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.     

Electromagnetic properties of ferroelectric-ferrite ceramic composites

The NiFe₂O₄ and Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃ ceramic composites are prepared by conventional solid state reaction method. The microstructural and morphological properties of the composites are studied by X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy. Results indicate that the ferrite and piezoelectric phases can co-exist in the composites. The relationship between the dielectric constant and frequency (40 Hz–40 MHz) as well as temperature is also investigated. It is noted that the transition temperature of the composites is about 380 °C. A double electric hysteresis loop is observed in our composites. The magnetic properties are relatively weak according to the magnetic hysteresis loop. With increase in the content of the ferrite phase, the permeability increases. The electromagnetic properties of the as-prepared composites are tunable according to the content of the NiFe₂O₄ phase.     

A survey on approaches to gridification

The Grid shows itself as a globally distributed computing environment, in which hardware and software resources are virtualized to transparently provide applications with vast capabilities. Just like the electrical power grid, the Grid aims at offering a powerful yet easy‐to‐use computing infrastructure to which applications can be easily ‘plugged’ and efficiently executed. Unfortunately, it is still very difficult to Grid‐enable applications, since current tools force users to take into account many details when adapting applications to run on the Grid. In this paper, we survey some of the recent efforts in providing tools for easy gridification of applications and propose several taxonomies to identify approaches followed in the materialization of such tools. We conclude this paper by describing common features among the proposed approaches, and by pointing out open issues and future directions in the research and development of gridification methods. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

液态金属钠高温沸腾实验回路应力分析与强度计算

本文主要完成了液态金属钠高温沸腾实验回路的应力分析与计算，确定了回路高温区连接管系的布置型式和支吊架系统，是该回路总体设计的重要组成部分。     

HYDRODYNAMIC MODELLING IN AN AIR-LIFT LOOP REACTOR

A simple hydrodynamic model is proposed for use in the design, scale-up and characterization of external loop air-lift reactors. The approach is based upon a momentum balance for the flow loop coupled with a drift-flux equation for the reactor riser and establishes a rational basis for a predictive model relating gas throughput to induced liquid flow and gas hold-up in a range of air-lift reactors. The effective resistance of the reactor, k, defined in terms of the total loss coefficients of the reactor and the aerated height of the two-phase riser, was identified to allow for the quantification of the influence of reactor design on the hydrodynamic variables. An extensive body of data for the air-water system, collected on two reactors with active volumes of 0·055 m³ and 0·3 m³, is presented and used, in conjunction with literature data encompassing a wide range of reactor geometries and flow conditions, to define a unique relationship between flow behaviour and reactor configuration. The model, which accounts for the prevailing flow regime in the reactor, provides a direct method of predicting hydrodynamic behaviour in relatively non-viscous systems.     

Smart pricing scheme: A multi-layered scoring rule application

Defining appropriate pricing strategy for smart environment is important and complex task at the same time. It holds the primal fraction in Demand Response (DR) program. In our work, we devise an incentive based smart dynamic pricing scheme for consumers facilitating a multi-layered scoring rule. The proposed strategy characterizes both incentive based DR and price based DR programs facilities. This mechanism is applied between consumer agents (CA) to electricity provider agent (EP) and EP to Generation Company (GENCO). Based on the Continuous Ranked Probability Score (CRPS), a hierarchical scoring system is formed among these entities, CA–EP–GENCO. As CA receives the dynamic day-ahead pricing signal from EP, it will schedule the household appliances to lower price period and report the prediction in a form of a probability distribution function to EP. EP, in similar way reports the aggregated demand prediction to GENCO. Finally, GENCO computes the base discount after running a cost-optimization problem. GENCO will reward EP with a fraction of discount based on their prediction accuracy. EP will do the same to CA based on how truthful they were reporting their intentions on device scheduling. The method is tested on real data provided by Ontario Power Company and we show that this scheme is capable to reduce energy consumption and consumers’ payment.     

浅谈C语言中循环结构的教学--回答好循环结构的“三个问题”

循环结构是C语言程序设计中的重难点,其掌握情况对于后续章节的学习效果尤为关键。本文以什么是循环、何时需要使用循环以及如何使用循环三个问题为主线,通过精心选择的教学案例和灵活有效的教学方法来进行解答,以激发学生兴趣,培养编程思想。     

离网型太阳能光伏发电系统设计研究

离网型太阳能光伏发电系统是太阳能光伏发电系统的重要组成。它具有灵活度高、分布广、项目成本低等优点。本文主要对现有离网光伏发电系统设计过程进行分析。     

一种高效的网格资源监测算法ACTC的改进算法

资源监控是网格计算的关键组成部分。资源监控算法既要保证网格系统中资源信息高保真度又要考虑资源信息在网络传输中的负担最低。ACTC算法就是为实现以上目的而被提出,但是算法中对资源信息更新量的动态门槛值(d_threshold)计算方式不合理,有可能导致算法演变成低级的单纯依靠时间敏感机制(TSM)来发送资源更新通知,并且算法中遗漏了一些极端情况的考虑。提出了新的d_threshold计算公式和限制条件,进行性能改进和完善,并对改进前后两算法进行实验对比。实验表明,改进后算法提高了资源信息准确性,并使监控系统     

Cycling hardening and serration yielding of Fe-Ni-Cr alloy at high temperature under out-phase TMF

Behaviour of hardening and serration yield of a Fe-Ni-Cr alloy under isothermal cycling (ISC) and out-phase TMF was studied on the basis of varied hysteresis loops. Cycling hardening and serrated yielding for ISC depend on the temperature and the total strain range, stronger hardening with serrated yielding at higher strain range under ISC at 600 °C, but no hardening and serrated yielding occurred under ISC at 800 °C. Stronger hardening with stress serration occurred at the thermal path going to the lowest temperature, no stress serration occurred at the highest temperature under the out-phase. The hardening also depends on the total strain range, higher total strain range with lower cycling temperature resulted in a stronger hardening and remarkable serration yielding behavior. Weaker hardening without serrated yielding occurred at near 800 °C may due to an obvious cycling stress drop under out-phase TMF. Change in the shape of the hysteresis loops also expresses the degree of the damage of the tested alloy under out-phase and ISC.