Tools and Procedures for the CTA Array Calibration

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is an international initiative to build the next generation ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray observatory. Full sky coverage will be assured by two arrays, one located on each of the northern and southern hemispheres. Three different sizes of telescopes will cover a wide energy range from tens of GeV up to hundreds of TeV. These telescopes, of which prototypes are currently under construction or completion, will have different mirror sizes and fields-of-view designed to access different energy regimes. Additionally, there will be groups of telescopes with different optics system, camera and electronics design. Given this diversity of instruments, an overall coherent calibration of the full array is a challenging task. Moreover, the CTA requirements on calibration accuracy are much more stringent than those achieved with current Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, like for instance: the systematic errors in the energy scale must not exceed 10%.In this contribution we present both the methods that, applied directly to the acquired observational CTA data, will ensure that the calibration is correctly performed to the stringent required precision, and the calibration equipment that, external to the telescopes, is currently under development and testing. Moreover, some notes about the operative procedure to be followed with both methods and instruments, will be described. The methods applied to the observational CTA data include the analysis of muon ring images, of carefully selected cosmic-ray air shower images, of the reconstructed electron spectrum and that of known gamma-ray sources and the possible use of stereo techniques hardware-independent. These methods will be complemented with the use of calibrated light sources located on ground or on board unmanned aerial vehicles.Comment: All CTA contributions at arXiv:1709.0348

The Multi-center Evaluation of the Accuracy of the Contrast MEdium INduced Pd/Pa RaTiO in Predicting FFR (MEMENTO-FFR) Study.

AIMS: Adenosine administration is needed for the achievement of maximal hyperaemia fractional flow reserve (FFR) assessment. The objective was to test the accuracy of Pd/Pa ratio registered during submaximal hyperaemia induced by non-ionic contrast medium (contrast FFR [cFFR]) in predicting FFR and comparing it to the performance of resting Pd/Pa in a collaborative registry of 926 patients enrolled in 10 hospitals from four European countries (Italy, Spain, France and Portugal). METHODS AND RESULTS: Resting Pd/Pa, cFFR and FFR were measured in 1,026 coronary stenoses functionally evaluated using commercially available pressure wires. cFFR was obtained after intracoronary injection of contrast medium, while FFR was measured after administration of adenosine. Resting Pd/Pa and cFFR were significantly higher than FFR (0.93±0.05 vs. 0.87±0.08 vs. 0.84±0.08, p<0.001). A strong correlation and a close agreement at Bland-Altman analysis between cFFR and FFR were observed (r=0.90, p<0.001 and 95% CI of disagreement: from -0.042 to 0.11). ROC curve analysis showed an excellent accuracy (89%) of the cFFR cut-off of ≤0.85 in predicting an FFR value ≤0.80 (AUC 0.95 [95% CI: 0.94-0.96]), significantly better than that observed using resting Pd/Pa (AUC: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.88-0.91; p<0.001). A cFFR/FFR hybrid approach showed a significantly lower number of lesions requiring adenosine than a resting Pd/Pa/FFR hybrid approach (22% vs. 44%, p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: cFFR is accurate in predicting the functional significance of coronary stenosis. This could allow limiting the use of adenosine to obtain FFR to a minority of stenoses with considerable savings of time and costs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sustainable Warehouse Features: A Systematic Literature Review

Development in the field of IT and competition in the market forces companies to increase their market share and revenue. To satisfy this goal, companies can apply and adopt plans that may lead to making the supply chain (SC) lengthy and too rigid to control/monitor. The longer the SC the more it can be disrupted by expected and unexpected events (e.g., Digital security incidents, climate). For that purpose, the SC must be built in a way to respond fast to disruptive events in an effective way and to bounce back to its original state to be considered a resilient SC, which gives a competitive advantage to the companies. To achieve SC resilience, several studies have discussed enablers. Some of these studies, focused on increasing velocity through the SC, others argued that high adaptability leads to SC resilience, and others mentioned information sharing as a key to achieving SC resilience. In addition, applying technology in the SC processes can add strength. As such, the Internet of Things can support/enhance the level of Velocity, Adaptability, and Information sharing, which leads to enhancing SC resilience. This research explores the opportunities that IoT presents to enhance resilience enablers and boost SC resilience

Best supply chain management practices and high-performance firms: The case of Gulf manufacturing firms

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the best supply chain management (SCM) practices that are implemented in medium- and large-sized Gulf manufacturing firms (MFs). Design/methodology/approach: This study has explored seven SCM practices, i.e. supplier collaboration, flexibility with partners, usage of internet, customer focus (CF), lean production (LP), internal integration (II) and quality management (QM). It assumes that the best-performing firms must be the ones implementing the best practices. t-test and multiple linear regression analyses were used to establish the best practices, implemented by medium and large-sized Gulf MFs. Findings: The results showed that QM, CF and supplier collaboration are considered as best SCM practices in Gulf MFs. Usage of internet may have been the best practice previously, but not anymore. LP cannot yet be qualified as, but may develop into the best SCM practice. Practical implications: The study provides a useful contribution to the field of best SCM practices as it provides better decision-making insights and a benchmarking base to top managers, policy makers and academics. It is likely to result in increased overall performance of their firms. Originality/value: The study provides an understanding of the distinctive characteristics of the best SCM practices, implemented by Gulf MFs. It has broader implications for all MFs, particularly in developing economies where the growth of manufacturing and effective management of their supply chains is a key element for the economic development

Supply chain risk perception: understanding the gap between theory and practice.

The risks inherent in the supply chain threaten the effectiveness and the output of the chain. It is capable of hampering the growth and performance of organizations whose goods pass through a supply chain. This paper explores the awareness of supply chain risks of employees at different levels in a UK Agri-food industry, and the impact of these awareness on risk mitigation performance. Through literature review, this research identifies the main supply chain risks in the UK Agri-food industry, the sources and drivers of these risks, and the strategies for managing these risks. A case study of UK agri-food business was carried out to evaluate the employees’ perceptions of the risks, risk drivers and risk management practices. In order to identify the impacts of these perceptions on supply chain performance, a set of hypothesis were developed and analyzed. The findings of the study carried out shows that supply chain risks are better averted when the parties involved are aware of their attendant nature and consequences. Furthermore, it also shows that the employee’s level of experience determines his/her level of supply chain risk awareness and not basically organizational level. The study enunciates the impact of risk management practices on supply chain performance.N/

Employing the Internet of Things to Attain Resilience Across Supply Chain

This paper investigates and analyses the features of sustainable warehousing by conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) to create a significant insight of the expanding and growing trends of sustainable warehousing, to fit perfectly within the net-zero supply chain strategies and adapting to the new value adding practices of Industry 5.0. Using a set of 65 publications, including journal papers, conference papers, and reviews, for the last 10 years, between 2013 and 2023, the SLR highlights and considers several green logistics areas that are essential to help redesign the features of sustainable warehouses. The paper also emphasizes the need for further research to develop new models for warehouses that can be implemented in the Industry 5.0 supply chain to achieve net-zero goals. In other words, the paper is trying to understand the current state of sustainable warehousing and identify areas where improvements can be made to make warehouses more sustainable and environmentally friendly, and to help the industry move towards a net-zero supply chain. Additionally, the paper is suggesting that there is a need for more research to be done to create new models for warehouses that can be applied in the Industry 5.0 supply chain, in order to reach net-zero goals

Global Saturated Regulator with Variable Gains for Robot Manipulators

In this paper, we propose a set of saturated controllers with variable gains to solve the regulation problem for robot manipulators in joint space. These control schemes deliver torques inside the prescribed limits of servomotors. The gamma of variable gains is formed by continuous, smooth, and differentiable functions of the joint position error and velocity of the manipulator. A strict Lyapunov function is proposed to demonstrate globally asymptotic stability of the closed-loop equilibrium point. Finally, the functionality and performance of the proposal are illustrated via simulation results and comparative analysis against Proportional-Derivative (PD) control scheme on a two-degrees-freedom direct-drive robot manipulator

Frecuencias alélicas de 14 STR’s autosómicos en una población de Antioquia, Colombia

En esta investigación se analizaron 50 individuos independientes de una muestra total de 5´671.689 habitantes correspondientes al Departamento de Antioquia en las ciudades de Medellín, Envigado, Sabaneta y Santa Fe de Antioquia, con el fin de realizar la huella genética. Los STR autosómicos utilizados fueron CSF1PO, TH01, TPOX, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, F13A01, vWA, HPRTB, D8S1179, D5S818, PENTA E, D18S51 y D3S1358. Con los datos obtenidos de las frecuencias alélicas se analizó el equilibrio de Hardy–Weinberg, el índice de fijación y algunos parámetros forenses, mediante los programas Genepop Versión 3.2 y PowerState. Se observó que la población no presentó diferencias significativas para la prueba de Hardy – Weinberg y en su confirmación con la prueba de F. Los resultados médicos forenses mostraron un índice de discriminación acumulado de 0,999992947, el índice de exclusión estuvo por encima del 0,9906 y la probabilidad de coincidencia acumulada fue de 1 en 7,05311E-06 individuos

Lean readiness – the case of the European pharmaceutical manufacturing industry

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the quality practices of European pharmaceutical manufacturers to determine the level of readiness of this industrial sector to implement and/or sustain lean manufacturing (LM) Design/methodology/approach: An assessment framework developed by Al‐Najem et al. (2013) was adapted to evaluate how ready European pharmaceutical manufacturers are to implement and/or sustain lean manufacturing. Therefore, the lean readiness (LR) level of these organisations was assessed through six quality practices related to LM. These included: processes; planning and control; human resources; top management and leadership; customer relations; and supplier relations. One research question and three hypotheses were formulated and tested using a combination of descriptive statistics and non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. Data was collected through a survey questionnaire distributed to 310 European pharmaceutical manufacturers and responded by 37 of these organisations. Findings: Overall, the results of this study indicate an inadequate level of LR for the participating firms. Simultaneously, it was concluded that factors such as company size, type of relationships with suppliers and ISO 9000 certification do not have an effect on the quality practices, and hence LR level, of European pharmaceutical manufacturing organisations Research limitations/implications: Practical implications: This study provides crucial information regarding the LR level of European pharmaceutical manufacturers, which can now be aware of the areas in their practices that require further improvement towards a successful lean journey. Simultaneously, organisations in the pharmaceutical sector that intend to implement LM can consider the results of this study and evaluate their readiness level. Managers can therefore refer to this research and use it as a platform to take better decisions regarding what quality aspects of their operations need to be enhanced to successfully deploy or sustain a lean strategy Originality/value: This research is one of the very few studies that have focused on evaluating whether the European pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is ready to successfully implement or sustain LM. Therefore, this research expands the limited existent body of knowledge of LM in this industr