Use of Advanced Technologies and Information Solutions for North Sea Offshore Assets: Ambitious Changes and Socio-Technical Dimensions

The use of various forms of advanced technologies and information solutions are in common place to manage industrial assets today. This is widely seen as the way forward in various industrial sectors owing to range of commercial benefits offered by new technologies and its importance to gain competitive advantage. The objective of this paper is to describe such an ongoing major technology-dependent re- engineering process termed Integrated eOperations in oil and gas exploration and production business in North Sea since 2004-2005, and to highlight the nature of ambitious techno-managerial changes and its critical socio-technical dimensions. The change process focuses on a new development path based on 24/7 online real-time operations, with direct implications on organizational forms and managerial tasks. Given the nature and the scale of ongoing change processes, there are emerging concerns that increasing complexities, ill-defined interfaces can easily lead to serious vulnerabilities and major risks. To avoid such undesirable circumstances that will surely have long-term commercial repercussions, a holistic socio-technical consideration and early measures to ensure fully-functional and fail-safe system are absolutely necessary

Dealing with abnormalities and deviations to enhance resilience in engineering Assets: A critical review from human factors and decision-making perspectives under complex operational contexts

With the growing scale of industrial demands, complexities, and uncertainties around asset engineering and operations due to advanced technology utilization, digitalization, sustainability, new operating models, etc., the sensitive role of abnormalities and deviations towards human safety, systems security, reliability and resilience of engineering assets and industrial systems are becoming even more significant for modern industrial sectors as well as societies in general. In these contexts, the abilities of operators to capture and sense-make early signals that emerge from engineering assets and systems need more attention since it enables them to enhance critical situation awareness (SA) during complex operations. This calls for proactive solutions that can integrate core data with operator knowledge using suitable logical approaches, particularly in a period where there is growing recognition that asset data can provide strong support for engineering and operational decisions in demanding contexts. Based on an ongoing research project, this paper sheds light on abnormalities and deviations; two specific attributes that should be better understood. The purpose is to explore how to capitalize them at very early sense-making stages to enhance situation awareness and thus resilience of dynamic and complex engineering assets and systems. Through a critical review of the current state of knowledge, together with industrial observations, this paper studies these core concepts in detail with due attention to the critical need of so-called priory contextual knowledge and hybrid contextual decision solutions. This R&D work explores proactive possibilities to mitigate inherent potentials for unwanted events and incidents to enhance resilience in the era of digital twins and cyber-physical systems, where complex technologies and operational demands generate new conditions for asset performance.publishedVersio

Risk factors for mortality among children under 5 years of age with severe diarrhea in low- and middle-income countries: Findings from the WHO-coordinated Global Rotavirus and Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance Networks.

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children under five years of age globally. The burden of diarrheal mortality is concentrated in low-resource settings. Little is known about the risk factors for childhood death from diarrheal disease in low and middle-income countries. METHODS: Data from the WHO-coordinated Global Rotavirus and Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance Networks, which are composed of active, sentinel, hospital-based surveillance sites, were analyzed to assess mortality in children less than five years of age who were hospitalized with diarrhea between 2008-2018. Case fatality risks were calculated, and multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify risk factors for mortality. RESULTS: This analysis is comprised of 234,781 cases, including 1,219 deaths, across 57 countries. The overall case fatality risk was found to be 0.5%. Risk factors for death in the multivariable analysis included younger age (for <6 months compared with older ages, OR = 3.54; 95% CI = 2.81-4.50), female sex (OR = 1.18; 95% CI= 1.06-1.81), presenting with persistent diarrhea (OR = 1.91; 95% CI= 1.01-3.25), no vomiting (OR = 1.13, 95% CI= 0.98-1.30), severe dehydration (OR = 3.79; 95% CI = 3.01-4.83), and being negative for rotavirus on an ELISA test (OR = 2.29; 95% CI= 1.92-2.74). Cases from the African Region had the highest odds of death compared with other WHO Regions (OR = 130.62 comparing the African Region to the European region; 95% CI= 55.72-422.73), while cases from the European region had the lowest odds of death. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support known risk factors for childhood diarrheal mortality and highlight the need for interventions to address dehydration and rotavirus-negative diarrheal infections

The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates the Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network to support vaccine introduction decisions and use. The network was established to strengthen surveillance and laboratory confirmation of meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis. METHODS: Sentinel hospitals report cases of children 137 000 suspected meningitis cases were reported by 58 participating countries, with 44.6% (n = 61 386) reported from countries in the WHO African Region. More than half (56.6%, n = 77 873) were among children <1 year of age, and 4.0% (n = 4010) died among those with reported disease outcome. Among suspected meningitis cases, 8.6% (n = 11 798) were classified as probable bacterial meningitis. One of 3 bacterial pathogens was identified in 30.3% (n = 3576) of these cases, namely S. pneumoniae (n = 2177 [60.9%]), H. influenzae (n = 633 [17.7%]), and N. meningitidis (n = 766 [21.4%]). Among confirmed bacterial meningitis cases with outcome reported, 11.0% died; case fatality ratio varied by pathogen (S. pneumoniae, 12.2%; H. influenzae, 6.1%; N. meningitidis, 11.0%). Among the 277 children who died with confirmed bacterial meningitis, 189 (68.2%) had confirmed S. pneumoniae. The proportion of pneumococcal cases with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) serotypes decreased as the number of countries implementing PCV increased, from 77.8% (n = 273) to 47.5% (n = 248). Of 397 H. influenzae specimens serotyped, 49.1% (n = 195) were type b. Predominant N. meningitidis serogroups varied by region. CONCLUSIONS: This multitier, global surveillance network has supported countries in detecting and serotyping the 3 principal invasive bacterial pathogens that cause pediatric meningitis. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common bacterial pathogen detected globally despite the growing number of countries that have nationally introduced PCV. The large proportions of deaths due to S. pneumoniae reflect the high proportion of meningitis cases caused by this pathogen. This global network demonstrated a strong correlation between PCV introduction status and reduction in the proportion of pneumococcal meningitis infections caused by vaccine serotypes. Maintaining case-based, active surveillance with laboratory confirmation for prioritized vaccine-preventable diseases remains a critical component of the global agenda in public health.The World Health Organization (WHO)-coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network reported data from 2014 to 2019, contributing to the estimates of the disease burden and serotypes of pediatric meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis

An integrated qualitative trend analysis approach to identify process abnormalities: A case of oil export pumps in an offshore oil and gas production facility.

Oil & gas production can be largely benefited by minimizing unwanted production losses. This can be done by effective identification of system anomalies and faults. In standard control systems these abnormalities can be observed as gradually deviating trends from the norms. Available tools for monitoring these trends, in some cases, may not be enough to reveal hidden faulty features. In order to interpret these changes accurately, measured data must be visualized as a combination of multiple sensor signals within a particular domain. This paper suggests an approach to effectively utilize integrated data from multiple sources, and defines a set of 12 fault features. The approach, in principle, encodes real plant data in the form of logical IF-THEN rules in Microsoft Excel. Confidence values are set based on these interpretations to differentiate between normal and abnormal conditions exhibited by the system. This is to provide an opportunity for the process and maintenance engineers to effectively identify the equipment‟s health based on the early identification of developing abnormalities

Managing hidden system threats for higher production regularity using intelligent technological solutions: A case study

Identification and interpretation of hidden system threats on complex oil and gas production platforms has always been a challenge. These threats may gradually develop into failures/faults resulting in system shutdowns or eventually loss/reduction of production. Oil and gas industry is willing to test new technologies in managing uninterrupted, higher production regularity. In response to these challenges, a research project was initiated involving a leading oil company in Norway. A systematic investigative approach was adopted which incorporates domain experts‟ opinion and multiple information resources/databases. The paper attempts neural network modelling of a critical production loss-related scenario, based on real plant data from an offshore production facility. Analytical results captured symptoms of suboptimal performance from compressors installed in the gas compression system. This methodology could give plant operators an opportunity to early identify system‟s anomalies. As a result, unwanted shutdowns can be avoided, consequently improving overall plant‟s efficiency and productivity

Value networks in manufacturing: sustainability and performance excellence

This book highlights innovative solutions together with various techniques and methods that can help support the manufacturing sector to excel in economic, social, and environmental terms in networked business environments. The book also furthers understanding of sustainable manufacturing from the perspective of value creation in manufacturing networks, by capitalizing on the outcomes of the European ‘Sustainable Value Creation in Manufacturing Networks’ project. New dynamics and uncertainties in modern markets call for innovative solutions in the global manufacturing sector. While the manufacturing sector is traditionally driven by technology, it also requires other managerial and organizational solutions in terms of network governance, business models, sustainable solution development for products and services, performance management portals, etc., which can provide major competitive advantages for companies. At the same time, the manufacturing industry is subject to a change process, where business networks play a major role in value-creating processes. By far the biggest challenge in this context is making value creation a sustainable process where economic, social, and environmental demands are met. Managing product and service-related business operations in manufacturing networks thus brings different challenges that cannot purely be resolved using traditional methods, and techniques. This book is an outcome of a European project funded by the European Commission, and performed by a dedicated R&D consortium comprised of some leading Research institutions and Industrial partners

Sustainability Risk for Global Production Networks in the Automobile Industry: A Case of Supplier Networks

Part 3: StrategyInternational audienceSustainability risk for global production networks can be considered more important than ever due to its distributed nature. The automobile industry relies heavily on its global supply networks. Nevertheless, little is being done to improve the sustainability of complex production environments. In practice, there is a number of factors that regulate the sustainability risk in any industry, and this paper pays special attention on how flexibility requirements can help mitigate sustainability risk by reducing the chance of unnecessary supply non-compliance performance