Performance Evaluation Of Facilities Research Articles

Development of Methods for an Overhead Cable Health Index Evaluation That Considers Economic Feasibility

To supply stable and high-quality power according to the advancement of industrial growth, electric power companies have performed maintenance of power facilities using various methods. In the case of domestic power distribution facilities, there are limitations in performing diagnostic management on all facilities owing to the large number of facilities; therefore, old facilities are managed using the health index assessment method. The health index assessment comprises only facility operation data and external environmental data and is managed only for four types of distribution facilities including overhead/underground transformers and switchgears. In the case of high voltage overhead lines, there are a large number of wires such as transformers and switchgears connected to the lines, and the ripple effect of power outages is large. However, in Korea, there is no overhead line health index standard. In overseas cases, a health index for overhead lines was developed, but only the material characteristics and surrounding environment of the overhead lines were considered and economic feasibility was not considered. Therefore, in this paper, we developed a health index evaluation methodology for ultra-high voltage overhead lines that considers economic feasibility. In this paper, unlike the existing health index evaluation method that uses only operational data and external environmental data to determine facility performance evaluation and aging replacement standards, we developed an economic health index evaluation methodology that additionally considers failure probability and risk costs. Using the health index assessment methodology developed in this paper, it is possible to expect a reduction in facility operating costs and investment costs from the perspective of the electric power companies through the replacement of old extra-high voltage overhead cables. In addition, from the perspective of consumers, it is expected to increase power reliability and reduce the ripple effect of failure by preferentially replacing equipment with a high probability of failure.

Enriched and discriminative convolutional neural network features for pedestrian re‐identification and trajectory modeling

AbstractUnderstanding pedestrian flow patterns in urban areas could support the decision‐making for infrastructure planning. By incorporating computer vision techniques into surveillance video processing, human walking trajectories in a wide area could be identified by pedestrian re‐identification (ReID) across multiple cameras. Recent ReID methods mostly use convolutional neural networks equipped with deep learning techniques to extract discriminative human features from images for identity matching. However, they still suffer from realistic challenges such as occlusion and appearance variation. This paper develops a ReID‐based framework for pedestrian trajectory recognition across multiple cameras. Specifically, a generic approach of explainable model design is presented, which intuitively analyzes existing baseline models based on feature visualization. Hence, a new model named OSNet + BDB is developed that extracts discriminative‐and‐distributed features. Additionally, an incremental feature aggregation strategy is designed for more robust identity matching. Our ReID method notably outperforms its baselines by 4% identification F1 accuracy in public benchmarks. Practically, pedestrian flow statistics in a real building are extracted for behavioral modeling. Simulations of several what‐if layouts are then conducted for facility performance evaluation.

Facility performance evaluation to develop heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system design and operation strategies for an office building in Mongolia

A facility performance evaluation (FPE) study was applied to an occupied office building in Mongolia that would be replaced by a new building. The purpose was to identify indoor environmental quality (IEQ) problems and possible solutions in the current building to inform the design and operation of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system for the new building. The results show that the IEQ of the current building was poor due to high temperature, very low humidity and high CO2 concentration, and that the poor thermal uniformity and indoor air quality had caused the occupants’ discomfort. Opening windows by the occupants in winter was one of the problems that affected the thermal comfort and the energy efficiency of the building. Based on the findings of the FPE, this study recommended the design and operation strategies of the HVAC system for the new building to improve its IEQ.

A study protocol for performance evaluation of a new academic intensive care unit facility: impact on patient care

BackgroundHealthcare facility construction is increasing because of population demand and the need to replace ageing infrastructure. Research suggests that there may be a relationship between healthcare environment and patient care....

Indicator of Facility Performance Evaluation (FPE) for Educational Facilities of BTL Projects

Build-Transfer-Lease (BTL) was introduced to the domestic construction market in 2005. Now, seven years later, the BTL model is most active for educational facilities. In 2011, 93 educational facility projects entered the maintenance stage. Considering the characteristics of today's BTL projects for educational facilities, the main issues are the initial performance and maintenance of educational facilities and the service-providing status for the 20-year operational management period, in relation to providing safety and convenience to students, the facility users. Seeking a solution, local education offices and departments in charge of BTL under the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology have been exploring various methods of evaluating operational maintenance performance from various perspectives. For educational facility BTL projects, however, the appropriateness of initial operation performance evaluation, rather than considering the 20-year operational management period, is controversial in regards to sustainability. On this account, performance evaluation items in four areas-operational maintenance evaluation, facility performance status evaluation, maintenance subject evaluation, and sustainable change response evaluation-should be extracted. An indicator of facility performance evaluation is presented in this study through an AHP survey targeting experts, as part of establishing an operation performance evaluation system for educational facility BTL projects.

Seismic Performance Evaluation of Facilities: Methodology and Implementation

Performance-based earthquake engineering aims to quantify performance of facilities using metrics that are of immediate use to both engineers and stakeholders. A rigorous yet practical implementation of a performance-based earthquake engineering methodology is developed and demonstrated for an idealized building. The methodology considers seismic hazard, structural response, resulting damage, and repair costs associated with restoring the building to its original condition, using a fully consistent, probabilistic analysis of the associated parts of the problem. The methodology can be generalized to consider other performance measures such as casualties and down time, though these have not been pursued. The proposed procedure is consistent with common building design, construction, and analysis practices such that it can be readily adopted in earthquake engineering practice today.

Implementing a corporate environmental strategy: establishing coordination and control within multinational companies

AbstractThis article presents the results of an empirical study that investigated coordination and control within multinational companies over six key aspects of their environmental strategy. Specifically, it first examines the level of centralization of these key issues. Second, it investigates whether there is a positive relation between three variables associated with organizational complexity and the level of centralization of the environmental issues. Statistical analyses of the data obtained from a sample of 98 North American multinationals were conducted. The study's results revealed that most companies have adopted a global environmental standard to govern their worldwide business activities that is supported by strong central controls over both environmental performance evaluation of facilities and decisions regarding the development of environmental programs. Results also revealed that there are limited links between organizational complexity and most aspects of the environmental strategy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.