The complementarity of green supply chain management practices and the impact on environmental performance

Although the importance of integrating different Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) activities has been highlighted in the literature, the potential interdependencies between these practices and their performance impacts have not been investigated. The purpose of this study is to examine the collective impact of internal and external GSCM practices on two aspects of environmental performance: environmental impact and environmental cost savings. GSCM is proposed as a collective competency, combining four distinct, but interrelated, sets of practices: environmental management systems, eco design, source reduction and external environmental practices. Using survey data from 138 Omani manufacturing firms and Structural Equation Modelling, we find strong empirical support for the complementarity of GSCM practices. We find a strong positive relationship between the level of collective GSCM competency and the environmental impact achieved. Our findings support the belief that complementarities between GSCM practices lead to better performance. Managers should therefore focus on implementing bundles of GSCM practices rather than searching for individual best practices. We find an indirect, mediated influence on environmental cost savings, which is consistent with previous results in other emerging market contexts

Best Performance Frontiers for Buy-Online-Pickup-in-Store order fulfilment

With the proliferation of omni-channel retailing, Buy-Online-Pickup-in-Store (BOPS) retail services have gained increasing popularity as they have benefits for both customers and retailers. However, using conventional retail stores to fulfil orders received online whilst also serving walk-in customers is challenging for retailers, particularly when a high customer service level is promised to online customers (e.g., order by a certain time and pick up in store after a specific time later the same day). This paper examines store picking operations for same day BOPS services. Specifically, we derive Best Performance Frontiers (BPFs) for single wave and multi-wave order picking. New relationships, propositions, and results are presented to determine the minimum picking rate needed in stores to guarantee a target service level, the number of picking waves a retailer should launch in an ordering cycle, and the timing of picking waves. We also examine demand surge scenarios with different order arrival rates in an ordering cycle. Insights and implications of the results are discussed for retailers that seek to benchmark their current BOPS performances and understand how to schedule and improve the picking of online orders in conventional retail stores and the picking rates needed to guarantee a desired service level for online customers

Prevalence, associated factors and management implications of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction in Takotsubo cardiomyopathy: a two-year, two-center experience

Background: Some patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) develop cardiogenic shock due to left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction -there is, however, a paucity of data regarding this condition. Methods: Prevalence, associated factors and management implications of LVOT obstruction in TTC was explored, based on two-year data from two Belgian heart centres. Results: A total of 32 patients with TTC were identified out of 3,272 patients presenting with troponin-positive acute coronary syndrome. In six patients diagnosed with TTC (19%), a significant LVOT obstruction was detected by transthoracic echocardiography. Patients with LVOT obstruction were older and had more often septal bulging, and presented more frequently in cardiogenic shock as compared to those without LVOT obstruction (P < 0.05). Moreover, all patients with LVOT obstruction showed systolic anterior motion (SAM) of the anterior mitral valve leaflet, which was associated with a higher grade of mitral regurgitation (2.2 +/- 0.7 vs. 1.0 +/- 0.6, P< 0.001). Adequate therapeutic management including fluid resuscitation, cessation of inotropic therapy, intravenous beta-blocker, and the use of intra-aortic balloon pump resulted in non-inferior survival in TTC patients with LVOT obstruction as compared to those without LVOT obstruction. Conclusions: TTC is complicated by LVOT obstruction in approximately 20% of cases. Older age, septal bulging, SAM-induced mitral regurgitation and hemodynamic instability are associated with this condition. Timely and accurate diagnosis of LVOT obstruction by echocardiography is key to successful management of these TTC patients with LVOT obstruction and results in a non-inferior outcome as compared to those patients without LVOT obstruction

Price determinants for remanufactured electronic products a case study on eBay UK

In this paper, we analyse the market determinants of price differentials between new and remanufactured products in Electronics using data on purchases made on eBay UK. The empirical analysis is carried out by means of linear regression methods, which are capable of controlling for the presence of collinearity among the explanatory variables. Our empirical results suggest that the seller reputation, length of warranties, proxies of demand and supply of remanufactured products, duration, end day of product listings as well as the availability of return policies are important determinants of price differentials. Most importantly, we find that the seller identity plays an important role, as our empirical results are predominantly driven by transactions carried out by non-manufacturer-approved vendors

A nanobody-based tracer targeting DPP6 for non-invasive imaging of human pancreatic endocrine cells

There are presently no reliable ways to quantify endocrine cell mass (ECM) in vivo, which prevents an accurate understanding of the progressive beta cell loss in diabetes or following islet transplantation. To address this unmet need, we coupled RNA sequencing of human pancreatic islets to a systems biology approach to identify new biomarkers of the endocrine pancreas. Dipeptidyl-Peptidase 6 (DPP6) was identified as a target whose mRNA expression is at least 25-fold higher in human pancreatic islets as compared to surrounding tissues and is not changed by proinflammatory cytokines. At the protein level, DPP6 localizes only in beta and alpha cells within the pancreas. We next generated a high-affinity camelid single-domain antibody (nanobody) targeting human DPP6. The nanobody was radiolabelled and in vivo SPECT/CT imaging and biodistribution studies were performed in immunodeficient mice that were either transplanted with DPP6-expressing Kelly neuroblastoma cells or insulin-producing human EndoC-βH1 cells. The human DPP6-expressing cells were clearly visualized in both models. In conclusion, we have identified a novel beta and alpha cell biomarker and developed a tracer for in vivo imaging of human insulin secreting cells. This provides a useful tool to non-invasively follow up intramuscularly implanted insulin secreting cells

A guided local search procedure for the multi-compartment capacitated arc routing problem

In this paper, we introduce and study the multi-compartment capacitated arc routing problem—an extension of the classical capacitated arc routing problem, but where the required edges have a demand for different products, and multi-compartment vehicles are available to co-distribute these commodities. We present a local search algorithm that exploits well-known moves (2-opt, re-insert, relocate, exchange and cross). We take advantage of speed up tricks such as marking and neighbour lists, and we combine the procedure with the guided local search meta-heuristic in order to reach high quality solutions. We report on results from extensive computational experiments. Our aim is to reveal in what situations co-distribution by partitioned vehicles saves in routing costs as compared with separate distribution with un-partitioned trucks. We explore sensitivities in key problem characteristics including, the number of commodities, the vehicle capacity, the location of the depot and required edges, the density of required edges, and the demand per commodity for the required edges

On the benefits of co-collection: experiments with a multi compartment vehicle routing algorithm

The Multi-Compartment Vehicle Routing Problem involves clients with a demand for different products and vehicles with several compartments to co-transport these commodities. We present a local search procedure that explores well-known moves (2-opt, cross, exchange, relocate), and exploits the mechanisms of neighbour lists and marking to speed up the searches. We combine the procedure with the Guided Local Search meta-heuristic to improve solution quality. Extensive computational results are reported to uncover when co-distribution by vehicles with multiple compartments is better than separate distribution with un-partitioned trucks. Sensitivities in key problem parameters including, client density and location of the depot, vehicle capacity, client demand and number of commodities are investigated