A supply chain vulnerability map for the automotive and electronic industries in Brazil / Mauricio F. Blos, Hui-Ming Wee

This paper aims to explore various perspectives of the Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) as they relate to the automotive and electronic industries in Brazil based on the historical data from 2010 to 2016. The methodological approach was based on the Supply Chain Vulnerability Map (SCVM). The SCVM was tested in its totaliness and two more risks were added to the hazard vulnerability category to form the SCVM II. The exploratory surveys were used to better understand the impacts on the automotive and electronic industries in Brazil during the study period. An interesting finding was that most of the major automotive and electronic industries are concerned with integrating risk management, governance and compliance in the supply chain. The findings of the empirical investigation and SCRM historical data indicate that managers must integrate risk management, governance and compliance in the supply chain and use the proposed SCVM II. This research revealed the risks that surrounded the supply chain during the time period covered. In the study, the researchers added two more risks to the hazard vulnerability category: item 10, deficient rainfall (as seen in Manaus and São Paulo) and number 13, viral epidemics (to reflect the Zika virus around Brazil), it was named as SCVMII. Among the limitations of the research was that the study applied real data which might vary drastically due to economic downturn of the country. This might affect the performance of the investigated industrie

Lost Sales Inventory Model in Finite Planning Horizon

This research will extends a previous Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model with all-units quantity discount when the period is finite planning horizon into the analysis. Exact algorithms are developed for each quantity discount structure to compute optimal policies for models that will minimized total cost over an finite planning horizon. A practical approach and numerical examples are proposed to find the optimal solutions for a discrete quantity order and discrete number of order.The method prove that inventory policy or total cost value when using finite planning horizon always greater equal to inventory policy EOQ, but the difference is not too significant, so this method is good enough to be used

Multi products single machine economic production quantity model with multiple batch size

In this paper, a multi products single machine economic order quantity model with discrete delivery is developed. A unique cycle length is considered for all produced items with an assumption that all products are manufactured on a single machine with a limited capacity. The proposed model considers different items such as production, setup, holding, and transportation costs. The resulted model is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear programming model. Harmony search algorithm, extended cutting plane and particle swarm optimization methods are used to solve the proposed model. Two numerical examples are used to analyze and to evaluate the performance of the proposed model

A Credit Rating Model in a Fuzzy Inference System Environment

One of the most important functions of an export credit agency (ECA) is to act as an intermediary between national governments and exporters. These organizations provide financing to reduce the political and commercial risks in international trade. The agents assess the buyers based on financial and non-financial indicators to determine whether it is advisable to grant them credit. Because many of these indicators are qualitative and inherently linguistically ambiguous, the agents must make decisions in uncertain environments. Therefore, to make the most accurate decision possible, they often utilize fuzzy inference systems. The purpose of this research was to design a credit rating model in an uncertain environment using the fuzzy inference system (FIS). In this research, we used suitable variables of agency ratings from previous studies and then screened them via the Delphi method. Finally, we created a credit rating model using these variables and FIS including related IF-THEN rules which can be applied in a practical setting

OPTIMAL INBOUND/OUTBOUND PRICING MODEL FOR REMANUFACTURING IN A CLOSED-LOOP SUPPLY CHAIN

The paper presents a model for optimizing inbound and outbound pricing for closed-loop supply chains that remanufacture reusable products. Remanufacturers create reusable products from returned used products and sell the products “as new” to manufacturers or consumers. By implementing a return subsidy, remanufacturers can encourage the consumer to return used products. Demand for the as-new components often depends on the selling price and inventory. The available inventory increases as the subsidy increases and as the price decreases. Our model can determine the optimal subsidy and selling price for used and remanufactured products, respectively. Our model uses the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions to solve its nonlinear problem. Sensitivity analysis reveals how different parameters affect profit under model-optimized conditions

A forward with backward inventory policy algorithm for nonlinear increasing demand and shortage backorders

The traditional inventory policies have been developed for constant demand processes. In reality, demand is not always stable; it might have an increasing pattern. In this paper, a forward with backward inventory policy algorithm is developed to determine the operational parameters of an inventory system with a nonlinear increasing demand rate, shortage backorders and a finite planning horizon. Numerical experiments are also conducted to compare the results with the existing techniques and to illustrate the applicability of the proposed technique

The Axis of Complement C1 and Nucleolus in Antinuclear Autoimmunity

Antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) are heterogeneous self-reactive antibodies that target the chromatin network, the speckled, the nucleoli, and other nuclear regions. The immunological aberration for ANA production remains partially understood, but ANA are known to be pathogenic, especially, in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Most SLE patients exhibit a highly polygenic disease involving multiple organs, but in rare complement C1q, C1r, or C1s deficiencies, the disease can become largely monogenic. Increasing evidence point to intrinsic autoimmunogenicity of the nuclei. Necrotic cells release fragmented chromatins as nucleosomes and the alarmin HMGB1 is associated with the nucleosomes to activate TLRs and confer anti-chromatin autoimmunogenecity. In speckled regions, the major ANA targets Sm/RNP and SSA/Ro contain snRNAs that confer autoimmunogenecity to Sm/RNP and SSA/Ro antigens. Recently, three GAR/RGG-containing alarmins have been identified in the nucleolus that helps explain its high autoimmunogenicity. Interestingly, C1q binds to the nucleoli exposed by necrotic cells to cause protease C1r and C1s activation. C1s cleaves HMGB1 to inactive its alarmin activity. C1 proteases also degrade many nucleolar autoantigens including nucleolin, a major GAR/RGG-containing autoantigen and alarmin. It appears that the different nuclear regions are intrinsically autoimmunogenic by containing autoantigens and alarmins. However, the extracellular complement C1 complex function to dampen nuclear autoimmunogenecity by degrading these nuclear proteins

A new prognostic histopathologic classification of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background: The current World Health Organization (WHO) classification of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) conveys little prognostic information. This study aimed to propose an NPC histopathologic classification that can potentially be used to predict prognosis and treatment response. Methods: We initially developed a histopathologic classification based on the morphologic traits and cell differentiation of tumors of 2716 NPC patients who were identified at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC) (training cohort). Then, the proposed classification was applied to 1702 patients (retrospective validation cohort) from hospitals outside SYSUCC and 1613 patients (prospective validation cohort) from SYSUCC. The efficacy of radiochemotherapy and radiotherapy modalities was compared between the proposed subtypes. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for overall survival (OS). Results: The 5-year OS rates for all NPC patients who were diagnosed with epithelial carcinoma (EC; 3708 patients), mixed sarcomatoid-epithelial carcinoma (MSEC; 1247 patients), sarcomatoid carcinoma (SC; 823 patients), and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC; 253 patients) were 79.4%, 70.5%, 59.6%, and 42.6%, respectively (P < 0.001). In multivariate models, patients with MSEC had a shorter OS than patients with EC (HR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.27–1.62), SC (HR = 2.00, 95% CI = 1.76–2.28), or SCC (HR = 4.23, 95% CI = 3.34–5.38). Radiochemotherapy significantly improved survival compared with radiotherapy alone for patients with EC (HR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.56–0.80), MSEC (HR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.49–0.75), and possibly for those with SCC (HR = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.40–0.98), but not for patients with SC (HR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.74–1.28). Conclusions: The proposed classification offers more information for the prediction of NPC prognosis compared with the WHO classification and might be a valuable tool to guide treatment decisions for subtypes that are associated with a poor prognosis

Multiancestry analysis of the HLA locus in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases uncovers a shared adaptive immune response mediated by HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes

Across multiancestry groups, we analyzed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations in over 176,000 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus controls. We demonstrate that the two diseases share the same protective association at the HLA locus. HLA-specific fine-mapping showed that hierarchical protective effects of HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes best accounted for the association, strongest with HLA-DRB1*04:04 and HLA-DRB1*04:07, and intermediary with HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:03. The same signal was associated with decreased neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem brains and was associated with reduced tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and to a lower extent with increased Aβ42. Protective HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes strongly bound the aggregation-prone tau PHF6 sequence, however only when acetylated at a lysine (K311), a common posttranslational modification central to tau aggregation. An HLA-DRB1*04-mediated adaptive immune response decreases PD and AD risks, potentially by acting against tau, offering the possibility of therapeutic avenues