error variance decomposition. That means the MF-VAR model owns stronger explanatory and asymptotic powers than conventional VAR with single frequency data. Besides, the impulse-response analysis finds time varying relationship between crude oil dependence and military expenditure across four quarters within one year period. Therefore, the Chinese People's Liberation Army, especially its Navy, is needed to take responsibility and active activities to assure crude oil transport security. Government, enterprises and institutes should increase investment in military innovation to promote the upgrading of weapons and equipment. The peaceful rise strategy should be reasserted to construct harmonious international relations, which is helpful for crude oil security, foreign energy investment and reduce unnecessary military expenditure.

The Model Design of Medical Data Life Cycle Based on Big Data Platform

With the gradual popularization of the mobile Internet and the Internet of Things, people’s lifestyles have undergone profound changes. In the medical field, the demand for smart medical remote care is gradually increasing. The continuous upgrading and updating of medical equipment and the precision operation of inspection equipment have made medical information systems contain more and more types of data. Based on data lifecycle management theory and big data processing technology such as Hadoop, this paper designs a corresponding data lifecycle management model for children’s chronic kidney disease remote rehabilitation system. Its role is to manage the data reasonably, thereby increasing the availability of information systems and improving the efficiency of system storage devices.

Codigestion and combined heat and power systems energize wastewater treatment plants – Analysis and case studies

Wastewater treatment industry aims to transform from being an energy consumer to an energy producer by recovering energy embedded in wastewater. There are several ways to achieve energy self-sufficiency or energy-positive status in wastewater treatment plants. This paper presents an energy performance analysis of wastewater treatment considering both energy efficiency and energy recovery mechanisms. Various treatment scenarios based on wastewater characteristics, plant capacity, primary treatment efficiency, and supplemental feedstock are considered to evaluate the potential for energy recovery in wastewater treatment. Energy efficiency (process equipment upgrades), carbon capture enhancement through sludge removal in primary treatment unit and biogas production through the addition of supplemental feedstock are considered in the analysis. Codigestion and combined heat and power system integration is considered to enhance biogas production and in turn electricity and heat production from wastewater treatment. Case studies highlighting the progress of codigestion and CHP integration are discussed in detail to understand the impact of various feedstock and technology combinations. The study confirms that carbon capture in the primary treatment unit can contribute to downstream energy conservation as well as enhanced biogas production. The energy recovery potential in wastewater treatment also increased with organic strength of the wastewater and the treatment capacity. Further, the type of CHP unit, number and size are critical factors in optimizing the energy losses in the conversion process. Despite the codigestion challenges and the capital costs required for both CHP and codigestion systems, their integration still leads the way forward for energy-positive and cost-effective wastewater treatment plants.

Low-carbon production of iron and steel: Technology options, economic assessment, and policy

Summary Given increased urgency to transition the global economy to net-zero CO2 emission, governments and industry have increased focus on decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, including steel making, which contributes roughly 6% of global CO2 emission and 8% of energy-related emission (including power consumption emission). This paper reviews current global iron and steel production and assesses available decarbonization technologies, including hydrogen injection, solid biomass substitution, zero-C electricity substitution, carbon capture and storage (CCS) retrofit, and combinations of these decarbonization approaches. Blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) dominates production (71%) and is particularly stubborn to any decarbonization technology. Direct reduced iron to electric arc furnace (DRI-EAF) production is 5% and growing, it appears to have better decarbonization potential to move toward net-zero. Secondary steel production using mainly steel scrap in electric arc furnace (EAF-scrap) is 24% of global production and has both the lowest energy consumption and is technically simplest to decarbonize through electrification but is limited in market share to recycled steel capacity. Of the options assessed, blue hydrogen, carbon neutral biomass, and CCS appear to have the lowest cost and highest technical maturity. However, no single approach today can deliver deep decarbonization to the iron and steel industry and all approaches lead to substantial production cost increase. No uniform ideal solution exists, and different geographies, infrastructure, and economies will determine the local optimum solution with viability and cost. Policy measures will be required to provide financial incentives for decarbonization and to avoid unwelcome outcomes such as emissions leakage or job loss.

Multidimensional Classification for Systematization of Fish Processing Equipment

The paper dwells upon an approach to classifying fish processing machinery by means of cluster analysis. The classification presented herein helps optimize equipment upgrades and troubleshooting. The goal hereof is to analyze the fish processing machinery present in the market by means of cluster analysis. The paper covers fish dressing machines present in the fish processing market. The research methods include hierarchical cluster analysis, Euclidean distance, intergroup relations, and comparative analysis. SPSS is used to run calculations. The research has produced fish processing machinery clusters distinguished by performance, processable raw materials, and engine power; the research team has also tested a method for multidimensional classification for fish processing machinery analysis. These results are of use in a broad range of production tasks; they will be of interest for fish processing market analysts and machinery designers. Multidimensional classifications can be applied to arrange the production process, including selecting the most optimal equipment from a list of similar units.

Corrosion mechanism of reinforced bars inside concrete and relevant monitoring or detection apparatus: A review

It is widely acknowledged that corrosion of reinforced bars is a tremendous challenge against durability performance of reinforced concrete (RC) structures, especially under aggressive environment. Correspondingly, corrosion mechanism has been in-depth investigated all over the world, moreover, amounts of monitoring or detection apparatus have been developed in order to obtain or visualize the damage degree of corroded reinforcements inside concrete, which cannot be recognized by naked eyes. This paper aims to make a short review about corrosion mechanism as well as relevant morning or detection devices based on various physical backgrounds, which include optics, electromagnetism, acoustic, X-ray CT, radarand others. The result shows that much more studies are focusing on the development or upgrading of novel monitoring equipment against reinforcement corrosion, and a revised theoretical model is also putted forward based on non-uniform corrosion type for judging the corrosion-triggered cracks more accurately. Moreover, a suggestive idea has been raised about establishing an intelligent monitoring system which includes novel sensors, data collection and transmission device, and also evaluation procedure as well.

Top-down spatially-explicit probabilistic estimation of building energy performance at a scale

Achieving the energy-related and environmental targets for nations and municipalities is largely dependent on the existing built stock. It plays a pivotal role in the accomplishment of these targets through the implementation of energy efficiency and flexibility programs, involving the deployment of distributed energy resource management technologies, refurbishment of building envelopes and upgrading of indoor environmental control equipment. Spatial awareness about urban energy use enables to prioritise the areas where these solutions will be most effective and balanced with the plans for new constructions. Large-scale building energy mapping, however, must cope with heterogeneity of buildings within the built stock, absence of detailed information and multiple sources of uncertainty that stem from the complex and dynamic properties of the phenomenon at a building level. One of the key challenges in the discipline is to account for these uncertainties while maintaining the rational model complexities and data needs. This study, therefore, suggests a parsimonious top-down probabilistic modelling recipe to enable geospatial energy mapping and analysis. Under such modelling principles, an inverse propagation of uncertainties is carried out from the status quo of the built stock. The proposed framework is based on probabilistic sampling with prior parametric univariate density estimation and statistical hypothesis testing. Consolidation with the exogenous influencing factors is facilitated through the measure of statistically significant difference. This approach is exemplified with the data from two sources: the cadastral system and the energy performance certificates registry. A case study developed for Trondheim (Norway) quantified the central tendency and dispersion in the distributions of the simulated bulk total annual energy use by buildings per 1×1km grid cell over the urban territory. The results suggest that best estimates of these values vary between 11MWh·y-1 and 141GWh·y-1 depending on the grid cell. A measure of dispersion in the simulated results is highly correlated with these estimates. Robust handling of uncertainties and the possibility to accommodate a variety of modelling objectives make this approach practical for energy mapping with a flexible spatial resolution that may facilitate numerous applications in energy planning. A collection of methods for univariate density estimation discussed in this study together with the empirical data are accessible through Built Stock Explorer:https://builtstockexplorer.indecol.ntnu.no. This open web application for knowledge discovery in building energy data enables to reproduce some of the results presented in the article.

Substantiation of parameters of mine working drivage with blasting technique and cleaning charges in advance cutting holes

Drilling and blasting operations (D&B) are the most difficult and laborious operations in the process of mineral extraction, requiring permanent development and upgrading of methods and equipment. The aim of the study is to substantiate the parameters of drilling and blasting drivage of horizontal and inclined (up to 12o) mine workings on the basis of high-performance self-propelled equipment and new designs of box cuts with cleaning explosive charges (0.2 kg of 6ZhV ammonite), placed in advance holes of 65 to 105 mm in diameter. The paper presents the results of the analysis of practical experience and scientific achievements in the field of drilling-andblasting rupture of solid media and continuum mechanics. The need for new designs of box cuts, reliability of which in the formation of high-quality (clean) cut cavity reaches 0.95-1.00, was substantiated. New design options of box cuts have been developed, the peculiarity of which consists in provision of sufficient compensation (peripheral) volume with the use of blast hole cut charges for blasting rupture of trapezoidal partitions, with the compensation volume factor of 2.50 to 1.34. Promising areas of research were shown using the example of complicated structure ore deposits and large faults in the Kirovograd ore district and crystalline rocks of the Ukrainian shield at the following mines of Ukraine: PJSC KZhRK, CJSC Sukhaya Balka (Kryvyi Rih), Vostok-Ruda LLC, SE VostGOK (Zheltye Vody), CJSC ZZhRK, etc. Promising areas of research were proposed using the example of complicated structure ore deposits typically formed at the junction of large faults; besides, the use of environmentally friendly emulsion explosives and self-propelled emulsion explosive chargers was recommended.

EVALUATION OF ENERGY-EFFICIENT RETROFIT POTENTIAL FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICES IN INDIA

Introduction: High energy consumption by buildings is a great threat to the environment and one of the major causes of climate change. With a population of 1.4 billion people and one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, India is extremely vital for the future of global energy markets. The energy demand for construction activities continues to rise and it is responsible for over one-third of global final energy consumption. Currently, buildings in India account for 35% of total energy consumption and the value is growing by 8% annually. Around 11% of total energy consumption are attributed to the commercial sector. Energy-efficient retrofitting of the built environments created in recent decades is a pressing urban challenge. Presently, most energy-efficient retrofit projects focus mainly on the engineering aspects. In this paper, we evaluate various retrofitting options, such as passive architectural interventions, active technological interventions, or a combination of both, to create the optimum result for the selected building. Methods: Based on a literature study and case examples, we identified various energy-efficient retrofit measures, and then examined and evaluated those as applied to the case study of Awas Bhawan (Rajasthan Housing Board Headquarters), Jaipur, India. For the evaluation, we developed a simulation model using EQuest for each energy measure and calculated the resultant energy savings. Then, based on the cost of implementation and the cost of energy saved, we calculated the payback period. Finally, an optimum retrofit solution was formulated with account for the payback period and ease of installation. Results and discussion: The detailed analysis of various energy-efficient retrofit measures as applied to the case study indicates that the most feasible options for retrofit resulting in optimum energy savings with short payback periods include passive architecture measures and equipment upgrades.

ОСНОВНІ ЗМІНИ РИНКОВИХ ПОЗИЦІЙ ТА КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНОСТІ СВІТОВИХ АВТОМОБІЛЬНИХ ТНК В УМОВАХ МІЖНАРОДНОГО БІЗНЕСУ

The paper investigates changes in market positions and competitiveness of global automotive TNCs in the system of international business. Country, sectoral and corporate factors influencing the choice of investment and non-investment methods for the development of new markets by automobile TNCs were identified, and a study of the degree of their influence on the company's decision-making was carried out. The features of the development of key markets of countries in different geographic regions are highlighted. The analysis of quantitative and qualitative changes in the structure of production and sales of cars by European TNCs was carried out, which were the result of their active internationalization. Particular attention is paid to the "home" region of automobile TNCs, including the analysis of the specificity of environmental regulation of the location of automobile factories in the EU. It has been determined that the environmental aspect has become the most important element of the competitiveness of automobile companies. In the process, it was found that for the "home" region at the present stage, European automotive TNCs usually choose a strategy of mergers and acquisitions with exceptions in the form of joint ventures for the production of low-cost cars or greenfield-projects for luxury cars. In addition to acquisitions in order to strengthen their position in other markets, companies seek to specialize and get rid of non-core assets. The countries of Asia, Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East are considered by European automobile TNCs as the most promising for further development and production of their products there. Market development strategies and the choice of method of starting production there are largely determined by the peculiarities of their national legislation, the expected magnitude of demand and the stability of the political situation. At existing enterprises, if necessary, companies increase production capacity, invest in equipment upgrades, move from assembly to full cycle production, as well as increase the level of localization (including by investing in the construction of engine plants).

Research on ideological and political education methods in colleges and universities based on new media

Nowadays, the upgrading of mobile internet equipment has given a broad space for improvement on media technology, new media has quickly integrated into social production and life. College education is facing new changes in information dissemination. Through a detailed description of the characteristics of new media information dissemination, this article points out the current opportunities for the development of ideological and political education in its environment in my country. It explores new teaching methods from four perspectives: teaching concepts, teaching mechanisms, teaching resources, and teaching methods. It is vital to enhance the improvement on teaching effects.

Результаты эксплуатации аппаратуры МСУ-ГС на КА «Электро-Л» № 3 и перспективы ее дальнейшего развития

The paper is devoted to the description of the technical evolution of the MSU-GS equipment installed on spacecraft of the Elektro-L series. The MSU-GS equipment is designed for imaging the Earth from a geostationary orbit in the visible and infrared spectral ranges with a resolution of 1 to 4 km at intervals of up to 15 minutes. The problems identified during the operation of the equipment on the Elektro-L No. 2 spacecraft are described. The main problem was the insufficient cooling of infrared photodetectors. The operation of the passive system for radiation cooling of infrared radiation detectors is described in detail. The modernization of this system made it possible to reach the required photodetector temperature values on the Elektro-L No. 3 spacecraft. The main results of MSU-GS operation on the Elektro-L No. 3 spacecraft are presented. The modernization of the equipment made it possible to significantly improve the quality of information from infrared channels in comparison with the Elektro-L No. 2 spacecraft. Much attention is paid to assessing the possibility of improving the scanning efficiency. Possible future upgrades of the MSU-GS equipment and the Elektro-L series spacecraft can improve the full Earth disk coverage characteristic to up to 5 minutes, which exceeds the characteristics of best foreign counterparts.

Decriminalization of the agro-industrial complex as the most important factor in ensuring food security

Purpose: The purpose of current work is to study the decriminalization of the agro-industrial complex as the most important factor in food security, as well as a way to solve problems affecting the state of food security of the Russian Federation, problems of legal support of national priorities related to food independence. Design/methodology/approach: The methodological basis of the research was formed by general scientific and private scientific methods. Findings: Today the agro-industrial sector is faced with a fundamentally new socio-economic and political-legal situation. It is not coordinated with the state policy in the field of agriculture, food production and food security, although initially this policy is intended to be a tool for the development, maintenance and functioning of the agro-industrial complex. Originality/value: The conducted research allowed us to draw the following conclusions: given the significant contribution of the agro-industrial complex to the national economy, it is self-sufficient and can develop independently; federal spending on said government support should provide agricultural producers with a margin that provides incentives to improve worker efficiency and an affordable credit system for the technical and technological upgrades of equipment needed to produce competitive goods; issues of increasing the competitiveness of agricultural products require solutions, first of all, at the federal legislative level.

The economic impacts of China's differential electricity pricing policy: Evidence from energy-intensive firms in Hunan Province

Differential Electricity Pricing (DEP), an energy-saving policy promulgated by China's central government for energy-intensive industries, has made great achievement in energy conservation and emission reduction. We investigate the economic effects of DEP policy using the Difference-in-Differences approach and Discrete-Time Hazard model. Based on the micro data of manufacturing firms in Hunan Province, our research found that the DEP policy has led to a decline in their output, revenue and profits. Further research found that the DEP policy has led to a decrease in employment, but hardly affected fixed assets and the probability of exiting the market. After adopting DEP policy, firms accelerate equipment upgrades but create more excess production capacity. We provide reference for a comprehensive evaluation of DEP policy.

Archiving white community historical manuscripts in postcolonial Zimbabwe

This paper is premised on the observation that mainstream archival activities are the main cause and source of the “absences and silences” of the voices of the minority and the underrepresented in the archives. The aim of the study is to explain the context and documentation strategies of archiving and preservation of Historical Manuscripts (HM) of the white community in post-colonial Zimbabwe. In particular, the study seeks to: (a) Determine the legislative, regulatory framework for the management of HM in selected cultural heritage institutions in Zimbabwe; (b) Assess the acquisition policies and practices of mainstream cultural heritage institutions in Zimbabwe; (c) Describe the usage, purposes, and accessibility of both pre-archival and archival HM of the white community. The findings of the study revealed adequate provisions in the National Archives of Zimbabwe Act (2001) for the archiving of HM of the white community in Zimbabwe, although there were limitations of outdated policies for the institutions studied. The study also addressed the issue of limited funding and shrinking budgets which impeded on the operations of both selected cultural heritage institutions and white community associations. This resulted in failure to adhere to archiving/records management standards, and the upgrading of equipment and facilities, as well as the recruitment and retention of requisite and qualified staff. Overall, this endangers the HM collections to neglect and decay. HM were migrated from Zimbabwe to other countries regionally and abroad into private hands, and their extent, nature, condition of storage and status of preservation are undetermined.

Prospects of Indian direct investments in Russian economy

The article examines major trends and prospects regarding the Indian direct investment in the economy of the Russian Federation. The authors comprehensively analyze key factors, the scale, regional and sectoral composition of the Indian direct investment in the Russian economy, scrutinize the evolution of sectoral and regional composition of the Indian FDI, as well as define main challenges and obstacles that investors from India face in Russia and identify medium-term prospects for the Indian capital in the Russian Federation. The research shows that in the current circumstances the significance of the Indian capital in form of direct investment for Russia is substantially growing; its regional presence is steadily increasing; the sectoral diversification of the Indian investment is intensifying. The important indicator in this case is the quality of the Indian capital, its gradually increasing high-technology component. Not only the scale of the Indian direct investment in the Russian economy is changing, but also there is the rise in number of companies investing in Russia. At the same time, if in the early 2000s those companies were mainly large Indian MNCs, nowadays there is an increased interest in Russia among small and medium-sized high-technology enterprises of India that promote innovative development of the Russian regions. Of utmost importance is the fact that the Indian capital is also invested in small-scale industry, promoting upgrade of technological equipment of small and medium-sized enterprises in Russia. These noticeable changes in the Indian capital movement will substantially contribute to enhanced economic cooperation between the two countries.