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Article
Publication date: 12 January 2022

Mahesh Babu Mariappan, Kanniga Devi, Yegnanarayanan Venkataraman, Ming K. Lim and Panneerselvam Theivendren

This paper aims to address the pressing problem of prediction concerning shipment times of therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic using a…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to address the pressing problem of prediction concerning shipment times of therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic using a novel artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study used organic real-world therapeutic supplies data of over 3 million shipments collected during the COVID-19 pandemic through a large real-world e-pharmacy. The researchers built various ML multiclass classification models, namely, random forest (RF), extra trees (XRT), decision tree (DT), multilayer perceptron (MLP), XGBoost (XGB), CatBoost (CB), linear stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and the linear Naïve Bayes (NB) and trained them on striped datasets of (source, destination, shipper) triplets. The study stacked the base models and built stacked meta-models. Subsequently, the researchers built a model zoo with a combination of the base models and stacked meta-models trained on these striped datasets. The study used 10-fold cross-validation (CV) for performance evaluation.

Findings

The findings reveal that the turn-around-time provided by therapeutic supply logistics providers is only 62.91% accurate when compared to reality. In contrast, the solution provided in this study is up to 93.5% accurate compared to reality, resulting in up to 48.62% improvement, with a clear trend of more historic data and better performance growing each week.

Research limitations/implications

The implication of the study has shown the efficacy of ML model zoo with a combination of base models and stacked meta-models trained on striped datasets of (source, destination and shipper) triplets for predicting the shipment times of therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines in the e-pharmacy supply chain.

Originality/value

The novelty of the study is on the real-world e-pharmacy supply chain under post-COVID-19 lockdown conditions and has come up with a novel ML ensemble stacking based model zoo to make predictions on the shipment times of therapeutics. Through this work, it is assumed that there will be greater adoption of AI and ML techniques in shipment time prediction of therapeutics in the logistics industry in the pandemic situations.

Details

The International Journal of Logistics Management, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-4093

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Article
Publication date: 9 July 2021

K. Arunkumar, Muthukannan Muthiah, Suresh Kumar A., Chithambar Ganesh A. and Kanniga Devi R.

Inefficient waste disposal technique and cement production methodology caused significant environmental impacts, leading to global warming. The purpose of the research was to…

203

Abstract

Purpose

Inefficient waste disposal technique and cement production methodology caused significant environmental impacts, leading to global warming. The purpose of the research was to invent an effective, sustainable technology to use the wastes and alternate for cement in concrete. Geopolymer technology could be the most desirable solution to use the wastes into an effective product.

Design/methodology/approach

The wood waste ash derived from nearby tea shops was used as an alternate binder for fly ash. The replacement of WWA with FA was varied from 0 to 100% at 10% intervals. In this research, setting and mechanical features of Geopolymer Concrete (GPC) along with Waste wood ash (WWA) was carried out. The influence of wood waste ash in the microstructure of the GPC was also assessed using scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction analysis.

Findings

The findings revealed that 30% replacement of wood waste ash was performed higher in all measured features. Besides, the formation of different phases was also observed with the inclusion of wood waste ash.

Research limitations/implications

The demand for fly ash was increased in recent years, and the fly-based GPC has required more alkaline solution and temperature curing. Hence, there was a research gap on finding an alternative binder for fly ash.

Originality/value

The research novelty was to use the wood waste ash, which has inbuilt alkaline compounds on the production of sustainable geopolymer. The finding showed that the wood waste ash could be alternate fly ash that eliminates the environmental impacts and economic thrust.

Details

World Journal of Engineering, vol. 19 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1708-5284

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Article
Publication date: 5 July 2022

Mahesh Babu Mariappan, Kanniga Devi, Yegnanarayanan Venkataraman and Samuel Fosso Wamba

The purpose of this study is to present a large-scale real-world comparative study using pre-COVID lockdown data versus post-COVID lockdown data on predicting shipment times of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to present a large-scale real-world comparative study using pre-COVID lockdown data versus post-COVID lockdown data on predicting shipment times of therapeutic supplies in e-pharmacy supply chains and show that our proposed methodology is robust to lockdown effects.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers used organic data of over 5.9 million records of therapeutic shipments, with 2.87 million records collected pre-COVID lockdown and 3.03 million records collected post-COVID lockdown. The researchers built various Machine Learning (ML) classifier models on the two datasets, namely, Random Forest (RF), Extra Trees (XRT), Decision Tree (DT), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), XGBoost (XGB), CatBoost (CB), Linear Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) and the Linear Naïve Bayes (NB). Then, the researchers stacked these base models and built meta models on top of them. Further, the researchers performed a detailed comparison of the performances of ML models on pre-COVID lockdown and post-COVID lockdown datasets.

Findings

The proposed approach attains performance of 93.5% on real-world post-COVID lockdown data and 91.35% on real-world pre-COVID lockdown data. In contrast, the turn-around times (TAT) provided by therapeutic supply logistics providers are 62.91% accurate compared to reality in post-COVID lockdown times and 73.68% accurate compared to reality pre-COVID lockdown times. Hence, it is clear that while the TAT provided by logistics providers has deteriorated in the post-pandemic business climate, the proposed method is robust to handle pandemic lockdown effects on e-pharmacy supply chains.

Research limitations/implications

The implication of the study provides a novel ML-based framework for predicting the shipment times of therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines, and it is robust to COVID-19 lockdown effects.

Practical implications

E-pharmacy companies can readily adopt the proposed approach to enhance their supply chain management (SCM) capabilities and build resilience during COVID lockdown times.

Originality/value

The present study is one of the first to perform a large-scale real-world comparative analysis on predicting therapeutic supply shipment times in the e-pharmacy supply chain with novel ML ensemble stacking, obtaining robust results in these COVID lockdown times.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 52 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

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Article
Publication date: 12 July 2021

Suresh Kumar Arunachalam, Muthukannan Muthiah, Kanniga Devi Rangaswamy, Arunkumar Kadarkarai and Chithambar Ganesh Arunasankar

Demand for Geopolymer concrete (GPC) has increased recently because of its many benefits, including being environmentally sustainable, extremely tolerant to high temperature and…

176

Abstract

Purpose

Demand for Geopolymer concrete (GPC) has increased recently because of its many benefits, including being environmentally sustainable, extremely tolerant to high temperature and chemical attacks in more dangerous environments. Like standard concrete, GPC also has low tensile strength and deformation capacity. This paper aims to analyse the utilization of incinerated bio-medical waste ash (IBWA) combined with ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) in reinforced GPC beams and columns. Medical waste was produced in the health-care industry, specifically in hospitals and diagnostic laboratories. GGBS is a form of industrial waste generated by steel factories. The best option to address global warming is to reduce the consumption of Portland cement production and promote other types of cement that were not a pollutant to the environment. Therefore, the replacement in ordinary Portland cement construction with GPC is a promising way of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. GPC was produced due to an alkali-activated polymeric reaction between alumina-silicate source materials and unreacted aggregates and other materials. Industrial pollutants such as fly ash and slag were used as raw materials.

Design/methodology/approach

Laboratory experiments were performed on three different proportions (reinforced cement concrete [RCC], 100% GGBS as an aluminosilicate source material in reinforced geopolymer concrete [GRGPC] and 30% replacement of IBWA as an aluminosilicate source material for GGBS in reinforced geopolymer concrete [IGRGPC]). The cubes and cylinders for these proportions were tested to find their compressive strength and split tensile strength. In addition, beams (deflection factor, ductility factor, flexural strength, degradation of stiffness and toughness index) and columns (load-carrying ability, stress-strain behaviour and load-deflection behaviours) of reinforced geopolymer concrete (RGPC) were studied.

Findings

As shown by the results, compared to Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) and 100% GGBS based Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete (GRGPC), 30% IBWA and 70% GGBS based Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete (IGRGPC) (30% IBWA–70% GGBS reinforced geo-polymer concrete) cubes, cylinders, beams and columns exhibit high compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength, load-carrying ability, ultimate strength, stiffness, ductility and deformation capacity.

Originality/value

All the results were based on the experiments done in this research. All the result values obtained in this research are higher than the theoretical values.

Details

World Journal of Engineering, vol. 19 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1708-5284

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Article
Publication date: 25 February 2025

Elhassan Gheidan, Mariyana Aida Ab. Kadir and Oluwatobi Gbenga Aluko

The purpose of this study is to compare the properties and performance of ordinary Portland cement-based self-compacting concrete (OPC-SCC) and pozzolanic-based SCC…

0

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to compare the properties and performance of ordinary Portland cement-based self-compacting concrete (OPC-SCC) and pozzolanic-based SCC (pozzolanic-SCC) in concrete applications. The research employs a comparative analysis to examine the workability and strength characteristics of these two types of SCC.

Design/methodology/approach

This study involves analyzing and comparing the properties and performance of OPC-SCC and pozzolanic-SCC through a literature review of relevant studies and experiments. The key findings indicate that the use of pozzolanic materials in SCC, such as fly ash, silica fume and metakaolin, can enhance the sustainability and durability of the concrete. The research also reveals that the choice of steel fibers and polypropylene fibers can impact the fire performance and mechanical properties of SCC.

Findings

The findings indicate that the inclusion of supplementary cementitious materials enhances the workability, strength and fire resistance of SCC to a greater extent compared to the addition of steel and polypropylene fibers.

Practical implications

The practical implications of this research are significant for selecting and utilizing SCC in concrete applications.

Originality/value

The originality of this research lies in the comparative analysis of OPC-SCC and pozzolanic-SCC, considering their properties, performance and practical implications. The study extends the existing knowledge on the use of SCC and provides insights into best practices for its application. The research contributes to the field of concrete technology and sustainable construction by highlighting the benefits and limitations of different types of SCC and their potential impact on concrete performance.

Details

Journal of Structural Fire Engineering, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-2317

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Article
Publication date: 2 January 2023

Sudarshan Dattatraya Kore, Babalu Rajput, Anil Agarwal and Amol Pawar

The growing quantity of waste is a worrying reality that has resulted in environmental sustainability challenges. Waste paper sludge (WPS) in large quantities from paper mill…

128

Abstract

Purpose

The growing quantity of waste is a worrying reality that has resulted in environmental sustainability challenges. Waste paper sludge (WPS) in large quantities from paper mill industry are produced every year. Their disposal in landfills, in general, pollutes the environment. Cement manufacture also contributes to global warming by emitting carbon dioxide. As a result, a novel use of industrial wastes as a supplemental cementitious ingredient in concrete formulation can help to mitigate the environmental problem. This paper aims to study the possibility of usage of WPS as partial replacements of cement for sustainable development of concrete.

Design/methodology/approach

This study aims at testing the mechanical properties of concrete that has been mixed with WPS. Between 5% and 20% of the weight of cement, WPS was used to substitute it. The water binder ratios of 0.55, 0.50, 0.45 and 0.42 were all considered for an experiment to better understand the impact of WPS on concrete. In terms of workability, density, water absorption (WA), compressive strength (CS) and flexural strength (FS), concrete mixtures were created, tested and compared to traditional concrete mixes.

Findings

According to the findings, the initial and final setting times of the concrete mixtures were both significantly delayed, and the workability and density of the concrete mixtures were both significantly lowered at all water binder ratios and replacement levels. Both compressive and FS of concrete made with WSP declined significantly at all water binder ratio. Substitution of cement by WPS enhanced the WA of all the concrete mixes. The mechanical performance of concrete mixtures that were made with a replacement level of 5% exhibited noticeable improvements. Whereas the more is the replacement levels the more the loss in the mechanical properties were noted. The ideal replacement levels for the WPS are up to 5% only.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the ecological and sustainable effects of using WPS in construction materials.

Details

Technological Sustainability, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-1312

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