Technology transfer from NASA to targeted industries, volume 2

This volume contains the following materials to support Volume 1: (1) Survey of Metal Fabrication Industry in Alabama; (2) Survey of Electronics Manufacturing/Assembly Industry in Alabama; (3) Apparel Modular Manufacturing Simulators; (4) Synopsis of a Stereolithography Project; (5) Transferring Modular Manufacturing Technology to an Apparel Firm; (6) Letters of Support; (7) Fact Sheets; (8) Publications; and (9) One Stop Access to NASA Technology Brochure

Alternative sweetener from curculigo fruits

This study gives an overview on the advantages of Curculigo Latifolia as an alternative sweetener and a health product. The purpose of this research is to provide another option to the people who suffer from diabetes. In this research, Curculigo Latifolia was chosen, due to its unique properties and widely known species in Malaysia. In order to obtain the sweet protein from the fruit, it must go through a couple of procedures. First we harvested the fruits from the Curculigo trees that grow wildly in the garden. Next, the Curculigo fruits were dried in the oven at 50 0C for 3 days. Finally, the dried fruits were blended in order to get a fine powder. Curculin is a sweet protein with a taste-modifying activity of converting sourness to sweetness. The curculin content from the sample shown are directly proportional to the mass of the Curculigo fine powder. While the FTIR result shows that the sample spectrum at peak 1634 cm–1 contains secondary amines. At peak 3307 cm–1 contains alkynes

A METHODOLOGY FOR ASSESSING AND DEVELOPING TEAMWORK IN COGNITIVELY DEMANDING JOBS

In cognitively demanding jobs such as control room operators in nuclear power plants, chemical works and oil refineries, pilots and flight traffic operators, dispatchers, fire brigades, rescue services, surgeons, police officers, etc., it is a crucial question that the members of the team have appropriate professional competence as well as all sensory-motor, cognitive, communicational and social skills necessary to identifying, diagnosing critical states and adequate intervening. Simulated malfunctions or other events potentially offer excellent opportunities for establishing, refreshing and improving these skills, provided that the simulation is embedded into an appropriate pedagogical and psychological environment. For efficient teamwork both individual and group learning correct and informative feedback have an outstanding importance: it provides crew members with a clear and relatively objective picture about team work effectiveness as well as quality and quantity of individual contribution to it. For these purposes a computer-supported methodology and a set of tools have been developed (`COSMOS´), by which the instructor involves the operator team into the evaluation of a training session, thus supporting formation of more realistic self-evaluation, more uniform ways of seeing things and shared mental models. This paper is a report on a case study carried out with nuclear power plant operators

Simulation-assisted control in building energy management systems

Technological advances in real-time data collection, data transfer and ever-increasing computational power are bringing simulation-assisted control and on-line fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) closer to reality than was imagined when building energy management systems (BEMSs) were introduced in the 1970s. This paper describes the development and testing of a prototype simulation-assisted controller, in which a detailed simulation program is embedded in real-time control decision making. Results from an experiment in a full-scale environmental test facility demonstrate the feasibility of predictive control using a physically-based thermal simulation program

The role of the reactor size for an investment in the nuclear sector: an evaluation of not-financial parameters

The literature presents many studies about the economics of new Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Such studies are based on Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) methods encompassing the accounts related to Construction, Operation & Maintenance, Fuel and Decommissioning. However the investment evaluation of a nuclear reactor should also include not-financial factors such as siting and grid constraints, impact on the national industrial system, etc. The Integrated model for the Competitiveness Assessment of SMRs (INCAS), developed by Politecnico di Milano cooperating with the IAEA, is designed to analyze the choice of the better Nuclear Power Plant size as a multidimensional problem. In particular the INCAS’s module “External Factors” evaluates the impact of the factors that are not considered in the traditional DCF methods. This paper presents a list of these factors, providing, for each one, the rationale and the quantification procedure; then each factor is quantified for the Italian case. The IRIS reactor has been chosen as SMR representative. The approach and the framework of the model can be applied to worldwide countries while the specific results apply to most of the European countries. The results show that SMRs have better performances than LRs with respect to the external factors, in general and in the Italian scenario in particular

Lifting the Veil: The Face of TFP in an Indian Rail Mill

We use a proprietary data set on the floor-level operations at the Bhilai Rail and Structural Mill (RSM) in India to understand how output rose sharply in response to competitive pressures. Output increases came predominantly from reductions in production delays of various kinds. We model interruptions to the production process as a function of worker characteristics and training and find that a large part of the avoidable delay reductions are attributable to a particular form of training, suggesting that such investments can have very high returns. Our work suggests very high returns to knowledge-enhancing investments in emerging economies.Total Factor Productivity (TFP), plant level data, competitiveness and trade

Does Telemedical Support of First Responders Improve Guideline Adherence in an Offshore Emergency Scenario? A Simulator-Based Prospective Study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate, in a simulator-based prospective study, whether telemedical support improves quality of emergency first response (performance) by medical non-professionals to being non-inferior to medical professionals. SETTING: In a simulated offshore wind power plant, duos (teams) of offshore engineers and teams of paramedics conducted the primary survey of a simulated patient. PARTICIPANTS: 38 offshore engineers and 34 paramedics were recruited by the general email invitation. INTERVENTION: Teams (randomised by lot) were supported by transmission technology and a remote emergency physician in Berlin. OUTCOME MEASURES: From video recordings, performance (17 item checklist) and required time (up to 15 min) were quantified by expert rating for analysis. Differences were analysed using two-sided exact Mann-Whitney U tests for independent measures, non-inferiority was analysed using Schuirmann one-sided test. The significance level of 5 % was Holm-Bonferroni adjusted in each family of pairwise comparisons. RESULTS: Nine teams of engineers with, nine without, nine teams of paramedics with and eight without support completed the task. Two experts quantified endpoints, insights into rater dependence were gained. Supported engineers outperformed unsupported engineers (p<0.01), insufficient evidence was found for paramedics (p=0.11). Without support, paramedics outperformed engineers (p<0.01). Supported engineers' performance was non-inferior (at one item margin) to that by unsupported paramedics (p=0.03). Supported groups were slower than unsupported groups (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: First response to medical emergencies in offshore wind farms with substantially delayed professional care may be improved by telemedical support. Future work should test our result during additional scenarios and explore interdisciplinary and ecosystem aspects of this support. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: DRKS0001437