Varastointipalvelujen myyntiprosessin kehittäminen kemianteollisuudessa : Case: Oiltanking

Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli selvittää miten kemianteollisuudessa toimivat yritykset suorittavat ostoprosessinsa ja kuinka case yrityksen, varastointipalveluiden tarjoajan, myyntiprosessi vastaa asiakkaiden tarpeita. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli hankkia case-yritykselle ajankohtaista ja tärkeää tietoa sen asiakkaiden ostokäyttäytymisestä. Tänä päivänä yritysten on kehitettävä toimintatapojaan asiakaslähtöisemmiksi ja kyettävä vastaamaan muuttuvan maailman asettamiin haasteisiin säilyttääkseen kilpailuasemansa. Tutkimus toteutettiin strukturoitujen kyselylomakkeiden ja teemahaastattelujen avulla. Kyselylomakkeilla ja haastatteluilla selvitettiin case-yrityksen asiakkailta heidän organisaatioidensa ostokäyttäytymistä. Myös yrityksen omaa myyntihenkilökuntaa haastateltiin, jotta saatiin selville, kuinka tämän hetkinen myyntiprosessi vastaa asiakkaiden tarpeita. Työn alussa perehdytään organisaation osto- ja myyntiprosesseihin, joiden teorioiden kautta tutkimuksen tulokset on selitetty ja analysoitu työn lopussa. Analysointivaiheen jälkeen on tutkimustulosten pohjalta luotiin kehityssuunnitelma case-yrityksen myyntiprosessin parantamiseksi

The fatal contribution of serine protease-related genetic variants to COVID-19 outcomes

IntroductionSerine proteases play a critical role during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, polymorphisms of transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) and serpine family E member 1 (SERPINE1) could help to elucidate the contribution of variability to COVID-19 outcomes.MethodsTo evaluate the genetic variants of the genes previously associated with COVID-19 outcomes, we performed a cross-sectional study in which 1536 SARS-CoV-2-positive participants were enrolled. TMPRSS2 (rs2070788, rs75603675, rs12329760) and SERPINE1 (rs2227631, rs2227667, rs2070682, rs2227692) were genotyped using the Open Array Platform. The association of polymorphisms with disease outcomes was determined by logistic regression analysis adjusted for covariates (age, sex, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and obesity).ResultsAccording to our codominant model, the GA genotype of rs2227667 (OR=0.55; 95% CI = 0.36-0.84; p=0.006) and the AG genotype of rs2227667 (OR=0.59; 95% CI = 0.38-0.91; p=0.02) of SERPINE1 played a protective role against disease. However, the rs2227692 T allele and TT genotype SERPINE1 (OR=1.45; 95% CI = 1.11-1.91; p=0.006; OR=2.08; 95% CI = 1.22-3.57; p=0.007; respectively) were associated with a decreased risk of death. Similarly, the rs75603675 AA genotype TMPRSS2 had an OR of 1.97 (95% CI = 1.07-3.6; p=0.03) for deceased patients. Finally, the rs2227692 T allele SERPINE1 was associated with increased D-dimer levels (OR=1.24; 95% CI = 1.03-1.48; p=0.02).DiscussionOur data suggest that the rs75603675 TMPRSS2 and rs2227692 SERPINE1 polymorphisms are associated with a poor outcome. Additionally, rs2227692 SERPINE1 could participate in hypercoagulable conditions in critical COVID-19 patients, and this genetic variant could contribute to the identification of new pharmacological targets and treatment strategies to block the inhibition of TMPRSS2 entry into SARS-CoV-2

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Measurement of B-c(2S)(+) and B-c*(2S)(+) cross section ratios in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Reconstruction of signal amplitudes in the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter in the presence of overlapping proton-proton interactions

A template fitting technique for reconstructing the amplitude of signals produced by the lead tungstate crystals of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter is described. This novel approach is designed to suppress the contribution to the signal of the increased number of out-of-time interactions per beam crossing following the reduction of the accelerator bunch spacing from 50 to 25 ns at the start of Run 2 of the LHC. Execution of the algorithm is sufficiently fast for it to be employed in the CMS high-level trigger. It is also used in the offline event reconstruction. Results obtained from simulations and from Run 2 collision data (2015-2018) demonstrate a substantial improvement in the energy resolution of the calorimeter over a range of energies extending from a few GeV to several tens of GeV.Peer reviewe

Observation of the Production of Three Massive Gauge Bosons at root s=13 TeV

The first observation is reported of the combined production of three massive gauge bosons (VVV with V = W, Z) in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The analysis is based on a data sample recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1). The searches for individualWWW, WWZ, WZZ, and ZZZ production are performed in final states with three, four, five, and six leptons (electrons or muons), or with two same-sign leptons plus one or two jets. The observed (expected) significance of the combinedVVV production signal is 5.7 (5.9) standard deviations and the corresponding measured cross section relative to the standard model prediction is 1.02(-0.23)(+0.26). The significances of the individual WWW and WWZ production are 3.3 and 3.4 standard deviations, respectively. Measured production cross sections for the individual triboson processes are also reported

Search for top squark pair production using dilepton final states in pp collision data collected at root s=13TeV

A search is presented for supersymmetric partners of the top quark (top squarks) in final states with two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons), jets identified as originating from bquarks, and missing transverse momentum. The search uses data from proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1). Hypothetical signal events are efficiently separated from the dominant top quark pair production background with requirements on the significance of the missing transverse momentum and on transverse mass variables. No significant deviation is observed from the expected background. Exclusion limits are set in the context of simplified supersymmetric models with pair-produced lightest top squarks. For top squarks decaying exclusively to a top quark and a lightest neutralino, lower limits are placed at 95% confidence level on the masses of the top squark and the neutralino up to 925 and 450 GeV, respectively. If the decay proceeds via an intermediate chargino, the corresponding lower limits on the mass of the lightest top squark are set up to 850 GeV for neutralino masses below 420 GeV. For top squarks undergoing a cascade decay through charginos and sleptons, the mass limits reach up to 1.4 TeV and 900 GeV respectively for the top squark and the lightest neutralino.Peer reviewe

Search for a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson in the boosted mu mu tau tau final state in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search for a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson (a) decaying from the 125 GeV (or a heavier) scalar Higgs boson (H) is performed using the 2016 LHC proton-proton collision data at root s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), collected by the CMS experiment. The analysis considers gluon fusion and vector boson fusion production of the H, followed by the decay H -> aa -> mu mu tau tau, and considers pseudoscalar masses in the range 3.6 aa -> mu mu tau tau, down to 1.5 (2.0)x10(-4) for m(H) = 125 (300) GeV. Model-dependent limits on B(H -> aa) are set within the context of two Higgs doublets plus singlet models, with the most stringent results obtained for Type-III models. These results extend current LHC searches for heavier a bosons that decay to resolved lepton pairs and provide the first such bounds for an H boson with a mass above 125 GeV.Peer reviewe

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M&gt;70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0&lt;e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level