Context: The workload at seaport container terminal is increasing gradually. We need to improve the performance of terminal to fulfill the demand. The key section of the container terminal is container stacking yard which is an integral part of the seaside and the landside. So its performance has the effects on both sides. The main problem in this area is unproductive moves of containers. However, we need a well-planned stacking area in order to increase the performance of terminal and maximum utilization of existing resources. Objectives: In this work, we have analyzed the existing container stacking system at Helsingborg seaport container terminal, Sweden, investigated the already provided solutions of the problem and find the best optimization technique to get the best possible solution. After this, suggest the solution, test the proposed solution and analyzed the simulation based results with respect to the desired solution. Methods: To identify the problem, methods and proposed solutions of the given problem in the domain of container stacking yard management, a literature review has been conducted by using some e-resources/databases. A GA with best parametric values is used to get the best optimize solution. A discrete event simulation model for container stacking in the yard has been build and integrated with genetic algorithm. A proposed mathematical model to show the dependency of cost minimization on the number of containers’ moves. Results: The GA has been achieved the high fitness value versus generations for 150 containers to storage at best location in a block with 3 tier levels and to minimize the unproductive moves in the yard. A comparison between Genetic Algorithm and Tabu Search has been made to verify that the GA has performed better than other algorithm or not. A simulation model with GA has been used to get the simulation based results and to show the container handling by using resources like AGVs, yard crane and delivery trucks and container stacking and retrieval system in the yard. The container stacking cost is directly proportional to the number of moves has been shown by the mathematical model. Conclusions: We have identified the key factor (unproductive moves) that is the base of other key factors (time & cost) and has an effect on the performance of the stacking yard and overall the whole seaport terminal. We have focused on this drawback of stacking system and proposed a solution that makes this system more efficient. Through this, we can save time and cost both. A Genetic Algorithm is a best approach to solve the unproductive moves problem in container stacking system.

The Albian-Cenomanian Nanushuk Formation located on the North Slope of Alaska is the result of fluvial, deltaic, and shoreface processes and has been the focus of recent petroleum exploration activity in the Colville Basin. The Nanushuk and underlying Torok formations together contain an estimated 8.7 billion barrels of oil and 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves within the resource-rich North Slope. The Nanushuk Formation is composed of sediment sourced from the Chukotka Peninsula to the west and deposited axially within the Colville Basin. High sedimentation rates led to rapid progradation of shoreface and deltaic systems, which effectively filled the entire basin during the Cretaceous. Resulting in a thick stratigraphic succession of marginal to deep marine sandstones and mudstones. However, considerable facies variation within the basin has led to a previous lack of understanding of the spatial distribution of depositional elements. Integration of outcrop photogrammetry, detailed measured sections, core interpretations, hand samples, and thin section microscopy from the Colville Basin in this study reveal the distribution of litho- and depo-facies within the Nanushuk Formation. Three key outcrop locales along the northern flank of the Brooks Range expose ~200 to ~1000 feet of mudstone, silty sandstone, and sandstone that record the transition from distal shoreface sedimentation to deltaic and fluvial processes over time. Progradationally-stacked parasequences are clearly identifiable in both outcrop and core, recording rapid axial progradation to the east. While shoreface processes do exist in the Nanushuk, outcrop observations show a dominance of deltaic processes, consistent with the highly progradational nature of the strata. Further, there is a trend towards more fluvially-dominated deltaic processes in the more axial part of the Colville syncline, as shown by core, compared to more wave-dominated deltaic facies associations along the margins of the axial basin where outcrops were described. These trends, both vertically and spatially, have important implications for understanding the geologic evolution of the formation and for targeting areas for further exploration within this evolving hydrocarbon play.

Austenitic stainless steels are primarily known for their exceptional corrosion resistance. They have the face centred cubic (FCC) structure which is stabilised by adding nickel to the Fe-Cr alloy. The Fe-Cr-Ni system can be further extended by adding other elements such as Mn, Mo, N, C, etc. in order to improve the properties. Since austenitic stainless steels are often used as structural materials, it is important to be able to predict their mechanical behaviour based on their composition, microstructure, magnetic state, etc. In this work, we investigate the plastic deformation behaviour of austenitic stainless steels by theoretical and experimental approaches. In FCC materials the stacking fault energy (SFE) plays an important role in the prediction of the deformation modes. Based on the magnitude of the SFE different deformation modes can be observed such as martensite formation, deformation twinning, dissociated or undissociated dislocation glide. All these features influence the behaviour differently, therefore it is desired to be able to predict their occurrence. Alloying and temperature have strong effect on the SFE and thus on the mechanical properties of the alloys. Several models based on the SFE and more recently on the so called generalised stacking fault energy (GSFE or γ-surface) are available to predict the alloy's affinity to twinning and the critical twinning stress representing the minimum resolved shear stress required to initiate the twinning deformation mechanism. One can employ well established experimental techniques to measure the SFE. On the other hand, one needs to resort to ab initio calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) to compute the GSFE of austenitic steels and derive parameters like the twinnability and the critical twinning stress.  We discuss the effect of the stacking fault energy on the deformation behaviour for two different austenitic stainless steels. We calculate the GSFE of the selected alloys and based on different models, we predict their tendency for twinning and the critical twinning stress. The theoretical predictions are contrasted with tensile tests and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements. Several conventional and in situ tensile test are performed to verify the theoretical results. We carry out EBSD measurements on interrupted and fractured specimens and during tensile tests to closely follow the development of the microstructure. We take into account the role of the intrinsic energy barriers in our predictions and introduce a new and so far unique way to experimentally obtain the GSFE of austenitic stainless steels. Previously, only the SFE could be measured precisely by well-designed experiments. In the present thesis we go further and propose a technique that can provide accurate unstable stacking fault energy values for any austenitic alloy exhibiting twinning. / Austenitiska rostfria stål är främst kända för sin exceptionella korrosionsbeständighet. De har en ytcentrerad kubisk (FCC) struktur som stabiliseras genom att nickel tillsätts till Fe-Cr legeringen. Fe-Cr-Ni-systemet kan utökas ytterligare genom tillsats av andra element såsom Mn, Mo, N, C, etc. för att förbättra egenskaperna. Eftersom austenitiska rostfria stål ofta används som konstruktionsmaterial är det viktigt att kunna förutsäga deras mekaniska egenskaper baserat på deras sammansättning, mikrostruktur, magnetiska tillstånd, etc. I denna avhandling undersöker vi det plastiska deformationsbeteendet hos austenitiska rostfria stål både teoretiskt och experimentellt. I FCC material spelar staplingsfelsenergin (SFE) en viktig roll vid förutsägelsen av deformationsmekanism. Baserat på storleken av SFE kan olika deformationsmekanismer observeras, såsom martensitbildning, tvillingbildning, dissocierad eller odissocierad dislokationsglidning. Alla dessa funktioner påverkar beteendet på olika sätt, därför är det önskvärt att kunna förutsäga deras förekomst. Legering och temperatur har stark inverkan på SFE och därmed legeringarnas mekaniska egenskaper. Flera modeller, baserade på SFE och mer nyligen på den så kallade generaliserade staplingsfelenergin (GSFE eller γ-surface), är tillgängliga för att förutsäga legeringens benägenhet till tvillingbildning och den kritiska spänning som representerar den minsta upplösta skjuvspänningen som krävs för att initiera tvillingbildning. Man kan använda ab initio beräkningar baserade på täthetsfunktionalteori (DFT) för att beräkna GSFE för austenitiska stål och härleda parametrar som twinnability och kritisk tvillingsspänning. Vi diskuterar effekten av staplingsfelenergi på deformationsbeteendet för två olika austenitiska rostfria stål. Vi beräknar GSFE för de valda legeringarna och baserat på olika modeller, förutsäger vi deras tendens till tvillingbildning och den kritiska tvillingsspänningen. De teoretiska förutsägelserna jämförs med resultat från dragprov och bakåtspridd elektron diffraktion (EBSD). Flera konventionella och in situ dragprov utfördes för att verifiera de teoretiska resultaten. Vi utförde EBSD-mätningar på dragprov som avbrutits vid olika töjningar och efter brott samt med in situ dragprov för att följa utvecklingen av mikrostrukturen noggrant. Vi tar hänsyn till de inre energibarriärernas roll i våra förutsägelser och presenterar ett nytt sätt att experimentellt få GSFE av austenitiska rostfria stål. Tidigare kunde endast SFE mätas tillförlitligt genom väl utformade experiment. I den aktuella avhandlingen går vi vidare och föreslår en teknik som kan ge noggranna värden för den instabila staplingsfelenergin för alla austenitiska legeringar som uppvisar tvillingbildning.

The task of my thesis was to automate the process of 3D stacking. The work includes design of complex control board, that will serve as a control unit and provide a comprehensive function of mechanical displacement in combination with digital image acquisition. In addition, the electronics for controlling a stepper motor, PCB and the design. The result of this is a facility that provides automatic acquisition of images with different depth of field.

Very short lifetimes of excited states of isolated bases in nucleic acids, on the picosec- ond order, are believed to contribute to photostability of the genetic code. When embedded in DNA this behavior becomes more complex, mainly due to their inter- actions via stacking and hydrogen bonding. The DNA photophysiscs is not fully understood yet. It depends e.g. on the conformation and the character of excited states. The studies on smaller systems can help to improve the understanding of these phenomena. The aim of this work was to examine the dynamics of the excited states of the n → π∗ character of the complex of N-methylformamide dimer and two waters. The study was performed using non-adiabatic dynamics simulations with on-the-fly Surface Hopping algorithm based on the potential energy surfaces and non-adiabatic couplings obtained with multi-reference approach. The results show that after the vertical excitation into delocalized S2 state the system relaxes into S1 state within several tens femtoseconds. For majority of the population, the charac- ter of the state then oscillates between localized and delocalized during the whole course of the dynamics. Comparison with calculations with the waters removed in- dicates that the delocalization is caused by waters serving as a bridge between the two chromophores. 1

L’électronique de puissance est un domaine en mutation. Les environnements et les conditions de fonctionnement des modules de puissance sont de plus en plus sévères : hautes températures, tension et courant élevés. De plus, le frittage d’argent a été introduit dans les modules, en remplacement des joints brasés principalement composés de plomb. C’est la combinaison de ces évolutions qui ont motivés nos travaux. Dans l’objectif d’améliorer la conception des modules de puissance, ces travaux proposent d’augmenter la dissipation des modules grâce aux structures verticales-3D. Un onduleur triphasé vertical-3D a été conçut avec des puces Si reportées par frittage d’argent. Des caractérisations électriques et thermiques ont été réalisées et ont permis de montrer l’apport de cette technologie. Cette étude est couplée à des simulations numériques thermiques et électrostatiques permettant de mettre en lumière les enjeux de cette méthode d’assemblage. / Power electronics is a changing field. The environments and operating conditions of power modules are more severe: higher temperature, higher voltage and higher current. In addition, silver sintering was introduced in power modules to replace solders composed by lead. The combinations of these developments have motivated our work. In order to improve the design of the power modules our researches purpose to increase the dissipation of power modules with a3D-vertical structure. A three-phase inverter with3D-vertical structure has been designed with a Si dice sintered. Thermal and electrical characterizations were performed and allowed to show the contribution of this technology. This study is coupled to thermal and electrostatic Finite Element Method simulations to highlight and improve the possible issues of this assembly.

This study investigated oral reading fluency development among Hispanic high school English-language learners. Participants included 11 males and 9 females from first-year, second-year, and third-year English language arts classes. The pre-post experimental study, which was conducted during a four-week ESL summer program, included a treatment and a control group. The treatment group received a combination of components, including modified repeated reading with self-voice listening and oral dictation output from a speech recognition program. Each day, students performed a series of tasks, including dictation of part of the previous day’s passage; listening to and silently reading a new passage; dictating and correcting individual sentences from the new passage in the speech recognition environment; dictating the new passage as a whole without making corrections; and finally, listening to their own voice from their recorded dictation. This sequence was repeated in the subsequent sessions. Thus, this intervention was a technology-enhanced variation of repeated reading with a pronunciation dictation segment. Research questions focused on improvements in oral reading accuracy and rate, facility with the application, student perceptions toward the technology for reading, and the reliability of the speech recognition program. The treatment group improved oral reading accuracy by 50%, retained and transferred pronunciation of 55% of new vocabulary, and increased oral reading rate 16 words-correct-per-minute. Students used the intervention independently after three sessions. This independence may have contributed to students’ self-efficacy as they perceived improvements in their pronunciation, reading in general, and reported an increased liking of school. Students initially had a very positive perception toward using the technology for reading, but this perception decreased over the four weeks from 2.7 to 2.4 on a 3 point scale. The speech recognition program was reliable 94% of the time. The combination of the summer school program and intervention component stacking supported students’ gains in oral reading fluency, suggesting that further study into applications of the intervention is warranted. Acceleration of oral reading skills and vocabulary acquisition for ELLs contributes to closing the reading gap between ELLs and native-English speakers. Fluent oral reading is strongly correlated with reading comprehension, and reading comprehension is essential for ELLs to be successful in school. Literacy support tools such as this intervention can play a role in ameliorating English acquisition faster than the rate attained through traditional practices.

In this study, the prediction model based on the Stacking principle is called the Stacking fusion model. Little evidence demonstrates that the Stacking fusion model possesses better prediction performance in the field of heart disease diagnosis than other classification models. Since this model belongs to the family of ensemble learning models, which has a bad interpretability, it should be used with caution in medical diagnoses. The purpose of this study is to verify whether the Stacking fusion model has better prediction performance than stand-alone machine learning models and other ensemble classifiers in the field of heart disease diagnosis, and to find ways to explain this model. This study uses experiment and quantitative analysis to evaluate the prediction performance of eight models in terms of prediction ability, algorithmic stability, false negative rate and run-time. It is proved that the Stacking fusion model with Naive Bayes classifier, XGBoost and Random forest as the first-level learners is superior to other classifiers in prediction ability. The false negative rate of this model is also outstanding. Furthermore, the Stacking fusion model is explained from the working principle of the model and the SHAP framework. The SHAP framework explains this model’s judgement of the important factors that influence heart disease and the relationship between the value of these factors and the probability of disease. Overall, two research problems in this study help reveal the prediction performance and reliability of the cardiac disease prediction model based on the Stacking principle. This study provides practical and theoretical support for hospitals to use the Stacking principle in the diagnosis of heart disease.

The reliable operation of Integrally Geared Centrifugal Compressors (IGCCs), used in the coal-fired power generation industry of South Africa, is essential for economic, environmental and safety considerations. However, due to the unavailability of individual stage performance curves, the ability of a compressor owner to identify underperforming stages to maintain these compressors proactively remains limited. This study addresses the stage performance prediction of an IGCC when only the compressor’s overall performance characteristic, in conjunction with the impeller diameters and tip speeds, are known. The study is limited to IGCCs used in the coal-fired power generation industry of South Africa. Based on the limited inputs, two performance modelling methods were considered for this application, namely stage stacking and 1-dimensional modelling. However, stage stacking requires known operating points on each stage performance curve from which the rest of the curve can be extrapolated while 1-dimensional models require detailed stage design information to model stage performance. This study developed a revised stage stacking procedure which in contrast to the traditional stage stacking procedure, does not require a known operating point on each stage’s performance curve, for it assesses the relative stage performance at the compressor’s surge flow rate. The relative maximum pressure ratio of each stage is acquired through the application of similarity principles while a simplified 1-dimensional impeller analysis model is used to assess relative impeller head coefficients. The modelling process was developed based on performance and design data for IGCCs obtained from a compressor manufacturer. Performance data of four IGCCs, consisting of 13 stages, were obtained, including the design data for ten impellers. Hence, the IGCCs satisfy the requirements of geometric and aerodynamic similarity, unveiling a linear relationship between the stage impeller tip speed and maximum pressure ratio. A simplified 1-dimensional performance model was used to assess relative impeller head coefficients. A verification procedure ensured the integrity of the findings of the 1-dimensional model was maintained by comparing the model results to findings obtained using commercial compressor performance modelling software. A sensitivity analysis was conducted on the 1-dimensional performance model to ascertain which input parameters could be scaled as a function of the impeller tip diameter. For the four IGCCs for which data were obtained, the stage-discharge pressure and isentropic efficiency curves were calculated using the developed model. The maximum variation between the measured and calculated pressure and isentropic efficiency curves equaled 8.20% and 10.84%, respectively. The prediction accuracy of the developed modelling procedure is similar to map-based models found in literature and is considered adequate for identifying an underperforming stage. Thus, the developed model could serve as a valuable conditioning monitoring tool for site-based compressor owners. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / MEng / Unrestricted

In this thesis we study some storage loading problems motivated from several practical contexts, under different types of uncertainty on the items’ data. To have robust stacking solutions against the data uncertainty, we apply the concepts of strict and adjustable robustness. We first give complexity results for various storage loading problems with stacking constraints, and point out some interesting settings in which the adjustable robust problems can be solved more efficiently than the strict ones. Then we propose different solution algorithms for the robust storage loading problems, and figure out which algorithm performs best for which data setting. We also propose a robust optimization framework dealing with storage loading problems under stochastic uncertainty. In this framework, we offer several rule-based ways of scenario generation to derive different uncertainty sets, and analyze the trade-off between cost and robustness of the robust stacking solutions. Additionally, we introduce a novel approach in dealing with stability issues of stacking configurations. Our key idea is to impose a limited payload on each item depending on its weight. We then study a storage loading problem with the interaction of stacking and payload constraints, as well as uncertainty on the weights of items, and propose different solution approaches for the robust problems.