159 research outputs found

    Sharing in construction projects — On determining optimal container assignments for the on-site accommodation of trades

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    The sharing economy is among the top trending topics in operations research. In this paper, we introduce a novel sharing application encountered in the construction industry. The problem under research, which has been developed in close cooperation with an industrial partner, is concerned with the on-site accommodation of trades in large-scale construction projects. In such projects, a construction logistics company provides containers gathered in an area of the site and assigns trades to them based on their requests issued online. Usually, a single trade will only remain on-site for a certain period of time, i. e. for as long as it is carrying out its activities in the project. Similarly, containers will only be provided for a certain time interval. This dynamic nature may require re-assigning trades as the project progresses. As such re-assignments impose costs for the logistics company, it is the goal to keep them to a minimum. We formally define the resulting optimization problem, present two mixed-integer programming formulations and develop a fix-and-optimize heuristic. In an extensive computational study, we show the latter to not only clearly outperform standard solver CPLEX operating on the holistic mixed-integer program, but to also provide substantial savings over the assignment policy currently applied in practice.</p

    A 72-Year-Old Patient with Bilateral Maisonneuve Fractures

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    Maisonneuve fractures result from a disruption of the medial ankle structures and a proximal fibular fracture. Patient complaints can be misleading and there is a significant rate of delayed diagnosed injuries. We present a case of bilateral Maisonneuve fractures after a fall due to a syncopal collapse. A precise clinical examination led to this rare diagnosis. The injuries were treated with syndesmotic screw fixation, removal of hardware followed after 6 weeks. The patient was asymptomatic at threemonths follow up. Patients with bilateral injuries undergoing standard surgical treatment can gain full recovery, but high suspicion in clinical examination is needed to detect this uncommon bilateral injury
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