Total Delivery Time Research Articles

Fuzzy multi-objective optimization for closed loop logistics network design in bread-producing industries

Supply chain network design is one of the most important issues in designing supply chains because of its effect on performance and efficiency of the logistics network. Customer service improvements and environmental requirements have forced most companies to take into account the reverse flows in designing their supply chain networks. This paper employs an interactive fuzzy multi-objective linear programming (IFMOLP) method to solve fuzzy bi-objective reverse logistics network design problems. This method attempts to minimize the total cost and total delivery time of the system simultaneously. The presented method provides decision makers with an interactive framework that facilitates the process of decision making in a fuzzy environment. Moreover, this framework enables the decision makers to interactively change fuzzy data in order to reach the most satisfactory solutions. A genetic-based heuristic algorithm is presented to solve the model for larger cases. A case study in a bread-producing factory is presented to show the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Algorithm for complete enumeration based on a stroke graph to solve the supply network configuration and operations scheduling problem

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm that solves the supply network configuration and operations scheduling problem in a mass customization company that faces alternative operations for one specific tool machine order in a multiplant context. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this objective, the supply chain network configuration and operations scheduling problem is presented. A model based on stroke graphs allows the design of an algorithm that enumerates all the feasible solutions. The algorithm considers the arrival of a new customized order proposal which has to be inserted into a scheduled program. A selection function is then used to choose the solutions to be simulated in a specific simulation tool implemented in a Decision Support System. Findings and Originality/value: The algorithm itself proves efficient to find all feasible solutions when alternative operations must be considered. The stroke structure is successfully used to schedule operations when considering more than one manufacturing and supply option in each step. Research limitations/implications: This paper includes only the algorithm structure for a one-by-one, sequenced introduction of new products into the list of units to be manufactured. Therefore, the lotsizing process is done on a lot-per-lot basis. Moreover, the validation analysis is done through a case study and no generalization can be done without risk. Practical implications: The result of this research would help stakeholders to determine all the feasible and practical solutions for their problem. It would also allow to assessing the total costs and delivery times of each solution. Moreover, the Decision Support System proves useful to assess alternative solutions. Originality/value: This research offers a simple algorithm that helps solve the supply network configuration problem and, simultaneously, the scheduling problem by considering alternative operations. The proposed system allows an easier generation of many different alternatives for the supply network configuration.

SU‐E‐T‐188: An Effective Quality Assurance Method for TomoTherapy Craniospinal Irradiation Patients with A 3D Semiconductor Phantom

Purpose: This study aims to develop an effective and efficient approach to perform delivery quality assurance (DQA) to any large length spine in Tomo craniospinal irradiation (CSI) with a 3D semiconductor phantom. Methods: It is challenging to use conventional method to perform DQA to an entire large length of spine because the Tomo machine limits the maximum longitudinal distance between red and green laser (=18 cm). In order to overcome this limit, three DQA plans for each CSI patient were generated for covering the entire treatment site, in which we intentionally overlapped the red and green laser in DQA calculation, then we measured the distance (d) between the centers of the phantom and lasers. When using SunNucelar QA software to compute the plannar dose, we set the center of the cylindrical surface by applying d to the IEC Z coordinate. In phantom setup, we first align the center of phantom with green laser then manually shift the phantom superiorly or inferiorly d. With this new approach, we measured five CSI patients using a commercial 3D semiconductor phantom, the ArcCHECK (SunNuclear). The measured and computed dose is compared with gamma analysis and (3%, 3 mm) agreement criteria. Results: For all CSI patients and sections measured, the acquired dose distribution covered the complete treatment length and matched the computed data very well. All the DQA passed the gamma criteria with an average passing rate of 99.1%. The total delivery time of DQA using the new method was 66.7% of the time using the conventional method. Conclusion: The measured DQA results from the five CSI patients demonstrate that this new method overcomes the distance limitation of 18 cm between the red and green laser in the conventional DQA method. The DQA delivery becomes more efficient with 33.3% reduction of beam‐on time.

Predictors of study setting (primary care vs. hospital setting) among studies of the effectiveness of brief interventions among heavy alcohol users: A systematic review

The aim of this study is to compare studies by their setting in order to identify design differences between studies on brief interventions (BI) for heavy alcohol use conducted in primary care and those in hospital settings. Potential studies were extracted from 16 reviews and from systematically searching literature up to October 2011. We assessed whether the following factors were statistically significant predictors of study setting: exclusion of very heavy/dependent drinkers; mean age of study sample; gender composition of study samples; sample size; total intervention delivery time; number of sessions; interventionist (physician vs. non-physician); various study design and intervention fidelity aspects; accounting for screening/assessment reactivity; and control condition utilised. Seventy-six studies (30 in primary care and 46 in hospital settings) met the inclusion criteria. The following factors were statistically significant predictors of study setting: number of sessions {odds ratio [OR] = 0.281 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.081, 0.979; P = 0.046]}, exclusion of very heavy/dependent drinkers [OR = 0.052 (95% CI 0.004, 0.716, P = 0.027)] and gender composition of study samples [OR = 1.063 (95% CI 1.005, 1.125; P = 0.033)]. Researchers developing hospital setting BIs for excessive alcohol consumption should take into account methodological issues that could explain differences in the consistency of findings between hospital setting studies and primary care setting studies where BIs have been more consistently found effective in reducing alcohol use. The observed study design differences between hospital and primary care settings might partly explain the disparity in the consistency of findings on effectiveness of BIs between these settings

Quantitative analysis of dose distribution to determine optimal width of respiratory gating window using Gafchromic EBT2 film

The purpose of this study was to determine the dependence of the dose distribution on the width of the respiratory gating window by using radiochromic Gafchromic EBT2 film. An in-house three-dimensional breathing simulator was used with a 4-s cycle and a 3-cm movement. The gamma index and the 50, 95, and 20–80% dose distributions were individually analyzed with regard to static, 100 (full motion), 60, 40, 30, 20, and 15% respiratory gating windows. In addition, dose differences based on the different extents of exposure were compared and analyzed along with total beam delivery time. Dose distributions became increasingly similar to the static value with decreasing respiratory gating window width. The extent differences from the static case for the low-dose region were not significant; neither were the extent differences for the high-dose region and 30, 20, and 15% gating windows (P = 0.388, 0.275, respectively). However, the 40% gating window showed a significant difference (P = 0.001). Moreover, the treatment time for the 30% gating window was reduced by more than half compared to that for the 15% gating window. Thus, the 30% window would be a reasonable choice for maximizing the range of the gating window while markedly decreasing the dose difference and the treatment time.

Bipolar versus multipolar radiofrequency (RF) ablation for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma: Differences in technical and clinical parameters

Purpose: This study aimed to compare retrospectively bipolar RF ablation with multipolar RF ablation for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.Materials and methods: Between March 2009 and June 2012, 12 tumours (nine patients) treated with bipolar RF ablation (one applicator) and 14 tumours (11 patients) treated with multipolar RF ablation (two applicators) were compared systematically. Selection between bipolar RF ablation and multipolar RF ablation was operator choice considering tumour size. Study goals included differences in tumour and coagulation extent, and technical parameters (total RF energy delivery and RF ablation time per coagulation volume).Results: Tumour maximum diameter was significantly larger for multipolar RF ablation compared with bipolar RF ablation (27.0 mm versus 19.4 mm; p < 0.01). This difference is partially dependent on operator choice. Coagulation length, width and volume were significantly larger for multipolar RF ablation compared with bipolar RF ablation (35.0 mm versus 26.5 mm, 27.5 mm versus 23.0 mm and 14.3 cm3 versus 8.1 cm3; p < 0.01, p < 0.05 and p < 0.05, respectively). Coagulation circularity was not significantly different between both study groups (0.8 versus 0.8; not significant). Total RF energy delivery was significantly higher and RF ablation time per coagulation volume was significantly shorter for multipolar RF ablation compared with bipolar RF ablation (52.0 kJ versus 28.6 kJ and 2.4 min/cm3 versus 4.1 min/cm3; p < 0.05 and p < 0.05, respectively).Conclusions: Multipolar RF ablation creates a significantly larger coagulation width, but identical coagulation shape, compared with bipolar RF ablation. Additionally, multipolar RF ablation coagulates faster according to the shorter RF ablation time per coagulation volume.

Imprecise multi-objective production/distribution planning decisions using possibilistic programming method

This work develops a possibilistic programming method to solve multi-product and multi-time period production/distribution planning decision PDPD problems involving imprecise goals, forecast demand and cost/time coefficients in uncertain environments. The proposed method attempts to simultaneously minimize total production and distribution costs and total delivery time in relation to inventory levels, available machine capacity and labor levels at each source, as well as forecast demand and available warehouse space at each destination, and considering the constraint of available budget. An industrial case is used to demonstrate the feasibility of applying the proposed method to real-world PDPD problems. Moreover, several significant management implications regarding the practical application of the proposed method are presented.

A fuzzy goal programming for optimizing service industry market using virtual intelligent agent

The application of intelligent agents in decision-making has gained extensive interest. Intelligent agents function as decision aids to automate variety of tasks and facilitate decision-making. Service industry market analysis was carried out investigating the included components. Here, we consider a market in which customer and vendor are the two components. To conceptualize the interaction between customer and vendor, a virtual intelligent agent is proposed to perform optimization decisions namely, minimizing the total delivery cost, minimizing the total delivery time, and maximizing the total profit. The optimization is fulfilled with respect to several attributes related to the customer and vendor intelligent agents. The multi-objective model is optimized using fuzzy goal programming. The validity and applicability of the proposed mechanism is illustrated in a numerical example.

Material Scheduling with Storage Windows Based on Modified Particle Swarm Algorithm for Material Manufacturing System

In order to solve the logistics problems in replenishment delay, low efficiency, high delivery time cost occurred on the side of automobile assembly line, a combination of “Workstation - Supermarket” is proposed to optimize vehicle scheduling. Storage windows are firstly proposed to replace pervious time windows. In this paper, based on analyzing the JIT material flow of line side, an optimization scheduling model with storage windows is established by taking the minimum of total delivery time as the objective function. A modified particle swarm optimization algorithm (MPSO) is introduced to solve the model. The result of simulation showed that the MPSO has superior performance on the proposed vehicle routing problem with storage windows (VRPSW). Furthermore, it is shown that MPSO is more efficiently on VRP in material manufacturing system.

Observation of curative effects of dinoprostone suppository in promoting cervical ripening during induction of labor for full-term pregnancy and nursing

Objective To observe the treatment effects and importance of dinoprostone suppository in promoting cervical ripening during induction of labor for full-term pregnancy and nursing points. Methods 92 cases of pregnancies in the obstetrics and gynecology department of our hospital from December 2009 to January 2011 were selected and randomly divided into the observation group and the control group with 46 cases in each group.The observation group was given dinoprostone suppository for induction of labor,while the control group was given induction of labor by pitocin.The curative effects of these two drugs in cervical ripening in labor induction were compared. Results The curative effects of the observation group were obvious,the cervical score of the observation group 12 h after medication was obviously higher.than that before the treatment,and compared with the control group,there were significant differences.The labor time,the total production process and delivery time of the observation group were all obviously lower than those of the control group.The successful induction rate was 91.3％ in the observation group,which was obviously higher than 80.4％ of the control group. Conclusions The dinoprostone suppository is suitable for cervical mature during induction of labor for full-term pregnancy,and it is safe,controllable and has good effects. Key words: Dinoprostone suppository; Cervical ripening; Induction of labor; Curative effects; Nursing

A Cyber-Physical Management System for Delivering and Monitoring Surgical Instruments in the OR

The standard practice in the operating room (OR) is having a surgical technician deliver surgical instruments to the surgeon quickly and inexpensively, as required. This human "in the loop" system may result in mistakes (eg, missing information, ambiguity of instructions, and delays). Errors can be reduced or eliminated by integrating information technology (IT) and cybernetics into the OR. Gesture and voice automatic acquisition, processing, and interpretation allow interaction with these new systems without disturbing the normal flow of surgery. This article describes the development of a cyber-physical management system (CPS), including a robotic scrub nurse, to support surgeons by passing surgical instruments during surgery as required and recording counts of surgical instruments into a personal health record (PHR). The robot used responds to hand signals and voice messages detected through sophisticated computer vision and data mining techniques. The CPS was tested during a mock surgery in the OR. The in situ experiment showed that the robot recognized hand gestures reliably (with an accuracy of 97%), it can retrieve instruments as close as 25 mm, and the total delivery time was less than 3 s on average. This online health tool allows the exchange of clinical and surgical information to electronic medical record-based and PHR-based applications among different hospitals, regardless of the style viewer. The CPS has the potential to be adopted in the OR to handle surgical instruments and track them in a safe and accurate manner, releasing the human scrub tech from these tasks.

A fuzzy solution approach for a multi-objective integrated production-distribution model with multi products and multi periods under uncertainty

Article history: Received March 22, 2012 Received in Revised form June, 15, 2012 Accepted 18 July 2012 Available online July 28 2012 This paper considers a multi-objective integrated production-distribution problem (IPDP) for multi-product and multi-production facility with limited capacity vehicles over a multi-period horizon in a two-level supply chain. In order to consider uncertainty of a real supply chain, some fuzzy parameters are considered for costumer demands, machine and labor levels of each manufacturer. The proposed model minimizes total production, inventory and distribution costs and total delivery time simultaneously, and the performance of the proposed model is evaluated on several randomly generated instances. The results show that integrating production and distribution decisions is more efficient than making these two decisions, separately. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of dose distribution in IMRT and RapidArc technique in prostate radiotherapy

AimThe aim was to provide a dosimetric comparison between IMRT and RapidArc treatment plans with RPI index with simultaneous comparison of the treatment delivery time. BackgroundIMRT and RapidArc provide highly conformal dose distribution with good sparing of normal tissues. However, a complex spatial dosimetry of IMRT and RapidArc plans hampers the evaluation and comparison between plans calculated for the two modalities. RPI was used in this paper for treatment plan comparisons. The duration of the therapeutic session in RapidArc is reported to be shorter in comparison to therapeutic time of the other dynamic techniques. For this reasons, total treatment delivery time in both techniques was compared and discussed. Materials and methods15 patients with prostate carcinoma were randomly selected for the analysis. Two competitive treatment plans using respectively the IMRT and RapidArc techniques were computed for each patient in Eclipse planning system v. 8.6.15. RPIwin® application was used for RPI calculations for each treatment plan.Additionally, total treatment time was compared between IMRT and RapidArc plans. Total treatment time was a sum of monitor units (MU) for each treated field. ResultsThe mean values of the RPI indices were insignificantly higher for IMRT plans in comparison to rotational therapy. Comparison of the mean numbers of monitor units confirmed that the use of rotational technique instead of conventional static field IMRT can significantly reduce the treatment time. ConclusionAnalysis presented in this paper, demonstrated that RapidArc can compete with the IMRT technique in the field of treatment plan dosimetry reducing the time required for dose delivery.

MO-A-BRB-03: A Clinical Review of the Dosimetric and Temporal Impact of Unflattened X- Ray Beams.

1. Understand technique for matching beam quality of unfiattened and flattened beams. 2. Understand definition of field size and beam characteristics during initial 200 msecs. 3. Review improved dosimetric accuracy and temporal advantages of unfiattened beams in clinical use.

Optimal algorithms for online single machine scheduling with deteriorating jobs

In many realistic scenarios of job processing, one job consumes a longer time to be satisfied with a later start time of processing. This phenomenon is known as job’s deterioration effect. Such effect is unexplored in the context of online environment. In this paper we study online single machine scheduling for deteriorating jobs, where jobs arrive over time and become known to any online algorithm on their arrivals. The processing time of each job is a linearly increasing function of its start time. We mainly investigate three online models that minimize makespan, total completion time and maximum delivery time, respectively. For each model we present an optimal online algorithm in competitiveness.

A comparison of productivity and physical demands during parcel delivery using a standard and a prototype electric courier truck

Courier drivers are at risk for the development of fatigue and Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) due to frequent awkward lifting and carrying of parcels. A functional prototype of a redesigned courier truck represented a potentially valuable engineering control to reduce courier drivers' MSD risk. Specifically, the prototype courier truck was evaluated for its ability to reduce double-handling of packages between carts and the truck, decrease the lifting of carts on/off the truck and reduce lifting packages in awkward positions. Ten courier drivers performed a simulated delivery route with 18 stops while surface electromyography of the forearms, shoulders and lumbar spine were monitored with a simultaneous video recording. Low back loading for each lift was calculated based upon video analysis. The prototype courier truck showed substantial and statistically significant reductions in total delivery time (−29.5%), and the reduction was especially noticeable for stops using a cart. The cumulative compression and integrated electromyograms also showed reductions for the prototype courier truck. Peak and average loads did not, however, change appreciably. The prototype courier truck met the first three goals; however, it did not measurably affect the demands of lifting and moving packages within the truck itself. Further development is intended to address this issue. Relevance to industryThe redesign of this transportation equipment achieved some reductions in mechanical loading as well as improvements in productivity.

COORDINATED LOCATION, DISTRIBUTION AND INVENTORY DECISIONS IN SUPPLY CHAIN NETWORK DESIGN: A MULTI-OBJECTIVE APPROACH

This research presents an integrated multi-objective distribution model for use in simultaneous strategic and operational food supply chain (SC) planning. The proposed method is adopted to allow use of a performance measurement system that includes conflicting objectives such as distribution costs, customer service level (safety stock holding), resource utilisation, and the total delivery time, with reference to multiple warehouse capacities and uncertain forecast demands. To deal with these objectives and enable the decision makers (DMs) to evaluate a greater number of alternative solutions, three different approaches are implemented in the proposed solution procedure. A detailed case study derived from food industrial data is used to illustrate the preference of the proposed approach. The proposed method yields an efficient solution and an overall degree of DMs’ satisfaction with the determined objective values. OPSOMMING Die navorsing behandel ’n geintegreerde multidoelwit distribusiemodel vir strategiese beplanning van ’n voedseltoevoerketting. Om met die model doelmatig te werk, moet ’n versameling van randvoorwaardes hanteer word om die saamgestelde optimiseringsdoelwit te bereik teen ’n agtergrond van uiteenlopende sienings. a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a

Preliminary investigations for the option to use fast uniform scanning with compensators on a gantry designed for IMPT

In this experimental study, the authors explored the possibility to deliver the dose for proton therapy with fast uniform scanning on a gantry primarily designed for the delivery of conformal beam scanning and IMPT. The uniform scanning submode has been realized without equipment modifications by using the same small pencil beam used for conformal scanning, resulting in reduced realization costs. Uniform scanning has recently been adopted in a few proton therapy centers, as a basic beam delivery solution, and as an alternative to the use of scattering foils. The option to use such a mode to mimic scattering on a full-fledged scanning gantry could be of interest for treating some specific indications and as a possible solution for treating moving targets. Uniform iso-energy dose layers were painted by fast magnetic scanning alternated with fast energy changes with the gantry beam line. The layers were stacked and repainted appropriately to produce homogeneous three-dimensional dose distributions. A collimator∕compensator was used to adjust the dose to coincide laterally∕distally with the target volume. In addition, they applied volumetric repainting, since they are confident that this will further mitigate the effects of organ motion as compared with the presently used clinical scanning solutions. With the approach presented in this paper, they can profit from the higher flexibility of the scanning system to obtain additional advantages. For instance the shape of the energy layers can be adjusted to the projected target shape in order to reduce treatment time and neutrons produced in the collimator. The shape of the proximal layers can be shrunk, according to the cross section of the target at the corresponding range. This provides variable range modulation (proximal conformity) while standard scattering only provides fixed range modulation with unnecessary 100% dose proximal to the target. The field-specific hardware for a spherical target volume was mounted on the Gantry 2 nozzle. One field with proximal field size shrinking and one without, each of 1 Gy, were delivered. The dose distributions at different depths were recorded as CCD images of a scintillating screen. The time to scan the volume once was about 4 s and the total delivery time was approximately 30 s. For the field with proximal conformity, dose sparing of up to 25% was measured in the region proximal to the target. A repainting capability of 48 times was achieved on the most distal layer. The proximal layers were repainted more due to the contribution of the plateau dose from the deeper layers. The flexibility of a fast scanning gantry with very fast energy changes can easily provide beam delivery by uniform layer stacking with a significant degree of volumetric repainting and with the benefit of a dose reduction proximal to the target volume.

A fuzzy bi-criteria transportation problem

In this paper, a fuzzy bi-criteria transportation problem is studied. Here, the model concentrates on two criteria: total delivery time and total profit of transportation. The delivery times on links are fuzzy intervals with increasing linear membership functions, whereas the total delivery time on the network is a fuzzy interval with a decreasing linear membership function. On the other hand, the transporting profits on links are fuzzy intervals with decreasing linear membership functions and the total profit of transportation is a fuzzy number with an increasing linear membership function. Supplies and demands are deterministic numbers. A nonlinear programming model considers the problem using the max–min criterion suggested by Bellman and Zadeh. We show that the problem can be simplified into two bi-level programming problems, which are solved very conveniently. A proposed efficient algorithm based on parametric linear programming solves the bi-level problems. To explain the algorithm two illustrative examples are provided, systematically.

SU-E-T-800: Evaluation of Left-Sided Breast Cancer Treatment Using Rotational and Fixed-Gantry Radiotherapy

Purpose: To compare treatment planning for left‐sided breast cancer using the full spectrum of external beam delivery platforms: 3‐dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT), TomoDirect (TD), fixed‐beam intensity‐modulated radiotherapy(IMRT), and rotational therapy including both volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and Tomotherapy helical (TH). Methods: Ten left‐sided breast cancer patients with and without positive lymph nodes treated with 3DCRT or fixed‐gantry IMRT to the entire breast were re‐planned with rotational Monaco VMAT, TH and TD. The dosimetric metrics, such as PTV coverage, organ‐at‐risk sparing, DVHs, minimum/maximum/mean doses are evaluated. The VMAT plans were delivered using an Elekta Synergy beam modulator accelerator, the treatment delivery parameters such as the total MUs and delivery time from different techniques are compared. Results: For plans providing comparable PTV coverage, the VMAT plans (HI=1.13) were generally more inhomogeneous than the TH (HI=1.08) and TD (HI=1.04) plans, while TD is less conformal. For the cases with regional node involvement, averaged across the patient, the heart mean doses were 9.2 and 8.8Gy in the VMAT and TH plans, compared to 11.9 and 11.8 Gy for the 3DCRT and TD plans; the mean contra‐lateral lungdoses were 4.4 and 3.2Gy for the VMAT and TH, 3.8 and 1.3Gy for the 3DCRT and TD plans. VMAT plans require shorter delivery time compared to TH. On average, the total MUs for VMAT plans are approximately 11.6% of those TH plans Conclusions: Rotational VMAT and TH offer certain dosimetric advantages over the conventional breast treatment requiring regional nodal coverage at the cost of slightly higher doses to contra‐lateral lung and/or breast. In comparison to TH, VMAT offers more efficiently dosedelivery to achieve comparable dosimetric plans. For early stage breast cancer patients requiring no nodal coverage, 3DCRT and TD are potentially more beneficial in terms of heart, contra‐lateral lung/breast sparing.