Practical example of a coating process quality improvement through designed experiments

The objective of this paper is to show how coatings quality improvements may be achieved using experimental design. Designed experiments are an empirical approach to solving quality-related problems. We present a successfully designed experiment for improving the performance of a laminated fiber board coating process. The objective was to eliminate the aesthetic defects that sometimes appeared on the surface of decorative laminated fiber boards. Eleven parameters were tested for significance. A 32-run designed experiment was employed. Live tests were performed to identify the factor settings (the set points at which a factor is placed during the designed experiment) that allowed the elimination of nearly all visual defects.     

Fault diagnosis of industrial systems by conditional Gaussian network including a distance rejection criterion

The purpose of this article is to present a method for industrial process diagnosis with Bayesian network, and more particularly with conditional Gaussian network (CGN). The interest of the proposed method is to combine a discriminant analysis and a distance rejection in a CGN in order to detect new types of fault. The performances of this method are evaluated on the data of a benchmark example: the Tennessee Eastman Process. Three kinds of fault are taken into account on this complex process. The challenging objective is to obtain the minimal recognition error rate for these three faults and to obtain sufficient results in rejection of new types of fault.     

Chondromyxoid fibroma of the ala of the sacrum presenting as a cause of lumbar pain in an adolescent

We report a case of chondromyxoid fibroma of the ala of the sacrum: its presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and resolution. Although this tumor is admittedly rare, our case demonstrates the need for careful evaluation of pack pain in an adolescent.