Reliability vs. Total Quality Cost: part selection criteria based on field data, combined optimal customer and business solution

Most privately owned businesses are formed to generate profits. Every year, manufacturers loose a portion of potential profits on covering warranty claims. To minimize warranty costs companies focus on product quality improvements. In this project real historical warranty data of three electronic sensors have been analyzed. Two-parameter Weibull distribution to measure sensors’ reliability have been used. Monte Carlo simulations have been implemented to calculate Total Quality Costs (TQC). The results show that cost of improved products may have an adverse impact on business profit – the main business objective. It has been demonstrated how reliability and TQC interact with each other and specified optimum business solutions. A new ratio representing combined business and customer objectives was introduced – Quality Cost Ratio (QCR). A new term has been proposed – Excessive Quality Cost (EQC). Improved process of selection parts and materials were proposed

Spatial development of the village of Stary Gostków – evaluation and identification of problem areas

The aim of this article is to identify problem areas in the spatial development of the village of Stary Gostków and to indicate the directions of changes, based on a field iventory conducted on 10.07.2022. The study discusses the determinants of the spatial development of the village in question, providing information on its geographical location, socio-economic characteristics, historical determinants, and relevant planning and strategic documents. The inventory made it possible to analyse the land use structure, the spatial structure of the built development, and the state of the technical infrustructure, and to identify the strengths and weaknesses. Problem areas have been classified into two types – A and B. Type A covers problems connected with buildings, such as roof covering (eternit) and heating (coal or wood). Type B mainly concerns the technical infrastructure, including the lack of the pavement and street lighting. The identification of the problems and indication of the directions of necessary changes are intended to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants.Celem artykułu było wyznaczenie obszarów problemowych w zagospodarowaniu sołectwa Stary Gostków oraz wskazanie kierunków zmian. Praca przedstawia uwarunkowania zagospodarowania badanego sołectwa. Zawarto w niej informacje dotyczące położenia geograficznego, charakterystyki społeczno-gospodarczej, uwarunkowań historycznych oraz obowiązujących dokumentów planistycznych i strategicznych dla analizowanego obszaru. Cel artykułu osiągnięto dzięki przeprowadzonej w 10.07.2022 r. inwentaryzacji terenowej. Uzyskane podczas niej dane pozwoliły dokonać analizy struktury użytkowania ziemi oraz układu przestrzennego zabudowy. Zinwentaryzowano wszystkie budynki znajdujące się w sołectwie, wraz z dokonaniem podziału m.in. na ich funkcje. Przedstawiono również infrastrukturę techniczną oraz ocenę aktualnego zagospodarowania obszaru badań, wskazując na jego mocne i słabe strony. W granicach badanego terenu wyodrębniono dwa typy obszarów problemowych – A i B. W obszarze A wskazano na problemy związane z zabudową, w tym pokryciem dachowym (eternitem) i sposobem ogrzewania domów (węglem bądź drewnem). W obszarach B problemy dotyczą głównie infrastruktury technicznej, w tym braku lamp oświetleniowych i chodnika. Identyfikacja obszarów problemowych w sołectwie oraz przedstawienie kierunków zmian w tym obszarze opiera się na chęci poprawy jakości życia mieszkańców

Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence of Chlorophylls in Light-Harvesting Complexes Coupled to Silver Nanowires

We investigate metal-enhanced fluorescence of peridinin-chlorophyll protein coupled to silver nanowires using optical microscopy combined with spectrally and time-resolved fluorescence techniques. In particular we study two different sample geometries: first, in which the light-harvesting complexes are deposited onto silver nanowires, and second, where solution of both nanostructures are mixed prior deposition on a substrate. The results indicate that for the peridinin-chlorophyll complexes placed in the vicinity of the silver nanowires we observe higher intensities of fluorescence emission as compared to the reference sample, where no nanowires are present. Enhancement factors estimated for the sample where the light-harvesting complexes are mixed together with the silver nanowires prior deposition on a substrate are generally larger in comparison to the other geometry of a hybrid nanostructure. While fluorescence spectra are identical both in terms of overall shape and maximum wavelength for peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complexes both isolated and coupled to metallic nanostructures, we conclude that interaction with plasmon excitations in the latter remains neutral to the functionality of the biological system. Fluorescence transients measured for the PCP complexes coupled to the silver nanowires indicate shortening of the fluorescence lifetime pointing towards modifications of radiative rate due to plasmonic interactions. Our results can be applied for developing ways to plasmonically control the light-harvesting capability of photosynthetic complexes

Plasmonic Molecular Nanohybrids—Spectral Dependence of Fluorescence Quenching

We demonstrate strong spectral dependence of the efficiency of fluorescence quenching in molecular systems composed of organic dyes and gold nanoparticles. In order to probe the coupling with metallic nanoparticles we use dyes with varied spectral overlap between the plasmon resonance and their absorption. Hybrid molecular structures were obtained via conjugation of metallic nanoparticles with the dyes using biotin-streptavidin linkage. For dyes featuring absorption above the plasmon excitation in gold nanoparticles, laser excitation induces minute changes in the fluorescence intensity and its lifetime for both conjugated and non-conjugated mixtures, which are the reference. In contrast, when the absorption of the dye overlaps with the plasmon resonance, the effect is quite dramatic, reaching 85% and 95% fluorescence quenching for non-conjugated and conjugated mixtures, respectively. The degree of fluorescence quenching strongly depends upon the concentration of metallic nanoparticles. Importantly, the origin of the fluorescence quenching is different in the case of the conjugated mixture, as evidenced by time-resolved fluorescence. For conjugated mixtures of dyes resonant with plasmon, excitation features two-exponential decay. This is in contrast to the single exponential decay measured for the off-resonant configuration. The results provide valuable insight into spectral dependence of the fluorescence quenching in molecular assemblies involving organic dyes and metallic nanoparticles

Emerging Precision Management Methods in Poultry Sector

New approach to improve welfare in the poultry sector is targeted at the precise management of animals. In poultry production, we observe that birds’ health and quality of poultry products depend significantly on good welfare conditions, affecting economic efficiency. Using technology solutions in different systems of animal production is an innovation that can help farmers more effectively control the environmental conditions and health of birds. In addition, rising public concern about poultry breeding and welfare leads to developing solutions to increase the efficiency of control and monitoring in this animal production branch. Precision livestock farming (PLF) collects real-time data of birds using different types of technologies for this process. It means that PLF can help prevent lowering animal welfare by detecting early stages of diseases and stressful situations during birds’ management and allows steps to be taken quickly enough to limit the adverse effects. This review shows connections between the possibilities of using the latest technologies to monitor laying hens and broilers in developing precision livestock farming

Epoxy Resin-Based Materials Containing Natural Additives of Plant Origin Dedicated to Rail Transport

The presented study is focused on the modification of commercially available epoxy resin with flame retardants by means of using natural substances, including quercetin hydrate and potato starch. The main aim was to obtain environmentally friendly material dedicated to rail transport that is resistant to the aging process during exploitation but also more prone to biodegradation in environmental conditions after usage. Starch is a natural biopolymer that can be applied as a pro-ecological filler, which may contribute to degradation in environmental conditions, while quercetin hydrate is able to prevent a composite from premature degradation during exploitation. To determine the aging resistance of the prepared materials, the measurements of hardness, color, mechanical properties and surface free energy were performed before and after solar aging. To assess the mechanical properties of the composite material, one-directional tensile tests were performed for three directions (0, 90, 45 degrees referred to the plate edges). Moreover, the FT-IR spectra of pristine and aged materials were obtained to observe the changes in chemical structure. Furthermore, thermogravimetric analysis was conducted to achieve information about the impact of natural substances on the thermal resistance of the achieved composites

Selbstständigkeit als pädagogischer Horizont der Oberstufe: Eine qualitative Untersuchung zum Verständnis von Selbstständigkeit in der pädagogischen Praxis der Eingangsphase am Oberstufen-Kolleg

Diese Publikation widmet sich den Fragen, welche Kompetenzen in Bezug auf Selbstständigkeit von den Schüler*innen im Verlauf der Eingangsphase des Oberstufen-Kollegs erwartet werden, welches Verständnis von Selbstständigkeit die Akteur*innen der Eingangsphase aufweisen, welche Konzepte zur Förderung von Selbstständigkeit von ihnen verfolgt werden und welche Herausforderungen sich hierdurch sowie durch die institutionellen Strukturen für die Schüler*innen ergeben. Dazu wird zunächst Selbstständigkeit als pädagogischer Horizont theoretisch beschrieben und mit den drei Begriffen der produktiven, funktionalen und instrumentellen Selbstständigkeit ausdifferenziert. Der hierbei neu eingeführte Begriff der instrumentellen Selbstständigkeit eröffnet mit dem Konzept der „Zone der nächsten Entwicklung“ auf Basis der Arbeiten Wygotskis (1987) den Blick auf konkrete Lernprozesse, die durch Lernende selbst und mit professioneller Unterstützung initiiert werden. Die instrumentelle Selbstständigkeit wird anschließend auf eine, aus den Arbeiten Ludwig Hubers (1994, 1998, 2010) abgeleitete Vorstellung von Studierfähigkeit bezogen. Dieser theoretische Rahmen wird um eine Darstellung institutioneller Strukturen für das Selbstständigwerden auf verschiedenen Ebenen (KMK, NRW, Oberstufen-Kolleg) sowie um eine Darstellung der Unterrichtsstrukturen am Oberstufen-Kolleg ergänzt. Unter Berücksichtigung dieser theoretischen Überlegungen werden leitfadengestützte Interviews mit verschiedenen Akteur*innen aus der pädagogischen Praxis der Eingangsphase (Lehrende verschiedener Basiskurse, Schulsozialarbeit, Laufbahnberatung, Projektkoordination) nach der Methode des thematischen Kodierens ausgewertet. Dabei werden verschiedene Vorstellungen zu einer pädagogischen Hinführung zur Selbstständigkeit entfaltet und systematisch auf die Ebenen des Unterrichts und der Institution bezogen

The Representativeness of Automated Web Crawls as a Surrogate for Human Browsing

International audienceLarge-scale Web crawls have emerged as the state of the art for studying characteristics of the Web. In particular, they are a core tool for online tracking research. Web crawling is an attractive approach to data collection, as crawls can be run at relatively low infrastructure cost and don't require handling sensitive user data such as browsing histories. However, the biases introduced by using crawls as a proxy for human browsing data have not been well studied. Crawls may fail to capture the diversity of user environments , and the snapshot view of the Web presented by one-time crawls does not reflect its constantly evolving nature, which hinders reproducibility of crawl-based studies. In this paper, we quantify the repeatability and representativeness of Web crawls in terms of common tracking and fingerprinting metrics, considering both variation across crawls and divergence from human browser usage. We quantify baseline variation of simultaneous crawls, then isolate the effects of time, cloud IP address vs. residential, and operating system. This provides a foundation to assess the agreement between crawls visiting a standard list of high-traffic websites and actual browsing behaviour measured from an opt-in sample of over 50,000 users of the Firefox Web browser. Our analysis reveals differences between the treatment of stateless crawling infrastructure and generally stateful human browsing, showing, for example, that crawlers tend to experience higher rates of third-party activity than human browser users on loading pages from the same domains