Inhibitors and enablers of supply chain management: a study of implementation

Supply chain management was investigated using three objectives: identifying how the management of the supply chain had changed, how new ideas had been implemented and primarily the identification of the inhibitors and enablers of supply chain management. In the 1990s and 2000s research had focused on concepts and approaches. When considering supply chain management it cuts across the whole system including: suppliers, internal company functions, managers, employees, customers information and material flow and services. A large proportion of publications were on materials, matrices, techniques and cost benefits. The literature had little written about management support and employee involvement to engage buy in for supply chain management implementation. There was an overall lack of detail into what actually happened during implementation in the supply chain. Very little was published on the inhibitors of supply chain management

Visualising and quantifying 'excess deaths' in Scotland compared with the rest of the UK and the rest of Western Europe

BACKGROUND: Scotland has higher mortality rates than the rest of Western Europe (rWE), with more cardiovascular disease and cancer among older adults; and alcohol-related and drug-related deaths, suicide and violence among younger adults. METHODS: We obtained sex, age-specific and year-specific all-cause mortality rates for Scotland and other populations, and explored differences in mortality both visually and numerically. RESULTS: Scotland's age-specific mortality was higher than the rest of the UK (rUK) since 1950, and has increased. Between the 1950s and 2000s, 'excess deaths' by age 80 per 100 000 population associated with living in Scotland grew from 4341 to 7203 compared with rUK, and from 4132 to 8828 compared with rWE. UK-wide mortality risk compared with rWE also increased, from 240 'excess deaths' in the 1950s to 2320 in the 2000s. Cohorts born in the 1940s and 1950s throughout the UK including Scotland had lower mortality risk than comparable rWE populations, especially for males. Mortality rates were higher in Scotland than rUK and rWE among younger adults from the 1990s onwards suggesting an age-period interaction. CONCLUSIONS: Worsening mortality among young adults in the past 30 years reversed a relative advantage evident for those born between 1950 and 1960. Compared with rWE, Scotland and rUK have followed similar trends but Scotland has started from a worse position and had worse working age-period effects in the 1990s and 2000s

Development of a speech autocuer

A wearable, visually based prosthesis for the deaf based upon the proven method for removing lipreading ambiguity known as cued speech was fabricated and tested. Both software and hardware developments are described, including a microcomputer, display, and speech preprocessor

A physics-based life prediction methodology for thermal barrier coating systems

A novel mechanistic approach is proposed for the prediction of the life of thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems. The life prediction methodology is based on a criterion linked directly to the dominant failure mechanism. It relies on a statistical treatment of the TBC's morphological characteristics, non-destructive stress measurements and on a continuum mechanics framework to quantify the stresses that promote the nucleation and growth of microcracks within the TBC. The last of these accounts for the effects of TBC constituents' elasto-visco-plastic properties, the stiffening of the ceramic due to sintering and the oxidation at the interface between the thermally insulating yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) layer and the metallic bond coat. The mechanistic approach is used to investigate the effects on TBC life of the properties and morphology of the top YSZ coating, metallic low-pressure plasma sprayed bond coat and the thermally grown oxide. Its calibration is based on TBC damage inferred from non-destructive fluorescence measurements using piezo-spectroscopy and on the numerically predicted local TBC stresses responsible for the initiation of such damage. The potential applicability of the methodology to other types of TBC coatings and thermal loading conditions is also discussed

Integral equations of a cohesive zone model for history-dependent materials and their numerical solution

A nonlinear history-dependent cohesive zone (CZ) model of quasi-static crack propagation in linear elastic and viscoelastic materials is presented. The viscoelasticity is described by a linear Volterra integral operator in time. The normal stress on the CZ satisfies the history-dependent yield condition, given by a nonlinear Abel-type integral operator. The crack starts propagating, breaking the CZ, when the crack tip opening reaches a prescribed critical value. A numerical algorithm for computing the evolution of the crack and CZ in time is discussed along with some numerical results