A performance model for mobile robot-based part feeding systems to supermarkets

AbstractIn a context where companies are striving to produce highly customised goods in small batches and within short lead times, increasing attention is being put on the design and management of part feeding systems. This research is the first to model automated part feeding to supermarkets in a factory environment, considering an innovative technology called vertical robotic storage and retrieval systems. This technology allows automating the storage, picking, and internal transportation activities in an integrated process, thanks to rack-climbing robots roaming in both the shop floor and the storage racks. We develop an analytical model based on the queuing network approach to analyse the system performance, and we use it to perform numerical experiments and to evaluate the design trade-offs with reference to a real case in the automotive industry. Results show that an increase in the number of robots leads to better performance since the positive impact on the response time is stronger than the negative impact on the waiting times of robots at the supermarkets due to congestion. Furthermore, a configuration with multiple small supermarkets improves the efficiency of the replenishment process, compared to a setting with few big supermarkets.

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Conflict or Coordination? The Interactions between Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: Evidence from China

10.21203/rs.3.rs-173682/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

huiqin jiang ◽

Miao-miao Chen ◽

Yixuan Li ◽

Xinxiao Shao ◽

Jianqiang Bao

Keyword(s):

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Coordination Model ◽

Dynamic Relationship ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Using Data ◽

Panel Vector Autoregression ◽

Coordination Degree

Abstract As two important strategies to reduce adverse climate effects, mitigation and adaptation actions can interact, resulting in synergies or trade-offs. Using data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2017, this study employs a panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model to study the interactive relationships between mitigation and adaptation. Moreover, based on the coupling coordination model, this paper investigates the coordination degree of mitigation and adaptation in China. The results show that 1) there is Granger causality between mitigation and adaptation, and the positive impact of mitigation on adaptation is greater than the negative impact of adaptation on mitigation. Therefore, an integrated approach that considers these interactions can help enhance synergy and create a win-win situation. 2) The dynamic relationship between mitigation and adaptation in China has reached a barely balanced stage, and there are large regional differences. 3) Compared with the mitigation evaluation value, the adaptation evaluation value has a more positive effect on promoting an increase in the coordination degree. These findings can contribute to the formulation of effective regional sustainable development strategies.

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How Can TV Food Programs Be Used as an Effective Restaurant Marketing Tool? An Extension of ELM with Perceived Risk

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12177131 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (17) ◽

pp. 7131

Author(s):

Hye Jin Sung ◽

Hyun Young Kim ◽

Meehee Cho

Keyword(s):

Perceived Risk ◽

Information Quality ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Waiting Times ◽

Modern Society ◽

Positive Sign ◽

Long Distance ◽

Positive Role ◽

Food Programs

In today’s modern society, television (TV) food programs exert significant influence in the domestic and international foodservice market. This study applied the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to examine the information processing and decision-making activities of restaurant customers related to TV food shows that they watched. The ELM was expanded and tested by including perceived risk as a factor influencing attitude towards a restaurant. A total of 347 responses obtained from Korean residents, who had obtained information delivered by a messenger in a TV program and had subsequently visited that restaurant in the three months prior to the survey were analyzed. Results revealed that the information quality components significantly influenced attitude towards restaurants. For the peripheral route, while the credibility of the messenger had no significant impact, the vividness of expression had a positive impact on attitude towards restaurants. Performance risk was shown to have a negative impact on attitude towards the restaurant. However, time risk, possibly requiring long-distance travel or long waiting times for available tables played a positive role. The long wait times may be perceived well because many people wanting to eat at the restaurants is a positive sign about the experience. Attitude towards a restaurant positively influenced visit intention. Based on the study’s findings, discussion, implications, and limitations for future studies are provided.

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TURN-OVER GURU PADA MADRASAH ALIYAH NAHDLATUL ULAMA

JURNAL PENELITIAN ◽

10.28918/jupe.v13i1.704 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mochamad Iskarim

Keyword(s):

Data Collection ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

New Teacher ◽

Qualitative Approach ◽

Depth Interview ◽

Nahdlatul Ulama ◽

Turn Over ◽

Interview Questionnaire ◽

Collection Methods

Penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk mengetahui dampak positif dan negatif dari adanya pergantian (turn-over) guru di Madrasah Aliyah Nahdlatul Ulama Banyuputih kabupaten Batang. Penelitian inimenggunakan pendekatan kualitatif deskriptif analitis dengan metode pengumpulan data berupa wawancara mendalam, angket, dan dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan adanya turn-over yang tinggi pada guru atau pendidik di madrasah tersebut; keuntungan yang bersifat positif justru didapatkan ketika adanya turn-over guru dibandingkan dampak negatifnya; dan kehadiran guru baru menjadi hal yang sangat disukai oleh siswa dalam hal kreativitas, inovasi pembelajaran, motivasi, dan lain sebagainya.The aims of this research were to know the positive and negative impact of teacher turn over at Madrasah Aliyah Nahdlatul Ulama Banyuputih Kabupaten Batang. This research was use analytical descriptive qualitative approach with depth interview, questionnaire and documentation as data collection methods. The results of this research shows that the positive impact occur more than the negative impact when there was teacher turn over; and the presence of a new teacher become student’s favourite on creativity, learning innovation, and motivation aspects.

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Accidental Sustainability

10.1093/oso/9780198706977.003.0005 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Geoffrey Jones

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Organic Food ◽

The United States ◽

Air Travel ◽

Business Leaders ◽

Natural Beauty ◽

And Diffusion ◽

Whole Foods

This chapter examines the scaling and diffusion of green entrepreneurship between 1980 and the present. It explores how entrepreneurs and business leaders promoted the idea that business and sustainability were compatible. It then examines the rapid growth of organic foods, natural beauty, ecological architecture, and eco-tourism. Green firms sometimes grew to a large scale, such as the retailer Whole Foods Market in the United States. The chapter explores how greater mainstreaming of these businesses resulted in a new set of challenges arising from scaling. Organic food was now transported across large distances causing a negative impact on carbon emissions. More eco-tourism resulted in more air travel and bigger airports. In other industries scaling had a more positive impact. Towns were major polluters, so more ecological buildings had a positive impact.

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Energy Markets and Trading

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190633851.013.5 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David Mares

Keyword(s):

Fossil Fuels ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Adjustment Costs ◽

Institutional Context ◽

Energy Markets ◽

Energy Resources ◽

Trade Offs ◽

The Social ◽

Impact Risk

This chapter discusses the role of energy in economic development, the transformation of energy markets, trade in energy resources themselves, and the geopolitical dynamics that result. The transformation of energy markets and their expansion via trade can help or hinder development, depending on the processes behind them and how stakeholders interact. The availability of renewable, climate-friendly sources of energy, domestically and internationally, means that there is no inherent trade-off between economic growth and the use of fossil fuels. The existence of economic, political, social, and geopolitical adjustment costs means that the expansion of international energy markets to incorporate alternatives to oil and coal is a complex balance of environmental trade-offs with no solutions completely free of negative impact risk. An understanding of the supply of and demand for energy must incorporate the institutional context within which they occur, as well as the social and political dynamics of their setting.

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Socioeconomic Conditions and Landowners’ Perception Affect the Intention to Restore Polylepis Forests in the Central Andes of Peru

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12020118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 118

Author(s):

Lunel Joseph ◽

Raúl Marino Yaranga Cano ◽

Marco Arizapana-Almonacid ◽

Marcela Venelli Pyles ◽

Flávia Freire de Siqueira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rural Communities ◽

Mixed Model ◽

Linear Mixed Model ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Central Andes ◽

Socioeconomic Conditions ◽

Native Flora ◽

The Family ◽

Andes Region

Research Highlights: Families more dependent on crops as the main source of income of properties have a greater intention of restoring Polylepis forest areas. However, this intention reduces with the increase of family dependence on subsistence products supplied by Polylepis forests. Properties where the chances of restoration of Polylepis forests are greater are those where the educational and technical level is better. Objectives: We aimed to comprehend which socioeconomic factors of rural properties and families’ perception were determinant for the intention to restore Polylepis forests in the Central Andes region of Peru. Material and Methods: We collected data through visits and the application of questionnaires. We selected 13 rural communities in the Tulumayo River Basin. We randomly sampled 10 to 20 families in each community, depending on its size, totaling 200 families. We used generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) to test which variables affect the intention to restore the forest. Results: When crops are the main source of income in the property, the families have more intention to restore Polylepis areas, on the other hand, when Polylepis forests are an important source of products for the family subsistence, the intention to restore forests reduces, indicating that higher technological status has a positive impact on restoration. The perception that Polylepis forests are important for the existence of water sources had a positive impact on the families’ intention to restore the areas. However, the perception that Polylepis forests are important for native flora persistence had a negative impact on the intention to restore their areas. Conclusions: Our results showed that investment in improving the productivity of the properties and in the education of their landowners should increase the success of eventual programs for restoration of Polylepis forests.

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043 Sleep Restriction Affects Memory in Healthy Adults: Preliminary Findings

SLEEP ◽

10.1093/sleep/zsab072.042 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽

pp. A18-A19

Author(s):

Molly Zimmerman ◽

Christiane Hale ◽

Adam Brickman ◽

Lok-Kin Yeung ◽

Justin Cochran ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Healthy Adults ◽

Task Demands ◽

Sleep Restriction ◽

Neuropsychological Function ◽

Wake Time ◽

Sleep Condition ◽

The Impact

Abstract Introduction Sleep loss has a range of detrimental effects on cognitive ability. However, few studies have examined the impact of sleep restriction on neuropsychological function using an experimental design. The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which maintained insufficient sleep affects cognition in healthy adults compared to habitual adequate sleep. Methods This study used a randomized, crossover, outpatient sleep restriction design. Adults who regularly slept at least 7 h/night, verified by 2 weeks of screening with actigraphy, completed 2 phases of 6 weeks each: habitual sleep (>7 h of sleep/night) or sleep restriction (habitual sleep minus 1.5 h) separated by a 6-week washout period. During the sleep restriction phase, participants were asked to delay their bedtime by 1.5 hours/night while maintaining their habitual wake time. Neuropsychological function was evaluated with the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery at baseline (week 0) and endpoint (week 6) of each intervention phase. The NIH Toolbox evaluates a range of cognitive abilities, including attention, executive functioning, and working memory. General linear models with post hoc paired t-tests were used to assess demographically-adjusted test scores prior to and following each sleep condition. Results At the time of analyses, 16 participants were enrolled (age 34.5□14.5 years, 9 women), 10 of whom had completed study procedures. An interaction between sleep condition and testing session revealed that individuals performed worse on List Sorting, a working memory test, after sleep restriction but improved slightly after habitual sleep (p<0.001). While not statistically reliable, the pattern of test results was similar on the other tests of processing speed, executive function, and attention. Conclusion In these preliminary results from this randomized experimental study, we demonstrated that sleep restriction has a negative impact while stable habitual adequate sleep has a positive impact on working memory, or the ability to temporarily hold information in mind while executing task demands. This finding contributes to our understanding of the complex interplay between different aspects of sleep quality (i.e., both sleep restriction as well as the maintenance of stable sleep patterns) on cognition and underscores the importance of routine sleep screening as part of medical evaluations. Support (if any):

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Exploring the Relationship between Communication and Success of Construction Projects: The Mediating Role of Conflict

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13084513 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 4513

Author(s):

Summaira Malik ◽

Muhammad Taqi ◽

José Moleiro Martins ◽

Mário Nuno Mata ◽

João Manuel Pereira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Project Success ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Construction Project ◽

Project Team ◽

Relationship Conflict ◽

Team Members ◽

Mediating Role ◽

The Impact

The success of a construction project is a widely discussed topic, even today, and there exists a difference of opinion. The impact of communication and conflict on project success is an important, but least addressed, issue in literature, especially in the case of underdeveloped countries. Miscommunication and conflict not only hinder the success of a project but also may lead to conflicts. The focus of this paper was to examine the impact of communication on project success with the mediating role of conflict. By using SPSS, demographics, descriptive statistics and correlation were determined. Smart PLS version 3.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), internal accuracy and validity estimates, hypothesis checking and mediation testing. The results showed that formal communication has a negative impact on the success of a construction project, resulting in conflicts among project team members, whereas informal communication and communication willingness have a positive impact on project success because people tend to know each other, and trust is developed. Task, process and relationship conflicts were used as mediating variables. It was found that task conflict effects the relations positively because project team members suggest different ways to do a certain task, and, hence, project success is achieved. On the contrary, process conflict and relationship conflict have a negative impact on communication and project success. Both of these conflicts lead to miscommunication, and project success is compromised. Hence, it is the responsibility of the project manager to enhance communication among project team members and to reduce the detrimental effects of process and relationship conflict on project success.

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Carabid Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Response to Soil Properties of Urban Wastelands in Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su122410673 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (24) ◽

pp. 10673

Author(s):

Axel Schwerk ◽

Marzena Wińska-Krysiak ◽

Arkadiusz Przybysz ◽

Ewa Zaraś-Januszkiewicz ◽

Piotr Sikorski

Keyword(s):

Negative Impact ◽

Carabid Beetle ◽

Carabid Beetles ◽

Soil Parameters ◽

City Development ◽

Space Management ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Beetle Assemblages ◽

Trace Element Contamination ◽

The One

Urban wasteland is of special interest to city planners. However, to integrate such areas into city space management with consideration of nature conservation aspects, a sound assessment of their ecological potential is necessary. The aim of this paper was to analyze whether carabid beetle assemblages of the wastelands are affected by soil parameters, particularly trace element contamination. Therefore, we studied the carabid fauna in relation to selected soil parameters on 56 sampling plots situated in 24 wastelands located in the city of Warsaw (Poland). The results have confirmed our assumptions that the number of species, as well as the number of individual carabid beetles, are negatively affected by an increasing amount of pollutants in the soil. Particularly, the trace elements Pb, Cu, and Cd showed a significantly negative impact. The results are of value when it comes to the use of urban wastelands in the context of sustainable city development. Future use of urban wastelands will be faced with trade-offs between the use for public interests (e.g., housing space) and ecological interests. Phytoremediation and entomoremediation may be included in decontamination measures. The results of studies, such as the one conducted by us, may help to select the respective wastelands for certain purposes.

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The Urbanisation Impacts on the Policy Effects of the Carbon Tax in China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126749 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6749

Author(s):

Shuyang Chen

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Carbon Emissions ◽

Computable General Equilibrium ◽

Carbon Tax ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Evaluation Framework ◽

Socioeconomic Impacts ◽

Policy Effects ◽

Distributed Lag

In the literature, very few studies have focused on how urbanisation will influence the policy effects of a climate policy even though urbanisation does have profound socioeconomic impacts. This paper has explored the interrelations among the urbanisation, carbon emissions, GDP, and energy consumption in China using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. Then, the unit urbanisation impacts are inputted into the policy evaluation framework of the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model in 2015–2030. The results show that the urbanisation had a positive impact on the GDP but a negative impact on the carbon emissions in 1980–2014. These impacts were statistically significant, but its impact on the energy consumption was not statistically significant. In 2015–2030, the urbanisation will have negative impacts on the carbon emissions and intensity. It will decrease the GDP and the household welfare under the carbon tax. The urbanisation will increase the average social cost of carbon (ASCC). Hence, the urbanisation will reinforce the policy effects of the carbon tax on the emissions and welfare.

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