The value of RFID for RTI management

Returnable transport items (RTIs) are key elements for enabling a smooth flow of goods throughout supply chains. Despite their importance, RTIs can be prone to high loss and breakage rates. Today’s RTI management processes are rather inefficient and are based on estimates about when, where and how RTIs are utilised. This limited visibility inevitably causes the involved parties to feel less responsible for the proper management of RTIs. As a consequence, inefficiencies created by a single party can result in a significant cost burden for the whole supply chain. The goal of this paper is therefore to explore the impact of increased asset visibility on the RTI management process. We describe a solution based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and quantify its financial impact from each individual stakeholder’s perspective. Our findings suggest that RFID can provide a powerful means to counter inefficiencies in the RTI management process and improve the overall effectiveness of the RTI supply chain network.     

The attentional blink provides episodic distinctiveness: Sparing at a cost.

The attentional blink (J. E. Raymond, K. L. Shapiro, & K. M. Arnell, 1992) refers to an apparent gap in perception observed when a second target follows a first within several hundred milliseconds. Theoretical and computational work have provided explanations for early sets of blink data, but more recent data have challenged these accounts by showing that the blink is attenuated when subjects encode strings of stimuli (J. Kawahara, T. Kumada, & V. Di Lollo, 2006; M. R. Nieuwenstein & M. C. Potter, 2006; C. N. Olivers, 2007) or are distracted (C. N. Olivers & S. Nieuwenhuis, 2005) while viewing the rapid serial visual presentation stream. The authors describe the episodic simultaneous type, serial token model, a computational account of encoding visual stimuli into working memory that suggests that the attentional blink is a cognitive strategy rather than a resource limitation. This model is composed of neurobiologically plausible elements and simulates the attentional blink with a competitive attentional mechanism that facilitates the formation of episodically distinct representations within working memory. In addition to addressing the blink, the model addresses the phenomena of repetition blindness and whole report superiority, producing predictions that are supported by experimental work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Process algebraic modelling of attentional capture and human electrophysiology in interactive systems

Previous research has developed a formal methods-based (cognitive-level) model of the Interacting Cognitive Subsystems central engine, with which we have simulated attentional capture in the context of Barnard’s key-distractor Attentional Blink task. This model captures core aspects of the allocation of human attention over time and as such should be applicable across a range of practical settings when human attentional limitations come into play. In addition, this model simulates human electrophysiological data, such as electroencephalogram recordings, which can be compared to real electrophysiological data recorded from human participants. We have used this model to evaluate the performance trade-offs that would arise from varying key parameters and applying either a constructive or a reactive approach to improving interactive systems in a stimulus rich environment. A strength of formal methods is that they are abstract and the resulting specifications of the operator are general purpose, ensuring that our findings are broadly applicable. Thus, we argue that new modelling techniques from computer science can also be employed in computational modelling of the mind. These would complement existing techniques, being specifically targeted at psychological level modelling, in which it is advantageous to directly represent the distribution of control.     

The Effect of Radial Confinement of Explosive on the Impulse delivered to an explosively driven circular plate

The effect of radial confinement of explosive on the impulse delivered to an explosively driven circular plate was investigated numerically. The results are applicable to the design of explosively formed penetrators. Aluminum radial confinement and additional radial explosive were investigated as means of increasing the impulse delivered to the plate. The radial thicknesses were varied from 0% to 10% of the explosive charge diameter with copper plates having thicknesses of 2%, 5% and 8% of the explosive charge diameter. Results show the use of radial confinement to be more effective with thicker plates. The increase in impulse provided by aluminum confinement was as great as 18% with an 8% charge diameter thick plate, compared to 12% with a 2% charge diameter thick plate. Regardless of the plate thickness, additional radial explosive can be more effective than aluminum radial confinement in increasing the impulse. For example a 10% charge diameter thickness of explosive increases the impulse by up to 28%, compared to 18% for the same thickness of aluminum. The results do not exhibit dependence on the method of detonation, nor on the length of the explosive charge.