Application of a mathematical model for ergonomics in lean manufacturing

The data presented in this article are related to the research article \u201cIntegrating ergonomics and lean manufacturing principles in a hybrid assembly line\u201d (Botti et al., 2017) [1]. The results refer to the application of the mathematical model for the design of lean processes in hybrid assembly lines, meeting both the lean principles and the ergonomic requirements for safe assembly work. Data show that the success of a lean strategy is possible when ergonomics of workers is a parameter of the assembly process design

Observations of OJ 287 from the Geodetic VLBI Archive of the Washington Correlator

We present 27 geodetic VLBI maps of OJ 287 obtained from the archive of the Washington correlator. The observations presented here were made between 1990 October and 1996 December. During this period a sequence of six superluminal components has been identified. We measured the proper motion of these components to be approximately 0.5 mas/yr, which is about twice as high as that seen in previous VLBI observations. These results imply a higher component ejection rate than previously observed, in good agreement with the observed occurrences of radio outbursts. We have examined a possible connection between VLBI components and optical flares in the framework of a binary black hole system.Comment: 9 pages, 5 included figures, emulateapj.sty, accepted to The Astrophysical Journa

Ergonomic Design of an Adaptive Automation Assembly System

Ergonomics is a key factor in the improvement of health and productivity in workplaces. Its use in improving the performance of a manufacturing process and its positive effects on productivity and human performance is drawing the attention of researchers and practitioners in the field of industrial engineering. This paper proposes an ergonomic design approach applied to an innovative prototype of an adaptive automation assembly system (A3S) equipped with Microsoft Kinect™ for real-time adjustment. The system acquires the anthropometric measurements of the operator by means of the 3-D sensing device and changes its layout, arranging the mobile elements accordingly. The aim of this study was to adapt the assembly workstation to the operator dimensions, improving the ergonomics of the workstation and reducing the risks of negative effects on workers’ health and safety. The case study of an assembly operation of a centrifugal electric pump is described to validate the proposed approach. The assembly operation was simulated at a traditional fixed workstation and at the A3S. The shoulder flexion angle during the assembly tasks at the A3S reduced between 18% and 47%. The ergonomic risk assessment confirmed the improvement of the ergonomic conditions and the ergonomic benefits of the A3S

Triple positive breast cancer. A distinct subtype?

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, and within the HER-2 positive subtype this is highly exemplified by the presence of substantial phenotypical and clinical heterogeneity, mostly related to hormonal receptor (HR) expression. It is well known how HER-2 positivity is commonly associated with a more aggressive tumor phenotype and decreased overall survival and, moreover, with a reduced benefit from endocrine treatment. Preclinical studies corroborate the role played by functional crosstalks between HER-2 and estrogen receptor (ER) signaling in endocrine resistance and, more recently, the activation of ER signaling is emerging as a possible mechanism of resistance to HER-2 blocking agents. Indeed, HER-2 positive breast cancer heterogeneity has been suggested to underlie the variability of response not only to endocrine treatments, but also to HER-2 blocking agents. Among HER-2 positive tumors, HR status probably defines two distinct subtypes, with dissimilar clinical behavior and different sensitivity to anticancer agents. The triple positive subtype, namely, ER/PgR/Her-2 positive tumors, could be considered the subset which most closely resembles the HER-2 negative/HR positive tumors, with substantial differences in biology and clinical outcome. We argue on whether in this subgroup the "standard" treatment may be considered, in selected cases, i.e., small tumors, low tumor burden, high expression of both hormonal receptors, an overtreatment. This article review the existing literature on biologic and clinical data concerning the HER-2/ER/PgR positive tumors, in an attempt to better define the HER-2 subtypes and to optimize the use of HER-2 targeted agents, chemotherapy and endocrine treatments in the various subsets

Unsupervised fault detection and prediction of remaining useful life for online prognostic health management of mechanical systems

Predictive maintenance allows industries to keep their production systems available as much as possible. Reducing unforeseen shutdowns to a level that is close to zero has numerous advantages, including production cost savings, a high quality level of both products and processes, and a high safety level. Studies in this field have focused on a novel approach, prognostic health management (PHM), which relies on condition monitoring (CM) for predicting the remaining useful life (RUL) of a system. However, several issues remain in its application to real industrial contexts, e.g., the difficulties in conducting tests simulating each fault condition, the dynamic nature of industrial environments, and the need to handle large amounts of data collected from machinery. In this paper, a data-driven methodology for PHM implementation is proposed, which has the following characteristics: it is unsupervised, i.e., it does not require any prior knowledge regarding fault behaviors and it does not rely on pre-trained classification models, i.e., it can be applied "from scratch"; it can be applied online due to its low computational effort, which makes it suitable for edge computing; and, it includes all of the steps that are involved in a prognostic program, i.e., feature extraction, health indicator (HI) construction, health stage (HS) division, degradation modelling, and RUL prediction. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied in this study to a rotating component. The study results, in terms of the ability of the proposed approach to make a timely prediction of component fault conditions, are promising

Use of Foley catheter in control of internal carotid hemorrhage during endoscopic endonasal surgery

Internal carotid artery (ICA) injuries during endoscopic endonasal surgery (EES) are rare life-threatening events. We describe a technique to manage ICA injuries based on the use of Foley catheters.A 26-year-old female underwent endoscopic transnasal trans-sphenoidal removal of pituitary adenoma. Cerebrospinal fluid leak occurred 4 days postoperatively. During repair procedure, accidental injury of ICA occurred. Emergency nasal packing through positioning of four Foley urologic catheters was successfully performed to stop bleeding. The patient did not report neurologic deficits.In author's opinion, Foley catheters are suitable to obtain immediate bleeding control since they are rapidly available and easily usable

Active site hydration governs the stability of Sn-beta during continuous glucose conversion

The stability of Sn-Beta for the continuous upgrading of hexoses is improved dramatically upon the addition of small amounts of water to the methanol/sugar reaction feed, despite water itself being an unfavorable solvent. Herein, the molecular level origin of this effect is investigated. Spectroscopic studies of the catalytic materials pre-, post- and during operation, with operando UV–vis, 119Sn CPMG MAS NMR, DRIFTS-MS, TGA, TPD/O-MS, and porosimetry, are coupled to additional kinetic studies, to generate detailed structure–activity–lifetime relationships. In doing so, we find that the addition of water influences two particular processes—fouling and active site modification. However, mitigating the second is the most crucial role of water. Indeed, in the absence of water, the loss of Sn–OH and Si–OH sites occurs. Notably, these changes in active site hydration correlate to deactivation and reactivation of the system. The consequences of these findings, both for mechanistic understanding of the system and to the design of alternative regeneration methods, are also discussed

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF AN INNOVATIVE PLANT FOR THE WASTEWATER PURIFICATION IN THE BEVERAGE INDUSTRY

Nowadays, efforts to reduce the resource depletion and environmental emissions from the anthropic activities, are mandatory for sustainable development pattern. Among the key resources to save, pure water is as important as critic due to its scarcity and its essential role for life and growth. Furthermore, during the last decades, rising attention from institutions and industries is toward solutions for the water intensity decrease and wastewater recovery. This paper proposes the environmental assessment of an innovative wastewater collection and purification plant tailored to a mid-size beverage industry aiming at locally closing the loop of the water chain, allowing its recirculation and local reuse. After the description of the functional module features, sizes and design, based on a prototype actually working in Italy, the paper follows the ISO 14040 standards to develop an environmental assessment of the industrial system, quantifying the impact rising from the manufacturing and the assembly phases

Knowledge Acquisition by Networks of Interacting Agents in the Presence of Observation Errors

In this work we investigate knowledge acquisition as performed by multiple agents interacting as they infer, under the presence of observation errors, respective models of a complex system. We focus the specific case in which, at each time step, each agent takes into account its current observation as well as the average of the models of its neighbors. The agents are connected by a network of interaction of Erd\H{o}s-Renyi or Barabasi-Albert type. First we investigate situations in which one of the agents has a different probability of observation error (higher or lower). It is shown that the influence of this special agent over the quality of the models inferred by the rest of the network can be substantial, varying linearly with the respective degree of the agent with different estimation error. In case the degree of this agent is taken as a respective fitness parameter, the effect of the different estimation error is even more pronounced, becoming superlinear. To complement our analysis, we provide the analytical solution of the overall behavior of the system. We also investigate the knowledge acquisition dynamic when the agents are grouped into communities. We verify that the inclusion of edges between agents (within a community) having higher probability of observation error promotes the loss of quality in the estimation of the agents in the other communities.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. A working manuscrip

Observations of BL Lacertae from the Geodetic VLBI Archive of the Washington Correlator

We present maps of BL Lac obtained from geodetic VLBI data from the archive of the Washington correlator. The observations were made from 1996 March to 1996 November, with periods from one experiment to another as short as 1 month. The dominant structure of the maps is given by a superluminal component (C2) moving predominantly at position angle ~190°. At the later epochs a new superluminal component (C3) emerges from the core and moves along a trajectory at a higher position angle (200°). We also include maps from observations made in 1995 June and August showing the main component (C2) in the early stages of its evolution, as well as an older component (C1). The position angle of the component C1 is nearly the same as that of the new component C3. The component C2 shows indications of nonradial motion, which is discussed in terms of a helically distorted jet. The best fit was obtained for a half-opening angle of the jet of 2.6d and an angle of the helical axis to the line of sight of 17°