Functional requirements and system architecture for decision support of energy efficient building design in retrofit and maintenance stage

This paper describes development of a methodology to support better retrofit and maintenance with optimised energy consumption using evolving technologies in material, components and systems both at building and neighbourhood levels. It is based on a retrofit and maintenance scenario focused on specification of the functional requirements, databases requirement and system architecture for the construction and operation of the decision support tool. Decision support (DS) tools have already been developed for architects and building designers to choose best building design options with retrofit and maintenance in mind. However, there is a lack of understanding of the required data structures, databases, definition of the functional requirements and the variety of the possible system architectures for this application. The proposed DS tool will support Facility Management (FM) to design their option on Building Information Model (BIM) file by making best retrofit and maintenance decisions for improved energy efficiency (EE) without needing full knowledge of the latest technologies in any required subject and without being expert in building energy performance analysis and simulation. A detailed retrofit and maintenance scenario and its corresponding process map are developed and explained in details. Database requirements are extracted and discussed, leading to specification of the necessary structure and content with a level of details. The functional requirements for retrofit and maintenance design scenario are discussed and an exhaustive list is generated. The decision support tool was structured using four building blocks: (i) energy performance and simulation block; (ii) retrofit and maintenance options generator; (iii) optimisation block and; (iv) a decision making block based on Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method

An Experimental Evaluation of the Computational Cost of a DPI Traffic Classifier

A common belief in the scientific community is that traffic classifiers based on deep packet inspection (DPI) are far more expensive in terms of computational complexity compared to statistical classifiers. In this paper we counter this notion by defining accurate models for a deep packet inspection classifier and a statistical one based on support vector machines, and by evaluating their actual processing costs through experimental analysis. The results suggest that, contrary to the common belief, a DPI classifier and an SVM-based one can have comparable computational costs. Although much work is left to prove that our results apply in more general cases, this preliminary analysis is a first indication of how DPI classifiers might not be as computationally complex, compared to other approaches, as we previously though

A framework for effective management of condition based maintenance programs in the context of industrial development of E-Maintenance strategies

CBM (Condition Based Maintenance) solutions are increasingly present in industrial systems due to two main circumstances: rapid evolution, without precedents, in the capture and analysis of data and significant cost reduction of supporting technologies. CBM programs in industrial systems can become extremely complex, especially when considering the effective introduction of new capabilities provided by PHM (Prognostics and Health Management) and E-maintenance disciplines. In this scenario, any CBM solution involves the management of numerous technical aspects, that the maintenance manager needs to understand, in order to be implemented properly and effectively, according to the company’s strategy. This paper provides a comprehensive representation of the key components of a generic CBM solution, this is presented using a framework or supporting structure for an effective management of the CBM programs. The concept “symptom of failure”, its corresponding analysis techniques (introduced by ISO 13379-1 and linked with RCM/FMEA analysis), and other international standard for CBM open-software application development (for instance, ISO 13374 and OSA-CBM), are used in the paper for the development of the framework. An original template has been developed, adopting the formal structure of RCM analysis templates, to integrate the information of the PHM techniques used to capture the failure mode behaviour and to manage maintenance. Finally, a case study describes the framework using the referred template.Gobierno de Andalucía P11-TEP-7303 M

Modeling of system knowledge for efficient agile manufacturing : tool evaluation, selection and implementation scenario in SMEs

In the manufacturing world, knowledge is fundamental in order to achieve effective and efficient real time decision making. In order to make manufacturing system knowledge available to the decision maker it has to be first captured and then modelled. Therefore tools that provide a suitable means for capturing and representation of manufacturing system knowledge are required in several types of industrial sectors and types of company’s (large, SME). A literature review about best practice for capturing requirements for simulation development and system knowledge modeling has been conducted. The aim of this study was to select the best tool for manufacturing system knowledge modelling in an open-source environment. In order to select this tool, different criteria were selected, based on which several tools were analyzed and rated. An exemplary use case was then developed using the selected tool, Systems Modeling Language (SysML). Therefore, the best practice has been studied, evaluated, selected and then applied to two industrial use cases by the use of a selected opens source tool.peer-reviewe

Situational awareness and safety

This paper considers the applicability of situation awareness concepts to safety in the control of complex systems. Much of the research to date has been conducted in aviation, which has obvious safety implications. It is argued that the concepts could be extended to other safety critical domains. The paper presents three theories of situational awareness: the three-level model, the interactive sub-systems approach, and the perceptual cycle. The difference between these theories is the extent to which they emphasise process or product as indicative of situational awareness. Some data from other studies are discussed to consider the negative effects of losing situational awareness, as this has serious safety implications. Finally, the application of situational awareness to system design, and training are presented

Thermal improvement of existing dwellings

This report describes the outcome from a study to determine the impact of energy efficiency measures applied to the Scottish housing stock. Assuming conventional property type classifications, the present performance of the housing stock is quantified using available survey data. Building simulation techniques were then employed to generate a Web-based, decision-support tool for use by policy makers to estimate the impact of deploying energy efficiency measures in different combinations over time. The process of tool formulation is described and an example is given of tool use to identify best-value retrofitting options while taking factors such as future climate change and improved standard of living into account

Workflow Patterns for Business Process Modeling

For its reuse advantages, workflow patterns (e.g., control flow patterns, data patterns, resource patterns) are increasingly attracting the interest of both researchers and vendors. Frequently, business process or workflow models can be assembeled out of a set of recurrent process fragments (or recurrent business functions), each of them having generic semantics that can be described as a pattern. To our best knowledge, so far, there has been no (empirical) work evidencing the existence of such recurrent patterns in real workflow applications. Thus, in this paper we elaborate the frequency with which certain patterns occur in practice. Furthermore, we investigate completeness of workflow patterns (based on recurrent functions) with respect to their ability to capture a large variety of business processes

Towards an Intelligent Workflow Designer based on the Reuse of Workflow Patterns

In order to perform process-aware information systems we need sophisticated methods and concepts for designing and modeling processes. Recently, research on workflow patterns has emerged in order to increase the reuse of recurring workflow structures. However, current workflow modeling tools do not provide functionalities that enable users to define, query, and reuse workflow patterns properly. In this paper we gather a suite for both process modeling and normalization based on workflow patterns reuse. This suite must be used in the extension of some workflow design tool. The suite comprises components for the design of processes from both legacy systems and process modeling

Survey instrument for measuring level of preparedness amongst healthcare personnel in radiation emergency

Drills and exercises are globally practiced to investigate the level of preparedness towards disaster events. However, these activities are rarely conducted because they require substantial investment, specifically to budget and time. A self-reported survey may serve as an alternative approach, although it may not be as effective as drills and exercises. As part of the survey development process, this article discusses preliminary validation of a survey instrument to measure the level of preparedness towards radiation emergency amongst healthcare personnel. Prior to this validation process, extensive literature reviews pointed out that the instrument consists of three constructs of preparedness, namely readiness, willingness, and ability. A total of seven subject matter experts were invited to judge the contents for verification purposes. Randolph Kappa analysis was then conducted to analyse their judgment to allow irrelevant items to be filtered from the rest prior to any improvements. Initially, the survey instrument consisted of 69 items; however, the analysis omitted 16 of them. The following values for each preparedness construct were: Readiness (0.77), Willingness (0.70), and Ability (0.73). These findings indicate that contents of the instrument are valid. Further analysis should be fulfilled to complete validation process to ensure its practicality prior to using it as an evaluation tool