Development of a dynamics-based model for analyzing strategic water–environmental conflicts: systems thinking instead of linear thinking

Aggregated results from twenty years of community-engaged assiduous restoration of severely degraded coastal littoral systems in New Zealand (NZ) reveal numerous fundamental and substantive natural improvements to dune form, function, and storm resilience. This is accomplished by simple, low-cost exclusive utilisation of the variably threatened local indigenous dune plant species. These valuable and innovative enhancements succeed countless decades of cascading consequences from numerous impacts instigated by historic (and frequently continuing) damaging effects on those previously natural coastal dune ecosystems – impacts that subsequently induced problematic littoral retreat – the true root cause of prevailing coastal erosion. The durable reversals were often generated in less than two decades, contemporaneously with adverse storm surge and sea level rise conditions. Research reveals many global dune ecosystems are afflicted with analogous normalised degradation and erosion difficulties, with the earliest active circumvention recorded in sixteenth century Denmark (McKelvey 1999). Historic plus current pressures such as coastal settlement impacts and continuing agricultural use of dunelands similarly threaten numerous global littoral margins, alongside recent concerns regarding the compounding effects of climate change. Successful, affordable, diligent dune restoration work pioneered in NZ has extensive benefits for other nations experiencing similarly challenging attrition on degraded coastal zones. Persuasive data is presented to validate the numerous persistently accrued benefits of this cost-effective and enduring coastal adaptation response.

Iron sulfide scale is found almost ubiquitously in maturing oilfield produced water handling and injection systems. Keeping injection systems clean of sulfide scale is becoming more of a shared challenge, but there are few examples where true root cause analysis has led to specific laboratory testing and development of bespoke removal and prevention methods. This paper aims to link these aspects by sharing the best practices from around the world with cutting edge techniques and chemistries used to maintain flow assurance and injectivity in produced water handling systems affected by iron sulfide scale. Discussion includes root causes analysis of iron sulfide scale formation and deposition mechanisms focusing on the interplay of pH, along with sources of iron and sulfide. The paper goes onto discuss laboratory and field evaluation of control methods. Finally, the root causes of iron sulfide scale formation and deposition mechanism, including the relative advantages and merits of the different techniques, including: Chelating agents (for iron sequestration) Surfactants (for water wetting) Biocide (to target SRB and biofilm) Corrosion inhibitor (to lower iron in system) Sulfide scale inhibitors (threshold inhibition of scale) Additionally, case histories are used to elaborate the theoretical discussion. The first case history is from an offshore oilfield water injection system, where fouling occurred due to changes in the flow assurance strategy further upstream and capture the lessons learned on the interplay of different production chemicals. The second case history concerns an onshore oilfield with a vast water injection system of over 3,000 wells supporting approximately 5,000 production wells. The paper concludes with a summary of the decades of experience of solving the most challenging sulfide scaling scenarios, as well as cutting-edge research on a new class of polymeric exotic sulfide scale inhibitor dispersant, effective as threshold concentrations against even lead and zinc sulfide.

Modern large frame F, G, & J class gas turbine flow path component design requires the complex integration of multiple design disciplines that traditionally reside with distinct specialists. A traditional design system for an actively cooled gas turbine blade includes aerodynamicists, heat transfer engineers, structural engineers and a failure or lifetime prediction engineers passing information through a manual process with a small number of iterations between the disciplines. Design or manufacturing engineers can also be involved ensuring manufacturability and policing best practices in a predominantly deterministic design system. Over the past few decades robust design or probabilistic design philosophies along with cluster computing advancements have accelerated the release of commercial software that allows for the automation of multiple analytical evaluations at off design points. These software codes allow for process automation of several independent codes executed multiple times at various conditions for automated design of experiment (DOE), and reliability analysis using Monte Carlo or other advanced approximate probabilistic methods across the entire design system. In this paper, the authors are presenting a novel approach of using a commercially available process integration tool to fully integrate a series of other commercially available tools for a root cause failure analysis of a F class turbine blade rather than a new make design. The analysis incorporated a computational fluid dynamics model (CFD) to define inlet temperatures and pressure profiles, a fully conjugate thermal analysis interacting with a finite element (FEA) solver linked to a proprietary creep lifetime prediction model. A DOE was executed to define the meaningful parameters and help rule out potential causes of failure such as loss of coating or compromised cooling system as a contributing factor of the failure which greatly reduced the amount of time and money needed for the investigation. A probabilistic failure analysis was then executed and surrogate models created for quick probabilistic assessment for different operating conditions. This allowed for validation against fleet history to explain the single engine failure not previously observed. Setting up the non-deterministic models initially allowed for rapid redesign in less than 1 month time with confidence that the true root cause was identified and mitigated. It further allowed for feedback and calibrations to the traditional design system methodology.

The paper reports the investigation on the root cause of source-drain leakage in bulk FinFET devices. While the failing device was readily isolated by nanoprobing technique and the electrical analysis pinpointed the potential defect location inside the Fin channel, the identification of physical root cause went through extreme challenges imposed by the tiny-sized device and the unique FinFET 3D architecture. The initial TEM analysis was misled by the projection of a species in the lamella surface and thus could not explain the electrical data. Careful analysis on the device structure was able to identify the origin of the species and led to the discovery of the actual root cause. This paper will provide the analysis details leading to the findings, and highlight the role of electrical understanding in not only providing guidance for physical analysis but also revealing the true root cause of failure in FinFET devices.

Historically, the most common failure analyses metrologies have been dye-and-pull, cross-sections, microscopy, optical and SEM. Using these traditional metrologies to find a root cause from a dynamic event can be very time consuming and sometimes inconclusive. The standard methodology is to work backward to reconstruct the “event” that caused or initiated failure. Often times the root cause is not immediately obvious and design improvements require an iterative process to identify the true root cause. This approach is costly in time, materials and resources. A high speed camera (HSC) allows identification of failure from a point of initiation. Using the point of initiation concept with reconstructive modeling allows a design team to discover potential initiating sources and better match a cause to the effect and implement corrective action. This decreases development time, minimizing product design cycle and increases market opportunities.

Chapter 15 - Failure-Mode Analysis

During production build using X's Connector, line has high fallout for non-wetting phenomenon and lead observe severe black signature on connector lead after wave soldering process. Thus, fallout rate was 33%. There was severe black signatures were observed on the connector lead due to presence of unwanted elements on the surface of pre-tinned layer during the wave soldering process. The base metal oxidation (zinc oxide) due to low nickel thickness on the inner row pins of ‘failed’ connectors identified as one of the key factors that attributed to the darkening (black) of contacts. In addition, the solid state diffusion is a subject of basic importance for understanding mass transport phenomena in surface of the connector leads. In the particle aspect of surface diffusion of single atoms and simple molecules, information of interest is the detail atomic diffusion mechanisms and the activation energy of the various atomic processes (atomic diffusion occurs during heat treatment), and also the binding energy of atoms at different surface sites. Surface of materials, the top few atomic layers of the connector lead, are of critical importance because it is here that a material interacts with its environment. The surface properties of materials dominate their corrosion behaviour, wettability, electrical contact resistance, frictional behaviour, adhesion properties and chemical reactivity. Therefore, surface analyze techniques was performed in terms of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) on the surface composition of electronic connector lead specimens following various mechanical, chemical, electrochemical or thermal treatments has been studied. It was found that as received pre-tinned surface of the connector lead was contaminated by the oxides of zinc due to the step-wise migration of atoms from lattice site to lattice site (diffusion at atomic level). In short, Zinc/Zn present on the Nickel/Ni surface during soldering can easily oxidize and may prevent wetting. For experts’ point of view, even though the atomic % of Zn is small, but it is a true root cause for the oxidation and lead to the black signature [it will slowly oxidize when subjected to multiple heat cycles] . Then, the degradation can start from the first dip in molten Sn-Pb solder and followed by the next heat cycles. The higher the temperature and the longer the time at this temperature, the more Zn atoms will diffuse out from a lead frame material through the Ni layer [especially if the layer is thin – porous] . Moreover, the enlargement of porosity obtained naturally when exposing to any heat cycles. So, more pre-tin steps we have, the higher the risk of Ni, Zn, Sn, intermetallic oxidation, solderability may be significantly affected, and Zn will exaggerate this problem. On the other hand, the electroplating of Ni and good values of plating efficiency needs enhancement in eliminating such defect prior to multiple heat cycles involved during pre-tinning and soldering.

28 - Inverters

This paper describes a new LIT technique named External trigger Synchronous LIT (ESLIT). LIT is widely used in device analysis from initial investigation to fault isolation. This technique uses a “lock-in function” to reduce thermal spreading from the heat source. Conventional LIT analysis is usually performed under limited set-up conditions with some probes without ATE. However, in the case of ESLIT, ATE can be used to reproduce the failure state of the DUT during the LIT analysis. And the “lock-in function” is used to identify specific hotspots that correspond to IDDQ failure states. In our experiment, the results of ESLIT perfectly agreed with IDDQ fault diagnosis candidates. On the other hand, PEM and OBIRCH detected not only logic-related points, but also non-logic-related points that did not match the fault diagnostic results. We also confirmed that ESLIT is available nondestructively. We think that ESLIT is a useful technique for IDDQ failure analysis since it can identify the true root cause even in the case of multiple failure.

An ideal tablet should be of high quality and devoid of flaws. Tablet defects can lead to therapeutic failure and reduce the patient compliance in case of clinical perspective whereas it also imparts financial burden, loss of production time and reputation of the company. The research was carried out to investigate and find out the possible root causes of the broken tablet within the intact blister. Oral dosage forms were visually inspected in a hospital pharmacy in the Udupi district, using a validated checklist. A powdered uncoated Fluconazole tablet was found within the intact blister pocket of 1’s pack. A case study was formulated comprising of the dosage form, generic name, therapeutic category, probable root causes, defects, category of complaint, probable root causes and remediation and clinical significance. This unique outcome of the work can be used to train the health professionals which will further help them in avoiding such defects and defective products reaching the patients. Such defects can be bypassed by giving effective training to the staff using real-life case studies, taking corrective and preventive actions and conducting adequate in-process quality checks before releasing the products into the market. The use of such case studies will be effective in learning better and developing their skills in problem-solving and decision-making in ambiguous/complex situations.

Nowadays, development has become a natural part of our lives, the dynamics and types of which are the only things we tend to highlight and compare. This is why it may seem unusual that science has identified an anomaly in certain territorial units where there is a lack of development. This situation has been called the development trap. The development of an area is, of course, dependent on a great many factors, so that the range of development traps seems almost inexhaustible. This paper takes stock of the development traps identified so far, not with the aim of questioning the methods used, but to evaluate the data and indicators used to identify them. The study concludes that macro-level data are not causes but consequences, masking the true root causes of problems, but they play an important role in establishing a diagnosis at the regional level. The study aims to provide a convincing illustration, using concrete examples, of the development policy approach - and its main features - that can help to overcome the various pitfalls.

Disagreements and conflicts are normal, even if they trigger hurtful responses as often occurs in the Middle East. Methods of conflict resolution such as mediation, arbitration and litigation can be of value in settling disputes as well as the techniques of indigenous conflict resolution that embrace local traditions. By understanding these options, negotiators and managers of businesses and other organisations (including NGOs) will have a wider range of tools to use when seeking to reduce tensions and when struggling to reach workable understandings in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Malware classification plays an important role in tracing the attack sources of computer security. However, existing static analysis methods are fast in classification, but they are inefficient in some malware using packing and obfuscation techniques; the dynamic analysis methods have better universality for packing and obfuscation, but they will cause excessive classification cost. To overcome these shortcomings, in this paper, we propose a classification system Malscore based on the probability scoring and machine learning, which sets the probability threshold to concatenate static analysis (called Phase 1) and dynamic analysis (called Phase 2). The convolutional neural networks with spatial pyramid pooling were used to analyze the grayscale images (static features) in Phase 1, and the variable n-grams and machine learning were used to analyze the native API call sequences (dynamic features) in Phase 2. Malscore combined static analysis with dynamic analysis not only accelerated the static analysis process by taking advantage of the CNN in image recognition but also appeared to be more resilient to obfuscation by the dynamic analysis. Different from other static and dynamic analysis techniques, when malware is detected, due to the fact that malware will most likely be labeled only by static analysis, we could reduce the overheads by dynamically analyzing a few malware that has less obvious features or greater confusion in static analysis. We performed experiments on 174607 malware samples from 63 malware families. The result showed that Malscore achieved 98.82% accuracy for malware classification. Furthermore, Malscore was compared with the method of using static and dynamic analysis. The preprocessing and test time represented a reduction of 59.58% and 61.70%, respectively.

Artificial lift is generally required to extend field-life beyond the period of natural flow. In the course of the reviews and studies we performed, we noted artificial lift had not been given sufficient consideration at initial design phase. Due to the pressure to maintain the field production, operators often choose a phased artificial lift deployment to cope with the learning curve, risks and uncertainties, which typically includes: ▪A first phase (Phase-1) of artificial lift is screening and concept testing to evaluate artificial lift options;▪A second phase (Phase-2) involves deployment to a group of wells for a selected option;▪A final phase (Phase-3) is the full field implementation. This paper presents an efficient and effective workflow to select the most suitable candidates for Phase-2. Lessons learnt based on the implementation of workflow in real-life case studies will be shared as well: ▪First, a well selection process is performed to review inactive strings and/or low performers that are most impacted by such issues as reservoir pressure declined / high water production. Cased-hole saturation logs (PNC log) and static pressure log measurements are used to build an understanding of areal pressure and water saturation distribution and to further identify localized pressure sinks and watered-out areas. The understanding gained upon reviewing the well-based surveillance data is used to identify candidates for artificial lift application.▪Then, the well candidates which are grouped by categories of issues and different reactivation options are screened for each group of wells. A score-based ranking process is applied to sort candidates on urgency, value or impact of artificial lift and possibly other criteria, using production history and surveillance data.▪Finally, results per well are reconsolidated to reservoir / field level and used to support a field-wide concept, which allows to extract valuable field scale requirements (e.g. the determination of the gas-lift volume requirement for gas-lift planning etc.). This workflow greately helps to understand the root cause of performance issues and to select the most suitable artificial lift concept (including considering well pre-conditioning needs such as water shut-off). It leads to exploring and defining artificial lift concepts and helps to focus on the field development plan and detail engineering study at a very early stage.

Foreign policy as one of the key areas for the functioning of sovereign states is designed to protect their national interests and promote maintenance of the welfare of the population. For Ukraine, such vectors of foreign policy as European, Euro-Atlantic, Eurasian, Middle Eastern, and Asian are traditionally important. One of the main vectors of Ukraine's foreign policy at the current stage is integration into the European Union. At the same time, an extremely important task for Ukrainian diplomacy is countering Russian aggression, protection of the population in the East of the state and in the Crimea and the soonest possible resolution of the conflict in the Donbas region. Consequently, this topic is of considerable interest, and it is worth examining in detail the current state of Ukraine's foreign policy, in particular, in view of the current challenges of global and regional security. Analysis of foreign and Ukrainian sources on this topic indicates the interest of researchers in matters of foreign policy of Ukraine, as well as international conflicts and their settlement. The purpose of this article is to study the current state of Ukraine's foreign policy in the context of the current challenges of global and regional security. Based on the analysis, it was determined that at the current stage there is sufficient potential for further development of Ukraine's foreign policy, in particular in view of the current challenges of global and regional security. On the basis of the analysis, one can arrive at conclusions that among the successes of Ukraine's foreign policy in recent years one can mention withstanding Russian aggression, introduction of a visa-free regime with the European Union, further deepening of cooperation within the framework of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and deepening of Euro-Atlantic integration. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the effective use of the foreign policy resource to efficiently respond to the challenges of global and regional security. There are further prospects for research related to the effective resolution of international conflicts at the current stage.