Upgrade Project Research Articles

Cultural Issues in Software Estimation: From Intuition to Model Based Estimation in Upgrade Projects

This paper discusses issues related to change in culture that happens when software estimation becomes scientific, methodical and predictive. From a person based intuitive approach to model based estimation techniques, the approach necessitates a change in mindset and culture. This change in culture has been noticed in upgrade projects. Upgrades play an important role in product life cycle. A product is released with required features to meet immediate requirements of the customers. Any additional or modifications to features are carried through upgrade projects. These upgrades planned well in advance by the product developing organizations are made available to customers through published road map for the products. And hence it is important to be able to predict the effort required for these upgrade projects accurately and consistently. The objective of this research was to study cultural issues while developing an estimation model that would increase accuracy, predictability of estimation in upgrade projects. The methodology adopted in this research work was to use primary sources of data to develop an estimation model for upgrade projects and test this model in live upgrade projects. The results from the research showed that the level of accuracy for estimation increased, predictability in delivery was higher without comprising quality of final deliverables. The culture also went through a change through training and mentoring.

Lessons Learned During a Decade of ERP Experience

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) literature concentrates on critical success factors for implementation. More recently, published work relates to ERP maintenance and upgrade practices. In papers concerning all phases of the ERP lifecycle, researchers commonly gather material via case studies of organizations comparatively new to ERP implementation, maintenance, or upgrade projects. This article uses a literature review detailing critical success factors and best practices during all phases of the ERP lifecycle to frame a case study on a large company with a decade of experience in supporting an ERP system through implementation, two major upgrades, one major domestic business merger, and two international business acquisitions. This article catalogs the company’s departures and concurrences with the published best practices and success factors over time, as well as the positive and negative consequences of its decisions. The company’s experience shows that straying from generally accepted best practices can lead to a successful outcome, and that portraying some success factors too well can exacerbate problems in other areas.

Solids Handling Improvements Pays Back! Results from an Anaerobic Digester Upgrade Project

Solids Handling Improvements Pays Back! Results from an Anaerobic Digester Upgrade ProjectThe City of Clearwater, Florida maintains and operates three wastewater treatment plants. The 5 mgd East Advanced Pollution Control Facility (APCF), the 13.5 mgd Northeast APCF, and the 10 mgd Marshall Street APCF.Both Northeast APCF and Marshall APCF use anaerobic digesters for biosolids handling. The biosolids from East APCF is hauled and processed at Northeast APCF.During the early 2000's the...Author(s)Viraj deSilvaJohn MilliganSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 49 - Digester InnovationsDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2009ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20090101)2009:14L.3151;1-DOI10.2175/193864700793955167Volume / Issue2009 / 14Content sourceWEFTECFirst / last page(s)3151 - 3156Copyright2009Word count137Subject keywordsAnaerobic DigestionBiogasBiosolidsDigester CoverDigester MixingSludge Disposal

The upgrade project of the RICH-1 of the COMPASS Experiment

A major upgrade of the RICH-1 of the COMPASS Experiment at CERN has been designed and implemented in less than two years, during the SPS shut-down period and the upgraded detector is successfully in operation since the 2006 SPS run. It is a twofold project: in the peripheral region the existing Multi Wires Proportional Chambers with CsI are unchanged but they have been equipped with a new faster read-out electronics, while the photon detectors of the central region have been replaced with a completely new fast photon-detection system. It is based on the use of Multi-Anode Photo-Multipliers (MAPMTs) coupled to individual fused silica lens telescopes and read out by a fast electronics based on the MAD4 preamplifier-discriminator chip and the F1 TDC chip. For the 2009 SPS run an upgraded version of the MAD4 chip, the CMAD, has been designed in CMOS technology and implemented on the RICH-1, in order to match the specific features imposed by the fast MAPMTs, which guarantee full efficiency up to 5MHz per channel, thus overcoming the limitation of MAD4 at 1MHz per channel. We present the photon-detection design and construction and its characterization and measured performances. The full-custom ASIC CMAD will be also shortly described together with its performances.

Design and thermal behavior of vapor cooled current leads for the detector and IR magnets in BEPC II

A superconducting detector magnet and two sets of interaction region (IR) magnets are adopted in the upgrade project of Beijing Electron and Positron Collider (BEPC II). The operating currents of these magnets differ from 3.6 kA to 24 A. Totally 13 pairs of vapor cooled current leads (VCCL) were designed and fabricated for these magnets. After the successful test experiments, all the VCCL have been installed to BEPC II system and operate properly. This paper presents the detail of the design and the experimental behavior of these VCCL.

Study on cooling process of cryogenic system for superconducting magnets of BEPCII**Supported by the Project of BEPCII

In the upgrade project of the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPCII), three superconducting magnets are employed to realize the goal of two orders of magnitude higher luminosity. A cryogenic system with a total capacity of 0.5 kW at 4.5 K was built at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) to support the operations of these superconducting devices. For preparing the commissioning of the system, the refrigeration process was simulated and analyzed numerically. The numerical model was based on the latest engineering progress and focused on the normal operation mode. The pressure and temperature profiles of the cryogenic system are achieved with the simulation. The influence of the helium mass flow rates to cool superconducting magnets on the thermodynamic parameters of their normal operation is also studied and discussed in this paper.

The characterisation of the multianode photomultiplier tubes for the RICH-1 upgrade project at COMPASS

A major upgrade of the Cherenkov photon detection system of COMPASS RICH-1 has been performed and it has been in operation since the 2006 physics run. The inner part of the photon detector has been replaced by a different technology in order to measure Cherenkov photons at high photoelectron rates, up to several times 10 6 per second and per channel. Cherenkov photons from 200 to 750 nm are detected by 576 multianode photomultiplier tubes (MAPMTs) with 16 channels each, coupled to individual fused silica lens telescopes and fast, high sensitivity and high time resolution electronics read-out. To guarantee an optimal performance of the complete system, parameters like dark current, gain, uniformity, relative quantum efficiency have been measured for a totality of more than 600 MAPMTs (about 10 000 channels) in a fully automated test-stand, developed for this purpose. The ideal working point for each individual pixel could be ascertained by these measurements. In 2006 the newly equipped detector exhibited an excellent performance: about 56 detected photons per ring at saturation and a time resolution of better than 1 ns. We report about the MAPMT characterisation and the quality control set-up, protocol and results.

DEVELOPMENT OF SUPERCONDUCTING UNDULATORS FOR ADVANCED SYNCHROTRON LIGHT SOURCES

Superconducting undulators are being developed for their potential to produce either higher photon energy beams at given electron energy facilities or to save accelerator cost by using lower electron energy for given photon energy beams as compared to permanent-magnet undulators. They are expected to play an important role in upgrade projects of third generation sources and are believed to be a key component of fourth generation sources that may be based on Free Electron Lasers (FEL) and Energy Recovery Linacs (ERL). A review is made on the development of superconducting undulators, including some details of the development of superconducting miniundulators and the LIULI program at SSLS.

Design and implementation of the BESIII detector-control system

In the upgrade project of the Beijing Electron-Positron Collider (BEPCII), a novel Detector-Control System (DCS) for the Beijing Spectrometer (BESIII) has been built and started its successful operation for the BESIII Commissioning. The main task of the DCS is to monitor and control the status of the BESIII detector and to guarantee a safe operation of the detector. The DCS must provide a uniform and coherent interface to detector operators even though there are a large number of distributed I/O channels from a large variety of equipments. For this reason, the DCS is hierarchically organized and divided into three layers: front-end layer (FEL), local control layer (LCL) and global control layer (GCL). In the FEL, devices ranging from simple sensors up to complex computer-based devices like embedded systems and programmable logical controllers (PLC) are utilized. A LabVIEW-based software framework has been developed for the LCL. Network communication and web server technologies have been used for the GCL. This paper will give a detailed introduction to the design and implementation of the DCS. Its performance and reliability will also be discussed.

BEPCII Injector Linac Upgrade and Beam Instabilities

The upgrade project of the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPCII) and its injector linac is working well. The linac upgrade aims at a higher injection rate of 50 mA/min into the storage ring, which requires an injected beam with low emittance, low energy spread and high beam orbit and energy stabilities. This goal is finally reached recently by upgrading the linac components and by dealing with rich and practical beam physics, which are described in this study.

Design and simulation of the wire scanner for the injector linac of BEPCII

BEPCII, the upgrade project of Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPC), is an accelerator with large beam current and high luminosity, so an efficient and stable injector is required. Several beam diagnostic and monitoring instruments are used. A new diagnostic instrument — wire scanner, has been designed and will be used to measure the profile of the linac beam of BEPCII. This paper describes the prototype of this system and the cause of heat generating of the wire. Some simulation results of the heat and force by using finite element method software—ANSYS®ANSYS software is proprietary product of ANSYS, INC. are presented and discussed.

The cryogenic control system of BEPCII

A superconducting cryogenic system has been designed and deployed in the Beijing Electron- Positron Collider Upgrade Project (BEPCII). The system consists of a Siemens PLC (S7-PLC, Programmable Logic Controller) for the compressor control, an Allen Bradley (AB) PLC for the cryogenic equipments, and the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) that integrates the PLCs. The system fully automates the superconducting cryogenic control with process control, PID (Proportional-Integral-Differential) control loops, real-time data access and data storage, alarm handler and human machine interface. It is capable of automatic recovery as well. This paper describes the BEPCII cryogenic control system, data communication between S7-PLC and EPICS Input/Output Controllers (IOCs), and the integration of the flow control, the low level interlock, the AB-PLC, and EPICS.

Formulation of Financial Valuation Methodologies for NASA's Human Spaceflight Projects

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) must continually evaluate proposals to upgrade its human spaceflight systems. These proposals may be initiated to enhance safety, improve performance, or provide improved cost value. In the current restrictive budget environment, the cost valuation should be strengthened to ensure the best use of limited funding. NASA has not frequently utilized financial analysis in project consideration, and business case analysis is often lacking during annual budgetary assessments. Some of the reasons inhibiting financial analysis are uncertainty in the projections of long life-cycle costs, gains that may seem intangible and difficult to mone-tize, and the political environment. This paper explores ways in which some financial valuation methods, coupled with reformulation of project cash flows, might enhance NASA's analysis process. Among these methods is real option analysis (ROA), which is discussed in the context of several NASA upgrade projects.

H − ion source developments at the SNS

The U.S. Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) will require substantially higher average and pulse H(-) beam currents than can be produced from conventional ion sources such as the base line SNS source. H(-) currents of 40-50 mA (SNS operations) and 70-100 mA (power upgrade project) with a rms emittance of 0.20-0.35pi mm mrad and a approximately 7% duty factor will be needed. We are therefore investigating several advanced ion source concepts based on rf plasma excitation. First, the performance characteristics of an external antenna source based on an Al(2)O(3) plasma chamber combined with an external multicusp magnetic configuration, an elemental Cs system, and plasma gun will be discussed. Second, the first plasma measurements of a helicon-driven H(-) ion source will also be presented.

Experimental results of an electron cyclotron resonance oxygen source and a low energy beam transport system for 1MeV integral split ring radio frequency quadruple accelerator upgrade project

To meet the requirements of developing separated function radio frequency quadruple (rfq) and upgrading the 1 MeV integral split ring rfq accelerator, an electron cyclotron resonance O(+) ion source and low energy beam transport (LEBT) system have been developed. Using two Einzel lenses to focus the beam, more than 6 mA O(+) peak beam current with energy of 22 keV can be easily obtained at the end of LEBT when the duty faction is at 1/6. The normalized root-mean-square emittance of 90% of the beam is about 0.12pi mm mrad. By changing the focusing power of lenses, the beam waist can be shifted from 80 mm before the beam diaphragm 2 to 80 mm after it. The experimental results will be presented in this article.

A 3He COUNTER VERSION OF THE THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC NRD NEUTRON REM METER

Thermo Fisher Scientific's NRD rem meter has been in production for almost 40 y and is the primary rem meter in use at many U.S. Department of Energy facilities. An upgrade project was initiated at the Los Alamos National Laboratory with the primary goal of increasing the NRD's neutron sensitivity through the substitution of pressurized 3He gas (4 atmospheres) for the stock counter tube's BF3 fill gas. Historically, BF3 counters were far less expensive relative to 3He and were usually chosen on the basis of cost. That is no longer the case, with pricing for both types of counters being similar. Test results have shown that the 3He counter version of the NRD exhibits stable operation at a reasonable bias voltage and good gamma rejection. Sensitivity has been increased by about a factor of four with no penalty in cost.

STRUCTURE DESIGN OF THE BEIJING SPECTROMETER Ⅲ PIPE

The Beijing spectrometer III (BESIII) beam pipe is in the center of the BESIII, which is the detector of the upgrade project of Beijing electron and positron collider (BEPC II). Electrons and positrons collide in the BESIII beam pipe. According to the demands of the BEPC II, a key program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the BESIII beam pipe is designed based on the finite elements analysis, The BESIII beam pipe is installed in the inner cylinder of the BESIII drift chamber. As a vacuum tube, the BESIII beam pipe is designed as 1 000 mm in length, 63 mm in inner diameter and 114 mm in outer diameter, respectively. The BESIII beam pipe consists of a central beryllium pipe cooled by EDM-1, the oil No.1 for electric discharge machining, and two extended copper pipes cooled by deionized water (DW). The three parts are jointed by vacuum welding. Factors taken into account in the design are as follows. (1) The wall thickness of the central beryllium pipe should be designed as small as possible to reduce the multi-scattering and improve the particle momentum resolution. And the wall thickness of the extended copper pipe should be designed as large as possible to protect the detectors from the backgrounds. (2) The BESIII beam pipe must be sufficiently cooled to avoid the damage and prevents its influence to the BESIII drift chamber (DC) operation. The inner surface temperature of the DC inner cylinder must be maintained at 293 +/- 2 K. (3) The magnetic permeability of the materials used in the BESIII beam pipe must be less than 1.05 H/m to avoid large magnetic field distortions. (4) The static pressure of the vacuum chamber of the BESIII beam pipe must be less than 800 mu Pa. The simulating results show that the designed structure of the BESIII beam pipe satisfies the requirements mentioned above. The structure design scheme is evaluated and adopted by the headquarters of BEPC II.

PRELIMINARY COMMISSIONING OF SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS AND CRYOGENIC SYSTEM OF BEPC II

A helium cryogenic system with cooling capacity of 1 kW at 4.5 K was set up at Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. This helium refrigerating system is dedicated for the cooling of two superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities, two interaction region superconducting collision quadrupole (SCQ) magnets, a detector superconducting solenoid magnet (SSM), which are the key items of the upgrade project of Beijing Electron-Positron Collider (BEPC II). Commissioning with the detector and SCQ magnets was carried out, which will be introduced in this paper. The cryogenic system shows very robust as SSM quench. This paper presents the overall status and some test results of superconducting and cryogenic system.

The STAR integrated tracking upgrade project

The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider RHIC has a rich physics program both for the study of relativistic heavy ion collisions and spin structure measurements with polarized protons. In order to improve the capabilities for heavy flavor measurements in heavy ion and polarized proton collisions and to allow the identification of the charge sign of W bosons produced in polarized proton collisions at 500GeV, an upgrade of the tracking system both in the central and the forward region is pursued. The integrated system providing high-resolution tracking and secondary vertex reconstruction capabilities will use silicon pixel, strip and GEM technology.

CIOs' perspectives of critical success factors in ERP upgrade projects

Enterprise resource planning systems have required significant upgrades in the 21st century as many of the systems obtained prior to 2000 have become outdated due to vendor changes. SAP and Oracle have emerged as dominant vendors, and SAP has announced discontinuance of support in the future for its primary R/3 system. This study reports interviews with the chief information officers (CIOs) of 15 institutions that have undergone (or are undergoing) enterprise system upgrades, with focus on discussion of major critical success factors for ERP upgrade projects.