bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dentistry ― At the Heart of Conflict between Medicine and Technology
Authors: Jaquiery Claude
Published: August 2012

As the first Editor-in-Chief of Dentistry Journal, I would like to provide a few comments about this field of research and practice. Evolved from a purely technical profession, dentists are nowadays exposed to a variety of different challenges. [...]
Wogonin Induces Reactive Oxygen Species Production and Cell Apoptosis in Human Glioma Cancer Cells
Authors: Tsai Cheng-Fang , Yeh Wei-Lan , Huang Ssu Ming , Tan Tzu-Wei , Lu Dah-Yuu
Published: August 2012

Glioma is the most common primary adult brain tumor with poor prognosis because of the ease of spreading tumor cells to other regions of the brain. Cell apoptosis is frequently targeted for developing anti-cancer drugs. In the present study, we have assessed wogonin, a flavonoid compound isolated from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, induced ROS generation, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and cell apoptosis. Wogonin induced cell death in two different human glioma cells, such as U251 and U87 cells but not in human primary astrocytes (IC 50 > 100 μM). Wogonin-induced apoptotic cell death in glioma cells was measured by propidine iodine (PI) analysis, Tunnel assay and Annexin V staining methods. Furthermore, wogonin also induced caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation as well as up-regulation of cleaved PARP expression. Moreover, treatment of wogonin also increased a number of signature ER stress markers glucose-regulated protein (GRP)-78, GRP-94, Calpain I, and phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor-2α (eIF2α). Treatment of human glioma cells with wogonin was found to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Wogonin induced ER stress-related protein expression and cell apoptosis was reduced by the ROS inhibitors apocynin and NAC (N-acetylcysteine). The present study provides evidence to support the fact that wogonin induces human glioma cell apoptosis mediated ROS generation, ER stress activation and cell apoptosis.
N-(3,4-Dimethoxyphenyl)-4-oxo-2,3,7-triazaspiro[4.5]dec-1-ene-1-carboxamide Hydrochloride
Authors: Srinivasan Rajagopalan , Narayana Badiadka , Samshuddin Seranthimata , Sarojini Balladka Kunhanna
Published: August 2012

A simple and novel route for synthesis of new spirocyclic amide derivative is developed. The present work involves the oxidative cleavage of tert-butyl 1-(furan-2-yl)-4-oxo-2,3,7-triazaspiro[4.5]dec-1-ene-7-carboxylate 1 followed by the amine coupling and deprotection of Boc.
Demethylzeylasteral Exhibits Strong Inhibition towards UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 1A6 and 2B7
Authors: Zhao Jin-Wen , Wang Gui-Hua , Chen Min , Cheng Lian-Hua , Ji Xiao-Qi
Published: August 2012

Inhibition of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) isoforms can result in severe clinical results, including clinical drug-drug interactions (DDI) and metabolic disorders of endogenous substances. The present study aims to investigate the inhibition of demethylzeylasteral (an important active component isolated from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F.) towards three important UGT isoforms UGT1A6, UGT1A9 and UGT2B7. The results showed that 100 μM of demethylzeylasteral exhibited strong inhibition towards UGT1A6 and UGT2B7, with negligible influence towards UGT1A9. Furthermore, Dixon and Lineweaver-Burk plots showed the inhibition of UGT1A6 and UGT2B7 by demethylzeylasteral was best fit to competitive inhibition, and the inhibition kinetic parameters (Ki) were calculated to be 0.6 μM and 17.3 μM for UGT1A6 and UGT2B7, respectively. This kind of inhibitory effect need much attention when demethylzeylasteral and demethylzeyasteral-containing herbs (e.g., Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F.) were co-administered with the drugs mainly undergoing UGT1A6, UGT2B7-catalyzed metabolism. However, when extrapolating the in vivo clinical results using our present in vitro data, many complex factors might affect final results, including the contribution of UGT1A6 and UGT2B7 to the metabolism of compounds, and the herbal or patients’ factors affecting the in vivo concentration of demethylzeylasteral.
Computerized Modeling of Adenosine Triphosphate, Adenosine Triarsenate and Adenosine Trivanadate
Authors: Nascimento Valter A. , Melnikov Petr , Consolo Lourdes Z. Z.
Published: August 2012

Computerized molecular models of adenosine triphosphate, adenosine tri-arsenate and adenosine trivanadate have been generated using the molecular mechanics technique. The analysis of structural parameters indicated that, at least theoretically, adenosine triarsenate is a realistic candidate for replacement of adenosine triphosphate in biochemical pathways. On the contrary, the structural arrangement of the inorganic segment of adenosine trivanadate does not seem to be capable of withstanding a swift hydrolytical splitting in aqueous milieu. It was shown that the universal force field as implemented in Gaussian software packages is an appropriate tool for the optimization of less-common bioactive compositions.
Fabrication and Characteristics of ZnO/OAD-InN/PbPc Hybrid Solar Cells Prepared by Oblique-Angle Deposition
Authors: Chen Cheng-Chiang , Chen Lung-Chien
Published: August 2012

In this work, lead phthalocyanine (PbPc) and ZnO/InN inorganic semiconductor films prepared by oblique-angle deposition (OAD) were layered to form heterojunction organic/inorganic hybrid photovoltaic solar cells. Among the available organic materials, phthalocyanines, particularly the non-planar ones such as PbPc, are notable for their absorption in the visible and near infrared regions. The organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells fabricated on ZnO/OAD-InN/PbPc showed short-circuit current density (JSC), open-circuit voltage (VOC), and power conversion efficiencies (η) of 1.2 mA/cm2, 0.6 V and 0.144%, respectively.
Four Methods for LIDAR Retrieval of Microscale Wind Fields
Authors: Howard Allen Q. , Naini Thomas
Published: August 2012

This paper evaluates four wind retrieval methods for micro-scale meteorology applications with volume and time resolution in the order of 30m3 and 5 s. Wind field vectors are estimated using sequential time-lapse volume images of aerosol density fluctuations. Suitably designed mono-static scanning backscatter LIDAR systems, which are sensitive to atmospheric density aerosol fluctuations, are expected to be ideal for this purpose. An important application is wind farm siting and evaluation. In this case, it is necessary to look at the complicated region between the earth’s surface and the boundary layer, where wind can be turbulent and fractal scaling from millimeter to kilometer. The methods are demonstrated using first a simple randomized moving hard target, and then with a physics based stochastic space-time dynamic turbulence model. In the latter case the actual vector wind field is known, allowing complete space-time error analysis. Two of the methods, the semblance method and the spatio-temporal method, are found to be most suitable for wind field estimation.
The Combined Application of Impinger System and Permeation Tube for the Generation of Volatile Organic Compound Standard Gas Mixtures at Varying Diluent Flow Rates
Authors: Kim Ki-Hyun , Susaya Janice , Cho Jinwoo , Parker David
Published: August 2012

Commercial standard gas generators are often complex and expensive devices. The objective of this research was to assess the performance of a simplified glass impinger system for standard gas generation from a permeation tube (PT) device. The performance of the impinger standard gas generation system was assessed for four aromatic VOCs (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and m-xylene; BTEX) at varying flow rates (FR) of 50 to 800 mL·min−1. Because actual permeation rate (APR) values deviated from those computed by the manufacturer’s formula (MPR), new empirical relationships were developed to derive the predicted PR (PPR) of the target components. Experimental results corrected by such a formula indicate that the compatibility between the APR and MPR generally increased with low FR, while the reproducibility was generally reduced with decreasing flow rate. Although compatibility between different PRs is at a relatively small and narrow FR range, the use of correction formula is recommendable for the accurate use of PT.
Use of a Combined SpO2/PtcCO2 Sensor in the Delivery Room
Authors: Rubortone Serena Antonia , De Carolis Maria Pia , Lacerenza Serafina , Bersani Iliana , Occhipinti Federica , Romagnoli Costantino
Published: August 2012

Arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) and partial arterial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) are important respiratory parameters in critically ill neonates. A sensor combining a pulse oximeter with the Stow-Severinghaus electrode, required for the measurement of peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) and transcutaneous partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PtcCO2), respectively, has been recently used in neonatal clinical practice (TOSCA500ÒRadiometer). We evaluated TOSCA usability and reliability in the delivery room (DR), throughout three different periods, on term, late-preterm, and preterm neonates. During the first period (period A), 30 healthy term neonates were simultaneously monitored with both TOSCA and a MASIMO pulse oximeter. During the second period (period B), 10 healthy late-preterm neonates were monitored with both TOSCA and a transcutaneous device measuring PtcCO2 (TINAÒ TCM3, Radiometer). During the third period (period C), 15 preterm neonates were monitored with TOSCA and MASIMO after birth, during stabilization, and during transport to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Blood gas analyses were performed to compare transcutaneous and blood gas values. TOSCA resulted easily and safely usable in the DR, allowing reliable noninvasive SaO2 estimation. Since PtcCO2 measurements with TOSCA required at least 10 min to be stable and reliable, this parameter was not useful during the early resuscitation immediately after birth. Moreover, PtcCO2 levels were less precise if compared to the conventional transcutaneous monitoring. However, PtcCO2 measurement by TOSCA was useful as trend-monitoring after stabilization and during transport to NICU.
A Comparison between Metaheuristics as Strategies for Minimizing Cyclic Instability in Ambient Intelligence
Authors: Romero Leoncio A. , Zamudio Victor , Baltazar Rosario , Mezura Efren , Sotelo Marco , Callaghan Vic
Published: August 2012

In this paper we present a comparison between six novel approaches to the fundamental problem of cyclic instability in Ambient Intelligence. These approaches are based on different optimization algorithms, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Bee Swarm Optimization (BSO), micro Particle Swarm Optimization (μ-PSO), Artificial Immune System (AIS), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Mutual Information Maximization for Input Clustering (MIMIC). In order to be able to use these algorithms, we introduced the concept of Average Cumulative Oscillation (ACO), which enabled us to measure the average behavior of the system. This approach has the advantage that it does not need to analyze the topological properties of the system, in particular the loops, which can be computationally expensive. In order to test these algorithms we used the well-known discrete system called the Game of Life for 9, 25, 49 and 289 agents. It was found that PSO and μ-PSO have the best performance in terms of the number of agents locked. These results were confirmed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. This novel and successful approach is very promising and can be used to remove instabilities in real scenarios with a large number of agents (including nomadic agents) and complex interactions and dependencies among them.
Soliton and Similarity Solutions of Ν = 2, 4 Supersymmetric Equations
Authors: Delisle Laurent , Hussin Véronique
Published: August 2012

We produce soliton and similarity solutions of supersymmetric extensions of Burgers, Korteweg–de Vries and modified KdV equations. We give new representations of the τ -functions in Hirota bilinear formalism. Chiral superfields are used to obtain such solutions. We also introduce new solitons called virtual solitons whose nonlinear interactions produce no phase shifts.
Hypertension Management in Patients with Renal Cell Cancer Treated with Anti-Angiogenic Agents
Authors: Larochelle P. , Kollmannsberger C. , Feldman R.D. , Schiffrin E.L. , Poirier L. , Patenaude F. , Ruether D. , Myers M. , Bjarnason G.
Published: August 2012

Inhibitors of the vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf-is) signalling pathway have fundamentally changed the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mrcc). Hypertension is one of the most common side effects of vegf-is and has been reported with almost every vegf-i used for treatment to date. The exact mechanism of vegf-i–induced hypertension appears complex and multifactorial, and it remains to be fully explained. No randomized clinical trials are available to guide the management of hypertension during vegf-i treatment in mrcc patients. The guiding principles suggested here summarize the consensus of opinions on the diagnosis and management of vegf-i–induced hypertension during treatment of mrcc obtained from an expert working group composed of 4 Canadian medical oncologists and 5 Canadian hypertension specialists. The Canadian Hypertension Education Program guidelines, available literature, and expert opinion were used to develop the guiding principles.
Right Atrial Metastasis of Uterine Leiomyosarcoma Causing Obstructive Shock
Authors: Nguyen S.K.A. , Wong F.
Published: August 2012

Uterine leiomyosarcomas are rare tumours, and secondary cardiac metastases are even rarer. We present the case of a 56-year-old ethnic Chinese woman who was being treated with adjuvant pelvic radiation for uterine leiomyosarcoma when she presented with signs of right heart failure and shock. She was rapidly diagnosed with a solid mass attached to the tricuspid valve. Subsequent surgical resection revealed leiomyosarcoma metastasis. Metastases of uterine leiomyosarcoma to the heart are extremely rare, but clinicians should be aware of this phenomenon. Surgical resection, when feasible, can be associated with longer survival.
Does Neurologic Deterioration Help to Differentiate between Pseudoprogression and True Disease Progression in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma Multiforme?
Authors: Singh A.D. , Easaw J.C.
Published: August 2012

Enlarging or new lesions frequently appear on magnetic resonance imaging (mri) after concurrent administration of radiation therapy and temozolomide in glioblastoma multiforme (gbm) patients. However, in nearly half such cases, the observed radiologic changes are not due to true disease progression, but instead are a result of a post-radiation inflammatory state called “pseudoprogression.” Retrospective studies have reported that neurologic deterioration at the time of the post-chemoradiotherapy mri is found more commonly in patients with true disease progression. We report a gbm patient with both radiologic progression on the post-chemoradiotherapy mri and concomitant neurologic deterioration, and we caution against incorporating clinical deterioration into the management schema of patients with possible pseudoprogression.
Nano-structuring, surface and bulk modification with a focused helium ion beam
Authors: Fox Daniel , Chen Yanhui , Faulkner Colm C , Zhang Hongzhou
Published: August 2012

We investigate the ability of a focused helium ion beam to selectively modify and mill materials. The sub nanometer probe size of the helium ion microscope used provides lateral control not previously available for helium ion irradiation experiments. At high incidence angles the helium ions were found to remove surface material from a silicon lamella leaving the subsurface structure intact for further analysis. Surface roughness and contaminants were both reduced by the irradiation process. Fabrication is also realized with a high level of patterning acuity. Implantation of helium beneath the surface of the sample is visualized in cross section allowing direct observation of the extended effects of high dose irradiation. The effect of the irradiation on the crystal structure of the material is presented. Applications of the sample modification process are presented and further prospects discussed.
Americans’ Perceived and Actual Understanding of Energy
Authors: Southwell Brian , Murphy Joseph , DeWaters J.E. , LeBaron Patricia
Published: August 2012

To address the lack of information about American’s perceived and actual knowledge related to energy, RTI researchers measured three concepts: perceived understanding of energy, demonstrated energy knowledge, and the ability to interpret an energy bill. Results suggest that public understanding of energy is multifaceted, and perceived understanding is not directly equivalent to actual understanding in many cases. Results of this survey provide insight into individual and household energy consumption behavior, which has implications for future policy and intervention.
Motion Segmentation and Matting by Graph Cut
Authors: Xiao Jiangjian
Published: August 2012

Given a video sequence, obtaining accurate layer segmentation and alpha matting is very important for video representation, analysis, compression, and synthesis. By assuming that a scene can be approximately described by multiple planar or surface regions, this chapter describes a robust approach to automatically detect the region clusters and perform accurate layer segmentation for the scene. The approach starts from optical flow field or small corresponding seed regions and applies a clustering approach to estimate the layer number and support regions. Then, it uses graph cut algorithm combined with a general occlusion constraint over multiple frames to solve pixel assignment over multiple frames to obtain more accurate segmentation boundary and identify the occluded pixels. For the non-textured ambiguous regions, an alpha matting technique is further used to refine the segmentation and resolve the ambiguities by determining proper alpha values for the foreground and background, respectively. Based on the alpha mattes, the foreground object can be transferred into the other video sequence to generate a virtual video. The author’s experiments show that the proposed approach is effective and robust for both the challenging real and synthetic sequences.
Graph Embedding Using Dissimilarities with Applications in Classification
Authors: Bunke Horst , Riesen Kaspar
Published: August 2012

The domain of graphs contains only little mathematical structure. That is, most of the basic mathematical operations, actually required by many standard computer vision and pattern recognition algorithms, are not available for graphs. One of the few mathematical concepts that has been successfully transferred from the vector space to the graph domain is distance computation between graphs, commonly referred to as graph matching. Yet, distance-based pattern recognition is basically limited to nearest-neighbor classification. The present chapter reviews a novel approach for graph embedding in vector spaces built upon the concept of graph matching. The key-idea of the proposed embedding method is to use the distances of an input graph to a number of training graphs, termed prototypes, as vectorial description of the graph. That is, all graph matching procedures proposed in the literature during the last decades can be employed in this embedding framework. The rationale for such a graph embedding is to bridge the gap between the high representational power and flexibility of graphs and the large amount of algorithms available for object representations in terms of feature vectors. Hence, the proposed framework can be considered a contribution towards unifying the domains of structural and statistical pattern recognition.
Shape Retrieval and Classification Based on Geodesic Paths in Skeleton Graphs
Authors: Bai Xiang , Li Chunyuan , Yang Xingwei , Latecki Longin Jan
Published: August 2012

Skeleton- is well-known to be superior to contour-based representation when shapes have large nonlinear variability, especially articulation. However, approaches to shape similarity based on skeletons suffer from the instability of skeletons, and matching of skeleton graphs is still an open problem. To deal with this problem for shape retrieval, the authors first propose to match skeleton graphs by comparing the geodesic paths between skeleton endpoints. In contrast to typical tree or graph matching methods, they do not explicitly consider the topological graph structure. Their approach is motivated by the fact that visually similar skeleton graphs may have completely different topological structures, while the paths between their end nodes still remain similar. The proposed comparison of geodesic paths between endpoints of skeleton graphs yields correct matching results in such cases. The experimental results demonstrate that the method is able to produce correct results in the presence of articulations, stretching, and contour deformations. The authors also utilize the geodesic skeleton paths for shape classification. Similar to shape retrieval, direct graph matching algorithms like graph edit distance have great difficulties with the instability of the skeleton graph structure. In contrast, the representation based on skeleton paths remains stable. Therefore, a simple Bayesian classifier is able to obtain excellent shape classification results.
Graph Heat Kernel Based Image Smoothing
Authors: Fan Zhang , Hancock Edwin , Shang Liu
Published: August 2012

This chapter presents a new method for smoothing both gray-scale and color images, which relies on the heat diffusion equation on a graph. The image pixel lattice using a weighted undirected graph is presented. The edge weights of the graph are determined by the Gaussian weighted distances between local neighboring windows. The associated Laplacian matrix (the degree matrix minus the adjacency matrix) is computed then. The authors capture anisotropic diffusion across this weighted graph-structure with time by the heat equation, and find the solution, i.e. the heat kernel, by exponentiating the Laplacian eigensystem with time. Image smoothing is accomplished by convolving the heat kernel with the image, and its numerical implementation is realized by using the Krylov subspace technique. The method has the effect of smoothing within regions, but does not blur region boundaries. The relationship is also demonstrated between the authors’ method, standard diffusion-based PDEs, Fourier domain signal processing, and spectral clustering. The effectiveness of the method is illustrated by experiments and comparisons on standard images.
Integrating ‘Designerly’ Ways with Engineering Science
Authors: de Vere Ian , Melles Gavin
Published: August 2012

The fields of design and engineering both contribute to product design and development. Increasingly design teams require an integrated approach in environments where mutual understanding and respect replace traditional professional rivalries. These new synergies both enhance communication and understanding between designers and engineers and lead engineering into new areas of professional activity. Engineers are integral to the product development process, but change in product development and manufacturing requires new responsibilities; design engineers must assume a greater role to achieve successful product realisation. However, to be effective engineers must develop new skills; creative design ability, understanding of societal and environmental impacts and a human-centred approach. These themes, not typically addressed by engineering curricula are evident in a new approach to engineering education - product design engineering. This chapter addresses issues confronting product design and development and examines the emergence of this new engineering professional in response.
Service Design
Authors: Miettinen Satu
Published: August 2012

Service design is establishing itself as a method for developing services and service business. Service needs, new ideas and ways to utilise technology are encountered when the customer and the end user participate in the design process. This chapter focuses on service design methods and the process of how service design can help in innovating customer-orientated service concepts for e-tourism. Service design connects the areas of cultural, social and human interaction. Use of design methods acts as a link between the different views in the service design process. Service design is an emerging field where the terminology and methods are still developing. Mager (2009) has pointed out that the need for service design is evident, as economic development has changed dramatically during the last four decades from manufacturing to provision of information and services. Service design looks at service development from the designer’s point of view. Design thinking has the ability to create concepts, solutions and future service experiences for users.
Modeling Closed Loop Supply Chain Systems
Authors: Poles Roberto
Published: August 2012

In the past, many companies were concerned with managing activities primarily along the traditional supply chain to optimize operational processes and thereby economic benefits, without considering new economic or environmental opportunities in relation to the reverse supply chain and the use of used or reclaimed products. In contrast, companies are now showing increased interest in reverse logistics and closed loop supply chains (CLSCs) and their economic benefits and environmental impacts. In this chapter, our focus is the study of remanufacturing activity, which is one of the main recovery methods applied to closed loop supply chains. Specifically, the authors investigate and evaluate strategies for effective management of inventory control and production planning of a remanufacturing system. To pursue this objective, they model a production and inventory system for remanufacturing using the System Dynamics (SD) simulation modeling approach. The authors primary interest is in the returns process of such a system. Case studies will be referred to in this chapter to support some of the findings and to further validate the developed model.
Multi-Objective Optimization of Manufacturing Processes Using Evolutionary Algorithms
Authors: Kanthababu M.
Published: August 2012

Recently evolutionary algorithms have created more interest among researchers and manufacturing engineers for solving multiple-objective problems. The objective of this chapter is to give readers a comprehensive understanding and also to give a better insight into the applications of solving multi-objective problems using evolutionary algorithms for manufacturing processes. The most important feature of evolutionary algorithms is that it can successfully find globally optimal solutions without getting restricted to local optima. This chapter introduces the reader with the basic concepts of single-objective optimization, multi-objective optimization, as well as evolutionary algorithms, and also gives an overview of its salient features. Some of the evolutionary algorithms widely used by researchers for solving multiple objectives have been presented and compared. Among the evolutionary algorithms, the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA) and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) have emerged as most efficient algorithms for solving multi-objective problems in manufacturing processes. The NSGA method applied to a complex manufacturing process, namely plateau honing process, considering multiple objectives, has been detailed with a case study. The chapter concludes by suggesting implementation of evolutionary algorithms in different research areas which hold promise for future applications.
Internal Supply Chain Integration
Authors: Turkulainen Virpi
Published: August 2012

Supply chain relationships and subsequent supply chain integration have received significant attention among both academics and practitioners over several decades. The majority of the prior research has focused on assessing the relationships between the focal manufacturing firm and its suppliers and/or customers. Recent research, however, suggests that successful management of external relationships requires effective integration of the internal supply chain within the focal firm. In this chapter, we focus on internal supply chain integration. The author starts with the assumption that integration is an investment and that the importance of it is context-dependent. By examining data collected in 210 plants in eight countries, the author exploratively examine internal supply chain integration strategies; using cluster analysis, they classify the plants into four groups based on their use of various individual integration mechanisms. In addition, the author assess the use of the four integration strategies under various task contexts and across countries.
Equipment Replacement Decisions Models with the Context of Flexible Manufacturing Cells
Authors: Dima Ioan Constantin , Grabara Janusz , Nowicka-Skowron Mária
Published: August 2012

The main problem of establishing equipment replacement decisions rules under specific conditions is to find decision variables that minimize total incurred costs over a planning horizon. Basically, the rules differ depending on what type of production type is used. For a batch production organization the suitable criterion is built on the principle of economies of scale. Proposed econometric models in this chapter are focused on a multiple machine replacement problem in flexible manufacturing cells with several machines for parts’ processing, and industrial robots for manipulation and transportation of manufactured objects. Firstly, models for a simple case multiple machine replacement problems are presented. Subsequently, the more complicated case is considered where technological improvement is taken into account.
Performance Comparison of Cellular Manufacturing Configurations in Different Demand Profiles
Authors: Renna Paolo , Ambrico Michele
Published: August 2012

Cellular manufacturing systems (CMSs) are an effective response in the economic environment characterized by high variability of market. The aim of this chapter is to compare different configurations of cellular models through the main performance. These configurations are fractal CMS (defined FCMS) and cellular systems with remainder cells (defined RCMS), compared to classical CMS used as a benchmark. FCMSs consist of a cellular system characterized by identical cells each capable of producing all types of parts. RCMSs consist of a classical CMS with an additional cell (remainder cell) that in specific conditions is able to perform all the technological operations. A simulation environment based on Rockwell ARENA® has been developed to compare different configurations assuming a constant mix of demand and different congestion levels. The simulation results show that RCMSs can be a competitive alternative to traditional cells developing opportune methodologies to control the loading of the cells.
Modeling and Simulation of Discrete Event Robotic Systems Using Extended Petri Nets
Authors: Yasuda Gen’ichi
Published: August 2012

This chapter deals with modeling, simulation, and implementation problems encountered in robotic manufacturing control systems. Extended Petri nets are adopted as a prototyping tool for expressing real-time control of robotic systems and a systematic method based on hierarchical Petri nets is described for their direct implementation. A coordination mechanism is introduced to coordinate the event activities of the distributed machine controllers through friability tests of shared global transitions. The proposed prototyping method allows a direct coding of the inter-task cooperation by robots and intelligent machines from the conceptual Petri net specification, so that it increases the traceability and the understanding of the control flow of a parallel application specified by a net model. This approach can be integrated with off-the-shelf real-time executives. Control software using multithreaded programming is demonstrated to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Data Envelopment Analysis in Environmental Technologies
Authors: Miidla Peep
Published: August 2012

Contemporary scientific and economic developments in environmental technology suggest that it is of great importance to introduce new approaches that would enable the comparison of different scenarios for their effectiveness, their distributive effects, their enforceability, their costs and many other dimensions. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is one of such methods. The DEA is receiving an increasing importance as a tool for evaluating and improving the performance of manufacturing and service operations. It has been extensively applied in performance evaluation and benchmarking of several types of organizations, so-called Decision Making Units (DMU) with similar goals and objectives. Among these are schools, hospitals, libraries, bank branches, production plants, but also climate policies, urban public transport systems, renewable energy plants, pollutant emission systems, environmental economics, etc. The purpose of this chapter is to present the basic principles of the DEA and give an overview of its application possibilities for the problems of environmental technology.
An Estimation of Distribution Algorithm for Part Cell Formation Problem
Authors: Ibrahim Saber , Jarboui Bassem , Rebaï Abdelwaheb
Published: August 2012

The aim of this chapter is to propose a new heuristic for Machine Part Cell Formation problem. The Machine Part Cell Formation problem is the important step in the design of a Cellular Manufacturing system. The objective is to identify part families and machine groups and consequently to form manufacturing cells with respect to minimizing the number of exceptional elements and maximizing the grouping efficacy. The proposed algorithm is based on a hybrid algorithm that combines a Variable Neighborhood Search heuristic with the Estimation of Distribution Algorithm. Computational results are presented and show that this approach is competitive and even outperforms existing solution procedures proposed in the literature.
Using Serious Games for Collecting and Modeling Human Procurement Decisions in a Supply Chain Context
Authors: Naciri Souleiman , Yoo Min-Jung , Glardon Rémy
Published: August 2012

Computer simulation is often used for studying specific issues in supply chains or for evaluating the impact of eligible design and calibration solutions on the performance of a company and its supply chain. In computer simulations, production facilities and planning processes are modeled in order to correctly characterize the supply chain behavior. However, very little attention has been given so far in these models to human decisions. Because human decisions are very complex and may vary across individuals or with time, they are largely neglected in traditional simulation models. This restricts the models’ reliability and utility. The first thing that must be done in order to include human decisions in simulation models is to capture how people actually make decisions. This chapter presents a serious game called DecisionTack, which was specifically developed to capture the human decision-making process in operations management (the procurement process). It captures both the information the human agent consults and the decisions he or she makes.
Implementation of Rapid Manufacturing Systems in the Jewellery Industry in Brazil
Authors: Rúbio Juan Carlos Campos , Filho Eduardo Romeiro
Published: August 2012

This chapter presents the rapid prototyping and manufacturing concepts applied as means to reducing time between jewellery designs and manufacturing process. Different processes on jewellery modelling production are presented. Nowadays, the use of technologies as CAD/CAM - Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing in high production companies are very disseminated. However, the implementation of these resources at the design and manufacturing processes of jewels and fashion accessories, in small and medium size businesses, is still insipient. As reference, is presented the situation observed in small and medium companies located in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Aircraft Development and Design
Authors: Sevillian Dujuan B.
Published: August 2012

Effective Human Factors Engineering (HFE) has provided the aerospace industry with design considerations that promote aviation safety in the development of complex aircraft systems, as well as the operators and maintainers that utilize those systems. HFE is an integral aspect within the systems engineering process. Measuring the effectiveness of Human Systems Integration (HSI) in the research & development stage is critical for the design of new and modified systems. This chapter focuses on how providing effective HFE design solutions enhances product design and system safety. Providing the customer with safe and reliable products augments mission capabilities throughout the product lifecycle.
An Environmentally Integrated Manufacturing Analysis Combined with Waste Management in a Car Battery Manufacturing Plant
Authors: Kasap Suat , Demirer Sibel Uludag , Ergün Sedef
Published: August 2012

This chapter presents an environmentally integrated manufacturing system analysis for companies looking for the benefits of environmental management in achieving high productivity levels. When the relationship between environmental costs and manufacturing decisions is examined, it can be seen that the productivity of the company can be increased by using an environmentally integrated manufacturing system analysis methodology. Therefore, such a methodology is presented and the roadmap for generating environmentally friendly and economically favorable alternative waste management solutions is elaborated. The methodology combines data collection, operational analysis of the manufacturing processes, identification of wastes, and evaluation of waste reduction alternatives. The presented methodology is examined in a car battery manufacturing plant, which generates hazardous wastes composed of lead. It is aimed to decrease the wastes derived from the production so that the efficiency in raw materials usage is increased and the need for recycling the hazardous wastes is decreased.
Matching Manufacturing and Retailing Models in Fashion
Authors: Guercini Simone
Published: August 2012

The aim of this chapter is to examine the interdependencies that have been established with reference to the manufacturer-retailer interaction in textile and apparel (TA). Retailers’ strategies seek to reduce the risk of losses from unsold stock, mark-down policies, and stock-outs. These strategies call for manufacturing suppliers to adopt new practices for fulfilling orders flexibility, rapidly, and efficiently. The practices of “lean retailing” imply new manufacturers’ strategies, mainly in term of “lean manufacturing.” We examine the implications of these processes on the evolution of the relationships between industry and distribution. The chapter addresses the repercussions of the development of lean methods on the development of other formulas having a significant impact on the relationships between industry and distribution, specifically in TA. We then discuss further developments that may be proposed in TA and its channel relationships by shifting from a perspective of supply to one of demand.
Implementing Business Intelligence in the Dynamic Beverages Sales and Distribution Environment
Authors: Akabawi Sami , Hodeeb Heba
Published: August 2012

To compete successfully in today’s retail business arena, senior management are often demanding fast and responsive Information Systems that enable the company not only to manage its operations but to provide on-the-fly performance measurement through a variety of tools. Use of (ERP) systems have been slow in responding to these needs, despite the wealth of the internally generated business databases and reports as a consequence of functional integration. The specific nature and demands by those senior management staff require the congregation of many external data elements and use data mining techniques to provide fast discovery of performance slippages or changes in the business environment. Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence (BI) applications, evolved during the past few decades, have been implemented to respond to these needs. In this case write-up, we present how the ERP system was utilized as the backbone for use by BI tools and systems to provide Sales and Marketing units in a transnational company subsidiary in Egypt to actively respond to the demands for agile information services. The Egypt subsidiary is the HQ of the African region’s operations of several franchises and distributers of the company products, in addition to operating a beverage concentrate manufacturing plant in Egypt, which services the entire region’s beverage products needs.
Group Decision Making for Advanced Manufacturing Technology Selection Using the Choquet Integral
Authors: Kahraman Cengiz , Çebi Selçuk , Kaya Ihsan
Published: August 2012

Advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) is defined as a modern method of production incorporating highly automated and sophisticated computerized design and operational systems. Hence, an investment decision to adopt AMT is a strategic decision. A group decision making process is stressful when group members have different views under multiple and conflicting criteria. Satisfying group members’ opinions has a critical impact on a decision. In this chapter, a multiple criteria group decision making problem under a fuzzy environment is used for the selection among AMTs. Choquet integral methodology is used for this selection. A strategic investment problem of a company for a suitable Automated Storage/Retrieval System (AS/RS) is considered and discussed.
An Exploratory Study on Product Lifecycle Management in the Fashion Chain
Authors: Bandinelli Romeo , Terzi Sergio
Published: August 2012

New Product Development (NPD) in most manufacturing sectors is stressed by an increasing global competition and pressure to improve product quality and innovation, reduce product cost and time-to-market (TTM), and rapidly respond to changing customer needs and shortened product lifecycles. These requirements are increasingly fulfilled by applying the PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) approach, a widely accepted concept that generally defines the adoption of a large number of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) solutions for managing product data along the product lifecycle. This contribution shows the results of research concerning the application of PLM within the luxury fashion supply chain, conducted in 2009 in Italy, with the analysis of 20 companies of the leather market. The research shows some of the differences that exist between the luxury industry and other more PLM-oriented sectors (e.g. automotive) in terms of adopted ICT tools, criticalities, problems, and benefits expected and realized.
A Comparative Analysis of Activity-Based Costing and Traditional Costing Systems
Authors: Samaha Khaled , Abdallah Sara
Published: August 2012

Today, organizational environments are increasingly characterized by an expanding use of advanced technologies. A company’s management accounting system should capture the underlying technology, be consistent with corporate commitment to total quality and increased automation, and promote its efforts to compete on the basis of cost, quality, and lead time. However, the recent literature reveals that traditional cost accounting systems systematically introduce serious product cost distortions, which lead to inappropriate strategic decisions. Activity-Based Costing (ABC) represents an alternative paradigm that is giving more accurate and traceable cost information. The objective of this case is to illustrate the application of ABC method in a single manufacturing organization operating in the metal industry and to compare the results of ABC with volume based costing (traditional costing) method. The results of the application highlight the weak points of volume based costing which assigns factory overhead costs using direct labor-hours or machine-hours as a cost driver. As a result, volume-based costing under-costs low-volume product (i.e. products requiring fewer direct labor hours in total), while it over-costs high-volume products (i.e. products requiring more direct labor-hours in total), and thus, a product is subsidized at the expense of others. In cost accounting this is called cross-subsidization. However, activity-based costing traces overhead consumption by each product and thus provides a more accurate per-unit overhead cost.
Random Dynamical Network Automata for Nanoelectronics
Authors: Teuscher Christof , Gulbahce Natali , Rohlf Thimo , Goudarzi Alireza
Published: August 2012

It is generally expected that future and emerging nanoscale computing devices will be built in a bottom-up way from vast numbers of simple, densely arranged components that exhibit high failure rates, are relatively slow, and connected in an unstructured way. Other than that, there is little to no consensus on what type of technology and computing architecture holds most promises to go far beyond today’s top-down engineered silicon devices. Highly structured crossbar-like and cellular automata architectures have been proposed as possible alternatives to the von Neumann computing architecture, which is not generally well suited for emerging, massively parallel and fine-grained nanoscale electronics. While the top-down engineered semi-conducting technology favors regular and locally interconnected structures, emerging bottom-up self-assembled devices tend to have to be unstructured and heterogeneous because of the current lack of precise control over these processes. In this paper, we survey and assess two types of random dynamical networks, namely Random Boolean Networks (RBNs) and Random Threshold Networks (RTNs), as candidates for alternative computing architectures and models for future nanoscale information processing devices. In a high-level approach that is based on previous work, we illustrate that they have the potential to offer superior properties over highly structured crossbar- or mesh-like cellular automata architectures, such as an inherent and scale-invariant robustness, more efficient communication capabilities, manufacturing benefits for bottom-up self-assembled devices, and the ability to learn and solve tasks successfully. We also show that RBNs can learn and generalize. Our investigation is driven by the need for alternative computing and manufacturing paradigms to mitigate some of the challenges traditional approaches face.
Creative Regions in Europe
Authors: de-Miguel-Molina Blanca , Hervás-Oliver José-Luis , Boix Rafael , de-Miguel-Molina María
Published: August 2012

This chapter examines the existence of regional agglomerations of manufacturing, service and creative industries, and the relationship between these industries and the wealth of regions. Through an analysis of 250 European regions, three important conclusions can be inferred from the results obtained in this chapter. The first is that creative industries play an important role in the wealth of the regions. The second is that the most creative regions are characterized by having more high-tech manufacturing industries than the rest of the regions, although the number of low-tech manufacturing firms is similar. Lastly, in the richest regions, a greater share of high-tech manufacturing industries coexists with a greater share of creative industries. The importance of this chapter resides in the fact that up until now no analysis has demonstrated that creative industries are the most important industries in regional wealth.