Manufacturer's pricing strategies in cooperative and non-cooperative advertising supply chain under retail competition

This article studies the manufacturer's pricing strategy in a supply chain with a single manufacturer and two competing retailers. The manufacturer, as a Stackelberg leader specifies wholesale prices to two retailers who face advertisement dependent demand. Based on this gaming structure, two mathematical models are developed - the cooperative advertising model where manufacturer shares a fraction of retailers' advertising costs and the non-cooperative advertising model where manufacturer does not share any retailer's advertising expenses. The optimal strategies of the manufacturer and retailers are determined and a numerical example is taken to illustrate the theoretical results derived. We show that cooperative advertising policy is beneficial not only for the participating entities but also for the entire supply chain

Fuzzy production planning models for an unreliable production system with fuzzy production rate and stochastic/fuzzy demand rate

In this article, we consider a single-unit unreliable production system which produces a single item. During a production run, the production process may shift from the in-control state to the out-of-control state at any random time when it produces some defective items. The defective item production rate is assumed to be imprecise and is characterized by a trapezoidal fuzzy number. The production rate is proportional to the demand rate where the proportionality constant is taken to be a fuzzy number. Two production planning models are developed on the basis of fuzzy and stochastic demand patterns. The expected cost per unit time in the fuzzy sense is derived in each model and defuzzified by using the graded mean integration representation method. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the optimal results of the proposed fuzzy models

Bone mineral density in patients with inherited bone marrow failure syndromes.

BackgroundPatients with inherited bone marrow failure syndromes (IBMFS) may have several risk factors for low bone mineral density (BMD). We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of low BMD in IBMFS and determine the associated risk factors.MethodsPatients with IBMFS with at least one dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan were evaluated. Diagnosis of each IBMFS, Fanconi anemia (FA), dyskeratosis congenita, Diamond-Blackfan anemia, and Shwachman-Diamond syndrome was confirmed by syndrome-specific tests. Data were gathered on age, height, and clinical history. DXA scans were completed at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and forearm. BMD was adjusted for height (HAZ) in children (age ≤20 years). Low BMD was defined as a BMD Z-score and HAZ ≤-2 in adults and children, respectively, in addition to patients currently on bisphosphonate therapy.ResultsNine of thirty-five adults (26%) and eleven of forty children (27%) had low BMD. Adults with FA had significantly lower BMD Z-scores than those with other diagnoses; however, HAZ did not vary significantly in children by diagnosis. Risk factors included hypogonadism, iron overload, and glucocorticoid use.ConclusionsAdults and children with IBMFS have high prevalence of low BMD. Prompt recognition of risk factors and management are essential to optimize bone health

Effects of Molecular Crowding on stretching of polymers in poor solvent

We consider a linear polymer chain in a disordered environment modeled by percolation clusters on a square lattice. The disordered environment is meant to roughly represent molecular crowding as seen in cells. The model may be viewed as the simplest representation of biopolymers in a cell. We show the existence of intermediate states during stretching arising as a consequence of molecular crowding. In the constant distance ensemble the force-extension curves exhibit oscillations. We observe the emergence of two or more peaks in the probability distribution curves signaling the coexistence of different states and indicating that the transition is discontinuous unlike what is observed in the absence of molecular crowding.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Possibility of extracting the weak phase γ\gamma from Λb→ΛD0\Lambda_b \to \Lambda D^0 decays

We explore the possibility of extracting the weak phase $\gamma$ from pure tree decays $\Lambda_b \to \Lambda (D^0, \bar{D^0}, D^0_{CP})$ in a model independent way. The CP violating weak phase $\gamma$ can be determined cleanly, without any hadronic uncertainties, as these decay modes are free from the penguin pollutions. Furthermore, neither tagging nor time dependent studies are required to extract the angle $\gamma$ with these modes.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex, Minor changes in the text, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Heavy Fermion Behavior, Crystalline Electric Field Effects, and Weak Ferromagnetism in SmOs_{4}Sb_{12}

The filled skutterudite compound SmOs_{4}Sb_{12} was prepared in single crystal form and characterized. The SmOs_{4}Sb_{12} crystals have the LaFe_{4}P_{12}-type structure with lattice parameter a = 9.3085 Angstroms. Specific heat measurements indicate a large electronic specific heat coefficient of ~880 mJ/mol K^{2}, from which an enhanced effective mass m^{*} ~ 170 m_{e} is estimated. The specific heat data also suggest crystalline electric field (CEF) splitting of the Sm^{3+} J = 5/2 multiplet into a Gamma_{7} doublet ground state and a Gamma_{8} quartet excited state separated by 37 K. Electrical resistivity rho(T) measurements reveal a decrease in rho(T) below ~50 K that is consistent with CEF splitting of ~33 K between a Gamma_(7) doublet ground state and Gamma_{8} quartet excited state. Specific heat and magnetic susceptibility measurements display a possible weak ferromagnetic transition at ~2.6 K, which could be an intrinsic property of SmOs_4Sb_{12} or possibly due to an unknown impurity phase.Comment: 24 pages, 11 Postscript figures, to be published in Physical Review

Free-vibration Characteristics of Laminated Angle-ply Non-circular Cylindrical Shells

This paper deals with the free-vibration behaviour of anisotropic laminated angle-ply noncircular cylindrical shells using finite element approach. The formulation is based on first-ordershear deformation theory. The present model accounts for in-plane and rotary inertia effects. A detailed study has been carried out to highlight the effects of shell geometry, cross-sectionalproperties, lay-up and ply-angles on the natural frequencies of different types of modes of vibration of non-circular elliptical shell structures

Effect of FCNC mediated Z boson on lepton flavor violating decays

We study the three body lepton flavor violating (LFV) decays $\mu^- \to e^- e^+ e^-$, $\tau^- \to l_i^- l_j^+ l_j^-$ and the semileptonic decay $\tau \to \mu \phi$ in the flavor changing neutral current (FCNC) mediated $Z$ boson model. We also calculate the branching ratios for LFV leptonic B decays, $B_{d,s} \to \mu e$, $B_{d,s} \to \tau e$, $B_{d,s} \to \tau \mu$ and the conversion of muon to electron in Ti nucleus. The new physics parameter space is constrained by using the experimental limits on $\mu^- \to e^- e^+ e^-$ and $\tau^- \to \mu^- \mu^+ \mu^-$. We find that the branching ratios for $\tau \to eee$ and $\tau \to \mu \phi$ processes could be as large as $\sim {\cal O}(10^{-8})$ and ${\rm Br}B_{d,s} \to \tau \mu, \tau e) \sim {\cal O}(10^{-10})$. For other LFV B decays the branching ratios are found to be too small to be observed in the near future.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, typos corrected, one more section added, version to appear in EPJ

On-line Excited-State Laser Spectroscopy of Trapped Short-Lived Ra+^+ Ions

As an important step towards an atomic parity violation experiment in one single trapped Ra$^+$ ion, laser spectroscopy experiments were performed with on-line produced short-lived $^{212,213,214}$Ra$^+$ ions. The isotope shift of the 6\,^2D$_{3/2}$\,-\,7\,^2P$_{1/2}$ and 6\,^2D$_{3/2}$\,-\,7\,^2P$_{3/2}$ transitions and the hyperfine structure constant of the 7\,^2S$_{1/2}$ and 6\,^2D$_{3/2}$ states in $^{213}$Ra$^+$ were measured. These values provide a benchmark for the required atomic theory. A lower limit of $232(4)$ ms for the lifetime of the metastable 6\,^2D$_{5/2}$ state was measured by optical shelving.Comment: 4.2 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables

Using NuRadioMC to study the performance of UHE radio neutrino detectors

NuRadioMC is an open-source, Python-based simulation and reconstruction framework for radio detectors of ultra-high energy neutrinos and cosmic rays. Its modular design makes NuRadioMC suitable for use with a range of past, current and future detectors. In addition, the recent deployment of a complete documentation as well as a pip release make NuRadioMC relatively easy to learn and use. Here, we outline the features currently available and under development in NuRadioMC, with a focus on its usage to simulate and study in-ice radio neutrino detectors