Academic literature on the topic 'Operational Reaserch'

This paper presents an in-depth economic analysis on Photovoltaic power generation (PV) project. The research is based on nine business and technical proposals which with different investment operational pattern and different distributed generation (DG) integration technology of PV project. An all-life-cycle benefit/cost (B/C) assessment methods was used to assess the feasibility of the project. Through the accurately simulate of an annual PV output and load curves from typical time, received electric power and energy balance calculations and revenue forecast results. And then different operators’ electricity price benefits based on china’s complex tariff mechanism was estimated in this paper, while the initial PV panel investment, operation and maintenance, distribution network investment and losses of PV projects were calculated. Finally, through the PI value come to the best business model. Calculation results show that if power grid enterprise as the PV power producer, and use of virtual power plant technology for DG integration means more investment value than other business mode.

Cropping petterns of farmers in Sembungan Village are monoculture and intercropping. This study examines more profitable and can evaluate cropping patterns using intercropping and monoculture. Farmers in Sembungan Village have not paid attention to operational costs, net income and sustainability feasibility as measured by the R/C ratio. This reasearch aims to analyze net income, profitability and R/C ratio of the planting system potato monoculture and the planting system potato-carica intercropping. The reasearch method used survey method location was decided by purposive method. The number of respondents decided by nonprobability sampling that is sampling quota. The samples determined by 30 potato farmers and 30 potato-carica farmers. Respondent decided by snowball sampling. The analyze used two-sample assuming equal variences used microsoft excel. The results of reasearch that the net income of potato-carica intercropping significantly higher than the net income of potato monoculture. Net income of potato-carica intercropping is Rp 17,386,588.2 and Net income of potato monoculture is Rp 7,537,404.3. Profitability of potato-carica intercropping significantly higher than the profitability of potato monoculture. Profitability of potato-carica intercropping is 60.39% and profitability of potato monoculture is 44.07%. R/C ratio of potato-carica intercropping higher than R/C ratio of potato monoculture. R/C ratio of potato-carica intercropping is 1.60 and R/C ratio of potato monoculture is 1.44.

Keterbatasan guru menggunakan bahan ajar untuk menstimulasi perkembangan anak masih belum bervariasi dalam mengenalkan budaya lokal, khususnya menstimulasi dalam pembentukan karakter terutama pembentukan karakter peduli lingkungan. Penggunaan bahan ajar yang kurang bervariasi menimbulkan minat anak kurang tertarik untuk mengikuti kegiatan di sekolah. Tujuan penelitian akan menghasilkan produk berupa buku cerita bergambar berbasis budaya lokal Jambi yang layak dipergunakan. Penggunaan metode penelitian ini menggunakan Reasearch Development (RD) menggunakan model Borg Gall (Research and Information Collection, Planning, Develop Preliminary Form a Product, Preliminary Field Testing, Main Product Revision, Main Field Testing, Operational Product Revision, Operational Field Testing, Final Product Revision, Dissemination and Implementation). Teknik pengumpulan data yang dilakukan melalui observasi, wawancara, dan angket. Angket yang terdiri dari lembar penilaian buku cerita bergambar oleh ahli media, ahli materi, dosen dan guru. Bahan ajar buku cerita bergambar berbasis budaya lokal Jambi dapat menjadi sumber belajaran untuk menyampaikan materi kegiatan belajar di sekolah.

Accrual-based accounting is implemented in Goverment Accounting standards now (Government Regulation No. 71 of 2010). In Regulation 71 of 2010 depreciation shall be conducted on all goods belonging to the State/Region. Therefore, asset systems are adequate to accommodate the asset depreciation. In addition, asset system is necessary because asset management of the State/Regional is not optimal according to the Financial Oversight Bodies (BPK). This reasearch aims to create a prototype system of asset system in local government with a case study on the Government Pacitan. This reasearch is able to provide a solution to the problem of assets with an adequate information system.

The Department of Statistics and Operations Reasearch (SOR) at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) in South Africa desires to increase its research output, as well as to provide high quality teaching and learning. Most SOR lecturers want to embrace technology and innovations, and also be competitive both regionally and globally. This can be achieved more effectively if they are trained in computer applications. Thus, they should be developed into critical citizens of the digital world. They should also be prepared to use information and communication technology (ICT) as a teaching and learning resource, as well as a research and community engagement backing. An innovation in academia should be backed by the lecturer. Thus, the main concern of this paper is to explore use of ICT as a business tool in SOR. Methodologies of the study were case study and thematic content analysis, and the data collection tool was a questionnaire. The study found that SOR was understaffed and could not provide full statistics (stats) training mainly in the statistical packages. The lecturers were all trained in ICT and the packages. They were all willing to use ICT in SOR activities. The computer laboratories were adequate for the student numbers at the time, even though some computers were not working. These laboratories showed to be poorly adequate for the envisaged growth of SOR. SOR would also need more lecturers for the future growth. The study recommends growth of SOR in lecturers and ICT facilities, at the least

The problem of this reasearch has entered the industrial revolution 4.0 (4IR), then strategy implementation need to be done through 4IR road map. Specific aspect which has effect to Industry 4.0 Technology Adoption are technology intensity, strict capital & human resources investment, therefore performances measurement which consider whole organization become more relevant. The purpose of this research was to test moderation effect of Industry 4.0 Technology process-related and product/service-related into the lean manufacturing implementation to business performance. The methodology of this research is using PLS-SEM approach with SMART-PLS software. Measurement of variable datas were obtained through 1-5 Likert scale survey which was distributed to PT.XYZ employee. The finding of this research show those Industry 4.0 Technology process-related and product/service-related were not moderating implementation of lean manufacturing to business performance in PT. XYZ. The limitation in this study were only for PT. XYZ operational scope and were using data from Aug – Nov 2020. Conclusion of this research can not be generalized to other research object or to describe PT. XYZ in another time.

Augmented Reality (AR) used in online business not merely to give new perspective of customer experience to product. AR is also used in operational such as in logistic to deliver product to the customer. The online map service such as Google Map, sometime fails to bring real visualization to user, especially when they are in unfamiliar places. AR may provide visualization of certain location’s coordinate. This digital visual navigation will help the user to choose which direction they should go, especially when Google Maps do not give accurate information related to the user’s surrounding. This papper provide solution to create Android application that can generate Augmented Reality navigation while user is using Google Map to travel. This papper is aimed to support the navigation for logistic management system especially for online business companies. In spite of the result of this reasearch, some findings and issues need to be discussed in the future. There was delay to generate the AR objects especially when user moves the device around fast. A simple 2D AR object is suggested for future work in order to decrease the delay.

Indonesian Armed Forces or TNI is military organization that has main task and function to conduct national deffence to grant sense of security to people. Beside that, as goverment institution TNI to be charged to implement government policy of enhancement of public service quality. Enhancement of public service quality is part of bureaucracy reform or administration reform agenda through Eight Area Reform Program. The aim of the study is to analyze how TNI interpret this policy by using the variable implementation of contens and contex policy theory. The methode of this reasearch is qulitative with a post-positivst approuch. Collecting data was conducted by in- depth interview, study document and literature review. The site of research is in Indonesian Army or TNI AD which is the biggest part of Indonesian Armed Forces. Analyzing data was done by reduction, presentation, conclution and verification. The research showed that the enhancement of public service quality in contex of TNI is not significanly developed. The actors of implementation in TNI facing obstacle to understand and to interpret language, naration and terminology of this policy which is formulated tend to civil organization. They experienced dificulty to find out the equivalent terminology in TNI operational unit.

This research was conducted to outline the opportunities and challenges of resolving fintech business disputes through the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute (LAPS) in Indonesia. The research method used in this research is a legal reasearch approach and qualitative approach that is to review primary and secondary data sources related to regulations on business dispute resolution in Indonesia. The results show that fintech plays a role in encouraging the economic development of the community, especially as an alternative to financing. LAPS serves as a solution to dispute resolution of business people in Indonesia this institution was chosen because it is more effective and efficient, the verdict is final and binding that is contrary to litigation lines that seem time-consuming and expensive costs. LAPS opportunities are very large for the rise of digital-based businesses and payments that still leave many legal problems while LAPS khsusus fintech is not yet available where LAPS provides services that are in line with digital business; the settlement is a win-win solution, which is in accordance with the character of the business world, which is obliged to manage risks, including reputational risk, operational risk and legal risk. While the challenges faced by LAPS in fintech include: Dualism alternative fintech dispute resolution can be through LAPS and can also through the Consumer Dispute Resolution Agency (BPSK); Limited Legal Infrastructure The number of fintech transactions that continue to increase in line with the potential for disputes that will occur; Availability of Mediators and Arbitrators of LAPS Financial Services Sector.

En 75 ans d'existence, l'industrie de l'électronique a connu une évolution spectaculaire, passant d'une conception manuelle à une industrie automatisée. Cette industrialisation a entraîné une complexification des circuits, nécessitant une spécialisation des tâches lors de la conception d'un circuit électronique. Différents acteurs à travers le monde sont apparus pour réaliser ces tâches, avec différents niveaux de confiance accordés. Du point de vue d'un concepteur, ces acteurs apportent plusieurs menaces, telles que l'insertion de fonctionnalités malveillantes, le vol de propriété intellectuelle ou la contrefaçon de circuits. Ces menaces impactent l'économie de l'industrie des semiconducteurs et représentent plusieurs milliards de dollars de pertes par an.Une façon de lutter contre ces menaces est de verrouiller le circuit avec une clé, l'empêchant de fonctionner correctement si la bonne clé n'est pas présente. Le logic locking est une méthode consistant à verrouiller logiquement un circuit à l'aide de portes clés et de la clé numérique correspondante. Plusieurs implémentations de logic locking ont été réalisées. Dans ces travaux, nous retenons le Strong Logic Locking. Elle verrouille le circuit en reliant des portes XOR/XNOR à la clé numérique, insérée sur des signaux du circuit. Chaque position d'insertion a une incidence différente sur la sécurité, qui est la possibilité de retrouver la clé numérique. Toutefois, ajouter des portes logiques dans un circuit augmente la consommation électrique, la surface du circuit et diminue les performances. Le strong logic locking vise à maximiser la sécurité du verrouillage en cherchant les positions qui maximisent la sécurité, sans se soucier de l'impact généré.Dans cette thèse, nous cherchons à optimiser la sécurité tout en prenant en compte l'impact sur les performances du circuit. Nous proposons une nouvelle approche de résolution du strong logic locking. Nous commençons par formuler notre problème de sécurité en nous basant sur des modèles mathématiques incluant la sécurité pour insérer de manière optimale les portes clés dans le circuit. Cette formulation calcule les cliques d'un sous-graphe représentant les positions d'insertion. Nous proposons un algorithme de résolution branch and bound pour notre problème que nous évaluons. Nous présentons ensuite d'autres modèles mathématiques représentant l'impact sur le délai de l'insertion de portes clés dans le circuit. Puis nous développons des stratégies pour optimiser la sécurité tout en limitant l'impact sur les performances du circuit. Nos outils sont intégrés dans le flot de conception, ce qui nous permet de les valider avec des résultats numériques obtenus sur des circuits utilisés par la communauté électronique
Over the last 75 years, the electronics industry has experienced a spectacular evolution, moving from manual design to an automated industry. This industrialization has led to increased complexity in circuits, requiring specialization in tasks during the design of electronic circuits. Various companies around the world have emerged to perform these tasks, with varying levels of trust assigned. From a designer's perspective, these actors pose several threats, such as the insertion of malicious functionalities, intellectual property theft, or circuit counterfeiting. These threats impact the economy of the semiconductor industry, amounting to billions of dollars in losses annually.One way to combat these threats is to lock the circuit with a key, preventing it from functioning correctly if the right key is not present. Logic locking is a method that involves logically locking a circuit using key gates and the corresponding digital key. Several implementations of logic locking have been developed. In these works, we focus on Strong Logic Locking. It locks the circuit by connecting XOR/XNOR gates to the digital key, inserted in circuit signals. Each insertion position has a different impact on security, which is the possibility of recovering the digital key. However, adding logic gates in a circuit increases power consumption, the circuit's area, and decreases performance. Strong logic locking aims to maximize the security of the lock by identifying positions that enhance security, regardless of the resulting impact.In this thesis, we seek to optimize security while considering the impact on circuit performance. We propose a new approach to solving strong logic locking. We start by formulating our security problem based on mathematical models that include security for optimally inserting key gates in the circuit. This formulation calculates the cliques of a subgraph representing the insertion positions. We establish a branch and bound solving algorithm for our problem and evaluate it. We then present a second mathematical models representing the impact on the delay from inserting key gates in the circuit. Finaly, we propose strategies to optimize security while limiting the impact on circuit performance. Our tools are integrated into the design flow, allowing us to validate them with numerical results obtained on circuits used by the electronic community

L'optimisation combinatoire est une branche de l'optimisation mathématique qui se concentre sur la recherche de solutions optimales parmi un ensemble fini de combinaisons possibles, tout en respectant un ensemble de contraintes et en maximisant ou minimisant une fonction objectif. Pour résoudre ces problèmes, les méthodes incomplètes sont souvent utilisées en pratique, car ces dernières peuvent produire rapidement des solutions de haute qualité, ce qui est un point critique dans de nombreuses applications. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons au développement d'approches hybrides qui permettent d'améliorer la recherche incomplète en exploitant les méthodes complètes. Pour traiter en cas pratique, nous considérons ici le problème de tournées de véhicules avec profits, dont l'objectif est de sélectionner un sous-ensemble de clients à visiter par des véhicules de manière à maximiser la somme des profits associés aux clients visités. Plus précisément, nous visons tout d'abord à améliorer les algorithmes de recherche incomplets en exploitant les connaissances acquises dans le passé. L'idée centrale est de: (i) apprendre des conflits (combinaisons de décisions qui conduisent à une violation de certaines contraintes ou à une sous-optimalité des solutions) et les utiliser pour éviter de réexaminer les mêmes solutions et guider la recherche, et (ii) exploiter les bonnes caractéristiques de solutions élites afin de produire de nouvelles solutions ayant une meilleure qualité. En outre, nous étudions le développement d'un solveur générique pour des problèmes de routage complexes pouvant impliquer des clients optionnels, des véhicules multiples, des fenêtres temporelles multiples, des contraintes supplémentaires, et/ou des temps de transition dépendant du temps. Le solveur générique proposé exploite des sous-problèmes pour lesquels des méthodes de raisonnement dédiées sont disponibles. L'efficacité des approches proposées est évaluée par diverses expérimentations sur des instances classiques et sur des données réelles liées à un problème d'ordonnancement pour des satellites d'observation de la Terre, qui inclut éventuellement des profits incertains
Combinatorial optimization is an essential branch of computer science and mathematical optimization that deals with problems involving a discrete and finite set of decision variables. In such problems, the main objective is to find an assignment that satisfies a set of specific constraints and optimizes a given objective function. One of the main challenges is that these problems can be hard to solve in practice. In many cases, incomplete methods are preferred to complete methods since the latter may have difficulties in solving large-scale problems within a limited amount of time. On the other hand, incomplete methods can quickly produce high-quality solutions, which is a critical point in numerous applications. In this thesis, we investigate hybrid approaches that enhance incomplete search by exploiting complete search techniques. For this, we deal with a concrete case study, which is the vehicle routing problem with profits. In particular, we aim to boost incomplete search algorithms by extracting some knowledge during the search process and reasoning with the knowledge acquired in the past. The core idea is two-fold: (i) to learn conflicting solutions (that violate some constraints or that are suboptimal) and exploit them to avoid reconsidering the same solutions and guide search, and (ii) to exploit good features of elite solutions in order to hopefully generate new solutions having a higher quality. Furthermore, we investigate the development of a generic framework by decomposing and exchanging information between sub-modules to efficiently solve complex routing problems possibly involving optional customers, multiple vehicles, multiple time windows, multiple side constraints, and/or time-dependent transition times. The effectiveness of the approaches proposed is shown by various experiments on both standard benchmarks (e.g., the Orienteering Problem and its variants) and real-life datasets from the aerospace domain (e.g., the Earth Observation Satellite scheduling problem), and possibly involving uncertain profits

碩士
國立政治大學
行政管理碩士學程
90
Going over the history of our country, we may easily see that the enduring figures of greatness who impacted the deepest and farthest on China were the country- and people-defenders and great rulers as emperors and military generals. However, in fact, the "staff" in attendance on these men, who proposed good policies and strategies, could never even be ignored. Some among them devoted their lives and souls to their country but some of them engaged in rebellions to usurp thrones and powers, known to be the traitors for thousands of years. This could unveil that a country''s rise or fall or strength or weakness entirely relies on the key factor - Top officials are capable to know people to put right persons in right places so as to realize the ideals, "Everyone does one''s best" and "The able are devoted to country". Scheming over intelligence, morality and philosophy of life are the three major shafts of the wheel of Chinese traditional culture. A successful and efficient government organ (or organization) would be operated and controlled behind by a group comprising smart, strong and powerful elite. Members operating this group are the "staff". Climbing of the staff to the upper-class society participating in important policy-making becomes the focus of the culture of scheming over intelligence in China. It can be said that ever since far-off times, one who thinks not for generations think not for a time; one who thinks not for the whole thinks not for the piecemeal - this is what the "staff" really means. . Today in our country, numerous political parties and chaos are creating to the administrative organs a great impact that they have ever had, causing them inoperative once incidents are met. Although the number of staff is increased rather than decreased, the organs are still unable to cope with the doubly needed business as lacking complete and efficient integration and comprehensive logic of thinking. Particularly, the increasing demands of people for "Time", "Speed" and "Quality" have driven the staff to be more important. It has been said, "Chiefs decide for all". Notwithstanding the chiefs of organs are held fully accountable for successes and failures, a successful chief never fights alone but is entirely supported by a group of intelligent talents and a flock of extraordinary elite. The efforts they offered in the manners of excellent division of works and integral operations lead the chief to accomplishing all tasks invested to him without failure. In respone to enterprise circle''s emphases in enhancement of service quality and satisfaction to customers, the administrative organs are actively working on the program of labor saving through information computerization. Various interfaces have been consecutively completed for domicile register, military service and land administrations through improving and refreshing all software and hardware equipment. Nevertheless, no matter how technology advances, the manipulating staffs that assist the chiefs still play a very important role because any organization (organ) needs loyal and dedicated staffs. Therefore, this research puts its focuses on the fundamental administrative units in the front - the domicile register organs - to explore and analyze the cultivation and operations of domicile administrative staffs. It expects to cause people to understand how the good example of the staff is shaped, whereby the overall strength of the administrative organs can be elevated and a brand new image of the e-generation public service officials can be established. This research begins with the conception of "staff" that was held among the old time societies. Next, it goes into staff''s future evolution. Finally, it explores in depth one of the most important works of the staff - "Schemed Operation" by pointing out the defects in current and the strategies of improvement. It is particularly the case that the government officials as the public servants are not allowed to be careless and perfunctory. They have to continue research and innovation in order to keep themselves growing, constituting a government of high efficiency. The text also reminds that supervision and audit are the most sophisticated tools that have to be well used for integrating the scheme. As such, every fundamental clerk can be trained to be more thoughtful in servicing the public and the service can be fully signified. This research begins with the conception of “staff” that was borne in the ancient societies. Next, it explores in depth one of the most important works of the staff — “Schemed Operation” by pointing out the defects in current stage and the strategies of improvement based on documentation analysis, case study and in-depth interviews. The study not only reviews but also attempts to develop the solutions for the issues with anticipation that the research results will be of help to the promotion of overall domiciliary administration works. The research comes to conclusion as follows: 1. Although the grass-root administrative units implement the projects in accordance with the goal, public demand and expected effects, the efficiency will be enhanced if the goal can be substantiated and concrete to satisfy with the effects of evaluation on improvement. 2. As most of chiefs of domiciliary register organs in Taipei County generally accepted that the staff training is inadequate, it is therefore required to intensify the training. Suggestions for improvement are made in the text. 3. There are indeed arguments between some of chiefs of domiciliary register organs in Taipei County and staff. Wisdom and experiences are required to settle arguments between some of the chiefs of domiciliary register organs and their staff. In this research, seven case studies are collected for references. It is expected that information will be accessible by research fellows for reference, expecting that inference will be carried on another with one example given.

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
工業管理系
95
Financial liberalisation and internationalization have already become trends of the world. Hence Taiwan’s financial industry is also developing toward the Universal Bank, which synthesizes business operations in banking, securities, insurance, etc. The movements to merge, acquire, and restructure in the global financial industry, are not simply seeking cost-saving and increasing efficiency, but for expanding business opportunities to turn into a “Financial Department Store”. Consequently, it is also for creating economy of scale so hustile take-over would not happen without a fight. McKinsey’s research shows the critical factor for customers in Asia to choose a bank is the conveniences that branch locations may provide. In addition, Government has placed strict control on granting new branch licenses, the value of a branch lifted even more. So that large holdings companies do not hesitate in spending money to expand in channes of sales, and eventually lead to over-banking in Taiwan’s financial market. According to statistics, there are 3.4 bank branches serving every 10,000 people in Taipei City, which exceeds all developed countries worldwide. In comparison, Seoul on has 2 branches and Hong Kong only has 1.9. Currently, most profitable areas in Taipei City are already saturated; exploring new areas will take at least 3 years to break even.After President Chen’s re-election in 2004, he proclaimed four goals in the Second-stage Financial Reform, including creating at least three large financial holding companies, each with a market share exceeding 10%, halving the number of state banks to six by end of 2005, cutting the number of financial holdings firms to seven by the of 2006, and a minimum of one financial holding firm run by foreigners. Thus in recent years, Government not only persuades banks and holdings companies to merge, but also the Ministry of Finance aggressively encourages international well-known banks to set up branch offices in Taiwan, based on equality and reciprocity. The competitions that banks have to face only grow more vicious than before. The next five to ten years, we will still see lots of mergers. The financial industry needs to have approach the problems and risks systematically in order to generate solutions during system convertion and operational procedure adjustment. This research is based on the only ‘merger of equals’ in the financial industry at present, Bank SinoPac (formerly Bank SinoPac and International Bank of Taipei) which was completed in a record low of less than one year in Taiwan’s Financial History. This paper aims to discuss the top 15 potential risks which may happen during merger from branch operation’s perspective by systematically using the KT theory.From illustrating actions, listing potential problems and finding out what may cause these problems, to preventing these actions and drawing out contingency plans if all else fail. Eventually avoids any possible disaster with external organizations and customer-related issues, or even lowers the degree of harmful impact to the bank itself and the customers at the initial stage of a merger.

Presented reasearch aimed to develop and analyse the suitability of the CART models for prediction of the extent and probability of occurrence of damage to outer soil layers caused by timber harvesting performed under varied conditions. Having employed these models, the author identified certain methods of logging works and conditions, under which they should be performed to minimise the risk of damaging forest soils. The analyses presented in this work covered the condition of soils upon completion of logging works, which was investigated in 48 stands located in central and south-eastern Poland. In the stands selected for these studies a few felling treatments were carried out, including early thinning, late thinning and final felling. Logging works were performed with use of the most popular technologies in Poland. Trees were cut down with chainsaws and timber was extracted by means of various skidding methods: with horses, semi-suspended skidding with the use of cable yarding systems, farm tractors equipped with cable winches or tractors of a skidder type, and forwarding employing farm tractors with trailers loaded mechanically by cranes or manually. The analyses also included mechanised forest operation with the use of a harvester and a forwarder. The information about the extent of damage to soil, in a form of wheel-ruts and furrows, gathered in the course of soil condition inventory served for construction of regression tree models using the CART method (Classification and Regression Trees), based on which the area, depth and the volume of soil damage under analysis, wheel-ruts and furrows, were determined, and the total degree of all soil disturbances was assessed. The CART classification trees were used for modelling the probability of occurrence of wheel-ruts and furrows, or any other type of soil damage. Qualitative independent variables assumed by the author for developing the models included several characteristics describing the conditions under which the logging works were performed, mensuration data of the stands and the treatments conducted there. These characteristics covered in particular: the season of the year when logging works were performed, the system of timber harvesting employed, the manner of timber skidding, the means engaged in the process of timber harvesting and skidding, habitat type, crown closure, and cutting category. Moreover, the author took into consideration an impact of the quantitative independent variables on the extent and probability of occurrence of soil disturbance. These variables included the following: the measuring row number specifying a distance between the particular soil damage and communication tracks, the age of a stand, the soil moisture content, the intensity of a particular cutting treatment expressed by units of harvested timber volume per one hectare of the stand, and the mean angle of terrain inclination. The CART models developed in these studies not only allowed the author to identify the conditions, under which the soil damage of a given degree is most likely to emerge, or determine the probability of its occurrence, but also, thanks to a graphical presentation of the nature and strength of relationships between the variables employed in the model construction, they facilitated a recognition of rules and relationships between these variables and the area, depth, volume and probability of occurrence of forest soil damage of a particular type. Moreover, the CART trees served for developing the so-called decision-making rules, which are especially useful in organising logging works. These rules allow the organisers of timber harvest to plan the management-related actions and operations with the use of available technical means and under conditions enabling their execution in such manner as to minimise the harm to forest soils. Furthermore, employing the CART trees for modelling soil disturbance made it possible to evaluate particular independent variables in terms of their impact on the values of dependent variables describing the recorded disturbance to outer soil layers. Thanks to this the author was able to identify, amongst the variables used in modelling the properties of soil damage, these particular ones that had the greatest impact on values of these properties, and determine the strength of this impact. Detailed results depended on the form of soil disturbance and the particular characteristics subject to analysis, however the variables with the strongest influence on the extent and probability of occurrence of soil damage, under the conditions encountered in the investigated stands, enclosed the following: the season of the year when logging works were performed, the volume-based cutting intensity of the felling treatments conducted, technical means used for completion of logging works, the soil moisture content during timber harvest, the manner of timber skidding, dragged, semi-suspended or forwarding, and finally a distance between the soil damage and transportation ducts. The CART models proved to be very useful in designing timber harvesting technologies that could minimise the risk of forest soil damage in terms of both, the extent of factual disturbance and the probability of its occurrence. Another valuable advantage of this kind of modelling is an opportunity to evaluate an impact of particular variables on the extent and probability of occurrence of damage to outer soil layers. This allows the investigator to identify, amongst all of the variables describing timber harvesting processes, those crucial ones, from which any optimisation process should start, in order to minimise the negative impact of forest management practices on soil condition.

A modular test facility for the investigation of thermoacoustic phenomena has been constructed in Berlin, which exhibits the accuracy of laboratory experiments with well defined boundary conditions. Moreover, the facility provides independent control of temperature, operating pressure and flow velocity up to a range relevant for real gas turbine applications. The unique facility is decribed in detail with an emphasis on instrumentation to be used for acoustic investigations and the data assessment procedure for the investigation of bias flow liner damping characteristics as the primary reasearch target for the initial operation. An outlook is given with respect to options und upgrades planned for the future.