Supply Chain Intelligence

This chapter provides on overall picture of business intelligence (BI) and supply chain analytics (SCA) as a means to support supply chain management (SCM) and decision-making. Based on the literature review, we clarify the needs of BI and performance measurement in the SCM sphere, and discuss its potential to enhance decision-making in strategic, tactical and operational levels. We also make a closer look in to SCA in different areas and functions of SCM. Our findings indicate that the main challenge for harnessing the full potential of SCA is the lack of holistic and integrated BI approaches that originates from the fact that each functional area is using its own IT applications without necessary integration in to the company’s overall BI system. Following this examination, we construct a holistic framework that illustrates how an integrated, managerially planned BI system can be developed. Finally, we discuss the main competency requirements, as well as the challenges still prohibiting the great majority of firms from building smart and comprehensive BI systems for SCM.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Detection, prevalence, and transmission of avian hematozoa in waterfowl at the Arctic/sub-Arctic interface: co-infections, viral interactions, and sources of variation

Background The epidemiology of avian hematozoa at high latitudes is still not well understood, particularly in sub-Arctic and Arctic habitats, where information is limited regarding seasonality and range of transmission, co-infection dynamics with parasitic and viral agents, and possible fitness consequences of infection. Such information is important as climate warming may lead to northward expansion of hematozoa with unknown consequences to northern-breeding avian taxa, particularly populations that may be previously unexposed to blood parasites. Methods We used molecular methods to screen blood samples and cloacal/oropharyngeal swabs collected from 1347 ducks of five species during May-August 2010, in interior Alaska, for the presence of hematozoa, Influenza A Virus (IAV), and IAV antibodies. Using models to account for imperfect detection of parasites, we estimated seasonal variation in prevalence of three parasite genera (Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, Leucocytozoon) and investigated how co-infection with parasites and viruses were related to the probability of infection. Results We detected parasites from each hematozoan genus in adult and juvenile ducks of all species sampled. Seasonal patterns in detection and prevalence varied by parasite genus and species, age, and sex of duck hosts. The probabilities of infection for Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon parasites were strongly positively correlated, but hematozoa infection was not correlated with IAV infection or serostatus. The probability of Haemoproteus infection was negatively related to body condition in juvenile ducks; relationships between Leucocytozoon infection and body condition varied among host species. Conclusions We present prevalence estimates for Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon, and Plasmodium infections in waterfowl at the interface of the sub-Arctic and Arctic and provide evidence for local transmission of all three parasite genera. Variation in prevalence and molecular detection of hematozoa parasites in wild ducks is influenced by seasonal timing and a number of host traits. A positive correlation in co-infection of Leucocytozoon and Haemoproteus suggests that infection probability by parasites in one or both genera is enhanced by infection with the other, or that encounter rates of hosts and genus-specific vectors are correlated. Using size-adjusted mass as an index of host condition, we did not find evidence for strong deleterious consequences of hematozoa infection in wild ducks.Geological Survey (U.S.) (Wildlife Program of the Ecosystem Mission Area)U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceDelta Waterfowl FoundationInstitute for Wetland and Waterfowl ResearchIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Center for Research on Influenza Pathogenesis)Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (contracts HHSN272201400008C and HHSN266200700010C

The decision rule approach to optimization under uncertainty: methodology and applications

Dynamic decision-making under uncertainty has a long and distinguished history in operations research. Due to the curse of dimensionality, solution schemes that naïvely partition or discretize the support of the random problem parameters are limited to small and medium-sized problems, or they require restrictive modeling assumptions (e.g., absence of recourse actions). In the last few decades, several solution techniques have been proposed that aim to alleviate the curse of dimensionality. Amongst these is the decision rule approach, which faithfully models the random process and instead approximates the feasible region of the decision problem. In this paper, we survey the major theoretical findings relating to this approach, and we investigate its potential in two applications areas

Carrier selection for multi-commodity flow optimization in cooperative environments

Part 18: Optimization in Collaborative NetworksInternational audienceFreight transportation decisions are critical economic and environmental factors in the design and management of networked manufacturing systems at global scale. Multimodal transportation options in combination with cooperative models between transport operators and together with manufacturers can contribute to define more economically and environmentally sustainable operations. This work addresses the problem of the selection of carriers in an international production and distribution network. The aim is to minimize costs and environmental impacts of freight transport. A cooperative decision-making setting between carriers in response to transportation demand of manufacturers is adopted. An integrated optimization-simulation approach is proposed to model the process of defining the optimal combination of transportation services in a multimodal transport network. Experiments show that collaboration based on shared modal capacity between carriers can produce transport cost reduction and service level improvements

Genetic Diversity and Host Specificity Varies across Three Genera of Blood Parasites in Ducks of the Pacific Americas Flyway

<div><p>Birds of the order Anseriformes, commonly referred to as waterfowl, are frequently infected by Haemosporidia of the genera <i>Haemoproteus</i>, <i>Plasmodium</i>, and <i>Leucocytozoon</i> via dipteran vectors. We analyzed nucleotide sequences of the Cytochrome <i>b</i> (Cyt<i>b</i>) gene from parasites of these genera detected in six species of ducks from Alaska and California, USA to characterize the genetic diversity of Haemosporidia infecting waterfowl at two ends of the Pacific Americas Flyway. In addition, parasite Cyt<i>b</i> sequences were compared to those available on a public database to investigate specificity of genetic lineages to hosts of the order Anseriformes. Haplotype and nucleotide diversity of <i>Haemoproteus</i> Cyt<i>b</i> sequences was lower than was detected for <i>Plasmodium</i> and <i>Leucocytozoon</i> parasites. Although waterfowl are presumed to be infected by only a single species of <i>Leucocytozoon</i>, <i>L</i>. <i>simondi</i>, diversity indices were highest for haplotypes from this genus and sequences formed five distinct clades separated by genetic distances of 4.9%–7.6%, suggesting potential cryptic speciation. All <i>Haemoproteus</i> and <i>Leucocytozoon</i> haplotypes derived from waterfowl samples formed monophyletic clades in phylogenetic analyses and were unique to the order Anseriformes with few exceptions. In contrast, waterfowl-origin <i>Plasmodium</i> haplotypes were identical or closely related to lineages found in other avian orders. Our results suggest a more generalist strategy for <i>Plasmodium</i> parasites infecting North American waterfowl as compared to those of the genera <i>Haemoproteus</i> and <i>Leucocytozoon</i>.</p></div

Haplotype and nucleotide diversity values (H and π respectively) and their 95% confidence intervals for all haplotypes belonging to each genus of haemosporidian identified in this study.

<p>Haplotype and nucleotide diversity values (H and π respectively) and their 95% confidence intervals for all haplotypes belonging to each genus of haemosporidian identified in this study.</p

Genetic distances between clades of <i>Leucocytozoon</i> haplotypes sequenced in this study.

<p>Genetic distances between clades of <i>Leucocytozoon</i> haplotypes sequenced in this study.</p