This thesis presents thermal and power loss models of a three phase IGBT voltage source inverter used in the design of the 625KW fuel cell and reformer demonstration which is a top priority for the Office of Naval Research. The ability to generate thermal simulations of systems and to accurately predict a system's response becomes essential in order to reduce the cost of design and production, increase reliability, quantify the accuracy of the estimated thermal impedance of an IGBT module, predict the maximum switching frequency without violating thermal limits, predict the time to shutdown on a loss of coolant casualty, and quantify the characteristics of the heat-sink needed to dissipate the heat under worst case conditions. In order to accomplish this, power loss and thermal models were created and simulated to represent a three phase IGBT voltage source inverter in the lab. The simulated power loss and thermal model data were compared against the experimental data of a three phase voltage source inverter set up in the Naval Postgraduate School power systems laboratory.

Företaget Xylem Flygt i Emmaboda producerar dränkbara pumpar av olika storlek och typer som används i hela världen. Innan pumparna levereras till kund testas de i Xylem’s egna testanläggningar. Anläggningen Q2 som berörs i rapporten består av en bassäng med tillhörande rörsystem, ventiler, anslutningsutrustning och mätutrustning. Denna rapport undersöker och lägger fram förslag på förbättringsmöjligheter rörande testanläggningens underhållsplanering. Frågor som undersöks är, om anläggningen ser kvalitetsmässigt och utseendemässigt riktigt ut inför kundbesök, tidsintervaller mellan förebyggande underhåll, miljöansvar angående vattenbyte i bassäng, möjlighet att implementera resultatet på övriga anläggningar samt rekommendationer på uppföljning. Rapporten resulterade i checklistor till underhållsavdelning och operatörer av anläggningen, dokumentation av komponenter och förbättringsförslag. / The company Xylem Flygt in Emmaboda produces submersible pumps of various sizes and types used worldwide. Before the pumps are delivered to the customer they are tested in Xylem's own testing facilities. The plant Q2 concerned in the report consists of a basin with associated piping, valves, connection equipment and measurement equipment. This reports main objective is to investigate and make proposals for improvement regarding test facility maintenance planning. Other questions examined areIf the plants looks representable in quality and appearance to the visiting customers, the time intervals between preventive maintenance, environmental responsibility regarding the change of water in the basin, the ability to implement the results in other facilities as well as recommendations on follow-up’s. The report resulted in checklists for the maintenance department and the operators of the facility, documentation of components and improvement proposals.

Objective: To assess the reliability of the Kids' Activity and Nutrition Questionnaire (KAN-Q) as part of a tiered process for developing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education tools. Methods: The KAN-Q was administered at 2 time points to assess internal consistency using standardized values of Cronbach alpha and test-retest reliability using the intraclass correlation coefficient for continuous variables, Cohen's kappa (k) statistic for categorical variables, and the weighted k statistic for ordinal data. Results: Data were collected from 119 fourth graders. Cronbach a was adequate for behavior (.71) and knowledge (.72) scales and nutrition behavior (.78) and nutrition knowledge (.75) subscales. Test-retest reliability was generally acceptable, with intraclass correlation coefficients from 0.40 to 0.75 and k coefficients showing fair to substantial agreement (0.30 to 0.72). Conclusions and Implications: The KAN-Q is a practical and reliable questionnaire for school-based administration that aligns directly with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education evaluation priorities.

M.Phil. (Engineering Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

<p>Ova studija ima za cilj da prikaže mogućnost generisanja modela obezbeđenja pouzdanosti složenih postrojenja u termoelektranama.</p> / <p>The goal of this study is to show the possibility of generating reliability ensuring models of complex facilities in thermal power plants.</p> / <p>The goal of this study is to show the possibility of generating reliability<br />ensuring models of complex facilities in thermal power plants.</p>

Wireless sensor networks have been a key driver of innovation and societal progressover the last three decades. They allow for simplicity because they eliminate ca-bling complexity while increasing the flexibility of extending or adjusting networksto changing demands. Wireless sensor networks are a powerful means of fillingthe technological gap for ever-larger industrial sites of growing interconnection andbroader integration. Nonetheless, the management of wireless networks is difficultin situations wherein communication requires application-specific, network-widequality of service guarantees. A minimum end-to-end reliability for packet arrivalclose to 100% in combination with latency bounds in the millisecond range must befulfilled in many mission-critical applications.The problem addressed in this thesis is the demand for algorithmic support forend-to-end quality of service guarantees in mission-critical wireless sensor networks.Wireless sensors have traditionally been used to collect non-critical periodic read-ings; however, the intriguing advantages of wireless technologies in terms of theirflexibility and cost effectiveness justify the exploration of their potential for controland mission-critical applications, subject to the requirements of ultra-reliable com-munication, in harsh and dynamically changing environments such as manufactur-ing factories, oil rigs, and power plants.This thesis provides three main contributions in the scope of wireless sensor net-works. First, it presents a scalable algorithm that guarantees end-to-end reliabilitythrough scheduling. Second, it presents a cross-layer optimization/configurationframework that can be customized to meet multiple end-to-end quality of servicecriteria simultaneously. Third, it proposes an extension of the framework used toenable service differentiation and priority handling. Adaptive, scalable, and fast al-gorithms are proposed. The cross-layer framework is based on a genetic algorithmthat assesses the quality of service of the network as a whole and integrates the phys-ical layer, medium access control layer, network layer, and transport layer.Algorithm performance and scalability are verified through numerous simula-tions on hundreds of convergecast topologies by comparing the proposed algorithmswith other recently proposed algorithms for ensuring reliable packet delivery. Theresults show that the proposed SchedEx scheduling algorithm is both significantlymore scalable and better performing than are the competing slot-based schedulingalgorithms. The integrated solving of routing and scheduling using a genetic al-vvigorithm further improves on the original results by more than 30% in terms of la-tency. The proposed framework provides live graphical feedback about potentialbottlenecks and may be used for analysis and debugging as well as the planning ofgreen-field networks.SchedEx is found to be an adaptive, scalable, and fast algorithm that is capa-ble of ensuring the end-to-end reliability of packet arrival throughout the network.SchedEx-GA successfully identifies network configurations, thus integrating the rout-ing and scheduling decisions for networks with diverse traffic priority levels. Fur-ther, directions for future research are presented, including the extension of simula-tions to experimental work and the consideration of alternative network topologies. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 4 (manuskript inskickat för granskning), delarbete 5 (manuskript inskickat för granskning)</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 4 (manuscript under review), paper 5 (manuscript under review)</p>

The principal objective of the research is to diagnose the causes and symptoms of company failure and to investigate whether a pattern of failure could be determined to enable management and other interested parties to identify the risks threatening the survival of the company. The current research divides into three main areas 1. Development of a Data Bank and a study of the age structure of failed companies. 2. An application of reliability management techniques to the analysis of company failure data. 3. Identification of causes and symptoms of company failure based on risk management methodology. Data were collected and analysed for approximately 2000 manufacturing companies which had undergone either compulsory or creditors' voluntary liquidation during the period 1970 to 1977. A Data Bank was established with classified information for 16 different groups of companies making up the manufacturing industry. The classification was based on the Standard Industrial Classification. A study of the age structure of each group was carried out and compared with previous studies. Reliability methodology was applied to the analysis of company failure data for the identification of the failure pattern. Best distributions describing failure behaviour of companies were also determined and the validity and application of various statistical distributions were examined. A detailed examination of the histories of some large companies which failed during the period 1970-1977 was carried out. Risks, weaknesses and possible causes and symptoms of failure were investigated and discussed. A list of the causes of failure emerged from the analysis is drawn and the non-financial symptoms are highlighted in a tabular form. Illustrative models for the appraisal of change and identification of causes and symptoms are developed and critical factors discussed. Finally, general conclusions arising out of the research are-presented, along with recommendations for further research and study.

A novel reliability evaluation method for large nonlinear engineering systems excited by dynamic loading applied in time domain is presented. For this class of problems, the performance functions are expected to be function of time and implicit in nature. Available first-or second-order reliability method (FORM/SORM) will be challenging to estimate reliability of such systems. Because of its inefficiency, the classical Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method also cannot be used for large nonlinear dynamic systems. In the proposed approach, only tens instead of hundreds or thousands of deterministic evaluations at intelligently selected points are used to extract the reliability information. A hybrid approach, consisting of the stochastic finite element method (SFEM) developed by the author and his research team using FORM, response surface method (RSM), an interpolation scheme, and advanced factorial schemes, is proposed. The method is clarified with the help of several numerical examples. (C) 2016 Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.

The present study will be concerned with the reliability of the Shipley-Hartford Abstraction Scale as an instrument for diagnosis of schizophrenia and personality disorders.

Previous systematic reviews indicate a lack of reporting of reliability and validity evidence in subsets of the medical education literature. Psychology and general education reviews of factor analysis also indicate gaps between current and best practices; yet, a comprehensive review of exploratory factor analysis in instrument development across the continuum of medical education had not been previously identified. Therefore, the purpose for this study was critical review of instrument development articles employing exploratory factor or principal component analysis published in medical education (2006-2010) to describe and assess the reporting of methods and validity evidence based on the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing and factor analysis best practices. Data extraction of 64 articles measuring a variety of constructs that have been published throughout the peer-reviewed medical education literature indicate significant errors in the translation of exploratory factor analysis best practices to current practice. Further, techniques for establishing validity evidence tend to derive from a limited scope of methods including reliability statistics to support internal structure and support for test content. Instruments reviewed for this study lacked supporting evidence based on relationships with other variables and response process, and evidence based on consequences of testing was not evident. Findings suggest a need for further professional development within the medical education researcher community related to 1) appropriate factor analysis methodology and reporting and 2) the importance of pursuing multiple sources of reliability and validity evidence to construct a well-supported argument for the inferences made from the instrument. Medical education researchers and educators should be cautious in adopting instruments from the literature and carefully review available evidence. Finally, editors and reviewers are encouraged to recognize this gap in best practices and subsequently to promote instrument development research that is more consistent through the peer-review process.