Product design is an evolving process which is characterized with creativity and uncertainty. The task management in this process is different from traditional ones because it involves more specific factors such as user specifications, product design specifications, reengineering, design process, and design data. In this article, we aim to analyze product design process with the viewpoint of pr...

This study shows the usefulness of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) in maintenance planning and man-agement. An ANN model based on the multi-layer perceptron having three hidden layers and four processing elements per layer was built to predict the expected downtime resulting from a breakdown or a maintenance activity. The model achieved an accuracy of over 70% in predicting the expected downtime.

The UK Government’s Department of Trade and Industry, through its National Measurement System Directorate, has been funding a major research project on Environmental Noise. The aims were to improve the quality and face validity of environmental noise measurements, and to contribute to the improvement of British, and International Standards on environmental noise. The project had three related a...

aggregate stability is an important soil property because it dictates how strongly a soil can resist water erosion. the objectives in this study were: (1) to compare the stability of six soil aggregate size fractions, primarily to determine if aggregate stability varies with aggregate size, and (2) to determine with which aggregate size fraction the stability of most soils would be different fr...

The balance of forces in the sea ice model of Hibler [ 1979] is examined. The model predicts that internal stress gradients are an important force in much of the Arctic Ocean except in summer, when they are significant only off the northern coasts of Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago. A partition of the internal stress gradient between the pressure gradient and the viscous terms reveals th...

OBJECTIVE Whole-body protein metabolism is abnormal in suboptimally controlled type 2 diabetes and obesity. We hypothesized that glycemia, insulin resistance, and waist circumference modulate these alterations in type 2 diabetes and, to a lesser extent, in individuals without type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In 88 lean and obese subjects without and 40 with type 2 diabetes on an i...