1,238 research outputs found
Finishing pigs: conversion is more than respecting the standards
Food scares, mainly BSE and antibiotics, have sharpened consumers concerns about food safety and quality and have increased public attention on agricultural production and food processing. The demand for organic food has increased drastically in the year 2001. In particular, the demand for organically produced pork can not be satisfied. Accordingly, the interest of organic and conventional farmers to finish pigs organically has risen. The general objective of this research project is to describe the state of organic pig finishing in Germany, to analyse the most frequently encountered problems related to an up-take of organic pig finishing, to develop strategies to overcome these problems and provide the base to develop a conversion guidebook. The specific objective of this paper is to present the results of a pilot study which was designed to further explore the research problem and test the feasibility of the study design
Digital Supply Chains and the Human Factor—A Structured Synopsis
Digital developments and changes in the production, supply chain and logistics sector as well as specific concepts like automation and Industry 4.0 or the Internet of Things are omnipresent. Especially the human role in such settings experiences important changes, which has not been adequately addressed in research yet. This introduction chapter contains an overview of elements encountered in digitalization processes in order to ensure sustainable work environments and efficient Human-Computer Interaction settings for the benefit of workers and organizations. Thus, it is the aim of this chapter to provide a structured synopsis to consider the human factor in analyzing digital work processes. This synopsis is aligned with typical workflow developments in digitalization projects and can be transferred to different work settings in supply chains. Finally, we outline the chapter structure of this book within four thematic sections in order to provide a joint storyline on investigating the human factor in digital supply chains
Digitalization and Work Organization in New Urban Food Delivery Systems
The implementation of food distribution in general and especially within urban areas requires a state-of-the-art logistics system. One decision therein is the level of centralization, with shifting optima due to emerging digitalization and peer-to-peer concepts. This study presents insights regarding the effects of innovative food logistics solutions with digitalized logistics. Findings are based on two case studies from (1) new urban distribution systems (Foodora, Lieferando and Deliveroo) and (2) Foodsharing in Germany. Results focus on the digitalized fast and short-term coordination between suppliers, transporters and customers – with interesting influences on work organization and management of workers in food distribution
Situation der ökologischen Schafhaltung in Deutschland
Für die von der Bundesregierung mit dem „Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau“ angestrebte Ausdehnung der ökologisch bewirtschafteten Fläche kann die ökologische Schafhaltung eine kostengünstige Möglichkeit sein. Um das Gesamtbild der Entwicklungspotenziale der ökologischen Schafhaltung darstellen zu können, wird deren Situation in Deutschland anhand umfassender empirischer Untersuchungen ermittelt. In dem Beitrag werden erste Ergebnisse eines laufenden Forschungsprojektes zur Situation der ökologischen Schafhaltung in Deutschland vorgestellt
Workforce between autonomy and control – effects of digitalization on employment relationships in the logistics industry
Logistics as a global innovative industry is experiencing fundamental changes because of digitalization. New business models are emerging and the organization of work is changing. In this way, work processes can be recorded and controlled digitally and transparently. This article examines the effects of these technological changes on logistics workers and their employment relationships. The aim is to analyze the digitalization of urban food logistics regarding the perception of autonomy and control from the worker’s perspective and the resulting effects on the design of employment relationships. The analysis is based on a qualitative study with professional truck drivers and cyclists in urban food logistics. The results show a ambivalence between the concurrence of autonomy and control in daily work, which can be connected to the integration of new technologies into work organization as well as the role of managers. Finally, requirements for a structured consideration of this interrelationship in digitalization processes are presented
Transport by molecular motors in the presence of static defects
The transport by molecular motors along cytoskeletal filaments is studied
theoretically in the presence of static defects. The movements of single motors
are described as biased random walks along the filament as well as binding to
and unbinding from the filament. Three basic types of defects are
distinguished, which differ from normal filament sites only in one of the
motors' transition probabilities. Both stepping defects with a reduced
probability for forward steps and unbinding defects with an increased
probability for motor unbinding strongly reduce the velocities and the run
lengths of the motors with increasing defect density. For transport by single
motors, binding defects with a reduced probability for motor binding have a
relatively small effect on the transport properties. For cargo transport by
motors teams, binding defects also change the effective unbinding rate of the
cargo particles and are expected to have a stronger effect.Comment: 20 pages, latex, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Random walks of molecular motors arising from diffusional encounters with immobilized filaments
Movements of molecular motors on cytoskeletal filaments are described by
directed walks on a line. Detachment from this line is allowed to occur with a
small probability. Motion in the surrounding fluid is described by symmetric
random walks. Effects of detachment and reattachment are calculated by an
analytical solution of the master equation in two and three dimensions. Results
are obtained for the fraction of bound motors, their average velocity and
displacement. The diffusion coefficient parallel to the filament becomes
anomalously large since detachment and subsequent reattachment, in the presence
of directed motion of the bound motors, leads to a broadening of the density
distribution.
The occurrence of protofilaments on a microtubule is modeled by internal
states of the binding sites. After a transient time all protofilaments become
equally populated.Comment: 20 pages Phys Rev E format + 11 figure
Traffic of Molecular Motors
Molecular motors perform active movements along cytoskeletal filaments and
drive the traffic of organelles and other cargo particles in cells. In contrast
to the macroscopic traffic of cars, however, the traffic of molecular motors is
characterized by a finite walking distance (or run length) after which a motor
unbinds from the filament along which it moves. Unbound motors perform Brownian
motion in the surrounding aqueous solution until they rebind to a filament. We
use variants of driven lattice gas models to describe the interplay of their
active movements, the unbound diffusion, and the binding/unbinding dynamics. If
the motor concentration is large, motor-motor interactions become important and
lead to a variety of cooperative traffic phenomena such as traffic jams on the
filaments, boundary-induced phase transitions, and spontaneous symmetry
breaking in systems with two species of motors. If the filament is surrounded
by a large reservoir of motors, the jam length, i.e., the extension of the
traffic jams is of the order of the walking distance. Much longer jams can be
found in confined geometries such as tube-like compartments.Comment: 10 pages, latex, uses Springer styles (included), to appear in the
Proceedings of "Traffic and Granular Flow 2005
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