Analysis and optimization of distribution logistics for Just Water Company

This report details the various factors that affect the operational efficiency of distribution logistics. The research aimed at studying the existing components involved in the distribution logistics of Just Water. Distribution logistics begins at the end of the production line where the finished product is emerged until it reaches the customers. The literature review explains the key components of distribution logistics in an organisation. This research analyses the existing components of the distribution logistics of Just Water and discusses possible improvements that can be adapted to increase the overall efficiency of the distribution logistics operation. The background of the research is that Just Water faces difficulty with delivering its products on time during peak seasons. The research tries to unveil the reason for this delay and finds that the demands for extra water-out deliveries are interfering with the normal runs of the trucks, therein delaying their regular schedule. One another cause was found to be the shortage of supplies due to slow or less return logistics. The research suggests a change in the existing drop shipping distribution model and recommends the adaptation of intermediary or multi-stage distribution networks, possibly the ‘Last Mile Delivery’ configuration in order to reduce delivery lead-time, reduce transportation costs and improve customer satisfaction

Non-universality of commonly used correlation-energy density functionals

The correlation energies of the helium isoelectronic sequence and of Hooke's atom isoelectronic sequence have been evaluated using an assortment of local, gradient and meta-gradient density functionals. The results are compared with the exact correlation energies, showing that while several of the more recent density functionals reproduce the exact correlation energies of the helium isoelectronic sequence rather closely, none is satisfactory for Hooke's atom isoelectronic sequence. It is argued that the uniformly acceptable results for the helium sequence can be explained through simple scaling arguments that do not hold for Hooke's atom sequence, so that the latter system provides a more sensitive testing ground for approximate density functionals. This state of affairs calls for further effort towards formulating correlation-energy density functionals that would be truly universal at least for spherically-symmetric two-fermion systems.Comment: To appear in J. Chem. Phy

SOAP Services with Clarens: Guide for Developers and Administrators

The Clarens application server enables secure, asynchronous SOAP services to run on a Grid cluster such as one of those of the TeraGrid. There is a Client, who wants to use the service and understands the application domain enough to form a reasonable service request; a Developer, who is a power-user of the TeraGrid, who understands both Clarens and the application domain, and creates and deploys a service on a TeraGrid head node; and there is a Root system administrator, who controls the Clarens installation and the cluster on which it runs. The purpose of this document is to provide all of the information a service developer needs to know in order to deploy a Clarens service, with information also provided for the system administrator of the Clarens installation. First we discuss how each of the three roles see the service

An Architecture for Scaling NVO Services to TeraGrid

The term "cyberinfrastructure" has been adopted by the US National Science Foundation to mean "advanced computing engines, data archives and digital libraries, observation and sensor systems, and other research and education instrumentation [linked] into a common framework". One of the largest awards in this program is the TeraGrid, a linkage of large supercomputer centers based on the Globus software. Another cyberinfrastructure program is the National Virtual Observatory, a linkage of astronomical data publishers into a service-oriented framework. There are different philosophies behind the TeraGrid and the NVO architecture. This note explains a proposed service-oriented architecture for TeraGrid nodes that is an attempt to bridge these ways of working, and a prototype instantiation at Caltech

Does Subsidizing Fertilizer Increase Yields? Evidence from Malawi

Despite their strain on government and donor budgets, fertilizer subsidies have once again become popular policy tools in several Sub-Saharan Africa countries as a potential way to increase yields in staple crops like maize. Policy makers often assume that farmers who receive the subsidy will achieve yield responses that are similar to those obtained by farmers who pay commercial prices for the input. This notion has not been verified empirically. Our study uses panel data from Malawi, a country that recently implemented a fertilizer subsidy program, to compare maize yield response to fertilizer from farmers who received subsidized fertilizer with yield responses from those who paid commercial prices for the input. Descriptive results indicate that maize plots using commercial fertilizer obtain higher yields per kilogram of fertilizer than maize plots that used subsidized fertilizer. Conversely, the results obtained using a fixed-effects estimator indicate that when other factors are controlled for, maize plots that use subsidized fertilizer obtain a higher yield response than other plots. The results seems to be influenced by a group of farmers who used no fertilizer before the subsidy program began, but used subsidized fertilizer after the program was implemented. This group of farmers obtained significantly higher yields in the year when they receive the subsidy than did the rest of the farmers in the sample during that year. These findings indicate that in order to be effective, government officials should specifically target fertilizer subsidies to farmers who lack access to commercial markets or would not otherwise find it profitable to purchase the input.Malawi, Fertilizer Subsidies, Production Function, Crop Production/Industries,