Analysis of a collaborative scheduling model applied in a job shop manufacturing environment

Collaborative Manufacturing Scheduling (CMS) is not yet a properly explored decision making practice, although its potential for being currently explored, in the digital era, by combining efforts among a set of entities, either persons or machines, to jointly cooperate for solving some more or less complex scheduling problem, namely occurring in job shop manufacturing environments. In this paper, an interoperable scheduling system integrating a proposed scheduling model, along with varying kinds of solving algorithms, are put forward and analyzed through an industrial case study. The case study was decomposed in three application scenarios, for enabling the evaluation of the proposed scheduling model when envisioning the prioritization of internal–makespan-or external–number of tardy jobs-performance measures, along with a third scenario assigning a same importance or weight to both kinds of performance measures. The results obtained enabled us to realize that the weighted application scenario permitted reaching more balanced, thus a potentially more attractive global solution for the scheduling problem considered through the combination of different kinds of scheduling algorithms for the resolution of each underlying sub problem according to the proposed scheduling model. Besides, the decomposition of a global more complex scheduling problem into simpler sub-problems turns them easier to be solved through the different solving algorithms available, while further enabling to obtain a wider range of alternative schedules to be explored and evaluated. Thus, contributing to enriching the scheduling problem-solving process. A future exploration of the application in other types of manufacturing environments, namely occurring in the context of extended, networked, distributed or virtual production systems, integrating an increased and variable set of collaborating entities or factories, is also suggested.The project is funded by the FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020, and EXPL/EME-SIS/1224/2021

Manual de procedimentos de referência e pesquisa dos serviços de atendimento da Biblioteca Acadêmico Luiz Viana Filho, do Senado Federal

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Ciência da Informação, Curso de Graduação em Biblioteconomia, 2018.O objetivo deste trabalho é elaborar/atualizar o Manual dos processos realizados pela área de Atendimento ao Usuário, pertencente a Biblioteca Acadêmico Luiz Viana Filho do Senado Federal, que engloba os setores de Serviço de Empréstimo e Devolução de Material Bibliográfico (SEEMP), Serviço de Pesquisa e Recuperação de Informações Bibliográficas (SEPRIB), Serviço de Manutenção e Conservação de Acervo (SEMACO) e o Serviço de Pesquisa Parlamentar (SEPESP). O manual proporciona o registro das atividades realizadas diariamente, pelos setores mencionados, direcionadas para senadores, servidores do senado e usuários externos que são seu público alvo. Fez-se necessário a descrição de rotinas, para a orientação de como funcionam os processos, tanto para os servidores que os realizam, quanto para os futuros funcionários da instituição, além de servir como base para melhorias nos serviços prestados pelo setor. Para a coleta de dados foram utilizados a pesquisa participante, a análise documental e entrevista com profissionais dos setores. Utiliza como procedimentos metodológicos a abordagem qualitativa descritiva e a pesquisa participante.The objective of this work is to prepare a Manual of the processes performed by the Customer Service area, belonging to the Luiz Viana Filho Academic Library of the Federal Senate, which encompasses the Service of Loan and Return of Bibliographic Material (SEEMP), Research and Recovery of Bibliographic Information (SEPRIB), Service of Maintenance and Preservation of the Collection (SEMACO) and the Service of Parliamentary Research (SEPESP). The purpose of the manual is to provide a record of activities performed daily by the sectors mentioned above, directed at senators, senate servers and external users who are your target audience. It was necessary to describe routines, to guide how the processes work, both for the servers that perform them and for the future employees of the institution, as well as serve as a basis for improvements in the services provided by the sector. To collect data were used the participant research, the documentary analysis and interview with professionals of the sectors. It uses as methodological procedures the qualitative descriptive approach and the participant research

Split Course Hyperfractionated Accelerated Radio-Chemotherapy (SCHARC) for patients with advanced head and neck cancer: Influence of protocol deviations and hemoglobin on overall survival, a retrospective analysis

BACKGROUND: The advantage of hyperfractionated accelerated radiation therapy for advanced head and neck cancer has been reported. Furthermore, randomized trials and meta-analyses have confirmed the survival benefit of additional chemotherapy to radiotherapy. We retrospectively analyzed the efficiency and toxicity of the Regensburg standard therapy protocol "SCHARC" and the overall survival of our patients. METHODS: From 1997 to 2004, 64 patients suffering from advanced head and neck cancer (88 % stage IV, 12 % stage III) were assigned to receive the SCHARC protocol. Around half of the patients were diagnosed with oro-hypopharynx carcinoma (52 %), one third with tongue and floor of mouth tumors (29 %) and one fifth (19 %) suffered from H & N cancer at other sites. The schedule consisted of one therapy block with 30 Gy in 20 fractions over a two week period with concomitant chemotherapy (d 1–5: 20 mg/m(2)/d DDP + 750–1000 mg/m(2)/d 5FU (cont. infusion). This therapy block was repeated after a fortnight break up to a cumulative dose of 60 Gy and followed by a boost up to 70 Gy (69–70.5 Gy). All patients assigned to this scheme were included in the survival evaluation. RESULTS: Forty patients (63 %) received both radiation and chemotherapy according to the protocol. The mean follow up was 2.3 years (829 d) and the median follow up was 1.9 years (678 d), respectively. The analysis of survival revealed an estimated 3 year overall survival rate of 57 %. No patient died of complications, 52 patients (80 %) had acute grade 2–3 mucositis, and 33 patients (58 %) suffered from acute grade 3 skin toxicity. Leucopenia was no major problem (mean nadir 3.4 g/nl, no patient < 1.0 g/nl) and the mean hemoglobin value decreased from 13.2 to 10.5 g/dl. Univariate analysis of survival showed a better outcome for patients with a hemoglobin nadir >10.5 g/dl and for patients who completed the protocol. CONCLUSION: The SCHARC protocol was effective in patients diagnosed with advanced head and neck cancer. It led to long-term disease control and survival in about 50 % of the patients with significant but acceptable toxicity. Most patients were not anemic at beginning of therapy. Therefore, we could assess the influence of pre-treatment hemoglobin on survival. However, a low hemoglobin nadir was associated with poor outcome. This result suggests an influence of anemia during therapy on prognosis

Genetic diversity of sugar beet under heat stress and deficit irrigation

In the light of climate changes and globalwarming, as well as the rapid expansion in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) cultivation in Egypt, the development of sugar beet varieties with improved tolerance to high temperature and deficit irrigation is of great importance. The objective of this studywas to evaluate sugar beet genotypes under high temperatures and deficit irrigation conditions for further identification and selection of heat and drought tolerant genotypes. In the current study, a panel of 18 sugar beet breeding lines produced at the USDA–ARS–NWISRL, Kimberly, ID, and the commercial sugar beet cultivar Kawimera were evaluated for yield and quality under high temperature. Six promising lines in terms of yield and quality were further evaluated under both high temperature and deficit irrigation for two growing seasons. All lines performed differently under deficit irrigation, indicating a high degree of genetic variability in the evaluated lines. Additionally, yield traits showed negative effect due to deficit irrigation. A significant positive correlation was observed between stress tolerance index (STI), and average root and sugar yields under stressed and non-stressed conditions. A linear relationship between STI and average root and sugar yields indicates that STI is a reliable stress index to select high yielding genotypes under both optimum- and deficit-irrigation conditions. USKPS25 and USC944-6-68 breeding lines are most likely adapted to deficit irrigation and high temperature and suitable to be utilized in the proposed sugar beet breeding programs in Egypt

Estrogen mediated-activation of miR-191/425 cluster modulates tumorigenicity of breast cancer cells depending on estrogen receptor status.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), single-stranded non-coding RNAs, influence myriad biological processes that can contribute to cancer. Although tumor-suppressive and oncogenic functions have been characterized for some miRNAs, the majority of microRNAs have not been investigated for their ability to promote and modulate tumorigenesis. Here, we established that the miR-191/425 cluster is transcriptionally dependent on the host gene, DALRD3, and that the hormone 17β-estradiol (estrogen or E2) controls expression of both miR-191/425 and DALRD3. MiR-191/425 locus characterization revealed that the recruitment of estrogen receptor α (ERα) to the regulatory region of the miR-191/425-DALRD3 unit resulted in the accumulation of miR-191 and miR-425 and subsequent decrease in DALRD3 expression levels. We demonstrated that miR-191 protects ERα positive breast cancer cells from hormone starvation-induced apoptosis through the suppression of tumor-suppressor EGR1. Furthermore, enforced expression of the miR-191/425 cluster in aggressive breast cancer cells altered global gene expression profiles and enabled us to identify important tumor promoting genes, including SATB1, CCND2, and FSCN1, as targets of miR-191 and miR-425. Finally, in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that miR-191 and miR-425 reduced proliferation, impaired tumorigenesis and metastasis, and increased expression of epithelial markers in aggressive breast cancer cells. Our data provide compelling evidence for the transcriptional regulation of the miR-191/425 cluster and for its context-specific biological determinants in breast cancers. Importantly, we demonstrated that the miR-191/425 cluster, by reducing the expression of an extensive network of genes, has a fundamental impact on cancer initiation and progression of breast cancer cells

A Virtual Communication Interface Called E-Mask

Resumo. Este artigo apresenta um novo Interface de Comunicação Virtual (ICV), baseado em agentes, denominado E-Mask, que esconde a verdadeira aparência dos seus interlocutores. Depois de contextualizar a technologia subjacente aos Agentes da Microsoft, abordamos a implementação da virtualidade no BM_Virtual Enterprise Architecture Reference Model (BM-VEARM) com personagens &quot;humanas&quot;. São, também, apresentadas outras aplicações de agentes bem como do ICV. O E-Mask pode ser um potenciador na reconfiguração dinâmica de redes de Empresas Virtuais uma vez que, com este interface o tempo de comunicação entre utilizadores é mais curto. Palavras-chave: Interface, comunicação virtual, reconfiguação dinâmica. Abstract. This paper presents a new agent-based Virtual Communication Interface (VCI), called E-Mask, which hides the real appearance of its interlocutors. After a contextualization of Microsoft Software Agent technology, we focus on the implementation of virtuality in the BM_Virtual Enterprise Architecture Reference Model (BM-VEARM) with human-like characters. Other applications of agent software as well as the VCI are also covered. We find that the E-Mask interface may be a dynamic reconfiguration enabler in Virtual Enterprise (VE) Networks since the communication time between endusers is shortened