Behavioral Aspects of Supply Chain Integration: Macro and Micro Level Perspectives

Supply chain integration (SCI) among customers and suppliers is widely touted as a panacea that can resolve a variety of supply chain challenges and create new opportunities. Yet, there is little understanding about SCI. My first research question pertains to identifying the idiosyncratic behavioral nuances associated with SCI. I employ Grounded Theory (GT) methodology to analyze data obtained from interviews with individuals at seven companies. This work suggests that firms engaging in SCI exhibit a set of six behavioral patterns, which vary in degree. I then conjecture that SCI might exist at three different levels: coordination, collaboration, and internalization. Furthermore, very few studies have examined SCI’s antecedents from the supplier’s standpoint. I examine the role of customer leadership behavior which has hardly been the subject of empirical inquiry in this domain. I also empirically study the operant sequence that relates customer leadership behavior to SCI. I develop a theoretical framework and test it using data obtained from 207 firms via survey methodology. My results suggest that a customer’s transformational leadership behavior appears to positively influence trust which impacts affective commitment. Affective commitment is found to engender high levels of SCI. Also, the extant empirical research on SCI is examined from an organizational, and rather impersonal level, as if an invisible hand calls the shots. The role of individual in decision making in largely ignored. I synthesize the Behavioral Agency Model (BAM) and Behavioral Approach and Inhibition Model (BAIM), specify two variables (i.e., Variability in Pay and Socioemotional Wealth) as potential explanatory variables of executive decision making. The main findings reported in this study are based on 125 usable responses obtained by employing a 2x2 experimental design. I find evidence to suggest that only the main effect of variability in pay is positive and statistically significant. This suggests that individuals experiencing high levels of variability in pay are more likely to seek the highest level of SCI A post-hoc analysis, which involved splitting the sample by age (i.e., low & high) groups, yielded interesting findings as the results varied significantly between the two age groups

Extent of Integration of Priority Interventions into General Health Systems: A Case Study of Neglected Tropical Diseases Programme in the Western Region of Ghana

Background The global health system has a large arsenal of interventions, medical products and technologies to address current global health challenges. However, identifying the most effective and efficient strategies to deliver these resources to where they are most needed has been a challenge. Targeted and integrated interventions have been the main delivery strategies. However, the health system discourse increasingly favours integrated strategies in the context of functionally merging targeted interventions with multifunctional health care delivery systems with a focus on strengthening country health systems to deliver needed interventions. Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) have been identified to promote and perpetuate poverty hence there has been global effort to combat these diseases. The Neglected Tropical Diseases Programme (NTDP) in Ghana has a national programme team and office, however, it depends on the multifunctional health delivery system at the regional and district level to implement interventions. The NTDP seeks further health system integration to accelerate achievement of coverage targets. The study estimated the extent of integration of the NTDP at the national, regional and district levels to provide evidence to guide further integration. Methodology/Principal Findings The research design was a descriptive case study that interviewed key persons involved in the programme at the three levels of the health system as well as extensive document review. Integration was assessed on two planes—across health system functions–stewardship and governance, financing, planning, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation and demand generation; and across three administrative levels of the health system–national, regional and district. A composite measure of integration designated Cumulative Integration Index (CII) with a range of 0.00–1.00 was used to estimate extent of integration at the three levels of the health system. Service delivery was most integrated while financing and planning were least integrated. Extent of integration was partial at all levels of the health system with a CII of 0.48–0.68; however it was higher at the district compared to the national and regional levels. Conclusions/Significance To ensure further integration of the NTDP, planning and finance management activities must be decentralized to involve regional and district levels of the health system. The study provides an empirical measure of extent of integration and indicators to guide further integration. Author Summary Two main strategies have been used to address diseases that affects large sections of populations. One strategy called targeted or vertical programme sets up separate system from the general health system with its own human resources, management, implementation, data reporting and evaluation systems. Integrated (also called horizontal) strategy on the other hand uses existing health system structures to implement activities to control target health problems. Integrated strategy is preferred because it strengthens country health systems. The Neglected Tropical Diseases Programme (NTDP) in Ghana has a dedicated management structure at the national level but uses general health system structures at the regional and district levels to implement activities. This study assessed the extent of integration of the NTDP into the health system at the national, regional and district levels. It was found that the NTDP activities were better integrated at the district compared to the regional and national levels of the health system. Furthermore, it also found that service delivery activities were most integrated while financing and planning activities were least integrated at all levels of the health system. These findings provide points to guide efforts to make the NTDP more integrated and can be applied to other health programmes

Synthesis of Novel Benzamide- piperazine-sulfonamide Hybrids as Potential Anticancer Agents

The synthesis of a series of substituted hippuric acid (2-benzamidoacetic acid) derivatives containing arylsulfonylpiperazine nucleus (3a–j, 4a–j) is described. The compounds were synthesized by coupling hippuric/4-fluorohippuric acid with various arylsulfonylpiperazines using N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N-ethylcarbodiimide (EDCI). The structures of all the new compounds were confirmed by IR, NMR and MS spectral data. All the synthesized compounds have been evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity towards five human cancer cell lines of different origins viz. HeLa (Cervical), A549 (Lung), A375 (Skin), MD-AMB-231(Breast) and T98G (brain) and their IC50 values were determined. Among the compounds tested, 3b, 3d, 3g, 4c and 4e displayed significant cytotoxic activity (IC50 = 24.2–38.2 µM). T98G was the most sensitive cell line towards the compounds studied followed by HeLa, A375, A549 and MD-AMB-231. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Synthesis, thermal and antitumour studies of Th(IV) complexes with furan-2-carboxaldehyde4-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazone

Thorium(IV) complexes with the Schiff base furan-2-carboxaldehyde4-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazone (L) were synthesised and characterized. The composition and structure of the metal complexes were proposed based on elemental analysis, molar conductivity measurements, FTIR and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The Schiff base behaves as a neutral bidentate ligand coordinating through the azomethine N and the thioketo S atoms. From various studies, complexes were ascertained the general formula [ThL2X4] and [ThL2Y2], where X represents NO3–, NCS–, CH3COO–, CH3CHOHCOO–, ClO4– and Y SO42–and C2O42–. The thermal behaviour of the nitrato and oxalato complexes was studied and kinetic and thermodynamic parameters were calculated using the Coats-Redfern Equation. The ligand and a representative complex [ThL2(NO3)4] were screened in vitro for their antitumour activity against the human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa)

Nicotine-induced survival signaling in lung cancer cells is dependent on their p53 status while its down-regulation by curcumin is independent

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lung cancer is the most lethal cancer and almost 90% of lung cancer is due to cigarette smoking. Even though nicotine, one of the major ingredients of cigarette smoke and the causative agent for addiction, is not a carcinogen by itself, several investigators have shown that nicotine can induce cell proliferation and angiogenesis. We observed that the proliferative index of nicotine is different in the lung cancer cell lines H1299 (p53-/-) and A549 (p53+/+) which indicates that the mode of up-regulation of survival signals by nicotine might be different in cells with and without p53.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>While low concentrations of nicotine induced activation of NF-κB, Akt, Bcl2, MAPKs, AP1 and IAPs in H1299, it failed to induce NF-κB in A549, and compared to H1299, almost 100 times higher concentration of nicotine was required to induce all other survival signals in A549. Transfection of WT-p53 and DN-p53 in H1299 and A549 respectively, reversed the mode of activation of survival signals. Curcumin down-regulated all the survival signals induced by nicotine in both the cells, irrespective of their p53 status. The hypothesis was confirmed when lower concentrations of nicotine induced NF-κB in two more lung cancer cells, Hop-92 and NCI-H522 with mutant p53 status. Silencing of p53 in A549 using siRNA made the cells susceptible to nicotine-induced NF-κB nuclear translocation as in A549 DN-p53 cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study reveals a detrimental role of nicotine especially in lung cancer patients with impaired p53 status and identifies curcumin as a potential chemopreventive.</p

Synthesis and characterization of zinc doped beryllium oxide: Ethylene glycol nanofluids

The current study used ultrasound-assisted chemical precipitation to create zinc doped beryllium oxide (BeO) nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the synthesized samples. The effect of sonication on the size of zinc-doped BeO nanoparticles is discussed. The presence of zinc-doped BeO nanoparticles with an average crystallite size of 17.89 nm was established by X-ray diffraction. The FTIR peaks at 434.97 cm-1 and 1,110.08 cm-1 confirm Zn and Be in them. Sonication was used to disperse the nanoparticles in ethylene glycol, resulting in a nanofluid. The nanofluids were prepared in six concentrations from 0.0005 to 0.0030 wt% and characterized by ultrasound velocity and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy as well as photoluminescence. Ultrasonic studies and FTIR analysis confirmed the absence of particle-fluid interactions. The maximum intensity was at 510 nm wavelength in the photoluminescence spectra, giving the electron transition energy. Thermal conductivity and viscosity revealed an optimum concentration at 0.0025 wt% zinc-doped BeO in ethylene glycol nanofluid, for maximal heat transfer with the highest thermal conductivity of 0.265 W/mK