Rethinking Supply Chains as Neighborhoods

This paper explores the implication of a neighborhood model for interfirm interactions that explicitly tries to create an equality matching relationship among firms in an industry. The aim is to examine what would happen if these firms worked to gain trust with each other with an eye toward maximizing the value of the collaboration across projects rather than just maximizing revenues in individual projects. A review of extant literature and an analysis of in-depth interviews yielded three actionable strategies that support the creation of a sustainable neighborhood in the construction industry: 1) Hub Strategy, 2) Trust Exercise Strategy, and 3) Sustainable Neighborhood Strategy. As envisioned in this study, the hub is a concentrated, inter-organizational structure for supply chain participants in large, complex projects. Importantly, hub members engage in a variety of technical activities that infuse ongoing and future projects with innovation, scope optimization, and operational efficiencies. Additionally, other activities within the hub are designed to purposefully allow participants to develop trust through collaboration before or outside of their primary contractual engagements. At present, this model has been examined for construction megaprojects, but the general neighborhood concept could be applied to many different industries and settings including manufacturing supply chains and collaborations among communities engaging in economic development. Future work will explore whether mechanisms like the hub and trust exercises can be applied in these other settings as well.IC2 Institut

Outcome of ATP-based tumor chemosensitivity assay directed chemotherapy in heavily pre-treated recurrent ovarian carcinoma

BACKGROUND: We wished to evaluate the clinical response following ATP-Tumor Chemosensitivity Assay (ATP-TCA) directed salvage chemotherapy in a series of UK patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The results are compared with that of a similar assay used in a different country in terms of evaluability and clinical endpoints. METHODS: From November 1998 to November 2001, 46 patients with pre-treated, advanced ovarian cancer were given a total of 56 courses of chemotherapy based on in-vitro ATP-TCA responses obtained from fresh tumor samples or ascites. Forty-four patients were evaluable for results. Of these, 18 patients had clinically platinum resistant disease (relapse < 6 months after first course of chemotherapy). There was evidence of cisplatin resistance in 31 patients from their first ATP-TCA. Response to treatment was assessed by radiology, clinical assessment and tumor marker level (CA 125). RESULTS: The overall response rate was 59% (33/56) per course of chemotherapy, including 12 complete responses, 21 partial responses, 6 with stable disease, and 15 with progressive disease. Two patients were not evaluable for response having received just one cycle of chemotherapy: if these were excluded the response rate is 61%. Fifteen patients are still alive. Median progression free survival (PFS) was 6.6 months per course of chemotherapy; median overall survival (OAS) for each patient following the start of TCA-directed therapy was 10.4 months (95% confidence interval 7.9-12.8 months). CONCLUSION: The results show similar response rates to previous studies using ATP-TCA directed therapy in recurrent ovarian cancer. The assay shows high evaluability and this study adds weight to the reproducibility of results from different centre

Desensitization to carboplatin in low-grade glioma. A revision of 100 treatments in children

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dualities in integrable systems and N=2 theories

We discuss dualities of the integrable dynamics behind the exact solution to the N=2 SUSY YM theory. It is shown that T duality in the string theory is related to the separation of variables procedure in dynamical system. We argue that there are analogues of S duality as well as 3d mirror symmetry in the many-body systems of Hitchin type governing low-energy effective actions.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, Talk given at QFTHEP-99, Moscow, May 27-June

Mixed Hodge polynomials of character varieties

We calculate the E-polynomials of certain twisted GL(n,C)-character varieties M_n of Riemann surfaces by counting points over finite fields using the character table of the finite group of Lie-type GL(n,F_q) and a theorem proved in the appendix by N. Katz. We deduce from this calculation several geometric results, for example, the value of the topological Euler characteristic of the associated PGL(n,C)-character variety. The calculation also leads to several conjectures about the cohomology of M_n: an explicit conjecture for its mixed Hodge polynomial; a conjectured curious Hard Lefschetz theorem and a conjecture relating the pure part to absolutely indecomposable representations of a certain quiver. We prove these conjectures for n = 2.Comment: with an appendix by Nicholas M. Katz; 57 pages. revised version: New definition for homogeneous weight in Definition 4.1.6, subsequent arguments modified. Some other minor changes. To appear in Invent. Mat

On Integrable Systems and Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

The properties of the N=2 SUSY gauge theories underlying the Seiberg-Witten hypothesis are discussed. The main ingredients of the formulation of the finite-gap solutions to integrable equations in terms of complex curves and generating 1-differential are presented, the invariant sense of these definitions is illustrated. Recently found exact nonperturbative solutions to N=2 SUSY gauge theories are formulated using the methods of the theory of integrable systems and where possible the parallels between standard quantum field theory results and solutions to integrable systems are discussed.Comment: LaTeX, 38 pages, no figures; based on the lecture given at INTAS School on Advances in Quantum Field Theory and Statistical Mechanics, Como, Italy, 1996; minor changes, few references adde

Repeating the Errors of Our Parents? Family-of-Origin Spouse Violence and Observed Conflict Management in Engaged Couples

Based on a developmental social learning analysis, it was hypothesized that observing parental violence predisposes partners to difficulties in managing couple conflict. Seventy-one engaged couples were assessed on their observation of parental violence in their family of origin. All couples were videotaped discussing two areas of current relationship conflict, and their cognitions during the interactions were assessed using a video-mediated recall procedure. Couples in which the male partner reported observing parental violence (male-exposed couples) showed more negative affect and communication during conflict discussions than couples in which neither partner reported observing parental violence (unexposed couples). Couples in which only the female partner reported observing parental violence (female- exposed couples) did not differ from unexposed couples in their affect or behavior. Female-exposed couples reported more negative cognitions than unexposed couples, but male-exposed couples did not differ from unexposed couples in their reported cognitions

Weekly platinum chemotherapy for recurrent ovarian cancer

British Journal of Cancer (2002) 86, 2–4. DOI: 10.1038/sj/bjc/6600062 www.bjcancer.co