Focus of B-to-B e-commerce initiatives and related benefits in manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises

Empirical research into business-to-business e-commerce issues involving manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is still embryonic. In an attempt to partially fill this gap, this paper presents empirical data from an electronic survey conducted among 96 manufacturing SMEs to investigate e-commerce initiatives and their related benefits. E-commerce initiatives are assessed using a set of 36 business processes that can be conducted electronically. These processes were classified according to their focus: customer (downstream), supplier (upstream) or in-house. The research findings point to four main profiles of manufacturing SMEs with different e-commerce focuses. The first group seems to lack any focus or may still be exploring e-commerce opportunities. The second and third groups are supplier- and customer-focused, respectively. The fourth group consists of the more involved SMEs that have leveraged their e-commerce initiatives with both their customers and their suppliers. Results also suggest the existence of a close alignment between e-commerce focus and related benefit

Explorando los Impactos de la RFID en los Procesos de Negocios de una Cadena de Suministro

The main purpose of this exploratory study is to improve our understanding of the potential of RFID technology in the context of selected activities in one specific supply chain in the utility industry. Empirical data was gathered from two closely inter-related firms from three layers of the supply chain. A research approach is proposed where we aim to identify RFID opportunities, build potential scenarios and validate these scenarios through laboratory simulation. Results indicate that the adoption of RFID technology allows i) the development of new business models, ii) the integration of processes, and iii) the reengineering and automation of existing processes, facilitating supply chain integration and B-to-B e-commerce activities

Rev-erb-alpha modulates skeletal muscle oxidative capacity by regulating mitochondrial biogenesis and autophagy

The nuclear receptor Rev-erb-α modulates hepatic lipid and glucose metabolism, adipogenesis and the inflammatory response in macrophages. We show here that Rev-erb-α is highly expressed in oxidative skeletal muscle and plays a role in mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative function, in gain- and loss-of function studies. Rev-erb-α-deficiency in skeletal muscle leads to reduced mitochondrial content and oxidative function, resulting in compromised exercise capacity. This phenotype was recapitulated in isolated fibers and in muscle cells upon Rev-erbα knock-down, while Rev-erb-α over-expression increased the number of mitochondria with improved respiratory capacity. Rev-erb-α-deficiency resulted in deactivation of the Stk11–Ampk–Sirt1–Ppargc1-α signaling pathway, whereas autophagy was up-regulated, resulting in both impaired mitochondrial biogenesis and increased clearance. Muscle over-expression or pharmacological activation of Rev-erb-α increased respiration and exercise capacity. This study identifies Rev-erb-α as a pharmacological target which improves muscle oxidative function by modulating gene networks controlling mitochondrial number and function

A framework for the analysis of the potential performance of Chief Information Officers

Information Systems Function is an organisational area of major importance in the context of the competitive development of organisations. At the centre of the Information Systems Function we find the Chief Information Officer (CIO), who is the main responsible for the organisation and leadership of this function. Given the nature of the duties assigned to the CIO, her/his work directly influences the development of an organisation, so it has become important to assess her/his potential performance before s/he finds herself/him in charge of the information systems function. This article proposes the CIO Performance Square - a framework for analysing the potential performance of CIOs based on their education and experience.- (undefined

Choice of tracers for the evaluation of spray deposits

Tracer substances, used to evaluate spraying effectiveness, ordinarily modify the surface tension of aqueous solutions. This study aimed to establish a method of using tracers to evaluate distribution and amount of spray deposits, adjusted to the surface tension of the spraying solution. The following products were tested: 0.15% Brilliant Blue, 0.15% Saturn Yellow in 0.015% Vixilperse lignosulfonate, and 0.005% sodium fluorescein, and mixtures of Brilliant Blue plus Saturn Yellow and Brilliant Blue plus sodium fluorescein at the same concentrations. Solutions were deposited on citrus leaves and stability was determined by measuring fluorescence and optical density of solutions without drying, dried in the dark and exposed to sunlight for 2, 4 and 8 h. These values were compared to those obtained directly in water. The static surface tension of the tracer solution was determined by weighing droplets formed during a period of 20 to 40 seconds. The Brilliant Blue and Saturn Yellow mixture at 0.15% was stable under all conditions tested. It was not absorbed by the leaves and maintained the same surface tension as that of water, thus permitting concentration adjustment to the same levels used for agrochemical products, and allowing the development of a qualitative method based on visual evaluation of the distribution of the pigment under ultraviolet light and of a quantitative method based on the determination of the amount of the dye deposited in the same solution. Spray deposition could be evaluated at different surface tensions of the spraying solution, simulating the effect of agrochemical formulations

Measurement of the Michel Parameters in Leptonic Tau Decays

The Michel parameters of the leptonic tau decays are measured using the OPAL detector at LEP. The Michel parameters are extracted from the energy spectra of the charged decay leptons and from their energy-energy correlations. A new method involving a global likelihood fit of Monte Carlo generated events with complete detector simulation and background treatment has been applied to the data recorded at center-of-mass energies close to sqrt(s) = M(Z) corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 155 pb-1 during the years 1990 to 1995. If e-mu universality is assumed and inferring the tau polarization from neutral current data, the measured Michel parameters are extracted. Limits on non-standard coupling constants and on the masses of new gauge bosons are obtained. The results are in agreement with the V-A prediction of the Standard Model.Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX, 9 eps figures included, submitted to the European Physical Journal

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Does technology and Innovation Management improve Market Position? Empirical Evidence from Innovating Firms in South Africa

There is a growing recognition of the central role of technology and knowledge management for market success of organizations. Little is empirically know, however, about this relationship. Drawing on the South African Innovation Survey, a unique dataset on innovative behavior of South African firms in manufacturing and services, this paper investigates the question to what extent and in which ways do technology and innovation management activities affect firms’ market position. Findings show that conducting technology strategy activities pays out. Moreover, especially a combination of internal and external technology audits seems to be beneficial for organizational performance