Backup Facilities Research Articles

Development of failure mitigation technologies for improving resilience of nuclear structures

After the Fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant accident, various countermeasures were taken for Beyond Design Basis Events (BDBE) in the system safety field. These included portable devices, additional backup facilities and accident management. They are different from approaches for Design Basis Events (DBE). In the field of structural mechanics; however, efforts were focused on strengthening to prevent failures for both DBE and BDBE in the same way. This approach will lead to limitless requirements for strength and expensive plants.As a breakthrough approach in structural mechanics for BDBE, we propose failure mitigation methods through the application of passive safety structures, where preceding failures release loadings and mitigate subsequent failures. When preceding failure modes have small impacts on safety performance, such as small deformation and crack initiation, and subsequent ones are catastrophic modes such as collapse and break, the passive safety structure improves safety and resilience. This idea is the utilization of passive characteristics of structures without additional equipment and electric power, allowing for simple and reliable plants.To demonstrate this idea, passive safety structures were applied to next-generation fast reactors, subject to high temperature and low-pressure conditions. In the case of loss-of-heat-removal accidents, high temperature conditions accelerate the creep deformation of structures. When deformation redistributes loadings and reduces stresses at important positions such as coolant boundaries, progression to creep rupture of boundaries can be mitigated. When an excessive earthquake occurs, plastic deformation and buckling become dominant, due to low pressure and, therefore, a thin-wall structure. The above-mentioned failure modes reduce rigidity and natural frequency. When the natural frequency becomes lower than the input frequency, vibration energy is hardly transferred to structures and the subsequent failures of structures, such as collapse and break, are mitigated.

Designing a resilient-sustainable integrated broiler supply chain network using multiple sourcing and backup facility strategies dealing with uncertainties in a disruptive network: A real case of a chicken meat network

Increasing supply and demand uncertainty, coupled with unforeseen disruptions, pose challenges to the resilience of today's critical sectors in the global food industry, including the broiler supply chain. This study introduces a resilient model to enhance the sustainability and resilience of the broiler supply chain in the face of uncertainties and disruptions. The model integrates backup facilities and employs multiple sourcing strategies to reinforce resilience. Using mixed integer linear programming with bi-objective, multi-period, and multi-product features, the model aims to minimize carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from transportation while maximizing overall supply chain profit. The goal programming, and the ε-constraint methods optimize decision-making and yield Pareto solutions, achieving a balanced approach to conflicting objectives. Also, robust optimization and stochastic programming provide practical solutions for handling uncertainties. Validation and sensitivity analysis confirm that the proposed model optimizes the broiler supply chain, enhancing resilience, sustainability, and profitability.

Location and allocation of primary and backup shelters in transboundary disasters

Disaster management is plagued by uncertainty and chaotic situations, often crossing boundaries and affecting multiple jurisdictions. Collaboration in these settings is complicated, especially when authorities face failure in the infrastructure available leading to facilities operating over capacity and/or vulnerable people left without support. There are records about those experiences globally. There is a broad literature on shelter location/allocation, but few articles consider the potential failure facilities and none of those contributions consider the collaboration between multiple jurisdictions. This article introduces a novel bi-objective formulation for shelter location-allocation considering backup facilities for operations involving multiple jurisdictions. This approach is applied to a set of numerical examples and a real case of volcanic eruptions in Mexico. The results show the influence of transboundary coordination on the support provided to disaster victims, the value of backup facilities and the capacity of the model design to provide relevant alternatives in practice.

Value and Limitations of Urethrotech Catheterisation Device to Manage Difficult Urethral Catheterisation in Male Spinal Cord Injury Patients.

We used a Urethrotech catheterisation device in 57 male patients with spinal cord injury, in whom urethral catheterisation was unsuccessful or previous catheterisation was difficult. Urethrotech catheter could be inserted in 51 patients. No patient developed urinary tract infection. In one patient, the guidewire could not be introduced into the bladder, and a coude Foley catheter was inserted. In two patients, the guidewire was inserted into the bladder, but a 16 CH catheter could not be advanced over the guidewire. Emergency suprapubic cystostomy was performed in one case; in the other, urethral stricture was dilated; a size 12 CH catheter was inserted. In three patients, the guidewire curled back into the urethra because of severe spasm of the urethral sphincter. Catheterisation with a Tiemann catheter was successful after administration of diazepam and/or stretching of the anal sphincter by another health professional, which caused reflex relaxation of the urethral sphincter. Complications of Urethrotech catheterisation included urethral bleeding, haematuria, pain, doubling back of the guidewire due to spasm of the urethral sphincter or from an empty bladder.We adopted variations in technique, eg filling the bladder with saline prior to catheterisation when feasible, insertion of the guidewire by the side of the old catheter, use of Tiemann tip catheters, administration of antibiotics, diazepam to control spasms, nifedipine to control autonomic dysreflexia, analgesics, stretching of the anal sphincter to induce reflex relaxation of the urethral sphincter, urgent imaging studies to confirm correct positioning of the catheter, omitting anticoagulants and monitoring patients, who developed bleeding. Use of Urethrotech in spinal injury patients warranted adaptations to the technique, which required expertise, experience, and backup facilities. To ensure patient safety, Urethrotech catheter should be used in a hospital setting, and by medical personnel with experience in the management of spinal cord injury patients.

A MOBILE-BASED CLINICAL KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Most of the medical records kept by health centres around the world are patient records. The existing approaches of medical record keeping used in several health clinics in Nigeria are predominantly paper-based. This approach is faced with challenges such as losing patient records, duplicating patient records without necessity, and not having adequate backup facilities. In order to reduce the expense of purchasing the stationery supplies required for record-keeping and to improve the integrity and security of the patients' medical information, this research intends to automate the entire process by developing a mobile-based application. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP were used in the building of this automated system along with MySQL as the database engine. The system assigns different users varying privileges based on their official role in the clinic, allowing the clinic employees (user) to view and take activities directly related to their official responsibilities. The system was evaluated with better communication and information resources in McPherson University Health center, Nigeria. It also adds to the body of information on problems related to the deployment and use of electronic health records. Hence, this will provide protection and security of the patient’s medical records. This solution can be enhanced to be an automated record-checking system using a biometric technique for extracting patients’ records.

Time domain analysis of catenary response characteristics caused by ambient wind

Abstract The catenary system, as a framework within railway electrification projects, constitutes an exposed suspension structure deployed along railway lines. It serves the purpose of providing electrical power to electric locomotives through pantographs but lacks backup facilities and falls into the category of a specialized form of high-voltage transmission line. To ensure the safety and reliability of the catenary system and the stable current collection of the pantograph, thereby safeguarding railway operational safety, it is imperative to research the aerodynamic response of the catenary system induced by environmental winds. For this study, the catenary system in the 4m windbreak wall section of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed railway bridge has been selected as the research subject. To determine wind speed correction coefficients at the supporting cable and contact wire locations, a finite element model was created using wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations. Samples of wind speed fluctuation have been obtained using the harmonic synthesis method. Based on quasi-steady aerodynamic theory, a temporal analysis has been conducted on the aerodynamic response of supporting cables and contact wires under the influence of both average and fluctuating winds. Temporal results, such as lift at positive and negative positioning locations and mid-span displacement, have been extracted to assess whether the existing structure complies with regulatory requirements. This study offers valuable insights for engineering applications that are similar.

An integrated model for locating backup facilities in flood disaster considering supportive strategies and conditional value at risk measure

An integrated model for locating backup facilities in flood disaster considering supportive strategies and conditional value at risk measure

Low-cost optimization of geothermal heating system with thermal energy storage for an office building

Using geothermal energy to meet office building heating is an effective measure to reduce energy consumption. The heat demand of an office building features a significant intermittent profile; however, the geothermal submersible pump should not be started and stopped frequently within a heating season, which makes it difficult to match the continuity of heat source with the intermittent heat load and thus resulting in a serious waste of geothermal resources. The utilization of thermal energy storage (TES) technology can solve the problem of the mismatch between the supply and demand of the geothermal heating system for an office building. In this paper, aiming at obtaining a low-cost system while promoting the energy supply and demand balance, the geothermal heating system with TES for an office building located in Cangzhou, Hebei province, China is optimized based on a two-stage approach considering the time-of-use tariffs. The results show that the geothermal heating system including TES can effectively meet the heat load of office buildings without a backup facility. Compared with the benchmark system, although the addition of TES leads to an increase in the system capital investment, the system operation cost reduces by 38.10% or so under the optimal operation strategy. Besides, reasonable operation control of the TES as well as the heat pump is the key measure to reduce the system cost. Accordingly, the optimal operation strategy and corresponding equipment selection parameters of the geothermal heating system with TES are determined.

The Irish National Orthopaedic Register Under Cyberattack: What Happened, and What Were the Consequences?

On May 14, 2021, a criminal cyberattack was launched against the Irish public healthcare system, the Health Service Executive, resulting in a complete shutdown of all national healthcare computer systems, including the Irish National Orthopaedic Register (INOR). Cyberattacks of this kind occur sporadically, and postevent analyses can inform future preparedness efforts, but few such analyses have been published. What was the impact of the cyberattack in terms of (1) registry downtime, (2) harms to patients, and (3) costs to the INOR for data contingency and reconciliation? All nine hospitals using the INOR were included for data collection. Since establishment in 2014, the INOR has been rolled out to all eight public elective hospitals, capturing all hip and knee arthroplasty procedures. One private hospital was also captured, with plans to expand the private sector coverage. Individual institutional records and central INOR records were queried with respect to downtime, potential harms to patients (including intraoperative complications because of a lack of data on existing implanted components and complications directly attributed to delayed or canceled procedures), and costs related to additional person-hours addressing data reconciliation. Objective data directly related to the uncontrolled INOR downtime were collected, including duration of downtime, contingency methods employed, quality of contingency data collected, adverse patient events, methods of data salvage and reconciliation, and the cost of data contingency and reconciliation measures. Costs were estimated by the additional person-hours of work completed, multiplied by the hourly rate of that employee. Employees at each of the nine hospitals were asked to provide their additional person-hours of work performed because of the attack. These hours were corroborated by observing the time taken at each unit to reconcile data for single cases multiplied by the number of cases at that unit. Employees included nurses, clinical nurse specialists, and doctors of various grades. Person-hour rates were calculated using the Health Service Executive's published salary scales. The INOR suffered a median downtime of 134 days (range 119 to 272 days) across nine sites. No serious adverse patient events were identified. The immediate implementation of a paperwork fallback method for the INOR successfully resulted in 100% case capture during the downtime. However, 2850 additional person-hours were required for data reconciliation at an estimated cost of USD 181,000 to USD 216,000. More subjectively, as reported by interviews with INOR leads at each hospital, the cyberattack negatively impacted operating room efficiency with delays between procedures because of additional paperwork data collection, disrupted patient flow for paperwork data collection on the ward level and in the outpatient clinics, and disrupted resource allocations and staff capabilities because of additional paperwork requirements during the contingency period. Disruptions to data collection and data accessibility after this cyberattack were successfully countered by a contingency plan; however, substantial financial costs and additional resources were required for data conservation and reconciliation. In addition to robust preventative security measures, national registers and other healthcare systems should have secondary data backup facilities and reliable fallback procedures prepared for such events.

LAMSkyCam: A low-cost and miniature ground-based sky camera

Ground-based sky imagers (GSIs) are increasingly becoming popular amongst the remote sensing analysts. This is because such imagers offer fantastic alternatives to satellite measurements for the purpose of earth observations. In this paper, we propose an extremely low-cost and miniature ground-based sky camera for atmospheric study. Built using 3D printed and off-the-shelf components, our sky camera is lightweight and robust for use in diverse climatic conditions. With a 63° field of view angle, the camera captures high resolution sky/cloud images for both day and night times at 5 min intervals. The camera is designed to be mounted on a pole-like architecture and with its compact form, it can be installed at any location without requiring any change in the existing infrastructure. For remote areas, the camera also has a local backup facility from which data can be easily accessed manually. We have open-sourced the hardware design of our sky camera, and therefore researchers can easily manufacture and deploy these cameras for their respective use cases.

A Resilience Analysis of a Medical Mask Supply Chain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Simulation Modeling Approach.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe consequences such as long-term disruptions and ripple effects on regional and global supply chains. In this paper, firstly, we design simulation models using AnyLogistix to investigate and predict the pandemic’s short-term and long-term disruptions on a medical mask supply chain. Then, the Green Field Analysis experiments are used to locate the backup facilities and optimize their inventory levels. Finally, risk analysis experiments are carried out to verify the resilience of the redesigned mask supply chain. Our major research findings include the following. First, when the pandemic spreads to the downstream of the supply chain, the duration of the downstream facilities disruption plays a critical role in the supply chain operation and performance. Second, adding backup facilities and optimizing their inventory levels are effective in responding to the pandemic. Overall, this paper provides insights for predicting the impacts of the pandemic on the medical mask supply chain. The results of this study can be used to redesign a medical mask supply chain to be more resilient and flexible.

Examination of energy poverty among households in Kasargod District of Kerala

This paper examines the extent and intensity of energy poverty among households in the Kasargod district of Kerala. The inspiration to focus the study on Kasargod district is its socio-economic backwardness relative to Kerala as a whole. Household survey was conducted with a pre-designed questionnaire, and energy poverty was examined using multidimensional energy poverty index (MEPI). Results indicate that, although almost all households are electrified, households face intermittent power outages, and hence they are forced to rely upon alternative measures like power backup facilities. Although most households have access to clean cooking, they also use biomass like firewood extensively and hence widespread practice of fuel-wood stacking is reported. Since households use traditional stoves without chimney to burn fuel-wood, the very purpose of promoting clean cooking to eliminate health hazards of burning biomass is defeated. Overall, the results indicate that effective tackling of energy poverty and resultant evils requires not only economic security but also the capacity to influence the habits and customs of the people.

Integrating GIS in reorganizing blood supply network in a robust-stochastic approach by combating disruption damages

As supplying adequate blood in multiple countries has failed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of redesigning a sensible protective-resilience blood supply chain is underscored. The outbreak-as an extensive disruption-has caused a delay in ordering and delivering blood and its by-products, which leads to severe social and financial loss to healthcare organizations. This paper presents a robust multi-phase optimization approach to model a blood supply network ensuring blood is collected efficiently. We evaluate the effectiveness of the model using real-world data from two mechanisms. Firstly, a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based method is presented to find potential alternative locations for blood donation centers to maximize availability, accessibility, and proximity to blood donors. Then, a protective mathematical model is developed with the incorporation of (a) blood perishability, (b) efficient collation centers, (c) multiple-source of suppliers, (d) back-up centers, (e) capacity limitation, and (f) uncertain demand. Emergency back-up for laboratory centers to supplement and offset the processing plants against the possible disorders is applied in a two-stage stochastic robust optimization model to maximize the level of hospitals' coverage. The results highlight the fraction cost of considering back-up facilities in the total costs and provide more resilient decisions with lower risks by examining resource limitations.

Reliable hub-and-spoke systems with multiple capacity levels and flow dependent discount factor

In this paper we investigate the reliable single allocation p-hub location problem with multiple capacity levels and flow dependent discount factor. We first present new and novel MIP formulations that are built upon the well-known uncapacitated FLOWLOC model proposed by O'Kelly and Bryan (1998). The proposed reliable models aim at simultaneously determining (a) the optimal location of the hubs, (b) the allocation of demand to these hubs,(c) the backup facilities for each demand point, (d) the hub capacity level to handle the normal flow, (e) the additional capacity to handle excessive rerouted flows due to possible hub disruption, (f) the values of discount factor for inter-hub links at normal and (g) the discount factor to be applied on inter-hub links should volume of flow increases because of hub disruption. The proposed mathematical models could solve small instances to optimality using a commercial optimiser such as CPLEX. To solve large instances we propose a variant of the VNS algorithm, namely, the reduced VNS. We present computational results including lower and upper bounds of the optimal solutions to problems with 15, 20 and 25 nodes and the upper bounds of the solutions to larger problems up to 170 nodes. Managerial insights for the reliable hub location problem with and without the use of flow dependent discount factors are presented and recommendations on the use of trade-off curves between the two objectives of minimizing the network cost in normal and disrupted conditions are also provided.

Issues and analysis of critical success factors for the sustainable initiatives in the supply chain during COVID- 19 pandemic outbreak in India: A case study

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has severely affected the supply chain all over. A major challenge for the supply chain (SC) is to address this disruption risk and bring sustainability to SC. The objective of this paper is to identify the stakeholders' requirements and critical success factors (CSFs) for the sustainability initiative in SC during this pandemic situation. Three potential stakeholders' requirements and a total of 16 critical success factors have been identified by taking inputs from experts and decision-makers. Further, these critical factors are analyzed and ranked based on a hybrid quality function deployment (QFD)-best-worst methodology (BWM). The QFD method has been used to identify the stakeholder’ requirements. And, the BWM has been adopted to prioritize the CSFs. The scientific value of the study is the contribution of the framework model for the sustainable initiatives in the SC during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, identification of stakeholders’ requirements and CSFs, and prioritizes these CSFs. The top three most critical success factors are found to be social distancing, emergency logistics systems, and emergency backup facilities. The proposed framework provides a roadmap to operation and supply chain managers to come up with good solutions for sustainability initiatives in the supply chain during and after the pandemic outbreak.

Determinants of use of solar energy as an alternative means of energy by small and medium enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria

Frequent power outages and general electricity problems from the national grid in Nigeria have significantly increased in the last 5 years, and these are part of the reasons why many Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria find it difficult to survive and some have already folded up. Consequently, some Small and Medium Enterprises have relocated to other places, whilst others have resorted to the use of some alternative means of energy as backup facilities (inclusive of generating sets, and solar energy) to reduce the negative effect of frequent power outages from the national grid. Based on the foregoing, the aim of the study is to investigate whether Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria have considered solar energy as an alternative means of energy, find out whether Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria prefer solar energy to electricity from the national grid, and to also identify the determinants of use of solar energy as an alternative means of energy by Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study covered selected Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria and primary data were generated from direct distribution of questionnaires to six hundred (600) qualified Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos State. Using Descriptive Statistics and Binary Logistic Regression Model to analyze data generated from the questionnaires, the study affirmed that general cost of electricity from the national grid, poor organizational processes and procedures of Electricity Distribution Companies as well as policy support for solar energy by the government were major determinants of use of solar energy as an alternative means of power by Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria. However, the findings from the study indicate that poor customer services of Electricity Distribution Companies, inadequate access to electricity facilities of Electricity Distribution Companies, and frequent power outages were not major determinants of use of solar energy as an alternative means of energy by Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria as at the time of the research. Consequently, this study recommends that Electricity Distribution Companies should improve their organizational processes and procedures. The study also recommends that cost of maintenance and replacement of major facilities like defective transformers should not be transferred to Small and Medium Enterprises (inclusive of other clients).

An Accelerated Benders Decomposition Algorithm for Solving a Double-Type Double-Standard Maximal Covering Location Problem

In this paper, a double-type double-standard model (DtDsM) for maximal covering location problem is proposed which has several applications in determining the location of public emergency facilities. DtDsM includes two types of facilities: normal and backup facilities. Although backup facilities have a greater coverage distance, they offer not a full service but only a primary service. In DtDsM, each demand point must lie within the coverage distance of a backup facility if it does not lie in the coverage distance of a normal facility ensuring it to receive minimal primary services within a predetermined time. Furthermore, an accelerated Benders decomposition algorithm is proposed to solve the model. The speed and accuracy of the algorithm are compared with the commercial solver CPLEX.

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for user satisfaction-induced demand-side load management for an institutional building

The scope of this study is to present a suitable demand-side management technique to manage the load of a department in an educational institution located in Kanchipuram (12.9868° N, 79.9719° E), Tamil Nadu, India. The comfortable satisfaction level of the department is investigated on the basis of time and device preferences, and the absolute satisfaction of the user is evaluated. Demand-side management technique is incorporated to reduce the peak load. The optimized use of renewable energy with and without demand-side management strategy in grid-connected mode is analyzed. The feasibility study is accomplished by using HOMER simulation software for various configurations of renewable energy resources, such as solar photovoltaic, hydrogen fuel cell and backup facilities. The software simulation results indicated that the grid-connected solar and diesel generator system with demand-side management strategy is the suitable configuration in the view of economic perspective alone. However, when considering economic and environmental aspects, solar photovoltaic and grid configuration with demand-side management strategy proves to be effective. The Fuzzy-Analytical Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy-Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation approaches are used to evaluate the best suitable configuration based on technical, economic and environmental perspectives. These approaches also inferred that a grid-connected photovoltaic system with demand-side management strategy is most suitable in all aspects of this case study. A sensitivity analysis is performed to examine the cost variation of the designed system concerning uncertain parameters which indicates that the obtained results are consistent.

A Blood Supply Chain Network with Backup Facilities Considering Blood Groups and Expiration Date: A Real-world Application

The purpose of this paper is to design a green Blood Supply Chain (BSC) network regarding expiration date and backup facilities. The proposed model is a bi-objective Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) one. The two objective functions are to minimize the total cost and the detrimental environmental impacts of shipping between facilities and generated wastes in the network. A Goal Programming (GP) approach is used to convert the multi-objective model into a single one. Moreover, to meet the demand, blood groups and plasma expiration date are also investigated. Since it has been proven that plasma of the people who have fully recovered from COVID-19, can help other patients to recover from this insidious disease; therefore, the proposed BSC network can supply the needs of this particular category of patients as well. To examine the feasibility of the proposed model, some random examples with different dimensions are generated and solved using the CPLEX solver of GAMS software. Furthermore, a real-case problem in Esfahan (Iran) was investigated to illustrate the applicability of the proposed model, and the sensitivity analysis was performed as well. Results approved the applicability of the proposed model in a real situation.

Reliable supply chain network design for 3PL providers using consolidation hubs under disruption risks considering product perishability: An application to a pharmaceutical distribution network

Today, organizations outsource their logistics activities to third-party logistics (3PL) providers to focus more on their key capabilities. A 3PL company is an external provider that controls, manages, and provides logistics services for the manufacture. The success of a 3PL company tremendously depends on the design of its logistics network. This paper studies the problem of designing a reliable hub-and-spoke network using consolidation hubs considering disruption risks and product perishability. To lessen network failure risks, disruption is dealt with using backup facilities, fortification of facilities, and multiple sourcing simultaneously. This problem is formulated as a bi-objective MINLP model that decides on the location, number, and fortification of main and backup hubs and distribution centers, the location of backup facilities, the inventory of perishable products and the back-ordering of products to minimize the cost and time of the supply chain network simultaneously. One of the highlights of this model is that disruption of hubs and distribution centers, which have the role of storing and distributing products, affects product perishability because the storing and distributing conditions and requirements are not met under facilities disruption. The model is linearized, and the uncertainty of facility disruption probabilities is dealt with by using credibility-based possibilistic programming so that an optimal solution can be provided. A major pharmaceutical distribution 3PL company in Iran is considered as a practical application of the model to validate and solve it. Numerical results reveal the relation between product perishability and disruption of the storing facilities and the 3PL policy in distribution, storage, back-ordering, and fortification.