Supplier Selection - Issues Facing Manufacturing Startups and How to Deal With Them

The phenomenon of manufacturing startups has grown in popularity during recent years. With this increased popularity follows issues that need to be addressed in order for such startups to continue to develop and reach their goals. A critical and resource consuming business activity for any manufacturing company is supplier selection. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explain and contribute to an increased understanding of the issues small hardware manufacturing companies face when selecting suppliers and how certain factors affects the supplier selection process. In order to fulfil the purpose a qualitative case study was conducted where semi-structured interviews with different startups, representing small companies, were the main source of primary data. A theoretical framework regarding supplier selection methods together with empirical findings have lead to interesting results. Initially, the fact that startups lack resources suggests that focus must be on basic core activities such as innovation and product development while important activities such as supplier selection is neglected. The results also show that existing methods for supplier selection is not suitable for startups based on their size and financial strength. However, they would still benefit from the structure that such models provide when making critical business decisions such as selecting suppliers. Upon analysing methods for supplier selection it has become clear that traditional factors such as price have become “order qualifying” while new, soft factors such as trust have become “order winning”. In order to select a supplier that is suitable for the needs of a startup, critical factors must be identified to be able to stipulate a framework for what parts of existing models that can be used. Hence, a tailor-made solution have been created where parts of traditional methods have been cherry-picked to obtain structure.MSc in Logistics and Transport Managemen

Estimate the age of a tree stand and site index using aerial footage

Hållbart skogsbruk kräver kunskap om skogens tillstånd i nutid samt tänkbara framtida åtgärder. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det via digitala flygbilder var möjligt att skatta trädålder och SI på beståndsnivå, samt med vilken precision det kan utföras.Endast tall- och/ eller grandominerade bestånd, valdes i Vetlanda och Nybro kommun. Flygbilderna bearbetades av Foran Sverige AB med hjälp av ett program framtaget av Spacemetric AB.De fältinventerade beståndens data jämfördes med medianvärden från de skattade trädhöjderna, vilka matades in i en formel, konstruerad för att göra en kurvanpassning mot de nya höjdutvecklingskurvorna.Metoden för framtagning av höjdvärden via bildmatchning bör förfinas, t.ex. bör laserskanningen bidra med högre precision. Endast mindre delar av landet har mer än en skanningstidpunkt med laser, metoden kräver minst två höjdvärden i serie.Syftet med studien anses uppfyllt, dock hade studien tjänat på en bättre metod för att sålla bort felaktiga data innan analys. Generaliserbarheten är god på liknande bestånd, vidare studier krävs för att kunna påvisa en användarbarhet i olika typer av bestånd, där även olika skötselvarianter bör vägas in

Functional interactions between delta- and mu-opioid receptors in rat thermoregulation

The selective delta-opioid receptor agonist deltorphin II (25.0-100.0 microg, i.c.v.) produced biphasic effects on core temperature in rats, in which hypothermia was followed by hyperthermia. Pretreatment with the selective delta-opioid receptor antagonist, naltrindole (25.0 microg, i.c.v.), blocked hypothermia produced by deltorphin II and had a tendency to potentiate the hyperthermic effect of deltorphin II. The non-selective opioid receptor antagonist naloxone (1.5 mg kg(-1), s.c.) potentiated hypothermia, and blocked hyperthermia, produced by deltorphin II (100.0 microg). Also, naloxone potentiated hypothermia produced by a lower dose of deltorphin II (25.0 microg), which did not produce hyperthermia. A similar pattern was found for the selective mu-opioid receptor antagonist, beta-funaltrexamine (5.0 microg, i.c.v.), which potentiated and blocked deltorphin II-induced hypo- and hyperthermia, respectively. The selective kappa-opioid receptor antagonist nor-binaltorphimine (20.0 microg, i.c.v.) had no effects on deltorphin II-induced temperature changes. The present results suggest that deltorphin II produces hypothermia through activation of delta-opioid receptors, whereas the hyperthermic effect of deltorphin II involves activation of mu-opioid receptors. This mu-opioid receptor stimulatory effect of deltorphin II is furthermore more pronounced than was anticipated based on the reported in vitro properties of this compound. The biphasic effect of deltorphin II implies a negative interaction between delta- and mu-opioid receptors in thermoregulation in rats

Human rights of children with intellectual disabilities: comparing self-ratings and proxy ratings

BACKGROUND : A child rights-based approach to research articulates well with Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and highlights the importance and value of including children’s own views about aspects that concern them. The aim of this study is to compare children with intellectual disability’s own ratings (as self-raters) to those of their primary caregivers (as proxy raters) regarding human rights of children. The study also aims to establish whether there is an inter-rater agreement between the self-raters and proxy raters concerning Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. METHOD : This study is nested in a larger study examining the human rights of children with intellectual disability in South Africa. In total, 162 children with intellectual disability from 11 schools across three provinces and their primary caregivers participated by answering parts of a Children’s Rights Questionnaire (CRQ) developed by the researchers based on the United Nation’s CRC.We compared the answers for six questions in the questionnaire that were addressed to self-raters (children) and proxy raters (primary caregivers) in the same way. RESULTS : Questions regarding basic needs, such as access to clean water or whether the child had food to eat at home, were answered similarly by self-raters and proxy raters. Larger differences were found when self-raters and proxy raters were asked about whether the child had things or friends to play with at home. Socio-economic variables seemed to affect whether self-raters and proxy raters answered similarly. CONCLUSION : The results underscore the importance of promoting children’s rights to express themselves by considering the opinions of both the children as self-raters and their primary caregivers as proxy raters – not only the latter. The results indicate that it is especially important to include children’s own voices when more complex needs are surveyed. Agreement between selfand proxy ratings could be affected by socio-economic circumstances.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-22142016-11-30hb201