<p>Today most innovations made within the automotive domain are driven by electronics. The automotive customers demand new functionality with every new product release and the time-to-market is constantly shortened. Automotive embedded systems are often resource constrained and trade-offs between the system behavior and the resources required is of great importance. The cost sensitive automotive industry has to optimize the use of the system's limited resources, but in the meantime also be flexible. The system needs to support a large number of vehicle configurations over many years of production. The design decisions are usually based on many factors that pull in different directions such as maintenance, portability, usability etc. The growing complexity of the product and the many uncertain factors create a need for support in the design process. To better understand this problem decision methods used within an R&D department of an international vehicle manufacturer has been investigated through interviews and surveys. The survey reveals that a majority of the respondents use unstructured methods for resolving decision issues. When respondents were asked about their preferences there was an expressed need for more structured methods. In this research several existing methods have been surveyed and the methods most relevant to this issue are further described in this thesis. The main contribution of this thesis is an evaluation method using Real Options. The method provides the opportunity to analyze the cost of designing for flexibility to cope with a future growth of the product, based on the estimated value of the future functionality. To improve the usability an evaluation process is defined to aid engineers. This process provides a way of valuing system designs and enables the engineer to think about the future in a systematic manor. To analyze the resource usage within an embedded system a method is proposed on how to evaluate the resource efficiency of functions implemented within an automotive embedded system. The challenge of this work has been to develop methods that are found helpful to the industry and are easy enough to use so that designers are willing to try them again</p>

Today most innovations made within the automotive domain are driven by electronics. The automotive customers demand new functionality with every new product release and the time-to-market is constantly shortened. Automotive embedded systems are often resource constrained and trade-offs between the system behavior and the resources required is of great importance. The cost sensitive automotive industry has to optimize the use of the system's limited resources, but in the meantime also be flexible. The system needs to support a large number of vehicle configurations over many years of production. The design decisions are usually based on many factors that pull in different directions such as maintenance, portability, usability etc. The growing complexity of the product and the many uncertain factors create a need for support in the design process. To better understand this problem decision methods used within an R&amp;D department of an international vehicle manufacturer has been investigated through interviews and surveys. The survey reveals that a majority of the respondents use unstructured methods for resolving decision issues. When respondents were asked about their preferences there was an expressed need for more structured methods. In this research several existing methods have been surveyed and the methods most relevant to this issue are further described in this thesis. The main contribution of this thesis is an evaluation method using Real Options. The method provides the opportunity to analyze the cost of designing for flexibility to cope with a future growth of the product, based on the estimated value of the future functionality. To improve the usability an evaluation process is defined to aid engineers. This process provides a way of valuing system designs and enables the engineer to think about the future in a systematic manor. To analyze the resource usage within an embedded system a method is proposed on how to evaluate the resource efficiency of functions implemented within an automotive embedded system. The challenge of this work has been to develop methods that are found helpful to the industry and are easy enough to use so that designers are willing to try them again

Drug resistance in cancer cells is a serious complication that is always continuously evolving. Rather than just one or two factors, drug resistance is a combination of a handful of elusive mechanisms. Many of these mechanisms and factors have been studied in the past, however new methods of analysis and treatment are being developed and tested rigorously. Along with new progress and breakthroughs, the pharmaceutical industry must also recognize the increasing expensive cost factor and its burden on cancer patients of the future. Ultimately, new treatment methods accompanied by cost-efficient analysis will provide patients with the best cancer treatment possible.

As Americans witness the slow dissociation of the military from the civilian public, the need for a strong design initiative within military installations proves as applicable and necessary as it has always been. The role of the designer within the military is a longstanding and vigorously debated duty; the superficially disparate natures of the professions separate themselves on the premise of individual superiority, and isolate their fields of expertise from one another. However, the two microcosms retain an identity that may serve traditionally different clientele, but their purposes reflect and complement one another. This notion is best exemplified by the pedagogy often associated with architecture and the military: a community working tirelessly to construct a system best adapted to the public, regularly working with a client who does not have a clear vision of the resolution, but instead relies on the services of both occupations to not only visualize the outcome but to design the process as well. The all contingency of accredited designers within a typical military hierarchy have been tasked with creating a conducive living environment centralized around "the mission". While they have toiled endlessly to produce such a product, the unfortunate reality demonstrates that the weight of schematics has been typically relegated to grandsons of civil engineers and civilians with unrelated degrees and very little experience in a headquarter building hundreds of miles away. Bearing this in mind, the purpose of this thesis is to discover the greater organization of a military base, and to standardize it not according to chance doctrine, but soundly informed and localized knowledge of the surrounding environment. Such a design must be informed by a few key aspects; principally, the macro intention of such a layout must be centralized around "the mission", which in the case of most military bases, resembles a training and living environment conducive to deployment and combat effectiveness. Similarly, the determination of design must be within the scope of economic feasibility, which although quite gratuitous at first glance, is meagerly distributed throughout the separate branches and therein the country. Lastly, the design must have tenacity, as the ebb and flow of active duty populations produce an arbitrary fluctuation, but the life expectancy of such buildings is often projected within the fifty- to sixty-year time frame. Through careful research, and the benefit of personal interviews with clients who have spent collective centuries in the modern military, a design solution for the improved daily lives and increased combat effectiveness of the American military will serve to discuss the ways in which we can inform the macroevolution of military installations through dissecting the micro. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a simple tool that can help designers and researchers obtain general guidelines for buildings in terms of energy usage and LCC. Another objective of this thesis is to apply this tool to residential buildings in order to understand which variables are relevant in terms of energy consumption and LCC costs. A one-story rectangular house was parameterized in terms of five variables: total glazing area; south window-to-wall ratio (WWR); east and west WWR (which are symmetrical for these two facades); insulation width; and window type (ranging from a single clear window to a double low e-clear argon filled window). A high average glazing area (30-40% of floor area) was applied in order to increase energy loads and to augment the importance of the window properties. Simulation was performed through Energy-plus (in conjunction with a code developed especially for this project) for three cities: Austin, Boston, and Seattle. A total of 1055 simulations were run for each city. The experiment showed that only the total glazing area, the E-W WWR and the window types were relevant variables. The former variable is highly correlated with total energy consumption across all cities. Another important conclusion was that each variable's effect on energy consumption worked independently of each other, as there were no considerable differences when analyzing variables individually, as opposed to analyzing them holistically. Results showed that, for Austin and Boston, it was possible to reduce energy loads by 35% and 27% respectively with a double low-e green window (as compared to a single clear window). Similarly, Seattle showed a reduction of 29% for a double low e-clear argon filled window. Nevertheless, the simplest type of window (type 1) presented the best results in terms of LCC. Therefore, we can conclude that only under a high-energy demand situation, such as with office buildings, would it be possible to obtain positive LCC results for double glazed windows. Consequently, double glazed windows will not present positive economical results in typical residential buildings. A second simulation was performed under a tighter HVAC schedule and higher internal loads. In this new scenario, the best windows were the same as with the first simulation, but maximum energy savings were higher: 50%, 34% and 35% for Austin, Boston, and Seattle, respectively. Nevertheless, when considering LCC, a double-clear window presented the best results for Austin, Boston, and Seattle, with 17%, 11%, and 5% reductions in costs respectively compared to the type 1 window. Therefore, if designers are only concerned with costs, the problem of what window to choose becomes non-trivial only for high-energy demand cases. / text

Implementing demand side management (DSM) is expensive and often time consuming. Eskom grants subsidies for DSM projects based on the proposed savings. The subsidy granted is not always adequate to fund all the required control equipment to achieve the desired saving. This study focuses on alternative cost– and time–effective methods to implement DSM on gold mines, specifically on the compressed–air systems where the infrastructure is inadequate, worn out or outdated. The compressors generating compressed air for mining are one of the largest electricity consumer at gold mines. By optimising the energy consumption of these compressed–air systems, the largest potential demand reduction can be achieved. This will lighten the demand load on the already overloaded national power grid. Compressed air at gold mines is mainly used for production purposes, thus the majority of savings on these systems need to be achieved during non–production hours. Fixing air leaks, optimising compressor control, meticulous planning of implementation locations and controlling air usage are all methods that were investigated to achieve alternative cost– and time–effective methods to implement DSM on mine compressed–air systems. The methods were implemented by an Energy Services Company (ESCo) at four different mines. The results achieved from these case studies are documented and discussed in this study. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Implementing demand side management (DSM) is expensive and often time consuming. Eskom grants subsidies for DSM projects based on the proposed savings. The subsidy granted is not always adequate to fund all the required control equipment to achieve the desired saving. This study focuses on alternative cost– and time–effective methods to implement DSM on gold mines, specifically on the compressed–air systems where the infrastructure is inadequate, worn out or outdated. The compressors generating compressed air for mining are one of the largest electricity consumer at gold mines. By optimising the energy consumption of these compressed–air systems, the largest potential demand reduction can be achieved. This will lighten the demand load on the already overloaded national power grid. Compressed air at gold mines is mainly used for production purposes, thus the majority of savings on these systems need to be achieved during non–production hours. Fixing air leaks, optimising compressor control, meticulous planning of implementation locations and controlling air usage are all methods that were investigated to achieve alternative cost– and time–effective methods to implement DSM on mine compressed–air systems. The methods were implemented by an Energy Services Company (ESCo) at four different mines. The results achieved from these case studies are documented and discussed in this study. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

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International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 27-30, 1997 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper describes the status of the Edwards Digital Switch (EDS) [1] and the success of the Digital Switch Sustainment Program (DSSP); a multi-service program aimed at cost-effective means for providing maintenance and development of an advanced digital switching system. This digital communications switching system is deployed at the mission control centers of Edwards AFB, Eglin AFB, and China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC). Each system provides the test ranges with mission-critical voice communications and Time Space Position Information (TSPI) switching. Through user-friendly Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), the switch provides exceptional resource management of radios, telephones, user positions, secure communications, radars, trackers, 4-wire Ear & Mouth (E&M) devices, subscriber services, and other equipment. Developed using commercial equipment, such as the Lucent Technologies Digital Access and Cross-Connect System (DACS) II, the digital switch can integrate and interface with the technologies of other test ranges and customers. The DSSP sustaining engineering contract, a $10M contract awarded in 1997, is a multi-service effort in supporting cost effective maintenance and enhancement for the systems’ software and hardware. Eglin and China Lake have agreed to participate in a Digital Switch Working Group (DSWG) to ensure that this configuration management is in place and that all players follow the same system migration path. These ranges and other interested ranges that agree to purchase systems off the contract and participate in the working group will continue to derive benefits by reducing overhead and eliminating the duplication of effort involved in separate endeavors.

Detta examensarbete har utförts som en del av civilingenjörsprogrammet i maskinteknik vid Karlstads Universitet i samarbete med Valmet. För Valmet är försäljning av reservdelar är en vital del av deras totala affär. I avsikt att stärka konkurrenskraften mot kunder i framförallt lågkostnadsländer vill Valmet erbjuda mer kostnadseffektiva lösningar genom att utveckla konstruktionen på befintliga reservdelar. Målet med examensarbetet var därför att ta fram ett systematiskt arbetssätt för produktutveckling av kostnadseffektiva reservdelar och validera det genom implementering på en befintlig produkt i Valmets reservdelssortiment.   Underlaget till det framtagna arbetssättet samlades in genom att utföra en litteraturstudie, en nulägesanalys på Valmet och en intervju på ett företag som är framgångsrikt inom eftermarknad. Arbetssättet syntetiserades som en process med stöttande riktlinjer genom att utgå från Valmets befintliga utvecklingsprocess och integrera teoretiska modeller, principer och verktyg ur vetenskaplig litteratur. Arbetssättet testades sedan på lutmunstycken för sodapannor.   Grunden för det framtagna arbetssättet bestod av en kombination av Value Management och Design to Cost. Fokus i arbetssättet ligger vid att utveckla en reservdel som återställer systemet till sitt normala arbetstillstånd, för ett pris som kunden är beredd att betala, och som balanserar tillförlighet med tillgänglighet så att den totala kostnaden för kunden minimeras.   Genom att implementera det framtagna arbetssättet på lutmunstycken för sodapannor kunde ett förslag på en lösning med 66 % lägre pris och med 50 % lägre total kostnad för kunden tas fram. Implementeringen visade att arbetssättet praktiskt kan användas på enklare reservdelar men att det behöver testas på komplexa produkter av ett tvärfunktionellt team innan det används av Valmet.  Arbetssättet stärker Valmets förutsättningar för att erbjuda ett mer kostnadseffektiv reservdelsortiment.