Study of Atmospheric Pollution Scavenging: Eighteenth Progress Report

published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewedOpe

Analyzing a fleet solution using scenarios

Transportation is one of the most important logistics activities, accounting for a significant part of the logistics costs and with high level of impact in terms of the service level provided to the customer. To counteract the upward trend in costs, it is fundamental to identify a transport strategy that can reduce costs and, at the same time, does not adversely affect the service levels agreed with customers. The main objective of this research is to propose a methodology for companies to identify, from a set of scenarios proposed and through a comparative analysis of scenarios, a new fleet solution, allowing the Company under study to reduce its transport costs without harming the current service level agreements with its customers. This research is grounded on a case study methodology. The case study used is of a small Portuguese company that produces, imports and distributes a wide range of products. The distribution is conducted based on both its own fleet and subcontracted transportation. The comparative analysis of scenarios allowed identifying the current transportation solution as the most advantageous one for the company. A roadmap to address fleet solution is provided.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

TSS-1R Mission Failure Investigation Board

Reasons for the tether separation during the Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1) Mission are investigated. Lessons learned are presented

Plutonium isotopic composition by gamma-ray spectroscopy

We discuss the general approach, computerized data analysis methods, and results of measurements to determine the isotopic composition of plutonium by gamma-ray spectroscopy. The simple techniques are designed to be applicable to samples of arbitrary size, geometry, chemical and isotopic composition that have attained /sup 241/Pu-/sup 237/U equilibrium. The combination of the gamma spectroscopic measurement of isotopic composition coupled with calorimetric measurement of total sample power is shown to give a totally nondestructive determination of sample Pu mass with a precision of 0.6% for 1000-g samples of PuO/sub 2/ with 12% /sup 240/Pu content. The precision of isotopic measurements depends upon many factors including sample size, sample geometry, and isotopic content. Typical ranges are found to be /sup 238/Pu, < 1 to 10%; /sup 239/Pu, 0.1 to 0.5%; /sup 240/Pu, 2 to 5%; /sup 241/Pu, 0.3 to 0.7%; /sup 242/Pu (determined by isotopic correlation); and /sup 241/Am, 0.2 to 10%

An investigation into E-business service in the UK telecommunication manufacturing industry

Nowadays, suppliers’ product and service quality has risen in importance with a manufacturer’s push to develop core competencies and capitalise on global operations and markets. However, due to the complex features of business service, suppliers are facing significant challenges in providing service effectively and developing business collaboration. This is further complicated by the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This paper thus attempts to investigate the factors influencing buyers’ e-service (EBS) requirements and the impact of these requirements on business collaboration. Based on a questionnaire survey with 500 UK telecommunication manufacturers, this research identifies buyers’ different EBS requirements for different types of suppliers and the impact of ICTs on EBS requirements. While for suppliers our findings provide insights into buyers’ EBS requirements, they can help buyers to develop appropriate supplier selection criteria. The findings also contribute to a better understanding of the development of buyer and supplier business collaboration

Does collaboration pay in agricultural supply chain? An empirical approach

This paper examines the effect of different types of collaboration on the level of Postharvest Food Losses (PHFL) and the proportion of low-quality peaches produced using a unique data-set of Greek peach producers. Quantile regression techniques are adopted to estimate the effects at different points of the conditional distribution of our variables of interest. The findings of this study suggest that high levels of collaboration between producers and cooperatives are associated with both low levels of PHFL and a low proportion of low-quality peaches. We also find that specific types of collaboration, such as ‘goal congruence’, can play a significant role in reducing PHFL and improving the quality of peach production at the extremes of the distribution. Important policy implications regarding collaborative practices and systems that can be implemented to reduce PHFL and boost a producer’s performance together with sustainability credentials are drawn from this study

Methods for specifying the target difference in a randomised controlled trial : the Difference ELicitation in TriAls (DELTA) systematic review

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