1,721,006 research outputs found
Shelf life-based inventory management policy for RF monitored warehouse
No full textPost-harvest losses of perishable products strongly depend on inefficiencies of the entire supply chain. In particular, these inefficiencies can be reduced by optimizing the warehouse management, taking into account the remaining shelf life of the product, and matching it to the requirements of the subsequent part of the handling chain. The replacement of First In First Out picking rule with Last Shelf Life First Out policy has been proved to improve the overall performance of the supply chain. The practicability of such approach is related to the possibility of monitoring the deterioration rate of the products and of predicting the residual shelf-life, that is mainly influenced by harvesting conditions. Shelf-life based inventory management policies are seldom employed, generally due to the difficulties in the assessment of the environmental conditions. Such problem can be overcome by means of an automatic system able to acquire the volatile organic compound emitted by the product and of a communication tool that allows sending the information to be processed. RF technologies can be efficiently employed to reach this purpose in order to establish a shelf-life based prediction model. The present paper reports the technical/economic analysis related to the employment of an RF warehouse management system in an agro-industrial supply chain based upon an experimental campaign performed in a real case study
Effect of Vibration on the Quality of Strawberry Fruits Caused by Simulated Transport
No full textMechanical damage of agricultural products is one of the main problems in the harvest and postharvest chain due to the large economic loss that the shelf life reduction could generate. Measurements of change in the chemical components of highly perishable products and microbial growth under different static and dynamic loads is the first step in the development of intelligent logistic units that could help in predicting the residual shelf life in order to minimize losses along the supply chain. In our research, the effects of vibration along the supply chain of a case study were analyzed on strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) and woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) in terms of microbiological and quality assessment. Fruits were subjected to vibration in a temperature-controlled environment, simulating the transport conditions. Microbiological and quality analyses were conducted in three different positions along the column of the crates. The results were compared with the nonvibrated strawberries stored in the same environmental conditions along the whole cold chain, showing that vibrations cause a significant decrease in the qualitative characteristics of both fruits. Practical Applications: The practical application obtainable from our research is the development of ad hoc economically affordable sensors based on the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by the microorganisms showing the most rapid increase. The measurement of the VOCs of the dominant microorganisms could be implemented in a smart logistic unit as it provides information on the microbial evolution in real time. The research proposed configures as a first step to achieve such objective, and toward the development of a supply chain monitoring and control infrastructure relaying on the correlation of vibration phenomena with the VOCs originated by the microbiological activity. The methodology consists of measuring the effects of vibration along a reference supply chain in terms of microbiological and quality assessment, with the aim of extrapolating a mathematical correlation that can further be generalized into a replicable model
Reusing coffee ground waste in manufacture of novel sustainable product
No full textCoffee is one of the most important commodities in the world. Every year the coffee industry is responsible for generating a large amount of wastes, mainly Spent Coffee Grounds (SCGs). The traditional disposal of this residue into the environment should be avoided due to its toxicity and organic character. Because of the decrease in nonrenewable natural resources, society has been making a huge effort to valorize and reuse several types of wastes in the production of novel sustainable products. In this regard, construction is considered one of the most energy-intensive sectors. As a consequence, the goals of sustainability and energy efficiency must be prosecuted to achieve the results expected by the recent European directives and national regulations. The present paper aims at providing further knowledge on wastes recycling, analyzing the influence of the SCG incorporation as an aggregate in construction materials. To this purpose, the produced mortar specimens are firstly characterized. Afterwards, engineering properties
as well as environmental and economic aspects are taken into account to rank the considered mixtures by a multicriteria approach. The performed analysis highlights how the addition of the considered industrial wastes is strongly recommended to improve the performance of materials intended for various applications in construction
Reducing waste and ecological impacts through a sustainable and efficient management of perishable food based on the Monte Carlo simulation
No full textIn today's competitive global market it is mandatory to improve warehousing operations integrating economic, environmental and social aspects. The recent advancement in monitoring technologies can greatly improve the performance of the food supply chain reducing product loss. In particular,, in the perishable food supply chain, initially inventory operations are critical because they manage the material flows in very variable conditions. The deterioration level of the products as well as the market demand are the main factors that can influence warehouse strategy. This research aims to consider the application of sustainability principles in the context of warehouse storage, evaluating the combined decision of implementing shelf life based picking policy and pricing strategy. In particular, the proposed approach is based on a referenced shelf life model and on the Monte Carlo simulation. Three different pricing scenarios in a case study for the management of the warehouse were defined and their Economic Traceability Lot was determined on the basis of an economic feasibility analysis. Finally, the carbon footprint for each scenario was determined in terms of emissions produced by temperature-controlled transportations and for the landfilling of product wasted
Innovative Recycling of Lime Slaker Grits from Paper-Pulp Industry Reused as Aggregate in Ambient Cured Biomass Fly Ash-Based Geopolymers for Sustainable Construction Material
Full text linkLime slaker grits and biomass fly ash are solid wastes produced by the Kraft paper-pulp industry that are commonly disposed of in landfill. However, recent studies and European regulations discourage such disposal practices. This work investigates an alternative and innovative way to recycle and reuse these wastes in the production of green geopolymeric mortars intended for application in the construction industry. Here, biomass fly ash was used as the main source of alumino-silicate in the binder precursor (70 wt.% substitution to metakaolin), and grits (ranging from 1-12.5 mm, as provided by the industry) were reused as aggregate. Aggregate granulometry was also completed by using a commercial natural siliceous sand (<1 mm). Mortars using sand only were prepared for comparative reasons. The implemented mix was designed to investigate the influence of the grits on the mortar's properties such as its binder/aggregate ratio, workability, bulk density, water sorptivity, and compressive strength. At the same time, waste reuse was analysed in light of its limitations and potentialities. Moreover, in the pursuit of sustainability, the manufacturing process that was followed was highly cost-effective in ambient curing conditions (20 degrees C, 65% RH), which avoided the use of any external source of energy as commonly used in geopolymers processing. The achieved results proved that the combined use of these wastes, which to date has hardly been explored, along with ambient manufacturing conditions increases the material sustainability. The produced mortars are suitable for innovative applications in various fields, with a particular focus on construction and contribute to the circular economy
The sustainability of olive orchard planting management for different harvesting techniques: An integrated methodology
No full textThe globalization of the olive oil market has caused greater competitiveness in terms of olive oil quality and production costs and the main countries interested in olive growing, have introduced efficient planting design and horticultural techniques in order to meet these requirements. In this paper the sustainability of olive orchard planting management for different olive fruit-harvesting methods has been assessed on the basis of the data gathered by the Geographic Information System and processed using a Multi-Criteria Decision Making Analysis. In particular, three different agronomic scenarios have been analyzed and a specific cultivar has been considered in order to ensure the comparability of the results obtained. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis to assess the optimal harvesting methods for different agronomic scenarios by varying the olive grove dimension has been conducted. The final aim of this paper is to propose a new approach to discover the best harvesting technique on the basis of the type and the dimension of the olive grove
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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