Does Ergonomics Improve Product Quality and Reduce Costs? A Review Article

Competition is an ongoing challenge confronting industrial corporations, particularly automobile manufacturing. Striving to improve product quality and productivity, automotive industries have used different quality management approaches, such as reduced variability, total quality management, and lean management, over recent years. Furthermore, incorporating proactive ergonomics such as physical and organizational ergonomics and psychosocial factors into the structure of a company is considered to be a support for productivity and quality. Several studies have shown the effects of ergonomics on better quality. Application of both quality management approaches and ergonomics in an integrated manner in the manufacturing production system is emphasized because they are similar concepts with the same objectives, that is, to improve efficiency. In this study, a comprehensive review was undertaken and 25 studies were reviewed in order to define how integration of an ergonomic approach in the manufacturing production system can reduce defects and improve quality in the production process

Analysis of Last Development Results for High Voltage Circuit-breakers Using New G3 Gas

Among many alternative gases proposed to replace SF6 as insulating gas, g3 (green gas for grid), fluoronitril based component officially introduced at CIGRE 2014, can be now used for insulation projects and new environmental friendly circuit breakers. This gas mixture g3, presents a reduction of the global warming potential by 98% compared to SF6 gas and shows quite good dielectric withstand capability. Many new investigations about thermal and chemical behavior have been done and are precised in this paper. Last switching test campaigns will be presented for 145 kV applications. Simulation tools should be updated to be applicable to these projects. Developments and comparisons with last test results will be analyzed

An optimal sizing framework for autonomous photovoltaic/hydrokinetic/hydrogen energy system considering cost, reliability and forced outage rate using horse herd optimization

The components outage of an energy system weakens its operation probability, which can affect the sizing of that system. An optimal sizing framework is presented for an autonomous hybrid photovoltaic/hydrokinetic/fuel cell (PV/HKT/FC) system with hydrogen storage to supply an annual load demand with forced outage rate (FOR) of the clean production resources based on real environmental information such as irradiance, temperature, and water flow. The sizing problem is implemented with the objective of cost of energy (COE) minimization and also satisfying probability of load supply (PLS) as a reliability constraint. The FOR effect of the photovoltaic and hydrokinetic resources is evaluated on the hybrid system sizing, energy cost, reliability, and also storage contribution of the system. Meta-heuristic horse herd optimization (HHO) algorithm with perfect capability on exploration and exploitation phases is used to solve the sizing problem. The results proved that the PV/HKT/FC configuration is the optimal option to supply the demand of an autonomous residential complex with the minimum COE and maximum PLS compared with the other system configurations. The results demonstrated the overlap of hydrogen storage with clean production resources to achieve an economic-reliable power generation system. The findings indicated that the COE is increased and the PLS is decreased due to the FOR increasing because of reducing the generation resources operational probability. The results demonstrated that the hydrogen storage level is increased with FOR increasing to maintain the system reliability level. Also, the sizing results indicated that the FOR of the hydrokinetic is more effective than the photovoltaic resources in increasing the system cost and undermining the load reliability. In sizing of the hybrid PV/HKT/FC system, the COE is obtained 1.57 $/kWh without considering the FOR and is achieved 1.66 and 1.63$/kWh considering the FOR (8%) for the hydrokinetic and photovoltaic resources, respectively. Moreover, the results cleared that the HHO is superior in comparison with particle swarm optimization (PSO), genetic algorithm (GA), and grey wolf optimizer (GWO) in the PV/HKT/FC system sizing with the lowest COE and higher reliability

Evaluation of Xylanase Production from Filamentous Fungi with Different Lifestyles

Xylanase plays an important role in the food, feed, and pulp/paper industry. Filamentous fungi have been considered as useful producers of this enzyme from an industrial point of view, due to the fact that they excrete xylanases into the medium. In this study, four fungal species belonging to different genera, i.e. Aspergillus, Cochliobolus, Pyrenophora, and Penicillium were isolated from different sources and compared for their ability to produce xylanase in submerged culture. The fungal species showed enzyme activity as determined by dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) method. It was found that the two saprophytic Aspergillus strains, i.e A. terreus (Fss 129) and A. niger (SS7) had the highest xylanase activity of 474 and 294 U ml–1 at pH 7 and 8, respectively, in the presence of corn cob hulls after 120 h of incubation. The production of xylanase seemed to be strongly influenced by the interactive effect of initial pH on the fungi. Interestingly, xylanase was better produced by the saprophytic fungi of Aspergillus and Penicillium than by the plant pathogenic ones of Cochliobolus and Pyrenophora. This work provides additional information to support future research on fungi with different lifestyles for food industrial production of xylanase

Lipase production by Fusarium culmorum in solid state fermentation

Fusarium is a large genus of filamentous fungi which cause some of the most important diseases in agricultural and horticultural crops. This fungus is considered to be a useful producer of enzymes from an industrial point of view. In the present study, lipase production by Fusarium culmorum SY6 was investigated under solid-state fermentation (SSF). Among the several agronomic wastes, corn cob hulls and tomato pulp supported the highest yield of lipase (170 and 165 U/g of dry substrate, respectively) after five days of incubation. It was determined that pH 9 and 60°C gave optimumenzyme activity. The F. culmorum SY6 strain grown in SSF in a simple medium proved to be a promising microorganism for lipase production

A Large Outbreak of Hepatitis E Among a Displaced Population in Darfur, Sudan, 2004: The Role of Water Treatment Methods.

BACKGROUND: The conflict in Darfur, Sudan, was responsible for the displacement of 1.8 million civilians. We investigated a large outbreak of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection in Mornay camp (78,800 inhabitants) in western Darfur. METHODS: To describe the outbreak, we used clinical and demographic information from cases recorded at the camp between 26 July and 31 December 2004. We conducted a case-cohort study and a retrospective cohort study to identify risk factors for clinical and asymptomatic hepatitis E, respectively. We collected stool and serum samples from animals and performed a bacteriological analysis of water samples. Human samples were tested for immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M antibody to HEV (for serum samples) and for amplification of the HEV genome (for serum and stool samples). RESULTS: In 6 months, 2621 hepatitis E cases were recorded (attack rate, 3.3%), with a case-fatality rate of 1.7% (45 deaths, 19 of which involved were pregnant women). Risk factors for clinical HEV infection included age of 15-45 years (odds ratio, 2.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-4.46) and drinking chlorinated surface water (odds ratio, 2.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.22-5.08). Both factors were also suggestive of increased risk for asymptomatic HEV infection, although this was not found to be statistically significant. HEV RNA was positively identified in serum samples obtained from 2 donkeys. No bacteria were identified from any sample of chlorinated water tested. CONCLUSIONS: Current recommendations to ensure a safe water supply may have been insufficient to inactivate HEV and control this epidemic. This research highlights the need to evaluate current water treatment methods and to identify alternative solutions adapted to complex emergencies