Inter-firm Relationships and Performance Factors in the Australian Beef Supply Chain: Implications for the Stakeholders

Recent study by Meat & Livestock Australia revealed that cost competitiveness and market development issues in supply chain are the major factors for a long term decline of the Australian Beef industry. This study, based on the explanation of transaction cost theory argues that competitive performance of an industry depends on improving cost efficiency across the whole of supply chain, the underlying value chain, and the relationship among the stakeholders in the industry. With a main objective to investigate the underlying factors of developing competent inter-firm relationship that influence the supply chain performance and competitiveness, this study presents details of a survey carried out and tests the hypothesis that inter-organizational relationships in supply chain and its antecedents have impact on the performance of Australian beef industry and thus have impact on the competitiveness of the industry. Data were collected through a telephone survey of 315 firms in the beef industry from the states of Western Australia and Queensland. The sample respondents were categorized as input suppliers, beef-cattle producers, processors, retailers/exporters, and wholesalers. The data were analysed using the partial least square based structural equation modelling. PLS analysis reveals that ‘Transaction Climate’ is the strongest determinants of developing a competent relationship, while negotiation power, presence of industry competitors, and the degree of vertical coordination significantly influence the relationship strength. Findings also demonstrate that relationship strength is the most prevalent source of performance and competitiveness, while SC performance highly positively influences the Competitiveness of beef industry. Thus this study identifies significant antecedents and consequences of Supply Chain Performance in Australian beef industry, which are strategic and extremely important information for beef producers, processors, retailers, and other stakeholders for appropriate planning and benchmarking.Beef Supply Chain, Agribusiness Management, Supply Chain Management, Agribusiness,

The Legal responsibility of the lessor about hidden defects in the leased premises at the Jordanian Civil law - A comparative Study

The subject of this research revolves around the existence of the hidden defect in the wage and the penalty resulting from the Jordanian civil law, which is one of the most relevant subjects in our lives, where there is a lot of dealing between members of society, owners or tenants. The Jordanian legislator did not stipulate that the tenant should oblige the lessor to repair the defect by removing it or replacing the defective wage with the proper wage,   The Jordanian legislator does not differentiate between the lessor who knows the effect and the lessor who is not aware of it, and its effects on the amount of compensation for damage caused by the hidden defect in the rental. The criterion is that if the lessor is aware of the defect or not, and  the lessee is entitled to compensation for the damage caused by the defect In the leased and the amount of compensation includes all that the lessee's right of loss only. Also, the lessor who is aware of a defect informs the lessee that there is a defect at the time of signing the contract is not asked to compensate for the defects existing at the time of the lease , through the research, I reached to important results for the society as awhole,  so as to quarantee the rights of  tenants, especially that the Jordanian laws did not explicitly provide these solutions, which requires us to address the position of jurisprudence and the judiciary on this issue.       Therefore, this research is divided into three section, section one: specific performance. section two: cancelling the lease or the reduction of rent.section three: compensation. Keywords : hidden defect. Owner and tenants. Lessee  obligation. Jordanian civil  law

Real-time monitoring of the prototype design of electric system by the ubidots platform

In this paper, a prototype DC electric system was practically designed. The idea of the proposed system was derived from the microgrid concept. The system contained two houses each have a DC generator and load that consists of four 12 V DC lamps. Each house is controlled fully by Arduino UNO microcontroller to work in Island mode or connected it with the second house or main electric network. House operating mode depends on the power generated by its source and the availability of the main network. Under all operating cases, the minimum price of electricity consumption should satisfy as possible. Information between the houses about the operating mode and the main network state was exchanging wirelessly with the help of the RF-HC12. This information uploaded to the Ubidots platform by the Wi-Fi-ESP8266 included in the node MCU microcontroller. This platform has several advantages such as capture, visualization, analysis, and management of data. The system was examined for different cases to verify its working by varying the load in each building. All tested states showed that the houses transfer from one mode to another automatically with high reliability and minimum energy cost. The information about the main grid states and the sources of the houses were monitored and stored at the Ubidots platform

A randomised trial of an eight-week, once weekly primaquine regimen to prevent relapse of plasmodium vivax in Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Vivax malaria remains a major cause of morbidity in the subtropics. To undermine the stability of the disease, drugs are required that prevent relapse and provide reservoir reduction. A 14-day course of primaquine (PQ) is effective but cannot safely be used in routine practice because of its interaction with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency for which testing is seldom available. Safe and effective use of PQ without the need for G6PD testing would be ideal. The efficacy and safety of an 8-week, once weekly PQ regimen was compared with current standard treatment (chloroquine alone) and a 14-day PQ regimen. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 200 microscopically confirmed Plasmodium vivax patients were randomly assigned to either once weekly 8-week PQ (0.75 mg/kg/week), once weekly 8-week placebo, or 14-day PQ (0.5mg/kg/day) in North West Frontier Province, Pakistan. All patients were treated with a standard chloroquine dose and tested for G6PD deficiency. Deficient patients were assigned to the 8-week PQ group. Failure was defined as any subsequent episode of vivax malaria over 11 months of observation. There were 22/71 (31.0%) failures in the placebo group and 1/55 (1.8%) and 4/75 (5.1%) failures in the 14-day and 8-week PQ groups, respectively. Adjusted odds ratios were: for 8-week PQ vs. placebo-0.05 (95%CI: 0.01-0.2, p<0.001) and for 14-day PQ vs. placebo-0.01 (95%CI: 0.002-0.1, p<0.001). Restricted analysis allowing for a post-treatment prophylactic effect confirmed that the 8-week regimen was superior to current treatment. Only one G6PD deficient patient presented. There were no serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: A practical radical treatment for vivax malaria is essential for control and elimination of the disease. The 8-week PQ course is more effective at preventing relapse than current treatment with chloroquine alone. Widespread use of the 8-week regimen could make an important contribution to reservoir reduction or regional elimination where G6PD testing is not available. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00158587

Knowledge Asset and Inter-Organizational Relationship in the Performance of Australian Beef Supply Chain

Supply Chain Management has become a strategic issue in firm’s success where Knowledge Asset and inter-organizational system can play a substantial role. Given that Australian beef industry is production pushed and lags behind in productivity improvement, this research was carried out to study if knowledge Asset Management (KAM) and inter-organizational relationship structure in supply chain (SC) have any impact on the performance of Australian beef industry leading into improving the competitiveness of the industry. We utilize concepts from organizational theories and marketing literature in agribusiness to develop the formative/reflective constructs, their measurement scales, and then use partial least squares (PLS) based structural equation modeling (SEM) to test our hypotheses. Data were collected through a telephone survey of a total of 315 firms including input suppliers, producers, processors, and retailers in the beef industry of Western Australia and Queensland. The PLS analysis reveals that ‘KAM, is the strongest predictor of SC performance, followed by ‘transaction climate’ and vertical coordination among the chain members. Result also shows that SC performance strongly influences the ‘competitiveness’ of the industry as a whole. Thus this study identifies significant strategic supply chain factors, which will enable the stakeholders to do appropriate planning and benchmarking to improve performance of Australian beef industry

Energy demand forecasting of remote areas using linear regression and inverse matrix analysis

Efficient energy demand forecasting is pivotal for addressing energy challenges in remote areas of Bangladesh, where reliable access to energy resources remains a concern. This study proposes an innovative approach that combines linear regression analysis (LRA) and inverse matrix calculation (IMC) to forecast energy demand accurately in these underserved regions. By leveraging historical energy consumption data and pertinent predictors, such as meteorological conditions, population dynamics, economic indicators, and seasonal patterns, the model provides reliable forecasts. The application of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through a case study focused on remote regions of Bangladesh. The results showcase the approach's effectiveness in capturing the intricate dynamics of energy demand and its potential to inform sustainable energy management strategies in these remote areas. This research contributes to the advancement of energy planning and resource allocation in regions facing energy scarcity, fostering a path towards improved energy efficiency and development. These techniques can be applied to estimate short-term electricity demand for any rural or isolated region worldwide

Assessment of heavy metals in water and fish from Ibrahim Adamu Lake, Jigawa, Nigeria

The study was conducted to assess the levels of heavy metals in water and the flesh of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Water and tilapia were sampled for a period of 12 months from October, 2003-september 2004. Water and muscle tissue were analysed for Cu, Cr, pb, and Zn using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The assessment showed Cr (3.35mg/l), Cu (0.75mg/l), pb (0.81mg/l) in water while Cr(2.27mg/kg) and pb (0.27mg/kg) were found to be high in the tissue samples and were above the values recommended by WHO and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)of the United Nations and therefore not safe for human consumption

Inter-organizational supply chain performance: How the relationship factors influence the Australian beef industry?

This study examines supply chain structures and inter-organizational relationship factors that influence the supply chain performance in the Australian beef industry. It investigated the extent to which aggregated relationship strength is a source of supply chain performance for the industry. The effect of antecedent factors such as vertical coordination, negotiation power and the use of IOS in the relationship strength were also investigated. Data were collected through a telephone survey in 315 firms including input suppliers, producers, processors and retailers in the beef industry of Western Australia and Queensland. The results support both the direction of theoretical underpinnings from RBV and TCE in the beef industry, that durable buyer-supplier relationships in the supply chain are developed from the level of commitment and trust, interdependence and mutual investment and can be a strategic economic resource to by-pass the cost of traditional market transactions. Results suggest the following key success factors for the beef industry in Australia: (a) the operational adoption of a lean supply chain between producer and processors or processors and retailers; (b) a transparent interdependent relationship with a strong consolidation/integration of business activities; and (c) synchronized information flows for greater compliance with carcass specifications in the supply chain