Quality control is a constant priority in electrical, mechanical, aeronautical, and nuclear engineering - as well as in the vast domain of electronics, from home appliances to computers and telecommunications. Quality Control Applications provides guidance and valuable insight into quality control policies; their methods, their implementation, constant observation and associated technical audits. What has previously been a mostly mathematical topic is translated here for engineers concerned with the practical implementation of quality control. Once the fundamentals of quality control are established, Quality Control Applications goes on to develop this knowledge and explain how to apply it in the most effective way. Techniques are described and supported using relevant, real-life, case studies to provide detail and clarity for those without a mathematical background. Among the many practical examples, two case studies dramatize the importance of quality assurance: A shot-by-shot analysis of the errors made in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster; and the engineering failure with new technology due to the absence of quality control in an alternative energy project. This clear and comprehensive approach makes Quality Control Applications an essential reference for those studying engineering as well industry professionals involved in quality control across product and system design.

Synthetic biology is becoming one of the most dynamic new fields of biology, with the potential to revolutionize the way we do biotechnology today. By applying the toolbox of engineering disciplines to biology, a whole set of potential applications become possible ranging very widely across scientific and engineering disciplines. Some of the potential benefits of synthetic biology, such as the development of low-cost drugs or the production of chemicals and energy by engineered bacteria are enormous. There are, however, also potential and perceived risks due to deliberate or accidental damage. Also, ethical issues of synthetic biology just start being explored, with hardly any ethicists specifically focusing on the area of synthetic biology. This book will be the first of its kind focusing particularly on the safety, security and ethical concerns and other relevant societal aspects of this new emerging field. The foreseen impact of this book will be to stimulate a debate on these societal issues at an early stage. Past experiences, especially in the field of GM-crops and stem cells, have shown the importance of an early societal debate. The community and informed stakeholders recognize this need, but up to now discussions are fragmentary. This book will be the first comprehensive overview on relevant societal issues of synthetic biology, setting the scene for further important discussions within the scientific community and with civil society.

Focusing on the theory and applications of point processes, Point Processes for Reliability Analysis naturally combines classical results on the basic and advanced properties of point processes with recent theoretical findings of the authors. It also presents numerous examples that illustrate how general results and approaches are applied to stochastic description of repairable systems and systems operating in a random environment modelled by shock processes. The real life objects are operating in a changing, random environment. One of the ways to model an impact of this environment is via the external shocks occurring in accordance with some stochastic point processes. The Poisson (homogeneous and nonhomogeneous) process, the renewal process and their generalizations are considered as models for external shocks affecting an operating system. At the same time these processes model the consecutive failure/repair times of repairable engineering systems. Perfect, minimal and intermediate (imperfect) repairs are discussed in this respect. Covering material previously available only in the journal literature, Point Processes for Reliability Analysis provides a survey of recent developments in this area which will be invaluable to researchers and advanced students in reliability engineering and applied mathematics.

The book is a selection of invited chapters, all of which deal with various aspects of mathematical and statistical models and methods in reliability. Written by renowned experts in the field of reliability, the contributions cover a wide range of applications, reflecting recent developments in areas such as survival analysis, aging, lifetime data analysis, artificial intelligence, medicine, carcinogenesis studies, nuclear power, financial modeling, aircraft engineering, quality control, and transportation.

"Mathematical and Statistical Models and Methods in Reliability" is an excellent reference text for researchers and practitioners in applied probability and statistics, industrial statistics, engineering, medicine, finance, transportation, the oil and gas industry, and artificial intelligence.

In continuation of the FRINGE Workshop Series this Proceeding contains all contributions presented at the 7. International Workshop on Advanced Optical Imaging and Metrology. The FRINGE Workshop Series is dedicated to the presentation, discussion and dissemination of recent results in Optical Imaging and Metrology. Topics of particular interest for the 7. Workshop are: - New methods and tools for the generation, acquisition, processing, and evaluation of data in Optical Imaging and Metrology (digital wavefront engineering, computational imaging, model-based reconstruction, compressed sensing, inverse problems solution) - Application-driven technologies in Optical Imaging and Metrology (high-resolution, adaptive, active, robust, reliable, flexible, in-line, real-time) - High-dynamic range solutions in Optical Imaging and Metrology (from macro to nano) - Hybrid technologies in Optical Imaging and Metrology (hybrid optics, sensor and data fusion, model-based solutions, multimodality) - New optical sensors, imaging and measurement systems (integrated, miniaturized, in-line, real-time, traceable, remote) Special emphasis is put on new strategies, taking into account the active combination of physical modeling, computer aided simulation and experimental data acquisition. In particular attention is directed towards new approaches for the extension of existing resolution limits that open the gates to wide-scale metrology, ranging from macro to nano, by considering dynamic changes and using advanced optical imaging and sensor systems.

This book examines pedestrian shoe-floor slip resistance from an engineering standpoint in order to better understand friction and wear behavior. This analysis includes an extensive investigation into the surface properties of shoes and flow, and the measurement of dynamic friction and other mechanical and physical aspects of shoe-floor tribology. Lastly, the book proposes a measurement concept for the identification and classification of operational floor surfaces under a range of different conditions. Novel techniques and methods are proposed that can improve the reliability of slip resistance assessments. The current state of knowledge is critically examined and discussed from a tribological perspective, including aspects like friction, wear, lubrication and the mechanical behavior of shoes, floors and their wider environment. Further, the book reports on extensive experimental investigations into the topographical characteristics of shoe and floor surfaces and how they affect slip resistance. Slips resulting in pedestrian falls are a major cause of injuries and deaths for all age groups. This important book provides essential insights for researchers, practicing engineers and public safety officials wishing to learn about how the risk of pedestrian slips can be assessed and understood.

Today's society is completely dependent on critical networks such as water supply, sewage, electricity, ICT and transportation. Risk and vulnerability analyses are needed to grasp the impact of threats and hazards. However, these become quite complex as there are strong interdependencies both within and between infrastructure systems. Risk and Interdependencies in Critical Infrastructures: A guideline for analysis provides methods for analyzing risks and interdependencies of critical infrastructures. A number of analysis approaches are described and are adapted to each of these infrastructures. Various approaches are also revised, and all are supported by several examples and illustrations. Particular emphasis is given to the analysis of various interdependencies that often exist between the infrastructures. Risk and Interdependencies in Critical Infrastructures: A guideline for analysis provides a good tool to identify the hazards that are threatening your infrastructures, and will enhance the understanding on how these threats can propagate throughout the system and also affect other infrastructures, thereby identifying useful risk reducing measures. It is essential reading for municipalities and infrastructure owners that are obliged to know about and prepare for the risks and vulnerabilities of the critical infrastructures for which they are responsible.

Supervision, condition-monitoring, fault detection, fault diagnosis and fault management play an increasing role for technical processes and vehicles in order to improve reliability, availability, maintenance and lifetime. For safety-related processes fault-tolerant systems with redundancy are required in order to reach comprehensive system integrity.

This book is a sequel of the book Fault-Diagnosis Systems published in 2006, where the basic methods were described. After a short introduction into fault-detection and fault-diagnosis methods the book shows how these methods can be applied for a selection of 20 real technical components and processes as examples, such as:

Electrical drives (DC, AC)

Electrical actuators

Fluidic actuators (hydraulic, pneumatic)

Centrifugal and reciprocating pumps

Pipelines (leak detection)

Industrial robots

Machine tools (main and feed drive, drilling, milling, grinding)

Heat exchangers

Also realized fault-tolerant systems for electrical drives, actuators and sensors are presented.

The book describes why and how the various signal-model-based and process-model-based methods were applied and which experimental results could be achieved. In several cases a combination of different methods was most successful.

The book is dedicated to graduate students of electrical, mechanical, chemical engineering and computer science and for engineers.

The book summarizes the main results of the the project ENABLE-S3 covering the following aspects: validation and verification technology bricks (collection and selection of test scenarios, test executions envionments incl. respective models, assessment of test results), evaluation of technology bricks in selected use cases and standardization and related initiatives. ENABLE-S3 is an industry-driven EU-project and aspires to substitute todays' cost-intensive verification and validation efforts by more advanced and efficient methods. In addition, the book includes articles about complementary international activities in order to highlight the global importance of the topic and to cover the wide range of aspects that needs to be covered at a global scale.

Non destructive testing aimed at monitoring, structural identification and di- nostics is of strategic importance in many branches of civil and mechanical - gineering. This type of tests is widely practiced and directly affects topical issues regarding the design of new buildings and the repair and monitoring of existing ones. The load bearing capacity of a structure can now be evaluated using well established mechanical modelling methods aided by computing facilities of great capability. However, to ensure reliable results, models must be calibrated with - curate information on the characteristics of materials and structural components. To this end, non destructive techniques are a useful tool from several points of view. Particularly, by measuring structural response, they provide guidance on the validation of structural descriptions or of the mathematical models of material behaviour. Diagnostic engineering is a crucial area for the application of non destructive testing methods. Repeated tests over time can indicate the emergence of p- sible damage occurring during the structure's lifetime and provide quantitative estimates of the level of residual safety.

This book provides readers an understanding of the implementation of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) for international construction operations. In an extended case study, it primarily focuses on Chinese construction firms (CCFs) based in Singapore. In this regard, the book explains the differences and similarities between Risk Management (RM), Project Risk Management (PRM) and ERM in the construction industry, and examines their linkages for international construction operations in a broader context. The explanation elaborates on how companies may adopt and implement RM, PRM and ERM as appropriate in their various operations, both in their home market as well as in overseas host markets. The book also reviews the whole spectrum of work relating to organizational behavior (OB) as one of the key underpinnings for companies to evaluate and implement ERM. It will benefit practitioners from the industry as well as academics interested in the implementation of ERM practices in international construction operations.

The Toolset is a comprehensive collection of the relevant Design for Six Sigma+Lean tools, which are necessary for successfully implementing innovations. All tools are presented in a clear structure, providing a good overview of the methodology.

The chronology of the listed tools corresponds to the procedure in a Design for Six Sigma+Lean development project with the stages Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify. Due to this unique structure by which tools can be found and applied quickly we created a book that facilitates project work in practical use enormously.

Migrating from a tool based approach to a question based approach is a decisive success factor in our opinion enabling firstly, increased efficiency of project work for the Project Leader, his team and the associated Stakeholders, and secondly, significantly increasing the probability of success for the respective innovation projects.

This book offers a comprehensive guide to implementing a company-wide management system (CWMS), utilising up-to-date methodologies of lean-six sigma in order to achieve high levels of business excellence. It builds the foundation for quality and continuous improvement, which can be implemented in any organization. The book begins with an introduction to and an overview of CWMSs, and reviews the existing literature on various management systems. It then discusses the integration and implementation of lean-six sigma in supply chain management. The integration approach presented highlights the link between the existing management systems and shows how continuous improvement methodologies are incorporated. The book then examines the components of CWMS, comparing them to other systems. It also explores Kano-based six sigma and concludes with further recommendations for reading. This book covers five management systems integrated into one novel approach that can be followed by organizations wishing to achieve quality and business excellence. Covering lean-six sigma - an essential element of management systems - it is a valuable resource for practitioners and academics alike.

In this global wake-up call, nuclear physicist Jeff Eerkens explores remedies for the impending energy crisis, when oil and natural gas are depleted. The Nuclear Imperative demonstrates that solar, wind, and biomass power are incapable of supplying the enormous quantities of electricity and heat needed for manufacturing portable synthetic fuels to replace our current use of fossil fuels. It offers a fresh look at uranium-produced energy as the optimal affordable solution.

This book compiles and critically discusses modern engineering system degradation models and their impact on engineering decisions. In particular, the authors focus on modeling the uncertain nature of degradation considering both conceptual discussions and formal mathematical formulations. It also describes the basics concepts and the various modeling aspects of life-cycle analysis (LCA). It highlights the role of degradation in LCA and defines optimum design and operation parameters. Given the relationship between operational decisions and the performance of the system's condition over time, maintenance models are also discussed. The concepts and models presented have applications in a large variety of engineering fields such as Civil, Environmental, Industrial, Electrical and Mechanical engineering. However, special emphasis is given to problems related to large infrastructure systems. The book is intended to be used both as a reference resource for researchers and practitioners and as an academic text for courses related to risk and reliability, infrastructure performance modeling and life-cycle assessment.

Proceedings of the 26th Symposium of the International Committee on Aeronautical Fatigue are a widely referenced summary of advances in aeronautical design against fatigue. This is a bi-annual event and the proceedings have been published in book form for over 35 years.

This book introduces the methods for predicting the future behavior of a system's health and the remaining useful life to determine an appropriate maintenance schedule. The authors introduce the history, industrial applications, algorithms, and benefits and challenges of PHM (Prognostics and Health Management) to help readers understand this highly interdisciplinary engineering approach that incorporates sensing technologies, physics of failure, machine learning, modern statistics, and reliability engineering. It is ideal for beginners because it introduces various prognostics algorithms and explains their attributes, pros and cons in terms of model definition, model parameter estimation, and ability to handle noise and bias in data, allowing readers to select the appropriate methods for their fields of application.Among the many topics discussed in-depth are:* Prognostics tutorials using least-squares* Bayesian inference and parameter estimation* Physics-based prognostics algorithms including nonlinear least squares, Bayesian method, and particle filter* Data-driven prognostics algorithms including Gaussian process regression and neural network* Comparison of different prognostics algorithms The authors also present several applications of prognostics in practical engineering systems, including wear in a revolute joint, fatigue crack growth in a panel, prognostics using accelerated life test data, fatigue damage in bearings, and more. Prognostics tutorials with a Matlab code using simple examples are provided, along with a companion website that presents Matlab programs for different algorithms as well as measurement data. Each chapter contains a comprehensive set of exercise problems, some of which require Matlab programs, making this an ideal book for graduate students in mechanical, civil, aerospace, electrical, and industrial engineering and engineering mechanics, as well as researchers and maintenance engineers in the above fields.

"Dr. Jayshree Pandya, " founder of Risk Group LLC (http: //www.riskgroupllc.com), is ahead of the curve in addressing the changing global fundamentals of the emerging Global Age.

Global Age, and its changing global fundamentals has brought complex, chaotic, and turbulent times for every nation-where failures at all levels have come to become self-evident, repetitive, destructive, and potentially hopeless in nature and uncertainty. Nations are caught off guard.

From what is visible across nations today, the promise of progress and prosperity for all nations does not seem to have materialized in a Global Age. Instead of progress and prosperity, what is visible today is crisis and catastrophe that is overpowering and overwhelming the capability of most nations to meet their promise of progress and prosperity.

Nations are in crisis. This introductory book Global Age: NGIOA @ Risk addresses the global shifts and the changing global fundamentals of Global Age, to lay out much needed foundation of an integrated NGIOA risk governance framework for the coming tomorrow. This book will make a convincing case for the far-reaching need and understanding of global risk concepts, global risk fundamentals, and risk centric integrated NGIOA governance. The integrated NGIOA risk governance approach proposed and discussed in this initiative is rational, practical, and feasible. It will help create a dynamic, vibrant, and sustainable NGIOA economy of a Global Age. This initiative is a first step towards that.

"

This book offers a collection of cutting-edge research on the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). Introduced by Genrich Altshuller in 1956, TRIZ has since been used by engineers, inventors and creators as an essential structured innovation method at businesses and organizations around the globe. The chapters of this book showcase work by selected authors from the 'TRIZ Future' conferences, which are organized by the European TRIZ Association (ETRIA). The chapters reflect an international mix of new ideas on TRIZ and knowledge-based innovation, highlight recent advances in the TRIZ community, and provide examples of successful collaboration between industry and academia. The book first introduces the reader to recent methodological innovations, then provides an overview of established and new TRIZ tools, followed by a collection of case studies and examples of TRIZ implementation in various scientific and social contexts.

In today's global economy, supply chains are an essential ingredient to corporate survival and growth. Operations strategy in supply chains must assume an ever-expanding and strategic role of risks that modern enterprises face when they operate in an interdependent supply chain environment. These operational and strategic facets entail a brand new set of operational problems and risks that have not always been understood or managed very well. It falls to supply chain managers to identify and to educate corporate managers on what these critical operational problems and risks involve. This book provides business students and practitioners with the means to understand, to model and to analyze these outstanding issues and problems that are the essential elements in managing supply chains today. This book will consider these problems in depth and draw essential conclusions regarding their management in supply chains. As a textbook treatment, it will examine traditional operational problems, expressing them in a strategic context, understanding their complexity, and recognizing their interdependency with other firms within a supply-chain environment. Used throughout the book will be application examples that illustrate all the aspects of dealing with and solving these kinds of problems. The content of SUPPLY CHAIN GAMES: Operations Management and Risk Valuation is presented in three sections, each of which will emphasize important facets of supply chain management operations. (1) Supply chains and operations modeling and management section will provide static and time models and their gradual extension to a supply chain environment. The section will give special attention tothe new concerns and issues at this level of analysis. (2) Inter-temporal supply chain management section will address this aspect as differential games. The differential games will be presented as natural continuous-time extensions of static models so that the effect of various types of dynamics on supply chains can be assessed and insights can be developed. (3) Risk and supply chain management section will deal with risk and supply chains as well as providing numerous applications regarding the management of interdependent operations and quality in a supply chain environment.

CMOS Test and Evaluation: A Physical Perspective is a single source for an integrated view of test and data analysis methodology for CMOS products, covering circuit sensitivities to MOSFET characteristics, impact of silicon technology process variability, applications of embedded test structures and sensors, product yield, and reliability over the lifetime of the product. This book also covers statistical data analysis and visualization techniques, test equipment and CMOS product specifications, and examines product behavior over its full voltage, temperature and frequency range.

The theory of stochastic processes, for science and engineering, can be considered as an extension of probability theory allowing modeling of the evolution of systems over time. The modern theory of Markov processes has its origins in the studies of A.A. Markov (1856-1922) on sequences of experiments "connected in a chain" and in the attempts to describe mathematically the physical phenomenon Brownian motion. The theory of stochastic processes entered in a period of intensive development when the idea of Markov property was brought in. This book is a modern overall view of semi-Markov processes and its applications in reliability. It is accessible to readers with a first course in Probability theory (including the basic notions of Markov chain). The text contains many examples which aid in the understanding of the theoretical notions and shows how to apply them to concrete physical situations including algorithmic simulations. Many examples of the concrete applications in reliability are given. Features: * Processes associated to semi-Markov kernel for general and discrete state spaces * Asymptotic theory of processes and of additive functionals * Statistical estimation of semi-Markov kernel and of reliability function * Monte Carlo simulation * Applications in reliability and maintenance The book is a valuable resource for understanding the latest developments in Semi-Markov Processes and reliability. Practitioners, researchers and professionals in applied mathematics, control and engineering who work in areas of reliability, lifetime data analysis, statistics, probability, and engineering will find this book an up-to-date overview of the field.

Safety is a paradoxical system property. It remains immaterial, intangible and invisible until a failure, an accident or a catastrophy occurs and, too late, reveals its absence. And yet, a system cannot be relied upon unless its safety can be explained, demonstrated and certified. The practical and difficult questions which motivate this study concern the evidence and the arguments needed to justify the safety of a computer based system, or more generally its dependability. Dependability is a broad concept integrating properties such as safety, reliability, availability, maintainability and other related characteristics of the behaviour of a system in operation. How can we give the users the assurance that the system enjoys the required dependability? How should evidence be presented to certification bodies or regulatory authorities? What best practices should be applied? How should we decide whether there is enough evidence to justify the release of the system? To help answer these daunting questions, a method and a framework are proposed for the justification of the dependability of a computer-based system. The approach specifically aims at dealing with the difficulties raised by the validation of software. Hence, it should be of wide applicability despite being mainly based on the experience of assessing Nuclear Power Plant instrumentation and control systems important to safety. To be viable, a method must rest on a sound theoretical background.

Covers the entire process of risk management by providing methodologies for determining the sources of engineering project risk, and once threats have been identified, managing them through: identification and assessment (probability, relative importance, variables, risk breakdown structure, etc.); implementation of measures for their prevention, reduction or mitigation; evaluation of impacts and quantification of risks and establishment of control measures. It also considers sensitivity analysis to determine the influence of uncertain parameters values on different project results, such as completion time, total costs, etc. Case studies and examples across a wide spectrum of engineering projects discuss such diverse factors as: safety; environmental impacts; societal reactions; time and cost overruns; quality control; legal issues; financial considerations; and political risk, making this suitable for undergraduates and graduates in grasping the fundamentals of risk management.

This book covers the topic of eddy current nondestructive evaluation, the most commonly practiced method of electromagnetic nondestructive evaluation (NDE). It emphasizes a clear presentation of the concepts, laws and relationships of electricity and magnetism upon which eddy current inspection methods are founded. The chapters include material on signals obtained using many common eddy current probe types in various testing environments. Introductory mathematical and physical concepts in electromagnetism are introduced in sufficient detail and summarized in the Appendices for easy reference. Worked examples and simple calculations that can be done by hand are distributed throughout the text. These and more complex end-of-chapter examples and assignments are designed to impart a working knowledge of the connection between electromagnetic theory and the practical measurements described. The book is intended to equip readers with sufficient knowledge to optimize routine eddy current NDE inspections, or design new ones. It is useful for graduate engineers and scientists seeking a deeper understanding of electromagnetic methods of NDE than can be found in a guide for practitioners.