可回转舵桨离合器国产化技术改造

阐述了全回转拖轮的可回转舵桨离合器的结构和工作原理,分析了立式铜鼓-钢圈滑擦型离合器存在的缺陷,提出了一种全新的国产化改造方案及其实施方法。该方案改造获得了良好的经济效益。     

基于PROFIBUS-DP的变频器在门机调速系统中的应用

当前港口门机变频调速系统中的调速指令,多采用从变频器的多功能端子输入,这种控制方法线缆繁多,走线复杂,故障率较高,给维护带来很多困难.本文介绍的是基于PROFIBUS-DP现场总线的变频器在门机交流调速系统中的应用.PROFI-BUS-DP现场总线是一种全数字化、双向、多站的通讯系统,用于分散外设的高速数据传输,其特点是最小化的响应时间和高抗干扰性.按照PROFI-BUS总线协议完成通讯功能,各站点之间只需一根RS-485双绞电缆连接,传输波特率为9.6～12000 kbit/s,传送距离长,能连接多个用户.基于PROFIBUS现场总线的变频器可以很方便地在PLC、各机构调速系统及工控机之间实现互联,可以完全实行数字化控制,同时二次控制回路设计简洁,可靠性大大提高.     

Automatically finding the number of clusters based on simulated annealing

Based on simulated annealing (SA), automatically finding the number of clusters (AFNC) is proposed in this paper to determine the number of clusters and their initial centers. It is a simple and automatic method that combines local search with two widely-accepted global analysis techniques, namely careful-seeding (CS) and distance-histogram (DH). The procedure for finding a cluster is formulated as mountain-climbing, and the mountain is defined as the convergent domain of SA.When arriving at the peak of one mountain, AFNC has found one of the clusters in the dataset, and its initial center is the peak. Then, AFNC continues to climb up another mountain from a new starting point found by CS till the termination condition is satisfied. In the procedure of climbing-up mountain, the local dense region for searching the next state of SA is found by analyzing the distance histogram. Experimental results show that AFNC can achieve consistent performance for a wide range of datasets.     

Helical wire stress analysis of unbonded flexible riser under irregular response

A helical wire is a critical component of an unbonded flexible riser prone to fatigue failure. The helical wire has been the focus of much research work in recent years because of the complex multilayer construction of the flexible riser. The present study establishes an analytical model for the axisymmetric and bending analyses of an unbonded flexible riser. The interlayer contact under axisymmetric loads in this model is modeled by setting radial dummy springs between adjacent layers. The contact pressure is constant during the bending response and applied to determine the slipping friction force per unit helical wire. The model tracks the axial stress around the angular position at each time step to calculate the axial force gradient, then compares the axial force gradient with the slipping friction force to judge the helical wire slipping region, which would be applied to determine the bending stiffness for the next time step. The proposed model is verified against the experimental data in the literature. The bending moment–curvature relationship under irregular response is also qualitatively discussed. The stress at the critical point of the helical wire is investigated based on the model by considering the local flexure. The results indicate that the present model can well simulate the bending stiffness variation during irregular response, which has significant effect on the stress of helical wire.     

Deterring the dauntless—appraising the effects of naval deterrence against the Somali piracy

This article considers whether the Somali pirates were deterred by the naval task forces between the years 2009 and 2013. By disaggregating data and using previously unpublished records regarding the naval operations, two areas of operations are identified as potential periods of deterrence. The article uses a model of asymmetric deterrence to study the outcomes and equilibria of the navy-pirate interaction. It is found that the naval operations eventually did deter the Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, but that this objective was not met in the Somali Basin. It is concluded that the operational focus on the Gulf of Aden coupled with the fact that the area is relatively smaller than the Somali Basin enabled the naval credibility, thus effectively denying the pirates access to the sea. Conversely, limited attention by the naval units and the long Somali southern coast with its open waters impeded naval control in the Somali Basin. In connection to these findings some conclusions regarding naval deterrence are discussed.     

ISM Code implementation: an investigation of safety issues in the shipping industry

Acknowledging that shipping safety continues to be a major topic of interest in the maritime community, the present study attempts to identify the critical factors of International Safety Management (ISM) Code implementation, to identify the dimensions that describe whether the ISM Code has fulfilled its intended purpose as well as to assess their interrelationships. Moreover, the present study aims to explore whether the fulfillment of the Code’s intended purpose is associated with accident reduction. Evidence was drawn from a sample of 63 masters and chief officers who have hands-on onboard experience on ISM Code implementation and data were analyzed through the use of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), correlation analysis, and binomial logistic regression. Findings indicate that the critical factors of ISM Code implementation can be categorized in the crew-related and the company-related dimensions. Also, the fulfillment of the intended purpose of the ISM Code consists of the factors of safety management system efficiency and increased safety, which were also found to be significantly associated with the crew-related dimension of ISM Code implementation. Finally, results showed that both safety management system efficiency and increased safety increase the probability of accident reduction at the highest level.     

Trip misreporting forecast using count data model in a GPS enhanced travel survey

As Global Positioning System (GPS) technology advances, it has been increasingly used to supplement traditional self-reported travel surveys due to its promising features in capturing travel data with better accuracy and reliability. Realizing the limitations of diary-based surveys, this paper presents a study that directly accounts for trip misreporting behavior in trip generation models. Travel data were obtained from prompted-recall assisted GPS survey along with a diary-based survey. Negative Binomial models for count data were developed to accommodate misreporting behavior by introducing interaction effects of the sample-indicator variable with various personal and household variables. The interaction effects indicate how the impacts of the socioeconomic and demographic variables on trip-making vary across the two samples. Assuming that the GPS sample represents the ground truth, the interaction effects actually capture the likelihood and the extent of trip misreporting by detailed personal and household characteristics. The model results reveal significant interaction effects of several personal and household variables, indicating misreporting behavior associated with these attributes. The addition of interaction coefficients to the main effect model represents the real impacts of the independent variables, after compensating for trip misreporting behavior, if any.     

Maritime law issues related to the operation of unmanned autonomous cargo ships

The paper analyses the issue of unmanned autonomous ships from the perspective of international maritime law with a particular focus on crew related conventions and specifically SOLAS, STCW, and MLC. Our primary aim is to identify potential operational difficulties that could deter shipowners from investing or adopting the new technology. Our analysis indicates that there are several areas of ambiguity that would create impediments to a positive investment decision and deter shipowners from adopting the autonomous ship design. With these findings in mind, suggestions are put forward that could alleviate the problems identified.     

Detecting Premature Ventricular Contraction in Children with Deep Learning

Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are abnormal heart beats that indicate potential heart diseases. Diagnosis of PVCs is made by physicians examining long recordings of electrocardiogram (ECG), which is onerous and time-consuming. In this study, deep learning was applied to develop models that can detect PVCs in children automatically. This computer-aided diagnosis model achieved high accuracy while sustained stable performance. It could save time and repeated efforts for physicians, enabling them to focus on more complicated tasks.This study is a first step toward children’s PVC auto-detection in clinics. Further study will improve the model’s performance with optimized structure and more data in different sources, while facing the challenges of the variety and uncertainty of children’s ECG with heart diseases.     

Research on Improved Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), due to the limited battery power of the sensor nodes, the communication energy consumption is the main factor to affect the lifetime of the networks. A reasonable design of the communication protocol can effectively reduce the energy consumption of the network system. Based on low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH), an improved LEACH protocol in WSNs is proposed. In order to optimize the cluster head (CH) election in the cluster setup phase, the improved LEACH takes into account a number of factors, including energy consumption of communication between nodes, remaining energy of the nodes, and the distance between nodes and base station (BS). In the steady phase, one-hop routing and multiple-hop routing are combined to transmit data between CHs to improve energy efficiency. The forward CH is selected as relay node according to the values of path cost. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm performs better in balancing network energy consumption, and it can effectively improve the data transmission efficiency and prolong the network lifetime, as compared with LEACH, LEACH-C (LEACH-centralized) and NDAPSO-C (an adaptive clustering protocol based on improved particle swarm optimization) algorithms.