Provisions for the formation of a maritime shipping company’s competitiveness management system

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to build up the competitiveness management system for a maritime shipping company. Freight market is a very specific market, which includes high competitiveness and has no differences between services delivered by competitors. As a result, shipping companies are unable to use price-based and quality-based competitive approach and should use unusual competitive behavior. Design/Methodology/Approach: To buid up the competitiveness management system it is necessary to describe its features and properties to get such system integrated into current company's business processes. Authors intended to describe the phased procedure for competitiveness management; the methodical approach for constructing such a system and features of the competitiveness management system. Findings: Every goal set by the authors, was reached and presented as a scheme and as a detailed text description of the scheme. This makes building up the competitiveness management system and its implementation much easier. Practical Implications: Results of the present research may be implemented into management practices in order to improve and increase the effectiveness of maritime shipping companies'competitiveness on the high competitive freight market. System can be tweaked to suit any shipping business - it is good and effective as for small one-vessel companies as well as for large corporations. Originality/Value: The main contribution of this study is the description of the methodical approach to build specific, shipping companies'oriented, competitiveness management system, which is partially similar to usual competitiveness management approach, although it has significant differences caused by the specifics of shipping.peer-reviewe

Raman Spectroscopy for Analysis of Implants from the Dura Mater

In this paper we present results of the comparative evaluation of the structural properties of the dura mater specimens (DM), manufactured using the ”Lioplast” technology, used in the clinic in the field of atrophic processes in multiple gums recessions, using the Raman spectroscopy (RS) method. The introduced coefficients and a two-dimensional analysis that showed that the processing retains the main components and removes DNA / RNA, which increases the quality that provides access to quality materials in the treatment of multiple gum recessions. It was found that the main differences appear at wavenumbers of 835 cm−1 (tyrosine), 855 cm−1 (proline), 940 and 1167 cm−1 (GAGs, CSPGs), 1240 cm−1 (amide III), 1560 cm−1 (amide II) and 1447 cm−1 (lipids and proteins). It is shown that Raman spectroscopy can be used to evaluate implants from the dura mater. Keywords: Raman spectroscopy, dura mater, biomaterial, spectral analysis

The application of the Raman Spectroscopy Method for Evaluating Implants from the Dura Mater

The results of a comparative spectral evaluation of the component composition of the surfaces of implants from the dura mater manufactured using the Lioplast technology with the use of ultrasound and sterilization are presented. Based on the analysis, coefficients were introduced reflecting the change in the relative concentration of components that determine the quality of the implants. It is established that Raman spectroscopy can be used to assess the change in the composition of implants based on the dura mater during their manufacture. Keywords: Raman spectroscopy, coefficients, spectral features, implants, dura mater

Saturation of Coulomb sum rules in the 6^Li case

The Coulomb sums S_L(q) of the 6^Li nucleus have been obtained from electron scattering measurements at 3-momentum transfers q = 1.125 - 1.625 fm^{-1}. It is found that at q > 1.35 fm^{-1} the Coulomb sum of the nucleus becomes saturated: S_L(q) = 1.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Cross-sections for the 27 ⁣Al(γ,x)24Na{^{27}\!\rm{Al}}(\gamma,\textit{x})^{24}\rm{Na} multiparticle reaction at EγmaxE_{\rm{\gamma max}} = 40 ÷\div 95 MeV

The bremsstrahlung flux-averaged cross-sections $\langle{\sigma(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})}\rangle$ and the cross-sections per equivalent photon $\langle{\sigma(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})_{\rm{Q}}}\rangle$ were measured for the photonuclear multiparticle reaction $^{27}\!\rm{Al}(\gamma,\textit{x}; \textit{x} = {^{3}\rm{He}} + pd + 2pn)^{24}\rm{Na}$ at bremsstrahlung end-point energies ranging from 40 MeV to 95 MeV. The experiments were performed using the beam from the NSC KIPT electron linear accelerator LUE-40 with the use of the $\gamma$-activation technique. The bremsstrahlung quantum flux was calculated with the program GEANT4 and, in addition, was monitored by means of the $^{100}\rm{Mo}(\gamma,n)^{99}\rm{Mo}$ reaction. The cross-sections $\sigma(E)$ were computed using the TALYS1.9 code with the default options. The measured average cross-sections $\langle{\sigma(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})}\rangle$ and $\langle{\sigma(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})_{\rm{Q}}}\rangle$ have appeared to be higher by factors of 2.0 to 2.4 than the theoretical results. The experimental results have been found to be in good agreement with the data of other laboratories. Consideration is given to special features of calculation of $\langle{\sigma(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})}\rangle$ and $\langle{\sigma(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})_{\rm{Q}}}\rangle$ for the $^{27}\!\rm{Al}(\gamma,\textit{x})^{24}\rm{Na}$ reaction, with occurrence of three $^{27}\!\rm{Al}$ photodisintegration channels. The paper also discusses the possibility of using the $^{27}\!\rm{Al}(\gamma,\textit{x})^{24}\rm{Na}$ reaction for monitoring the bremsstrahlung $\gamma$-quantum flux in the photon energy region above 30 MeV.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Structure of the local environment of titanium atoms in multicomponent nitride coatings produced by plasma-ion techniques

An experiment was performed to examine the X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) and the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) near the K-edge of titanium in nanocrystalline titanium nitride coatings containing additives of copper, silicon, and aluminum. Using the observation data, the structure parameters of the local environment of titanium atoms have been estimated for the coatings. According to crystallographic data, the Ti-N distance in the bulk phase of titanium nitride is 2.12 Å and the Ti-Ti distance is 3.0 Å. Nearly these values have been obtained for the respective parameters of the coatings. The presence of copper as an additive in a TiN coating increases the Ti-N distance inappreciably compared to that estimated for titanium nitride, whereas addition of silicon decreases the bond distance. It has been revealed that the copper and silicon atoms in Ti-Cu-N and Ti-Si-N coatings do not enter into the crystallographic phase of titanium nitride and do not form bonds with titanium and nitrogen, whereas the aluminum atoms in Ti-Al-N coatings form intermetallic phases with titanium and nitride phases

Simulation of non-stationary processes in centrifugal cascades

The model of nonstationary hydraulic and dividing processes in rectangular symmetrical counterstream centrifugal cascades is considered. The calculation technique of centrifugal cascade parameters of transition processes has been developed. The results of numerical computation are presented