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This study was designed to examine methanol as a new aging marker of insulating paper. An analytical GC-MS method coupled to headspace injection was developed, followed by a validation. To further validate the possible applicability of methanol for different transformer conditions some laboratory studies were performed such as a stability and an aging test. Oil samples of power transformers of several Belgian nuclear and coal-fired power plants have been analyzed since mid 2009 and are followed-up periodically to correlate the results with the analysis of the furanic compounds which have been used since mid 1980s as oil soluble degradation products of the insulating winding paper. It seemed that while no 2FAL was present some considerable amount of MeOH was detected which revealed some paper degradation. A second real case study was started to further correlate MeOH and 2FAL results. From these laboratory and real case studies it seemed that MeOH is a very promising marker for paper degradation in power transformers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the problem of fingerprinting localization in wireless networks based on received-signal-strength (RSS) observations. First, the performance of static localization using power maps (PMs) is improved with a new approach called the base-station-strict (BS-strict) methodology, which emphasizes the effect of BS identities in the classical fingerprinting. Second, dynamic motion models with and without road network information are used to further improve the accuracy via particle filters. The likelihood-calculation mechanism proposed for the particle filters is interpreted as a soft version (called BS-soft) of the BS-strict approach applied in the static case. The results of the proposed approaches are illustrated and compared with an example whose data were collected from a WiMAX network in a challenging urban area in the capitol city of Brussels, Belgium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study of how Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was applied to generate objective cross-project comparisons of project duration within an engineering department of the Belgian Armed Forces. To date, DEA has been applied to study projects within certain domains (e.g., software and R&D); however, DEA has not been proposed as a general project evaluation tool within the project management literature. In this case study, we demonstrate how DEA fills a gap not addressed by commonly applied project evaluation methods (such as earned value management) by allowing the objective comparison of projects on actual measures, such as duration and cost, by explicitly considering differences in key input characteristics across these projects. Thus, DEA can overcome the paradigm of project uniqueness and facilitate cross-project learning. We describe how DEA allowed the department to gain new insight about the impact of changes to its engineering design process (redesigned based on ISO 15288), creating a performance index that simultaneously considers project duration and key input variables that determine project duration. We conclude with directions for future research on the application of DEA as a project evaluation tool for project managers, program office managers, and other decision-makers in project-based organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results from a project in cooperation with the Belgian National Grid Operator ELIA are presented in this paper. Starting from a set of 245 time series, each one corresponding to four years of measurements from a HVLV substation, individual modeling using Periodic Time Series yields satisfactory results for short-term forecasting or simulation purposes. In addition, we use the stationarity properties of the estimated models to identify typical daily customer profiles. As each one of the 245 substations can be represented by its unique daily profile, it is possible to cluster the 245 profiles in order to obtain a segmentation of the original sample in different classes of customer profiles. This methodology provides a unified framework for the forecasting and clustering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the periodical "IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science." It notes that the August 2010 special issue of the periodical includes selected papers presented at the 2009 Radiation and Its Effects on Components and Systems (RADECS) Conference held in Bruges, Belgium. It mentions that a year-round editorial board is responsible for the management of submissions reviews to ensure consistent reviews of papers for the whole year. Paul Dressendorfer has been commended for contributions as editor-in-chief.

Part III. Reports on the completion of the extensive reference list with papers describing cases of ferroresonance experienced in Belgium. Clarification regarding the use of frequency domain methods with respect to nonlinear circuits; Use of scientific software to detect bifurcations.