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31 recommendations for increased profit - reducing waste
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Those companies and organizations that wish to ensure long-term profitability must successively decrease resource use in both product development and in product usage. Primarily, it is waste that must be reduced, i.e. the consumption of resources that do not add to customer value or to the organization. Waste is widespread in all operations. Even in well-functioning processes, more than half of the resource consumption can be classified as waste. One obstacle to waste elimination is that most waste is hidden. Thus, executives, middle management and specialists must prioritize efforts to uncover the waste in their operations.Building and construction activities consist of a complex system of decisions, components, organizations and processes that must be coordinated. There are therefore many explanations as to why waste arises, or does not. Based on a series of discussions with experienced builders, consultants, contractors and materials providers, five main groups of factors that characterize effective operations were found. In this report these factors are illustrated in the form of a “value pyramid”. A holistic view of long-term customer benefits is the apex of the pyramid. Structure, competence, leadership and culture act as the driving forces at each corner of the pyramid’s foundation. Should one of the corners gives way, then the pyramid risks toppling over.With the value pyramid as support, 31 recommendations for what should be done to reduce waste are presented. These are aimed at standardizing the product from an overall perspective (five recommendations), defining and standardizing processes (ten recommendations), developing the organization and its competence (seven recommendations), disciplining management (five recommendations), and driving continuous improvement work (four recommendations). Reducing uncertainties and increasing effective time utilization are the red threads, as the Swedes would say, that run through all the recommendations.Everyone who uses resources has a responsibility to reduce waste. By systematically monitoring one’s own use of time, one can gain insights that will help improve one’s work situation. However, the burden of initiating and driving improvements overall obviously lies with management. How this should be done depends on the nature and purpose of the activities as well as on the organization’s capabilities. It is to manage this progress and achieve profitability that managers are appointed. It is in the interest of all enterprises and organizations to develop the ability and an interest to detect and understand what work/task is value adding what is not. This ability will provide possibilities to develop new competitive advantages and new business concepts.
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| 4. |
- Aalto, Susanne, 1964, et al.
(författare)
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13CO 1-0 imaging of the Medusa merger, NGC 4194. Large scale variations in molecular cloud properties
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 522:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. Studying molecular gas properties in merging galaxies gives important clues to the onset and evolution of interaction-triggered starbursts. The (CO)-C-12/(CO)-C-13 line intensity ratio can be used as a tracer of how dynamics and star formation processes impact the gas properties. The Medusa merger (NGC 4194) is particularly interesting to study since its L-FIR/L-CO ratio rivals that of ultraluminous galaxies (ULIRGs), despite the comparatively modest luminosity, indicating an exceptionally high star formation efficiency (SFE) in the Medusa merger. Methods. High resolution OVRO (Owens Valley Radio Observatory) observations of the (CO)-C-13 1-0 have been obtained and compared with matched resolution OVRO (CO)-C-12 1-0 data to investigate the molecular gas cloud properties in the Medusa merger. Results. Interferometric observations of (CO)-C-12 and (CO)-C-13 1-0 in the Medusa (NGC 4194) merger show the (CO)-C-12 (CO)-C-13 1-0 intensity ratio (R) increases from normal, quiescent values (7-10) in the outer parts (r > 2 kpc) of the galaxy to high (16 to > 40) values in the central (r
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- Abbasi, Morteza, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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A broadband differential cascode power amplifier in 45 nm CMOS for high-speed 60 GHz system-on-chip
- 2010
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Ingår i: 2010 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, RFIC 2010; Anaheim, CA; 23 May 2010 through 25 May 2010. - 1529-2517. ; , s. 978-142446242-1-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A compact two-stage differential cascode power amplifier is designed and fabricated in 45 nm standard LP CMOS. The cascode configuration, with the common gate device placed in a separate P-well, provides reliable operating condition for the devices. The amplifier shows 20 dB small-signal gain centered at 60 GHz with a flat frequency response and 1-dB bandwidth of 10 GHz. The broadband large-signal operation is also ensured by providing constant load resistance to both stages over the entire band and coupling them with a dual resonance matching network. The chip delivers 11.2 dBm output power at 1-dB compression and up to 14.5 dBm power in saturation. The power amplifier operates with 2 V supply and draws 90 mA total current which results in 14.4% maximum PAE. The output third order intercept point is measured to be 18 dBm for two-tone measurement at 60 GHz with 0.5 GHz, 1 GHz and 2 GHz frequency separations. © 2010 IEEE.
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- Abdulahovic, Tarik, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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Simulation accuracy of the built-in PSCAD and an owner-defined synchronous machine model
- 2010
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Ingår i: COMPEL - The International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. - : Emerald. - 0332-1649. ; 29:3, s. 840-855
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of time steps, integration methods, and saturation modeling on the accuracy of the synchronous machine model. This model is compared with the PSCAD built-in synchronous machine model in order to compare the accuracy of one of the most used synchronous machine models in a commercially available software versus a well-documented and widely accepted state-space synchronous machine model. Design/methodology/approach - In the paper, a synchronous condenser with the saturation phenomenon is modeled using state-space equations in the rotating dq-reference frame and is implemented both in Matlab/Simulink and PSCAD. Integration methods of up to the fifth order are implemented for increased accuracy. The saturation modeling includes modeling of the saturation in both d- and q-axis. A steady-state and dynamic performance comparison towards the built-in PSCAD synchronous machine model is performed. The saturation modeling does not include the saturation of the leakage fluxes. Findings - When the forward Euler method is used, in order to obtain less than 5 percent error, the time step should not exceed 5 its. The third-order Runge-Kutta method is the preferred choice and it provides desired accuracy when the time step is equal or smaller than 1,000 its. The built-in PSCAD model satisfies the error criteria for time steps smaller than 300 its. A small discrepancy of 2 percent is found during the steady-state test. Originality/value - The paper presents the performance of the higher order integration methods in an EMTP-type software environment where the trapezoidal integration method is most often used. It provides a good guide for building an owner-defined model. A comparison of a dynamic performance between the publicly documented state-space and a synchronous machine models commonly used for power system transient studies is presented.
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- Abrahams, I., et al.
(författare)
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A Combined Total Scattering and Simulation Approach to Analyzing Defect Structure in Bi3YO6
- 2010
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Ingår i: Chemistry of Materials. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1520-5002 .- 0897-4756. ; 22:15, s. 4435-4445
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The defect structure and electrical properties of the fast oxide ion-conducting solid electrolyte delta-Bi3YO6 have been studied using a combination of total neutron scattering analysis, energy minimization methods, and AC impedance spectroscopy. Conventional structural analysis using the Rietveld method reveals the oxide ions to be distributed over three crystallographic sites at room temperature, with a small change in this distribution at 800 degrees C. Analysis of short-range correlations using a total neutron scattering approach yields information on Bi and Y coordination environments. Careful analysis of the angular distribution functions derived from reverse Monte Carlo modeling of the total scattering data reveals physical evidence for a predominance of vacancy ordering in this system. This ordering is confirmed as the lowest energy configuration in parallel energy minimization simulations.
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- Abtahi, Z., et al.
(författare)
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Ethanol production by Mucor indicus at high glucose and ethanol concentrations
- 2010
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Ingår i: Minerva Biotecnologica. - : Edizioni Minerva Medica. - 1120-4826 .- 1827-160X. ; 22:3-4, s. 83-89
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mucor indicus was cultivated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions to study its tolerance against high concentration of glucose up to 350 g/L and ethanol up to 120 g/L present in the medium. The fungus could grow well even in 350 g/L glucose and produce ethanol, but it was able to assimilate the entire glucose when its concentration was less than 200 g/L. On the other hand, M. indicus produced ethanol as the main product with yield and concentration up to 0.45 g/g and 73 g/L, respectively, while glycerol, its only major byproduct, was produced up to 24 g/L. However, the fungus was not so tolerant against exogenously added ethanol, and it could not grow with more than 40 g/L added ethanol to the culture. Under aerobic conditions, M. indicus displayed different morphology, switching from long filamentous to yeast-like growth forms by increasing initial glucose concentration. This implies that yeast-like growth can be induced by growing M. indicus at high glucose concentration. Under anaerobic conditions, only one yeast-like form was observed.
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- Abu-Youssef, Morsy A. M., et al.
(författare)
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Synthesis, Crystal Structure, Quantum Chemical Calculations, DNA Interactions, and Antimicrobial Activity of [Ag(2-amino-3-methylpyridine)2]NO3 and [Ag(pyridine-2-carboxaldoxime)NO3]
- 2010
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Ingår i: Inorganic Chemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0020-1669 .- 1520-510X. ; 49:21, s. 9788-9797
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- [Ag(2-amino-3-methylpyridine)2]NO3 (1) and [Ag(pyridine-2-carboxaldoxime)NO3] (2) were prepared from corresponding ligands and AgNO3 in water/ethanol solutions, and the products were characterized by IR, elemental analysis, NMR, and TGA. The X-ray crystal structures of the two compounds show that the geometry around the silver(I) ion is bent for complex 1 with nitrate as an anion and trigonal planar for complex 2 with nitrate coordinated. ESI-MS results of solutions of 2 indicate the independent existence in solution of the [Ag(pyridine-2-carboxaldoxime)]+ ion. The geometries of the complexes are well described by DFT calculations using the ZORA relativistic approach. The compounds were tested against 14 different clinically isolated and four ATCC standard bacteria and yeasts and also compared with 17 commonly used antibiotics. Both 1 and 2 exhibited considerable activity against S. lutea, M. lutea, and S. aureus and against the yeast Candida albicans, while 2-amino-3-methylpyridine is slightly active and pyridine-2-carboxaldoxime shows no antimicrobial activity. In addition, the interaction of these metal complexes with DNA was investigated. Both 1 and 2 bind to DNA and reduce its electrophoretic mobility with different patterns of migration, while the ligands themselves induce no change.
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| 10. |
- Adamo, Angela, et al.
(författare)
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Super star clusters in Haro 11: properties of a very young starburst and evidence for a near-infrared flux excess
- 2010
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 407:2, s. 870-890
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have used multiband imaging to investigate the nature of an extreme starburst environment in the nearby Lyman break galaxy analogue Haro 11 (ESO350-IG038) by means of its stellar cluster population. The central starburst region has been observed in eight different high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) wavebands, sampling the stellar and gas components from UV to near-infrared. Photometric imaging of the galaxy was also carried out at 2.16μm by NaCo AO instrument at the ESO Very Large Telescope. We constructed integrated spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for about 200 star clusters located in the active star-forming regions and compared them with single stellar population models (suitable for physical properties of very young cluster population) in order to derive ages, masses and extinctions of the star clusters. The cluster age distribution we recover confirms that the present starburst has lasted for 40Myr, and shows a peak of cluster formation only 3.5 Myr old. With such an extremely young cluster population, Haro 11 represents a unique opportunity to investigate the youngest phase of the cluster formation process and evolution in starburst systems. We looked for possible relations between cluster ages, extinctions and masses. Extinction tends to diminish as a function of the cluster age, but the spread is large and reaches the highest dispersion for clusters in partial embedded phases (<5Myr). A fraction of low-mass (below 104 Msolar), very young (1-3Myr) clusters is missing, either because they are embedded in the parental molecular cloud and heavily extinguished, or because of blending with neighbouring clusters. The range of the cluster masses is wide; we observe that more than 30 per cent of the clusters have masses above 105 Msolar, qualifying them as super star clusters. Almost half of the cluster sample is affected by flux excesses at wavelengths >8000Å which cannot be explained by simple stellar evolutionary models. Fitting SED models over all wavebands leads to systematic overestimates of cluster ages and incorrect masses for the stellar population supplying the light in these clusters. We show that the red excess affects also the HST F814W filter, which is typically used to constrain cluster physical properties. The clusters which show the red excess are younger than 40Myr we discuss possible physical explanations for the phenomenon. Finally, we estimate that Haro 11 has produced bound clusters at a rate almost a factor of 10 higher than the massive and regular spirals, like the Milky Way. The present cluster formation efficiency is ~38 per cent of the galactic star formation rate.
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