A Framework for Digital Twins for Production Network Management

The dynamic and highly complex task of production network management requires decision support through quantitative models. In the industrial praxis, these models are specifically designed and implemented for particular management decisions, requiring significant one-time effort for model creation. This contribution utilizes the digital twin concept to facilitate production network models that are continuously synchronized with the examined production network to support several different management decisions. The approach structures data from existing information systems as a synchronized generic base model, which is used to create problem-specific executable models, thereby saving costs through repeated model use and quicker decision making

How the health-seeking behaviour of pregnant women affects neonatal outcomes: findings of system dynamics modelling in Pakistan

Background: Limited studies have explored how health-seeking behaviour during pregnancy through to delivery affect neonatal outcomes. We modelled health-seeking behaviour across urban and rural settings in Pakistan, where poor neonatal outcomes persist with wide disparities. Methods and findings: A system dynamics model was developed and parameterised. Following validation tests, the model was used to determine neonatal mortality for pregnant women considering their decisions to access, refuse and switch antenatal care services in four provider sectors: public, private, traditional and charitable. Four health-seeking scenarios were tested across different pregnancy trimesters. Health-seeking behaviour in different subgroups by geographical locations and social network effect was modelled. The largest reduction in neonatal mortality was achieved with antenatal care provided by skilled providers in public, private or charitable sectors, combined with the use of institutional delivery. Women’s social networks had strong influences on if, when and where to seek care. Interventions by Lady Health Workers had a minimal impact on health-seeking behaviour and neonatal outcomes after trimester 1. Optimal benefits were achieved for urban women when antenatal care was accessed within trimester 2, but for rural women within trimester 1. Antenatal care access delayed to trimester 3 had no protective impact on neonatal mortality. Conclusions: System dynamics modelling enables capturing the complexity of health-seeking behaviours and impact on outcomes, informing intervention design, implementation of targeted policies and uptake of services specific to urban/rural settings considering structural enablers/barriers to access, cultural contexts and strong social network influences

Performance assessment in water supply and distribution

Abstract unavailable please refer to PD

Desenvolvimento de ferramenta de gestão, monitorização e controlo de sistemas de abastecimento de água

In current days, a large part of the water supply companies performs the pumping operation in an empirical was without taking into account factors such as the electric tariff, the efficiency of the pump, and water availability, having large operating costs. This work aims to propose and validate a methodology that includes the monitoring, manage and control stages of the water supply systems reducing the operational and energy-relates costs. The monitoring stage includes the use of an instrumentation support system that gathers information of the water system such as flow rates, water tank levels and pipe pressure. The monitoring system is also used to forecast water demands. The management stage is responsible to find the pump operation schedule in order to reduce energy costs. In this work, the water system is modelled through 3 methods: (a) an empirical method developed by the author; (b) using water flow balance equations and (c) using the hydraulic simulator EPANET. The optimum pump operational schedule is found using a binary genetic algorithm. The methodology was implemented using python code. The results obtained show that the methodology developed and implemented lead to a reduction in pumping energy-costs and can be used for the control stage. This work was done with the collaboration of the SCUBIC company.Nos dias atuais, grande parte das empresas de abastecimento de água realiza as operações de bombagem com elevados custos e de forma empírica, sem levar em conta fatores como as tarifas elétricas, a eficiência da bomba e a disponibilidade de água. Este trabalho tem como objetivo propor e validar uma metodologia que inclui as etapas de monitorização, gestão e controle dos sistemas de abastecimento de água, reduzindo os custos operacionais e custos relacionados com a energia O estágio de monitorização inclui o uso de um sistema de instrumentação que reúne informações do sistema de água, como caudais, níveis dos tanques de água e pressões de tubagem. O sistema de monitorização também é usado para prever os consumos de água. O estágio de gestão é responsável por encontrar o cronograma de operação da bomba para reduzir os custos de energia. Neste trabalho, o sistema de água é modelado através de três métodos: (a) um método empírico desenvolvido pelo autor; (b) usando equações de balanço de caudal de água e (c) usando o simulador hidráulico EPANET. O cenário ótimo de operação da bomba é encontrado usando um algoritmo genético binário. A metodologia foi implementada usando a linguagem de programação python. Os resultados obtidos mostram que a metodologia desenvolvida e implementada conduz a uma redução nos custos de energia de bombagem e pode ser usada para a etapa de controle.Mestrado em Engenharia de Automação Industria