Small Package Research Articles (Page 1)

Abstract BackgroundMedication packaging contributes significantly to the overall carbon footprint of pharmaceuticals. Packaging design and material choices greatly influence environmental impact.AimTo assess the carbon footprint of packaging for a range of medications on an Australian tertiary hospital formulary and identify opportunities to reduce environmental impact.MethodA life cycle assessment was undertaken to calculate the carbon footprint (as CO2 equivalent, [CO2e]) of medication packaging across six common product categories: blisters, tablets in bottles, oral liquids in bottles, vials, glass ampoules, and plastic ampoules. Ethical approval was granted by the Alfred Health Ethics Committee (Reference no: 465/23) and the study conforms with the National Health and Medical Research Council Ethical considerations in quality assistance and evaluation activities.ResultsTwenty‐six products were assessed across the six categories. Within each category, the CO2e of the lowest footprint products was between 19% (for glass ampoules) and 76% (for blisters) lower than the highest footprint products. Differences in carbon footprint were mostly due to the use of alternative materials or from smaller packaging (e.g. from less empty space). Recycling aluminium from blisters, or the glass or plastic comprising tablet bottles, also improved the environmental performance of those products, with CO2e reductions of up to 81% and 56%, respectively. Some safety features (e.g. printing information over every blister‐packed tablet) may conflict with sustainability principles (avoiding empty space).ConclusionThe environmental impact of packaging can be reduced by using materials with a lower footprint, decreasing packaging size and weight, and/or promoting greater recycling of waste materials. Some safety features promote larger packaging and increased use of raw materials, but this is not universally the case.

Purpose The current study evaluates low-altitude drone logistics performance when operating in the environment of urban supply chains using a novel Grey Incidence Analysis model. Design/methodology/approach Key performance indications, involving Delivery Time, Traffic Congestion, Operational Cost per Delivery, Payload Capacity, and Route Optimization were evaluated using a novel Slope-Intercepted Grey Incidence Analysis (SIGIA) model. Comparative analyses with four other multiple criteria decision-making models have confirmed the reliability of the proposed approach. Findings The results indicate that delivery time and traffic congestion stand out as main performance factors where drone delivery demonstrates strengthened performance benefits. Drones shorten delivery duration through their unique feature of avoiding road traffic because they provide a crucial advantage for crowded cities such as in Zhejiang, China. The adoption of drone logistics still faces problems due to their restricted carrying weight capabilities alongside their higher operating expenses. The results show that drones generate better performance when conditions are condusive specifically for distributing small packages. Originality/value The study proposed a novel slope-intercept form of the resolution coefficient. The study demonstrates that drones deliver multiple advantages in speed-based shipment and traffic streamlining yet their deployment requirements evaluation must incorporate both operational expenses and weight capacity boundaries.

Modern poultry production started in Ethiopia in colleges and research stations and mainly focused on the introduction of exotic breeds to the country and the distribution of these breeds to farmers, including management, feeding, housing and health care packages. Accordingly, the popularization of dual purpose poultry technology package (Potchefstrom koekoek chicken breed) was conducted in Omonada and seka chekorsa woredas of Jimma zone in Oromia national regional state under four kebeles in 14 household farmers. The overall objective of the study was to promote poultry production technologies as additional household income with specific targets of enhancing a small scale commercial poultry production packages and promoting the contribution of poultry technologies as household income source and food security. Sites were selected basically by their potential and willingness to construct poultry house and to perform the technology as per recommendation. Training was given for 28 (14 men and 14 women) farmers, 7 developmental agents and experts. Necessary data was recorded from the sites by using checklist and household interview. According to collected data analysis average body weights of chickens in the 20 weeks of age are 1.23kg with average male and female weight of 1.47Kg and 0.99Kg respectively. Survival rate of chicken up to 16th week is 89.14% which is better than the studies conducted in Jimma zone before on the same breed. Field day was arranged to popularize for other farmers after start to laying egg. Accordingly, 121 (94 male and 27 female) farmers and 10 (9 male and 1 female) experts and governmental officials from woreda to kebele were participated. Awareness was created through experience sharing between participant farmers on the technology during field day. Generally, the result obtained from present study shows Koekoek Potchefstroom chicken breed show better performance in both weredas for their survival, egg and meat production at farmers’ management condition and it has got high acceptance among farmers due to adaptable characteristics, disease resistance and ability to use them for both quality egg and meat. However, feed unavailability and its’ high price is great challenge for poultry production which is followed by disease. Therefore, concerning bodies such governmental and NGO should have to intervene to solve the problems.

ABSTRACTThis study examines the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on cross‐border e‐commerce, specifically focusing on small package purchases (i.e., the de minimis) imported by US commuting zones. Utilizing a large dataset of online orders across various commuting zones, we find that regions more severely affected by the pandemic experienced a greater increase in online purchases. Furthermore, there was significant regional variation in response to the pandemic, driven by demographic factors, initial economic conditions, and political attitudes towards China. In terms of product categories, consumers responded more elastically to personal protective equipment and products in which China has a comparative advantage. We also find that the effects of COVID‐19 on de minimis online orders were long‐lasting, persisting for nearly twenty weeks.

Convolutional Neural Networks are integrated into the image processing module of the system, which uses OpenCV for sophisticated categorization. While auxiliary parts such as infrared sensors for item detection, LCD display for user feedback, and SD card module for data storage. In addition to interactive controls via push buttons to improve functionality and user experience servo motors enabled the sorting mechanism by the designed arm. To guarantee dependability the electronic circuit design integrated creative wiring methods and effective power management. This design was innovative because it combined several sensor technologies with cutting-edge processing power in a small package, enabling effective sorting using complex visual analysis. Through the practical use of machine learning, it searched to offer a flexible solution for automation in many domains such as manufacturing and inventory management. The function of electronic circuit design in guaranteeing system dependability and smooth integration of various components has been highlighted. The design improved the efficiency of the system by carefully taking into account compatible characteristics including voltage and resistance. Maintaining signal integrity reduces noise and interference, which is important for accurate data processing, particularly in systems that use the CNN for image classification. The combination of several sensing technologies and sophisticated processing powers such as the CNN into a small system made this contribution. This study presented a 30-day evaluation of the proposed model for distinguishing between cube and sphere objects. The system achieved a consistent accuracy of 96% with a low error rate of 4% and also a high precision of about 99%. These results indicated the strong capability for model classification regardless of variations in sample numbers. When compared to existing CNN-based classification methods, the proposed model demonstrated its robustness and suitability for real-world applications.

In the early 2010s, the dramatic increase in the bandwidth of datacenter network links led to the emergence of microsecond-scale congestion events, a challenging phenomenon known as microbursts. Although microbursts may seem very short and small, they pose a significant challenge and can have a severe negative impact on the performance of datacenter networks. Despite the various methods proposed to mitigate microbursts, recent studies show that microbursts and their negative effects still persist in datacenters. In this paper, we show that the primary reason for observing low performance from microburst mitigation methods is that these methods are used in situations or scenarios where they are not suitable or effective. We first discuss this issue by dissecting various microburst mitigation approaches, demonstrating that each method's effectiveness is limited to microbursts with particular characteristics, rather than being a comprehensive solution. Then, we provide a comprehensive measurement and analysis of the diverse characteristics of microbursts, with particular attention to various applications' influences. While intermediate and lower layers of the network stack are predominantly identified as the primary origins of microbursts, our findings reveal that microbursts generated in different applications exhibit different characteristics, which can significantly affect the performance of various mitigation methods. This indicates that optimal microburst mitigation in datacenters requires careful deployment of techniques based on the characteristics of hosted applications. As illustrative examples, through our analysis, we identify which microburst mitigation techniques are effective and which are ineffective for several widely-used datacenter applications.

Torsion springs are used extensively in numerous industrial applications, including robotic systems, toys, latches, door hinges, clock mechanisms, and vibration isolation systems. Design characteristics of these springs have a big impact on both the mechanical behavior of the spring and the system it's installed in. The purpose of this work is to examine how the geometries of parametrically modeled springs affect their mechanical properties using the the finite element method. Furthermore, the effect of spring geometry variations on component fatigue life has also been examined in a specific fixed packaging scenario because springs frequently need to be crammed into quite small packages. The findings of this research will offer a new viewpoint on torsion spring design and optimization. It is meant to contribute to the relevant sector and literature through the procedure stages of three-dimensional geometric modeling for torsion spring design with CREO PARAMETRIC software and the results of structural and fatigue analysis obtained with ANSYS WORKBENCH software.

In October 2018, bongkrekic acid (BKA) poisoning cases caused by consuming wet rice noodles contaminated with Burkholderia gladioli were first reported in Guangdong Province, resulting in three cases, and two of them died. Due to the high fatality rate, the Guangdong Health Commission issued a code. The core risk-control elements of the code were storage temperature and storage time management, and the storage time is controlled through adopting a small sealed package with a clearly labeled production date and shelf life. In this study, we followed up on the code's implementation and compared the incidence of related foodborne diseases before and after the implementation of the code. Due to the rarity of B. gladioli contamination, monitoring its prevalence directly was challenging. Therefore, we also assessed the levels of B. cereus, a more common foodborne pathogen in wet rice noodles, to infer trends in microbial contamination. Then the feasible and effective measures to control BKA poisoning caused by wet rice noodles were analyzed. A questionnaire survey revealed that the implementation rate of packaging management-utilizing complete independent small sealed package with clearly marked shelf life to control storage duration-reached 81.25%. However, the adoption rate of cold storage management was only 41.96%. The annual average number of BKA poisoning cases in Guangdong Province dropped from 6.25 before implementing the code to 0.5 after implementing the code. The detection rate of B. gladioli and B. cereus in the samples decreased from 1.56% (1/64) to 0.45% (1/220) and 42.26% (71/168) to 5% (11/220), respectively. The reduction of B. gladioli and B. cereus may reflect the improvement in microbial status. This study indicated that although the storage temperature control was not ideal, controlling the storage time through adopting a complete independent small sealed package with a clearly marked shelf life could still effectively mitigate BKA poisoning caused by wet rice noodles.

Abstract In recent years, with the prominence of personalized consumer demand, tobacco industry enterprises in order to meet the market demand, urgently need a flexible intelligent production line for cigarette special-shaped packaging, in order to better achieve the purpose of rapid response to market demand. At present, the packaging of cigarette products of different sizes and specifications in cigarette factories is mainly realized by manual class, which has the problems of low production efficiency and poor product quality consistency. In order to overcome the above problems, this paper aimed at the molding process of small box packaging of cigarette products, using the concept of flexibility, through modular design, developed and produced a set of production systems that can meet the requirements of different sizes and specifications of cigarette product packaging. The packaging forming system includes cigarette group arrangement, inner lining paper forming, inner frame paper forming, trademark paper forming, etc. At the same time, it involves the supply process of auxiliary materials required by various processes. The main innovation of this paper is that it can meet the requirements of various size specifications of cigarette products, and can realize the rapid switching between different size specifications of cigarette products. Through the modular design concept, a set of flexible intelligent manufacturing systems for cigarette-shaped packaging is designed, which realizes the production speed > 10 packets/min, and realizes the rapid switching of different specifications and packaging methods, so as to meet the needs of the group brand in the corresponding market quickly. At the same time, compared with other competing enterprises, it maintains the advantages of shaped and flexible packaging, highlighting the technical strength of the enterprise and reflecting the brand value.

This study investigates value addition opportunities in the Zambian poultry industry, with a specific focus on the canned chicken product. The global poultry industry is well-established within the agricultural sector and plays a key role in the manufacturing sector, a trend also evident in Zambia. However, one significant challenge faced by the poultry sector in Lusaka is the failure to identify strategic opportunities for enhancing value, which threatens the industry's productivity and growth. The aim of this study was to explore food security and value addition opportunities within the Zambian poultry industry. The study’s objectives included exploring consumer perceptions of canned chicken in Zambia, determining the number of consumers willing to buy canned chicken, and identifying value addition opportunities for canned chicken. The research was guided by a pragmatist philosophy, employing an explanatory sequential mixed-method design. Quantitative data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to 290 respondents, achieving a response rate of 75.3%. Qualitative insights were obtained through in-depth interviews with 10 key informants, including poultry farmers, consumers, supermarket representatives, and technical experts, focusing on the Lilayi area in Lusaka South. The findings indicated that purchasing behavior for chicken was significantly influenced by factors such as price, quality, and availability. Among respondents, 41.38% expressed willingness to purchase canned chicken, while an equal percentage indicated reluctance, and 17.24% remained undecided. This underscores the need for targeted awareness campaigns to address skepticism and generate interest. Frequent chicken consumers and regular supermarket shoppers exhibited a higher level of familiarity with and interest in canned chicken products. Price sensitivity emerged as a critical determinant, with most respondents favoring a price range of K20–K39 for a 500g can. These findings offer actionable insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and marketers seeking to promote the adoption of value-added poultry products, thereby enhancing industrial growth and consumer satisfaction. The findings align with Akinmoladun et al. (2021), who highlighted the importance of consumer preferences for convenience foods in sub-Saharan Africa. The study recommends that manufacturers focus on affordable pricing, potentially through smaller packaging or bundles, and implement educational campaigns highlighting convenience, nutrition, and cost-effectiveness. Future research should examine consumer perceptions of value-added products, market feasibility in rural areas, and the effectiveness of targeted marketing strategies to drive product acceptance.

Millimeter-wave and terahertz imaging systems have been used for security checks of human bodies, small postal packages, and industrial nondestructive evaluation. The image resolution is one of the key factors affecting the accuracy of contraband detection and inner defect analysis. We propose a super-resolution reconstruction algorithm based on multi-scale channel attention (MS-CA) residual network to enhance the terahertz images, which are acquired through a homemade real-time terahertz imaging system for postal security inspection. The generalized residual block was introduced and transformed as the basic feature extraction unit, and the channel attention descriptor was inserted in the pooling layer to achieve the channel attention training for the 2D feature map. The fractional matching relationship of pixel coordinates between the HR image and the LR image in the upscale module can achieve reconstruction at any continuous scale. Comparison with traditional deep-learning based algorithms shows that our algorithm outperforms with the highest peak power signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity index (SSIM) while reconstructing terahertz images at any scale factor.

Cell-type-specific regulatory elements such as enhancers can direct expression of recombinant adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) to specific cell types, but this approach is limited by the relatively small packaging capacity of AAVs. In this study, we used spatial genomics to show that transcriptional crosstalk between individual AAV genomes provides a general method for cell-type-specific expression of large cargo by separating distally acting regulatory elements into a second AAV genome. We identified and profiled transcriptional crosstalk in AAV genomes carrying 11 different enhancers active in mouse brain. We developed spatial genomics methods to identify and localize AAV genomes and their concatemeric forms in cultured cells and in tissue, and we demonstrate here that transcriptional crosstalk is dependent upon concatemer formation. Finally, we leveraged transcriptional crosstalk to drive expression of a 3.2-kb Cas9 cargo in a cell-type-specific manner with systemically administered engineered AAVs, and we demonstrate AAV-delivered, minimally invasive, cell-type-specific gene editing in wild-type mice that recapitulates known disease phenotypes.

Rydberg atom receivers have the potential to supplement or replace traditional sensing technologies due to the theoretically high sensitivity, electrically small packaging, and unconventional field detection mechanisms they can provide. Given the importance of angle of arrival (AoA) estimation for geolocation and the potential impact of these technologies, more work is needed to understand the Rydberg sensor’s impact on AoA estimation. While there have been many experimental and theoretical efforts to improve the sensitivity and bandwidth of these quantum sensors, few papers have explored the impact these technologies will have on AoA estimation. This paper presents a numerical study of AoA estimation using a simulated linear array of Rydberg atom receivers consisting of vapor cells with laser-defined sense volumes. By utilizing atomic physics and electromagnetics simulations, it is shown that uncompensated atomic transient effects and RF geometric interactions in glass vapor cell arrays can substantially degrade AoA estimation when compared with a traditional dipole array.

Micronuclei formation: small nuclear packages with big genomic consequences

Transportation by land, sea, and air is one of the extensive ways to ship goods. Trains are one of the popular ways of land transportation. Goods sent by train are included in the category of retail or containers. Jakarta Gudang Station Gudang handles the delivery of Parcel Ons, and there are ten dispatchers who have signed contracts for this service. A series of goods are sent through the train fleet by the Freight Transportation division of PT. Indonesian Railways (Persero). Customers will not use our services again if they are not satisfied. We are confident that our customers are not satisfied with a particular problem. One way to find out if customers are satisfied with the service is to fill out a survey. The study aims to determine how effective rail transportation services are in transporting business-to-business (B2B) and customer-to-business (B2C) goods. The goal is to ensure that the goods reach their intended destination. . Observations, interviews, and analysis of documents are used to collect data. To compare the volume of cargo transported by two types of business services, the ANOVA test is used. Freight transportation services by rail are divided into container freight transportation and retail freight transportation (small package ounces). Jakarta Gudang Station carries out package delivery and collaborates with 10 expeditions. PT KAI (Persero) provides railways for the transportation of goods and, has found that the services provided have an impact on customer satisfaction. Service failures can lead to customer dissatisfaction, which can be measured using surveys. So far, customers are happy with the service provided. Due to the very limited capacity of highways in some countries, such as Trans Java traffic, certain routes require capacity building and the construction of new lines gradually.

Good things come in small packages: The discovery of small RNAs in the smallest animal model.

A large test section low-speed water tunnel in a small package

Millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies unlock the true potential of 5G. The ultra-wide bandwidths enable faster wireless connection speeds and high capacity with low latency, providing the ideal solution to meet increasing industry and government demands. Many mobile network operators started deploying commercial 5G mmWave networks in 2020. All have massive mmWave deployment plans on their roadmaps. In response, 5G chipset, device, and base station makers are ramping up their design and manufacturing powers to bring more 5G mmWave services to market. It should be noted that 5G requires a complex new ecosystemThe key to enabling this architecture is packaging and system integration, especially involving an effective antenna structure and RFIC communication in cost-effective, small form-factor packages. As full speed development, demonstration and qualification of mmWave systems have accelerated in this decade, different design and packaging architectures are emerging. This PDC will cover two major topics: (1) Industry roadmapping activities summarizing the technology needs in materials, material characterization and electrical test and (2) integration and packaging options providing a comprehensive landscape of package development including FOWLP as well as laminate/glass based packaging. The specific requirements of materials and process needs (low dielectric material, copper roughness requirements) will be discussed. Product application spaces ranging from mobile/handheld to network infrastructures and automotive/satellite radars are highlighted. Key aspects and guidelines towards a cost/performance trade-off analysis will be summarized.

ABSTRACT This paper describes a method for parametric radial profile modelling of radio interferometric visibility data. Image-based parametric modelling is common in the field of circumstellar debris discs, and high resolution ALMA observations make this method computationally expensive because many high resolution images must be generated and Fourier transformed. Most circumstellar discs are axisymmetric, so here a method that avoids generating images and instead models radial profiles is outlined. The two main elements are (i) $u,v$ space visibility averaging, and (ii) using the Discrete Hankel Transform to convert arbitrary parametric radial surface brightness profiles to visibilities. Vertical scale height can be included, but is fixed with radius; in principle this is a limitation but in practice radially dependent vertical structure information is beyond even ALMA’s capability for all but a few debris discs. Combined, these ingredients yield a method that is one to two orders of magnitude faster than image based methods and can be run on a laptop, is sufficient for most ALMA observations of debris discs, and can be used with gradient-based fitting methods such as Hamiltonian Monte-Carlo. A small software package is provided, which is dubbed vis-r.

New axial piston pumps with fixed displacement volumes, such as the high efficient power package (HEPP) pumps operate at variable rotational speeds and thus variable flow rates in a wide range. Using intelligent pump control systems, small and light packages are possible. In contrast, the fluid pulsations vary due to the rotational speed and have to be controlled avoiding stress or wear in the hydraulic system components (e.g. seals of tubing) and potentially impacting cabin noise. Due to the excitation frequencies, a broadband silencer for high pressure applications is required. This is realised by a multi-Helmholtz-resonator (MHR) concept within one cylindrical volume. The design will be adapted for pump-specific frequency characteristics in aircraft hydraulic conditions and fine adjusted during test verification by means of an adjustable tube-inside a pressure shell. For cost, weight and complexity reason a common broadband attenuator is integrated in the hydraulic circuit connecting the two redundant HEPP motorpumps. The attenuator position is optimised to achieve maximal acoustic performance and minimize pulsation stress on the pump, especially at the main operating point. The proof of concept has been achieved experimentally comparing a HEPP piston pump with and without the MHR.