Comparing The Performance And Importance Of Trade And Inventory Policies Of Large Cap And Mid Cap Retailers

A company’s trade and inventory policies determine the holding periods incurred to collect the accounts receivable, to convert inventories into sales, and to pay off the accounts payable. In this study, holding days for accounts receivable (AR), inventories (IV), and accounts payable (AP) of large cap and mid cap retailers for the years 2008 to 2012 were analyzed, compared, and regressed on return on assets (ROA). Results indicate that these holding days remain constant over time despite the late 2007 to mid-2009 U.S. recession. Comparative results show large cap retailers have shorter AR, same IV, and longer AP than mid cap retailers. Regression results conclude that for both large cap and mid cap retailers, IV is not correlated while shorter AR (collect sooner) is correlated with higher ROA. For large cap retailers, longer AP (pay later) is correlated with higher ROA, but for mid cap retailers, shorter AP (pay sooner) is correlated with higher ROA. Difference in bargaining power is suggested as the explanation for this discrepancy

Inventory Turnover Of Fortune 500 Manufacturing Companies After 2001 And Its Relationship To Net Earning

In order to determine whether the largest United States manufacturers had changed their inventory policies after the terrorist attacks in 2001, averages of inventory turnover ratios of 157 manufacturing companies in the 2002 Fortune 500 list (2001 ranking) calculated for the 3-year pre-2001 (1998 to 2000) period were compared with that of the 3-year post-2001 (2002 to 2004) period in aggregate, by the 2001 Fortune 500 ranking and by industry using paired-samples t-tests. Overall results indicate that there is no significant change in inventory turnover before and after 2001. This is in contrast to the significant inventory reduction found in the two decades before 2001 as reported in previous literature. However, the finding in this study that inventory turnover is not related to net earning is consistent with other studies. Possible explanations and areas for future research are also discussed

Analysis of Image Sequence Data with Applications to Two-Dimensional Echocardiography

Digital two-dimensional echocardiography is an ultrasonic imaging technique that is used as an increasingly important noninvasive technique in the comprehensive characterization of the left ventricular structure and function. Quantitative analysis often uses heart wall motion and other shape attributes such as the heart wall thickness, heart chamber area, and the variation of these attributes throughout the cardiac cycle. These analyses require the complete determination of the heart wall boundaries. Poor image quality and large amount of noise makes computer detection of the boundaries difficult. An algorithm to detect both the inner and outer heart wall boundaries is presented. The algorithm was applied to images acquired from animal studies and from a tissue equivalent phantom to verify the performance. Different approaches to exploiting the temporal redundancy of the image data without making use of results from image segmentation and scene interpretation are explored. A new approach to perform image flow analysis is developed based on the Total Least Squares method. The result of this processing is an estimate of the velocities in the image plane. In an image understanding system, information acquired from related domains by other sensors are often useful to the analysis of images. Electrocardiogram signals measure the change of electrical potential changes in the heart muscle an d provide important information such as the timing data for image sequence analysis. These signals are frequently plagued by impulsive muscle noise and background drift due to patient movement. A new approach to solving these problems is presented using mathematical morphology. Experiments addressing various aspects of the problem, such as algorithm performance, choice of operator parameters, and response to sinusoidal inputs, are reported

Optic neuritis - more than a loss of vision

Optic neuritis (ON) is the presence of an acute inflammation of the optic nerve that results in painful loss of vision. It is the most commonly encountered optic neuropathy in general practice, and is often associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Studies show that in about 15–20% of MS cases, ON was the presenting symptom and more than half of people with MS experience at least one episode of ON during their disease. The risk of developing MS can be stratified by appropriate imaging investigations at the diagnosis of ON. Therefore, early recognition is important to ensure timely referral, investigation and treatment; prompt treatment can hasten visual recovery

Two-loop Correction to the Instanton Density for the Double Well Potential

Feynman diagrams in the instanton background are used for the calculation of the tunneling amplitude, up to the two-loops order. Some mistakes made in the previous works are corrected. The same method is applied to the next-order corrections to the ground state wave function

Neural Modulation of Leg Stiffness in Response to Neuromuscular Fatigue

The spring-mass model is able to accurately represent hopping spring-like behavior (leg and joint stiffness), and leg and joint stiffness changes can reveal overall motor control responses to neural and muscular contributors of neuromuscular fatigue. By understanding leg stiffness modulation, we can determine which variables the nervous system targets to maintain motor performance and stability. The purpose of this study was to determine how neuromuscular fatigue affects hopping behavior by examining leg and joint stiffness before and after a single-leg calf raise fatiguing protocol. Post-fatigue, leg stiffness decreased for the exercised leg, but not for the non-exercised leg. Ankle and knee joint stiffness did not significantly change for either leg. This indicates that leg stiffness decreases primarily from muscular fatigue, but was not explained by ankle and knee joint stiffness. The decrease in leg stiffness may be an attempt to soften landing impact, while at the same time maintaining performance