Product Performance Evaluation Research Articles

Spatiotemporal performance evaluation of high-resolution multiple satellite and reanalysis precipitation products over the semiarid region of India.

The present investigation evaluates three satellite precipitation products (SPPs), Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation (MSWEP), Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), Climate Hazard Infrared Precipitation with Station Data (CHIRPS), and two reanalysis datasets, namely, the ERA5 atmosphere reanalysis dataset (ERA5) and Indian Monsoon Data Assimilation and Analysis (IMDAA), against the good quality gridded reference dataset (1991-2022) developed by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The evaluation was carried out in terms of the rainfall detection ability and estimation accuracy of the products using metrics such as the false alarm ratio (FAR), probability of detection (POD), misses, root mean square error (RMSE), and percent bias (PBIAS). Among all the rainfall products, ERA5 had the best ability to capture rainfall events with a higher POD, followed by MSWEP. Both MSWEP and ERA5 had PODs of 70-100% in more than 90% of the grids and less than 35% of missing rainfall events in the entire Tamil Nadu. In the case of the rainfall estimation accuracy evaluation, the MSWEP exhibited superior performance, with lower RMSEs and biases ranging from - 25 to 25% at the annual and seasonal scales. In northeast monsoon (NEM), CHIRPS demonstrated a comparable performance to that of MSWEP in terms of the RMSE and PBIAS. These findings will help product users select the best reliable rainfall dataset for improved research, diversified applications in various sectors, and policy-making decisions.

Toward Sustainable Development: Exploring the Value and Benefits of Digital Twins

The complexity and number of data streams generated by internal processes exceed the capabilities of most current simulation environments. Consequently, there is a need for the development of more advanced solutions that can handle any number of simultaneous simulations. One of the most promising ideas to address these and other challenges is the concept of a Digital Twin (DT), which refers to a digital representation or a virtual model designed to accurately reflect an intended or actual physical product, system, or process (i.e., a physical twin). As a Digital Twin spans the life-cycle of its physical twin, its development and application can bring considerable benefits to organizations seeking to improve existing processes as well as implement new ones. However, few studies have comprehensively examined the value and benefits of Digital Twins. To fill this gap, this study aims to provide a better understanding of this technology by reviewing the contemporary literature, with a particular focus on the documented case studies, as well as reported business and industrial deployments. The results obtained show that Digital Twins have proven beneficial for maintenance, cost reduction, optimization, simulation performance, monitoring, product life-cycle understanding, assessment validation, performance evaluation, product design, and safety and risk mitigation. In addition, when considering the human factor, DTs can facilitate education and training, team collaboration, and decision making. Undeniably, Digital Twins are a game changer for safer, faster, and more sustainable development.

Laser-excited surface acoustic wave method for detecting subsurface damage of processed silicon nitride ceramics

The non-destructive testing for subsurface damage of processed silicon nitride ceramics is significant to the improvement of processing technology and evaluation of product performance. A novel method for the measurement of subsurface damage based on dispersion of laser-excited surface acoustics wave is proposed in this paper. The subsurface damage distribution is quantified as the damage density and depth of the damage layer. The forward model of surface acoustics wave propagation in damage layer is derived by the stiffness matrix method. Bayesian inversion is applied to estimate model parameters and uncertainties of subsurface damage from the experimental dispersion data. Laser ultrasonic experiments are carried out on four samples with different substrate material parameters and surface qualities to demonstrate the feasibility of the method for detecting varying degrees of subsurface damage. The results prove that with reasonable use of prior information about damage depth predicted by surface roughness, subsurface damage with a depth ∼10 times smaller than the minimum wavelength of surface acoustics wave is accurately characterized. The reliability of the results is further verified by Vickers microhardness tester.

Performance evaluation of multi-satellite rainfall products for analyzing rainfall variability in Abaya–Chamo basin: Southern Ethiopia

Performance evaluation of multi-satellite rainfall products for analyzing rainfall variability in Abaya–Chamo basin: Southern Ethiopia

A Review on the Incentive Mechanism for Green Innovation in Supply Chain

As economic development has shifted from high-speed development to high-quality development stage, environmental green development is closely related to the future of mankind, and the call of society to solve environmental problems and vigorously develop green economy is getting higher and higher. By combing and analyzing the current research progress on the incentive mechanism of green innovation in the supply chain, it is found that the current research direction mainly focuses on product pricing, strategy selection and performance evaluation in the green supply chain, and most of the research methods adopt game theory, but there are still diverse mathematical modeling details and specific research perspectives. On this basis, the research direction of supply chain green innovation incentive mechanism can be further expanded and extended.

An Analytical Method for Timely Predicting of Coal Seam Pressure during Gas Production for Undersaturated Coalbed Methane Reservoirs

Coal seam pressure is an important parameter for production performance evaluation and prediction of coalbed methane (CBM). CBM production from undersaturated CBM reservoirs can be divided into two stages according to critical desorption pressure. At present, few prediction models of coal seam pressure performance consider the comprehensive influence of critical desorption pressure, dissolved gas, matrix shrinkage, and stress sensitivity. For the purpose of accurately predicting coal seam pressure during gas production for an undersaturated coalbed methane reservoir, the material balance principle is used to establish the analytical method for predicting coal seam pressure, considering the comprehensive influence of the critical desorption pressure, dissolved gas, matrix shrinkage, and stress sensitivity. Then, the proposed method is verified against a numerical simulation case using a computer modelling group (CMG) and two actual coalbed methane wells. Finally, the sensitivities of influencing factors on the coal seam pressure are analyzed. The results show that good agreements were obtained between the calculated coal seam pressures using the proposed method and those from the CMG-GEM simulation case and actual CBM wells, with the relative errors all being less than 1%. When ignoring the influence of critical desorption pressure and mistaking pd for pi as well as ignoring Cs, the relative error can reach as high as 31.3%. The main factors affecting the coal seam pressure are the critical desorption pressure and free gas saturation. The proposed method is simple to use, and without shutting-in the well, it can provide an important basis for production performance evaluation and development strategies.

Numerical investigation of electricity generation potential by water circulating through three horizontal wells at Fengshun geothermal field in China

Fengshun geothermal field is the first medium and low temperature geothermal area in China, which is used for electricity generation. At present only vertical wells are employed to extract heat energy. After about 40 years of exploitation, the production temperature and rate are all declined. In this work, based on the hydrogeological data of the study area, the deep reservoir temperature and corresponding circulation depth of underground hot water are predicted with a silica thermometer. To fully develop the deep heat reservoir, we proposed a new heat exploitation scheme through three horizontal wells, computed the electricity generation potential and efficiency, and analyzed the main factors affecting heat production. The results indicate that under the reference conditions, the three horizontal well system attaches an electric power of 2.70–1.5 MW, a reservoir impedance of 0.13–0.27 MPa/(kg/s), a pump power of 0.29–1.16 MW, and energy efficiency of 7.34–1.30 during the reservoir lifetime of 43.6 years. Thus, this three-horizontal-well system has significant development potential in Fengshun deep geothermal reservoir. Sensitivity analysis indicates that water production rate, injection temperature and initial reservoir temperature have a significant impact on heat production performance. Reducing the water production rate and injection temperature within a certain range can improve energy efficiency. For the precise design of power generation systems and the accurate evaluation of production performance, field logging data is necessary.

Performance evaluation of carbon-negative syngas production via chemical looping reforming of methane from biomass pyrolysis volatiles

To realize the clean and efficient directional conversion of biomass, chemical looping reforming of biomass volatile CH4 based on a decoupling strategy is expected to carry out carbon-negative production of hydrogen-rich syngas. In this paper, a multi-functional oxygen carrier (NiFe2O4@SBA-16) for encapsulating the active metal oxide component NiFe2O4 with a three-dimensional interconnecting pore molecular sieve SBA-16 was designed. The experimental results showed that the modification strategy of composite metal oxide encapsulation improved syngas selectivity and CH4 conversion based on the fixed-bed reactor. 20 %NiFe2O4@SBA-16 showed 22.1 % CH4 conversion and 92.6 % CO selectivity under 750 °C, and it maintained good cycle stability after 15 cycles. The H2/CO ratio was effectively improved by adding part of CO2 into the feed gas, and the CH4 conversion reached over 35 %. This study provides essential data for the clean preparation of hydrogen-rich syngas from biomass and the development and design of multifunctional oxygen carriers.

Measurement of Agricultural Eco-Efficiency and Analysis of Its Influencing Factors: Insights from 44 Agricultural Counties in Liaoning Province

Agricultural eco-efficiency (AEE) considers economic and environmental benefits and is a key indicator of green agricultural development. To achieve the multiple goals of improving agricultural production efficiency, reducing agricultural environmental damage, and reducing the input of agricultural resources, this study enriches the case study of agricultural production performance evaluation at the county level by measuring the AEE of 44 agricultural counties in Liaoning Province based on panel data and a super-efficient slacks-based measure model including undesired outputs. A two-way fixed-effects model was used to analyze the impact of agricultural development, macro-environment, and policy support on AEE. We found that the average AEE of the counties in Liaoning Province in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 was 0.716, 0.735, 0.749, and 0.813, respectively, indicating a cumulative improvement rate of 13.55%. The average AEE levels gradually improved during the study period. Notably, the development of AEE among the counties was uneven. AEE was distributed in a “block-like” manner, and its local correlation presents a phenomenon of “small agglomeration and large dispersion”. In addition, the level of the agricultural economy, industrialization, and urbanization significantly promoted the improvement of AEE, and the promoting effects varied between different income levels and regions. Therefore, Liaoning Province needs to improve the AEE of each county according to local conditions and narrow the differences in AEE between counties. To continuously improve the level of rural economic development, lead the development of agricultural modernization with new urbanization, and comprehensively improve the overall AEE of counties. The research results are of guiding significance for deepening the study of AEE and can provide decision-making support for optimizing the mode of agricultural production and promoting the green development of regional agriculture.

Performance evaluation of multiple satellite rainfall products in mountainous catchment of Eastern Zimbabwe

Modelling of hydrological processes in mountainous terrain is challenging and remains complex. Addressing this challenge is complicated by the non-existence or sparse distribution rain gauges. In cases where the rain gauges exist, the data is incomplete and only describe point estimates yet the mountainous topography greatly influences the spatial distribution of rainfall. Satellite rainfall estimates (SREs) present an alternative source of rainfall data since estimates are continuous, timely and spatially distributed. This work provides a first performance evaluationof four high-resolution satellite rainfall estimates from Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Station Data (CHIRPS), Climate Prediction Center Morphing Technique (CMORPH), Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Network-Cloud Classification System (PERSIANNCCS) and PERSIANN-Dynamic Infrared Rain Rate near real-time (PDIR-Now). Satellite rainfall estimates were compared against ground-based measurements through statistical performance indicators and a rainfall-runoff model at a daily timescale. A daily ground-based rainfall dataset (1990–2019) obtained from Meteorological Services Department of Zimbabwe was used to evaluate the performance of SREs. Runoff data (2000–2009) obtained from Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) was used to calibrate and validate the HEC-HMSrainfall-runoff model at three gauging stations namely. F7, F11 and F18 runoff stations along Rusitu, Nyahode and Buzi rivers respectively. Statistical performance indices applied include Pearson correlation coefficient (r), Nash Sutcliff Efficiency NSE and bias. Statistical results show that SREs are weakly correlated to rain gauge-based measurements with CMORPH exhibiting a better correlation (r = 0.34). Hydrological performance evaluation results indicate an overestimation of flow by CMORPH-driven simulations with percentage bias (PBIAS = 3.1%). An underestimation of flow was observed in CHIRPS-driven, PDIR-Now-driven and PERSIANNCCS-driven simulations which had PBIAS values of -10.4%, -12.1% and -13.6% respectively. A similar pattern was observed in RVE values obtained from SREs-driven simulations. The study provides valuable perspectivesfor hydrological modelling in mountainous catchments in the region where data ground-based rainfall measurements are limited or unevenly distributed.

Development and Research on Incontinence Underwear for the Elderly

Abstract This study investigates the living conditions of elderly individuals with urinary incontinence and their usage of related products to assess their actual needs, including comfort, convenience, and affordability. Based on these findings, innovative design work was conducted, involving structural design, fabric preparation, and process selection. Ultimately, through product performance evaluation and refinement, the design requirements for comfort, convenience, and affordability were achieved. This research holds significant importance in addressing urinary incontinence issues among the elderly and can be applicable to individuals with restricted access to toilets or those engaged in prolonged activities. Furthermore, the study provides a valuable reference for designing and developing functional garments that cater to practical needs. With further production and market promotion, this research outcome is expected to yield greater value and impact on a larger scale.

Simulation with performance evaluation of photovoltaic production using long term monthly irradiation data

To adequately calculate photovoltaic (PV) energy production in most applications, long term hourly or sub-hourly solar radiation data are required. When such data is expensive or not easy to acquire, treat or handle, synthesis models could be employed with long term monthly data. However, there is no conclusive work about the effects on the quality of the result when a chain of synthesis, decomposition, transposition, and other models is used to estimate energy production using monthly input data. This article proposes a methodology that allows to select ensembles with well-integrated models for various applications. Using these techniques, an overview of the performance of seventy decomposition, transposition and synthesis models is presented. Besides, good model chains are selected, and the results validated through a comprehensive simulation procedure conducted for several climatic types. Tens of thousands of combinations of synthesis, decomposition and transposition models are simulated and compared to reference values. It concludes that, for some applications, correct treatment of monthly average data can bring results that are as suited for the purposes as multi-annual hourly data, but with the advantage of using more accessible and manageable data, in some cases coming from more accurate databases.

Choice Modeling of Laundry Detergent Data for Sustainable Consumption

Consumer choice modeling takes center stage as we delve into understanding how personal preferences of decision makers (customers) for products influence demand at the level of the individual. The contemporary choice theory is built upon the characteristics of the decision maker, alternatives available for the choice of the decision maker, the attributes of the available alternatives and decision rules that the decision maker uses to make a choice. The choice set in our research is represented by six major brands (products) of laundry detergents in the Japanese market. We use the panel data of the purchases of 98 households to which we apply the hierarchical probit model, facilitated by a Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation (MCMC) in order to evaluate the brand values of six brands. The applied model also allows us to evaluate the tangible and intangible brand values. These evaluated metrics help us to assess the brands based on their tangible and intangible characteristics. Moreover, consumer choice modeling also provides a framework for assessing the environmental performance of laundry detergent brands as the model uses the information on components (physical attributes) of laundry detergents. Through a comprehensive evaluation of product performance, including brand tangible estimation, we shed light on the sustainability attributes of laundry detergents, offering a roadmap for consumers and manufacturers alike to make more informed, environmentally responsible choices of laundry detergents based on their physical attributes. Knowing the estimates of the attributes for the laundry detergent products, manufacturers can modify their physical attributes, e.g., decrease the amount of the detergent needed for one wash while increasing the total weight of the laundry powder in the package. In this way, more ecology- and consumer-friendly decisions can be made by manufacturers of laundry detergents.

Development of Human Rhinovirus RNA Reference Material Using Digital PCR.

The human rhinovirus (RV) is a positive-stranded RNA virus that causes respiratory tract diseases affecting both the upper and lower halves of the respiratory system. RV enhances its replication by concentrating RNA synthesis within a modified host membrane in an intracellular compartment. RV infections often occur alongside infections caused by other respiratory viruses, and the RV virus may remain asymptomatic for extended periods. Alongside qualitative detection, it is essential to accurately quantify RV RNA from clinical samples to explore the relationships between RV viral load, infections caused by the virus, and the resulting symptoms observed in patients. A reference material (RM) is required for quality evaluation, the performance evaluation of molecular diagnostic products, and evaluation of antiviral agents in the laboratory. The preparation process for the RM involves creating an RV RNA mixture by combining RV viral RNA with RNA storage solution and matrix. The resulting RV RNA mixture is scaled up to a volume of 25 mL, then dispensed at 100 µL per vial and stored at -80 °C. The process of measuring the stability and homogeneity of RV RMs was conducted by employing reverse transcription droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (RT-ddPCR). Digital PCR is useful for the analysis of standards and can help to improve measurement compatibility: it represents the equivalence of a series of outcomes for reference materials and samples being analyzed when a few measurement procedures are employed, enabling objective comparisons between quantitative findings obtained through various experiments. The number of copies value represents a measured result of approximately 1.6 × 105 copies/μL. The RM has about an 11% bottle-to-bottle homogeneity and shows stable results for 1 week at temperatures of 4 °C and -20 °C and for 12 months at a temperature of -80 °C. The developed RM can enhance the dependability of RV molecular tests by providing a precise reference value for the absolute copy number of a viral target gene. Additionally, it can serve as a reference for diverse studies.

Performance Evaluation of GPM IMERG Precipitation Products over the Tropical Oceans Using Buoys

Abstract The majority of global precipitation falls in tropical oceans. Nonetheless, due to the lack of in situ precipitation measurements, the number of studies over the tropical oceans remains limited. Similarly, the performance of IMERG products over the tropical oceans is unknown. In this context, this study quantitatively evaluates the 20 years (2001–20) of IMERG V06 Early, Late, and Final products against the in situ buoys’ estimates using the pixel–point approach at a daily scale across the tropical oceans. Results show that IMERG represents well the mean spatial pattern and spatial variation of precipitation, though significant differences exist in the magnitude of precipitation amount. Overall, IMERG notably overestimates precipitation across the tropical ocean, with maxima over the western Pacific and Indian Oceans, while it performs better over the eastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Moreover, irrespective of the region, IMERG sufficiently detects precipitation events (i.e., >0.1 mm day−1) for high-precipitation regions, though it significantly overestimates the magnitude. Despite IMERG’s detection issues of precipitation events over the regions with lower precipitation, it is in good agreement with the buoys in total precipitation estimation. The positive hit bias and false alarm bias are the major contributions to the overall total positive bias. Furthermore, the detection capability of IMERG tends to decline with increasing precipitation rates. In terms of IMERG runs, the IMERG Final product performs slightly better than the Early and Late runs. More detailed studies over the tropical oceans are required to better characterize the biases and their sources.

Process Quality Control Method for Three-Cylinder Engine Balance Shaft System Oriented to Manufacturing Supply Chain

Automobile manufacturers often outsource key components and parts to suppliers, hence ensuring that process quality has been a hot topic in current research. The quality control demands at different stages of the manufacturing supply chain cycle have been ignored in traditional process quality control methods. To solve this issue, this paper takes the three-cylinder engine balance shaft system as the research object, and builds a process quality control model for the three-cylinder engine balance shaft system oriented to the manufacturing supply chain. The metagraph theory is introduced, and parts suppliers in the manufacturing supply chain, product process quality attributes, supply chain revenue function, and other key elements are defined. By constructing the revenue function of the three-cylinder engine balance shaft system process quality control model, the feasibility of the proposed method is verified by taking the process quality control of one certain three-cylinder engine balance shaft system as a verification example. The results show that, with other conditions unchanged, the application of this method can increase the overall profit of the manufacturing supply chain by 100% at the stage of preparation before product machining, and more than 8% at the stage of product performance evaluation. The proposed method of process quality control based on the metagraph theory provides a theoretical basis for building an information sharing platform of product process quality, and effectively reduces the machining cost for product improvement and upgrading in the manufacturing supply chain.

Participatory evaluation and demonstration of productive performance of Bovans Brown chicken under village production system in Menit Shasha Woreda, West Omo Zone, Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Charuhurit kebele in Menit Shasha woreda West Omo Zone, south west region (SWR) Ethiopia. Beforethe commencement of the study need assessment was done on existing livestock production system and their constraints throughconducting group discussion with pastoralists, then the pastoralists were prioritized poultry production system as major problem needimmediate intervention. A pastoralist and agro-pastoralist extension research group (PAPREG) which containing 25 pastoralists wereestablished and randomly assigned to different production system (10 intensive productions, 10 semi intensive and five extensiveproduction system). 125 pullets of Bovan Brown chicken breed age 75 days purchased from Bushoftu Alema farm were distributed andbefore distribution training on housing, feeding, health and overall handling system of animals were given for pastoralists. The studyrevealed that high mortality rate or low survivability rate was observed before the onset egg production in the study area. There wereno significant differences in age of animals before onset of egg lying, but number of egg produced every month was significantly (p< 0.05) higher between production systems. The average age at onset of egg lying was 22.10 weeks. The result shown that significantly(p < 0.05) higher number (23.77) of eggs per month per hen was recorded for intensive production system. Finally, the authors concludedthat Bovan Brown chicken breed under village production in terms of their egg production performance were feasible in the study areato enhance family nutrition and income generations.

Evaluation of production performance between two heliciculture farming systems

ABSTRACT The production performance of two heliciculture farming systems (open field and net-covered greenhouse) and two densities per production cycle (125 and 250 snails m−2) of the main land snail bred in Greece (Cornu aspersum maximum), was compared using breeding indicators and evaluation of the commercial product. Over 50% of the snails in all treatments reached adulthood in 45 days with most snails reaching maturity (95% on average) by the end of the experiment (56 days) irrespective of the farming density. Mortality rate and nematode egg counts (EPG) were relatively low in both farming systems indicating optimal (density and environmental) farming conditions. Open field treatments resulted in heavier snails and higher weight gain at the end of the experiment compared to the greenhouse treatments. Snail fillet mass exhibited lowest values in the open high-density field and highest in the low-density net-covered greenhouse treatment. Τhe combination of low density with net-covered greenhouse yielded the best results for the highest snail fillet mass. The results of the present study could assist snail farmers adopt suitable breeding methods leading to increased production and better-quality commercial products with lower mortality and improved welfare.

Investigating the Lifetime Performance Index under Ishita Distribution Based on Progressive Type II Censored Data with Applications

In manufacturing sectors, product performance evaluation is crucial. The lifetime performance index, denoted as CL, is widely used in product evaluation, where L signifies the lower specification limit. This study aims to refine the estimation of CL by employing maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methodologies, where symmetric and asymmetric loss functions are utilized. The analysis is conducted on progressive type II censored data, a requirement often imposed by budgetary constraints or the need for expedited testing. The data are assumed to follow the Ishita distribution, whose conforming rate is also evaluated. Furthermore, a hypothesis testing framework is employed to validate whether component lifetimes meet predefined standards. The theoretical findings are corroborated using real data collected from glass strength in aircraft windows. The numerical analysis emphasizes the goodness of fit of the Ishita distribution to model the data, thereby demonstrating the applicability of the proposed distribution.

Evaluation of long-term operational and production performance of biofloc technology (BFT) system within various particle size

Biofloc technology (BFT) is a promising technique, but there has been ongoing debate between biofloc's properties and particle size. This study investigated the relationship between long-term particle size variation and the production performance of BFT aquaculture systems. External shearing force introduction could keep bioflocs at a smaller size level chronically, and 97% of smaller bioflocs were below 181.97 μm which was obviously lower than the normal size group (Control). No significant difference in the daily water treatment capacity for bioflocs within different particle size was detected (p > 0.05), but the activity of Soil-Dehydrogenase (S-DHA), Ammonia Monooxygenase (AMO), Hydroxylamine Oxidase (HAO) and Nitrite Oxidase (NOR) were all higher in smaller bioflocs. Smaller bioflocs were better enriched heavy metal elements and less damage to the gill lamellae was also detected in smaller size group. The survival rate and final mean weight of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) cultured in the BFT system based on smaller size bioflocs were significantly higher than the control (p < 0.05). The microbial compositions of varying particle sizes bioflocs demonstrated remarkable distinctions, and higher abundance of particle-attached bacteria (e.g., Flavobacteriaceae, Rhodobacteraceae) was detected in normal size bioflocs. Overall, this study comprehensively evaluated the long-term application of various particle size bioflocs and provided a practical basis for the sustainable BFT development.