Hazard and operability (HAZOP) methodology is a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) technique used worldwide for studying not only the hazards of a system, but also its operability problems, by exploring the effects of any deviations from design conditions. Our paper is the HAZOP review intended to gather HAZOP-related literature from books, guidelines, standards, major journals, and conference proce...

For further development of electronic commerce, electronic payment systems play an essential role. Many payment schemes have been proposed, but none of them have been accepted as a standard payment system for a variety of reasons. In this paper, we evaluate payment schemes in terms of the three requirements: offline operability, anonymity and transferability. We think these three requirements a...

This paper presents the architecture design of the robot operability assessment simulation testbed (called "ROAST") for the resolution of robot operability problems occurred during interactions between human operators and robots. The basic idea of the ROAST architecture design is to enable the easy composition of legacy or new simulation models according to its purpose. ROAST architecture is ba...

BACKGROUND This study examined the relationship between interhandle distances and upper limb exertion during simply pushing and pulling of a cart with four swivel wheels, defined by a roll box pallet (RBP) in a Japanese industrial standard. METHODS Six healthy young male participants were asked to push and pull an RBP at a distance of 5.2 m under six conditions corresponding to different inte...

The present paper has reported a case study of the “Electronic Doctor’s Bag” which is a telemedical tool for home-visit medical services using the mobile communications environment in an isolated island and a disaster area hit by the tsunami. Clinical trials performed for 20 patients around a clinic in Miyako Island indicated that the communication functions of the proposed system were highly e...

The rapid development of information technology enables informationization to become the necessary means for medium-sized and small enterprises to improve their competitive advantages. With efforts for several years, establishment of informationization in medium-sized and small enterprises has achieved some achievements. However, because they started later, together with disadvantages of the en...

The prediction of the sound radiated by vibrating structures and the layout of measures to reduce it, is a key issue for maintaining appropriate comfort in residential buildings, for guaranteeing the operability of sensitive machinery in production and testing and for the provision of appropriate conditions at working places. For the prediction the excitation, the transmission and the radiation...

I doubt it! In fact, comparatively few MT systems have been installed in industry. Practical experience in industrial applications is very limited. Why have MT systems not caught on in industry as well as had to be expected given the state of maturity that they have reached? What has to be done to increase the translators' and the employers' readiness to accept MT systems as an operable and use...