A reference model for information specification for metalworking SMEs

The work reported in this thesis offers a novel basis for the realisation of specifications for information requirements to meet the distinct operational requirements of metalworking SMEs. This has been achieved through the development of a reference SME enterprise model based on fundamental ideas of the holon and fractal factory concepts. The novel concept of a node holon is introduced, which allows the representation of the human dominated interactions in a company based on the fundamental concepts of the holon. This offers a competitive alternative to the methods for enterprise modelling and information specification which are based solely around business processes and procedural rules. A new representation for the organisation of the SME has been based on identifying the major zones of activity within the enterprise, which is seen to provide a more appropriate representation for companies whose basis for operation is informally structured. Two classes of zones have been identified, these are the business support zone and manufacturing zone. The relationship between a top down description of the enterprise as zones and the complementary bottoms up modelling of the enterprise based on concepts of the node holon are described in detail. A critical study of two candidate modelling architectures, namely CIN40SA and ARIS will show the applicability of the individual architectures for the task information specification. The constituents of the SMEE enterprise reference model is placed within the context of contemporary enterprise modelling practice by mapping against one of the architectures. This will demonstrate how the architectures can readily accommodate new modelling approaches whilst retaining their major advantages, thereby increasing their applicability and potential uptake. The reference SME enterprise model has been readily applied in the study of an SME, where a representation of the company has been achieved solely on the current organisation of its business support and manufacturing activities. The holonic aspects of the enterprise have also been successfully modelled. This process is supported by a CASE tool which has it constructs underpinned by the reference SME enterprise model

Local anaesthesia systemic toxicity (LAST) – A stroke mimicker

Local anaesthesia systemic toxicity (LAST) is an uncommon and a potentially life-threatening event that develops after peripheral nerve block. The cause may be multifactorial and may include the choice of drug, technique of block and individual patient risk factors. We report a case of a 55-year-old female who developed slurring of speech and quadriplegia after receiving a mixture of lignocaine and hydrocortisone through an intra-articular injection to the right shoulder. Neurological examination revealed hypotonia and absence of power (0/5) in all limbs. These toxic events may have resulted from an accidental intra-arterialor dural cuff injection of local anaesthesia or absorption from surrounding tissues. This case report demonstrated that an intra-articular injection in the shoulder may cause LAST and may be under-recognized as it can mimic stroke

A New Interpretivist Metasemantics for Fundamental Legal Disagreements

What does it take for lawyers and others to think or talk about the same legal topic—e.g., defamation, culpability? We argue that people are able to think or talk about the same topic not when they possess a matching substantive understanding of the topic, as traditional metasemantics says, but instead when their thoughts or utterances are related to each other in certain ways. And what determines the content of thoughts and utterances is what would best serve the core purposes of the representational practice within which the thought or utterance is located. In thus favoring a “relational model” in metasemantics, we share Ronald Dworkin's goal of explaining fundamental legal disagreements, and also his reliance on constructive interpretation. But what we delineate is a far more general and explanatorily resourceful metasemantics than what Dworkin articulated, which also bypasses some controversial implications for the nature of law that Dworkin alleged

Binding of Basic Dyes by the Algae, Chara aspera

Non-living biomass of the algae Chara aspera is capable of binding two basic dyes, methylene blue and basic blue 3, from aqueous solution. Factors such as dye concentration, contact time, sorbent dosage and pH of solution were studied. Maximum sorption capacities of the algae for methylene blue and basic blue 3 are 139.4 and 17.8 mg/g, respectively, as determined from the Langmuir isothenns

A multiple-cut analytic center cutting plane method for semidefinite feasibility problems

10.1137/S1052623400370503SIAM Journal on Optimization1241126-114

Complete Genome Sequences of Arcobacter butzleri ED-1 and Arcobacter sp Strain L, Both Isolated from a Microbial Fuel Cell

Arcobacter butzleri strain ED-1 is an exoelectrogenic epsilonproteobacterium isolated from the anode biofilm of a microbial fuel cell. Arcobacter sp. strain L dominates the liquid phase of the same fuel cell. Here we report the finished and annotated genome sequences of these organisms

Shake till you break – bilateral neck of humerus fracture post seizure

Fractures may occur after an episode of seizures. Although rare, with a high index of suspicion and proper physical examination, delay of diagnosis and treatment can be avoided. We report a case of near missed bilateral proximal humerus fracture after an episode of generalized tonic-clonic seizure. A 58-year-old lady with a background history of epilepsy complained of generalized body ache after a generalized tonic-clonic seizure which happened few hours before presentation to our Emergency Department. On assessment, she was in pain and unable to move all four limbs. After given analgesia, patient was reassessed whereby she complained of bilateral shoulder stiffness and pain. Examination of the upper limbs revealed restricted range of movement in all directions with no shoulder squaring. X-ray showed bilateral proximal humerus fracture. Proximal humeral fractures rarely occur by itself following seizures; they are almost always associated with dislocation of the glenohumeral joint

Spectral operators of matrices

The class of matrix optimization problems (MOPs) has been recognized in recent years to be a powerful tool to model many important applications involving structured low rank matrices within and beyond the optimization community. This trend can be credited to some extent to the exciting developments in emerging fields such as compressed sensing. The Löwner operator, which generates a matrix valued function via applying a single-variable function to each of the singular values of a matrix, has played an important role for a long time in solving matrix optimization problems. However, the classical theory developed for the Löwner operator has become inadequate in these recent applications. The main objective of this paper is to provide necessary theoretical foundations from the perspectives of designing efficient numerical methods for solving MOPs. We achieve this goal by introducing and conducting a thorough study on a new class of matrix valued functions, coined as spectral operators of matrices. Several fundamental properties of spectral operators, including the well-definedness, continuity, directional differentiability and Fréchet-differentiability are systematically studied. © 2017 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg and Mathematical Optimization Society

Bubble transport by electro-magnetophoretic forces at anode bottom of aluminium cells

Electrically conducting and nonconducting particles and bubbles experience additional forcing in a liquid which carries electric current. These so called electro-magnetophoretic forces are well known in metallurgical applications, like metal purification in vacuum-arc remelting, electro-slag processes, impurity removal or concentration change in special castings. However, the effect of electro-magnetophoretic forces has never been considered for aluminium cells where the gas bubbles evolving in the liquid electrolyte are surrounded by an electric current and significant magnetic fields. We present models to estimate the effect of electric current flow in the vicinity of the bubbles and the additional pressure distribution resulting from the magnetic forces in the surrounding liquid electrolyte. According to the estimates, this force becomes important for bubbles exceeding 2 mm in size, and could be sufficient to overcome the typical drag force associated with electrolyte flow thereby opposing motion of the bubble along the base of the anode when it is inclined at a slight angle. The effect could explain certain features of the anode effect onset. Mathematical models and numerical results are presented and a further implementation in the general MHD code for the aluminium cell design is discussed