Simulated Warehouse Research Articles

Insect-resistant activities of Elsholtzia ciliata essential oil and its main components carvone against Tribolium castaneum in different development stages

The main objectives of the present study are to introduce a ecologically safe, and natural compound for controlling the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. This study aims to thoroughly examine the effects of Elsholtzia ciliata essential oil (E. ciliata EO) and its primary components, carvone, on Tribolium castaneum eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. The study also includes a simulated warehouse test to assess the efficacy of these substances as contact agents, fumigants, repellents, and antifeedants. All of these anti-insect activities were positively correlated with the concentrations of E. ciliata EO and carvone. Firstly, in the contact activity assay, E. ciliata EO and carvone completely inhibited the hatching of eggs and pupae of the T. castaneum at a concentration of 2.5 μL/cm2. The LC50 of E. ciliata EO and carvone were 7.62 and 4.33 μg/adult, respectively, against senior adults (5 weeks old). Secondly, in the fumigant activity assay, 60 mg/L of E. ciliata EO and carvone essentially completely inhibited pupae eclosion. On the other hand, the LD50 of E. ciliata EO and carvone against senior adults (5 weeks old) were 8.72 and 5.02 mg/L, respectively. Thirdly, for T. castaneum adults, at the highest test concentration, the repellent rate of the E. ciliata EO was above 90%. Fourthly, the larvae and adults of the T. castaneum could reach complete antifeedant activity by E. ciliata EO and carvone at the highest test concentrations. Finally, 3000 ppm of carvone was sufficient to kill all the pests in the warehouse in the simulated warehouse test. In conclusion, the results of this study will contribute to the better control of the storage pest, T. castaneum, and the development of environmentally friendly insecticides based on E. ciliata EO and carvone.

Evaluation of the performance of bituminous geomembranes (BGMs) as vapour barriers

Vapour barriers (VBs) are essential in maintaining the indoor air quality of home basements or industrial facilities, especially when subsurface contamination poses a risk to human health. It is of utmost importance that the material installed as VB has the capacity to prevent contaminant migration into the indoor air space and reduce its concentration to an acceptable limit. Bituminous geomembranes (BGMs) have been used as contaminant barriers in spite of the gap in research regarding the permeation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through BGMs. This study examines the performance of a 4.1mm thick elastomeric BGM as a diffusive barrier to four commonly found VOCs; benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), utilizing computer modelling of contaminant migration from a contaminated soil source to a hypothetical warehouse building constructed on a brownfield site. The effectiveness of BGM in preventing vapour intrusion is evaluated based on its capacity to keep the indoor air concentration of the contaminant below the recommended exposure limits (RELs). Based on the modelling results, the BGM can be expected to perform as a very efficient VB for the simulated warehouse if quality control can be ensured during installation. This modelling approach can be adopted to investigate BGMs’ performance in different remediated site scenarios to make scope for a robust decision-making process regarding the construction and the engineering control requirements.

A Pilot Study of Natural Formulation Activity in the Protection of Stored Wheat and Barley Against the Stored-Product Insects

The stored-product insects are one of the major causes of losses in the stored cereals. Most of control measures still rely on a synthetic pesticide usage, but due to its negative side effects on the goods, human health, and the environment, there is an urgent need for an alternative control. A natural formulation based on the diatomaceous earth (DE) SilicoSec®, enhanced with the botanicals (essential oil lavender, corn oil, and bay leaves dust) and the silica gel was developed. The aim of the study was to test the activity of the developed formulation as a postharvest protectant of seed wheat and barley in the suppression Sitophilus oryzae (L.), Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst). As a reference comparative value, the DE SilicoSec® was applied. Subsequent to the six months of storage under the simulated warehouse conditions, the formulation has completely suppressed the initial population development of all three tested insect species, both in wheat and barley. In wheat, a complete suppression was detected at the dose of 500 ppm against T. castaneum and 600 ppm against both R. dominica and S. oryzae. In barley, a complete suppression was detected at the doses of 500 ppm, 400 ppm, and 600 ppm against R. dominica, T. castaneum and S. oryzae, respectively. Conclusively, the results of this study indicate that the developed natural formulation based on the DE, botanicals, and silica gel was highly effective against the three major stored‐product insect species, providing a long-term safe storage of wheat and barley seeds.

Lifelong Multi-Agent Path Finding in Large-Scale Warehouses

Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF) is the problem of moving a team of agents to their goal locations without collisions. In this paper, we study the lifelong variant of MAPF, where agents are constantly engaged with new goal locations, such as in large-scale automated warehouses. We propose a new framework Rolling-Horizon Collision Resolution (RHCR) for solving lifelong MAPF by decomposing the problem into a sequence of Windowed MAPF instances, where a Windowed MAPF solver resolves collisions among the paths of the agents only within a bounded time horizon and ignores collisions beyond it. RHCR is particularly well suited to generating pliable plans that adapt to continually arriving new goal locations. We empirically evaluate RHCR with a variety of MAPF solvers and show that it can produce high-quality solutions for up to 1,000 agents (= 38.9% of the empty cells on the map) for simulated warehouse instances, significantly outperforming existing work.

Dynamic path finding method and obstacle avoidance for automated guided vehicle navigation in Industry 4.0

Within the scope of Industry 4.0, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are used to streamline logistics through the usage of efficient path finding methods. The current path finding methods in the industry rely on excessive usage of guidance in the shape of magnets, tapes or QR codes on the floor that the AGVs follow to reach their destinations. However, the current methods lack operational flexibility and are costly to scale in the cases of job-shop floor expansions. In this paper, a dynamic path finding method with obstacle avoidance is presented which utilizes distance measuring sensors to avoid obstacles and reach the goal destination using the most direct path as possible. Tests for functionality and multi-agent scaling have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the dynamic method in a multi-agent setting. The results show that the dynamic method scales properly and is capable of navigating multiple agents through a simulated warehouse environment autonomously and without relying on external guidance. The dynamic method is able to avoid most collisions using distance measuring sensors and multi-agent negotiation to resolve conflicts among the agents that could have resulted in potential collisions. The proposed dynamic method provides a flexible and scalable path finding method for use in Industry 4.0.

Fumigant Toxicity and Oviposition Deterrent Activity of Volatile Constituents from Asari Radix et Rhizoma against Phthorimaea operculella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae).

Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller) is a worldwide pest of potato. Plant-borne chemicals would be potential alternatives of synthetic chemical fumigants against P. operculella in the storage. Asari Radix et Rhizoma is derived from the dry roots and rhizomes of Asarum heterotropoides Fr. Schmidt var. mandshuricum, A. sieboldii Miq. var. seoulense, or A. sieboldii. In this study, fumigant toxicity and oviposition deterrent of volatile constituents from ARR, δ-3-carene, γ-terpinene, terpinolene, eucarvone, 3,5-dimethoxytoluene, and methyleugenol were tested against P. operculella. The preliminary verification of preventive and control effects of eucarvone, 3,5-dimethoxytoluene and methyleugenol on P. operculella was carried out by simulating warehouse experiments. The results indicated that the six compounds above had fumigation toxic effects on the adults and eggs of P. operculella. Among them, δ-3-carene, γ-terpinene, and terpinolene had weaker fumigation effects than those of eucarvone, 3,5-dimethoxytoluene, and methyleugenol. The LC50 values of eucarvone, 3,5-dimethoxytoluene, and methyleugenol against adult P. operculella were 1.01, 1.78, 1.51 mg/liter air, respectively. The LC50 values against egg P. operculella were 1.09, 0.55, 0.30 mg/liter air, respectively. The oviposition deterrent experiment showed that only methyleugenol (at 5 and 1 mg/ml) and eucarvone (5 mg/ml) had a substantial oviposition deterrent effect. The simulated warehouse experiment verified that methyleugenol, eucarvone, and 3,5-dimethoxytoluene protected potatoes from P. operculella and demonstrated that methyleugenol had the best preventive and control effects. It was concluded that methyleugenol was the active ingredient with the most potential in the volatiles from ARR on P. operculella control and merit further study as botanic fumigant.

Online Replanning With Human-in-the-Loop for Non-Prehensile Manipulation in Clutter — A Trajectory Optimization Based Approach

We are interested in the problem where a number of robots, in parallel, are trying to solve reaching through clutter problems in a simulated warehouse setting. In such a setting, we investigate the performance increase that can be achieved by using a human-in-the-loop providing guidance to robot planners. These manipulation problems are challenging for autonomous planners as they have to search for a solution in a high-dimensional space. In addition, physics simulators suffer from the uncertainty problem where a valid trajectory in simulation can be invalid when executing the trajectory in the real-world. To tackle these problems, we propose an online-replanning method with a human-in-the-loop. This system enables a robot to plan and execute a trajectory autonomously, but also to seek high-level suggestions from a human operator if required at any point during execution. This method aims to minimize the human effort required, thereby increasing the number of robots that can be guided in parallel by a single human operator. We performed experiments in simulation and on a real robot, using an experienced and a novice operator. Our results show a significant increase in performance when using our approach in a simulated warehouse scenario and six robots.

Biological control of Callosobruchus chinensis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in stored chickpeas through the release of natural enemies

In this study, two predatory mites and two parasitoid wasps were evaluated for their effectiveness in controlling Callosobruchus chinensis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), a common pest in stored chickpeas. The predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae) preyed on the bruchid’s eggs but did not consume a large amount; the mite Blattisocius tarsalis (Acari: Ascidae) did not consume C. chinensis eggs. However, the larval parasitoids Anisopteromalus calandrae and Lariophagus distinguendus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) were effective at reducing the bruchid’s larval population, producing mortality rates above 90% in controlled conditions (28 ± 2 °C, 75 ± 5% relative humidity [RH]). In tubes of 20-cm diameter filled with 9–35 kg of chickpeas, both parasitoids were able to parasitize the host at depths of 40, 100, and 150 cm, even when larvae were offered simultaneously at all depths. This indicates that parasitoids will probably be able to locate hosts at least at 150 cm of distance in a storage facility. A. calandrae was similarly effective at reducing the bruchid population at different parasitoid-to-host ratios (1:7, 1:15, 1:30, and 1:60). Moreover, A. calandrae efficiently reduced C. chinensis populations when released in 25-kg commercial polypropylene bags of chickpeas in simulated warehouse conditions (27 ± 2 °C and 65 ± 4% RH). This is the first time that A. calandrae and L. distinguendus are shown to be effective biological control agents for the integrated management of C. chinensis in stored chickpeas and can be an alternative to the application of pesticides for maintaining low bruchid population levels.

Preserving Physical Safety Under Cyber Attacks

Physical plants that form the core of the cyber-physical systems (CPSs) often have stringent safety requirements and, recent attacks have shown that cyber intrusions can cause damage to these plant. In this paper, we demonstrate how to ensure the safety of the physical plant even when the platform is compromised. We leverage the fact that due to physical inertia, an adversary cannot destabilize the plant (even with complete control over the software) instantaneously. In fact, it often takes finite (even considerable time). This paper provides the analytical framework that utilizes this property to compute safe operational windows in run-time during which the safety of the plant is guaranteed. To ensure the correctness of the computations in runtime, we discuss two approaches to ensure the integrity of these computations in an untrusted environment: 1) full platform-wide restarts coupled with a root-of-trust timer and 2) utilizing trusted execution environment features available in hardware. We demonstrate our approach using two realistic systems-a 3 degree-of-freedom helicopter and a simulated warehouse temperature management unit and show that our system is robust against multiple emulated attacks-essentially the attackers are not able to compromise the safety of the CPS.

Influences of augmented reality head-worn display type and user interface design on performance and usability in simulated warehouse order picking

Limited information is available regarding the effective use of workplace head-worn displays (HWD), especially the choices of HWD types and user interface (UI) designs. We explored how different HWD types and UI designs affect perceived workload, usability, visual discomfort, and job performance during a simulated warehouse job involving order picking and part assembly. Sixteen gender-balanced participants completed the simulated job in all combinations of two HWD types (binocular vs. monocular) and four UIs, the latter of which manipulated information mode (text-vs. graphic-based) and information availability (always-on vs. on-demand); a baseline condition was also completed (paper pick list). Job performance, workload, and usability were more affected by UI designs than HWD type. For example, the graphic-based UI reduced job completion time and number of errors by ∼13% and ∼59%, respectively. Participants had no strong preference for either of the HWD types, suggesting that the physical HWD designs tested are suboptimal.

A multiagent framework for learning dynamic traffic management strategies

There is strong commercial interest in the use of large scale automated transport robots in industrial settings (e.g. warehouse robots) and we are beginning to see new applications extending these systems into our urban environments in the form of autonomous cars and package delivery drones. This new technology comes with new risks—increasing traffic congestion and concerns over safety; it also comes with new opportunities—massively distributed information and communication systems. In this paper, we present a method that leverages the distributed nature of the autonomous traffic to provide improved traffic throughput while maintaining strict capacity constraints across the network. Our proposed multiagent-based dynamic traffic management strategy borrows concepts from both air traffic control and highway metering lights. We introduce controller agents whose actions are to adjust the robots’ perceived “costs” of traveling across different parts of the traffic network. This approach allows each robot the flexibility of using its own (potentially proprietary) navigation algorithm, while still being bound by the “rules of the road.” The control policies of the agents are defined as neural networks whose weights are learned via cooperative coevolution across the entire traffic management team. Results in a real world road network and a simulated warehouse domain demonstrate that our multiagent traffic management system provides substantial improvements to overall traffic throughput in terms of number of successful trips in a fixed amount of time, as well as faster average traversal times.

Postharvest applications of clove essential oils on dry seeds stored under simulated warehouse conditions

Clove essential oil was applied in postharvest trials on peanuts, beans, apricot kernels, and lentils stored in jute bags, and on wheat, maize, rice, and rape kept in silos, at ambient temperature (20°C). Eugenol, accounting for 85.6% of clove essential oil, has been used to assess clove essential oil residues after treatments in dry seeds. Two trials at different concentration and storage time were carried out. Immediately after treatment eugenol residues were under the instrumental limit of detection (LOD, 0.5 μg/Kg), except for wheat, peanuts, and rice (0.03, 0.10, 0.24, 0.23 mg/kg, respectively), and increased till a maximum after 2 weeks, except peanuts and apricot kernel which peaked after 30 days (12.69, and 0.47 mg/Kg, respectively). Sensory analysis showed that ventilation of the seeds allowed to decrease eugenol residue values under the flavor perception capacity of the in house panel (0.10 mg/kg), thus not affecting the organoleptic characteristics of the seeds.

Sampling Tribolium confusum and Tribolium castaneum in mill and laboratory settings: differences between strains and species

AbstractThe efficacy of pitfall traps baited with pheromone and cereal oil in capturing Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val and T. castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) was low (trap catch) in mill and simulated warehouse settings. In a simulated warehouse experiment, strains of Tribolium Macleay recently taken from mills were caught 24% less often in traps than were laboratory strains, and T. confusum was caught 40% less often than T. castaneum. Both species were found together in all flour samples taken from a Canadian flour mill. A comparison of the species ratio in flour samples with that found in traps revealed that T. confusum was caught less often in traps than was T. castaneum. In flour, T. castaneum burrowed more than did T. confusum, and there were differences in burrowing behaviour between the four T. castaneum strains. Mills infested with T. confusum may have higher levels of infestation than was previously thought, indicating that further research into beetle behaviour in mills is needed.

The design of an RFID-enhanced autonomous storage planning system for 3PL warehouses

The problems that are associated with storage planning in Third-Party Logistics (3PL) warehouses are especially dynamic and complex, yet storage policy on space utilisation goes comparatively unnoticed in warehouse management. From reviewing the literature and from a deep understanding of the industry, it is understood by the authors that are proper use of space allocation strategies and storage assignment policies can ensure the maximum utilisation of space resources. Storage and retrieval in the warehouse can also be improved and made more efficient. Therefore, this paper proposes a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-enhanced Autonomous Storage Planning System (RFID-ASPS) for 3PL warehouses to cope with the changing patterns of customer demand and with product variety. The system integrates RFID technology and a decision support system to provide optimal solutions to a variety of storage problems. The system is preliminarily demonstrated through an experimental study in a simulated warehouse environment. The results reveal that the integration of RFID technology with a rule-based decision support system has the advantage of providing reliable suggestions for storage planning problems in a shorter time and making better use of limited space than was achieved by using previous methods.

Quantifying costs of forecast errors: A case study of the warehouse environment

Our study evaluates the impact of forecast errors on organizational cost by simulating a labor-intensive warehouse environment using realistic cost data from a case study. Unlike past studies that measure forecast error in terms of forecast standard deviation, our study also considers the impact of forecast bias, and the complex interaction between these variables. Two cases of organizational cost curves are considered, with differing and asymmetric structures. Results find forecast bias to have a considerably greater impact on organizational cost than forecast standard deviation. Particularly damaging is a high bias in the presence of high forecast standard deviation. Although biasing the forecast in the least costly direction is shown to yield lower costs, sensitivity analysis shows that increasing bias beyond the optimum point rapidly increases costs. ‘Overshooting’ the optimal amount of bias appears to be more damaging than not biasing the forecast at all. Given that managers often deliberately bias their forecasts, this finding underscores the importance of having a good understanding of organizational cost structures before arbitrarily introducing bias. This finding also suggests that managers should exercise caution when introducing bias, particularly for forecasts that inherently have large errors. These findings have important implications for organizational decision making beyond the simulated warehouse, as high forecast errors are endemic to many labor-intensive organizations.

Forage Kochia Seed Germination Response to Storage Time and Temperature

The Eurasian low-shrub, forage kochia [Kochia prostrata (L.) Shad.], was introduced into western North America for use in restoration of severely disturbed landscapes in arid and semiarid environments. Seed mature in late fall and are short-lived in typical warehouse conditions. In a preliminary, cold-temperature experiment (2 degrees C) using 3-month-old seed from 16 forage kochia accessions, mean germination time, expressed as days to 50% germination, varied from 4 to 88 days. Follow up experiments using seed of 5 accessions tested the effects of storage time and temperature on seed viability and mean germination time and related this to field planting success. Sub-samples were air-dried and stored in plastic bags in a freezer, cold room, and lab (-15, 2, and 20 degrees C respectively). A fourth set of subsamples was stored in a shed with no temperature control (simulated warehouse storage). Seed were tested fresh and retested after 4, 8, 12, 24, and 36 months of storage. Mean viability decreased from 77% (range 66 to 93%) for recently harvested seed, to 24 and 8% for lab- and shed-stored seed, after 36 months of storage. No significant change in viability was observed for cold room- and freezer-stored seed. Across all accessions, cold temperature mean germination time (MGT) for recently harvested seed was 73 days (range 51 to 109 days). For each accession, germination occurred primarily over a 70 day period. Mean germination time decreased as storage time increased for lab- and shed-stored seed, varied unpredictably for cold room-stored seed, and remained unchanged for freezer-stored seed. Field germination using 1- and 2-year old lab- and shed-stored seed was significantly faster than that of same-aged cold room- and freezer-stored seed. The number of live seedlings 4 months after planting for cold room- and freezer-stored seed was 10-fold or greater than that of lab- and shed-stored seed. Thus a delayed, asynchronous cold-temperature germination pattern appears to be adaptive for forage kochia establishment. Cold, dry storage prevents loss of seed viability and preserves this desirable germination pattern. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v54i3_kitchen

Forage kochia seed germination response to storage time and temperature

The Eurasian low-shrub, forage kochia [Kochia prostrata (L.) Shad.], was introduced into western North America for use in restoration of severely disturbed landscapes in arid and semiarid environments. Seed mature in late fall and are short-lived in typical warehouse conditions. In a preliminary, cold-temperature experiment (2 degrees C) using 3-month-old seed from 16 forage kochia accessions, mean germination time, expressed as days to 50% germination, varied from 4 to 88 days. Follow up experiments using seed of 5 accessions tested the effects of storage time and temperature on seed viability and mean germination time and related this to field planting success. Sub-samples were air-dried and stored in plastic bags in a freezer, cold room, and lab (-15, 2, and 20 degrees C respectively). A fourth set of subsamples was stored in a shed with no temperature control (simulated warehouse storage). Seed were tested fresh and retested after 4, 8, 12, 24, and 36 months of storage. Mean viability decreased from 77% (range 66 to 93%) for recently harvested seed, to 24 and 8% for lab- and shed-stored seed, after 36 months of storage. No significant change in viability was observed for cold room- and freezer-stored seed. Across all accessions, cold temperature mean germination time (MGT) for recently harvested seed was 73 days (range 51 to 109 days). For each accession, germination occurred primarily over a 70 day period. Mean germination time decreased as storage time increased for lab- and shed-stored seed, varied unpredictably for cold room-stored seed, and remained unchanged for freezer-stored seed. Field germination using 1- and 2-year old lab- and shed-stored seed was significantly faster than that of same-aged cold room- and freezer-stored seed. The number of live seedlings 4 months after planting for cold room- and freezer-stored seed was 10-fold or greater than that of lab- and shed-stored seed. Thus a delayed, asynchronous cold-temperature germination pattern appears to be adaptive for forage kochia establishment. Cold, dry storage prevents loss of seed viability and preserves this desirable germination pattern.

The Relative Susceptibility of Some Rice Varieties to Sitophilus oryzae in Edo State, Nigeria

Rice is an important food cereal grown and consumed by many people the world over. In Edo State, Nigeria,rice is produced predominantly in Ekpoma, Irrua, Illushi, Agbede and Agenebode. This consists of both upland and lowland varieties. Its production is however- limited largely by weevil infestation particularly Sitophilus oryzae (L.) which is an economically important pest. This weevil affects stored rice by reducing its quality and causing a weight loss of the grains. Five new varieties – ITA 150, ITA 306, OS6 (Faro 11), Malong and American lamount were exposed to S. oryzae infestation at an average temperature of 28. 5 ± 0.2% and 78.0 ± 4.4% r.h. in a simulated warehouse condition. The measurement of the effect of the weevil was based on parameters such as loss of weight in the varieties, percentage of adult mortality, number of emerged progeny and number of damaged grains. ITA 150 was the most susceptible while ITA 306 was the most resistant 49 days after weevil infestation. More production of var. ITA 306 is suggested after further research

Development of a pheromone trap for monitoring Tribolium castaneum

Abstract Several commercially available pheromone traps were compared for their efficiency in capturing adult Tribolium castaneum under simulated warehouse conditions. The traps compared were the Storgard®, the PT 6 Allure®, and the Trappit®. Traps differed significantly in their effectiveness. Several new designs were tested and the Savannah trap, developed from a tennis ball canister, was found to be the most effective. This design has been refined and patented as U.S. Patent number 5,090,153.

Influence of Irrigation on Keeping Quality of Almond Kernels

ABSTRACTQuality and chemical changes were determined in almond kernels (Primus amygdalus) stored for 12 months under simulated warehouse conditions after being harvested from irrigated and nonirrigated trees. The chemical and physical characteristics of the extracted oil differed greatly among the 6 cultivars tested. Irrigation and storage significantly influenced quality of the kernels and stability of the oil. Autooxidation during storage was closely correlated with the degree of unsaturation in the oil extracted at harvest time. Free fatty acid content, saponification values and spectrophotometric indices of the oil after 12 months' storage revealed greater oxidative alterations in the kernels from irrigated plots than in nonirrigated ones.