DSS (Decision Support Systems) in Indian Organised Retail Sector

Indian organised retail industry is poised for growth. Rapid state of change due to speedy technological developments, changing competitive positions, varying consumer behaviour as well as their expectations and liberalized regulatory environment is being observed in organized retailing. Information is crucial to plan and control profitable retail businesses and it can be an important source of competitive advantage so long as it is affordable and readily available. DSS (Decision Support Systems) which provide timely and accurate information can be viewed as an integrated entity providing management with the tools and information to assist their decision making. The study, exploratory in nature plans to adopt a case study approach to understand practices of organized retailers in grocery sector regarding applications of various DSS tools. Conceptual overview of DSS is undertaken by reviewing the literature. The study attempts to describe practices and usage of DSS in operational decisions in grocery sector and managerial issues in design and implementation of DSS. Comparision across national chain and local organized retailer in grocery sector reveals that national chain having implemented ERP partially are mostly using the same for majority of operational decisions like inventory management, CRM, campaign management. Two local players use spread sheets and in house software to make the above operational decisions. The benefits realized remain the same across the retailers. Prioritization as well as quantification of benefits was not communicated. The issues of coordination, integration with other systems in case of ERP usage, training were highlighted. Future outlook of DSS by the respondents portrayed a promising picture.

Indian Organised Apparel Retail Sector and DSS (Decision Support Systems)

Indian apparel retail sector poses interesting challenges to a manager as it is evolving and closely linked to fashions. Appealing mainly to youth, the sector has typical information requirements to manage its operations. DSS (Decision Support Systems) provide timely and accurate information & it can be viewed as an integrated entity providing management with the tools and information to assist their decision making. The study exploratory in nature, adopts a case study approach to understand practices of organized retailers in apparel sector regarding applications of various DSS tools. Conceptual overview of DSS is undertaken by reviewing the literature. The study describes practices and usage of DSS in operational decisions in apparel sector and managerial issues in design and implementation of DSS. A multi brand local chain and multi brand national chain of apparel was chosen for the study. Varied tools were found to be used by them. It was also found that for sales forecasting and visual merchandising decisions, prior experience rather than any DSS tool was used. The benefits realized were; “help as diagnostic tool”, “accuracy of records and in billing”, “smooth operations”. The implementation issues highlighted by the store managers were; more initial teething problems rather than resistance on the part of employees of the store, need for investment of time & money in training, due to rapid technological advancements, time to time updation in DSS tools is required . Majority of operational decisions like inventory management, CRM, campaign management were handled by ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or POS (Point of Sale). Prioritization as well as quantification of benefits was not attempted. The issues of coordination, integration with other systems in case of ERP usage, training were highlighted. Future outlook of DSS seems bright as apparel retailers are keen to invest in technology.

Research for ANSI accredited “Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate Program” in Packaging Science for Undergraduate Students

This research project is a result of a problem-solving proposal that was submitted to Program Chair Dr. Daniel Goodwin on June 28, 2010. The proposal recommends that RIT’s Packaging Science Program establish a unique Lean Six Sigma Green Belt in Packaging Science Certificate program for undergraduate students. The proposal was developed as a result of receiving input from the RIT Packaging Industrial Advisory Board, from researching packaging job descriptions and from Professor Dr. Duane P. Beck’s extensive Lean Six Sigma experience. Students who are successful in receiving the certificate will be able to demonstrate problem-solving skills in the packaging industry. The proposal also identifies three RIT benefits as stated below: “Green Belt Certificate Program Benefits: 1) With the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate, the student will stand above and beyond other graduating students from other colleges and universities. 2) It is our vision that the student will receive higher starting salary offers because of achieving higher standards in their chosen educational program. 3) According to an ANSI representative, “if we are successful in the development, coordination and sustainability of this innovative program, RIT will be the first one of its kind among universities and colleges in the nation.” This Research Project The certificate program will be designed according to ANSI accreditation guidelines and supported by quality assurance procedures. The procedures will enable the Packaging Science program to consistently meet ANSI accreditation guidelines under the ASTM certificate standards. It is not the immediate goal to seek ANSI accreditation but to establish the program according to their guidelines. Both the procedures and ANSI guidelines bring reliability and creditability for administering, issuing and evaluating the certificates. The research project focuses on performing research on setting up a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt program for undergraduate students at RIT and development of the quality assurance procedures in order to meet ANSI accreditation guidelines. The research will be on four primary areas: 1) Lean Six Sigma Green Belt; 2) Certificate Programs; 3) Accreditation Guidelines; and 4) Quality Assurance Procedures. For the four areas the project will focus on identifying the gap of knowledge between what is currently offered in the packaging industry and what the Packaging Science certificate program needs to integrate for success and sustainable reasons

On the Performance of Multiple Antenna Cooperative Spectrum Sharing Protocol under Nakagami-m Fading

In a cooperative spectrum sharing (CSS) protocol, two wireless systems operate over the same frequency band albeit with different priorities. The secondary (or cognitive) system which has a lower priority, helps the higher priority primary system to achieve its target rate by acting as a relay and allocating a fraction of its power to forward the primary signal. The secondary system in return is benefited by transmitting its own data on primary system's spectrum. In this paper, we have analyzed the performance of multiple antenna cooperative spectrum sharing protocol under Nakagami-m Fading. Closed form expressions for outage probability have been obtained by varying the parameters m and Omega of the Nakagami-m fading channels. Apart from above, we have shown the impact of power allocation factor (alpha) and parameter m on the region of secondary spectrum access, conventionally defined as critical radius for the secondary system. A comparison between theoretical and simulated results is also presented to corroborate the theoretical results obtained in this paperComment: Accepted in the proceedings of IEEE PIMRC 2015 Hong Kong, Chin

Response of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) to fertigation by irrigation scheduling in drip irrigation system

Drip irrigation technique has proved its superiority over other methods of irrigation due to direct application of water and nutrient in the vicinity of root zone. A field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of irrigation and fertigation scheduling through drip irrigation in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) during Rabi season of 2015-16 at Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur. There were three irrigation levels and five fertilization levels in split-plot design with three replications. Nutrient content in plant and fruit was found higher under the application of drip irrigation at 100 % PE (I1) and at 100 % RDF through fertigation (F1). Maximum nutrient uptake by tomato i.e. nitrogen (166.83 kg ha-1), phosphorus (41.59 kg ha-1) and potassium (183.08 kg ha-1) was recorded with treatment combination of drip irrigation at 75 % PE (I2) + 75 % RDF through fertigation + 2 foliar spray of 1 % urea phosphate (F3). Similarly, significantly maximum yield and growth attributes i.e. fruit yield (201.25 q ha-1), plant height (67.43 cm) and number of branches (12.33) were registered with treatment combination of drip irrigation at 75 % PE and 75 % RDF through fertigation + 2 foliar spray of 1 % urea phosphate. Drip fertigation method has proved to be very significant in improving nutrient uptake which finally resulting in enhancement of growth and yield of tomato crop

Analysis of indications of induction of labor and feto-maternal outcome in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Induction of labor (IOL) is an intervention that artificially initiates uterine contractions leading to progressive dilatation and effacement of cervix and expulsion of fetus prior to spontaneous onset of labor. Aim of study was to study the indications of induction of labor and the feto-maternal outcome. Methods: Women who underwent IOL beyond 28 weeks gestation with single cephalic presentation were included in the study over a period of one year. Results: A total of 3887 women delivered in the hospital during the study period. 1107 (28.47%) pregnant women underwent induction of labor. Most common indication of induction of labor was post-date pregnancy 682 (61.60%). About 64.52% had vaginal delivery, 30.71% had caesarean section and 4.6% had instrumental delivery, 1.80% PPH, 0.45% puerperal sepsis and 2.16% wound sepsis.  97% neonates with APGAR score more than 7and 1.08% neonates were admitted to NICU. There were 0.27% fresh still births and 0.45% birth asphyxia. Conclusions: Careful analysis of indication of induction of labor, selection of the patients, proper monitoring at the time of induction and strict partographic management of labor results in a healthy baby and mother.

Tetraquark Masses by using extension of Gursey-Radicati Mass Formula

Tetraquark states are classified using the $SU(6)_{sf}$ spin-flavor symmetry and Young tableau technique. Further, by using the extension of Gursey-Radicati mass formula, masses of tetraquark states are predicted upto good level of accuracy. Also, Decay channels and decay widths of tetraquark states are calculated and found to be in good agreement with the experimental and available theoretical data.Comment: 12 pages , 4 figure