Opportunities For Performance Improvement Research Articles

Performance of cold chains and modeled growth of Vibrio parahaemolyticus for farmed oysters distributed in the United States and internationally

Vibrio bacteria can accumulate in molluscan shellfish and cause human diseases. The United States (U.S.) has implemented Vibrio Control Plans to mitigate risks associated with these bacteria, which include time and temperature requirements for post-harvest processing and maintaining an unbroken cold chain. In this study, we tracked the performance of cold chains for U.S. farmed oysters distributed nationally and internationally using temperature sensors. Boxes and bags of oysters (n = 125) were shipped from farms in Washington State and the Chesapeake Bay to 143 unique businesses in 20 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and Hong Kong, China. Eighty-one percent of the temperature sensors were returned with usable data. The average product temperature among all participants was 4.4 ± 2.7 °C (40 ± 5 °F), which is 5.6 °C (10 °F) cooler than the 10 °C (50 °F) guidance criterium established by the U.S. government. There were spikes in temperature in some shipments: 18% of shipments (16/91) experienced oyster temperatures above 10 °C for one hour or more, and the median time spent out of temperature control was 2.5 h. We modeled V. parahaemolyticus abundance using temperature sensor data and 75% (68/91) of shipments had a net decrease in V. parahaemolyticus abundance in the cold chain. There are opportunities for improvements in cold chain performance in the shellfish industry and related businesses. In the discussion we provide recommendations for oyster producers related to product cooling, for businesses that handle shellfish, and for government and industry groups to develop guidance for shipping by air, among other issues.

Enabling Non-Hebbian Learning in Recurrent Spiking Neural Processors With Hardware-Friendly On-Chip Intrinsic Plasticity

Intrinsic plasticity (IP) is a non-Hebbian learning mechanism that self-adapts intrinsic parameters of each neuron as opposed to synaptic weights, offering complimentary opportunities for learning performance improvement. However, integrating IP onchip to enable per-neuron self-adaptation can lead to very large design overheads. This paper is the first work exploring efficient on-chip non-Hebbian IP learning for neural accelerators based on the recurrent spiking neural network model of the liquid state machine (LSM). The proposed LSM neural processor integrated with onchip IP is improved in terms of cost-effectiveness from both algorithmic and hardware design points of view. We optimize a baseline IP rule, which gives the state-of-the-art learning performance, to enable a feasible hardware onchip integration and further propose a new hardware-friendly IP rule SpiKL-IFIP. The hardware LSM neural accelerator with onchip IP is dramatically improved in area/power overhead as well as training latency with the proposed new IP rule and its optimized implementation. On the Xilinx ZC706 FPGA board, the proposed co-optimization dramatically improves the cost-effectiveness of on-chip IP. Self-adapting reservoir neurons using IP boosts the classification accuracy by up to 10.33% on the TI46 speech corpus and 8% on the TIMIT acoustic-phonetic dataset. Moreover, the proposed techniques reduce training energy by up to 49.6% and resource utilization by up to 64.9% while gracefully trading off classification accuracy for design efficiency.

(Invited) Performance Evaluation of III-N Bipolar Switches Grown on GaN Substrates

The successful development of III-V nitride materials systems has led to active research of advanced electronic devices in the recent decades. III-nitride (III-N)-based devices have a bandgap engineering flexibility, large energy gap, direct band structure, and high carrier mobility when compared to Si- and SiC -based devices, providing new performance improvement opportunities for high-speed and energy-efficient electronics. Today, commercial GaN HFETs are available for microwave power amplifiers and power electronic circuits. On the other hand, the development of bipolar transistors and the related switch technologies are essential to fully exploit the potential of III-N materials systems. For instance, insulated-gate-bipolar transistors would require integrated bipolar transistor and unipolar transistor structures. The development of III-N bipolar switches in either two-terminal or three-terminal forms have therefore been actively sought. To this end, power switches that conduct the electric current in the vertical form are beneficial to achieve the ultimate Baliga’s Figure of Merit (BFOM) for switching. For GaN bipolar power switches development, low-defect-density native substrates, high-quality epitaxial growth technology, and proper device design and fabrication have become major focus areas of research. Early development of heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) using GaN/InGaN heterojunctions at Georgia Tech showed promising device performance. These devices exhibited high-current gain of >100, high current drive density of >100 kA/cm2, and high d.c. power handling capability of > 3 MW/cm2. Small-signal microwave amplification with a cut-off frequency (f T) of 8GHz was reported. In this presentation, we will review the development status of III-N bipolar switches and use GaN rectifiers as a case study to discuss the device performance pertinent to the choices of GaN substrates prepared by different methods. The device structures were grown and fabricated at Georgia Tech and the device performance correlation with respect to the substrates were evaluated. High-power operation was demonstrated for homojunction GaN PIN rectifiers grown on a 2-inch bulk GaN substrate using a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor. The GaN substrate was prepared using a near-equilibrium ammonothermal (NEAT) method. The device fabrication employed an ion-implantation isolation, field plate, and electroplated copper electrodes. The fabricated devices have dimensions up to 1.1 mm in diameter and showed uniform V on of 3.6±0.1 V and an ideality factor of 2.08. A blocking voltage (BV) of >1.2 kV and the on-state resistance (R ON A) of 0.4 mΩ·cm2 were measured. For PIN rectifiers with a dimension of 1.1 mm in diameter, we reported a BV of 1,200 V and an on-state current drive of greater than 11 A (1 kA/cm2). These results demonstrated the feasibility of using bipolar carrier transport mechanisms and PN junctions in III-N devices for power amplifications and switching circuits.

Reliability modeling of subsea SISs partial testing subject to delayed restoration

Subsea oil and gas production has always involved the challenging task of determining the overall reliability of safeguarding systems, such as safety instrumented systems (SISs). Partial testing and delayed restoration of SISs are the main issues in operation and maintenance activities. This paper proposes a novel reliability-modeling methodology for subsea SISs subject to partial testing and delayed restoration. The proposed methodology incorporates an increasing failure rate in conjunction with dangerous undetected failures for the final elements. Approximation formulas for evaluating the average probability of failure on demand are derived for SISs in the low-demand operating mode. In addition, the effects of degradation are modeled by following Weibull rules in different subsequent partial testing intervals. In contrast to previous works, the present research accounts for delayed restoration after detecting failures and also considers the repair time for different scenarios. The proposed formulas are compared with the existing ones for partial verification. A case study on the shutdown valves of a subsea high-integrity pressure protection system is presented to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed methodology. It is also proven that the proposed approximation offers a robust opportunity for testing strategy optimization and performance improvement of SISs.

Development of a dual magnetostrictive material rods–based electro-hydrostatic actuator

Recently, the use of smart material–based electro-hydrostatic actuators is increasingly becoming more attractive to overcome the inherent disadvantages of conventional actuation systems and to offer new opportunities for performance improvement. A new type of a dual magnetostrictive material rods–based electro-hydrostatic actuator is presented in the current study. An active rotary rectification valve is utilized to convert small, high-frequency vibration displacements of the magnetostrictive material rods into continuous, smooth and bidirectional motion of a hydraulic cylinder by fluid rectification. Simulation and experiments were performed to confirm the feasibility of the new concept. The experimental results indicate that the dual magnetostrictive material rods–based electro-hydrostatic actuator exhibits a maximum flow rate that is approximately twice that of a single magnetostrictive material rod–based electro-hydrostatic actuator, and that the operating frequency increases from 110 to 150 Hz.

Data Visualization Is King

Over the past decade, there has been explosive growth in the amount of financial and operational data portfolio companies generate every day. The growing mass of data makes it difficult for private equity firms to derive the actionable insight necessary to positively impact a fund’s performance. In response to this challenge, private equity groups have turned to technology for help. Data visualization has emerged as a popular and impactful tool for analyzing large amounts of data. Visualization tools can help isolate financial performance issues, accelerate communication, and uncover performance improvement opportunities across a fund’s portfolio. When leveraged correctly, even the process of gathering data for use in visualizations generates performance-enhancing opportunities. However, converting these opportunities into meaningful performance improvement requires an understanding of what data visualization can do for your business and how it can be effectively leveraged across a portfolio. TOPICS:Private equity, performance measurement, quantitative methods

Improving supply chain management process using design structure matrix based cross‐functional analysis

AbstractThis paper introduces a process improvement study for a supply chain management (SCM) system of an aircraft manufacturer by using the design structure matrix (DSM). A high‐level model for the overall SCM process has been set up. Information and operation interfacing between critical tasks (CTs) belonging to adjacent steps of the high‐level models are expressed and analyzed using the DSM. The interface values (IVs), which represent the extent of risk exposure of the interfaces, are computed. The IVs associated with DSM cells are used to identify high‐impact cross‐functional areas of the system. The gray areas, which present opportunities for improvements in the system performance, are found after an in‐depth gap analysis of the identified high‐impact areas. Finally, the measures that can address the gaps in the gray areas and improve the system process are developed. The results and insights obtained from a process improvement case study on SCM of the Boeing Company are discussed.

A Status-transition Model for CO2 Heat Pump Water Heater Based on Modified Lorentz cycle

Energy management is a systematic activity for improving energy performances of a target system, and an energy management system is expected to solve operational planning problems and report or suggest opportunities for performance improvement. An equipment model is required to reflect the characteristics of the actual equipment’s performance and to have a simple structure to apply to operational planning problems. The model should be able to diagnose changes with performance degradation over time. In this study, we proposed a thermodynamically-sound model of a CO2 heat pump water heater, suitable for solving operational planning problems and diagnosing degradation of equipment. The proposed model consists of a heat pump unit (HP) and a hot water storage tank (ST). The HP model is a status-transition model, constructed based on the Lorentz efficiency, which is identified by experimental values and a theoretical maximum coefficient of performance (COP) for a trans-critical heat pump cycle. The ST model is simplified and can describe temperature distribution in the ST because the unit COP of the HP influences the thermal stratification of the ST. The proposed model is preferable in its simplicity and robust performance for a wide temperature range by comparison with a conventional statistical regression model.

Abstract WP326: Factors in Acute Ischemic Stroke Predicting Pre-Hospital Notification by Emergency Medical Services

Introduction: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) treatment is time sensitive and every 15 minutes saved in treatment results in 1 additional month of disability-free life in patients treated with thrombolysis. Pre-notification by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has shown to reduce door to CT scan time, door to needle time for thrombolysis and increase the number of patients treated with thrombolysis. Determining which factors contribute to recognition and emergent treatment of stroke in the emergency department (ED) which are not recognized in the field can help improve models of pre-hospital notification. Objective: To determine which factors predict pre-hospital notification by EMS in patients with AIS treated with emergent therapy. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed our institutional database for all patients arriving through the ED by EMS who underwent acute stroke treatment from 2007-2018. All patient's arriving by EMS were dichotomized by the presence or absence of pre-hospital notification. We assessed the impact of demographic, clinical [NIHSS, FAST scores ((Face, Arm, Speech, Time) dichotomized into 0-1 or 2-3)], and diagnostic (vascular territory) factors on the likelihood of pre-hospital notification by EMS. A multivariate logarithmic regression analysis with assessment for confounding factors was applied. Results: A total of 183 patients were identified. The presence of 2 or 3 FAST criteria increased the odds of pre-hospital notification by EMS by 3.07 (p = 0.022, 95% CI 1.17-8.05) when adjusted for age. The vascular territory involved did not independently predict the likelihood of pre-hospital notification. We did not identify any significant confounders in the multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Patients with AIS receiving emergent treatment are over three times more likely to benefit from pre-hospital notification by EMS when presenting with 2 or 3 FAST criteria. Pre-hospital notification of AIS has established itself as a means to expedited clinical and radiographic evaluation and faster and more frequent treatment on hospital arrival. Improving EMS triage of AIS patients presenting with symptoms not well represented in the FAST criteria represents a stroke systems of care performance and quality improvement opportunity.

Techno-economic evaluation of a biogas-based oxidative coupling of methane process for ethylene production

This contribution is a preliminary techno-economic assessment of a biogas-based oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) process. Biogas is frequently utilized as a renewable energy source within small scale combined heat and power plants or as a natural gas substitute. The activation of methane also enables its utilization as a feedstock to produce chemicals. In this sense, the OCM process allows for the direct conversion of methane into ethylene, which is a major building block for the chemical and polymer industries. Biogas resulting from the anaerobic digestion of vinasse, a liquid effluent from bioethanol industry, is treated for contaminant removal and its methane content is converted into ethylene, which is then purified as the main product. The biogas cleaning process is assessed based on literature data, while an experimentally validated simulation model is used to assess the OCM process. A techno-economic evaluation is then performed through a Monte Carlo simulation, wherein uncertain parameters take random values between reasonable bounds. The net present value results positive in 74% of the cases, indicating that the project is profitable under a wide range of scenarios. Some performance improvement opportunities have been identified and highlighted to guide future studies in the topic.

Physical simulation as a tool to understand friction stir processed X80 pipeline steel plate complex microstructures

The thermal cycles associated to friction stir welding and processing produce a wide range of microstructures, resulting in different mechanical behaviors along the weld. Most research efforts have focused on the development of welding parameters to obtain sound welds, yet there is still an opportunity for performance improvement based on the understanding of how microstructures are produced. This work explored the different microstructures obtained after physical simulation of an X80 pipeline steel, as a function of the cooling rate and the isothermal transformation temperature. The aim was to study the development of complex mixed microstructures under controlled conditions, in order to compare them to the ones obtained after friction stir processing. As result of the continuous cooling and isothermal thermal simulations, intermediated and high cooling rates, the microstructures matched with those found at the processed plates. These results might help developing a better cooling control after welding.

Water management in the military: The SmartBlue Camp Profiling Tool

Increasingly, military installations are becoming part of the ongoing discussion on environmental sustainability. Military installations, and camps in particular, often resemble small towns in terms of inhabitants and demand for resources, but are significantly different from civilian settings in terms of autonomy needs, resource management, population make up and operational requirements. In this context, what is missing is the development of a specialised and standardised framework able to assess the status of military camps in terms of water resources management and infrastructures' sustainability. To this end, we develop and present the SmartBlue Camp profiling tool. The tool comprises of 31 Performance Indicators (PI) that evaluate the sustainability of water management in a camp, covering all aspects of the “military water cycle”, and 15 Context Factors (CF) that assess background characteristics of the surrounding area, enabling a deeper understanding and interpretation of PI values. We also present the implementation of the tool in six European military camps, identifying priorities and opportunities for performance improvement and short-listing specific technological interventions at a case by case basis, able to address water challenges at the camp level.

A Novel Approach to Control Source/Drain Cavity Profile for Device Performance Improvement

We present a novel method to form the source/ drain (S/D) cavity for pFET performance improvement—we named this cavity as doping-assisted cavity as its profile is controlled by the lightly doped drain implantation. By utilizing the enhanced etch rate in chlorine-based dry etch process, the cavity profile is aligned to the arsenic dopant contour, enabling a lower tip height that mitigates short-channel effects. In this paper, doping-assisted S/D pFET cavity demonstrates 7% device performance improvement with matched tip CD. In addition, this new cavity enables a smaller tip CD that offers the opportunity for further device performance improvement.

Life cycle assessment of conventional and organic apple production systems in China

A life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to characterize the environmental performance and potential improvement opportunities related to conventional and organic apple production systems in two main apple production areas (Shandong Province and Shaanxi Province) in China. Nine impact categories including Non-renewable energy depletion, Water depletion, Land occupation, Global warming potential, Acidification potential, Eutrophication potential, Human toxicity potential, Aquatic toxicity potential, and Soil toxicity potential were selected. The results showed that, despite a lower productivity, organic apple production system versus conventional system could help to reduce the environmental impacts for most of the examined impact categories. Regardless of conventional or organic apple production system, the environmental impacts in Shandong Province were lower than that in Shaanxi Province. A relevant share of the primary non-renewable energy depletion and global warming potential were caused by the agricultural materials input stage, meanwhile a significant share in acidification potential, aquatic eutrophication potential, human toxicity potential, aquatic eco-toxicity potential, and soil eco-toxicity potential were caused by the orchard management stage. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the farming step showed that the production and associated field-level emissions of fertilizers (i.e. synthetic and manure), and inputs to pest and disease management were major contributors to environmental impacts on conventional apple production system, whereas an important share in the overall environmental impacts was due to the production and usage of organic manure in organic apple production systems. In addition, more gasoline consumption due to long-distance transport of fruits and higher water depletion and land occupation in organic production systems were worth considering.

A New Era for Web AR with Mobile Edge Computing

Dedicated device-based and app-based augmented reality (AR) solutions have inherent limitations regarding cross-platform, pervasive AR application provisioning. Web-based AR (web AR), a promising lightweight and cross-platform approach to AR, is gaining increasing attention owing to its extensive application areas. However, for computationally intensive AR applications, the weak computational efficiency of current web browsers seriously hampers applications of web AR on a large scale. The browser + cloud approach suffers from the high-latency dilemma. Now, with the emerging 5G networks, mobile edge computing (MEC) promises to greatly reduce network latency (even to 1 ms) by deploying applications at the network edge closer to users, which provides an opportunity for performance improvement of web AR. In this article, the authors envision that the application of MEC has the potential to bring web AR into a new era. Specifically, an MEC-oriented web AR solution is first proposed, followed by the design and deployment details. The authors also discuss future directions aimed at using MEC to tackle the performance issues of web AR in 3G, 4G, and 5G networks.

State Health Agencies' Perceptions of the Benefits of Accreditation.

The national voluntary accreditation program serves to encourage health agencies to seek departmental accreditation as a mechanism for continuous quality improvement. This study utilizes data from the 2016 Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Profile Survey to examine the perceived benefits of accreditation among state health agencies. Respondents answered questions on topics such as agency structure, workforce, and quality improvement activities. Frequencies and cross tabulations were conducted using IBM SPSS (version 21) statistical software. Results indicate that among accredited agencies, the most commonly endorsed benefits of accreditation include stimulating quality and performance improvement opportunities (95%), strengthening the culture of quality improvement (90%), and stimulating greater collaboration across departments/units within the agency (90%). Policy and practice implications, such as how these data can be used to promote accreditation within health agencies, as well as how accreditation strengthens governmental public health systems, are also discussed.

Simulation-based Assessment to Reliably Identify Key Resident Performance Attributes.

Obtaining reliable and valid information on resident performance is critical to patient safety and training program improvement. The goals were to characterize important anesthesia resident performance gaps that are not typically evaluated, and to further validate scores from a multiscenario simulation-based assessment. Seven high-fidelity scenarios reflecting core anesthesiology skills were administered to 51 first-year residents (CA-1s) and 16 third-year residents (CA-3s) from three residency programs. Twenty trained attending anesthesiologists rated resident performances using a seven-point behaviorally anchored rating scale for five domains: (1) formulate a clear plan, (2) modify the plan under changing conditions, (3) communicate effectively, (4) identify performance improvement opportunities, and (5) recognize limits. A second rater assessed 10% of encounters. Scores and variances for each domain, each scenario, and the total were compared. Low domain ratings (1, 2) were examined in detail. Interrater agreement was 0.76; reliability of the seven-scenario assessment was r = 0.70. CA-3s had a significantly higher average total score (4.9 ± 1.1 vs. 4.6 ± 1.1, P = 0.01, effect size = 0.33). CA-3s significantly outscored CA-1s for five of seven scenarios and domains 1, 2, and 3. CA-1s had a significantly higher proportion of worrisome ratings than CA-3s (chi-square = 24.1, P < 0.01, effect size = 1.50). Ninety-eight percent of residents rated the simulations more educational than an average day in the operating room. Sensitivity of the assessment to CA-1 versus CA-3 performance differences for most scenarios and domains supports validity. No differences, by experience level, were detected for two domains associated with reflective practice. Smaller score variances for CA-3s likely reflect a training effect; however, worrisome performance scores for both CA-1s and CA-3s suggest room for improvement.

Restart Could Optimize the Probability of Success in a Bernoulli Trial.

The recently noticed ability of restart to reduce the expected completion time of first-passage processes allows appealing opportunities for performance improvement in a variety of settings. However, complex stochastic processes often exhibit several possible scenarios of completion which are not equally desirable in terms of efficiency. Here we show that restart may have profound consequences on the splitting probabilities of a Bernoulli-like first-passage process, i.e., of a process which can end with one of two outcomes. Particularly intriguing, in this respect, is the class of problems where a carefully adjusted restart mechanism maximizes the probability that the process will complete in a desired way. We reveal the universal aspects of this kind of optimal behavior by applying the general approach recently proposed for the problem of first-passage under restart.

Sutter Health Advanced Illness Management (AIM) 2016 Program Update (QI815)

•Identify three measures of success for innovative palliative care programs serving the seriously ill patient population.•Identify three characteristics of the advanced illness population. Sutter Health’s AIM program began in 2009. We received a CMMI First Round HCIA three year grant in 2012. The ability to demonstrate value is critical to sustainability of innovative care models. The poster provides AIM program outcomes for 2016, as well as strategies for financing the program post-grant. The AIM program demonstrates the impact an innovative program to improve the experience and quality of care while lowering the cost. AIM program development included creating metrics for operational, clinical, and financial outcomes, and patient satisfaction. The team monitors process measures on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis to ensure program quality and effectiveness. Metrics demonstrate program value and identify opportunities for performance improvement. The program was evaluated by an independent review through the CMMI grant and determined to be of significant value. The 2016 AIM program highlights include an average daily census of approximately 2,700 patients receiving 119,000 contacts via phone or visit. The program serves patients over 19 counties in Northern California and received referrals from 1,900 physicians. 81.7 percent of patients served were Medicare age, and 32 percent had a primary diagnosis of cancer. 43 percent of AIM patients transitioned to hospice care. The AIM patient population experienced an 8 percent reduction in emergency room visits; a 60 percent reduction in hospitalizations; a 64 percent reduction in ICU utilization; and a 6 percent reduction in the average length of a hospital stay. Overall patient satisfaction was 86 percent. Advance Care Planning documentation was completed within 90 days for 97 percent of AIM patients. AIM is an effective model to support seriously ill patients. The reductions in high cost health care utilization translates into significant total cost of care savings. Sutter Health’s ability to implement and sustain AIM in a variety of markets demonstrates the ability to replicate the program within other health care organizations.

An Evaluation of the Consultant Workshop Model in a Human Service Setting

ABSTRACTThe purpose of the present study was to document and evaluate an application of the consultant-workshop model commonly employed by Organizational Behavior Management consultants. The consultation took place in a nonprofit human service setting that delivers behavioral services to children diagnosed with autism and their families. Workshop attendees were 13 senior therapists each of whom oversaw six to eight instructor therapists who provided behavioral services to clients. The training took place three years prior to this evaluation across five months and four workshop sessions. Participants learned to pinpoint, measure, diagnose, and intervene and then they presented their project at the last workshop and these projects were documented. When possible, follow-up information was gathered to determine the extent to which this approach facilitated maintenance of the projects and generalization to other opportunities for performance improvement. Results indicated that projects were, in general, very effective. At follow-up, some components of the projects remained in place and limited evidence indicated that the performance improvements maintained or generalized. Based on the findings, recommendations for improving the workshop model are provided.