Sonoco uses a stochastic lotsizing and scheduling model to optimize the production of coreboard

Since several years we have been working together with the European supply chain team of Sonoco, one of the largest global players active in the packaging industry, to solve a variety of supply chain challenges encountered in their industrial products & services division. In this work, we present the result from a pilot project related to production planning for which we developed a novel stochastic lotsizing and scheduling model and a solution approach tailored to their specific business environment

A linearization approach to the stochastic dynamic capacitated lotsizing problem with sequence-dependent changeovers

Inspired by the production and planning process of coreboard of our industry partner, a Fortune 1000 player in packaging, we present a mixed-integer linear programming model that can jointly optimize lot sizes, production sequences and safety stocks in the presence of sequence-dependent changeovers. First, we formulate a nonlinear (MINLP) model that can handle both the stochasticity and the sequence-dependency of the stochastic dynamic capacitated lotsizing problem, based on the stochastic sequence-independent (Tempelmeier et al. 2018) and deterministic sequence-dependent (Guimaraes et al. 2014) version of the problem. Then, we develop a piecewise linearization approach for the non-linear inventory on hand and backorder curves that builds on and challenges earlier research published by van Pelt and Fransoo 2018 and Tempelmeier et al. 2018. We use the derivatives of the inventory on hand and backorder functions to develop a tailored breakpoint selection strategy that reduces the maximum approximation error between the linearized and non-linear objective function from 20.3% to 0.5% in comparison to the equidistant linearization strategy recommend by the aforementioned articles. As a third and last contribution, we develop a Relax-and-Fix with Fix-andOptimize heuristic and show in an extensive numerical study that it improved the objective value by 20% on average and realized an average run time reduction of 60% over a state-of-the-art solver

The influence of dairy consumption, sedentary behaviour and physical activity on bone mass in Flemish children : a cross-sectional study

Background: This cross-sectional study aimed to look for an association in young children between whole body bone mineral content (BMC) and areal bone mineral density (aBMD) and dairy consumption as well as sedentary behaviour (SB) and physical activity (PA). Moreover, we investigated whether there was an interaction effect between dairy consumption and SB or PA on BMC and aBMD. Methods: Healthy children (6-12 years) were recruited from primary schools. Body composition and whole body bone mass were measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), dairy consumption was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and PA and SB with an accelerometer. In total, 272 children underwent a DXA scan. Complete FFQ data were available for 264 children and 210 children had matching data from accelerometry recordings. Regression analyses were used to study the associations between (1) BMC and aBMD and (2) dairy consumption, SB and PA, adjusting for age, gender, pubertal stage, height and body composition. Results: Dairy consumption was positively associated with whole body BMC and aBMD (absolute value as well as z-score), after correction for relevant confounders. SB was negatively associated with aBMD z-score and light PA was positively associated with both BMC and aBMD z-score. No gender differences were found. Moreover, an interaction effect between vigorous PA (VPA) and dairy consumption on aBMD (z-score) and BMC z-score was found, indicating that children with both high VPA and high dairy consumption had higher values for BMC and aBMD of the whole body minus the head. Conclusion: Already at young age, PA and dairy consumption positively influence whole body bone mass assessed by DXA. Moreover, this study indicates clearly that SB is negatively associated with whole body bone density. Promoting regular PA and sufficient dairy consumption in young children and limiting SB can be expected to positively influence their bone mass accumulation, which can help in the prevention of osteoporosis later in life

Molecular phylogenetics and new (infra)generic classification to alleviate polyphyly in tribe Hydrangeeae (Cornales : Hydrangeaceae)

Tribe Hydrangeeae of Hydrangeaceae currently contains nine morphologically diverse genera, many of which are well-known garden ornamentals. Previous studies have shown eight of these genera to be phylogenetically nested within Hydrangea, rendering the latter polyphyletic. To clarify the phylogeny of tribe Hydrangeeae, the present study sequenced four chloroplast regions and ITS for an extensive set of taxa, including the type for all nine genera involved. The resulting phylogenetic hypotheses corroborate the polyphyly of Hydrangea. Since polyphyletic taxa are deemed unacceptable by both sides in the ongoing debate concerning the adherence to strict monophyly in biological classifications, a new (infra)generic classification for tribe Hydrangeeae is proposed. In order to create a stable, evolutionary informative classification a broader circumscription of the genus Hydrangea is proposed, to include all eight satellite genera of the tribe. Such treatment is considered highly preferable to an alternative where Hydrangea is to be split into several morphologically potentially unidentifiable genera. To facilitate the acceptance of the new classification proposed here, and in order to create a classification with high information content, the familiar generic names were maintained as section names where possible

A genome-scale mining strategy for recovering novel rapidly-evolving nuclear single-copy genes for addressing shallow-scale phylogenetics in Hydrangea

Background: Identifying orthologous molecular markers that potentially resolve relationships at and below species level has been a major challenge in molecular phylogenetics over the past decade. Non-coding regions of nuclear low-or single-copy markers are a vast and promising source of data providing information for shallow-scale phylogenetics. Taking advantage of public transcriptome data from the One Thousand Plant Project (1KP), we developed a genome-scale mining strategy for recovering potentially orthologous single-copy markers to address low-scale phylogenetics. Our marker design targeted the amplification of intron-rich nuclear single-copy regions from genomic DNA. As a case study we used Hydrangea section Cornidia, one of the most recently diverged lineages within Hydrangeaceae (Cornales), for comparing the performance of three of these nuclear markers to other "fast" evolving plastid markers. Results: Our data mining and filtering process retrieved 73 putative nuclear single-copy genes which are potentially useful for resolving phylogenetic relationships at a range of divergence depths within Cornales. The three assessed nuclear markers showed considerably more phylogenetic signal for shallow evolutionary depths than conventional plastid markers. Phylogenetic signal in plastid markers increased less markedly towards deeper evolutionary divergences. Potential phylogenetic noise introduced by nuclear markers was lower than their respective phylogenetic signal across all evolutionary depths. In contrast, plastid markers showed higher probabilities for introducing phylogenetic noise than signal at the deepest evolutionary divergences within the tribe Hydrangeeae (Hydrangeaceae). Conclusions: While nuclear single-copy markers are highly informative for shallow evolutionary depths without introducing phylogenetic noise, plastid markers might be more appropriate for resolving deeper-level divergences such as the backbone relationships of the Hydrangeaceae family and deeper, at which non-coding parts of nuclear markers could potentially introduce noise due to elevated rates of evolution. The herein developed and demonstrated transcriptome based mining strategy has a great potential for the design of novel and highly informative nuclear markers for a range of plant groups and evolutionary scales

Comparison of different modalities for the diagnosis of parastomal hernia: a systematic review

Purpose: Parastomal hernia (PSH) is a common complication following stoma formation. The incidence of PSH varies widely due to several factors including differences in diagnostic modality, observer, definition, and classification used for diagnosing PSH. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the modalities used to identify PSH. Methods: Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were searched. Studies reporting PSH incidence rates detected by two or more different diagnostic modalities or inter-observer variation on one diagnostic modality were included. Article selection and assessment of study quality were conducted independently by two researchers using Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias. PROSPERO registration: CRD42018112732. Results: Twenty-nine studies (n = 2514 patients) were included. Nineteen studies compared CT to clinical examination with relative difference in incidence rates ranging from 0.64 to 3.0 (n = 1369). Overall, 79% of studies found an increase in incidence rate when using CT. Disagreement between CT and clinical examination ranged between 0 and 37.3% with pooled inter-modality agreement Kappa value of 0.64 (95% CI 0.52–0.77). Four studies investigated the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography (n = 103). Compared with peroperative diagnosis, CT and ultrasonography both seemed accurate imaging modalities with a sensitivity of 83%. Conclusion: CT is an accurate diagnostic modality for PSH diagnosis and increases PSH detection rates, as compared with clinical examination. Studies that specially focus on the diagnostic accuracy are needed and should aim to take patient-reported outcomes into account. A detailed description of the diagnostic approach, modality, definition, and involved observers is prerequisite for future PSH research