Time consumption, productivity, and cost analysis of the motor manual tree felling and processing in the Hyrcanian Forest in Iran

An empirical time study was cohducted to evaluate the performance of the current felling and tree processing methods used in Northern Iran＇s Hyrcanian forest. Motor-manual felling is done mostly in winter, while tree processing starts when the felling season ends. We identified the elements of felling and processing work phases, and 142 cycles and 110 cycles were respectively recorded for felling and processing. On the basis of data analysis （time study）, we developed statistical models of effective time consumption in the respective work phase and for its total productivity. The production rate of felling with and without delay time was 9.7 and 11.65 trees per hour （0.17 USD.m^-3 and 0.21 USD-m^-3）, and the average production cost with and without delay was 1.21 USD and 1.45 USD per tree, respectively. The average productivity of processing was 35 m^3 per effective hour and the average unit cost of processing was 0.92 USD.m^-3.

Adaptive Strategies for Accelerating the Convergence of Average Cost Markov Decision Processes Using a Moving Average Digital Filter

This paper proposes a technique to accelerate the convergence of the value iteration algorithm applied to discrete average cost Markov decision processes. An adaptive partial information value iteration algorithm is proposed that updates an increasingly accurate approximate version of the original problem with a view to saving computations at the early iterations, when one is typically far from the optimal solution. The proposed algorithm is compared to classical value iteration for a broad set of adaptive parameters and the results suggest that significant computational savings can be obtained, while also ensuring a robust performance with respect to the parameters.

The Cost Control of Motor Housing Process

As for the assembly line of cost control of Toyota company in, the motor housing also needs cost control. Because the supply quantity of small motor is very large every month, the production line is needed to solve this problem. In addition to the control of equipment, personnel quantities and wages, the introduction of raw materials also needs to be controlled. Only in this way can we fundamentally solve the problem of high cost and low profit.

The Effect of Consultations on the Cost of Pre-Anesthetic Assessment

Background: In our study, researching the distribution of the consultations other than anaesthesia in compliance with the disciplines and ages of the patients and its effect on the assessment cost has been aimed. Methods: Our study has been conducted during 8 months by the retrospective assessment of the records of 3844 cases on which an elective surgical procedure was planned in the anesthesiology polyclinic of Firat University Hospital. The records of patients have been obtained through examining their files from the hospital record system. Results: The total number of patients whose consultations have been demanded was 367 (9.5%) and the number of male/female was 192/175. The number of cases about which more than one consultation has been demanded was determined as 87 (2.2%). The number of cases on which a method change for the anaesthesia was applied was 21 (5.7%), and the number of cases whose surgery was cancelled was 3 (0.81%). Requested consultation for each patient, the consultations of cardiology, chest diseases and internal medicine bring an additional cost on the total sum respectively as 37.2 TL (28.61 $), 29.8 TL (22.92 $) and 19.9 TL (15.30 $). Conclusions: We suggest that the cost analysis should be absolutely taken into consideration during the pre-anaesthetic assessment for the requirement of routine examinations.

SINGLE MACHINE SCHEDULING WITH CONTROLLABLE PROCESSING TIMES AND COMPRESSION COSTS ： PROOF OF THEOREMS

Abstract This report is virtually the appendix part of the author's previous paper which includes the proofs for the theorems and lemmas.

Amine-functionalized low-cost industrial grade multi-walled carbon nanotubes for the capture of carbon dioxide

Industrial grade multi-walled carbon nanotubes(IG-MWCNTs) are a low-cost substitute for commercially purified multi-walled carbon nanotubes(P-MWCNTs). In this work, IG-MWCNTs were functionalized with tetraethylenepentamine(TEPA) for CO2capture. The TEPA impregnated IG-MWCNTs were characterized with various experimental methods including N2adsorption/desorption isotherms, elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. Both the adsorption isotherms of IGMWCNTs-n and the isosteric heats of different adsorption capacities were obtained from experiments. TEPA impregnated IG-MWCNTs were also shown to have high CO2adsorption capacity comparable to that of TEPA impregnated P-MWCNTs. The adsorption capacity of IG-MWCNTs based adsorbents was in the range of 2.145 to 3.088 mmol/g, depending on adsorption temperatures. Having the advantages of low-cost and high adsorption capacity, TEPA impregnated IG-MWCNTs seem to be a promising adsorbent for CO2capture from flue gas.

Do Multiple Isolated Vertebral Thoracolumbar Transverse Process Fractures Increase the Risk of Ligamentous Injury and Surgical Intervention in the Setting of Trauma?

Background: Isolated thoracolumbar vertebral transverse process fractures (TPF) are often considered a stable injury. However, the use of advanced imaging such as magnetic resonance imaging and spine specialist consultation are often ordered as part of the routine workup of these fractures. The routine ordering of advanced imaging, spine specialist consultation, and delayed mobilization causes unnecessary economic and clinical burdens to patients and the overall healthcare system. Purpose: To determine if a higher number of isolated TPFs (iTPFs) lead to an increase in ligamentous injury to the spine, and whether ligamentous injury—if present—requires surgical intervention. Methods: The retrospective review was performed from 2009 to 2015, using a surgical trauma database to identify patients with greater than 3 isolated TPF (iTPF) to determine if iTPF leads to an increase in ligamentous injury to the spine and if this increase leads to increased surgical intervention. Results: A total of 102 patients were identified with complete follow up at 6 - 8 weeks post injury. The majority of the included patients suffered from blunt trauma. There was a small rate of ligamentous injury (n = 7, 7%) that did not require additional treatment. None of the fractures included were considered unstable. None of the patients included required surgical intervention during their hospital visit or in follow up visits. Conclusion: iTPFs are a stable injury to the thoracolumbar spine. There is a small rate of associated ligamentous injury that does not change the management or require further interventions. Thoracolumbar iTPFs do not automatically need spine specialist consultation and advanced imaging techniques.

Analysis and Related Suggestions on the Whole Process Engineering Consulting Service Mode at Home and Abroad

This paper first introduces the basic connotation of China’s whole-process engineering consulting.Immediately,analyze the organization model,service procurement model and charging standards of foreign whole-process engineering consulting(international terminology full-life cycle engineering consultant).Second,discuss the government’s role in the development of engineering consulting from two aspects:service management and market access.Finally,combined with the above analysis,the specific problems faced in the implementation process of the whole process engineering consulting are compared.Provide relevant suggestions on how companies and individuals respond to industry development trends.

Cost Optimization of Surface Grinding Process

This paper introduces a new study on cost optimization of surface grinding. In the study, the effects of grinding parameters including the dressing regime parameters, the wheel life and the initial grinding wheel diameter on the exchanged grinding wheel diameter which were investigated. In addition, the influence of cost parameters including the machine tool hourly rate and the grinding wheel cost were taken into account. In order to find the optimum exchanged grinding wheel diameter, a cost optimization problem was built. From the results of the optimization problem, a model for determination of the optimum exchanged grinding wheel diameter was found. By using the optimum diameter, both the grinding cost and grinding time can be reduced significantly.

A Multi-Criteria Decision Support System for the Selection of Low-Cost Green Building Materials and Components

The necessity of having an effective computer-aided decision support system in the housing construction industry is rapidly growing alongside the demand for green buildings and green building products. Identifying and defining financially viable low-cost green building materials and components, just like selecting them, is a crucial exercise in subjectivity. With so many variables to consider, the task of evaluating such products can be complex and discouraging. Moreover, the existing mode for selecting and managing, often very large information associated with their impacts constrains decision-makers to perform a trade-off analysis that does not necessarily guarantee the most environmentally preferable material. This paper introduces the development of a multi-criteria decision support system (DSS) aimed at improving the understanding of the principles of best practices associated with the impacts of low-cost green building materials and components. The DSS presented in this paper is to provide designers with useful and explicit information that will aid informed decision-making in their choice of materials for low-cost green residential housing projects. The prototype MSDSS is developed using macro-in-excel, which is a fairly recent database management technique used for integrating data from multiple, often very large databases and other information sources. This model consists of a database to store different types of low-cost green materials with their corresponding attributes and performance characteristics. The DSS design is illustrated with particular emphasis on the development of the material selection data schema, and application of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) concept to a material selection problem. Details of the MSDSS model are also discussed including workflow of the data evaluation process. The prototype model has been developed with inputs elicited from domain experts and extensive literature review, and refined with feedback obtained from selected expert builder and developer companies. This paper further demonstrates the application of the prototype MSDSS for selecting the most appropriate low-cost green building material from among a list of several available options, and finally concludes the study with the associated potential benefits of the model to research and practice.

Estimation of Costs-Savings and Improved Patient Outcomes of Implementing a Consultation-Liaison Service at Health Sciences North

Objective: The study was conducted to assess the implementation of a psychiatric consultation-liaison service (C-L) from the perspective of cost-savings, staff satisfaction, patient satisfaction and to assess the general features of patients referred to the C-L service. Methodology: Cost-savings were evaluated using a large cohort of referrals to the hospital were identified using data derived from the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (N = 2246);these data were divided into pre and post periods with respect to imitation of the C-L service. To evaluate staff satisfaction, 170 nurses and physicians completed an online survey. Patient satisfaction was assessed through a survey assessing various aspects of their experiences with the C-L service that was completed by each patient (N = 40). Finally referrals to the C-L service (N = 445) were analyzed to discern indicators of the C-L service’s efficacy (i.e. reasons for referral, time to accommodate referral). Results: The data indicated: 1) a reduction in the number of re-admissions and length of stay after the initiation of the C-L service translating into significant cost-savings for the hospital, 2) that increased staff satisfaction was associated with providing confidence, support, and improved communication, and 3) that the C-L service accommodated approximately 90% of patients within 1 day. Conclusion: The results of this study support stakeholders’ decisions to implement C-L services and also indicate areas of improvement that may improve the quality of C-L services within other institutions.

State of the Art Treatment of Non-Ferrous Castings 3-in-l Heat Treatment Systems Combine Foundry Processes

The interior of a high-pressure die-casting is of an unsatisfactory quality. Engine blocks made with this die casting process show lower specific engine performance. Pressure die-casting can hardly be heat treated for obvious reasons. PSM (Precision Sand Molds) process uses sand and organic binder to generate a mold and even allows the manufacturing of complex diesel engine blocks in aluminum alloys. Combined technologies are available for semi-permanent mold castings with cores and castings made in Precision Sand Molds with organic binders. Castings are placed into the special heat treatment furnace immediately after pouring without the operations in stand alone machinery. This patented Sand Lion 3- in-1 technology processes hot castings and carries out three (3) foundry processes simultaneously in one (1) automated machine: 1) De-coring and sand removal; 2) Thermal sand reclamation; 3) Solution heat treatment of castings. The combination of several main casting processes is reflected in significant reductions of energy consumption, of production costs, and improving the quality of the castings. Audits in foundries using the 3-in-l process showed an average reduction in production costs of more than 30%.

Full-Process Cost Control of Real Estate Development Enterprises

In the present paper, cost control existing in stages of decision making, drawing design, construction bidding, construction, completion settlement, product sales of real estate development are analyzed and solutions for cost control in each stage are provided.

Integrated Assessment of Environmental and Economic Performance of Chemical Products Using Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach

With the increasing public consciousness on environmental issues, chemical products and process designs require simultaneous satisfaction and compromise of environmental and economical requirements. To fulfill the two conflicting while complementary objectives, a systematic approach for life cycle design of a chemical product is proposed in this article. Multiattribute decision-making is adopted in a trade-off consideration of both technical economical evaluation and environmental impacts assessment using the analytic hierarchy process （AHP） approach. On the basis of an evaluation of the relative importance of the criteria multicriteria decision making is performed. In this study, an AHP model is used to derive single a criteria score by analyzing the environmental impact and life cycle cost of a product, respectively. And a fluctuant weight analysis is put forth to calculate the integrated index of the product to enable products to be ranked or selected intuitionally and conveniently. The proposed AHP model has been applied to a case study, a comparative study on chamber cleaning with NF3 and C2F6. The resuits show that the protposed AHP model is Capable of providing a rational and relevant evaluation.

An LMI Method to Robust Iterative Learning Fault-tolerant Guaranteed Cost Control for Batch Processes

Based on an equivalent two-dimensional Fornasini-Marchsini model for a batch process in industry, a closed-loop robust iterative learning fault-tolerant guaranteed cost control scheme is proposed for batch processes with actuator failures. This paper introduces relevant concepts of the fault-tolerant guaranteed cost control and formulates the robust iterative learning reliable guaranteed cost controller (ILRGCC). A significant advantage is that the proposed ILRGCC design method can be used for on-line optimization against batch-to-batch process uncertainties to realize robust tracking of set-point trajectory in time and batch-to-batch sequences. For the convenience of implementation, only measured output errors of current and previous cycles are used to design a synthetic controller for iterative learning control, consisting of dynamic output feedback plus feed-forward control. The proposed controller can not only guarantee the closed-loop convergency along time and cycle sequences but also satisfy the H∞performance level and a cost function with upper bounds for all admissible uncertainties and any actuator failures. Sufficient conditions for the controller solution are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), and design procedures, which formulate a convex optimization problem with LMI constraints, are presented. An example of injection molding is given to illustrate the effectiveness and advantages of the ILRGCC design approach.

Study on the model of an insurer's solvency ratio in Markov-modulated Brownian markets

In this paper the insurer＇s solvency ratio model with or without jump diffusion process in the presence of financial distress cost is constructed, where an insurer＇s solvency ratio is characterized by a Markov-modulated dynamics. By Girsanov＇s theorem and the option pricing formula, the expected present value of shareholders＇ terminal payoff is provided.

Probabilistic prediction of expected ground condition and construction time and costs in road tunnels

Ground condition and construction （excavation and support） time and costs are the key factors in decision-making during planning and design phases of a tunnel project. An innovative methodology for probabilistic estimation of ground condition and construction time and costs is proposed, which is an integration of the ground prediction approach based on Markov process, and the time and cost variance analysis based on Monte-Carlo （MC） simulation. The former provides the probabilistic description of ground classification along tunnel alignment according to the geological information revealed from geological profile and boreholes. The latter provides the probabilistic description of the expected construction time and costs for each operation according to the survey feedbacks from experts. Then an engineering application to Hamro tunnel is presented to demonstrate how the ground condition and the construction time and costs are estimated in a probabilistic way. In most items, in order to estimate the data needed for this methodology, a number of questionnaires are distributed among the tunneling experts and finally the mean values of the respondents are applied. These facilitate both the owners and the contractors to be aware of the risk that they should carry before construction, and are useful for both tendering and bidding.

VPLS Based Quality and Cost Control for Tennessee Eastman Process

Product quality and operation cost control obtain increasing emphases in modern chemical system engineering. To improve the fault detection power of the partial least square (PLS) method for quality control, a new QRPV statistic is proposed in terms of the VP (variable importance in projection) indices of monitored process variables, which is significantly advanced over and different from the conventional Q statistic. QRPV is calculated only by the residuals of the remarkable process variables (RPVs). Therefore, it is the dominant relation between quality and RPV not all process variables (as in the case of the conventional PLS) that is monitored by this new VP-PLS (VPLS) method. The combination of QRPV and T2 statistics is applied to the quality and cost control of the Tennessee Eastman (TE) process, and weak faults can be detected as quickly as possible. Consequently, the product quality of TE process is guaranteed and operation costs are reduced.

COST FB2钢热变形行为及热加工图

利用Thermecmastor-Z热模拟试验机对COST FB2钢进行了等温压缩试验,研究了其在不同热变形工艺参数下的热变形行为、显微组织演变规律以及最优的热加工工艺窗口。结果表明,热变形过程中,流变应力随着变形温度的升高及应变速率的降低而降低,在不同的应变速率与变形温度下,流变应力曲线呈现出动态再结晶、动态回复与加工硬化特征。基于Arrhenius方程和Zener-Hollomon函数,求得COST FB2钢的热变形激活能Q为449.56 kJ·mol-1。建立了本构模型,该模型预测值与试验值吻合度较高。基于Prasad失稳判据建立了COST FB2钢热加工图,结合热变形后的显微组织特征,发现失稳区主要集中分布于变形温度900~950℃、应变速率0.04~0.5 s^(-1)范围内,其显微组织为沿变形方向拉长的带状组织,并存在局部流动性,对应的功率耗散值η较低;安全区显微组织主要特征是部分动态再结晶组织,功率耗散值η较高。确定了其0.8应变量下合理的热加工工艺窗口为:变形温度975~1050℃、应变速率0.01~0.14 s^(-1)以及变形温度1050~1175℃、应变速率0.01~0.5 s^(-1)。

Stability Estimation for Markov Control Processes with Discounted Cost

This article explores controllable Borel spaces, stationary, homogeneous Markov processes, discrete time with infinite horizon, with bounded cost functions and using the expected total discounted cost criterion. The problem of the estimation of stability for this type of process is set. The central objective is to obtain a bounded stability index expressed in terms of the Lévy-Prokhorov metric;likewise, sufficient conditions are provided for the existence of such inequalities.