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To meet the requirements for use as an automotive fuel, motor gasoline must be highly flammable and combustible. In addition, because gasoline is highly volatile, in the event of its leakage from a storage tank, a large amount of vapor is rapidly generated from the surface of the gasoline and mixes with the air, forming a flammable gas mixture in the immediate surroundings. If the flammable gas mixture in an enclosure is ignited, the gasoline vapor burns explosively, causing extensive damage. Therefore, for risk management in a gasoline storage area, assuming a gasoline leakage accident, it is necessary to predict the fire hazard for the inflammable vapor and the explosion damage. The aim of this study is to obtain the knowledge necessary for the risk assessment of a gasoline storage area. A prediction model for the spread, evaporation, and diffusion behavior of leaked gasoline was proposed. The proposed model was verified by conducting evaporative diffusion and ignition tests on leaked gasoline. Furthermore, a methodology was suggested for evaluating the explosion risk caused by vapor generated from leaked gasoline spread on the floor. The proposed method enables the prediction of the explosion damage in the event of gasoline leakage.

The article will be obtaining the analysis of storage area of logistics parks and centres in Slovakia 2020, logistics operators with its services on the market, using logistic objects. It will be information about its capacity, services, technical infrastructure, customers etc. The provider and customer need this type of information in order to implement effective decisions for business. The allocation of logistic objects is in the last part of the article. It could be used with Hub and Spoke system in the selected regions of Slovakia.

Steel plate yard in shipbuilding, followed by the Separated-Strategy, is divided into Temporary-Area, Storage-Area, and Delivery-Area. When a target plate is not at the top of the stack, we must relocate the plates on it, which is called Plate-Shift. This paper develops a bilevel combinatorial optimization model and a multi-stage decision-making process of the delivery operation, and applies a greedy algorithm combined with a genetic algorithm to optimize the total amount of shifting. Compared with the current schedule based on a series of production rules, this method can get a better solution with less computing time and shifts.

Integrating uncertainties into the optimization process is crucial to obtain solutions suitable for practical needs. In particular, the considered uncertainty set has a huge impact on the quality of the computed solutions. In this paper, we consider a storage loading problem in which a set of items must be loaded into a partly filled storage area, regarding stacking constraints and taking into account stochastic data of items arriving later. We propose a robust optimization approach dealing with the stochastic uncertainty. With a focus on constructing the uncertainty set, we offer a rule-based scenario generation approach to derive such a set from the stochastic data. To evaluate the robustness of stacking solutions, we introduce the concept of a security level, which is the probability that a stacking solution is feasible when the data of the uncertain items are realized. Computational results for randomly generated problem instances are presented showing the impact of various factors on the trade-off between robustness and cost of the stacking solutions.

If flammable gas is mixed with air, and the mixture is ignited, it is possible to form a vapor cloud explosion (VCE) which may be very destructive, and easy to trigger a domino effect of accidents because of its large extent of impact. A VCE accident may induce secondary VCE accidents, then tertiary VCE accidents, and so on. This is called the cascading effect of VCE accidents, which requires an understanding of probabilities and propagation patterns to prevent and mitigate the potential damages. In this work, a methodology based on Petri-net is proposed to model the cascading effect of VCE accidents and perform probability analysis, taking the mutual influence between the accidents into account. The deficiency in probability analysis of VCE accidents is discussed. According to the limits of states and their changes which reflect characteristics of VCE propagation, a Petri-net approach is provided for modeling and analysis of VCE cascading effect, and the modeling approach and analysis process of VCE cascading effect are presented. The application and efficacy of the methodology are demonstrated via an example of VCE accidents occurring in a gasoline tank storage area. The results show that the developed methodology can effectively reveal the propagation patterns of VCEs cascading and calculate the respective probabilities of VCE accidents.

With the increased use of mobile diesel-powered equipment in underground mines, the fire risk posed by underground diesel fuel storage areas is a concern. To reduce the risk associated with the storage and transfer of large quantities of diesel fuel in permanent underground mine storage areas, an experimental study was conducted to investigate the responses of different sensors for early detection of diesel fuel fires in a storage area. Fire sensors tested in this study were four carbon monoxide (CO) sensors, two smoke sensors, and one flame sensor. A series of fire tests were conducted in the NIOSH Safety Research Coal Mine, Bruceton, PA, using various fire sizes at different ventilation airflow velocities and fire locations. Response times for different sensors were analyzed, and the results suggest that the flame sensor and smoke sensors resulted in shorter response times in most tests compared to the CO sensors. Based on the test results, the appropriate sensor locations for early fire detection in a diesel fuel storage area were identified. The results of this study can help mining companies to select appropriate fire sensors for underground diesel fuel storage areas and improve the deployment of these sensors to ensure the safety of underground miners.

To study the changes of fire safety system in oil tank storage area. This paper analyzes the influencing factors of fire safety in oil tank storage area from the aspects of personnel consciousness, fire control facilities, fire control management and technology and establishes the causal relationship analysis. On this basis, the flow pattern model and variables are determined, and the simulation model of fire safety system in oil tank storage area is constructed. Finally, the applicability of the model is verified by the case of nanjing liuhe chemical industrial park. Research results revealed the complex causality both among fire safety factors and between factors and the system safety level, and could dynamically predict the development trend of system security level in a certain period of time, which can provide theoretical basis for making countermeasures of strengthening the fire safety of enterprises in the chemical park and guiding the enterprise fire safety management.

As a storage area of dangerous chemicals, oil and gas storage areas are prone to major leakage, fire and explosion accidents. In order to study the multi-factor catastrophic effect of the oil and gas storage tank under the influence of the domino accident, the non-linear relationship between the various disaster factors in the oil and gas storage tank area is obtained through the analysis of the multi-factor cooperative coupling in other research fields. The accident scene is based on the evolution of the scene, the establishment of Bayesian network based on multi-factor disaster accident model. Based on the actual case and the established model, the risk of disaster control in the oil and gas storage tank area is analyzed. The results show that the accident propagation path can be effectively cut off, the various hazard factors can be reduced and the probability of accident occurrence can be reduced.

As a non-volatile memory, the resistive random access memory (RRAM) has some advantages in radiation tolerance and application prospects in space. RRAM has the advantages of high storage density, high repetition times and three-dimensional storage. This paper analyzed the working principle of RRAM, selected an RRAM memory as the research object, carries out the sensitivity test of heavy ion single event effect. The single event effect on orbit outage rate of the device was calculated by using the space on-orbit prediction software, ForeCAST. In addition, the natural anti-radiation performance of the storage area of the device was verified by pulsed laser induced test, and the good anti-radiation performance of the device was further verified by space flight test.

A robotic mobile fulfillment system (RMFS) is a “parts-to-picker” system employing a fleet of autonomous vehicles (AV), which transport pods between a storage area and picking stations. In this paper, an AV interference-free scheduling on bidirectional paths (IFSB) approach is studied and shows better working efficiency than unidirectional paths. In order to model AV scheduling on bidirectional path with interference-free constraints, a no-wait flexible process job shop scheduling problem (NWFPJSP) is employed to evaluate total completion time. A mathematical model aiming to minimize the total completion time is presented with as constraint interference-free operation. An A* algorithm is modified for path planning and a simulated annealing algorithm (SA) is employed for scheduling AVs and their paths. Based on a case study with a small RMFS, the IFSB approach results in a 40% increase of the storage capacity and a 22% decrease of the total completion time when compared to a unidirectional approach. Meanwhile, the number of AVs stop-starts are decreased by 40% and the paths length for all AV are decreased by 36%. This indicates the great potential of bidirectional paths in future logistic applications, which may increase the storage capacity, working efficiency, technical health of the AVs, and environmental sustainability.

Chilling is a common food preservation practice applied overwhelmingly in the domestic environment through refrigerator use. Nevertheless, the hygiene conditions and temperatures prevailing in household refrigerators are often inappropriate. Moreover, the way of life in non- or semi-urban settings (e.g., less stress intensive life), such as those encountered in most Greek islands, imposes changes in consumer behavior which are probably being reflected in the domestic hygiene. The purpose of this research was to investigate the hygienic status and temperature distribution of the domestic refrigerators in Lemnos island, Greece. Seventy refrigerators (n = 70) were surveyed by placing temperature data loggers in three different storage areas of each refrigerator (upper shelf, lower shelf, door) and temperature was recorded every 15 min for 24 h. Placement of food in the refrigerators was also monitored and assessed using a predetermined questionnaire. Two food-contact surface samples from each storage area of the refrigerator were collected by swabs (n = 6) for microbiological analyses (total viable count; TVC, total coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus spp., Salmonella spp., and Listeria spp.). The results demonstrated that only 11.4% of the refrigerators were operating below or equal to 5 °C, whereas most refrigerators (68.6%) were found to operate at temperatures over 7 °C. The majority (77.1%) of survey participants did not correctly place their food commodities in the fridge, according to standard good hygiene practices (GHPs). Salmonella and Listeria were not detected in the refrigerators (i.e., absence in 100 cm2), while E. coli was not recovered (i.e.

For more than 100 years, mercury and arsenic have been used for the preservation of natural history collections. This may represent a risk for staff as they may be exposed to these substances by inhalation, by skin contact or by unintentional ingestion of settled dust. In this work, we present results from a monitoring of lead, mercury and arsenic in the air and settled dust at the Natural History Museum of Rouen (Normandy, France). Relatively high levels of arsenic were measured in the air, with concentrations occasionally over the recommended value of 2 μg m−3 for a working atmosphere (NIOSH REL). Analysis of settled dust has shown a significant contamination with arsenic, lead and mercury compared to house dust respectively with median values of 58, 5507, 11 mg kg−1. Finally, Hg(0) concentrations were measured with highest values in the herbarium storage area (150–200 ng m−3) with a peak value of up to 1100 ng m−3 when manipulating herbarium sheets. Generally, the exposure of staff to these toxic substances appeared to be quite limited when compared for instance, with dietary intake. However, the concentration of arsenic in the air leads to an excess lifetime cancer risk by inhalation estimated to be 5.26 10−4, which requires special consideration.

Transportation and storage are two mainly critical operations of biomass supply chain because the transport must be performed using specific trucks, while in storage large areas are required. The goal of this work is to evaluate if the woodchip stored in pressed bales wrapped with waterproof sheets, as well as being a viable solution to reduce the storage area, is also a valid storage technique. The study was carried out in northwest Italy whereby pressed bales made of woodchip produced by two different tree species (poplar and black locust) were stored by two different methods (covered and uncovered). During the whole storage period the internal temperature values of bales were similar to air temperature values in all storage systems. Furthermore, no significant variations were obtained from two tree species tested between initial and final values of moisture contents (55% for poplar and 44% for black locust) and LHV (7.92 MJ kg− 1 for black locust and 7.04 MJ kg− 1 for poplar). This storage method, although it does not allow an adequate woodchip drying, could be considered an acceptable alternative to other storage techniques because it does not show losses in terms of energy and dry matter for a period of two years.

In this paper, we consider storage loading problems under uncertainty where the storage area is organized in fixed stacks with a limited height. Such problems appear in several practical applications, e.g., when loading container terminals, container ships or warehouses. Incoming items arriving at a partly filled storage area have to be assigned to stacks under the restriction that not every item may be stacked on top of every other item and taking into account that some items with uncertain data will arrive later. Following the robust optimization paradigm, we propose different MIP formulations for the strictly and adjustable robust counterparts of the uncertain problem. Furthermore, we show that in the case of interval uncertainties the computational effort to find adjustable robust solutions can be reduced. Computational results are presented for randomly generated instances with up to 480 items. The results show that instances of this size can be solved in reasonable time and that including robustness improves solutions where uncertainty is not taken into account. HighlightsStorage loading problems with stacking constraints and uncertainty.MIP formulations for strictly and adjustable robust counterparts.Finite and interval uncertainties.Computational results for instances with up to 480 items.

In recent years, domino effect accidents and domino effect prediction have been intensively studied by the scientific community. The reason for this is the serious impact of these phenomena on people, the environment, the economy, and society as well. In addition, the European Commission has defined this type of study as mandatory. One scenario that can lead to domino effect propagation is a pool fire, which has high values of thermal radiation. This research proposes a novel five-step approach for the determination of failure probability, especially when taking into consideration the structure mechanism of failure in the case of domino effect propagation due to pool fires. In addition, the determination of time to failure, escalation probability, as well as failure due to the received thermal radiation are combined using expert criteria (Fuzzy logic) to obtain an overall failure probability. In all cases, failure due to the decreasing of the strength material is very likely, due to the actual shape thickness of all of the process units. Highest values of failure probability correspond to process units which are in the same subarea. In order to quantify synergic effects, a Bayesian network is developed resulting in domino effect probabilities of 1.0000E−4, which means that there is a high probability of domino effect occurrence. In order to validate the new proposed approach, this approach in combination with another are applied to an actual hydrocarbon storage area as well.

The present study assessed the possibility of a gas leak from a gas storage area by using modified reservoir trap and then deployed monitoring wells in accordance with the accumulation sequence after a gas leak. Using the previous history of reservoir exploration and development techniques, we used conventional trap elements such as reservoir rocks, capping rocks, and faults, as well as well facilities to delineate an new trap in underground gas storage area. Due to inter-layer differential pressure, gas may leak along capping beds, faults, and well facilities, thus first accumulate in P1q (1st overlying permeable layer), then in P1m (2nd overlying permeable layer), P2ch (3rd overlying permeable layer), and finally in shallower zones. According to the sequence of gas accumulation, we deployed five monitoring wells to separately monitor four overlying layers and storage layer. We detected the abnormal pressure mainly in P1m and then excluded the possibility of an abnormal pressure change caused by a gas leak. The monitoring results within the underground gas storage and the monitoring well pattern were useful and satisfactory. We presented the first example of a deployment of a monitoring well pattern for an underground gas storage area, which may provide technical support to the construction of new gas storage areas and geological sequestration of CO2.

In an eroding landscape, the erosional source area (Ae) may be larger or smaller than the depositional or storage area (Ad). This corresponds to areal concentration (Ae/Ad > 1) or divergence (Ae/Ad

To provide confidence in the safety of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, researchers have focused on developing monitoring techniques to trace the unlikely, but potentially possible, migration of CO2 from a deep reservoir. Among the various techniques, noble gas tracing is a beneficial approach, owing to the unique noble gas fingerprints present in injection fluids, the deep reservoir, and the shallow aquifer above the storage area. However, the value of this approach has been limited to demonstrations in a natural analogue CO2-rich reservoir and an artificial injection test site. Therefore, further efforts are required to link those valuable observations to an actual CCS site. In this study, we outline how to use these tracers for actual monitoring work in a shallow aquifer system. First, two artificial injection tests were performed using He, Ar, Kr, and SF6 to understand the behavior of the leaked plume in the shallow aquifer system. In both tests, the noble gas ratio remarkably changed with the solubility-controlled process and the mixing process. To extend and link the valuable findings from the artificial injection tests to an actual CO2 leakage event, we performed a leakage simulation using data from a real CO2 injection site, i.e., the Weyburn–Midale site. This simulation suggested that combinations of 4He with other heavier noble gases can be used to monitor CO2 leakage, as they allow us to separate and explain the major interactions governing the migration of the leaked plume in the shallow aquifer system. Additionally, although the high CO2 density of a dissolved plume is known to add uncertainty in quantitative approaches, the influence of those effects was negligible when compared to the errors arising from the wide variation in the noble gas fingerprints in the leaked CO2. This study, therefore, provides insight into the evolutionary path of the migrated CO2 plume in the shallow aquifer system and to the results can be used to inform the tracing of a leakage source within a shallow aquifer despite various mechanisms complicating the plume distribution.

Errors in products motion control lead to great financial and time treats. That's why nowadays large-scale industrial enterprises widely implement the automated monitoring systems of industrial products movement in all stages of the production process. Decisions on the monitoring systems market often allow to automate only areas where the routes are clearly defined and objects move consistently. In other areas such as product storages or shipment manual methods of monitoring objects often dominate such as visual inspection or using hand-held label readers. One of approaches to automate products motion control is a radio frequency identification one.

In-plant milk-run systems are transportation systems, where materials are delivered from a central storage area to several points of use on defined routes and in short intervals. Milk-run systems generally enable frequent deliveries in smaller lot sizes with short lead times and low inventory at the points of use. In real milk-run systems, the number of deliveries per interval varies due to, e.g., variations in the production program. To enable efficient and stable milk-run system operations, these systems therefore must be able to cope with peaks in the number of deliveries. We develop different strategies for handling these delivery peaks and evaluate them with respect to delivery cost, lead time and service level using real material consumption data from two large companies from the automotive industry.

The Great East Japan Earthquake (magnitude 9.0 Mw: the moment magnitude scale, based on the seismic moment of the earthquake) occurred at 14:46, March 11, 2011. It triggered huge tsunami waves (seismic sea waves) that reached heights of up to about 20 m. In this paper, the fire and explosion disasters occurred due to the Great East Japan Earthquake are reported shortly. Some fires occurred in seacoast areas after tsunami attacks and some of them were spreading very widely to the tsunami flooded areas. It is important to study the mechanisms of such fires (tsunami fires) for preparing huge tsunami. After the earthquake, a very severe accident happened in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three reactors experienced full meltdown. During this disaster, hydrogen explosions occurred and made the situation more serious. It has to be realized once again that the countermeasures for hydrogen explosions is indispensable. Also Large scale BLEVEs (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosions) happened at LPG storage area in an oil refinery in Chiba Prefecture. This accident started from the falling down of an LPG storage tank by earthquake motions. The tank was heavier than usual, as it was filled with water (1.7 times heavier than LPG) for periodic inspection. Considering these disasters, we have to think about how we prepare the accident of low probability and of very severe consequence. Recently, the risk based approach is widely utilized. However, for such disasters it seems not enough to perform safety management only by risk based approach. Not only probabilistic approach (Risk), but also deterministic approach (Emergency plan, Mitigation technique) should be taken in account.

This study analyzes the propagation and reflections of regular Mach and shock waves through small-scale experiments and numerical modeling of an explosion in a gas storage plan. The gas storage area is a “U-shape” and contains two racks of 9 horizontal bottles (3 × 3) each. An explosive charge is located in a corner at the closed end of the system. The analyses of the shock waves and the effects of overpressure are conducted both inside and outside the plant.

During operation, maintenance inside the reactor building at ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) has to be performed by remote handling, due to the presence of activated materials. Maintenance operations involve the transportation and storage of large, heavyweight casks from and to the tokamak building. The transportation is carried out by autonomous vehicles that lift and move beneath these casks. The storage of these casks face several challenges, since (1) the cask storage area is limited in space, and (2) all casks have to be accessible for transportation by the vehicles. In particular, casks in the storage area may block other casks, so that the former has to be moved to a temporary position to give way to the latter. This paper addresses the challenge of managing the logistics of cask storage, where casks may have different typologies. In particular, we propose an approach to (1) determine the best position of the casks inside the storage area, and to (2) obtain the sequence of operations required to retrieve and store an arbitrary cask from/to a given storage place. A combinatorial optimization approach is used to obtain solutions to both these problems. Simulation results illustrate the application of the proposed method to a simple scenario.

Cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) has been used in producing phenol, dicumyl peroxide (DCPO) and as an initiator for synthesizing acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resin by copolymerization in Taiwan. Four incidents of fire and explosion induced by thermal runaway reactions were occurred in a same plant producing CHP, DCPO and bis-(tert-butylperoxy isopropyl) benzene peroxide (BIBP). The fourth fire and explosion occurred in the CHP reactor that resulted in a catastrophic damage in reaction region and even spread throughout storage area. Descriptions on the occurrences of these incidents were assessed by the features of processes, reaction schemes and unexpected side reactions. Calorimetric data on thermokinetics and pressure were used for explaining the practical consequences or which the worst cases encountered in this kind of plant. Acceptable risk associated with emergency relief system design is vital for a plant producing organic peroxide. These basic data for designing an inherently safer plant can be conducted from adiabatic calorimetry. An encouraging deduction has been drawn here, these incidents may be avoided by the implementation of API RP 520, API RP 521, DIERS technology, OSHA 1910.119 and AIChE's CCPS recommended PSM elements.

Many supply chains strive to shorten the time between a customer's order and the actual delivery of the ordered goods. Cross docking is one of the options to reduce these response times. Cross docking facilities are dynamic environments where products arrive and leave the same day. To deal with these dynamic aspects, the need for efficient control policies in combination with flexible and easy to reconfigure storage area layouts increases. We present a dynamic design methodology to select control policies and determine layout rules for cross docking facilities. We present both advantages and disadvantages of the proposed layout procedures. We use the cross docking center of the "Royal Horticultural Company Lemkes" in The Netherlands as the basis for a comparative analysis of the procedures presented. We show that, by applying our design methodology, a savings of 16% can be obtained in total travel distances of employees. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dry Laser Cleaning (DLC) and Laser-induced Shockwave Cleaning (LSC) techniques useful for dust Tokamak control are described. Coupled with a sucking device, DLC can unstick and recover metallic particles but the most efficient laser is an UV one with short pulse duration (less than 10 ns). LSC is able to blow particles from hot area to storage area where they can be recovered after a while. Thus, both DLC and LSC show ITER relevancy at a laboratory scale. They seem both difficult to be integrate in the ITER environment except if they can be embarked on a Remote Handling system. Furthermore, their efficiencies are optimum at atmospheric pressure and this could be not compatible with the ITER Active Gas handling System.

This paper presents a decision making approach based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for determining an efficient container handling strategy at an automated port container terminal. Containers are unloaded from the ship by quay cranes and transported to the storage area by Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). The objective of this paper is to show how dispatching rules and a number of employed AGVs affect measures of effectiveness of container handling process and to compare their efficiencies using DEA. It was shown that simulation modeling and efficiency evaluation of AGV fleet operations can be useful for the planning purpose.

This paper presents the quantification of occupational risk in an aluminum plant producing profiles, located in Northern Greece. Risk assessment is based on the Workgroup Occupational Risk Model (WORM) project, developed in the Netherlands. This model can assess occupational risk at hazard level, activity level, job level and overall company risk. Twenty six job positions have been identified for this plant, such as operators of press extruders, forklift operators, crane operators, painters, and various other workers across the process units. All risk profiles of workers have been quantified and jobs have been ranked according to their risk. Operators at the entrance of the painting unit have the highest fatality risk (3.25 × 10 −5 /year), followed by the workers at the storage area (2.18 × 10 −5 /year) and the workers performing sandblasting of dies (1.91 × 10 −5 /year). Occupational risk has also been assessed for all plant units and the overall company. Storage area has the higher expected number of fatalities (2.8 × 10 −4 /year) followed by the surface treatment area (2.54 × 10 −4 /year) and the extrusion unit (1.7 × 10 −3 /year).

This paper demonstrates the unique advantages of using a portable FTIR spectrometer with a diamond ATR window for analyzing micro-samples of adhesive obtained from archaeological pottery. The Cypriot collection housed in the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne was used as a case study for identifying adhesive samples. An initial survey of the collection determined which items have been repaired with an adhesive and estimated the level of difficulty that would be involved with removing a sample. Next a polymer resin identification survey was conducted on all items, which had adhesive repairs. Instead of removing artifacts from their museum storage area, which pose the risk of breakage, a portable FTIR unit was brought into the storage space where the collection is housed. Analysis involved micro-sampling using water/acetone swabs (or physical removal if the polymer film was insoluble), immediate data collection, analysis and identification based on reference spectra of commercial adhesive products anecdotally known to be used for repairing archaeological pottery. As a consequence of sample collection and the assessment of spectral data quality being conducted concurrently, most adhesive samples were successfully identified. Subsequent analysis allowed comparisons to be made between the adhesive types identified, adhesive appearance and the original archaeological dig sites. In addition an assessment was made of adhesive performance.

The ITER blanket (BL) is composed of about 400 modules in the vacuum vessel (VV). The BL has to be maintained by remote handling means due to high radiation levels in the VV after D-T operation. The remote handling (RH) equipment for BL maintenance consists of articulated rail, supports, a rail-mounted vehicle, a telescopic arm, an end-effecter, tools and related systems such as transfer casks and umbilical system. Towards the construction, the BL RH equipment design has been improved and developed in more detail, based on the 2001 FDR design. The overview of design results is introduced in this paper. The design of rail deployment system of the BL RH has been updated to enable the rail connection in the transfer cask in order to minimize occupation space at storage area. For this purpose, design work has been performed for concept, sequence and typical simulation of BL replacement in the VV and rail deployment/storage of the RH equipment in the cask, including cask docking. In particular, the technical issues of the rail connection in the cask are (1) tight tolerance of a pin at a hinge, (2) limited space for the connection inside a cask and (3) tight positioning accuracy. This paper summarizes the idea to solve these issues and the results of the design work. The paper also introduces new cable handling equipment, rail support equipment and BL module transporter.

Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2075/2005 of 5 December 2005 lays down detailed conditions for Trichinella-free farms. The objectives of the present study were: (1) to assess the current state of swine farms in Greece in relation to the risk of exposure of pigs to Trichinella as a first step towards certification of Trichinella-free farms in Greece and (2) to identify a profile and characteristics of swine farms and farmers which can be used to formulate appropriate measures to promote good production practices for reducing risk of exposure of pigs to Trichinella. A total of 70 swine farms were inspected using audit components similar to those used by the U.S. Trichinae Certification Programme. Only four farms (6%) complied with all the criteria used for assessing the good production practices for reducing risk of exposure of pigs to Trichinella. A common characteristic of these four farms was that they had a large size (>300 sows) and produced their own feed. The most common issues among the farms that did not meet audit criteria in the present study were related to proper rodent control and accessibility of other animals in the feed storage area and the facility. In addition, the predominant significant differentiating characteristic for the farms not meeting the criteria was their small (

The operation efficiency of a distribution center usually significantly affects business operation performance. Furthermore, since the storage area in a warehouse is critical to a distribution center, effective storage management will significantly enhance the operation performance of a distribution center. In order to assist the domain experts to more efficiently and accurately acquire suggestions for storage re-allocation, this research proposes a heuristic algorithm for storage re-allocation operation. First, data about storage locations and inventory are acquired from the warehouse management system (WMS). Based on the inventory and storage information, the items in all storage locations can be merged via a two-phase storage re-allocation method in order to increase the number of the empty storage locations. Based on the above procedure, suggestions for storage re-allocation operation could be generated. Moreover, a storage management system is also developed in this research to automatically generate visualized suggestions for storage re-allocation and management operations. As a whole, this research presents a systematic algorithm and technique for warehouse managers to efficiently and accurately acquire suggestions for storage management.

A discrete event simulation model was developed and used to estimate the storage area required for a proposed overseas textile manufacturing facility. It was found that the simulation was able to achieve this because of its ability to both store attribute values and to show queuing levels at an individual product level. It was also found that the process of undertaking the simulation project initiated useful discussions regarding the operation of the facility. Discrete event simulation is shown to be much more than an exercise in quantitative analysis of results and an important task of the simulation project manager is to initiate a debate among decision makers regarding the assumptions of how the system operates.

In this paper we present an Integer Programming reformulation for a hard batching problem encountered in feeding assembly lines. The study was motivated by the real process to feed the production flow through the shop floor in a leading automobile industry in Brazil. The problem consists of deciding the assignment of items to containers and the frequency of moves from the storage area to the line in order to meet demands with minimum cost. Better lower and upper bounds were obtained by a branch-and-bound algorithm based on the proposed reformulation. We also present valid inequalities that may improve such algorithm even further.

The Dow fire and explosion index (F&EI) and chemical exposure index (CEI) have been successfully implemented in a Visual Basic environment as a tool for the inherent safety assessment of chemical processes. Subprograms were developed to quantify the inherent safety aspects of the Dow indices. These aspects are presented graphically with the indices on the vertical axis and an inherent safety indicator on the horizontal axis. Dow indices of the MIC storage unit involved in the Bhopal disaster were evaluated to quantify the effects of process temperature, pressure and inventory of hazardous materials on the index values. As operating pressure was reduced, the F&EI decreased in accordance with the principles of inherent safety. The change in F&EI due to reduction of inventory was more significant than that resulting from pressure reduction. The results show that the F&EI change, given the same range of the independent variables (quantity of hazardous materials, operating temperature and pressure), is larger when a unit in the process area is evaluated compared to a unit in a storage area (tank farm). Reduction of the inventory of hazardous materials had no direct effect on the CEI for vapor releases, whereas the size of the hole diameter impacted the CEI to a great extent. However, there is a significant change in the CEI as the inventory of materials decreases for liquid releases involving temperatures above their flash and boiling points. Pressure reduction decreases the CEI, whereas temperature reduction leads to an increase in the CEI when these parameters are treated independently.

This paper studies the characteristics of a warehousing system in which the storage and retrieval orders are performed by a tower crane. The crane is located at the center of the round storage area and it can rotate in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions. We develop some mathematical travel time models for this warehousing system using the characteristic of the S/R crane that the S/R device can move in radial and circumferential directions simultaneously. First, we derive travel time models for single command and dual command cycles under the randomized storage assignment rule. Then, assuming that the turnover rates for items are different from each other, we calculate expected travel time under the turnover-based assignment rule through a numerical approach. For each model some illustrative examples are presented.

A total of 150 ostrich eggs was collected from two commercial ostrich farms. The eggs were brushed to remove soil and placed into one storage area (15.51 to 15.56 C without controlling humidity) for different periods of time (up to 19 d) before being incubated. After storage, the eggs were kept for 12 h at room temperature, and then washed, disinfected, and dried before being placed into a commercial incubator to determine the effect of length of storage on hatchability. The two supply farms varied by 11.1% in hatchability. The weight of eggs stored for the same lengths of time was not significantly different (P > or = 0.05) between hatched and unhatched eggs. Hatchabilities of ostrich eggs were not affected by days of storage up to 19 d at 15.51 to 15.56 C without controlling the humidity level but, rather, by the amount of weight loss during incubation.

This paper describes a methodology for predicting the delay to major street through vehicles at two-way stop-controlled intersections. This delay is incurred when major street left-turn demand exceeds the available storage area and blocks the adjacent through lane. The through lane blockage problem does not generally occur with significant frequency on streets with divided cross sections that have left-turn bays or lanes; however, it frequently occurs on undivided streets due to their lack of left-turn storage. To minimize this delay, through drivers often merge with vehicles in the adjacent through lane—if there is an adequate gap for them to safely merge into. If there is no merge opportunity, then the through drivers will stay in the inside lane until the queue ahead dissipates. The through vehicle delay predicted by the methodology was found to be relatively small (i.e. less than 5 s veh−1) when compared with delays commonly incurred by non-priority movements at unsignalized intersections. However, when expressed in terms of total vehicle hours of delay, the effect can be quite significant. In general, through vehicle delay increases with increasing approach flow rate and left-turn percentage. However, at flow rates in excess of about 1400 veh h−1, delays increase very rapidly and there is evidence that larger left-turn percentages may have lower delays. ©

Commercially prepared cattle feeds collected from the delivery or storage area of 12 farms (six dairy and six beef feedlot) in the American states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho were cultured for Salmonella enterica . Of 295 feed samples examined, 29 (9.8%) collected from six of the 12 farms were found to contain S. enterica .

A modelling strategy is presented that links three major policy issues associated with the distribution systems serving a random process of item retrieval demand. These issues include inventory management, space allocation between reserve and retrieval storage areas, and storage area layout. The analytical base for system cost components related to these policies is derived and incorporated into a computational evaluation model. A sample problem is used to demonstrate the model for analyzing costs associated with the design and operation of a distribution system.

We propose two new concepts, born and reborn, for maintaining multiple stacks within a common storage area. There are two features of our new concepts. First, an overflow can be processed without reallocation of any elements of the stacks. The efficiency of maintenance is thus improved. Second, only the nonempty stacks can share the common storage area. Use of the common storage area is thus increased.

By viewing a fault as any significant discrepancy between the perceived operation of a plant and reality, a method, developed specifically for the model-based detection of faults on information poor plants, is used to explain anomalies in plant data. This is demonstrated on one particular application, that of a liquor product storage area in a nuclear facility.

Many types of storage systems require goods to be stacked in a storage area. The amount of handling effort required to retrieve individual items from the stacks depends on stack heights and on the adopted storage strategy. The paper focuses on container import operations at marine terminals. It presents methods for measuring the amount of handling effort required when two basic strategies are adopted, one that tries to keep all stacks the same size and another than segregates containers according to arrival time. The strategies are compared in an idealized situation. The methods should be easy to modify for the analysis of similar systems.

Warehouses, generally the conventional type, have separate reserve storage and active pick areas. The reserve storage area stocks the buffer inventory and facilitates the replenishment of inventory in the active pick area. An important but largely unadressed warehouse design issue is what should be the size of the reserve storage area relative to the active pick area. The relative sizing of the reserve storage area is influenced by economic issues such as the storage cost per cubic foot of space and the cost of replenishment of inventory in the active pick area. The relative sizing problem is formulated for a warehouse with dedicated linear shelving and dual-command picking discipline. The optimal partition of the warehouse layout is then obtained from the stochastic approximation of the problem. The significance of sizing the reserve storage area arises from its impact on the order-picking cost, a major operational cost component in warehouses.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Location and function of the area known as Central Supply, Central Service, Sterile Supply or Supply, Processing and Distribution (SPD) has impact on infection control. VA provides care to over 5 million patients from over 1300 sites nationwide. Within VA medical facilities across the nation SPD may be run by various departments. METHODS: A survey was sent to all VA medical centers nationwide asking questions about SPD functioning, practices and needs. Several infection control topics were included (but not limited to): sterilization, biological monitoring, temperature and humidity, and decontamination. Quantitative and qualitative questions were asked. RESULTS: Response rate to the survey was ∼87%. There is variability of services provided, depending on facility size and clinical services offered; of 126 responses to that questions, only 49.2% of SPDs report doing all decontamination and sterilization of reusable medical/surgical devices at their respective medical facilities. With regard to environmental conditions in SPD, table provides basic information from the survey: ∗ AC in prep area AC in decontam area AC in 1° storage area Temp in 1° storage area Humidity in 1° storage area # of responses 92 89 83 96 81 Mean 10.8 9.6 9.4 70.3°F 39.4% SD 3.6 5.0 3.8 3.7°F 15.6% Mode 10.0 6.0 10.0 70.0°F 35.0% 75%ile 12.2 11.3 10.0 72.1°F 45.0% 50%ile 10.0 10.0 10.0 70.0°F 36.0% 25%ile 10.0 6.0 9.0 69.0°F 30.0% ∗ AC=air changes per hour; SD=standard deviation. With regard to biological indicators, 100% of facilities (n = 110 responses) report performing monitors at least daily, while 89.9% of facilities (n = 98 responses) report performing monitors with each gas sterilization load, and 93% of facilities (n = 100 responses) report performing monitors with each implantable device sterilized. Bowie-Dick testing for pre-vac sterilizers is reported being performed at 99.1%, 99.1% and 97.2% of facilities (n = 109, 108 and 107 responses, respectively), at least daily, after repairs and after shutdowns, respectively. A qualitative question asking Top Five areas of importance/concern has revealed a significant number of the facilities focused on education and training for SPD employees, pay structure, staffing needs, turnover in SPD area and inadequate space. CONCLUSIONS: SPD is an area of infection control vulnerability in medical facilities. Decentralization of services, environment in SPD facilities, training, salary, personnel retention, qualifications, and space are issues noted in this nationwide survey.

A database system includes a communication network, and a plurality of nodes. Each node includes a data storage device, a management part managing a status of the data stored in the data storage device, and a data storage request part for generating an alternative data storage device assignment request for requesting at least one of other nodes among the plurality of nodes to store data in the data storage device of the other node via the communication network when a predetermined condition is satisfied. A determining part receives the alternative data storage device assignment request from a request node which generates the alternative data storage device assignment request and assigns a storage area in the data storage device for storing data related to the alternative data storage device assignment request by referring to the status of the data managed by the management part when the data storage device of the other node has an enough storage capacity to store the data related to the alternative data storage device assignment request.

Top round cuts were obtained from sixteen sides of utility cows. Eight sides were randomly assigned as control (CON) and the remainders were prerigor pressurized (PRP) at 15,000 psi for 2 min. The top round from each side was divided into 4 wholesale cuts, vacuum packaged, heat-shrunk and randomly assigned to 0, 3, 5 or 7 weeks of storage at -1.6±1°C. Upon completion of each storage interval, wholesale cuts were removed from the storage area, purge losses determined and samples for microbial counts obtained. Two boneless steaks were prepared from each wholesale cut and displayed for 5 d at 1-3°C with 1076 lux fluorescent lighting for 12 h each day. Purge loss differed (P

A sludge irradiator design must consider the source, conveyor, source storage area, shielding, control system, and ventilation system. Each of these elements must be properly integrated to develop a functional irradiator. Operational requirements of the irradiator are within the capabilities normally available at a wastewater treatment facility. Application of the sludge irradiation technology must be done in concert with other sludge treatment processes to develop an acceptable sludge management system. Likewise, evaluation of irradiation and its costs must be done in the context of the complete system.

Optimum storage location for work-in-progress in flexible manufacturing cells is considered. A measure for traffic intensity between stations and central storage area is defined. The problem is investigated under discrete and continuous space assumptions and known layout models have been adapted to the new context. In the discrete case, the problem is transformed to a generalized assignment model which can be solved efficiently. Applicability of continuous layout models under different distance measures is discussed for the continuous case. Various examples are supplied to illustrate the approaches.

A subgradient algorithm and a binary integer assignment algorithm are used in tandem to determine economic run quantities for an injection molding facility. The model considers machine regular time and overtime capability, machine-tool compatibility, storage area capacity, and the economics of lot size decisions. Use of the model in scheduling and alternative facility evaluation are discussed.