Performance Improvements through Implementation of Lean Practices: A Study of the U.K. Red Meat Industry

'Lean' is an established industrial paradigm with proven track record in various sectors of the industry (Womack & Jones, 1996). World-class Companies such as Toyota (second biggest global car manufacturer), Porsche (most profitable global OEM), Boeing (largest global aerospace business) and Tesco (third largest global retailer) have adopted Lean at the corporate level. This paper reports on the introduction of 'Lean Thinking' to a new sector - the 'Red Meat Industry' (Food Chain Centre, 2004). This contribution highlights the benefits of lean production techniques in different stages of the red meat value chain and reports 2- 3% potential cost savings at each stage of the chain.Lean process, red meat industry, Takt-time, work standardization, Livestock Production/Industries,

Effects Of Probiotics On The Growth And Survival Of Whiteleg Shrimp (Litopenaeus Vannamei) And Their Inhibitory Roles Against Vibrio Parahaemolyticus

A study focused on the use of putative bacteria as probiotics to reduce nutritional and disease problems in aquaculture industry was carried out. This study was conducted in two experiments to investigate the putative bacteria flora as probiotics (isolated from Macrobrachium rosenbergii) for enhancement of growth and survival of L. vannamei in duration of 2007 to 2008 at University Putra Malaysia. In the first experiment, a feeding trial was carried out to investigate the potential probiotic properties of Bacillus subtilis isolated from M. rosenbergii on L. vannamei. Putative B. subtilis bacterium was added to commercial shrimp feed as a probiotic. Four types of diets were prepared by mixing the commercial pellet shrimp feed with; i) B. subtilis (T1), ii) mixture of B. subtilis and a commercial probiotic (T2), iii) commercial probiotic as positive control (T3), and iv) an un-supplemented feed as negative control (T4). After 60 days the shrimps fed diet mixed with B. subtilis showed the highest survival rate 75.5± 4.62 % and the greatest yield 190.00± 13.13 g and also there were significant differences (P< 0.05) for bacterial count between T1 and the other treated groups. It was found that, feed treated with B. subtilis appeared to enhance growth and survival rate of L. vannamei at concentration of 1010 CFU/g. Another experiment was carried out to investigate the potential probiotic-ability of B. subtilis to combat with the L. vannamei disease problems. After 60 days of culture, shrimps were challenged by immersion method to V. parahaemolyticus (107 CFU/ml). Four treatment groups were presented in this experiment which were; i) T1- Shrimps treated with B. subtilis in the first experiment were challenged with V. parahaemolyticus, ii) T2- Shrimps treated with mixture of B. subtilis and commercial probiotic in the first experiment were challenged with V. parahaemolyticus, iii) T3- Shrimps treated with unaltered diet were challenged with V. parahaemolyticus as negative control group, and iv) T4- Shrimps treated with commercial probiotic diet were challenged with V. parahaemolyticus as positive control group. After 15 days of the challenge test, there were no significant differences in survival rate between treatment and control groups. There was no significant mortality or disease symptoms due to infection pathogen, and survival rate for all of treatment and control groups was 100%. Another study was carried out to confirm whether V. parahaemolyticus is a pathogen. One hundred shrimp (a new group) with the same size and the same age of shrimps were prepared to confirm the pathogenicity of V. parahaemolyticus. Survival rate after 10 days was 57% due to existing mortality from V. parahaemolyticus. To find the reason of non-mortality of the negative control group during the challenge test with V. parahaemolyticus, bacteria were isolated from digestive tract, muscles and body surface of negative control group, based on morphological observation. Forty three kinds of bacteria were isolated. From these isolated bacteria, 30% were gram positive bacteria, 30% were Pseudomonas spp. and 40% were Enterobacteriacea. Antagonism tests were put for isolated Pseudomonas spp. by the cross-streak method with three pathogens; V. parahaemolyticus, V. alginolyticus, and V. cholerae. Results of antagonist test for four isolated Pseudomonas spp. bacteria showed perfect antagonistic activity against the three pathogens. Perhaps the reason for no observed mortality during the challenge test was due to availability of these natural microflora bacteria (Pseudomonas spp.) inside the body of shrimps, and perhaps they had an inhibitory role against V. parahaemolyticus. Interestingly, there was no Vibrionaceae bacteria found in the shrimps' bodies however a count of 5.5 x 107 CFU/ml of Vibrio bacteria was found from the culture water. It could be possible that, the Pseudomonas spp. from the control group (as a natural micro flora) and B. subtilis for treatment groups played the inhibitory roles against pathogen bacteria or Vibriosis, by action of competitive exclusion or adhesion site

EFL Learners’ Attitudes toward Writing Instruction Based on Critical Language Awareness

The present study sought to investigate the attitudes of upper-intermediate EFL female learners toward writing instruction based on critical language awareness (CLA). Sixteen participants were selected based on their performance on a quick placement test (QPT) and a writing task. Three instruments namely, QPT, a researchers made opinionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to elicit the data. The findings of the opinionnaire and semi-structured interview revealed an overall positive attitude toward CLA-based writing class. This study might be of help to writing teachers, and textbook and syllabus designer in that they can bring critical language awareness into consideration in EFL context

Investigation of drug -drug interactions status, in University-Based Pharmacies, in Lorestan, IRAN

rug drug interaction, is an importantcause for disturbing of medical managementof a disease that usually is preventive,must be continuously investigated for detection ofcauses. Due to little data about it in recently years in thisarea, study was done, to investigate of quantity of interactions,and some related factors. In this cross sectionalstudy, all prescriptions data from April to October 2016were collected. Variable data included: type and nameof drugs- the number of drugs in each prescription andcharacteristics of interactions. We used software of druginteraction fact and lexicomp on desk top DI and textbook&lsquo;Drug Interaction Facts&rsquo; .Statistical analysis done by t testand use of SPSS 19. Finally, 41096 prescriptions were collected.From these data 56% were male. 3043 of subjectshad DDI (7.4%). most interaction was in 5th degree andmajority of interactions were mild. DDI between ammoniumchloride and pseudoephedrine &ndash;antihypertensivedrugs and others-omeprazole and chlordiazepoxide hadthe most frequency, respectively. About interaction show,53% was delay and 43% was rapid. The mean quantity ofdrugs was less than four type drugs in each prescription.We conclude that, general and even OTC drug had greatDDI that must be notice to these drugs in prescriptions.There was no correlation between gender or specialtyof physician and frequency of DDI (p=0.08). Quantityof drugs in each prescription, correlate with rate of DDI(p=.003). Attendance a pharmacist in treatment team ofpatients could be helpful, for decrease the rate of DDI. Inall centers, continuous and more research for detectingDDI is necessary

Identifying the Implications of most Warming Foods: A Pilot Analysis

The new found popular interest in sustainable development is highly skewed towards areas that are politically visible, such as transport and in particular the evils of air travel. This situation is mirrored in the academic community with an explosion of articles on sustainable transport (an EBSCO web search yielded 552 academic references to Sustainable Transport while for example Sustainable Livestock only found less than 10% of that number1). Nonetheless, only 14% of GHG’s actually result from transport, with as little as 2% coming from aviation, against 32% resulting from agriculture and land use – a major part of which can be directly attributed to the food chain (Stern, 2006). Moreover within the food system, certain areas such as livestock production are particularly problematic with meat and dairy products contributing more than 50% of the total GHG’s emitted (Kramer et al, 1999). Another recent study in the UK shows that GHG emissions attributable to meat and dairy consumption are about 4 times more than the GHG emissions generated from fruit and vegetable consumption (Garnett, 2007).Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

Longitudinal development of visual working memory precision in childhood and early adolescence

© 2016. Visual working memory (VWM) is the ability to hold in mind visual information for brief periods of time. The current study investigated VWM precision development longitudinally. Participants (N = 40, aged 7-11 years) completed delayed reproduction sequential VWM tasks at baseline and two years later. Results show age-related improvement in recall precision on both 1-item and 3-item VWM tasks, suggesting development during childhood and early adolescence in the resolution with which both single and multiple items are stored in VWM. Probabilistic modelling of response distribution data suggests age-related improvement in precision is attributable to a specific decrease in the variability (noisiness) of stored feature representations. This highlights a novel developmental mechanism which may underlie longitudinal improvement in VWM performance, crucially without invoking improvement in the number of items that can be stored. VWM precision provides a sensitive metric with which to track developmental changes longitudinally, shedding light on underlying cognitive mechanisms

The Role of Perceptual Load in Object Recognition

Predictions from perceptual load theory (Lavie, 19952005) regarding object recognition across the same or different viewpoints were tested. Results showed that high perceptual load reduces distracter recognition levels despite always presenting distracter objects from the same view. They also showed that the levels of distracter recognition were unaffected by a change in the distracter object view under conditions of low perceptual load. These results were found both with repetition priming measures of distracter recognition and with performance on a surprise recognition memory test. The results support load theory proposals that distracter recognition critically depends on the level of perceptual load. The implications for the role of attention in object recognition theories are discussed

Prioritization of noise abatement methods for controlling hospital noise pollution

Noise pollution in hospitals has increased over the last few years to a level that can threaten the health and productivity of staff and patient safety. There are many control measures to reduce hospital noise. However, there is still no consensus on the best measures. This study aims to prioritize the control measures for reducing hospital noise. The work is divided into three phases. The first phase identifies and categorizes noise sources in hospitals through a review of the state-of-the art literature using Scopus®, ProQuest, PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase,™ and Web of Science™. The second phase identifies possible strategies for reduction of hospital noise and the best criteria for their adoption using findings from the literature review and interviews with corresponding experts. The third phase uses Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) method and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (fuzzy TOPSIS) method to weigh the criteria and to prioritize the control measures. Based on the results, hospital noise sources were classified into four groups: outdoor noise sources (29.7%), noise produced by domestic facilities (20.8%), indoor noise from human activities (27.5%), and noise produced by diagnostic and treatment equipment (22%). The study further arrives at a set of 9 criteria and 22 alternatives ranked using FAHP and fuzzy TOPSIS. The criteria’s weights were determined using the FAHP method, with feasibility (0.175), effectiveness (0.143), and interference with staff activities (0.140) being the most important criteria. It was found that engineering controls such as substitution of noisy equipment (rank = 1), using acoustic enclosures (rank = 2), using double-glazed windows (rank = 2), and soundproofing walls, doors, and windows (rank = 3) have priority for reducing hospital noise

Modulation of Working Memory

Visual working memory, a limited temporary storage system for relevant information, is a critical contributor to many essential cognitive functions. In this thesis, I aimed to investigate some of the mechanisms underlying working memory in healthy humans and neurological patients, as well as its modulation by processes attributed to attention and the neurotransmitter dopamine. There currently is an important controversy regarding models of working memory. I investigated whether a resource model of memory (which argues for a limited resource distributed amongst to-be-remembered items) might be extended to the domain of visual motion. The results suggest that this is indeed be the case, supporting the utility of this model as a general conceptual framework for understanding working memory across a range of visual features and modes of presentation (Chapter 2). A comprehensive model of working memory should consider its relationship with attention. My findings point to an intimate yet highly specific relationship between these two processes, demonstrating that attention is essential for maintenance of integrated features within working memory (Chapters 2 and 4). Further, evidence for a causal role of early visual areas in maintenance of items in focus of attention, compared to the full content of working memory, is provided using transcranial magnetic stimulation (Chapter 3). Finally, I investigated neuromodulation of working memory processes by dopamine in patients with dopamine dysfunction (Parkinson’s disease) and using the dopamine agonist, Cabergoline, in healthy controls. The results demonstrate that dopamine can modulate working memory precision (Chapter 5 and 6). Furthermore, deficits in working memory were also observed in individuals with glucocerebrosidase mutations who have a significantly raised risk of developing Parkinson’s disease (Chapter 7). I discuss the possibility that specific deficits in working memory might provide a cognitive marker of risk for neurodegeneration and development of Parkinson’s disease