Extra Handling Research Articles

An evaluation of the wastes and obstacles within the context of lean management in emergency services

The objective of this study is to evaluate the types of waste within the context of lean management practices in emergency departments and to provide recommendations for addressing the challenges associated with their implementation. The aim is to enhance the effectiveness of performance improvement processes and to improve patient satisfaction. The opinions of 8 experts in the field were collected and analyzed using fuzzy AHP. The analysis revealed that defects (29%) are the most common type of waste in emergency departments, with a significant impact on efficiency and patient safety. This is followed by extra handling (15%) and waiting time (13%). Addressing these issues, along with other types of waste such as wasted talent, movement, transportation, inventory, and overproduction, is critical to improving overall operational performance. The overcoming of integration challenges necessitates the implementation of a multifaceted strategy, which should encompass the commitment of leadership, the engagement of staff, and the establishment of a culture of continuous improvement. The success of lean management is contingent upon several factors, including leadership support, multidisciplinary collaboration, process streamlining, and the ability to navigate resistance to change.

RANCANG BANGUN MESIN PENCACAH ES BATU DENGAN POSISI MATA PISAU DIAGONAL

Fish is one of the fishery products which has a very high source of protein. Fish is a commodity that rots easily, so it requires extra careful handling in an effort to maintain its quality after being removed from fresh water and sea water. One way to preserve it is to store it in chopped ice. In connection with the need for chopped ice in large quantities, a block ice chopping machine with a diagonal blade position was made. The size of the ice cube chopper machine is 1700mm long, 450mm wide and 1200mm high. The machine uses a drive motor with a power of 1 hp. The production capacity of the machine is. In the first study, the force produced by the knife was 7.90 kg/minute

Solid phase extraction-diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy method for the detection of low concentrations of methylene blue pigment in aqueous matrices using MCM-41

The efficiency and high sensitivity of the combination between solid phase extraction (SPE) with diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) as a method for the monitoring of emerging contaminants (ECs) in water, was evaluated and optimized through the detection of aqueous methylene blue (MB) at low concentrations using MCM-41 as solid active phase. Through the sol–gel route and post-synthetic treatments three mesoporous ordered silica with MCM-41 pores arrangement were synthesized and deeply characterized in order to determine the physicochemical properties of the mesoporous solid phases. One has silanol surface groups while the others feature a mixture of aminopropyl/silanol or methyl/silanol surface moieties. The batch separation experiments at pH = 7.0 ± 0.2 showed that the pristine and methylated MCM-41 solid phases had the highest affinities toward MB with removal efficiencies greater than 99 % for these samples, while the aminopropyl-modified MCM-41 retained only 32.5 %. MB detection by DRIFTS was done through the appearance of the absorption bands at 1488, 1390 and 1337 cm−1 associated with C–H and CS+ bending vibrations, with a limit of detection of 0.10 % w/w MB/MCM-41. When applied the SPE-DRIFTS method the necessary w/w ratio (0.10 %) was reached when a distilled water MB solution of 0.01 mg/L was passed through the SPE cartridge filled with 50 mg of MCM-41 and using a flow rate of 1.5 ml/min. The MB detection limit was successfully evaluated in a real water sample extracted to from río Negro, Patagonia, Argentina. The method presented here features the advantage of avoiding the use of expensive and toxic solvents as well as extra handling steps which could interfere with the detection process. The findings here reported suggest great potential of MCM-41-based SPE step prior to DRIFTS for ECs detection.

Membangun Kepedulian Masyarakat Terhadap Problem Sampah Melalui Laboratorium Sampah di Marengan Laok Kalianget Sumenep

Population growth in Indonesia is increasing rapidly; of course, the volume of waste is growing because people's activities continue using things that are not environmentally friendly. This phenomenon can be seen in Marengan Laok Village, Kalianget District, Sumenep Regency, which is claimed to be a slum village. The community service carries two goals: building awareness and providing real action to residents by providing theoretical and practical knowledge to the community about waste processing or recycling to solve this problem. In this case, the service uses a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, which addresses issues and fulfills the practical needs of society, the production of knowledge, and the process of social change, as well as raising collective critical awareness. After analysis, the community's indifference is based on a lack of knowledge, skills in recycling domestic waste, and a lack of attention from the government. Through a united, socialist community culture and support from the village government and local community leaders, the PCM program, which consists of preventing, controlling, and recycling waste, can gradually make people aware of the importance of protecting the environment. This success is supported by the establishment of the UPT Abhinar Waste Laboratory, which is used as extra handling so that domestic waste does not endanger people's lives and residents can recycle organic and inorganic waste, such as making eco paving blocks, accessories, bags, and others.

Priority Strategy For Improving Dam Operation and Maintenance Performance (Cacaban Dam Case Study)

Dam operation and maintenance activities are critical, so the dam usually works and provides benefits according to plan. Over time, the performance of the Cacaban Dam has decreased significantly. The physical condition of the main building, supporting buildings, and instruments have experienced damage, which could pose a risk to the dam's safety. The main objective of this research is to determine priority strategies for improving operations and maintenance of the Cacaban Dam. Determining priority strategies for improving operations and maintenance in this research uses the DSS (Decision Support System) method with SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) and QSPM (Quantitative techniques Strategic Planning Matrix). Based on the SWOT analysis results, the resulting strategy is the Diversity Strategy, meaning that the Cacaban Dam is in good internal condition. In contrast, the external condition is not good. The proposed strategy is to minimize external threats/threats with strategic priorities referring to the scoring results using the QSPM method. Meanwhile, from the results of the dam performance assessment, Cacaban Dam obtained an average performance score of 3.45, considered adequate performance. However, if you look at several items of poor performance, there are two items, namely reservoir condition and border and greenbelt conditions, which have poor performance. There are seven components, namely intake buildings, spillway buildings, support hills, dam services, emergency action plans, instrumentation, and surrounding communities, whose performance is quite close to the deficient limit and has the potential for performance to decline. Extra handling is needed to restore the performance of dams and reservoirs.

Is Chemical Control for Crayfish in Hatchery Fish Shipments Practical?

AbstractInvasive crayfish (family Cambaridae) displace native crayfish species and alter aquatic habitat, community structure, and ecosystem function. We evaluated whether chemical control can be a reliable control agent for crayfish to ensure that shipments from fish hatcheries did not result in new infestations of invasive crayfish. A series of acute (≤1 h) toxicity tests were conducted to evaluate the toxicity of cypermethrin and pyrethrin to crayfish, freshwater mussels, and fish; chemical concentrations in test organisms; effectiveness of carbon‐block filters to remove cypermethrin from test waters; and the cost of chemical control relative to extra handling of fish. Cypermethrin dosed at 75 μg/L for 15 min resulted in 100% mortality of adult white river crawfish Procambarus acutus and virile crayfish Faxonius virilis but did not cause >20% mortality in adult pondmussel Ligumia subrostrata, juvenile fatmucket Lampsilis siliquoidea, fingerling Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus, hybrid sunfish (Bluegill × Green Sunfish L. cyanellus), hybrid Striped Bass (White Bass Morone chrysops × Striped Bass M. saxatilis), yearling Paddlefish Polyodon spathula, or ready‐to‐eat Bluegill, hybrid sunfish, and Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus. Behavioral effects, such as loss of equilibrium or head shaking, were generally limited to 1 h postexposure. Mean concentrations of cypermethrin increased in fish fillets (4–26 μg/g) and whole fish (5–1,770 μg/g); therefore, regulations limiting harvest for up to 7 d following stocking may be required. A carbon‐block filtration system was effective in reducing (<90%) cypermethrin concentrations and thus reducing potential effects to nontarget species in receiving waters. Extra handling of fish was more cost‐effective for all fish tested except for Paddlefish, where the cost of chemical control was half that for extra handling. For all other fish tested, chemical control was 4–10 times more expensive than extra handling. Special use permits or chemical registration are needed before chemical control for crayfish could be routinely used at fish hatcheries.

Reuse of shipping materials in the intravitreal bevacizumab supply chain: feasibility, cost, and environmental impact

BackgroundIntravitreal injections are the most common ophthalmic procedure worldwide and are also a prime opportunity for waste reduction. This study analyzes the feasibility, environmental impact, and cost of reusing shipping materials for intravitreal injection medications, as compared to wasting coolers and cold packs after single-use.MethodsIn this prospective pilot study, shipping materials (cardboard boxes, polystyrene foam coolers, and cold packs) from repackaged bevacizumab delivered to our clinic (500 doses per week) were saved and reused over a 10-week study period. The shipping supplies were photographed and inspected for defects at point of care (Twin Cities, MN), and returned via standard ground shipping to the outsourcing facility (Tonawanda, NY).ResultsPolystyrene foam coolers (n = 3) survived 10 roundtrips between the outsourcing facility and retina clinic (600 mi each way), although wear-and-tear was visible in the form of marks and dents. Cold packs (n = 35) were less durable, lasting 3.1 ± 2.0 roundtrips. Total carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions were reduced 43%, by reusing shipping materials (12.88 kgCO2e per 1000 bevacizumab doses), as compared to the standard practice of disposing containers after single-use (22.70 kgCO2e per 1000 bevacizumab doses), and landfill volume was reduced by 89%. Cost savings from reusing containers offset expenses incurred with return shipping and extra handling in the reuse cohort (net savings: $0.52 per 1000 bevacizumab doses).ConclusionsReusing shipping supplies can be cost neutral, with less CO2e emissions and reduced landfill. Robust environmental benefit is possible if retina clinics partner with manufacturers to reuse shipping containers.

US Postal Service announces rate hike for holiday season

The United States Postal Service has announced a temporary price hike for key package products for the 2022 peak holiday season. The rate adjustment is similar to ones in past years meant to help cover extra handling costs to ensure a successful peak season, the agency said. Its impacts on philanthropic organizations, will vary, but will be especially significant for nonprofits that use the USPS to ship items from website sales and/or mail larger swag for donors as part of year‐end fundraising campaigns. Those that don't ship anything during the holiday season won't be impacted, as the general nonprofit rate will be unchanged.

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT ON FLOODS DURING PANDEMIC COVID-19 IN DKI JAKARTA INDONESIA

A flood is an event that occurs due to an accumulation of water that falls and cannot be accommodated by the ground. Thestudy aims to find out the history of floods in DKI Jakarta and the handling of floods amid the current Covid-19 pandemic. Natural events, such as floods, are not new in an urban area. The study discusses whyfloods that occur in urban areas, especially the DKI Jakarta area, are an annual cycle?.But there is a difference in 2020 and 2021 because of the flood, this time amid the Covid-19 pandemic, so extra handling is needed because if there is a crowd in the refugee camp it can spread the virus more widely. Thus, the government is doing everything it can to handle floods so that the community remains in a healthy body condition. The method used in the study is descriptive with a literature study approach, namely collecting data from reliable sources.Floods can be caused by two factors, namely natural causes and unnatural causes (from human activities).

A parallelised large neighbourhood search heuristic for the asymmetric two-echelon vehicle routing problem with swap containers for cargo-bicycles

Cargo-bicycles are a promising alternative to conventional vans in city logistics in response to increasing urbanisation and environmental damage caused by city traffic. The delivery structure is modelled with the well studied Two-Echelon Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (2E-CVRP), which uses cross-docking from vans to cargo-bicycles at so-called satellites. To reduce the extra handling effort compared to single-tier systems, swap containers are used. Furthermore, for cargo-bicycles the consideration of asymmetric distance matrices is important. Therefore, we present the Asymmetric 2E-CVRP with Swap Containers and develop an efficient Parallelised Large Neighbourhood Search heuristic, that is further improved using a first-level heuristic. The heuristic is tested using the symmetric 2E-CVRP benchmark instances from the literature, outperforms previous heuristics for large instances and finds new best-known solutions. Subsequently, the heuristic is applied to a case study in Munich with 22 newly generated instances, each containing 200 customers and asymmetric distances. The results allow quantitative insights into the cost and CO2e emissions savings of the investigated cargo-bicycle set-up compared to conventional van delivery.

Anaerobic-Based Water Resources Recovery Facilities: A Review

The concept of water resources recovery facilities (WRRFs) has gained more attention as a more sustainable substitute for the conventional activated sludge-based wastewater treatment plant (CAS-WWTPs). Anaerobic treatment is advantageous due to its lower energy use, limited sludge production, and higher recovery of the soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) from the received wastewater. In this article, a critical review of the proposed scheme for the anaerobic-based WRRF (An-WRRFs) is presented which is preceded with discussion of CAS-WWTPs limitations. In addition, the evolution of anaerobic treatment from being viewed as wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to WRRF is demonstrated. It is attained that, even though anaerobic WWTPs (An-WWTPs) have simple and low energy mainline and very limited sludge handling process, its limited removal and recovery capacity have been widely reported, especially in cold weather. On the other hand, in the An-WRRF, higher energy expenditures are employed by using membranes, dissolved methane recovery unit, and primary treatment (extra sludge handling). Yet, energy recovery in the form of biogas is notably increased, as well as the removal efficiency under moderate residence times. The three key challenges to be overcome are the low value of biogas, reducing the energy use associated with membranes, and maintaining high performance in full-scale, especially in cold weather.

Impact of a “Buy-online-and-pickup-in-store” Channel on Price and Quality Decisions in a Supply Chain

This paper studies the impact of a “buy-online-and-pickup-in-store (BOPS)” channel on quality, prices, and profits of a manufacturer and a retailer. We analyze a Stackelberg game-theoretic model where the manufacturer produces and sells a product with a quality level to the retailer at a wholesale price, and the retailer sells the product to end customers at a selling price through a Store channel, an Online channel or a BOPS channel (if available). The retailer would incur an extra handling cost if opening the BOPS channel, and customers would incur a shipping and transaction cost if purchasing from the Online channel and the Store channel, respectively. We find that both the manufacturer and the retailer can benefit from adding the BOPS channel under certain conditions. Moreover, when the BOPS channel is not available, adding the Store channel is beneficial for both parties and results in lower quality and wholesale price but higher selling price when the shipping cost is relatively high. When the Store channel is dominated by the available BOPS channel, however, opening the Store channel cannot benefit both parties. We also show that adding the BOPS channel would increase (reduce) both consumer surplus and social welfare for a sufficiently low (high) handling cost. We further observe that it is profitable for a centralized decision maker to add the BOPS channel via increasing both the price and quality under some simple conditions. Finally, we extend our base model to a more general one and illustrate our main results remain valid.

Identifying the market areas of port-centric logistics and hinterland intermodal transportation

Many port authorities have developed ambitious strategies to foster hinterland intermodal transportation. In addition, port-centric logistics, that is, the provision of distribution facilities and value-adding activities in the port area, has expanded in multiple ports. Obviously, such port-centric logistics may impact the operations in the hinterland substantially and could potentially reduce opportunities for intermodal transport in the hinterland. We analyze the interaction between port-centric logistics and hinterland intermodal transportation. We take a logistics service provider's perspective and we include some key elements in the model, such as detention fees, extra handling, transport efficiency and empty container repositioning. We develop new analytical results identifying the optimal market areas of truck-only transportation, port-centric logistics and hinterland intermodal transportation. Our results show that tension between port-centric logistics and hinterland intermodal transportation is quite likely to happen in practice. We additionally study the use of continental containers as a way to reconcile port-centric logistics and hinterland intermodal transportation and we derive further results. We illustrate our results via an example and we highlight managerial insights.

Bioeconomic assessment of a change in fishing gear selectivity: the case of a single-species fleet affected by the landing obligation

The European Union Common Fisheries Policy has established a discard ban, which states that fish below a reference size cannot be sold directly for human consumption. In a fishing effort-regulated fishery, the discard ban can result in extra handling, storing and landing costs. In an output-regulated fishery, this policy might also limit the effort levels as all the catches count against the quota. In both cases, this regulation can reduce the economic performance of the companies, even in single-species fisheries. A possible solution is to increase the mesh size, thus retaining fewer small individuals. To study this option, a bioeconomic simulation of a change in the gear selectivity from 100- to 120-mm minimum mesh size (MMS) was performed. The results show that the private perspective (profits) does not change. Furthermore, due to the lower retention of 120 mm MMS, the efficiency of a fishing day was reduced by 5% and 2.5%, from the point of view of capital and labour productivity, respectively. In contrast, gross revenues increased by 1.5% and crew compensation by 2%. Given a societal benefit of this change in the mesh size, this gain could be re-distributed to provide an incentive for selectivity improvements.

Targeted reduction of highly abundant transcripts using pseudo-random primers.

Transcriptome studies based on quantitative sequencing can estimate levels of gene expression by measuring target RNA abundance in sequencing libraries. Sequencing costs are proportional to the total number of sequenced reads, and in order to cover rare RNAs, considerable quantities of abundant and identical reads are needed. This major limitation can be addressed by depleting a proportion of the most abundant sequences from the library. However, such depletion strategies involve either extra handling of the input RNA sample or use of a large number of reverse transcription primers, termed not-so-random (NSR) primers, which are costly to synthesize. Taking advantage of the high tolerance of reverse transcriptase to mis-prime, we found that it is possible to use as few as 40 pseudo-random (PS) reverse transcription primers to decrease the rate of undesirable abundant sequences within a library without affecting the overall transcriptome diversity. PS primers are simple to design and can be used to deplete several undesirable RNAs simultaneously, thus creating a flexible tool for enriching transcriptome libraries for rare transcript sequences.

The last mile, inbound logistics and intermodal high capacity transport - the case of Jula in Sweden

Some of the biggest challenges for intermodal transport competitiveness are the extra handling costs and pre- and post-haulage costs. This paper investigates the use of intermodal high capacity transport (IHCT) for the intermodal transport chain in general and pre-and post-haulage in particular. The aim is not only to measure the cost reductions from using larger vehicles but to understand how better management of inbound flows through increased integration of logistics processes can increase the efficiency of the last mile. The paper analyses the haulage of two 40-foot containers simultaneously when part of an intermodal transport chain. Data were collected from a demonstration project in Sweden, where permission was obtained to use longer vehicles on an approved route to and from the nearest intermodal terminal. Results indicate substantial cost savings from using longer vehicles for pre- and post-haulage. In addition, the business model whereby the shipper purchased their own chassis and permission was obtained to access the terminal after hours for collecting pre-loaded chassis brought additional cost and planning benefits. The total cost saving was significant and potentially eliminates the cost deficit associated with the last mile.

A Real-Time Fast-Flow Tube Study of VOC and Particulate Emissions from Electronic, Potentially Reduced-Harm, Conventional, and Reference Cigarettes.

Tobacco-free electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), which are currently not regulated by the FDA, have become widespread as a "safe" form of smoking. One approach to evaluate the potential toxicity of e-cigarettes and other types of potentially "reduced-harm" cigarettes is to compare their emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including reactive organic electrophillic compounds such as acrolein, and particulate matter to those of conventional and reference cigarettes. Our newly designed fast-flow tube system enabled us to analyze VOC composition and particle number concentration in real-time by promptly diluting puffs of mainstream smoke obtained from different brands of combustion cigarettes and e-cigarettes. A proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTRMS) was used to analyze real-time cigarette VOC emissions with a 1 s time resolution. Particles were detected with a condensation particle counter (CPC). This technique offers real-time analysis of VOCs and particles in each puff without sample aging and does not require any sample pretreatment or extra handling. Several important determining factors in VOC and particle concentration were investigated: (1) puff frequency; (2) puff number; (3) tar content; (4) filter type. Results indicate that electronic cigarettes are not free from acrolein and acetaldehyde emissions and produce comparable particle number concentrations to those of combustion cigarettes, more specifically to the 1R5F reference cigarette. Unlike conventional cigarettes, which emit different amounts of particles and VOCs each puff, there was no significant puff dependence in the e-cigarette emissions. Charcoal filter cigarettes did not fully prevent the emission of acrolein and other VOCs.

Life cycle assessment for dredged sediment placement strategies

Dredging to maintain navigable waterways is important for supporting trade and economic sustainability. Dredged sediments are removed from the waterways and then must be managed in a way that meets regulatory standards and properly balances management costs and risks. Selection of a best management alternative often results in stakeholder conflict regarding tradeoffs between local environmental impacts associated with less expensive alternatives (e.g., open water placement), more expensive measures that require sediment disposal in constructed facilities far away (e.g., landfills), or beneficial uses that may be perceived as risky (e.g., beach nourishment or island creation). Current sediment-placement decisions often focus on local and immediate environmental effects from the sediment itself, ignoring a variety of distributed and long-term effects from transportation and placement activities. These extended effects have implications for climate change, resource consumption, and environmental and human health, which may be meaningful topics for many stakeholders not currently considered. Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides a systematic and quantitative method for accounting for this wider range of impacts and benefits across all sediment management project stages and time horizons. This paper applies a cradle-to-use LCA to dredged-sediment placement through a comparative analysis of potential upland, open water, and containment-island placement alternatives in the Long Island Sound region of NY/CT. Results suggest that, in cases dealing with uncontaminated sediments, upland placement may be the most environmentally burdensome alternative, per ton-kilometer of placed material, due to the emissions associated with diesel fuel combustion and electricity production and consumption required for the extra handling and transportation. These results can be traded-off with the ecosystem impacts of the sediments themselves in a decision-making framework.

Microfluidic System Based High Throughput Drug Screening System for Curcumin/TRAIL Combinational Chemotherapy in Human Prostate Cancer PC3 Cells.

We have developed a fully automated high throughput drug screening (HTDS) system based on the microfluidic cell culture array to perform combinational chemotherapy. This system has 64 individually addressable cell culture chambers where the sequential combinatorial concentrations of two different drugs can be generated by two microfluidic diffusive mixers. Each diffusive mixer has two integrated micropumps connected to the media and the drug reservoirs respectively for generating the desired combination without the need for any extra equipment to perfuse the solution such as syringe pumps. The cell array is periodically exposed to the drug combination with the programmed LabVIEW system during a couple of days without extra handling after seeding the cells into the microfluidic device and also, this device does not require the continuous generation of solutions compared to the previous systems. Therefore, the total amount of drug being consumed per experiment is less than a few hundred micro liters in each reservoir. The utility of this system is demonstrated through investigating the viability of the prostate cancer PC3 cell line with the combinational treatments of curcumin and tumor necrosis factor-alpha related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL). Our results suggest that the system can be used for screening and optimizing drug combination with a small amount of reagent for combinatorial chemotherapy against cancer cells.

Applying lean manufacturing system to improving productivity of airconditioning coil manufacturing

The main objective of this investigation was to implement lean manufacturing system (LMS) to improve productivity of airconditioning coil manufacturing at Blue Star Limited. LMS was successfully employed to improve coil manufacturing productivity or output by 77 % or from 121 coils to 214 coils per shift. The LMS tools; such as value stream mapping, single minute exchange of die, and Kaizen were employed to reduce the setup time of coil expander machine from 60 to 20 min, an improvement of 67 %. The increase in percentage value addition (%VA) of the coil shop was from 5 to 12 %, an improvement of 140 %. The improvement, especially in coil expander machine was achieved through Kaizen (continuous improvement) targeting design and work method changes. The specific innovative design changes or improvements made in the expander machine to reduce the setup time included the application of: (1) gear rack and gear pinion mechanism, (2) spring and cam and lever mechanism, and (3) one touch mechanism in the various components of the machine. Many method Kaizens were also proposed to simplify the setup procedure by eliminating waste (muda) from the setup of expander. Other benefits were obtained through reduction of work-in-process inventory, which in turn reduced the shop floor congestion and coil damage due to extra coil handling and improved workplace safety.