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This study focuses on estimating the lead times of various processes in wind tower factories. Accurate estimation of these times allows for more efficient sequencing of activities, proper allocation of resources, and setting of realistic delivery dates, thus avoiding delays and bottlenecks in the production flow and improving process quality and efficiency. In addition, accurate estimation of these times contributes to a proper assessment of costs, overcoming the limitations of traditional techniques; this allows for the establishment of tighter quotations. The data used in this study were collected at wind tower manufacturing facilities in Spain and Brazil. Data preprocessing was conducted rigorously, encompassing cleaning, transformation, and feature selection processes. Following preprocessing, machine learning regression analysis was performed to estimate lead times. Nine algorithms were employed: decision trees, random forest, Ridge regression, Lasso regression, Elastic Net, support vector regression, gradient boosting, XGBoost, LightGBM, and multilayer perceptron. Additionally, the performance of two deep learning models, TabNet and NODE, designed specifically for tabular data, was evaluated. The results showed that gradient boosting-based algorithms were the most effective in predicting processing times and optimizing resource allocation. The system is designed to retrain models as new information becomes available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to provide additional support for the equipment needed in hospitals and medical practices for reprocessing transvaginal ultrasound probes (TVUS) through an economic analysis comparing manual and automated reprocessing methods. A questionnaire survey was also conducted in hospitals and medical practices to analyze the current practice of TVUS reprocessing.Methods: The economic analysis compared four manual reprocessing methods using disinfection wipes and one automated device-based disinfection method using hydrogen peroxide vapor. The working times were measured with a stopwatch and complemented by passive working time (disinfection exposure time or machine cycle duration). The personnel costs for the working time were calculated and combined with the calculated acquisition and material costs to determine the total process costs.Results: The economic analysis revealed that machine disinfection is not only time-saving but also more cost-effective per reprocessing cycle compared to two manual methods using wipes for cleaning and disinfection, where the disinfectant is applied to the wipe before use. However, two methods using ready-to-use (rtu) disinfection wipes from a container were more cost-effective. It is important to note that all wipe disinfection methods would incur additional costs due to the lack of validation. The additional costs for validation could not be calculated due to a lack of experience, making a final cost assessment for wipe disinfection methods currently impossible.Despite extensive efforts to send the survey to hospitals and medical practices through three professional societies and attempts to acquire participants via a publication, only 35 institutions participated. Except for one case, all reprocessed manually. The survey revealed a deficit in knowledge regarding TVUS reprocessing. Manual reprocessing had not been validated despite national legal requirements existing since 2002.Conclusion: As long as manual reprocessing is not validated in all steps, only machine reprocessing is ethically acceptable for patient safety. Even if manual wipe disinfection is validated, machine reprocessing offers higher patient safety, since deviations from the validated SOP cannot be excluded during manual execution. Machine reprocessing should always be preferred for occupational safety reasons.Since the process costs for methods involving the application of the disinfectant to the wipe before disinfection were higher than for the machine method, the latter is preferred in this comparison. It is not possible to determine whether the overall process is economically superior to machine reprocessing because the cost calculation for rtu disinfection wipes does not include the entire process of reprocessing, including the legally required validation. Due to the better standardization of the machine reprocessing process, along with increased procedural, worker, and patient safety, machine reprocessing should be preferred regardless of process costs, especially if the economic difference is not significant. Additionally, avoiding disposable wipes is beneficial in terms of sustainability.The lack of knowledge regarding national legal requirements and recommendations for TVUS reprocessing is a reason why the principles of reprocessing were not adhered to in several practices. Therefore, it is necessary to convey the basic knowledge of reprocessing during medical studies, followed by further training during specialization. Persons tasked with reprocessing must have the required education or participate in specialized training to demonstrate current knowledge (§ 8 Sect. 7 Medical Device Regulation).

The primary objective of this study is to optimise operating efficiency and minimise waste within a core foundry shop through the application of lean manufacturing techniques. The research emphasises the significance of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) in aligning an expert assessment matrix with lean tool rankings, particularly in addressing the challenges associated with fu//y logic-based leanness computation. The expert assessment matrix was constructed with the entropy approach for generating weights and the TOPSIS ranking algorithm for evaluating lean tools. The use of the TOPSIS technique resulted in a notable level of agreement, with a percentage of73.42%, and a corresponding level of disagreement of26.57%, when compared to the expert evaluation matrix developed for the assessment of lean tools. The expert assessment matrix that was produced was utilised in the analysis of the efficacy of several lean tools inside a foundry core manufacturing line. The research suggests the implementation of an automated conveyor system for the transportation of several cores, which would lead to the optimisation of floor space, enhanced safety measures, and more schedule flexibility. The findings of this study reveal a significant decrease of 79.6% in non-value-added activities (NVA), a notable improvement of62.66% in process efficiency, a substantial reduction of66.66% in waiting times, a considerable decrease of 35% in personnel requirements, and a significant cost reduction of 45%. A three-month accident-free workplace demonstrated the efficacy of the safety strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Process time' describes the recursive/fluid, social and embodied temporality that characterises much 'women's work'. Though this concept has proven highly useful to feminist analyses of caring and other feminised labour, there has arguably been a tendency for authors in this area to naturalise and valorise this temporality – particularly in relation to the abstract, economic and disciplinary time of the clock. I argue that this naturalisation or valorisation of process time flattens our understanding of feminised labour, and that a feminist social theory of time must recognise the potentially disciplinary forms process time can take. As such, this paper contributes to feminist analyses of time, gender and labour by arguing that the embodied, caring and processual temporality that circulates within modern families can be understood as fundamentally disciplinary. Drawing primarily on Foucauldian theory, as well as Sharon Hays' concept of 'intensive mothering', the paper argues that process time is central to the functioning of the family as a biopolitical institution, just as clock time is integral to the disciplinary mechanisms of the school, prison, barracks, etc. Specifically, it argues that the unique relations of power that circulate within the biopolitical family rely on a unique use of time: one that is intensive and oriented towards the rhythms of the physical body – that is, processual. Further, this disciplinary time is deeply and fundamentally feminine, as it operates (in its ideal form) primarily through the mother. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Action research provides fertile grounds for co-generation of knowledge in complex contexts and to be present in the becoming of the process. Time and temporality warrant explanation and distinction, and in retrospective a process can be described with temporal phases, such as planning, observation, action, reflection, evaluation, and modification. Such a description may appear rational, sequential, and linear. However, an action research process is not that! This paper explores the various positionalities of the action researcher, as an insider in a process of becoming, showing how time and temporality can be made explicit in the evolution of an action research process. Our contributions to the action research literature concerning co-generation of knowledge when addressing territorial complexity are: (1) an explicit awareness of temporality provides the opportunity for research on evolvement of processes from the inside, (2) presence in the becoming of a process means there is a unique possibility for reflection and iteration, (3) research in the present tense allows for insight into unexpected developments that create the foundation for future action, as an alternative to retrospective process evaluation, and (4) modelling the process creates a narrative which tells the story of evolution of the process over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on estimating the lead times of various processes in wind tower factories. Accurate estimation of these times allows for more efficient sequencing of activities, proper allocation of resources, and setting of realistic delivery dates, thus avoiding delays and bottlenecks in the production flow and improving process quality and efficiency. In addition, accurate estimation of these times contributes to a proper assessment of costs, overcoming the limitations of traditional techniques; this allows for the establishment of tighter quotations. The data used in this study were collected at wind tower manufacturing facilities in Spain and Brazil. Data preprocessing was conducted rigorously, encompassing cleaning, transformation, and feature selection processes. Following preprocessing, machine learning regression analysis was performed to estimate lead times. Nine algorithms were employed: decision trees, random forest, Ridge regression, Lasso regression, Elastic Net, support vector regression, gradient boosting, XGBoost, LightGBM, and multilayer perceptron. Additionally, the performance of two deep learning models, TabNet and NODE, designed specifically for tabular data, was evaluated. The results showed that gradient boosting-based algorithms were the most effective in predicting processing times and optimizing resource allocation. The system is designed to retrain models as new information becomes available.

Computational modelling of a centrifugal technique for separating binary mixtures of thermoplastic polymers in the molten state is presented. The technique may be useful for the recycling of polymeric materials. The study investigates the physical process of component separation due to the centrifugal force in a batch process, showing the potential of using a dispersed model for describing the complex mechanism underlying the technique. Given the long time scales of change of the flow field, the polymer melts are modelled as inelastic, shear-thinning materials. The centrifugal force drives the component with the higher density to the outer region of an annular cross section occupied by the melt inside a rotating containment. The model system PET/LDPE is investigated in detail. The simulations allow to predict the process time needed for the separation. The simulations are the basis for studying a continuous process in a rotating tube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emission of sulfur-based compounds create problem for environment as well as for on human health. To remove sulfur compounds from sulfur-rich fossil fuel, various techniques have been proposed and studied. Based on problem associated with environment as well as for human health, current study focused on DBT removal using novel Rhodococcus spp. (SL-9). Furthermore, study focused on kinetic modeling and simulation of biodesulfurization process for calculating the efficiency of newly isolated bacteria Rhodococcus spp. (SL-9), effect of cell growth, and degradation rate for DBT (dibenzothiophene). Rhodococcus spp. (SL-9) degrade 0.39 mM DBT within 7 days via 4S pathway. The efficiency of Rhodococcus spp. (SL-9) for maximum degradation and conversion of DBT into 2-HBP (2-hydroxybiphenyl) at optimized parameters are 30 °C, 7 pH, and glucose as carbon source. It has been observed through the study that an increase in degradation rate of model DBT compound at 3 mM about 70 hr of incubation period. Rhodococcus sp-SL-9 shows maximum rate of growth about 0.067 h−1 along with biodegradation of DBT rate about 0.89 h−1, which endorses its application in coal desulfurization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Lean methodology helps maximize value by reducing waste, first by defining what value and waste are in a system. In ophthalmology clinics, value is determined by the number of patients flowing through the clinic for a given time. We aimed to increase value using a lean-methodology guided policy change, then assessed its impact on clinic flow using an automated radiofrequency identification (RFID) based real-time locating system (RTLS). Methods A total of 6813 clinical visits occurred at a single academic institution’s outpatient glaucoma clinic between January 5, 2018 to July 3, 2018. Over that period, 1589 patients comprising 1972 (29%) of visits were enrolled, with 1031 clinical visits occurring before and 941 visits after a policy change. The original policy was to refract all patients that improved with pinhole testing. The policy change was not to refract patients with a visual acuity ≥20/30 unless a specific request was made by the patient. Pre-post analysis of an automated time-motion study was conducted for the data collected 3 months before and 3 months after the policy change occurred on March 30, 2018. Changes to process and wait times were summarized using descriptive statistics and fitted to linear mixed regression models adjusting for appointment type, clinic volume, and daily clinic trends. Results One thousand nine hundred twenty-three visits with 1588 patients were included in the analysis. Mean [SD] age was 65.9 [14.7] years and 892 [56.2%] were women. After the policy change, technician process time decreased by 2.9 min (p

[Display omitted] Biological drug substance (DS) is typically stored frozen to increase stability. However, freezing and thawing (F/T) of DS can impact product quality and therefore F/T processes need to be controlled. Because active F/T systems for DS bottles are lacking, freezing is often performed uncontrolled in conventional freezers, and thawing at ambient temperature or using water baths. In this study, we evaluated a novel device for F/T of DS in bottles, which can be operated in conventional freezers, generating a directed air stream around bottles. We characterized the F/T geometry and process performance in comparison to passive F/T using temperature mapping and analysis of concentration gradients. The device was able to better control the F/T process by inducing directional bottom-up F/T. As a result, it reduced cryo-concentration during freezing as well as ice mound formation. However, freezing with the device was dependent on freezer performance, i.e. prolonged process times in a highly loaded freezer were accompanied by increased cryo-concentrations. Thawing was faster compared to without the device, but had no impact on concentration gradients and was slower compared to thawing in a water bath. High-performance freezers might be required to fully exploit the potential of directional freezing with this device and allow F/T process harmonization and scaling across sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of fine and ultrafine dispersed material grinding to the micro- and nanoscales sizes particles is considered. In contrast to coarse and medium grinding for fine and ultrafine grinding due to the scale factor action, the material particles failure has a long-term period due to the continuous increasing of particles substance strength modulus and decreasing of particles defectiveness degree. Model of random branching Markov's process is proposed to describe the grinding process, rate and particles sizes distribution dependence on time are modulated by external load. An equation is given for the model that allows to determine dispersed material particles' disruption sizes and its evolution over time. Proposed model has frameworks and is suitable for describing of any processes of fine and ultrafine grinding, supplemented by experimental data that take into account physical and mechanical properties of particle substance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In acute ischemic stroke, timely treatment is of utmost relevance. Identification of delaying factors and knowledge about challenges concerning hospital structures are crucial for continuous improvement of process times in stroke care. Objective: In this study, we report on our experience in optimizing the door-to-needle time (DNT) at our tertiary care center by continuous quality improvement. Methods: Five hundred forty patients with acute ischemic stroke receiving intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) at Hannover Medical School were consecutively analyzed in two phases. In study phase I, including 292 patients, process times and delaying factors were collected prospectively from May 2015 until September 2017. In study phase II, process times of 248 patients were obtained from January 2019 until February 2021. In each study phase, a new clinical standard operation procedure (SOP) was implemented, considering previously identified delaying factors. Pre- and post-SOP treatment times and delaying factors were analyzed to evaluate the new protocols. Results: In study phase I, SOP I reduced the median DNT by 15 min. The probability to receive treatment within 30 min after admission increased by factor 5.35 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.46–11.66]. Further development of the SOP with implementation of a mobile thrombolysis kit led to a further decrease of DNT by 5 min in median in study phase II. The median DNT was 29 (25th–75th percentiles: 18–44) min, and the probability to undergo IVT within 15 min after admission increased by factor 4.2 (95% CI: 1.63–10.83) compared with study phase I. Conclusion: Continuous process analysis and subsequent development of targeted workflow adjustments led to a substantial improvement of DNT. These results illustrate that with appropriate vigilance, there is constantly an opportunity for improvement in stroke care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evidence injuction, embody in explicit form to frame of the provisional measure technique on CPC of the 2015, takes for granted the idea of existence of a obvious right of the demandant, which justifies greater effectiveness of the adjudication in the cases provided by procedural law. “Clear legal right” and “obvious right” must be connected to “evidences” which sustain it, that is, the evidences. The statement of the evidence injuction in a possible improvement of process time, although politically, economically and sociologically tenable, does not constitute procedural key piece for the decision of the adjudication. The paper adresses this issue, dialoguing with doctrinal view about.

Herein, very short drying processes for the screen‐printed electrodes of passivated emitter and rear solar cells (PERC) are successfully demonstrated. The short drying processes are conducted in an in‐line heating system with vertical‐cavity surface‐emitting lasers (VCSEL) as its heat source, being a compact alternative to the conventional heating chamber. While the heating time of the conventional industrial drying process is believed to be about 20 s (to the best of the authors' knowledge), the VCSEL system allows a significant reduction down to 0.15 s while maintaining a similar power conversion efficiency and contact adhesion quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lean methodology helps maximize value by reducing waste, first by defining what value and waste are in a system. In ophthalmology clinics, value is determined by the number of patients flowing through the clinic for a given time. We aimed to increase value using a lean-methodology guided policy change, then assessed its impact on clinic flow using an automated radiofrequency identification (RFID) based real-time locating system (RTLS).Methods: A total of 6813 clinical visits occurred at a single academic institution's outpatient glaucoma clinic between January 5, 2018 to July 3, 2018. Over that period, 1589 patients comprising 1972 (29%) of visits were enrolled, with 1031 clinical visits occurring before and 941 visits after a policy change. The original policy was to refract all patients that improved with pinhole testing. The policy change was not to refract patients with a visual acuity ≥20/30 unless a specific request was made by the patient. Pre-post analysis of an automated time-motion study was conducted for the data collected 3 months before and 3 months after the policy change occurred on March 30, 2018. Changes to process and wait times were summarized using descriptive statistics and fitted to linear mixed regression models adjusting for appointment type, clinic volume, and daily clinic trends.Results: One thousand nine hundred twenty-three visits with 1588 patients were included in the analysis. Mean [SD] age was 65.9 [14.7] years and 892 [56.2%] were women. After the policy change, technician process time decreased by 2.9 min (p < 0.0001) while daily clinical patient volume increased from 51.9 ± 16.8 patients to 58.4 ± 17.4 patients (p < 0.038). No significant difference was found in total wait time (p = 0.18) or total visit time (p = 0.83).Conclusions: Real-time locating systems are effective at capturing clinical flow data and assessing clinical practice change initiatives. The refraction policy change was associated with reduced technician process time and overall the clinic was able to care for 7 more patients per day without significantly increasing patient wait time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved path planning algorithms should minimize algorithm processing time, increase path smoothness, and shorten path length, all of which will be extremely beneficial for mobile robot traversal in large workspaces. As a result, an improved multi-objective A-star (IMOA-star) algorithm for mobile robot path planning in a large workspace was designed and implemented in Python 3.8.3 in this study. In four test cases, the proposed IMOA-star is evaluated in a large workspace with dimensions of 7120 cm × 9490 cm, and its performance is compared to the traditional A-star. When compared to the traditional A-star, the results showed that IMOA-star reduced the algorithm process time by 99.98%, improved path smoothness by 45%, reduced path length by 1.58%, and reduced the number of random points by 83.45%. Finally, the IMOA-star outperforms the traditional A-star in terms of algorithm processing time, path smoothness, path length, and the number of random points. As a result, it should be considered a viable alternative to the traditional A-star for mobile robot path planning in a large workspace.

This article extends previous research on how work continues in the face of disruption by theorizing continuity as patterning and highlighting the difference between continuity of a thing and continuity as a process. Based on interviews with people who continued providing mental health care during and after the disruption caused by Hurricane Katrina, we show that continuity is a dynamic process that entails people orienting to what actions they can take and how they can connect these actions into paths in an unfolding material, social, and personal situation. The paths, taken together, are a pattern of work (in our case, a pattern of mental health care). While recognizing that exogenous goals play a role, we highlight the importance of the endogenous experience of an activity in taking action and creating paths. Viewing continuity as patterning suggests new roles for organizations in supporting flexible responses to disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The administrative work of physicians, particularly documentation effort, consumes considerable time in surgical emergency departments. At the same time, the latter face an ever-growing influx of patients, leading to increasing waiting and flow times and thus patient dissatisfaction as well as overload of physicians and nurses. The deployment of medical documentation assistants, who specialize in and undertake documentation work currently performed by physicians, poses a solution to the problem. The goal of this study is to assess the impact of deploying medical documentation assistants on key performance indicators of a surgical emergency department, i.e. waiting and flow times of patients differentiated according to triage categories, utilization of physicians and time allocation of physicians. Methods The underlying study has analysed the processes of the surgical emergency department of a major university medical centre and modelled them in a discrete event simulation. Data on patient arrivals as well as processing times in the X-ray department and the laboratory were obtained from the clinical information system, while processing times in the emergency department were recorded using time–motion studies. Though the emergency department currently does not deploy medical documentation assistants, the simulation model includes a variable number of such assistants. Results The deployment of a medical documentation assistant frees up physician working time and decreases the waiting time and consequently the flow time of patients, in particular for standard and non-urgent patients. Adding additional documentation assistants leads to further improvements, however, with diminishing marginal returns. Under the assumption of medical documentation assistants being 35% more efficient than physicians in undertaking documentation work, one of the three physicians can be replaced in the analysed surgical emergency department with an average of 502 patient arrivals per week. Conclusions Medical documentation assistants are a viable way of improving the performance of surgical emergency departments. Depending on the goals of the hospital, medical documentation assistants can be used for an array of measures such as decreasing patients’ waiting and flow times or increasing physicians’ time spent on medical treatment.

Intelligent video surveillance systems require effective techniques in order to detect objects accurately and rapidly. The most suitable algorithms for performing this task are based on convolutional neural networks. Existing approaches encounter a wide range of difficulties in terms of dealing with different sizes, high definition, or colored images turning these latter slower and less precise. The real-time sensitive application offers an interesting challenge for the optimization of the quality and quantity of previous approaches, thus obtaining an efficient system with regard to surveillance environment. This paper presents a novel, fast, and precise technique for advanced object detection as far as intelligent video surveillance systems are concerned. Thus, we propose the transfer learning of an efficient pre-trained network to appropriate datasets for our application and its integration in the architecture of our algorithm. Accordingly, we implement a fine-tuning on this pre-trained model via replacing the softmax layer and running backpropagation. Then, we compare the results of the previous algorithms using common evaluation parameters. The experimental results reveal that with this technique, we can enhance the precision and the accuracy of object detection in video surveillance scenes to more than 90 % . Furthermore, along with dealing with different input dimensions, the detector runs in real time. To conclude, our application of machine learning for intelligent video surveillance systems maximizes their efficiency in highly difficult situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CoCrMo alloy has been oxidized for 3 and 5h at the temperature of 850°C with 100% O2 gas by thermal oxidation. The XRD, SEM, microhardness and ball-on-disc wear test devices were used to find out the structure, mechanical and wear properties of untreated and treated specimens. Outcomes showed wear resistance of oxidized specimens were became better than untreated CoCrMo alloy. Also, wear resistance of oxidized specimens improved with increased processing time (from 3h to 5h) increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new Civil Procedure Code (Law 13.105 / 2015) has brought new perspectives to the debate about the impact of common legislation on the labor process. In this context, the article intends to reflect on the influences and applications of the NCPC, aiming to understand to what extent represent advances or setbacks to the reasonable length of the labor process, considering the constitutionalisation of the process and the constitutional commands that guarantee the reasonable duration of the procedural development. Therefore, the research, which is developed using the deductive method, relies on documentary and bibliographic techniques, using the following descriptors to search for scientific articles: new CPC, work process, procedural duration and constitutionalisation of the process. It is concluded, after the research, that parsimony is necessary in the application of the standard procedural law common to the labor process, given the specificities and teleology of this, as well as, mainly, in view of the norm of the Federal Constitution of 1988 that assures the reasonable duration of the process and the speed of its procedure.

Tiny-sized particles under the scheme of monolayer assembly, comprising gold atoms, developed at a different processing time in a pulse-based process. For a different processing time, atoms bind into different tiny particles under the placing packets of nanoshape energy where they elongate as per arrangement and when in one-dimensional arrays, they convert into structures of smooth elements. For different processing time and where tiny particles possess triangular shape, they pack to develop extended shapes where development rate of an anisotropic particle is not more than milliseconds. Increasing the processing time of solution upto certain duration increases the number of developing tiny particles in a triangular-shape, so, their extended shapes also. Uniformly adjacent orientation of electrons in atoms of tiny-shaped particle is because of exerting uniform surface force along their opposite poles as per gained potential energy where stretching of their clamped energy knots remains orientation-based. At a different processing time, inter-spacing distance of spotted intensity spots in selective area photons reflection patterns of particles remains the same as for the case of the structures of smooth elements visualized through transmission microscope high-resolution images. When the forceful coinciding of two parallel structures of smooth elements occurs, they bind into single element structure (of smooth element) by overlying a bit on the inner sides, thus, giving it double width where certain filled-state electrons and unfilled energy knots (belonging to sides of elongated atoms of parallel structures of smooth elements) coordinate to adhere. This study discusses the formation (development) of tiny particles (tiny-sized particles) followed by their extended shapes (large-sized particles) at different processing time of gold solution while employing a pulse-based electron–photon solution-interface process where they become the origin of physics and chemistry of materials by discussing many commonly known phenomena and processes, so, opening the alternative routes to design materials and explore science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is designed around part family providing exact production function and capacity in cost-effective way when needed. Besides the grouping accuracy of part family impacting the responsiveness of RMS, the efficiency problem of RMS resulting from the difference of process time and capacity demand should be solved. Therefore, a similarity coefficient method for RMS part family grouping considering process time and capacity demand is proposed. First, the longest common subsequence (LCS) among different part process routes is extracted and the shortest composite supersequence (SCS) of parts is constructed. Idle machine (IM) and bypass move (BPM) are analyzed based on SCS. Then, the process time (T) and capacity demand (D) are used as characteristic value of operation. And characteristic value sequences of process route, LCS, SCS, IM and BPM are gained, that is, TDP, TDLCS, TDSCS, TDIM and TDBPM respectively. By analyzing the relationships between TDLCS and TDSCS, the characteristic value sequences of TDLCS, TDIM and TDBPM are used to calculate the similarity between parts. Based on the similarity matrix, the netting clustering algorithm is used for clustering to complete the part family grouping. Finally, a case study is presented to implement the proposed method and validate the effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social theorists frequently claim that clock time—a cold, mechanical, and intensifying culture of time reckoning—has the tendency to dominate "process time"—a warm, humane, and leisurely culture of time-reckoning. This article interrogates this "tyranny of clock time" narrative through an in-depth examination of the fatigue debate in the US truck driving industry. I find that trucking regulators use clock time to encourage rest and recovery. Drivers, meanwhile, are committed to process time in ways that encourage intensification and overwork. Process time culture involves its own forms of time discipline that are related to power, exploitation, and overwork in surprising ways. Yet even though the normative ends of the two time orientations are reversed in this case, I still find that clock time is tyrannical in a certain limited sense. Clock time disrupts the rhythms of the labor process leading to work scenarios that drivers find fatiguing. In their efforts to use clock time to regulate fatigue, then, trucking regulators have actually created new kinds of fatigue. The tyranny of clock time narrative is thus challenged and supported in ways that refine our understanding of both clock time and process time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To gain a competitive edge in developing innovative products, new multi-layer film manufacturers need to know whether laboratory-scale blown film line results reliably translate to large-scale production. This, however, is not always the case: Transferring process conditions and getting equal final film properties are not ensured. To address this problem, this paper presents a scale-independent scale-up/scale-down strategy to produce films with consistently similar properties regardless of a plant’s size and design. A second aim is to prove this strategy is applicable by comparing the reference and experimental film mechanical properties. Here, experimental scale-down runs were carried out based on a process-oriented scale-up/scale-down strategy for the blown film process. An industrial production process (>800 kg/h), successfully transferred to a laboratory-scale blown film line, was used as the reference. The introduced process-oriented scale-up/scale-down is based on geometric and dynamic similarity. In this context, blow-up ratio, draw-down ratio and process time have been identified as major scale-up/scale-down variables. Unlike existing scale-up strategies, the process-oriented approach is more flexible in practice. Film mechanical properties taken from the experimental runs were determined by tensile and puncture resistance tests. The compared results confirmed that process-oriented scale-up/scale-down is feasible for the applied material and under the existing plant-specific restrictions. The comparison indicated that most film properties produced on the laboratory-scale plant were comparable to those from the high-capacity blown film line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Banana is a fruit produced in most tropical countries. According to the literature, the post-harvest loss is about 40% of the production. To reduce the losses, an alternative is to dry the product. In this context, the main objective of this article was to describe the thin-layer drying of whole bananas. To describe the convective drying process, a mathematical model is normally used. In this article, several empirical models were selected to simulate experiments of thin layer drying accomplished with whole bananas at temperatures of 40, 50, 60 and 70 °C. In the selection, it was imposed that mathematical expressions must be obtained from each model to calculate the drying rate and also the process time. The process time ranged from 1200 (70 °C) up to 3265 (40 °C) min. The maximum drying rate occurs at the beginning of the process and varied between 1.95 × 10−3 (40 °C) and 3.60 × 10−3 (70 °C) min−1. The statistical indicators (determination coefficient and chi-square) showed that Page and Silva et alii models were the best ones to describe the drying kinetics. These two empirical equations enable to write mathematical expressions for the drying rate and process time, and these expressions produced results which can be considered equivalent.