Order batching in multi-server pick-and-sort warehouses.

In many warehouses, customer orders are batched to profit from a reduction in the order picking effort. This reduction has to be offset against an increase in sorting effort. This paper studies the impact of the order batching policy on average customer order throughput time, in warehouses where the picking and sorting functions are executed separately by either a single operator or multiple parallel operators. We present a throughput time estimation model based on Whitt's queuing network approach, assuming that the number of order lines per customer order follows a discrete probability distribution and that the warehouse uses a random storage strategy. We show that the model is adequate in approximating the optimal pick batch size, minimizing average customer order throughput time. Next, we use the model to explore the different factors influencing optimal batch size, the optimal allocation of workers to picking and sorting, and the impact of different order picking strategies such as sort-while-pick (SWP) versus pick-and-sort (PAS)Order batching; Order picking and sorting; Queueing; Warehousing;

Open transport data for maximising reuse in multimodal route planners : a study in Flanders

The European Data Portal shows a growing number of governmental organisations opening up transport data. As end users need traffic or transit updates on their day-to-day travels, route planners need access to this government data to make intelligent decisions. Developers however, will not integrate a dataset when the cost for adoption is too high. In this paper, the authors study the internal and technological challenges to publish data from the Department of Transport and Public Works in Flanders for maximum reuse. Using the qualitative Engage STakeholdErs through a systEMatic toolbox (ESTEEM) research approach, they interviewed 27 governmental data owners and organised both an internal workshop as a matchmaking workshop. In these workshops, data interoperability was discussed on four levels: legal, syntactic, semantic and querying. The interviews were summarised in ten challenges to which possible solutions were formulated. The effort needed to reuse existing public datasets today is high, yet they see the first evidence of datasets being reused in a legally and syntactically interoperable way. Publishing data so that it is reusable in an affordable way is still challenging

Nebulized heparin in burn patients with inhalation trauma : safety and feasibility

Background: Pulmonary hypercoagulopathy is intrinsic to inhalation trauma. Nebulized heparin could theoretically be beneficial in patients with inhalation injury, but current data are conflicting. We aimed to investigate the safety, feasibility, and effectiveness of nebulized heparin. Methods: International multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial in specialized burn care centers. Adult patients with inhalation trauma received nebulizations of unfractionated heparin (25,000 international unit (IU), 5 mL) or placebo (0.9% NaCl, 5 mL) every four hours for 14 days or until extubation. The primary outcome was the number of ventilator-free days at day 28 post-admission. Here, we report on the secondary outcomes related to safety and feasibility. Results: The study was prematurely stopped after inclusion of 13 patients (heparin N = 7, placebo N = 6) due to low recruitment and high costs associated with the trial medication. Therefore, no analyses on effectiveness were performed. In the heparin group, serious respiratory problems occurred due to saturation of the expiratory filter following nebulizations. In total, 129 out of 427 scheduled nebulizations were withheld in the heparin group (in 3 patients) and 45 out of 299 scheduled nebulizations were withheld in the placebo group (in 2 patients). Blood-stained sputum or expected increased bleeding risks were the most frequent reasons to withhold nebulizations. Conclusion: In this prematurely stopped trial, we encountered important safety and feasibility issues related to frequent heparin nebulizations in burn patients with inhalation trauma. This should be taken into account when heparin nebulizations are considered in these patients

Diastereoselective Aldol reaction of Zincated 3-Chloro-3-methyl-1-azaallylic anions as key step in the synthesis of 1,2,3,4-Tetrasubstituted 3-Chloroazetidines

Zincated 3-chloro-3-methyl-1-azaallylic anions undergo a stereoselective aldol addition across aromatic aldehydes and subsequent mesylation to produce syn alpha-chloro-beta-mesyloxyketimines, which were isolated in 80-84% yield and high diastereomeric excess (dr > 97/3) after purification via flash chromatography. The syn alpha-chloro-beta-mesyloxyketimines were further stereoselectively reduced to give stereochemically defined 3-aminopropyl mesylates, which were cyclized to 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted 3-chloroazetidines containing three contiguous stereogenic centers. DFT calculations on the key aldol addition revealed the presence of a highly ordered bimetallic six-membered twist-boat-like transition state structure with a tetra-coordinated metal cyclic structure. DFT calculations revealed that chelation of both zinc and lithium cations in the transition state structure leads to the experimentally observed high syn diastereoselectivity of aldol reactions

Current quality of life and its determinants among opiate-dependent individuals five years after starting methadone treatment

This study explores the current QoL of opiate-dependent individuals who started outpatient methadone treatment at least 5 years ago and assesses the influence of demographic, psychosocial, drug and health-related variables on individuals' QoL. Participants (n = 159) were interviewed about their current QoL, psychological distress and severity of drug-related problems, using the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile, the Brief Symptom Inventory and the Addiction Severity Index. Potential determinants of QoL were assessed in a multiple linear regression analysis. Five years after the start of methadone treatment, opiate-dependent individuals report low QoL scores on various domains. No association was found between drug-related variables and QoL, but a significant negative impact of psychological distress was identified. Severity of psychological distress, taking medication for psychological problems and the inability to change one's living situation were associated with lower QoL. Having at least one good friend and a structured daily activity had a significant, positive impact on QoL. Opiate-dependent individuals' QoL is mainly determined by their psychological well-being and a number of psychosocial variables. These findings highlight the importance of a holistic approach to treatment and support in methadone maintenance treatment, which goes beyond fixing the negative physical consequences of opiate dependence

Pitfalls in assessing stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) in breast cancer

Abstract: Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are important prognostic and predictive biomarkers in triple-negative (TNBC) and HER2-positive breast cancer. Incorporating sTILs into clinical practice necessitates reproducible assessment. Previously developed standardized scoring guidelines have been widely embraced by the clinical and research communities. We evaluated sources of variability in sTIL assessment by pathologists in three previous sTIL ring studies. We identify common challenges and evaluate impact of discrepancies on outcome estimates in early TNBC using a newly-developed prognostic tool. Discordant sTIL assessment is driven by heterogeneity in lymphocyte distribution. Additional factors include: technical slide-related issues; scoring outside the tumor boundary; tumors with minimal assessable stroma; including lymphocytes associated with other structures; and including other inflammatory cells. Small variations in sTIL assessment modestly alter risk estimation in early TNBC but have the potential to affect treatment selection if cutpoints are employed. Scoring and averaging multiple areas, as well as use of reference images, improve consistency of sTIL evaluation. Moreover, to assist in avoiding the pitfalls identified in this analysis, we developed an educational resource available at www.tilsinbreastcancer.org/pitfalls