Towards a Simpler Selection Process for Maintenance Strategies

Recent research at four large manufacturing sites in the North East of England showed that maintenance organisations were failing because they were locked in a cycle of quick fix and mend despite deploying extensive planned maintenance policies. Consequently they were unable to plan and formulate strategies because they did not have the time. Simple and quick tools were needed to select the best maintenance approach for the machines and the plant. Two possible selection tools were developed. Firstly a truth table was produced based on the key characteristics of each maintenance approach and these mapped against simplified failure mode combinations. This offered a quick and easy selection method for machines, based on failure mode patterns. Secondly, the macro level was addressed using a conceptual model employing a 2x2 matrix. This consisted of two axes, the level of machine failures and the level of improvement activity. The resulting framework was used to predict how maintenance organisations would progress from a state of reactive maintenance towards world class. Then informed by the truth table it was possible to select an appropriate maintenance approach which was most suitable for each stage. It is suggested that these two methods offer simple and quick approaches to guide vital maintenance decision making at plants in difficulty. This of course does not preclude the need to develop maintenance strategies but rather facilitates this process by freeing up time and resources

Parameter Settings for an Automated Gantry-Robot Painting System using a 3-Gun Atomization Spray Method for an Anti- Static Coating Process

Dry film thickness and appearance are the main quality improvements that can be achieved by an automated painting system in the manufacturing process. This study presents the spray coating process for aircraft parts using a gantry robot with an automated spray-painting gun to control the spray path, thus achieving the desired coating layer thickness. The experimental results show that the 3-gun atomization spray method, with high capacity airflow and outstanding atomization characteristics, poses the challenge of achieving an even thickness of the overlapping spray pattern from three separate guns, minimizing the paint material consumption and controlling the dry film thickness within the given specification and standard. The optimization was performed to control the spray path and material consumption with a 3-gun spray method to achieve the optimum setting for the spray nozzle to workpiece height to obtain the target thickness. The results show that replacing the manual process with the automated painting process can increase the speed by up to 30-40%, reduce the setup time and increase the capacity of the painting booth. The development of this system can achieve the desired thickness specification, increase productivity and provide safer, more effective and ergonomic working conditions

You Know My Name, But Who Am I? Structure and Agency in the Making and Remaking of James Bond

An examination into the ways in which national identify is framed and negotiated within the James Bond movie franchise. The article examines the ways in which notions of Britishness are influenced and challenged depending on the actor adopting the role of James Bon

Ceramic Transfer Printing

This is one of the first books dedicated to the creative practice and research of ceramic transfers or decals with a focus on the creative potential for studio-based artists or designer-makers. A ceramic transfer allows pictures, patterns or text to be transferred onto ceramic forms - 2D and 3D. This added layer of meaning might have artistic or commercial ends. Importantly, print can achieve distinct aesthetic effects on ceramics that are not possible by using other decoration methods such as hand painting. Drawing on over twenty years of experience, Kevin Petrie offers a focused analysis of the potential of ceramic transfer printing as a creative medium. He traces the history of the subject and explains the distinctive visual qualities of a range of transfer printing methods. Petrie’s research into the specific materials and techniques for making versatile screen-printed ceramic transfers are explained with an emphasis on water-based systems. Other approaches by artist researchers (UK, Netherlands, USA, Canada, Germany) are also brought together for the first time and recent developments with digital transfers appraised. A range of case studies shows the potential and diversity of approach in this area, which extends beyond ceramics to include enamel on metal and glass. During preparation the publishers decided to increase the scale of the book and launch it through a new series, `The new ceramics’. The book was subsequently accepted by The American Ceramic Society, Ohio, for simultaneously publication in the UK and USA. Since publication the book has sold c2000 copies. Aspects of the book have been expanded and published in an article for ‘Ceramic Review – The International Magazine of Ceramic Art and Craft’

Application of Modeling Approaches to Explore Vaccine Adjuvant Mode-of-Action

Novel adjuvant technologies have a key role in the development of next-generationvaccines, due to their capacity to modulate the duration, strength and quality of theimmune response. The AS01 adjuvant is used in the malaria vaccine RTS,S/AS01 andin the licensed herpes-zoster vaccine (Shingrix) where thevaccine has proven its abilityto generate protective responses with both robust humoral and T-cell responses. Formany years, animal models have provided insights into adjuvant mode-of-action (MoA),generally through investigating individual genes or proteins. Furthermore, modeling andsimulation techniques can be utilized to integrate a variety of different data types;ranging from serum biomarkers to large scale “omics” datasets. In this perspectivewe present a framework to create a holistic integration of pre-clinical datasets andimmunological literature in order to develop an evidence-based hypothesis of AS01adjuvant MoA, creating a unified view of multiple experiments. Furthermore, we highlighthow holistic systems-knowledge can serve as a basis for the construction of models andsimulations supporting exploration of key questions surrounding adjuvant MoA. Usingthe Systems-Biology-Graphical-Notation, a tool for graphical representation of biologicalprocesses, we have captured high-level cellular behaviorsand interactions, and cytokinedynamics during the early immune response, which are substantiated by a series ofdiagrams detailing cellular dynamics. Through explicitlydescribing AS01 MoA we havebuilt a consensus of understanding across multiple experiments, and so we present aframework to integrate modeling approaches into exploringadjuvant MoA, in order toguide experimental design, interpret results and inform rational design of vaccines

Phosphonopeptides Revisited, in an Era of Increasing Antimicrobial Resistance

Given the increase in resistance to antibacterial agents, there is an urgent need for the development of new agents with novel modes of action. As an interim solution, it is also prudent to reinvestigate old or abandoned antibacterial compounds to assess their efficacy in the context of widespread resistance to conventional agents. In the 1970s, much work was performed on the development of peptide mimetics, exemplified by the phosphonopeptide, alafosfalin. We investigated the activity of alafosfalin, di-alanyl fosfalin and β-chloro-L-alanyl-β-chloro-L-alanine against 297 bacterial isolates, including carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) (n = 128), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (n = 37) and glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) (n = 43). The interaction of alafosfalin with meropenem was also examined against 20 isolates of CPE. The MIC50 and MIC90 of alafosfalin for CPE were 1 mg/L and 4 mg/L, respectively and alafosfalin acted synergistically when combined with meropenem against 16 of 20 isolates of CPE. Di-alanyl fosfalin showed potent activity against glycopeptide-resistant isolates of Enterococcus faecalis (MIC90; 0.5 mg/L) and Enterococcus faecium (MIC90; 2 mg/L). Alafosfalin was only moderately active against MRSA (MIC90; 8 mg/L), whereas β-chloro-L-alanyl-β-chloro-L-alanine was slightly more active (MIC90; 4 mg/L). This study shows that phosphonopeptides, including alafosfalin, may have a therapeutic role to play in an era of increasing antibacterial resistance

A Novel Deep Neural Network for Robust Detection of Seizures Using EEG Signals

The detection of recorded epileptic seizure activity in electroencephalogram (EEG) segments is crucial for the classification of seizures. Manual recognition is a time-consuming and laborious process that places a heavy burden on neurologists, and hence, the automatic identification of epilepsy has become an important issue. Traditional EEG recognition models largely depend on artificial experience and are of weak generalization ability. To break these limitations, we propose a novel one-dimensional deep neural network for robust detection of seizures, which composes of three convolutional blocks and three fully connected layers. Thereinto, each convolutional block consists of five types of layers: convolutional layer, batch normalization layer, nonlinear activation layer, dropout layer, and max-pooling layer. Model performance is evaluated on the University of Bonn dataset, which achieves the accuracy of 97.63%∼99.52% in the two-class classification problem, 96.73%∼98.06% in the three-class EEG classification problem, and 93.55% in classifying the complicated five-class problem

Building a Driving Simulator as an Electric Vehicle Hardware Development Tool

Driving simulators have been used to support the development of new vehicle systems for many years. The rise of electric vehicles (EVs) as a means of reducing carbon emissions has lead to the emergence of a number of new design challenges related to the performance of EV components and the flow of power under a variety of circumstances. In this paper we describe the integration of an EV drive train test system with a driving simulator to allow the performance of EV systems to be investigated while under the control of real drivers in simulated scenarios. Such a system offers several potential benefits. The performance of EV drive trains can be evaluated subjectively by real world users while the electrical and mechanical properties can be tested under a variety of conditions which would be difficult to replicate using standard drive cycles