Quick Response Practices at the Warehouse of Ankor

In the warehouse of Ankor, a wholesaler of tools and garden equipment, various problems concerning the storage and retrieval of products arise. For example, heavy products have to be retrieved prior to light products to prevent damage. Furthermore, the layout of the warehouse differs from the layout generally assumed in literature. The goal of this research was to determine storage locations for the products and a routing method to obtain sequences in which products are to be retrieved from their locations. It is shown that despite deviations from the "normal" case, similar savings in route length can be obtained by adapting existing solution techniques. Total labor savings are far less than expected on basis of assumptions made in literature. With a minimum of adaptations to the current situation the average route length can be decreased by 30 %. There is no need for complex techniques.storage;warehousing;optimization;case study;routing

Quick Response Practices at the Warehouse of Ankor

In the warehouse of Ankor, a wholesaler of tools and garden equipment, various problems concerning the storage and retrieval of products arise. For example, heavy products have to be retrieved prior to light products to prevent damage. Furthermore, the layout of the warehouse differs from the layout generally assumed in literature. The goal of this research was to determine storage locations for the products and a routing method to obtain sequences in which products are to be retrieved from their locations. It is shown that despite deviations from the "normal" case, similar savings in route length can be obtained by adapting existing solution techniques. Total labor savings are far less than expected on basis of assumptions made in literature. With a minimum of adaptations to the current situation the average route length can be decreased by 30 %. There is no need for complex techniques

Results of surveys of the Supply of and Demand for Nuclear Experts within the EU-28 Civil Nuclear Energy Sector

Today, more than 25% of electricity power in the European Union is produced by the nuclear energy sector. This corresponds to more than 50% of EU's low carbon electricity. The EU's Energy Strategy Plan foresees that nuclear energy will remain an important factor of the EU's energy mix until 2050 – and even beyond. The EU promotes the highest safety standards for all types of civilian nuclear activity, including the Nuclear Energy Sector. Having sufficient skilled and trained Human Respources (HR) is an important component for ensuring safe operation nuclear power plants. The objective of EHRO-N is to develop strategic plans addressing potential human resource and skills gaps in the EU nuclear sector. Initial studies have already triggered several new education and training initiatives in the Member States and at EU level. The report presents the results from two stakeholder surveys performed in 2018; one with the higher education institutions (HR supply side) and one from nuclear stakeholders (HR demand side). When possible the report makes comparisons with data from the previous EHRO-N surveys in 2010 and 2014. Finally, the report proposes a way forward for a more robust methodology to assess the nuclear workforce in the sectorJRC.G.10-Knowledge for Nuclear Security and Safet

Report on existing vocational European Fission Training Schemes and their accreditation

This report was produced as a deliverable in the frame of the ENEN Plus project. It provides an overview of all twenty-five projects carried out under the Euratom Fission Training Schemes (EFTS) and their main achievements. Almost all projects are completed to date except for three. The EFTS's ultimate goal is to develop a European passport for Continuous Professional Development, which relies on the principles of modularity of courses and common qualification criteria, a common mutual recognition system, and the facilitation of teacher, student and worker mobility across the EU. The conclusions of this review will be published in a separate report.JRC.G.10-Knowledge for Nuclear Security and Safet

Inherently decoupled H-1 antennas and P-31 loops for metabolic imaging of liver metastasis at 7 T

High field 31P spectroscopy has thus far been limited to diffuse liver disease. Unlike lower field-strength scanners, there is no body coil in the bore of the 7 T and despite inadequate penetration depth (<10 cm), surface coils are the current state-of-the-art for acquiring anatomical images to support multinuclear studies. We present a system of proton antennas and phosphorus loops for 31P spectroscopy and provide the first ultrahigh-field phosphorus metabolic imaging of a tumor in the abdomen. Herein we characterize the degree to which antennas are isolated from underlying loops. Next, we evaluate the penetration depth of the two antennas available during multinuclear examinations. Finally, we combine phosphorus spectroscopy (two loops) with parallel transmit imaging (eight antennas) in a patient. The loops and antennas are inherently decoupled (no added circuitry, <0.1% power coupling). The penetration depth of two antennas gives twice that of conventional loops. The liver and full axial slice of the abdomen were imaged with eight transmit/receive antennas using parallel transmit B1-shimming to overcome image voids. Phosphorus spectroscopy from a liver metastasis resolved individual peaks for phosphocholine and phosphoethenalomine. Proton antennas are inherently decoupled from phosphorus loops. By using two proton antennas it is possible to perform region-of-interest image-based shimming in over 80% of the liver volume, thereby enabling phosphorus spectroscopy of localized disease. Shimming of the full extent of the abdominal cross-section is feasible using a parallel transmit array of eight antennas. A system architecture capable of supporting eight-channel parallel transmit and multinuclear spectroscopy is optimal for supporting multiparametric body imaging, including metabolic imaging, for monitoring the response of patients with liver metastases to cancer treatments and for patient risk stratification. In the meantime, the existing infrastructure using two antennas is sufficient for preliminary studies in metabolic imaging of tumors in the liver

A game of RF and gradient pulses: Obtaining an efficient homogeneous flip angle with strong inhomogeneous B1 fields

Adiabatic RF pulses are useful pulses for inhomogeneous B1 fields caused by surface RF coils, however the increase in SAR will lengthen the TR, and possibly also the TE if the adiabatic pulses become too long. Using the superadiabaticity theorem the increase in SAR can already be reduced, making it possible to use an adiabatic TSE in humans at 7 T (chapter 2). However the length of the TR might still be too long to make the full adiabatic TSE clinically acceptable. On the other side, it is possible to design a 1D or 2D RF pulse which compensates the inhomogeneous B1 field and create a uniform flip angle distribution. Using a TOFU pulse in combination with a breast surface coil (chapter 3), the simplicity lies in the already present gradient and due to the more efficient spin energy distribution, the RF pulse will become less SAR intensive and making it compete with the conventional sinc pulses. The TOFU pulse does require a slab selective 3D sequence. Also, the direction of placing the slab selection has to align with the dominant inhomogeneous B1 field. If the B1 field of a coil is not dominantly inhomogeneous in one dimension, but in two dimensions, the TOFU pulse does not work anymore and other options should be considered. For compensating the radial inhomogeneous B1 field of a monopole antenna, a 2D RACE pulse is designed (chapter 4). The RF pulse works in the low flip angle regime and contains less SAR than adiabatic RF pulses. Therefore the 2D RACE pulse might be the best choice for the extreme inhomogeneous B1 field of the antenna. A comparison with conventional pulses have been shown in vivo in the human rectum. The duration of the 2D RACE pulse is determined by the hardware limitations of the gradients. The slew-rate and the maximal strength are limited in the sense that the RF pulse itself had to be stretched in order to suffice the hardware limitations, which makes the 2D RACE pulse relatively long. The endorectally inserted monopole antenna can boost the SNR substantially, not only for imaging the rectum, but also for MRI of the cervix (chapter 6). In this method the monopole is used as a receive-only coil. Combining the endorectal receiver with seven external dipole antennas on a multi-transmit platform, makes the setup capable of providing uniform excitations with high SNR. The local B1 shimming by setting the amplitude and phase of the external elements independently, is a mechanism to obtain a homogeneous B1 field in the cervix and its close surroundings. Using the monopole antenna to boost the SNR locally will give even more detailed information about the cervical structures. This setup makes it possible to image cervical cancer patients, which may, or may not, have parametrial invasion (cervical tumor growth in its surrounding connective tissue) in earlier stages. Detection of parametrial invasion may be used for further treatment planning (chapter 5)

Training Catalogue 2018 / 2019

This training catalogue presents the trainings given in 2018 and the trainings planned for the year 2019 by the Joint Research Centre – Directorate for Nuclear Safety and SecurityJRC.G.10-Knowledge for Nuclear Security and Safet