Supervisory Capacity Research Articles

A pattern recognition based vibration monitoring module for machine tools

The unmanned operation of manufacturing cells and systems requires automated monitoring equipment, as a substitute for human beings in their supervisory capacity. Concentrating on the frequency domain analysis of measured signals, this paper presents a short summary of the available spectral and cepstral features applicable for describing the different states of the machine or the process to be monitored. Pattern recognition techniques are suggested for the classification phase of the monitoring process. Regarding the requirements of a vibration monitoring module, integrated into a complex, multipurpose machine tool monitoring system, a comparison is made between the different computational devices in performance, complexity and intelligence. The hardware and software architecture of the two-processor based module—incorporating a DSP and a 16 bit microprocessor in parallel architecture—is discussed.

Risk management in children with burn injuries.

The currently accepted "high risk/no risk" concept of assessing pediatric injuries inadequately describes the range of situations in which children are burned and the spectrum of appropriate interventions. All children are at risk for injury; the question is not when but how best to intervene. A retrospective chart analysis of 101 pediatric admissions in 1985 demonstrated that childhood burns and follow-up requirements varied, depending on circumstances of injury, presence and behavior of caregivers, and the ability of parents or caregivers to assume responsibility for the child's supervision, safety, and health needs. We must view childrens' risk for injury as dependent upon the supervisory capacity of their parents, and continue to identify and develop specific interventions appropriate to each level of understanding and responsibility. Adequate documentation of the circumstances of injury and parent behavior are the key factors in determining level of risk and appropriate management.

Obligations of a Clinical Supervisor

This article offers the author's definition of his responsibilities as a clinical supervisor. Treatment professionals promoted into a supervisory capacity do not always realize their new obligations, thereby leaving some responsibilities uncared for while they remain only client-oriented and not organization-oriented.

Administration and Supervision in Laboratory Medicine

This multiauthor text (32 authors, 554 pages) has a clearly stated objective: bridge gap between theory of management and... application... in clinical laboratory. It also has a clearly defined audience: the individual who finds himself in a supervisory capacity for first time and... students whose goals... include laboratory administration. The 28 chapters are grouped into five sections: Fundamentals of Laboratory Management, Concepts in Managerial Leadership, Processes in Personnel Administration, Essentials of Effective Laboratory Operation, Principles of Laboratory Finance. The first three sections (approximately 280 pages) include an excellent discussion on How to Conduct Effective Meetings (chapter 8, about ten pages). The remaining 270 pages emphasize management theory and didactic material, with little emphasis on case studies or real life problems. I was disappointed that discussion of performance evaluation did not present continuous evaluation, as well as traditional yearly evaluation.

Implementing Family Planning in a Ministry of Health: Organizational Barriers at the State and District Levels

1. Family planning occupied a subordinate position in the medical and health bureaucracy almost two decades after its introduction. Senior Ministry officials accorded low priority to formal program objectives, while the State Family Planning Officer, the highest state official concerned solely with the family planning program, suffered from a relatively subordinate position in the Directorate and a lack of authority and support. Within the medical profession, family planning was held in low esteem, and the medical and health bureaucracies did not have a mechanism for selecting personnel on the basis of interest and commitment. 2. Organizational adjustment to family planning in the Ministry of Health was a slow and painful process, absorbing the energy and attention of Ministry officials for almost a decade. The repeated reorganizations of the district setup revolving around the division of labor between medical, health, and family planning acitvities and between the rural and urban program, led to months of almost total inertia and detracted substantially from the supervisory capacity of the officials involved. 3. Decision making and guidance suffered from the quick turnover of the Secretary, the most powerful administrator in the Ministry. In Uttar Pradesh Secretaries stayed barely long enough to begin to understand the complex organizational setup of the program. 4. Multiple and often conflicting lines of authority characterized the relationships between the higher and lower echelons within the Ministry. This was accentuated when the District Family Planning Officer was placed under the administrative control of the District Magistrate. While intended to "energize" family planning through the association of the most prestigious and powerful district official with the program, this organizational arrangement resulted in conflicting instructions to the staffs of the primary health centers. 5. The organizational behavior of the Ministry of Health was shaped by the interplay of the various "professional cultures" of its key actors. The generalist administrators' short time horizon and eagerness to produce quantitative results clashed with the specialists' emphasis upon long-term goals and technical constraints; the politician's defense of the interest of his constituents clashed with the administrator's desire to defend his autonomy. The calculus of political survival made support for family planning goals a costly burden that few politicians have been willing to shoulder. As the party system does not reward the advocacy of family planning, ministers emphasize those programs within their ministry or those decisions within their discretion that correspond to the demands of their constituents.

Planning and Implementing a Computer Production Control System

During the last ten years the use of computers has allowed high-quality instantaneous data gathering, and this, combined with the better use of manpower, has achieved in some instances the highest possible level of production, has provided a means for more efficient operation, and has permitted maximum profits. Introduction Computer Production Control (CPC) is defined as the combination of automation features as applied to a system to perform well testing, data gathering, and most look-and-see functions, as well as to provide data-processing capacity. Automatic well testing requires remote supervisory control capacity. Automatic data gathering means measurement of all oil, gas, and water volumes. Look-and-see functions require well-status indicators and alarms. Since a computer is required to give a reasonable combination of these features, the data-processing capacity inherent in the computer should be used. CPC is a communications-oriented remote open-loop supervisory control, local closed-loop control, and closed-loop data acquisition computer operation. Maximum use is made of computer software to allow minimum use of field hardware. Considering these features, a state-of-the-art review can be made to determine the technical feasibility of CPC. At the date of this writing, technical presentations and trade journals describe 17 major industry installations to some extent. This is not a complete list of all installations but of those that have some pertinent significance in arriving at an evaluation. A state-of-the-art review will reveal that during the last 10 years the use of computers has allowed high-quality instantaneous data gathering, and this, combined with the better use of manpower, has achieved in some instances the highest possible level of production, has provided a means for more efficient operation, and has permitted maximum profits from producing operations. Oil and gas production is also producing operations. Oil and gas production is also being controlled successfully with a computer-oriented push-button operation in other installations on which push-button operation in other installations on which no reports have been published. Knowing that the concept is within current technical abilities makes it possible for planning to progress to the point that possible for planning to progress to the point that economics can be considered. Automation It might be well to establish at this point the difference between automation and mechanization. In old systems, we have been mechanizing for technological improvement for a number of years. Mechanization is installing equipment to perform a given function automatically and repetitively. Automation is a machine system that through measurement, control, and feedback will allow operation with optimum efficiency. With mechanization no feedback for optimization is implied. Automation implies and requires feedback and optimization, and it requires the complete exploitation of communications, computations and control. In any case, automation for automation's sake is not enough. It must lead to attractive economic results or automation will not and should not be instituted. Production-oriented automation systems include five items that can be categorized as old or well established production components. JPT P. 134

"Camp William James": A New Deal Blunder?

ON October 18, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent the following memorandum to Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard and other interested persons: Please do what you can at once to open the CCC and go through with the Tunbridge Project. Also, please put Professor Huessy in some kind of supervisory or advisory capacity in the Camp.' This directive gave a substantial boost to what was to become an extremely controversial action of the Civilian Conservation Corps, one which probably undermined the cause of the Corps at a crucial time. By early 1941 when adverse publicity created by the effort to establish the Sharon CCC Camp, also known as Camp William James, reached a climax, the CCC was fighting for its life, and within two years the organization had passed from the American scene. The controversy had significance partly because of the influential individuals involved in the affair.

Mutual benefit program between university and mental hospital

velopment class drove to the nearby hospital and, on an individual basis, tutored patients. The Tutoring Program, stemming from the hospital's need for educational service for its young patients and Dr. Woronoff's need for laboratory experience for the students of his educational psychology class, has developed, under the guidance of Miss Louise Marshall, Staff Clinical Psychologist at the hospital into a non-official but highly approved hospital program with hospital personnel serving in an advisory and supervisory capacity. The program not only began informally but also by chance. Three Eastern students, the year before, had contacted Miss Marshall about possible service work that they could do at the hospital to fulfil requirements for a Pre-Student Teaching Orientation Program which was under the direction of Miss Margaret Robinson, Associate Professor of Library Science. At that time, a reading research project was in progress at the hospital. This project consisted of testing a group of patients, giving them individual tutoring, and then retesting them. The Eastern students served as tutors in this project, and finding the work enjoyable, thought other students might be interested in this type of service work. After the project was completed, the students questioned Miss Marshall about the possibility of other students doing tutoring at the hospital.

British Food Journal Volume 53 Issue 7 1951

British Food Journal Volume 53 Issue 7 1951