WHAT IS "THE BASIS," HOW IS IT MEASURED, AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Basis behavior is generally considered to be the major determinant of hedging success or failure. In the course of our work as contract designers for Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., we have come to the conclusion that there are many misconceptions and incorrect statements made about "the basis" among practitioners and academics alike. Our work suggests that basis values, how they are measured, what they represent and how they are interpreted may differ widely from one commodity contract to another due to differences in the specifications of the underlying futures market, as well as differences in the structure of the underlying cash market.Marketing,

Innovations in Research with Medically Fragile Populations: Using Bulletin Board Focus Groups

A new group of medically fragile young adults are graduating from pediatric palliative care programs with limited expectations to live beyond early adulthood, and no comparable adult services to support their complex needs. Accessing this population is difficult because of the complexity of their conditions, the extensive personal and equipment supports that limit feasibility for travel, and divergent communication abilities. Therefore, we undertook a descriptive case study using an asynchronous modification of an online focus group, a bulletin board focus group (BBFG). The greatest strengths of the BBFG are the appeal of this methodology for young adults and the multi day focus group becomes both a community and an intervention. An important limitation of this method was participant follow through on discussion threads. This BBFG provided rich and varied types of data, and very positive participant experiences

The Phase Diagram of 1-in-3 Satisfiability Problem

We study the typical case properties of the 1-in-3 satisfiability problem, the boolean satisfaction problem where a clause is satisfied by exactly one literal, in an enlarged random ensemble parametrized by average connectivity and probability of negation of a variable in a clause. Random 1-in-3 Satisfiability and Exact 3-Cover are special cases of this ensemble. We interpolate between these cases from a region where satisfiability can be typically decided for all connectivities in polynomial time to a region where deciding satisfiability is hard, in some interval of connectivities. We derive several rigorous results in the first region, and develop the one-step--replica-symmetry-breaking cavity analysis in the second one. We discuss the prediction for the transition between the almost surely satisfiable and the almost surely unsatisfiable phase, and other structural properties of the phase diagram, in light of cavity method results.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figure

Estimation of Dietary Iron Bioavailability from Food Iron Intake and Iron Status

Currently there are no satisfactory methods for estimating dietary iron absorption (bioavailability) at a population level, but this is essential for deriving dietary reference values using the factorial approach. The aim of this work was to develop a novel approach for estimating dietary iron absorption using a population sample from a sub-section of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). Data were analyzed in 873 subjects from the 2000–2001 adult cohort of the NDNS, for whom both dietary intake data and hematological measures (hemoglobin and serum ferritin (SF) concentrations) were available. There were 495 men aged 19–64 y (mean age 42.7±12.1 y) and 378 pre-menopausal women (mean age 35.7±8.2 y). Individual dietary iron requirements were estimated using the Institute of Medicine calculations. A full probability approach was then applied to estimate the prevalence of dietary intakes that were insufficient to meet the needs of the men and women separately, based on their estimated daily iron intake and a series of absorption values ranging from 1–40%. The prevalence of SF concentrations below selected cut-off values (indicating that absorption was not high enough to maintain iron stores) was derived from individual SF concentrations. An estimate of dietary iron absorption required to maintain specified SF values was then calculated by matching the observed prevalence of insufficiency with the prevalence predicted for the series of absorption estimates. Mean daily dietary iron intakes were 13.5 mg for men and 9.8 mg for women. Mean calculated dietary absorption was 8% in men (50th percentile for SF 85 µg/L) and 17% in women (50th percentile for SF 38 µg/L). At a ferritin level of 45 µg/L estimated absorption was similar in men (14%) and women (13%). This new method can be used to calculate dietary iron absorption at a population level using data describing total iron intake and SF concentration

B2B Trade Exchanges: A Study from a Seller\u27s Perspective

B2B transactions directly affect a company\u27s bottom line. More businesses are turning to e-marketplaces to conduct their purchasing and selling operations. This paper examines online trade exchanges and studies 20 manufacturing trade exchanges from a seller\u27s perspective

Ethical data mining

The advent of data mining opens up a number of interesting prospects to increase competitiveness. To remain competitive, a corporation must strategically manage its information and react quicker than its competitors. However, this information must be kept secure, but accessible. Every organization must be held responsible for ensuring that their data is being used in a legal and ethical manner. This paper highlights both the positive and negative aspects of data mining. In addition, it provides insight into how information systems (IS) professionals and businesses may protect themselves from the negative ramifications associated with improper use of data

A service improvement ‘tool kit’ for effective heart failure management in primary care

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a complex and highly debilitating clinical syndrome. International guidelines identify the optimum clinical management of patients living with HF in primary care but translation of these into practice remains inadequate. The aim of this service evaluation is to measure standards of HF diagnosis and management, before and after the implementation of The Greater Manchester Heart Failure Investigation Tool (GM-HFIT), a facilitated ‘tool kit’ designed to optimise HF care. Methods: The GM-HFIT was developed as a means of assessing and improving care and was implemented as part of a facilitated service improvement and evaluation in primary care using a prospective, pre-test, post-test design. Results: Anonymised pre- and post-audit data were taken from a sample of 1130 cases entered on general practice HF registers. These cases were from two clinical commissioning groups (39 general practices) in the north west of England and were analysed to compare HF management and treatment parameters against clinical guidelines. Implementation of the GM-HFIT tool kit was associated with a reduction in the number of patients inappropriately placed on the HF register (p<0.001), an improvement in the recording and documentation of pulse rate and rhythm (p=0.005) and the proportion of patients receiving the target dose of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in the recording and documentation of blood pressure levels or in documented target blood pressure levels across the time points. Conclusion: The introduction of the GM-HFIT kit was associated with statistically significant improvements in the identification and clinical management of patients diagnosed with HF in primary care

RFID: Revolutionizing inventory management across the supply chain

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is revolutionizing asset tracking, inventory management, and supply chain execution. RFID has the ability to track inventory with almost no human intervention, thus offering enormous potential for better inventory management across the supply chain. This paper discusses the application of RFID within four settings: (1) health care facilities, specifically hospitals; (2) tracking pharmaceuticals from manufacturing throughout distribution; (3) managing retain supply chains; and (4) tracking personnel, assets, and inventory in the military

Personality, Productivity, and Instant Messaging

This paper explores the relationship between personality, productivity, and instant messaging. With the current and forecasted usage of IM software, business implications must be addressed. Managers should understand how to effectively manage this technology. Not understanding these implications could result in abuse and negatively impact productivity

Interactive exercises in synchronous flow and constraint management

This interactive presentation will explain synchronous flow, line balancing, and constraint management following by two hands-on exercises. The first exercise will be a line-balancing problem in which apirs of participants determine the number of workstations needed to meet daily production goals. The second exercise, groups of six to 10 participants will optimize a production line in a simulated environment to illustrate the effect of dependent events and statistical fluctuations