Improving Road Bike Leaning Skills on Downhill Corners (Developing a System for Detecting Curvature Change Points and the Angle of a Road Bike while Riding)

In road bicycle races, advanced skills are needed to traverse downhill corners quickly and safely. A previous study revealed that in specific experimental corners, some beginners tend to lean their bikes more compared to experts. Therefore, in seeking to develop a support method for improving rider skill in controlling bike position, the authors aimed to design a system that indicates to users the positions of their bikes to lean it at the appropriate inclination when making turns. First, we determined the corner starting points using the RTK (Real Time Kinematic) positioning system. Then, we calculated the theoretical inclination and compared this to the inclination practiced by an expert. The experiment with this system showed that the expert started leaning the bike approximately 5 m short of a corner’s starting point with the speed maintained at approximately 25 km/h, with some correlation found between the theoretically ideal degree of inclination and the expert’s actual inclination.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE CONCEPT OF LEAN CONSTRUCTION AND THE BARRIERS IN ITS IMPLEMENTATION

Many project management approaches have emerged to improve performance in the construction industry. Lean construction is one of the ways to design systems to minimize wastage of materials, time and effort in order to generate maximum possible amount of value. Lean Six Sigma is the combination of two well-known techniques Lean and Six sigma which focuses on quality improvement, reduction in variation and waste elimination. The purpose of this paper is to make an overview of the lean concept and also to include the barriers in implementing this approach. A detailed review of the literature has been done with the view of collecting relevant data necessary for the paper. A questionnaire survey has been conducted to find the barriers affecting its implementation. It was found that six main barriers are there in implementing the concept of Lean construction. These data were subjected to statistical analysis and necessary preventive measures are recommended for mitigating those barriers that were identified. By the implementation of Lean, it is found that, there is a significant reduction in waste, cost and time.

Lean Manufacturing to Lean IT

Lean methodology is an improvement philosophy, an expansion of Lean manufacturing and lean principles to the management of Service and Information Technology industries. It articulates how waste can be minimal at Software Development Process (SDP) which begins from feasibility study and ends till the product is delivered to the customer. In today's competitive world throughout all the industries emphasis is on product's quality within the time constraints. To gear up with the market demand Lean improvement concepts is introduced in (information technology) IT industry. Lean IT is the translation of lean manufacturing practices applicable to the Software Development life cycle (SDLC). It works like a business model and oriented towards the principles that focuses on the non value added activities. This chapter will present how lean methodologies and principles works in service industries to deliver the best quality products. Although Lean concept is traditionally been used in manufacturing industries; but nowadays it is adapted by Services companies with the aim of improving their processes and enhance customer satisfaction.

Is energy expenditure reduced in obese mice with mutations in the leptin/leptin receptor genes?

Rodents with mutations in the leptin, or leptin receptor, genes have been extensively used to investigate the regulation of energy balance and the factors that underlie the development of obesity. The excess energy gain of these mutants has long been considered as being due in part to increased metabolic efficiency, consequent to reduced energy expenditure, but this view has recently been challenged. We argue, particularly though not exclusively, from data on ob/ob mice, that three lines of evidence support the proposition that reduced expenditure is important in the aetiology of obesity in leptin pathway mutants (irrespective of the genetic background): (i) milk intake is similar in suckling ob/ob and +/? mice; (ii) ob/ob mice deposit excess energy when pair-fed to the ad libitum food intake of lean siblings; (iii) in several studies mutant mice have been shown to exhibit a lower RMR ‘per animal’ at temperatures below thermoneutrality. When metabolic rate is expressed ‘per unit body weight’ (inappropriately, because of body composition differences), then it is invariably lower in the obese than the lean. It is important to differentiate the causes from the consequences of obesity. Hyperphagic, mature obese animals weighing 2–3 times their lean siblings may well have higher expenditure ‘per animal’, reflecting the costs of being larger and of enhanced obligatory diet-induced thermogenesis resulting from the increased food intake. This cannot, however, be used to inform the aetiology of their obesity.

Szczupłe zarządzanie w akademickich jednostkach e-learningowych - ramy koncepcyjne

Celem artykułu jest prezentacja autorskiego modelu szczupłego zarządzania w akademickich jednostkach e-learningowych (AJEL). Zidentyfikowano stan wiedzy oraz relacje pomiędzy praktykami zarządzania szczupłego a AJEL. Przedstawiono charakterystykę AJEL i w tym kontekście zaproponowano model oparty o zastosowanie praktyk lean w szkolnictwie wyż-szym (SW) oraz w IT. Lean w SW oraz lean IT zostały omówione w kontekście możliwych zastosowań dla AJEL. Straty w SW zostały przenalizowane z trojakiego punktu widzenia (administracja, nauczyciele/badacze, studenci). Nowość proponowanego podejścia polega na jednoczesnym skupieniu na praktykach lean w SW i lean w IT, gdyż IT jest rdzeniem każdej AJEL. Model lean w AJEL powstał w wyniku obserwacji autorów (osadzonych w długim historycznym wykorzystaniu Humboltowskiego/hybrydowego modelu uczelni, następnie pro-cesu bolońskiego) oraz analizy literatury (osadzonej głównie w realiach anglosaskiego modelu szkoły wyższej) i jako taki wymaga dalszych badań w celu weryfikacji jego poprawności i skuteczności. Jednakże może on być rozważany przez AJEL jako propozycja modelu referen-cyjnego i punkt wyjścia dla działań usprawniających opartych o koncepcję szczupłego zarzą-dzania.