Observation techniques, inspections

Develop a method based on the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) technique to estimate the parameters of the binary degradation model, based on quantitative and qualitative data coming from field observations at inspection ... 

Acts and conditions such as these can be detected either before or after accidents occur. Job observations and behavior sampling are the two most common techniques used to identify substandard acts. Planned general inspections, Uke those regular inspections of working areas with hazards being documented, are very common ways to identify substandard conditions before accidents take place. All three techniques—inspections, observations, and behavior sampHng-yield information before accidents occur. These measurements are before the loss, and preventive in nature. 

Microscopic Methods - Morphology Study and Sizing (0.001-200 pm) Microscopic analyses are and have always been indispensable tools in particle studies. For example, in 1827 the English botanist Robert Brown discovered the random thermal motion of flower pollen particles in suspension now known as Brownian motion" using an optical microscope. A simple optical microscope can provide visual observation and inspection of individual particles features and dimensions down to the micron range. Microscopes are also widely used in preparation of samples for other particle characterization techniques to check whether particles have been properly dispersed. 

Corrosion-fatigue cracks can be detected by nondestructive testing techniques such as magnetic particle inspection, radiography, ultrasonics, and dye penetrant. Corrosion-fatigue cracks may occur in numerous tubes simultaneously. Nondestructive testing of tubes at locations similar to those in which cracks are observed can be useftil. 

Most defects can be detected using one or more appropriate nondestructive testing techniques. However, in the absence of routine nondestructive testing inspections, identification of defects in installed equipment is generally limited to those that can be observed visually. Defects such as high residual stresses, microstructural defects such as sensitized welds in stainless steel, and laminations will normally remain undetected. Defects that can be detected visually have the following features ... 

Where process capability relies upon the competence of personnel, personnel operating such processes need to be appropriately educated and trained and undergo examination of their competency. Where there is less reliance on personnel but more on the consistency of materials, environment, and processing equipment, operations should be monitored continuously by inspection, observation, or other techniques. 

While preventive maintenance is concerned with regularly testing, and reconditioning equipment to prevent failures in service and premature deterioration, it follows that predictive maintenance procedures are concerned with the ability to predict when the equipment will fail and then developing schedules to implement timely repairs. Predictive maintenance does not imply that with the use of these techniques, failure modes in equipment can be prevented rather, it suggests that the occurrence of failure can be predicted and thus planned for. An appropriate example would be the inspection and change of a major compressor face-type oil seal where random heat checking (FM) has been observed over the years. 

It is worth noting that within a range of 20 %, five different methods of analyzing the crystallite size, viz., (a) microscopic inspection, (b) application of Eq. (3.1.7) for restricted diffusion in the limit of large observation times, (c) application of Eq. (3.1.15) to the results of the PFG NMR tracer desorption technique, and, finally, consideration of the limit of short observation times for (d) reflecting boundaries [Eq. (3.1.16)] and (e) absorbing boundaries [Eq. (3.1.17)], have led to results for the size of the crystallites under study that coincide. 

A set of SER spectra for adsorbed azide on silver, obtained for the same surface and solution conditions and for a similar sequence of electrode potentials as for the PDIR spectra in Figure 1, is shown in Figure 2. (See the figure caption and reference 7 for experimental details.) Inspection of these SER spectra in comparison with the PDIR results illustrate some characteristic differences in the information provided by the two techniques. Most prominently, in addition to the Nj" j/as band around 2060 cm"1, the former spectra exhibit three other features at lower frequencies attributable to adsorbed azide vibrations. By analogy with bulk-phase spectra for free and coordinated azide (15), the 1330 cm"1 SERS band is attributed to the N-N-N symmetric stretch, vt (2). The observation of both i/a and j/aa features in the SER spectra differs from the surface infrared results in that only the v band is obtained in the latter (2). The appearance of the vn band in SERS is of interest since this feature is symmetry forbidden in the solution azide Raman spectrum. 

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is performed on a human monitoring data base to assess its ability to identify relationships between variables and to assess the overall quality of the data. The analysis uncovers two unusual events that led to further investigation of the data. One, unusually high levels of chlordane related compounds were observed at one specific collection site. Two, a programming error is uncovered. Both events had gone unnoticed after conventional univariate statistical techniques were applied. These results Illustrate the usefulness of PCA in the reduction of multi-dimensioned data bases to allow for the visual inspection of data in a two dimensional plot. 

Surface cracks in boiler tubes, creep damage in power plant components and precipitate analysis in components subjected to high temperature and stress have been successfully assessed by this technique and necessary further inspection scheduled, depending upon the severity of the observed defect. The following is an example of the type and severity of defects and the necessary action taken in the context of power plant operations. 

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