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User packaging interaction (UPI) has evolved in packaging research because of its importance to users, manufacturers, and designers. A great deal of work addressing problems and suggesting potential improvements has been directed toward UPI. However, this work is not easily accessible to researchers as it lacks a cohesive structure. This paper serves as a platform for UPI researchers by presenting previous work UPI in an organized structure based on stages of interaction. Over 100 articles were reviewed to identify the scope of research in this area and then categorized according to stages of interaction. During the review of more articles, these stages of interaction were modified to ensure that they reflected all the reviewed articles. The review process resulted in the enumeration of the following stages: at point of purchase, checking out, handling, opening, and disposal. The related articles in each category are presented and discussed, and potential future work is presented. The articles were further categorized according to the age and gender of users under test, and packaging and product types considered. The review process has revealed different issues in the current research structure of UPI including the comprehensibility of the conducted research and the distribution of the reviewed articles. On the basis of this review, a model is proposed for improving the UPI by quantitatively evaluating the package design and affordances provided at each interaction stage.

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Occupational injuries and illnesses in healthcare can cause great human suffering, incur high cost, and have an adverse impact on the quality of patient care. One of the most effective solutions for addressing health and safety issues and improving decisions at the point of care rests in raising employees' safety awareness to recognize, avoid, or respond to potential problems before they arise. In this article, the DMAIC Six Sigma model (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) is used as a systematic program to measure, improve, and sustain employees' safety awareness in healthcare organizations. We report on a case study using the model, which was implemented and validated at a local hospital. First, the occupational health and safety knowledge that each job requires was identified. Next, the degree of competence of jobholders to meet these requirements was assessed. Based on the assessment, different awareness-raising efforts were proposed and implemented. The results showed significant improvement in the overall safety awareness compliance assessed: from 74.2% to 84.4% (p < .001) after the intervention. The proposed model ensures that the organization's awareness-raising efforts serve its actual needs and produce optimized and sustained results that eventually lead to safer healthcare service.

A simulation model is built to analyse the performance of a four-level/three-product supply chain composed of a retailer, distributor, manufacturer and supplier. The effects of assignment policies; preferred, cyclical and random, were analysed in combination with various factors such as inventory policies; continuous review (r, Q) and periodic review (T, S), and different demand patterns. On-hand inventory and percentage of satisfied customers at various levels of the SC are used as key performance indicators. In (T, S) systems, it is found that imposing an upper limit on S in some SC levels due to the assumption that an order is shipped as a whole in one trip would greatly influence results. Consequently, an increase in T not associated with a sufficient increase in S would decrease inventory levels that would lead to shortages between orders. In (r, Q) systems, the results show clearly how the effect of increasing Q in one level is transformed to upstream and downstream levels. Upstream levels are all negatively affected, while downstream levels maintain the same levels of inventory without any noticeable trends. ANOVA results show that at low demand rates inventory policies are the most significant, then demand patterns while the assignment policies are mostly insignificant. At high demand rates the assignment policy factor becomes significant as well as the other two factors. Sensitivity analysis performed shows the robustness of the results under varying conditions.