Towards realizing best-in-class civil aviation strategy scenarios

Developed and less developed countries follow different approaches during the formulation of aviation strategic plans. Additionally, there exists no pre-defined framework to guide developing countries in formulating civil aviation strategies matching their macro-environment and competitiveness levels while addressing their future vision for growth or sustainability. Instead, civil aviation planning over-look these priorities and is often dictated by local political pressures, and mostly influenced by uncoordinated foreign aid assistance. Hence, developing countries use dissimilar and un-structured approaches to reach what is known as "civil aviation master plan" or "draft civil aviation policy". Recognizing that a problem exists in the mechanism for civil aviation planning in this part of the world, research is encouraged to highlight this substantial topic. This paper uses a scenario-based approach to study the roles played by the macro-environment and industry-level performance in realizing best-fit national civil aviation strategies. The goals are achieved through utilizing a two-stage performance benchmarking technique named Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) on country level data on a sample of 52 countries in different stages of development, followed by truncated regression. Results of the best performing countries-in terms of output efficiency, indicate that the country's macro-environment and air transport sector's performance serve as guidelines to identify aviation policy elements that are considered to impact efficiency. The regression results indicate that a more liberal air services approach is said to be of positive influence on efficiency levels. Further, we show that private airports are more efficient, while public airports are even less efficient than those with mixed ownership/management model. Hence, policy makers are encouraged to adopt an efficient peer analysis approach based on influential policy elements to bridge performance gaps, achieve better operating capacity, direct and prioritize investments in the civil aviation sector

Primary Creep in Douglas-Fir Beams of Commercial Size and Quality

Primary creep of nominal 4- x 4-inch Douglas-fir beams of No. 2 grade was measured at four levels of stress, at 12% wood moisture content.Equations are presented for deflection and relative creep at the four stress levels. Results show relative creep to be nearly independent of stress level, with some evidence that relative creep shows a negative correlation with wood elastic modulus

Examining the role of sales-based CRM technology and social media use on post-sale service behaviors in India

Despite the growing recognition of the critical role of post-sale service on the salesperson-customer relationship, few studies have explored how salesperson service behaviors (SSB) are enhanced through tools such as sales-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology and social media. Using dyadic salesperson-customer data within a business-to-business context, this study analyzes the direct effects of sales-based CRM technology on the behaviors of diligence, information communication, inducements, empathy and sportsmanship. Additionally, the study examines the interactive effects of sales-based CRM technology and social media on these behaviors. The results indicate that sales-based CRM technology has a positive influence on SSBs and that salespeople using CRM technology in conjunction with social media are more likely to exhibit higher levels of SSBs than their counterparts with low social media technology use

Response Modification Factors for Concrete Bridges in Europe

The paper presents a methodology for evaluating the actual response modification factors (q or R) of bridges and applies it to seven concrete bridges typical of the stock found in southern Europe. The usual procedure for analytically estimating the q-factor is through pushover curves derived for the bridge in (at least) its longitudinal and transverse directions. The shape of such curves depends on the seismic energy dissipation mechanism of the bridge; hence, bridges are assigned to two categories, those with inelastically responding piers and those whose deck is supported through bearings on strong, elastically responding piers. For bridges with yielding piers, the final value of the q-factor is found as the product of the overstrength-dependent component (qs) and the ductility-dependent component (qμ), both estimated from the pertinent pushover curve. For bridges with bearings and nonyielding piers of the wall type, an equivalent q-factor is proposed, based on spectral accelerations at failure and at design level. In this paper, pushover curves are also derived for an arbitrary angle of incidence of seismic action using a procedure recently developed by the authors, to investigate the influence of the shape of the pushover curve on the estimation of q-factors. It is found that in all cases the available force reduction factors are higher than those used for design to either Eurocode 8 or AASHTO specifications

Social media and customer relationship management technologies: Influencing buyer-seller information exchanges

Highlights Social media and CRM technology aid salespeople in market sensing and customer-linking activities. Social media utilization enhance the competitive information collection abilities of the seller. CRM techpositively affects seller product information communication, which enablesbuyer information sharing intentions. Sellers capture value from buyers by CRM utilization. Seller experience has significant moderating and explanatory power regarding the use of sales technology. Abstract Due to the increasing array of sales technology, salespeople must understand how each application assists them. This study examines how business-to-business salespeople use different forms of sales technology to meet their boundary-spanning roles. Our research draws from social exchange theory and task-technology fit theory to test a model that examines how salespeople use CRM and social media technologies differentially to support competitive information collection, product information communication, and buyer information sharing. Dyadic data from industrial buyers and sellers is used to analyze the technology-behavior relationships. Our study\u27s results reveal social media use and CRM technology both positively influence buyer-seller information exchanges; however, each technology takes a distinct route to enable the information exchange between the buyer and the seller. The results also suggest that managers need to champion the use of both technology applications to their salesforce

COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS\u27 COMMITMENT TO PREVENTIVE MEASURES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN LIGHT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IN BEIRUT, LEBANON: A SIMULATED CLIENT STUDY

The burden on community pharmacists has dramatically increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, where the increased number of clients demands adhering to optimal infection protective measures. We aimed to investigate the level of adopted COVID-19 preventative measures by Lebanese community pharmacies and the influencing factors. One hundred community pharmacies in Beirut, were randomly selected and inspected by a simulated client. Signs of face-mask use, declaration of COVID-19 infection, and social distancing were observed in 62%, 48%, and 35% of pharmacies, respectively. Body temperature screening was absent. Only 20% of the pharmacies had limitations for the number of clients, and only 31% offered free disinfectants. Direct pharmacist-patient encounters were observed in 25% of pharmacies. Social distancing among pharmacists was practiced in only 8% of the pharmacies and 37% of pharmacists were not wearing facemasks. Female pharmacists, pharmacists \u3e 40 years, and large pharmacies were associated with a significantly higher score than male pharmacists, younger pharmacists, and smaller pharmacies (‎6.13 ± 1.73‎ vs. ‎4.21 ± 1.70‎, P = 0.004; ‎6.27 ± 1.55‎ vs. ‎4.40 ± 1.75‎, P = 0.03; and ‎6.73 ± 1.66‎ vs. ‎4.1 ± 1.74‎, P = 0.01; respectively). The adherence level of Lebanese community pharmacies to COVID-19 preventive measures is unsatisfactory. The economic crisis in addition to poor pharmacy education about infection control could be behind this level. The authorities are advised to wisely allocate the available resources, strengthen the monitoring process, and revise the pharmacy curriculum to include infection control

Hypertension Programmed in Adult Hens by Isolated Effects of Developmental Hypoxia In Ovo.

In mammals, pregnancy complicated by chronic hypoxia can program hypertension in the adult offspring. However, mechanisms remain uncertain because the partial contributions of the challenge on the placenta, mother, and fetus are difficult to disentangle. Here, we used chronic hypoxia in the chicken embryo-an established model system that permits isolation of the direct effects of developmental hypoxia on the cardiovascular system of the offspring, independent of additional effects on the mother or the placenta. Fertilized chicken eggs were exposed to normoxia (N; 21% O2) or hypoxia (H; 13.5%-14% O2) from the start of incubation (day 0) until day 19 (hatching, ≈day 21). Following hatching, all birds were maintained under normoxic conditions until ≈6 months of adulthood. Hypoxic incubation increased hematocrit (+27%) in the chicken embryo and induced asymmetrical growth restriction (body weight, -8.6%; biparietal diameter/body weight ratio, +7.5%) in the hatchlings (all P<0.05). At adulthood (181±4 days), chickens from hypoxic incubations remained smaller (body weight, -7.5%) and showed reduced basal and stimulated in vivo NO bioavailability (pressor response to NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, -43%; phenylephrine pressor response during NO blockade, -61%) with significant hypertension (mean arterial blood pressure, +18%), increased cardiac work (ejection fraction, +12%; fractional shortening, +25%; enhanced baroreflex gain, +456%), and left ventricular wall thickening (left ventricular wall volume, +36%; all P<0.05). Therefore, we show that chronic hypoxia can act directly on a developing embryo to program hypertension, cardiovascular dysfunction, and cardiac wall remodeling in adulthood in the absence of any maternal or placental effects.The British Heart Foundation The Wellcome Trus

A case study with breast cancer and brain metastasis encompassing acute onset of amnesia and altered mental status due to limbic encephalitis - biochemical and proteomic aspects

A biochemical case study is reported on a 50-year old lady known to have breast cancer. The woman was treated by mastectomy and this was followed by unraveling brain metastases three years post-diagnosis of the cancer, which was treated by radiation and chemotherapy. Two months after ending her treatment, she exhibited acute changes in her mental status manifested by severe amnesia and fever. A generalized analytical and biochemical assessment revealed the presence of paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis

Insulin Resistance in the Offspring of Parents with Type 2 Diabetes

Wagenmakers discusses the paper by Petersen and colleagues on insulin resistance in young lean individuals and its association with reduced phosphate transport into muscle cells and impaired mitochondrial energy generation in muscle

Patlak slope versus standardized uptake value image quality in an oncologic PET/CT population: A prospective cross-sectional study

Patlak slope (PS) images have the potential to improve lesion conspicuity compared with standardized uptake value (SUV) images but may be more artifact-prone. This study compared PS versus SUV image quality and hepatic tumor-to-background ratios (TBRs) at matched time points. Early and late SUV and PS images were reconstructed from dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) data. Two independent, blinded readers scored image quality metrics (a four-point Likert scale) and counted tracer-avid lesions. Hepatic lesions and parenchyma were segmented and quantitatively analyzed. Differences were assessed via the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (alpha, 0.05). Forty-three subjects were included. For overall quality and lesion detection, early PS images were significantly inferior to other reconstructions. For overall quality, late PS images (reader 1 [R1]: 3.95, reader 2 [R2]: 3.95) were similar