Operator Actions Research Articles

Transient Test-Based Techniques for Checking the Sealing of In-Line Shut-Off Valves and Capturing the Effect of Series Junctions—Field Tests in a Real Pipe System

In-line valves are devices typically used for isolation or flow regulation in pipe systems, playing a key role in the operational management of transmission mains (TM). However, there is no fast and expeditious procedure available for checking the efficacy of the sealing mechanism, and its ability to prevent leakage, unwanted flow or partial blockages, which is a crucial action for any maintenance operation. Due to the different values of the conveyed discharge, the diameter changes along the TM at a series junctions which therefore makes diameter changes a very common singularity. This paper has two aims. The first one is to evaluate the feasibility of Inverse Transient Analysis (ITA) for checking the sealing of in-line valves. In particular, the primary objective of the numerical model is to identify the distinctive features of the measured pressure signals that correspond to the status of an in-line valve, discerning whether it is fully sealed or partially closed. The second objective is to use Direct Analysis (DA) of the pressure signals to appropriately capture the transient response of the series junctions. To address these issues, safe transients have been generated in a real TM by means of a Portable Pressure Wave Maker (PPWM) device, refined at the Water Engineering Laboratory (WEL) of the University of Perugia, Italy. The results of the field tests and numerical model point out that the positive pressure wave reflected by the in-line valve is smaller than the one expected if it were perfectly sealed. Moreover, the transient response of the series junction has been properly captured by the DA of the pressure signal. Accordingly, the proposed procedures have been demonstrated to be suitable tools for the management of long transmission pipelines.

Financing a dual capital-constrained supply chain: Profit enhancement and diffusion effect of default risk

Supply chain finance (SCF) benefits participants by alleviating capital constraints and generating additional profits but also brings a host of disadvantages. This study examines and compares how various SCF schemes affect participants’ profits and the contagion and diffusion effects of default risk in a dual capital-constrained supply chain. This study used a game theoretical approach to investigate a dual capital-constrained supply chain. The financially constrained manufacturer and retailer may be funded by bank credit or trade credit from their upstream participants, forming four financing structures. The findings suggest that although trade credit offered by the manufacturer brings more profits to the supply chain participants than bank credit, it increases the expected losses of the creditors and incurs both the contagion and diffusion effects of default risk. Pure bank financing cannot completely coordinate the supply chain but can control the contagion and diffusion effects of default risk. These effects are also weakened over time. The findings offer implications for participants who implement financing and operational actions to improve their performance and control the contagion and diffusion effects of default risk along a supply chain.

SYSTEMIC APPROACHES TO RATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF FUNCTIONAL MARINE TECHNICAL SYSTEMS AND COMPLEXES

In the present era, the development of effective and safe management methods for marine technical systems and complexes (MTSC) is gaining particular importance. The article, considering the continuous progress of science and technology, proposes the development of a comprehensiveapproach to the rational management of functional MTSC, integrating scientific strategies, automation, and intelligent systems.The main goal of the research is to create a framework structure of comprehensive measures for managing MTSC in conditions of partial internal and external uncertainty, with a special emphasis on the human factor and ergonomics in management. A deep risk analysis is proposed, including a review of the evolution of risk assessment methods, from intuitive to scientifically substantiated strategies, and the implementation of automated and intelligent systems in the processes of managing MTSC risks.The work focuses on the importance of creating a structural model of information support for MTSC, including the identification of key components focused on risks, studying internal and external factors affecting MTSC, and developing mechanisms for their monitoring and analysis. Significant attention is paid to the development of a scheme for ensuring rational management of MTSC in conditions of partial uncertainty, with an emphasis on creating adaptive management strategies.The importance of developing an intelligent decision-making model for MTSC is emphasized, which includes a detailed analysis of methods for intelligent data analysis specific to ship technical systems, the implementation of machine learning for dynamic ship management, and the development of criteria for management rationality.Finally, the article highlights the need to refine the method for deriving the coefficient of rational management of MTSC, including the development of models of interaction between operators and technical means to optimize interfaces and train operators.Thus, a comprehensive approach to managing MTSC is proposed, integrating scientific strategies,automation, intelligent systems, ergonomics, and considering the importance of the human factor. This approach aims to increase the efficiency, speed, accuracy, and safety of managing MTSC, especially considering the importance of monitoring the actions of ship operators. Keywords:rational management; ship technical systems; automation and intelligent systems; risk management; ergatic aspects; human factor.

Visual analysis of fatigue in Industry 4.0

The performance of manufacturing operations relies heavily on the operators’ performance. When operators begin to exhibit signs of fatigue, both their individual performance and the overall performance of the manufacturing plant tend to decline. This research presents a methodology for analyzing fatigue in assembly operations, considering indicators such as the EAR (Eye Aspect Ratio) indicator, operator pose, and elapsed operating time. To facilitate the analysis, a dataset of assembly operations was generated and recorded from three different perspectives: frontal, lateral, and top views. The top view enables the analysis of the operator’s face and posture to identify hand positions. By labeling the actions in our dataset, we train a deep learning system to recognize the sequence of operator actions required to complete the operation. Additionally, we propose a model for determining the level of fatigue by processing multimodal information acquired from various sources, including eye blink rate, operator pose, and task duration during assembly operations.

Drinfeld's lemma for F-isocrystals, II: Tannakian approach

We prove a Tannakian form of Drinfeld's lemma for isocrystals on a variety over a finite field, equipped with actions of partial Frobenius operators. This provides an intermediate step towards transferring V. Lafforgue's work on the Langlands correspondence over function fields from $\ell$-adic to $p$-adic coefficients. We also discuss a motivic variant and a local variant of Drinfeld's lemma.

A novel end-to-end vision-based architecture for agricultural human–robot collaboration in fruit picking operations

In the agricultural sector worldwide, there is a need for more human labor in fruit harvesting and processing operations, requiring advanced technologies like human–robot collaboration (HRC), where robots collaborate with humans to improve safety, efficiency, and productivity. In this context, we propose a new end-to-end vision-based detection, tracking, and classification (DTC) architecture enabling robots to assist human pickers in fruit-picking operations. The proposed solution includes using RGB-D camera perception, customized convolutional and recurrent neural network models, and pose estimation to detect, track, and classify the activities of human pickers from continuous streaming data captured in different seasons. It also provides a module for location estimation of the human pickers, allowing the robot to navigate to the estimated goal and assist them in real-time with logistic tasks during harvesting. The authors contribute a new video dataset of real fruit-picking operations under suboptimal conditions, which is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed solution. Simulation results, obtained from the collected experimental dataset, show that the overall time required to compute insights-to-action is around six seconds for challenging scenarios such as multiple human pickers in the scene. This research aims to establish a baseline, end-to-end AI pipeline of insight predictions to prescriptive robot actions in fruit-picking operations to reduce workers’ working time and physical fatigue in logistics operations in the field. The authors expect this study to be used further to improve and develop anticipatory scheduling of robots methodology to save time and energy for pickers in logistics activities. The vision-based DTC architecture presents a reliable and cost-effective solution to address the scarcity of human labor in agriculture by facilitating the collaboration between humans and robots in fruit-picking tasks, as shown by simulations in the ROS-Gazebo framework.

On control the chemical composition of raw material and melting mode to ensure the required mechanical properties of steel products of mass production

A The goal of the work is to create a mathematical model suitable for operational control of the strength characteristics of the resulting steel product in the conditions of serial steelmaking. Existing approaches based on the results of testing prototypes obtained in laboratory conditions are not suitable for this purpose, since in the conditions of serial steelmaking, the strength characteristics of products, in addition to their chemical composition, are affected by the structure of the metal and many other melting conditions. Approaches in which the structure of the metal is taken into account when making predictions also cannot be used, because obtaining parameters of the metal structure is possible only after casting and solidification of the steel, when operational control actions on the results of melting are no longer possible. The main idea of the study is to train a neural network on those data from a serial production process that directly or indirectly affect the mechanical characteristics of the resulting products and, thus, take into account the structure of the metal in an implicit way. It is noted that data collected under the conditions of existing mass production inevitably contain many statistical outliers, so the datasets were thoroughly cleaned using the author’s algorithm, which made it possible to create a neural network model suitable for practical use. Using the developed neural network model using the freezing method, the dependences of impact strength on the operating modes of the open-hearth furnace, melting conditions and chemical composition were plotted in graphical form. The study of the neural network model made it possible to identify some regularities of the simulated process, in particular, to establish that in the conditions of open-hearth production, the chemical composition does not play a primary role in the formation of the strength characteristics of products. As a result of studies of the neural network model, recommendations were obtained for increasing the impact strength of manufactured products and for removing some of them from reject by changing the melting conditions and the chemical composition of the metal.

Representations of frames via iterative actions of operators in tensor product spaces

Representations of frames via iterative actions of operators in tensor product spaces

Features of the process of water filling the barrel of a periodic-pulse fire extinguishing installation

In the work, research was carried out, which made it possible to reveal the peculiarities of the process of filling the barrel of the periodic-impulse fire extinguishing installation with water. At the same time, a mathematical model for simulating the processes of water injection into a pipe with subsequent crushing of water by a shock wave was substantiated and proposed. To simulate the processes of water injection and water crushing in the shaft of the installation, a VOF model (volume of liquid model) is used, according to which there is no penetration of one medium into another, and which is based on the surface tracking method applied to a fixed Euler grid. On the basis of the developed mathematical model in the ANSYS software environment, numerical studies of the process of filling the barrel of a periodic-impulse fire extinguishing installation with water were carried out. According to the results of a numerical study of the process of filling the barrel of the periodic-impulse fire extinguishing installation with water, a relatively high inertia in the time of the water injection processes in relation to the gas detonation processes occurring in the periodic-impulse fire extinguishing installation was revealed. In particular, the time interval between detonation cycles in the installation operating at a frequency of 23 Hz is about 43,5 ms. If we discard the purge cycle, then we have a time interval of 21 ms, during which it is necessary to inject water into the barrel of the intermittent-impulse fire extinguishing installation. According to the results of the above studies, we have that only the time for the spread of the stream of water from one side to the other side of the barrel of the periodic-impulse fire extinguishing installation is 8 ms. The conducted research makes it possible to investigate the influence of the parameters of the fire extinguishing installation on the formation of a finely sprayed water jet, and the obtained results will significantly increase the level of operational readiness of the personnel of fire and rescue units during operational actions to extinguish internal fires.

Learning Resource Center Organizational Programs and Facilities

The Organization of Learning Resource Centers (OLRC) acts as a supporting facility for the effectiveness and efficiency of the learning process, designed to provide convenience to students and teachers in utilizing learning resources. This research uses the literature study method by collecting information from various sources such as books, articles, journals, and relevant scientific papers. The purpose of the research is to find out the LRC program and facilities that support the effectiveness and efficiency of learning. The results showed that the LRC program involves at least three activities, namely Learning System Development, Learning Multimedia Development, and Learning Resource Needs Services. LRC, also known as media center, functions as an educational institution that provides facilities for planning, production, operation, and follow-up actions in the development of learning systems with physical and digital facilities following the times and technology.

Development of microcatheter tube extrusion angle estimation system using convolutional neural network segmentation

This study presents a deep learning-based monitoring system for estimating extrusion angles in the manufacturing process of microcatheter tubes. Given the critical nature of these tubes, which are directly inserted into the human body, strict quality control is imperative. To mitigate potential quality variations stemming from operator actions, a system utilizing a convolutional neural network to precisely measure the extrusion angle—a parameter with profound implications for tube quality—is developed. Until now, there has been no method to estimate the extrusion angle of resin being extruded in real-time. In this study, for the first time, a method using deep learning to estimate the angle was proposed. This innovative system comprises two RGB cameras capturing both front and side perspectives. The acquired images undergo segmentation via a meticulously trained convolutional neural network. Subsequently, the extrusion angle is accurately estimated through the application of principal component analysis on the segmented image. The usefulness of the proposed system was rigorously confirmed through comprehensive validation measures, including mean intersection over union (mIoU), mean absolute angle error (MAE), and inference time, using a real-world dataset. The attained metrics, with an mIoU of 0.8848, MAE of 0.5968, and an inference time of 0.0546, unequivocally affirm the system’s suitability for enhancing the catheter tube extrusion process.

Total Loss of Feedwater Analysis of Pressurized Water Reactor Using RELAP5

Abstract In Europe, the design extension conditions (DEC) were introduced after the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident as preferred method for giving due consideration to the complex sequences and severe accidents without including them in the design basis conditions. The objective of the study is to determine available elapsed time before core uncovery and needed DEC safety features for total loss of all feedwater (TLOFW) in a two-loop pressurized water reactor. RELAP5/MOD3.3 computer code has been used for calculations. The initiating event for TLOFW is multiple failures in which, in addition to the loss of main feedwater, the auxiliary feedwater is also lost. The scenarios without DEC safety features and the scenarios with DEC safety feature assumed have been simulated. The results showed that after TLOFW event initiation, it is very important to trip the reactor as soon as possible. In case of loss of offsite power, the reactor coolant pumps stop, and the reactor very quickly trips on low reactor coolant pump flow. When normal operation systems are assumed, the reactor trip occurs on low-low steam generator narrow level few tens of seconds after accident initiation, resulting in less time available before core uncovery occurence. The results for TLOFW scenarios with normal operation systems and DEC safety features assumed demonstrated that secondary side bleed and feed can prevent core uncovery in case when no operator actions are credited in the first 30 min of event. When primary side bleed and feed is used, less time is available for operator actions.

Adaptive Mechanisms of Health Zones to Chronic Traumatic Events in Eastern DRC: A Multiple Case Study.

The Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been affected by armed conflict for several years. Despite the growing interest in the impact of these conflicts on health service utilisation, few studies have addressed the coping mechanisms of the health system. The purpose of this study is to describe the traumatic events and coping mechanisms used by the health zones (HZs) in conflict settings to maintain good performance. This multiple case study took place from July to October 2022 in four HZs in the South Kivu Province of DRC. HZs were classified into "cases" according to their conflict profile: accessible and stable (Case 1), accessible but remote (Case 2), unstable (Case 3), and intermediate (Case 4). Eight performance indicators and the amount of funding provided to the HZs by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were recorded. A graph was created to compare their evolution from 2013 to 2018. A thematic analysis of qualitative data from individual interviews with selected health workers was conducted. Both battle-related events (war and its effects) and non-battle-related events (epidemics, disasters, strikes) were recorded according to the case conflict-profile. Although the cases (3 and 4) most affected by armed conflicts occasionally performed better than the stable ones (1 and 2), their operational action plan was poorly carried out. The coping mechanisms developed in cases 3 and 4 were the deployment of military nurses in preventive and supervisory activities, the solicitations of subsidies from NGOs, the relocation of health care facilities and the implementation of negotiation strategies with the belligerents. Armed conflict results in traumatic events that disrupt the execution of the operational action plan of HZs. The HZs' management team expertise, its strong leadership, and substantial financial support would enable this system to develop reliable and sustainable adaptive mechanisms.

Assessment of CATHARE code against DEC-A upper head SBLOCA experiments

Design Extension Conditions (DEC)-A assessments of the operating nuclear power plants are generally considered for the purpose of getting additional safety demonstrations of their capability to undergo conditions that are generally more severe than DBAs by features implemented in the design and accident management measures. The pursued methodology is generally based upon Best Estimate approaches aiming at verifying that the safety limits in terms of integrity of the barriers against eventual large or early releases of radioactive material are fulfilled. These aspects are nowadays being experimentally and analytically addressed within the OECD/NEA experimental projects like the ATLAS and PKL series where a set of DEC-A experiments are considered. In this paper, experiments related to SBLOCA at the vessel upper head of the pressurized vessel of ATLAS and PKL are analytically assessed using the CATHARE code. These experiments includes issues related to common cause failure of the safety injection system and operator actions for preventing core excessive overheating. It is shown that, on the one hand, the safety features embedded in the design together with the operator actions are capable to prevent the progression towards a severe accident state and on the other hand, the code prediction capabilities for such scenario are generally good but still to be enhanced.

Scenario analysis loss of heat removal from the spent fuel pool on nuclear power plant

The spent nuclear fuel storage system is designed to store and cool spent fuel for several years taking into account scheduled reloads and unloading of the entire core accumulated after use in a nuclear reactor. It consists of special pools or containers where spent fuel is placed for temporary storage before final treatment or disposal. These systems provide safe and efficient storage of spent fuel to prevent radioactive material from leaking into the environment and minimize risks to human health and the natural environment. The events that occurred during the Fukushima nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011, underscored the importance of safe storage of spent fuel in the spent fuel storage pool. Storage safety has therefore become a key aspect in this area. This article describes the heat sink loss calculations for the analytical substantiation of the emergency response instructions for the shutdown state of the Armenian NPP power unit No.2 using the RELAP5/Mod3.2 computer code. The initiating event in the event of loss of heat removal from the spent fuel pool is considered. The analysis of nuclear safety in the course of the development of a beyond design basis accident with a long NPP blackout was carried out in relation to the spent fuel pool of a power unit with a reactor plant WWER-440 (project V-270). The radiation consequences are estimated. The article provides calculations of the following accidents to determine the necessary actions of the operator: loss of heat removal from the spent fuel pool without operator action and loss of heat removal from the spent fuel pool from the organizations of subsequent make-up of the spent fuel pool with a boron cleaning pump (2NBO-2). The calculations are based on boundary and initial conditions corresponding to the assumptions of the «better estimate».

SEP Optimization of Power System Location and Timing Module Based on MLE-KNN Synthesis Algorithm

To ensure the safe operation of the power system, it is necessary to monitor and manage all kinds of power facilities. Real-time power monitoring can play a role in the early warning of geographical disasters. At the transmission end, the state detection and fault location of transmission lines are related to the normal operation of the power system. The precise time synchronization of the power system can be guaranteed through the satellite positioning time service, so that the time of various power operation actions is consistent. The accuracy can reach several microseconds, which provides a basis for the analysis of power grid operation. In this paper, by installing BeiDou functional modules in power equipment and developing the BeiDou operation platform for the distribution network, the precise management of power timing and positioning is realized by docking with the geographic information systems platform of the power grid. The three-dimensional sphere error probability (SEP) algorithm is selected to evaluate the positioning error data. Based on the three traditional SEP calculation methods, the maximum likelihood estimation algorithm is optimized and improved, which can achieve nanosecond synchronization accuracy. It can also be applied to other precision of synchronization scenarios of the power system to meet the development needs of the future clock system of the power system. Through the simulation of experimental data and comparison with other algorithms, the accuracy is verified and the reliable estimation of parameters is realized. Considering the information loss caused by dimension reduction evaluation, the simulation analysis in this paper is compared with other methods, and the accuracy is significantly improved. The power system positioning and timing module developed in this paper can not only be used in the power system but also has a certain reference and application value for other devices in the same industry that need timing and positioning services.

A Review of Approaches for Mitigating Effects from Variable Operational Environments on Piezoelectric Transducers for Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring.

Extending the service life of ageing infrastructure, transportation structures, and processing and manufacturing plants in an era of limited resources has spurred extensive research and development in structural health monitoring systems and their integration. Even though piezoelectric transducers are not the only sensor technology for SHM, they are widely used for data acquisition from, e.g., wave-based or vibrational non-destructive test methods such as ultrasonic guided waves, acoustic emission, electromechanical impedance, vibration monitoring or modal analysis, but also provide electric power via local energy harvesting for equipment operation. Operational environments include mechanical loads, e.g., stress induced deformations and vibrations, but also stochastic events, such as impact of foreign objects, temperature and humidity changes (e.g., daily and seasonal or process-dependent), and electromagnetic interference. All operator actions, correct or erroneous, as well as unintentional interference by unauthorized people, vandalism, or even cyber-attacks, may affect the performance of the transducers. In nuclear power plants, as well as in aerospace, structures and health monitoring systems are exposed to high-energy electromagnetic or particle radiation or (micro-)meteorite impact. Even if environmental effects are not detrimental for the transducers, they may induce large amounts of non-relevant signals, i.e., coming from sources not related to changes in structural integrity. Selected issues discussed comprise the durability of piezoelectric transducers, and of their coupling and mounting, but also detection and elimination of non-relevant signals and signal de-noising. For long-term service, developing concepts for maintenance and repair, or designing robust or redundant SHM systems, are of importance for the reliable long-term operation of transducers for structural health monitoring.

A policy ethnography study of a Singapore regional health system on its governance adaptations and associated challenges as a project organisation to implement Healthier Singapore

ObjectivesProject organisations reflect a modern and non-bureaucratic form of organising public-sector activities, which promises innovation, entrepreneurship, and order and control to bring about change. This study seeks to investigate the project organisation Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) Region Health System (RHS)'s approach to implementing the Healthier Singapore (HSG) strategy, including models of governance and perceptions of RHS leads, identify the challenges facing the RHS, and to draw insights into the conditions necessary for using project organisation as a policy tool in policy implementation. Study designWe adopted a policy ethnography approach to answering the research question. MethodsThe approach involved: (1) non-participant observation with fieldnotes taken during meetings, events, programme activities, and conferences concerning SingHealth and HSG implementation; (2) analysis of 52 organisational documents; and (3) interviews with 21 senior SingHealth leaders from the RHS Executive Committee, involved in envisioning and overseeing the production of RHS projects to align with the HSG strategy (March to September 2022). ResultsEvidence demonstrates the presence of multiple governance and interactive governance in HSG implementation, including legitimising the RHS as the project organisation; engaging the private corporations; incorporating the citizens; and working with non-governmental organisations. However, the RHS faced many challenges, ranging from governance, workforce, financing, IT infrastructure and care models, problem definition, primary care and legacy issues, knowledge management, and being pandemic-informed in its delivery. ConclusionThe RHS will need to address these challenges through the necessary constitutive, directive, and operational actions, and interactive governance to enhance its institutional capacity to implement the HSG Strategy.

Appealing against (Challenging) the Actions (Inaction) of a Non-Public Operator as a Special Way to Protect the Rights of a Gardener — Personal Data Subject

The paper is devoted to one of the most effective, but rarely used in practice, special methods of protecting the violated rights of the personal data subject in relation to gardeners, aimed at restoring violated rights and freedoms through appealing against the actions and/or inaction of a non-public operator. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the provisions of Art. 17 of the Federal Law of July 27, 2006 No. 152-FZ «On Personal Data» by means of the formal legal method and linguistic (grammatical) method of interpretation. It aims at not only giving a general description of this special method of protection, but also formulating the conditions for the gardener to exercise the right to judicial appeal against the actions/inactions of a non-public operator from the standpoint of the objective and subjective elements of the rule of law. The paper will be useful primarily for practicing lawyers and attorneys involved in the protection of the violated rights of gardeners — personal data subjects, whose garden land plots are located on the territory of closed dacha villages established on land plots appearing from land shares.

Energy Audit of Healthcare Facilities: Case Study in a Regional Hospital

Energy audit is one of the decision support tools that enables managers and project owners to identify energy-saving opportunities and quickly implement energy consumption management measures. In Morocco, healthcare facilities are among the high energy-consuming organizations at the national level. In this regard, the objective of this research work is to conduct of an energy audit mission in a Moroccan regional hospital, in order to analyze the current situation by focusing on anomalies or deficiencies observed in the facilities and premises of different care departments, and to identify potential targets for improving efficiency and reducing energy costs. Based on the energy diagnosis, it is evident that energy savings can be achieved through operational actions and reasonable investments in the medium term.