Robustness in the personnel shift scheduling problem : the modelling and validation of different proactive and reactive strategies

The personnel planning process in any organization aims to ensure that the organization can offer a desired service level to their customers at a minimal personnel cost and maximal personnel satisfaction. This process consists of three hierarchical phases characterized by differing levels of decision freedom and uncertainty about the future personnel demand and availability. In this respect, the personnel planner faces a large and medium level of uncertainty and decision freedom in the strategic staffing phase and the tactical scheduling phase, respectively. In these phases, the personnel planner manages the uncertainty by making assumptions and predictions about the future. Based on these assumptions and predictions, the personnel planner makes decisions about the number of employees to be hired and assigned to work during specific points in time. These decisions constrain the decision freedom in the operational allocation phase, in which the personnel planner obtains the most recent information on the actual personnel demand and availability. This information may differ from the assumptions and predictions, and affect the service level and personnel cost and satisfaction. As such, the moment the personnel planner faces the lowest level of uncertainty, (s)he also has the lowest level of decision freedom. In this respect, this dissertation aims to propose strategies to anticipate and deal with unexpected divergences between the previously established assumptions and predictions, and the actual personnel demand and availability

Developing an Intervention Toolbox for the Common Health Problems in the Workplace

Development of the Health ↔ Work Toolbox is described. The toolbox aims to reduce the workplace impact of common health problems (musculoskeletal, mental health, and stress complaints) by focusing on tackling work-relevant symptoms. Based on biopsychosocial principles this toolbox supplements current approaches by occupying the zone between primary prevention and healthcare. It provides a set of evidence-informed principles and processes (knowledge + tools) for tackling work-relevant common health problems. The toolbox comprises a proactive element aimed at empowering line managers to create good jobs, and a ‘just in time’ responsive element for supporting individuals struggling with a work-relevant health problem. The key intention is helping people with common health problems to maintain work participation. The extensive conceptual and practical development process, including a comprehensive evidence review, produced a functional prototype toolbox that is evidence based and flexible in its use. End-user feedback was mostly positive. Moving the prototype to a fully-fledged internet resource requires specialist design expertise. The Health ↔ Work Toolbox appears to have potential to contribute to the goal of augmenting existing primary prevention strategies and healthcare delivery by providing a more comprehensive workplace approach to constraining sickness absence

Emerging Issues in Occupational Health Psychology

This book compiles the cutting-edge research published in the Special Issue “Emerging Issues in Occupational Health Psychology” (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health). The articles included in this book use strong and innovative theoretical approaches to provide evidence regarding the importance of working characteristics and resources to promote healthier and more sustainable environments in which employees can be happy and productive

On-site application of self-compacting concrete (SCC)

Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) is a material which under its own self-weight flows to form and fill any shape, attains full compaction, without external energy input, to create a dense homogenous mass (based on Holton, 2003; The Concrete Society and BRE, 2005; Damtoft et al, 2008). It is, in respect to the history of concrete, a relatively new development, with its first UK application occurring in the late 1990s. Since then a significant amount of research has sought to understand its physical and structural properties, but there is a lack of a knowledge base on its practical application and performance in construction projects. Where it does exist, such research lacks robust and transparent data, particularly relating to the claimed attributes of the material (such as better surface finish, faster construction and lower overall costs). Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, this research investigates the construction practices employed when pouring SCC and presents new data on its practical applications. Interviews with a range of building contractors, ranging from multinationals to small UK businesses (SMEs), show that current perceptions of SCC limit its use to specific applications because practitioners see SCC as just another type of concrete . A critical examination of these attitudes led to the identification of three distinct scenarios for the use of SCC: 1. Reactive selection: in which a particular attribute of SCC provokes its use to solve a particular problem, often as a last minute substitution for conventional concrete the most common scenario. 2. Strategic change: in which the material is chosen on the basis of a balanced assessment of all its benefits and on the understanding that such benefits can only be attained if the contractor appreciates that there may be implications for the construction process a rarely experienced scenario. 3. Specification: in which there is complete acceptance of SCC as a method, not just as a material; a significant amount of early project involvement with knowledge holders, such as contractors and material suppliers, optimises the construction process. A rigorous work measurement study of live construction projects has made it possible to quantify the as-built costs of SCC for selected UK residential slab and multi-storey flat slab applications and compare this with the equivalent conventional concrete slab construction. On-site use of self-compacting concrete vi The results indicate that SCC can reduce construction times of structural topping layers of residential slabs by up to 73%, and has shown that SCC can also match, if not reduce, total as-built concrete placement costs in multi-storey applications. This new data will enable contractors, designers and specifiers to better understand the practical implications of using SCC for on-site applications, thereby leading to more potential instances of its early and planned specification, hence resulting in more of its full benefits being realised

Developing an intervention toolbox for common health problems in the workplace

The project brief was to develop the content for an intervention toolbox for common health problems in the workplace - musculoskeletal, mental health and stress complaints. The intention was to develop a prototype toolbox that can be taken forward to (1) minimise the occurrence of work-relevant common health problems (CHPs) and (2) reduce avoidable sickness absence, healthcare use and long-term disability for CHP complaints that inevitably occur in the workplac

State-of-the-Art Review and Synthesis: A Requirement-based Roadmap for Standardized Predictive Maintenance Automation Using Digital Twin Technologies

Recent digital advances have popularized predictive maintenance (PMx), offering enhanced efficiency, automation, accuracy, cost savings, and independence in maintenance. Yet, it continues to face numerous limitations such as poor explainability, sample inefficiency of data-driven methods, complexity of physics-based methods, and limited generalizability and scalability of knowledge-based methods. This paper proposes leveraging Digital Twins (DTs) to address these challenges and enable automated PMx adoption at larger scales. While we argue that DTs have this transformative potential, they have not yet reached the level of maturity needed to bridge these gaps in a standardized way. Without a standard definition for such evolution, this transformation lacks a solid foundation upon which to base its development. This paper provides a requirement-based roadmap supporting standardized PMx automation using DT technologies. A systematic approach comprising two primary stages is presented. First, we methodically identify the Informational Requirements (IRs) and Functional Requirements (FRs) for PMx, which serve as a foundation from which any unified framework must emerge. Our approach to defining and using IRs and FRs to form the backbone of any PMx DT is supported by the track record of IRs and FRs being successfully used as blueprints in other areas, such as for product development within the software industry. Second, we conduct a thorough literature review spanning fields to determine the ways in which these IRs and FRs are currently being used within DTs, enabling us to point to the specific areas where further research is warranted to support the progress and maturation of requirement-based PMx DTs.Comment: (1)This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

Estimating on-site emissions during ready mixed concrete (RMC) delivery: A methodology

Sustainability represents a critical challenge in the construction industry and many approaches have been developed to reduce the environmental impact of on-site construction processes. However, scant academic attention has been given to the environmental impact of logistical support for ready mixed concrete (RMC) on-site delivery emissions in developing countries. This paper develops a methodology for capturing emissions from RMC equipment and material during on-site delivery operations. A literature review was conducted to define and delineate upon greenhouse gases emitted during RMC operations and the appropriate methods to calculate them. A methodology was then developed and validated by analysing ten delivery cycle times in a case study. Data collected was analysed using simple descriptive summary statistics (viz: mean, bar charts and standard deviation). The study’s results illustrate that on-site emissions incurred were: CO2 account for 99.38% of the total emissions from RMC equipment while HC (0.03%), CO (0.11%), NOx (0.26%), PM10 (0.02%), and SO2 (0.20%) account for 0.62%. Embodied CO2 in RMC also contributes majorly to emissions in on-site delivery operations. Alternative materials such as fly ash represent a viable means of reducing embodied emissions in RMC but proper handling is required to avert harmful environmental impacts. The study provides deeper insights into the on-site emissions arising from RMC delivery operations and a bespoke methodology that could be used as an organisational learning tool for RMC companies