Data-driven review of additive manufacturing on supply chains: Regionalization, key research themes and future directions

Additive manufacturing (AM) has the potential to greatly impact supply chains in a number of positive ways, particularly in regional and remote locations. This study aimed to identify the impact and application of AM on regional supply chains (RSCs) and address the associated challenges while promoting the sustainable use of this technology. Therefore, this study implemented a streamlined evaluation text mining method that employed Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA)-based modeling for robust content analysis. Over the past 19 years (2004–2022), there has been a significant increase in the number of journal articles that center on AM in supply chains. Through an extensive analysis of 341 published papers, five main research themes were identified: manufacturing, environment, costs, logistics, and maintenance. The identification of a gap in research in regional locations is significant as they often face unique challenges in their supply chains, such as limited access to technology and required infrastructure and the availability of resources. These challenges may have a different impact on the implementation of AM. Further, the possible impact of using AM in the recovery of RSCs after the COVID-19 pandemic is substantial and can bring about several positive sustainable changes, including increased responsiveness to changing demands, shorter production lead times, lower material usage and waste, customizability, localized production, energy efficiency, and reduced carbon dioxide and gas emissions

Impact of additive manufacturing on the Vietnamese transportation industry: An exploratory study

International firms’ activities and structures have become highly complex as a result of managing a vast network of entities located around the world. Complex technology such as Additive Manufacturing or generally accepted as 3D printing has received universal interest. Economic growth in Vietnam generates unique infrastructure, logistics services and transportation challenges and opportunities. Logistics are a critically important priority in international trade, foremost in ongoing regional economic expansion. The main objective of this paper is to examine the impact and benefits of advanced technology, affecting logistics services and transportation in Vietnam. This research applied a descriptive survey methodology to gather primary empirical data on the awareness and the willingness to adapt to the technology of organizations focusing on opportunities for the Vietnam market. The results indicated that organizations have a positive attitude towards 3DP impact. The stronger influence was discovered on customization, new customer value proposition, the competitive advantage, and transportation and storage cost reduction. Vietnam is currently one of the most attractive emerging markets in the world. The findings from this research provide timely and valuable new insights into this phenomenon, as a potential mechanism for assisting the revolution of the transportation industry towards improving traffic congestion and pollution

AI-enabled Integration in the Supply Chain - A Solution in the Digitalization Era

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting increased attention from various manufacturing industries, including fashion and textiles, due to its ability to work effectively, similar to human intelligence. This Systematic Literature Review (SLR) paper proposes potential future research directions that emphasize the impacts of AI on supply chain integration (SCI) efforts through information sharing (IS). A structured literature review of articles in the 2010-2021 period, addressing geographic location, journals, publishers, authors, research designs, and applied theories, has been used to prepare this paper. The additional discussion of AI incorporates information from the structured review to conclude the findings and suggest future research directions. The authors have used the Scopus database and prestigious peer-reviewed journals to search for relevant papers using suitable keywords. This paper concluded that the Asian region has the highest concentration of publications and that AI adoption positively affects the IS-SCI relationship. Empirical quantitative research design and resource-based view theory are prominent among the reviewed publications. This SLR paper is limited by not having the impacts of AI discussed at the subset level

Managing from a distance in international purchasing and supply

International purchasing and supply management (PSM) teams have long faced the visibility and understandability challenges of managing geographically dispersed and culturally distant suppliers. Problems arising from inadequate monitoring and control over suppliers can be attributed to geographical and cultural distance, capability gaps, weak institutions, and supply market dynamism. With transaction costs theory as our lens, we examine how international geographically and culturally distant purchasing and supply management (PSM) teams control emerging economy suppliers with formal management controls. We use interview survey data on 339 international customer-Chinese supplier relationships using supplier perceptions of the extent to which performance measurement and monitoring practices are used by their primary customer in the purchase reorder decision and control. The results demonstrate that the cultural and, to a lesser extent, geographical distance between the customer and the supplier is associated with more extensive use of formal management controls. Also, we find the relationship between geographical or cultural distance and the importance of performance measurement is strengthened for suppliers of complex components

Incidence and Disability-Adjusted Life Years (Dalys) Attributable to Leishmaniasis In Iran, 2013

Background: Leishmaniasis covers a range of clinical manifestations. Estimation of the burden of leishmaniasis may help guide healthcare management personnel and policy-makers in applying effective interventions. The present study aimed to calculate the incidence and burden of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis in Iran in 2013.Methods: To evaluate the epidemiological aspects of the disease in Iran, published studies over the past 20 years were searched and the viewpoints of relevant  specialists in Iran were obtained. Data were collected from the Ministry of Health and from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences. To calculate years of life lost due to premature death, standard expected years of life lost was used. Standard life table of Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 with the life expectancy of 86.02 years for both sexes was used to calculate the remaining potential years of life at any age from death.Results: The overall incidence of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis was  calculated as 22 and 0.092 per 100000 population of Iran, respectively. The  burden of leishmaniasis was 99.5 years: 95.34 and 4.16 years for cutaneous and visceral, respectively. Sensitivity was analyzed and deaths predicted by the  Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation added, the burden of visceral  leishmaniasis was 726 years.Conclusion: The share of leishmaniasis burden in Iran is lower than the global burden of the disease. GBD 2010 standard method is recommended to calculate the burden of leishmaniasis in different countries and set local priorities on the basis of these measures.Keywords: Incidence, Disability-adjusted life years, Cutaneous leishmaniasis, Visceral leishmaniasis, Ira

Developing trends in showrooming, webrooming, and omnichannel shopping behaviors: Performance analysis, conceptual mapping, and future directions

In an omnichannel era, businesses and marketers need insights into the dynamics of customer shopping behaviors, particularly the interplay between omnichannel, showrooming, and webrooming behaviors. This study investigates the evolution and trends of the research and channel shopping behaviors (RCSB) domain, spanning from 1998 to 2022, including the Covid-19 era. The study performed a bibliometric review of 500 papers in the Scopus database. The performance analysis reveals an annual growth rate of nearly 16%, with average citations per document of 44, indicating sustained and growing research interest. Science mapping revealed five distinct cluster themes, including showrooming and webrooming in multi- and omni-channel contexts; consumer behavior in online retail and shopping; customer satisfaction and trust in multi-channel retailing; mobile commerce in a multi-channel environment; and the interplay between online shopping, channel choice, and supply chain management. Furthermore, topics, such as showrooming, e-commerce, retailing, and omnichannel retailing, remain popular before and during the pandemic, as seen in the thematic evolution. Our examination of the thematic maps revealed various topics that gained significance during the pandemic, such as multichannel, channel choice, customer experience, social commerce, purchase behavior, and covid-19. Among these, the thematic maps indicate that customer experience, channel choice, multichannel, and covid-19 are emerging and basic topics. These topics can steer research directions in the RCSB domain toward examining customer experiences using digital innovations, e-commerce (including mobile and social commerce), and omnichannel strategy and management

Quantum Random Number Generator Based on LED

Quantum Random Number Generators Produce random numbers based on the intrinsic probability nature of quantum mechanics, making them true random number generators. In this paper, we design and fabricate an embedded QRNG that produces random numbers based on fluctuations of spontaneous emission in a LED. Additionally, a new perspective on the randomness of the recombination process in a LED is introduced that is consistent with experimental results. To achieve a robust and reliable QRNGm we compare some usual post processing methods and select the best one for a real time device. This device could pass NIST tests, the output speed is 1 Mbit per S and the randomness of the output data is invariant in time and different temperatures

Categorizing Young Facebook Users Based On Their Differential Preference of Social Media Heuristics: A Q-Methodology Approach

Background: Social media have become an integral part of our modern society by providing platforms for users to create and exchange news, ideas, and information. The increasing use of social media has raised concerns about the reliability of the shared information, particularly information that is generated from anonymous users. Though prior studies have confirmed the important roles of heuristics and cues in the users’ evaluation of trustworthy information, there has been no research–to our knowledge–that categorized Facebook users based on their approaches to evaluating information credibility. Method: We employed Q-methodology to extract insights from 55 young Vietnamese users and to categorize them into different groups based on the distinct sets of heuristics that they used to evaluate the trustworthiness of online information on Facebook. Results: We identified four distinct types of young Facebook user groups that emerged based on their evaluation of online information trustworthiness. When evaluating online information trustworthiness on Facebook, these user groups assigned priorities differently to the characteristics of the online content, its original source, and the sharers or aggregators. We named these groups: (1) the balanced analyst, (2) the critical analyst, (3) the source analyst, and (4) the social network analyst. Conclusion: The findings offer insights that contribute to information processing literature. Moreover, marketing practitioners who aim to disseminate information effectively on social networks should take these user groups’ perspectives into consideration

Radiobiological effects of wound fluid on breast cancer cell lines and human-derived tumor spheroids in 2D and microfluidic culture

Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) could abrogate cancer recurrences, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. To clarify the effects of IORT-induced wound fluid on tumor progression, we treated breast cancer cell lines and human-derived tumor spheroids in 2D and microfluidic cell culture systems, respectively. The viability, migration, and invasion of the cells under treatment of IORT-induced wound fluid (WF-RT) and the cells under surgery-induced wound fluid (WF) were compared. Our findings showed that cell viability was increased in spheroids under both WF treatments, whereas viability of the cell lines depended on the type of cells and incubation times. Both WFs significantly increased sub-G1 and arrested the cells in G0/G1 phases associated with increased P16 and P21 expression levels. The expression level of Caspase 3 in both cell culture systems and for both WF-treated groups was significantly increased. Furthermore, our results revealed that although the migration was increased in both systems of WF-treated cells compared to cell culture media-treated cells, E-cadherin expression was significantly increased only in the WF-RT group. In conclusion, WF-RT could not effectively inhibit tumor progression in an ex vivo tumor-on-chip model. Moreover, our data suggest that a microfluidic system could be a suitable 3D system to mimic in vivo tumor conditions than 2D cell culture

Revolutionizing supply chain and circular economy with edge computing: systematic review, research themes and future directions

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine how the implementation of edge computing can enhance the progress of the circular economy within supply chains and to address the challenges and best practices associated with this emerging technology. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilized a streamlined evaluation technique that employed Latent Dirichlet Allocation modeling for thorough content analysis. Extensive searches were conducted among prominent publishers, including IEEE, Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, MDPI and Hindawi, utilizing pertinent keywords associated with edge computing, circular economy, sustainability and supply chain. The search process yielded a total of 103 articles, with the keywords being searched specifically within the titles or abstracts of these articles. Findings – There has been a notable rise in the volume of scholarly articles dedicated to edge computing in the circular economy and supply chain management. After conducting a thorough examination of the published papers, three main research themes were identified, focused on technology, optimization and circular economy and sustainability. Edge computing adoption in supply chains results in a more responsive, efficient and agile supply chain, leading to enhanced decision-making capabilities and improved customer satisfaction. However, the adoption also poses challenges, such as data integration, security concerns, device management, connectivity and cost. Originality/value – This paper offers valuable insights into the research trends of edge computing in the circular economy and supply chains, highlighting its significant role in optimizing supply chain operations and advancing the circular economy by processing and analyzing real time data generated by the internet of Things, sensors and other state-of-the-art tools and devices