Climate Vulnerability of the Supply-Chain: Literature and Methodological review

The increasing complexity of the present economic system and the strong interdependencies existing between production activities taking place in different world areas make modern societies vulnerable to crisis. The global supply-chain is a paradigmatic example of economic structures on which the impacts of unexpected events propagate rapidly through the system. Climate change, which affects societies all over the world, is one of the most important factors influencing the efficiency of the present economic networks. During the last decades a large set of studies have been oriented to investigate the direct impacts generated on specific geographical areas or productions. However, a smaller number of analyses have been oriented to quantify the cascading economic effects generated all over the world. The great complexity of the global economic system, coupled with methodological and data gaps makes it difficult to estimate the domino effects of unexpected events. A clear understanding of the possible consequences generated all over the world is, however, a fundamental step to build socio-economic resilience and to plan effective adaptation strategies. Within this context, the main objective of the present report is to provide an overview of the main studies, methodologies and databases used to investigate the climate vulnerability of the global supply chain. This information can be useful to i) support further studies, ii) to build consistent quantification methodologies, and iii) to fill the possible data gap.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Campus Violence: Understanding the Extraordinary Through the Ordinary

Recent mass shootings on college campuses have focused many on the responsibilities of colleges and universities to prevent and respond to such violence. However, in statistical terms, this type of campus violence can thankfully be considered relatively extraordinary. In contrast, the only type of campus violence that is unfortunately common enough to be characterized as “ordinary” is peer sexual assault and similar forms of campus gender-based violence. Accordingly, this essay explores the scope and dynamics of both “ordinary” and “extraordinary” campus violence, discusses the law and “best practices” dealing with peer sexual violence victims’ rights and the due process rights of students accused of misconduct, and contrasts the typical disciplinary responses of many schools to both the methods required by the applicable law and those advocated by the best practices literature. It concludes that understanding peer sexual violence and applying that understanding to less common forms of campus violence may help us to prevent and understand what the proper responses should be to both forms of violence

Advances in Intelligent Vehicle Control

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue Advances in Intelligent Vehicle Control that was published in the journal Sensors. It presents a collection of eleven papers that covers a range of topics, such as the development of intelligent control algorithms for active safety systems, smart sensors, and intelligent and efficient driving. The contributions presented in these papers can serve as useful tools for researchers who are interested in new vehicle technology and in the improvement of vehicle control systems

The influence of online consumer reviews on purchasing intent

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing, Wits Business School, Johannesburg 2016The proliferation of social platforms in the digital and online space has given voice to millions of social media users and carved careers otherwise unheard of a few years ago, in the form of expert technology reviewers who enjoy mass online following and sponsorship from brands seeking to leverage millions of followers who log in daily. Social media has enabled access to information otherwise previously restricted to user guides and product manuals. Using the theory of planned behaviour, the study examines the effect that online consumer reviews have on product knowledge, social influence, trust, source credibility, brand image and purchase intent among urban South Africans falling in the Generation Y cohort. The methodology involved a self-administered online questionnaire adapted from past studies. A total of 255 questionnaires were collected from the identified sample. The study tested ten hypotheses using Structural Equation Modelling along with SPSS 22 software used for descriptive statistics and IBM Amos 22. Results indicate that all ten hypotheses have significant influence on purchase intent. All hypotheses displayed equally significant relationships per testing as findings revealed that online consumer reviews have a positive effect on product knowledge, trust, social influence, source credibility and brand image. Findings also revealed a significant relationship between product knowledge, trust, social influence, source credibility, brand image, and purchase intent. The study contributes to the literature and theoretical knowledge on online consumer reviews in the local South African context, and can be applied to similar developing markets. The theoretical implications in the study contributes to both limited, and existing research, literature, and knowledge on the effects that online consumer reviews have on the purchase intent of South African consumers. The study broadens knowledge in the ever growing influence of online consumer reviews and the significant theoretical contributions of the study will benefit academia and scholars. Managerial implications highlight that managers cannot afford to ignore the influence of online consumer reviews on intent to purchase, and that even though these reviews are not under the direct influence of organisations, marketers can indirectly influence these by ensuring quality products that meet both the brand and product promises. Recommendations, iii limitations of the study, and future research on the subject of online consumer reviews are also discussed. Keywords: Online consumer reviews, social influence, brand image, product knowledge, purchase intent, source credibilityGR201

Selection process of auto-ID technology in warehouse management: A Delphi study

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityIn a supply chain, a warehouse is a crucial component for linking all chain parties. Automatic identification and data capture (auto-ID) technology, e.g. RFID and barcodes are among the essential technologies in the 21st century knowledge-based economy. Selecting an auto-ID technology is a long term investment and it contributes to improving operational efficiency, achieving cost savings and creating opportunities for higher revenues. The interest in auto-ID research for warehouse management is rather stagnant and relatively small in comparison to other research domains such as transport, logistics and supply chain. However, although there are some previous studies that explored factors for the auto-ID selection decision in a warehouse environment, those factors (e.g., operational factors) have been examined separately and researchers have paid no attention to all key factors that may potentially affect this decision. In fact, yet there is no comprehensive framework in the literature that comprehensively investigates the critical factors influencing the auto-ID selection decision and how the factors should be combined to produce a successful auto-ID selection process in warehouse management. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to investigate empirically the auto-ID technology-selection process and to determine the key factors that influence decision makers when selecting auto-ID technology in the warehouse environment. This research is preceded by a comprehensive and systematic review of the relevant literature to identify the set of factors that may affect the technology selection decision. The Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework has been used as lens to categorise the identified factors (Tornatzky & Fleischer, 1990). Data were collected by conducting first a modified (mixed-method) two-round Delphi study with a worldwide panel of experts (107) including academics, industry practitioners and consultants in auto-ID technologies. The results of the Delphi study were then verified via follow-up interviews, both face-to-face and telephone, carried out with 19 experts across the world. This research in nature is positivist, exploratory/descriptive, deductive/inductive and quantitative/qualitative. The quantitative data were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences, SPSS V.18, while the qualitative data of the Delphi study and the interviews were analysed manually using quantitative content analysis approach and thematic content analysis approach respectively. The findings of this research are reported on the motivations/reasons of warehouses in seeking to use auto-ID technologies, the challenges in making an auto-ID decision, the recommendations to address the challenges, the key steps that should be followed in making auto-ID selection decision, the key factors and their relative importance that influence auto-ID selection decision in a warehouse. The results of the Delphi study show that the six major factors affecting the auto-ID selection decision in warehouse management are: organisational, operational, structural, resources, external environmental and technological factors (in decreasing order of importance). In addition, 54 key sub-factors have been identified from the list of each of the major factors and ranked in decreasing order of the importance mean scores. However, the importance of these factors depends on the objectives and strategic motivations of warehouse; size of warehouse; type of business; nature of business environment; sectors; market types; products and countries. Based on the Delphi study and the interviews findings, a comprehensive multi-stage framework for auto-ID technology selection process has been developed. This research indicates that the selection process is complex and needs support and closer collaboration from all participants involved in the process such as the IT team, top management, warehouse manager, functional managers, experts, stockholders and vendors. Moreover, warehouse managers should have this process for collaboration before adopting the technology in order to reduce the high risks involved and achieve successful implementation. This research makes several contributions for both academic and practitioners with auto-ID selection in a warehouse environment. Academically, it provides a holistic multi-stage framework that explains the critical issues within the decision making process of auto-ID technology in warehouse management. Moreover, it contributes to the body of auto-ID and warehouse management literature by synthesising the literature on key dimensions of auto-ID (RFID/barcode) selection decision in the warehouse field. This research also provides a theoretical basis upon which future research on auto-ID selection and implementation can be built. Practically, the findings provide valuable insights for warehouse managers and executives associated with auto-ID selection and advance their understanding of the issues involved in the technology selection process that need to be considered.Damascus University, Syria and The British Council, Mancheste

The Future of Agency Independence

Independent agencies have long been viewed as different from executive-branch agencies because the President lacks authority to fire their leaders for political reasons, such as failure to follow administration policy. In this Article, we identify mechanisms that make independent agencies increasingly responsive to presidential preferences. We find these mechanisms in a context where independent agencies traditionally have dominated: financial policy. In legislative proposals for securing market stability, we point to statutorily mandated collaboration on policy between the Federal Reserve Board and the Secretary of the Treasury. In administration practices for improving securities regulation, we focus on White House coordination of, and Treasury Department involvement in, the policy of the Securities and Exchange Commission. We argue that these mechanisms undermine the conventional distinction between independent agencies and executive-branch agencies. Additionally, we argue that these mechanisms, though producing presidential involvement short of plenary control, are consistent with the strategic political interests of the President. We further contend that they promote political accountability, particularly because greater presidential control is unnecessary to align agency preferences with presidential preferences; indeed, such control might be counterproductive. In making this argument, we present a nuanced vision of accountability and update the standard justifications for independence. We also consider the constitutional implications of the new independence-accountability hybrids that we see, as well as possible applications in areas where executive-branch agencies traditionally have dominated. Our claim is not that these hybrids are part of law in any of these contexts; rather, we seek to highlight institutional relationships that outstrip conventional categories but fit with the development of the administrative state. In the future, agency independence will occur not at odds with political accountability but engaged with it along a spectrum of institutional structures

The recent development of protection coordination schemes based on inverse of AC microgrid: A review

Integration of distributed generation systems and diversity of microgrid operations led to a change in the structure of the power system. Due to this conversion, new challenges have arisen when employing traditional overcurrent protection schemes. As a consequence, non‐classical protection schemes have attracted significant attention in the last few years. Engineers and scholars have proposed different non‐standard methods to increase the power protection system and ensure the highly selectivity performance. Although the non‐standard characteristics and their requirements, in general, have been outlined and analyzed in the available literature, protection coordination based on voltage current–time inverse, as a branch of non‐standard optimization methods, has not yet been thoroughly discussed, compared, or debated in detail. To close this gap, this review introduces a broad overview of recent research and developments of the voltage current–time inverse based protection coordination. Focuses on assessing the potential advantages and disadvantages of related studies and provide a classification and analysis of these studies. The future trends and some recommendations have been included in this review for improving fault detection sensitivity and coordination reliability

Study of Impacts of Technology on the Future Workforce at the MDOT SHA

SHA/TU/3-01 SPR22B43Artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, natural language processing and virtual collaboration technologies are transforming the landscape of the office and administrative workforce by automating non-value added, repetitive tasks and processes, as well as supporting remote and flexible work. The scope of this study is to provide recommendations on how administrative assistants (AA) and business analyst (BA) jobs may be redesigned to better meet MDOT SHA\u2019s needs in function areas where there is a strong need for AAs and BAs. The study reviews related literature and analyzes job data provided by MDOT SHA and information collected from focus group meetings and one-on-one interviews with MDOT SHA\u2019s AAs and their managers. The study conducts job analysis and identifies gaps after assessing MDOT SHA\u2019s existing capabilities in terms of office technology infrastructure, AA and BA workforces, and related processes against its mission and strategic plan. Based on the People, Process and Technology model, the study recommends that MDOT SHA consider a digital office of the future when managing its AA workforce and adopt a Center of Excellence model managing its BA workforce. Additionally, the research team recommends that the MDOT SHA carefully consider whether additional AA staff will be needed over the next few years when conducting its strategic workforce planning. Many administrative tasks will be at least partially, if not fully, automated over the next few years. Any hours or other resources saved by a reduced need for AA services could be reallocated toward other, more pressing personnel needs. The digital office of the future offers the opportunity for more flexible work schedules, allows for work from anywhere, supports a hybrid work environment, automates repetitive tasks, reduces menial activities for human workers, and provides more opportunities for higher-value tasks such as relationship management, customer engagement, team building, innovation, creative activities, and high-level data analysis. Anticipated results include a motivated AA workforce with high productivity, efficiency and retention rate and a capable BA workforce which integrates with the functional areas and offices and supports MDOT SHA\u2019s critical mission. Implementation of recommendations, including challenges and risks, is discussed