• ETRI Journal
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.389-399
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• 2022

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are one of the basic building blocks of Internet of Things (IoT) systems. However, the wireless sensing nodes in WSNs suffer from energy constraint issues because the replacement/recharging of the batteries of the nodes tends to be difficult. Furthermore, a number of realistic IoT scenarios, such as habitat and battlefield monitoring, contain mobile sensing elements, which makes the energy issues more critical. This research paper focuses on realistic WSN scenarios that involve mobile sensing elements with the aim of mitigating the attendant energy constraint issues using the concept of radio-frequency (RF) energy extraction. The proposed technique incorporates a cluster head election workflow for WSNs that includes mobile sensing elements capable of RF energy harvesting. The extensive simulation analysis demonstrated the higher efficacy of the proposed technique compared with the existing techniques in terms of residual energy, number of functional nodes, and network lifetime, with approximately 50% of the nodes found to be functional at the 4000th, 5000th, and 6000th rounds for the proposed technique with initial energies of 0.25, 0.5 and 1 J, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2650-2659
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• 2022

The dense granular flow spallation target is a new target concept proposed for an Accelerator-Driven Sub-critical (ADS) system. In this paper, the beam-target configurations of a tungsten granular flow target for the ADS with a thermal power of 1 GW is explored. The beam profile options using different scanning methods are discussed. The critical geometry parameters are adjusted to investigate the performance of the granular target from the aspects of neutron efficiency, stability and temperature distribution in target medium. To figure out how the target under accident conditions would behave, different clogging conditions are induced in the simulation. The dynamic processes are analyzed and some important parameters such as abnormal temperature rise and beam cutoff time window are obtained. The response of the sub-critical reactor to a clogging accident is also investigated. It is indicated that the monitoring of the granular flow by the neutron detectors in the sub-critical core will be effective.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2453-2466
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• 2022

Nuclear power plant operators in the main control room are exposed to stressful conditions in emergency situations as immediate and appropriate mitigations are required. While emergency operating procedures (EOPs) provide operators with the appropriate tasks and diagnostic guidelines, EOPs have static properties that make it difficult to reflect the dynamic changes of the plant. Due to this static nature, operator workloads increase because unrelated information must be screened out and numerous displays must be checked to obtain the plant status. Generally, excessive workloads should be reduced because they can lead to human errors that may adversely affect nuclear power plant safety. This paper presents a framework for an operator support system that can substitute the initial responses of the EOPs, or in other words the immediate actions and diagnostic procedures, in the early stages of an emergency. The system assists operators in emergency operations as follows: performing the monitoring tasks in parallel, identifying current risk and latent risk causality, diagnosing the accident, and displaying all information intuitively with a master logic diagram. The risk causalities are analyzed with a functional modeling methodology called multilevel flow modeling. This system is expected to reduce workloads and the time for performing initial emergency response procedures.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.35-44
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• 2022

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to find out the impact of ownership structure on firm performance in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry of Bangladesh. Research design, data and methodology: The study has been conducted on 28 listed pharmaceutical and chemical companies from 2012 to 2020. Return on Assets (ROA) and Tobin's Q are selected as indicators of internal and market performance of the firms respectively whereas institutional ownership, directors' ownership and foreign ownership are selected as proxies of ownership structure. Panel analysis using random effects, lag method and time dummy method is used to analyse the relationship. Results: The study has found the existence of highly concentrated directors' ownership, a low percentage of institutional ownership and a very insignificant proportion of foreign ownership in the industry. The regression results show that directors' ownership has a positive and significant impact on firm performance, supporting the concept of agency theory. The study has also found a positive and significant impact of foreign ownership on firm performance. Unfortunately, the impact of institutional ownership is found to be insignificant. Conclusions: Directors' ownership and foreign ownership decreases agency cost that ultimately increases firm performance. However, the role of institutional investors is not significant enough to improve firm performance. It is suggested that institutional investors should be more active and involved in monitoring the activities of the organisations to improve performance.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.17-23
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• 1997

A 3-D vision system is developed to evaluate blanks' line up and monitor gap and thickness difference between blanks in tailored blank welding system. A structured lighting method is used for 3-D vision recognition. Images of sheared portion in blanks are irregular according to roughness of blank surface, shape of sheared geometry and blurring. It is difficult to get accurate and reliable informations in the case of using binary image processing or contour detection techniques in real time for such images. We propoe a new energy integration method robust to blurring and changes of illumination. The method is computationally simple, and uses feature restoration concept, different to another digital image restoration methods which aim image itself restoration and may be used in conventional applications using structured line lighting technique. Experimental results show this system measuring repeatability is .+-. pixel for gap and thickness difference in static and dynamic tests. The data are expected to be useful for preview gap control.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.243-260
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• 2023

Indonesia has had seismic codes for earthquake-resistant structures designs since 1970 and has been updated five times to the latest in 2019. In updating the Indonesian seismic codes, seismic hazard maps for design also update, and there are changes to the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA). Indonesian seismic design uses the concept of building performance levels consisting of Immediate occupancy (IO), Life Safety (LS), and Collapse Prevention (CP). Related to this performance level, cases still found that buildings were damaged more than their performance targets after the earthquake. Based on the above issues, this study aims to analyze the performance of base isolation design on existing target buildings and analyze the seismic fragility for a case study in Indonesia. The target building is a prototype design 8-story medium-rise residential building using the reinforced concrete moment frame structure. Seismic fragility analysis uses Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) with Nonlinear Time History Analysis (NLTHA) and eleven selected ground motions based on soil classification, magnitude, fault distance, and earthquake source mechanism. The comparison result of IDA shows a trend of significant performance improvement, with the same performance level target and risk category, the base isolation structure can be used at 1.46-3.20 times higher PGA than the fixed base structure. Then the fragility analysis results show that the fixed base structure has a safety margin of 30% and a base isolation structure of 62.5% from the PGA design. This result is useful for assessing existing buildings or considering a new building's performance.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2024

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore literature on performance management in order to get insight into how the concept could be optimised during VUCA times for better performance of organisations. Research design, data and methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Extensive literature review has been conducted from various sources such as journals, research papers, organizational reports, government reports, media reports and articles available on web and effort has been made to assimilate the knowledge body on the topic in the current paper. Literature that enhances understanding on managing performance during VUCA times was reviewed. Results: Solutions to optimise performance management in organisations during VUCA times were proffered and these include innovative planning, innovative monitoring, innovative training and development, innovative rating and innovative rewarding. Conclusions: The study proves that, performance management process should not be done the ordinary way during VUCA times, but innovatively. In this regard innovative performance management can optimise performance of organisations during VUCA period. The study recommends that a further quantitative study be done to test the suitability of each of the proposed ways of innovatively practicing each element of the performance management process across different industries, countries or sector.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.153-164
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• 2024

Structural health monitoring involves performance evaluation based on measurements for maintenance purposes. By back-calculating measured Frequency Response Function (FRF) data, the concept of effective mass was introduced and applied to the performance evaluation of structural members. An identification method was proposed that uses participation factors to estimate the dynamic parameters and the strength of concrete of structural members. The appropriateness of these methods for identifying dynamic parameters and concrete strength of structural members was validated through experimental results, proving their utility in non-destructive testing for concrete strength.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.8
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• pp.3188-3198
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• 2024

Efficient and secure decommissioning of nuclear facilities demands advanced technologies. In this context, gamma-ray detection and imaging are crucial in identifying radioactive hotspots and monitoring radiation levels. Our study is dedicated to developing a gamma-ray detection system tailored for integration into robotic platforms for nuclear decommissioning, offering a safe and automated solution for this intricate task and ensuring the safety of human operators by mitigating radiation exposure and streamlining hotspot localization. Our approach integrates a Compton camera based 3D reconstruction algorithm with a single Timepix3 detector. This eliminates the need for a second detector and significantly reduces system weight and cost. Additionally, combining a 3D camera with the setup enhances hotspot visualization and interpretation, rendering it an ideal solution for practical nuclear decommissioning applications. In a proof-of-concept measurement utilizing a 137Cs source, our system accurately localized and visualized the source in 3D with an angular error of 1° and estimated the activity with a 3% relative error. This promising result underscores the system's potential for deployment in real-world decommissioning settings. Future endeavors will expand the technology's applications in authentic decommissioning scenarios and optimize its integration with robotic platforms. The outcomes of our study contribute to heightened safety and accuracy for nuclear decommissioning works through the advancement of cost-effective and efficient gamma-ray detection systems.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.13-23
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• 2012

While Category 1 and Category 2 bridges are intensively inspected and carefully managed, many small bridges that are not in the Category 1 and 2 are often forgotten until they decay in serious condition. Since many of these small bridges located in the populated city, failure of them would cause huge negative impact on the community. This paper focuses on the small size concrete bridges for timely repair and rehabilitation work for the effective operation and management. Test bed is developed to define the key parameters to forecast the long term performance of the bridges, mostly concrete box bridges. Key parameters suggested in this paper are cumulative fatigue due to repetitive heavy traffic loads and the acid attacks for concrete material deterioration. The cumulative fatigue is measured by the use of the mileage concept. For the long term data collection and inspection, stable and easy to use data collection system is installed as a test bed. The contribution of this research work is on the development of the test bed to define the key parameters of bridge deterioration.