Search results for "Operations"
showing 10 items of 1692 documents
Product-related information for sustainable use of laundry detergents in Finnish households
2007
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to report on research on how product-related information can guide sustainable product use in the context of laundry detergents. More precisely, the purpose of the study was designed to analyse how the detergent package information and dosing instructions are read, understood and followed in the Finnish households. Data collection methods included interviews in 340 Finnish households in 2004 and 299 households in 2005 with a standardised questionnaire. Results show that the majority of respondents did not know if the washing water is hard or soft, which indeed has a direct effect on dosing amounts. However, package information per se was found to be eas…
An expert system for vineyard management based upon ubiquitous network technologies
2011
Vineyard operations for quality wines production are currently based upon costly and time-consuming manual sampling operations required to assess the maturity phases of grapevines. The ripening process however is significantly influenced by the environmental parameters which nowadays can be effectively monitored by means of ubiquitous computing technologies. Besides the possibility of gathering data, hence, suitable tools are required to support the vineyard management process. The present research concerns the development of an expert system to effectively manage the vineyard operations. The methodology is based on the analysis of the time series of indices related to the maturation phases…
RutaRep: a computer package to design dispatching routes in the meat industry
2005
In this paper we present a computer program that has been developed to design the dispatching routes of a medium-sized meat company in Spain. We have modelled the real problem as a variant of the vehicle routing problem with Time Windows and implemented a number of heuristic algorithms based on the most advanced solution techniques for this problem. These algorithms have been embedded in a computer package that is intended to be used as a decision support system for the distribution manager. The program runs under Windows System and is straightforward to use. We also present some computational experiences based on real instances provided by the company. This experience shows important impro…
Energy saving in airports by trigeneration. Part II: Short and long term planning for the Malpensa 2000 CHCP plant
2006
With reference to the feasibility analysis for CHCP applications in airports performed in Part I of this work, the optimal strategy for repowering and operation of the Malpensa 2000 CHCP plant is here discussed. The analysis starts from experimental energy demand data, available on hourly basis for an entire operational year. After a description of the CHCP lay-out, the optimal management strategy was determined keeping into account the articulated energy tariff system and the technical characteristics of components. A profit-oriented optimization of the repowering actions to take up to 2010 is presented, based on the expected growth of energy consumption due to the scheduled increases in t…
A Dempster-Shafer Theory-based approach to the Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) under epistemic uncertainty: application to the…
2017
Abstract Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a safety and reliability analysis tool widely used for the identification of system/process potential failures, their causes and consequences. When aimed at the failure modes prioritization, FMEA is named Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). In the latter case, failure modes are commonly prioritized by means of the Risk Priority Number (RPN) that has been widely criticized to have several shortcomings. Firstly, in the presence of multiple experts supplying different and uncertain judgments on risk parameters, RPN is not able to deal with such a kind of information. Therefore, the present paper proposes the Dempster-Shaf…
Capacity and safety analysis of hard-shoulder running (HSR). A motorway case study
2016
Abstract Operational motorway conditions can be improved by introducing traffic flow management and control systems, such as ramp metering (RM), high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, real-time variable speed limits (VSLs), reversible lanes (RL), automated highway systems (AHS) and hard-shoulder running (HSR). The effects of such devices need to be examined in terms of capacity and safety. This paper examines the case study of the Italian motorway A22, which is supposed to be equipped with an HSR system implemented along 128 km in order to reduce congestion with consequent improvement in levels of service (LOS). We studied the traffic processes (capacity, flow distribution between lanes, relia…
An imprecise Fault Tree Analysis for the estimation of the Rate of OCcurrence Of Failure (ROCOF)
2013
Abstract The paper proposes an imprecise Fault Tree Analysis in order to characterize systems affected by the lack of reliability data. Differently from other research works, the paper introduces a classification of basic events into two categories, namely Initiators and Enablers . Actually, in real industrial systems some events refer to component failures or process parameter deviations from normal operating conditions ( Initiators ), whereas others refer to the functioning of safety barriers to be activated on demand ( Enablers ). As a consequence, the output parameter of interest is not the classical probability of occurrence of the top event, but its Rate of OCcurrence (ROCOF) over a s…
General information model for representing machining features in CAPP systems
2004
Today, the generality of computer-aided process planning (CAPP) systems and their standardization do not achieve satisfactory standards levels for industry. One of the major causes here is the difficulty of integration with computer-aided design applications, due mainly to the product model used. It is therefore necessary to identify models that are general with regard to the products, but at the same time suitable for CAPP. A product model suitable for CAPP must represent the product conceptually, enabling the development of process planning functions that operate with manufacturing concepts. It is therefore necessary to develop product information models using this philosophy. The present…
Microgrid supervisory controllers and energy management systems:A literature review
2016
Abstract Microgrids (MGs), featured by distributed energy resources, consumption and storage, are designed to significantly enhance the self-sustainability of future electric distribution grids. In order to adapt to this new and revolutionary paradigm, it is necessary to control MGs in intelligent and coordinated fashion. To this aim, a new generation of advanced Microgrid Supervisory Controllers (MGSC) and Energy Management Systems (EMS) has emerged. The aim of this paper is to summarize the control objectives and development methodologies in the recently proposed MGSC/EMS. At first, a classification of control objectives is made according to the definition of hierarchical control layers i…
Assessment of competences in designing online preparatory materials for the Cambridge First Certificate in English examination
2012
The implementation of the competence-based approach set out by the Bologna Declaration within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) entails important changes in learning processes and brings new approaches to content teaching and learning, inevitably affecting planning, methodology and assessment (Cano García, 2008). Such is the case of the design and development of the First Certificate in English Online Course & Tester at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) by the CAMILLE research group. These materials, published through InGenio1, are split into two parts: a preparatory course and a tester platform. This article explores some of the key competences to be included in these p…