715 research outputs found
Interface design in the process industries
Every operator runs his plant in accord with his own mental model of the process. In this sense, one characteristic of an ideal man-machine interface is that it be in harmony with that model. With this theme in mind, the paper first reviews the functions of the process operator and compares them with human operators involved in control situations previously studied outside the industrial environment (pilots, air traffic controllers, helmsmen, etc.). A brief history of the operator interface in the process industry and the traditional methodology employed in its design is then presented. Finally, a much more fundamental approach utilizing a model definition of the human operator's behavior is presented
Parameter estimation in linear models of the human operator in a closed loop with application of deterministic test signals
Parameter estimation techniques are discussed with emphasis on unbiased estimates in the presence of noise. A distinction between open and closed loop systems is made. A method is given based on the application of external forcing functions consisting of a sun of sinusoids; this method is thus based on the estimation of Fourier coefficients and is applicable for models with poles and zeros in open and closed loop systems
Modeling the behavior of the helmsman steering a ship
A supertanker is considered as a nonlinear system which responds very slowly to changes in the rudder position. Moreover this type of ship is often unstable in loaded condition. In order to model the helmsman's behavior, a number of tests were performed using a ship maneuvering simulator. The trained subjects had to steer a 200,000 tons tanker along a varying course. The results obtained from these trials are presented
An Engineering Geological Investigation of the Seismic Subsoil Classes in the Central Wellington Commercial Area.
The city of Wellington has a high population concentration and lies within a geologically active landscape at the southern end of the North Island, New Zealand. Wellington has a high seismic risk due to its close proximity to several major fault systems, with the active Wellington Fault located in the north-western central city. Varying soil depth and properties in combination with the close proximity of active faults mean that in a large earthquake rupture event, ground shaking amplification is expected to occur in Thorndon, Te Aro and around the waterfront.
This thesis focuses on the area bounded by Thorndon Overbridge in the north, Wellington Hospital in the south, Kelburn in the west, and Oriental Bay in the east. It includes many of the major buildings and infrastructural elements located within the central Wellington commercial area. The main objectives were to create an electronic database which allows for convenient access to all available data within the study area, to create a 3D geological model based upon this data, and to define areas of different seismic subsoil class and depth to rock within the study area at a scale that is useful for preliminary geotechnical analysis (1:5,000.
Borelogs from 1025 holes with accompanying geological and geotechnical data obtained from GNS Science and Tonkin & Taylor were compiled into a database, together with the results from SPAC microtremor testing at 12 sites undertaken specifically for this study. This thesis discusses relevant background work and defines the local Wellington geology.
A 3D geological model of the central Wellington commercial area, along with ten ArcGIS maps including surficial, depth to bedrock, site period, Vs30, ground shaking amplification hazard and site class (NZS 1170.5:2004) maps were created. These outputs show that a significant ground shaking amplification risk is posed on the city, with the waterfront, Te Aro and Thorndon areas most at risk
Detecting depression in dyadic conversations with multimodal narratives and visualizations
Conversations contain a wide spectrum of multimodal information that gives us
hints about the emotions and moods of the speaker. In this paper, we developed
a system that supports humans to analyze conversations. Our main contribution
is the identification of appropriate multimodal features and the integration of
such features into verbatim conversation transcripts. We demonstrate the
ability of our system to take in a wide range of multimodal information and
automatically generated a prediction score for the depression state of the
individual. Our experiments showed that this approach yielded better
performance than the baseline model. Furthermore, the multimodal narrative
approach makes it easy to integrate learnings from other disciplines, such as
conversational analysis and psychology. Lastly, this interdisciplinary and
automated approach is a step towards emulating how practitioners record the
course of treatment as well as emulating how conversational analysts have been
analyzing conversations by hand.Comment: 12 page
Технология подготовки попутного газа для газлифтной эксплуатации скважин на нефтяном месторождении Пильтун-Астохское (Сахалинская область)
Целью выпускной работы является анализ влияния технологических параметров установки подготовки на качество газа для последующего применения в газлифтной эксплуатации нефтяных скважин. В процессе исследования изучены виды газлифтной эксплуатации, технологии подготовки нефтяного газа: компримирование газа, адсорбция, адсорбция и низкотемпературная сепарация. Обоснован выбор технологии низкотемпературной сепарации, построена моделирующая схема установки подготовки газа в программной среде UniSim Design Suite R460. Установлено влияние давления и температуры в изкотемпературном сепараторе на точки росы по углеводородам и воде подготовленного газа, а также на массовый расход конденсата.The aim of this graduation work is to analyze the influence of the technological parameters of the treatment unit on the quality of gas for subsequent use in gas-lift operation of oil wells.
During the study the types of gas lift operation, associated gas treatment technologies (gas compression, adsorption, adsorption and low-temperature separation) were studied. The choice of low-temperature separation technology is justified, a simulating scheme of a gas treatment unit in the UniSim Design Suite R460 software environment is built. The effect of pressure and temperature in the low-temperature separator on the mass flow of condensate and the dew points of the prepared gas (hydrocarbon and water dew point) is established
The host immune response contributes to Haemophilus influenzae virulence
SummaryBackgroundThere is compelling evidence that infections with non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) are associated with exacerbations in COPD patients. However, NTHi has also been isolated frequently during clinically stable disease. In this study we tested the hypothesis that genetically distinct NTHi isolates obtained from COPD patients differ in virulence which could account for dissimilarities in the final outcome of an infection (stable vs. exacerbation).ResultsNTHi isolates (n = 32) were obtained from stable COPD patients, or during exacerbations. Genetically divergent NTHi isolates were selected and induction of inflammation was assessed as an indicator of virulence using different in vitro models. Despite marked genomic differences among NTHi isolates, in vitro studies could not distinguish between NTHi isolates based on their inflammatory capacities. Alternatively, when using a whole blood assay results demonstrated marked inter-, but not intra-individual differences in cytokine release between healthy volunteers irrespective of the origin of the NTHi isolate used.ConclusionResults suggest that the individual immune reactivity might be an important predictor for the clinical outcome (exacerbation vs. no exacerbation) following NTHi infection
Measurement of the absolute differential cross section of proton-proton elastic scattering at small angles
The differential cross section for proton-proton elastic scattering has been
measured at a beam energy of 1.0 GeV and in 200 MeV steps from 1.6 to 2.8 GeV
for centre-of-mass angles in the range from 12-16 degrees to 25-30 degrees,
depending on the energy. Absolute normalisations of typically 3% were achieved
by studying the energy losses of the circulating beam of the COSY storage ring
as it passed repeatedly through the windowless hydrogen target of the ANKE
magnetic spectrometer. It is shown that the data have a significant impact upon
a partial wave analysis. After extrapolating the differential cross sections to
the forward direction, the results are broadly compatible with the predictions
of forward dispersion relations
Measurement of the analysing power in proton-proton elastic scattering at small angles
The proton analysing power in elastic scattering has been measured
at small angles at COSY-ANKE at 796 MeV and five other beam energies between
1.6 and 2.4 GeV using a polarised proton beam. The asymmetries obtained by
detecting the fast proton in the ANKE forward detector or the slow recoil
proton in a silicon tracking telescope are completely consistent. Although the
analysing power results agree well with the many published data at 796 MeV, and
also with the most recent partial wave solution at this energy, the ANKE data
at the higher energies lie well above the predictions of this solution at small
angles. An updated phase shift analysis that uses the ANKE results together
with the World data leads to a much better description of these new
measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
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