5,027 research outputs found
A decision-making approach for investigating the potential effects of near sourcing on supply chain
Purpose - Near sourcing is starting to be regarded as a valid alternative to global sourcing in order to leverage supply chain (SC) responsiveness and economic efficiency. The present work proposes a decision-making approach developed in collaboration with a leading Italian retailer that was willing to turn the global store furniture procurement process into near sourcing. Design/methodology/approach - Action research is employed. The limitations of the traditional SC organisation and purchasing process of the company are first identified. On such basis, an inventory management model is applied to run spreadsheet estimates where different purchasing and SC management strategies are adopted to determine the solution providing the lowest cost performance. Finally, a risk analysis of the selected best SC arrangement is conducted and results are discussed. Findings - Switching from East Asian suppliers to continental vendors enables a SC reengineering that increases flexibility and responsiveness to demand uncertainty which, together with decreased transportation costs, assures economic viability, thus proving the benefits of near sourcing. Research limitations/implications - The decision-making framework provides a methodological roadmap to address the comparison between near and global sourcing policies and to calculate the savings of the former against the latter. The approach could include additional organisational aspects and cost categories impacting on near sourcing and could be adapted to investigate different products, services, and business sectors. Originality/value - The work provides SC researchers and practitioners with a structured approach for understanding what drives companies to adopt near sourcing and for quantitatively assessing its advantage
The mass accretion rate of galaxy clusters: a measurable quantity
We explore the possibility of measuring the mass accretion rate (MAR) of
galaxy clusters from their mass profiles beyond the virial radius . We
derive the accretion rate from the mass of a spherical shell whose inner radius
is , whose thickness changes with redshift, and whose infall velocity
is assumed to be equal to the mean infall velocity of the spherical shells of
dark matter halos extracted from -body simulations. This approximation is
rather crude in hierarchical clustering scenarios where both smooth accretion
and aggregation of smaller dark matter halos contribute to the mass accretion
of clusters.Nevertheless, in the redshift range , our prescription
returns an average MAR within of the average rate derived from the
merger trees of dark matter halos extracted from -body simulations. The MAR
of galaxy clusters has been the topic of numerous detailed numerical and
theoretical investigations, but so far it has remained inaccessible to
measurements in the real universe. Since the measurement of the mass profile of
clusters beyond their virial radius can be performed with the caustic technique
applied to dense redshift surveys of the cluster outer regions, our result
suggests that measuring the mean MAR of a sample of galaxy clusters is actually
feasible. We thus provide a new potential observational test of the
cosmological and structure formation models.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables, minor text modifications to match the
published version, typos correcte
Cost and Schedule Monitoring of Industrial Building Projects : Case Study
Performance measurement is a helpful tool for taking corrective actions and controlling a project as far as this enables accurate time and cost forecasts during the first stages of the construction effort when the management team still has opportunities to make adjustments. This paper overcomes the dilemma of practicability and predictability of traditional estimates at completion based on early progress measurement by presenting the empirical results from the construction project of an industrial facility. The case may be a reference practice for assessing time and cost performance measurement of any building, whose layout can be reasonably partitioned into repeatable portions. In such circumstances, an effectively-managed traditional earned value method and appropriate metrics for computing performance provide project managers with accurate forecasts as useful tools for successful project management and contro
System Dynamics Group Modeling: An Educational Perspective
An application of the SD group model-building methodology in a higher post-graduate course is presented with the purpose of illustrating its value for improving the learning process. The measurements from this experience are collected via a survey and interviews and results are presented to determine if the SD group model-building experience enables transformational, instructive and communicative learning. The experience provides a testament for some important characteristics of the SD group model methodology, namely: its ability to promote changes in perspectives of the course participants via reflection, to substantiate participantsâ growth in understanding the key principles of investigation and to facilitate interaction between participants
Recovery of smell sense loss by mepolizumab in a patient allergic to dermatophagoides and affected by chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps
Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) frequently presents with dysfunction or loss of the
sense of smell, resulting in a signifcant impairment in quality of life. The medical treatments currently available may
improve the olfactory function in patients with CRSwNP, but such an outcome is generally only transitory. We report
the case of a patient with CRSwNP who completely recovered from smell sense loss by treatment with mepolizumab.
Case presentation: The patient was a 62-year-old female who has severe asthma induced by allergy to Dermatophagoides and concomitant CRSwNP. Any treatment for the latter, including oral and injective corticosteroids, was unsuccessful in the loss of smell. Due to the satisfaction of admission criteria to mepolizumab treatment for severe asthma,
treatment was initiated on March 2018, resulting in good clinical control of both asthma and CRSwNP, and particularly
in complete recovery of the smell loss after 4 months of treatment and still persisting.
Conclusion: In this case report, the treatment with mepolizumab in a patient allergic to Dermatophagoides and
afected by CRSwNP was associated with an improvement of anosmia. That fnding may be explained by a reduction
of the nasal obstruction by nasal polyp
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