Coordinating Contracts in SCM: A Review of Methods and Literature

Supply chain coordination through contracts has been a burgeoning area of re- search in recent years. In spite of rapid development of research, there are only a few structured analyses of assumptions, methods, and applicability of insights in this field. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic overview of coordinating contracts in supply chain through highlighting the main concepts, assumptions, methods, and present the state-of-the- art research in this field

Coordinating Contracts in SCM: A Review of Methods and Literature

Supply chain coordination through contracts has been a burgeoning area of re- search in recent years. In spite of rapid development of research, there are only a few structured analyses of assumptions, methods, and applicability of insights in this field. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic overview of coordinating contracts in supply chain through highlighting the main concepts, assumptions, methods, and present the state-of-the- art research in this field

Five lichen species new to Poland

Athallia cerinelloides, Caloplaca ulcerosa, Flavoplaca arcis, Lecanora sinuosa and Sclerophora amabilis are reported for the first time from Poland. Descriptions, notes on similar species, habitat preferences and general distribution are provided for each species

Lichen diversity in the managed forests of the Karnieszewice Forest Division and its surroundings (N Poland)

The lichen biota of the Karnieszewice Forest Division (N Poland) is presented. Despite it is predominantly a strongly managed woodland area, 270 lichen species were found there including many rare species for Poland, as well as for European Lowland. Near 20% of the whole lichen biota are considered to be threatened in the country (categories CR, EN, VU), and 34 species are protected by law in Poland. Agonimia flabelliformis is reported for the second time from Polish lowlands

Znaczenie ekspresji antygenu Ki-67 ocenianej metodą mikromacierzy tkankowych dla rokowania u chorych z gruczolakorakiem endometrialnym endometrium

Objectives: To assess the prognostic significance of Ki-67 expression in the tissue microarray method (TMA) for disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC). Material and methods: The study examined 159 consecutive patients aged 37-86 (62.82±9.95) with EEC stages I-III according to FIGO, treated surgically at the Pirogow Memorial Hospital of Lodz between 2000 and 2007. Afterwards they were subsequently treated and examined at the Regional Cancer Center, Copernicus Memorial Hospital of Lodz. Tissue cores 2 mm in size, in duplicate, were taken from the formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue donor blocks from surgery, and constructed into the TMA recipient blocks. Using TMA method, the relationship between Ki-67 expression, DFS and OS was examined. DFS was defined as a period from primary surgery until relapse. OS was defined as a period from primary surgery until the end of the follow-up (60 months) or until the death of the patient. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical University of Lodz (RNN/82/11/KE; KE/1673/12). Results: The follow-up time varied between 3 - 60 months (51.42±15.87). In 31 patients (19.50%) the relapse of was diagnosed 1–59 months (24.97±16.08) after commencement of the treatment. During follow-up 32 patients (20.12%) died. DFS and OS were 80.50% and 79.88%, respectively. The lack of Ki-67 expression was found in 37 cases (23.27%) while in 122 patients (76.73%) the expression was present (p20% was present in 76 cases, 26 cases and 20 cases, respectively. Positive correlation between the expression of Ki-67 and staging was present (r=0.353; pCel pracy: Celem pracy była ocena znaczenia rokowniczego obecności i wielkości ekspresji antygenu Ki-67 ocenianej metodą mikromacierzy tkankowych (TMA) dla przeżycia wolnego od choroby (DFS) oraz przeżycia ogólnego (OS) chorych z gruczolakorakiem endometrialnym endometrium (GEE). Materiał i metody: Grupę badaną stanowiło 159 chorych. Wykorzystując metodę TMA, oceniono zależność między obecnością i wielkością ekspresji Ki-67 a DFS i OS. Wyniki: Okres obserwacji wynosił 3-60 miesięcy (51,42±15,87). DFS i OS wynosiły odpowiednio 80,50% i 79,88%. Brak ekspresji Ki-67 stwierdzono w 37 przypadkach (23,27%), a obecność ekspresji Ki-67 u 122 chorych (76,73%;

Effectiveness of tissue microarray technique for the assessment of estrogen and progesterone receptors expression in endometrioid endometrial cancer – preliminary report

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of the donor-block biopsies with a 2 mm-size needle in endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC) in the tissue microarray (TMA) technique and the application of the TMA for estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) expression in EEC. Material and methods: The study examined EEC tissues from 60 patients. Tissue cores, 2 mm in size, in duplicate, were taken from the formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue donor blocks and constructed into the TMA recipient block. The presence of EEC tissue in the TMAs was analyzed, and the ER and PR expressions were examined. Results: EEC tissue in TMAs was confirmed in 56 cases (93.33%). In 49 of them (81.67%), both cores presented with cancer tissues. In 4 cases (6.67%) EEC tissue was absent. All cases with ECC present on the TMA slides were appropriate for the ER and PR analysis. In 29 EEC cases (51.98%) both ER and PR were expressed. In 3 cases (5.36%) only ER was expressed, in 8 cases (14.29%) only PR was expressed, and in 16 cases (28.57%) ER and PR were assessed as negative. Conclusions: Two 2 mm-sized tissue cores from donor-block biopsies constructed into the TMA recipient block were sufficient to diagnose EEC and enabled the assessment of ER and PR expression in 93.3% of the cases. The use of the described TMA technique makes the immunohistochemical study of EEC easier and more timeefficient

Endometrioid endometrial cancer – the prognostic value of selected clinical and pathological parameters

Objectives: to assess the relationship between selected clinical and pathological factors and disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in endometrioid endometrial cancer patients. Material and methods: A retrospective review of 262 patients aged 37-86 (6.0±9.0) was performed. Selected clinical and pathological data were correlated with DFS and OS. Results: Follow-up was 8-123 months (64.9±27.1). In 4 patients (1.5%) clinical progression was diagnosed during the treatment. In 43 patients (16.4%) relapse was diagnosed 2-61 months (23.9±15.7) after commencing treatment. DFS and OS were 82.1% and 81.3% respectively. In univariate analysis worse DFS was related to older patients (p=0.007) and non-radical surgery (

Znaczenie ekspresji receptorów progesteronowych i estrogenowych ocenianej metodą mikromacierzy tkankowych dla rokowania u chorych z gruczolakorakiem endometrioidalnym endometrium

Objectives: To assess prognostic significance of progesterone receptors (PR) and estrogen receptors (ER) expression in the tissue microarray (TMA) technique for disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC). Material and methods: The study included 151 consecutive patients, aged 37-86 years (62.80±9.99), with the EEC in stages I-III (FIGO), treated surgically at the Pirogow Memorial Hospital of Lodz between 2000 and 2007. Afterwards, they were subsequently treated and examined at the Regional Cancer Center, Copernicus Memorial Hospital of Lodz. Tissue cores 2 mm in size, in duplicate, were taken from the formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue donor blocks from surgery, and constructed into the TMA recipient blocks. Using TMAs, the expression of PR and ER was examined and presented as Total Score (TS). The TS was determined by adding the intensity and marker distribution scores in a given case. The relationship between PR and ER expression, DFS and OS was examined. DFS was defined as the period from primary surgery until relapse. OS was defined as the period from primary surgery until the end of the follow-up (60 months) or until the death of the patient. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical University of Lodz (RNN/82/11/KE). Results: Lack of the PR and ER expression was found in 46 cases (30.46%) and 67 cases (44.37%), respectively. The expression of the PR and ER was weak in 24 cases (15.89%) and 22 cases (14.57%), respectively. Strong PR and ER expression was found in 81 patients (53.65%) and 62 patients (41.06%), respectively. Follow-up after surgery varied from 3 to 60 months (50.95±16.36). In 30 patients (19.87%) relapse was diagnosed 1–54 months (22.17±15.59) after surgery. During follow-ups, 29 patients (19.21%) died. In univariate analysis better DFS was related to the presence of PR (p=0.010), higher TS of PR (HR=0.81; 95% CI 0.71-0.94), the presence of ER (p=0.001) and higher TS of ER (HR=0.88; 95% CI 0.78-0.99). DFS differed significantly between the groups: without PR and ER expression (A), with presence of the PR but not ER expression (B), with the ER but not PR expression (C) and with the PR and ER expression (D) (p=0.004). In univariate analysis OS was not related to PR expression (p=0.110), TS of PR (HR= 0.89; 95% CI 0.80-1.02) and ER expression (p=0.070). TS of ER was connected to better OS (HR= 0.83; 95%CI 0.72-0.96). The OS differed between groups A, B, C and D (p=0.006). In multivariate analysis variants of PR/ER expression influenced the DFS (p=0.039) and OS (p=0.016). Conclusions: The expression of the PR and ER can significantly affect therapeutic decisions in selected patients with EEC. In EEC, common assessment of PR and ER expression is of higher prognostic value, than compared to single evaluation of PR and ER receptors.Cel pracy: Celem pracy była ocena znaczenia rokowniczego obecności i wielkości ekspresji receptorów estrogenowych (ER) i progesteronowych (PR) ocenianej metodą mikromacierzy tkankowych (TMA) dla przeżycia wolnego od choroby (DFS) oraz przeżycia ogólnego (OS) chorych z gruczolakorakiem endometrioidalnym endometrium (GEE). Materiał i metody: Grupę badaną stanowiło 151 chorych. Wykorzystując metodę TMA, oceniono zależność między obecnością i wielkością ekspresji ER i PR a DFS i OS. Wyniki: W analizie jednoczynnikowej stwierdzono zależność między wzrostem DFS a obecnością PR (p=0,010), wzrostem wskaźnika całkowitego (TS) ekspresji PR (HR=0,81; 95%CI 0,71-0,94), obecnością ER (p=0,001) i wzrostem TS ekspresji ER (HR=0,88; 95%CI 0,78-0,99). Stwierdzono występowanie różnic w DFS między grupami: bez ekspresji PR i ER (A), z ekspresją PR bez ekspresji ER (B), z ekspresją ER bez ekspresji PR(C), z ekspresją PR i ER (D) (p=0,004). Nie wykazano związku obecności PR (p=0,11), TS ekspresji PR (HR= 0,89; 95%CI 0,80-1,02) i ekspresji ER (p=0,07) z OS w analizie jednoczynnikowej. TS ekspresji ER było istotnym czynnikiem ochronnym, sprzyjającym dłuższemu OS (HR= 0,83; 95%CI 0,72-0,96). Stwierdzono różnice w OS między grupami: A, B, C i D (p=0,006). W analizie wieloczynnikowej kombinacje ekspresji PR/ER istotnie wpływały na DFS (p=0,039) i OS (p=0,016). Wnioski: Określenie ekspresji PR i ER może być istotnym elementem wpływającym na decyzje terapeutyczne u części chorych na GEE. Jednoczesna ocena ekspresji PR i ER ma większą wartość kliniczną od oceny tylko PRlub tylko ER

Decentralized subcontractor scheduling with divisible jobs

Subcontracting allows manufacturer agents to reduce completion times of their jobs and thus obtain savings. This paper addresses the coordination of decentralized scheduling systems with a single subcontractor and several agents having divisible jobs. Assuming complete information, we design parametric pricing schemes that strongly coordinate this decentralized system, i.e., the agents’ choices of subcontracting intervals always result in efficient schedules. The subcontractor’s revenue under the pricing schemes depends on a single parameter which can be chosen to make the revenue as close to the total savings as required. Also, we give a lower bound on the subcontractor’s revenue for any coordinating pricing scheme. Allowing private information about processing times, we prove that the pivotal mechanism is coordinating, i.e., agents are better off by reporting their true processing times, and by participating in the subcontracting. We show that the subcontractor’s maximum revenue with any coordinating mechanism under private information equals the lower bound of that with coordinating pricing schemes under complete information. Finally, we address the asymmetric case where agents obtain savings at different rates per unit reduction in completion times. We show that coordinating pricing schemes do not always exist in this case

Myśl i polityka: księga pamiątkowa dedykowana profesorowi Jackowi Marii Majchrowskiemu T. 3

Publikacja jubileuszowa z okazji 40-lecia pracy naukowej profesora Jacka Majchrowskieg