Socio-Economic Sourcing: Benefits of Small Business Set-Asides in Public Procurement

Purpose Small businesses are critical to economic health and encouraged in government spending by set-asides – annual small business sourcing goals that often are not attained. Little research has explored the negative and risky stigmas associated with small business sourcing. Design/methodology/approach This research explores reduced transaction costs of small business sourcing to government buyers. A survey of 350 government source selections reveals lower transaction costs derived from lower perceived risk of receiving a bid protest and via more efficient source selection processes. Findings Contrary to common bias, the performance level of small businesses is no less than that of large business. Thus, small businesses engender lower transaction costs for correcting supplier’s performance. On the basis of these findings, managerial and theoretical implications are discussed

Single-Calf Heifer System Profitability Compared to Other North Dakota Beef Production Systems

Production Economics, Productivity Analysis,

FEASIBILITY OF A SHEEP COOPERATIVE FOR GRAZING LEAFY SPURGE

This report presents an economic feasibility study of a 5,000 head, cooperatively owned, sheep operation for leafy spurge control. The objectives were 1) determine the return on investment of the cooperative, 2) determine the proposed structure of the cooperative, and 3) ascertain the amount of capital investment required by members in the cooperative. Three sheep flock management alternatives were initially considered for the cooperative. These were 1) winter lambing, 2) spring lambing, and 3) fall lambing. The fall lambing scenario was determined to be infeasible because of logistics associated with gathering and transportation of pregnant ewes and lack of grazing pressure on leafy spurge throughout the grazing season. The total capital investment per ewe for the winter lambing scenario was more than the spring lambing scenario - - $301 and$216, respectively. The expected net income generated by the winter lambing scenario was negative. The minimum break-even lamb selling price or lambs sold per ewe for the winter lambing scenario was $84.10/cwt and 1.33, respectively. The spring lambing scenario returned$124,000 annually. The minimum breakeven lamb selling price or lambs sold per ewe for the spring lambing scenario was $59.51/cwt and 0.94, respectively. The expected return on investment (50% equity) for cooperative members with the spring lambing scenario, assuming a 50-acre leafy spurge infestation in a 100-acre pasture and new fence, was 16 percent (stocking rate of 1 ewe and lambs per acre of leafy spurge). While these returns are not a guarantee of success for the spring lambing alternative, they do provide an indication of the potential that such a cooperative may have.Leafy Spurge, Cooperative, Weed Control, Sheep Grazing, Economics, Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Agribusiness,

Explaining the effectiveness of performance-based logistics: a quantitative examination

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09574091111181354Purpose – Performance-based logistics (PBL) strategies are providing governments and for-profit organizations with a contractual mechanism that reduces the life cycle costs of their systems. PBL accomplishes this by establishing contracts that focus on the delivery of performance not parts. PBL establishes a metric based governance structure where suppliers make more profit when they invest in logistics process improvements, or system redesign, that reduces total cost of ownership. While work has been done to outline an overall PBL theoretical framework, the underlying theory explaining the enablers that lead to organizational and team-level, team-goal alignment associated with the PBL governance structure requires testing. The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively test previously posited relationships between enablers of PBL and PBL effectiveness. An additional objective is to explore any differences in PBL effectiveness between different business sectors.This material is based upon work supported by the Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program under Grant No. N00244-10-1-0074

Black Diamonds at Brane Junctions

We discuss the properties of black holes in brane-world scenarios where our universe is viewed as a four-dimensional sub-manifold of some higher-dimensional spacetime. We consider in detail such a model where four-dimensional spacetime lies at the junction of several domain walls in a higher dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime. In this model there may be any number p of infinitely large extra dimensions transverse to the brane-world. We present an exact solution describing a black p-brane which will induce on the brane-world the Schwarzschild solution. This exact solution is unstable to the Gregory-Laflamme instability, whereby long-wavelength perturbations cause the extended horizon to fragment. We therefore argue that at late times a non-rotating uncharged black hole in the brane-world is described by a deformed event horizon in p+4 dimensions which will induce, to good approximation, the Schwarzschild solution in the four-dimensional brane world. When p=2, this deformed horizon resembles a black diamond and more generally for p>2, a polyhedron.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, latex, JHEP.cl

Placental expression of angiopoietin-1, angiopoietin-2 and tie-2 during placental development in an ovine model of placental insufficiency-fetal growth restriction.

Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is associated with increased perinatal morbidity and mortality, and often results from functional placental insufficiency. Placentation requires extensive vasculogenesis and subsequent angiogenesis, in both maternal and fetal tissues. Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) and Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) are angiogenic growth factors expressed in the placenta, and compete for binding to a common receptor, Tunica interna endothelial cell kinase-2 (Tie-2). Our objective was to examine Ang-1, Ang-2 and Tie-2 expression in ovine placental tissue obtained from normal and FGR pregnancies throughout gestation. Fetal cotyledon and maternal caruncle tissue concentrations of Ang-1, Ang-2 and Tie-2 mRNA were assessed by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and protein concentrations were assessed by Western immunoblot analysis, at 55, 90 and 135 d gestational age (dGA). Concentrations of Ang-1, Ang-2 and Tie-2 mRNA in FGR fetal cotyledons were increased at 55 dGA, and Tie-2 mRNA concentrations were decreased in FGR fetal cotyledons and maternal caruncles at 135 dGA. Immunoblot analysis demonstrated increased concentrations of Ang-2 in the fetal cotyledon at 55 dGA, and lower concentrations at 135 dGA. In contrast, concentrations of Tie-2 were increased at 90 dGA, but tended to decrease at 135 dGA in FGR maternal caruncles. The changes observed during early- to mid-gestation may result in increased branching angiogenesis, but may also set the stage for increased nonbranching angiogenesis during late gestation, altered placental architecture and placental insufficiency that result in FGR

Assessment of Hypoxia Inducible Factor Levels in Cancer Cell Lines upon Hypoxic Induction Using a Novel Reporter Construct

Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) signaling pathway is important for tumor cells with limited oxygen supplies, as it is shown to be involved in the process of proliferation and angiogenesis. Given its pivotal role in cancer biology, robust assays for tracking changes in HIF expression are necessary for understanding its regulation in cancer as well as developing therapies that target HIF signaling. Here we report a novel HIF reporter construct containing tandem repeats of minimum HIF binding sites upstream of eYFP coding sequence. We show that the reporter construct has an excellent signal to background ratio and the reporter activity is HIF dependent and directly correlates with HIF protein levels. By utilizing this new construct, we assayed HIF activity levels in different cancer cell lines cultured in various degrees of hypoxia. This analysis reveals a surprising cancer cell line specific variation of HIF activity in the same level of hypoxia. We further show that in two cervical cancer cell lines, ME180 and HeLa, the different HIF activity levels observed correlate with the levels of hsp90, a cofactor that protects HIF against VHL-independent degradation. This novel HIF reporter construct serves as a tool to rapidly define HIF activity levels and therefore the therapeutic capacity of potential HIF repressors in individual cancers

An immunocompromised BALB/c mouse model for respiratory syncytial virus infection

BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection causes bronchiolitis in infants and children, which can be fatal, especially in immunocompromised patients. The BALB/c mouse, currently used as a model for studying RSV immunopathology, is semi-permissive to the virus. A mouse model that more closely mimics human RSV infection is needed. Since immunocompromised conditions increase risk of RSV infection, the possibility of enhancing RSV infection in the BALB/c mouse by pretreatment with cyclophosphamide was examined in this study. BALB/c mice were treated with cyclophosphamide (CYP) and five days later, they were infected with RSV intranasally. Pulmonary RSV titers, inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness were measured five days after infection. RESULTS: CYP-treated mice show higher RSV titers in their lungs of than the untreated mice. Also, a decreased percentage of macrophages and an increased number of lymphocytes and neutrophils were present in the BAL of CYP-treated mice compared to controls. The CYP-treated group also exhibited augmented bronchoalveolar and interstitial pulmonary inflammation. The increased RSV infection in CYP-treated mice was accompanied by elevated expression of IL-10, IL-12 and IFN-γ mRNAs and proteins compared to controls. Examination of CYP-treated mice before RSV infection showed that CYP treatment significantly decreased both IFN-γ and IL-12 expression. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that CYP-treated BALB/c mice provide a better model for studying RSV immunopathology and that decreased production of IL-12 and IFN-γ are important determinants of susceptibility to RSV infection

Recommendations Supporting Development of Flight Deck DataComm Text and Graphic Display Evaluation Guidance

In the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NexGen), voice communications will become less frequent, and most communication will occur via data communications -- uplink messages (UM) (to pilot) and downlink messages (DM) and requests (to ATC). Clearances may include simple one-element clearances such as CLIMB TO [altitude] or complex clearances created by concatenating messages to create flight trajectories that include ATC-authorized route segments, altitudes, and at least one required time of arrival (RTA). Due to the complexity of clearances, aircraft and flight deck equipment manufacturers may seek approval for new and modified flight deck displays to more clearly depict clearances to the flight crew, likely using text and graphics. This research evaluated text and hybrid text and graphic concepts to develop human factors (HF) recommendations for specialists who participate in certification of new and modified flight deck DataComm displays, and as a potential update to AC 20-140, Guidelines for Design Approval of Aircraft Data Link Communication Systems Supporting Air Traffic Services (ATS)