How to Organise Return Handling

Already for a long time retailers take back products. In this paper we explore the factors contributing to the decision of combining vs. separating inbound and outbound flows during the return handling process. We do so through a comparative analysis of the operations in nine retailer warehouses, which can be divided in three groups: food retailers, department stores and mail order companies. We identify both aggravating factors and facilitating actions for return handling. Furthermore, we bring about recommendations for practice. At the end we put forward propositions that are useful in feeding studies on return handling efficiency. In particular, we conjecture over the impact that return volume and product diversity have on the decision for combining vs. separating the reverse and forward flows.product returns;case studies;Retailing;inbound and outbound flows;return handling

Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state generation with linear optical elements

We propose a scheme to probabilistically generate Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states encoded on the path degree of freedom of three photons. These photons are totally independent from each other, having no direct interaction during the whole evolution of the protocol, which remarkably requires only linear optical devices to work, and two extra ancillary photons to mediate the correlation. The efficacy of the method, which has potential application in distribited quantum computation and multiparty quantum communication, is analyzed in comparison with similar proposals reported in the recent literature. We also discuss the main error sources that limit the efficiency of the protocol in a real experiment and some interesting aspects about the mediator photons in connection with the concept of spatial nonlocality

Asymmetrical bloch branes and the hierarchy problem

We investigate a two scalar fields split braneworld model which leads to a possible approach to the hierarchy problem within the thick brane scenario. The model exhibits a resulting asymmetric warp factor suitable for this purpose. The solution is obtained by means of the orbit equation approach for a specific value of one of the parameters. Besides, we analyze the model qualitative behaviour for arbitrary parameters by inspecting the underlying dynamical system defined by the equations which give rise to the braneworld model. We finalize commenting on the metric fluctuation and stability issues.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Um olhar sobre o ensino de ciências no 1o ciclo do ensino fundamental na cidade de São Paulo

A presente comunicação tem por objetivo relatar a influência exercida por aulas dialógicas e monológicas sobre a capacidade de redação de alunos do 1o Ciclo do Ensino Fundamental. Participaram desta atividade 134 alunos distribuídos em três classes de 3a série e três classes da 4a série de duas escolas estaduais localizadas na cidade de São Paulo (Brasil). Foi distribuída uma atividade para as crianças solicitando-se que elas escrevessem sobre as aulas de Ciências transcorridas durante o ano. O material coletado foi submetido à análise do discurso bakthiniana (Brait, 2006) e concluiu-se que os alunos que participaram de aulas dialógicas escreveram espontaneamente sobre causas e conseqüências, diferentemente dos alunos que experienciaram aulas monológicas, os quais tiveram dificuldades para expressar-se por escrito

Homeopatia: uma opção de tratamento da mamite bovina

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