The Sixth Annual Workshop on Space Operations Applications and Research (SOAR 1992)

This document contains papers presented at the Space Operations, Applications, and Research Symposium (SOAR) hosted by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) on 4-6 Aug. 1992 and held at the JSC Gilruth Recreation Center. The symposium was cosponsored by the Air Force Material Command and by NASA/JSC. Key technical areas covered during the symposium were robotic and telepresence, automation and intelligent systems, human factors, life sciences, and space maintenance and servicing. The SOAR differed from most other conferences in that it was concerned with Government-sponsored research and development relevant to aerospace operations. The symposium's proceedings include papers covering various disciplines presented by experts from NASA, the USAF, universities, and industry

Advances in Robotics, Automation and Control

The book presents an excellent overview of the recent developments in the different areas of Robotics, Automation and Control. Through its 24 chapters, this book presents topics related to control and robot design; it also introduces new mathematical tools and techniques devoted to improve the system modeling and control. An important point is the use of rational agents and heuristic techniques to cope with the computational complexity required for controlling complex systems. Through this book, we also find navigation and vision algorithms, automatic handwritten comprehension and speech recognition systems that will be included in the next generation of productive systems developed by man

Diseño e implementación de algoritmos de Inteligencia Artificial basados en Q-learning para la programación de la producción en una empresa del sector cerámico

[ES] En el Sistema de planificación y Control de Operaciones (SPCO) la programación de la producción se ubica en el ámbito de las decisiones a corto plazo e implica un nivel de complejidad muy elevado. La mayoría de los problemas de programación de la producción se pueden considerar problemas combinatorios NP-Hard, por lo que las soluciones óptimas no suelen ser una opción razonable en un entorno realista. El estudiante deberá realizar un análisis de las alternativas existentes en el ámbito de los algoritmos metaheurísticos, y también deberá revisar las propuestas que ámbito de la inteligencia artificial ha planteados en los últimos años para los problemas de programación de la producción. A partir de las conclusiones obtenidas planteará un conjunto de algoritmos candidatos a ofrecer buenas soluciones y los adaptará al contexto de una empresa fabricante de baldosas cerámicas. Los algoritmos serán programados mediante Phyton empleando la librería Anaconda. Los algoritmos se parametrizarán mediante un Diseño de Experimentos y después se compararán con otros algoritmos ganadores de la bibliografía analizada empleando un juego de datos estándar. En el último bloque del trabajo el estudiante planteará un caso realista basado en datos de una empresa cerámica y se resolverán diversos escenarios de programación de la producción esperando que se pueda confirmar que se ha producido una mejora con respecto a los métodos empleados previamente.[EN] In the Operations Planning and Control System (SPCO), production scheduling falls within the scope of short-term decisions and involves a very high level of complexity. Most production scheduling problems can be considered NP-Hard combination problems, so optimal solutions are not usually a reasonable option in a realistic environment. The student must carry out an analysis of the existing alternatives in the field of metaheuristic algorithms, and must also review the proposals that the field of artificial intelligence has made in recent years for the problems of production programming. Based on the conclusions obtained, he will propose a set of candidate algorithms to offer good solutions and adapt them to the context of a ceramic tile manufacturing company. The algorithms will be programmed by Phyton using the Anaconda library. The algorithms will be parameterized through a Design of Experiments and then compared with other winning algorithms from the analyzed literature using a standard data set. In the last block of the work the student will raise a realistic case based on data from a ceramic company and will solve various scenarios of production scheduling in the hope that it can be confirmed that there has been an improvement over the methods previously used.[CA] En el Sistema de planificació i Control d'Operacions (SPCO) la programació de la producció se situa en l'àmbit de les decisions a curt termini i implica un nivell de complexitat molt elevat. La majoria dels problemes de programació de la producció es poden considerar problemes combinatoris NP-Hard, de manera que les solucions òptimes no solen ser una opció raonable en un entorn realista. En el treball es revisaran les propostes que l'àmbit de la intel·ligència artificial ha plantejat en els últims anys per als problemes de programació de la producció. A partir de les conclusions obtingudes es plantejarà un conjunt d'algoritmes candidats a oferir bones solucions i s'adaptaran a el context d'una empresa fabricant de rajoles ceràmiques. Els algoritmes seran programats mitjançant Python fent servir l'entorn de programació Anaconda. Els algoritmes es parametrizarán mitjançant un Disseny d'Experiments i després es compararan entre ells emprant un joc de dades estàndard. En l'últim bloc de la feina es plantejarà un cas realista basat en dades d'una empresa ceràmica i es resoldran diversos escenaris de programació de la producció per observar el funcionament de l'algoritme guanyador escollit en aquest entorn esperant que es pugui confirmar que s'ha produït una millora pel que fa als mètodes emprats prèviament.Navarro Aláez, A. (2020). Diseño e implementación de algoritmos de Inteligencia Artificial basados en Q-learning para la programación de la producción en una empresa del sector cerámico. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/148026TFG

30th International Conference on Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Engineering Management (COMADEM 2017)

Proceedings of COMADEM 201

Fuelling the zero-emissions road freight of the future: routing of mobile fuellers

The future of zero-emissions road freight is closely tied to the sufficient availability of new and clean fuel options such as electricity and Hydrogen. In goods distribution using Electric Commercial Vehicles (ECVs) and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles (HFCVs) a major challenge in the transition period would pertain to their limited autonomy and scarce and unevenly distributed refuelling stations. One viable solution to facilitate and speed up the adoption of ECVs/HFCVs by logistics, however, is to get the fuel to the point where it is needed (instead of diverting the route of delivery vehicles to refuelling stations) using "Mobile Fuellers (MFs)". These are mobile battery swapping/recharging vans or mobile Hydrogen fuellers that can travel to a running ECV/HFCV to provide the fuel they require to complete their delivery routes at a rendezvous time and space. In this presentation, new vehicle routing models will be presented for a third party company that provides MF services. In the proposed problem variant, the MF provider company receives routing plans of multiple customer companies and has to design routes for a fleet of capacitated MFs that have to synchronise their routes with the running vehicles to deliver the required amount of fuel on-the-fly. This presentation will discuss and compare several mathematical models based on different business models and collaborative logistics scenarios

The development of a value improvement model for repetitive processes

For businesses to remain competitive in their marketplace they must continually look for different ways to satisfy the expectations of their customers and stakeholders as well as satisfy the needs of their employees and business partners. If they fail to do this then other businesses operating in the same marketplace will offer better value products and services to their customers resulting in a loss of revenue and the business may face the threat of closure. Overcoming this threat, looking to achieve competitive advantage, there are two distinct change options available. Businesses can look externally, continually developing innovative new products perhaps adapting new technology winning the race to satisfy existing and potentially new customer expectations for better value products at minimal cost, &/or, they can look internally at their own processes with a view to continually improving these to be more efficient and effective maximising resource utilisation without devaluing the business in the eyes of their customers. This thesis explores the second option, looking at how businesses can better align their resources and manage internal and external influencing factors to deliver sustainable competitive advantage through the use of a value improvement model for their repetitive processes. Multiple case studies are presented showing the development of the model through application and intervention in a practitioner environment. The linkage to the body of knowledge for systems thinking, strategy, lean and six-sigma is also made. The main outcome of the thesis is the development of a useful, visual and systematic conceptual framework enabling managers to understand, assess and improve repetitive processes within their businesses through the taxonomy of value improvement models presented.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Quantifying Quality of Life

Describes technological methods and tools for objective and quantitative assessment of QoL Appraises technology-enabled methods for incorporating QoL measurements in medicine Highlights the success factors for adoption and scaling of technology-enabled methods This open access book presents the rise of technology-enabled methods and tools for objective, quantitative assessment of Quality of Life (QoL), while following the WHOQOL model. It is an in-depth resource describing and examining state-of-the-art, minimally obtrusive, ubiquitous technologies. Highlighting the required factors for adoption and scaling of technology-enabled methods and tools for QoL assessment, it also describes how these technologies can be leveraged for behavior change, disease prevention, health management and long-term QoL enhancement in populations at large. Quantifying Quality of Life: Incorporating Daily Life into Medicine fills a gap in the field of QoL by providing assessment methods, techniques and tools. These assessments differ from the current methods that are now mostly infrequent, subjective, qualitative, memory-based, context-poor and sparse. Therefore, it is an ideal resource for physicians, physicians in training, software and hardware developers, computer scientists, data scientists, behavioural scientists, entrepreneurs, healthcare leaders and administrators who are seeking an up-to-date resource on this subject

Quantifying Quality of Life

Describes technological methods and tools for objective and quantitative assessment of QoL Appraises technology-enabled methods for incorporating QoL measurements in medicine Highlights the success factors for adoption and scaling of technology-enabled methods This open access book presents the rise of technology-enabled methods and tools for objective, quantitative assessment of Quality of Life (QoL), while following the WHOQOL model. It is an in-depth resource describing and examining state-of-the-art, minimally obtrusive, ubiquitous technologies. Highlighting the required factors for adoption and scaling of technology-enabled methods and tools for QoL assessment, it also describes how these technologies can be leveraged for behavior change, disease prevention, health management and long-term QoL enhancement in populations at large. Quantifying Quality of Life: Incorporating Daily Life into Medicine fills a gap in the field of QoL by providing assessment methods, techniques and tools. These assessments differ from the current methods that are now mostly infrequent, subjective, qualitative, memory-based, context-poor and sparse. Therefore, it is an ideal resource for physicians, physicians in training, software and hardware developers, computer scientists, data scientists, behavioural scientists, entrepreneurs, healthcare leaders and administrators who are seeking an up-to-date resource on this subject

The political economy of opera: a study of the relationship between artistic value and financial value in the current era

This study has been made necessary by the lack of an adequate political economy of opera, and related philosophical constructs, to take opera successfully into the twentyfirst century. Despite a history of crises and failure within the UK subsidized opera sector, scant attention has been paid to the theory of value in opera: a situation not aided by the scarcity and inconsistency of available data pertaining to the financial performance of opera companies and the sector as a whole. The study provides a fresh theoretical approach which will allow those parties with an interest in the artistic value and financial value issues posed by opera to find a common forum. The influence of relevant factors in the environment are discussed, including the trend towards accountability, and the emergence of communitarianist thought in the political agenda. The concept of the transformation of value as the characteristic process of opera is introduced. It is also shown that artistic value is the outcome of transactions between buyers and sellers; that it is irrevocably a market concept. In the context of a democratic market economy there is need, therefore, to widen participation in the artistic value agenda by incorporating the general public within an inclusive artistic value franchise. The history and theory of value is examined with reference to current aesthetic thought (Adorno's version of commodity fetishism, and postmodernism), the economic writings of Marx and Smith, and current explicit and implicit models of value (including the Baumol and Bowen productivity lag model, the Keynesian powerhouse model, public service provision, and the merit good theory). A methodology to gather consistent and reliable data from the mandatory annual financial reports of individual opera companies was developed. The difficulties associated with construction of the resultant data set revealed a lack of accountability within the sector. A long-run parametric study of the UK subsidized opera sector (1976-95) was then conducted. Results reveal an inexorable rise in the real cost of opera, and demonstrate, for the first time, the poor long-run performance of the UK subsidized opera sector. Results also confirm the existence of inequities (distributive injustices) in current subsidy policy, the presence of a controlling partial interest within the artistic value franchise (an artocracy), and treatment of artistic value as an exogenous given. It is concluded that these results are an inevitable outcome of the current opera infrastructure, and that there has been inadequate examination and consideration of alternative operational and infrastructural models, some of which are discussed here. Overall, it is concluded that the current, static, opera infrastructure precludes substantive artistic innovation, and that the museum element in the artform resides not in its repertoire, but in its infrastructure