Automation Systems

Modern industrial enterprises face challenges that require introduction of latest technologies to improve efficiency and
competitiveness. In metallurgy, one of key stages is continuous casting, where quality of products and economic performance of
enterprise depend on accuracy and efficiency of process control. Products made using continuous casting technology are widely used
in various industries due to their high mechanical properties, structural uniformity and cost-effectiveness.
The development of automated metal management and registration system is becoming not only relevant, but also necessary to
ensure stable and efficient production.
The problem of improving quality of metal products has always been one of most important tasks in steel industry. Imperfect
technological processes, human error and equipment malfunctions can lead to defects in finished metal products. This, in turn, affects
final characteristics of products, their durability and reliability.
To date, available sources have not yet found complete solution to this problem. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate problem
and develop algorithm for operation of automated system for controlling and registering metal in continuous casting. 
To improve quality of metal products and stability of casting process, parametric model was created that is com-prehensive, allows optimization of key parameters and ensures accuracy of process control by integrating not only modes of product formation, but also takes into account specific properties of source material (chemical composition of material grade, etc.) and design features of casting plant. Algorithm for automated control system has been developed that takes into account relationships between certain key parameters and ensures optimal control of casting process. Based on proposed complex parametric model and algorithm, automated  control  and  metal  registration  system  was  created.  The  focus  of  work  is  on  quality  and  efficiency  of  metal  managementand registration in continuous casting, based on modern methods of computer science and engineering. A comprehensive experimen-tal  comparison  of  developed  system  with  commercial  analogs  in  real  production  conditions  was  carried  out,  which  allowed  us  to  objectively assess its efficiency and reliability.

The article analyzes various technologies, such as smart home, smart lighting systems, smart thermostats, and building management systems, which promote innovation, efficiency, and resource savings. The main emphasis is on importance of implementing computer-integrated solutions to automate measurement of indoor conditions in order to improve quality of life and work. Based on analysis, we plan to implement additional measures to address shortcomings aimed at reducing costs and simplifying installation and maintenance processes. As result, it is planned to develop system for determining climatic conditions for both residential and workspaces.

The paper considers main elements of automation systems – control
panels and consoles. In course of analysis, main types of panels and control panels were identified, their main purpose was given, and their design features were emphasized. The paper also presents developed control panel for controlling magnetic starters.

This study introduces Saudi Academic Libraries (SALs), their organization structures, automation systems, the application of CD-ROMs and their development in KAAUL, and the role of King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology in information systems until the year 2000. Furthermore, this study ends with a brief review of previous works in the development of information technology in SALs. In this study, survey method was used as a research methodology and a telephone call interviews were took place to vice-deans on 13 th September 2001 to get primary information about the different academic libraries all over KSA to know how much can SALs establish management databases which help to give reports to help library managers in their different managerial levels to take the right decisions in electronic journals collection management. The most important results showed that most SALs have the minimum required network and electronic service activities, and the available different informat...

Assistant Professor, Instrumentation & Control Engineering Department D. Y. Patil College of Engineering Akurdi, 411044, Maharashtra, India -------------------------------------------------------------------------***-----------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract In Industries, it is required that the processes to be very fast and efficient to save the time and manpower. To fulfill this need pick and place method is implemented. In this paper, Material handling system for pick and place with image processing & lab view is explained. The pick and place mechanism is existing there in industries. But as per the new era the need of automation is to get fast, efficient and easy to handle process. The paper explains the methodology to get pick and place mechanism in an innovative way. Here image processing plays a vital role. The particular Color and character can be detected through image processing. After detection of object it is picked by the moving arm...

SAFIR 2003-2006 is the present Finnish public research programme on nuclear power plant safety. The programme is administrated by the steering group that has been nominated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (KTM). The steering group of SAFIR consists of representatives from Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK),

Summary This study concerns the welding process induced residual stresses in Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) reactor circuit component welds, and their modelling for structural integrity analyses. The present study continues the work of the previous parts of the ...

The regulatory control of nuclear materials (nuclear safeguards) is a prerequisite for the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Finland. In order to maintain the Finnish part of the international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation-mainly the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)-this regulatory control is implemented by the Nuclear Materials Section of the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK).

An advanced vehicle monitoring and tracking system based on Embedded Linux Board and android application is designed and implemented for monitoring the school vehicle from any location A to location B at real time. The proposed system would make good use of new technology that based on Embedded Linux board namely Raspberry Pi and Smartphone android application. The proposed system works on GPS/GPRS/GSM SIM900A Module which includes all the three things namely GPS GPRS GSM. The GPS current location of the vehicle; GPRS sends the tracking information to the server and the GSM is used for sending alert message to vehicle's owner mobile. The proposed system would place inside the vehicle whose position is to be determined on the web page and monitored at real time. In the proposed system, there is comparison between the current vehicle path and already specified path into the file system of raspberry pi. Here in the proposed system the already specified path inside the raspberry pi's file system taken from vehicle owner's android smartphone using android application. Means the selection of path from location A to B takes place from vehicle owner's android application which gives more safety and secures traveling to the traveler. Hence the driver drives the vehicle only on the vehicle owner's specified path. If the driver drives the vehicle on the wrong path then the alert message will be sent from the proposed system to the vehicle's owner mobile and also speakers alert driven using Raspberry pi's audio jack. If the vehicle's speed goes beyond the specified value of the speed, then also the warning message will be sent from system to the owner mobile. The proposed system also took care of the traveler's safety by using LPG Gas leakage sensor MQ6 and temperature sensor DS18B20.

The biological domain holds interesting keys to the theorists who investigate the root causes of software maintenance. Several authors believe that software systems need to adapt to changing environment the way biological systems do. The objections raised against this generic comparison induced the author to attend additional lessons in biology. Living beings exploit three main forms of adaptation: intelligent, specialist and genetic (or Darwinian). Of these, intelligent adaptation appears to be the most appropriate form to be examined in relation to computational phenomena; besides, it fits with the fundamental ideas of Artificial Intelligence. This study shows how computers are adaptive devices, which aid general systems (companies, production lines, individuals etc.) to have successful behavior in the world. This assumption leads to the inference that the root-causes of software evolution and those of the software itself coincide. Finally, all the factors that affect software maintenance have been surveyed and a measure to handle the software maintenance processes suggested.

during the last two decades there has been a growing interest in Particle Filtering (PF). However, PF suffers from two long-standing problems that are referred to as sample degeneracy and impoverishment. We are investigating methods that are particularly efficient at Particle Distribution Optimization (PDO) to fight sample degeneracy and impoverishment, with an emphasis on intelligence choices. These methods benefit from such methods as Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, Mean-shift algorithms, artificial intelligence algorithms (e.g., Particle Swarm Optimization, Genetic Algorithm and Ant Colony Optimization), machine learning approaches (e.g., clustering, splitting and merging) and their hybrids, forming a coherent standpoint to enhance the particle filter. The working mechanism, interrelationship, pros and cons of these approaches are provided. In addition, Approaches that are effective for dealing with high-dimensionality are reviewed. While improving the filter performance in terms of accuracy, robustness and convergence, it is noted that advanced techniques employed in PF often causes additional computational requirement that will in turn sacrifice improvement obtained in real life filtering. This fact, hidden in pure simulations, deserves the attention of the users and designers of new filters.

Growing interest in the particle filter has been seen in the last two decades. However, the PF suffers from a pair of long-standing problem that is referred to as sample degeneracy and impoverishment. We investigate a group of methods that have been successively made for the benefit of the diversity of particles to fight against sample degeneracy and impoverishment. Comparing with kernel smoothing methods, they act in a more intelligent manner and benefit from a variety of techniques such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, mean-shift algorithms, scatter search methods, artificial intelligence algorithms (e.g., particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithm and ant colony optimization) and machine learning approaches (e.g., clustering, splitting and merging), etc. They improve the filtering performance especially in terms of robustness and convergence of the particle filter, but they may suffer from high computational cost that will in turn sacrifice the improvement reported. This ...

Electricity is a powerful tool and must needed recourse of energy of all time in life existence since its invention. Its optimum utilization is a need of the era where various measures are taken on controlling methods by some enforced and imposed ways, we discuss a smart system which works to control unnecessary wastage of resources by keeping a time-to-time check on the system can be collaborated with a smart alert system. The idea is to not to control the usage but to curb the wastage for the optimum and efficient use of the available resources.                                                    In this project we proposed a smart system in which a signal will be send to mobile phone first if there is no human presence detected. After getting alert of human absence, electrical appliances can be switched OFF through mobile phone. This Idea is helpful when at the same working time some rooms are in use and some rooms are unused. So, by remote controlled switching of the appliances, electricity can be saved. This control can be done from the 25-20 meters range so in this case no need to approach the room manually to operate the switches. The objective of the project is to model a system to optimize the use of available resources for meeting the energy needs by saving energy while it is not under use. In this way a huge amount of energy can be saved. This will not only reduce the electricity bill but it will promote the optimum utilization of energy sources.  Remote controlling of electrical appliances through a smart mobile system also restates the human nature of laziness in switching OFF appliances while they are not in use so it has a wide use in domestic’s field also.

Exam Cell Automation System is delivered for the school to streamline examination hallway assignment and seating strategy. It urges student to get to the examination information of a class. The demonstrate of making exam seating strategy system is to modernize standard technique for coordinating exam and to offer straightforwardness to student. Another suggest for working up this application is to cause the seating strategy report normally during exams at the discontinuance of the session. The degree of the endeavour is the structure on which the item is presented. The applicant is made as an Android application, and it will work for a foundation. For the most part students are going up against various ties for finding the exam seats as demonstrated by passage ticket separately. A from at an early stage planned thought can benefit for the students for checking their exam hallways. The Students purposes of intrigue have information about each one of the student who has checked in to go to the examination. It contains the task that student follow, Branch of the student and their classes. Anteroom Details signify number of halls open in the establishment and the task of the passageway and the examination timings unobtrusive components have mean planning assigned to student and hallway, etc. The wander screens sundry purposes of enthusiasm for modules, for instance, Students Details, Student passage ticket, Examination Timing Details, and Hall Details with the perfect depictions.

This study points on the operation of a pumping station test rig equipped with 3 vertical centrifugal pumps, with variable speed, coupled in parallel. We investigated the pumps operation by imposing reference levels for the pumping head, then attaining the requested duty points through rotational speed control. On this test rig, the pumped flow rate is controlled by a built-in software, where the pumping scheduling algorithm relies on a sensor-less control method, based on the pump performance curve and affinity laws. The setup allows the measurement of the pumps head (displayed on rig's control panel) and rotational speed of each motor. According to the pumping schedule, when a number of n pumps are operating (where 2 n or 3 n), then) 1 (n pumps run at nominal speed, while the remaining pump runs at a speed lower than, or equal to the nominal speed. We built in EPANET the numerical model of this test rig and calibrate the model upon experimental data, using simple control statements for the discharge valve and speed patterns for pumps. Due to the calibration, a perfect match resulted between experimental readings and numerical duty points. Further, we built an alternative numerical model, which allowed analysing additional duty points, then we plot them on a chart, together with the experimental duty points: all points fit into the operation areas attached to the pumping schedule. The proposed approach proved to be useful to study further the pumps operation, with a minimal experimental effort.

Preface 3 Research for Plant Life Management 7 Applicability of different artificial defects in qualification of ultrasonic testing method 25 Experiences on Synthetic Aperture Focussing Technique (SAFT) Ultrasonic defect sizing with manual and semi-automatic system Load-case and-combination database Numerical simulation of piping vibrations using an updated FE model Modal analysis of feed water pipe line RL61 at the Loviisa NPP 99 Monitoring of BWR water chemistry and oxide films on samples at Olkiluoto 1 during the fuel cycle 2000-2001 Activity incorporation into stainless steel samples in primary coolant at Loviisa 1 during the fuel cycle 2000-2001 Corrosion of steam generator tube material-effects of chloride and sulphate ions 153 Zircaloy-2 cladding materials-effect of microstructure on corrosion properties Vacancy generation in electrochemical oxidation / dissolution of copper in NaNo 2 solutions and its role in SCC mechanism Effects of dynamic strain aging on environment-assisted cracking of low alloy pressure vessel and piping steels Effects of water chemistry transients on crack growth rate of nickel-based weld metals Investigations on aged Ti-stabilised stainless steels 5 Thermal ageing of ferrite in cast stainless steel Properties and IASCC susceptibility of austenitic stainless steel 08X18H10T Re-embrittlement of annealed pressure vessel, IAI 1-material condition of a Loviisa irradiated weld Risk informed plant life management-application of the Master-Curve approach for hydrotreating reactors in an oil refinery

El integrar sistemas en la industria cementera es un requerimiento inminente, para lograrlo es necesario disponer de las herramientas metodológicas idóneas. El objetivo del artículo se orienta a proponer un marco metodológico que involucre aspectos técnicos, modelado de procesos de producción e integración con el resto de procesos del negocio. Se hace uso del paradigma holónico para modelar los procesos de producción mediante sus actividades y un conjunto de herramientas para la generación del esquema de integración el mismo que está basado en el holón Unidad de Producción. La viabilidad de las actividades es analizada en tres aspectos: física, logística y económica; la física es evaluada mediante los modelos de productos y proceso; la logística mediante la disponibilidad de los recursos suministrados por las aplicaciones que manejan recursos necesarios para una actividad y el modelo proceso producto; la económica mediante el uso del ABC (Activity Based Costs), lo que permite establ...

Waste Management has become a difficult task for Municipal Cooperation. It is observed that the practice of trash collection is quite inefficient and ineffective in most of the areas in India. This is due to the size of population, economical drawbacks and majorly because of the lack of feedback mechanisms. A proper well-designed system that monitors the filling of bins in a community will make the work easier for the trash collecting personnel. In this paper, a prototype of a Smart Bin Monitoring System is implemented with the help of ZigBee connectivity in a Star network, NodeMCU, Arduino UNO microcontroller and the weight and distance sensors. The software side of the project, is based on the waste fill status of each bin, an algorithm for optimized path is developed using MATLAB GUI. Also, the bin values and the monitored parameters are made accessible to the households and waste collectors via an APP developed using the MIT App Inventor.

SAFIR 2003-2006 is the present Finnish public research programme on nuclear power plant safety. The programme is administrated by the steering group that has been nominated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (KTM). The steering group of SAFIR consists of representatives from Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK),

The uses of bags, for travellers, have been an integral part of life. People face difficulties in securing their bags against theft during travel and luggage transit. The emerging Internet of Things technologies and IoT devices like sensors, microcontrollers, GPS/GSM modules, RFID tags/ readers, fingerprint scanner and many such components helps immensely in automation and can be used to collate vast amounts of data, ranging from time- series data from sensors to spatial data. The objective of this project is to make travel bags smart by using the IoT devices and utilizing the captured data to thwart from robbery of personal belongings and to eliminate theft to great extent. The proposed smart bag with a mobile application keeps owner credentials like finger print, passcodes and other security components collected and endorsed using the IoT devices can be used to track the bag.  And if the bag is stolen an emergency notifications sent to the owner mobile and used the geographical da...

Preface 3 Research for Plant Life Management 7 Applicability of different artificial defects in qualification of ultrasonic testing method 25 Experiences on Synthetic Aperture Focussing Technique (SAFT) Ultrasonic defect sizing with manual and semi-automatic system Load-case and-combination database Numerical simulation of piping vibrations using an updated FE model Modal analysis of feed water pipe line RL61 at the Loviisa NPP 99 Monitoring of BWR water chemistry and oxide films on samples at Olkiluoto 1 during the fuel cycle 2000-2001 Activity incorporation into stainless steel samples in primary coolant at Loviisa 1 during the fuel cycle 2000-2001 Corrosion of steam generator tube material-effects of chloride and sulphate ions 153 Zircaloy-2 cladding materials-effect of microstructure on corrosion properties Vacancy generation in electrochemical oxidation / dissolution of copper in NaNo 2 solutions and its role in SCC mechanism Effects of dynamic strain aging on environment-assisted cracking of low alloy pressure vessel and piping steels Effects of water chemistry transients on crack growth rate of nickel-based weld metals Investigations on aged Ti-stabilised stainless steels 5 Thermal ageing of ferrite in cast stainless steel Properties and IASCC susceptibility of austenitic stainless steel 08X18H10T Re-embrittlement of annealed pressure vessel, IAI 1-material condition of a Loviisa irradiated weld Risk informed plant life management-application of the Master-Curve approach for hydrotreating reactors in an oil refinery

Preface 3 Research for Plant Life Management 7 Applicability of different artificial defects in qualification of ultrasonic testing method 25 Experiences on Synthetic Aperture Focussing Technique (SAFT) Ultrasonic defect sizing with manual and semi-automatic system Load-case and-combination database Numerical simulation of piping vibrations using an updated FE model Modal analysis of feed water pipe line RL61 at the Loviisa NPP 99 Monitoring of BWR water chemistry and oxide films on samples at Olkiluoto 1 during the fuel cycle 2000-2001 Activity incorporation into stainless steel samples in primary coolant at Loviisa 1 during the fuel cycle 2000-2001 Corrosion of steam generator tube material-effects of chloride and sulphate ions 153 Zircaloy-2 cladding materials-effect of microstructure on corrosion properties Vacancy generation in electrochemical oxidation / dissolution of copper in NaNo 2 solutions and its role in SCC mechanism Effects of dynamic strain aging on environment-assisted cracking of low alloy pressure vessel and piping steels Effects of water chemistry transients on crack growth rate of nickel-based weld metals Investigations on aged Ti-stabilised stainless steels 5 Thermal ageing of ferrite in cast stainless steel Properties and IASCC susceptibility of austenitic stainless steel 08X18H10T Re-embrittlement of annealed pressure vessel, IAI 1-material condition of a Loviisa irradiated weld Risk informed plant life management-application of the Master-Curve approach for hydrotreating reactors in an oil refinery

This paper presents a design of home automation system using IoT that is capable of controlling and monitoring most of traditional Malay house appliances using an easily manageable application. The proposed system is highly flexible as it uses Wi-Fi technology to interconnect between the controlled board & Wi-Fi module. This system uses 4-loads to control house appliances, and has user-friendly interface that allows user to easily control the Malay house appliances through the internet. The proposed system consists of NodeMCU (Node Microcontroller Unit) and powered by 5V Adaptor/Charger (Micro-type). The NodeMCU, is connected to a relay unit to operate electrical appliances over the internet. Meanwhile, the loads are controlled by relays. After the user sends commands over the internet, the NodeMCU processes the instructions to operate the loads accordingly, and displays the system status on a smartphone display. Thus, this system allows for efficient home automation over the internet.

As the demand for automated manufacturing applications grows, industrial automation systems must be easily programmable, versatile, dependable, resilient, and cost-effective. Automating routine tasks, including the structures within an Expanded Polystyrene (EPS manufacturing line, can achieve several benefits in terms of safety, increased production, reliability, quality, and accuracy. This study examines the design of an automated scrap recycling system by combining a Programmable Logic Controller and a barcode Technology. The goal of this study is to develop a more efficient recycling system layout, identify potential identification technologies and components for the system’s automation controls, describe the system’s operation sequence, design of a ladder program and to make safety recommendations for the system. The data was gathered through a review of the literature and through internal documentation and observation within the case study company. A theoretical study has been ...

This paper deals with advanced state estimation algorithms for estimation of biomass concentration and specific growth rate in a typical fed-batch biotechnological process. This biotechnological process was represented by a nonlinear mass-balance based process model. Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and Particle Filter (PF) was used to estimate the unmeasured state variables from oxygen uptake rate (OUR) and base consumption (BC) measurements. To obtain more general results, a simplified process model was involved in EKF and PF estimation algorithms. This model doesn't require any special growth kinetic equations and could be applied for state estimation in various bioprocesses. The focus of this investigation was concentrated on the comparison of the estimation quality of the EKF and PF estimators by applying different measurement noises. The simulation results show that Particle Filter algorithm requires significantly more computation time for state estimation but gives lower esti...

Automation awareness (AA) can be defined as user's conception of the utilized automation system's state in such a manner that enables the user to observe, control, and anticipate the process events mediated by automation. In this paper, we report a study where we utilized a customized simulation system to assess AA. The simulator included a process and automation model with emulated user interface displays for an emergency diesel generator system in a nuclear power plant. The results suggest that in addition to user-related factors, such as the users' automation-specific education, experience, and provided training, the quality of the automation system's user interface is a significant contributor to the development of AA; especially the digital presentation of the measurement values, graphical format of the values' status and their automation-related limits as well as illustrative trend displays seem to improve AA considerably.

In this paper, an implementation of vehicle ventilation system using microcontroller NodeMCU is described, as an internet of things (IoT) platform. A low-cost wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) microchip ESP8266 integrated with NodeMCU provides full-stack transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) to communicate between mobile applications. This chip is capable to monitor and control sensor devices connected to the IoT platform. In this reserach, data was collected from a temperature sensor integrated to the platform, which then monitored using Blynk application. The vehicle ventilation system was activated/deactivated through mobile application and controlled using ON/OFF commands sent to the connected devices. From the results, the vehicle ventilation system built using NodeMCU microcontroller is capable to provide near real-time data monitoring for temperature in the car before and after the ventilation system was applied.

Preface 3 Research for Plant Life Management 7 Applicability of different artificial defects in qualification of ultrasonic testing method 25 Experiences on Synthetic Aperture Focussing Technique (SAFT) Ultrasonic defect sizing with manual and semi-automatic system Load-case and-combination database Numerical simulation of piping vibrations using an updated FE model Modal analysis of feed water pipe line RL61 at the Loviisa NPP 99 Monitoring of BWR water chemistry and oxide films on samples at Olkiluoto 1 during the fuel cycle 2000-2001 Activity incorporation into stainless steel samples in primary coolant at Loviisa 1 during the fuel cycle 2000-2001 Corrosion of steam generator tube material-effects of chloride and sulphate ions 153 Zircaloy-2 cladding materials-effect of microstructure on corrosion properties Vacancy generation in electrochemical oxidation / dissolution of copper in NaNo 2 solutions and its role in SCC mechanism Effects of dynamic strain aging on environment-assisted cracking of low alloy pressure vessel and piping steels Effects of water chemistry transients on crack growth rate of nickel-based weld metals Investigations on aged Ti-stabilised stainless steels 5 Thermal ageing of ferrite in cast stainless steel Properties and IASCC susceptibility of austenitic stainless steel 08X18H10T Re-embrittlement of annealed pressure vessel, IAI 1-material condition of a Loviisa irradiated weld Risk informed plant life management-application of the Master-Curve approach for hydrotreating reactors in an oil refinery

Curriculum, research, instruction, learning and assessment are the pulse of the university. The main purpose of this study is to fill a substantial knowledge gap regarding reaching a uniform group decision in Industrial engineering curriculum design and planning. A comprehensive quality based course criterion model extracted from existing literature and expert opinions was developed. Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDA) was used to identify the relative importance of course criteria for the purpose of tailoring an optimal four Industrial engineering curriculum for Bachelor's Degree students in Turkey.. The hierarchical model and analysis utilized in the present study will be useful for resolving several important multi-criteria decisionmaking issues in planning and evaluating Industrial Engineering programs.

This paper presents some of the developments made in the construction of a modular climbing robot for infrastructure inspection. The development and optimization of independent vacuum generator systems for each leg is presented, with the flow-rate taking priority over the relative pressure. It also describes the general robot structure, as well as the initial mathematical models required for the development of a control system based on an biomimetic organic model. Finally, it is highlighted the use of simulators to help the iterative design process of a strongly mechatronic system. Some of the obtained results have been experimentally validated.

MoCLORA (Modular Climbing-and-Legged Robotic Organism Architecture) is a software framework for climbing bio-inspired robotic organisms composed of modular robots (legs). It is presented as a modular low-level architecture that coordinates the modules of an organism with any morphology, at the same time allowing exchanges between the physical robot and its digital twin. It includes the basic layers to control and coordinate all the elements, while allowing adding new higher-level components to improve the organism’s behavior. It is focused on the control of both the body and the legs of the organism, allowing for position and velocity control of the whole robot. Similarly to insects, which are able to adapt to new situations after the variation on the capacity of any of their legs, MoCLORA allows the control of organisms composed of a variable number of modules, arranged in different ways, giving the overall system the versatility to tackle a wide range of tasks in very diverse envi...

FINNUS (1999-2002) is the Finnish public research programme on nuclear power plant safety, launched and administrated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (KTM). The programme concentrates on the themes of ageing, accidents and risks. The general objectives of the programme are to develop tools and practices for safety authorities and utilities, to provide a basis for safety-related decisions, to educate new nuclear energy experts and to promote technology and information transfer. The technical objectives of the programme are prepared in the guidance of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), but the views of the power companies are taken into consideration. Funding of the programme is mainly from public sources. The annual volume of the programme is about FIM 22 million (€ 3.6 million) and 30 person years. The research is coordinated and mainly conducted by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). The Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) coordinates the FINNUS programme and also performs most of the research. The main funding sources are KTM, VTT, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LTKK) and the power companies Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) and Fortum Oyj. These parties are also represented in the steering group of the programme. The execution of the programme is based on the general plan and annual plans prepared for KTM in cooperation with the regulatory body, the power companies and the research bodies. This Interim Report summarises general features of the FINNUS programme and the main goals and achievements in the period 1999-August 2000. The report includes selected, more detailed results in the form of presentations in the FINNUS Mid Term Seminar Oct. 31 st-Nov. 1 st , 2000, Otaniemi. Statistical information on publications, contact lists and academic degrees awarded are also included. The report has been prepared by the programme coordination unit, in cooperation with the project leaders and the programme staff.

Analog switches are mounted on the walls. Operating them is a tedious task as they need to be physically pressed each time an appliance has to be powered on or off. This hassle is replaced by a smart technique that involves operating the switches through a Web Browser of a Mobile phone or a PC. The present smart switches available in the market are very expensive and also require additional devices like hubs for their working. This paper uses the Cloud and a Web Browser to control the manually operated switches. A cloud server is created for the environment where the switches are mounted. The switches are interfaced with NodeMCU which has an inbuilt Wi-Fi. It can use this to enable or disable the switches. The user communicates with the processor through the Web App. The processor then controls the switches based on the commands received from the user and also updates the user about the status of the switches after the control operation is performed to the cloud. The intensity of li...

MoCLORA (Modular Climbing-and-Legged Robotic Organism Architecture) is a software framework for climbing bio-inspired robotic organisms composed of modular robots (legs). It is presented as a modular low-level architecture that coordinates the modules of an organism with any morphology, at the same time allowing exchanges between the physical robot and its digital twin. It includes the basic layers to control and coordinate all the elements, while allowing adding new higher-level components to improve the organism’s behavior. It is focused on the control of both the body and the legs of the organism, allowing for position and velocity control of the whole robot. Similarly to insects, which are able to adapt to new situations after the variation on the capacity of any of their legs, MoCLORA allows the control of organisms composed of a variable number of modules, arranged in different ways, giving the overall system the versatility to tackle a wide range of tasks in very diverse envi...

PPOOLEX experiment WLL-04-02 on condensation of vapour is studied with CFD simulations. Wall condensation model has been adapted to an Euler-Euler multiphase model of the Fluent CFD code for this purpose. In addition, a simple direct-contact condensation model has also been included in the code. The main focus of the CFD modelling work was on modelling condensation in the drywell. The amount of condensation found in the CFD calculation was in fair agreement with the experiment. The present simulation was so short that the gas flowing into the wetwell contained significant amount of air. The mole fraction of vapour at the outlet of the vent pipe had the maximum value of about 0.3. Therefore, the non-condensable gas strongly affected the direct-contact condensation in the water pool. Much longer simulations are needed in order to study jugging and condensation oscillations. FSI calculations of the experiments were performed by using the Star-CD, ABAQUS and MpCCI codes. An approximate ...

MoCLORA (Modular Climbing-and-Legged Robotic Organism Architecture) is a software framework for climbing bio-inspired robotic organisms composed of modular robots (legs). It is presented as a modular low-level architecture that coordinates the modules of an organism with any morphology, at the same time allowing exchanges between the physical robot and its digital twin. It includes the basic layers to control and coordinate all the elements, while allowing adding new higher-level components to improve the organism’s behavior. It is focused on the control of both the body and the legs of the organism, allowing for position and velocity control of the whole robot. Similarly to insects, which are able to adapt to new situations after the variation on the capacity of any of their legs, MoCLORA allows the control of organisms composed of a variable number of modules, arranged in different ways, giving the overall system the versatility to tackle a wide range of tasks in very diverse envi...

In this study, a novel method is presented for non-linear, non-Gaussian online state and parameter identification, developed for use in structural health monitoring (SHM) problems. The algorithm consists of a particle filter (PF) that combines the use of the standard PF with mutation operators. The algorithm aims at alleviating the sample impoverishment problem, which is a well-known limitation of the standard PF, yielding it inefficient for demanding non-linear identification problems. To overcome this hurdle, we introduce here an alternative approach, influenced by the principles of evolutionary computation. After the standard PF steps are performed to a point where the sample diversity drops below some threshold, the unfit particles are replaced by either the fittest particles or the current weighted estimate of the state. Next, the time-invariant components of the particles are mutated under some mutation probability, and the new sample is then propagated to the next time step. This process is well suited for joint state and parameter estimation problems, as is usually the case in SHM techniques. As a result, the loss of diversity associated with the standard PF is overcome, and the new PF with mutation is shown to outperform the standard PF and the unscented Kalman filter for the case of high process noise. The method is validated through an established benchmark problem found in the literature, lying outside of the structural identification concept, and a previously referenced 3DOF structural system with hysteresis elaborating the SHM aspect.

SAFIR 2003-2006 is the present Finnish public research programme on nuclear power plant safety. The programme is administrated by the steering group that has been nominated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (KTM). The steering group of SAFIR consists of representatives from Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK),

The aim of the present study is to identify the extent of the validity of the application of the Association of College and Research Libraries 2011 guidelines for academic librarians. In order to achieve this, the researchers conducted a survey using a questionnaire distributed to the study population. The population consisted of male and female librarians in six Saudi university libraries: Umm Al Qura University, Tiba University, King Abdulaziz University, Taif University, Princess Noura University, and the University of Dammam. The number of respondents to the questionnaire was 88. All standards received high approval rates. Values relating to professional responsibilities received the highest rating, followed by governance, then leave and research funds followed by compensation, and finally grievance. Among the indicators that received the highest average scores were: providing the librarians with the opportunity to complete their studies while working and therefore improve their...

This paper presents two thought experiments that consider the potential benefits, concerns, and questions of evolvable software developed using Normalized Systems Theory when applied to the emerging complex, interactive project types known as cyber-physical systems (CPS), socio-technical systems (STS), ultra-large scale systems (ULS), and Complex, Large-scale, Integrated, Open Systems (CLIOS).

Original scientific paper Recently companies have begun to use their storage effectively to attain leadership in the market environment, utilizing Barcode and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) systems for warehouse management. In this study AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and FAHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process) are used to choose between Barcode and RFID systems for the company warehouse data collection system. This decision is affected by four criteria which are: cost, functionality, sustainability and performance. The barcode system was preferred by 68 % and RFID was preferred by 32 % according to AHP. For FAHP, barcode system was preferred by 72 % and RFID was preferred by 28 %. Consequently AHP values are consistent with FAHP values. Finally barcode system is selected for the company's warehouse data collection system and FAHP is found to be relatively more sufficient in terms of description of this decision-making process because of its fuzziness and vagueness compared to AHP method.

Izbor najboljeg sustava za dobivanje podataka o skladištu primjenom metoda AHP i FAHP ISSN 1330-3651(Print), ISSN 1848-6339 (Online) UDC/UDK 65.012.123:658.78 Original scientific paper Recently companies have begun to use their storage effectively to attain leadership in the market environment, utilizing Barcode and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) systems for warehouse management. In this study AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and FAHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process) are used to choose between Barcode and RFID systems for the company warehouse data collection system. This decision is affected by four criteria which are: cost, functionality, sustainability and performance. The barcode system was preferred by 68 % and RFID was preferred by 32 % according to AHP. For FAHP, barcode system was preferred by 72 % and RFID was preferred by 28 %. Consequently AHP values are consistent with FAHP values. Finally barcode system is selected for the company's warehouse data collectio...

The main objective of the project was to develop smart grid related expertise within the University of Vaasa. While the parallel project (Smart Energy Systems Platform-SESP) focused on the development of the physical research facilities, VINPOWER contributed to the development of the RDI environment by increasing expertise in the selected research areas. Moreover, the project aimed at delivering new knowledge and concepts for the industries, improved cooperation between the project partners and promotion of new technology for enhanced reliability of electricity distribution networks. The research work was divided into four work packages, WP1 Cabled medium voltage networks, WP2 Microgrids, WP3 Big Data Applications, and WP4 Dissemination and networking. In WP1, technologies for fault location, earth fault compensation and reactive power compensation were developed, and concepts for future secondary substation were outlined. In WP2, selected functionalities of microgrids were analysed, and protection and control related functions were developed and demonstrated. The third WP examined how Big Data and FPGA technologies could be utilized for network operation and maintenance needs. A disturbance recording library, intended for national use, was also developed. WP4 complemented the project by dissemination and networking.

This paper presents a novel Loss of Mains (LoM) protection method based on IEC 61850 General Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) protocol. With the increased penetration of distributed generation (DG), the requirements for LoM or anti-islanding protection has become common in the electric utilities. The development of Smart Grids including extensive communication capabilities enables also communication based LoM approaches. Since IEC 61850 standard based systems are the mainstream in the substation communication, expanding this technology deeper in the distribution network provides interesting solution for communication based LoM protection. The standard IEC 61850-7-420 defines logical nodes (LNs) suitable for this purpose but there are not yet available devices applying this part of the standard. Therefore in this research, a light-weight 61850 GOOSE based LoM solution has been developed and demonstrated applying a microcontroller and available open source software. This paper...

Short range thrusting projectiles are one of the various threats against armored vehicles and helicopters on the battlefield. Developing a countermeasure for this kind of projectiles is very crucial since they are vast in number and easy to operate on the battlefield. A countermeasure may consist of fire point prediction of the projectile and attack the launcher of it, or it may be the impact point prediction of the projectile and apply a hard-kill counter measure on its way to the ally target. For both of the countermeasure concepts, dynamics and parameters of the projectile must be estimated precisely. In this thesis, dynamic models for thrusting and ballistic flight modes of thrusting projectile are obtained. Three different tracking filters are suggested for precise tracking of the projectiles and their estimation performances are compared. These filters are the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), the Particle Filter (PF) and the Marginalized Particle Filter (MPF).M.S. - Master of Scienc

Adhesion systems are very important in robots for infrastructure inspection (especially in vertical walls). They present the challenge of optimizing the ratio vacuum/power consumption in battery-powered robots. In this paper a CFD (Computer Fluid Dynamics) modelling and optimization process of a robot adhesion system is carried out to determine the best performing configuration in terms of vacuum and power consumption. Analytical and numerical models were developed to predict the behaviour of the system for different configurations. The models were validated, using test rig measurements, by calibrating an arbitrary defined inlet height that simulates the leakage flow. Then, different geometric parameters were varied to determine the best performing configuration based on the vacuum/power consumption ratio value. The model presented in the paper was capable of predicting the behaviour of the system for different configurations, with a margin of error of 15% for the vacuum prediction ...

Adhesion systems are very important in robots for infrastructure inspection (especially in vertical walls). They present the challenge of optimizing the ratio vacuum/power consumption in battery-powered robots. In this paper a CFD (Computer Fluid Dynamics) modelling and optimization process of a robot adhesion system is carried out to determine the best performing configuration in terms of vacuum and power consumption. Analytical and numerical models were developed to predict the behaviour of the system for different configurations. The models were validated, using test rig measurements, by calibrating an arbitrary defined inlet height that simulates the leakage flow. Then, different geometric parameters were varied to determine the best performing configuration based on the vacuum/power consumption ratio value. The model presented in the paper was capable of predicting the behaviour of the system for different configurations, with a margin of error of 15% for the vacuum prediction ...

During exam period, it is very hectic task to find out the venue of the examination hall and which seat is allocated to a particular student. Students used to face many problems for finding the exam hall and their seats. Therefore, an exam hall seating arrangement system is needed to computerize the traditional way of preparing the examination hall allotment and generate the hall seating arrangement plan automatically for smooth conduction of exams. The proposed system will guide the students to find out their respective examination hall during their exams. This would also show the respective seat of a student in a particular row of their examination. The other objective of developing this system is to help the students to direct them to their respective examination hall without delays for going on searching for hall plan and their seat allotment. It contains the student, department, subject, staff details, examination hall and their seat allotment. This system will also send the ha...

During exam period, it is very hectic task to find out the venue of the examination hall and which seat is allocated to a particular student. Students used to face many problems for finding the exam hall and their seats. Therefore, an exam hall seating arrangement system is needed to computerize the traditional way of preparing the examination hall allotment and generate the hall seating arrangement plan automatically for smooth conduction of exams. The proposed system will guide the students to find out their respective examination hall during their exams. This would also show the respective seat of a student in a particular row of their examination. The other objective of developing this system is to help the students to direct them to their respective examination hall without delays for going on searching for hall plan and their seat allotment. It contains the student, department, subject, staff details, examination hall and their seat allotment. This system will also send the ha...

In this paper, we introduced a new algorithm for Video tracking, which is the process of locating a moving object (or multiple objects) over time using a camera. A new particle filter based on bacteria foraging optimization (PF-BFO) is introduced in field of video object tracking. This paper reviews particle filter and using it for tracking. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is also described. Moreover, using the combination of PSO with PF (PF-PSO) in video object tracking is reviewed. Bacterial Foraging Optimization (BFO) is a novel heuristic algorithm inspired from forging behavior of E. coli. After analysis of optimization mechanism, a series of measures are taken to improve the classic BFO by using Particle filter. The PSO is a meta-heuristic which is also inspired from insects' life as ACO. Even both methods use a population of entities. The comparison between PF-BFO and PF-PSO for video object tracking is presented in this work. The results show that PF is strong tool in t...