Fragile X Syndrome and Its Impact on Children's Language Essay

Fragile X Syndrome and Its Impact on Children's Language - Essay Example The condition, also called Martin-Bell syndrome, is statistically moderate to severe in boys and normally manifests a mild form of impairment in girls. From 15% to 20% of those with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) exhibit autistic-type behavior such as "poor eye contact, hand flapping, and poor sensory skills" (Edelson, 1995, para. 2). Males with fragile X syndrome may exhibit autistic-like behaviors, but it is not a major cause of autism. About 15 percent of persons with fragile X syndrome may meet diagnostic criteria at some point in their lives. The figure above shows the most common fragile X mutation- an expansion of extra DNA within a specific component of the FMR1 gene. In the premutation, the expansion is relatively small, however, in the full mutation the expansion is quite large and is usually accompanied by abnormal methylation. The presence of abnormal methylation leads to decreased production or absence of the FMR1 gene's protein product, called FMRP. The specific function of FMRP in the human brain is currently under study; current evidence suggests it may be involved in the regulation of proteins produced by other genes. Certain physical characteristics can be seen in an individual with fragile X syndrome. ... Other recognizable features are high-arched palate, strabismus (lazy eye), and, sometimes, mild heart valve abnormalities. Blood tests to determine levels of fragile X mental retardation protein can be done to diagnose the condition and several treatments can be undertaken as well as use of mild medications and therapy for speech, language and sensory improvement. Genetic counseling is recommended (Edelson, 1995). In 1991, the fragile X gene (FMR1) was characterized and found to contain a tandemly repeated sequence, and the larger the size of this permutation in a woman, the more risk that full mutation can occur in her offspring (Fragile X: Diagnostic, para. 3). The genotype can be determined more accurately with DNA testing. Full mutation occurs with one in 3,600 males and one in 4,000-6,000 females (Smith, 2006). Various degrees of mutation, however, occur in one in 1,200 males and one in 2,500 females, and testing should be considered in the following cases: Individuals of either sex with mental retardation, developmental delay, or autism, especially if they have (a) any physical or behavioral characteristics of fragile X syndrome, (b) a family history of fragile X syndrome, or (c) male or female relatives with undiagnosed mental retardation. Individuals seeking reproductive counseling who have (a) a family history of fragile X syndrome or (b) a family history of undiagnosed mental retardation. Fetuses of known carrier mothers. Patients who have a cytogenetic fragile X test result that is discordant with their phenotype. These include patients who have a strong clinical indication (including risk of being a carrier) and who have had a negative or ambiguous test result, and patients with an

Anarchy State and Utopia Essay Example for Free

Anarchy State and Utopia Essay Distributive Justice Robert Nozick From Anarchy, State, and Utopia, 149-182, with omissions. Copyright @ 1974 by Basic Books, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Basic Books, a subsidiary of Perseus Books Group, LLC. The minimal state is the most extensive state that can be justified. Any state more extensive violates peoples rights. Yet many persons have put forth reasons purporting to justify a more extensive state. It is impossible within the compass of this book to examine all the reasons that have been put forth. Therefore, I shall focus upon those generally acknowledged to be most weighty and influential, to see precisely wherein they fail. In this chapter we consider the claim that a more extensive state is justified, because necessary (or the best instrument) to achieve distributive justice; in the next chapter we shall take up diverse other claims. The term distributive justice is not a neutral one. Hearing the term distribution, most people presume that some thing or mechanism uses some principle or criterion to give out a supply of things. Into this process of distributing shares some error may have crept. So it is an open question, at least, whether redistribution should take place; whether we should do again what has already been done once, though poorly. However, we are not in the position of children who have been given portions of pie by someone who now makes last minute adjustments to rectify careless cutting. There is no central distribution, no person or group entitled to control all the resources, jointly deciding how they are to be doled out. What each person gets, he gets from others who give to him in exchange for something, or as a gift. In a free society, diverse persons control different resources, and new holdings arise out of the voluntary exchanges and actions of persons. There is no more a distributing or distribution of shares than there is a distributing of mates in a society in which persons choose whom they shall marry. The total result is the product of many individual decisions which the different individuals involved are entitled to make. Some uses of the term distribution, it is true, do not imply a previous distributing appropriately judged by some criterion (for example, probability distribution); nevertheless, despite the title of this chapter, it would be best to use a terminology that clearly is neutral. We shall speak of peoples holdings; a principle of justice in holdings describes (part of) what justice tells us (requires) about holdings. I shall state first what I take to be the correct view about justice in holdings, and then turn to the discussion of alternate views. Section 1 The Entitlement Theory The subject of justice in holdings consists of three major topics. The first is the original acquisition of holdings, the appropriation of unheld things. This includes the issues of how unheld things may come to be held, the process, or processes, by which unheld things may come to be held, the things that may come to be held by these processes, the extent of what comes to be held by a particular process, and so on. We shall refer to the complicated truth about this topic, which we shall not formulate here, as the principle of justice in acquisition. The second topic concerns the transfer of holdings from one person to another. By what processes may a person transfer holdings to another? How may a person acquire a holding from another who holds it? Under this topic come general descriptions of voluntary exchange, and gift and (on the other hand) fraud, as well as reference to particular conventional details fixed upon in a given society. The complicated truth about this subject (with placeholders for conventional details) we shall call the principle of justice in transfer. And we shall suppose it also includes principles governing how a person may divest himself of a holding, passing it into an unheld state. ) If the world were wholly just, the following inductive definition would exhaustively cover the subject of justice in holdings. 1. A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in acquisition is entitled to that holding. 2. A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in transfer, from someone else entitled to the holding, is entitled to the holding. . No one is entitled to a holding except by (repeated) applications of 1 and 2. The complete principle of distributive justice would say simply that a distribution is just if everyone is entitled to the holdings they possess under the distribution. A distribution is just if it arises from another just distribution by legitimate means. The legitimate means of moving from one distribution to another are specified by the principle of justice in transfer. The legitimate first moves are specified by the principle of justice in acquisition. Whatever arises from a just situation by just steps is itself just. The means of change specified by the principle of justice in transfer preserve justice. As correct rules of inference are truth-preserving, and any conclusion deduced via repeated application of such rules from only true premisses is itself true, so the means of transition from one situation to another specified by the principle of justice in transfer are justice-preserving, and any situation actually arising from repeated transitions in accordance with the principle from a just situation is itself just. The parallel between justice-preserving transformations and truth-preserving transformations illuminates where it fails as well as where it holds. That a conclusion could have been deduced by truth-preserving means from premisses that are true suffices to show its truth. That from a just situation a situation could have arisen via justice-preserving means does not suffice to show its justice. The fact that a thiefs victims voluntarily could have presented him with gifts does not entitle the thief to his ill-gotten gains. Justice in holdings is historical; it depends upon what actually has happened. We shall return to this point later. Not all actual situations are generated in accordance with the two principles of justice in holdings: the principle of justice in acquisition and the principle of justice in transfer. Some people steal from others, or defraud them, or enslave them, seizing their product and preventing them from living as they choose, or forcibly exclude others from competing in exchanges. None of these are permissible modes of transition from one situation to another. And some persons acquire holdings by means not sanctioned by the principle of justice in acquisition. The existence of past injustice (previous violations of the first two principles of justice in holdings) raises the third major topic under justice in holdings: the rectification of injustice in holdings. If past injustice has shaped present holdings in various ways, some identifiable and some not, what now, if anything, ought to be done to rectify these injustices? What obligations do the performers of injustice have toward those whose position is worse than it would have been had the injustice not been done? Or, than it would have been had compensation been paid promptly? How, if at all, do things change if the beneficiaries and those made worse off are not the direct parties in the act of injustice, but, for example, their descendants? Is an injustice done to someone whose holding was itself based upon an unrectified injustice? How far back must one go in wiping clean the historical slate of injustices? What may victims of injustice permissibly do in order to rectify the injustices being done to them, including the many injustices done by persons acting through their government? I do not know of a thorough or theoretically sophisticated treatment of such issues. Idealizing greatly, let us suppose theoretical investigation will produce a principle of rectification. This principle uses historical information about previous situations and injustices done in them (as defined by the first two principles of justice and rights against interference), and information about the actual course of events that flowed from these injustices, until the present, and it yields a description (or descriptions) of holdings in the society. The principle of rectification presumably will make use of its best estimate of subjunctive information about what would have occurred (or a probability distribution over what might have occurred, using the expected value) if the injustice had not taken place. If the actual description of holdings turns out not to be one of the descriptions yielded by the principle, then one of the descriptions yielded must be realized. The general outlines of the theory of justice in holdings are that the holdings of a person are just if he is entitled to them by the principles of justice in acquisition and transfer, or by the principle of rectification of injustice (as specified by the first two principles). If each persons holdings are just, then the total set (distribution) of holdings is just. To turn these general outlines into a specific theory we would have to specify the details of each of the three principles of justice in holdings: the principle of acquisition of holdings, the principle of transfer of holdings, and the principle of rectification of violations of the first two principles. I shall not attempt that task here (Lockes principle of justice in acquisition is discussed below. ) . How Liberty Upsets Patterns It is not clear how those holding alternative conceptions of distributive justice can reject the entitlement conception of justice in holdings. For suppose a distribution favored by one of these non-entitlement conceptions is realized.

Production Planning Incorporate with Job Rotation and Work

Production Planning Incorporate with Job Rotation and Work Thesis/Project Title: Production Planning Incorporate with Job rotation and Work Injury by  Multi-Objective Criteria Courses Taken/Grades: Course Name Grade ME 460 Automation and Robotics in Manufacturing 84 ME 887 Introduction to Microsystems 85 ME 886 Advanced Engineering Design Methodology 88 BIOE 898 Special Topic 88 STAT 845 Statistical Methods for Research 90 GSR 960 Introduction to Ethics and Integrity CR Average Grade to Date:87% ME 990 Seminar:January 27th, 2016 Expected Completion Date:December, 2016 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.1. Background and Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2. Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 LITERATURE REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.1 Production Planning and Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.2 HUMAN FACTOR IN PRODUCTION PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3.2.1. Human Scheduling in Technical System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.2.2. Human Work Related Injuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.2.3. Leading Factors for Work Injuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.2.4. How We Reduce Work Injuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.3 QUALITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.3.1. Manufacturing Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.3.2. Dimensions of Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.4 JOB ROTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.4.1. Importance of Job Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.4.2. Outcomes of Job Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.4.3. Job Rotation as a Cost Effective Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.5 WORK FORCE AGING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.5.1. Aging Effect Worker Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.5.2. Workforce Aging Effect on Production Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 METHODOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 TIMELINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background and Motivation In the last few years, the question of human well-being at the working place has come afore as a key issues in production planning and scheduling. The manufacturing productivity is affected by both the human and machine factors. However, much of the previous research has been focused on the machine aspect but the human aspect. The previous work considers not only the productivity but also the production cost, worker safety and machine utilization. Particularly, (Xu, 2015) demonstrated the significance of work injury to the total production cost. His work also showed that the effect of work injury can be reduced by designing a production system. Due to the increasing cost of work injuries as well as concern of health work place, both the government and industry have made an effort on preventing work injury occurrences. In 2005, the government of Canada paid approximately $6.8 billion dollars in benefits through its Workersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ Compensation Boards (WCBs) organization. It is being realized that the cost incurred by work injuries contributes a large portion to the total production cost, and strategies are urgently required to tackle the problem of work injury. In 2000 to 2012 period, the total costs of occupational injuries to the Canadian economy was estimated to be more than $19 billion annually. The factors other than the production system design, which lead to work injury, are: employee boredom, fatigue, lack of motivation, lack of training, and mismatch of job and workforce age. Besides design of production systems, to remove or solve the issues related to work injury, there are three kinds of techniques: Engineering solutions, Administrative solutions and Personal safety equipment (Tayyari Smith, 1997). Job rotation comes in the category of administrative solution. It is about the rotation of workers among a number of non-similar workstations, where each worker requires different skills or techniques and responsibilities to do job (Azizi, Zolfaghari Liang, 2010). It enables operators to become multi-skilled by providing them with a greater ability to handle increased demand and large product variability (Michalos et al., 2010). When many jobs of different requirements and workers of different capabilities are involved, the job rotation problem becomes very complex. Due to the complexity of job rotation, there are implications of job rotation as well. If not done properly job rotation can increase the cost of production and also reduce the quality of the manufacturing system. Cost is a factor which is widely understood and studied but Quality is one of the most important but the least understood attribute of a system. Without quality, a system cannot comply with required goals and standards. Conventionally, production planning is mainly about materials resource planning. The materials include both the material for products and the machine tools for production of the products (Krajewski et al., 2005). Many techniques have been established to improve the effectiveness of production planning, to make a plan which meets the customer demand, satisfaction and cost with other features such as continuity and resilience of a system as referred to by Zhang and Lin (2010). Zhang defines resilience as a systems post-damage property i.e. the systems ability to recover its function from some damage. In the context of enterprises, Guelfi et al. (2008) defined the resilience as the capacity of a business process to recover and reinforce itself when facing changes. This calls for a scientific approach to solving this problem. 1.2 Research Questions The following questions come up: Question 1: How may job rotation significantly affect the cost of production especially with its connection to work injury (particularly related to the worker aging)? Question 2: How to define and model the quality of the operation of a manufacturing or production system particularly in terms of resilience or system disruption? Question 3: How to define and model job rotation in production planning and scheduling so as to make a balanced improvement in terms of the cost and resilience? 2. Objectives and Scope Objective 1 To model the job rotation for incorporating them into the production planning and scheduling. The model should consider the influence of job rotation to work injury (due to aging). Objective 2 To develop a model for the resilience of a production system with planning and scheduling in place. The resilience may simply refer to operation disruption. It is assumed that by meeting the customer requirement for products or jobs, the quality of a production system is guaranteed. It is also assumed that the product delivery time is satisfied by an effective production plan and schedule. Objective 3 To develop a production planning model for achieving the lowest cost and highest resilience. In this model, besides the decision variables such as production quantity, the variable for job rotation will be included. 3. Literature Review 3.1 Production Planning and Scheduling Production planning is a planning of production and manufacturing modules in any organization or industry. It utilizes the allocation of resources (employees, material and machines) in order to achieve the organizational goals. On the other hand production scheduling differs from production planning in that a schedule includes the information such as what system components (machines and/or humans) do what jobs at what times. Ideally, one may want to be the best for all the foregoing goals but in reality this is not possible as there may be conflicts among them. For instance, low cost production may likely lead to poor product quality. Nevertheless, an optimal trade-off among these elements does make sense. In fact, from a mathematical point of view, the problem is inherently a multi-objective optimisation problem. In practice, the multi-objective optimization problem is modeled as a single objective optimization problem while the rest of elements are considered as constraints or only implicitly assumed. For instance, often the quality is assumed to be fine as long as the production meets the quantity, and the time is implicitly represented in a way that the customer demand for a period of time say T is divided into a series of time segments (ti), and then on each time segment (ti), there will be the product quantity say di. Based on the foregoing discussion, the quality, quantity, and time are modelled. This research will further consider cost and resilience. The cost goal is conventional in the mathematical model for production planning and scheduling (Cramer, 2011). Elements that incur the cost are: material cost, machine utilization cost, human cost, human work injury cost, inventory cost, penalty cost, overhead cost, and so forth (Phruksaphanrat, Ohsato Yenradee, 2006; Swamidass, 2000; Gallego, 2001; Xu, 2015; Sule, 2008). The resilience goal is less known to the literature especially a joint consideration of the cost goal and resilience goal. There are some works on job rotation, which are categorized into the human factors in planning and scheduling, and will be discussed later in this document. Broadly, according to (Laperrià ¨re et al., 2014) Production planning does not work alone, it normally approaches with other production activities (Fig. 1) such as aggregate production planning, production scheduling and production control. Aggregate Production Planning (APP) determines what, when and how much the work force levels, inventory status and production rate required to achieve the market or customer demand. APP falls between the broad decisions of long-range planning and the highly specific and detailed short-range planning decisions (Chakrabortty Hasin, 2013).Production Scheduling determines the sequence of production for planned products on daily and weekly basis (Pinedo, 2005); see also the previous discussion. Production Controldeals with the real time information from the processes such as workforce and inventory level to take decisions to remove or avoid the system from disruption (Pinedo, 2005). In this thesis research, the scope is production planning and schedu ling. 3.2 Human factors in production planning Technological developments in the production system allowed the automation of the manufacturing processes and assembly lines, but employees or human operators still remain a serious factor in every production system (Chryssolouris, 2006). Employees or workers are the most important resources of any organization. The way in which workers are allocated to tasks can meaningfully affect a companys performance or productivity (Tharmmaphornphilas Norman, 2007). Therefore non-compatibility or mismatch of humans to technical systems may even cause injuries in the humans, which is the main concern of human factor engineering in production planning. To solve this problem, job rotation is the best technique to overcome this issue and it helps to increase the production efficiency or productivity (McKay Wiers, 2006). 3.2.1 Human Scheduling in Technical System Presently, industries assign tasks to employees according to their competence, skills or experience. This method helps to increase the system productivity and quality but it can results in worker to be assigned same task every time (Tharmmaphornphilas Norman, 2007). Performing the repetitive tasks may reason for musculoskeletal disorders, accrue stress, induce boredom, create fatigue and may lead to occupational illness and injury (Hagberg et al. 1995). 3.2.2 Human Work Related Injuries The behavior of a worker can be affected by several factors such as: (Digiesi, et al. 2009). Work Environment: (physical: microclimate, ergonomics, noise; social: human relationships, communication among the group). Nature of the Task: (discrete vs. continuous, repetitive vs. non-repetitive, motor vs. cognitive). Personal factors: (psycho-physical attitude, personal skill, age, sex). 3.2.3 Leading Factors for Work Injuries It has been noticed that there are some major factors which contributes to work injuries are: Employee Boredom: It can be related with performance reduction, general dissatisfaction, and accidents (Azizi, Zolfaghari Liang, 2010). Fatigue: Accumulation of fatigue causesmusculoskeletal disorders(Asensio-Cuesta et al., 2012) Repetitive Motions: Monotonous repetitive work has been identified as a major cause of work load related disorders (Michalos et al., 2010) Workforce Aging: In very repetitive short cycle operations, work-related musculoskeletal disorders tend to be more dominant in workers aged from 40 to 60 (Boenzi, et al., 2015). 3.2.4 How We Reduce Work Injuries There are three ways to reduce or overcome the work injuries (Tayyari Smith, 1997) .These are as follows: Engineering Solutions: It includes to redesign the work place, redesign tools and redesign job. Administrative Solutions: It includes the reconsideration of work schedules, workers rotation and career changes. Personal Protective Equipment:It includes safety shoes, hats, safety glasses and safety clothes. 3.3 Quality Quality is important property of any systems and usually refers to the degree to which a system lives up to the expectation of satisfying its requirements (Ivan et al. 2014). The definition of quality, standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) in 1978, is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs. This definition suggests that we must be able to identify the features and characteristics of products and services that determine customer satisfaction and form the basis for measurement and control. 3.3.1 Manufacturing Quality In terms of manufacturing based quality, (Crosby, 1979) defined manufacturing quality as quality is about conformance to requirement. 3.3.2 Dimensions of Quality Garvin (1988) and Grady (1992) described the dimensions for quality analysis in their book are: Performance, Reliability, Conformance, Durability, Serviceability, Usability, Functionality and Supportability. Quality is often characterized in terms of attributes for system quality such as modifiability, durability, predictability (Ivan et al., 2014). 3.4 Job Rotation Job rotation is about the rotation of workers among a number of non-similar workstations where each worker requires different skills or techniques and responsibilities to do job (Azizi, Zolfaghari Liang, 2010). In other words job rotation can be defined as working at different operations or in different positions for particular set periods of time in a planned way (Jorgensen, 2005). 3.4.1 The Importance of Job Rotation Implementing Job Rotation as a manufacturing method is beneficial to increase production efficiency, operator satisfaction and helps to reduce Work-related musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) and labor cost (Cramer, 2011). Job rotation using lateral transfers allows employees to gain a wide range of knowledge, skills and competencies (Jorgensen, 2005). It provides a benefit or increase the firms ability to deal with change (Kher et al., 1999). As a benefit of job rotation to workers, it may increase workers job satisfaction (Cunningham and Eberle, 1990). Job rotation also yields such benefits to workers as reducing the injuries due to performing repetitive tasks as well as the workers fatigue especially if the worker is exposed to various muscular loads during task operation in manufacturing (Hinnen et al., 1992; Henderson, 1992). Carnahan et al. (2000) studied several methods to integrate the safety criteria into scheduling algorithms to produce job rotation schedules that reduce the potential for work injury. Job design related applications began to take shape with a scientific management approach in the 1900s. The study of management scientists such as Taylor and Gilbreth on the subject of job design becomes a foundation for scientific management. Further, many models were developed, which are associated with job design, social information processing and job characteristics approach by Hackman and Oldman in 1976 (Hackman Oldham, 1976) and these models have enormously important effects on increasing the productivity of human resources. Job rotation prevents musculoskeletal disorders, eliminates boredom and increases job satisfaction and morale. As a result, an organization gains a skilled and motivated workforce, which leads to increases in productivity, employee loyalty and decreases in employee turnover (Asensio-Cuesta et al., 2012). Job rotation is considered as an appropriate organizational strategy to reduce physical workload (Paul et al., 1999; Boenzi et al., 2015) in human-based production systems and it is the most wide spread labor flexibility instrument in the case of repetitive assembly tasks (Paul et al., 1999). 3.4.2 Outcome of Job Rotation 3.4.3 Job Rotation as a Cost Effective Tool There are several appealing factors for job rotation but one major factor is the relatively low implementation cost. Job rotation policy is very effective tool to overcome or minimize the work injuries cost or helpful in reduction of repetitive tasks, which leads to work injuries. Job rotation itself cost effective to apply in any organization the cost which only related to job rotation is training cost. 3.5 Work Force Aging The phenomenon of population aging affects the ageing of work force which determines work force availability. Industrial and academic research are required to investigate the influence of workforce aging in formulating new working time models and job rotation planning solutions. Field investigations on the effect of workers aging on production performance were carried out at the BMW plant in Dingolfing, Bavaria (Loch CH et al., 2010). 3.5.1 Aging Effects on Worker According to (Tokarski, 2011) aging affects the workers performance in three aspects are: Physically: (physiological, perceptual and motor processes, and declines in abilities, such as dexterity, strength and endurance. Cognitive: (Decision making Skills, Learning skills and forgetting phenomena) Emotions:(Boredom, fatigue and lack of motivation) 3.5.2 Workforce Aging Effect on Production Performance Changes in workforce age structure may have an impact on production system performance or productivity. According to Sà ¼lzenbrà ¼ck et al. (2010) age-related impairments have a negative effect on working capacity and productivity. In assembly lines the higher the average age of the assemblers, the higher the risk they cannot meet all the requirements (Buck Dworschak, 2003). The effects of ageing on employees physical and cognitive performances negatively affects the flexibility of human based production system (Boenzi et al., 2015). The factors which may affect the performance of a worker with respect to ageing are: Muscular Strength. Dynamics Actions. Endurance (Aerobic Capacity). Reaction Time (Responses). Awkward Postures (Flexibility). 4. Proposed Methodology A mathematical model will be developed in terms of Production cost. Components of production cost will be work injury cost, work injury prevention cost, inventory cost and conventional production cost. Different Scenarios will be developed considering workers of different age groups and how they can be rotated between job positions, when there is a work related injury to one of them. When scenarios are made, mathematical model formulated in the earlier step will be applied on the scenarios. The mathematical model for each scenario will form the basis for the use of Multi Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA). This Aggregate production planning problem emphases on developing a Multi objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) method to find the optimum production plan for meeting forecasted customer demand by controlling the work injury during the production. Multi objective function will be inserted along with its constraints. A general description of steps for implementing MOGA are as follows: Step 1: Generate random population of n chromosomes (suitable solutions for the problem) Step 2: Evaluate simultaneously the Multiple fitness f(x) of each chromosome x in the population Step 3: Create a new population by repeating four steps (Selection, Crossover, Mutation and Acceptation) until the new population is complete. Step 4: Use new generated population for a further run of algorithm Step 5: If the stopping condition is satisfied, stop, and return the best solution in current population Step 6: If the stopping condition is not satisfied then go to step 2 follow loop. MOGA parameters will then be inserted. Assumptions No worker is working on full capacity. It is assumed that a worker only utilizes 60 percent of his/her work capacity to fulfil the job requirement. Material is always available during production. Trivial solutions will be ignored. No hiring and lay off during the planning horizon. It is assumed that age is not a contributing factor towards work injury. 5. Conclusion There has been some work done on the concept of production planning in terms of work injury cost. But upon doing literature review, I realized that there has been no work done when it comes to applying work injury cost and job rotation to make a production plan. My work will focus on developing a production model by considering work injury cost and job rotation. There are quite a few benefits of this approach. Firstly, it will give us a model where workers of different age can be used in an optimized way in a production based environment. Secondly, in case of any absentee or injuries, an organization can develop a plan in such a way that workers of older age (above 50) are minimally exposed to physically intensive work. Furthermore, a model for job rotation will be made considering age of the workers so as to reduce work injury by minimal exposure of aged work force to physically demanding work. Lastly, due to application of work injury and job rotation, a cost effective way to model and run a production line (in terms of manual labor) will be done. 6. Timeline MONTH ACTIVITY January (2016) Preparation of set of research objectives and scope. Literature review. Presentation preparation for Seminar ME 990. February (2016) Identification of appropriate decision variables and constraints for model. March (2016) Completion of research proposal. April- September (2016) Advisory committee Formulation of model. Validation of model. October-November (2016) Compiling the final results. Thesis preparation. December (2016) Defence of thesis 7. References Buck, H., Dworschak. B., (2003) Ageing and work in Europe. Strategies at company level and public policies in selected European countries, in: Demography and employment, IRB, DE. Carnahan, B.J., Redfern, M.S., Norman, B.A., 2000. Designing safe job rotation schedules using optimization and heuristic search. Ergonomics 43, 543-560. Chakrabortty, R., Hasin, M. (2013). Solving an aggregate production planning problem by using multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) approach. International Journal of Industrial Engineering Computations, 4(1), 1-12. Chryssolouris G (2006) Manufacturing Systems: Theory and Practice. Second edition. Cramer, Scott Douglas, Increased production capabilities by job rotation through simulation. (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 287. Cunningham, B.J., Eberle, T., 1990. A guide to job enrichment and redesign. Personnel, pp. 56-61. David A. Garvin, (1988). Managing Quality. The Free press. F. Boenzi, S. Digiesi, G. Mossa, G. Mummolo, V.A. Romano, Modelling Workforce Aging in Job Rotation Problems, IFAC-PapersOnLine, Volume 48, Issue 3, 2015, Pages 604-609, Frazer, M.B., Norman, R.W., Wells, R.P., Neumann, W.P. (2003): The effects of job rotation on the risk of reporting low back pain. In: Ergonomics, (2003), vol. 46, no. 9, 904 919. Gallego, G. (2001). IEOR 4000, Production Management, Lecture 5. Columbia University. George Michalos, Sotiris Makris, Loukas Rentzos George Chryssolouris., (2010). Dynamic job rotation for workload balancing in human based assembly systems. CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology 2 (2010) 153-160. Gert Zà ¼lch, Wolfgang J. Braun, Emmerich F. Schiller, Analytical approach of determining job division in manual assembly systems, International Journal of Production Economics, Volume 51, Issues 1-2, 15 August 1997, Pages 123-134, Guelfi, N., et al., 2008. SERENE08: Proceedings of the 2008 RISE/EFTS Joint International Workshop on Software Engineering for Resilient Systems, 17-19 November 2008, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. New York, NY, USA: ACM. Hackman, J. R., Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior Human Performance, 16(2), 250-279. Hagberg, M., Silverstein, B., Wells, R., Smith, M. J., Hendrick, H. W., Carayon, P., Pà ©russe, M. (1995). Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs): a reference book for prevention. London: Taylor Francis. Hinnen, U., Laubli, T., Guggenbuhl, U., Krueger, H., 1992. Design of check- out systems including laser scanners for sitting work posture. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health 18, 186-194. Ivo Tokarski, (2011). Health of ageing staff on success of job rotation strategy. J. Jà ³zefowska, A. Zimniak, (2008) Optimization tool for short-term production planning and scheduling, International Journal of Production Economics, Volume 112, Issue 1, March 2008, Pages 109-120. Jian-Hung Chen, Shinn-Ying Ho,(2005) A novel approach to production planning of flexible manufacturing systems using an efficient multi-objective genetic algorithm, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, Volume 45, Issues 7-8, Pages 949-957, Jorgensen, M. (2005): Characteristics of job rotation in the Midwest US manufacturing sector: Ergonomics, 48(15), 1721-1733. Kher, H.V., Malhotra, M.K., Philipoom, P.R., Fry, T.D., 1999. Modelling simultaneous worker learning and forgetting in dual resource constrained systems. European Journal of Operational Research 115, 158-172. Kurtulus Kaymaza. (2010): The Effects of Job Rotation Practices on Motivation: A Research on Managers in the Automotive Organizations: Journal of Business and Economic Research: Vol 1, No 3, pp. 69-85. Laperrià ¨re, L., Reinhart, G., the International Academy for Production Engineering. (2014). CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering, Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Loch CH, Sting FJ, Bauer N, Mauermann H (March, 2010) How BMW is defusing the demographic time bomb. Harward Bus Rev 88(3):99-104. McKay, N. K., Wiers, C. S. V. (2006). The human factor in planning and scheduling. Handbook of production scheduling, Springer US, 23-57. Mistrik, Ivan Bahsoon, Rami Eeles, Peter Roshandel, Roshanak Stal, Michael. (2014). Relating system quality and software architecture.Books24x7 version. Nader Azizi a, Saeed Zolfaghari b, Ming Liang a., (2010). Mode

Fight Club: A Battle Between Humanity and Capitalism Essay -- Palahniu

Within the past few millennia, people have socially evolved away from the aggressive, deep-rooted nature they have been biologically programmed over the past million years to feel (Palahniuk 4). While most have embraced this approach, whether it be through religion or other means, many people, mostly men, feel this suppression is unhealthy and unnatural. Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, a transgressional piece of fiction, was set in a world of parental abandonment, womanly men, and corrupt political and corporate practices, a dark, nameless city in modern day America (Palahniuk 28). This setting allows for the author to provide a stark comparison over what we have become as a nation compared to what we should be, a nation of self-respecting people with a lack of value on materialistic things, and a push towards Buddhist principles (Reed). Fight Club is about how feminism, commercialism, religion, and politics in modern day America have caused a decline in the masculinity of American, mi ddle-class men and how that has destroyed society as heavily demonstrated by the support group he attends, the fight club he helps start, the terrorist group that sprouts from this, and the Narrator's second personality (Tuss). The story's second chapter starts the flashback that comprises all but the first and last two chapters of the book. In this scene, the Narrator has been suffering from chronic insomnia and is attending a self help group meant for men suffering from testicular cancer, a treatment sarcastically "prescribed" by his doctor in an effort to make him, the Narrator, feel less narcissistic since the physician himself was unwilling to give him the medicine to treat his insomnia. All of the men in this group have become feminine due to ... ... Literary Reference Center. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club. New York: W.W. Norton &, 1996. Print. Price, Bryan R. "A Psychological Analysis of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club." Yahoo Contributor Network. Yahoo, 3 May 2007. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Price, Bryan R. "A Psychological Analysis of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club." Yahoo Contributor Network. Yahoo, 3 May 2007. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Reed, Charley. "Journal of Religion & Film: Fight Club: An Exploration of Buddhism By Charley Reed." Journal of Religion & Film: Fight Club: An Exploration of Buddhism By Charley Reed. University of Nebraska at Omaha, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Tuss, Alec, SM. "Masculine Identity and Success: A Critical Analysis of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley and Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club." Journal of Men's Studies. University of Dayton, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.

Condom Availability in High Schools Essay

In 1991 the New York City Board of Education created a program to make condoms accessible to all high school students upon request. The program caused parental disagreement and the school board was taken to court. Parents claimed that making condoms available to students was a health service and could not be provided to students. The board argued that the condom plan was not a medical service. They explained it was one part of a comprehensive educational program that did not require direct parental consent. The school board lost the case. The program may have survived had the case been heard by the New York State Supreme Court â€Å"Massachusetts is the most significant, it is the highest court to address the issue, and it rejects,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ the claim that condom availability interferes with parental liberties† (Karen Mahler). In 1977 the United States denied a New York State Law prohibiting the distribution or sale of non-prescription contraceptives to teens under the age of 16. The United States Supreme Court seems to have support for the condom availability program. With teen pregnancy rates and the number of STD’s reported in teens on the rise, schools are beginning to realize that the parents are not doing their job when it comes to sexual education. The school system already has classes on sexual education; these classes are based mainly on human anatomy. Most schools do not teach their students about relationships, morals, respect, self-discipline, self-respect, and most importantly contraceptives. Everyday students engage in sexual activity, many of them without condoms. This simple act jeopardizes these students’ futures and possibly their lives. An increasing amount of school systems are starting to combine messages involving abstinence from sexual activity, and expanding availability of contraceptives, especially condoms. Schools are now stepping in to further equip their students for life. The distribution of condoms in public high schools will lower the rate of pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers. Eighty percent of teen mothers end up in poverty for long periods of time due to the fact that they never finished high school. They become financially dependent on programs such as Welfare and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children). Welfare provides money and food stamps for low-income families. WIC provides milk, cheese, eggs, cereals, fruit juices, dried beans or peas, peanut butter and infant formula for all participants. WIC also provides nutritional education and health care referrals at no cost. Programs such as these help millions of families every year. Considering the fact that the majority of teens will participate in sexual activity, Sex Ed should focus more on methods of contraception and less on abstinence. Giving adolescents more information about sex and making condoms more available are ways to cut the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The condom is the only type of birth control that protects against the transmission of STD’s when properly used. Experts say the lack of knowledge on how to use a condom correctly and the lack of motivation to use a condom every time means that condoms fail more often. This could result in pregnancy or the contraction of STD’s. Teenagers reuse condoms or they use it with a petroleum-based lubricant which can dissolve the condom’s latex. Birth control products are only effective if used properly. Rates of failure for condoms are between 2 percent and 14 percent. Inexperienced users make up a larger percentage of failure rates because of improper use. This failure rate is also due to inconsistent use among teenagers. With the proper knowledge and training students can effectively use a condom to protect themselves. Health Resource Centers, or HRC’s are centers located in middle and high schools promoting safe sex. HRC’s provide reproductive health inf ormation, condoms, and general health referrals to students. All students in the participating schools are taught about the importance of abstinence, but they are provided with condoms if they choose to be sexually active. Trained staff members and volunteers, including health professionals, educators, nurses, psychologists and graduate interns provide counseling for students upon request. Students attending the junior high school also have access to condoms; however; counseling is mandatory for these students before they can receive condoms. Informational brochures can be obtained in the nurses’ office. Students are also able purchase condoms from vending machines located in remote places throughout the school. The HRC’s have large levels of administrative and staff support for its objectives. Students who used the program generally viewed the services they received favorably. Expanded condom availability, when accompanied with the proper education and information about safer sex, will decrease the amount of unprotected sexual encounters and the spread of sexually transmitted disease. Making love is not something to play around with. When people decide to do it, they make a life and deat h decision. If they contract an STD they risk their life for death. And if a woman gets pregnant, the woman is not guaranteed to live through it (although chances are that she will), and the child is not guaranteed to live for many reasons including abortion. Shouldn’t steps be taken to educate teenagers about what they are getting into before schools start handing out condoms? This would be a better way to prevent the spread of pregnancies and of STD’s and H.I.V. If teenagers do not have sex to begin with the risk of infection goes down because, condoms are not 100% effective. However, it is known that regardless of the consequences or risks, teens will partake in sexual inter course, it is the teacher’s job to help educate how to have safer sex. If the students know more about the risks, then they can make an educated decision about sex, and then it will be very likely that they will use a condom if they do decide to have sex. Rather than having one year of Sex Ed in High School like the majority of schools do across the nation, students should have Sex Ed classes starting in junior high school. They should learn about pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and H.I.V. There would be a course or a section of a course dedicated to health where students learn about these subjects. Then in high school, students should do a more in-depth study of the consequences of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. This could be done as a part of a biology course or as a research project in an English class. Finally, students should learn about H.I.V. and AIDS, how it affects the lives of those who have it, and what can be done about it. Again, this could be a separate course that is required or a part of another required course. Then, pamphlets about all these things should be made available at the health (or nurse’s) office and suggested for the students to read before they receive condoms. If this is done, then teenage sex should become much less of a problem than it is now. Abstract Over the past twenty years, the number of teen, unplanned pregnancies has nearly doubles in size. This is a problem to all people that it affects because it hurts people financially, not to mention all of the unexpected stress that comes along with being pregnant. Making condoms available in High Schools would surely decrease this number to what it once was and hopefully drastically decrease the number of orphans and teen parents in debt that we have in this country. References Furstenburg, Frank , Mariarz, Geitz , Teitler, Julien , Weiss, Christopher â€Å"Does Condom Availability Make a Difference? An Evaluation of Philadelphia’s Health Resource Centers† Family Planning Perspective Volume 29, Issue 3 (May-Jun.,1997), 123-127. Kreiner, Anna Learning to Say No to Sexual Pressure New York: The Rosen Publishing Group Mahler, Karen â€Å"Condom Availability in the Schools: Lessons from the Courtroom† Sexuality Volume 4, Article 63 1993-1996 Natale, Jo Anna â€Å"The Hot New Word is Sex Ed† School Volume 5 Article 30, 1994-1996 â€Å"Sex education: Anything goes.† Washington Times 1 Nov. 2000 Stewart, Gail B. Teen Parenting. San Diego: Lucent Books 2000 â€Å"Teens Regret Having Sex.† Maryland Abstinence Education and Coordination Program. Summer 2000

Free Essays on An Overview Of SRBs And Their Application In A Shuttle Launch

Have you ever seen a spaceship before launch? If you so I’m sure you have noticed the two cylindrical objects with the cone tops mounted on the side of the space shuttle. Those are Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). SRBs are very useful to do many tasks. Not only does NASA use the technology of SRBs, they are used every where, even a long time ago. Did you know that SRBs were the first engines created by man? They were invented hundreds of years ago in China and have been used ever since. Even in the National Anthem the line about "the rocket's red glare" is talking about small military SRBs. Let’s have a look at how these SRBs got to be so useful and how they are made. The idea behind a simple SRB is straight forward. What you want to do is create something that burns very quickly but does not explode. As you are probably aware, gunpowder explodes. It is because of there innate properties SRBs are very safe, with a low cost to produce and relatively simple. In a small model rocket engine or in a tiny bottle rocket the burn might last a second or less. In a Space Shuttle SRB containing over a million pounds of fuel, the burn lasts about two minutes. Also since it is a chemical reaction there is no way of stopping it from burning once it has started. The composition of most common SRBs are a combination of: ammonium perchlorate (oxidizer, 69.6 percent by weight), aluminum (fuel, 16 percent), iron oxide (a catalyst, 0.4 percent), a polymer (a binder that holds the mixture together, 12.04 percent), and an epoxy curing agent (1.96 percent). Along with the main load of fuel the space shuttle SRBs have an onboard recovery system, parachutes, floatation devices, signaling devices, and explosive charges for separation. The SRBs mentioned above provide most of the thrust (71 percent) needed to lift the space shuttle off the launch pad. This seems like an easy task, but it’s not easy getting something that big off earth. Letï ¿ ½... Free Essays on An Overview Of SRBs And Their Application In A Shuttle Launch Free Essays on An Overview Of SRBs And Their Application In A Shuttle Launch Have you ever seen a spaceship before launch? If you so I’m sure you have noticed the two cylindrical objects with the cone tops mounted on the side of the space shuttle. Those are Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). SRBs are very useful to do many tasks. Not only does NASA use the technology of SRBs, they are used every where, even a long time ago. Did you know that SRBs were the first engines created by man? They were invented hundreds of years ago in China and have been used ever since. Even in the National Anthem the line about "the rocket's red glare" is talking about small military SRBs. Let’s have a look at how these SRBs got to be so useful and how they are made. The idea behind a simple SRB is straight forward. What you want to do is create something that burns very quickly but does not explode. As you are probably aware, gunpowder explodes. It is because of there innate properties SRBs are very safe, with a low cost to produce and relatively simple. In a small model rocket engine or in a tiny bottle rocket the burn might last a second or less. In a Space Shuttle SRB containing over a million pounds of fuel, the burn lasts about two minutes. Also since it is a chemical reaction there is no way of stopping it from burning once it has started. The composition of most common SRBs are a combination of: ammonium perchlorate (oxidizer, 69.6 percent by weight), aluminum (fuel, 16 percent), iron oxide (a catalyst, 0.4 percent), a polymer (a binder that holds the mixture together, 12.04 percent), and an epoxy curing agent (1.96 percent). Along with the main load of fuel the space shuttle SRBs have an onboard recovery system, parachutes, floatation devices, signaling devices, and explosive charges for separation. The SRBs mentioned above provide most of the thrust (71 percent) needed to lift the space shuttle off the launch pad. This seems like an easy task, but it’s not easy getting something that big off earth. Letï ¿ ½...