1,721,348 research outputs found
Value Stream Mapping and Improved Cell Layout in an Oilfield Services company
Get PDFThesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 61).This research explores potential improvements in efficiency through improved cell layout and value stream mapping. Analysis of cell layout led to significant reductions in material handling and operator movement along with reduction in cell area thereby improving overall productivity. Value stream mapping of protector assembly, one of the company's products, identified hidden inefficiencies in the value stream. A future state map using lean principles was also prepared. The major improvement areas concerned process improvement and lead time & Work-In-Process (WIP) reductions. This research also provides a detailed framework to deal with inventory inaccuracy existing in the system. Three inventory inaccuracy compensation methods were introduced and their performance was evaluated and compared using a simulation study.by Anupam Kumar Gupta.M.Eng
A parameter back-calculation technique for pavements under moving loads
No full textMaintenance and rehabilitation strategies of pavements are usually made based on the results of performance evaluation. An efficient tool for pavement structural evaluation at network level is the traffic speed deflectometer (TSD) test. In order to deal with TSD measurements, this paper proposes a parameter back-calculation technique. Firstly, the sensitivity of the surface response for an elastic pavement structure with hysteretic damping to different structural parameters is investigated. Then, the ability of the parameter backcalculation technique is verified by conducting a case study. The results show that the proposed technique is able to back-calculate the structural parameters of pavements by analysing TSD measurements. The presented work contributes to the development of parameter back-calculation techniques for the TSD test.Accepted author manuscriptPavement EngineeringDynamics of Structure
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Evaluation Of The Current Test Methods Of Water Sensitivity And Permanent Deformation
No full textThe adaption of the functional characterization of asphalt concrete mixtures by the Dutch authorities, led to a big necessity in acquiring a fundamental understanding on its properties. In order to achieve this, the long-term project NL-Lab was initiated by InfraQuest in 2012. With the advantage of its longevity and the multiple parties contributing with material, testing and analysing, the knowledge aimed for, is gradually accumulating with the time passing. After 5 years of running, a considerable number of data have been collected and analysed, leading to many observations, that in turn raised questions and doubts. These doubts are the subject of this research, focusing on the functional characteristics of water sensitivity and permanent deformation.A common problem for both properties regards the production and compaction of type-testing specimens. The practice so far suggests both stages to take place in laboratory conditions. However, there were indications that the performance of the same asphalt mixtures taken from the field instead of the lab, differed. Testing and comparing in terms of water sensitivity and permanent deformation, these indications were indeed repeated. Lab and field specimens did not match in performance in the majority of the tests, suggesting that differences between the two conditions are projected in differences in performance.The second common problem also evolves around the type-testing, this time regarding the test procedure as a whole. It is a highly time and money consuming process that has to be repeated in a trial-and-error manner, until a satisfying mixture in terms of performance is found. The aim of this research was to limit this process as much as possible by replacing it with regression relations. For the water sensitivity test, the relations obtained were of a fairly good predicting quality, and could be eventually used in the preliminary mixture design. The permanent deformation relations however, were at low levels of predictability, due to the test’s high sensitivity in being reproduced and the inconsistent test setups used by the various contractors taking part in the project.Focusing only on water sensitivity, the conditioning protocol described in the current standard, is considered as not very capable of capturing the property it aims for, and that it is conservative in the damage it causes to the mixture. Utilizing two conditioning protocols, MIST and Freeze-Thaw protocol, the standard method indeed was found to be the least damaging of all. With the MIST being the most destructive, at extreme levels in most cases, and the Freeze-Thaw following it, each method’s pros and cons were found.The last aspect tested referred to the friction reduction method used during the permanent deformation test (triaxial cyclic compression). The old and new standard versions both prescribe two different materials, while the requirements for rutting remained unchanged. Testing using these two materials, Teflon and Latex, plus one new, it was found that the differences in the triaxial test output were major. Consequently, this mismatch means that inconsistent comparisons take place, leading to conclusions on rutting performance not representative of the actual situation.NL-La
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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