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This paper deals with the performance optimization and sensitivity analysis for crystallization system of a sugar plant.

Crystallization system comprises of five subsystems, namely crystallizer, centrifugal pump and sugar grader. The Chapman–Kolmogorov differential equations are derived from the transition diagram of the crystallization system using mnemonic rule. These equations are solved to compute reliability and steady state availability by putting the appropriate combinations of failure and repair rates using normalizing and initial boundary conditions. The performance optimization is carried out by varying number of generations, population size, crossover and mutation probabilities. Finally, sensitivity analysis is performed to analyze the effect of change in failure rates of each subsystem on availability, mean time to failure (MTBF) and mean time to repair (MTTR).

The highest performance observed is 96.95% at crossover probability of 0.3 and sugar grader subsystem comes out to be the most critical and sensitive subsystem.

The findings of the paper highlights the optimum value of performance level at failure and repair rates for subsystems and also helps identify the most sensitive subsystem. These findings are highly beneficial for the maintenance personnel of the plant to plan the maintenance strategies accordingly.

Crystallization is the process widely used for components separation and solids purification. The systems for crystallization process evaluation applied so far, involve numerous non-invasive tomographic measurement techniques which suffers from some reported problems. The purpose of this paper is to show the abilities of three-dimensional Electrical Capacitance Tomography (3D ECT) in the context of non-invasive and non-intrusive visualization of crystallization processes. Multiple aspects and problems of ECT imaging, as well as the computer model design to work with the high relative permittivity liquids, have been pointed out.

To design the most efficient (from a mechanical and electrical point of view) 3D ECT sensor structure, the high-precise impedance meter was applied. The three types of sensor were designed, built, and tested. To meet the new concept requirements, the dedicated ECT device has been constructed.

It has been shown that the ECT technique can be applied to the diagnosis of crystallization. The crystals distribution can be identified using this technique. The achieved measurement resolution allows detecting the localization of crystals. The usage of stabilized electrodes improves the sensitivity of the sensor and provides the images better suitable for further analysis.

The dedicated 3D ECT sensor construction has been proposed to increase its sensitivity in the border area, where the crystals grow. Regarding this feature, some new algorithms for the potential field distribution and the sensitivity matrix calculation have been developed. The adaptation of the iterative 3D image reconstruction process has also been described.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an imaging process method for automatically extracting assessment target regions in images of crystallization wells.

The proposed method detects the target by image processing based on saturation variance in images of crystallization wells.

The proposed method shows high accurate detection performance in a short time.

The method is applicable to automatic crystallization machine. Especially, it is expected to implement to TERA system of RIKEN.

The paper demonstrates target area detection from microscope images based on saturation variance in images of crystallization wells.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a state discrimination for crystallization samples (droplets), the purpose of which is to discriminate between diffractable extracts (crystal) and other objects.

The line feature from the image of the protein droplet was extracted and the state discriminated using a classifier based on line features. A support vector machine is used as the classifier.

In order to verify the performance of the proposed method, the growth state was discriminated experimentally using the images taken by TERA, an automated crystallization system. The correction ratio was determined to exceed 80 percent.

Contribution to automated evaluation process of the growth state of protein crystallization samples.

The purpose of this paper is to present classification schemes for the crystallization state of proteins utilizing image processing.

Two classification schemes shown here are combined sequentially.

The correct ratio of experimental result using the method presented here is approximately 70 per cent.

The paper is a contribution to automated evaluation crystal growth, combining two classifiers based on specific visual feature, sequentially.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a practical method to elicit – in a manner grounded in fact – the “as is” supply chain strategy that a business unit currently has in place. It also proposes a framework to represent the supply chain strategy of a business unit in a clear and actionable manner.

A framework to represent the supply chain strategy of a business unit was developed through inductive theory generation. A method to elicit the current, “as is” supply chain strategy of a business unit was developed through collaborative management research projects and validated by several third-party projects.

In different projects – many conducted by third parties – the method was found to be a useful approach to elicit the “as is” supply chain strategy of a business unit. Practitioners found value in representing a supply chain strategy as a conceptual system serving as a logical bridge between the overall strategy and the supply chain operations of the business units.

The proposed framework may have limited scalability beyond a single business unit. The proposed method may be less useful when the supply chain strategy is undergoing a dramatic transformation, or when the participants from the company are either not fully engaged in the exercise or knowledgeable about the strategic rationale behind activities.

The paper provides an innovative approach to tap into the tacit knowledge of the organization to reveal the patterns of decisions underpinning its current supply chain strategy and to characterize the supply chain strategy of a business unit as a conceptual system.

Basement defects such as water seepages/leakages are tedious and expensive to rectify. Intensive research has been conducted to study the problem type, their causes and preventive measures. The study explored 987 water seepage/leakage cases in 61 buildings. Eleven significant factors leading to the occurrence of water seepage in basements were identified. The implications of six benchmarks, namely: degree of water‐tightness; safety measures for structural concrete; performance of waterproofing systems; integrity of basement structure; provision for movement and quality of compaction in concreting, for minimizing four types of water seepage/leakage problems in basements are discussed.

The main aspects of Information Processing are collection, file creation (including indexing), analysis, retrieval, presentation and dissemination. The term ‘Information retrieval’ is too frequently used in lieu of ‘information processing’’ and I believe that one of the major dangers in designing an information processing system is that by calling it an information retrieval system the design can be implicitly motivated to concentrate on the narrower aspects of retrieval at the expense of the broad issues of what information needs to be collected and filed and why and how it should be processed.

Presents a methodology for calculating the availability of a refining system in a sugar plant. The refining system consists of a number of subsystems including a filter, heating sulphitor and clarifier, each having series and parallel elements. The mathematical modelling of the failures and repairs of the subsystems is based on the birth and death process and the use of Chapman‐Kolmogorov equations. During the analysis of an actual sugar plant, it has been found that the clarifier unit of the refining system is the most critical component and requires immediate corrective action. Other critical components included are: filter and sulphonation units.

Three common glob top encapsulant materials, two epoxy‐based, and one silicone‐based, were characterized prior to temperature cycling using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical spectroscopy (DMS), gas chromatograph‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). After cycling between ‐55 to +125°C, for 1,000 cycles, the same samples were again analysed using DMS and FTIR. For the epoxy‐based samples, the DMS results indicated that temperature cycling in a humid environment can seriously affect the physical and mechanical properties of these samples. FTIR data also indicated that the molecular changes in the epoxy‐based samples appeared quite extensive after cycling, indicating a high level of degradation on the molecular scale. On the other hand, the silicon‐based glob top appeared to have survived the temperature cycling quite well.