Acquisition process

The whole knowledge acquisition process is also a burden for the inspection company, especially a smaller one, as it prevents the expert from taking part in routine inspection tasks. 

Development of the software for the acquisition process was divided into a number of areas ... 

The knowledge acquisition process outlined in Section 1.4 requires certain tasks to be performed. 

Gowland, R. T. (1996a). Applying Inherently Safer Concepts to a Phosgene Plant Acquisition. Process Safety Progress 15, 1 (Spring), 52-57. 

Contract review is but one of the tasks in the contract acquisition process. These are marketing, prospect acquisition, tendering, contract negotiation, contract award, and then contract review. However, in a sales situation, you may simply have a catalog of products and services and a sales office taking orders over the telephone or over the counter. The contract review element of this operation takes a few seconds while you determine if you can supply the item requested. In an organization that produces products to specific customer requirements you may in fact carry out all the tasks in the contract acquisition process. Rather than isolate the contract review task and produce a procedure for this, your business may benefit more from a procedure or series of procedures that covers the contract acquisition process as a whole. 

Customers may have specific requirements that apply to the contract acquisition processes, such as limitation on profit, special quotation forms, validity of quotation, etc. VDA 6.1, for example, has a requirement for the marketing function to be incorporated into the operational organization. 

These are errors such as failing to perform a required check, which will usually involve a data acquisition process such as verifying a level or state by visual inspection, rather than an action. 

In the normal acquisition process, the analyzer acquires multiple blocks of data. As part of the process, the microprocessor compares each block of data as it is acquired. If a block contains a transient that is not included in subsequent blocks, the block containing the event is discarded and replaced with a transient-free block. As a result, steady-state analysis does not detect random events that may have a direct, negative effect on equipment reliability. 

With the single-channel method, data are acquired in series or one channel at a time. Normally, a series of data points are established for each machine-train and data are acquired from each point in a measurement route. While this approach is more than adequate for routine monitoring of relatively simple machines, it is based on the assumption that the machine s dynamics and the resultant vibration profile are constant throughout the entire data acquisition process. This approach hinders the ability to evaluate real-time relationships between measurement points on the machine-train and variations in process parameters such as speed, load, pressure, etc. 

A number of equipment problems can result in bad or distorted data. In addition to the surge and spike discussed in the preceding section, damaged cables, transducers, power supplies, and other equipment failures can cause serious problems. Therefore, it is essential to verify all data throughout the acquisition process. 

This limitation prohibits the use of most microprocessor-based vibration analyzers for complex machinery or machines with variable speeds. Single-channel data-acquisition technology assumes the vibration profile generated by a machine-train remains constant throughout the data-acquisition process. This is generally true in applications where machine speed remains relatively constant (i.e., within 5 to fO rpm). In this case, its use does not severely limit diagnostic accuracy and can be effectively used in a predictive-maintenance program. 

The steps in developing such a database are (1) collection of machine and process data and (2) database setup. Input requirements of the software are machine and process specifications, analysis parameters, data filters, alert/alarm limits, and a variety of other parameters used to automate the data-acquisition process. 

Trend data that are not properly normalized for speed, load, and process variables are of little value. Since load and process-variable normalization requires a little more time during the data-acquisition process, many programs do not perform these adjustments. If this is the case, it is best to discontinue the use of trends altogether. 

Most of the vibration-based predictive maintenance systems include the capability of recording visual observations as part of the routine data acquisition process. Since the incremental costs of these visual observations are small, this technique should be incorporated in all predictive maintenance programs. 

The current organizational concept is directed at establishing individual development centers to emphasize the acquisition process. For ordnance items these centers will consist of ... 

Additionally, our experimental regime now includes extensive use of computer modelling of the polymerisation process and we need to extract chemical, thermal and engineering data for model assembly, verification and for final process improvement. In ICI at Slough we have developed our own approach to the control and data acquisition process used on our semi-technical reactors. 

If, after applying lead-Hke criteria (property and chemical filters), there are still too many compounds left one can use diversity/similarity-based techniques to select the final set For the example above, 64% of the starting compounds survive the compound acquisition process (around 64000 compounds in 11000 clusters), see Fig. 17.8. 

Figure 2.2.3 shows a typical block diagram for a compact MRI system. The square box surrounded by the dotted lines shows the electrical sub-system, which is stored in a single portable rack as shown in Figure 2.2.2. The electrical sub-system is thus often called the (portable) MRI console. In accord with Figure 2.2.3, an MR image acquisition process is described as follows.

There are many software tools available to help with the acquisition, processing and interpretation of NMR data. Attempts have been made to automate the verification process and even perform full structural elucidations of unknown compounds. As you might guess from the complexity of the interpretation chapters, these software solutions are not foolproof It remains to be seen whether they ever will be good enough but there have certainly been some major steps forward in all of these areas. 

Shells greatly simplify the programming of an ES, but they do not directly diminish the effort required in knowledge acquisition, which is the key task in its development. During the knowledge acquisition process, the relevant information is collated so that it can be inserted into the ES. This process obviously requires a human expert and, in addition, frequently needs the... 

Mountain states), Chevron (Standard of California), Exxon (from Standard of New Jersey), Sohio (Standard of Ohio), Marathon (covering western Ohio and other parts of Ohio not covered by Sohio), and Mobil (Standard of New York). These companies, derived from the Standard Oil Co., formed an original oil industry map in US, but that map no longer exist, rather the merging and acquisition processes reduced all them into four of the seven majors (ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, and BP America). 

Facility System Safety (FSS), which is the application of system safety concepts to the facility acquisition process, has recently gained acceptance throughout the Department of Defense and most recently within the Department of Army with the conception of SAFEARMY 1990. The Army s goal is to fully integrate the total system safety, human factors, and health hazard assessments into continuous comprehensive evaluation of selected systems and facilities. The Chemical Research Development and Engineering Center (CRDEC) has mandated appropriate levels of system safety throughout the lifecycle of facility development for many reasons. These include ... 

FSS is a proactive approach which will reduce inconsistencies during the facility acquisition process. This results in a more mission responsive facility that is less expensive. 

Facility System Safety Overview. The process of applying system safety to the facility acquisition process can be divided into the following tasks ... 

Despite this obvious potential, there are very few published sources providing case studies or guidelines for data acquisition, processing and interpretation. This absence undoubtedly reflects the proprietary and confidential nature of results obtained in exploration programs. 

The steps involved in the image acquisition process for cDNA microarrays have been reviewed and a number of image analysis programs are available to mediate this process. The process can be described in four basic steps (1) scanning, (2) spot recognition, (3) segmentation (4) intensity measurement, and (5) ratio calculation (Leung and Cavalieri, 2003). 

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