Product-related Problems Research Articles

Input-Output Analysis on Pia Saronde Production Process Scheduling with Invariant Max-Plus Linear System

Max-plus algebra is one of the analysis methods of discrete event systems which has many applications on systems theory and graph theory. Max-plus algebra is a set of real numbers R combined with =-∞ equipped with operations max (⊕) and plus (⊗), can be denoted [(R]_ε,⊕,⊗) with [(R]_ε=R⋃{ε}) . The production process of pia saronde is one of the problems that can be analyzed using max-plus algebra. The production process of this product is sequentially carried out by making skin dough, filling, baking, cooling, and packaging the pia. The max-plus algebra theory was used in this research to determine the optimal time in the production scheduling of pia saronde. Meanwhile, the Invarian Max-plus Linear System (IMLS), max-plus algebraic theory, and the Discrete Event System (DES) were used to solve the production-related problems. IMLS analysis produces eigenvalues that represent the optimum production time. The results obtained the max-plus algebra model of x(k+1)=A x(k), where A =A⊕B⊗C and y=K⊗x_0⊕H⊗u for input-output IMLS analysis. From the matrix A, eigenvalue λ= 226 and eigenvector v=[278 278 278 279 299 302 324 356 488] were obtained. Furthermore, the value of λ describes the pia production schedule at a time span of 226 minutes.
 Keywords: input-output analysis, pia saronde, scheduling, max-plus linear system

Deep reinforcement learning for layout planning – An MDP-based approach for the facility layout problem

Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has demonstrated operational excellence in several production-related problems. This paper applies DRL to facility layout problems (FLP) using Proximal Policy Optimisation, Advantage Actor-Critic and Deep Q-Networks. We show that the proposed approach produces an improved arrangement of facilities. The contribution of this work is the proof of concept that DRL can optimise layouts with respect to material handling costs using only an image representation of the layout and a reward signal. The approach shows potential to generalise to new layouts without the need to model or train, thus significantly speeding up layout design procedures.

Problems and Solutions of Taxation to Control Unhealthy Goods: A Qualitative Study

Background: Taxes on unhealthy goods, in addition to reducing the consumption of these goods, preventing related diseases, and promoting public health, can provide significant financial resources for the health sector. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the problems and solutions of taxation to control the consumption of unhealthy goods to improve public health. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in 2021. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were held to collect information. Sampling was performed by purposive and snowball methods with 31 managers and key experts. The data were analyzed using the content analysis method. MAXQDA software (version 12) was used for classification and coding. Results: This study labeled 2 main themes and 10 subthemes. The main themes included problems of controlling unhealthy goods and solutions to controlling unhealthy goods. Poor decision-making, planning, and execution, production-related problems, smuggling and poor supervision, increased consumption of harmful goods, conflicts of interest, and advertisements of unhealthy goods are the most important of these problems. Imposing taxes, duties, and price hikes, providing alternatives, paying attention to all determinants of supply and demand, and taxation on advertising are also solutions to control unhealthy products. Conclusions: The health level of individuals should be improved by imposing taxes on unhealthy goods, determining accurate tax rates, and simultaneously using measures, such as providing alternatives to unhealthy goods and controlling advertisements. Paying serious attention to the list of harmful goods, coordination and cooperation of related organizations in formulating and implementing tax policies, and providing suitable alternatives to harmful products are the practical suggestions of this study.

Farmers’ Perception and Factors Affecting Adoption Of Mungbean in Patuakhali District of Bangladesh

Mungbean is an important pulse crop in Bangladesh for nutrition, the economy, and food security, as well as a source of protein for the majority of the people. The study was carried out to better understand farmers' views toward mungbean production, the factors affecting mungbean adoption, and the financial profitability of mungbean cultivation. A structured and pre-tested interview schedule was used to interview 90 mungbean farmers that were randomly selected from different villages in Patuakhali Sadar Upazila, Patuakhali district for collecting field level data. A combination of descriptive, mathematical and statistical techniques was used to analyze the data. Profitability analysis showed that mungbean production was profitable because the net return of its cultivation was Tk. 21,959/ha and BCR was more than unity (1.73). The study revealed that short duration crop, sharing work within household members, crop diversification, minimum tillage, employment creation, and income generation significantly influenced farmers to cultivate mungbean than any other crop. Problem facing index pointed out high price of seed and fertilizer, lack of good quality seed and fertilizer, inadequate extension service as a production related problem and lack of value added product development and transport facility, low market price of output and lack of storage facilities were identified as a major marketing problem of mungbean cultivation.
 Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 46(4): 385-396, December 2021

Utilization of high contents of recycled tire crumb rubber in developing a modified-asphalt-rubber binder for road applications

Waste tires are generally mixed with asphalt materials to produce asphalt-rubber (AR) or rubberized asphalt through wet-, dry-, and terminal blending processes. However, the limitations such as long-term storage and stability issues of these special products have led to the need for advancing the AR technology capable of mitigating the production-related problems. Thus, the major objective of this research was to re-engineer AR in the form of a set of eighteen modified-asphalt-rubber (MAR) products comprising high contents of recycled tire crumb rubber (CR) through activation and pulverization. A set of MAR products was synthesized through different blending dosages, sequences, and material combinations. The material characterization techniques (attenuated total reflection-infrared spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction) revealed that the type of additives and the proportions of each material pose a significant effect on the physiochemical properties of MAR. It is noteworthy that this study emphasized the best use of CR emanating out of scrap tires in paving applications through incorporation of higher volumes (as large as 62%) in the preparation of MAR when compared to the conventional AR binder that currently includes about 15–20% CR by weight of the base asphalt binder. The fatigue performance of MAR-modified dense graded mix (MAR blended with natural aggregates) was compared to the conventional mix, which revealed that the MAR-modified dense graded product will have higher fatigue life by more than two times, and increased durability than the conventional mix. Practically, the MAR products can be used for instant application in pothole patching, rehabilitation, and new construction through dry-process technology by replacing a reasonable proportion of conventional aggregates in the asphalt mix. It is envisioned that the MAR binders will reduce the overall cost of pavement construction by utilizing the untreated (or unprocessed) CR in larger quantities by actively supporting the recycling mechanism and circular economy.

Socio-Familial and Marketing Problems Faced by Women Entrepreneurs: An Analytical Analysis

In India, empowering women through entrepreneurship has become an integral part of our development eff orts because of three important reasons viz. women development, economic growth and social stability. The study was conducted in two randomly selected districts i.e., Hoshiarpur and Roopnagar on 120 women entrepreneurs of the sub-mountainous Punjab. Lack of experience in fi nancial matters was the most prevalent problem for the registered entrepreneurs with weighted average 2.19 followed by poor risk-taking capacity with weighted average 2.08 and ranked II. The socio-familial problems foe registered and un-registered enterprises was lack of appreciation (Rank I) followed by lack of their role acceptance (Rank II). The production related problem was reported prominently by un-registered entrepreneurs and they were found unaware about the loaning schemes and lacking with the proper guidance. The intense market competition was most widespread problem in both the enterprises. Study suggested that un-registered enterprises should be motivated and guided to get their enterprise registered to draw benefi ts and to make them economically viable and vibrant.

Seismic Driven Geomechanical Modeling of Uplifted and Subsided Wells in Mumbai Offshore and Its Engineering Implications

Seismic data provide evidence about hydrocarbon deposition, geological and geophysical subsurface information, including geomechanical aspects. Deriving and understanding geomechanical properties is crucial for reservoir management as it can avoid drilling and production-related problems that cause environmental impacts associated with land subsidence and uplift. The Poison's ratio (PR), Young Modulus (YM), and elastic moduli for a reservoir block were estimated using 3D seismic pre-stack data and well data. 3D Mechanical Earth Models (MEM) were also developed using the well logs, seismic horizons, and drilling data. Seismic data-derived geomechanical properties were compared with the mechanical earth models for the first time for this field. Well-tie analysis was used for inversion of 3D seismic data to extract detailed waveform and amplitude information. The brittleness index of the subsurface layers was estimated, which is a critical rock property that provides information about rock hardness and fragility phenomenon. The brittleness index has a diverse range from 5-35%, with significant contrast at shallow zones. PR and YM models generated from 3D MEM and seismic data have average values of 0.2 -0.6 and 5 - 28 GPa with significant contrast from shales and carbonates. The study recommends that the drilling through these problematic zones should be avoided to avoid wellbore problems that cause challenges in maintaining wellbore integrity and reservoir management in the North-Heera field, Mumbai Offshore Basin.

The effect of particle shape on the angle of repose test based calibration of discrete element models

Discrete element method (DEM) is a Lagrangian description based numerical technique used for modelling the mechanical behavior of granular materials. For using the DEM model, the micromechanical parameter values used in the governing equations must be determined beforehand. This is the so-called calibration problem. In most of the cases these micromechanical parameters cannot be directly measured, their values must be systematically changed until the modeled macro behavior of the granular assembly will be the same, as the real-life behavior. In this article we propose the simplest possible calibration method, the so-called angle of repose test for application in case of agricultural crop product related problems. We examine the effect of particle shape on the value of angle of repose, ad give statistically acceptable empirical function to describe this dependence mathematically.

Constraints faced by the dairy farmers in production and marketing of milk in northern dry zone of Karnataka

The present study investigated production and marketing related constraints of dairy farming practice in Northern Dry Zone of Karnataka. The study covered 240 sample households selected randomly from four districts of Northern Dry Zone of Karnataka. About 66 per cent of dairy farmers belongs to marginal (32.50%) and small (33.75%) category. The study also revealed that the 93.75 per cent, 91.66 per cent and 87.91 per cent dairy farmers were facing high cost of feed and fodder, non-availability of quality feed round the year and susceptibility of crossbred animals to disease were the major production related problem, respectively. It was also noted that, the distant location of milk collection center (96%), low price of milk (92.50%), inadequate availability of regular market (91.25%), spoilage of milk due to poor hygiene and storage problem while carrying milk to procurement centre (83.33%) were the major constraints in marketing of milk. Thus efforts should be focused on making availability of quality feed round the year along with the improvement of marketing infrasture is win-win situation for development of dairy sector in the Northern Dry Zone of Karnataka.

Orientation prediction of fracture initiation from perforated horizontal wells: Application in shale reservoirs

For maximum productivity enhancement when targeting low permeability formations, horizontal wells must be made to induce multiple transverse fractures. An orientation criterion for fracture initiation is developed using analytically-derived approximations for the longitudinal and transverse fracturing stresses for perforated wellbores from the literature. The validity of the criterion is assessed numerically and is found to overestimate transverse fracture initiation, which occurs under a narrow range of conditions; pertaining to low breakdown pressure and low formation tensile strength.A three-dimensional numerical model shows that contrary to existing approximations, the transverse fracturing stress from perforated horizontal wells becomes more compressive as wellbore pressure increases. This shrinks the “breakdown pressure window,” which is the range of wellbore pressures over which transverse fracture initiation takes place. This creates a second constraint for transverse fracture initiation, which is the "critical tensile strength" value. This determines the maximum formation tensile strength at which transverse fracture initiation is possible for a given in-situ stress state and perforation direction.Sensitivity analyses are performed based on data from seven unconventional shale reservoirs (Barnett, Bakken, Fayetteville, Haynesville, Niobrara, Marcellus and Vaca Muerta) for horizontal wells drilled parallel to Shmin. The frequent longitudinal fracture initiation occurrence indicated suggests fracture reorientation in the near-wellbore region to be a common event, through which the propagating fractures become aligned with the preferred fracture plane (perpendicular to the least compressive principal stress). This induces near-wellbore fluid tortuosity, which in turn can lead to completions and production-related problems, such as early screenouts and post-stimulation well underperformance.

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Gene Expression and Regulatory Characteristics Associated with Different Vernalization Periods in Brassica rapa.

Brassica rapa is an important Chinese vegetable crop that is beneficial to human health. The primary factor affecting B. rapa yield is low temperature, which promotes bolting and flowering, thereby lowering its commercial value. However, quickened bolting and flowering can be used for rapid breeding. Therefore, studying the underlying molecular mechanism of vernalization in B. rapa is crucial for solving production-related problems. Here, the transcriptome of two B. rapa accessions were comprehensively analyzed during different vernalization periods. During vernalization, a total of 974,584,022 clean reads and 291.28 Gb of clean data were obtained. Compared to the reference genome of B. rapa, 44,799 known genes and 2280 new genes were identified. A self-organizing feature map analysis of 21,035 differentially expressed genes was screened in two B. rapa accessions, ‘Jin Wawa’ and ‘Xiao Baojian’. The analysis indicated that transcripts related to the plant hormone signal transduction, starch and sucrose metabolism, photoperiod and circadian clock, and vernalization pathways changed notably at different vernalization periods. Moreover, different expression patterns of TPS, UGP, CDF, VIN1, and seven hormone pathway genes were observed during vernalization between the two accessions. The transcriptome results of this study provide a new perspective on the changes that occur during B. rapa vernalization, as well as serve as an excellent reference for B. rapa breeding.

Towards A Better Cost and Quality Structure Through Organisational Development Interventions: A Case Study

In order to overcome the challenges of dynamic business environments where fierce competition occurs, and to address the internal firm-level requirements (i.e. effectiveness and efficiency in operations and processes), firms need to change, thus they engage in Organisational Development (OD) interventions. This paper aims to explore the efforts of a family-owned carpet company to change its cost and quality structure through three OD interventions: (1) adapting a new wage and reward system, (2) establishing new manufacturing hubs for the weavers outside of their homes, (3) designing a training programme for the weavers. Findings of the case study bring a reasonable solution to the production-related problem of the SME.

Food and non alcoholic beverages: Branding through social media

Food and non-alcoholic beverages industry in India has shown major growth and development as one of the fastest growing sectors in India in terms of new products introduced and markets captured. The young population of India who are the major consumers of this sector have meanwhile grown up with internet and a majority of them are prolific users of social media. Brands have discovered social media as a vehicle for marketing communications during this last decade. Major food and non-alcoholic beverages companies are now using popular social media to reach their customers. This article describes a study on the use of social media by the brands in this sector. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube users have been studied through a survey to understand the impact of brand communications by food and non-alcoholic beverages brands. Overall satisfaction with social media brand communications, brand equity. and purchase intention has been studied. Social value in this context refers to the perceived benefits of enhancing customer's social well-being and relationships. Followers of a brand's communications through various platforms are people who share some common interest on a certain brand. The social aspects enable customers to share information and help others solve product related problems. Their educational qualifications and familiarity with internet and web 2.0 technologies ensure that they have a higher participation in social media. It was observed that 60% of the sample consists of students followed by professionals, businesspeople and private employees. This is also consistant with the age groups where majority are between 18–25 since most people study during this age.

The Effect of Nondiagnostic Review by Dilution Effect on Consumers' Purchase Intention

소비자들의 구전이 활발히 이루어지는 영화 리뷰를 보면, 영화 구성 및 줄거리와 같은 유용한 정보(diagnostic information)와 촬영문제, 배우의 스캔들과 같은 무관한 정보(nondiagnostic information)가 함께 제시된다. 유용한 정보뿐만 아니라, 무관한 정보가 소비자의 태도에 어떠한 영향을 미칠 것인가? 본 연구는 무관한 정보의 개입은 유용한 정보의 영향력을 중앙(midpoint)으로 수렴시키는 희석효과가 일어날 것이라고 보았다. 연구 1을 통해 유용한 정보에 의한 태도가 희석효과로 약화되는 것을 확인한 후, 연구 2에서는 효과적으로 희석효과를 일으켜 기존의 부정적 소비자의 태도를 긍정적으로 유발시킬 수 있는 메시지 프레임을 제안하고자 하였다. 연구2 실험 결과, 긍정적(vs. 부정적) 분위기는 추상적(vs. 구체적) 메시지인 경우, 인지적 효능감(perceived efficacy)과 정보처리의 유창성(processing fluency)이 높아지므로, 희석효과가 더 크게 발생하여 기존의 태도가 더 약화되었다. 본 연구는 소비자들이 제품에 대한 의사결정을 내릴 때, 유관한 리뷰뿐만 아니라 무관한 리뷰도 활용하는 지 살펴보는 데 연구의 의의가 있다.If you see movie reviews that consumers are actively speaking, there are presented together with diagnostic information such as movie composition and plot, and nondiagnostic information such as production-related problem, actor s scandal. In addition to diagnostic information, how nondiagnostic information affect consumer attitudes? The current research investigates the intervention of nondiagnostic information would cause a dilution effect that would converge the influence of diagnostic information to the midpoint. After confirming that attitude by diagnostic information is weakened by dilution effect through study 1, study 2 proposes a message frame that can effectively induce a dilution effect in order to positively induce negative consumer attitudes. The result of study 2 depicts that when positive (vs. negative) moods presenting together with abstract (vs. concrete) messages, perceived efficacy and fluency of information processing are increased, so dilution effect is higher and existing attitude is weakened. The significance of this study is that they are actually looking at whether using both diagnostic reviews and nondiagnostic reviews when consumers make decisions about their products.

Hydrogen generation from sodium borohydride with Ni and Co based catalysts supported on Co3O4

Hydrogen is an alternative and clean energy carrier, but there are still some production related problems. In this aspect, it is crucial to efficiently generate hydrogen from hydrogen rich materials such as sodium borohydride. In this study, Co3O4 supported Ni and Co catalysts are synthesized via microwave irradiation technique for hydrogen generation from sodium borohydride. In this context, firstly, Co3O4 support material is synthesized by chemical method. Then, Ni and Co catalysts are decorated onto Co3O4 support material by microwave irradiation-polyol method. Prepared catalysts and support material are characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP/MS). A new system is designed by our group in order to determine the activity of the prepared catalysts for hydrogen generation. The effects of different initial NaOH concentrations on hydrogen generation rate are investigated. It is observed that the rate of hydrogen generation increased with an increase in initial NaOH concentration. Co-Co3O4 catalyst at 10% NaOH initial concentration shows the highest hydrogen generation rate as 2823 ml/gcat.min. In summary, Co-based catalysts are exhibited more activity than Ni-based catalysts in terms of hydrogen generation.

Widening the genetic base of cultivated gene pool following introgression from wild Lens taxa

AbstractWild Lens taxa are a reservoir of useful rare genes/alleles for widening the genetic base and synthesis of a new gene pool of lentil. To maximize and sustain lentil production, new gene sources are needed to be identified and incorporated into cultivated background. This needs a comprehensive approach to accumulate favourable alleles from distantly related germplasm for widening of the cultivated gene pool and would be the most appropriate strategy to solve the various problems associated with stressed crop production and plateaued yields. Furthermore, expansion of deeper understanding of lentil genomics along with extensive research undertaken in other crop species can provide suitable guidelines to cover the distribution of Lens genus and component gene pools for further remarkable progress in lentil genetic improvement. This review aims at the genus Lens distribution and gene pools, crop germplasm conserved in ex‐situ and in‐situ collection, wild species characterization and evaluation for useful traits of interest to solve production‐related problems, highlight useful gene sources present in different gene pools and the progress achieved for widening the genetic base of cultivated varieties of lentil through wide hybridization and exploring lentil genomics.

Factors in the decision by Swiss farmers to convert to organic farming

AbstractDemonstrated economic benefits of conversion to organic agriculture, combined with solutions to technical and production-related problems, suggest that farmers in Switzerland should have converted in large numbers to organic production. However, the number of organic farms in Switzerland has remained virtually constant in the last 10 yr, so it appears there are other factors that influence the decision of whether or not to convert. Several studies have sought to identify the factors that influence the decisions by farmers whether or not to convert to organic, but have found a range of factors that appear to be context dependent, while others can be seen as context transcendent, which makes it difficult to draw generalizable conclusions. The aim of this study was to identify how Swiss farmers’ decisions reflect the interaction of perceptions, relationships, policies and economic factors, which either enable or provide barriers to conversion. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2015 with 39 farmers of mixed and arable farms in the German- (n= 24) and French-speaking (n= 15) parts of Switzerland. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed according to their content. The results show that the decision of whether or not to convert relies on belief that technical problems have been sufficiently solved, as well as a range of social factors. Farmers perceive social pressure for them to be productive, but non-organic farmers often incorrectly perceive organic farming as not being oriented toward production. Furthermore, ‘official’ advice, which could correct this misperception, is sought about how, rather than whether, to convert and typically comes after farmers have made their decision. Major barriers in an area with a low density of organic farms are the lack of supply and delivery points within an acceptable travel distance, and lack of peer networks to provide informal support. On the basis of these findings, we propose that strategies to encourage conversion should be based around two main pillars: investment to create a network of supply and delivery points in areas with low density of organic farms; and actions, such as information events, to encourage dialogue between conventional and organic farmers to counteract feelings of ‘usvsthem’.

Food and Non Alcoholic Beverages: Branding through Social Media

Food and non-alcoholic beverages industry in India has shown major growth and development as one of the fastest growing sectors in India in terms of new products introduced and markets captured. The young population of India who are the major consumers of this sector have meanwhile grown up with internet and a majority of them are prolific users of social media. Brands have discovered social media as a vehicle for marketing communications during this last decade. Major food and non-alcoholic beverages companies are now using popular social media to reach their customers. This article describes a study on the use of social media by the brands in this sector. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube users have been studied through a survey to understand the impact of brand communications by food and non-alcoholic beverages brands. Overall satisfaction with social media brand communications, brand equity. and purchase intention has been studied. Social value in this context refers to the perceived benefits of enhancing customer's social well-being and relationships. Followers of a brand's communications through various platforms are people who share some common interest on a certain brand. The social aspects enable customers to share information and help others solve product related problems. Their educational qualifications and familiarity with internet and web 2.0 technologies ensure that they have a higher participation in social media. It was observed that 60% of the sample consists of students followed by professionals, businesspeople and private employees. This is also consistant with the age groups where majority are between 18–25 since most people study during this age.

A Critical Evaluation of Water Coning Correlations in Vertical Wells

In oil and gas production, developing bottom-water reservoirs with active aquifer requires production strategy that can handle production-rate-sensitive phenomenon – water coning. The coned water that moves into the completion interval results in production related problems: excessive water production, surface water handling, low oil productivity, among others. To this end, several correlations: critical rate, breakthrough time and water-cut performance after breakthrough have been developed based on analytical, empirical and numerical approach to evaluate water coning tendencies in petroleum reservoirs. Some of the developed correlations have gained field application. However, limited literatures are available that have evaluated the prediction of these water coning correlations. Thus, the various water coning correlations for vertical well were evaluated and the obtained results show that most correlations have the same prediction profile. Conversely, these correlations predicted different coning parameters’ value. Further analysis of the results depicts that critical production rate and breakthrough time in vertical wells are indirectly dependent on fractional well penetration. In addition, the correlations developed from water-cut data for the prediction of water-cut performance after breakthrough indicate more realistic predictions in the water-cut profile than the correlations developed from water-oil ratio. Therefore, to delay water coning tendency in bottom-water reservoirs, fractional well penetration is a consideration in vertical wells to establish optimum critical oil rate and breakthrough time during oil and gas production.

Water Coning Prediction: An Evaluation of Horizontal Well Correlations

Oil production from bottom-water drive reservoirs is characterized by water production related problem - water coning. Most times, horizontal wells are used to attenuate this production challenge. That notwithstanding, overtime, depending on the production rate, water coning is also experienced with horizontal wells. Therefore, several correlations have been developed to predict the critical rate, breakthrough time and water-cut performance after breakthrough in horizontal wells. However, limited studies have evaluated the predictions of these developed water coning correlations. Therefore, an evaluation has been made to predict the various water coning correlations in horizontal wells. The obtained results show that the critical rate directly depends on the stand-off to drainage width and horizontal well length to drainage width ratios. Also, it is shown that the breakthrough time directly depends on the horizontal well length to drainage width ratio. Furthermore, the correlations developed from water-cut data for the prediction of post-water behaviour (i.e., water-cut performance) after breakthrough indicate more proficient water-cut profile than the correlations developed from water-oil ratio. Therefore, to prolong the occurrence of water coning in horizontal wells, the ratios of stand-off to drainage width and horizontal well length to drainage width should be considered to achieve maximum critical oil rate and breakthrough time in bottom-water reservoirs.