Actual Availability Research Articles

Real-Time Performance of the PLUM Earthquake Early Warning Method during the 2019 M 6.4 and 7.1 Ridgecrest, California, Earthquakes

ABSTRACTWe evaluate the timeliness and accuracy of ground-motion-based earthquake early warning (EEW) during the July 2019 M 6.4 and 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquakes. In 2018, we began retrospective and internal real-time testing of the propagation of local undamped motion (PLUM) method for earthquake warning in California, Oregon, and Washington, with the potential that PLUM might one day be included in the ShakeAlert EEW system. A real-time version of PLUM was running on one of the ShakeAlert EEW system’s development servers at the time of the 2019 Ridgecrest sequence, allowing us to evaluate the timeliness and accuracy of PLUM’s warnings for the M 6.4 and 7.1 mainshocks in real time with the actual data availability and latencies of the operational ShakeAlert EEW system. The latter is especially important because high-data latencies during the M 7.1 earthquake degraded ShakeAlert’s performance. PLUM proved to be largely immune to these latencies. In this article, we present a retrospective analysis of PLUM performance and explore three potential regional alerting strategies ranging from spatially large regions (counties), to moderate-size regions (National Weather Service public forecast zones), to high-spatial specificity (50 km regular geographic grid). PLUM generated initial shaking forecasts for the two mainshocks 5 and 6 s after their respective origin times, and faster than the ShakeAlert system’s first alerts. PLUM was also able to accurately forecast shaking across southern California for all three alerting strategies studied. As would be expected, a cost-benefit analysis of each approach illustrates trade-offs between increasing warning time and minimizing the area receiving unneeded alerts. Choosing an optimal alerting strategy requires knowledge of users’ false alarm tolerance and minimum required warning time for taking protective action, as well as the time required to distribute alerts to users.

Compost-recipe: A new calculation model and a novel software tool to make the composting mixture

For the composting process to begin and proceed regularly, the mixture to be composted must have some well-defined chemical-physical characteristics. For this reason, the software tools often called compost mix calculators are very useful to predict the characteristics that the mixture will have, knowing those of the raw materials that will make it up, and consequently the potential characteristics of the compost obtainable. The objective of this study was the definition of a new calculation model and its implementation in a new software tool, called Compost-recipe11The Compost-recipe software, described in this article, is freely available. It can be downloaded from this link (University of Perugia website): http://dsa3.unipg.it/en/research/28-research/general-arboriculture-and-tree-science/210-download-materials-and-documents, with characteristics of both scientific rigour and ease of use, substantially improving the panorama of these tools. The new calculation model takes into consideration the most important parameters normally used and rather simple to measure: C:N ratio, moisture, pH, Bulk density; to these parameters it adds the possibility of considering the ratio between available carbon and total nitrogen, since it has been seen that it is of fundamental importance to consider the actual availability of carbon, so that composting proceeds quickly and the right process temperatures are reached. Also, the calculation model takes into account the procurement cost of raw materials, which are often of such importance that they deeply influence the decision on the type of mixture to be processed. Through some applicative examples, carried out with literature data, it has been verified the correctness of the implemented mathematical model, which uses a linear programming algorithm, and the effectiveness of the new software tool, that has been able to reproduce the analytical results obtained in the considered literature. The use of the new tool has also allowed us to highlight and discuss some particular trends or failures in composting processes reported in the application examples.

A Review of the Sustainability Concept and the State of SDG Monitoring Using Remote Sensing

The formulation of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) was a major leap forward in humankind’s quest for a sustainable future, which likely began in the 17th century, when declining forest resources in Europe led to proposals for the re-establishment and conservation of forests, a strategy that embodies the great idea that the current generation bears responsibility for future generations. Global progress toward SDG fulfillment is monitored by 231 unique social-ecological indicators spread across 169 targets, and remote sensing (RS) provides Earth observation data, directly or indirectly, for 30 (18%) of these indicators. Unfortunately, the UN Global Sustainable Development Report 2019—The Future is Now: Science for Achieving Sustainable Development concluded that, despite initial efforts, the world is not yet on track for achieving most of the SDG targets. Meanwhile, through the EO4SDG initiative by the Group on Earth Observations, the full potential of RS for SDG monitoring is now being explored at a global scale. As of April 2020, preliminary statistical data were available for 21 (70%) of the 30 RS-based SDG indicators, according to the Global SDG Indicators Database. Ten (33%) of the RS-based SDG indicators have also been included in the SDG Index and Dashboards found in the Sustainable Development Report 2019—Transformations to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. These statistics, however, do not necessarily reflect the actual status and availability of raw and processed geospatial data for the RS-based indicators, which remains an important issue. Nevertheless, various initiatives have been started to address the need for open access data. RS data can also help in the development of other potentially relevant complementary indicators or sub-indicators. By doing so, they can help meet one of the current challenges of SDG monitoring, which is how best to operationalize the SDG indicators.

The method of the optimization of material flows for functioning of the recovery system

To solve the problem of timely provision of military formations (units) with the logistical means (LM), the method of optimization of material flows is proposed in the work. To implement this method, the system of the material flows management, storage and transportation of the logistical means is divided into strategic, operational and tactical levels of the hierarchy, whereby the highest management body has access to the entire management system and database and the lower one only within its responsibility. At each level of the hierarchy, an automated control system is created, which includes subsystems with normative data (set standards of storage of the logistical means, norms of variability of the corresponding nomenclature of spare parts, norms of the working time of samples of weapons and military equipment (WME) to the appropriate type of maintenance and repair, etc.). In the next stage, the accounting of records of the WME samples and the actual availability of the logistical means, which have arrived to the logistics centers of the strategic level, the distribution centers of the operational level and the warehouses of the military formations (units) is entered to the automated control system.
 During the exploitation of WME samples, the information of the actual consumption of their resource is provided to the automated real-time management system. After that, the automated system compares the actual consumption of the resource of the WME samples with the established standards, which are laid down in the technical documentation and orders, regulations, directives, etc. by the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff. When the time is coming to dispatch the WME sample to the appropriate type of maintenance or repair, the automated system having the logistical means account at all levels of the hierarchy determines at which storage the logistical means data is located and paves the optimal route for their transportation to units or to the warehouses of the lower level of hierarchy.
 Thus, the use of this method allows to determine the unit in which the appropriate sample of the WME will require maintenance or repair, to determine the necessary nomenclature of logistical means, to provide this unit in advance with the necessary logistical means, which will reduce the time and cost of resources to provide the logistical means to the military formations (units).

Predicting perceptions of incivility across 20 news comment sections

Research on incivility has focused on individual differences or message characteristics that affect perceptions of incivility. Given the potential consequences of incivility in news spaces, it is essential to extend research on incivility perceptions to characteristics of digital news environments. We explore how the perception and availability of comment section features (i.e. comment moderation and anonymity), as well as a feeling of connection with a comment section community, relate to commenters and comment readers’ incivility perceptions. By recruiting survey respondents from a population of individuals who read or post comments on one of 20 diverse news sites, we demonstrate that features of commenting spaces, and especially the feelings of connection formed in those spaces, relate to perceptions of incivility. We find that perceptions of comment section features relate to perceptions of incivility more so than the actual availability of these features. Our findings offer implications for newsrooms looking to foster perceptions of civility in comment sections and protect the value of their journalism.

Feasibility analysis of fresh water condition in Mangunan Village - Dlingo Subdistrict after Bantul earthquake of May 27th 2006

The earthquake of May 27th 2006 has caused drought to several water sources in Mangunan village. Hence, it needed a preliminary study on the hydrology condition in the aftermath of earthquake in Mangunan Village – Bantul. Methods to identify the hydrology availability and water need condition using data calculation discharge and geometric population growth. According to the measurement result in Mangunan Village, the actual water availability is 128,484 m3/day, which can cover the water requirement to fulfill the need of the people amounting to 657,75 m3/day. Although, in fact, the village potentially has enough water availability with the amount of 14.037,845 m3/day. So, a further research could be done to achieve a stable condition of the dynamic discharge. Groundwater conservation is very needed in this research area. In general, the dry region in the village needs to be planted with vegetation that are resistant to dryness in the region with shortage of water and also with plants that do not absorb much groundwater or soil mosturizer.

An integrated system of monitoring the availability, accessibility and attractiveness of urban parks and green squares

The main goal of this article is to propose a set of 20 indicators that represent barriers which prevent urban green space (UGS) provision on three levels – availability, accessibility, and attractiveness. These barriers include new investments, such as residential areas and roads; a lack of local zoning plans; fences and entrance fees; a lack of amenities, facilities and entrances; noise; particulates. To test our set of indicators, we investigated 115 parks and green squares in Lodz (Łódź), the third-largest city in Poland. We focused on parks as key examples of UGS, as they are the best explored and most recognizable spaces in most cities. We derived data for our analysis from thematic, publicly available maps and databases, and additional data were provided by managers of UGS. Moreover, we present the procedure of data processing and creating indicators by using the QGIS 2.18 software. Our analysis shows that very small parks in the city center are mostly fenced, lack park infrastructure, leisure facilities, and blue infrastructure, and people are exposed to different nuisances (noise, air pollution). In turn, parks with the lowest number of barriers are typically large and not in the city center. If compared with the spatial distribution of different groups of inhabitants and their socio-economic status, our results would show the actual availability, accessibility, and attractiveness. Our set of indicators is meant to facilitate further discussions with the different stakeholders, planners in particular, in order to remove barriers (at least partly) and increase the overall availability, accessibility, and attractiveness of UGS. Other indicators (based on those used in our article) can be constructed for the needs of other cities, but researchers should take into account data availability, the local context, institutional conditions, and UGS specificities. Besides, each case requires proper interpretation and individual consideration.

Sustainable level of human performance with regard to actual availability in different professions.

In a real working environment, workers' performance depends on the level of competence, psychological and health condition, motivation, and perceived stress. These are the attributes of actual availability. It is crucial to identify the most influential attributes to develop an adequate level of worker's performance. The purpose of this paper is to upgrade the Availability-Humanization-Model (AH-Model) with an implementation of the artificial intelligence classification tree to identify influencing factors of the well-being attributes on human performance, where the identified influencing factors are gripping points for maintaining sustainable performance in real-life conditions of different professions. Well-being attributes are collected with the Questionnaire Actual Availability (QAA) from AH-Model and then analysed by implementation of the decision trees classification algorithms. An embedded clustering analysis of QAA ensures an efficient feature construction and selection. It negates the need of applying tree pruning or any other noise reduction algorithms. An implementation of the machine learning algorithms reflects the real conditions of working environments: (a)real performance of workers depends on the perception of well-being and availability and (b) the most influencing factors explicitly reflect the content of work in a specific domain (Fintech, health, forestry, traffic) with a high level of stress. The presented approach offers a possibility to identify the most important well-being attributes to determine an adequate efficiency and to improve the performance level in the real working conditions.

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In recent years the experience of conducting mobilization events has convincingly demonstrated the importance of accumulating importance of military-trained specialists assigned to positions required in a state of war, which is conditioned by objective development process of Armed Forces of Ukraine, active soldier participation at Joint forces operation in the East of Ukraine, and as a result there is a persistent need of optimizing military formations and task forces.The main sources of officers in modern conditions are: hiring Ukrainian citizens for military service under a contract of officer’s staff, reserve officers draft call, appointment to the post of graduates of higher military educational establishments. Officer recruitment depends on quantitative/qualitative characteristics of a military-trained human resource reserve, factors of socio-economic, demographic, political nature. The experience of conducting six phases of partial mobilization indicates a certain imbalance between the resources required and their actual availability. In addition, the quantitative/qualitative characteristics of reserve officers do not fully satisfy the need for trained officers, which, raises the issue of increasing the efficiency of using both available and perspective methods of accumulating military-trained personnel in accordance with army needs.This work presents calculated and analyzed research directions for determining the amount of officers reserve accumulation through training in Higher military educational establishments and military training units’ higher education institutions, requirements for quantitative/qualitative characteristics of the specified category of military personnel, taking into account the experience of the Joint Forces Operation (formerly anti-terrorist operation) and the results of conducting partial mobilization, also the existing methods for determining the amount of officers in the reserve by the training program for the officers of the reserve are analyzed. The directions for improvement of this system with the purpose of providing the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations during the heightened tensions and legal state of martial law are determined.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness in Coal Mining Company: A Case Study

An increase in productivity is one of the measures of development in a company. High productivity could increase revenue and profit that can be used to further develop the company. This study was conducted in PT XYZ, one of the biggest coal mining companies in East Kalimantan. The aim of this study was to analyze the productivity of excavators and dump trucks using overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Based on the calculation, the actual availability and quality of both loading and hauling equipment exceed the targeted values. However, the actual performance is lower than the target. As for the OEE values, all of the equipment have lower actual OEE except Hitachi EX-2500. The lowe OEE values might happen because of bad weather, machine breakdown, and a long queue in the mining area. Based on the analysis results, it is recommended that the company increase the availability, performance, and quality of equipment with the high deviation between actual and targeted values.  

Monitoring of the trophological status of children for early detection of alimentary dependent diseases

Food deficits are now a serious problem because they often lead to the development of health disorders and the formation of chronic pathology. The article presents the results of nutritional status assessment including the study of actual nutrition, health, physical development and availability of a number of macro and micronutrients in 493 children aged 3 to 11 years. Early formation of excess body weight and obesity and their relationship with the development of chronic diseases, decrease of physical performance has been proved. Biochemical markers for cardiovascular disease risk in these age groups have been found. The combination of micronutrients deficiency such as calcium, iron, zinc adversely affects the level of health and development of children, which determines the need to introduce a set of preventive measures.

Climatic correlates of migrant Natal long-fingered bat (Miniopterus natalensis) phenology in north-eastern South Africa

Abstract ContextFor migratory animals, particularly those with long generation times, changing weather patterns may cause a mismatch between periods of expected and actual resource availability, termed phenological mismatch. The cave-dwelling Natal long-fingered bat (Miniopterus natalensis) is a regional migrant within South Africa for which the (hitherto unknown) phenology of migration may be affected by climate. AimsTo investigate the migration phenology of the Natal long-fingered bat in relation to climate at a maternity cave in South Africa. MethodsFive years (2014–18) of echolocation data from a maternity cave site in Limpopo, South Africa, were studied. Separate stepwise General Linear Models (GLMs) were constructed for each season using photoperiod, minimum temperature, dew point, rainfall, barometric pressure, humidity and maximum wind speed. Arrival and departure dates among years were also compared. Key resultsPhotoperiod had the greatest effect on the magnitude of Natal long-fingered bat phenological patterns in activity across all seasons. Although spring (September - November) arrival at the maternity site was variable across years, summer departure dates did not differ, resulting in a shorter breeding period in the 2017–18 sample year. During the 2016–17 sample year, the magnitude of Natal long-fingered bat activity was significantly lower than in other years, which coincided with El Niño-induced drought conditions and likely impacted resources and led to a reduction in activity and population size. ConclusionsPhotoperiod is a strong predictive cue of the phenology of migration of the Natal long-fingered bat and likely cues migration for this species. The narrow departure dates of these bats from the maternity site supports these results. ImplicationsThe present study indicates that Natal long-fingered bats use photoperiod as a migration cue and do not appear to shift their spring–summer breeding season, likely making them vulnerable to phenological mismatch and population decline. The research highlights the need for systematic population monitoring for the Natal long-fingered bat.

Designing a Software to manage and provide the Available Oral Historical Documents in the Documents and Archives Authority

The oral history is of great importance in preserving the national memory beside the written document and in the belief in its importance and role in preserving the national heritage. The researcher prepared this study with the aim of limiting intellectual production in the field of oral history, achieving effective scientific communication between different researchers, facilitating remote access to oral history, Oral History To combat any intellectual invasion of history, the idea of establishing an electronic oral history program in the National Archives and Archives was conceived The first chapter contains the general framework of the study and the second chapter discusses the theoretical framework of the study. The third chapter deals with the actual management and availability of documents and oral history documents in the National Documents and Archives. Chapter 4 includes the survey study of the subject of the study. The researcher studied the final chapter of the study to prepare a proposed model for the establishment of an electronic program for oral history in the National Documents and Archives to achieve the basic objective that the study sought to achieve In conclusion, the study concludes with a set of general findings and recommendations that can contribute to the use of modern programs and technology in the management of oral history documents.

ASSESSMENT OF INFORMATION SUPPORT OF UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Topicality. Since, according to the strategy of the state environmental policy of Ukraine for the period till 2030, one of the root causes of Ukraine's environmental problems is an inefficient system of public administration in the field of environmental protection, monitoring of its state, regulation of the use of natural resources and ensuring environmental safety, the question of improving information support of the country is especially relevant.Aim and tasks are to address the problems of processing and presenting environmental information in the context of Ukraine's international activity and to identify the country's real capabilities in providing environmentally valuable data in accordance with European requirements.Research results. The study outlines major international projects aimed at improving statistical support in the field of ecology, in which Ukraine has been participating in recent years, presents an analysis of the country's significant results upon completion of one of the projects. The main requirements of the current project for providing environmental information are also considered. Provision has been made of providing Ukraine with statistical information on environmental indicators of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe within the framework of the project and the actual availability of these indicators in the statistical documentation of Ukraine. One of the ways improve information support of Ukraine in the field of ecology is considered.Conclusion. It is justified that, despite the countries' participation in international projects aimed at improving statistical support in the field of ecology, Ukraine does not make the necessary efforts to obtain significant results in this area. It is analyzed that at the end of one of the projects in the field of data and information management on the state of the environment and their shared use, Ukraine from all the participating countries made almost the smallest contribution to the development of information support, and within the current project part of the indicators Ukraine does not provide despite the availability of necessary environmental information data in open sources.

The availability of specialised quit support provided by the national stop-smoking program in Romania

Abstract Introduction Quit-smoking support is provided to Romanian smokers since 2007 through a network of stop-smoking centres. The study aimed to collect up-to-date information about the availability of psychological counselling and medication for smoking cessation at the existing specialised centres. Materials and methods All the stop-smoking centres listed on the program’s official website were contacted by phone by a trained evaluator introducing himself as a smoker in need of professional support. Results Of the 41 counties listed on the website, only 70.7% provided a contact phone number for the stop-smoking centre. While 56.1% of the centres answered the first or second call, the actual availability of quit support was confirmed by only 41.5% of the centres. The time till the first appointment varied between 1 day and 1 month. Psychological support and free medication for treating nicotine addiction were available in 36.6% and 14.6% of the centres, respectively. Conclusion The availability of stop-smoking support at the time of the assessment was significantly limited.

ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЖИТЛОМ ЯК ДЕТЕРМІНАНТА ПІДВИЩЕННЯ ЯКОСТІ ЖИТТЯ

The article notes that creating a decent living environment is first and foremost related to having a comfortable home. It is emphasized that providing quality housing to people of adequate quality has always been a challenge for most countries in the world, especially for developing countries. Attention is drawn to the fact that the objective parameters of living conditions in Ukraine, both in quantitative and qualitative characteristics, require revision, taking into account the current socio-economic changes in society. The necessity of defining criteria of quality of life of the population in the housing sphere that would allow the state authorities to introduce them into the state housing policy was emphasized. It is stated that the sustainable development of the housing sector is an objective prerequisite for the development of other spheres of life of the population and is closely interconnected and interdependent with them. The article notes that despite the implementation of the decentralization reform in Ukraine, in which local governments have been given more financial opportunities, the problem of extremely low housing for citizens in need of better living conditions continues to be one of the most pressing economic and social problems in Ukraine. Attention is drawn to the fact that the lack of state funding for the purchase or construction of housing at the expense of the local (settlement, rural) budget is an undue burden on the budget. In addition, attention is drawn to the fact that there is no official information on the actual availability (amount) of social housing at the state level, and therefore an inventory is essential. It was also noted that by solving the problems of providing housing for the population of Ukraine in the complex, it is impossible to circumvent the issue of exercising the right to housing of this category of citizens as internally displaced persons. Emphasis is placed on the need to develop a new State housing program in the light of current changes in the socio-economic sphere, which will be aimed at improving the quality of life of the population. REFERENCES1. Volkova A.O. Zhytlova sfera v Ukraini: stan ta perspektyvy pravovoho zabezpechennia dosiahnennia balansu mizh ekonomichnoiu efektyvnistiu ta sotsialnoiu spravedlyvistiu. Chasopys Kyivskoho universytetu prava. 2018. No. 3. P. 189-196 [in Ukrainian].2. Konstytutsiia Ukrainy: Zakon Ukrainy 28.06.1996 No. 254k/96-VR. Vidomosti Verkhovnoi Rady Ukrainy. 1996. No. 30. St. 141 [in Ukrainian].3. Hnes I.P. Formuvannia arkhitekturno-typolohichnoi struktury suchasnoho miskoho zhytla v Ukraini: avtoref. dys. … d-ra arkh. Nats. un-t "Lviv. Politekhnika". Lviv, 2014. 43 p. [in Ukrainian].4. Hulakova I.V. Yakist zhyttia naselennia Ukrainy: suspilno-heohrafichna kontseptualizatsiia: monohrafiia. Kyiv: Instytut heohrafii Natsionalnoi akademii nauk Ukrainy, 2009. 346 p. URL: https://igu.org.ua/sites/default/files/pdftext/life-quality.pdf [in Ukrainian].5. Kohatko Yu.L., Poliakova S.V. Zhytlovi umovy v iierarkhii potreb naselennia. Hlobalni ta natsionalni problemy ekonomiky. 2017. Iss. 20. P. 742-746 [in Ukrainian].6. UNECE. Country Profiles on Housing and Land Management – Ukraine, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. New York and Geneva, 2013. URL: https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/hlm/documents/Publications/CP_Ukraine_ECE.HPB.176.en.pdf7. Klymenko Yu.A. Otsinka rivnia perenaselenosti zhytla v Ukraini: porivniannia z krainamy YeS. Demohrafiia ta sotsialna ekonomika. 2017. No. 2 (30). P. 191-201. https://doi.org/10.15407/dse2017.02.191 [in Ukrainian].8. Cherenko L.M. Zhytlovi umovy naselennia Ukrainy ta vybir priorytetnykh napriamiv zhytlovoi polityky. Demohrafiia ta sotsialna ekonomika. 2018. No. 1 (32). P. 126-139. https://doi.org/10.15407/dse2018.01.126 [in Ukrainian].9. Khrystova H.O. Pozytyvni zoboviazannia derzhavy u sferi prav liudyny: suchasni vyklyky: monohrafiia. Kharkiv: Pravo, 2018. 680 p. [in Ukrainian].

Assessing Species Identification of the Genus Chrysomya (Diptera: Calliphoridae) by DNA Barcoding

Chrysomya Robineau-Desvoidy is one of the most forensically important blow fly genera. The disadvantages of morphological taxonomy have resulted in numerous synonyms and caused problems in the species identification of this genus. In recent years, DNA barcoding (partial sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) gene) has become a useful and popular tool for overcoming these difficulties. However, relevant studies generally focus on forensically-related species in specific regions. The insufficient sampling within specific genera in these studies limits their application in uninvestigated areas and precludes further insights into the actual availability of DNA barcoding for species identification. For this, the majority of currently available barcoding sequences of Chrysomya species are involved in a molecular analysis using different species delimitation methods. The results indicate that only up to 20 of 26 Chrysomya species can be distinctly separated from the others. With the integration of other information and a secondary genetic marker, the remaining ambiguous Chrysomya species are expected to be correctly separated.

Novel Pre-Applied Underfill Material Designed for Collective Bonding Process

Internet of Things (IoT) accelerated by the rapid progress of 5G is bringing a lot of challenges to semiconductor packaging technologies. In particular, flip-chip bonding technology is strongly required to realize ultrafine-pitch products, such as network, graphic, and artificial intelligence (AI) processors. Thermal compression bonding (TCB) with pre-applied underfill materials, such as nonconductive paste or nonconductive film (NCF), has been expected as one of the effective solutions for these applications for a long time. Nevertheless, the actual availability is still limited due to its high process cost. In other words, innovative breakthrough to achieve reasonable TCB cost is necessary to support the expansion of IoT. So far, some kinds of multiple die bonding processes represented by collective bonding have been proposed and demonstrated with conventional NCFs. However, it is becoming clear that the conventional NCFs optimized as fast cure type are very difficult to have enough processability for the multiple bonding processes due to mismatch between reactivities of the materials and bonding process conditions. That is why the new NCF dedicated to the multiple die bonding processes has been developed in this article. The developed NCF was designed to survive long-time thermal exposure on a bonding stage so that the collective bonding could be completed with reasonable process margin. To achieve target specifications, this article has started with the design of a new resin composition applied to the developed NCF. Then, basic properties required for NCFs, such as thermal stability and electrical insulation, were investigated in feasibility studies. Finally, TCB was demonstrated, and reliable solder joints were formed without any abnormality even after extended thermal exposure on the bonding stage. Moreover, it was found that the developed NCF might have the potential to achieve void-free encapsulation by pressure curing.

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) evaluation for an automated ice cream production line

PurposeAs overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a metric to estimate equipment effectiveness of production systems, the purpose of this paper is to identify strategic management tools and techniques based on OEE assessment of the ice cream production line.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents the collection and the analysis of data for ice cream production under real working conditions. The data cover a period of eight months. A framework process to improve the OEE of an automated production system was proposed. Six major stoppage losses, i.e. equipment failure, setup and adjustment, idling and minor stoppage, reduced speed, defects in the process, and reduced yield, were examined with the help of Pareto analysis. In addition, the actual availability (A), performance efficiency (PΕ) and quality rate (QR) measures, together with the complete OEE for each working day, week and month of the production line were shown.FindingsThe main goal of the study is to identify major stoppage losses, in order to examine and improve the overall equipment efficiency (OEE) of the ice cream production line through the application of an adequate management, i.e. TPM approach. Based on the obtained results, maintenance management strategy and production planning have been suggested to improve their maintenance procedures and the productivity as well.Originality/valueThe proposed method can be applied to each automated production system. The main benefits of this method are the improvement of productivity, quality enhancement of products, the reduction of sudden breakdowns and the cost of maintenance. Moreover, the analysis provides a useful perspective and helps managers/engineers make better decisions on the operations management of the line, and suggestions for improvement were proposed and will be implemented accordingly.

ADMINISTRATIVE INDICATORS OF FAMILY SUPPORT AMONG COMPLEX PATIENTS

Greater access to family support has been shown to positively affect the management of complex patients (i.e., multiple chronic conditions and psychosocial needs). However, patients’ availability of family support is not easily obtainable from medical records. We aim to identify administrative variables that can be used as indicators of family support. We investigated secondary next-of-kin (i.e., patient identified two next-of-kin) and marital status as administratively defined family support availability in a Veteran sample (n=2210). A subsample (n=329) was further evaluated with documented responses to questions “Are there any friends/family members you would like to involve in any aspect of your health care?” (i.e., “actual availability”) and “Does anyone help you with your daily activities?” (i.e., “obtained” availability). We performed a logistic regression analysis to evaluate the association between administratively defined and “actual” or “obtained” availability of support controlling for age, race/ethnicity, and gender. The sample was 90% male, mean age 63 years, 50%White and 44% African American. We found that 32.9% had administratively defined availability by being married, and 32.5% by listing secondary next-of kin. Married Veterans were significantly more likely to report greater actual availability (p=0.01) and obtained (p=0.04) support. Veterans listing a secondary next-of-kin were significantly more likely to report “actual” availability (p= 0.04) but not on “obtained” (p=0.08) support. Marital status may be a useful proxy of actual family support and listing a secondary next-of kin may be an alternate indicator for complex patients. Our study provides guidance on the use of administrative data in understanding caregivers.