Integrating Ergonomic Factors with Waste Identification Diagram to Enhance Operator Performance and Productivity in the Textile Industry

Industries have introduced lean manufacturing systems to outperform their competitors and sustain their growth. The implementation of lean tools results in satisfying the customer needs. Industries focus primarily on technical assistance when implementing lean strategies, but the success and sustainability of a lean strategy largely depend on the skill and cooperation of the workers. Research findings show that most industries have not attached importance to human factors while implementing lean logic. The negligence of human factors affects the quality of life of workers. Hence, this study intends to improve the quality of life and efficiency of workers by integrating ergonomic factors with the implementation of lean strategies in apparel industry. To accomplish this, the waste identification diagram was improved by adding a component to determine operators’ performance and analyse human factors. The ergonomic-waste identification diagram has been created to identify tasks related to ergonomic investigations and analyse human factors with lean metrics. The results point to the fact that an egalitarian approach increases the performance of operators and productivity of the organization

A Time-Performance Improvement Model with Optimal Ergonomic Risk Level Using Genetic Algorithm

The optimization of productivity has received significant attention in the manufacturing field. The majority of operations in the manufacturing business are still performed by workers. The analysis of work efficiency and the avoidance of ergonomic risk levels in the production line of clothing industry is critical. The correlation between a task in production and a reduction in ergonomic risks has been rarely considered in previous studies. This study proposes a time-performance improvement model with an optimal ergonomic risk level using a genetic algorithm; the model is intended to be used in the garment industry and reduce the gap for real-world applications. The results show that by distributing management training and limiting ergonomic risk factors, operator performance of selected operations can be improved, resulting in an optimum solution. The proposed model was implemented through case studies, and the operator performance improved from 73.68% to 92.76%. The significant element of this study is to use ergonomic improvement to increase operator performance through a time-performance improvement model

Production of microbial lipids utilizing volatile fatty acids derived from wastepaper: A biorefinery approach for biodiesel production

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) derived from organic wastes are being considered as low-cost feedstock for microbial lipid production as a valuable alternative to plant derived oils/biodiesel. In this study, VFAs were produced from anaerobic open culture fermentation of wastepaper and subsequently, used as a feedstock for lipid production by Cryptococcus curvatus. Total VFAs, yield and productivity achieved from waste office paper (WOP) and waste newspaper (WNP) were 17.3 and 10.2 g/L, 0.17 and 0.10 g/g TS, and 0.86 and 0.51 g/L/day, respectively. Biomass, lipid content and productivity achieved utilizing VFAs derived from WOP and WNP were 4.3 and 2.9 g/L, 41.2 and 27.7% DCW, and 0.037 and 0.033 g/L/h, respectively. The dominance of fatty acids such as oleic, palmitic, stearic and linoleic acid in the lipids suggests a high level of similarity with plant/vegetable oils used for biodiesel production. Therefore, VFAs derived from wastepaper could be potentially used as feedstock to produce microbial lipids towards cost-effective production of biodiesel

Mechanical and tribological behaviour of three-dimensional printed almond shell particles reinforced polylactic acid bio-composites

Recently, composite filament development for three-dimensional printing has emerged and is used for numerous applications. The present research work develops neat polylactic acid and Almond Shell Particles reinforced polylactic acid bio-composites for three-dimensional printing and investigates the effects of printing orientation, including 0°, 45° and 90° orientation, on the tribological and mechanical behaviours of three-dimensional printed materials. The novel almond shell particles reinforced polylactic acid filaments are extruded by the filament extrusion method with the presence of 10% almond shell particles in the polylactic acid matrix, and the samples are three-dimensional printed by the fused filament fabrication technique. Mechanical characteristics such as tensile, flexural, compressive strength, and shore hardness are evaluated with respect to various three-dimensional printing orientations. The surface quality of the three-dimensional printed polylactic acid composite samples is analysed with respect to length and diameter deviation. Length accuracy of the 90° oriented polylactic acid and almond shell particles reinforced polylactic acid bio-composite samples exploits a better accuracy of 99.12% and 98.81%, respectively. It is shown that adding almond shell particles to the polylactic acid matrix decreases the flexural and tensile strength. Among the printing orientations, 0° flat samples result in the maximum tensile strength of 36 and 28 MPa for the neat polylactic acid and almond shell particles reinforced polylactic acid composites, respectively. The lowest contact angle of 54° is observed on the almond shell particles reinforced polylactic acid bio-composites three-dimensional printed with a 90° orientation. The highest contact angle value of 94° is observed on the neat polylactic acid three-dimensional printed with a 0° printing orientation. A tribological study is carried out under dry conditions on the pin-on-disc tribometer by varying the sliding speed (1, 2, and 3 m/s) and load (10, 20, and 30 N). The result shows that the lowest coefficient of friction of 0.22 is achieved for the almond shell particles reinforced polylactic acid bio-composite samples with a 0° printing orientation under a sliding load of 10 N. These kinds of newly developed compostable materials can be used for developing disposable orthotic foot appliances

Effects of fluoxetine on functional outcomes after acute stroke (FOCUS): a pragmatic, double-blind, randomised, controlled trial

Background Results of small trials indicate that fluoxetine might improve functional outcomes after stroke. The FOCUS trial aimed to provide a precise estimate of these effects. Methods FOCUS was a pragmatic, multicentre, parallel group, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial done at 103 hospitals in the UK. Patients were eligible if they were aged 18 years or older, had a clinical stroke diagnosis, were enrolled and randomly assigned between 2 days and 15 days after onset, and had focal neurological deficits. Patients were randomly allocated fluoxetine 20 mg or matching placebo orally once daily for 6 months via a web-based system by use of a minimisation algorithm. The primary outcome was functional status, measured with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), at 6 months. Patients, carers, health-care staff, and the trial team were masked to treatment allocation. Functional status was assessed at 6 months and 12 months after randomisation. Patients were analysed according to their treatment allocation. This trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN83290762. Findings Between Sept 10, 2012, and March 31, 2017, 3127 patients were recruited. 1564 patients were allocated fluoxetine and 1563 allocated placebo. mRS data at 6 months were available for 1553 (99·3%) patients in each treatment group. The distribution across mRS categories at 6 months was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (common odds ratio adjusted for minimisation variables 0·951 [95% CI 0·839–1·079]; p=0·439). Patients allocated fluoxetine were less likely than those allocated placebo to develop new depression by 6 months (210 [13·43%] patients vs 269 [17·21%]; difference 3·78% [95% CI 1·26–6·30]; p=0·0033), but they had more bone fractures (45 [2·88%] vs 23 [1·47%]; difference 1·41% [95% CI 0·38–2·43]; p=0·0070). There were no significant differences in any other event at 6 or 12 months. Interpretation Fluoxetine 20 mg given daily for 6 months after acute stroke does not seem to improve functional outcomes. Although the treatment reduced the occurrence of depression, it increased the frequency of bone fractures. These results do not support the routine use of fluoxetine either for the prevention of post-stroke depression or to promote recovery of function. Funding UK Stroke Association and NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme

Effect of schedule management plan in project management worth using structural equation modelling

Abstract With the growing digitalization and the need for customers to have more personalized services available, there is a constant need to innovate and fulfil the demands of customers. However, this burden has contributed to further worsening the schedule management for the service companies. Customers now are demanding more personalized service but without having any compromise on the quality and time of delivery. This resulted in creating the need to have a schedule-driven management plan designed. Despite this advantage, there are very limited studies available that even focus on the concept whereas not any study works towards understanding its contribution in affecting project management for service companies. To overcome this, the study aims to assess the perception of 200 employees and 10 managers for understanding a schedule management plan and its impact on project management worth. The employee’s perception evaluation via structural equation modelling revealed that there is no direct influence of schedule management on project management worth but via different factors and strategies the influence could be derived. Managers’ perceptions validated the findings and provided insight that strategies like the building of a cloud-based platform or predictive modelling should be designed for better schedule management plan development

Identification and Characterization of Process-Related Impurities of Trans-Resveratrol

This article deals with the identification and characterization of process-related impurities of trans-resveratrol (3,5,4\u27-trihydroxystilbene), which exhibits several health benefits, including cancer prevention. During the synthesis of the bulk drug resveratrol, three new impurities were observed. The impurities were detected using the high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method, whose area percentages ranged from 0.05 to 0.3%. A systematic study was carried out to characterize them. These impurities were isolated by preparative HPLC and characterized by spectral data, subjected to co-injection in HPLC, and were found to be matching with the impurities present in the sample. LC-MS was performed to identify the mass of these impurities. Based on their spectral data (IR, NMR, and Mass), these impurities were characterized as 2-benzyl-5-[(E)-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethenyl]benzene-1,3-diol [Impurity-B], 3-(benzyloxy)-5-[(E)-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethenyl]phenol [Impurity-C], 5-{(E)-2-[4-(benzyloxy)phenyl]ethenyl}benzene-1,3-diol [Impurity-D). These compounds are not reported earlier as process-related impurities