"Degradation process" refers to many types of reliability models, which correspond to various kinds of stochastic processes used for deterioration modeling. This book focuses on the case of a univariate degradation model with a continuous set of possible outcomes. The envisioned univariate models have one single measurable quantity which is assumed to be observed over time. The first three chapters are each devoted to one degradation model. The last chapter illustrates the use of the previously described degradation models on some real data sets. For each of the degradation models, the authors provide probabilistic results and explore simulation tools for sample paths generation. Various estimation procedures are also developed.

This book comprises the proceedings of the Conference and Exhibition on Non Destructive Evaluation, (NDE 2019). The contents of the book encompass a vast spectrum from Conventional to Advanced NDE including novel methods, instrumentation, sensors, procedures and data analytics as applied to all industry segments for quality control, periodic maintenance, life estimation, structural integrity and related areas. This book will be a useful reference for students, researchers and practitioners.

The goal of the world class company is to produce a product or service that offers customers the highest quality at the lowest cost and in the shortest time possible. "Product Design Review" describes a highly effective method for quality control in product design, as well as its applications in a wide variety of business settings.

Take care of the problems that erupt during product development by nipping them in the bud (during the design stage). Takashi Ichida describes a powerful tool insuring quality at concept stage, thereby eliminating redesign, retooling, rework, and error throughout the production process. The program he describes can be carried out through every phase of new product development - - from product planning to design, production, and marketing. Also explains how you can incorporate your customer feedback into the next production cycle.

You'll always need to modify any process improvement technology to suit your company's culture, product type, manufacturing approach, and customer needs. "Product Design Review" has taken case studies from a cross section of industries and describes each company's unique application of Ichida's process. You'll not only see the tremendous results these companies have achieved by using Design Review, but you'll also see the difficulties they've encountered.

Also included are five essays that compare Design Review with other innovations in manufacturing process such as artificial intelligence, checklists, quality function deployment (QFD), design of experiments (DOE), and configuration control.

This book systematically examines and quantifies industrial problems by assessing the complexity and safety of large systems. It includes chapters on system performance management, software reliability assessment, testing, quality management, analysis using soft computing techniques, management analytics, and business analytics, with a clear focus on exploring real-world business issues. Through contributions from researchers working in the area of performance, management, and business analytics, it explores the development of new methods and approaches to improve business by gaining knowledge from bulk data. With system performance analytics, companies are now able to drive performance and provide actionable insights for each level and for every role using key indicators, generate mobile-enabled scorecards, time series-based analysis using charts, and dashboards. In the current dynamic environment, a viable tool known as multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is increasingly being adopted to deal with complex business decisions. MCDA is an important decision support tool for analyzing goals and providing optimal solutions and alternatives. It comprises several distinct techniques, which are implemented by specialized decision-making packages. This book addresses a number of important MCDA methods, such as DEMATEL, TOPSIS, AHP, MAUT, and Intuitionistic Fuzzy MCDM, which make it possible to derive maximum utility in the area of analytics. As such, it is a valuable resource for researchers and academicians, as well as practitioners and business experts.

This book offers a practice-oriented guide to developing an effective cybersecurity culture in organizations. It provides a psychosocial perspective on common cyberthreats affecting organizations, and presents practical solutions for leveraging employees' attitudes and behaviours in order to improve security. Cybersecurity, as well as the solutions used to achieve it, has largely been associated with technologies. In contrast, this book argues that cybersecurity begins with improving the connections between people and digital technologies. By presenting a comprehensive analysis of the current cybersecurity landscape, the author discusses, based on literature and her personal experience, human weaknesses in relation to security and the advantages of pursuing a holistic approach to cybersecurity, and suggests how to develop cybersecurity culture in practice. Organizations can improve their cyber resilience by adequately training their staff. Accordingly, the book also describes a set of training methods and tools. Further, ongoing education programmes and effective communication within organizations are considered, showing that they can become key drivers for successful cybersecurity awareness initiatives. When properly trained and actively involved, human beings can become the true first line of defence for every organization.

This book provides methods and concepts which enable engineers to design mass and cost efficient products. Therefore, the book introduces background and motivation related to sustainability and lightweight design by looking into those aspects from a durability and quality point of view. Hence this book gives a "top-down" approach: What does an engineer has to do for providing a mass and cost efficient solution? A central part of that approach is the "stress-strength interference model" and how to deal with "stresses" (caused by operational loads) as well as with the "strength" of components (provided by material, design and manufacturing process). The basic concepts of material fatigue are introduced, but the focus of the volume is to develop an understanding of the content and sequence of engineering tasks to be performed which help to build reliable products. This book is therefore aimed specifically at students of mechanical engineering and mechatronics and at engineers in professional practice.

Mine Safety combines detailed information on safety in mining with methods and mathematics that can be used to preserve human life.

By compiling various recent research results and data into one volume, Mine Safety eliminates the need to consult many diverse sources in order to obtain vital information. Chapters cover a broad range of topics, including: human factors and error in mine safety, mining equipment safety, safety in offshore industry and programmable electronic mining system safety.

They are written in such a manner that the reader requires no previous knowledge to understand their contents. Examples and solutions are given at appropriate places, and there are numerous problems to test the reader 's comprehension.

Mine Safety will prove useful for many individuals, including engineering and safety professionals working in the mining industry, researchers, instructors, and undergraduate and graduate students in the field of mining engineering.

The book concentrates on powder flow properties, their measurement and applications. These topics are explained starting from the interactions between individual particles up to the design of silos. A wide range of problems are discussed such as flow obstructions, segregation, and vibrations. The goal is to provide a deeper understanding of the powder flow, and to show practical solutions.

This book presents select peer-reviewed papers presented at the International Conference on Numerical Optimization in Engineering and Sciences (NOIEAS) 2019. The book covers a wide variety of numerical optimization techniques across all major engineering disciplines like mechanical, manufacturing, civil, electrical, chemical, computer, and electronics engineering. The major focus is on innovative ideas, current methods and latest results involving advanced optimization techniques. The contents provide a good balance between numerical models and analytical results obtained for different engineering problems and challenges. This book will be useful for students, researchers, and professionals interested in engineering optimization techniques.

The basic logic is very simple. Countries around the globe have a need for more electrical generating capacity because of increases in population and increases in energy use per capita. The needs are constrained by the requirement that the ba- load energy source be economical, secure, and not emit climate-changing gases. Nuclear power fits this description. Therefore, many countries that have not had a nuclear power program (or only had a small program) see a need to develop one in the future. However, the development of a national nuclear energy program is not so simple. The purpose of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Nuclear Power and Energy Security was to contribute to our understanding of how these programs might evolve. The workshop took place 26-29 May 2009 in Yerevan, Armenia. Approximately 50 participants discussed the infrastructure that is needed and some of the reactor options that might be considered. The papers in this book helped define the discussion that took place. The infrastructure that is needed includes a legal framework, a functioning regulator, a plan for waste disposal, a plan for emergency response, etc. These needs were explained and just as importantly, it was explained what international, bilateral, and regional cooperation is available. Although there were many co- tries represented, the Armenian experience was of particular interest because of where the meeting was located. The papers on reactor options covered both innovative and evolutionary designs.

The modeling of mechanical properties of materials and structures is a complex and wide-ranging subject. In some applications, it is sufficient to assume that the material remains elastic, i.e. that the deformation process is fully reversible and the stress is a unique function of strain. However, such a simplified assumption is appropriate only within a limited range, and in general must be replaced by a more realistic approach that takes into account the inelastic processes such as plastic yielding or cracking.

This book presents a comprehensive treatment of the most important areas of plasticity and of time-dependent inelastic behavior (viscoplasticity of metals, and creep and shrinkage of concrete). It covers structural aspects such as:

• incremental analysis

• limit analysis

• shakedown analysis

• optimal design

• beam structures subjected to bending and torsion

• yield line theory of plates

• slip line theory

• size effect in structures

• creep and shrinkage effects in concrete structures.

• yield surfaces for metals and plastic-frictional materials

• hardening and softening

• stress-return algorithms

• large-strain formulations

• thermodynamic framework

• microplane models

• localization of plastic strain.

This book presents a comprehensive introduction to the field of structural vibration reduction control, but may also be used as a reference source for more advanced topics. The content is divided into four main parts: the basic principles of structural vibration reduction control, structural vibration reduction devices, structural vibration reduction design methods, and structural vibration reduction engineering practices. As the book strikes a balance between theoretical and practical aspects, it will appeal to researchers and practicing engineers alike, as well as graduate students.

This book introduces state-of-the-art models and methods based on the neuroendocrine-immune-inspired approaches in the field of manufacturing control systems. It develops various bio-inspired intelligent approaches for multiple applications in order to efficiently generate production plans and control solutions and agilely deal with the frequent unexpected disturbances at the shop floor level. It also provides an introduction to bio-inspired manufacturing systems with intelligent control structures and the latest technologies. Further, the book describes recent advances in the bio-inspired methodology for a high-level adaptability in manufacturing systems, including the bio-inspired control architecture and the implementation of intelligent and adaptive control approaches based on neuroendocrine-immune mechanisms and hormone-regulation principles. It offers a valuable resource for graduate students, researchers and engineers in the fields of production management, manufacturing system control and related areas.

This book presents the latest developments in both qualitative and quantitative computational methods for reliability and statistics, as well as their applications. Consisting of contributions from active researchers and experienced practitioners in the field, it fills the gap between theory and practice and explores new research challenges in reliability and statistical computing. The book consists of 18 chapters. It covers (1) modeling in and methods for reliability computing, with chapters dedicated to predicted reliability modeling, optimal maintenance models, and mechanical reliability and safety analysis; (2) statistical computing methods, including machine learning techniques and deep learning approaches for sentiment analysis and recommendation systems; and (3) applications and case studies, such as modeling innovation paths of European firms, aircraft components, bus safety analysis, performance prediction in textile finishing processes, and movie recommendation systems. Given its scope, the book will appeal to postgraduates, researchers, professors, scientists, and practitioners in a range of fields, including reliability engineering and management, maintenance engineering, quality management, statistics, computer science and engineering, mechanical engineering, business analytics, and data science.

This book summarizes the research being pursued as part of the Erasmus+ CBHE KA2 project entitled "Development of master curricula for natural disasters risk management in Western Balkan countries" (NatRisk), which aims to educate experts on the prevention and management of natural disasters in the Western Balkan region in line with national and EU policies. The project has successfully developed and implemented master curricula and educational training in the field of natural disasters risk management, and a methodology for the identification and prevention of natural disasters. Consisting of 11 chapters, the book analyzes and discusses topics such as risk assessment tools and quality methods, the different approaches for civil-military collaboration, natural disasters risk management in Bosnia and Herzegovina, leadership models for managing crises resulting from natural disasters, natural disasters in industrial areas, natural risk management in geotechnics, flood risk modeling, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference models for flood prediction, collapse prediction of masonry arches, an algorithm for fire truck dispatch in emergency situations, and processing drought data in a GIS environment.

This book discusses various challenges and solutions in the fields of operation, control, design, monitoring and protection of microgrids, and facilitates the integration of renewable energy and distribution systems through localization of generation, storage and consumption. It covers five major topics relating to microgrid i.e., operation, control, design, monitoring and protection. The book is primarily intended for electric power and control engineering researchers who are seeking factual information, but also appeals to professionals from other engineering disciplines wanting an overview of the entire field or specific information on one aspect of it. Featuring practical case studies and demonstrating different root causes of large power failures, it helps readers develop new concepts for mitigating blackout issues. This book is a comprehensive reference resource for graduate and postgraduate students, academic researchers, and practicing engineers working in the fields of power system and microgrid.

This book offers meaningful insights into an impending challenge for the energy industry, namely the increasing role of asset management amongst the utilities' core operations. In the aftermath of energy digitalization, power and gas companies will be able to seize asset productivity-through risk-based operation and maintenance-and better balance capital and operational expenditures. By addressing the asset management of both power and gas infrastructures, and by adopting a comprehensive approach-including regulation and business models, as well as a solid technology background-this book offers a unique perspective on the energy utilities' transformation journey and the road to optimal decision-making for both asset portfolio expansion and replacement. The asset management end-to-end mission requires appropriate internal governance-depending on the business framework-and the development of decision aid models (for asset replacement and maintenance), supported on probabilistic risk and reliability indexes. This book advocates systematically digitalizing the power and gas assets, addressing both data governance and infrastructure, alongside real-time equipment condition monitoring. It also provides a meaningful methodology for designing data-centric asset management and predictive operation and maintenance, using artificial intelligence and engineering-based approaches. As such, it provides valuable strategy, methods and models-illustrated by case studies and proofs of concept-for a wide range of stakeholders, including utilities and industry professionals, regulators, policy-makers, researchers and students.

This book presents a compilation of selected papers from the Fourth International Symposium on Software Reliability, Industrial Safety, Cyber Security and Physical Protection of Nuclear Power Plant, held in August 2019 in Guiyang, China. The purpose of the symposium was to discuss inspection, testing, certification and research concerning the software and hardware of instrument and control (I&C) systems used at nuclear power plants (NPP), such as sensors, actuators and control systems. The event provides a venue for exchange among experts, scholars and nuclear power practitioners, as well as a platform for the combination of teaching and research at universities and enterprises to promote the safe development of nuclear power plants. Readers will find a wealth of valuable insights into achieving safer and more efficient instrumentation and control systems.

Synthetic biology offers powerful remedies for some of the world's most intractable problems, but these solutions are clouded by uncertainty and risk that few strategies are available to address. The incentives for continued development of this emerging technology are prodigious and obvious, and the public deserves assurances that all potential downsides are duly considered and minimized accordingly. Incorporating social science analysis within the innovation process may impose constraints, but its simultaneous support in making the end products more acceptable to society at large should be considered a worthy trade-off. Contributing authors in this volume represent diverse perspectives related to synthetic biology's social sciences, and reflect on different areas of risk analysis and governance that have developed for the field. Such perspectives include leading scholarly discussion pertaining to risk assessment, governance, ethics, and communication. The chapters of this volume note that while the first twenty years of synthetic biology development have focused strongly on technological innovation and product development, the next twenty should emphasize the synergy between developers, policymakers, and publics to generate the most beneficial, well governed, and transparent technologies and products possible. Many chapters in this volume provide new data and approaches that demonstrate the feasibility for multi-stakeholder efforts involving policymakers, regulators, industrial developers, workers, experts, and societal representatives to share responsibilities in the production of effective and acceptable governance in the face of uncertain risk probabilities. A full consideration of such perspectives may prevent a world of draconian regulations based on an insufficient or incomplete understanding of the science that underpins synthetic biology, as well as any hesitancy or fear by the public to adopt its eventual products.

This book presents peer-reviewed articles from the 1st International Conference on Dam Safety Management and Engineering (ICDSME 2019), organized by the Malaysian National Committee on Large Dams (MYCOLD), Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) and Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). With the theme "resilient dams for resilient communities," the conference highlighted the latest developments in the area and provided a platform for researchers and professionals to exchange ideas and to address dam safety and engineering issues with the environment in mind. The topics covered included, but was not limited to, best practices in dam safety, reservoir management, dam health monitoring, risk assessment, emergency management and sustainable dams.

Product acquisition involves an examination of the support cost of major equipment over its total life years. Depending on the type of equipment, support costs may range from 10 to 100 times the cost of acquisition. "Life Cycle Costing: Techniques, Models and Applications" offers a comprehensive approach to the entire field, and treats it in such a way that the reader requires no previous knowledge to understand the contents. It covers all advances and recent progress in life cycle costing from its history and definitions to current approaches. It is fully referenced for deeper study in any specific area (there are over 1150 references with an appendix) and contains more than 50 examples with their solutions. Subjects covered include reliability improvement warranty, computer hardware and software costing, vehicles life cycle costing, reliability engineering, life cycle costing in the aircraft industry, and processing systems costing. This work is intended for all engineers and senior students of engineering or business administration, administrators, cost analysts, researchers, academics, and anyone involved with equipment procurement.

This book discusses relevant topics in field of corrosion, from sensing strategies to modeling of control processes, corrosion prevention, detection of corrosion initiation, prediction of corrosion growth and evolution, to maintenance practices and return on investment.Written by leading international experts, it combines mathematical and scientific rigor with multiple case studies, examples, colorful images, case studies and numerous references exploring the essentials of corrosion in depth. It appeals to a wide readership, including corrosion engineers, managers, students and industrial and government staff, and can serve as a reference text for courses in materials, mechanical and aerospace engineering, as well as anyone working on corrosion processes.

With emphasis on practical aspects of engineering, this bestseller has gained worldwide recognition through progressive editions as the essential reliability textbook. This fifth edition retains the unique balanced mixture of reliability theory and applications, thoroughly updated with the latest industry best practices. Practical Reliability Engineering fulfils the requirements of the Certified Reliability Engineer curriculum of the American Society for Quality (ASQ). Each chapter is supported by practice questions, and a solutions manual is available to course tutors via the companion website. Enhanced coverage of mathematics of reliability, physics of failure, graphical and software methods of failure data analysis, reliability prediction and modelling, design for reliability and safety as well as management and economics of reliability programmes ensures continued relevance to all quality assurance and reliability courses. Notable additions include: * New chapters on applications of Monte Carlo simulation methods and reliability demonstration methods. * Software applications of statistical methods, including probability plotting and a wider use of common software tools. * More detailed descriptions of reliability prediction methods. * Comprehensive treatment of accelerated test data analysis and warranty data analysis. * Revised and expanded end-of-chapter tutorial sections to advance students practical knowledge. The fifth edition will appeal to a wide range of readers from college students to seasoned engineering professionals involved in the design, development, manufacture and maintenance of reliable engineering products and systems. www.wiley.com/go/oconnor-reliability5

This book surveys reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) analyses of various engineering systems. It highlights their role throughout the lifecycle of engineering systems and explains how RAMS activities contribute to their efficient and economic design and operation. The book discusses a variety of examples and applications of RAMS analysis, including: * software products; * electrical and electronic engineering systems; * mechanical engineering systems; * nuclear power plants; * chemical and process plants and * railway systems. The wide-ranging nature of the applications discussed highlights the multidisciplinary nature of complex engineering systems. The book provides a quick reference to the latest advances and terminology in various engineering fields, assisting students and researchers in the areas of reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety engineering.

This book presents central problems in the design, research and maintenance of large-size mining machines for open pits, mobile earth-moving machinery, hydraulic hammers for mining and civil engineering, and screening processes for bulk materials. It brings together the insights of numerous respected academics to offer a thorough and multifaceted overview of the topic. The first few chapters of the book deal with specific problems that frequently occur in machinery for open-pit mining. They focus on the resilience of large-size mining machines, degradation of steels used for supporting structures, and modelling of large-size rotary joints, as well as the noise hazards in connection with degradation processes. The book then moves on to discuss problems arising in earth-moving machinery, such as new approaches to the assessment of operation and maintenance, dynamic loads in front-end loader booms, and synchronic transfer of power from the engine to the driven wheels. The book concludes by discussing hydraulic hammers for mining and civil engineering, and screening processes for bulk materials that combine a vibroscreen with additional feed elements. The book is primarily intended for undergraduate and graduate mechanical engineering courses, but will also be of interest to researchers and mechanical engineers.