Comparison of production strategies and degree of postponement when incorporating additive manufacturing to product supply chains

The best-selling products manufactured nowadays are made in long series along rigid product value chains. Product repetition and continuous/stable manufacturing is seen as a chance for achieving economies of scale. Nevertheless, these speculative strategies fail to meet special customer demands, thus reducing the effective market share of a product in a range. Additive Manufacturing technologies open promising product customization opportunities; however, to achieve it, it is necessary to delay the production operations in order to incorporate the customer’s inputs in the product materialization. The study offered in the present paper compares different possible production strategies for a product (via conventional technologies and Additive Manufacturing) and assesses the degree of postponement that it would be recommended in order to meet a certain demand distribution. The problem solving is calculated by a program containing a stochastic mathematical model which incorporates extensive information on costs and lead times for the required manufacturing operations.Postprint (published version

Angel investor's selection criteria: a comparative institutional perspective

Despite the important role of angel investors as critical financial providers for new ventures, little is known regarding how institutions make their investment decisions. While angels make decisions based on selection criteria during the first stage, they are also embedded within and affected by different institutional settings and as a result weight these criteria differently than other investors. We compare angel investors' selection criteria in China and Denmark using the comparative institutional perspective. We use a policy capturing approach and hierarchy linear modeling, revealing that since Chinese angels are embedded within relationship-based institutional settings they tend to reply more on strong ties such as family and friends in management team, as well as weighting risks less compared to Danish angels operating within more rule-based institutional contexts

Inhibitory action of novel hydrogen sulfide donors on bovine isolated posterior ciliary arteries

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Experimental Eye Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Experiemental Eye Research, Vol. 134, (2015) doi:10.1016/j.exer.2015.04.001.In the present study, we investigate the inhibitory effect of novel H2S donors, AP67 and AP72 on isolated bovine posterior ciliary arteries (PCAs) under conditions of tone induced by an adrenoceptor agonist. Furthermore, we examined the possible mechanisms underlying the AP67- and AP72-induced relaxations. Isolated bovine PCA were set up for measurement of isometric tension in organ baths containing oxygenated Krebs solution. The relaxant action of H2S donors was studied on phenylephrine-induced tone in the absence or presence of enzyme inhibitors for the following pathways: cyclooxygenase (COX); H2S; nitric oxide and the ATP-sensitive K(+) (KATP) channel. The H2S donors, NaHS (1 nM - 10 μM), AP67 (1 nM - 10 μM) and AP72 (10 nM - 1 μM) elicited a concentration-dependent relaxation of phenylephrine-induced tone in isolated bovine PCA. While the COX inhibitor, flurbiprofen (3 μM) blocked significantly (p < 0.05) the inhibitory response elicited by AP67, it had no effect on relaxations induced by NaHS and AP72. Both aminooxyacetic acid (30 μM) and propargylglycine (1 mM), enzyme inhibitors of H2S biosynthesis caused significant (p < 0.05) rightward shifts in the concentration-response curve to AP67 and AP72. Furthermore, the KATP channel antagonist, glibenclamide (300 μM) and the NO synthase inhibitor, l-NAME (100 μM) significantly attenuated (p < 0.05) the relaxation effect induced by AP67 and AP72 on PCA. We conclude that H2S donors can relax pre-contracted isolated bovine PCA, an effect dependent on endogenous production of H2S. The inhibitory action of only AP67 on pre-contracted PCA may involve the production of inhibitory endogenous prostanoids. Furthermore, the observed inhibitory action of H2S donors on PCA may depend on the endogenous biosynthesis of NO and by an action of KATP channels.National Institutes of Health/National Eye Institute Gran