ABSTRACT
The use of plastic bottles has become a significant environmental concern, and recycling them has become a priority. Small and medium-sized recycling companies must collect and categorize large volumes of plastic bottles and sell them to larger recycling firms, a process that is time-consuming, costly, and labor-intensive. This manual sorting process can pose health risks, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and can affect worker productivity. To address these issues, this study proposes the development of an automated conveyor belt system that can rapidly and accurately separate plastic bottles by type. The system utilizes an opaque and transparent plastic bottle separation platform, which saves time, cost, and manpower. This system design provides recycling SMEs with a competitive advantage by serving as a practical application model and a prototype with an easy-to-use concept. Key tools employed in this research include product design development (PDD), Kansei engineering, manufacturing process design, controlling system, and fault tree analysis (FTA). The light sensors are critical components in the separation process, detecting the opacity or transparency of the bottles' surfaces. The proposed prototype's reliability will be assessed by FTA, which considers all potential failures. This study contributes to the body of knowledge surrounding the integration of conveyor systems and provides valuable information for businesses seeking to optimize their sorting processes. The guidelines developed in this study can serve as a starting point for further research on the integration of conveyors in waste sorting plants. © 2013 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Safety-critical infrastructures must operate in a safe and reliable way. Fault tree analysis is a widespread method used for risk assessment of these systems: fault trees (FTs) are required by, e.g., the Federal Aviation Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In spite of their popularity, little work has been done on formulating structural queries about and analyzing these, e.g., when evaluating potential scenarios, and to give practitioners instruments to formulate queries on in an understandable yet powerful way. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by extending [37], a logic that reasons about Boolean. To do so, we introduce a Probabilistic Fault tree Logic is a simple, yet expressive logic that supports easier formulation of complex scenarios and specification of FT properties that comprise probabilities. Alongside, we present, a domain specific language to further ease property specification. We showcase and by applying them to a COVID-19 related FT and to a FT for an oil/gas pipeline. Finally, we present theory and model checking algorithms based on binary decision diagrams (BDDs). © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Safety-critical infrastructures must operate in a safe and reliable way. Fault tree analysis is a widespread method used for risk assessment of these systems: fault trees (FTs) are required by, e.g., the Federal Aviation Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In spite of their popularity, little work has been done on formulating structural queries about and analyzing these, e.g., when evaluating potential scenarios, and to give practitioners instruments to formulate queries on in an understandable yet powerful way. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by extending [37], a logic that reasons about Boolean. To do so, we introduce a Probabilistic Fault tree Logic is a simple, yet expressive logic that supports easier formulation of complex scenarios and specification of FT properties that comprise probabilities. Alongside, we present, a domain specific language to further ease property specification. We showcase and by applying them to a COVID-19 related FT and to a FT for an oil/gas pipeline. Finally, we present theory and model checking algorithms based on binary decision diagrams (BDDs). © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Purpose – This paper empirically investigates the changes and trends in export and import trade between Korea and China since 2000, especially after the establishment of Korea-China FTA and since the outbreak of COVID-19. This paper uses empirical analysis to determine the future trade types and trends of import/ export trade between Korea and China and estimates the impact on import/export trade between Korea and China in the post-epidemic era. Design/Methodology/Approach – This paper first reviews the theories related to regional economic inte-gration, sorts out the process of Korea-China FTA, and summarizes the changes and trends in import and export trade since COVID-19;second, it analyzes the current situation of bilateral trade between Korea and China using quantitative analysis, and investigates the specific impact of COVID-19 on Korea-China import and export trade using empirical analysis;finally, it summarizes the above studies, a conclusion is drawn, and policy recommendations are made to better utilize the challenges brought by COVID-19 to effectively address the problems that may be encountered in Korea-China trade and to promote the development of bilateral trade between the two countries. Findings – The global spread of the epidemic in Korea and China has led to the shutdown of both domestic and foreign operations, resulting in a foreign trade cliff effect in the short to medium term;the trade creation effect inspired by the international system dividend is no longer available in China in 2020, and the trade in goods is diminishing at the margin;the trade suppression effect is generated by the rise of international trade protectionism. The epidemic has led to a large upstream supply shortage pressure on the electronic information industry and the automobile manufacturing industry, and a large downstream demand shortage pressure on the energy industry and the electronic information industry. Research Implications – The establishment of Korea-China FTA will significantly promote bilateral trade between the two countries, change the trade and industrial structure of the two countries, and help to promote the development of the FTA strategy of the two countries;the outbreak of COVID-19 has changed the trade pattern and type, and the import and export of related epidemic prevention products as a new trade growth point and strengthened the trade market relationship between Korea and China. © 2022 International Academy of Global Business and Trade. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Safety-critical infrastructures must operate safely and reliably. Fault tree analysis is a widespread method used to assess risks in these systems: fault trees (FTs) are required-among others-by the Federal Aviation Authority, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in the ISO26262 standard for autonomous driving and for software development in aerospace systems. Although popular both in industry and academia, FTs lack a systematic way to formulate powerful and understandable analysis queries. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap and introduce Boolean Fault tree Logic (BFL), a logic to reason about FTs. BFL is a simple, yet expressive logic that supports easier formulation of complex scenarios and specification of FT properties. Alongside BFL, we present model checking algorithms based on binary decision diagrams (BDDs) to analyse specified properties in BFL, patterns and an algorithm to construct counterexamples. Finally, we propose a case-study application of BFL by analysing a COVID-19related FT. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Passage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) occurs at a time of rising tensions between the United States and China. Africa's growth and development prospects depend on a functioning and stable multilateral trading system, but recourse to economic nationalism and protectionism is increasingly undermining the open global economy and, indeed, the liberal international order on which free and fair trade depends. This article examines the implications of US-China tensions for the CFTA while assessing the opportunity for closer engagement between African countries and an axis of emerging powers led by China in an enhanced Global South strategy.