Assembly Line Process Research Articles

Influence of composite processing on the properties of CNT grown on carbon surfaces

Abstract Carbon nanotubes (CNT) grafted on carbon fibres (CF) are the subject of more and more studies on the reinforcement of composite materials thanks to the CNT’ mechanical properties. This study concerns the growth of CNT directly on CF by the flame method, which is an assembly-line process. However the industrial-scale use of this method and of the composite processing leads to stresses on the CNT-grafted fabrics, such as friction and pulling-out. The aim of this study is to determine the behaviour of the CNT under these kinds of stresses and to study theirs consequences in composite processing. For this purpose, adhesion tests and friction tests were performed as well as analysis of the surface by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). In friction tests, CNT formed a transfer film, and its effect on the wettability of the fabric with epoxy resin is determined. Finally, the wear of the CNT does not influence the wettability of the fabric. Furthermore, it is proven that the nature of the catalyst needed to grow the CNT modifies the behaviour of the surface.

Systematic Nonuniformity Analysis of Amorphous Silicon-on-Insulator Photonic Microring Resonators

Low temperature deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) is a promising material to fabricate compact photonic-electronic integrated circuits (PICs) in multiple layers. However, high refractive index contrast (HIC) photonic circuits are challenging in fabrication and even smallest deviations of the material quality or manufacturing have huge impact on the system performance. We present a systematic study of intrawafer nonuniformity and wafer-to-wafer reproducibility of low-loss a-Si:H and investigate the spectral disorder of photonic microring resonators (MRRs). Photonic MRRs in various spatial configurations, different mask resolutions, and in multiplexed arrangement were fabricated and the spectral disorder in resonance position was examined in within-chip, chip-to-chip, and wafer-to-wafer spectral transmission measurements. The microrings exhibit chip-averaged wafer ranges less than 7.5 nm over 16 chips a 1.5 $\times$ 1.5 cm2 with standard deviations of 220 pm in average for short range systems distanced by a few 100 $\mu$ m. The spatially normalized wafer median of the resonance wavelength spread was determined to be lower 0.7 nm/cm on three wafers. The results demonstrate that a-Si:H PICs are suitable for large-scale integration and the manufacturing quality facilitates low-cost and high throughput assembly-line processing.

Interdomain and Intermodule Organization in Epimerization Domain Containing Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetases.

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases are large, complex multidomain enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of a wide range of peptidic natural products. Inherent to synthetase chemistry is the thioester templated mechanism that relies on protein/protein interactions and interdomain dynamics. Several questions related to structure and mechanism remain to be addressed, including the incorporation of accessory domains and intermodule interactions. The inclusion of nonproteinogenic d-amino acids into peptide frameworks is a common and important modification for bioactive nonribosomal peptides. Epimerization domains, embedded in nonribosomal peptide synthetases assembly lines, catalyze the l- to d-amino acid conversion. Here we report the structure of the epimerization domain/peptidyl carrier protein didomain construct from the first module of the cyclic peptide antibiotic gramicidin synthetase. Both holo (phosphopantethiene post-translationally modified) and apo structures were determined, each representing catalytically relevant conformations of the two domains. The structures provide insight into domain-domain recognition, substrate delivery during the assembly line process, in addition to the structural organization of homologous condensation domains, canonical players in all synthetase modules.

Rapid Vortex Fluidics: Continuous Flow Synthesis of Amides and Local Anesthetic Lidocaine.

Thin film flow chemistry using a vortex fluidic device (VFD) is effective in the scalable acylation of amines under shear, with the yields of the amides dramatically enhanced relative to traditional batch techniques. The optimized monophasic flow conditions are effective in ≤80 seconds at room temperature, enabling access to structurally diverse amides, functionalized amino acids and substituted ureas on multigram scales. Amide synthesis under flow was also extended to a total synthesis of local anesthetic lidocaine, with sequential reactions carried out in two serially linked VFD units. The synthesis could also be executed in a single VFD, in which the tandem reactions involve reagent delivery at different positions along the rapidly rotating tube with in situ solvent replacement, as a molecular assembly line process. This further highlights the versatility of the VFD in organic synthesis, as does the finding of a remarkably efficient debenzylation of p-methoxybenzyl amines.

Analysis of the linker region joining the adenylation and carrier protein domains of the modular nonribosomal peptide synthetases.

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are multimodular proteins capable of producing important peptide natural products. Using an assembly line process, the amino acid substrate and peptide intermediates are passed between the active sites of different catalytic domains of the NRPS while bound covalently to a peptidyl carrier protein (PCP) domain. Examination of the linker sequences that join the NRPS adenylation and PCP domains identified several conserved proline residues that are not found in standalone adenylation domains. We examined the roles of these proline residues and neighboring conserved sequences through mutagenesis and biochemical analysis of the reaction catalyzed by the adenylation domain and the fully reconstituted NRPS pathway. In particular, we identified a conserved LPxP motif at the start of the adenylation-PCP linker. The LPxP motif interacts with a region on the adenylation domain to stabilize a critical catalytic lysine residue belonging to the A10 motif that immediately precedes the linker. Further, this interaction with the C-terminal subdomain of the adenylation domain may coordinate movement of the PCP with the conformational change of the adenylation domain. Through this work, we extend the conserved A10 motif of the adenylation domain and identify residues that enable proper adenylation domain function.

Flavin-Linked Oxidase Catalyzes Pyrrolizine Formation of Dichloropyrrole-Containing Polyketide Extender Unit in Chlorizidine A

The marine alkaloid chlorizidine A contains chlorinated pyrroloisoindolone and pyrrolizine rings that are rare chemical features in bacterial natural products. Herein, we report the biosynthetic logic of their construction in Streptomyces sp. CNH-287 based on the identification of the chlorizidine A biosynthetic gene cluster. Using whole pathway heterologous expression and genetic manipulations, we show that chlorizidine A is assembled by a polyketide synthase that uniquely incorporates a fatty acid synthase-derived dichloropyrrolyl extender unit into the pyrroloisoindolone enzymatic product. We further provide the first biochemical characterization of a flavoenzyme associated with the oxidative formation of chlorizidine A's distinctive pyrrolizine ring. This work illuminates new enzymatic assembly line processes leading to rare nitrogen-containing rings in nature.

Advanced visualization and simulation techniques for modern construction management

Visual simulation has emerged as a key planning tool for an intended built environment because it enables architects, engineers and project managers to visualize the evolution of a construction process before a project starts. The process thus enables efficient construction, reducing time and cost through planning and controlling resources, machines and materials. On the other hand, construction industry has evolved from traditional on-site building to offsite modern methods of construction (MMC). Highly efficient and effective onsite planning and management processes are urgently needed, and this would require implementing visual techniques in MMC to provide a powerful management platform for planning and controlling projects. Development in MMC is important as the technique can enable higher degree of air-tightness in buildings necessary for energy-efficient passive homes and would minimize waste generation, thus contributing to a sustainable development. This project reviews the simulated operational assembly-line process for on-site MMC using visualization techniques. 4D-CAD has been integrated for simulation of construction operation, superimposed to video taken by fix tablets (ipad2). Augmented reality (AR) scenes of project process can be introduced in planning stage to implement decision making for various built environments required. This paper is the first of a series of papers from this study, which provides a review of researches that have been carried out in planning and controlling of construction operation using visualization techniques and to address some issues relating to existing visualization techniques for MMC.

A method for assessing productivity in unbuffered assembly processes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study and perform a system analysis of car assembly line processes, to show productivity losses and their causes, and to derive a mathematical model of the productivity rate of the assembly line.Design/methodology/approach – The paper performs productivity calculations based on data obtained from the assembly processes of a car cabin and shows the losses of productivity and their causes. The equations of the assembly line productivity rate and the optimal number of assembly stations are derived by the criterion of maximum productivity.Findings – The paper provides a productivity diagram that illustrates various productivity losses and their associated causes together with the output of car assembly processes. The diagram is based on proposed mathematical calculations. It is a derived analytical model of the productivity rate of the assembly line as a function of the assembly technology, number of stations, reliability of machine and mechanisms, as well as manageri...

DNA-guided assembly of biosynthetic pathways promotes improved catalytic efficiency

Synthetic scaffolds that permit spatial and temporal organization of enzymes in living cells are a promising post-translational strategy for controlling the flow of information in both metabolic and signaling pathways. Here, we describe the use of plasmid DNA as a stable, robust and configurable scaffold for arranging biosynthetic enzymes in the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli. This involved conversion of individual enzymes into custom DNA-binding proteins by genetic fusion to zinc-finger domains that specifically bind unique DNA sequences. When expressed in cells that carried a rationally designed DNA scaffold comprising corresponding zinc finger binding sites, the titers of diverse metabolic products, including resveratrol, 1,2-propanediol and mevalonate were increased as a function of the scaffold architecture. These results highlight the utility of DNA scaffolds for assembling biosynthetic enzymes into functional metabolic structures. Beyond metabolism, we anticipate that DNA scaffolds may be useful in sequestering different types of enzymes for specifying the output of biological signaling pathways or for coordinating other assembly-line processes such as protein folding, degradation and post-translational modifications.

Advances in OH Multistage Fracturing Systems - A Return to Good Frac-Treatment Practices?

Technology Update New developments in fracturing systems have returned focus to good fracturing practices that have been all but abandoned with the advent of horizontal wells. In major plays, such as the Barnett Shale of east Texas, operators have employed fracturing practices that are often inefficient and ineffective. Examples would include the massive overdisplacement of prop-pant and extended shut-in periods during a well’s completion phase, instead of initiating immediate flowback and load recovery. One of the problems with resource plays is that field development moves at a very rapid pace. In addition, most of the work is designed to simulate a manufacturing assembly-line process, i.e., use the minimum number of technical people to complete the maximum number of wells. Much of the engineering used in completion design has been replaced with a one-size-fits-all process. In our view, good fracturing practices developed over some 40 years are being ignored in the field-development strategies of many of today’s resource plays. Fortunately, there are now major developments in multistage fracturing technology that address many of these problems. One example is a new series of high-density, openhole (OH) fracturing systems that allow more than 20 fracture treatments to be performed in a single, seamless operation (JPT 2009). High-Density Fracturing Technologies The first OH multistage fracturing systems were installed in late 2001. At that time, it was believed that four to five stages would be sufficient to drain most horizontal wells. It would have been unimaginable to think that a few years later, the industry would be installing fracture liners with more than 40 OH packers. Key developments have taken place across a number of venues to make this possible. One item that was in question in the early days, but has now been clarified, is the ability to push long, high-density frac liners into a well. The industry now has the ability to accurately model installations of frac liners with OH packers with a high degree of certainty. In addition, hardware developments have taken place to allow higher-density fracturing. Issues such as abrasion and erosion encountered in massive hydraulic fractures, with millions of pounds of proppant, had to be addressed. The primary activating method for these OH systems is a ball-actuated port mechanism. Continued advancement in the systems, including 8 years of R&D into materials and the mechanics of the process, has greatly enhanced industry capabilities. More than 10 types of ball materials now are offered, as well as numerous port-design options. The net effect is that capabilities have increased from four or five fracture stages per well to more than 20 stages, using this mechanism. Engineering work is under way to increase these numbers to more than 60 fractures in a single horizontal. (The current record for number of stages is 47, installed in a ~10,000-ft lateral in the Bakken Shale of North Dakota [Slawson Exploration/Packers Plus Energy Services, 2010].)

Impact of manufactured housing component assembly redesign on facility layout and production process

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of the component assemblies redesign on the material handling costs associated with the facility layout and also, on the productivity of the assembly process. Component assemblies are the sub‐assemblies that are incorporated into the manufactured house as it progresses on the assembly line.Design/methodology/approachFloor assembly is used as an example to demonstrate the impact of the component assembly redesign process. A step‐by‐step process of assembling a floor in the case study factory is described and changes to the process are proposed. The existing and redesigned floor assemblies are analyzed using the factory layout analysis models and the production simulation models.FindingsThe proposed redesign resulted in a small savings of less than 1 per cent in the material handling costs and a substantial savings of around 20 per cent in the production time.Research limitations/implicationsThe work described in this paper is based on the existing floor assembly process in a case study factory. Due to the practical limitations, material handling routes and production activities associated with the redesigned assemblies were estimated. The results from this research show that redesign of component assemblies can provide potential avenues of savings for the manufactured housing industry. Such analysis can be performed for any component assembly individually or in combination with other assemblies in order to realize potential savings with relatively minor changes.Originality/valueProduction‐related research in manufactured housing has traditionally focused on either improving the facility layout or the assembly line process but not the combined impact of these two aspects. This paper presents a possible approach to investigating the combined impact by analyzing the impact of redesigned floor assembly.

The cinematic mode of production: attention economy and the society of the spectacle

Cinema brings the industrial revolution to the eye, writes Jonathan Beller, engages spectators in increasingly dematerialized processes of social production. In his groundbreaking critical study, cinema is the paradigmatic example of how the act of looking has been construed by capital as productive labor. Through an examination of cinema over the course of the twentieth century, Beller establishes on both theoretical and historical grounds the process of the emergent capitalization of perception. This process, he says, underpins the current global economy. By exploring a set of films made since the late 1920s, Beller argues that, through cinema, capital first posits and then presupposes looking as a value-productive activity. He argues that cinema, as the first crystallization of a new order of media, is itself an abstraction of assembly-line processes, and that the contemporary image is a politico-economic interface between the body and capitalized social machinery. Where factory workers first performed sequenced physical operations on moving objects in order to produce a commodity, in the cinema, spectators perform sequenced visual operations on moving montage fragments to produce an image. Beller develops his argument by highlighting various innovations and film texts of the past century. These innovations include concepts and practices from the revolutionary Soviet cinema, behaviorism, Taylorism, psychoanalysis, and contemporary Hollywood film. He thus develops an analysis of what amounts to the global industrialization of perception that today informs not only the specific social functions of new media, but also sustains a violent and hierarchical global society.

Recasting the Machine Age: Henry Ford's Village Industries (review)

Reviewed by Bruce Pietrykowski Recasting the Machine Age: Henry Ford's Village Industries. By Howard P. Segal. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005. Pp. xv+244. $34.95. The history of the Ford Motor Company is entwined with the complex and contradictory views of its founder Henry Ford. This interconnection is illustrated in Howard Segal's well-crafted account of Ford's endeavor to operate small parts factories by harnessing the power of rivers flowing through southeastern Michigan. Segal situates this experiment within the broader context of American values and its uneasy relation to industrial progress. The "village industries"—so named because each one was located in a village on the banks of the Rouge, Saline, or Huron Rivers—consisted of nineteen plants located within sixty miles of the giant Rouge factory. Most originated in the 1920s and 1930s, as Ford sought to shift production away from the Highland Park and Rouge plants in order to integrate manufacturing with agricultural production. At their peak, they employed as few as 19 and as many as 1,200 workers. The plan was for farmers to be recruited and trained to work in these factories. While continuing to farm, they would commute to the factories to work during slack times between planting and harvesting. Manufacturing [End Page 855] would submit to the rhythms of agricultural life. And yet Ford understood that the introduction of mechanized farming techniques—exemplified by the Fordson tractor—was destined to make farmers redundant. Viewed from this perspective, the village industries were intended to promote the entry of the industrial machine into the agrarian garden. The tension between, on the one hand, concern for the preservation of farming communities and folkways and, on the other, the necessity of expanding the scope and reach of automobility is carefully woven throughout Segal's narrative. The village industries were curious examples of mass production, combining assembly-line processes with employment levels limited by the horsepower created by the hydroelectric generators used to operate the plants. Indeed, Segal makes much of the human scale of these plants. Through interviews with surviving workers and oral histories, he presents an image of workers as beholden to their benefactor, Mr. Ford, as they were proud of the quality of their craftsmanship. Although not all workers felt this way, the overall picture Segal paints is one of bucolic harmony, a collective sense of purpose, and unwavering gratitude. This helps to shape the trajectory of the narrative as Segal goes on to enlarge the scope of analysis to take in more general trends in support of industrial decentralization emerging during the Great Depression. He makes the case that the village-industries project both directly and indirectly influenced these trends. The "back to the land" philosophy of Henry Ford readily took hold of the popular imagination at that time. The village industries weathered two tumultuous events that could have greatly altered life in the plants: unionization, and the demands of wartime production. Segal maintains that, aside from the wartime transformation of Willow Run into the world's largest bomber-production facility, the village industries were able to retain their rural character in spite of changes in workplace relations and demands to ramp-up production. Eventually, however, a singular definition of decentralization came to reign supreme within the auto industry. This type of decentralization was closely identified with the geographic dispersal of assembly facilities; as such, the village parts-supply plants were increasingly seen as anachronistic vestiges of an earlier era. Like Philip Scranton's Endless Novelty, Segal's work adds an important layer of analysis to historical research on the alternative shape and contour of U.S. manufacturing. It opens up fertile ground for further research around issues of technology, labor–management relations, and local economic development. How did the village plants utilize technology differently when functions were moved out of the Rouge? What differences were there in the way industrial unionism was implemented in small plants? How did the local economy in which...

Improving the flow [resource optimisation in logistics

Modern production plants often rely on a continuous and uninterrupted supply of material to the assembly line or production process. The two main areas where optimisation of the resources to transport the material can help are in the factory itself and in managing the inbound and outbound flow of supplier's transport. Optimising these can achieve a better flow of material especially in situations of fluctuating demand - and significant monetary saving in the resources needed to accomplish the work. Optimisation of the internal transport can significantly improve the capacity of a plant without expansion. Several manufacturing industries are featured to illustrate the benefits of resource optimisation.

Internet-based electronics manufacturing troubleshooting tool for surface mount PCB assembly

Increasing product complexity, decreasing component size, and using double-sided boards have made surface mount technology (SMT) based electronics manufacturing (EM) components more difficult to assemble. This has resulted in the economic troubleshooting of EM defects being one of the main problems facing all manufacturers. Although the authors have made significant improvements in the EM process, it has been shown that the implemented changes in the automated lines have not yet produced a high enough percentage of reliable finished products. The objective of this current development is to make a contribution towards these EM processes by creating an Internet-based intelligent system of circuit board defect detection so that EM process flaws that necessitate rework operations can be identified prior to manufacturing runs. With the development of this system, the need to rework the defective components will be minimized for any assembly line and assembly line process parameters, which cause some reliability problems (such as solder balls, insufficient solder at joints, burnt joint connections, bridged leads, voids, skewed leads, and unformed joints) will be troubleshot directly, and the rework will be greatly reduced from the EM assembly line. This paper reports the current development and its structure.

Production System Loading–Cycle Time Relationship in Residential Construction

Production home building possesses characteristics similar to manufacturing processes, such as the construction of more or less similar houses repeatedly and a growing demand for mass customization of homes. As a result of these similarities, larger homebuilders often attempt to view their production system as an assembly line process. However, the management tools generally utilized by these home builders are those used in other sectors of the construction industry, such as critical path method scheduling, cost estimating, and earned value analysis. These management tools do not provide an explanation or control/prediction tools for many undesirable situations that arise during home building, such as increasing cycle time which slows delivery of product to consumers and increases project capital costs, and increasing amounts of work in process that increases capital investment and thereby decreases company financial performance. In order to bring better management tools to the residential construction in...

Entrepreneurial Enterprises, Large Established Firms and Other Components of the Free-Market Growth Machine

The paper studies the principal influences accounting for the unprecedented growth and innovation performance of the free-market economies. It indicates that vigorous oligopolistic competition, particularly in high-tech industries, forces firms to keep innovating in order to survive. This leads them to internalize innovative activities rather than leaving them to independent inventors, and turns invention into an assembly-line process. The bulk of private R&D spending is shown to come from a tiny number of very large firms. Yet the revolutionary breakthroughs continue to come predominantly from small entrepreneurial enterprises, with large industry providing streams of incremental improvements that also add up to major contributions. Moreover, these firms voluntarily disseminate much of their innovative technology widely and rapidly, both as a major revenue source and in exchange for complementary technological property of other firms, including direct competitors. This helps to internalize the externalities of innovation and speeds elimination of obsolete technology. Some policy implications for industrialized and developing countries are also discussed.

Interaction between Paraphraser and Transfer for Spoken Language Translation

One of the problems in spoken language translation is the enormous variety of expressions not found in text translation. This volume can lead to a sparse translation coverage. In order to tackle this problem, we propose a machine translation model where an input is translated through both source-language and target-language paraphrasing processes. In this paper, we discuss the source paraphrasing and the language transfer processes, and the design of our translation model. In the source language paraphrasing, we take the practical approach of untangling slight variations in the source language before transferring a source expression to its target. We discuss how effective our paraphrasing process is in the sense of reducing varieties in a spoken language, with a focus on how many source language patterns are reduced by paraphrasing. In the translation model, we propose an interaction model between the source language paraphraser and the transfer, unlike the conventional assembly-line process flow. In our evaluation we illustrate that over 70% of the input utterances is expected to somehow be changed. Accordingly, we can achieve that one-fifth of all skeleton expressions can be merged into other skeletons, that increases chances of correct translations being obtained. Furthermore, we observe that our interaction model with the paraphraser increases 20-40 percentage points of translation capability, regardless of the transfer knowledge size.

“Detroit—Motor City,” at the Detroit Historical Museum

Exhibit Reviews “DETROIT—MOTOR CITY, ” AT THE DETROIT HISTORICAL MUSEUM RUSSELL OLWELL Located in the heart ofAmerica’s automobile capital, “Detroit — Motor City,” a new permanent exhibit at the Detroit Historical Mu­ seum, presents a nostalgic picture of the past and a hopeful vision of the future. Strikingly optimistic about both the automobile indus­ try and the city of Detroit, the exhibit begins with the development of small automobile companies in the city and follows the growth of the Ford Motor Company into an industrial giant, the develop­ ment of the Big Three, and the postwar automobile boom. The auto industry of the future is portrayed as an employer ofhigh-skill, hightech workers, creating well-paidjobs in southeast Michigan. The re­ cent economic rebound that has once again made U.S. automakers competitive and profitable has encouraged Detroit to believe that the future may lie, once again, in automobiles. “Detroit—Motor City” attempts to cover all facets of the automo­ bile and its role in the growth of the city. It has exhibit sections on workers, labor unions, technology, parts suppliers, automobile dealerships, and television commercials. This diversity of materials and topics is both the exhibit’s strength and its weakness. On the one hand, the attentive visitor with time and inclination to read the artifact labels will come away with a great deal of information about the industry and its social importance. On the other, the exhibit is very text-heavy and consequently more tiring and difficult to absorb than need be. Given a shortage of space and materials for the exhibit, the cura­ tors wisely decided not to try to create a historical car show (as the title might imply). The exhibit displays few automobiles, but instead focuses on manufacturing and sales and on the social impact of the automobile industry in southeastern Michigan. Mr. Olwell is completing a dissertation on blue-collar workers at Oak Ridge Na­ tional Laboratory for the STS program at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, while teaching in the University of Michigan’s Residential College and at Emerson Middle School in Ann Arbor.© 1996 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X/96/3704-0005$01.00 813 814 Russell Olwell Fig. 1—Centerpiece of the exhibit, the Cadillac body drop. (Courtesy of the De­ troit Historical Museum.) The centerpiece of the exhibit is a recreation of the final body drop step—i.e., dropping the car body onto the frame—in assem­ bling a Cadillac (fig. 1). The sight of the completed body brought down onto the chassis is arresting and worth the eleven-minute wait between drops. Along with the accompanying machinery and fig­ ures, the body drop successfully simulates the horizontal assembly line process in only a single vertical motion. The surrounding exhibit space holds a series of displays about different aspects of the automobile industry, loaded with interesting artifacts and souvenirs of the period. Promotional items given away by automobile dealers have a prominent place, reminding the viewer that cars are not always a serious business. Parts suppliers take up an entire section, highlighting their contribution to the develop­ ment of new automotive technology. “Detroit—Motor City, ” at the Detroit Historical Museum 815 Unfortunately—and, somewhat ironically, unlike an assembly line, which would carry a visitor along a set route—the layout fails to steer the visitor effectively toward some of the important informa­ tion in the exhibit. This is a shame, as the material on employment and migration from the South to the Detroit automobile industry is compelling and well presented. Watching visitors to the exhibit, it was clear to me that much of the material resonates with both area residents and tourists. Viewers watch the entire video loop of automobile commercials, 14 minutes long, as it replays commercials that serve as a capsule social history ofAmerica from 1950 to the present. The section on the migration of workers from the South to Detroit is the family history of many exhibit viewers. The interactive features of the exhibit—typically set up at child height, which poses only a minor inconvenience for adults—are en­ gaging and informative. A well-done section on designing your...

An artificial neural network case study: Prediction versus classification in a manufacturing application

This paper describes the results of a study in which three different neural architectures were examined to predict/classify product quality of hard disk drives in a manufacturing assembly line process.