Analysis of non-uniform circumferential segmentation of magnets to reduce eddy-current losses in SPMSM machines

Eddy current losses generated in the rotor of the permanent magnet machines may lead to an excessive magnet heating. This can cause full demagnetization of the magnets so it is very important to analyze the losses on them to adopt solutions to reduce eddy current losses. The most common technique is the magnet circumferential segmentation. The segmentation of the magnetic poles usually is the same for each magnet segment. In this paper a new concept named nonuniform magnet segmentation is presented, where the length of each segment of a pole is chosen to minimize the losses. This method is tested in three different machines with particular characteristics and the results confirm that fewer losses can be achieved with this segmentation technique

A Game-Theory method to design job rotation schedules to prevent musculoskeletal disorders Based on workers preferences and competencies

[EN] Job rotation is an organizational strategy based on the systematic exchange of workers between jobs in a planned manner according to specific criteria. This study presents the GS-Rot method, a method based on Game Theory, in order to design job rotation schedules by considering not only workers' job preferences, but also the competencies required for different jobs. With this approach, we promote workers' active participation in the design of the rotation plan. It also let us deal with restrictions in assigning workers to job positions according to their disabilities (temporal or permanent). The GS-Rot method has been implemented online and applied to a case in a work environment characterized by the presence of a high repetition of movements, which is a significant risk factor associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). A total of 17 workstations and 17 workers were involved in the rotation, four of them with physical/psychological limitations. Feasible job rotation schedules were obtained in a short time (average time 27.4 milliseconds). The results indicate that in the rotations driven by preference priorities, almost all the workers (94.11%) were assigned to one of their top five preferences. Likewise, 48.52% of job positions were assigned to workers in their top five of their competence lists. When jobs were assigned according to competence, 58.82% of workers got an assignment among their top five competence lists. Furthermore, 55.87% of the workers achieved jobs in their top five preferences. In both rotation scenarios, the workers varied performed jobs, and fatigue accumulation was balanced among them. The GS-Rot method achieved feasible and uniform solutions regarding the workers' exposure to job repetitiveness.This research was funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission under Grant 2017-1-ES01-KA203-038589 in the frame of the project CoSki21-Core Skills for 21th-century professionals.Asensio-Cuesta, S.; Garcia-Gomez, JM.; Poza-Lujan, J.; Conejero, JA. (2019). A Game-Theory method to design job rotation schedules to prevent musculoskeletal disorders Based on workers preferences and competencies. International Journal of Environmental research and Public Health. 16(23):1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234666S1161623Aptel, M., Cail, F., Gerling, A., & Louis, O. (2008). Proposal of parameters to implement a workstation rotation system to protect against MSDs. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 38(11-12), 900-909. doi:10.1016/j.ergon.2008.02.006Jeon, I. S., Jeong, B. Y., & Jeong, J. H. (2016). Preferred 11 different job rotation types in automotive company and their effects on productivity, quality and musculoskeletal disorders: comparison between subjective and actual scores by workers’ age. Ergonomics, 59(10), 1318-1326. doi:10.1080/00140139.2016.1140816Botti, L., Mora, C., & Calzavara, M. (2017). Design of job rotation schedules managing the exposure to age-related risk factors. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 50(1), 13993-13997. doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2017.08.2420Sixth European Working Conditions Survey-6th EWCS-Spainhttps://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/european-working-conditions-surveys/sixth-european-working-conditions-survey-2015/ewcs-2015-methodologyAsensio-Cuesta, S., Diego-Mas, J. A., Canós-Darós, L., & Andrés-Romano, C. (2011). A genetic algorithm for the design of job rotation schedules considering ergonomic and competence criteria. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 60(9-12), 1161-1174. doi:10.1007/s00170-011-3672-0Yoon, S.-Y., Ko, J., & Jung, M.-C. (2016). A model for developing job rotation schedules that eliminate sequential high workloads and minimize between-worker variability in cumulative daily workloads: Application to automotive assembly lines. Applied Ergonomics, 55, 8-15. doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2016.01.011Otto, A., & Scholl, A. (2012). Reducing ergonomic risks by job rotation scheduling. OR Spectrum, 35(3), 711-733. doi:10.1007/s00291-012-0291-6Carnahan, B. J., Redfern, M. S., & Norman, B. (2000). Designing safe job rotation schedules using optimization and heuristic search. Ergonomics, 43(4), 543-560. doi:10.1080/001401300184404Song, J., Lee, C., Lee, W., Bahn, S., Jung, C., & Yun, M. H. (2016). Development of a job rotation scheduling algorithm for minimizing accumulated work load per body parts. Work, 53(3), 511-521. doi:10.3233/wor-152232Boenzi, F., Digiesi, S., Facchini, F., & Mummolo, G. (2016). Ergonomic improvement through job rotations in repetitive manual tasks in case of limited specialization and differentiated ergonomic requirements. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 49(12), 1667-1672. doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2016.07.820Sana, S. S., Ospina-Mateus, H., Arrieta, F. G., & Chedid, J. A. (2018). Application of genetic algorithm to job scheduling under ergonomic constraints in manufacturing industry. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 10(5), 2063-2090. doi:10.1007/s12652-018-0814-3Burgess-Limerick, R. (2018). Participatory ergonomics: Evidence and implementation lessons. Applied Ergonomics, 68, 289-293. doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2017.12.009Bhuiyan, B. A. (2018). An Overview of Game Theory and Some Applications. Philosophy and Progress, 111-128. doi:10.3329/pp.v59i1-2.36683Gale, D., & Shapley, L. S. (1962). College Admissions and the Stability of Marriage. The American Mathematical Monthly, 69(1), 9-15. doi:10.1080/00029890.1962.11989827Roth, A. E. (2008). What Have We Learned from Market Design? The Economic Journal, 118(527), 285-310. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02121.xRoth, A. E., & Sotomayor, M. (1992). Chapter 16 Two-sided matching. Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications, 485-541. doi:10.1016/s1574-0005(05)80019-0Renna, P. (2017). Decision-making method of reconfigurable manufacturing systems’ reconfiguration by a Gale-Shapley model. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 45, 149-158. doi:10.1016/j.jmsy.2017.09.005Butkovič, P., & Lewis, S. (2007). On the job rotation problem. Discrete Optimization, 4(2), 163-174. doi:10.1016/j.disopt.2006.11.00

Impact of aleatoric, stochastic and epistemic uncertainties on project cost contingency reserves

Producción CientíficaIn construction projects, contingency reserves have traditionally been estimated based on a percentage of the total project cost, which is arbitrary and, thus, unreliable in practical cases. Monte Carlo simulation provides a more reliable estimation. However, works on this topic have focused exclusively on the effects of aleatoric uncertainty, but ignored the impacts of other uncertainty types. In this paper, we present a method to quantitatively determine project cost contingency reserves based on Monte Carlo Simulation that considers the impact of not only aleatoric uncertainty, but also of the effects of other uncertainty kinds (stochastic, epistemic) on the total project cost. The proposed method has been validated with a real-case construction project in Spain. The obtained results demonstrate that the approach will be helpful for construction Project Managers because the obtained cost contingency reserves are consistent with the actual uncertainty type that affects the risks identified in their projects.Junta de Castilla y Leon (grant VA180P20

On the project risk baseline: Integrating aleatory uncertainty into project scheduling

Producción CientíficaObtaining a viable schedule baseline that meets all project constraints is one of the main issues for project managers. The literature on this topic focuses mainly on methods to obtain schedules that meet resource restrictions and, more recently, financial limitations. The methods provide different viable schedules for the same project, and the solutions with the shortest duration are considered the best-known schedule for that project. However, no tools currently select which schedule best performs in project risk terms. To bridge this gap, this paper aims to propose a method for selecting the project schedule with the highest probability of meeting the deadline of several alternative schedules with the same duration. To do so, we propose integrating aleatory uncertainty into project scheduling by quantifying the risk of several execution alternatives for the same project. The proposed method, tested with a well-known repository for schedule benchmarking, can be applied to any project type to help managers to select the project schedules from several alternatives with the same duration, but the lowest risk

Reusing newspaper kiosks for last-mile delivery in urban areas

Producción CientíficaThe current increase in e-commerce is generating growing problems in urban areas in terms of both traffic flow (increasing traffic, no parking spaces) and environmental issues (noise, atmospheric pollution, etc.). In parallel, an iconic element of historic districts is disappearing: more and more newspaper kiosks are closing their business as their work dwindles. In this scenario, the objective of this paper is to propose a model for last-mile parcel delivery that exploits the current available newspaper kiosk network by using them as parcel lockers. To demonstrate the benefits of this proposal, we map the kiosk network of the city of Valladolid (Spain), and compare the environmental impact of a traditional (door-to-door) delivery and the proposed model which reuses old kiosks as parcel lockers. The necessary steps to carry out simulations are described in detail so that experiments can be replicated in other cities that face the same issues.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - (Project DPI2016-78902-P)Ayuntamiento de Valladolid - (Project AI-19/2018

New Business Models for Sustainable Spare Parts Logistics: A Case Study

Producción CientíficaAdditive manufacturing of spare parts significantly impacts industrial, social, and environmental aspects. However, a literature review shows that: (i) academic papers on the adoption of additive manufacturing have focused mainly on large companies; (ii) the methods required by SMEs to adopt new technologies differ from those employed by large companies; and (iii) recent studies suggest that a suitable way to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to adopt new additive manufacturing technologies from the academic world is by presenting case studies in which SMEs are involved. Given the increasing number of global SMEs (i.e., SMEs that manufacture locally and sell globally), we claim that these companies need to be assisted in adopting spare-parts additive manufacturing for the sake of resource and environmental sustainability. To bridge this gap, the purpose of this article is to present a case study approach that shows how a digital supply chain for spare parts has the potential to bring about changes in business models with significant benefits for both global SMEs (more effective logistic management), customers (response time), and the environment (reduced energy, emissions, raw materials, and waste).Junta de Castilla y León - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (grant VA049P17

La posición fetal intrauterina afecta al desarrollo de las estructuras feto-placentarias de la coneja

Un total de 129 fetos de conejas multíparas fueron estudiados según su posición intrauterina. Los más próximos al ovario presentaron mejores valores morfométricos que los más alejados a esta posición, asociándose asimismo un mayor peso placentario a un mayor peso fetal. Estas diferencias fueron mantenidas en la valoración de órganos fetales, como el cerebro, hígado y aparato digestivo, mostrándose un mayor desarrollo en los fetos adyacentes al ovario. A su vez se observó una correlación positiva entre el peso placentario y el peso de estos órganos. Las diferencias de peso dentro de la misma camada podrían estar asociadas a un mayor desarrollo placentario y por consiguiente mayor disponibilidad de nutrientes

Effectiveness of antitussives, anticholinergics or honey versus usual care in adults with uncomplicated acute bronchitis : a study protocol of an open randomised clinical trial in primary care

Introduction Despite the frequent use of therapies in acute bronchitis, the evidence of their benefit is lacking, since only a few clinical trials have been published, with low sample sizes, poor methodological quality and mainly in children. The objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of three symptomatic therapies (dextromethorphan, ipratropium or honey) associated with usual care and the usual care in adults with acute bronchitis. Methods and analysis This will be a multicentre, pragmatic, parallel group, open randomised trial. Patients aged 18 or over with uncomplicated acute bronchitis, with cough for less than 3 weeks as the main symptom, scoring ≥4 in either daytime or nocturnal cough on a 7-point Likert scale, will be randomised to one of the following four groups: usual care, dextromethorphan 30 mg three times a day, ipratropium bromide inhaler 20 μg two puffs three times a day or honey 30 mg (a spoonful) three times a day, all taken for up to 14 days. The exclusion criteria will be pneumonia, criteria for hospital admission, pregnancy or lactation, concomitant pulmonary disease, associated significant comorbidity, allergy, intolerance or contraindication to any of the study drugs or admitted to a long-term residence. Sample: 668 patients. The primary outcome will be the number of days with moderate-to-severe cough. All patients will be given a paper-based symptom diary to be self-administered. A second visit will be scheduled at day 2 or 3 for assessing evolution, with two more visits at days 15 and 29 for clinical assessment, evaluation of adverse effects, re-attendance and complications. Patients still with symptoms at day 29 will be called 6 weeks after the baseline visit. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Ethical Board of IDIAP Jordi Gol (reference number: AC18/002). The findings of this trial will be disseminated through research conferences and peer-review journals. Trial registration number NCT03738917; Pre-results

Actininopathy : A new muscular dystrophy caused by ACTN2 dominant mutations

Objective To clinically and pathologically characterize a cohort of patients presenting with a novel form of distal myopathy and to identify the genetic cause of this new muscular dystrophy. Methods We studied 4 families (3 from Spain and 1 from Sweden) suffering from an autosomal dominant distal myopathy. Affected members showed adult onset asymmetric distal muscle weakness with initial involvement of ankle dorsiflexion later progressing also to proximal limb muscles. Results In all 3 Spanish families, we identified a unique missense variant in the ACTN2 gene cosegregating with the disease. The affected members of the Swedish family carry a different ACTN2 missense variant. Interpretation ACTN2 encodes for alpha actinin2, which is highly expressed in the sarcomeric Z-disk with a major structural and functional role. Actininopathy is thus a new genetically determined distal myopathy. ANN NEUROL 2019;85:899-906.Peer reviewe