Performance evaluation of lean sustainable systems using adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system: a case study

The modern manufacturing organisations have been adopting both lean and sustainable manufacturing paradigms to survive in the competitive environment. Lean and sustainable strategies aim at achieving productivity improvement by streamlined processes and waste elimination. The performance of such integrated lean sustainable system has to be assessed to ensure whether the strategic objectives are in line with customer value and to identify improvement opportunities that enable and enhance the competitive advantage of an integrated lean sustainable system. This paper presents the formulation of conceptual performance evaluation model to assess lean sustainable systems. Appropriate performance indicators have been identified and adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system approach is used to evaluate lean sustainability. A case of automotive component manufacturing firm in Indian scenario is exemplified. Based on the evaluation, lean sustainability index was computed and the firm was found to be ‘Averagely Lean Sustainable’. Further improvement actions to enhance the lean sustainable performance were planned and implemented. The developed performance evaluation model is capable of effectively evaluating the lean sustainable performance of manufacturing firms and has more practical relevance.     

既有线200 km/h提速客货共线直线段轨道的动力特性

既有线提速是高速铁路发展的重要方向之一。本文主要对轨道路基在列车荷载作用下的动力响应规律进行了研究。首先,建立轨道系统在移动荷载作用下的动力响应理论分析模型,该模型将轨道结构视为连续支承欧拉梁,对ANSYS软件进行二次开发,实现了模型的数值分析;然后,建立直线段轨道数值分析模型,利用该模型分析了荷载速度、载重、不平顺波长、不平顺波深对既有线路提速200 km/h客货共线直线段钢轨、轨枕的竖向位移及竖向加速度的影响。可为制定新的铁路养护技术规范提供技术参考。     

新型高效气体扩散电极的制备与性能

评述了原位产生H₂O₂的电化学法污水处理技术中使用的主要电极,研究了用石墨制备高效气体扩散电极的方法。对石墨用HNO₃与H₃PO₄的混合液改性,石墨与聚四氟乙烯的质量比为2∶1,电极经350℃煅烧1 h,对溶解O₂还原产生H₂O₂的催化活性最高。仅在pH值很低时,电极的活性较差,在pH=3～9时,电极的活性受pH值变化影响较小。在pH=3时电解150 min,电极的电流效率始终高于72%,H₂O₂浓度达到了274.5 mg/L。     

Sustainable value assessment of farms using frontier efficiency benchmarks

Appropriate assessment of firm sustainability facilitates actor-driven processes towards sustainable development. The methodology in this paper builds further on two proven methodologies for the assessment of sustainability performance: it combines the sustainable value approach with frontier efficiency benchmarks. The sustainable value methodology tries to relate firm performance to the use of different resources. This approach assesses contributions to corporate sustainability by comparing firm resource productivity with the resource productivity of a benchmark, and this for all resources considered. The efficiency is calculated by estimating the production frontier indicating the maximum feasible production possibilities. In this research, the sustainable value approach is combined with efficiency analysis methods to benchmark sustainability assessment. In this way, the production theoretical underpinnings of efficiency analysis enrich the sustainable value approach. The methodology is presented using two different functional forms: the Cobb–Douglas and the translog functional forms. The simplicity of the Cobb–Douglas functional form as benchmark is very attractive but it lacks flexibility. The translog functional form is more flexible but has the disadvantage that it requires a lot of data to avoid estimation problems. Using frontier methods for deriving firm specific benchmarks has the advantage that the particular situation of each company is taken into account when assessing sustainability. Finally, we showed that the methodology can be used as an integrative sustainability assessment tool for policy measures.     

SPME/HPLC 对水中多环芳烃的定量分析

应用ＳＰＭＥ／ＨＰＬＣ,通过对水中５种多环芳烃的确定,得到了吸附量／吸附时间和解吸量／解吸时间的关系,并在吸附时间和解吸时间一定的条件下,测定了５种多环芳烃的响应值与浓度的线性关系,重现性及加标回收率（７６％－１１１％）。     

经过水泥固化的重金属废物的穿透渗漏实验

采用穿透渗漏实验方法研究了经水泥固化的重金属废物的长期渗漏行为。用由Ｐｂ＾２＋、Ｚｎ＾２＋、Ｃｕ＾２＋、Ｎｉ＾２＋和Ｃｒ＾６＋５种重金属组成的合成废物样品进行２组实验。实验研究了渗漏实验液流速、ＰＨ的变化和金属渗漏能力对固体废物长期渗漏行为的影响。     

竹地板与普通实木地板燃烧性能的锥形量热仪对比实验研究

随着竹地板的广泛应用,竹木地板的火灾燃烧性能也将引起人们的关注.本文采用锥形量热仪对竹木地板的引燃时间、热释放速率、总热释放和一氧化碳的产率及体积比浓度等燃烧性能与普通实木地板进行了比较研究.研究结果表明:在相同条件下,竹木地板试样的引燃时间较短,临界引燃辐射热通量较低,引燃危险相对较大;竹木地板试样燃烧中第一个热释放速率峰值出现的时间短,且峰值相对较大,其潜在的轰燃危险相对较大;此外,竹木试样的一氧化碳的产率和燃烧初期在烟气中的体积比浓度相对较大.     

Analysis of bacterial community structures in two sewage treatment plants with different sludge properties and treatment performance by nested PCR-DGGE method

The bacterial community structures in two sewage treatment plants with different processes and performance were investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） of nested polymerase chain reaction （nested PCR） amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments with group-specific primers. Samples of raw sewage and treated effluents were amplified using the whole-cell PCR method, and the activated sludge samples were amplified using the extracted genomic DNA before the PCR products were loaded on the same DGGE gel for bacterial community analysis. Ammonia-oxidizing bacterial and actinomycetic community analysis were also carried out to investigate the relationship between specific population structures and system or sludge performance. The two plants demonstrated a similarity in bacterial community structures of raw sewage and activated sludge, but they had different effluent populations. Many dominant bacterial populations of raw sewage did not appear in the activated sludge samples, suggesting that the dominant bacterial populations in raw sewage might not play an important role during wastewater treatment. Although the two plants had different sludge properties in terms of settleability and foam forming ability, they demonstrated similar actinomycetic community structures. For activated sludge with bad settling performance, the treated water presented a similar DGGE pattern with that of activated sludge, indicating the nonselective washout of bacteria from the system. The plant with better ammonium removal efficiency showed higher ammonia-oxidizing bacteria species richness. Analysis of sequencing results showed that the major populations in raw sewage were uncultured bacterium, while in activated sludge the predominant populations were beta proteobacteria.     

Sludge reduction with Tubificidae and the impact on the performance of the wastewater treatment process

To reduce excess sludge, a Tubificidae reactor was combined with an integrated oxidation ditch with vertical circle (IODVC), and a new integrated system was developed for wastewater treatment. A pilot-scale of this integrated system was tested to investigate the sludge reduction with Tubificidae and the impact on effluent quality and sludge production. The dominant worm was Branchnria Sowerbyi in the Tubificidae reactor after inoculation of Branchnria Sowerbyi and Limnodrilns sp., and the maximal volume density of wet Tubificidae in vessels of the Tubificidae reactor was 17600 g/m3. Two operational modes, treating the excess sludge (first mode) and the returned sludge (second mode) of IODVC by the Tubificidae reactor, were used in this experiment. The results showed that the excess sludge reduction rate was 46.4% in the first mode, and the average sludge yield of the integrated system was 6.19×10-5 kg SS/kg COD in the second mode. Though the sludge returned to IODVC via the Tubificidae reactor, it had little impact on the effluent quality and the sludge characteristics of the IODVC. No new type of recalcitrant substance in the supernatant was discharged into the environment when the sludge was treated by Tubificidae. The experimental results also indicated that no significant changes occurred on the viscosity, specific resistance, and the floc size distribution of the sludge.     

Start-up performances of dry anaerobic mesophilic and thermophilic digestions of organic solid wastes

Two dry anaerobic digestions of organic solid wastes were conducted for 6 weeks in a lab-scale batch experiment for investigating the start-up performances under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The enzymatic activities, i.e., β-glucosidase, N-α-benzoyl-Largininamide （BAA）-hydrolysing protease, urease and phosphatase activities were analysed. The BAA-hydrolysing protease activity during the first 2-3 weeks was low with low pH, but was enhanced later with the pH increase. β-Glucosidase activity showed the lowest values in weeks 1-2, and recovered with the increase of BAA-hydrolysing protease activity. Acetic acid dominated most of the total VFAs in thermophilic digestion, while propionate and butyrate dominated in mesophilic digestion. Thermophilic digestion was confirmed more feasible for achieving better performance against misbalance, especially during the start-up period in a dry anaerobic digestion process.