Assessing the benefits of supply chain trust: NK simulation-based methodology and application

Previous literature has emphasized that developing trust among supply chain (SC) firms is a critical element in achieving SC effectiveness. Since developing trust is an expensive task, however, making an informed decision whether to invest or not in trust requires careful assessment of trust benefits. Therefore, we advance a simulation-based methodology to quantify performance improvements associated with trust in SCs. We develop an NK simulation model of a generic SC that captures the SC dynamics under two alternative scenarios, characterized by the presence and absence of trust respectively. A procedure is then illustrated to quantify the benefits of trust in the SC. We also apply our proposed methodology to a real-world SC. Results show that, when trust is pervasive across the SC, performance increases at both the levels of the overall SC and its leading firm

Visitor-sensing: Involving the crowd in cultural heritage organizations

As organizations are increasingly involving individuals across their boundaries in the generation of new knowledge, crowd involvement can also be beneficial to cultural heritage organizations. We argue that in an "Open Innovation in Science" approach, visitors can contribute to generate new scientific knowledge concerning their behavior and preferences, by which museum managers can re-design the cultural offerings of their institutions in ways that generate major economic and social impacts. Accordingly, we advance visitor-sensing as a novel framework in which museum managers leverage digital technologies to collect visitors' ideas, preferences, and feedback in order to improve path design and the organization of artwork in exhibitions, and to shape a more satisfying museum experience for visitors. We contend that visitor-sensing has the potential to yield higher numbers of visitors, with positive impacts in terms of increased revenues and increased literacy of the general public, thus benefiting the economic and social sustainability of cultural organizations towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals outlined in the Agenda 2030

Socio-cultural sustainability of private healthcare providers in an Indian slum setting: A bottom-of-the-pyramid perspective

Delivery of affordable healthcare services to communities is a necessary precondition to poverty alleviation. Co-creation approaches to the development of business models in the healthcare industry proved particularly suitable for improving the health-seeking behavior of BOP patients. However, scant research was conducted to understand BOP consumers’ decision-making process leading to specific healthcare choices in slum settings, and the relative balance of socio-cultural and socio-economic factors underpinning patients’ preferences. This article adopts a mixed-method approach to investigate the determinants of BOP patients’ choice between private and public hospitals. Quantitative analysis of a database, composed of 436 patients from five hospitals in Ahmedabad, India, indicates that BOP patients visit a public hospital significantly more than top-of-the-pyramid (TOP) patients. However, no significant difference emerges between BOP and TOP patients for inpatient or outpatient treatments. Qualitative findings based on 21 interviews with BOP consumers from selected slum areas led to the development of a grounded theory model, which highlights the role of aspirational demand of BOP patients toward private healthcare providers. Overall, healthcare provider choice emerges as the outcome of a collective socio-cultural decision-making process, which often assigns preference for private healthcare services because of the higher perceived quality of private providers, while downplaying affordability concerns. Implications for healthcare providers, social entrepreneurs, and policy-makers are discussed

String Dilaton Fluid Cosmology

We investigate $(n+1)$-dimensional string-dilaton cosmology with effective dilaton potential in presence of perfect-fluid matter.We get exact solutions parametrized by the constant \gam of the state equation p=(\gam-1)\rho, the spatial dimension number $n$, the bulk of matter, and the spatial curvature constant $k$. Several interesting cosmological behaviours are selected. Finally we discuss the recovering of ordinary Einstein gravity starting from string dominated regime and a sort of asymptotic freedom due to string effective coupling.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, submitted to Int. Jou. Mod. Phys.

CENTIMETER COSMO-SKYMED RANGE MEASUREMENTS FOR MONITORING GROUND DISPLACEMENTS

The SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) imagery are widely used in order to monitor displacements impacting the Earth surface and infrastructures. The main remote sensing technique to extract sub-centimeter information from SAR imagery is the Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR), based on the phase information only. However, it is well known that DInSAR technique may suffer for lack of coherence among the considered stack of images. New Earth observation SAR satellite sensors, as COSMO-SkyMed, TerraSAR-X, and the coming PAZ, can acquire imagery with high amplitude resolutions too, up to few decimeters. Thanks to this feature, and to the on board dual frequency GPS receivers, allowing orbits determination with an accuracy at few centimetres level, the it was proven by different groups that TerraSAR-X imagery offer the capability to achieve, in a global reference frame, 3D positioning accuracies in the decimeter range and even better just exploiting the slant-range measurements coming from the amplitude information, provided proper corrections of all the involved geophysical phenomena are carefully applied. The core of this work is to test this methodology on COSMO-SkyMed data acquired over the Corvara area (Bolzano – Northern Italy), where, currently, a landslide with relevant yearly displacements, up to decimeters, is monitored, using GPS survey and DInSAR technique. The leading idea is to measure the distance between the satellite and a well identifiable natural or artificial Persistent Scatterer (PS), taking in account the signal propagation delays through the troposphere and ionosphere and filtering out the known geophysical effects that induce periodic and secular ground displacements. The preliminary results here presented and discussed indicate that COSMO-SkyMed Himage imagery appear able to guarantee a displacements monitoring with an accuracy of few centimetres using only the amplitude data, provided few (at least one) stable PS's are available around the monitored area, in order to correct residual biases, likely due to orbit errors

CRASHES COMPARISON BEFORE AND AFTER SPEED CONTROL CAMERAS INSTALLATION: CASE STUDIES ON RURAL ROADS IN LITHUANIA AND ITALY

The study focused on the appraisal of the effectiveness of fixed speed control cameras regarding the reduction in crashes on the main study road in Lithuania. The task is to install the same technical reliable and validated solutions on homogeneous road sections in Italy that reflect the same geometric, traffic features as well as driver speed behaviour than those observed in Lithuania. The case studies were Via Baltica in Lithuania and S.P.430 in the Southern Italy. Three main roads belong to Via Baltica (A5, A8, A10) where a total of 191 crashes occurred during five years (2009−2013) of study with 276 injuries and 69 deaths. A total of five fixed speed cameras were placed on A5 road, two on A8 road and four on A10 road. After the installation of the speed control cameras, it was observed in two years a reduction in the number of crashes with deaths (51%) and injuries (27%) as well as a decrease in the crash rate values (19%). The case study in Italy was S.P.430 that consists of fourteen homogeneous road sections on basis of the curvature change rate evaluation and administrative government. A total of 138 crashes with 246 injuries and 20 deaths were recorded in 2009−2013 on a total length of 73 km almost. According to Italian methodology based on the calculation of crash rates for homogeneous road sections, the crash levels have been associated with each study road section. It was observed that 79% of the sections are characterized by a low crash level and the remaining 21% by a severe crash level. S.P.430 road sections with a severe crash level are potential locations with speed control cameras. As speed control cameras are missing in S.P. 430, there si no a remarkable reduction in the number of the crashes during the years as happened in Lithuania by similar infrastructural, land context, driver speed behaviour features between two cases study

Modular allylation of C(sp³)-H bonds by combining decatungstate photocatalysis and HWE olefination in flow

The late-stage introduction of allyl groups provides an opportunity to synthetic organic chemists for subsequent diversification, furnishing a rapid access to new chemical space. Here, we report the development of a modular synthetic sequence for the allylation of strong aliphatic C(sp(3))–H bonds. Our sequence features the merger of two distinct steps to accomplish this goal, including a photocatalytic Hydrogen Atom Transfer and an ensuing Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) reaction. This practical protocol enables the modular and scalable allylation of valuable building blocks and has been applied to structurally complex molecules

Cryosectioning Method for Microdissection of Murine Colonic Mucosa.

The colonic mucosal tissue provides a vital barrier to luminal antigens. This barrier is composed of a monolayer of simple columnar epithelial cells. The colonic epithelium is dynamically turned over and epithelial cells are generated in the stem cell containing crypts of Lieberkuhn. Progenitor cells produced in the crypt-bases migrate toward the luminal surface, undergoing a process of cellular differentiation before being shed into the gut lumen. In order to study these processes at the molecular level, we have developed a simple method for the microdissection of two spatially distinct regions of the colonic mucosa; the proliferative crypt zone, and the differentiated surface epithelial cells. Our objective is to isolate specific crypt and surface epithelial cell populations from mouse colonic mucosa for the isolation of RNA and protein