The Application Of Inventory Control And Purchasing to a Small Retail Business

This study was conducted to address the problem of inventory control of a small retail clothing business. An examination was made of the retail inventory control system and the open-to-buy purchasing method. Illustrations using hypothetical figures were presented in the application of these methods to a small retail clothing business. Several advantages and values of utilizing these methods were cited and illustrated. This study concludes that the implementation of these methods are highly recommended to the management of a small retail clothing business. Information obtained from these methods of inventory control would aid management in making successful merchandising decisions, and thus, enhance the overall business operations

Entangled electronic state via an interacting quantum dot

We study a device for entangling electrons as cotunneling occurs through a quantum dot where on-site electron-electron interactions $U$ are in place. The main advantage of this device is that single particle processes are forbidden by energy conservation as proposed by Oliver et al\cite{oli02}. Within this model we calculated two electron transition amplitude, in terms of the T-matrix, to all orders in the coupling to the dot, and consider a finite lead bandwidth. The model filters singlet entangled pairs with the sole requirement of Pauli principle. Feynman paths involving consecutive and doubly occupied dot interfere destructively and produce a transition amplitude minimum at a critical value of the onsite repulsion $U$. Singlet filtering is demonstrated as a function of a gate voltage applied to the dot with a special resonance condition when the dot levels are symmetrically placed about the input lead energy.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Structural combination of neural network models

Forecasts combinations normally use point forecasts that were obtained from different models or sources ([1], [2], [3]). This paper explores the incorporation of internal structure parameters of feed-forward neural network (NN) models as an approach to combine their forecasts via ensembles. First, the generated NN models that could be part of the ensembles are subject to a clustering algorithm that uses the structure parameters and, from each of the clusters obtained, a small set of models is selected and their forecasts are combined in a two-stage procedure. Secondly, in an alternative and simpler implementation, a subset of the generated NN models is selected by using several reference points in the model structure parameter space. The choice of the reference points is optimised through a genetic algorithm and the models selected are averaged. Hourly electricity demand time series is used to assess multi-step ahead forecasting performance for up to a 12 hours horizon. Results are compared against several statistical benchmarks, the average of the individual forecasts and the best models in the ensembles. Results show that the clusterbased (CB) structural combinations do better than the genetic algorithm (GA) structural combinations in outperforming the average forecast, which is the traditional point forecast from an ensemble

Magnetization in AIIIBV semiconductor heterostructures with the depletion layer of manganese

The magnetic moment and magnetization in GaAs/Ga$_{0.84}$In$_{0.16}$As/GaAs heterostructures with Mn deluted in GaAs cover layers and with atomically controlled Mn $\delta$-layer thicknesses near GaInAs-quantum well ($\sim$3 nm) in temperature range T=(1.8-300)K in magnetic field up to 50 kOe have been investigated. The mass magnetization all of the samples of GaAs/Ga$_{0.84}$In$_{0.16}$As/GaAs with Mn increases with the increasing of the magnetic field that pointed out on the presence of low-dimensional ferromagnetism in the manganese depletion layer of GaAs based structures. It has been estimated the manganese content threshold at which the ferromagnetic ordering was found.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

BacFITBase: A database to assess the relevance of bacterial genes during host infection

Bacterial infections have been on the rise world-wide in recent years and have a considerable impact on human well-being in terms of attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life years. Yet many mechanisms underlying bacterial pathogenesis are still poorly understood. Here, we introduce the BacFITBase database for the systematic characterization of bacterial proteins relevant for host infection aimed to enable the identification of new antibiotic targets. BacFITBase is manually curated and contains more than 90 000 entries with information on the contribution of individual genes to bacterial fitness under in vivo infection conditions in a range of host species. The data were collected from 15 different studies in which transposon mutagenesis was performed, including top-priority pathogens such as Acinetobacter baumannii and Campylobacter jejuni, for both of which increasing antibiotic resistance has been reported. Overall, BacFITBase includes information on 15 pathogenic bacteria and 5 host vertebrates across 10 different tissues. It is freely available at www.tartaglialab.com/bacfitbase

Clinical vignette: Zero in 60 in 48 hours

Cirrhosis is a known cause of thrombocytopenia but it is important to consider other etiologies when the degree of thrombocytopenia is severe, especially in light of impending life-threatening bleeding. One must always maintain a low threshold for additional diagnostic entities when patients present acutely and confirmatory testing reveals profound thrombocytopenia. A 34-year-old man with cirrhosis secondary to Hepatitis C and alcohol abuse presented with persistent bleeding from preexisting oral ulcers and hematuria. Patient denied melena, hematemesis or hematochezia. His past medical history was significant for pancytopenia secondary to cirrhosis, active hepatitis C infection and hypersplenism. He denied any recent change in his medications nor taking any herbal medications or supplements. Vital signs were normal on admission. Physical examination was positive for dried blood on the lips and hepatosplenomegaly. Lab work revealed a platelet count of 0 with chronic leukopenia and anemia. His baseline platelet count is approximately 35,000. Urine analysis indicated gross blood. Coagulation workup was not suggestive of Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC). Peripheral smear was significant for complete lack of platelets without schistocytes. He was started on daily platelet transfusions with minimal change in his platelet count. A diagnosis of secondary Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) was made and therapy was initiated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and dexamethasone. His platelet count failed to improve with worsening hematuria. He also received Rituximab, Romiplostim infusions and high dose methylprednisolone. The patient underwent splenic artery embolization three times. In spite of all efforts he continued to have hematuria and bleeding from intravenous lines with only transient rise in counts. He was taken for laparoscopic splenectomy with a platelet count of 35,000; following which the bleeding subsided and his platelet count improved to 100,000. Patient had a complicated hospital course but was eventually discharged home and currently his platelet counts are within normal limits. This patient appeared to have developed secondary ITP from his active Hepatitis C. Though he had chronic thrombocytopenia from cirrhosis and splenomegaly, it would be unusual to see this degree of platelet drop from these causes alone. ITP is a diagnosis of exclusion and bleeding is usually not proportionate to level of thrombocytopenia as in this patient. This case illustrates the fact that a clinician must have a low threshold for expanding the differential diagnosis of thrombocytopenia, especially diagnoses that are likely to harm the patient such as Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation and ITP. This case also demonstrates the challenging nature of managing severe refractory ITP. Splenectomy is the preferred therapy for patients with ITP who are refractory to first-line therapy with glucocorticoids or IVIG and is shown to cause sustained remission in two-thirds of patients