EVOLUCIJA RAZVOJA PRIVATNIH MARKI: SLUČAJ JAPANA

This paper discusses on recent trend in private label development in Japan. Reasons for introducing of private label products have been explained as low price with moderate quality by the beginning of 21st century in Japan. However, improvement of quality is one of the persuasive factors which explains recent growth of private label products. In this paper, we will show market share growth which evolves with private label evolution from low price appeal to quality focused, when we traced its evolutionary sequence. Continuous quality improvement of private label product is one of the critical factors which influences consumers’ repeated purchase. Though previous studies indicated that quality improvement positively influenced, there was few report on practices and management of quality improvement in retailers. This paper will explore such quality improvement activities, how that evolved. Recent private label development focused on involvement to upstream, that is, production phase, such as material selections and supply management.U radu se analiziraju recentni trendovi razvoja privatnih marki u Japanu. Razlozi za uvođenje proizvoda privatne robne marke početkom 21. stoljeća u Japanu su niska cijena i umjerena kvaliteta. Međutim, poboljšanje kvalitete jedan je od uvjerljivih čimbenika koji objašnjava nedavni rast proizvoda privatne robne marke. U ovom radu pokazat ćemo rast tržišnog udjela koji se razvija s evolucijom privatnih robnih marki koje sa fokusa na niske cijene se usmjeravaju na kvalitetu. Kontinuirano poboljšanje kvalitete proizvoda privatne robne marke jedan kritičan je čimbenika koji utječu na ponovnu kupnju potrošača. Iako su prethodna istraživanja pokazala da je poboljšanje kvalitete pozitivno utjecalo, malo je izvještaja o praksi i upravljanju poboljšanjem kvalitete u maloprodaji. Ovaj rad će istražiti aktivnosti poboljšanja kvalitete i njihov razvoj. Nedavni razvoj privatnih maraka usmjeren je na uključivanje u vertikalni sustav (vertikalno povezivanje), odnosno fazu proizvodnje, kao što su odabir materijala i upravljanje opskrbom

EVOLUCIJA RAZVOJA PRIVATNIH MARKI: SLUČAJ JAPANA

This paper discusses on recent trend in private label development in Japan. Reasons for introducing of private label products have been explained as low price with moderate quality by the beginning of 21st century in Japan. However, improvement of quality is one of the persuasive factors which explains recent growth of private label products. In this paper, we will show market share growth which evolves with private label evolution from low price appeal to quality focused, when we traced its evolutionary sequence. Continuous quality improvement of private label product is one of the critical factors which influences consumers’ repeated purchase. Though previous studies indicated that quality improvement positively influenced, there was few report on practices and management of quality improvement in retailers. This paper will explore such quality improvement activities, how that evolved. Recent private label development focused on involvement to upstream, that is, production phase, such as material selections and supply management.U radu se analiziraju recentni trendovi razvoja privatnih marki u Japanu. Razlozi za uvođenje proizvoda privatne robne marke početkom 21. stoljeća u Japanu su niska cijena i umjerena kvaliteta. Međutim, poboljšanje kvalitete jedan je od uvjerljivih čimbenika koji objašnjava nedavni rast proizvoda privatne robne marke. U ovom radu pokazat ćemo rast tržišnog udjela koji se razvija s evolucijom privatnih robnih marki koje sa fokusa na niske cijene se usmjeravaju na kvalitetu. Kontinuirano poboljšanje kvalitete proizvoda privatne robne marke jedan kritičan je čimbenika koji utječu na ponovnu kupnju potrošača. Iako su prethodna istraživanja pokazala da je poboljšanje kvalitete pozitivno utjecalo, malo je izvještaja o praksi i upravljanju poboljšanjem kvalitete u maloprodaji. Ovaj rad će istražiti aktivnosti poboljšanja kvalitete i njihov razvoj. Nedavni razvoj privatnih maraka usmjeren je na uključivanje u vertikalni sustav (vertikalno povezivanje), odnosno fazu proizvodnje, kao što su odabir materijala i upravljanje opskrbom

Tumor Implantation into the Intrahepatic Bile Duct after Percutaneous Ethanol Injection Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

A 74-year-old man who had undergone transcatheter arterial embolization for hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (Couinaud's segment III/IV) in April 2003 and percutaneous ethanol injection for recurrence at the same site in February 2006 was found to have dilation of the intrahepatic bile duct by computed tomography in October 2008. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography showed a thrombosis occupying the left hepatic duct to the lateral branches with peripheral bile duct dilation. Serum concentration of alpha-fetoprotein was elevated. We performed a left hepatectomy under a preoperative diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma with bile duct invasion. The cut surface of the resected specimen showed a tumor thrombosis occupying the region between the left hepatic duct and lateral branches, but no tumor in the liver parenchyma. Histologic examination showed that the thrombosis in the intrahepatic bile duct was hepatocellular carcinoma. Since part of the hepatocellular carcinoma in the region treated with percutaneous ethanol injection was adjacent to the tumor thrombosis in the intrahepatic bile duct in diagnostic imaging, we diagnosed implantation into the intrahepatic bile duct due to percutaneous ethanol injection. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient is doing well without recurrence 8 months after the operation

Consistent map building in petrochemical complexes for firefighter robots using SLAM based on GPS and LIDAR

The objective of this study was to achieve simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) of firefighter robots for petrochemical complexes. Consistency of the SLAM map is important because human operators compare the map with aerial images and identify target positions on the map. The global positioning system (GPS) enables increased consistency. Therefore, this paper describes two Rao-Blackwellized particle filters (RBPFs) based on GPS and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) as SLAM solutions. Fast-SLAM 1.0 and Fast-SLAM 2.0 were used in grid maps for RBPFs in this study. We herein propose the use of Fast-SLAM to combine GPS and LIDAR. The difference between the original Fast-SLAM and the proposed method is the use of the log-likelihood function of GPS; the proposed combination method is implemented using a probabilistic mathematics formulation. The proposed methods were evaluated using sensor data measured in a real petrochemical complex in Japan ranging in size from 550–380 m. RTK-GPS data was used for the GPS measurement and had an availability of 56%. Our results showed that Fast-SLAM 2.0 based on GPS and LIDAR in a dense grid map produced the best results. There was significant improvement in alignment to aerial data, and the mean square root error was 0.65 m. To evaluate the mapping consistency, accurate 3D point cloud data measured by Faro Focus 3D (± 3 mm) was used as the ground truth. Building sizes were compared; the minimum mean errors were 0.17 and 0.08 m for the oil refinery and management building area and the area of a sparse building layout with large oil tanks, respectively. Consequently, a consistent map, which was also consistent with an aerial map (from Google Maps), was built by Fast-SLAM 1.0 and 2.0 based on GPS and LIDAR. Our method reproduced map consistency results for ten runs with a variance of ± 0.3 m. Our method reproduced map consistency results with a global accuracy of 0.52 m in a low RTK-Fix-GPS environment, which was a factory with a building layout similar to petrochemical complexes with 20.9% of RTK-Fix-GPS data availability

Observation of Current-induced Nonlinear Spin Polarization in Pt-Py Bilayers

We experimentally observe nonlinear spin polarization in metallic bilayers of platinum and permalloy by means of spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) with the spin-Hall effects. The ST-FMR results under massive dc current injection contain striking features, which are not caused by extrinsic Joule heating, but by intrinsic nonlinear spin polarization. The emergence of nonlinear spin polarization is consistent with observation of unidirectional spin-Hall magnetoresistance due to magnon generation/annihilation. Moreover, the magnon generation (annihilation) leads to effective magnetization shrinkage (expansion) revealed by the ST-FMR measurements. The present study paves a way to spin-Hall effect based nonlinear spintronic devices as well as 6th-generation mobile communication light sources

Photocatalytic Activity of S-doped TiO2 Photocatalyst under Visible Light

In order to effectively utilize visible light in photocatalytic reactions, we have developed S-doped TiO2 particles. They show strong absorption for visible light and high activities for degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solution under irradiation at wavelengths longer than 440 nm. The oxidation state of the S atoms incorporated into the TiO2 particles is determined to be S6+ from the XPS spectra