Quality Index

Wastewater treatment processes are difficult to be controlled because of their complex and nonlinear behavior. This paper applied model predictive control (MPC) to the Benchmark Simulation Model 1 (BSM1) wastewater treatment process to maintain the effluent quality within regulations-specified limits. Good performance was achieved under steady influent characteristics, especially concerning the nitrogen-related species. In presence of influent disturbances, two approaches have been studied: the addition of a feedforward action based on the measurement of the influent flow rate; the use of nonlinear model predictive controller by addition of a penalty function. The effects of two approaches were visible on the decrease of ammonium and nitrogen concentration which were considered as being of major importance. The results show that MPC can be effectively used for control in wastewater treatment process. By comparing performances, the nonlinear model predictive control strategy with penalty function demonstrates best with small effluent quality index and acceptable aeration and pumping energy consumption.

Issues connected with high quality casting alloys are important for responsible construction elements working in hard conditions. Traditionally, the quality of aluminium casting alloy refers to such microstructure properties as the presence of inclusions and intermetallic phases or porosity. At present, in most cases, Quality index refers to the level of mechanical properties – especially strength parameters, e.g.: UTS, YS, HB, E (Young's Modulus), K 1c (stress intensity factor). Quality indexes are often presented as a function of density. However, generally it is known, that operating durability of construction elements depends both on the strength and plastic of the material. Therefore, for several years now, in specialist literature, the concept of quality index (QI) was present, combines these two important qualities of construction material. The work presents the results of QI research for casting hypoeutectic silumin type EN AC-42100 (EN AC-AlSi7Mg0.3), depending on different variants of heat treatment, including jet cooling during solution treatment.

Basic principles of the theory of rock cutting with rolling disc cutters are used to appropriately reduce tunnel boring machine (TBM) logged data and compute the specific energy (SE) of rock cutting as a function of geometry of the cutterhead and operational parameters. A computational code written in Fortran 77 is used to perform Kriging predictions in a regular or irregular grid in 1D, 2D or 3D space based on sampled data referring to rock mass classification indices or TBM related parameters. This code is used here for three purposes, namely: (1) to filter raw data in order to establish a good correlation between SE and rock mass rating (RMR) (or tunnelling quality index Q) along the chainage of the tunnel, (2) to make prediction of RMR, Q or SE along the chainage of the tunnel from boreholes at the exploration phase and design stage of the tunnel, and (3) to make predictions of SE and RMR or Q ahead of the tunnel’s face during excavation of the tunnel based on SE estimations during excavation. The above tools are the basic constituents of an algorithm to continuously update the geotechnical model of the rock mass based on logged TBM data. Several cases were considered to illustrate the proposed methodology, namely: (a) data from a system of twin tunnels in Hong Kong, (b) data from three tunnels excavated in Northern Italy, and (c) data from the section Singuerlin-Esglesias of the Metro L9 tunnel in Barcelona.

Continuous quality improvement through process refinement is a must for survival of all industries in the contemporary market place. This is true for both manufacturing and service sectors. While manufacturing has spearheaded quality efforts, the service sector has lagged behind primarily because of inherent difficulties. Customer satisfaction is perhaps the most important performance measure for service quality. There are a number of quality dimensions in service quality, such as reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. An issue of concern is 'how can one have a unified measure of service quality across all the dimensions?' The intent of this paper is to determine if the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method could be used to derive a single quality index. AHP is a quantitative technique that structures a multi-attribute, multi-person and multi-period problem hierarchically so that solutions are facilitated. This paper presents the development of a...

One hundred and thirty two woody, broadleaved Mexican species were studied. The quality index of pulp for paper was determined. Pulp quality was classified according to the Runkel ratio. Sixty-nine percent of all species studied provide excellent (2.3%), very good (7.6%), good (34.8%) and regular (24.2%) pulp quality. Thirty-one percent produce poor quality pulp. According to these results woody, broadleaved