Autonomous Capacity Research Articles

Shared decision-making as an existential journey: Aiming for restored autonomous capacity

ObjectiveWe describe the different ways in which illness represents an existential problem, and its implications for shared decision-making. MethodsWe explore core concepts of shared decision-making in medical encounters (uncertainty, vulnerability, dependency, autonomy, power, trust, responsibility) to interpret and explain existing results and propose a broader understanding of shared-decision making for future studies. ResultsExistential aspects of being are physical, social, psychological, and spiritual. Uncertainty and vulnerability caused by illness expose these aspects and may lead to dependency on the provider, which underscores that autonomy is not just an individual status, but also a varying capacity, relational of nature. In shared decision-making, power and trust are important factors that may increase as well as decrease the patient’s dependency, particularly as information overload may increase uncertainty. ConclusionThe fundamental uncertainty, state of vulnerability, and lack of power of the ill patient, imbue shared decision-making with a deeper existential significance and call for greater attention to the emotional and relational dimensions of care. Hence, we propose that the aim of shared decision-making should be restoration of the patient’s autonomous capacity. Practice implicationsIn doing shared decision-making, care is needed to encompass existential aspects; informing and exploring preferences is not enough.

Transmission Grid Control Through TCSC Dynamic Series Compensation

Electromechanical stability of transmission systems has been challenged by many factors such as market re-regulation, high penetration of renewables, operation under stressed conditions. After the implementation of electricity markets, it appeared evident that the transmission grid needs autonomous capacity to control the system during sudden disturbances and new protection schemes to maintain stability. This paper explores the possibility to control dynamically the impedance of transmission lines through Thyristor Controlled Series Capacitor (TCSC). The feasibility and the effectiveness of the approach are demonstrated through numerical tests on a realistic sized network for both voltage and transient stability.

Axons provide the secretory machinery for trafficking of voltage-gated sodium channels in peripheral nerve

The regulation of the axonal proteome is key to generate and maintain neural function. Fast and slow axoplasmic waves have been known for decades, but alternative mechanisms to control the abundance of axonal proteins based on local synthesis have also been identified. The presence of the endoplasmic reticulum has been documented in peripheral axons, but it is still unknown whether this localized organelle participates in the delivery of axonal membrane proteins. Voltage-gated sodium channels are responsible for action potentials and are mostly concentrated in the axon initial segment and nodes of Ranvier. Despite their fundamental role, little is known about the intracellular trafficking mechanisms that govern their availability in mature axons. Here we describe the secretory machinery in axons and its contribution to plasma membrane delivery of sodium channels. The distribution of axonal secretory components was evaluated in axons of the sciatic nerve and in spinal nerve axons after in vivo electroporation. Intracellular protein trafficking was pharmacologically blocked in vivo and in vitro. Axonal voltage-gated sodium channel mRNA and local trafficking were examined by RT-PCR and a retention-release methodology. We demonstrate that mature axons contain components of the endoplasmic reticulum and other biosynthetic organelles. Axonal organelles and sodium channel localization are sensitive to local blockade of the endoplasmic reticulum to Golgi transport. More importantly, secretory organelles are capable of delivering sodium channels to the plasma membrane in isolated axons, demonstrating an intrinsic capacity of the axonal biosynthetic route in regulating the axonal proteome in mammalian axons.

The Application of Contextual Expressions to Improve Effectiveness of Learning in ESP Classroom

This thesis discusses vocabulary as a key factor to increase effectiveness of ESP pedagogy. Contextual expressions are the main line of context, and form the principal clues for the textual anticipation and key word-meaning inferring. The thesis compares the different effects of the conventional word-list and contextual expressions as used in textual anticipation, and finds that contextual words have positive effect on pre-text leaning, oral and writing interaction and word-meaning inferring. The thesis also discusses the recognition of contextual words and makes in-depth analysis of the logical deducing process, aiming to raise students’ contextual awareness over ESP learning and develop their independent and autonomous capacity. The discussion recommends the inference strategy based on contextual expressions and core and peripheral words, in order to achieve some degree of independence from dictionaries.

The Implementation of ‘Good Governance’ in the Placement Process of Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers

A research about ‘good governance’ implementation of Indonesian Women Worker- housemaid ( in Indonesia TKI-PRT) placement process, focused on the transparency application issue to develop the governance of online information management system of TKI-PRT placement process. The main issues being examined were such as whether the substance of laws and regulations and practices applied in the migrant workers placement process is relevant so far to the need for developing online information management system to become more transparent and may strengthen protective support to TKI-PRT. The research was in the form of case study and analyzed by using content analysis technique. Protection to TKI-PRT, as it is defined in the Law No. 39/2004 that “the first and best opportunity of protection should arise from the workers themselves”. The implication, strengthening transparency and protection of TKI are by nature urgent and require the development of information management system governance of TKI placement based on self-governance model. One governance model with citizen centricity character grows through the mechanism of governance from the ground-up, closely focused and centralized based on the continuous strengthening of the TKI-PRT autonomous capacity to be more proactive to become active agent of change, especially as an active evaluator and creator of information in the whole implementation process of migrant worker placement abroad. The autonomous capacity of these TKI is likely collective created, meaning the success depends on the commitment of all stakeholders who are synergic proliferating and strengthening the autonomy and integrity of all actor practices. In particular, they should conduct ‘tri-automization’ of TKI independence and self-reliance in terms of cultural, economic and political aspects. Based on the result of the research, it can be summarized that the substance of the management and implementation of TKI placement process in Malaysia so far is likely bureaucrtaic centricity rather than citizen centricity. It was indicated by seven dominant tendencies which made transparency and protection functions not effective and even may cause TKI-PRT vulnerability potential in all stages of the placement implementation processes abroad. Therefore, renewal of the regulations substance about TKI-PRT placement process, including the information management system, is really urgent. The regulations and impelementation substance should be consistent and rely on the need of the emancipatory information management system development, in the form of self-governance model which is to urge the government as enabler to the strengthening and institutionalizing the autonomy and integrity of all actor practices.

Importancia de la educación publicitaria

El presente trabajo analiza la publicidad y la necesidad de educar a la población en esta materia. Nuestro objetivo con este artículo es demostrar la necesidad de educar a la ciudadanía, especialmente a los niños, para que aprendan a leer publicidad y, así, minimizar sus efectos negativos en la sociedad. Para ello, vamos a analizar la situación publicitaria actual, prestando especial atención al público infantil, con el fin de conocer y entender con mayor detalle la necesidad de una educación publicitaria. También conoceremos la importancia de la escuela en esta labor que planteamos. Todo esto nos permitirá concluir que – al igual que ocurre en el resto de ámbitos de la vida- la educación es la única opción para solucionar todos los problemas que se derivan del gran volumen de anuncios al que estamos expuestos cada día, para hacer ciudadanos realmente libres respecto al consumo y de ofrecer a la sociedad una auténtica capacidad autónoma respecto a la publicidad, como herramienta del sector capitalista.

Member States Resistance to the EU Operations Centre

The decision to create European Operational Headquarters (Ops Centre) was taken by the Council in December 2004. EU Military Staff in Brussels were tasked to set up an Operations Centre that would be able to plan and run a specific operation, in particular where a joint civil/military response was required, and where no national HQ had previously been identified. In spite of an apparent willingness to address the lack of EU military capabilities and give the EU an autonomous capacity of action, the Member States seem to be rather hesitant with regards to the use of the Ops Centre. On March 2012, the Council finally decided to activate the Ops Centre for the first time in order to coordinate and increase synergies between the three CSDP missions in the Horn of Africa. The article looks at how the Member States have/have not implemented the decisions on the EU Ops Centre, and why they have/have not resisted the norm consisting of activating the Operations Centre. After having identified this norm, we study resistance attitudes from the part of the Member States, and then move on to analyse the four hypotheses set out in the introductory article.

Loss of IKKβ but Not NF-κB p65 Skews Differentiation towards Myeloid over Erythroid Commitment and Increases Myeloid Progenitor Self-Renewal and Functional Long-Term Hematopoietic Stem Cells.

NF-κB is an important regulator of both differentiation and function of lineage-committed hematopoietic cells. Targeted deletion of IκB kinase (IKK) β results in altered cytokine signaling and marked neutrophilia. To investigate the role of IKKβ in regulation of hematopoiesis, we employed Mx1-Cre mediated IKKβ conditional knockout mice. As previously reported, deletion of IKKβ in hematopoietic cells results in neutrophilia, and we now also noted decreased monocytes and modest anemia. Granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (GMPs) accumulated markedly in bone marrow of IKKβ deleted mice whereas the proportion and number of megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitors (MEP) decreased. Accordingly, we found a significantly reduced frequency of proerythroblasts and basophilic and polychromatic erythroblasts, and IKKβ-deficient bone marrow cells yielded a significantly decreased number of BFU-E compared to wild type. These changes are associated with elevated expression of C/EBPα, Gfi1, and PU.1 and diminished Gata1, Klf1, and SCL/Tal1 in IKKβ deficient Lineage-Sca1+c-Kit+ (LSK) cells. In contrast, no effect on erythropoiesis or expression of lineage-related transcription factors was found in marrow lacking NF-κB p65. Bone marrow from IKKβ knockout mice has elevated numbers of phenotypic long and short term hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). A similar increase was observed when IKKβ was deleted after marrow transplantation into a wild type host, indicating cell autonomous expansion. Myeloid progenitors from IKKβ- but not p65-deleted mice demonstrate increased serial replating in colony-forming assays, indicating increased cell autonomous self-renewal capacity. In addition, in a competitive repopulation assay deletion of IKKβ resulted in a stable advantage of bone marrow derived from IKKβ knockout mice. In summary, loss of IKKβ resulted in significant effects on hematopoiesis not seen upon NF-κB p65 deletion. These include increased myeloid and reduced erythroid transcription factors, skewing differentiation towards myeloid over erythroid differentiation, increased progenitor self-renewal, and increased number of functional long term HSCs. These data inform ongoing efforts to develop IKK inhibitors for clinical use.

The persistence of shocks in GDP and the estimation of the potential economic costs of climate change

Integrated assessment models (IAMs) typically ignore the impact climate change could have on economic growth. The damage functions of these models assume that climate change impacts have no persistence at all, affecting only the period when they occur. Persistence of shocks is a stylized fact of macroeconomic time series and it provides a mechanism that could justify larger losses from climate change than previously estimated. Given that the degree of persistence of climate impacts is unknown, we analyze the persistence of generic shocks in observed GDP series for different world regions and compare it to that of the leading IAMs. Under the working hypothesis of interpreting the direct impact of climate change as such shocks, the implications for growth are investigated for two RCP scenarios. The way of introducing climate shocks to GDP in most IAMs can be interpreted as assuming an autonomous, costless, large and effective reactive adaptation capacity.

A Jurisprudential Reformulation of the Concept of Freedom

Conceptualizing freedom is a central issue in moral, political and legal philosophy. Questions about freedom have produced a jurisprudence rich of different analyses, theories, interpretations, reflections, examinations, assumptions and controversies. One of the significant traditions of that jurisprudence is classical liberalism. Based on the general precepts of classical liberalism, this article provides a jurisprudential conception of freedom. It argues that freedom is the capacity of making choices autonomously which requires (1) the existence of free will together with moral reason, and (2) the absence of the possibility of unjustified interference through coercion or constraint. This suggests that freedom as a natural entitlement has internal and external elements. Through analyzing these elements, it infers that the limit of freedom can be justifiably defined as the other-oriented negative duty which is the moral obligation of self-constraint or forbearance from destroying or restricting others’ autonomous capacity of making free choices. Initiating, developing, and analyzing those claims and assumptions about freedom and its limit are the scope of this article.

Two types of BCR interactions are positively selected during leukemia development in the Eβ-TCL1 transgenic mouse model of CLL

AbstractChronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a common B-cell malignancy characterized by a highly variable course and outcome. The disease is believed to be driven by B-cell receptor (BCR) signals generated by external antigens and/or cell-autonomous BCR interactions, but direct in vivo evidence for this is still lacking. To further define the role of the BCR pathway in the development and progression of CLL, we evaluated the capacity of different types of antigen/BCR interactions to induce leukemia in the Eβ-TCL1 transgenic mouse model. We show that cell autonomous signaling capacity is a uniform characteristic of the leukemia-derived BCRs and represents a prerequisite for CLL development. Low-affinity BCR interactions with autoantigens generated during apoptosis are also positively selected, suggesting that they contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. In contrast, high-affinity BCR interactions are not selected, regardless of antigen form or presentation. We also show that the capacity of the leukemic cells to respond to cognate antigen correlates inversely with time to leukemia development, suggesting that signals induced by external antigen increase the aggressiveness of the disease. Collectively, these findings provide in vivo evidence that the BCR pathway drives the development and can influence the clinical course of CLL.

Children Consenting to Abortion in New Zealand: An Ethical and Legal Critique

The purpose of this article is to critically examine, from both legal and ethical perspectives, s 38 Care of Children Act 2004 (COCA), which permits female children to consent to, or refuse, an abortion procedure. Section 38 is particularly interesting because Parliament intentionally turned its mind to allow children “of whatever age” to consent to abortion and decided that parental consent or knowledge was not required. The question necessarily becomes: what is unique about abortion procedures which allows for the prohibition of parental consent? In answering such questions, this article will demonstrate that most female adolescents only start to acquire sufficient autonomous capacity from the age of 14 years and as such the legislative wording of s 38 COCA is problematic and arguably careless. This article will discuss the issues arising from this section, from ethical and legal perspectives, starting with the morality of abortion, progressing to the legal framework, including the child’s capacity to consent, before discussing the ethics of child abortion.

Loss of IKKβ Increases the Number and Self-Renewal Capacity of Hematopoietic Stem Cells

NF-kB is an important regulator of both differentiation and function of lineage-committed hematopoietic cells. Targeted deletion of IkB kinase (IKK) β results in altered cytokine signaling and marked neutrophilia. To investigate the roles of IKKβ in regulation of hematopoiesis, we employed Mx1-Cre mediated IKKβ conditional knockout mice. As previously reported, deletion of IKKβ in hematopoietic cells results in neutrophilia, and decreased monocytes and. We now show that bone marrow cells from IKKβ deleted mice display accumulation of granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (GMPs, Lin-Sca-1-c-kit+CD34+CD16/32+), with 1.8-fold increase compared to wild-type control. Accordingly, methylcellulose-based colony-forming assay demonstrated that IKKβ-deficient marrow produced increased proportion of CFU-G and decreased CFU-M compared with wild type control. Importantly, pharmacologic inhibition of IKKβ activity in wild type murine bone marrow cells results in significant increase in the total number of colonies and the number and proportion of CFU-G colonies. In addition, loss of IKKβ is associated with a modest decrease of baseline hematocrit levels (52.5 ± 0.64 vs. 43.9 ± 4.3, p<0.0001) and blunted recovery after challenge with 5-FU. Accordingly, IKKβ deleted mice have 3-fold decreased megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitors population (MEPs, Lin-Sca-1-c-kit+CD34-CD16/32-). Using FACS analysis erythroid progenitor subsets in the marrow were characterized based on Ter119, CD71, and forward scatter. We found a significantly reduced frequency of proerythroblasts, basophilic and polychromatic erythroblasts. When cultured in methylcellulose in the presence of hEPO IKKβ-deficient bone marrow cells yielded a significantly decreased number of BFU-E compared to wild type. Accordingly, pharmacologic inhibition of IKKβ in wild type marrow cells resulted in diminished BFU-E colonies formation. We next studied the role of IKKβ in early hematopoietic progenitors. Bone marrow from IKKβ knockout mice displays the accumulation of phenotypic hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), including LT-HSCs (Lin-Sca-1+c-kit+CD135-CD34-) and ST-HSCs (Lin-Sca-1+c-kit+CD135-CD34+), with 1.5-fold increase as compared to the wild-type control. Functionally, Lin- bone marrow cells from IKKβ deleted mice show increased serial replating in colony-forming assays, indicating increased cell autonomous long-term self-renewal capacity. Accordingly, competitive transplantation studies demonstrated that deletion of IKKβ greatly increases the repopulation ability of HSCs resulting in a stable advantage of bone marrow derived from IKKβ knockout mice. Quantitative real-time PCR assay demonstrated that compared to Lin- bone marrow from wild-type control mice, Lin- bone marrow cells from IKKβ deficient mice have up-regulation of genes related to HSC self-renewal in early stage of hematopoiesis and granulocytic lineage commitment such as GFI1, HOXA9, PU.1, C/EBPα, CEBPε; but down regulation of genes involved in megakaryocytic-erythroid lineage determination such as GATA1, GATA2, Tal-1, and Klf1. In summary, our data indicate that loss of IKKβ results in a cell autonomous alteration of expression of key regulators of hematopoiesis, leads to increased self-renewal of HSC, and drives hematopoietic development towards GMP lineage, favoring granulopoiesis over monopoiesis. DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE, ITS EPISTEMOLOGICAL USES, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SUBJECT IN BOURDIEU'S SOCIOLOGY

This paper discusses the notion of social structure in Pierre Bourdieu�s sociology. It contextualizes the notion of social structure and its conception in Bourdieu�s work highlighting the central functions the concept has had in the field of sociology. Taking into account some relevant critical positions around the concept of social structure and Bourdieu�s sociology a critical exam of those positions is developed, deploying an alternative interpretation of the use of the concept given by the French sociologist, showing its contribution to the construction of an autonomous subject with capacity of collective agency. The concept of social structure operates as a generative tool of epistemological vigilance against reductionist representations of the subjects and their conditions of existence allowing the emergence of notions such as temporal dislocation, indeterminacy, dialectic, and socio-analysis which are contributing to the construction of a more emancipated subject.

An adaptive obstacle avoidance algorithm for unmanned surface vehicle in complicated marine environments

Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are important autonomous marine robots that have been studied and gradually applied into practice. However, the autonomous navigation of USVs, especially the issue of obstacle avoidance in complicated marine environment, is still a fundamental problem. After studying the characteristics of the complicated marine environment, we propose a novel adaptive obstacle avoidance algorithm for USVs, based on the Sarsa on-policy reinforcement learning algorithm. The proposed algorithm is composed of local avoidance module and adaptive learning module, which are organized by the “divide and conquer” strategy-based architecture. The course angle compensation strategy is proposed to offset the disturbances from sea wind and currents. In the design of payoff value function of the learning strategy, the course deviation angle and its tendency are introduced into action rewards and penalty policies. The validity of the proposed algorithm is verified by comparative experiments of simulations and sea trials in three sea-state marine environments. The results show that the algorithm can enhance the autonomous navigation capacity of USVs in complicated marine environments.

Multi-agent systems with reinforcement hierarchical neuro-fuzzy models

This paper introduces a new multi-agent model for intelligent agents, called reinforcement learning hierarchical neuro-fuzzy multi-agent system. This class of model uses a hierarchical partitioning of the input space with a reinforcement learning algorithm to overcome limitations of previous RL methods. The main contribution of the new system is to provide a flexible and generic model for multi-agent environments. The proposed generic model can be used in several applications, including competitive and cooperative problems, with the autonomous capacity to create fuzzy rules and expand their own rule structures, extracting knowledge from the direct interaction between the agents and the environment, without any use of supervised algorithms. The proposed model was tested in three different case studies, with promising results. The tests demonstrated that the developed system attained good capacity of convergence and coordination among the autonomous intelligent agents.

Communicative-autonomous Teaching: An Innovation in China

Communicative-autonomous Teaching is a new language teaching approach in TESOL. It absorbs the merits of both Communicative Language Teaching and Learner Autonomy Model of Teaching. Adoption of such a method is feasible in China both theoretically and practically. Both the government and the front-line teachers support its application. ‘3+1+x’ acts as a good example of practising Communicative-autonomous Teaching in the context of China. ‘3+1+x’ is a teaching model centering on the development of students’ communicative competence and autonomous learning capacity. Analysis of the teaching materials in China University of Petroleum, including textbooks, handouts and other materials used in the language lab, shows that it is a successful case.

Biologically Induced Self Healing Concrete: A Futuristic Solution for Crack Repair

Concrete is a mixture of cement, water, sand and other aggregates in adequate proportions. Its high tensile strength and ability to withstand a vast range of environmental changes makes it the first choice for construction material. One of the major problems associated with concrete is its permeability because penetration of gases and/or liquids from the surrounding environment into the concrete, followed by physical and/or chemical reactions within its internal structure/s leads to irreversible damages. Although cement has autonomous capacity to heal, however cracks &lt;0.2mm width can only self-heal. Biomineralization is one of the best ecofriendly techniques to tackle the problem of cracks in concrete structures. Biologically induced self-healing is beneficial in addressing all the drawbacks of concrete matrix. The most promising technology for producing crack resistant/highly self healing concrete in near future seems to be “BacillaFilla”: genetically modified version of Bacillus subtilis, is a “custom –designed” bacteria to embed deep into the cracks in concrete where they produce a mix of calcium carbonate and a special bacteria glue that hardens to the same strength as of the surrounding concrete. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v1i3.8582 Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol. 1(3) 2013 : 85-89

Status of Developing Afghan Governance and Lessons for Future Endeavors

Building the capacity of and reforming Afghan governance is widely viewed as the key to success in Afghanistan. Assessing progress, however, is hampered by limited data outside the Afghan security ministries – the Ministries of Defense and Interior – and by the lack of a common definition of governance. Available reporting suggests building governance capacity is far from complete. Varying definitions of governance, coupled with the use of the term by numerous organizations without defining it, results in addressing too broad a range of issues. It would be more useful to concentrate on the core of governance – providing the services the Afghan government has committed to provide to its citizens. This, in turn, requires that Afghan ministries have the functional capacity to carry out their responsibilities, including financial management, budget formulation and execution, policy and strategic planning, and service delivery. However, time is growing short. The Afghan experience provides some important lessons that could guide future endeavors for the international community. First, this paper discusses progress in building ministerial capacity. Second, it discusses recent efforts to link continued financial assistance to Afghanistan with improved governance. Third, it describes how the lack of a commonly accepted definition of governance complicates assessing progress. Finally, it offers conclusions and observations about the failure to establish an autonomous Afghan governance capacity. For more than a decade, improving governance has been recognized as the most difficult and critical challenge involving Afghan reconstruction. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reports that U.S. policymakers have consistently identified building the capacity of and reforming Afghan governance as the key to success in Afghanistan (SIGAR 2012, 22).

Autonomous Planning using the Basic Principles of Gene Transcription Regulatory Control

The vast majority of the research efforts in finite capacity scheduling over the past several years has focused on the generation of precise and almost exact measures for the working schedule presupposing complete information and a deterministic environment. During execution, however, production may be the subject of considerable variability, which may lead to frequent schedule interruptions. Adopting biological control principles refers to the process where a schedule is developed prior to the start of the processing after considering all the parameters requirements at a machine and updated accordingly as the process executes. This research reviews the best practices in gene transcription and translation control methods and adopts these principles in the development of an autonomous finite capacity scheduling control logic aimed at reducing excessive use of manual input in planning tasks. With autonomous decision-making functionality, finite capacity scheduling will as much as practicably possible be able to respond autonomously to process variability by deployment of proactive scheduling procedures that may be used to revise or re-optimize the schedule when variability process requirements is noted. The novelty of this work is the ability for processing machine to autonomous take decisions just as decisions are taken by autonomous entities in the process of gene transcription and translation. The idea has been implemented by the integration of simulation modelling techniques with Taguchi analysis to investigate the contributions of finite capacity scheduling factors, and determination of the ‘what if’ scenarios encountered due to the existence of variability in production processes. The control logic adopts the induction rules as used in gene expression control mechanisms, studied in biological systems. Scheduling factors are identified to that effect and are investigated to find their effects on selected performance metrics for each machine used. How they are used to deal with variability in process is one major objective for this research as it is because of the variability that autonomous decision making becomes of interest. Although different scheduling techniques have been applied and are successful in production planning and control, the results obtained from the inclusion of the autonomous finite capacity scheduling control logic has proved that significant improvement can still be achieved. This research demonstrated that the correct choice of values for finite capacity scheduling factors has a great impact on the performance measurements, such that, high throughput rate can be reached with a bigger batch size, lower percentage of rework, and shorter stoppages. Quicker movement of goods through the facility means better utilisation of assets. Better utilisation of assets creates additional capacity resulting from faster throughput thereby improving customer satisfaction through quicker delivery. It has also been shown that %waiting, %blocking and %stoppage makes it possible to examine different manufacturing constraints as well as the relationship between non-utilisation and different performance measurements.