Order picking operations play a critical role in the order fulfillment process of distribution centers (DCs). Picking a batch of orders is often favored when customers’ demands create a large number of small orders, since the traditional single-order picking process results in low utilization of order pickers and significant operational costs. Specifically, batch picking improves order picking performance by consolidating multiple orders in a "batch" to reduce the number of trips and total travel distance required to retrieve the items. As more pickers are added to meet increased demand, order picking performance is likely to decline due to significant picker blocking. However, in batch picking, the process of assigning orders to particular batches allows additional flexibility to reduce picker blocking. This dissertation aims to identify, analyze, and control, or mitigate, picker blocking while batch picking in picker-to-part systems. We first develop a large-scale proximity-batching procedure that can enhance the solution quality of traditional batching models to near-optimality as measured by travel distance. Through simulation studies, picker blocking is quantified. The results illustrate: a) a complex relationship between picker blocking and batch formation; and b) a significant productivity loss due to picker blocking. Based on our analysis, we develop additional analytical and simulation models to investigate the effects of picker blocking in batch picking and to identify the picking, batching, and sorting strategies that reduce congestion. A new batching model (called Indexed order Batching Model (IBM)) is proposed to consider both order proximity and picker blocking to optimize the total order picking time. We also apply the proposed approach to bucket brigade picking systems where hand-off delay as well as picker blocking must be considered. The research offers new insights about picker blocking in batch picking operations, develops batch picking models, and provides complete control procedures for large-scale, dynamic batch picking situations. The twin goals of added flexibility and reduced costs are highlighted throughout the analysis.

From the earliest civilizations, victorious armies would loot defeated cities or nations. the practice evolved into art theft as a symbol of power. Cultural superiority confirmed a country or empire’s regime. Throughout history, the Greeks and Romans cultivated, Napoleon Bonaparte refined, and Adolf Hitler perfected the practice of plunder. As the tides of Second World War began to shift in favor of the Allied Powers, special commissions, established to locate the Germans’ hoards of treasure, discovered Nazi art repositories filled with art objects looted from throughout Europe. the Soviet Union Trophy Commission and the Western Allies Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Commission competed to discover Nazi war loot. the two organizations not only approached the subject of plunder as a treasure hunt, but the ideology motivating both commissions made uncovering the depositories first, a priority. the Soviet trophy brigades’ mission was to dismantle all items of financial worth and ship them eastward to help rebuild a devastated Soviet economy. the Soviet Union wished for the re-compensation of cultural valuables destroyed by the Nazis’ purification practices regarding “inferior” Slavic art and architecture; however, the defeated German nation did not have the ability to reimburse the Soviet State. the trophy brigades implemented a process of restitution in kind to make physical reparations through the confiscation of Nazi war loot. the Western Allies disagreed with the Soviet Union’s policy. the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Commission endeavored to return artwork looted by the Germans to the rightful owners or surviving descendants. Historically, the Western perspective of the Soviet Union’s actions was that the trophy brigades looted the conquered German Reich; however, during the period of Glasnost and after the fall of the Soviet Union, personal memoirs and interviews of Soviet trophy brigade members and museum officials have become available, and the Soviet viewpoint better understood. By analyzing both organization’s principles and actions, historians can assume a new disposition. the trophy brigades and the MFAA worked to salvage Nazi war loot, but the two commissions took divergent approaches as to what should be done with the spoils of war. It must be appreciated that decisions made sixty-seven years ago were made by nations attempting to do what they deemed morally correct but the lack of communication behind each ideology has made Western nations stand in judgment of the Soviet Union’s response.

For reasons of mismanagement, corruption and nepotism, poor quality and delivery of education and community perceptions of general inefficiency and ineffectiveness, the government of Botswana embarked on the process of centralizing the Brigades in 2009.The purpose of this study is to examine how the centralization of the Brigades was handled and its impact on the future of the concept of Education with Production (EWP). The research uses a qualitative approach and case study method to collect data through interviews, focus groups discussions and document analysis. The study was conducted in two of the twenty-one Brigades taken over in 2009. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants. Principals, teachers and former board members were interviewed individually while students were interviewed through focus group discussions. Also interviewed were two Department of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (DTVET) officers who were involved in the Brigades takeover. The findings from the study show that while there was evidence of prior consultation by the government of Botswana before taking over the Brigades, emphasis was laid on positive outcomes at the expense of potential negative outcomes. The study reveals that the takeover of the Brigades by the government was a noble gesture as evidenced by some gains in terms of financial stability, staff training, and improvement in staff conditions of service and plant maintenance. However, there was a range of undetected issues that emerged as a consequence of the takeover which includes job losses by some staff due to austerity-driven structural adjustment; lack of proper organizational structures for managing new enterprises; poor remuneration for some staff and the discontinuity of the concept of EWP. The study concludes that centralization of educational institutions needs a more rounded approach based on more holistic consultation with a range of beneficiaries. The future of EWP in Botswana is in jeopardy largely due to the government takeover.

The present work consists of three parts. In the first part (chapters III and IV), the dynamics of Lorentz lattice gases (LLG) on graphs is analyzed. We study the fixed scatterer model on finite graphs. A tight bound is established on the size of the orbit for arbitrary graphs, and the model is shown to perform a depth-first search on trees. Rigidity models on trees are also considered, and the size of the resulting orbit is established. In the second part (chapter V), we give a complete description of dynamics for LLG on the one-dimensional integer lattice, with a particular interest in showing that these models are not capable of universal computation. Some statistical properties of these models are also analyzed. In the third part (chapter VI) we attempt to partition a pool of workers into teams that will function as independent TSS lines. Such partitioning may be aimed to make sure that all groups work at approximately the same rate. Alternatively, we may seek to maximize the rate of convergence of the corresponding dynamical systems to their fixed points with optimal production at the fastest rate. The first problem is shown to be NP-hard. For the second problem, a solution for splitting into pairs is given, and it is also shown that this solution is not valid for partitioning into teams composed of more than two workers.

A fascinating feature of bucket brigade assembly lines is that work load on workers is balanced spontaneously as workers follow some simple rules in the assembly process. This self-organizing property significantly reduces the management effort on an assembly line. We generalize this idea in several directions. These include an adapted bucket brigade protocol for complex assembly networks, a generalized model that permits chaotic behavior, and a more detailed model for a flow line in which jobs arrive arbitrarily in time and are introduced into the system at several points on the line.

This diploma thesis is focused on the activities of Czech volunteer fire brigades in the country. It is based on accessible sources. The work is split up to five basic chapters. It contains an extensive list of the literature and sources for this topic and the abundant pictorial and tabular supplements. The first chapter describes development of fire-protectional legislation and laws important for the function of the volunteer fire brigades. The second part brings basic informations about the development of higher levels and main institutional ranks of fire brigades organisation in the Czech lands. The third part deals with the description and analysis of functions, administration and activities of volunteer firemen in the country. The fourth chapter is devoted to the membership Czech volunteer fire brigades, especially to their description, division and analysis of age and social level. The fifth section deals in detail with the management of fire Department and its accounts, what is divided into a part of the incomes and expenses. The final part summarizes the findings and points to other possibilities and procedures of study concentrated on this broad and interesting theme.

Submitted by (lucia.rodrigues@ufrpe.br) on 2016-06-15T11:05:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Elizabet Soares de Souza.pdf: 3899942 bytes, checksum: 915645c985434a5d56c02f66b496f1e3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-15T11:05:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elizabet Soares de Souza.pdf: 3899942 bytes, checksum: 915645c985434a5d56c02f66b496f1e3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The brigades of Pernambuco appeared in the walls of cities, as an alternative to of political propaganda taxes devices even during the Civil Military Dictatorship. However, the movement created was not only restricted to the political game, he was also a way for local artists present their works in large panels outdoors and, therefore, approaching art and people. The murals drawn by brigades to political parties represented, too, a project originated cultural and political and ideological struggles of that time. Based on these findings and considering the historical and political moment experienced at the time, with the political opening in which the country was going through, we aimed to analyze the murals of brigades who colored the cities of Olinda and Recife in two campaigns: 1982 (the first moment of creation muralist brigade), 1986 (creation of new brigades). Thus, we begin from the analysis of images of murals, to establish a relationship between politics and culture, and propose an understanding of these panels as a field of disputes and artistic experimentations. / As brigadas de Pernambuco surgiram, nos muros das cidades, como uma alternativa de propaganda política aos dispositivos impostos ainda no período da Ditadura Civil Militar. No entanto, o movimento criado não se restringiu apenas ao jogo político, ele também foi uma maneira de artistas locais exporem suas obras em grandes painéis ao ar livre e, com isso, aproximarem arte e população. As pinturas murais elaboradas pelas brigadas para os partidos politicos representavam, também, um projeto cutural originado das lutas político-ideológicas daquele momento. Partindo dessas constatações e considerando o momento histórico-político vivenciado à época, com a abertura política em que o país atravessava, objetivamos analisar os murais brigadistas que coloriram as cidades de Olinda e de Recife em duas campanhas eleitorais: 1982 (momento de criação da primeira brigada muralista), 1986 (surgimento de novas brigadas). Dessa forma, partimos da análise das imagens dos murais, para estabelecer uma relação entre política e cultura, e propor um entendimento desses painéis como um campo de disputas e experimentações artísticas.

The dissertation examines the Student Construction Brigade Movement (SCBM) in the context of Soviet internationalism and the Cold War and portrays it as one of the most unique youth movements in the world at that time. Under the umbrella of the SCBM and in the name of internationalism, students from both socialist and non-socialist countries voluntarily expressed a desire to engage in construction and agricultural work activities as well as cultural exchange. While examining these interactions, I argue that during the Cold War, global youth emerged as one key agent of internationalism through cooperative economic, political, and cultural activities on construction sites around the world. My research not only identifies the Soviet state’s goals in the SCBM (such as ideological indoctrination and demonstration of Soviet influence in beyond the country’s borders), but also reveals that the lived experience of the student exchange went far beyond politics or economics. Students of different nationalities and cultures directly communicated with each other, shared their worldviews, and created a positive basis for expanding their professional and personal contacts.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal