Significant Productivity Gain Research Articles

Structural, dielectric, electrical and modulus spectroscopic characteristics of CoFeCuO4 spinel ferrite nanoparticles

In this work, our focus is upon the synthesis of material having useful and less expensive high frequency applications. For this purpose, we used the sol–gel method to elaborate the Cu-substituted CoFe2O4. The XRD analysis confirmed the single-phase cubic spinel structure with the Fd3-m space group. The grain size distribution was traced through different methods. It confirms the nano-metric size of the compound. To elaborate the electrical and dielectric properties of the prepared sample, impedance spectroscopy was invested. It demonstrated the relaxing nature of our material and indicated that the substitution of Fe by Cu on CoFe2O4 increases the ac conductivity and decreases the dielectric loss especially at higher frequencies; the low loss values indicate the potential of these ferrites for high frequency applications at temperatures close to the room temperature. The activation energy value was estimated based on the relaxation time and the conductance curves analysis, the found value is around 0.33 eV which confirms the semiconductor character of our compound and its capacity to achieve a significant gain in productivity. Moreover, this obtained value indicates the relationship between the electrical conductivity mechanism and the relaxation one.

An impact of agronomic practices of sustainable rice-wheat crop intensification on food security, economic adaptability, and environmental mitigation across eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains.

In the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (EIGP), conventional rice-wheat system has led to a decline in productivity, input-use efficiency, and profitability. To address these, a four-year field study was conducted to evaluate the performance of tillage and crop establishment (TCE) methods in rice-wheat-greengram rotation. The treatments included: 1) random puddled transplanted rice (RPTR) - conventional-till broadcast wheat (BCW) - zero-till greengram (ZTG); 2) line PTR (LPTR) - conventional-till drill sown wheat (CTW) - ZTG; 3) machine transplanted rice in puddled soil (CTMTR) - zero tillage wheat (ZTW) - ZTG; 4) machine transplanted rice in zero-till wet soil (ZTMTR) - ZTW - ZTG; 5) system of rice intensification (SRI) - system of wheat intensification (SWI) - ZTG; 6) direct-seeded rice (DSR) - ZTW - ZTG; and 7) zero-till DSR - ZTW - ZTG. During the initial two years, conventional rice system (PTR) recorded a 16.2 % higher rice grain yield than DSR system. Whereas in the fourth year, the rice yields under DSR and PTR were comparable. As compared to SRI/SWI, the average wheat yield in ZT system was significantly high, whereas in rice, SRI/SWI system was comparable with CT system. ZTW after non-puddled rice was at par to CTW after PTR. The ZT wheat produced 4.6 % more yield than CT system. DSR production system consumed 6.8 % less water compared to transplanted system. On the system basis, 10.8 % higher net returns were recorded with CA-based system compared to conventional system. The system energy productivity under CA-based production system was 14-36 % higher than PTR-based systems. CA-based system also led to 8-10 % lower global warming potential (GWP) than conventional methods. The current study indicated that as compared to conventional system, a significant gain in productivity, profitability and energy-use efficiency, and reduction in the environmental mitigation are possible with emerging alternative TCE methods. Long-term expansion and further refinement of these technologies in local areas need to be explored for the second green revolution.

Fast-Response transient heat flux measurements in a plasma wind tunnel

A fast response heat transfer gauge has been developed to measure the radial distribution and the fluctuations of heat flux in a supersonic arcjet plasma wind tunnel. The heat flux gauge consists of 3.2 mm diameter coaxial surface junction thermocouple which was positioned behind a thin layer of PTFE and mounted in a ESA standard 50 mm diameter flat faced copper probe head. A non-dimensional impulse response for the heat flux gauge was identified using pulsed optical power deposition from a laser. The impulse response was used in combination with reference measurements from a calorimeter at a single location to determine the distribution and fluctuations in heat flux. Eight traverses of the PWK4 jet at the University of Stuttgart confirmed a symmetric Gaussian-like heat flux distribution with a centreline heat flux consistent to within ±6%. These distributions were measured in less than one second, representing a significant gain in productivity when compared to calorimeter-based heat flux measurements where probes must be held stationary at a number of locations in order to resolve spatial distributions. At this particular PWK4 operating condition, which had a flow stagnation enthalpy of approximately 15 MJkg−1, heat flux fluctuations of up to ± 140 kWm-2 (corresponding to a relative variation of 15% of the centreline heat flux) were identified near the vicinity of the nozzle centreline for frequencies from 4 Hz to 1 kHz.

Soil mulch in control of soil temperature and incidence of weeds in the production of crisphead lettuce

It was evaluated the effects of different types of mulching of soil in the cultivation of crisphead lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), cultivar “Lucy Brown”, in the spring period, on weed control, soil temperature and productivity. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block design with four treatments and five replications in plots of 14.0m2. The following coverages were studied: Pennisetum glaucum L., Avena strigosa, Brachiaria ruziziensis, plus the control treatment (soil without mulching). The use of mulching of soil, P. glaucum and B. ruziziensis, proved to be a beneficial practice, reducing the soil temperature by up to 5ºC. There was a lower incidence of weeds with the use of the P. glaucum and A. strigosa coverages. The use of mulch did not provide a significant gain in productivity, however, there was a gain regarding the quality of the product, since the coverage with P. glaucum provided an increase in the size of the head (fresh mass of the commercial head).

Safety requirements for symbiotic human–robot collaboration systems in smart factories: a pairwise comparison approach to explore requirements dependencies

Industry 4.0 is expected to deliver significant productivity gain taking advantage of Internet of things (IoT). Smart solutions, enhanced by IoT, are constantly driving revolutionary approaches in multiple domains. Smart factories are one domain where intelligent integrated robotic systems will revolutionize manufacturing, resulting in a complex ecosystem, where humans, robots and machinery are combined. In this setting, human safety requirements are of paramount importance. This paper focuses on symbiotic human–robot collaboration systems (HRC), where human safety requirements are essential. Hence, it aims to explore and prioritize human safety requirement dependencies, as well as their dependencies with other critical requirements of smart factory operation, as effectiveness and performance. Toward this end, the proposed approach is based on SysML to represent the requirements dependencies and pairwise comparisons, a fundamental decision-making method, to quantify the importance of these dependencies. This model-driven approach is used as the primary medium for conveying traceability among human safety requirements as well as traceability from safety requirements to effectiveness and performance requirements in the system model. The analysis is based on the operational requirements identified in the European project HORSE, which aims to develop a methodological/technical framework for easy adaptation of robotic solutions from small-/medium-sized enterprises. Validation of the results is also performed to further elaborate on human safety requirement dependency exploration. The outcomes of this paper may be beneficial for symbiotic HRC systems in the early design stage. As the system is being developed with an emphasis on human safety, all these requirements that have been assessed with highly prioritized dependencies should be taken into account, whereas those with negligible ones have to be ignored since they do not significantly affect the rest of the process. Since operational requirements may be conflicted and incompatible, this approach may be very useful for other systems as well during the system design phase to find the appropriate solution satisfying the majority of the requirements, giving a priority to the ones with highly ranked dependencies and hence facilitating the implementation phase and afterward the production line. The outcomes may be used as a step in developing a model-driven approach which should be able to support the manufacturing process, facilitating the integration of systems and software modeling, which is increasingly important for robotic systems in smart factories incorporating HRC.

Improving production systems with lean: a case study in a medium-sized manufacturer

Lean principles and tools have been increasingly employed in companies across several sectors, with numerous successful implementations both inside and outside production environments. In the case of Portuguese companies, few works have reported the application and corresponding results of lean, and even fewer focusing on small and medium sized companies. This work presents a case study of an implementation of several lean principles and tools in the production sector of a Portuguese medium-sized screw cap manufacturer. Visual management, A3 thinking, and single-minute exchange of die (SMED) were employed to identify and reduce inefficiencies and waste in the shop floor. The implementation of these principles and tools is detailed, showcasing the necessary adjustments for being correctly embedded in the company's culture. Qualitative and quantitative results are presented concerning the case study, where a continuous improvement culture was adhered to and a significant gain in productivity could be observed.

Improving production systems with lean: a case study in a medium-sized manufacturer

Lean principles and tools have been increasingly employed in companies across several sectors, with numerous successful implementations both inside and outside production environments. In the case of Portuguese companies, few works have reported the application and corresponding results of lean, and even fewer focusing on small and medium sized companies. This work presents a case study of an implementation of several lean principles and tools in the production sector of a Portuguese medium-sized screw cap manufacturer. Visual management, A3 thinking, and single-minute exchange of die (SMED) were employed to identify and reduce inefficiencies and waste in the shop floor. The implementation of these principles and tools is detailed, showcasing the necessary adjustments for being correctly embedded in the company's culture. Qualitative and quantitative results are presented concerning the case study, where a continuous improvement culture was adhered to and a significant gain in productivity could be observed.

Integrating MDA and SOA for improving telemedicine services

Through telemedicine, the health sector has seized the opportunity offered by development of information and communications technology (ICT) such as the business or industrial sectors, but ICTs are constantly evolving. To benefit from technological progress it is necessary to adapt the computer applications to these technologies, however this operation is costly to health facilities especially in developing countries. In terms of scientific research, this observation explains the development of model-driven engineering of computer systems such as the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) approach. MDA is a computer design approach for the development of computer systems that considers separately the functional needs of technical needs of an application. MDA mainly uses the models and their transformations whose traces allow MDA to capitalize expertise in terms of technology and to ensure some rapid modernization of applications to new technologies which results in a significant productivity gain. Today there is a huge requirement worldwide in the interoperable services, in particular with regard to their valuable contribution to the collaboration ability of remote information technology systems. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an interesting architectural pattern in which software components contribute to the collaboration and sharing of services. In this way, the principles of SOA are intended to ensure interoperability between heterogeneous and distributed applications. Web services are at the heart of SOA, which splits functions into different services, accessible over a computer network that enables users to associate and reuse them in the exploitation of applications. Health applications have a strong need to communicate with the remote institutions in order to provide the most relevant services to patients and to collaborate with other medical partners to solve complex tasks. For this purpose, the proposed research work shows how the paradigms of SOA and MDA can be configured to implement medical software applications on an e-health platform. The case study concerns the Telemedicine in French-speaking Africa (RAFT) project in which the joint use of MDA and SOA facilitates knowledge combination and reuse in the management of applications supporting a medical collaborative work environment.

Eficiência de fungicidas no controle do mofo branco na cultura da soja

Among the diseases that affect soybeans, white mold stands out as one of the most important currently. Chemical control has been the most effective, given the fast disease evolution and requires farmers’ close attention, primarily in relation to the time of the product being applied, this being one of the most important factors for successful disease control. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the control of white mold by applying foliar fungicides in different reproductive stages, by analyzing the progress of the disease in soybean pathosystem versus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. The experimental area presents a crop rotation system with soybean and cotton being adopted for over 10 years and with a history of occurrence of white mold. Four treatments (Witness, Cercobin, Sumilex and Frowncide) in a randomized block design with four replications. We evaluated the incidence and disease severity in stages R5.1, R5.3 and R5.5. At the end of the experiment, the weight of sclerotia and yield were evaluated. Treatments were applied at four times every ten days from the beginning of flowering. Data were submitted to analysis of variance by F test and the means were compared by Tukey test at 5% probability. The fungicides showed efficiency in relation to the variables studied, with exception of the incidence of disease severity. The most effective fungicide against the significant gain in productivity was Frowncide. Chemical control significantly reduced the severity of the disease.

Estimating the monetary value of the annual productivity gained in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis receiving etanercept plus methotrexate: interim results from the PRIZE study

ObjectiveTo measure and value the impact of combined etanercept (ETN) and methotrexate (MTX) therapy on work productivity in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) over 52 weeks.MethodsMTX- and biological-naïve patients...

Throughput optimization in dual-gripper interval robotic cells

Interval robotic cells with several processing stages (chambers) have been increasingly used for diverse wafer fabrication processes in semiconductor manufacturing. Processes such as low-pressure chemical vapor deposition, etching, cleaning and chemical-mechanical planarization, require strict time control for each processing stage. A wafer treated in a processing chamber must leave that chamber within a specified time limit; otherwise the wafer is exposed to residual gases and heat, resulting in quality problems. Interval robotic cells are also widely used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards. The problem of scheduling operations in dual-gripper interval robotic cells that produce identical wafers (or parts) is considered in this paper. The objective is to find a 1-unit cyclic sequence of robot moves that minimizes the long-run average time to produce a part or, equivalently, maximizes the throughput. Initially two extreme cases are considered, namely no-wait cells and free-pickup cells; for no-wait cells (resp., free-pickup cells), an optimal (resp., asymptotically optimal) solution is obtained in polynomial time. It is then proved that the problem is strongly NP-hard for a general interval cell. Finally, results of an extensive computational study aimed at analyzing the improvement in throughput realized by using a dual-gripper robot instead of a single-gripper robot are presented. It is shown that employing a dual-gripper robot can lead to a significant gain in productivity. Operations managers can compare the resulting increase in revenue with the additional costs of acquiring and maintaining a dual-gripper robot to determine the circumstances under which such an investment is appropriate. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of IIE Transactions for the following supplemental resources: Proofs of all theoretical results, a table summarizing these results, a summary of Algorithm FindCycle, and the Levner–Kats–Levit Algorithm.]

Sedation Reduction in a Pediatric Radiology Department

An initiative by the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh radiology department to reduce sedations of pediatric patients undergoing computerized tomography scanning has resulted in a significant decline in sedation rates, reduced rates of sedation-related complications, a significant productivity gain as a result of increased procedural volume, improved patient and family satisfaction, and no diminution of image quality. The techniques used to implement this initiative are applicable in any healthcare setting in which pediatric patients are routinely sedated for medical procedures.

Automatic generation of embedded communication SW for heterogeneous MPSoC platforms

This paper addresses the problem of long design cycle of MPSoCs communication SW with automatic synthesis. The tool we propose takes as input a transaction level model (TLM) of MPSoC communication and outputs pin and cycle-accurate (PCA) bus drivers that can be linked to the synthesizable PCA model (PCAM). The TL communication is simple since TLM channels abstract away protocol details. PCAM communication, in turn, includes explicit definitions for each signal and pin. However, in most cases the TLMs are not suitable for implementation since they do not reflect the MPSoC platform. Usually the designers simulate (fast) TLMs, then manually implement PCA communication. Our communication SW synthesis transforms TL send and receive functions into platform specific PCAM bus drivers which can be automatically downloaded to the FPGA board. The presented results demonstrate the significant productivity gain achieved with our tool, with no great cost to either code size or system performance.

The Software Testing Automation Framework

Software testing is an integral, costly, and time-consuming activity in the software development life cycle. As is true for software development in general, reuse of common artifacts can provide a significant gain in productivity. In addition, because testing involves running the system being tested under a variety of configurations and circumstances, automation of execution-related activities offers another potential source of savings in the testing process. This paper explores the opportunities for reuse and automation in one test organization, describes the shortcomings of potential solutions that are available off the shelf, and introduces a new solution for addressing the questions of reuse and automation: the Software Testing Automation Framework (STAF), a multiplatform, multilanguage approach to reuse. It is based on the concept of reusable services that can be used to automate major activities in the testing process. The design of STAF is described. Also discussed is how it was employed to automate a resource-intensive test suite used by an actual testing organization within IBM.

Marine production levels in land 3-D seismic

Summary The slip-sweep technique, invented and promoted by Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO), is considered be a significant breakthrough in terms of Vibroseis acquisition technology. The simple idea behind slip sweep is to start sweeping the next vibrator group without waiting for the current vibration be completed, leading a significant gain in productivity, particularly in open areas. Slip-sweep can be used either for 2-D or 3-D seismic surveys increase production or increase signal noise ratio without a cycle time penalty. A complete implementation of this technique within an advanced acquisition system including the vibrator control electronics is described show that slip-sweep is now mature and industrial be used in Vibroseis operations. Actual slip-sweep production figures are compared conventional flip-flop techniques.

A case study: productivity and quality gains using an object-oriented framework

The Neuro-Oncology Information System (NOIS) supports researchers and other personnel throughout the United States engaged in brain tumor research. Graphical user interfaces that allow data input into the NOIS have been evolving over several years. This paper describes the design and implementation of the NOIS Input Forms as they migrated from a procedural approach to a static object-oriented approach, and finally to a framework approach in which not only static components were reused, but also the patterns of interaction among the components. The paper documents a significant gain in productivity and quality that was realized when using the framework design paradigm. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A case study: productivity and quality gains using an object‐oriented framework

The Neuro-Oncology Information System (NOIS) supports researchers and other personnel throughout the United States engaged in brain tumor research. Graphical user interfaces that allow data input into the NOIS have been evolving over several years. This paper describes the design and implementation of the NOIS Input Forms as they migrated from a procedural approach to a static object-oriented approach, and finally to a framework approach in which not only static components were reused, but also the patterns of interaction among the components. The paper documents a significant gain in productivity and quality that was realized when using the framework design paradigm. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Simultaneous reaction and separation in enzymatic hydrolysis of high oleate sunflower oil – evaluation of ultrafiltration performance and process synergy

An experimental study has been carried out on an integrated reaction system consisting of a stirred tank reactor, a de-emulsifier and an ultrafiltration (UF) unit for simultaneous reaction and product separation during the enzymatic hydrolysis of sun flower oil. The study focuses primarily on how UF performance and enzymatic activity are affected by different components in the reaction products and by the operating parameters of the integrated system. An evaluation of the system productivity and synergistic relationships between the kinetics of the hydrolytic reaction, de-emulsification, and product separation is presented. The reaction system comprised a heterogeneous oil/water system with the free enzyme functioning at the liquid–liquid interface. In contrast to theoretical expectations, no significant gain in productivity and yield was observed in the operation of reaction and separation simultaneously. The continuous removal of the glycerol produced, surprisingly, resulted in only marginal improvements in overall reaction yield. This may be explained by the complex mass transfer processes occurring at the membrane/liquid interface and due to unsuccessful separation of the produced free fatty acids from both the de-emulsified aqueous and oil phases. The reactor operating parameters were also recorded including oil/water molar ratio and impeller stirring rate and their effect upon the UF flux performance and the stability of the lipase activity determined.

Follow-up with Unique Insights on Program Evaluation

Three examples of research evaluating the utility of Grid organization development are presented. One shows significant gain in productivity and decrease of control lable cost in a pre-post study. The second is based on research that demonstrated a 400% profit increase over a 10-year period in an experiment in contrast with a control company. The third demonstrates that sound teamwork in the cockpit resulted in a doubling of the number of miles flown without a hull loss in comparison with industrywide figures. The conclusion from these and other studies is that Grid organization development is (1) well researched and (2) has an impact on bottom line.

AWB-ADE: an application development environment for interactive, integrated systems

The AWB Application Development Environment (AWB-ADE) is a collection of UNIX * based software tools within an architecture that facilitates the development of new interactive, integrated software systems with significant productivity gain. The main characteristic of this environment is that it encourages a high degree of reusability, especially at the architecture and program level, and it provides facilities for the development of software through rapid prototyping. Further, it is an environment with an open architecture and as such it can easily be extended to meet the variety of needs of its diverse user community.