Optimization-based decision support system for retail souring

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-84).Some of the biggest challenges in the retail sourcing lie in predicting demand for a new article and making purchase decisions such as quantity, source, transportation mode and time of the order. Such decisions become more complex and time consuming as the number of SKUs and suppliers increase. The thesis addresses the issue of managing retail sourcing using forecasting and optimization based decision system developed for Zara, a leading fast-fashion clothing retailer. We started with an existing pre-season demand forecasting method that uses POS data from a comparable older article to forecast demand for a new article after adjusting for stock-outs and seasonality. We developed and compared various forecast updating methods for accuracy and found that an exponential smoothing-based model, modified to accommodate for changes in level few steps ahead, resulted in highest accuracy using Cumulative Absolute Percentage Error (CAPE). Next, we implemented a profit-maximizing optimization model to produce explicit sourcing decisions such as quantity, time and source of orders. The model takes in distributional forecasts, supply constraints, holding cost, pricing information and outputs explicit sourcing decisions mentioned above. A prototype for forecasting and optimization code is ready and currently being evaluated to secure approval for a live pilot for Summer 2013 campaign sourcing.by Jalpa Patel.S.M.M.B.A

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICES OF SELF-MEDICATION AMONG THE STUDENTS OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

Objectives: Self-medication is becoming very common in our routine life which is an unhealthy and risky practice in a few instances. The present study was carried out to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of self-medication among students of Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT). Methods: A pre-validated questionnaire was prepared and distributed among the students. Data was collected and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and the results expressed as counts and percentages. Results: A total of 431 students participated voluntarily in the study. The most common reason for taking self-medication was found in 70% of total students. We found that the source of information of the drugs used for self-medication was “previous prescription (57%)” and source of drugs was “medical store (66%).” Only (46%) students accepted the fact that they always visited a qualified practitioner whenever they felt ill. Most of the students took self-medication for headache (82%) followed by cough, cold, and sore throat (62%) and fever (57%). Of total 431 students, most of the students took analgesics (78%) as self-medication followed by lozenges (50%). Conclusion: Self-medication was common in nearly 70% of university students. They provided the reason that “no needs to visit the doctor for minor illness.” Cough and cold preparations were taken by 82% population as self-medication

A questionnaire-based study evaluating awareness for organ and body donation and cadaveric dissection among the general population attending mid Gujarat region

Introduction: Organ transplantation provides benefits to society as a whole as well as to the individuals who receive transplants. However, the success of transplantation for end-stage organ failure is limited due to the availability of suitable organs for transplant Public awareness is critical for the development of donation program. Methods: Total 200 adult participants were included in the studies from outpatient department by consecutive sampling method. A self-administered semi structured questionnaire was filled by participants in the presence of researchers. Results: Awareness of organ donation (67.5%) was higher than awareness of body donation (34.5%) and cadaveric dissection (32.5%). About 28% and 24% participants were aware of live organ donation and brain death. Willingness for organ donation was observed 21.5% participants, unwillingness in 51.5% of participants and 27.0% in undecided state of mind. Conclusion: Knowledge level regarding organ donation was found sufficient but same did not reflect in their attitude and practice towards organ donation. Educational session of health care professional through internet and television can play critical role in rising up positive attitude towards organ donation. Fear of misuse of donated organ is the most common reason for unwillingness to be a donor

Aggregated Bloom Filters For Intrusion Detection And Prevention Hardware

Abstract—Bloom Filters (BFs) are fundamental building blocks in various network security applications, where packets from high-speed links are processed using state-of-the-art hardwarebased systems. In this paper, we propose Aggregated Bloom Filters (ABFs) to increase the throughput and scalability of BFs. The proposed ABF has two methods to improve average speed and scalability. The first method leverages the query mechanism for hardware BFs. We ptimize queries by removing redundant hash calculations and memory accesses. First, to remove redundancy, the hash functions for each query are calculated sequentially. As soon as we have a no match in any of the hash results, the query is immediately abandoned. We then aggregate multiple queries and query a BF with all of these queries in parallel, which maximizes the throughput of the BF. The second method addresses scalability issues regarding the on-chip memory resources. In most applications multiple BFs are required to store many sets with different numbers of elements. These sets may also be too small for the unit memory on-chip. So, most of the memory is left unused, causing low memory utilization. The second method aggregates small distributed BFs to a single BF allowing better on-chip memory utilization. For the application of Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (NIDPSs), our proposed ABF shows seven-fold improvement in the average query throughput and four times less memory usage. I

Comparative evaluation of DFDBA versus PRF with DFDBA in treatment of grade-II furcation defects – A clinical trial

Background: In order to determine whether a method is more successful for treating a grade-II furcation deficiency, this randomized trial will compare demineralized freeze-dried bone allograft (DFDBA) to platelet-rich fibrin with DFDBA. Materials and Methods: Twenty systematically healthy patients between the ages of 30 and 60 with a grade-II furcation were evaluated pre and postoperatively for changes in the modified plaque index, probing depth, relative vertical and horizontal clinical attachment level, gingival marginal level, and radiographic bone defect. Results: The test group significantly outperformed the control group on all clinical and radiological measures. Conclusion: The experimental group improved at both clinical attachment levels and had a higher decrease in probing depth than the control group did

Abstracts of Scientifica 2022

This book contains the abstracts of the papers presented at Scientifica 2022, Organized by the Sancheti Institute College of Physiotherapy, Pune, Maharashtra, India, held on 12–13 March 2022. This conference helps bring researchers together across the globe on one platform to help benefit the young researchers. There were six invited talks from different fields of Physiotherapy and seven panel discussions including over thirty speakers across the globe which made the conference interesting due to the diversity of topics covered during the conference. Conference Title:  Scientifica 2022Conference Date: 12–13 March 2022Conference Location: Sancheti Institute College of PhysiotherapyConference Organizer: Sancheti Institute College of Physiotherapy, Pune, Maharashtra, Indi