SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION IN THE FOOD AND CONSUMER GOODS INDUSTRIES

The interorganizational structures necessary to implement and achieve the logistical performance improvements identified in the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) initiative and related supply chain management concepts are difficult to develop. Firms continue to struggle to implement integrated programs and techniques, particularly with respect to changing operating structures, relationships, and mindsets to facilitate true supply chain integration. This research explores the logistical strategies and structures used by selected food and consumer goods firms to integrate their supply chains. It illustrates effective integration strategies and identifies critical success factors and barriers to successful ECR implementation. A framework is used to guide managers in developing the competencies essential to integrating the supply chain and to establishing the relationships necessary to operate in an ECR environment. The framework, entitled Supply Chain 2000, depicts supply chain value creation as achieving synchronization and coordination across four critical supply chain flows: product/service; market accommodation; information; and cash.Industrial Organization,

Aircraft and avionic related research required to develop an effective high-speed runway exit system

Research was conducted to increase airport capacity by studying the feasibility of the longitudinal separation between aircraft sequences on final approach. The multidisciplinary factors which include the utility of high speed exits for efficient runway operations were described along with recommendations and highlights of these studies

Energy-momentum conservation in pre-metric electrodynamics with magnetic charges

A necessary and sufficient condition for energy-momentum conservation is proved within a topological, pre-metric approach to classical electrodynamics including magnetic as well as electric charges. The extended Lorentz force, consisting of mutual actions by F=(E, B) on the electric current and G=(H, D) on the magnetic current, can be derived from an energy-momentum "potential" if and only if the constitutive relation G=G(F) satisfies a certain vanishing condition. The electric-magnetic reciprocity introduced by Hehl and Obukhov is seen to define a complex structure on the tensor product of 2-form pairs (F,G) which is independent of but consistent with the Hodge star operator defined by any Lorentzian metric. Contrary to a recent claim in the literature, it does not define a complex structure on the space of 2-forms itself.Comment: 8 pages, 1 fugur

Are There Magnetic Moments at the Transition Metal Sites in FeAl, CoAl, and NiAl?

Measurements of the hyperfine interactions in 57Fe in the CsCl structure intermetallic compounds FeAl, CoAl and NiAl are reported

Stress-Induced Angular Momentum Quenching in MgO: Fe\u3csup\u3e2+\u3c/sup\u3e as Observed by Mössbauer Spectroscopy

Under the influence of a suitable uniaxial stress, the quenching of the electronic angular momentum of the low-lying threefold degenerate Γ5g level of Fe2+ in cubic MgO has been observed by Mössbauer spectroscopy. The result is consistent with Ham\u27s model for the appearance of a quadrupole doublet at low temperatures. A value for the strain coefficient of Fe2+ in MgO has been obtained: G11=585 cm-1

Nondestructive Evaluation of Coatings

Bulk and Rayleigh (or surface wave) velocities of ultrasonic waves in chromium coatings on steel were measured and an experimental correlation was found between the surface velocity and the hardness. Since qualitative coating evaluation is commonly made using hardnesses as a guideline, the possibility is herewith presented of using the sound velocities of surface ultrasonic waves for this purpose. This provides the advantage of using a nondestructive technique over one that is destructive and more qualitative

Magnetic Properties of Magnetotactic Bacteria

This paper reports on the magnetic properties of magnetosomes in the freshwater magnetotactic bacterium Aquaspirillum magnetotacticum. The magnetosomes are well crystallized particles of magnetite with dimensions of 40 to 50 nm, which are arranged within the cells in a single linear chain and are within the single-magnetic-domain (SD) size range for magnetite. A variety of magnetic properties have been measured for two samples of dispersions of freeze-dried cells consisting of (1) whole cells (M-1) and (2) magnetosomes chains separated from cells (M-2). An important result is that the acquisition and demagnetization of various type of remanent magnetizations are markedly different for the two samples and suggest that remanence is substantially affected by magnetostatic interactions. Interactions are likely to be much more important in M-2 because the extracted magnetosome chains are no longer separated from one another by the cell membrane and cytoplasm. Other experimental data for whole cells agree with predictions based on the chain of spheres model for magnetization reversal. This model is consistent with the unique linear arrangement of equidimensional particles in A. magnetotacticum. The magnetic properties of bacterial and synthetic magnetites are compared and the paleomagnetic implications are discussed

The Geometry of Ciliary Dynamics

Cilia are motile biological appendages that are driven to bend by internal shear stresses between tubulin filaments. A continuum model of ciliary material is constructed that incorporates the essential ciliary constraints: (1) one-dimensional inextensibility of filaments, (2) three-dimensional incompressibility, and (3) shear strain only along filaments. This hypothetical ciliary material combines one- and three-dimensional properties in a way that makes it a natural and flexible model for how real cilia convert nanoscopic shear stress into motility on a much larger scale. Without reference to the evolving shape of the cilium, conventional continuum mechanics applied to this hypothetical material leads to the standard model of ciliary dynamics, but with one additional term, required by constraints (2) and (3) above, a model-independent coupling of shear and twist in general ciliary motion.Comment: 14 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Farmers' management of rice varietal diversity in the mid-hills of Nepal: implications for on-farm conservation and crop improvement

Season-long monitoring of on-farm rice (Oryza sativa, L.) plots in Nepal explored farmers' decision-making process on the deployment of varieties to agroecosystems, application of production inputs to varieties, agronomic practices and relationship between economic return and area planted per variety. Farmers deploy varieties [landraces (LRs) and modern varieties (MVs)] to agroecosystems based on their understanding of characteristics of varieties and agroecosystems, and the interaction between them. In marginal growing conditions, LRs can compete with MVs. Within an agroecosystem, economic return and area planted to varieties have positive relationship, but this is not so between agroecosystems. LRs are very diverse on agronomic and economic traits; therefore, they cannot be rejected a priori as inferior materials without proper evaluation. LRs have to be evaluated for useful traits and utilized in breeding programmes to generate farmer-preferred materials for marginal environments and for their conservation on-farm