Search results for " Variability"
showing 10 items of 853 documents
Influence of material properties variability on springback and thinning in sheet stamping processes: a stochastic analysis
2010
A very critical issue for stamping operations is the improvement of process robustness. The reliability of final results, in fact, strongly depends on the intrinsic variability due to stochastic behavior of many parameters, namely, operative ones and material properties. A given process performance may undergo a variation around the value which would be obtained neglecting stochastic behaviors of the operative or material parameters (i.e., considering a deterministic parameters behavior). Such variation introduces a significant source of uncertainty within the process design: a possible consequence may be the rejection of some stamped parts. In this paper, reliability analyses aimed to evid…
Pattern recognition in cyclic and discrete skills performance from inertial measurement units
2014
The aim of this study is to compare and validate an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) relative to an optic system, and to propose methods for pattern recognition to capture behavioural dynamics during sport performance. IMU validation was conducted by comparing the motions of the two arms of a compass, which was equipped with IMUs and reflective landmarks detected by a multi-camera system. Spearman’s rank correlation tests showed good correlations between the IMU and multi-camera system, especially when the angles were normalized. Bland-Altman plot, root mean square and the normalized pairwise variability index showed low differences between the two systems, confirming the good accuracy level…
Benchmarking energy efficiency of water treatment plants: Effects of data variability
2019
This study evaluates, for the first time, the energy efficiency of a sample of drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) tolerance method, which is based on the simulation of scenarios to integrate data variations. The integration of data uncertainty in energy efficiency estimation changes drastically results for approximately one-third of the DWTPs evaluated. The results showed that, even in the best-case scenario, most of the DWTPs evaluated are inefficient and may therefore, be able to reduce the energy used to treat raw water. From a policy perspective, the findings of this study reveal that omitting data variability in benchmarking would involve …
Geostatistical Microscale Study of Magnetic Susceptibility in Soil Profile and Magnetic Indicators of Potential Soil Pollution
2015
Directional variograms, along the soil profile, can be useful and precise tool that can be used to increase the precision of the assessment of soil pollution. The detail analysis of spatial variability in the soil profile can be also an important part of the standardization of soil magnetometry as a screening method for an assessment of soil pollution related to the dust deposition. The goal of this study was to investigate the correlation between basic parameters of spatial correlations of magnetic susceptibility in the soil profile, such as a range of correlation and a sill, and selected magnetometric indicators of soil pollution. Magnetic indicators were an area under the curve of magnet…
Integrated satellite data fusion and mining for monitoring lake water quality status of the Albufera de Valencia in Spain
2015
Abstract Lake eutrophication is a critical issue in the interplay of water supply, environmental management, and ecosystem conservation. Integrated sensing, monitoring, and modeling for a holistic lake water quality assessment with respect to multiple constituents is in acute need. The aim of this paper is to develop an integrated algorithm for data fusion and mining of satellite remote sensing images to generate daily estimates of some water quality parameters of interest, such as chlorophyll a concentrations and water transparency, to be applied for the assessment of the hypertrophic Albufera de Valencia. The Albufera de Valencia is the largest freshwater lake in Spain, which can often pr…
Selection of biological and chemical parameters indicating or affecting the vitality of Norway spruce
1991
Abstract Thirty-two young and old Norway spruce trees ( Picea abies (L.) Karst.) showing different degrees of damage were investigated in a forest stand in the Taunus Mountains (FRG). The old trees showed visual symptoms of damage such as discolouration of the needles and needle loss. Over 70 biometric, physiological and chemical parameters were determined for needle and soil samples. Interrelationships between these variables were described by correlation analysis. The most discriminant variables between different groups of trees were found by Fisher weighing. This reduced data set was used for principal component analysis and for the classification of various parameters according to diffe…
Variation in spawning time promotes genetic variability in population responses to environmental change in a marine fish.
2015
Common-garden experiments suggest that the response of Atlantic cod larvae to temperature differs among populations that spawn at different times of year. Populations appear to be adapted to the temperatures experienced during the larval stage at a small spatial scale, despite a lack of physical barriers to gene flow.
Use of Sentinel-2 Satellite for Spatially Variable Rate Fertiliser Management in a Sicilian Vineyard
2022
Satellites can be used for producing maps of within-field crop and soil parameters and, consequentially, spatially variable rate crop input application maps. The plant vegetative vigour index (i.e., Normalised Difference Vegetation Index—NDVI) and the leaf water content index (i.e., Normalised Difference Water Index—NDWI) maps were used to study—through both time and space—the phenological phases of two plots, with Syrah and Nero d’Avola grapevine varieties, in a Sicilian vineyard farm, located in Naro (Agrigento, Sicily, Italy). The aim of this work is to produce spatially variable rate nitrogen fertiliser maps to be applied in the two vineyard plots under stu…
The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT)
2012
High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects provide direct access to strong-field gravity, to the equation of state of ultra-dense matter and to black hole masses and spins. A 10 m^2-class instrument in combination with good spectral resolution is required to exploit the relevant diagnostics and answer two of the fundamental questions of the European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision Theme "Matter under extreme conditions", namely: does matter orbiting close to the event horizon follow the predictions of general relativity? What is the equation of state of matter in neutron stars? The Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT), selected by ESA as one of the four Cosmic Vision M…
Situational expectancies and task values: Associations with students' effort
2017
Abstract According to expectancy-value theory, expectancies and task values are precursors for investing effort into learning. To date, it remains largely unknown (1) to what extent expectancies and values change from one learning situation to another and (2) to what extent inter-individual findings reflect intra-individual motivational processes. We applied an intensive longitudinal design in a sample of 155 pre-service teacher students attending a lecture. Across ten lessons with varying topics, students reported three times per lesson on their situational effort, expectancies, task values (intrinsic, attainment, utility), and cost. We used multilevel structural equation modeling with lea…