An analysis of inventory turnover in the Belgian manufacturing industry, wholesale and retail and the financial impact on inventory reduction.

Various inventory studies have been published in the last decades. Some studies emphasize the importance of low inventories, other examine the evolution of inventories over time and especially focus on the impact of the just-in-time (JIT) revolution. The aim of this paper is to investigate the level of inventories held by Belgian companies at one moment in time, namely May 2004. First we examine differences in inventory ratios between manufacturing industry sectors as well as between wholesale and retail. We find empirical evidence that the type of production process is the most important driver for work in process inventory. The finished goods inventory ratio also differs significantly among industry sectors, but here the reasons for the difference are harder to distinguish. Finally we find the inventory ratio to be significantly higher in retail than in wholesale. Furthermore, we examine the financial impact of inventories in the manufacturing industry. We find that companies with very high inventory ratios have more chance to be bad financial performers. Regression analyses partially support the hypothesis of a negative relationship between inventory ratio and financial performance but significant results could not be obtained for all sectors.Inventory; Manufacturing;

Homogeneity of Stellar Populations in Early-Type Galaxies with Different X-ray Properties

We have found the stellar populations of early-type galaxies are homogeneous with no significant difference in color or Mg2 index, despite the dichotomy between X-ray extended early-type galaxies and X-ray compact ones. Since the X-ray properties reflect the potential gravitational structure and hence the process of galaxy formation, the homogeneity of the stellar populations implies that the formation of stars in early-type galaxies predat es the epoch when the dichotomy of the potential structure was established.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Coalition theories: empirical evidence for dutch municipalities

The paper analyzes coalition formation in Dutch municipalities. After discussing the main features of the institutional setting, several theories are discussed, which are classified as size oriented, policy oriented and actor oriented models. A test statistic is proposed to determine the predictive power of these models. The empirical analysis shows that strategic positions as well as some of the distinguished preferences are important in the setting of Dutch municipalities. Especially, the dominant minimum number principle yields highly significant results for coalition formations in the period 1978–1986

Active-Sterile neutrino oscillations and BBN+CMBR constraints

We show how active-sterile neutrino oscillations in the early Universe can play an interesting role in explaining the current observations of CMBR anisotropies and light element abundances. We describe different possible phenomenological scenarios in the interpretation of present data and how active-sterile neutrino oscillations can provide a viable theoretical framework.Comment: Some changes, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Which mathematics for the Information Society?

MathIS is a new project that aims to reinvigorate secondary- school mathematics by exploiting insights of the dynamics of algorithmic problem solving. This paper describes the main ideas that underpin the project. In summary, we propose a central role for formal logic, the development of a calculational style of reasoning, the emphasis on the algorithmic nature of mathematics, and the promotion of self-discovery by the students. These ideas are discussed and the case is made, through a number of examples that show the teaching style that we want to introduce, for their relevance in shaping mathematics training for the years to come. In our opinion, the education of software engineers that work effectively with formal methods and mathematical abstractions should start before university and would benefit from the ideas discussed here.Long-term collaboration with J. N. Oliveira on calculational approaches to mathematics is deeply acknowledged. We are also grateful to the anonymous referees for their valuable comments. This research was supported by FCT (the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology), in the context of the MATHIS Project under contract PTDC/EIA/73252/2006. The work of Joao F. Ferreira and AlexandraMendeswas further supported by FCT grants SFRH/BD/24269/2005 and SFRH/BD/29553/2006, respectively

Whole breast and regional nodal irradiation in prone versus supine position in left sided breast cancer

Background: Prone whole breast irradiation (WBI) leads to reduced heart and lung doses in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy. In this feasibility trial, we investigated the prone position for whole breast + lymph node irradiation (WB + LNI). Methods: A new support device was developed for optimal target coverage, on which patients are positioned in a position resembling a phase from the crawl swimming technique (prone crawl position). Five left sided breast cancer patients were included and simulated in supine and prone position. For each patient, a treatment plan was made in prone and supine position for WB + LNI to the whole axilla and the unoperated part of the axilla. Patients served as their own controls for comparing dosimetry of target volumes and organs at risk (OAR) in prone versus in supine position. Results: Target volume coverage differed only slightly between prone and supine position. Doses were significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in prone position for ipsilateral lung (Dmean, D2, V5, V10, V20, V30), contralateral lung (Dmean, D2), contralateral breast (Dmean, D2 and for total axillary WB + LNI also V5), thyroid (Dmean, D2, V5, V10, V20, V30), oesophagus (Dmean and for partial axillary WB + LNI also D2 and V5), skin (D2 and for partial axillary WB + LNI V105 and V107). There were no significant differences for heart and humeral head doses. Conclusions: Prone crawl position in WB + LNI allows for good breast and nodal target coverage with better sparing of ipsilateral lung, thyroid, contralateral breast, contralateral lung and oesophagus when compared to supine position. There is no difference in heart and humeral head doses

Establishment of Protein Delivery Systems Targeting Podocytes

Podocytes are uniquely structured cells that are critical to the kidney filtration barrier. Their anatomic location on the outer side of the glomerular capillaries expose podocytes to large quantities of both plasma and urinary components and thus are reachable for drug delivery. Recent years have made clear that interference with podocyte-specific disease pathways can modulate glomerular function and influence severity and progression of glomerular disease.Here, we describe studies that show efficient transport of proteins into the mammalian cells mouse 3T3 fibroblasts and podocytes, utilizing an approach termed profection. We are using synthetic lipid structures that allow the safe packing of proteins or antibodies resulting in the subsequent delivery of protein into the cell. The uptake of lipid coated protein is facilitated by the intrinsic characteristic of cells such as podocytes to engulf particles that are physiologically retained in the extracellular matrix. Profection of the restriction enzyme MunI in 3T3 mouse fibroblasts caused an increase in DNA degradation. Moreover, purified proteins such as beta-galactosidase and the large GTPase dynamin could be profected into podocytes using two different profection reagents with the success rate of 95-100%. The delivered beta-galactosidase enzyme was properly folded and able to cleave its substrate X-gal in podocytes. Diseased podocytes are also potential recipients of protein cargo as we also delivered fluorophore labeled IgG into puromycin treated podocytes. We are currently optimizing our protocol for in vivo profection.Protein transfer is developing as an exciting tool to study and target highly differentiated cells such as podocytes