Measuring the supply chain performance in Indian garment industry

Supply chain performance measurement is very necessary for a company, however, it is more important to identify the proper indicators based on which the performance can be evaluated. The paper benchmarks the performance measurement metrics which has been further validated by measuring the performance of garment companies in India. The analysis provides the importance of inventory turnover (ITR) and cash to cash cycle period (CCC) in supply chain performance measurement. The study also develops a relationship between CCC and ITR especially in the garment industry by considering the Indian context. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.150313

Mathematical Analysis of an SIR Disease Model with Non-constant Transmission Rate

Epidemiology: A branch of medicine that studies causes, transmission, and control methods of diseases at the population level. Mathematical epidemiology deals with creating a model for a disease through the study of incidence and distribution of the disease throughout a population. Here, we have examined the behavior of a measles-like disease[2] that is characterized by a non-constant transmission rate

Analysis of an SEIR model with Non-Constant Population

Analysis of an SEIR model with Non-Constant Populationby Kylar Byrd and Tess Tracy, with Dr. Sunil Giri and Dr. Swarup Ghosh. Mathematical modeling can be useful in helping us to understand disease dynamics. Epidemiological models consist of differential equations with variables and parameters defined to portray these dynamics. We will be presenting the mathematics involved in formulating and analyzing a model for a disease such as influenza. We will first explain a simple SIR model, and then we will introduce our model. We will be looking at an SEIR model that incorporates the use of an exposed class as well as parameters such as death and birth rate that result in a nonconstant population. Using the linearization procedure, we find the threshold value, reproduction number and explore the local stability of disease-free equilibrium under different cases of reproduction number

Soil Physico Chemical Properties and Macronutrients Evaluation during Sowing and after Harvesting of Crop at High Altitude Leh Ladakh India

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of physico-chemical parameters and soil macro-nutrients to know the nutrient uptake status during sowing time (ST) and after the harvesting (AH) of crops of Leh-Ladakh. In this context, total 55 no. of soil samples were collected from the eleven villages. Thereafter, soil texture, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), organic carbon (OC), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) were analyzed as per the standard methods. The results exhibited variation in different studied parameters at ST and AH, are OC (ST- 1.70 ± 0.11; AH-2.31±0.08), N (ST- 171.54±11.40; AH- 212.03±13.18), P (ST- 75.62±8.16; AH- 96.32±11.56), pH (ST- 8.12±0.05; AH- 8.16±0.06), EC (ST- 0.48±0.04; AH- 0.58±17), TDS (ST-309±22.41; AH-189±16.42) and soil texture gradient (Sand: ST-75.16±1.27 & AH-71.75±1.26, Silt: ST- 18.55±1.09 & AH- 20.66±1.02 and clay: ST- 6.33±0.53 & AH- 7.76±0.63). The comparison of physico-chemical parameters, macronutrients, soil texture, and organic carbon at sowing time (ST) and after harvesting (AH) revealed significant difference in some macronutrients, EC, and organic carbon, whereas no changes were observed in soil texture, pH and phosphorus. Hence, this study highlights the need of physico-chemical parameters management during crops sowing for enhancing macronutrients availability to crops in trans-Himalayan high altitude region

Effect of Fluoride Doping in Laponite Nanoplatelets on Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Dental Follicle Stem Cells (hDFSCs)

Bioactive nanosilicates are emerging prominent next generation biomaterials due to their intrinsic functional properties such as advanced biochemical and biophysical cues. Recent studies show interesting dose-dependent effect of fluoride ions on the stem cells. Despite of interesting properties of fluoride ions as well as nanosilicate, there is no reported literature on the effect of fluoride-doped nanosilicates on stem cells. We have systematically evaluated the interaction of fluoride nanosilicate platelets (NS + F) with human dental follicle stem cells (hDFSCs) to probe the cytotoxicity, cellular transport (internalization) and osteogenic differentiation capabilities in comparison with already reported nanosilicate platelets without fluoride (NS − F). To understand the osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties of the nanosilicate system, nanosilicate treated hDFSCs are cultured in three different medium namely normal growth medium, osteoconductive medium, and osteoinductive medium up to 21 d. NS + F treated stem cells show higher ALP activity, osteopontin levels and significant alizarin red staining compared to NS − F treated cells. This study highlights that the particles having fluoride additives (NS + F) aid in enhancing the osteogenic differentiation capabilities of hDFSCs thus potential nanobiomaterial for periodontal bone tissue regeneration

A multi-perspective dynamic feature concept in adaptive NC machining of complex freeform surfaces

This paper presents a new concept of feature for freeform surface machining that defines the changes in feature status during real manufacturing situations which have not been sufficiently addressed by current international standards and previous research in feature technology. These changes are multi-perspective, including (i) changes in depth-of-cut: the geometry of a feature in the depth-of-cut direction changes during different machining operations such as roughing, semi-finishing and finishing; (ii) changes across the surface: a surface may be divided into different machining regions (effectively sub-features) for the selection of appropriate manufacturing methods for each region such as different cutting tools, parameters, set-ups or machine tools; and (iii) changes in resources or manufacturing capabilities may require the re-planning of depth-of-cuts, division of machining regions and manufacturing operations (machines, tools, set-ups and parameters). Adding the above dynamic information to the part information models in current CAD systems (which only represent the final state of parts) would significantly improve the accuracy, efficiency and timeliness of manufacturing planning and optimisation, especially for the integrated NC machining planning for complex freeform surfaces. A case study in an aircraft manufacturing company will be included in this paper

Nox4 Mediates Renal Cell Carcinoma Cell Invasion through Hypoxia-Induced Interleukin 6- and 8- Production

Inflammatory cytokines are detected in the plasma of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and are associated with poor prognosis. However, the primary cell type involved in producing inflammatory cytokines and the biological significance in RCC remain unknown. Inflammation is associated with oxidative stress, upregulation of hypoxia inducible factor 1-alpha, and production of pro-inflammatory gene products. Solid tumors are often heterogeneous in oxygen tension together suggesting that hypoxia may play a role in inflammatory processes in RCC. Epithelial cells have been implicated in cytokine release, although the stimuli to release and molecular mechanisms by which they are released remain unclear. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a highly conserved sensor of cellular energy status and a role for AMPK in the regulation of cell inflammatory processes has recently been demonstrated.We have identified for the first time that interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 (IL-6 and IL-8) are secreted solely from RCC cells exposed to hypoxia. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the NADPH oxidase isoform, Nox4, play a key role in hypoxia-induced IL-6 and IL-8 production in RCC. Finally, we have characterized that enhanced levels of IL-6 and IL-8 result in RCC cell invasion and that activation of AMPK reduces Nox4 expression, IL-6 and IL-8 production, and RCC cell invasion.Together, our data identify novel mechanisms by which AMPK and Nox4 may be linked to inflammation-induced RCC metastasis and that pharmacological activation of AMPK and/or antioxidants targeting Nox4 may represent a relevant therapeutic intervention to reduce IL-6- and IL-8-induced inflammation and cell invasion in RCC

Processed pseudogenes acquired somatically during cancer development

Cancer evolves by mutation, with somatic reactivation of retrotransposons being one such mutational process. Germline retrotransposition can cause processed pseudogenes, but whether this occurs somatically has not been evaluated. Here we screen sequencing data from 660 cancer samples for somatically acquired pseudogenes. We find 42 events in 17 samples, especially non-small cell lung cancer (5/27) and colorectal cancer (2/11). Genomic features mirror those of germline LINE element retrotranspositions, with frequent target-site duplications (67%), consensus TTTTAA sites at insertion points, inverted rearrangements (21%), 5′ truncation (74%) and polyA tails (88%). Transcriptional consequences include expression of pseudogenes from UTRs or introns of target genes. In addition, a somatic pseudogene that integrated into the promoter and first exon of the tumour suppressor gene, MGA, abrogated expression from that allele. Thus, formation of processed pseudogenes represents a new class of mutation occurring during cancer development, with potentially diverse functional consequences depending on genomic context