An analysis of supply chain related graduate programmes in Europe

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version of the Article can be accessed from the links below. Copyright @ 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Purpose – Motivated by a lack of studies in graduate level supply chain education, this research aims to explore trends in supply chain-related graduate programmes in Europe and to propose a framework for designing such programmes. Design/methodology/approach – The authors determine “knowledge” and “skills” areas applicable to supply chain management (SCM) education and analyse supply chain-related graduate programmes published by the European Logistics Association in 2004. They revisit the same programmes in 2011 to determine the recent situation and the trends. The authors use cluster analysis to reveal the similarities and differences among these programmes. Findings – The authors find two distinct clusters: focused and diversified. Focused programmes offer modules in knowledge and skills areas apart from SCM at a negligible level and place more emphasis on SCM in 2011 when compared to 2004. Diversified programmes show a similar increase in the emphasis on SCM with more variety in the knowledge and skills areas. Research limitations/implications – The authors' findings are based on SCM programmes delivered in Europe and over two discrete time periods. Future research should seek to extend this analysis to other continents with larger samples and incorporate the industry perspective to determine the potential gap between what programmes offer and what industry requires. Practical implications – SCM-related graduate programmes continue to redefine themselves. Clustering predominantly serves the universities in re-assessing and re-engineering their programmes, helps prospective graduates in their selection process and assists managers in their recruitment practices. Originality/value – This paper establishes a baseline for assessing SCM-related graduate programmes with respect to the knowledge and skills they offer and introduces a framework that may serve as a starting point for the design and positioning of such programmes

Single-leg airline revenue management with overbooking

Airline revenue management is about identifying the maximum revenue seat allocation policies. Since a major loss in revenue results from cancellations and no-show passengers, over the years overbooking has received a significant attention in the literature. In this study, we propose new models for static and dynamic single-leg overbooking problems. In the static case, we introduce computationally tractable models that give upper and lower bounds for the optimal expected revenue. In the dynamic case, we propose a new dynamic programming model, which is based on two streams of arrivals. The first stream corresponds to the booking requests and the second stream represents the cancellations. We also conduct simulation experiments to illustrate the proposed models and the solution methods

Perioperative Antibiotikaprophylaxe bei elektiver Gelenkprothesenimplantation

Eine Gelenkprotheseninfektion ist eine schwerwiegende Komplikation, die nach einer Gelenkprothesenimplantation auftreten kann. Zu den Präventionsmassnahmen einer Infektion gehört eine Palette von Massnahmen wie zum Beispiel prä- und postoperative Checklisten, sorgfältige Operationspräparation, Haarentfernung und Hautdesinfektion, strikte Hygienemassnahmen, eine gute chirurgische Technik mit ­kurzer Operationsdauer, postoperativ Entfernen von Urinkatheter und eine korrekte Wundpflege nach Operation. Eine systemische präoperative Antibiotikaprophylaxe (AMP) ist ein Faktor, der zu diesen zahlreichen Präventionsmassnahmen gehört. SWISSNOSO veröffentlichte Richtlinien zu Verantwortlichkeiten und Ablauf der Verabreichung der AMP in den Jahren 2015 [1] und 2018 [2]. Deren Empfehlungen für den Fachbereich Orthopädie und Traumatologie des Bewegungsapparates sind in den Tabellen 1a und 1b wiedergegeben

Risk-based analytical modelling of managerial processes in shipping business

Gemi işletmeciliği faaliyetleri uluslararası platformda, yüksek rekabet koşulları altında ve her geçen gün yükselen öz-denetim olgusu gibi kısıtlar altında yürütülmektedir. Bu tür kısıtlar, gemi işletmeciliğinde profesyonel anlayışa geçişe ve yenilikçi yürütme faaliyetlerine sürekli gelişim hedefi ile yönelimi tetikler. Son yıllarda, sertifikalandırma kuruluşları ve denizcilik danışmanlık grupları gemi işletmeciliği idarecilerine Entegre Yönetim Sistemini (EYS) ileri bir çözüm aracı olarak önermektedir. Gemi işletmeciliğinde EYS uygulamalarının kapsamı uluslararası tanınmış standartların gemi güvenliği ve gemilerden kaynaklanan kirliliğin önlenmesi ile ilgili zorunlu denizcilik kurallarıyla birleştirilmesi esası üzerinedir. Bu noktada, standart gereksinimlerinin uyumluluğu ve ilgili kuralların gemi işletmeciliği yönetim organizasyonuna entegrasyonu iki temel sorun olarak ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu araştırma ile Bulanık Bilgi Aksiyomu (BBA), Hata Ağacı Analizi (HAA), Analitik Ağ Süreci (AAS) ve diğer başlıca Çok Ölçütlü Karar Verme (ÇÖKV) yöntemlerini de içeren bir Risk Bütünleşik Karar Destek Sistemi (RBKDS) geliştirildi. RBKDS, Veri Tabanlı Yönetim Sistemi (VTYS), Model Esaslı Yönetim Sistemi (MEYS), BBA esaslı Model Seçim Arayüzü (BBA-MSA), Entegre Süreç Yönetim Modülü (ESYM), İdari Karar Verme Modülü (IKVM) ve Risk Kontrol Ve Yönetim Modülü (RKYM) gibi unsurların bütünleştirilmesi ile oluşmuştur. Tamamlanan prototip uygulama ile RBKDS’ın EYS’nin süreç temelli entegrasyonu ve gemi işletmeciliğinde yönetimsel süreçlerin risk temelli analitik çözümü konusunda gemi işletmeciliği idarecilerini destekleyen nitel çıktılar ortaya koyduğu görülmüştür. Süreç idaresi prosedürlerinin yeniden tasarımına karar desteğinin yanı sıra, RBKDS, ayrıca farklı standartlar arası uyumsuzluk risklerini de göz önünde bulundurarak yönetimsel süreçler üzerine etkin karar vermeyi sağlamaktadır.   Anahtar Kelimeler: Gemi işletmeciliği, karar destek sistemi, entegre yönetim sistemi.Relevance to legislation in shipping business cycle, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) principally governs the safety and environmental protection via Flag State Implementation (FSI) and regional Port State Control (PSC) authorities in accordance with the designated Memorandum Of Understandings (MOUs). Although the IMO has adopted various conventions, mainly concerning marine safety, security, pollution prevention, and other relevant issues, enforcement of the international commitments and standards in trading activities of ships necessitate the involvement of maritime stakeholders. The IMO declared that there are now enough regulations in place and the problem is one of implementation and enforcement. In accordance with the recent trends in international maritime legislation, the implementation process of regulatory regime has become a competitive factor for the market players to achieve the sustainable development target in maritime transportation industry. Industrial response to this trend recalls the self-regulation. It is appeared as relatively a new regime for shipping business initiatives in maritime transportation industry. Extensively, the self-regulation dominates the industry and it mainly enforces the maritime stakeholders involvement in enhancement of the safety/environmental aspects for shipping business. Beside safety and environmental contributions, the self-regulation spontaneously ensures legislative performance of the relevant organizations such as classification societies, insurers, cargo owners, shippers, shipbrokers, ship managers, terminal operators and, ship financiers in trading activities satisfactorily. Implementation of an Integrated Management System (IMS) is one of the most effective and concrete instruments of managing the self-regulation phenomenon in order to respond to increasing demands from maritime society. In principle, the concept of IMS practices in shipping business is based on combining internationally recognized voluntary standards with the mandatory maritime 8regulations that are mainly concern with ship safety and the prevention of pollution from ships. In the early design phase of an IMS, cooperative efforts of maritime consultancies and relevant shipping executives targets to enable maximum improvement in managerial processes while reducing the costs and excessive bureaucracy in implementation of redesigned procedures. As potential clients, the third party groups such as cargo owners and contracted charterers have closely monitored the performance effects of IMS integration into professional shipping companies. Therefore, the managerial efforts are extremely valuable for the purpose of benefit from IMS implementations, which increase the reputation of ship management companies and provide an enormous trading advantage in maritime transportation industry. This research develops a Risk Integrated Decision Support System (RIDSS) based on a multi-methodological background includes Fuzzy Axiomatic Design (FAD) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), as well as Analytic Network Process (ANP) and other principal MCDM methods. The initial focus of the RIDSS is to reveal quantitative outcomes in order to encourage relevant shipping executives towards process-based integration of an IMS also to enhance risk-based analytical modelling of managerial processes in shipping business. The RIDSS consists of various modules such as Database Management System (DBMS), Model Base Management System (MBMS), FAD-based Model Selection Interface (FAD-MSI), Integrated Process Management Module (IPMM), Executive Decision-Making Module (EDMM), and Risk Control And Management Module (RCMM) with a high level of integrity. To demonstrate the proposed RIDSS, the mostly encountered managerial processes in commercial, technical, and operational levels of shipping business are then addressed and modelled. Specifically, the prototype application of the RIDSS incorporates the following process:(i) shipboard personnel recruitment, (ii) familiarization and training, (iii) performance appraisals of marine suppliers, (iv) marine equipment/spare purchasing, (v) fleet maintenance planning, (vi) accident analysis and prevention, (vii) Ship docking operations management, (viii) performance measurement for emergency drills. Besides decision aid to redesigning of process execution procedures through IMS requirements, the RIDSS also enables an effective decision-making on managerial processes even considering the potential risks of regulatory incompliance.  Keywords: Shipping business, decision support system, integrated management system.

Modelling Free and Oxide-supported Nanoalloy Catalysts : Comparison of Bulk-immiscible Pd-Ir and Au-Rh system and influence of a TiO2 support

SSCI-VIDE+ECI2D+LPIInternational audience--

A new perspective on the competitiveness of nations

The capability of firms to survive and to have a competitive advantage in global markets depends on, amongst other things, the efficiency of public institutions, the excellence of educational, health and communications infrastructures, as well as on the political and economic stability of their home country. The measurement of competitiveness and strategy development is thus an important issue for policy-makers. Despite many attempts to provide objectivity in the development of measures of national competitiveness, there are inherently subjective judgments that involve, for example, how data sets are aggregated and importance weights are applied. Generally, either equal weighting is assumed in calculating a final index, or subjective weights are specified. The same problem also occurs in the subjective assignment of countries to different clusters. Developed as such, the value of these type indices may be questioned by users. The aim of this paper is to explore methodological transparency as a viable solution to problems created by existing aggregated indices. For this purpose, a methodology composed of three steps is proposed. To start, a hierarchical clustering analysis is used to assign countries to appropriate clusters. In current methods, country clustering is generally based on GDP. However, we suggest that GDP alone is insufficient for purposes of country clustering. In the proposed methodology, 178 criteria are used for this purpose. Next, relationships between the criteria and classification of the countries are determined using artificial neural networks (ANNs). ANN provides an objective method for determining the attribute/criteria weights, which are, for the most part, subjectively specified in existing methods. Finally, in our third step, the countries of interest are ranked based on weights generated in the previous step. Beyond the ranking of countries, the proposed methodology can also be used to identify those attributes that a given country should focus on in order to improve its position relative to other countries, i.e., to transition from its current cluster to the next higher one