Scientific allowance and cost system for upper leather cutting in shoe factories

The aim of the authors of this book has been first to establish the proof that Allowances for Cutting Upper Leather can be reduced almost to an exact science. Second to put before the world so clearly, that any student of ordinary ability, whether a cutter or not, can understand our System of Allowances. The system described has been thoroughly tested and found to be as accurate as practical use will allow

Development of a manufacturing progress function to include the transferability of progress in order to relate to dual sourcing within a firm

The applicability of Progress Function concepts to the problem of dual sourcing a product at two manufacturing facilities within a firm is considered. Using Progress Function concepts, a model is formulated which considers the transfer of progress or know-how from the original manufacturing facility to the second facility. Manufacturing data on five products, dual sourced within a firm, are used to evaluate the model

Optimal merging of point sources extracted from Spitzer Space Telescope data in multiple infrared passbands versus simple general source association

For collating point-source flux measurements derived from multiple infrared passbands of Spitzer-Space-Telescope data – e.g., channels 1-4 of the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and channels 1-3 of the Multiband Imaging Pho- tometer for Spitzer (MIPS) – it is best to use the ‘bandmerge’ software developed at the Spitzer Science Center rather than the relatively simple method of general source association (GSA). The former method uses both source positions and positional uncertainties to form a chi-squared statistic that can be thresholded for optimal matching, while the latter method finds nearest neighbors across bands that fall within a user-specified radius of the primary source. Our assertion is supported by our study of completeness (C) vs. reliability (R) for the two methods, which involved MIPS-24/IRAC-1 matches in the SWIRE Chandra Deep Field South. Both methods can achieve C = 98%, but with R = 92.7% for GSA vs. R = 97.4% for bandmerge. With almost a factor of three lower in unreliability (1 − R), bandmerge is the clear winner of this comparison

Pretend Play and Creativity in Preschool-Aged Children: Associations and Brief Intervention

Cognitive and affective processes in play have related to measures of creativity in school-aged children. In a previous examination of these play processes in preschool-aged children with the Affect in Play Scale-Preschool version, cognitive and affective play processes related to divergent thinking. One goal of the current study was to replicate this finding and examine the relationship between pretend play and storytelling creativity in preschoolers. A second goal was to test the effectiveness of a brief play intervention. Adult-led play interventions have effectively improved play skills and related developmental skills for children with documented play deficits. However, there is a need for an empirically-based, brief play intervention for typically developing preschool-aged children. A pilot study found medium to large effect sizes for increased play skills for an intervention with preschool-aged children and their parents. The current study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the intervention without parent involvement. Forty-one typically developing children (ages 4-6 years) participated. Pretend play, divergent thinking, and creative storytelling were assessed at baseline and outcome. Children were randomly assigned to the play skills intervention, which received three 20-30 minute individual play sessions, or the active control. At baseline, results were that cognitive and affective play processes related to divergent thinking and creative storytelling. The play intervention did not significantly improve pretend play skills or creativity in the intervention group compared to the control group. Reasons for the nonsignfiicant findings for the intervention, suggestions for future refinement of the intervention, and implications for childhood development are discussed

Unreal Engine 4 RPG

Classic RPG videogames have become few and far between in the Western market over the years as modern RPG systems have gained popularity. The purpose of this project is to present a vertical slice of a hybrid RPG game that takes the gameplay mechanics and styles of classic RPG videogames and infuses them with a modern presentation. Through the use of the powerful Unreal Engine 4 graphics engine, this project is able to combine impressive graphical fidelity with modernized systems to fuel a videogame that is undeniably a classic RPG at heart. This is not a full game, but a “vertical slice”, which is a term used in the videogame industry to refer to a condensed segment of gameplay that contains the major features and mechanics of the game. A vertical slice is used to demonstrate what the finished product would look and feel like if the developers receive the time and money from the publishers to turn it into a full product. This project showcases a turn-based battle system that takes place in the world, a save/load system, a quest system, various character and popup animations, a character inventory system, modernized character controls, and a carefully designed playable level

Analysis of variation of amplitudes in cell cycle gene expression

BACKGROUND: Variation in gene expression among cells in a population is often considered as noise produced from gene transcription and post-transcription processes and experimental artifacts. Most studies on noise in gene expression have emphasized a few well-characterized genes and proteins. We investigated whether different cell-arresting methods have impacts on the maximum expression levels (amplitudes) of a cell cycle related gene. RESULTS: By introducing random noise, modeled by a von Mises distribution, to the phase angle in a sinusoidal model in a cell population, we derived a relationship between amplitude and the distribution of noise in maximum transcription time (phase). We applied our analysis to Whitfield's HeLa cell cycle data. Our analysis suggests that among 47 cell cycle related genes common to the 2(nd )experiment (thymidine-thymidine method) and the 4(th )experiment (thymidine-nocodazole method): (i) the amplitudes of CDC6 and PCNA, which are expressed during G1/S phase, are smaller in the 2(nd )experiment than in the 4(th), while the amplitude of CDC20, which is expressed during G2/M phase, is smaller in the 4(th )experiment; and (ii) the two cell-arresting methods had little impact on the amplitudes of the other 43 genes in the 2(nd )and 4(th )experiments. CONCLUSION: Our analysis suggests that procedures that arrest cells in different stages of the cell cycle differentially affect expression of some cell cycle related genes once the cells are released from arrest. The impact of the cell-arresting method on expression of a cell cycle related gene can be quantitatively estimated from the ratio of two estimated amplitudes in two experiments. The ratio can be used to gauge the variation in the phase/peak expression time distribution involved in stochastic transcription and post-transcriptional processes for the gene. Further investigations are needed using normal, unperturbed and synchronized HeLa cells as a reference to compare how many cell cycle related genes are directly and indirectly affected by various cell-arresting methods

Accuracy and bias of visual estimates of numbers, size structure and biomass of a coral reef fish

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Rhizosphere Ph and Phosphatase Activity in Orthic Allophanic Soil Under Pinus Radiata Seedlings Grown with Broom and Ryegrass

Under Pinus radiata plantations where the tree spacing is wider and most soils are phosphorus (P) deficient, the radiata tree response to P fertilizer is expected to be more influenced by the interaction between the applied P fertilizer, the tree and understorey vegetation. Therefore, a better understanding of the soil P chemistry under radiata pine trees in association with other plants is required. We investigated the effect of broom (Cytisus scoparius L.) and ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) grown with radiata seedlings in Orthic Allophanic Soil treated with 0, 50, and 100 μg P g-1 soil of TSP on the pH and phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere soils under glasshouse condition. The pHs of radiata rhizosphere soils either grown with broom or grass were lower than those in the bulk soils and the bulk and rhizosphere soils of grass and broom, whether they were grown alone or grown with radiata at the applications of 50 and 100 μg P g-1 soil. These results suggest that P application enhanced root induced acidification in a P-deficient Allophanic Soil under radiata. The soils in the rhizosphere of grass and broom, grown in association with radiata, were also acidified by the effect of radiata roots. Acid phosphatase activity in soils under radiata, grass and broom decreased with an increased rate of P application. At all P rates, acid phosphatase activity was higher in the rhizosphere of radiata grown with broom than in the bulk soils. The phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere soil of radiata grown with broom was also higher than that of radiata grown with grass, but it was slightly lower than that in the rhizosphere of broom grown alone. These results suggest that broom may have also contributed to the higher phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere soils than in the bulk soils of broom and radiata when they were grown togethe

Correlation-Strength Driven Anderson Metal-Insulator Transition

The possibility of driving an Anderson metal-insulator transition in the presence of scale-free disorder by changing the correlation exponent is numerically investigated. We calculate the localization length for quasi-one-dimensional systems at fixed energy and fixed disorder strength using a standard transfer matrix method. From a finite-size scaling analysis we extract the critical correlation exponent and the critical exponent characterizing the phase transition.Comment: 3 pages; 2 figure