Factory Space Research Articles

User Experiences with Ozone, Electrolytic Water (Active Water) and UV-C Light (Ventafresh Technology) in Production Processes and for Hygiene Maintenance in a Swiss Sushi Factory

In a sushi production factory in Vuadens, Switzerland, ozone, ultrasound, electrolyzed water, and UV (185 and 254 nm) radiation are employed to sanitize all production equipment and factory space, including incoming and cooled air, as well as to sanitize the sushi products themselves. Fish, vegetables and rice all are washed with electrolyzed water as ultrasound is applied. Sushi itself is disinfected prior to packaging by fumigation with ozone and UV radiation in a special UV Disinfection Tunnel. Packaging materials (film and trays) are disinfected with gaseous ozone and UV radiation. After sealing of the sushi packages with Modified Atmosphere Packaging (including additional oxygen), UV radiation again is applied in another, longer UV Disinfection Tunnel. This transforms about 12–14% of the oxygen remaining inside the packed tray to ozone, creating an ozone-containing atmosphere. By this Ventafresh technology, the shelf-life of sushi products increases from three to seven days. Plant ambient temperature is maintained at 3°C at all times during processing to provide additional improvement in microorganism control. Cost savings at Sushi are significant, but secondary – only one failure and the plant is shut down. Ventafresh is, at the very least, a technological insurance policy that allows the plant manager to sleep at night.

An adaptive sampling scheme guided by BART—with an application to predict processor performance

AbstractThe evaluation of new processor designs is an important issue in electrical and computer engineering. Architects use simulations to evaluate designs and to understand trade‐offs and interactions among design parameters. However, due to the lengthy simulation time and limited resources, it is often practically impossible to simulate a full factorial design space. Effective sampling methods and predictive models are required. In this paper, the authors propose an automated performance predictive approach which employs an adaptive sampling scheme that interactively works with the predictive model to select samples for simulation. These samples are then used to build Bayesian additive regression trees, which in turn are used to predict the whole design space. Both real data analysis and simulation studies show that the method is effective in that, though sampling at very few design points, it generates highly accurate predictions on the unsampled points. Furthermore, the proposed model provides quantitative interpretation tools with which investigators can efficiently tune design parameters in order to improve processor performance. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 38: 136–152; 2010 © 2010 Statistical Society of Canada

The Lie–Rinehart Universal Poisson Algebra of Classical and Quantum Mechanics

The Lie–Rinehart algebra of a (connected) manifold \({\mathcal {M}}\) , defined by the Lie structure of the vector fields, their action and their module structure over \({C^\infty({\mathcal {M}})}\) , is a common, diffeomorphism invariant, algebra for both classical and quantum mechanics. Its (noncommutative) Poisson universal enveloping algebra \({\Lambda_{R}({\mathcal {M}})}\) , with the Lie–Rinehart product identified with the symmetric product, contains a central variable (a central sequence for non-compact \({{\mathcal {M}}}\)) \({Z}\) which relates the commutators to the Lie products. Classical and quantum mechanics are its only factorial realizations, corresponding to Z = iz, z = 0 and \({z = \hbar}\) , respectively; canonical quantization uniquely follows from such a general geometrical structure. For \({z =\hbar \neq 0}\) , the regular factorial Hilbert space representations of \({\Lambda_{R}({\mathcal{M}})}\) describe quantum mechanics on \({{\mathcal {M}}}\) . For z = 0, if Diff(\({{\mathcal {M}}}\)) is unitarily implemented, they are unitarily equivalent, up to multiplicity, to the representation defined by classical mechanics on \({{\mathcal {M}}}\) .

The Lie–Rinehart Universal Poisson Algebra of Classical and Quantum Mechanics

The Lie–Rinehart algebra of a (connected) manifold $${\mathcal {M}}$$ , defined by the Lie structure of the vector fields, their action and their module structure over $${C^\infty({\mathcal {M}})}$$ , is a common, diffeomorphism invariant, algebra for both classical and quantum mechanics. Its (noncommutative) Poisson universal enveloping algebra $${\Lambda_{R}({\mathcal {M}})}$$ , with the Lie–Rinehart product identified with the symmetric product, contains a central variable (a central sequence for non-compact $${{\mathcal {M}}}$$ ) $${Z}$$ which relates the commutators to the Lie products. Classical and quantum mechanics are its only factorial realizations, corresponding to Z = i z, z = 0 and $${z = \hbar}$$ , respectively; canonical quantization uniquely follows from such a general geometrical structure. For $${z =\hbar \neq 0}$$ , the regular factorial Hilbert space representations of $${\Lambda_{R}({\mathcal{M}})}$$ describe quantum mechanics on $${{\mathcal {M}}}$$ . For z = 0, if Diff( $${{\mathcal {M}}}$$ ) is unitarily implemented, they are unitarily equivalent, up to multiplicity, to the representation defined by classical mechanics on $${{\mathcal {M}}}$$ .

Application of habitat suitability modelling to tracking data of marine animals as a means of analyzing their feeding habitats

This paper investigates the potential for using quantitative applications of statistical models of habitat suitability based on marine animal tracking data to identify key feeding areas. Presence-only models like Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA) may be applicable to resolve habitat gradients and potentially project habitat characteristics of tracked animals over large areas of ocean. We tested ENFA on tracking data of the northern gannet ( Morus bassanus) obtained from the colony at Bass Rock, western North Sea in 2003. A total of 217 diving events were selected for model development. The ecological variables of the model were calibrated by using oceanographic structures with documented influences on seabird distribution, derived from satellite and bathymetric data. The model parameters were estimates of habitat marginality and specialisation computed by comparing the distribution of the gannet in the multivariate oceanographic space encompassed by the recorded logger data with the whole set of cells in the study area. Marginality was identified by differences to the global mean and specialization was identified by the ratio of species variance to global variance. A habitat suitability index was computed on the basis of the marginality factors and the first four specialisation factors by allocating values to all grid cells in the study area, which were proportional to the distance between their position and the position of the species optimum in the factorial space. Although gannets were using a large sector of the North Sea for feeding, ENFA estimated high habitat suitability scores within a relatively small coherent zone corresponding to a hydrographic frontal area, located east of the colony. The model was evaluated by using Jack-knife cross-validation and by comparison of the predicted core feeding area with results from historic field surveys. We discuss the limitations and potentials for applying habitat suitability models to tracking data in the marine environment, and conclude that the inclusion of hydrodynamic variables seems to be the biggest constraint. Overcoming this constraint, ENFA provides a promising method for achieving improved models of the distribution of marine species with high research and conservation priority. Due to the better coverage of entire feeding ranges, the limited influence of historic factors and the lack of bias from sampling design, marine animal tracking may provide better data than at-sea surveys for habitat suitability modelling.

Optimization using a Factorial Design for the Separation of Trandolapril and Verapamil by Capillary Electrophoresis

A capillary zone electrophoresis method is developed to achieve the separation and determination of two cardiac drugs, trandolapril and verapamil. Optimisation of the method is based on the use of a factorial design, which is applied in order to obtain more information in the factorial space and to minimise the number of experiments needed to obtain the optimum values for the pH and concentration of electrolyte buffer, the voltage applied and the effects of certain modifiers. Following these studies, the conditions selected for use were running buffer of 10 mM phosphate at pH 7.0, and a voltage of 15 kV. Under these conditions, calibration curves were constructed with good linearity (R>0.999) and suitable LODs. The intra‐ and inter‐day repeatabilities were also evaluated with RSD below 4% for trandolapril and verapamil. The proposed method was applied to the determination of verapamil and trandolapril in pharmaceutical formulations and the recoveries obtained were in agreement with the stated contents for all preparations tested.

Wage-Price Dynamics, the Labour Market and Deflation in Hong Kong

Since 1998 Hong Kong has experienced over 16 quarters of deflation. Some asset prices such as factory and office space prices started to fall in early 1990s, a long time before the Asian crisis. The number of firms and businesses that have moved out of Hong Kong are not readily available, but it is quite plausible that firms and businesses relocated to the Mainland because they expected future marginal costs to fall in response to Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997. We estimate a Phillips curve specification, where changes in the price level are a function of expected inflation and the marginal cost. This model outperforms (in-and-out-of-sample) the traditional Phillips curve specification and other models of wage-price dynamics. Because the marginal cost is basically unit labour cost, the model suggests that wage and productivity dynamics play an important role in explaining price dynamics.

Statistical models for music signal analysis and transcription

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in statistical approaches and tools from machine learning, for the analysis of audio and music signals. The application of statistical techniques is quite natural: Acoustical time series can be conveniently modeled using hierarchical signal models by incorporating prior knowledge from various sources: From physics or studies of human cognition and perception. Once a realistic hierarchical model is constructed, many audio processing tasks, such as coding, restoration, transcription, separation, identification, or resynthesis can be formulated consistently as Bayesian posterior inference problems. This contribution illustrates various realistic generative signal models for audio and music signal analysis. In particular, factorial switching state space models, Gamma‐Markov random fields, and point process models will be discussed. Some models admit exact inference, otherwise, efficient algorithms based on variational or stochastic approximation methods can be developed. We will illustrate the approach on music transcription, restoration, and source separation applications. [Work supported by EPSRC.]

Hydro-plankton characteristics and their relationship with sardine and anchovy distributions on the French shelf of the Bay of Biscay

The spatial pattern in hydro-plankton and fish distributions and their relationship were analysed based on the spring 2000 fisheries acoustic survey. The importance of this survey was that it was a multi-disciplinary platform which collected an extensive set of parameters in the hydro-plankton leading to a potentially finer description of hydro-plankton conditions and fish habitats. More than 50 variables were measured on a grid of stations, in four compartments of the ecosystem: hydrology, nutrients, primary producers and meso-zooplankton. First, a joint analysis of all hydro-plankton compartments was performed using multiple factor analysis (MFA). The method was used to estimate a compromise factorial space common to all compartments in which the stations were grouped by hierarchical clustering. The groups were represented spatially and a strong spatial pattern was evidenced. The fish and their spawned eggs were sampled along transect lines using acoustics and CUFES (continuous underway fish egg samplers). The distribution of the fish and their eggs was analysed in relation to the hydro-plankton groups of stations and difference in fish density across hydro-plankton conditions was tested by a pair-wise multiple comparison procedure. Anchovy was associated with a lesser number of hydro-plankton conditions than sardine. Eggs of both species were also associated with a lesser number of conditions than the fish. Finally, the gain provided by using the extensive set of hydro-plankton parameters for mapping large-scale hydro-plankton conditions was analysed in comparison with the situation in which a small set of parameters was available. The extensive set of parameters allowed more hydro-plankton conditions to be identified but only in the coastal area and not on the shelf. Size fractionated chlorophyll was determinant for tracking river plume hydro-plankton condition. However, the fish did not respond to the variety of the coastal hydro-plankton conditions.

Constrained Spatial Layout and Simultaneous Production Evaluation for a Production System

This paper proposes a mathematical model called Multi-objective Production System Design (MOPSD) model and a two-staged solving procedure. The MOPSD model not only considers the two-dimensional layout of a production system under the constrained factory space to achieve the minimal total material transportation flow but also determines the optimal assigned number of workstations and the optimal system cycle time concerning a simultaneous production situation. The first major objective of MOPSD model is regarded as a Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP), but it considers the size of operation element, the multiple production lines, and the constrained two-dimensional factory space where traditional QAP studies are seldom mentioned. The second objective of the MOPSD model is to determine the optimal system cycle time as well as the optimal assigned number of workstations under the simultaneous production situation for preventing the underestimation of the system production rate. The first-stage solving procedure of the MOPSD model applies the space discrete technique to make the infinite deployable locations become finite, and then one can achieve the major objective through the system layout. In addition, the Four Position Coding Technique (FPCT) is developed to code the nodes in the deployed production system obtaining from the first stage, and therefore those FPCT codes can function as the input parameters in the second-stage solving procedure. These two solving procedures are constructed by the syntax of Lingo 9.0 extended version, and a numerical example is followed to describe the detailed solving procedure. In summary, the repeated characteristic of the MOPSD model and its solving procedure make this study a valuable decision support tool because they are constructed by the packaged software Lingo 9.0. That is, a factory can easily duplicate to solve other cases by changing its input parameters only.

Music in factories: a twentieth-century technique for control of the productive self

This paper discusses the historical use of music to produce more efficient, more committed, industrial workers. First emerging in academia early in the twentieth century, psychological interest in the industrial application of music had grown into a topic of popular interest and government investigation by the 1940s. Catalysed by the need for vast increases in production and the desire to cultivate ‘citizenship’ amongst industrial workers which the Second World War produced, consideration of how music could be employed as an affective soundtrack in factories—to raise employees' work rates, to increase their efficiency, to combat fatigue and boredom, to improve morale, to access and manipulate their emotions and loyalties—became a prominent area of psychological research. This paper examines that psychological research and its largest scale application in the BBC radio show Music While You Work, broadcast daily to millions of British factory workers from 1940 until 1967. The paper focuses particularly on conceptualizations of music's affective power and its utilization to exert ‘emotional control’ over spaces of work and the working self. This paper is centrally concerned with the practice of Music While You Work as a programme broadcasting specifically for factory spaces, and how this confronted the BBC's music policies for a national and domestic audience, impacting on the radical nature of the affective soundtrack to work which was produced.

Comments on draft ANSI S12.2, American National standard on criteria for evaluating room noise

In 1995, American National Standard S12.2‐1995 on room noise criteria was issued. Two methods for specifying and evaluating room noise were presented, the NCB noise‐criterion curves [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 86, 650–664 (1989)] and the RC curves [Noise Control Eng. J. 45, 243–250 (1997)]. The NCB curves were derived from the characteristics of hearing with emphasis on speech interference level and loudness level, while the RC curves were derived from experimental studies in offices where the HVAC noise was low enough that there were no complaints from room occupants. The NCB curves were applicable to rooms ranging from concert halls to factory spaces, while the RC curves were largely restricted to office, hospital, and residential spaces. The two sets were incompatible at low frequencies and low sound levels. The NCB curves assumed that the HVAC noise was free of surging and strong turbulence. The RC curves demanded lower levels at low frequencies, thus permitting some degree of surging and turbulence. The new draft standard specifies two methods for evaluating room noise, the NC [Noise Control 3, 19–27 (1957)] and the RNC methods [Noise Control Eng. J. 48, 85–96 (2000)]. The former (NC) have found widespread use and the latter (RNC) bridges the differences between the NC (and NCB) and the RC criteria curves. This paper comments on the promise of the new RNC method and compares measured data were available.

REVOLUTIONARY SPACES IN GLOBALIZATION: BEIJING'S DASHANZI ARTS DISTRICT

Beginning in the year 2000, Chinese artists and art groups began resettlement of factories in an area known as the Dashanzi district, a northeastern segment of Beijing that had gone relatively unnoticed after the Cultural Revolution. Formerly electronic production warehouses, these factories were created during the 1950s for greater socialist (and particularly military) aims (Kiang 5). Although this phenomenon of artists inhabiting factory spaces is rather commonplace in American or European cities, the Chinese government has, in a unique moment of lax governance, “supported” such a district by allowing for its continual existence and growth. Reading the district according to Henri Lefebvre’s interpretations of space provides an approach that unifies ideology and the physical site, and reveals the multi-layers necessary and active in the sustenance of the arts district. Lefebvre’s seminal work The Production of Space bridged binaries of mental and physical space, drawing attention to its role as a locus for change and revolution. Space is produced, and the ideologies and cultures that are behind the composition of an area are as important as the physical constructions built upon it. Therefore, an area needs to be understood as a “social space” that is dialectically created by a multitude of relations (Lefebvre 68). Neither the history of the arts district, its structures, nor the art that it produces is singularly responsible for creating successful (if short-lived) grassroots urban planning, but rather the dialectic among several competing social facets, as well as our current era of globalization, can be viewed as responsible for this unique moment and physical site of contemporary art.

Generalised deletion designs

In this paper asymmetrical single replicate factorial designs are constructed from symmetrical single replicate factorial designs using the deletion technique. The study is along the lines of Voss(1986), Chauhan(1989) and Gachii and Odhiambo(1997). We give results for the general order deletion designs of the form sn-m1(s – L)m1. . which are proper, for 1 < L < (s – 1) and m1 less than or equal to the number of generators of the preliminary single replicate generalized cyclic design. We generalize results by earlier authors. Results identifying the set of estimable factorial effects of the deletion designs based on the information available from the preliminary factorial design are given. Simple formulas for calculating the loss of information due to confounding with blocks are given. Efficiency with respect to the number of treatment combinations needed to estimate a given set of interactions of the preliminary factorial design is compared with that of the resulting deletion designs. Keywords and phrases: Factorial spaces, generalized cyclic designs, loss of information. African Journal of Science and Technology Vol.4(2) 2003: 72-79

Techniki eksperymentalne w optymalizacji procesu wtryskiwania tworzyw termoplastycznych - skurcz wtorny wyprasek

Experimental presentation of the problem of injection molding of thermoplastics (low density PE) optimization, using injection molding machines of one pressure degree and constant injection rate. The two-level fractional factorial design and the method of steepest descent, being together a sequence procedure of experimental investigations, were used. The solution takes into consideration five investigated parameters (mold temperature, temperature of a polymer, injection time, time of moldings cooling, pressure Table 1) and one result parameter - after-shrinkage of moldings (s). Particular steps of optimization investigations were described, viz. survey measurements (Figs. 1 and 2), looking for extremum neighborhood (Tables 2-5) and determination of a model approximating s value at extremum neighborhood (Table 6, Fig. 4). Coordinates of the point of factorial space for minimal s value were determined (Table 7). It has been found that low temperature of injection mold, long time of moldings cooling and high value of pressure show the biggest effects on shrinkage decrease. The method described let make the optimization independent on injection molding machine construction as well as on character and number of optimization criteria.

Tourists Replace Fish At Fisherman’s Wharf

Tourists Replace Fish At Fisherman’s Wharf

Scale dependence of spatial patterns and cartography on the detection of landscape change: relationships with species’ perception

This paper analyses how landscape pattern detection changes when different spatial and temporal scales and several levels of detail of the cartography are used to describe a landscape affected by land abandonment in northern Spain. In order to integrate landscape composition and structure at different temporal and spatial scales in the same framework, a multiple correspondence factorial analysis was ran for each typology of landscape units. Annual rates of change and scale dependencies were calculated for each typology from the Euclidean distances in the factorial space. Finally, the potential assessment of habitat utilisation by species with different landscape perception and movement capacity was modelled for the range of typologies. The amount of variance explained by the factorial analysis decreased with the complexity of the typology. Annual rates of change appeared different according to the time span and the detail of the landscape unit typology used. For all typologies, changes were faster during 1983–95, a period characterised by massive land abandonment. However, when the whole period (1956–95) was considered, annual changes were much lower, showing differences between typologies. As a general trend, the variance of the mean annual change decreased with the size of the analysis units. In response to land abandonment, different scale dependencies were found for different levels of detail of the cartography. Coarser typologies are suitable when analysing highly mobile species. However, species with small movement capacity or with a preference for homogeneous habitats perceive more detail in landscape. In this case, a detailed typology is more appropriate.

The relationship between accounting and spatial practices in the factory

During the eighteenth century, tobacco production in the Royal Tobacco Factory (RTF) of Spain moved from the San Pedro Factory located in downtown Seville to the purpose built New Factories outside the city walls. This paper examines the relationship between accounting practices and spatial practices in these two radically different factory premises. The paper explores how the intervention of detailed accounting calculations into spatial configurations and the intertwining of accounting and spatial practices provide discipline in the factory by yielding calculable spaces and accountable subjects. The spaces produced by architects in the New Factories were subsequently mediated through administrative arrangements that rendered enclosure and partitioning more disciplinary. Moreover, accounting practices were developed as a coding system to reconfigure factory space by classifying it into cost centres, quantifying activities carried out in these cost centres, and rendering spaces visible and subjects accountable. In this context, we argue that accounting practices have the capacity to function as time–space ordering devices, and, through networking with spatial practices, provide the scope for managers/administrators to enhance employee surveillance and overall factory discipline.

Species-environment relationships and diversity of liverworts in Israel

A data set comprising 275 sampling plots of Israeli liverworts, each consisting of a coded list of twenty environmental variables and a species list, was investigated with multivariate analyses. A factorial map summarizes the data and provides a survey of the main ecological preferences of the Israeli liverwort species. The species proved to be linked to specific biotopes. Their distribution in the factorial space depends predominantly on climate, altitude, vegetation, and shelter of habitats. Life history traits are discussed to explain which ecological conditions are best for survival and dispersal. Floristic richness is low compared with the whole Mediterranean region. Species richness and size of sampling plots correlate with the climatic gradient, lowest in the arid, highest in the Mediterranean zones of Israel. The species able to survive in the arid zone also grow under less severe climatic conditions, whereas many species common in the Mediterranean zone are absent from the arid zone. The Israeli ...

大空間工場の夏季・冬季の熱負荷および室内環境に関する実測・調査研究

The results of the field measurement on the heat load and indoor environment of a large air-conditioned factory space in comparison with the simulation results are described together with the results of the questionnaire to the workers. It was found that the air conditioning effectively cooled the work space in summer and that the cold air was spread from the west part to the heated working zone of east and central parts in winter. The vertical temperature gradient obviously appeared in the space above 3m from the floor in summer, while the space above was heated to be at higher uniform temperature in winter. Although a greater amount of heat load was resulted with simulation than measurement, it could be judged that the simulation expressed the heat load of this factory quite well except for the start up period both in summer and winter. The results of CFD analysis turned out quite similar to the measured results with regard to the distribution patterns of air temperature and air flow. The workers of the factory were slightly satisfied with the indoor environment in summer and winter as found from the questionnaire and seemed to be accustomed to rather low temperature in winter.