Logistical Footprint Research Articles

Ultra-forward surgical support for special operations forces. Conception, development and certification of the French Special Operations Surgical Team (SOST) airborne capability

When special operations forces (SOF) are in action, a surgical team (SOST) is usually ground deployed as close as possible to the combat area, to try and provide surgical support within the golden hour. The French SOST is composed of 6 people: 2 surgeons, 1 scrub nurse, 1 anaesthetist, 1 anesthetic nurse and 1 SOF paramedic. It can be deployed in 45 min under a tent or in a building. However, some tactical situations prevent the ground deployment. A solution is to deploy the SOST in a tactical unprepared aircraft hold, to make it possible to offer DCS, to treat non-compressible exsanguinating trauma, without any ground logistical footprint. This article describes the stages of the design, development and certification process of the airborne SOST capability. The authors report the modifications and adaptations of the equipment and the surgical paradigms which make it possible to solve the constraints linked to the aeronautical and combat environment.Study type/level of evidence Care management Level of Evidence IV

Microbial Transport by a Descending Ice Melting Probe: Implications for Subglacial and Ocean World Exploration.

Ocean Worlds beneath thick ice covers in our solar system, as well as subglacial lakes on Earth, may harbor biological systems. In both cases, thick ice covers (>100 s of meters) present significant barriers to access. Melt probes are emerging as tools for reaching and sampling these realms due to their small logistical footprint, ability to transport payloads, and ease of cleaning in the field. On Earth, glaciers are immured with various abundances of microorganisms and debris. The potential for bioloads to accumulate around and be dragged by a probe during descent has not previously been investigated. Due to the pristine nature of these environments, minimizing and understanding the risk of forward contamination and considering the potential of melt probes to act as instrument-induced special regions are essential. In this study, we examined the effect that two engineering descent strategies for melt probes have on the dragging of bioloads. We also tested the ability of a field cleaning protocol to rid a common contaminant, Bacillus. These tests were conducted in a synthetic ice block immured with bioloads using the Ice Diver melt probe. Our data suggest minimal dragging of bioloads by melt probes, but conclude that modifications for further minimization and use in special regions should be made.

The limited regional employment benefits of XXL-logistics centres in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, a shift occurred over the last two decades from positively framed spatial-economic policies promoting the development of extra-large distribution centres (DCs) and their claimed positive employment benefits towards a critical stance questioning the benefits of such policies, fuelled by the connected debate regarding the extensive land use and environmental impacts of DCs. In this paper, we unravel the assumed regional employment benefits of DCs into (i) direct employment benefits within the DCs, (ii) indirect employment benefits in the supply chain, and (iii) employment benefits from structural changes in regional production systems around DCs. We analyse these benefits using detailed business microdata and logistics-building data over a 20-year timeframe in the East-Southeast freight corridor (from Rotterdam to Germany). In the corridor, logistics footprint has doubled, and average DC size has tripled in this timeframe. We demonstrate that, although part of the hypothesised benefits can be spatially identified, employment benefits of new DCs decrease over time, due in part to automation and use of migrant labour. The expected co-agglomeration of manufacturing near DCs does not occur structurally, and although DC-favouring regions have successfully established competitive logistics business ecosystems, they can be vulnerable to a spatial-economic lock-in, relying primarily on the logistics sector. The spatial-economic policy narratives framing DCs as employment catalysts are thus of limited validity.

Can Water-Only DNA Extraction Reduce the Logistical Footprint of Biosurveillance and Planetary Health Diagnostics? Toward a New Method.

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has raised the stakes for planetary health diagnostics. Because pandemics pose enormous burdens on biosurveillance and diagnostics, reduction of the logistical burdens of pandemics and ecological crises is essential. Moreover, the disruptive effects of catastrophic bioevents impact the supply chains in both highly populated urban centers and rural communities. One "upstream" focus of methodological innovation in biosurveillance is the footprint of Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT)-based assays. We report in this study a water-only DNA extraction, as an initial step in developing future protocols that may require few expendables, and with low environmental footprints, in terms of wet and solid laboratory waste. In the present work, boiling-hot distilled water was used as the main cell lysis agent for direct polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) on crude extracts. After evaluation (1) in blood and mouth swabs for human biomarker genotyping, and (2) in mouth swabs and plant tissue for generic bacterial or fungal detection, and using different combinations of extraction volume, mechanical assistance, and extract dilution, we found the method to be applicable in low-complexity samples, but not in high-complexity ones such as blood and plant tissue. In conclusion, this study examined the doability of a lean approach for template extraction in the case of NAAT-based diagnostics. Testing our approach with different biosamples, PCR settings, and instruments, including portable ones for COVID-19 or dispersed applications, warrant further research. Minimal resources analysis is a concept and practice, vital and timely for biosurveillance, integrative biology, and planetary health in the 21st century.

Adding the Capacity for an Intensive Care Unit Dedicated to COVID 19, Preserving the Operational Capability of a French Golden Hour Offset Surgical Team in Sahel.

IntroductionIn April 2020, the military medical planning needs to be recalibrated to support the COVID-19 crisis during a large-scale combat operation carried out by the French army in Sahel.Material and MethodsSince 2019, proper positioning of Forward Surgical Teams (FSTs) has been imperative in peer-to-near-peer conflict and led to the development of a far-forward surgical asset: The Golden Hour Offset Surgical Team (GHOST). Dedicated to damage control surgery close to combat, GHOST made the FST aero-mobile again, with a light logistical footprint and a fast setting. On 19 and 25 March 2020, Niger and Mali confirmed their first COVID-19 cases, respectively. The pandemic was ongoing in Sahel, where 5,100 French soldiers were deployed in the Barkhane Operation.ResultsFor the first time, the FST had to provide, continuously, both COVID critical care and surgical support to the ongoing operation in Liptako. Its deployment on a Main Operating Base had to be rethought on Niamey, to face the COVID crisis and support ongoing operations. This far-forward surgical asset, embedded with a doctrinal Role-1, sat up a 4-bed COVID intensive care unit while maintaining a casualty surgical care capacity. A COVID training package has been developed to prepare the FST for this innovative employment. This far-forward surgical asset was designed to support a COVID-19 intensive care unit before evacuation, preserving forward surgical capability for battalion combat teams.ConclusionFar-forward surgical assets like GHOST have demonstrated their mobility and effectiveness in a casualty care system and could be adapted as critical care facilities to respond to the COVID crisis in wartime.

The BEAMISH hot water drill system and its use on the Rutford Ice Stream, Antarctica

AbstractDuring the 2018/19 Antarctic field season, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Basal conditions on Rutford Ice Stream: BEd Access, Monitoring and Ice Sheet History’ (BEAMISH) project drilled three holes through the Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica. At up to 2154 m, these are the deepest hot water drilled subglacial access holes yet created, enabling the recovery of sediment from the subglacial environment, and instrumenting the ice stream and its bed. The BEAMISH hot-water drill system was built on extensive experience with the BAS ice shelf hot-water drill and utilises many identical components. With up to 1 MW of heating power available, the hot water drill produces 140 L min−1of water at 85°C to create a 300 mm diameter access hole to the base of the ice stream. New systems and processes were developed for BEAMISH to aid critical aspects of deep access drilling, most notably the creation of cavities interlinking boreholes at 230 m below the surface and enabling water recirculation throughout the deep drilling operations. The modular design of the BEAMISH drill offers many benefits in its adaptability, redundancy, and minimal logistical footprint. These design features can easily accommodate the modifications needed for future deep, clean access hole creation in the exploration of subglacial environments.

Topical Issues in Aircraft Health Management with Applications to Jet Engines

Aircraft Health Management Technology for jet engines represents a very important problem, since it develops a large impact on reducing the engine life cycle costs, improving the fuel efficiency, increasing the engines durability and life cycle. This technology is high-end and, in order to enable an improved level of performance that far exceeds the current one, propulsion systems must comply with terms of reducing harmful emissions, maximizing fuel efficiency and minimizing noise, while improving system’s affordability and safety. Aircraft Health Management Technology includes multiple goals of aircraft propulsion control, diagnostics problems, prognostics realized, and their proper integration in control systems. Modern control for Aircraft Health Management Technology is based on improved control techniques and therefore provides improved aircraft propulsion system performances. The study presented in this paper approaches a new concept, of attractive interest currently, that is the intelligent control; in this context, the Health Management of jet engines is crucial, being focused on engine controllers which are designed to match certain operability and performance constraints. Automated Engine Health Management has the capacity to significantly reduce the maintenance effort and propulsion systems’ logistical footprint. In order to prioritize and resolve problems in the field of support engineering there are required more detailed data on equipment reliability and failures detection and management; the equipment design, operations and maintenance procedures and tooling are also very important.

Successful fluoroscopy-free extremity endovascular revascularization in an austere environment: a case report

Background. The use of endovascular techniques in military trauma has increased over time. We present a case of stent-graft placement in a far-forward medical treatment facility (MTF).
 Methods. A 27 year-old male sustained a blast injury to his upper extremities. He was admitted to a Role 2 MTF 7 hours post-injury. On presentation, he was hemodynamically stable, with multiple closed fractures of both hands, a partial amputation of the right forearm, and the absence of right upper-extremity pulses. Plain radiographs revealed two metallic fragments overlying the right humerus head.
 The patient underwent a completion below-elbow amputation and right brachial artery exploration. Following the insertion of an arterial sheath, a multipurpose 5-Fr catheter was used to obtain a single-shot angiogram, which demonstrated a traumatic sub-total occlusion of the axillary artery.
 Using a combination of gentle catheter-wire manipulation and serial radiography, the lesion was traversed and access to normal subclavian artery obtained. A Fluency®Stent Graft (6x100 mm) was then deployed, followed by a completion angiogram, which demonstrated the restoration of extremity perfusion.
 Results.The patient was evacuated to the next echelon of care on day 5 with good perfusion of the extremity. CT-angiography on day 30 demonstrated thrombotic occlusion of the stent-graft; however, the extremity was viable and further revascularization was not clinically indicated. He was discharged on day 78 following conversion to internal osteosynthesis.
 Conclusion.Endovascular revascularization of extremity trauma is possible in an austere environment, although techniques need to be refined to support a reduced logistical footprint.

Composite driveshaft prototype design and survivability testing

Rotorcraft drivelines typically utilize a multi-segmented metallic system to transmit power between the engine and tail rotor. The typical arrangement of metal driveshaft segments, hanger bearings, and flexible couplers contribute to a significant logistical footprint, maintenance downtime, and life-cycle costs. Thus, an innovative flexible matrix composite driveshaft design alternative is presented in this paper, intended to simultaneously reduce the number of couplers and bearings, as well as, provide high fatigue strain capacity. Through reduction in number of parts, the maintenance cost and time as well as weight of the system are reduced. Composite driveshafts, representing those used in utility helicopters, were designed using an optimization process that considers: (1) damping-induced self-heating, (2) whirling stability, (3) torsional buckling stability, and (4) lamina strength. The paper provides a ballistic comparison study between a baseline carbon/epoxy composite and flexible carbon/polyurethane composite driveshaft segments. One driveshaft of each material was torsionally loaded to failure without ballistic impact. Additionally, two driveshafts were impacted obliquely at zero torque with 7.62 and 12.7 mm armor piercing/incendiary (API) rounds. After impact, the driveshafts were loaded in torsion to failure. Residual torsional strengths were 17–21% and 13% of un-impacted strengths for the 7.62 mm and 12.7 mm rounds, respectively. For the small sample size, flexible driveshafts had a marginally higher residual strength compared to the carbon/epoxy counterpart. Residual torsional stiffness values were 83–86% and 52–59% for the 7.62 mm and 12.7 mm rounds, respectively.

Engineering Experience‐Driven, Solution‐Dependent Logistics Support Stakeholder Requirements for new Members in a Federation of Systems

AbstractFederations of systems are ubiquitous. Many organizations use families of systems of similar nature, which do not have any interaction with each other, but that are somehow related in purpose or functionality and are used collectively. Such a family is known as a federation of systems (FoS). Federations of systems show an inflow and outflow of members and allow users to gather substantial experience. This permits a special approach to the engineering of requirements for new members, which are to join an FoS. Stakeholder requirements are to be solution‐independent. Yet, an FoS presents an outstanding possibility to users for benefiting from the gathered experience and from the existing logistics support resources of the members of the family, to state the requirements for new members of the family such that the overall logistics support structure of the FoS and its associated costs are minimized. This paper shows the logistics support elements for which requirements can be written, based on gathered experience. Numerous cases are mentioned in which such approach lead to a significant improvement of the overall cost/effectiveness ratio, optimizing the effectiveness of the use of the logistics support resources, while minimizing associated costs, logistics footprint and response time.

U.S. Naval Aviation: operational airframe experience with combined environmental and mechanical loading

Abstract Airframe structure is the core capability for all aviation operations, whether fixed or rotary wing, manned or unmanned, or ship-based or shore-based. Airframe materials are the underlying enabling technology for all air vehicle structures. Airframe maintainability is the primary availability and readiness driver for U.S. Naval Aviation. Traditionally, airframe structures are designed for immediate mechanical performance and loads-only structural response, and the degradation of properties over the life cycle and sustainment during operations are often an afterthought. Galvanic management and corrosion-resistant materials selection have never been done systematically as part of the structural analysis and lifing process. Additionally, the lack of true failure mechanism understanding of load path effects, crack initiation and growth behaviors, and nonuniform material response has often resulted in underdesign/overdesign, limits on new material insertion, costly life extension programs, and unexpected early in-service failures. Advances in structural and materials science for airframes offer significant opportunity for improvements in availability, readiness, reduced sustainment requirements, fatigue life enhancement, reduced weight and improved range, and enhanced design tools and standard practices. These science and technology advances would be realized in large part through the engineering and operational communities by facilitating mission profile-specific life prediction and operational requirement-tailored functionality, increasing operational readiness, reducing life-cycle costs, reducing logistics footprint, and lowering the maintenance burden on uniformed personnel. Durability can therefore be incorporated into the design and construction phase, where the largest return can be realized.

Application of System Design for Operational Effectiveness for Architectural Modeling of the SoS Relationship between Primary and Enabling Systems

Abstract Government mandates to control costs throughout the life cycle of a product necessitate a comprehensive architecture and methodology from design through operations and sustainment. The Systems Design for Operational Effectiveness (SDOE) model developed by Stevens Institute has become the basis of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) guidance with a focus on increasing reliability and reducing logistics footprint. The complexity of systems of systems approaches and model based systems development increases when both on-board and off-board enabling systems are considered. Models for both should be included in any comprehensive digital tapestry. There are multiple digital threads for life cycle data for the enabling systems to represent the necessary causal relationships between primary and enabling systems that determine operational effectiveness. To address this challenge, a reusable architecture and methodology for addressing this complexity is the first step. This framework can support definition and advanced application of data analytics and big data approaches to the digital threads that define the interaction between primary and enabling system, the industrial enterprise, and the deployed environment, providing the variables which contribute to operational outcomes, and effectiveness. This includes analysis of feedback from actual operations compared with planned suitability analysis during the design phase.

Software Framework for Prototyping Embedded Integrated Vehicle Health Management Applications

Integrated vehicle health management is a major component in a new, future fleet-management paradigm where a conscious effort is made to shift aircraft maintenance from a schedule-based approach to a more proactive and predictive approach (that is, condition-based maintenance). Its goal is to maximize fleet operational availability while minimizing the logistics footprint through monitoring of the deterioration of equipment conditions. A comprehensive integrated vehicle health-management system will be executed in an environment that includes different sensor technologies, multiple information systems, and different data models. Integrated vehicle healthmanagement implementers have to therefore deal with an integration problem that involves different specialized algorithms and embedded hardware platforms. Integrated vehicle health management applications will have common execution logic, and many will share the same data-processing algorithms; hence, development productivity and the quality of integrated vehicle health management applications can be increased through reusable software building blocks and algorithm libraries or, in particular, by using a software development framework. This paper presents an approach to distributed integrated vehicle health management systems that offers reusable software architecture for a class of integrated vehicle health management applications. The focus of this paper deals with an open software framework for development of integrated vehicle health management applications stemming from the open system architecture for a condition-based maintenance specification, which is an architecture-promoting interoperability and a component framework that enables reuse, data-process partitioning, configuration, and rapid prototyping. The framework is developed using Java and Internet communications engines’ distributed middleware, and its application is demonstrated through a gearbox health-monitoring system, where the integrated vehicle health management software is deployed on the distributed embedded devices. This approach provides software-enabled capability to distribute/reconfigure the integrated vehicle health management data process (through the open system architecture for condition-based maintenance common interface and data model) across the hardware platforms to meet the given system configuration. The performance evaluation for the test example shows negligible overhead in the central processing unit, bandwidth, and latency when using the framework.

Effects of C1 Inhibitor on Tissue Damage in a Porcine Model of Controlled Hemorrhage

Activation of the complement system has been associated with tissue injury after hemorrhage and resuscitation in animals. We investigated whether administration of recombinant human C1-esterase inhibitor (rhC1-INH), a regulator of complement and contact activation systems, reduces tissue damage and cytokine release and improves metabolic acidosis in a porcine model of hemorrhagic shock. Male Yorkshire swine were assigned to experimental groups and subjected to controlled, isobaric hemorrhage to a target mean arterial pressure of 35 mmHg. Hypotension was maintained for 20 min followed by a bolus intravenous injection of rhC1-INH or vehicle; animals were then observed for 3 h. Blood chemistry and physiologic parameters were recorded. Lung and small intestine tissue samples were subjected to histopathologic evaluation and immunohistochemistry to determine the extent of injury and deposition of complement proteins. Cytokine levels and quantitative assessment of renal and hepatic function were measured via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and chemistry analyzer, respectively. Pharmacokinetics of rhC1-INH revealed dose proportionality for maximum concentration, half-life, and the time span in which the functional C1-INH level was greater than 1 IU/mL. Recombinant human C1-INH significantly reduced renal, intestinal, and lung tissue damage in a dose-dependent manner (100 and 250 IU/kg). In addition, rhC1-INH (250 IU/kg) markedly improved hemorrhage-induced metabolic acidosis and circulating tumor necrosis factor α. The tissue-protective effects of rhC1-INH appear to be related to its ability to reduce tissue complement activation and deposition. Recombinant human C1-INH decreased tissue complement activation and deposition in hemorrhaged animals, improved metabolic acidosis, reduced circulating tumor necrosis factor α, and attenuated tissue damage in this model. The observed beneficial effects of rhC1-INH treatment on tissue injury 20 min into severe hypotension present an attractive model of low-volume resuscitation, particularly in situations with a restrictive medical logistical footprint.

Optimizing reliability and service parts logistics for a time-varying installed base

Performance based contracting (PBC) emerges as a new after-sales service practice to support the operation and maintenance of capital equipment or systems. Under the PBC framework, the goal of the study is to increase the system operational availability while minimizing the logistics footprint through the design for reliability. We consider the situation where the number of installed systems randomly increases over the planning horizon, resulting in a non-stationary maintenance and repair demand. Renewal equation and Poisson process are used to estimate the aggregate fleet failures. We propose a dynamic stocking policy that adaptively replenishes the inventory to meet the time-varying parts demand. An optimization model is formulated and solved under a multi-phase adaptive inventory control policy. The study provides theoretical insights into the performance-driven service operation in the context of changing system fleet size due to new installations. Trade-offs between reliability design and inventory level are examined and compared in various shipment scenarios. Numerical examples drawn from semiconductor equipment industry are used to demonstrate the applicability and the performance of the proposed method.

Decay-Accelerating Factor Mitigates Controlled Hemorrhage-Instigated Intestinal and Lung Tissue Damage and Hyperkalemia in Swine

Activation of complement system has been associated with tissue injury after hemorrhage and resuscitation in rats and swine. This study investigated whether administration of human recombinant decay-accelerating factor (DAF; a complement regulatory protein that inhibits classical and alternative pathways) reduces tissue damage in a porcine model of hemorrhagic shock. Male Yorkshire swine assigned to four groups were subjected to controlled, isobaric hemorrhage over 15 minutes to a target mean arterial pressure of 35 mm Hg. Hypotension was maintained for 20 minutes followed by a bolus intravenous injection of DAF or vehicle and then animals were observed for 200 minutes. Blood chemistry and physiologic parameters were recorded. Tissue samples from lung and small intestine were subjected to histopathological evaluation and detection of tissue deposition of complement proteins by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analyses. Administration of DAF significantly reduced intestinal and lung tissue damage in a dose-dependent manner (5, 25, and 50 μg/kg). In addition, DAF treatment improved hemorrhage-induced hyperkalemia. The protective effects of DAF appear to be related to its ability to reduce tissue complement activation and deposition on affected tissues. DAF treatment decreased tissue complement activation and deposition in hemorrhaged animals and attenuated tissue damage at 200 minutes after treatment. The observed beneficial effects of DAF treatment on tissue injury after 20 minutes of severe hypotension presents an attractive model of small volume resuscitation, particularly in situations with a restrictive medical logistical footprint such as far-forward access to first responders in the battlefield or in remote rural or mountainous environments.

Full-scale evaluation of mat surfacings for roads over sand subgrades

Nine commercial mat systems were evaluated for use as expedient road surfacings over sand subgrades for beach crossing scenarios. Four were rolled mats and five were panel-type systems. A full-scale test section of each mat system was installed over a sand subgrade and trafficked with a fully loaded military truck. Mat deformation and damage were systematically surveyed at a series of traffic level intervals up to 2000 truck passes. The performance data were analyzed and presented graphically, and the mats were compared according to their abilities to sustain the traffic. The mat systems were further evaluated on the bases of rate of deployment, logistical footprint (unit weight and volume), and cost.

Using simulation to understand Interim Brigade Combat Team munitions logistics

Today, military leaders have limited options when reacting to the wide range of current threats existing in our world. These threats demand forces be able to deploy rapidly while possessing combat capabilities to stabilise a hostile area quickly. The Army’s answer to this requirement is the Interim Brigade Combat Team (IBCT). Logistically supporting the IBCT will require the Army to develop support organisations that exploit available technologies to automate support activities, enhance situational awareness and minimise the overall logistics footprint. We have developed an ARENA 5.0 discrete event simulation model to analyse the receipt, storage and distribution of ammunition stocks to the various units that make up the IBCT. Our model focuses on the operation of the ammunition transfer point (ATP) specified in current army guidance to provide ammunition to the IBCT. We examine a number of different operating conditions and conduct a statistical analysis to reveal significant factors influencing ATP performance.