Impact of the Introduction of an e-CRM Solution in the Feed Industry: The Case of Progeo-Mangimi

Feed industry is very demanding in terms of logistics. This activity implies supplying, processing and, most of all, distributing perishable products (raw materials and feed), to a very large number of clients, often scattered in wide market areas (animal farms) with different qualitative, quantitative and timing needs. So far the use of ICTs within the feed industry in Italy regarded mostly the production phase in terms of feed composition optimisation, and the internal logistics. External relationships like e-CRM, etc.. have so far been rarely adopted. For many Italian small and medium enterprises, mostly in the agro-food sector, the diffusion of ICTs solutions for the management of their client relationship has been quite slow. The aim of this paper is to examine the factors affecting the success in the implementation of an e-CRM solution in an Italian feed industry; the implementation strategies adopted and their impact on the company logistics performances have been investigated; the methodological framework for the e-solution implementation strategy analysis is the “Building of organizational support for Supply chain Improvement” as defined in the SCOR model (Bolstorff P., Rosenbaum R., 2003). The SCOR model provided a useful analytical framework in order to define the variables affecting the successful implementation of the e-CRM. The results show a dramatic improvement in the Progeo- Mangimi customer relationship performances; the fundamental role of the Progeo management to organise and motivate the personnel involved, and to interact with the customers, emerged.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

Using globular clusters to test gravity in the weak acceleration regime: NGC 7099

A test of Newton's law of gravity in the low acceleration regime using globular clusters is presented. New results for the core collapsed globular cluster NGC 7099 are given. The run of the gravitational potential as a function of distance is probed studying the velocity dispersion profile of the cluster, as derived from a set of 125 radial velocities with accuracy better than 1 km/s. The velocity dispersion profile is traced up to ~18 pc from the cluster center. The dispersion is found to be maximal at the center, then decrease until 10+-2 pc from the center, well inside the cluster tidal radius of 42 pc. After that the dispersion remains constant with average value 2.2+-0.3 km/s. Assuming for NGC 7099 a total V mag of M(V)=-7.43 mags and mass-to-light ratio M/L=1, the acceleration at 10 pc from the center is 1.1e-8 cm/s/s. Thus, the flattening of the velocity dispersion profile occurs for a value of the internal acceleration of gravity fully consistent with a_0=1.2e-8 cm/s/s observed in galaxies. This new result for NGC 7099 brings to 4 the clusters with velocity dispersion profile probing acceleration below a_0. All four have been found to have a flat dispersion profile at large radii where the acceleration is below a_0, mimicking qualitatively and quantitatively elliptical galaxies. Whether this indicates a failure of Newtonian dynamics in the low acceleration limit or some more conventional dynamical effect (e.g., tidal heating) is still unclear. However, the similarities emerging between very different globular clusters, as well as between globular clusters and elliptical galaxies seem to favor the first of these two possibilities.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letters. Four pages in tota

Using globular clusters to test gravity in the weak acceleration regime

We report on the results from an ongoing program aimed at testing Newton's law of gravity in the low acceleration regime using globular clusters. It is shown that all clusters studied so far do behave like galaxies, that is, their velocity dispersion profile flattens out at large radii where the acceleration of gravity goes below 1e-8 cm/s/s, instead of following the expected Keplerian fall off. In galaxies this behavior is ascribed to the existence of a dark matter halo. Globular clusters, however, do not contain dark matter, hence this result might indicate that our present understanding of gravity in the weak regime of accelerations is incomplete and somehow incorrect.Comment: As published on the European Southern Observatory "the Messenger", Num. 128, June 2007. Seven pages, 4 figures, 2 table

The Distance to NGC 5904 (M 5) via the Subdwarfs Main Sequence Fitting Method

We present a determination of the distance modulus of the globular cluster NGC 5904 (M 5), obtained by means of the subdwarf main-sequence fitting on the (V,V-I) color-magnitude diagram. The subdwarf sample has been selected from the HIPPARCOS catalog in a metallicity range homogeneous with the cluster ([Fe/H] \~= -1.1). Both the cluster and the subdwarfs have been observed with the same telescope+instrument+filters setup (namely, ESO-NTT equipped with the SUSI2 camera), in order to preserve homogeneity and reduce systematic uncertainties. A set of archival HST data has then been used to obtain a deep and precise ridge line. These have been accurately calibrated in the ground photometric system by using the NTT data and used to fit the cluster distance modulus. By adopting the most commonly accepted values for the reddening, E(B-V) = 0.035 and 0.03, we obtain respectively mu_0 = 14.44 +- 0.09 +- 0.07 and mu_0 = 14.41 +- 0.09 +- 0.07, in agreement with recent determinations.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Globular Clusters as a Test for Gravity in the Weak Acceleration Regime

Non-baryonic Dark Matter (DM) appears in galaxies and other cosmic structures when and only when the acceleration of gravity, as computed considering only baryons, goes below a well defined value a0=1.2e-8 cm/s/s. This might indicate a breakdown of Newton's law of gravity (or inertia) below a0, an acceleration smaller than the smallest probed in the solar system. It is therefore important to verify whether Newton's law of gravity holds in this regime of accelerations. In order to do this, one has to study the dynamics of objects that do not contain significant amounts of DM and therefore should follow Newton's prediction for whatever small accelerations. Globular clusters are believed, even by strong supporters of DM, to contain negligible amounts of DM and therefore are ideal for testing Newtonian dynamics in the low acceleration limit. Here, we discuss the status of an ongoing program aimed to do this test. Compared to other studies of globular clsuters, the novelty is that we trace the velocity dispersion profile of globular clusters far enough from the center to probe gravitational accelerations well below a0. In all three clusters studied so far the velocity dispersion is found to remain constant at large radii rather than follow the Keplerian falloff. On average, the flattening occurs at the radius where the cluster internal acceleration of gravity is 1.8+-0.4 x 10^{-8} cm/s/s, fully consistent with MOND predictions.Comment: Comments: To Appear in the proceeding of the "First crisis in cosmology" conference, published in the American Institute of Physiscs' proceedings series, Vol. 822. (includes 3 pages and 1 fig