Implementation of Shared Services in Multinational Corporations : Insights into challenges and successes

In recent years, a large number of multinational corporations have been implementing shared services aiming to streamline business processes, reduce costs and improve efficiency. In order to ensure successful transition to shared services, it is important to understand how the implementation process is done and what has the most significant influence on the outcomes. The main objective of this research is to investigate how to facilitate successful implementation of shared services, providing insights into challenges and successes of the large multinational corporations operating in the industrial engineering sector. The main research question of this study is divided into two questions, namely ‘What facilitates successful implementation of shared services?’ and ‘How is the implementation of shared services done by the companies within the industrial engineering sector?’. These questions are answered through discovering the most critical success factors, the process and the phases of the implementation and the most common challenges that companies encounter during implementation. This study adapts the qualitative research approach, enabling the researcher to profoundly explore the phenomenon and expand the current understanding of the shared services. The case study method has been selected for this research and the representatives of four case companies have been interviewed. The interviews were conducted with eight managers, who have been leading or participating in transition to shared services, based on the predefined open-ended questions which facilitated insightful discussion on the topic. The empirical data states that support and sponsorship of senior management is crucial to succeed in the implementation of such complex initiatives. It was also concluded that sufficient and suitable transition resources are vital to ensure fast-paced transition and high-quality deliverables. And most importantly, the findings of this research emphasise the importance of the focus on the end-to-end processes and the end user in order to maximise process efficiency, and thereby, better leverage benefits of the shared services business model, and ensure proper utilisation of new services. Thus, this study provides important managerial implications, enabling leaders to increase probability of successful implementation of shared services, as well as offers suggestions for future academic research

Case of congenital lobar lung emphysema

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Portfolio Selection via Topological Data Analysis

Portfolio management is an essential part of investment decision-making. However, traditional methods often fail to deliver reasonable performance. This problem stems from the inability of these methods to account for the unique characteristics of multivariate time series data from stock markets. We present a two-stage method for constructing an investment portfolio of common stocks. The method involves the generation of time series representations followed by their subsequent clustering. Our approach utilizes features based on Topological Data Analysis (TDA) for the generation of representations, allowing us to elucidate the topological structure within the data. Experimental results show that our proposed system outperforms other methods. This superior performance is consistent over different time frames, suggesting the viability of TDA as a powerful tool for portfolio selection

Functional thin films synthesized from liquid precursors by combining mist chambers and atmospheric-pressure plasma polymerization

For the creation of thin films, the use of precursors in liquid phase offers a viable alternative when these chemicals are sensitive to high temperatures and phase changes. However, it requires appropriate liquid handling and deposition technologies capable of dispensing the fluid homogeneously to produce a uniform thin film. We report different tailor-made mist chamber designs integrated in an atmospheric-pressure plasma polymerization process for the synthesis of functional thin polymer films from liquid precursors. A systematic investigation, evaluated by performance indicators, is presented on the characteristics and suitability of metallic 3D-printed mist chambers depending on inner volume, geometry and surface post-treatment, for the deposition of a thin liquid monomer film. To assess the quality of the subsequently obtained plasma-polymerized (pp) films, their properties were characterized in terms of thickness, chemical composition, surface morphology and stability in aqueous environment. It was found that the specification of the mist chambers along with the plasma process parameters influences the pp film’s thickness, surface morphology and degree of monomer conversion. This study is one of the first demonstrations of a controllable process able to tune the cross-linked polymeric chains of plasma-polymers at atmospheric pressure, highlighting the opportunities of using mist chambers and plasma technology to discover tailored organic thin films to materials sciences and life sciences

DERMATOLOGICAL IMAGE DENOISING USING ADAPTIVE HENLM METHOD

In this paper we propose automatic image denoising method based on Hermite functions (HeNLM). It is an extension of non-local means (NLM) algorithm. Differences between small image blocks (patches) are replaced by differences between feature vectors thus reducing computational complexity. The features are calculated in coordinate system connected with image gradient and are invariant to patch rotation. HeNLM method depends on the parameter that controls filtering strength. To chose automatically this parameter we use a no-reference denoising quality assessment method. It is based on Hessian matrix analysis. We compare the proposed method with full-reference methods using PSNR metrics, SSIM metrics, and its modifications MSSIM and CMSC. Image databases TID, DRIVE, BSD, and a set of dermatological immunofluorescence microscopy images were used for the tests. It was found that more perceptual CMSC and MSSIM metrics give worse correspondence than SSIM and PSNR to the results of information preservation by the non-reference image denoising

Humans Infected with Relapsing Fever Spirochete Borrelia miyamotoi, Russia

Disease may occur throughout the world because of the widespread prevalence of this pathogen in ixodid ticks

СЛУЧАИ КЛИНИЧЕСКИХ ПРОЯВЛЕНИЙ СЕГМЕНТАРНЫХ ФОРМ БОЛЕЗНИ ХЕЙЛИ – ХЕЙЛИ

Hailey-Hailey disease (familial benign chronic pemphigus by Gougerot-Hailey-Hailey) is a  rare autosomal dominant skin disorder characterized by mostly symmetric skin lesions in the skin fold areas. However, segmental distribution of skin lesions in cases of epigenetic or genomic mosaicism can also occur. It is known that it is caused by a de novo post-zygotic mutation that appears at an early stage of embryogenesis both in somatic and in germinative cells. Depending on allele status, there are two types of segmental forms of autosomal dominant disorders. The article presents two clinical cases with manifestation of segmental form of Hailey-Hailey disease type 1 and type 2. These examples demonstrate not only the variety of clinical signs of the disease, but also specific features of this gene dermatosis and the prognosis of its inheritance in subsequent generations. Болезнь Хейли  – Хейли (семейная доброкачественная хроническая пузырчатка Гужеро  – Хейли  – Хейли)  – редкое кожное заболевание с  аутосомно-доминантным типом наследования, характеризующееся преимущественным симметричным поражением кожи в  области естественных складок. Однако встречается кар-тина сегментарного расположения очагов поражения, отражающая эпигенетический или геномный мозаицизм. Известно, что его причина  – в  возникновении на ранней стадии эмбриогенеза постзиготной мутации de novo как в  соматических, так и  зародышевых клетках. В  зависимости от состояния аллельной пары гена различают 2 типа сегментарных форм аутосомно-доминантных заболеваний. В  статье рассматриваются 2 клинических случая с манифестацией сегментарных форм болезни Хейли – Хейли 1-го и  2-го типов, на примере которых показано не только разнообразие клинических проявлений, но и особенности течения, прогноза передачи последующим поколениям данного генодерматоза

On aging of high-strength stainless steel 08Cr15Ni5Cu2Ti

Based on our results and the results of the experimental studies previously conducted by other researchers, the analysis has been made of the influence of remelting methods on the character of the formation of the level of the impact strength KCU and its component KCV at aging of steel 08Cr15Ni5Cu2Ti prepared by two methods of remelting. The results of studying the influence of the remelting methods, heat treatment modes and impurity cleanness of steels on the level of KCU and the degree of its decrease at the temperatures of age hardening are presented. The factors causing the difference in the structure and phase composition in the steel formed by different remelting methods are established. The temperature range in which a significant decrease in KCU takes place has been determined. The hypothesis is offered about the role of interstitial impurities in the KCU decrease at aging

Social and psychological adaptation of migrant children in sec-ondary school

В данной статье представлена информация о процессах адаптации детей в культуре другой страны. В качестве инструментов адаптации используются виды внутришкольной деятельности: урочная и внеурочная. В статье описываются формы и методы работы на уроках, нацеленные на интеграцию детей в окружающее пространство и социум.This article provides information about the adaptation of children in other countries. Adaptation instruments is intra-species activity: taskmgr and extracurricular. This article describes the methods of work in the classroom, focusing on the integration of children into the environment and society