The development of a framework for an integrated logistics support system within a high technology industry in a developing country

Competitive and high-risk environments require complex high technology systems, which need to be supported and maintained over their respective life cycles. These systems often have a significant consequence of failure, and require complex management systems to achieve their operational objectives. Significant leadership and management challenges exist, not only in South Africa, but also in other developing countries, where systems may be utilised beyond the lifespan they were designed for and are susceptible to obsolescence. This study was conducted by following a structured process; the research consisted of three stages. The first stage dealt with the research problem, including the delimitations of the study. The second stage was further divided into three phases. The first phase deconstructed the appropriate literature, which included the interpretation of numerous definitions of logistics, integrated logistics support, and the integrated logistics support elements. In addition, the research was grounded in the fields of operations management, supply chain management and integrated logistics support. The second phase focused on the deconstruction of six case studies from four different high technology complex systems. From the analysis of the first two phases followed the third phase of research, which focused on the identification of areas requiring further research. Further research was conducted by means of a questionnaire, the results of which were analysed for variable dependency and variable association. The third stage of the research included the collation and analysis of the findings of the first two stages of research. The analysis utilised the principles of Mode 2 research and design science research, whereby an ILS framework and associated grounded technological rules have been recommended. These recommendations are robust in nature, as they can be applied in the most challenging environment and circumstances as identified. Furthermore, by grounding the theory in the disciplines of operations management, supply chain management and integrated logistics support, the reliability, validity, relevance, and applicability of the study could be substantiated. This implied that the generated theoretical knowledge could be transferred to and applied in practice, and as such, an organisation can reap substantial value added benefits, and gain considerable competitive advantage in the market place by applying this developed ILS framework and associated ILS grounded technological rules.Business LeadershipD. BL

Evaluation of Reverse Logistics in Challenges within the Manufacturing Pharmaceutical Companies

The link between reverse logistics and logistics is being increasingly noted by logistics experts and researchers globally, especially in manufacturing pharmaceutical companies. This has led to the examination of reverse logistics challenges in manufacturing pharmaceutical companies. The main objective was to examine reverse logistics challenges in manufacturing pharmaceutical companies in the City of Tshwane (South Africa). The study aimed to find approaches to deal with the challenges of reverse logistics such as gatekeeping, managerial implications, technology, waste elimination, transportation, and product recalls within the industry. The study was empirical, and a quantitative approach was used. Furthermore, data analysis was conducted by using the Stata V13 statistical software where a descriptive analysis was employed. Questionnaires were posted via SurveyMonkey to the staff at fifty pharmaceutical companies. This resulted in a total of 127 respondents, which provided a response rate of 51%. The findings indicated that manufacturing pharmaceutical companies face a variety of challenges; such as lack of skills and skills transfer, transport, and gatekeeping (amongst others), when dealing with reverse logistics. It is thus recommended that processes and strategies involved in reverse logistics should be known and taken into consideration because of the importance of reverse logistics in manufacturing pharmaceutical companies. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01291 Full Text: PD

The role of HOX genes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Recent decades have witnessed the publication of numerous studies reporting alterations in the genome and transcriptome of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Currently, the utilisation of these alterations as biomarkers and targets for therapy are limited and new, useful molecular characteristics are being sought. Many of the published HNSCC gene expression profiles demonstrate alterations in the expression of HOX genes. These are a family of Homeobox containing genes which are involved in developmental patterning and morphogenesis in the embryo, and which are often aberrantly expressed in cancer. The 39 HOX genes found in the human genome are arranged in 4 paralogous groups at different chromosomal loci. These control a wide range of cellular processes, including proliferation and migration, which are relevant in the context of cancer development. In this review article we will outline the biology of HOX genes in relation to cancer and summarise the accumulating evidence for their role in the development of HNSCC and the possibility that they could be a therapeutic target in this malignancy. We will also identify areas where our current understanding is weak in order to focus future work and appraise the ongoing strategies for pharmacological intervention.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1600-07142017-04-30hb2016Oral Pathology and Oral Biolog

Development of CCDs for REXIS on OSIRIS-REx

The Regolith x-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) is a coded-aperture soft x-ray imaging instrument on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to be launched in 2016. The spacecraft will fly to and orbit the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, while REXIS maps the elemental distribution on the asteroid using x-ray fluorescence. The detector consists of a 2×2 array of backilluminated 1k×1k frame transfer CCDs with a flight heritage to Suzaku and Chandra. The back surface has a thin p[superscript +]-doped layer deposited by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) for maximum quantum efficiency and energy resolution at low x-ray energies. The CCDs also feature an integrated optical-blocking filter (OBF) to suppress visible and near-infrared light. The OBF is an aluminum film deposited directly on the CCD back surface and is mechanically more robust and less absorptive of x-rays than the conventional free-standing aluminum-coated polymer films. The CCDs have charge transfer inefficiencies of less than 10[superscript -6], and dark current of 1e-/pixel/second at the REXIS operating temperature of –60 °C. The resulting spectral resolution is 115 eV at 2 KeV. The extinction ratio of the filter is ~10[superscript 12] at 625 nm.United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Strategic Astrophysics Technology Program (Grant NNX12AF22G)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Contract NNG12FD70C)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (IPR NNG12FC01I)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Strategic Astrophysics Technology Program (IPR NNH12AU04I)United States. Air Force (Contract FA8721-05-C-0002

Potato Breeding and Variety Development for Improved Quality and Pest Resistance in the Eastern United States

The eastern U.S. potato industry needs new potato varieties to overcome pest problems while reducing agricultural chemical use and to enhance marketing opportunities. This project will conduct potato breeding, germplasm enhancement, and selection studies to improve potato productivity and quality for important eastern U.S. markets. Novel and highly improved potato germplasm and varieties will be developed to reduce the impact of economically important potato pests, such as golden nematode, late blight, pink rot, and scab

Effects of Unstable Particles on Light-Element Abundances: Lithium versus Deuterium and He3

We reconsider the effects of unstable particles on the production and destruction of the primordial light elements, with a view to reconciling the high primordial Li7 abundance deduced from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), as implied by the baryon-to-photon ratio now inferred from the anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), with the lower abundance of Li7 observed in halo stars. The potential destruction of Li7 is strongly constrained by observations of Deuterium (D), He3 and Li6. We identify ranges for the unstable particle abundance and lifetime which would deplete Li7 while remaining consistent with the abundance of Li6. However, in these regions either the D abundance is unacceptably low or the ratio He3/D is unacceptably large. We conclude that late particle decay is unable to explain both the discrepancy of the calculated Li7 abundance and the observed Li7 plateau. In the context of supersymmetric theories with neutralino or gravitino dark matter, we display the corresponding light-element constraints on the model parameters.Comment: 19 pages, 13 eps figure

Bivariate random-effects meta-analysis and the estimation of between-study correlation

BACKGROUND: When multiple endpoints are of interest in evidence synthesis, a multivariate meta-analysis can jointly synthesise those endpoints and utilise their correlation. A multivariate random-effects meta-analysis must incorporate and estimate the between-study correlation (ρ(B)). METHODS: In this paper we assess maximum likelihood estimation of a general normal model and a generalised model for bivariate random-effects meta-analysis (BRMA). We consider two applied examples, one involving a diagnostic marker and the other a surrogate outcome. These motivate a simulation study where estimation properties from BRMA are compared with those from two separate univariate random-effects meta-analyses (URMAs), the traditional approach. RESULTS: The normal BRMA model estimates ρ(B )as -1 in both applied examples. Analytically we show this is due to the maximum likelihood estimator sensibly truncating the between-study covariance matrix on the boundary of its parameter space. Our simulations reveal this commonly occurs when the number of studies is small or the within-study variation is relatively large; it also causes upwardly biased between-study variance estimates, which are inflated to compensate for the restriction on [Formula: see text] (B). Importantly, this does not induce any systematic bias in the pooled estimates and produces conservative standard errors and mean-square errors. Furthermore, the normal BRMA is preferable to two normal URMAs; the mean-square error and standard error of pooled estimates is generally smaller in the BRMA, especially given data missing at random. For meta-analysis of proportions we then show that a generalised BRMA model is better still. This correctly uses a binomial rather than normal distribution, and produces better estimates than the normal BRMA and also two generalised URMAs; however the model may sometimes not converge due to difficulties estimating ρ(B). CONCLUSION: A BRMA model offers numerous advantages over separate univariate synthesises; this paper highlights some of these benefits in both a normal and generalised modelling framework, and examines the estimation of between-study correlation to aid practitioners

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Plasmodium falciparum Parasites Are Killed by a Transition State Analogue of Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase in a Primate Animal Model

Plasmodium falciparum causes most of the one million annual deaths from malaria. Drug resistance is widespread and novel agents against new targets are needed to support combination-therapy approaches promoted by the World Health Organization. Plasmodium species are purine auxotrophs. Blocking purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) kills cultured parasites by purine starvation. DADMe-Immucillin-G (BCX4945) is a transition state analogue of human and Plasmodium PNPs, binding with picomolar affinity. Here, we test BCX4945 in Aotus primates, an animal model for Plasmodium falciparum infections. Oral administration of BCX4945 for seven days results in parasite clearance and recrudescence in otherwise lethal infections of P. falciparum in Aotus monkeys. The molecular action of BCX4945 is demonstrated in crystal structures of human and P. falciparum PNPs. Metabolite analysis demonstrates that PNP blockade inhibits purine salvage and polyamine synthesis in the parasites. The efficacy, oral availability, chemical stability, unique mechanism of action and low toxicity of BCX4945 demonstrate potential for combination therapies with this novel antimalarial agent