Supply Chain Modeling and Green Supply Chain: Literature Revue

A green supply chain should be rethought towards the term greening, whereas greening concerns in particular the environment, a lot of research works has been carried out jointly on the supply chain and the environmental dimension, exclusively supply chain modeling. This article is intended to present, first of all a summarized literature review of supply chain, green supply chain, and its modeling. Many researchers have proposed different models of green supply chain, except that each model is specific to the studied supply chain. Tending to meet this challenge the contribution of this paper is to propose a general framework of the green supply chains modeling

Face recognition of face images with hidden parts using Gabor wavelets and PCA

Face Recognition is one of the biometric methods that has recently gained significant attention at the level of research and the scientific community. However, in some special cases, face recognition methods can be sensitive to illumination, facial expressions, aging, face orientation, pose variation and hidden parts of face images, which make recognition very difficult. In this paper, we are interested in the hidden parts of a face image specifically those hidden by facial hair and/or a hair style. We first tested the Eigenfaces method for these modified images; but this approach failed to recognize them. So we have proposed an algorithm that combines Gabor magnitude and phase and PCA. To evaluate the efficiency of our algorithm, we used a variety of face images of FEI Brazilian database and hid the hairstyle and facial hair (barbs) to recognize them from the database images. The obtained results show that the proposed method (Gabor filter and PCA) attained high efficiency in the recognition for this type of problem

Barriers in green lean implementation: a combined systematic literature review and interpretive structural modelling approach

Green Lean has recently emerged as an alternative strategy for organizations to pursue both operational and sustainability excellence. The interest on this approach has rapidly risen in both academic and industry circles. However, despite this interest, very limited research has focused on its implementation, and no research has investigated the barriers that hinder the success of such activity. This study investigates the Green Lean implementation barriers and their contextual relationships and effects on the integration and deployment of this approach. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR), Interpretative Structural Modelling and fuzzy Matriced’ Impacts Croise’s Multiplication Appliqée a UN Classement (MICMAC) analyzes were carried out. Fifteen barriers were extracted from the SLR and then validated in consultation with industry and academic experts. The Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) method was used to understand the relationship between the fifteen barriers and to develop a hierarchical model of these. The different barriers were classified into ‘linkage’ and ‘dependent’ barriers by using MICMAC analysis. The results suggested that all the identified barriers play an important role, and hence can equally act as a significant hurdle to the implementation of Green Lean projects. This study can help managers and policy makers in better understanding these barriers. Thus, they can be assisted in managing and prioritizing barriers towards the successful implementation of Green Lean initiatives for better financial and environmental performance.N/

1-(3-p-Tolyl­isoxazol-5-yl)cyclo­hexa­nol

The title compound, C16H19NO2, contains two mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit. Each mol­ecule is composed of three inter­connected rings, two essentially planar rings, viz. the isoxazole and the methyl­benzyl aromatic ring [maximum deviations of 0.0027 (13) and 0.0031 (19) Å from the isoxazole and methylbenzyl ring planes, respectively, in the first molecule, 0.0018 (12) and 0.019 (2) Å in the second molecule], and one cyclo­hexa­nol ring having a chair conformation. Although the two mol­ecules have similar bond distances and angles, they differ in the orientation of the cyclo­hexa­nol ring with respect to the tolyl­isoxazole unit. In the first mol­ecule, the dihedral angle between the isoxazole and methyl­benzyl rings is 22.03 (8)° and between the isoxazole and cyclo­hexa­nol rings is 30.15 (8)°. The corresponding values in the second mol­ecule are 6.13 (10) and 88.44 (8)°, respectively. In the crystal, the molecules are linked by O—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, building up a zigzag chain parallel to the a axis

A framework for the integration of green and lean six sigma for superior sustainability performance

Evidence suggests that Lean, Six Sigma and Green approaches make a positive contribution to the economic, social and environmental (i.e. sustainability) performance of organizations. However, evidence also suggests that organizations have found their integration and implementation challenging. The purpose of this research is therefore to present a framework that methodically guides companies through a five stages and sixteen steps process to effectively integrate and implement the Green, Lean and Six Sigma approaches to improve their sustainability performance. To achieve this, a critical review of the existing literature in the subject area was conducted to build a research gap, and subsequently develop the methodological framework proposed. The paper presents the results from the application of the proposed framework in four organizations with different sizes and operating in a diverse range of industries. The results showed that the integration of Lean Six Sigma and Green helped the organizations to averagely reduce their resources consumption from 20% to 40% and minimize the cost of energy and mass streams by 7-12%. The application of the framework should be gradual, the companies should assess their weaknesses and strengths, set priorities, and identify goals for successful implementation. This paper is one of the very first researches that presents a framework to integrate Green and Lean Six Sigma at a factory level, and hence offers the potential to be expanded to multiple factories or even supply chains

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Procede d'interpolation pour capteur a caracteristique periodique : application a la magnetometrie par SQUID

CNRS T Bordereau / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEFRFranc

Synthèse d'une nouvelle famille de nucléosides par cycloaddition dipolaire-1,3 et des réactions tandem (application en cancérologie)

NICE-BU Sciences (060882101) / SudocSudocFranceMoroccoFRM

Microwave-Assisted and Efficient Solvent-free Knoevenagel Condensation. A Sustainable Protocol Using Porous Calcium Hydroxyapatite as Catalyst

A sustainable Knoevenagel condensation of a series of aldehydes with malononitrile and ethyl cyanoacetate is described. The process is based on the combination of microwave activation and hydroxyapatite catalysis under solvent-free conditions. Products are obtained in and high yields after short reaction times. The effects of the specific surface of porous calcium hydroxyapatite and microwave activation are discussed