Installation Issues Research Articles

Windings Fault Detection and Prognosis in Electro-Mechanical Flight Control Actuators Operating in Active-Active Configuration

One of the most significant research trends in the last decades of the aeronautic industry is the effort to move towards the design and the production of “more electric aircraft”. Within this framework, the application of the electrical technology to flight control systems has seen a progressive, although slow, increase: starting with the introduction of fly-by-wire and proceeding with the partial replacement of the traditional hydraulic/electro-hydraulic actuators with purely electro-mechanical ones. This evolution allowed to obtain more flexible solutions, reduced installation issues and enhanced aircraft control capability. Electro-Mechanical Actuators (EMAs) are however far from being a mature technology and still suffer from several safety issues, which can be partially limited by increasing the complexity of their design and hence their production costs. The development of a robust Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) system could provide a way to prevent the occurrence of a critical failure without resorting to complex device design. This paper deals with the first part of the study of a comprehensive PHM system for EMAs employed as primary flight control actuators; the peculiarities of the application are presented and discussed, while a novel approach, based on short pre-flight/post-flight health monitoring tests, is proposed. Turn-to-turn short in the electric motor windings is identified as the most common electrical degradation and a particle filtering framework for anomaly detection and prognosis featuring a self-tuning non-linear model is proposed. Features, anomaly detection and a prognostic algorithm are hence evaluated through state-of-the art performance metrics and their results discussed.

Sigflow: an automated and comprehensive pipeline for cancer genome mutational signature analysis.

SummaryMutational signatures are recurring DNA alteration patterns caused by distinct mutational events during the evolution of cancer. In recent years, several bioinformatics tools are available for mutational signature analysis. However, most of them focus on specific type of mutation or have limited scope of application. A pipeline tool for comprehensive mutational signature analysis is still lacking. Here we present Sigflow pipeline, which provides an one-stop solution for de novo signature extraction, reference signature fitting, signature stability analysis, sample clustering based on signature exposure in different types of genome DNA alterations including single base substitution, doublet base substitution, small insertion and deletion and copy number alteration. A Docker image is constructed to solve the complex and time-consuming installation issues, and this enables reproducible research by version control of all dependent tools along with their environments. Sigflow pipeline can be applied to both human and mouse genomes.Availability and implementationSigflow is an open source software under academic free license v3.0 and it is freely available at https://github.com/ShixiangWang/sigflow or https://hub.docker.com/r/shixiangwang/sigflow.Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Energy Efficiency Package for Tenant Fit-Out: Laboratory Testing and Validation of Energy Savings and Indoor Environmental Quality

Approximately 40% of the total U.S. office floor space of 1.5 billion sq.m (16 billion sq.ft.) is leased space occupied by tenants. Tenant fit-out presents a key opportunity to incorporate energy efficiency within the real estate business cycle. We designed a package of energy efficiency measures tailored to the scope of a tenant fit-out. This tenant fit-out package (TFP) includes advanced lighting and heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) controls as core measures, with ceiling fans, automated shading, and plug load controls as additional optional measures. We conducted laboratory testing of six configurations of the package to evaluate energy savings, indoor environmental quality, and identify installation, commissioning, and operational issues. Combined savings for HVAC, lighting, and plug loads ranged from 33–40%. Lighting savings ranged from 69–83%, and HVAC savings from 20–40%. The laboratory testing also revealed some minor but tractable challenges with installation and commissioning of HVAC controls. Overall, the results demonstrate that significant savings can be realized in existing office buildings by incorporating relatively low-risk, proven measures at the time of a tenant fit-out.

Current practice of pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC): Still standardized or on the verge of diversification?

BackgroundPIPAC is a new treatment modality for peritoneal cancer which has been practiced and evaluated until very recently by few academic centers in a highly standardized manner. Encouraging oncological outcomes and the safety profile have led to widespread adoption. The aim of this study was to assess current PIPAC practice in terms of technique, treatment and safety protocol, and indications. MethodsA standardized survey with 82 closed-ended questions was sent online to active PIPAC centers which were identified by help of PIPAC training centers and the regional distributors of the PIPAC-specific nebulizer. The survey inquired about center demographics (n = 8), technique (n = 34), treatment and safety protocol (n = 34), and indications (n = 6). ResultsOverall, 62 out of 66 contacted PIPAC centers answered the survey (response rate 93%). 27 centers had performed >60 PIPAC procedures. A consensus higher than 70% was reached for 37 items (50%), and higher than 80% for 28 items (37.8%). The topics with the highest degree of consensus were safety and installation issues (93.5% and 80.65%) while chemotherapy and response evaluation were the least consensual topics (63.7 and 59.6%). The attitudes were not influenced by volume, PIPAC starting year, type of activity, or presence of peritoneal metastases program. ConclusionHomogeneous treatment standards of new techniques are important to guarantee safe implementation and practice but also to allow comparison between cohorts and multi-center analysis of merged data including registries. Efforts to avoid diversification of PIPAC practice include regular update of the PIPAC training curriculum, targeted research and a consensus statement.

مسئلہ نصب امامت کی اہمیت :ایک تحقیقی جا ئزہ

Allah has issued a series of Prophets for the guidance of humanity, the first link of which is Prophet Adam and last link is seal of the prophets Mohammad peace be upon him. After the demise of the prophet, it is necessary for the collective implementation of Shariah that the common Muslims may appoint an eligible and competent individual from themselves as the head who could enforce the comma-ndments of Shariah collectively. This chosen individual is called "Imam" and the office he serves is called "Higher Imamate" or "Caliphate". In the following essay, the same issues of installation of Imamate and its relatives have been reviewed.

IMPROVING CONSTRUCTION PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: CONTRACTOR APPROACH

Achieving project success remains the aim of every project sponsor. The sponsor engages different professionals in the built environment to this end. However, unforeseen factors modify agreed terms, causing delay and leading to loss of time and money. Delay causes an overrun of cost and time having a heavy financial burden on the client and other stakeholders involved in the project. Most times, the contractor is always the focus when this happens. At many other times, other stakeholders, who failed in their obligations, only surface after a study of the contract conditions is carried out. Thus, this study examines project performance in the construction industry in Nigeria, but from a contractor’s perspective. The study adopts a survey research design. A total number of 75 questionnaires were administered to contractors, who were members of the Federation of Construction Industry and other private sector organizations, but 37 were successfully retrieved and analyzed. The result shows that to improve construction project performance in developing countries, the following issues need to be tackled: design and installation issues, payment issues and construction difficulties arising from incomplete designs by consultants. The study recommends, among other solutions, the incorporation of contractors from the project planning phase and adoption of BIM, which is presently not prevalent in the industry.

Advanced Design of a Full-Scale Active Morphing Droop Nose

This paper describes the design of a morphing droop nose conceived to increase the performance in high-lift conditions of a twin-prop regional aircraft, while ensuring the natural flow laminarity of the wing. Starting from the results obtained in a previous phase, mainly concerned with the performance augmentation, a detailed structural design is conducted. The main aim is the achievement of a feasible solution based on the use of conventional materials, such as aluminium alloy for the internal structure and glass-fibre for the skin. A finite element model of the complete device is generated for the three-dimensional shape quality evaluation and for the skin structural verification. Stress analyses on high-fidelity models of the single adaptive ribs are also performed. At the same time, various design aspects are evaluated, such as installation and inspection issues, actuation power, and weight considerations. All these requirements contribute to the definition of an advanced and complete solution for the device, up to the realization of a detailed CAD model. Final verification on the virtual prototype assesses the functionality of the device when attached to the wing-box. Moreover, the bird impact safety of the leading edge is demonstrated according to the certification rules.

Considerations of Photovoltaic System Structure Design for Effective Lightning Protection

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are susceptible to lightning strikes. During a lightning strike, an induced overvoltage is generated in the PV system. This overvoltage can damage the inverters connected to the dc cables. In this article, a comprehensive study is presented to address the installation issues that will influence the induced voltage between the +dc and -dc cables in the PV system. By using the partial element equivalent circuit method, the skin effect and ferromagnetic property of the mounting structures are well modeled. The wiring in the PV module is also considered in the simulation. The influences of the mounting systems, lightning protection systems, PV frames, and dc cable arrangements are thoroughly investigated. The simulation results and discussions provide guidance for PV structure design for maximizing lightning protection performance without adding additional protective devices.

Fiber-based daylighting system using trough collector for uniform illumination

A lot of research attention has been given to collect sunlight through solar concentrators for indoor illumination. Traditional, parabolic trough as a line focus with single array of fibers had mechanical design and installation issues. Here, a novel daylighting system is proposed to transmit maximum light into the optical fibers using parabolic trough as the primary collector and nonimaging reflector as the secondary reflector. The proposed system increases light levels, improves installations difficulties, and maintains long-term reliability. All modules are designed and verified through raytracing simulation for calculating the efficiency and achieving the required light-levels. The proposed trough-based design inserts maximum light into the fiber bundle, which is placed at the center of the trough. Further, the fiber-coupled bi-layer prismatic optical diffuser provides relatively high uniform illuminance distribution. Simulation results have shown that the light concentration of 285, an optical efficiency of 42%, and an acceptance angle of ±1.1° are achieved that are better than that of previous trough-based daylighting system.

Technology of installation and dismantling of soft synthetic fencing rod spatial dome

This article deals with the issues of prevention, installation and dismantling of removable tent fencing, with an area of 1250 m2, space-rod dome with a diameter of 43 m of a multi-purpose public center: dining room, cinema-concert and conference hall for 600 seats, dance floor for up to 1000 people. Subject of research: installation and dismantling works on soft synthetic fencing of the dome - shaped structure of the public center. Objectives: to determine the technological sequence and take into account the nuances of the process of operation, installation and dismantling of soft synthetic fencing of the spatial dome of the public center.

Three-dimensional effects of trailing edge flap and winglet integrated on up-scale wind turbine blade

Wind turbines must generate wind power cost-effectively for the wind power to remain viable and competitive among other renewable resources. The rotor diameter continues increasing in size to capture more energy to reduce the costs of wind power. However, the size of the rotor diameter is expected to reach limit due to restrictions related to the rotation of the entire blades, transport, and installation issues. This study, therefore, seeks to compare the effects of trailing edge flap and winglet embedded on the up-scale wind turbine blade. The investigated configurations are blade with winglet, blade with trailing edge flap and blade with a combination of the winglet and trailing edge flap. A straight blade of the NREL 5MW wind turbine was used as a benchmark to quantify effects of trailing edge flap and winglet. All simulations were performed using the ANSYS FLUENT. The steady pressure-based solver in absolute velocity formulation modelled the flow over the blade surfaces governed by Reynold-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations closed with the k – ω SST turbulence model. Blades with trailing edge flap and combined trailing edge flap and winglet show similar effects in comparison of pressure coefficient at 0.32R, 0.60R and 0.92R. Blade with a winglet generates the highest aerodynamic torque, while blade with trailing edge flap decrease most of the flap-wise bending moment. The blade with combined trailing edge flap and winglet can serve as an alternative design for improving the wind turbine performance. That is, at the normal operating condition the trailing edge flap can be held at its neutral position whenever increment of the power is the primary target.

A fuzzy-based occupational health and safety risk assessment framework and a case study in an international port authority

Ports are complex systems that play a crucial role in the transportation of maritime-related products and services. Since ports face various safety issues in design, installation, operation and maintenance processes, there are many aspects open for improvement in Occupational Health and Safety risk assessment and it is required to deal with risks, reduce them to an acceptable level and control. To struggle with emerging risks and manage this process better, a risk assessment framework is proposed for ports in this study. A case study is performed in a Turkish international port authority using the proposed framework. Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), which is a commonly used fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method, was used in weighting two risk factors: likelihood and severity. The orders of priority of hazards were then determined by a fuzzy-based VIKOR method based on the output of FAHP. The proposed framework overcomes some drawbacks, including a lack of assignment on the weight to two risk assessment factors and lack of the high dependence of the prioritisation on the experts’ opinions. To validate the results, a sensitivity analysis was conducted. In conclusion, the study contributes to the applicability of the proposed framework to assess the risks in ports and provides a distinct risk prioritisation.

Design and Testing of a New Force-Sensing Cell Microinjector Based on Soft Flexure Mechanism

Cell microinjection plays an important role in biological and medical fields. As compared with manual cell microinjection and position-based robotic cell microinjection, force-assisted robotic cell microinjection can improve the success rate and survival rate of the injected cells. In this paper, a novel force-sensing cell microinjector is proposed with a piezoresistive force sensor embedded in soft-material-based flexure mechanism. The soft flexures act as fixed-guided beams, which are introduced to achieve the force measurement with high sensitivity in pure one-degree-of-freedom direction. The microinjector is developed by considering the installation and replacement issues of the micropipette and the connection between the micropipette and the tube of compressed air. Four different prototypes of the cell microinjector with force sensor are fabricated, calibrated, and compared. Results show that the resolution and measurement ranges of an embedded force sensor are 0.65 mN and 16.5 mN, respectively. Experimental study on microinjection of crab eggs is conducted to validate the performance of the fabricated microinjector in practice.

Unitised timber envelopes. A novel approach to the design of prefabricated mass timber envelopes for multi-storey buildings

Tall timber building is today both possible and desirable due to the advantages that timber construction offers the industry in terms of productivity gains and sustainable development. Prefabrication certainly represents a unique opportunity for timber technologies to lead the construction sector's shift towards a more industrialised approach, and new solutions need to be put in place for future generations of tall timber buildings. This paper examines the design of newly-conceived timber-based envelope systems for multi-storey buildings, which are fully preassembled off-site to maximise construction efficiency and safety. The prefabricated external wall assemblies are provided with all functional layers (including windows and cladding) to enable site installation from the constructed floor without scaffolds or any action from the outside of the building. An aluminium/gasket frame system is integrated within the external walls to guarantee air and water tightness at panel interfaces and guide the installation of the “mega-panels” on-site. The technical solution is presented in the form of 2D technical drawings and a three-dimensional model, developed for the application in a load bearing CLT-based envelope configuration. A full-scale (though small-size) mock-up was assembled to account for fabrication and installation issues, as well as to demonstrate the versatility of the solution for the use-case of a non-load bearing curtain wall configuration. The research innovation is found in the systematic and novel design approach to the development of industrialised timber-base envelopes, rather that in the specific instance of the design outcome presented and analysed here. This is a particularly important innovation because, as the key mitigating barrier for buildings, envelope design is context-related and has to be conducted on a case by case basis. This article presents the most substantial design outcome of the first author's doctoral research and is now being further developed as part of an industry embedded research project investigating industrialised construction and tall timber buildings.

Decision Support for existing buildings: an LCC-based proposal for facade retrofitting technological choices

The goal of this paper is to present a usable and effective tool to evaluate residential façade retrofitting solutions in early stages of design, keeping into account envelope features and installation issues. Decarbonisation goals set for 2050 impose existing building stock renovation and energy retrofit. Several drivers are available in EU Countries to trigger these operations. Nonetheless, the renovation rate in EU Member States remains low: barriers to building retrofit are identified, and a main issue in this sense is the lack of use of Decision Support Systems. DSS exist but are often neglected by building designers or owners, due to different reasons. Existing methodologies do not take into account the quantity and quality of information available at the various stages of building life cycle; furthermore, they mainly focus on energy related aspects, neglecting technological and installation related factors. This paper aims at providing an LCC-based decision framework to help decision makers in early stages of design to choose the most suitable technology for building façade retrofitting. A Utility Function expressing LCC for residential building renovation is provided, focusing on façades renovation and on installation and morphology related aspects. Information and data flow through the phases is presented and discussed, showing how the proposed method can be adapted to different stages, and testing its robustness through sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. Three main categories of renovation technologies are analysed (ventilated façade, ETICS, and prefabricated solutions). The proposed method is applied to a residential case study building. The adaptability of the tool to different stages of design is discussed, and further potential applications are presented.

Nickel-Catalyzed Decarboxylative Alkenylation of Anhydrides with Vinyl Triflates or Halides.

Decarboxylative cross-coupling of aliphatic acid anhydrides with vinyl triflates or halides was accomplished via nickel catalysis. This methodology works well with a broad array of substrates and features abundant functional group tolerance. Notably, our approach addresses the issue of safe and environmental installation of methyl or ethyl group into molecular scaffolds. The method possesses high chemoselectivity toward alkyl groups when aliphatic/aromatic mixed anhydrides are involved. Furthermore, diverse ketones could be modified with our strategy.

ORCA: a comprehensive bioinformatics container environment for education and research.

SummaryThe ORCA bioinformatics environment is a Docker image that contains hundreds of bioinformatics tools and their dependencies. The ORCA image and accompanying server infrastructure provide a comprehensive bioinformatics environment for education and research. The ORCA environment on a server is implemented using Docker containers, but without requiring users to interact directly with Docker, suitable for novices who may not yet have familiarity with managing containers. ORCA has been used successfully to provide a private bioinformatics environment to external collaborators at a large genome institute, for teaching an undergraduate class on bioinformatics targeted at biologists, and to provide a ready-to-go bioinformatics suite for a hackathon. Using ORCA eliminates time that would be spent debugging software installation issues, so that time may be better spent on education and research.Availability and implementationThe ORCA Docker image is available at https://hub.docker.com/r/bcgsc/orca/. The source code of ORCA is available at https://github.com/bcgsc/orca under the MIT license.

Evaluation of Classical Operators and Fuzzy Logic Algorithms for Edge Detection of Panels at Exterior Cladding of Buildings

The automated process of construction defect detection using non-contact methods provides vital information for quality control and updating building information modelling. The external cladding in modular construction should be regularly controlled in terms of the quality of panels and proper installation because its appearance is very important for clients. However, there are limited computational methods for examining the installation issues of external cladding remotely in an automated manner. These issues could be the incorrect sitting of a panel, unequal joints in an elevation, scratches or cracks on the face of a panel or dimensions of different elements of external cladding. This paper aims to present seven algorithms to detect panel edges and statistically compare their performance through application on two scenarios of buildings in construction sites. Two different scenarios are selected, where the building façades are available to the public, and a sample of 100 images is taken using a state-of-the-art 3D camera for edge detection analysis. The experimentation results are validated by using a series of computational error and accuracy analyses and statistical methods including Mean Square Error, Peak Signal to Noise Ratio and Structural Similarity Index. The performance of an image processing algorithm depends on the quality of images and the algorithm utilised. The results show better performance of the fuzzy logic algorithm because it detects clear edges for installed panels. The applications of classical operators including Sobel, Canny, LoG, Prewitt and Roberts algorithms give similar results and show similarities in terms of the average of errors and accuracy. In addition, the results show that the minor difference of the average of the error and accuracy indices for Sobel, Canny, LoG, Prewitt and Roberts methods between both scenarios are not statistically significant, while the difference in the average of the error and accuracy indices for RGB-Sobel and Fuzzy methods between both scenarios are statistically significant. The accuracy of the algorithms can be improved by removing unwanted items such as vegetation and clouds in the sky. The evaluated algorithms assist practitioners to analyse their images collected day to day from construction sites, and to update building information modelling and the project digital drawings. Future work may need to focus on the combination of the evaluated algorithms using new data sets including colour edge detection for automatic defect identification using RGB and 360-degree images.

Pilot Study - Composite Risk Score for Pre-Transplant Risk Assessment in Patients Undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

Objective An internal pre-transplant risk assessment tool or Risk Monitor was developed by the Baylor Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) Data Management and Analytics team to assist with optimization of patient selection. The tool assigns a total risk score for allogeneic transplants based on attributes such as disease status, disease risk index (DRI), patient age, Karnofsky performance status (KPS), hematopoietic cellular therapy co-morbidity index (HCT-CI), and CMV status, along with psychosocial factors such as caregiver support, coping skills or motivation, health literacy, medication compliance, socioeconomic viability, distance of residence from the transplant center, as well as others. A retrospective pilot study was conducted to predict which attributes have the highest correlation with the primary outcome variable, post-transplant patient mortality. Method The Risk Monitor was developed using Microsoft Access (Microsoft®, Redmond, WA). A score of 0 (no risk) or 1 (risk) was assigned for each variable and an aggregate score was calculated for each patient (Figure 1). The data was analyzed using Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (Weka). Weka is an open-source data mining tool consisting of a collection of machine learning algorithms for data mining tasks. It contains tools for data preparation, classification, regression, clustering, association rules mining, and visualization. Results We evaluated the total risk score for 97 patients that had undergone an allogeneic stem cell transplant (SCT) at Baylor University Medical Center in 2016. The total risk score for the patients varied between 0 and 9. Weka provided us with a list of independent attributes with rankings based on the intensity of correlation with the dependent variable, early mortality. Evaluation of the data set suggests that one attribute (Total Score) has the highest correlation with mortality, while other individual attributes (KPS, CMV status, DRI, HCT-CI and psychosocial factors such as caregiver support, coping skills, and health literacy) demonstrated a moderate to high correlation (Figure 2). Conclusion The Risk Monitor can serve as a useful tool for screening adult patients prior to allogeneic transplant. In addition, the tool may help to identify patients who need additional screening and social support to minimize the possibility of early mortality after transplantation. The Access database has been transitioned to a web-based (SQL Server/PHP/JavaScript) application to overcome certain Access-related issues such as client software installation, file corruption and interface update issues. Furthermore, this will enable easy cross platform usage, enhance security, and allow more concurrent users.

A Rotating Machinery Fault Diagnosis Method Based on Feature Learning of Thermal Images

The rotating machinery plays a vital role in industrial systems, in which unexpected mechanical faults during operation can lead to severe consequences. For fault prevention, many fault diagnostic methods based on vibration signals are available in the literature. However, the vibration signals are obtained by using different types of sensors, which can cause sensor installation issues and damage the rotating machinery. In addition, this kind of data acquisition through vibration signal induces a large amount of signal noise during machine operation, which will challenge the later fault diagnosis. A recent fault detection method based on infrared thermography (IRT) for rotating machinery avoids these issues. However, the corresponding literature is limited by the fact that the characteristics of the manual design cannot characterize the fault completely so that the diagnostic accuracy cannot exceed the diagnostic method based on the vibration signals. This paper introduces a popular image feature extraction method into the fault diagnosis of rotating machinery based on IRT for the first time. First, capturing the IRT images of the rotating machinery in different states, and then two popular feature extraction methods for IRT images, bag-of-visual-word, and convolutional neural network, are tested in turn. Finally, the extracted features are classified to implement the automatic fault diagnosis. The developed method is applied to analyze the experimental IRT images collected from bearings, and the results demonstrate that the developed method is more effective than the traditional methods based on vibration signals.