A multistep process of cancer associated fibroblasts determination under CSL-p53 control

Stromal fibroblast senescence has been linked to the aging-associated increase of tumors. However, in epithelial cancer, density and proliferation of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAF) are frequently increased, rather than decreased. We previously showed that genetic deletion or down-modulation of the canonical Notch effector CSL/RBP-JK in dermal fibroblasts is sufficient for CAF activation with consequent development of keratinocyte-derived tumors. We show here that CSL silencing induces senescence of primary fibroblasts from dermis, oral mucosa, breast and lung. CSL functions in these cells as direct repressor of multiple senescence- and CAF-effector genes. It also physically interacts with p53, repressing its activity. CSL is down-modulated in stromal fibroblasts of premalignant skin actinic keratosis lesions and squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), while p53 gene expression and function is down-modulated only in the latter, with paracrine influences of incipient cancer cells as a likely culprit. Concomitant loss of CSL and p53 overcomes fibroblast senescence, enhances CAF effector gene expression and promotes stromal and cancer cell expansion. The findings support a CAF activation/stromal co-evolution model under convergent CSL/p53 control of likely clinical relevance.

Test automation of digital mammography device

Testing of a complex software is time consuming. Automated tools are available quite a lot for desktop applications, but for embedded systems a custom-made tool is required Building a complete test framework is a complicated task. Therefore, the test platform was built on top of an already existing tool, CANoe. CANoe is a tool for CAN bus analysis and node simulation. The functionality of CANoe was extended with LabVIEW DLL. The LabVIEW software was used for simulating hardware components of the embedded device As a result of the study, a platform was created where tests could be automated. Of the current test plan, 10 percent were automated and up to 60 percent could be automated with the current functionality.

Influence of process parameters on part quality and mechanical properties for DMLS and SLM with iron-based materials

Rapid manufacturing is an advanced manufacturing technology based on layer-by-layer manufacturing to produce a part. This paper presents experimental work carried out to investigate the effects of scan speed, layer thickness, and building direction on the following part features: dimensional error, surface roughness, and mechanical properties for DMLS with DS H20 powder and SLM with CL 20 powder (1.4404/AISI 316L). Findings were evaluated using ANOVA analysis. According to the experimental results, build direction has a significant effect on part quality, in terms of dimensional error and surface roughness. For the SLM process, the build direction has no influence on mechanical properties. Results of this research support industry estimating part quality and mechanical properties before the production of parts with additive manufacturing, using iron-based powders

Control remoto del robot ABB IRB 120 por tecnología Wifi

Durante toda la evolución de la tecnología, se han empleado aparatos interconexionados por cables. Los cables limitan la libertad de movimiento del usuario y pueden captar interferencias entre ellos si la red de cableado es elevada. Mientras avanzaba la tecnología inalámbrica, se ha ido adaptando al equipamiento electrónico a la vez que se iban haciendo cada vez más pequeños. Por esto, se impone la necesidad de utilizarlos como controles a distancia sin el empleo de cables debido a los inconvenientes que estos conllevan. El presente trabajo, pretende unificar tres tecnologías que pueden tener en el futuro una gran afinidad. · Dispositivos basados en el sistema Android. Desde sus inicios, han tenido una evolución meteórica. Se han ido haciendo cada vez más rápidos y mejores. · Sistemas inalámbricos. Los sistemas wifi o bluetooth, se han ido incorporando a nuestras vidas cada vez más y están prácticamente en cualquier aparato. · Robótica. Cualquier proceso de producción incorpora un robot. Son necesarios para hacer muchos trabajos que, aunque el hombre lo puede realizar, un robot reduce los tiempos y la peligrosidad de los procesos. Aunque las dos primeras tecnologías van unidas, ¿quién no tiene un teléfono con conexión wifi y bluetooth?, pocos diseños aúnan estos campos con la Robótica. El objetivo final de este trabajo es realizar una aplicación en Android para el control remoto de un robot, empleando el sistema de comunicación inalámbrico. La aplicación desarrollada, permite controlar el robot a conveniencia del usuario en un entorno táctil/teledirigido. Gracias a la utilización de simulador en ambos lenguajes (RAPID y Android), ha sido posible realizar la programación sin tener que estar presente ante el robot objeto de este trabajo. A través de su progreso, se ha ido evolucionando en la cantidad de datos enviados al robot y complejidad en su procesamiento, a la vez que se ha mejorado en la estética de la aplicación. Finalmente se usó la aplicación desarrollada con el robot, consiguiendo con éxito que realizara los movimientos que eran enviados con la tablet programada.

Organizing automation maintenance business in Russia

The target of this thesis is to find out potential of automation maintenance services in Russian industry, especially in the region of St. Petersburg. At the beginning of this study the industrial maintainability and process efficiency are discussed from the point of view of process automation. A survey of the present technology and maintenance methods has been made during five visits to local plants. The results of the interviews are analyzed numerically to clarify the common needs and the potential of automation maintenance services. The most interesting services are evaluated by their required resources to find economically justified solutions for the needs of the industry. As results of this study, some service products that would interest interviewed companies have been introduced. These could be offered to the industry to enhance cost-efficiency and productivity of processes.

Automatització de l’estació FESTO MPS2000C

L’Escola Politècnica Superior de la Universitat de Vic disposa d’una cèl·lula de fabricació didàctica de la marca FESTO que simula un procés d’assemblatge d’una comanda. Aquesta cèl·lula esta composta per quatre estacions diferenciades que poden treballar de forma independent o de forma conjunta, l’estació palets, l’estació plaques, l’estació cinta i l’estació magatzem. Cada estació és un conjunt de sensors i actuadors controlats per mitjà d’un PLC, aquests estan interconnectats a través d’un bus industrial. L’objectiu d’aquest treball consisteix en realitzar la substitució dels PLC’s, decidir el funcionament que han de tenir les estacions, instal·lar una pantalla tàctil pel control del procés i realitzar la programació de tots els elements. Aquest projecte ha estat realitzat en cinc fases principals: 1. Estudi i coneixement de les estacions, en aquesta fase s’ha estudiat els diferents sensors i actuadors que les conformen, així com el funcionament d’aquestes amb el programa i PLC’s antics. 2. Instal·lació i cablejat dels nous PLC’s i de la pantalla tàctil. 3. Estudi sobre el nou funcionament que han de seguir les estacions. 4. Programació dels nous dispositius seguint el funcionament acordat. 5. Posada en marxa del sistema i realització de proves. 6. Realització de la memòria del projecte, on s’expliquen les característiques i el funcionament de totes les estacions i de la pantalla tàctil. La conclusió que s’ha extret d’aquest treball és que l’automatització d’un procés de fabricació tot i que suposa un esforç inicial a nivell de recursos, un cop realitzada la instal·lació suposa una millora de l’eficiència del sistema. És per això que la indústria cada cop més tendeix a automatitzar els seus processos, no només per millorar la competitivitat, sinó també per realitzar tasques que les persones no poden executar de forma eficient o segura.

Control d'una bobinadora automàtica

Un dels problemes típics de regulació en el camp de l’automatització industrial és el control de velocitat lineal d’entrada del fil a les bobines, ja que com més gruix acumulem a igual velocitat de rotació de la bobina s’augmenta notablement la velocitat lineal d’entrada del fil, aquest desajust s’ha de poder compensar de forma automàtica per aconseguir una velocitat d’entrada constant. Aquest problema de regulació de velocitats és molt freqüent i de difícil control a la indústria on intervé el bobinat d’algun tipus de material com cablejat, fil, paper, làmines de planxa, tubs, etc... Els dos reptes i objectius principals són, primer, la regulació de la velocitat de rotació de la bobina per aconseguir una velocitat lineal del fil d’entrada, i segon, mitjançant el guiatge de l’alimentació de fil a la bobina, aconseguir un repartiment uniforme de cada capa de fil. El desenvolupament consisteix amb l’automatització i control d’una bobinadora automàtica mitjançant la configuració i programació de PLC’s, servomotors i encoders. Finalment es farà el muntatge pràctic sobre una bancada per verificar i simular el seu correcte funcionament que ha de donar solució a aquests problemes de regulació de velocitats. Com a conclusions finals s’han aconseguit els objectius i una metodologia per fer una regulació de velocitats de rotació per bobines, amb accionaments de servomotors amb polsos, i a nivell de coneixements he aconseguit dominar les aplicacions d’aquest tipus d’accionaments aplicats a construccions mecàniques.

Potentials of process intensification in the Finnish petrochemical industry

This research was motivated by the need to examine the potential application areas of process intensification technologies in Neste Oil Oyj. According to the company’s interest membrane reactor technology was chosen and applicability of this technology in refining industry was investigated. Moreover, Neste Oil suggested a project which is related to the CO2 capture from FCC unit flue gas stream. The flowrate of the flue gas is 180t/h and consist of approximately 14% by volume CO2. Membrane based absorption process (membrane contactor) was chosen as a potential technique to model CO2 capture from fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit effluent. In the design of membrane contactor, a mathematical model was developed to describe CO2 absorption from a gas mixture using monoethanole amine (MEA) aqueous solution. According to the results of literature survey, in the hollow fiber contactor for laminar flow conditions approximately 99 % percent of CO2 can be removed by using a 20 cm in length polyvinylidene fluoride (PDVF) membrane. Furthermore, the design of whole process was performed by using PRO/II simulation software and the CO2 removal efficiency of the whole process obtained as 97 %. The technical and economical comparisons among existing MEA absorption processes were performed to determine the advantages and disadvantages of membrane contactor technology.

Lasikuituputkien kelauslinjan automatisointi

Lasikuituputkien kelaamiseen tarkoitettu automaatio voidaan toteuttaa suorakulmaisen kolmion trigonometrian perusteella. Kelaaminen tapahtuu pyörittämällä muottia ja liikuttamalla samalla muottia sivuttain. Näin tehdessä saadaan kelattavat lasikuitulangat leviämään koko muotin leveydelle. Jos langat halutaan saada kelattua tiiviisti toistensa viereen, on muotin liikuttava tietty matka yhtä muotin pyörähdystä kohden. Matkaa kutsutaan nousuksi. Nousu riippuu lankojen muodostaman kimpun leveydestä, kelauskulmasta ja muotin säteestä. Kelauskulmalla voidaan vaikuttaa kelattavan tuotteen aksiaaliseen ja pitkittäiseen lujuuteen. Kelauskoneen automaatiojärjestelmä koostuu sähkökäytöistä, ohjaavasta yksiköstä, valvomosta ja erilaisista antureista. Eri osat yhdistetään toisiinsa väylätekniikalla. Sähkökäytöt ovat yleensä servokäyttöjä, koska niiltä vaaditaan tarkkuutta ja nopeutta. Ohjaavana yksikkönä toimii yleensä teollisuus logiikka. Anturointia tarvitaan esimerkiksi hartsin lämpötilan säätöön ja lankojen ratakireyden säätöön. Anturoinnilla ja säädöillä pyritään parantamaan kelattavan tuotteen laatua. Koneen ohjelmallinen toteutus vaatii kelauskoneen mekaniikan ja kelausprosessin ymmärtämistä. Lisäksi on huomioitava koneen käyttäjät ja heidän turvallisuus.

Control methods for arc welding power supplies

Welding is one of the most important process of modern industry. Welding technology is used in the manufacture and repair a wide variety of products from different metals and alloys. In this thesis the different aspects of arc welding were discussed, such as stability and control of welding arc, power supplies for arc welding (especially the welding inverters because it is the most modern welding power source). All parameters of power source have influence on the arc parameters and its by-turn influence on quality. The ways of control for arc welding inverter power sources have been considered. Calculations and modeling in Matlab/Simulink were done for PI control method. All parameters of power source have influence on the arc parameters and its by-turn influence on quality.

Customer Driven Order-to-Delivery Process

This thesis was made for a large forest industry company’s business segment. The purpose of the study was to improve the performance of the order-to-delivery process of the business segment. The study proceeded in three phases. The first phase was to define customer expectations in the market. The second phase was to analyse the performance and the operations of the order-to-delivery process, and to define any challenges or problems in serving the customers. The third and final phase was improving the performance of the order-to-delivery process, within the scope defined by the first two phases. The analysis showed that the delivery reliability is an essential but a challenging issue in the case company’s markets. On delivery reliability standpoint, the most challenging factors were the detected information flow distortions within the company as well as in the whole supply chain, and the lack of horizontal control over the multi-stage process.

BimTwin - Two component continuous process hygiene concept

The aim of this study was to examine suitability of BimTwin cleaning concept in card board machine to control microbiological activity and describe microbiological balance of the machine. In a review of literature is examined microbe and spore caused problems in paper industry. Biggest problems are deposits, which decrease runnability and cause quality errors. In this chapter is also introduced most common oxidizing biocides used in paper industry and described ATP assay as a microbiological monitoring method. In an experimental part are included BimTwin mill trial results, chemical condition monitoring methods and microbiological balance in a card board machine. In a second part are examined possibilities to effect hygiene of card board by chemical treatment of the surface size and coating. Result showed that BimTwin concept is suitable for card board machine as a cleaning concept, when chemical dosing is fitted right. For proper dosing and secure tolerable hygiene level, chemical and microbiological monitoring is significant. Determining of the microbiological balance would have need more sampling. According to acquired results, broke turned out to be the biggest microbe source. Sizing and coating experiments showed that it is possible to improve hygiene of card board by chemically treated surface size and coating color.

On the development of object functions and restrictions for shapes made with a turret punch press

This study presents the information required to describe the machine and device resources in the turret punch press environment which are needed for the development of the analysing method for automated production. The description of product and device resources and their interconnectedness is the starting point for method comparison the development of expenses, production planning and the performance of optimisation. The manufacturing method cannot be optimized unless the variables and their interdependence are known. Sheet metal parts in particular may then become remarkably complex, and their automatic manufacture may be difficult or, with some automatic equipment, even impossible if not know manufacturing properties. This thesis consists of three main elements, which constitute the triangulation. In the first phase of triangulation, the manufacture occuring on a turret punch press is examined in order to find the factors that affect the efficiency of production. In the second phase of triangulation, the manufacturability of products on turret punch presses is examined through a set of laboratory tests. The third phase oftriangulation involves an examination of five industry parts. The main key findings of this study are: all possible efficiency in high automation level machining cannot be achieved unless the raw materials used in production and the dependencies of the machine and tools are well known. Machine-specific manufacturability factors for turret punch presses were not taken into account in the industrial case samples. On the grounds of the performed tests and industrial case samples, the designer of a sheet metal product can directly influence the machining time, material loss, energy consumption and the number of tools required on a turret punch press by making decisions in the way presented in the hypothesis of thisstudy. The sheet metal parts to be produced can be optimised to bemanufactured on a turret punch press when the material to be used and the kinds of machine and tool options available are known. This provides in-depth knowledge of the machine and tool properties machine and tool-specifically. None of the optimisation starting points described here is a separate entity; instead, they are all connected to each other.

Challenges of business process automation for small and medium enterprises

The aim of the study was to examine problems that small and medium enterprises are facing during the implementation of business process automation projects. Study reveals problems from the point of view of companies who are implementing automation projects and from the point of view of IT-integrators who are specifying in IT solutions for small and medium companies.

Shewhart's control charts and process capability ratio applied to a sewage treatment station

The current study used statistical methods of quality control to evaluate the performance of a sewage treatment station. The concerned station is located in Cascavel city, Paraná State. The evaluated parameters were hydrogenionic potential, settleable solids, total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand in five days. Statistical analysis was performed through Shewhart control charts and process capability ratio. According to Shewhart charts, only the BOD(5.20) variable was under statistical control. Through capability ratios, we observed that except for pH the sewage treatment station is not capable to produce effluents under characteristics that fulfill specifications or standard launching required by environmental legislation.