Gauge R&R: An Effective Methodology for Determining the Adequacy of a New Measurement System for Micron-level Metrology

To compete in a global marketplace, manufacturers are increasingly turning to advanced manufacturing techniques to increase productivity and gain a competitive advantage. This trend requires management to be able to make decisions based on proper quantitative analysis of data. In the manufacturing process, control of variation with an increasingly high degree of precision demands an improved degree of measurement effectiveness. Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA) is a collection of statistical methods (which includes the Gauge Repeatability and Reproducibility study) for the analysis of measurement system capability (Automotive Industry Action Group [AIAG], 2002; Smith, McCrary, & Callahan, 2007)

PMAS: The Potsdam Multi Aperture Spectrophotometer. II. The Wide Integral Field Unit PPak

PPak is a new fiber-based Integral Field Unit (IFU), developed at the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, implemented as a module into the existing PMAS spectrograph. The purpose of PPak is to provide both an extended field-of-view with a large light collecting power for each spatial element, as well as an adequate spectral resolution. The PPak system consists of a fiber bundle with 331 object, 36 sky and 15 calibration fibers. The object and sky fibers collect the light from the focal plane behind a focal reducer lens. The object fibers of PPak, each 2.7 arcseconds in diameter, provide a contiguous hexagonal field-of-view of 74 times 64 arcseconds on the sky, with a filling factor of 60%. The operational wavelength range is from 400 to 900nm. The PPak-IFU, together with the PMAS spectrograph, are intended for the study of extended, low surface brightness objects, offering an optimization of total light-collecting power and spectral resolution. This paper describes the instrument design, the assembly, integration and tests, the commissioning and operational procedures, and presents the measured performance at the telescope.Comment: 14 pages, 21 figures, accepted at PAS

Factors Affecting College Students\u27 Knowledge and Opinions of Genetically Modified Foods

The use of biotechnology in food and agricultural applications has increased greatly during the past decade and is considered by many to be a controversial topic. Drawing upon a previous national study, a new survey was conducted of U.S. and international college students at a large, land-grant, Research University to determine factors that may affect opinions about genetically modified (GM) food products. Factors examined included nationality, discipline area of study, perceptions of safety, and awareness and levels of acceptance regarding GM food. Results indicated students born outside the United States had more negative opinions about genetically modified foods than did American-born students. Students who were studying a physical science-based curriculum had a more positive opinion of GM food than did students studying a curriculum that was not based in the physical science. In addition, students who reported a higher level of acceptance of genetically modified foods felt more positively about the safety of the technology

Application of Quality Management Systems to Grain Handling: An Inventory Management Case Study

To help meet the production gap of a growing population, the agricultural industry is incorporating new quality management practices to improve operational efficiency. In the agricultural supply chain, operations management within the grain handling industry represents an important area for quality management improvement to meet the growing needs for food safety and security. The strong growth in the use of quality management systems in agricultural environments reflects interest from the production agricultural industry. The present case study examines the impact of implementing a quality management system at a large, multi-site grain elevator company by comparing selected quality metrics before and after QMS adoption. After adoption, the company statistically reduced the grain quality measurement error in grading damage and foreign material, resulting in significantly greater value to shipped grain. The company was also able to add monetary value to low-value grain by using quality metrics to optimize their inventory management and blending strategy. Significant gains were not made in all areas examined, but generally, quality management systems added internal efficiencies and provided a means of adding value to low-quality grains within the grain elevator studied

A Production-oriented Approach in Electromagnetic Forming of Metal Sheets

parts per unit. Especially demands of modern lightweight design seem to be hard to satisfy by stretching conventional production methods. Thus, it is necessary to find new approaches. Adapting electromagnetic forming technology for the automotive industry would gain additional benefits like - less surface damaging owing to contact-less forming, - the possibility of achieving smaller radii, - focusing on low volume production through minimizing investment costs, and - more manufacturing flexibility. An approach to start qualifying this technology under the aspect of production engineering has been attempted by establishing a high speed forming project. The Volkswagen AG, Siemens AG, H&T ProduktionsTechnologie GmbH together with Fraunhofer Institute of Machine Tools and Forming Technology started activities focusing on - clarifying the fields of research and development which are not resolved to date, - developing necessary equipment, and - a systematic research on the according technology. The analysis of available equipments brought up a number of questions with respect to production engineering requirements. It resulted in a 100 kJ pulse power generator. One of the core components to define the quality of the forming process of flat parts is the flat coil. A coil design is selected to transfer a maximum of stored energy into the sheet metal. A selection of basic and applied experiments had the aim to know the limits of the technique. The paper introduces some representative results of the project. It touches the challenges related to the process of bringing this technology to productio

Effects of Magnetic Field on Josephson Current in SNS System

The effect of a magnetic field on Josephson current has been studied for a superconductor/normal-metal/superconductor (SNS) system, where N is a two-dimensional electron gas in a confining potential. It is found that the dependence of Josephson currents on the magnetic field are sensitive to the width of the normal metal. If the normal metal is wide and contains many channels (subbands), the current on a weak magnetic field shows a dependence similar to a Fraunhofer-pattern in SIS system and, as the field gets strong, it shows another type of oscillatory dependence on the field resulting from the Aharonov-Bohm interference between the edge states. As the number of channels decreases (i.e. normal metal gets narrower), however, the dependence in the region of the weak field deviates from a clear Fraunhofer pattern and the amplitude of the oscillatory dependence in the region of the strong field is reduced.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Cardiac Rehabilitation Intervention and Quality of Life Indicators: A Validation Estimate of Ware's Model

Author Institution: Dept. of Counseling & Mental Health Services, University of Toledo, OHAuthor Institution: Dept. of Educational Foundations & Leadership, University of Akron, OHAuthor Institution: Dept. of Counseling, Summa Health System, University of Akron, OHAuthor Institution: Cardiac Rehabilitation Institute, Summa Health System, University of Akron, OHThe present study tests Ware’s (1987, 1990) prediction that patient evaluations of quality of life (QOL) are related to physical ability. QOL data from 302 patients were collected prior to initiation and upon completion of a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program. Physical ability was measured in metabolic equivalents (METS). Pearson product moment correlation coefficients were calculated for the variables under study. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test these relationships covarying patient diagnosis, and pre-treatment QOL score and patient demographics. Significant improvements from pre- to post-CR were found for METs and all QOL variables. Improvements in physical ability were significantly correlated with improvements in physical health related QOL indices, but not with mental health QOL indices. These relationships were present even when moderating variables were co-varied. Improvements in physical ability were predictive of decreased expectations that physical health would interfere with work or other daily activities. As the physical capabilities of our patients increased, they reported feeling less physical pain and were less limited by any pain they did experience. And, increased physical ability was associated with a brighter outlook on current and expected future health status. These findings provide support for Ware’s theory of QOL