Managing high-end ex-demonstration product returns

Some manufacturers demonstrate their products so that customers can gain experience before making a purchase. We present a novel application of a closed-loop supply chain where product returns from demonstrations of high-end IT equipment are substantial and the major delay in the system is due to the long demonstration time at the client sites. In addition, the product lifecycle is short and the value erodes rapidly over time, with steep drops in the resale revenue when new product generations are introduced. We present a finite lifecycle model that captures the key trade-offs in this environment, that is, either to reuse a collected ex-demo product for a next demonstration or to salvage its residual value in the secondary market and use a new product to satisfy the next demo request. We derive two cost/revenue signals that enable us to distinguish between fast and slow value erosion. We show that the fast/slow erosion decision is dynamic and depends on the rate of value erosion and the length of the demonstration time. We analyze the optimal demo pool strategies and show that in the case of fast erosion it may be better to postpone reuse activities until later in the lifecycle. We illustrate our model using empirical data from a large IT manufacturer and formulate several guidelines so as to better manage high value ex-demonstration product returns

Desafios e implicações na apuração de custos na gestão por linhas de cuidado

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade, Departamento de Ciências Contábeis e Atuariais, 2017.O presente trabalho buscou na literatura conceitos para entender melhor o que são as linhas de cuidado, como elas funcionam, porque existem e qual o conteúdo da Contabilidade de Custos seria o mais apropriado para a base da pesquisa. Portanto se trata de uma pesquisa bibliográfica e qualitativa e teve como objetivo identificar os desafios e as implicações da apuração de custos nas linhas de cuidado. Para isso analisamos e descrevemos cada implicação e desafio. Chegando aos principais que foram, os vários entes que compõem o sistema de saúde pública, sistema de informação deficiente, informações incompletas dos pacientes, comunicação deficiente entre as unidades que compõem as linhas de cuidado, falta de capacitação dos servidores para uso dos sistemas e a evasão dos pacientes das linhas de cuidado para a rede particular, para realização de alguns procedimentos que eram para serem realizados dentro das linhas de cuidado na rede pública. A pesquisa possibilita o gestor enxergar os principais problemas do gerenciamento de custos nas linhas de cuidado e consequente que ele tome medidas para desenvolver melhor sua gestão

Sensing and interferometry, including design and characterisation of special optical fibres

This thesis presents my work in the area of optical fibre sensing, and optical fibre design and characterisation along with the interferometric and signal processing techniques that were developed along the way

Site Visit Frequency Policies for Mobile Family Planning Services

Improving access to family planning services is key to achieving many of the United Nations sustainable development goals. To scale up access in remote areas and urban slums, many developing countries deploy mobile family planning teams that visit “outreach sites” several times per year. Visit frequencies have a significant effect on the total number of clients served and hence the impact of the outreach program. Using a large dataset of visits in Madagascar, Uganda and Zimbabwe, our study models the relationship between the number of clients seen during a visit and the time since the last visit and uses this model to analyse the characteristics of optimal frequencies. We use the latter to develop simple frequency policies for practical use, prove bounds on the worst-case optimality gap, and test the impact of the policies with a simulation model. Our main finding is that despite the complexity of the frequency optimisation problem, simple policies yield near-optimal results. This holds even when few data are available and when the relationship between client volume and the time since the last visit is misspecified or substantially biased. The simulation for Uganda shows a potential increase in client numbers of between 7% and 10%, which corresponds to more than 12,000 additional families to whom family planning services could be provided.

Localisation of logistics preparedness in international humanitarian organisations

__Purpose:__ To meet the rising global needs, the humanitarian community has signed off on making a strategic change toward more localisation, which commonly refers to the empowerment of national and local actors in humanitarian assistance. However, to this date, actual initiatives for localisation are rare. To enhance understanding of the phenomenon, the authors explore localisation of logistics preparedness capacities and obstacles to its implementation. The authors particularly take the perspective of the international humanitarian organisation (IHO) community as they are expected to implement the localisation strategy. __Design/methodology/approach:__ A phenomenon-driven, exploratory and qualitative study was conducted. Data collection included in-depth interviews with 28 experienced humanitarian professionals. __Findings:__ The findings showed the ambiguity inherent in the localisation strategy with largely different views on four important dimensions. Particularly, the interviewees differ about strengthening external actors or internal national/local offices. The resulting framework visualises the gap between strategy formulation and implementation, which forms major obstacles to the localisation aims. __Research limitations/implications:__ Further research is required to support the advancement of localisation of logistics preparedness capacities. Important aspects for future research include triangulation of results, other stakeholder perspectives and the influence of context. __Practical implications:__ The authors add to the important debate surrounding localisation by offering remedies to overcoming obstacles to strategy implementation. Further, the authors’ proposed framework offers a language to precisely describe the ways in which IHOs (should) view localisation of logistics preparedness capacities and its operationalisation. __Originality/value:__ To the best of authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first academic article on localisation within the humanitarian logistics context

Distortions of Subjective Time Perception Within and Across Senses

Background: The ability to estimate the passage of time is of fundamental importance for perceptual and cognitive processes. One experience of time is the perception of duration, which is not isomorphic to physical duration and can be distorted by a number of factors. Yet, the critical features generating these perceptual shifts in subjective duration are not understood. Methodology/Findings: We used prospective duration judgments within and across sensory modalities to examine the effect of stimulus predictability and feature change on the perception of duration. First, we found robust distortions of perceived duration in auditory, visual and auditory-visual presentations despite the predictability of the feature changes in the stimuli. For example, a looming disc embedded in a series of steady discs led to time dilation, whereas a steady disc embedded in a series of looming discs led to time compression. Second, we addressed whether visual (auditory) inputs could alter the perception of duration of auditory (visual) inputs. When participants were presented with incongruent audio-visual stimuli, the perceived duration of auditory events could be shortened or lengthened by the presence of conflicting visual information; however, the perceived duration of visual events was seldom distorted by the presence of auditory information and was never perceived shorter than their actual durations. Conclusions/Significance: These results support the existence of multisensory interactions in the perception of duration and, importantly, suggest that vision can modify auditory temporal perception in a pure timing task. Insofar as distortions in subjective duration can neither be accounted for by the unpredictability of an auditory, visual or auditory-visual event, we propose that it is the intrinsic features of the stimulus that critically affect subjective time distortions

Times of Minima of 116 Eclipsing Binary Systems (2010-2015)

We present 201 times of CCD photometric minima collected from observing sites in Belgium and Greece during the years 2010 till 2015 for 116 eclipsing binary systems