In order to demonstrate how RFID tags can really influence the fortunes of a company for the better, we shall look at a hypothetical case below. Let us take the example of a furniture maker that specializes in the supply furniture to a hotel group.
This may sound like an example with no significance to normal small businesses, but in fact, hotel chains are awfully choosy and have no allegiance, so if you can please these people, you can satisfy anyone.
The main requirements of the hotel chain are that orders are met and on time, the quality of the supplier’s products has already been considered to be sufficient by means of enforced ISO 9000 quality control and factory visits.
The hotel furniture manufacturer decides to introduce passive RFID tags to follow its items from the point of manufacture to the point of delivery, that is the hotel or its storage area.
Under previous conditions the producer had employed a few people to walk around with bar code readers and clip boards carrying out quality control and tracking the fulfillment of orders.
The problem was that the arrangement was still subject to human error and items still went astray, which lead to management compensating by over manufacturing and over stocking ‘just in case’.
That is a common enough phenomenon., but the problems are multiplied when you think of all the different items of furniture that are involved in a hotel room, bathroom or lobby and if they are kept in a 200,000 square foot warehouse. Things get lost, forklift drivers make mistakes, people forget to fill in stock forms, get sick and take holidays.
In short, running a warehouse like this is a nightmare with too much stress on key employees. It sometimes leads to imperfect deliveries or worse, incomplete delivery tickets. Sometimes the order might be complete but the hotel would think it was not because the delivery ticket was incorrect.
If this company were to initiate RFID asset control they could affix an RFID tag to completed sticks of furniture. The tag would say where it is, what it is, whom it is for, when it has to be delivered and what else makes up part of the order. The tag is being read continuously by the warehouse’s RFID readers forewarning when orders are running late or are still incomplete.
Not only that but the tag can say what else has to be made and whether the object itself has passed quality control. It can also say which problems someone has found with it. In short, instead of a couple of people walking around the stockroom hoping that they have covered everything, you could have radio sensors reading every tag in a warehouse the size of a football pitch, reporting back to a central computer where the storehouse manager can have access to real time intelligence, not just the state of affairs at close of business the previous day.
This should enhance the manager’s opportunity to manage, cut down on waste, guarantee complete orders delivered on time and so higher levels of customer satisfaction, which should mean more repeat orders.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is currently concerned with the RFID asset management. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Dec 19th, 2011. Comment.
There are more than 3,500 species of the mosquito and they have been around for over 30 million years. The word mosquito comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word for little fly. They are similar to crane flies and chironomid flies. Mosquitoes are a member of the Culicidae family, which means midge or gnat.
Both males and females feed on nectar and plant juices, but in some species, the female has to feed on humans, because she needs the nutrients protein and iron to help her produce eggs. The females? feeding on humans causes many contagious diseases that has an effect on millions of humans every year.
The adult female lays her eggs in standing water. This could be a lake, bucket of water, a puddle, and in some cases, a few droplets in a leaf.
The mosquito is a holometabolous insect. This means that it will go through four stages which are outlined here:
The first stage is the larvae. This is the recently hatched stage of various insects that differ considerably from the adult.
The next stage is known as the pupa. This is a non-feeding time that takes place between the larvae and the adult stages.
The pupa floats on the water and the adult mosquito will emerge from the pupa at this time. The adult mosquito lives between four and eight weeks.
The mosquito has three senses. They are chemical, visual, and heat. There are certain things that attract a mosquito to a person.
Carbon dioxide and lactic acid appeal to a mosquito. These are found in warm blooded mammals and birds. Regular breathing puts out these sorts of gases. Some sweat will also put off these gases.
Garments that contrast with the background will attract a mosquito also. Heat is easily detected by a mosquito.
Mosquitoes can be found in a cool spot during the day whilst it is hot. If they are disturbed, they will bite during this time. They are more active while it is cooler.
Mosquitoes are known to infect humans with many kinds of diseases. They carry viruses and parasites from human to human. Some common viral illnesses are malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and Chikungunya.
It is estimated that more than two million people die from these illnesses every year. It has been found that most of these illnesses are carried by ?elderly? females.
There are numerous products on the market to help avoid mosquito bites and chancing acquiring a deadly infection. Many of these products contain DEET. It is highly recommended. DEET can also be applied full strength, but 20-50% is normally strong enough.
Some of the brand name insect repellents are: Off, Cutter, White Mountain, and Repel. There are also candles, wipes, nets, traps, and foggers obtainable on the market. There are also organic repellents on the market. You can also create your own repellent.
Smoke from campfires and mud or clay assists stop mosquitoes from biting. Some herbs, such as Rosemary, will also keep mosquitoes away.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on a number of subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Nov 19th, 2011. Comment.
The study of insects is known as entomology. Entomology is a sub-section of biology and is one of the oldest sciences. Man has studied the habits of insects, usually with a view to getting rid them, since the first plague of locusts landed on early farmers’ crops tens of thousands of years ago. However, entomology was not really recognized and learned as a science until the Sixteenth Century.
Entomology has had many famous devotees but the most famous was Charles Darwin. More recent entomologists are Karl von Frisch the Nobel Prize winner for medicine in 1973 and E. O. Wilson the two time Pulitzer prize winner.
Entomologists are also frequently credited with helping solve murders by studying the insects that are discovered on and in the dead body. This is quite possible and not merely a device used in Hollywood films.
The first thing to understand is that not all creepy crawlies are insects. For example, spiders are not insects, but many entomologists are not so strict and have an interest in arachnids (spiders), worms, slugs and snails.
All insects pass through a number of stages of life, but there are two kinds of insect development ‘simple metamorphosis’ and ‘complete metamorphosis’.
The first sort includes most beetles and bugs like bed bugs. They are born as eggs and hatch into larvae (nymphs), which, if not perfect copies of their parents do look a lot like them
The second sort are also born as eggs, also hatch into larvae, but they look nothing like their parents – so dissimilar in fact that if you do not know what they are, you could not imagine. The larva then grows into a pupa when it appears to become dormant, this is not the case though, there is plenty going on and when it comes out from the pupal stage it is unrecognizable. Butterflies are like this.
If you would like to study insects, you have to focus because there are at least 1.3 million species of insects that we have found so far and there are lots more to name and classify.
You would be forgiven for imagining that these unknown insects, worms, slugs and beetles et cetera are all in remotest Africa or in thick jungles, but last year a carnivorous slug was found in a garden in the middle of Cardiff in the UK.
In order to study insects, you usually have to catch them without killing them. This means nets and traps. it is simple enough to get a butterfly net (or fishing net) and you can create your own pitfall traps for ground beetles. You will also need a good book to help you classify your find and a magnifying glass to be able to better see it.
One word of caution though: you may think that there are too many insects and that no one really cares about them, but this is not true. There are many insects in every country that are protected and you will be breaking the law by capturing them or hurting them, so the first thing to do is find out which ones you may study and which ones it is better to leave alone.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jul 21st, 2011. Comment.
Who would have guessed that the London Underground is home to a unique species of mosquito? The species is known as the London Underground mosquito and is considered to have evolved from Culex pipiens. The London Underground species has been dubbed Culex pipiens molestus, because it is a tireless biter.
It is not new, but it is comparatively new in biological terms. Molestus is known to have bitten Londoners during the Second World War whilst they were taking refuge during the air raids. However, there are other references to a mosquito with the same name, molestus, 170 years before the war, when there was no underground railway system in London or anywhere else in the world.
This mosquito was first discovered in the London Underground, which is why it received its name, but it can be discovered in metro and underground railway stations all over the world. No one actually knows a lot about this insect population yet.
Some people suggest that it is a variant of a local Culex pipiens that has adapted to living in warmer, underground tunnels, whilst others say that is a southern (and therefore warmer) variant of C. pipiens that is able to live in the colder north because it has inhabited the warm train tunnels of the underground systems.
Yet others, notably Kate Byrne and Richard Nichols, suggest that it is a totally different species from Culex pipiens. Their proof for saying this is that there are differences between pipiens and molestus: they display very different behavioural patterns and do not mate readily with each other.
C. pipiens molestus will bite rats, mice and humans and dies in cold temperatures but remains active all year round, whereas C. pipiens can tolerate cold weather, only bites birds and hibernates if the weather gets very cold.
On the rare occasions when the two varieties cross breed, the eggs are infertile, which implies that they are distantly related if at all. Recent studies indicate that molestus originated in one source but spread rapidly around the world, perhaps in freight.
Second-hand tyres have been held responsible for spreading molestus around the world. There is a colossal international trade in second hand tyres and it is infamously difficult to get all the water out of a tyre that has been left in the rain. Mosquitoes can breed in a tiny amount of water, so this is a possibility.
There is a strange and not entirely explained twist to the story of the molestus, the American version of molestus pipiens still bites birds which leads some individuals to suggest that molestus is a separate species, but that it has formed a hybrid in America with pipiens.
This is quite frightening, but quite possible, because the American pipiens can transmit human encephalitis brought about by the West Nile virus, an outbreak of which hit New York in 1999.
There is a lot more to find out about the London Underground mosquito, since the story is only just starting to unfold. The real story will almost certainly come out of America where this new mosquito has proved to be the most dangerous.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several topics, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jul 17th, 2011. Comment.
Some individuals have always stated that some fruits, nuts or vegetables are super foods. This is a contentious issue, but it has to be a fact that some foodstuffs are better for you than others, but whether it is justifiable to hype up a foodstuff for a quick sale is another topic. Blueberries are a case in point. Are blueberries a super fruit or not?
Advocates of blueberries say that they are rich in antioxidants and that they are able to improve vision and reduce eye strain; enhance brain and memory functions and combat urinary tract infections (UTI’s). Blueberries are said to be rich in antioxidants and anthocyanins, but what are they?
Well, antioxidants are said to counteract the effects of oxidation and free radicals, which are often associated with the development of cancer and anthocyanins are a kind of flavonoids, which are also an anti-carcinogen.
Blueberries are also in the bottom category of the Glycemic Index. The Glycemic Index uses white bread as the marker against which every foodstuff is measured. Above 70 is thought to be high; between 56 and 59 is medium and below 55 is low. Blueberries, at 53, is at the high end of low. This is not important knowledge for many individuals, but it is important for dieters and diabetics.
Blueberries are said to improve eyesight because of the anthocyanins, which strengthen the capillaries, which would help the flow of blood to the eyes, which may help conserve vision. This would relieve eye strain or eye tiredness
If this assists preserve vision, it would also delay hair loss, because hair loss is normally associated with a lack of blood/nutrition to the hair follicles which then simply die of starvation, as in male pattern baldness.
Blueberries are a fruit high in flavonoids which are antioxidants as stated above. Some individuals claim that flavonoids can improve the connections between neurons in the brain, which would probably raise mental capacity.
It may also slow down the degeneration of brain cells and so also the traditionally-perceived degeneration in mental capacity that is associated with old age. If this is a fact, then the consumption of blueberries would also help slow down the progression of lack of motor control: that is, it could help the elderly move more smoothly, less inelegantly.
However, the same people will admit that to make a 5-6% improvement in motor skills would probably take a daily consumption of around 100 grammes per day, which is naturally not an insignificant amount, even if you like them and grow them yourself.
It has also been stated that the daily consumption of blueberries reduces the level of LDL in the blood, which is popularly called ‘bad cholesterol’.
If you would like to test the effects of eating blueberries on yourself, here are a few suggestions on how you can incorporate them into your diet.
Fresh blueberries: eat while in season and freeze as much as you can get hold of.
Frozen blueberries: cook in pancakes, muffins and put in home-made ice-cream.
Dried blueberries: eat like raisins as a snack or coat in chocolate.
In this way, you will be able to answer the question for yourself : blueberries are they a super fruit?
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with detox diet menus. If you want to know more, just visit our site at http://vegetariancasserolerecipes.com
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jul 12th, 2011. Comment.
All RFID tags are used to store and ultimately send data. They can best be thought of as the replacement for the bar code. However, they have significant advantages over bar codes. For instance: RFID tags can hold much more data than bar codes; they can be scanned from further away and they can in point of fact send data, not only store data.
There are three varieties of RFID tags: passive, active and hybrid. Passive RFID tags are the least expensive, because they are less complicated. They have to be asked to disclose their information by taking power from an RFID reader. When the reader’s radio waves hit them, they echo back their information. This is the sort of tag used in goods in a retail outlet or on crates in a warehouse.
On the other hand, active RFID tags have a battery, a transmitter and an antenna so that they are always transmitting. These units are clearly a lot more expensive and so are used only on more costly items such as a container, a battle tank, an airplane, on criminals ankle bands or on an animal of an endangered species.
The hybrid RFID tag is capable of transmitting, but it needs to be told to transmit; it has to be turned on by a signal. This signal could be a satellite passing over head. These hybrid RFID tags are also costly, but the battery lasts longer because they are not ‘always on’. These tags have the same applications as the active tags, but are appropriate for use where it is not critical to know where something is every minute of the day: for instance cattle in a field or goats on a mountain.
Passive tags can be attached permanently by sewing them into linings or putting them under skin because they do not have their own power source and do not wear out. This is a cause of anxiety to some people who worry about an invasion of their privacy or the erosion of their human rights.
Active and hybrid tags are most frequently plainly visible so that the batteries can be changed as and when required. If this is going to be unlikely to take place, as in the case of wild animals, the tag can have a biodegradable clasp which will break sometime after the probable expiry of the battery.
Some uses for RFID tags are on season tickets so that the holder can pass through the style more quickly than a customer paying by cash. It has applications in security; most of the ID badges you see pinned to shirts have RFID built into them so that security guards do not have to stop and question everybody.
They can be put into trucks that regularly cross borders so that they do not need to stop for identification. They can be placed in windscreens so that as you pass through a motorway toll station, either your credit card is billed or the charge is added to your company’s monthly statement.
Hospitals utilize them on patients so that they do not lose anyone or misidentify them. RFID tags are helpful in our daily lives but people are concerned about criminals being able to read all this information too readily as well.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is currently involved with the RFID asset tracking. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 27th, 2011. Comment.