The Relationship Between Intra-Organizational And Inter-Organizational Coordination And Its Influence On Product Quality Improvement

A sample of 225 firms is analyzed, using structural equation modeling, to test five hypotheses.  This study seeks to gain a better understanding of the practice of coordination among functional areas within the buying firm as well as between buyer firms and their key suppliers.  The implications of this research suggest that it is important for firms to focus on their long-term success as they work with key suppliers.  The research shows when the stakeholders of the firm support its efforts to coordination and cooperation with its key suppliers, the firm benefits.  Evidence shows cross-functional coordination enhances the firm’s capability to cooperate with its key suppliers.  The findings are significant to supply chain manager and to the various functional managers in charge of quality, production, R&D, and customer service and their respective counter parts in supplier firms.  Finally, this study expands prior research and fills a gap in the literature by showing the importance of inter-organizational coordination between the buyer’s supply management/purchasing function and the supplier’s operations function. This study reveals that conformance to specifications, product reliability and overall product quality performance can be significantly improved when these inter-organizational functional areas coordinate their requirements.  The study also shows that product quality can be significantly improved when intra-organizational and inter-organizational coordination occurs simultaneously

Hotspot analysis: a first prototype Python plugin enabling exploratory spatial data analysis into QGIS

The growing popularity of Free and Open Source (FOSS) GIS software is without doubts due to the possibility to build and customize geospatial applications to meet specific requirements for any users. From this point of view, QGIS is one of the most flexible as well as fashionable GIS software environment which enables users to develop powerful geospatial applications using Python. Exploiting this feature, we present here a first prototype plugin for QGIS dedicated to Hotspot analysis, one of the techniques included in the Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA). These statistics aim to perform analysis of geospatial data when spatial autocorrelation is not neglectable and they are available inside different Python libraries, but still not integrated within the QGIS core functionalities. The main plugin features, including installation requirements and computational procedures, are described together with an example of the possible applications of the Hotspot analysis

Bioactivity in Echinoderms

Man in his pursuit for knowledge of newer and better drugs for eradicating diseases to which he is prone to has turned to the sea, which is a more potential treasure house of drugs due to its vast and diverse range of marine life. Many marine organisms exhibit toxicity as well as bioactivity. Some are toxic and lethal to terrestrial animals as well as to the man. The Phylum Echinodermata consists of sea cucumbers (holothurians), star lishes and sea urchins. These are known for their toxicity. This report deals with the results of the screening of 10 species of echinoderms collected from Gulf of Mannar area for biotoxicity to fishes and mice and also for hemolytic activity. The results showed that all the parts of Holothuria atra H. spinifera and Behadschia marmorata exhibited a high degree of toxicity to fish fingerlings and mice and also destructive action on erythrocyte cells

Bodovanje jačine patoanatomskih promjena za procjenu virulencije i patogenosti indijskih terenskih izolata ptičjih vrsta roda Eimeria.

Chicken coccidiosis caused by the genus Eimeria is a major health impediment causing high morbidity and mortality in commercial poultry. Assessment of the virulence and pathogenicity of Eimeria species are the vital factors for formulating effective control strategies. The gross lesion score was used in this study for assessing the virulence and pathogenicity of indigenous six Eimeria sp. in a controlled experimental trial using six groups of one hundred and twenty chicks of three weeks of age, inoculated with 2 × 10 2 to 2 × 103 numbers of oocysts of six species of Eimeria. While an extended prepatent period (2 - 6 hrs) was confirmed in the majority of the species, the gross lesion scores were mostly within the low score of 1-2 compared to the international reference strains such as Houghton, so indicating possible natural attenuation of the field isolates. The gross lesion scores (GLS) were assessed ranging from a scale of 0 (no gross lesion) to 4 (most severe lesion). This study seems to be the first such attempt to standardize a lesion scoring technique for assessing the virulence and pathogenicity of indigenous isolates of Eimeria in the Indian sub-continent.Kokcidioza uzrokovana vrstama roda Eimeria jedna je od glavnih prijetnji za zdravlje pilića, jer može uzrokovati njihov veliki pobol i pomor. Procjena virulencije i patogenosti vrsta roda Eimeria od velike je važnosti za donošenje učinkovitih kontrolnih mjera. Bodovanje jačine patoanatomskih promjena rabljeno je za procjenu virulencije i patogenosti šest udomaćenih vrsta roda Eimeria u kontroliranim pokusima na šest skupina pilića. U svakoj skupini bilo je 120 pokusnih pilića u dobi od tri tjedna. Pilići su bili zaraženi s 2 ×102 do 2 ×103 oocista šest vrsta Eimeria. Potvrđen je produženi prepatentni period (2 - 6 sati) za većinu vrsta, a patoanatomske promjene procijenjene su većinom s malim brojem bodova i to 1 - 2 u usporedbi s međunarodnim referentnim sojevima poput soja Houghton. To upozorava na moguću prirodnu oslabljelost terenskih izolata. Patoanatomske promjene bile su procijenjene na skali od 0 (bez promjena) do 4 (jako teške promjene). Ovo je istraživanje prvi pokušaj standardizacije bodovanja jačine patoanatomskih promjena za procjenu virulencije i patogenosti izvornih izolata vrsta roda Eimeria na Indijskom potkontinentu

A Comprehensive and Detailed Within-Host Modeling Study involving crucial Bio markers and Optimal Drug regimen for Lepra Type-I Reaction : A Deterministic Approach

Leprosy (Hansen's disease) is an infectious, neglected tropical disease caused by the Mycobacterium Leprae (M. Leprae). Each year there are approximately 2,02,189 new cases are detected globally. In the year 2017 more than half million people were disabled due to leprosy and almost 50000 new cases are added every year world wide. In leprosy, lepra reactions are the major cause for nerve damage leading to disability. Early detection of lepra reactions through study of biomarkers have important role in prevention of subsequent disabilities. To our knowledge there seems to be very limited literature available on within-host modeling at cellular level involving the crucial biomarkers and the possible optimal drug regimen for leprosy disease and lepra reactions. Motivated by these observations, in this study, we have proposed and analyzed a three dimensional mathematical model to capture the dynamics of susceptible schwann cells, infected schwann cells and the bacterial load based on the pathogenesis of leprosy. We estimated the parameters from various clinical papers to make the model more practical. The sensitivity of couple of parameters was evaluated through PRCC method to find out the single most influential parameter and also combination of two most influential parameters was studied using SRCC method. The sensitivity of other remaining parameters was evaluated using Sobol's index. We then have framed and studied an optimal control problem considering the different medication involved in the Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) as control variables. We further studied this optimal control problem along with both MDT and steroid interventions. The finding from this novel and comprehensive study will help the clinicians and public health researchers involved in the process of elimination and eradication of leprosy

Effect of Novel Marine Nutraceuticals on IL-1α-Mediated TNF-α Release from UVB-Irradiated Human Melanocyte-Derived Cells

UV-induced inflammation and reactive oxygen species formation are involved in the development of melanoma. Natural products like 5β-scymnol and CO2-supercritical fluid extract (CO2-SFE) of mussel oil contain anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that may aid in reducing the deleterious effects of UV radiation. Therefore, their effect on the release of the proinflammatory cytokine, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), from UVB-irradiated human melanocytic cells was examined. Human epidermal melanocytes (HEM) and MM96L melanoma cells were exposed to UVB radiation and IL-1α. Cell viability and TNF-α levels were determined 24 hours after-irradiation while p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation was observed at 15 min after-irradiation. When α-tocopherol, CO2-SFE mussel oil, and 5β-scymnol were added to the UVB-irradiated HEM cells treated with IL-1α, TNF-α levels fell by 53%, 65%, and 76%, respectively, while no inhibition was evident in MM96L cells. This effect was not due to inhibition of the intracellular p38 MAPK signalling pathway. These compounds may be useful in preventing inflammation-induced damage to normal melanocytes

Bioactivity in marine algae

Marine algae have been reponed to possess a wide range of bio active properties (Hashimoto 1979, Baslow 1969, Hoppe, et al. 1979, Hoppe et al. 1984, Blunden et al. 1981, Cocamese et al. 1981, Ramamurthy et al. 1967, Mc Lachan 1964, Byrkholder and Sharma 1969. Conover and Sieburth 1964, Garber et al. 1958). Quite recently, Naqvi et al. (1980) studied the bioactivities of 25 species of marine algae and sea grasses collected mainly from the North Eastern coast of India and a few from the coast of Tamil Nadu

Nuclear microenvironments modulate transcription from low-affinity enhancers

Transcription factors bind low-affinity DNA sequences for only short durations. It is not clear how brief, low-affinity interactions can drive efficient transcription. Here, we report that the transcription factor Ultrabithorax (Ubx) utilizes low-affinity binding sites in the Drosophila melanogaster shavenbaby (svb) locus and related enhancers in nuclear microenvironments of high Ubx concentrations. Related enhancers colocalize to the same microenvironments independently of their chromosomal location, suggesting that microenvironments are highly differentiated transcription domains. Manipulating the affinity of svb enhancers revealed an inverse relationship between enhancer affinity and Ubx concentration required for transcriptional activation. The Ubx cofactor, Homothorax (Hth), was co-enriched with Ubx near enhancers that require Hth, even though Ubx and Hth did not co-localize throughout the nucleus. Thus, microenvironments of high local transcription factor and cofactor concentrations could help low-affinity sites overcome their kinetic inefficiency. Mechanisms that generate these microenvironments could be a general feature of eukaryotic transcriptional regulation

Biotoxicity in Marine Organisms

The results from the screening of 118 marine organisms (corals, alcyoniarians, mollusks, echinoderms, flagellates) found in the coastal waters of India for their toxicity on fish and mice fingerlings as well as their hemolytic activities are presented