A method of identifying latent human errors in work systems

Work system improvements are implemented in various manufacturing processes to prevent problems caused by human errors. However, they are almost always applied to problems which have already occurred. This paper examines a method of identifying latent human errors existing within the work systems beforehand. A procedure for applying failure mode and effect analysis to this identification problem was defined based on over 1000 empirical errors: a work system decomposition criterion and fundamental error modes for listing latent human errors, and then applied to three practical manufacturing processes in order to evaluate its effectiveness.     

Modeling of Diffusion in Capillary Porous Materials During the Drying Process

This paper presents a model of heterogenous diffusion in capillary porous materials during the process of drying. The governing heat and mass transfer equations have been established using the liquid as well as vapor flow. Two models have been presented. Model 1 does not consider the heat conduction while the model 2 has been established by considering the conduction. The developed models and the numerical solutions of the resulting differential equations can take into account the moisture and temperature dependent thermophysical properties of the product. All equations have been established in spherical coordinates but the programme written for the purpose of calculations can be used for other geometries also. Numerical calculations have been performed for gas concrete and tiles using model 1, while model 2 has been used for gas concrete only because of the lack of data for thermophysical properties of the tile. For gas concrete it was seen that conduction has only marginal effect on the drying process and the numerical predictions of the drying process were reasonably accurate.     

A new monitoring system for piping systems in fossil fired power plants

A CEC-funded project has been performed to tackle the problem of producing an advanced Life Monitoring System (LMS) which would calculate the creep and fatigue damage experienced by high temperature pipework components. Four areas were identified where existing Life Monitoring System technology could be improved:

1. 1. the inclusion of creep relaxation

2. 2. the inclusion of external loads on components

3. 3. a more accurate method of calculating thermal stresses due to temperature transients

4. 4. the inclusion of high cycle fatigue terms.

The creep relaxation problem was solved using stress reduction factors in an analytical in-elastic stress calculation. The stress reduction factors were produced for a number of common geometries and materials by means of non-linear finite element analysis. External loads were catered for by producing influence coefficients from in-elastic analysis of the particular piping system and using them to calculate bending moments at critical positions on the pipework from load and displacement measurements made at the convenient points at the pipework. The thermal stress problem was solved by producing a completely new solution based on Green's Function and Fast Fourier transforms. This allowed the thermal stress in a complex component to be calculated from simple non-intrusive thermocouple measurements made on the outside of the component. The high-cycle fatigue problem was dealt with precalculating the fatigue damage associated with standard transients and adding this damage to cumulative total when a transient occurred.

The site testing provided good practical experience and showed up problems which would not otherwise have been detected.     

Overview of ship-design expert systems

Expert systems constitute a branch of artificial intelligence, and their unique characteristics enable computer systems to perform at the level of a human expert by the use of algorithms that can capture domain-specific knowledge. Through an extensive survey of research about ship-design expert systems, we conclude that although development and implementation of expert systems for ship design offer substantial barriers, the shipbuilding industry needs them nonetheless. We examine the major reasons that use of expert systems in this industry has lagged behind. These include the problems of integration with existing computer-aided design systems, problems of knowledge representation and sizable development costs. We discuss in detail some key factors that can lead to the solution of these problems.     

Evolutionary algorithms and de novo peptide design

One of the goals of computational chemistry is the automated de novo design of bioactive molecules. Despite significant progress in computational approaches to ligand design and efficient evaluation of binding energy, novel procedures for ligand design are required. Evolutionary computation provides a new approach to this design issue. This paper presents an automated methodology for computer-aided peptide design based on evolutionary algorithms. It provides an automatic tool for peptide de novo design, based on protein surface patches defined by user. Regarding the restrictive constrains of this problem a special emphasis has been made on the design of the evolutionary algorithms implemented.     

用快切装置替代备自投装置提高厂用电安全可靠性

指出目前厂用电切换装置存在的不足，分析了快切装置的基本原理以及厂用电事故下的成功快切对电厂安全生产的意义，说明了在厂用电切换中尽快应用快切装置的必要性。     

吐丝圈径对大规格高碳盘条组织性能的影响

计算与分析了斯太尔摩冷线上盘条的吐丝圈径、搭接密度及"佳灵"装置横向布风曲线之间的关系,研究了吐丝圈径的大小对大规格82B盘条组织和性能的影响,确定了大规格82B盘条最小吐丝圈径应为980mm.     

测定钠中杂质的手动阻塞计的研究

文章介绍了测定钠中杂质浓度的手动阻塞计的原理、装置和实验结果。为了减少测量误差,我们研究了影响准确测定阻塞温度的因素,并且找到了减少测量误差的办法。在同样的杂质饱和温度下,该阻塞计测得的高、低阻塞温度所对应的杂质浓度差是很接近的。对氧其差值为1.03ppm;对氢为0.0763ppm。     

软X射线对血液有形成分表面电荷的影响——2、淋巴细胞和血小板膜电荷的变化

软X射线不仅能引起红细胞表面电荷的变化,同时也能导致淋巴细胞和血小板表面电荷下降,表现为照射后它们的电泳率下降。低剂量范围内,这种电荷的变化是暂时性的,照后4小时降到最低点,24小时后恢复到对照的水平。细胞电泳率的下降与辐射剂量相关。淋巴细胞是一个复杂的细胞群,正常状态下,按细胞在电场中泳动速度的快慢,可分为两个组分:快峰为T细胞,慢峰为B细胞。软X射线照射以后,T和B细胞的电泳率皆减慢,频数分布峰值下降,离散度加大。血小板成分单一,电泳率较一致。 从照射浓集的血小板再加回自身血浆中电泳率的下降较照射血浆再加到血小板中的电泳率下降大得多;受照射的血小板在磷酸缓冲液中电泳率下降较在血浆悬液中严重得多;2000 rad照后,悬浮于血浆中的血小板电泳率能恢复,而悬浮于磷酸缓冲液中则不能恢复,三个方面来看,血浆中可能存在抗辐射因子。超氧化物岐化酶能有效地预防血小板电泳率的下降,从而可阻止血小板的凝聚。     

CD++: a toolkit to develop DEVS models

The features of a toolkit for modeling and simulation based on the DEVS formalism are presented. The tool is built as a set of independent software pieces running on different platforms. Not only are the main characteristics of the environment presented, a focus on its use is also considered by inclusion of application examples for a variety of problems. Many models can be defined in an automated fashion, simplifying the construction of new models and easing their verification. The use of this formal approach has allowed the development of safe and cost‐effective simulations, significantly reducing development time. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.