1,885 research outputs found
Assessing operational complexity of manufacturing systems based on algorithmic complexity of key performance indicator time-series
This article presents an approach to the assessment of operational manufacturing systems complexity based on the irregularities hidden in manufacturing key performance indicator time-series by employing three complementary algorithmic complexity measures: Kolmogorov complexity, Kolmogorov complexity spectrum’s highest value and overall Kolmogorov complexity. A series of computer simulations derived from discrete manufacturing systems are used to investigate the measures’ potentiality. The results showed that the presented measures can be used in quantitatively identifying operational system complexity, thereby supporting operational shop-floor decision-making activities
Environmental urbanization assessment using gis and multicriteria decision analysis: a case study for Denizli (Turkey) municipal area
In recent years, life quality of the urban areas is a growing interest of civil engineering. Environmental quality is essential to display the position of sustainable development and asserts the corresponding countermeasures to the protection of environment. Urban environmental quality involves multidisciplinary parameters and difficulties to be analyzed. The problem is not only complex but also involves many uncertainties, and decision-making on these issues is a challenging problem which contains many parameters and alternatives inherently. Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a very prepotent technique to solve that sort of problems, and it guides the users confidence by synthesizing that information. Environmental concerns frequently contain spatial information. Spatial multicriteria decision analysis (SMCDA) that includes Geographic Information System (GIS) is efficient to tackle that type of problems. This study has employed some geographic and urbanization parameters to assess the environmental urbanization quality used by those methods. The study area has been described in five categories: very favorable, favorable, moderate, unfavorable, and very unfavorable. The results are momentous to see the current situation, and they could help to mitigate the related concerns. The study proves that the SMCDA descriptions match the environmental quality perception in the city. © 2018 Erdal Akyol et al
Fuel-cell performance of multiply-crosslinked polymer electrolyte membranes prepared by two-step radiation technique
A multiply-crosslinked polymer electrolyte membrane was
prepared by the radiation-induced co-grafting of styrene and a
bis(vinyl phenyl)ethane (BVPE) crosslinker into a
radiation-crosslinked polytetrafluoroethylene (cPTFE) film. We
then investigated its H2/O2 fuel-cell performance at 60 and 80ºC in
terms of the effect of radiation and chemical crosslinking. At 60ºC,
all the membranes initially exhibited similar performance, but only
the cPTFE-based membranes were durable at 80ºC, indicating the
necessity of radiation crosslinking in the PTFE main chains.
Importantly, cell performance of the multiply-crosslinked
membrane was found high enough to reach that of a Nafion112
membrane. This is probably because the BVPE crosslinks in the
graft component improved the membrane-electrode interface in
addition to membrane durability. After severe OCV hold tests at 80
and 95ºC, the performance deteriorated, while no significant
change was observed in ohmic resistivity. Accordingly, our
membranes seemed so chemically stable that an influence on
overall performance loss could be negligible
Nanopore Sequencing Technology and Tools for Genome Assembly: Computational Analysis of the Current State, Bottlenecks and Future Directions
Nanopore sequencing technology has the potential to render other sequencing
technologies obsolete with its ability to generate long reads and provide
portability. However, high error rates of the technology pose a challenge while
generating accurate genome assemblies. The tools used for nanopore sequence
analysis are of critical importance as they should overcome the high error
rates of the technology. Our goal in this work is to comprehensively analyze
current publicly available tools for nanopore sequence analysis to understand
their advantages, disadvantages, and performance bottlenecks. It is important
to understand where the current tools do not perform well to develop better
tools. To this end, we 1) analyze the multiple steps and the associated tools
in the genome assembly pipeline using nanopore sequence data, and 2) provide
guidelines for determining the appropriate tools for each step. We analyze
various combinations of different tools and expose the tradeoffs between
accuracy, performance, memory usage and scalability. We conclude that our
observations can guide researchers and practitioners in making conscious and
effective choices for each step of the genome assembly pipeline using nanopore
sequence data. Also, with the help of bottlenecks we have found, developers can
improve the current tools or build new ones that are both accurate and fast, in
order to overcome the high error rates of the nanopore sequencing technology.Comment: To appear in Briefings in Bioinformatics (BIB), 201
An End-to-End Big Data Analytics Platform for IoT-enabled Smart Factories: A Case Study of Battery Module Assembly System for Electric Vehicles
Within the concept of factories of the future, big data analytics systems play a critical role in supporting decision-making at various stages across enterprise processes. However, the design and deployment of industry-ready, lightweight, modular, flexible, and low-cost big data analytics solutions remains one of the main challenges towards the Industry 4.0 enabled digital transformation. This paper presents an end-to-end IoT-based big data analytics platform that consists of five interconnected layers and several components for data acquisition, integration, storage, analytics and visualisation purposes. The platform architecture benefits from state-of-the-art technologies and integrates them in a systematic and interoperable way with clear information flows. The developed platform has been deployed in an Electric Vehicle (EV) battery module smart assembly automation system designed by the Automation Systems Group (ASG) at the University of Warwick, UK. The developed proof-of-concept solution demonstrates how a wide variety of tools and methods can be orchestrated to work together aiming to support decision-making and to improve both process and product qualities in smart manufacturing environments
A combined NMR and DFT study of Narrow Gap Semiconductors: The case of PbTe
In this study we present an alternative approach to separating contributions
to the NMR shift originating from the Knight shift and chemical shielding by a
combination of experimental solid-state NMR results and ab initio calculations.
The chemical and Knight shifts are normally distinguished through detailed
studies of the resonance frequency as function of temperature and carrier
concentration, followed by extrapolation of the shift to zero carrier
concentration. This approach is time-consuming and requires studies of multiple
samples. Here, we analyzed Pb and Te NMR spin-lattice
relaxation rates and NMR shifts for bulk and nanoscale PbTe. The shifts are
compared with calculations of the Pb and Te chemical shift
resonances to determine the chemical shift at zero charge carrier
concentration. The results are in good agreement with literature values from
carrier concentration-dependent studies. The measurements are also compared to
literature reports of the Pb and Te Knight shifts of - and
-type PbTe semiconductors. The literature data have been converted to the
currently accepted shift scale. We also provide possible evidence for the
"self-cleaning effect" property of PbTe nanocrystals whereby defects are
removed from the core of the particles, while preserving the crystal structure.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure
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