The Use of Knowledge Management Methodologies to Improve the Practice of Supply Chain Management: The Case of the Bullwhip Effect

Supply Chain Management is a critically important approach toward producing and delivering goods and services in a cost-effective, timely manner. However, many SCM systems in practice exhibit the bullwhip effect, a tendency towards increasing variability in demand as this type of information migrates downwards in the producing supply chain. We argue that one can reduce the size of the bullwhip effect through the judicious use of knowledge management technologies. We have advanced our arguments through several propositions, and we have derived a set of testable hypotheses from two of these propositions in order to demonstrate how one would go about verifying these arguments. We have identified two different general research methodologies in order to provide a multiple methodological approach to gaining greater confidence in the propositions. It now remains to carry out this plan of research

Technological Frames and End-User Computing

Research Paper Series (National University of Singapore. Faculty of Business Administration); 1996-0041-2

Applying a Space-Based Security Recovery Scheme for Critical Homeland Security Cyberinfrastructure Utilizing the NASA Tracking and Data Relay (TDRS) Based Space Network

Protection of the national infrastructure is a high priority for cybersecurity of the homeland. Critical infrastructure such as the national power grid, commercial financial networks, and communications networks have been successfully invaded and re-invaded from foreign and domestic attackers. The ability to re-establish authentication and confidentiality of the network participants via secure channels that have not been compromised would be an important countermeasure to compromise of our critical network infrastructure. This paper describes a concept of operations by which the NASA Tracking and Data Relay (TDRS) constellation of spacecraft in conjunction with the White Sands Complex (WSC) Ground Station host a security recovery system for re-establishing secure network communications in the event of a national or regional cyberattack. Users would perform security and network restoral functions via a Broadcast Satellite Service (BSS) from the TDRS constellation. The BSS enrollment only requires that each network location have a receive antenna and satellite receiver. This would be no more complex than setting up a DIRECTTV-like receiver at each network location with separate network connectivity. A GEO BSS would allow a mass re-enrollment of network nodes (up to nationwide) simultaneously depending upon downlink characteristics. This paper details the spectrum requirements, link budget, notional assets and communications requirements for the scheme. It describes the architecture of such a system and the manner in which it leverages off of the existing secure infrastructure which is already in place and managed by the NASAGSFC Space Network Project

Are conservation organizations configured for effective adaptation to global change?

© The Ecological Society of America. Conservation organizations must adapt to respond to the ecological impacts of global change. Numerous changes to conservation actions (eg facilitated ecological transitions, managed relocations, or increased corridor development) have been recommended, but some institutional restructuring within organizations may also be needed. Here we discuss the capacity of conservation organizations to adapt to changing environmental conditions, focusing primarily on public agencies and nonprofits active in land protection and management in the US. After first reviewing how these organizations anticipate and detect impacts affecting target species and ecosystems, we then discuss whether they are sufficiently flexible to prepare and respond by reallocating funding, staff, or other resources. We raise new hypotheses about how the configuration of different organizations enables them to protect particular conservation targets and manage for particular biophysical changes that require coordinated management actions over different spatial and temporal scales. Finally, we provide a discussion resource to help conservation organizations assess their capacity to adapt

Genetic variation in adaptive traits and seed transfer zones for Pseudoroegneria spicata (bluebunch wheatgrass) in the northwestern United States

A genecological approach was used to explore genetic variation in adaptive traits in Pseudoroegneria spicata, a key restoration grass, in the intermountain western United States. Common garden experiments were established at three contrasting sites with seedlings from two maternal parents from each of 114 populations along with five commercial releases commonly used in restoration. Traits associated with size, flowering phenology, and leaf width varied considerably among populations and were moderately correlated with the climates of the seed sources. Pseudoroegneria spicata populations from warm, arid source environments were smaller with earlier phenology and had relatively narrow leaves than those from mild climates with cool summers, warm winters, low seasonal temperature differentials, high precipitation, and low aridity. Later phenology was generally associated with populations from colder climates. Releases were larger and more fecund than most of the native ecotypes, but were similar to native populations near their source of origin. Differences among native populations associated with source climates that are logical for survival, growth, and reproduction indicate that genetic variation across the landscape is adaptive and should be considered during restoration. Results were used to delineate seed transfer zones and population movement guidelines to ensure adapted plant materials for restoration activities.Keywords: Pseudoroegneria spicata, Plant adaptation, Climate change, Seed zones, Genecology, Seed transfe

Sulphur-flower buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum (ERUM)

Native forb seed production is needed for rangeland restoration and reclamation projects within the Great Basin. Sulphur-flower buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) is a very adaptable species with many subspecies in the western United States and Canada. This publication focuses on sulphur-flower buckwheat seed production to aid interested growers with production techniques that limit crop failure, reduce risk, and increase seed yields.Keywords: xeriscape, native buckwheat, native forb seed, drip irrigationPublished December 2010. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalo

Irrigation to Enhance Native Seed Production for Great Basin Restoration

Native shrublands and their associated grasses and forbs have been disappearing from the Great Basin as a result of grazing practices, exotic weed invasions, altered fire regimes, climate change and other human impacts. Native forb seed is needed to restore these areas. The irrigation requirements for maximum seed production of four key native forb species (Eriogonum umbellatum, Lomatium dissectum, Penstemon speciosus, and Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia) were studied at the Oregon State University Malheur Experiment Station beginning in 2005. Species plots were supplied with 0, 100, or 200 mm of subsurface drip irrigation per year using a randomized complete block design with four replications. Irrigation in each plot was divided into four equal increments applied between bud and seed set with timing dependent upon the flowering and seed set phenology of each species. Seed was harvested in each year of production through 2011, and the optimal irrigation rate was determined by regression. The four native forb species differed in their responses to irrigation. Lomatium dissectum seed yields were optimized with 140 mm of irrigation. Eriogonum umbellatum seed yields were optimized with 173 to 200 mm of irrigation in dry years and progressively less to no irrigation in the wettest year. Penstemon speciosus seed yields were optimized with 107 mm of irrigation in dry years and were reduced by irrigation in wet years. Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia seed yields did not respond to irrigation. Water requirements of these species are low, and these results can be used by seed growers to produce native forb seed more economically.Keywords: Gooseberryleaf globemallow, Penstemon speciosus, Fernleaf biscuitroot, Royal penstemon, Sagebrush penstemon, Subsurface drip irrigation, Sagebrush steppe, Eriogonum umbellatum, Sulphur-flower buckwheat, Lomatium dissectum, Sphaeralcea grossulariifoli

Cultivation and Irrigation of Fernleaf Biscuitroot (Lomatium dissectum) for Seed Production

Native grass, forb, and shrub seed is needed to restore rangelands of the U.S. Intermountain West. Fernleaf biscuitroot [Lomatium dissectum (Nutt.) Mathias & Constance] is a desirable component of rangelands. Commercial seed production is necessary to provide the quantity and quality of seed needed for rangeland restoration and reclamation efforts. Fernleaf biscuitroot has been used for hundreds if not thousands of years in the western United States as a source of food and medicine. Knowledge about fernleaf biscuitroot is confined to ethnobotanical reports, evaluation of some of its chemical constituents, and its role in rangelands. Products derived from fernleaf biscuitroot are sourced from wild plant populations. Little is known about fernleaf biscuitroot cultivation or its seed production. Variations in spring rainfall and soil moisture result in highly unpredictable water stress at flowering, seed set, and seed development of fernleaf biscuitroot. Water stress is known to compromise seed yield and quality for other seed crops. Irrigation trials were conducted at the Oregon State University Malheur Experiment Station at Ontario, OR, a location within the natural environmental range of fernleaf biscuitroot. It was anticipated that supplemental irrigation would be required to produce a seed crop in all years. Fernleaf biscuitroot was established through mechanical planting and cultivation on 26 Oct. 2005 in a randomized complete block design with four replicates; plot size was 9.1 m × 3.04 m wide. Irrigation treatments were 0 mm, 100 mm, and 200 mm/year applied in four equal treatments 2 weeks apart, timed to begin with flowering and continue through seed formation. First flowering occurred in the third year after planting. Seed production increased from the fourth through the sixth year. Optimal irrigation for seed production was calculated as 140 mm/year.Keywords: medicinal plant, rangeland restoration, drip irrigatio