Applying Cross-Decking and Activity-Based Costing to Military Distribution Centers: A Proposed Framework

Current events and fiscal constraints have focused DoD planners\u27 attention on reducing logistics costs and improving efficiency while maintaining effective combat operations support. Military leaders are seeking private industry best practices that may help the DoD achieve these goals. Two commercially successful business practices that may help the DoD achieve its goals are cross-docking and Activity-Based Costing (ABC). Cross-docking is a commercially proven approach to material distribution through a distribution center that can help reduce inventories, speed material flows, and cut related logistics activity costs. However, the DoD is faced with the challenge of costing current and potential logistics processes with an antiquated costing structure. Military planners may be able to use ABC to answer this costing challenge and help them decide whether or not to invest in cross-docking technologies. This thesis is a proposed framework for constructing a tool that may provide managers performance and cost measurements of current military distribution center operations, and estimate expected performance and cost changes as a result ofincorporating high technology cross-docking methodologies. The tool incorporates computer simulation modeling to measure the time performance, and a proposed ABC model to measure available versus used capacities, and costs, of existing and potential distribution processes and activities. The use of simulation for costing of activities and product costs is an unexplored area of ABC literature. Furthermore, ABC and simulation have not been used in conjunction to simulate and cost specific activities in a DoD distribution center. The implication for this research is to provide DoD managers a decision support tool for contemporary logistics decisions

Forage Crop Research: Evaluating Forage Species in Iowa for Productivity during Drought Conditions—Quality

The objective of this research is to evaluate the forage quality of forage species for their seasonal productivity differences and their ability to withstand droughty environmental conditions in Iowa

Forage Crop Research: Evaluating Forage Species in Iowa for Productivity during Drought Conditions

Drought often results in greater agricultural damage in southern, western, and northeastern Iowa than in the rest of the state. Slight to severe slopes are prone to erosion, and soils high in clay content are slow to drain excess moisture during wet periods and have low amounts of available moisture during periods of drought. The land is predominantly used for livestock production because of factors that limit level of productivity in row-crop production

Distinguishing integration and prediction accounts of ERP N400 modulations in language processing through experimental design

Prediction of upcoming input is thought to be a main characteristic of language processing (e.g. Altmann & Mirkovic, 2009; Dell & Chang, 2014; Federmeier, 2007; Ferreira & Chantavarin, 2018; Pickering & Gambi, 2018; Hale, 2001; Hickok, 2012; Huettig 2015; Kuperberg & Jaeger, 2016; Levy, 2008; Norris, McQueen, & Cutler, 2016; Pickering & Garrod, 2013; Van Petten & Luka, 2012). One of the main pillars of experimental support for this notion comes from studies that have attempted to measure electrophysiological markers of prediction when participants read or listened to sentences ending in highly predictable words. The N400, a negative-going and centro-parietally distributed component of the ERP occurring approximately 400ms after (target) word onset, has been frequently interpreted as indexing prediction of the word (or the semantic representations and/or the phonological form of the predicted word, see Kutas & Federmeier, 2011; Nieuwland, 2019; Van Petten & Luka, 2012; for review). A major difficulty for interpreting N400 effects in language processing however is that it has been difficult to establish whether N400 target word modulations conclusively reflect prediction rather than (at least partly) ease of integration. In the present exploratory study, we attempted to distinguish lexical prediction (i.e. ‘top-down’ activation) from lexical integration (i.e. ‘bottom-up’ activation) accounts of ERP N400 modulations in language processing

Density distributions from radiation measurents during the fast magneticcompression of a plasma

For the fast magnetie compression of a deuterium plasma, as described in another paper of this conference, (1 ), the compressionratio and end losses are of high interest. For the determination of these quantities the radial density distribution must be known as a function of time. Present theoretical calculations, concerned with the fast compression of plasma with parallel or reverse magnetic bias field are in need of experimental data, which also can be taken from density and intensity distributions. This information can partly be obtained from smear camera pictures. For this purpose the film density must be transformed into light intensity. The interpretation of the intensity distribution requires information on the composition of plasma radiation and on the dependence of the intensity on plasma density and temperature. In some cases the density distributions can be derived from the observed intensity

Investigations on a pulsed electrodeless ring discharge with magnetic bias fields of different amplitudes

The formation of a plasma in an electrodeless ring discharge with a steady magnetic bias field of different amplitudes was investigated. Internal and external magnetic fields and the intensities of suitable spectral lines were measured. The temporal behaviour of the discharge was observed with a streak camera. It was possible to measure the electron temperature and to estimate the electron density in interesting time intervals. The results show that the obtained electron temperatures essentially depend on the initial magnetic field. This is caused by different amounts of trapped field in the first current halfcycle, which give high magnetic field gradients in the second current halfcycle. End losses are also strongly influenced by the presence of a steady magnetic field

Using Pectoral Fin Rays as a Non-lethal Aging Structure for Smallmouth Bass: Precision with Otolith Age Estimates and the Importance of Reader Experience

We evaluated the potential utility of pectoral fin rays as non-lethal aging structures for smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu). We compared age estimates among three reading pairs and against sectioned sagittal otolith age estimates for precision. Reading pair bias was not detected, although the highest rates of age estimate agreement occurred between reading pairs with high and moderate aging experience. Precision of otolith and fin ray age estimates were equivalent based on between-structure comparisons of average percent error and coefficient of variation. However, fin rays underestimated fish age compared to otoliths for older fish, especially when aged by less-experienced readers. Pectoral fin rays may provide a non-lethal alternative to otoliths for aging smallmouth bass, particularly for younger fish (≤age 4) or when experienced readers conduct aging. Additional evaluations of fin rays as smallmouth bass aging structures are needed, including validation using known-age fish and documentation of consistent annulus formation throughout a fish’s life

The Galactic evolution of phosphorus

As a galaxy evolves, its chemical composition changes and the abundance ratios of different elements are powerful probes of the underlying evolutionary processes. Phosphorous is an element whose evolution has remained quite elusive until now, because it is difficult to detect in cool stars. The infrared weak P I lines of the multiplet 1, at 1050-1082 nm, are the most reliable indicators of the presence of phosphorus. The availability of CRIRES at VLT has permitted access to this wavelength range in stellar spectra.We attempt to measure the phosphorus abundance of twenty cool stars in the Galactic disk. The spectra are analysed with one-dimensional model-atmospheres computed in Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE). The line formation computations are performed assuming LTE. The ratio of phosphorus to iron behaves similarly to sulphur, increasing towards lower metallicity stars. Its ratio with respect to sulphur is roughly constant and slightly larger than solar, [P/S]=0.10+- 0.10. We succeed in taking an important step towards the understanding of the chemical evolution of phosphorus in the Galaxy. However, the observed rise in the P/Fe abundance ratio is steeper than predicted by Galactic chemical evolution model model developed by Kobayashi and collaborators. Phosphorus appears to evolve differently from the light odd-Z elements sodium and aluminium. The constant value of [P/S] with metallicity implies that P production is insensitive to the neutron excess, thus processes other than neutron captures operate. We suggest that proton captures on 30Si and alpha captures on $27Al are possibilities to investigate. We see no clear distinction between our results for stars with planets and stars without any detected planet.Comment: To be published on A&

Regulation and localization of endogenous human tristetraprolin

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) has been implicated in the development and pathogenicity of infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders, such as septic shock and arthritis. The zinc-finger protein tristetraprolin (TTP) has been identified as a major regulator of TNF biosynthesis. To define its intracellular location and examine its regulation of TNF, a quantitive intracellular staining assay specific for TTP was developed. We establish for the first time that in peripheral blood leukocytes, expression of endogenous TTP is confined to the cytoplasm. Baseline expression of TTP was higher in monocytes than in lymphocytes or neutrophils. After in vitro incubation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), leukocyte TTP levels increased rapidly, peaking after approximately 2 hours. Monocytes showed the greatest response to LPS stimulation and lymphocytes the least. TTP levels were also studied in leukocytes isolated from healthy volunteers infused with a bolus dose of LPS. TTP expression and initial upregulation in response to LPS infusion were consistent with the in vitro data. Neutrophil TTP levels responded first, reaching an initial peak within 1 hour, monocyte levels peaked next at 2 hours, followed by lymphocytes at 4 hours. This response paralleled plasma TNF levels, which peaked 2 hours after infusion and were no longer detectable after 12 hours. A second rise in intracellular TTP levels, which did not parallel plasma TNF levels, was observed in all leukocyte populations, starting 12 hours after infusion. These data establish the cytoplasmic location of TTP, supporting a major role for this protein in regulating TNF production, and suggest that TTP levels are not regulated solely by TNF