Impact of worker demographics and shift rotation on work stress factors in manufacturing

Work Stress is a barrier towards productivity and efficiency in manufacturing sector. Various factors of stress interact with the demographics such as age, education, experience, marital status and smoking habits of workers. Different workers exhibit different reactions towards work stress. To enhance productivity, manufacturing industry is utilizing night shift. However, night shift work is against the natural tendency of humans. The impact of rotating shift in context of work-stress of the workers is an area of concern. To understand the impact of demographics and shift rotation on work-stress of the workers, a quantitative study was undertaken in a medium sized automotive organization. The case organization was explored through a survey questionnaire administered to both day and night shift workers and analysed through Non parametric Spearman correlation and Mann Whitney U Test. The study highlights the need for effective reward and gratification scheme (Young Worker Avg 3.12 – Old Worker Avg 3.82), taking care of old age workers (Muscle Pain Old Avg 4.47 – Young Avg 3.84), reducing the smoking habit (Depression Smoking Avg 3.79 – Non Smoking Avg 3.12) (Fatigue Smoking Avg 3.92 – Non Smoking Avg 3.06), fostering social community and teamwork. Night shift may enhance production but should not be accepted as an ideal solution. The downsides and ill effects of the unnatural night shift work in the form of work stress are identified and should be reduced by management

Present and future resilience research driven by science and technology

Community resilience against major disasters is a multidisciplinary research field that garners an ever-increasing interest worldwide. This paper provides summaries of the discussions held on the subject matter and the research outcomes presented during the Second Resilience Workshop in Nanjing and Shanghai. It, thus, offers a community view of present work and future research directions identified by the workshop participants who hail from Asia – including China, Japan and Korea; Europe and the Americas

Bridges: analysis, design, structural health monitoring, and rehabilitation

This book offers a valuable guide for practicing bridge engineers and graduate students in structural engineering; its main purpose is to present the latest concepts in bridge engineering in fairly easy-to-follow terms. The book provides details of easy-to-use computer programs for: ·      Analysing slab-on-girder bridges for live load distribution. ·      Analysing slab and other solid bridge components for live load distribution. ·      Analysing and designing concrete deck slab overhangs of girder bridges under vehicular loads. ·      Determining the failure loads of concrete deck slabs of girder bridges under concentrated wheel loads. In addition, the book includes extensive chapters dealing with the design of wood bridges and soil-steel bridges. Further, a unique chapter on structural health monitoring (SHM) will help bridge engineers determine the actual load carrying capacities of bridges, as opposed to their perceived analytical capacities. The chapter addressing structures made with fibre-reinforced polymers will allow engineers to design highly durable, economical and sustainable structures. This chapter also provides guidance on rehabilitating deteriorated structures with these new materials. The book also deals with the philosophy of bridge design without resorting to complex equations. Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http://extras.springer.com

Stresses in deep beams.

Tests were carried out on deep beams of steel and concrete. The distribution of the horizontal stresses for each test has been plotted and the expected magnitude at different points on a section were calculated. A theory based on the theory of elasticity, both for steel and concrete, and ultimate load for the concrete has been developed. The results have been compared with data obtained from experiments. The agreement between theoretical and experimental results is within reasonable leeway. [...

Spectrum sensing through implementation of USRP2

Scarcity of the wireless spectrum has led to the development of new techniques for better utilization of the wireless spectrum. Demand for high data rates and better voice quality is resulting in the development of new wireless standard making wireless spectrum limited than ever. In this era of wireless communication, service providers and telecom operators are faced with a dilemma where they need a large sum of the wireless spectrum to meet the ever increasing quality of service requirements of consumers. This has led to the development of spectrum sensing techniques to find the unused spectrum in the available frequency band. The results presented in this thesis will help out in developing clear understanding of spectrum sensing techniques. Comparison of different spectrum sensing approaches. The experiments carried out using USRP2 and GNU radio will help the reader to understand the concept of underutilized frequency band and its importance in Cognitive Radios

Spectrum sensing through implementation of USRP2

Scarcity of the wireless spectrum has led to the development of new techniques for better utilization of the wireless spectrum. Demand for high data rates and better voice quality is resulting in the development of new wireless standard making wireless spectrum limited than ever. In this era of wireless communication, service providers and telecom operators are faced with a dilemma where they need a large sum of the wireless spectrum to meet the ever increasing quality of service requirements of consumers. This has led to the development of spectrum sensing techniques to find the unused spectrum in the available frequency band. The results presented in this thesis will help out in developing clear understanding of spectrum sensing techniques. Comparison of different spectrum sensing approaches. The experiments carried out using USRP2 and GNU radio will help the reader to understand the concept of underutilized frequency band and its importance in Cognitive Radios