Accidents,often the result of an ‘uncontrolled business process’—a study in the (Dutch) chemical industry

Often companies in the (petro‐) chemical industry claim that all possible countermeasures against potential accidents have been taken and therefore accidents are unforeseeable. In this paper we question this statement by analysing the pre‐warning signals (precursors) preceding a number of industrial accidents. 17 accidents that occurred in the (petro‐) chemical industry have been investigated by exploring FACTS, an accident database containing information about industrial accidents worldwide. This paper will demonstrate that the existence of precursor information could have been used to foresee and even prevent these accidents if a proper control action had been initiated. The accidents are analysed further, according to a control model, which was adapted from that of C. Argyris. It demonstrates the ineffectiveness of several elements of business process control loops and that the so‐called ‘double‐loop learning’ cycle is more important than the ‘single‐loop learning’ cycle if one considers safety improvement. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ON THE ROBUST GLOBAL STABILIZATION OF nth-ORDER REACTIONS

In this paper, we employ a nonlinear adaptive mechanism to globally stabilize n^th-order reactions.     

Equivalent stochastic control problems

A decentralized stochastic control problem is called static if the observations available for any one decision do not depend on the other decisions. Otherwise it is called dynamic. We consider only problems with a finite number of decisions. A notion of equivalence between problems, suitable for complexity analysis, is defined. It turns out that a large class of dynamic problems can be reduced to equivalent static problems. The class includes all sequential discrete variable problems and some of the most studied continuous variable problems.     

A new voltage control equipment using fuzzy inference

Power system control equipment needs higher sensitivity and operational reliability. Advanced voltage control equipment is needed for reducing the frequency of tap changes and improving the characteristics (the relationship between the actual voltage and reference voltage) of the voltage to meet today's power system requirements. However, these objectives are in a trade-off relationship. Studies of voltage control derived from a knowledge base suitable for electric power systems can satisfy these objectives using fuzzy inference. Compared with corresponding conventional equipment, the new equipment improved the deviation of 30 min average voltage of 30 percent. This paper describes the design concept of new voltage control equipment using fuzzy inference. In addition, field test results are described along with rules of fuzzy inference, membership functions, and the deviation of 30 min average voltage through detailed simulation.     

浆砌石衬砌在渠道防渗中的应用及对策

总结了浆砌石应用的历史,介绍了浆砌石的结构特性和施工工艺,从造价方面、防渗效果及施工三方面分析了浆砌石衬砌主要存在的问题,并提出了相应的解决对策,指出浆砌石衬砌在渠道防渗应用中应控制施工质量,从而更好地提高防渗效果。     

凤滩水电厂自动发电控制策略

介绍了凤滩水电厂自动发电控制(AGC)策略的实现方法,重点介绍了修正等容量比例有功分配方法及相应措施.程序设计的原则是,机组紧跟目标负荷的情况下,在最佳效率下运行,同时减少机组开/停机次数、有功调节频率和跨越振动区次数,从而减少机组磨损,兼顾运行效率和机组运行安全.     

正交实验优选盐生藻多糖的提取工艺

以盐生藻为原料,盐生藻多糖得率为指标,运用稀酸、稀碱和蒸馏水为提取剂提取盐生藻多糖,得出合适的提取剂为稀酸.进一步的正交实验表明,盐生藻多糖的最适提取工艺为:提取75min,pH=4,固液比为1∶70,温度为95℃.     

On a responsive replenishment system: a fuzzy logic approach

In today's competitive business environment, it is important that customers are able to obtain their preferred items in the shops they visit, particularly for convenience store chains such as 7–Eleven where popular items are expected to be readily available on the shelves of the stores for buyers. To minimize the cost of running such store chains, it is essential that stocks be kept to a minimum and at the same time large varieties of popular items are available for customers. In this respect, the replenishment system needs to be able to cope with the taxing demands of minimal inventory but at the same time keeping large varieties of needed items. This paper proposes a replenishment system which is able to respond to the fluctuating demands of customers and provide a timely supply of needed items in a cost–effective way. The proposed system embraces the principle of fuzzy logic which is able to deal with uncertainties by virtue of its fuzzy rules reasoning mechanism, thereby leveraging the responsiveness of the entire replenishment system for the chain stores. To validate the feasibility of the approach, a case study has been conducted in an emulated environment with promising results.     

Hydrothermal upgrading of wood biomass: Influence of the addition of K2CO3 and cellulose/lignin ratio

The hydrothermal treatment of two different wood biomass samples such as cherry (hard wood) and cypress (soft wood), whose composition is different i.e. lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose were performed at 280 °C for 15 min with aq. K₂CO₃ with different concentrations (0–1 M). The soft wood biomass contains higher lignin content than hard wood biomass. The cellulose rich cherry wood biomass produced higher proportion of acetic acid than cypress. The lignin rich cypress produced the hydrocarbons with major portion of phenolic hydrocarbons and derivatives than cherry. The total oil yields from both cherry and cypress wood biomass produced 50 wt% of liquid hydrocarbons at 280 °C for 15 min with 0.5 M K₂CO₃ solution. The volatility distribution of liquid hydrocarbons showed the characteristic features of soft and hard wood biomasses.