Thermal pre-processing before extraction of polyhydroxyalkanoates for molecular weight quality control

Past studies have repeatedly demonstrated the technical feasibility to produce polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) using bacterial biomass of mixed microbial cultures (MMCs). Commercial quality grades of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), PHBV, can be produced with control of average monomer composition. However, demonstration of PHBV...

Use of near-infrared spectroscopy on predicting wastewater constituents to facilitate the operation of a membrane bioreactor

The use of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in wastewater treatment has continuously expanded. As an alternative to conventional analytical methods for monitoring constituents in wastewater treatment processes, the use of NIR spectroscopy is considered to be cost-effective and less time-consuming. NIR spectroscopy does not distort the...

Estimation of Facial Contact Pressure Based on Finite Element Analysis

A 3D head and face scan data can be usefully applied in the ergonomic design of a wearable product such as an oxygen mask or a virtual reality (VR) headset to support the safety as well as comfort for a certain amount of a target population. This study is aimed to develop analysis and design methods of an ergonomic facial wearable products (e.g....

3D scan to product design: Methods, techniques, and cases

3D scanning technology has derived great opportunities for ergonomic product designs. This paper is aimed to introduce various research cases and methods based on 3D scanning have conducted by an ergonomics laboratory in South Korea. Sizing systems and representative 3D models developed on anthropometric measurements and 3D scan images with...

Anticipating Soft Problems with Consumer Electronic Products: How do soft problems interact with user characteristics and product properties?

Over the last decade consumer electronic product industries have been confronted with an increase in consumer complaints. Interestingly about half of the reasons for product return are based on so called ‘soft problems’, consumer complaints that cannot be traced back to technical problems. Probably this phenomenon results from technological...