Short-term Solution Research Articles

Workforce and task optimization to guarantee oxygen bottling under a COVID-19 pandemic scenario: A Chilean case study

This work describes an optimization model to analyze the response of a Chilean oxygen-bottling plant to disruptions induced by large external events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The model addresses employee shift scheduling, machine scheduling with setup times, production scheduling and inventory management, thus being non-linear, although resolved in reasonable computation times. The workers are assumed to have the same training and skills for a specific task, and to behave homogeneously from the psychological and physical perspectives. The objective function minimizes the cost of bottling oxygen, using monthly average of deaths as a proxy variable to model oxygen demand. The results obtained with this model suggest optimizing task assignments as a short-term solution to satisfy an increased oxygen demand representative of a pandemic scenario, while an additional long-term solution is installing a second cryogenic tank. Considering the latter solution, the model allows to quantify the number of workers necessary to operate an enlarged plant. An updated qualifications matrix coupled with an optimized schedule shows that the number of workers required under these conditions does not have to be doubled, but would have to be increased by only one worker.

The Availability Heuristic

Few fields of psychology have undergone such dramatic conceptual changes over the past dozen years as the emerging science of heuristics. Heuristics are effective cognitive processes that consciously or unconsciously ignore part of information. Good heuristics can greatly reduce the time it takes to solve a problem by avoiding some unlikely possibilities, and although heuristic processes tend to find solutions or outcomes that are often valid or correct, they may only be correct, provable, optimal, or accurate sometimes. However, decision making based on heuristics is often sufficient to solve small-scale problems and provide solutions in uncertain situations where complete information is not available. Heuristics rely on shortcuts to provide immediate, efficient and short-term solutions to facilitate timely decision making. People need to understand how cognitive heuristics work in an uncertain world, combined with practical applications or theory, to help analyze the performance and use areas of heuristics, so that they can continue to evolve and improve.

New automation solution for brownfield production – Cognitive robots for the emulation of operator capabilities

Short-term automation solutions for industrial companies have potential to compensate for volatile demand, employee turnover or shortages. Current solutions are either not available at short notice or economically unviable, as integration in existing control systems and machine tools would be necessary. The paper proposes a cognitive robotic system that circumvents this problem by emulating the behaviour of operators through automated, cognitive skills. The approach uses a perception system, handling and skill modules and a skill-based control to automate in an industrial brownfield use case without additional interfaces to the existing control systems to reduce integration effort to a minimum.

Hermetic Bags: A Short-Term Solution to Preserve High-Moisture Maize during Grain Drying.

Maintaining maize quality while drying during a rainy season is a major challenge for smallholder farmers in developing countries. We conducted a study to evaluate the impact of temporarily storing wet maize of 18, 21, and 24% moisture content (m.c.) in hermetic Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) and polypropylene (PP) woven (control) bags for 21 days. Oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations were monitored, and m.c., germination, and visual mold were assessed. In PICS bags, oxygen dropped below 1% within 7, 11.5, and 21 days for maize at 24, 21, and 18% m.c., respectively. After 21 days, the m.c. of maize stored in PICS bags remained constant, but decreased in PP bags. Germination of maize in PICS bags decreased by 0.5, 6.2, and 95.5 percentage points for 18, 21, and 24% m.c., respectively. In PP bags, germination decreased by 17.5, 15.2, and 39.5 percentage points for the respective moisture levels. After 21 days of storage, visible mold was present on maize stored in PP bags at both 21 and 24% m.c. No mold was observed on maize stored in PICS bags, but a fermentation smell was released from maize at 21 and 24% m.c. The results indicate that maize can be effectively stored in PICS bags at 21% m.c. or below for 21 days with minimal germination loss or mold growth. These findings highlight the potential of using hermetic bags for short-term grain quality preservation just before and during drying. This new utility adds to the current use of hermetic bags for protection against pests during long-term storage. Hermetic bags' dual functionality could significantly improve postharvest management on smallholder farms, thereby enhancing food and nutritional security and safety. Field testing is required in order to integrate this approach under smallholder farmers' conditions (e.g., temperature, m.c., drying practices, etc.).

Refugees, Climate Litigation in the Global South and Climate Change: Facing the Gap in the Protection of Climate Refugees in International Law

Climate change, as the main catalyst for catastrophes in this century, is closely linked to large groups of human beings in forced displacement. This group, called climate migrants - people who, against their will, have to leave their places of origin due to climate phenomena. However, this group of human beings, which tends to expand expressively in the coming decades, reaching somewhere between 200 million to 1.2 billion people by 2050, still does not enjoy specific protection, for what they could be considered: refugees. Despite this, the recognition of this category of migrants as refugees is of immediate importance, due to the need for protection, which has not yet been reflected in international law. Thus, at the moment, what advances have been achieved regarding the protection of climate “refugees” and regarding the evolution of the use of the expression? The present work is developed through bibliographic and documentary research as a research technique, and the analytical-deductive method for analyzing information. In this context, climate strategic litigation, a mechanism through which climate impacts on human rights can be claimed in international courts, could be a possible short-term solution to the legislative gap for refugee protection.

Teach the Crisis: arguments for teaching the Cartoon Crisis in primary school

ABSTRACT The proposal to turn the so-called Cartoon Crisis into the obligatory history curriculum of the primary school system has been debated publicly over the years. Pros and cons regarding its integration into a teaching environment have been put forward. Since 2021, the proposal has also been formally debated as a bill and put to vote in the Danish parliament two times – each time voted down by the current government. Despite the bill’s defeat, I present here a number of principled arguments for making the so-called Cartoon Crisis (including the actual drawings) an obligatory teaching subject in the Danish school system. The arguments can be summed up as an encouragement to ‘Teach the Crisis’. Choosing not to include the Crisis and its primary sources in the teaching will only instal the proverbial elephant in the classroom and is probably a short-term solution for the cultural, social, and political challenges that Denmark will meet in the future.

Maintenance and Reliability Improvement of Roller Bearings Operating at High Temperature: Thermal Stress Analysis Approach

In this paper the authors present the outcome of an experimental maintenance and reliability investigation conducted to prevent operation failure of pinion bearings caused by excessive temperature with a case study of a 1360kW ball mill driveline system in mineral processing application. Aiming to improve the overall plant performance, the lubrication regime of pinion bearings as key component within the ball mill driveline system was studied to determine possible causes of temperature increase at 80 to over 100°C with a 25 - 30°C gap over the maximum operating temperature. An analytical review of maintenance data is conducted to mitigate future operational risks by implementing a new lubrication regime and shutdown frequency for overall statutory inspection. Accelerated life test based inverse power law has been applied to identify the root causes of excessive bearings temperature to establish immediate short-term solution paths towards a guaranteed less required maintenance asset improvement practice, less operational cost, and plant availability enhancement. Furthermore, long-term solutions have been proposed based on modelling by thermal network approach of pinion bearings for thermomechanical stress prevention. A single parameter based accelerated test on pinion bearings was applied to establish operational fault tolerant factors to be considered for asset capability improvement, which remains an open question for future studies. These actions have shown significant improvement with temperature decrease between 15 and 25°C below the maximum required temperature.

Defining “Crisis” in Migration Governance: a Critical Legal Mapping of EU Crisis Response Mechanisms

Abstract Over the past ten years, the language of crisis has become increasingly common in discourse about migration governance at the European Union (EU) level, and policy responses have been oriented by an emergency rationale that prioritizes short-term solutions over long-term planning. EU migration and asylum law incorporates several crisis response mechanisms, and the addition of a new set of instruments has recently been proposed. This paper offers a critical legal mapping of what counts as a “crisis” in EU migration and asylum law, and the mechanisms for responding to such crises. It exemplifies a complex system in which the tension between the imperative to address threats purportedly arising from unwanted migration is intricately intertwined with the necessity of granting Member States flexibility to respond to contingencies without compromising the integrity of the common EU asylum and migration system.

The Role of Shared Resilience in Building Employment Pathways with People with a Disability

For workers living with a disability, pathways to sustainable employment in the open labour market are inhibited by barriers operating at different structural and societal levels. The culture of Australia’s government employment services has applied a ‘work-first’ approach that emphasises finding people employment rather than supporting the acquisition of skills and education. The net effect of this approach is the preferencing of short-term employment solutions, with a focus on individual behaviour or so-called resilience and an emphasis on personal responsibility instead of addressing structural issues. In this paper, we explore how people with disability can be supported in finding employment through a shared resilience approach offered by a Work Integration Social Enterprise (WISE). We suggest that WISEs can provide the conditions for shared resilience by developing and sustaining networks needed to generate hybrid pathways to work and by role modelling inclusive work conditions in the open labour market.

Crisis Faced by a B-School

This article discusses the marketing missteps made by a prestigious B-school, exploring key concepts such as improper positioning and the imperative for repositioning. It provides an in-depth analysis of the decline in admissions at this well-established institution, culminating in a crisis. Additionally, the article explores a range of strategies available to the B-school’s founder and top management team to enhance the institution’s visibility and bolster its brand. Furthermore, it sheds light on the challenges the B-school faces, including inadequate infrastructure and other weaknesses, such as subpar research output, moderate placement offers and a low ranking in national B-school surveys. The case meticulously examines the errors made by the B-school’s leadership team, such as discontinuing advertising and the ill-advised decision to withdraw from B-school surveys. Ultimately, this article epitomizes the predicament faced by an institution that relied on its historical strengths and failed to adapt to the evolving demands of its environment. It concludes by presenting short-term and long-term strategies available to decision-makers for crisis mitigation. It highlights digital marketing as one of the short-term solutions earnestly considered by the B-school’s management to enhance brand awareness among its target audience.

Anesthesiologist shortage in the United States: A call for action

Anesthesiology is a vital component of modern healthcare. The United States is facing a shortage of anesthesiologists complicating the ability of hospitals and surgical specialties to meet the ever-growing demand. Recent local crises demand a reexamination of the issues. This shortage is complex and multifactorial, with causes on both supply and demand sides. The lack of sufficient graduate medical education funding for residency positions, changes in practice patterns and the aging and retiring workforce are limits to the supply. Increasing demand for surgical services will continue to rise by 2–3% per year over the next decade fueled by population growth, particularly among the elderly with the number of people 65 and older growing by 55% over the next decade. The problem of anesthesia supply and demand is complicated by the rapid expansion of private equity firms into the market. The effect is potentially increased cost and an alteration in the standards of care. While there are short-term solutions that can be adopted, such as hiring temporary help and expanding the role of mid-level providers, long-term solutions require a collaborative effort between healthcare providers, administrators, and policymakers to ensure that decisions are based on the best interests of patients and providers.

Detailed kinetic analysis of synthetic fuels containing ammonia

The imperative to adopt environmentally sustainable energy sources has propelled the exploration of zero-carbon alternatives, such as hydrogen and ammonia for energy supply. Integrating these species with methane is recognized as a viable short-term solution. However, a complete understanding of their chemical behaviour in a wide range of conditions remains elusive, especially in terms of safety parameters, limiting the applicability of this solution. To this aim, this work presents a detailed analysis of the overall reactivity, expressed either in terms of laminar burning velocity or flammability limits, of hydrogen-ammonia-containing fuels. Additional considerations were obtained by the analysis of the maximum pressure rise and maximum pressure obtained in adiabatic conditions. A spectrum of nitrogen/oxygen mixtures was scrutinized, and the influence of initial temperature within the range of 300–500 K was systematically investigated. The estimation quality of the adopted mechanism was evaluated by comparing numerical predictions with experimental measurements obtained by different systems, when available. A tendency in slightly more conservative results on the safe side was detected for the assessment of flammability limits and minimum oxygen concentration. This trend was attributed to the assumption of perfectly adiabatic conditions posed for the numerical analysis, which does not perfectly match the experimental conditions. Conversely, an excellent agreement between numerical and experimental laminar burning velocity was observed. Therefore, the collected data were used for the quantification of input parameters required by well-established correlations suitable for synthetic fuels.

Setting new benchmarks for the provision of careers support for home educating families: findings from action research

ABSTRACT The number of families in England choosing to withdraw their children from school has grown significantly since 2016. In this manuscript, we present findings from action research with purposefully sampled home educating young people (n = 9), parents/carers (n = 16), staff from Career Connect (n = 4), staff from schools and colleges (n = 4), staff from six local authorities (n = 14). We explore the reasons for withdrawing from school and subsequent access to Careers Education Information Advice and Guidance (CEIAG). We conclude that a growing number of families opt for home education as a short-term solution to broader challenges, often lacking awareness of the long-term consequences. National quality benchmarks for CEIAG provision in schools in England do not apply to provision outside of school. The near absence of professional careers support exacerbates other challenges of being outside of mainstream school and poses a major risk to the long-term life outcomes for those young people.

Manufacture and testing of ARGUS: A pole climbing surveillance robot

South Africa needs rapidly deployable surveillance in situations such as public marches and periods of unrest. As these events can often last several hours, short-term solutions, such as multi-rotor drones, are generally not feasible. The proposed solution, the Automated Robotic Guardian for Urban Surveillance (ARGUS) platform, is a rapidly deployable pole-climbing robot for surveillance and situational awareness. This paper outlines the system's manufacture, testing, and analysis. The platform was tested under various laboratory and real-world conditions against predefined user specifications. Test results demonstrate that the system can ascend and descend multiple existing pole infrastructures and maintain a hold position without the motors consuming power while on the pole.

A sustainable monitoring approach to manage complex archaeological sites – The example of Pompeii

The management of archaeological sites has always been a particularly complex issue, especially in the context of significant natural and man-made hazards. Among these, climate change is becoming increasingly significant. Over the past few decades, the analysis of the evolution of the condition of archaeological sites has revealed a trend of decay that is significantly influenced by extreme and/or rapid weather changes. While short-term solutions may not always be available to prevent disasters, proactive maintenance can help to control the impact caused by rapid changes and mitigate their extreme effects. Therefore, reliable knowledge and prediction of the evolution of decay are key to the design of a successful maintenance plan.In this context, an innovative approach to monitoring has been developed and applied in the Archaeological Park of Pompeii (Southern Italy). The methodology adopts both multi-scale (data and time resolution) and multi-level (assessment accuracy) approaches compatible with the master data and the information system already developed and implemented in the Park. This paper outlines the overall monitoring framework, which is structured on three assessment levels: Local (LA), General (GA) and Detailed (DA). Additionally, some application examples are also described.

Long Short-Term Memory-Based Prediction Solution Inside a Decentralized Proactive Historian for Water Industry 4.0

Long Short-Term Memory-Based Prediction Solution Inside a Decentralized Proactive Historian for Water Industry 4.0

Global Nursing Shortage: Future Challenges

The global nursing shortage poses a significant challenge to future healthcare workforce planning, highlighting the urgent need for strategic endeavors to address this issue. The shortage of nurses is exacerbated by a significant increase in the shortage of nurses and the elderly nursing workforce. Furthermore, many health problems in the healthcare industry affect their well-being and negatively affect their performance. Moreover, there is a recognized worldwide shortage of nurse educators. The search for workable solutions for nurses' health can significantly improve morale, recruitment, and retention. A short-term and long-term solution is now needed to prevent the escalation of the shortage of nursing staff. This article delves into the myriad factors contributing to the increasing deficit of nurses on a global scale, the implications of these deficiencies on patient care, and the multifaceted challenges that we can expect to encounter in the future. The article aims to catalyze policymakers, healthcare providers, and leaders across the globe to navigate the complex world of healthcare staffing and provide plans for effective reform.

Improving Soil Properties for Construction Usage with Fly Ash and Rice Husk Ash

Changes made to any soil property with the goal of improving the soil’s engineering performance are collectively referred to as soil improvement. This might include enhancing groundwater conditions, decreasing compressibility, minimising permeability, or strengthening the structure’s structural integrity. Soil enhancement might be a short-term solution to make building easier or a long-term strategy to improve the finished structure’s performance over time. Expansive soils, especially black cotton soil, pose serious problems for the building sector because of their negative swelling and shrinking characteristics. The purpose of this study is to better understand how stabilizing substances like fly ash and rice husk ash (RHA) might help address these issues and enhance the qualities of soil suitable for building. To evaluate the efficacy of RHA and fly ash as swell reduction layers and to improve unconfined compressive strength (UCS) in highway construction, the materials will be added to natural soil in different percentages (RHA: 0%, 15%, and 30%; fly ash: 10%, 20%, and 30%). Nine different combinations were tested using UCS after the quantities were established using the Taguchi optimization approach. The results suggest that adding these waste items can greatly strengthen the soil, and that certain combinations work best for stabilizing the soil. The study highlights how soils in construction can be addressed by utilizing sustainable resources like fly ash and RHA.

Evaluation of easy-to-implement anti-stress interventions in a series of N-of-1 trials: study protocol of the anti-stress intervention among physicians study.

Adverse effects of chronically high levels of stress on physical and mental health are well established. In physicians, the effects of elevated stress levels exceed the individual level and include treatment errors and reduced quality of patient-doctor relationships. Breathing and mindfulness-based exercises have been shown to reduce stress and could serve as an immediate and easy-to-implement anti-stress intervention among physicians. Due to the heterogeneity of their effect on stress, we aim to evaluate the intervention effect of performing a short daily breathwork-based or mindfulness-based intervention on the everyday level of perceived stress in physicians in residence in Germany in a series of N-of-1 trials. Study participants will choose between two short interventions, box breathing, and one guided more complex mindfulness-based breathing exercise. Each participant subsequently will be randomly allocated to a sequence of 1-week intervention (A) and control (B, everyday life) phases. Each N-of-1 trial consists of two two-week cycles (AB or BA), resulting in a total trial duration of 4 weeks (ABAB or BABA). Perceived levels of stress will be assessed daily via the StudyU App on the participant's smartphone. Additionally, participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire at baseline and three months after completion of the study that contains questions about basic participant characteristics, lifestyle factors, individual living situations, and validated psychological questionnaires. Intervention effects will be estimated by Bayesian multi-level random effects models on the individual and population level. This study contributes to the development of short-term solutions to reduce work-related stress for physicians in residence. This is expected to benefit the individual and increase the quality of overall healthcare due to a reduction in treatment errors and an increase in the quality of doctor-patient relationships. ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT05745545.

Socio-Ecological Resilience and Social System in Candirejo Village, Magelang

One of the serious problems faced by the Magelang District in developing villages that have been transformed into rural tourism as an effort to alleviate poverty, is the socio-ecological crisis that threatens the goal of sustainable development. The dilemma of complex rural ecosystems is due to changes in the socio-ecological dimensions resulting from the interaction of material and energy exchanges between humans and their environment. Exploitation of nature in the name of tourism has become one of the short-term solutions for farming communities. As a result, problems such as natural damage to social conflicts occur in the village. This research aims to analyze the causes of the socio-ecological crisis and explore the Social system in Candirejo Village. Magelang Regency. The Social System seen from the perspective of constructivism will be measured and analyzed using three aspects of cybernetic reflection (Luhmann). The method used is case study qualitative research and data is collected through in-depth interviews, FGDs, and observations. The results show that socio-ecological improvements also impact agents of change, extend the tourism season, increase community participation, align the visitor experience with Borobudur's image, and increase equitable access to tourism revenue opportunities, all of which strengthen the socio-ecological field.